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Chapter 162: A New Path
“Why were you the one chosen?”
“My divorced wife—my former spouse—made the choice. I knew nothing of it.”
So much information came pouring in at once that Rihanna wobbled on her feet, instinctively clutching the arm of Marlin beside her.
“Ugh!”
“…!”
Startled by Marlin’s short gasp, Rihanna hurriedly let go. No words came out, but her lips shaped a silent Sorry.
Even in that tense moment, the exchange between Isaac and the giant did not stop.
“You, too, bear a heavy burden you never intended to pick up.”
“Just so you know, I’m keeping this secret. From my ex-wife.”
“I do not even know who your wife is, human.”
“…That was pointless to say, wasn’t it.”
Their conversation continued, yet little of it reached Rihanna’s ears. Instead, Isaac’s earlier declaration echoed inside her like a tolling bell:
[This is my second life.]
Unbelievable as it sounded, Rihanna found—surprisingly—that accepting it wasn’t all that hard.
‘Isaac’s abrupt change…’
Everything had shifted after their fourth wedding anniversary.
His newfound confidence had only been the warning rumble before the quake.
The man who had once clung stubbornly to Helmut’s sword put it down, then revealed a staggering depth of sword lore—words worthy of a sage.
He traveled to theMalidan Barrier, made a name for himself in every field, and soon people everywhere came seeking him.
[What’s regression, Unnie?]
Sharen had asked out of nowhere.
‘Ah…’
At the time, Rihanna had merely thought Sharen lacked vocabulary—just another side-effect of relying too much on Helmut’s sword.
It had never been that simple.
Sharen already knew.
A tremor ran through Rihanna’s body.
She still dreamed about it—again and again.
[Rihanna.]
The night of their fourth anniversary.
A night of fluttering hearts and sweet anticipation.
The night she was finally allowed to share Isaac’s bed and try for a child.
[Let’s divorce.]
The day Isaac announced he was leaving.
She knew her own faults, yet Isaac’s sudden, drastic change had left her reeling.
She spent that night weeping in shock.
[If there is a sin I don’t even know I committed…]
Fear struck her chest. She was no longer the same Rihanna as back then, yet if Isaac still carried wounds she had unknowingly dealt—
Those wounds must remain as scars inside him even now.
Only now…
Only now did she think they were finally moving forward, if only a little. She had believed their shattered relationship was beginning—just beginning—to mend.
Could that really be?
Truly?
Rihanna’s trembling legs gave way, and she sank to her knees. The dread that the price she owed might be far greater than she ever imagined made it impossible to stay standing any longer.
* * *
“…….”
The giant’s eyes, fixed on Isaac, quivered ever so slightly.
One thing Isaac had noticed during their talk was that, surprisingly, the giant could hold a conversation. For all its fortress-like bulk, the flow of its words felt strangely soft.
“Do you trust me that easily?”
When Isaac asked, the giant answered in a deep, weighty tone.
“There is no reason for you to lie.”
“…….”
“Besides, I can see the karma you bear. You shoulder something no ordinary human could ever accumulate.”
Could the giant truly see something? Or was it wisdom earned over an unfathomable span of years? Isaac couldn’t tell, but the very fact that the giant believed him felt like clearing one more hurdle.
“May I ask you a single question?”
“Speak.”
Isaac’s voice grew polite. The giant treated him as a subordinate, and Isaac did not resist. After all, this was a being he could not kill; bowing his head cost him nothing.
“What were the Transcendents like in the world you saw?”
“…….”
What exactly did it want to know?
Issac hesitated for a moment, recalling the giant’s reaction when the Transcendents had come up earlier:
‘…Ruined?’
It had been unable—or unwilling—to believe that the Transcendents triumphed while humankind perished. For a giant that supposedly sided with them and despised humans, the reaction had seemed oddly out of place.
Isaac decided to gamble on that mismatch.
“They wiped out humanity. Only the so-called ‘Sponsers’ who had bowed to them were spared, treated as slaves. They left not a single life untouched.”
“……!”
Disbelief darkened the giant’s face; clearly this future was nothing like the one it had foreseen.
Ironically, Isaac was the one bewildered. To the Transcendents, slaughter was natural; their hatred of humans knew no end. They were calamity itself.
If the giant had cooperated with such beings, what future had it wanted?
Under Isaac’s searching gaze, the giant spoke in a troubled murmur.
“I despise humans, but I never sought their extermination. Were we to allow that, would we not become the same as Silver Clock?”
The giant’s hatred for Silver Clock seemed bottomless. Its manner was calm—until her name surfaced, and its rage flared like loose fire.
“I swore an oath with Hellic: to guard rituals from humans. We know how the spell one human discovered ruined our world.”
“…….”
“Yet from what you say… it seems the truth is different.”
A shadow crossed the giant’s features—an expression that no longer knew which path to take.
“The Transcendents can no longer survive in the Abyss Realm. They need new land.”
Isaac bristled at the giant’s heavy words and cried out:
“That doesn’t mean you can seize our lands! I understand the Silver Clock destroyed your homeland, but that isn’t a burden we should bear.”
“In the age when the One King existed, this was the result your kind brought about. Humanity carries a responsibility. Too much blood and karma have amassed over the ages for us to feign ignorance now.”
“…….”
Questions about Silver Clock only deepened.
At times she seemed like the guiding star Isaac pursued—a savior who had rescued them. Yet to the Transcendents and the giant, she was a criminal beyond forgiveness.
Silver Clock shattered their world with ritual.
It was one thing Isaac felt absolutely certain of: the image of Hellic shouting up at the silver star still rang in his ears.
“…….”
“May I speak with her myself?”
The giant’s eyes widened a fraction at Isaac’s request. Troubled, he rumbled:
“What good would that do? She is a bold woman. Even after becoming our star, she still peers down on us with suspicion—can you not see that?”
“……Then do you have another solution? Will you rip open this dimension and slaughter humans—just like the future I lived through?”
At that, the giant fell silent.
Did he truly have an answer?
For all his massive frame, the giant possessed a surprisingly delicate heart and, beneath it, a longing for peace. Though he stood with the Transcendents, he clearly had never wished for humanity’s annihilation.
“I’ve hated the Transcendents. I still do—that will never change. I know what they did to me.”
“…….”
“But crossing over a second time only to repeat that outcome feels wrong. Declaring them pure evil and butchering them all… it seems even they have reasons of their own.”
Yes, the distance between the two sides was vast—and yet it was also clear that neither was entirely blameless.
“Silver Clock turned your homeland into a wasteland. In order to survive, the Transcendents invaded our land. Is that a fair summary?”
The giant nodded, as though unwilling to let their struggle devolve into senseless bloodshed.
“First, let me talk to my companions. Please wait a moment.”
The giant gave no verbal answer, but the rift he held open ceased expanding—answer enough.
“…….”
On his way out of the cavern, Isaac exhaled a long, tangled breath.
Can there really be a peaceful solution?
With hatred running so deep on both sides, was reconciliation even possible?
Still, the conversation just now felt like a monumental step between worlds and races that had known only two roads: one side exterminates the other.
Now, a third path had appeared—whether right or not, Isaac meant to walk it.
But if it comes to that, what about Rihanna’s Vassalization—
The moment he remembered he was supposed to slay the blood fiend, the thought turned thorny.
“W-wait, please.”
“Hmm?”
About to leave the abandoned mine, Isaac was momentarily startled when Marlin blocked his path.
“What’s wrong? What is it?”
Marlin looked deathly pale. She was never brimming with color, but now she seemed drained entirely.
When Isaac asked what had happened, her eyes darted about, as though at a loss. Seeing that she kept glancing toward one spot—as if guarding something—Isaac strode over.
“Ah!”
A breath like a sigh of pain escaped Marlin. Behind the rock near the entrance knelt Rihanna, tears streaming down her face.
“Rhia…?”
Why was she like this? She was saying something, but a Silence spell sealed the sound.
Isaac was quick on the uptake; it didn’t take long to grasp why she was reacting this way.
She’s found out.
She had learned of his regression.
---The End Of The Chapter---
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