Isaac did not answer immediately.
Seeing his silence, she spoke again, this time with a twitching smile.
"I am the First Angel of the War God. Anything you will have, I will have a better version of it. There is no need to worry that I will steal your things. So just show me what you have."
Isaac looked at her for a few seconds longer. He was not trying to be dramatic. He was simply thinking.
In the end, he nodded.
"All right," he said.
He reached into his spatial ring and took out a thin, worn manual. The cover was old, the edges frayed in places, and the material looked closer to hardened leather than paper. It was clearly not something that had been made recently.
Seraphina’s gaze sharpened the moment it appeared.
Isaac held it for a second before handing it over. "This sword manual has been with me since I was a child. Back then, I thought it was useless."
Seraphina did not interrupt. She took the manual carefully, as if it might break if handled carelessly, and opened it.
Isaac continued, "When I awakened my War God lineage. I showed it to someone. Sword Empress. She told me it wasn’t useless at all. She said it was a Weapon Art. A powerful one. According to her, even she could only use it after reaching Overlord rank."
For a moment, Seraphina simply stared at the manual.
Then she looked up at him, disbelief written plainly on her face. "Someone told you they could use this Weapon Art after reaching Overlord rank?"
"Yes," Isaac said, nodding once.
Seraphina slowly lowered her gaze back to the pages.
[Arts] were different from skills.
Anyone could learn an [Art], regardless of Talent, or Class. The price was time and comprehension. The System did not guide you when learning an [Art]. It did not adjust mana flow or correct mistakes. You learned through repetition, understanding, and failure.
Isaac understood that difference well.
The emotion-calming technique he and Alice often used was a [Breathing Art]. It was something Alice had practiced again and again until it became natural.
The sword technique he learned from Emily during her trial, Illusive Sword Art, was the same category.
Skills were different and they were easier to use.
With skills, the System handled most of the work. You only needed intent. Mana was shaped for you. Paths were laid out. Execution was assisted.
Weapon Arts were something else entirely.
The manual Seraphina was holding did not teach a single sword move. It taught a way of using a weapon. Any weapon. The reason it was written as a sword manual was because swords were the most balanced medium to express it.
Sword Empress had described it as containing the ’essence’ of a Weapon Art.
That essence could be applied to spears, axes, even bare hands, if the comprehension was deep enough.
Seraphina exhaled slowly.
"This is the War God’s own Weapon Art. Even the Sword God had difficulty learning it. And you are telling me that the person you know can use it as soon as they reach Overlord rank?"
She looked up again, eyes narrowed. "Are you sure they were not bluffing?"
Isaac thought about it for a moment.
"She didn’t sound like she was," he said.
Seraphina’s grip on the manual tightened slightly.
If that claim were true, it would mean that person’s innate comprehension of weapon techniques surpassed even the Sword God’s.
She trembled at the thought, then shook her head faintly.
"There is no way someone like that exists. It is far more likely you were lied to," she said.
Isaac did not argue.
"Well, let’s focus on the main topic instead. This is the Weapon Art I was left with. What do you think?"
Seraphina did not answer right away.
She read through several more pages, slower this time, as if confirming something she already suspected. Then she closed the manual and held it against her palm.
"...I think you are the son of the War God himself, not merely his descendant," she said finally,
"That’s a bit extreme. Why would you think that?"
She looked at him directly. "Because only someone who has fully comprehended this Weapon Art could write it down with this level of clarity. This is not a partial understanding or a simplified record. This is complete."
She shook her head once. "And I doubt anyone other than the War God himself could do that."
Isaac frowned slightly.
"...If I were his son wouldn’t my bloodline have been stronger? I started with a low-rank human bloodline. I had to upgrade it later to reach Apex rank."
Seraphina pressed her lips together.
That was the part she could not explain.
Even she did not understand what was happening. The facts did not line up neatly.
"There is something strange going on here," she said after a short silence. "You mentioned an organization before. The one connected to your past. I will look into it. If there are answers, they might be there."
She handed the manual back to him.
"I will bring back news as soon as I find anything."
Isaac accepted it and put it away.
After that, the tension eased slightly. Their discussion had reached a natural stopping point.
Seraphina stood up. Isaac followed a moment later.
"Thank you for answering my questions. Now, I’m going to combine your cities."
Before Isaac could respond, she flicked her wrist.
The world shifted.
One moment, they were standing on solid ground. The next, they were far above the sky.
Isaac felt no wind. No sensation of falling. It was as if something invisible was holding him in place.
He looked down.
Below them was his city.
From this height, the streets formed neat patterns. Buildings looked small, like ants. He could see the walls clearly, and beyond them, the wilderness stretching out.
"Where do you want the combined city? At this city’s location, or at Fortified City 82?" she asked.
"Here," Isaac answered without hesitation.
She nodded.
Seraphina stretched her hand out in a direction, fingers curling slightly, as if she were grabbing something intangible.
Then she pulled.
Reality folded.
The space between Isaac’s city and Fortified City 82 bent inward, collapsing like fabric being pinched and creased. The vast wilderness that once lay between them compressed, folded neatly along invisible lines.
In an instant, the two cities were next to each other.
Isaac froze.
His mind struggled to process what he was seeing. Distances that should have taken days to cross were gone. Space itself had been treated like something flexible.
Seraphina glanced at him, smug.
She seemed pleased with his reaction.
With another flick of her finger, she lifted Fortified City 82 into the air. The entire city rose smoothly, walls, towers, and all, held in place by pure telekinesis.
Then she released her hold on the folded space.
The wilderness snapped back to normal.
But Fortified City 82 did not return to the ground.
It floated.
High above, suspended in the air like a massive structure torn free from the world.
Seraphina moved her hand again.
This time, Isaac’s city and Fortified City 82 began to split apart.
Buildings separated cleanly. Streets disconnected without crumbling. Entire sections broke off like carefully arranged blocks.
It really did look like someone dismantling a structure made of oversized lego pieces.
She was about to bring them together, to merge them into a single, unified city.
"Wait!" Isaac suddenly called out.
Seraphina paused mid-motion and turned to him.
"Yes?"
Isaac reached into his spatial ring once more and pulled out a folded map. He handed it to her.
"I had some plans. Can you combine the cities according to this map?"
"...Sure," she said.
Under normal circumstances, no one would dare to ask something like this.
An angel had descended to merge cities. That alone was an event people would record for generations. Angels were revered, worshipped, feared. People bowed their heads when angels appeared. Some didn’t even dare breathe too loudly in their presence.
And yet here Isaac was, handing her a city layout like she was a planner hired for the job.