30 minutes had passed since the meeting ended.
Isaac was now back at the Grandmaster's tent.
"..."
"..."
A subtle silence wrapped the inside of the tent.
One woman, with wolf ears and a gently swaying tail, stood with her arms crossed.
Another woman removed the bamboo hat she had been wearing, revealing a pair of round ears atop her head.
At first, Isaac was unsure what they were, but upon closer inspection, he realized they were bear ears.
'So that's why I didn't see a tail.'
Nodding to himself in understanding, Isaac stood silently.
Number 2 and Number 10.
The tension inside the tent was thick as the two women faced each other.
Seeing this, Isaac secretly felt relieved.
He was satisfied with his earlier decision to have her leave the greatsword behind.
'If I hadn't done that, a sword fight could've broken out.'
The reason Mu-myeong was allowed to be here was simply because she had helped the group before.
[TL Note: TL Note: Changing "Nameless" to "Mu-myeong" from here on. "Mu-myeong" is the romanized Korean name meaning "nameless." Keeping the original for better immersion.]
She didn't seem interested in fighting, and though she was handcuffed—
'The mood's still intense.'
At their level, even wearing cuffs wouldn't stop them from drawing a sword in an instant.
"How—."
Breaking the chilly atmosphere, the one to finally speak and shatter the tense standoff was the Grandmaster.
"What a pitiful sight. Captured and dragged in as a prisoner? Were you abandoned by them in the end?"
'Wow…'
With a smug smirk tugging at her lips, the Grandmaster sneered.
Watching this, Isaac was amazed.
'She really looks petty right now.'
Surely there were better ways to say that.
Whatever the case, as her disciple, Isaac felt a little embarrassed.
"Hah."
Mu-myeong casually raised her arm.
She pulled Isaac into her embrace, smiling as she held him close.
"This little guy clung to me till the end, you see. I was planning to stay there, but he'd learned so much from me that he grabbed onto my pants leg and dragged me along."
For context, the reason Mu-myeong ended up here was because she was a half-blood.
The magic of the silver clock targeted humans, and since half her blood was human, she got caught up in it.
"What the—"
Isaac, who was about to protest against this unjust story, couldn't even get a word out.
Mu-myeong buried his face in her cleavage, completely silencing him.
"Y-You damn womaaan—!"
And that was enough to send the Grandmaster's temper skyrocketing.
"How dare you behave like that with someone else's disciple! Unhand him this instant!"
The Grandmaster grabbed Mu-myeong's arm and pulled, but Mu-myeong held on for dear life, refusing to let go of Isaac.
'I-I'm gonna break…'
He felt like his body was being crushed.
Caught between two whales at war, Isaac was the helpless shrimp.
The two women, fellow disciples, bickered on like children, oblivious to his suffering.
"You probably didn't like what he learned from me, huh? What did you even teach him for him to lack the basics?!"
"W-What?! How dare you speak such nonsense! As his master, I guided him step by step so he could go out, experience things for himself, and grow!"
"He focused so much on Iaido that he couldn't even fight properly in close quarters!"
"That too is a part of the training! First and foremost, the boy must survive! Through Iaido, he could defeat opponents stronger than himself and grow from there!"
"And if he ends up relying only on luck?! If he doesn't build proper skill and only depends on Iaido?!"
"What do you take my disciple for?! Do you know how wise he is?! His depth of knowledge exceeds even ours combined—he surely understood everything quickly!"
"Oh really? Is that why he looked at me with such sparkling eyes when I was teaching him?"
"…What did you just say?"
There was a sound of something cracking.
Isaac guessed it was probably the Grandmaster's heart.
Poke.
A hand rested on Isaac's shoulder as he remained in Mu-myeong's arms.
The pressure was sharp and heavy—it was clear someone was very, very angry.
"I-Isaac? Come here. Let's have a little talk, just you and me."
"..."
"Did you really learn the sword from her? No, wait—surely not, right? Surely not! Aren't we master and disciple, who met across time itself?! Huh? Right?"
"..."
"I-I've even come up with ten ultimate techniques to teach you. W-what do you think? Tempting, isn't it? Aren't you curious? Don't you want to learn them?"
"Do you know what 'ultimate technique' means? It refers to the final, most perfected skill."
"This is a conversation between master and disciple! Be quiet!"
He pressed his lips tightly shut.
At least for now, he desperately hoped that Mu-myeong wouldn't use her strength.
But Mu-myeong didn't hold back.
Still holding him in her arms, she poked Isaac's cheek with her finger and smirked.
"You won't need any ultimate techniques. I taught you every day, remember? Thanks to me, you grew quite a bit in the Abyss Realm. Didn't you, my dear disciple?"
"D-Disciple… dear?"
The Grand master staggered back in shock, his eyes trembling furiously.
With trembling lips, the Grand master shouted toward Isaac.
"Th-this is betrayal! Have you ever seen such an ungrateful disciple?! The grace of a master is as high as the heavens and as deep as the sea! How could a disciple's sword not weigh heavy with guilt after turning their back on such grace?!"
"..."
"What—what did you say to this master earlier?! You said it was hard! You begged not to be left behind! You sobbed in your master's arms and pleaded! Where has that tearful disciple gone?!"
"..."
"Was it just a dream?! So fleeting, like the dream of a butterfly! Meaningless—so utterly meaningless! Oh, what a lamentable fate! Why did I even raise a disciple?!"
"..."
"Answer meeeee!"
***
After things has calmed down.
The conversation had veered off track for a bit,
But now, with both the Grandmaster and Mu-myeong before him, Isaac began to speak from the heart.
"I want to save Liana."
Having had a moment to catch his breath, Isaac was now able to speak a little more calmly than before.
"So I plan to return to the Abyss Realm."
The two women gave different reactions as they looked at him.
The Grandmaster accepted it calmly, while Mu-myeong frowned.
"Hey, dear disciple. I get that you feel hopeful after managing it once. But what you're talking about now? That's just impossible."
"How could you so easily crush a child's dream? A master's role is to simply light the path of that dream. And stop calling him your disciple. He's my disciple."
"Hey, you be quiet for a sec. I'm being serious here. You think this is going to be simple?"
Mu-myeong stood, resting her weight on one leg, arms crossed.
"Sure, maybe the goddess helped the first time. Or rather, the stars did. But a second time? Not happening."
"..."
"You want to go back into the Abyss Realm just to save Liana? That's practically a death wish."
"Then—! Are you saying I should just sit here and do nothing?!"
Isaac's eyes widened as he cried out, voice full of anguish.
He could still hear her voice lingering.
Her scent still tickled his nose.
Tears soaked his heart, stirring it wildly.
Isaac wanted to return to the Abyss Realm that very moment.
"Isaac..."
The Grandmaster looked at his disciple with sorrowful eyes.
Mu-myeong sighed and added:
"I'm not telling you to give up. On the contrary—I'm telling you to wait."
"…Sorry? Wait?"
"Helik sacrificed an arm to cast that spell. It'll be far more powerful than normal subjugation magic, but… the good news is—she's a Helmut."
"Helmut…"
"If she were an ordinary human, her mind would have been completely destroyed. She would've shown absolute obedience."
Naturally, Blackson's Polo came to mind.
"Broken" was the only way to describe him.
"But a Helmut, with the blood of a transcendent race, is different. She should be able to resist to some degree."
Isaac's eyes widened.
Arandel Helmut also showed signs of resisting their subjugation magic.
And then—
In his past life, Alois, who had been subjugated by the transcendent race, once said:
["Surprisingly, subjugation magic suits me well. Ahh, Helmut! Glorious Helmut!"]
It felt like the dots were starting to connect.
"That girl is a precious asset Helik earned by giving up an arm. Even if she's hard to handle, he's not going to waste her."
She was hard to handle.
But powerful.
The method of using such a being was simple.
"Drop her into enemy territory."
Mu-myeong picked up where Isaac's murmuring left off.
"Exactly. I'm sure of it. Liana will return to this land. As an enemy."
As an enemy.
The weight of those words was beyond imagination.
But Isaac accepted it calmly.
If he could see her again, that was enough.
That alone would suffice.
To Isaac, who resolved himself so, Mu-myeong added one more thing.
"As far as I know… there's no way to undo the Subjugation spell."
"...."
Isaac had heard the same.
But he didn't crumble.
There was too much he still had to do to fall apart now.
"I'm going to the Magic Tower."
The Silver Watch had clearly said it—
Regression came from magic.
The secret of regression, the way to undo Liana's subjugation—
It was time to rely not on sorcery, but on magic.
The next place Isaac needed to go stood out clearly before him.
***
In a dark underground prison.
A woman bound in chains behind iron bars sat with her head hanging low.
Her red hair, the color of blood, spilled messily onto the ground.
Liana Helmut knelt, staring down at the floor.
Even after being cursed with subjugation, she resisted until the end, fighting against the Transcendents before finally being subdued.
Her terrifying strength and spirit had even the Transcendents trembling, so they locked her away in the underground dungeon.
They couldn't kill her.
She was a valuable asset earned by Helik's left arm, after all.
"Isaac."
Like drops of water endlessly falling, one man's name continuously escaped her lips.
"Isaac."
Because of the Subjugation spell, the thoughts in her mind spilled out uncontrollably.
"I want to hold your hand."
A desire that naturally rose when she thought of him.
"I want to hold you…"
A natural desire that surged whenever she thought of him.
"I want to kiss you."
But subjugation trampled even basic human decency and restraint.
"I want to feel you again."
The words flowing from Liana's lips were pure, long-restrained desires.
"I want to make you mine again."
Secret wants no one can judge—because everyone has them.
"I hope you're not with another woman. I want to satisfy you, I want to ravish you, I want to carry your child, I want to be with you—"
Once said, the words stirred up more feelings.
"Ah… aaah…"
Ashamed of her ugly desire and feelings she shouldn't have had for her ex-husband,
Liana was once again disappointed in herself.
"I'm sorry, Isaac."
She apologized through tears.
"I'm sorry…"