"No. I did not clear the tower."

Seoyul understood the words a bit after.

"Oh… r-really?"

And with the answer, her heart began to calm down.

'I knew it! It's not possible!'

Clearing the tower alone? It was unimaginable. She was relieved. She wasn't wrong. There were things that were impossible in this world. Seoyul replied, "I see. So you failed too. That's how you came to !"

She continued, "I knew it wasn't possible. Clearing the tower…"

"No. I did not fail."

Seoyul couldn't understand what Jaehwan said next.

"I destroyed the tower and got out."

She gasped. It felt like everything had become quiet. Then, she recalled the few rumors she had heard.

There was the irregular who came out of the tower by destroying it. She did come across such information a while ago. There wasn't enough detail, but she knew that man was shaking up right now. He was the most wanted fugitive in Rupture and the . She remembered the man's nickname.

"G-generalslayer?!"

And with that, she began realizing everything.

Jaehwan was the Generalslayer. The man who protected her world to the end. The man who only strived on climbing up. He was the Generalslayer. Jaehwan nodded.

"Yes. That's what everyone calls me."

"Ah…"

Seoyul couldn't believe it. She felt her breathing becoming shallow and looked up to the sky. It almost made her scream, however, as there was no sky. There was the pitch dark ceiling above. She knew it was an illusion, but it made her think of this:

What if she was still inside the Tower of Nightmares? What if Yoonhwan was right, and there was still a next floor to climb up to?

Seoyul mumbled, "You… after all you've been through… you still haven't given up…"

"Yes. Because of all that I've been through."

And Jaehwan walked closer as Seoyul crawled backwards.

"Because of all that I've been through, I can't give up."

His voice and his eyes... Seoyul realized for a short moment what kind of world Jaehwan had lived in.

How lonely he must have been. And even then, he was here. He was now trying to move onto the next floor. His world was not done yet. He still needed to see the end of the Tower.

Seoyul shouted, "I-I didn't do anything wrong!"

Jaehwan did not say anything. The silence made it more painful for her.

"It's… it's all because of you! If you hadn't shown up…"

"…"

"Why… why did you show up now? Why now! WHY! Why now…"

Jaehwan stopped. He looked down at Seoyul's eyes who couldn't look up to meet Jaehwan's eyes.

The face of a woman he once loved — Jaehwan looked closely. She now had lost everything. It was full of despair and self-hatred. There was no confident woman that Jaehwan once loved.

After a while, Jaehwan moved his sword. And with the sound of something being cut out, Seoyul's world disappeared into dust. It was the power of Jaehwan's [Fall] Setting. The unique world [Sea of Blood, Mountain of Corpses] was destroyed into dust.

Jaehwan said, "You can cry now."

Seoyul then broke down. The world that suppressed her emotions were gone and the emotions rushed to her. She mumbled continuously, not knowing who she was speaking to.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"

Jaehwan did not answer, but he walked past her. As if his destination wasn't her from the beginning, he kept walking. And after at some point, he stopped.

"Come out now."

From the red mist that the [Sea of Blood, Mountain of Corpses] left, three figures appeared. They each had unmatchable power. There was a man with a long katana on his waist, a man wearing a dragon embroidered robe, and a man with a dark cape.

"…Useless girl."

The one who spoke first was the katana man, Imai Kazuki. The Lord of Dragons, Varkant, also added.

"Well well, that was boring. Humans are so dramatic."

The world power they unleashed was as if they were competing against each other. But Jaehwan did not look at them. The only one he looked at from the beginning was one man. The man in the dark cape. Jaehwan did not avert his eyes away him as if the man was his only enemy.

The man opened his mouth.

"So, you're the Generalslayer."

Jaehwan did not answer. If the voice had a color, the man's voice was probably 'black'.

"Do you know who I am?"

He had never seen the man, but Jaehwan felt like he knew. His senses told him.

He finally met him.

The man represented one of the starting points of his tragedy — the trigger that brought his world to destruction. Surha, who had walked up to Jaehwan, mumbled, "Lord of Darkness. Gerome."

The strongest Lord of all Lords. The being who had achieved the last stage Adaptation was here.