A Guardian is not one who protects a specific nation or person, but the very world in which people live. They monitor global disasters and anomalies, making the decision to sustain the whole even if it means sacrificing a part, bearing that responsibility alone. Therefore, a Guardian is required to prioritize the survival of the world over their own emotions or happiness.

For example, they have used human souls to restore barren lands. For example, some have offered their own souls in pursuit of a better world.

Elias also became a Guardian out of a desire to save someone, but over the long years, he gradually stopped thinking about "what I want" and began to think only of "what I must do as a Guardian."

Elias is fundamentally a person who desires the survival of people and the world more than anyone else. He is calm, dignified, and sometimes acts ruthlessly, but at his core is a strong sense of responsibility that prioritizes the happiness of others over his own.

Over the long years, he has shed even his own memories and personal emotions to live as "one who fulfills the mission." Yet, deep inside, the time he once spent with his comrades and a heart that wishes for their happiness remain.

A hero first meets him as one side trying to use them for a purpose and the other side trying to stop it. To Elias, the hero was initially nothing more than an existence obstructing his plans.

However, through repeated confrontations and clashing beliefs, he comes to know the essence of that hero's strength.

The hero does not fight because they were ordered to by someone. It is not for praise or glory.

If there is someone suffering before them, they reach out; if something is about to be lost, they choose to be hurt themselves.

It was something Elias himself once possessed.

Elias, too, lived to protect someone. It's just that the things he had to protect grew too numerous.

If it is to save the entire world, one must accept the sacrifice of a single person. Thus, he repeatedly made the choice to "discard one to save the many."

In contrast, the hero does not give up on saving the "one" right in front of them.

That difference binds the two as enemies.

But at the same time, it was that very difference that made Elias unable to look away from the hero.

He saw in the hero his forgotten self. And the hero also comes to know that what lies behind Elias's actions is not hatred or a lust for power, but a wish to reclaim what was lost.

Though they are enemies, they become the ones who understand each other's loneliness most deeply.

The final confrontation is not a battle between good and evil.

It was the settlement between two heroes, each facing the other with things they could not yield to protect the future they believed in.

And finally, Elias finds in the hero the shadow of a "former friend" who lived alongside him in the distant past.

The opponent he crossed blades with many times as an enemy was a being who inherited the same soul as the friend he had lost.

That fact weighs heavier than victory or defeat.

Elias does not abandon his mission until the end. Even so, for that moment alone, he looks at the hero not as one bearing a mission, but as a single human being.

—The things I have tried to protect are no longer in my hands.

Even so, there are those who will inherit them and live on.

The relationship between Elias and the hero begins with hostility and leads to understanding.

And in the end, they return to being "those who once wished for the same thing."

It is not a simple reconciliation.

It is the deep affection exchanged at the last by two people who, after a long time, finally understood each other's existence.

A Guardian is not one who protects a specific nation or person, but the very world in which people live. They monitor global disasters and anomalies, making the decision to sustain the whole even if it means sacrificing a part, bearing that responsibility alone. Therefore, a Guardian is required to prioritize the survival of the world over their own emotions or happiness.

For example, they have used human souls to restore barren lands. For example, some have offered their own souls in pursuit of a better world.

Elias also became a Guardian out of a desire to save someone, but over the long years, he gradually stopped thinking about "what I want" and began to think only of "what I must do as a Guardian."

Elias is fundamentally a person who desires the survival of people and the world more than anyone else. He is calm, dignified, and sometimes acts ruthlessly, but at his core is a strong sense of responsibility that prioritizes the happiness of others over his own.

Over the long years, he has shed even his own memories and personal emotions to live as "one who fulfills the mission." Yet, deep inside, the time he once spent with his comrades and a heart that wishes for their happiness remain.

A hero first meets him as one side trying to use them for a purpose and the other side trying to stop it. To Elias, the hero was initially nothing more than an existence obstructing his plans.

However, through repeated confrontations and clashing beliefs, he comes to know the essence of that hero's strength.

The hero does not fight because they were ordered to by someone. It is not for praise or glory.

If there is someone suffering before them, they reach out; if something is about to be lost, they choose to be hurt themselves.

It was something Elias himself once possessed.

Elias, too, lived to protect someone. It's just that the things he had to protect grew too numerous.

If it is to save the entire world, one must accept the sacrifice of a single person. Thus, he repeatedly made the choice to "discard one to save the many."

In contrast, the hero does not give up on saving the "one" right in front of them.

That difference binds the two as enemies.

But at the same time, it was that very difference that made Elias unable to look away from the hero.

He saw in the hero his forgotten self. And the hero also comes to know that what lies behind Elias's actions is not hatred or a lust for power, but a wish to reclaim what was lost.

Though they are enemies, they become the ones who understand each other's loneliness most deeply.

The final confrontation is not a battle between good and evil.

It was the settlement between two heroes, each facing the other with things they could not yield to protect the future they believed in.

And finally, Elias finds in the hero the shadow of a "former friend" who lived alongside him in the distant past.

The opponent he crossed blades with many times as an enemy was a being who inherited the same soul as the friend he had lost.

That fact weighs heavier than victory or defeat.

Elias does not abandon his mission until the end. Even so, for that moment alone, he looks at the hero not as one bearing a mission, but as a single human being.

—The things I have tried to protect are no longer in my hands.

Even so, there are those who will inherit them and live on.

The relationship between Elias and the hero begins with hostility and leads to understanding.

And in the end, they return to being "those who once wished for the same thing."

It is not a simple reconciliation.

It is the deep affection exchanged at the last by two people who, after a long time, finally understood each other's existence.