Webcomic / The Warrior Returns

The Warrior Returns

One day in South Korea, Minsu Kim is hit by a truck and flung into another world. Over the next year, he hones his battle skills as he travels with his companions across the land to slay the Demon Lord and become a hero! When he succeeds, he expects to return home to a normal life with his friends and family. But he finds nothing but tragedy instead. His parents are dead, his friends and family want nothing to do with him, he's been expelled from school for his absence and has no job prospects. Penniless, alone, and miserable as the place he longed to return to moves on without him, he calls out to his trusted sword Durantkal. With a single swipe, he levels the Gangseo District of Korea.

The hero-turned-villain goes on a rampage as the whole country learns to fear the nigh-unstoppable Sword Warrior. Joined by other, similarly dillusioned Warriors who saved another world but came home to misery, Minsu will not stop until the whole world has felt the suffering he has.

Enter Jeongsu Park, one of the many residents of Korea fleeing the Warriors' rampage. While trying to get himself, his mother, and younger sister to safety, Minsu arrives to devastate the area. Jeongsu can only watch helplessly as everyone around him is slaughtered before he too becomes Minsu's victim. But instead of dying, Jeongsu is transported to another, different world than the one Minsu saved. His thoughts now filled with nothing but thoughts of revenge, Jeongsu uses his time in the other world to cultivate the strength he needs to exact his vengeance upon the Sword Warrior upon his return.

And so the battleground is set between this Rebel Warrior and the former heroes who wish to plunge the whole world into despair.

Written by Narak with art by Fungback, The Warrior Returns (also known as Hero Has Returned) is an ongoing manhwa hosted on Webtoon and can be read online here.

The Warrior Returns contains examples of:

• Abdicate the Throne: After triumphing over the Demon Lord of his world with Su-a's help, the king of Atlas abdicates the throne and names his successor so he can follow Su-a back to her world to live with her for the rest of their days.
• Alas, Poor Villain: The backstories of the fallen Warriors are often divulged during the battles where they face defeat, showing just what circumstances drove them to turn into the monsters that they became and giving a glimpse into the humanity they once possessed.
• An Arm and a Leg: Ivan manages to freeze off Minsu's arms and legs in their battle.
• And Show It to You: Uiho Jeong, the Iron Arm Warrior does this to himself, ripping out his own heart and presenting it to Jeongsu before crushing the heart and dropping dead. This is because Uiho promised to kill himself and would rather die than run away again.
• Anti-Villain: Unlike the other fallen Warriors, the Sea Dragon Warrior has no actual malice toward humanity. But the actions of the other Warriors labels all Warriors as evil terrorists, forcing her to defend herself and her lover when the Korean miltiary sets their sights on killing them.
• Artificial Limbs:
  • The Transformation Warriors' cybernetic enhancements began with them losing a finger to get a Finger Gun, then converting their arms, then their legs.
  • Jeongsu loses his arm to Minsu in their fight. It's replaced with a wooden prosthetic provided by the Verdant Warrior that's as strong and even more durable than his original arm. He later has Garam give him several additional cybernetic arms to let him wield multiple Hero's Relics at once.
  • After his arms and legs are destroyed by Ivan, Minsu Kim replaces his limbs with his Hero's Relic, Duranktal, as part of his transformation into a Demon Lord.
• Asshole Victim:
  • You're clearly not meant to feel bad for Uiho's bullies when he brutally kills them upon returning home, considering they tormented him for his weight and tried to force him to rape a girl who was kind to him.
  • Belgis losing to Minsu shows just how dangerous Minsu has become, but there isn't much sympathy given to Belgis' death, considering he's a Nazi who tried to take over the world with his horrific Faith Warrior powers.
  • Season 2 of the webcomic reveals that Hana's first victim was the pastor of the cult she was raised in who abused his authority to rape her and her mother.
• Battle Couple: Su-a Shin, the Sea Dragon Warrior, is this with the King of Atlas, the very sea dragon she rides upon. They fell deeply in love over the course of their adventures and he chose to abdicate his throne and follow her to her world as her husband.
• Beat Them at Their Own Game: Hana begins wielding Damien's own powers against him as faith in him is eroded by people's fears that he cannot beat her.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: It's possible for a Warrior to become a new Demon Lord if they fall into the Despair Event Horizon and cause enough destruction and carnage to trigger the transformation. Seongjun has been actively trying to get this to happen for thousands of years of looped time, eventually succeeding by turning Minsu, normally The Paragon, into one after sending him over the Despair Event Horizon twice.
• Been There, Shaped History: "The Old Guard", the surviving Warriors from previous generations of summonings, were all heroes who existed during pivotal moments of history. Marie Stevenson and Ivan Pushkin are veterans of World War II who opposed the Nazis on behalf of the Allied forces. Marie has also used numerous remote bodies to aid in human scientific advancement as numerous famous scientists, such as Tesla and Einstein. Meanwhile, Saint Damien Arcadius was responsible for ending the Black Plague and feeding the orphans it bereaved before allowing himself to become Sealed Good in a Can.
• Bittersweet Ending: The first season ends with one of the heavily bitter variety. Seongjun finally achieves a permanent death, breaking the world free from the "Groundhog Day" Loop his powers have trapped the world in, but in the process, he had to orchestrate events that would result in the irreparable suffering of hundreds of millions. That is to say nothing of the fact that Minsu has become a new Demon Lord and now plans to destroy the entire world out of spite or the fact that many of the Old Guard are dead. However, Garam has undergone a Heel–Face Turn and empowered Jeongsu so that he can wield the weapons of the other Warriors, and there are still surviving old Warriors who are willing to fight to save the world.
• "Blind Idiot" Translation: Seongjun Lee's decisions are said to have killed 1.4 billion people. The Naver Webtoon translation drops the "billion" part, making it seem as though he hurt 1.4 people.
• Cool vs. Awesome: Fights between Warriors are essentially battles between popular Korean web novel archetypes. Two versions of the Revenge-style Stock Light-Novel Hero. A Henshin Hero vs a Spirit Cultivation Genre martial artist. Fantasy warriors vs veterans of World War II and so on.
• Cult: Hana Baek, the Faith Warrior of the 21st century, builds one around herself with her belief-based Mind Control powers. Her fanatically loyal followers will do anything for her, including die as Human Sacrifices to fuel her "miracles". Hana herself was the victim of a much more mundane cult whose leader indoctrinated her mother and raped them.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • The fight between Sword Warrior and the Spear Warrior turns into one of these the moment Minsu gets serious. Jeongsu only manages to draw a bit of blood before Minsu lops off Jeongsu's arm.
  • Upon transforming into a lich-like being even more powerful than the Demon Lord of the Sword World, Ivan slaughters all of Minsu's comrades one-by-one with barely any resistance even after they pull out all of their strongest abilities. After becoming a Demon Lord himself, Minsu dishes one back to Ivan, cutting him into chunks with a single gesture.
  • Seongjun has experienced the events of the story so many times that he can kill practically every other South Korean Warrior with his eyes closed if he needs to. The only exception is Minsu, who is so powerful that Seongjun was never able to defeat him outright.
  • When Minsu reaches the Chinese border, he slaughters 200,000 border troops in twelve seconds, leaving literal rivers of blood in his wake as his victims are reduced to mincemeat.
• Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Seongjun’s powers activate if his body becomes more than 50% artificial, which implies his powers considers him dead past that point and resets time. This part of his power ensures Seongjun can’t indefinitely prolong his lifespan and continues the time loop.
• Deconstructor Fleet: The series tackles the potential ramifications of the Summon Everyman Hero trope head-on, often with depressing results.
  • Being Trapped in Another World for a year leaves the returning Warriors struggling to readjust to normal life even if they have friends and family to return to. They often fall behind or are even expelled from school, while their parents may not believe their children's accounts or be angry with their children for having apparently run away from home. Many of them eventually snap if their lives become particularly hellish after leaving another world where they were idolized and treated as the saviors of the world.
  • The fact that all summoned Warriors are teenagers means that every one of them is essentially a drafted Child Soldier. This leaves many of them shell-shocked from their harrowing ordeals and the allies they lost along the way. This, compounded with their displacement from being away from home for a year, leads many of them struggling to cope with their experiences. Furthermore, these Warriors were frequently drafted into the military upon returning home because of their vast powers, turning them into military assets instead of allowing them to return home to normal lives.
  • The "Revenge Hero" archetype of the Stock Light-Novel Hero is not played as a power fantasy for violent catharsis in this story. Minsu's and the other Warriors' rampage is depicted as senseless, wanton slaughter of innocents who have no idea why they're being attacked. Even Jeongsu's "righteous" quest to avenge his family leaves him a bitter and anti-social Knight in Sour Armor who is barely able to think about anything other than his revenge. By contrast, the Old Guard who stand against Minsu are all portrayed as unambiguous heroes who fight to defend those who can't protect themselves and show at least some compassion even toward their enemies.
  • Protagonists with Resurrective Immortality with no clear way of turning it off is shown as a hellish life where nothing they do ultimately matters because it'll be erased the moment they die. And worse, there are no alternate dimensions where the universes where they did everything right moves on without them. So the whole universe is stuck in a Ground Hog Day Loop with them at the center. The whole plot began as the sheer amount of time broke Seongjun to the point he's willing to kill billions in order to create a Demon Lord, the one being that can kill him permanently.
• Demoted to Extra: In-Universe, Somin Jeong was the Spear Warrior in the original timeline, fighting alongside Minsu, Sunjeong, and the other Warrior to end the Warrior War and bring peace to the world. Due to Seongjun's changes to the timeline, Jeongsu became the Spear Warrior instead, leaving Somin a largely powerless bystander.
• Despair Event Horizon: Applies to a good number of the fallen Warriors, whose lives completely fell apart after they returned home, leaving them husks of misery only interested in making other people feel their pain. Minsu has the distinction of going through this twice, with the second coming from watching his old comrades from the Sword World die protecting him from Ivan. He snaps so utterly that he becomes the new Demon Lord.
• Death Seeker: The denizens of the Perfection World summoned the Plague Warrior to their world because unlike them, the Plague Warrior wasn't perfect and thus could grant them an end to their infinite lifespan.
• Didn't Think This Through: The Roman Catholic Church livestreams Saint Damien's battle with Hana Baek to Christians all over the world, believing that his showings of overwhelming superiority over Hana would only strengthen the Christian faith in their savior. Unfortunately, this has the opposite effect. Hana's refusal to stay down starts eroding away at the people's faith and hope that Damien will win. This causes others to fall under her sway, powering her up while eroding Damien's powers. Had the Church simply let them fight without anyone else to watch, Damien would have handily overpowered her.
• Dramatic Irony: After sending their Warriors home, most of the worlds the Warriors saved believe that their heroes will hit the Karmic Jackpot for their efforts. Unbeknownst to them, many of these Warriors did not get their happy ending and in their despair and rage become as bad as the Demon Lords they fought.
• Everybody Lives: Subverted. Seongjun did everything in his power to save everyone he could as the Resurrection Warrior and even succeeded at preventing any of the Warriors from losing their way in some loops. But he soon discovers that time will loop back to the day he first arrived home no matter what unless he's killed by a Demon Lord. And so he sets forth his plan to create a Demon Lord to kill him and free the world from his "Groundhog Day" Loop powers no matter the cost.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Despite having been heroes once, the Nine Warriors have no idea why combatants and civilians alike are sacrificing themselves to stall the Nine Warriors so their only hope, Jeongsu, can escape alive.
• Evil vs. Evil: The battle between Minsu and Belgis. Minsu is a despair-driven mass murderer who has just fallen so far past the Despair Event Horizon that he's become a Demon Lord, while Belgis is a Nazi who was sealed away by previous Warriors because he tried to use his powers to take over the world. Minsu proves to be Eviler than Thou and kills Belgis.
• Fate Worse than Death: Jeongsu refused to let the Demon Lord of the Spear World die, repeatedly healing him with the Elixir of Miracles just to fight the Demon Lord again to get stronger. This happened so many times that Jeongsu began effortlessly overpowering the Demon Lord, who begged for death as Jeongsu brought him back from the brink over and over.
• Foregone Conclusion: Season 2 is titled "Losers" and focuses on all of the Warriors who tried and failed to stop Minsu's rampage. Given that Minsu is the Big Bad, the other Warriors' defeats are certain, with the only questions being who those Warriors are and how they go out fighting.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: The fallen Warriors' plight is genuinely tragic, but their demands to be understood and desire for a place in a world that has forsaken them does not exonerate them for the destruction and murder that they caused. No one is ever going to be willing to forgive them for their actions as virtually everyone has someone they loved who was killed or displaced by them. As Marie, who underwent the same Unwilling Roboticization as Garam, puts it:
  Marie: [to Garam] Of course I'd be ostracized. Of course some people would feel repulsed by this body made of steel. I never expected to be understood and accepted by everyone. This pain and anguish over my identity is wholly my own. The sole fact that I was chosen to be a Warrior in a time of unrest does not make me a victim. Humans are not obligated to understand us. Understanding cannot be coerced. Respect is not earned through oppression. I cannot prove my humanity by merely raising my voice and insisting I be acknowledged as human.
• The Gods Must Be Lazy: To the point that they might be Jerkasses
  • Minsu’s patron goddess, Seraphine, keeps supporting Minsu no matter how many people he murders, and doesn't offer any psychological help.
  • Seongjun's patron goddess ignores all his begging to de-power him, even though his Power Incontinence causes mass-death for everyone around him. In fact, she hasn't contacted him in a long time.^note Other worlds’ goddesses have the power to at least contact their Warriors when they need it most.
• Go Out with a Smile: Seongjun dies with a smile on his face, knowing that Minsu has finally broken the world free from the "Groundhog Day" Loop Seongjun's powers had trapped the world in.
• Henshin Hero: The Metamorphosis Warrior, Jiwon Ahn, is able to create a suit of Powered Armor around himself with his special belt and the command "Transform!", turning him into a Kamen Rider pastiche. In this state, Jiwon is capable of moving at blinding speeds and shoot energy bolts with his punches and kicks. This power is what let Jiwon contend with Minsu for a while until Minsu managed to damage the cooling circuits of the suit. This eventually began to cook Jiwon alive as he continued using his powers to protect others and fight Minsu. The Belt is then given to Jeongsu to use against the Iron Arm Warrior, allowing Jeongsu to overpower Uiho in five seconds.
• Hero Antagonist: Ivan's battle with Minsu is interrupted by the arrival of Minsu's comrades from the Sword World who intervene on Minsu's behalf. None of the newcomers are aware of Minsu's murderous rampage and believe Ivan to be a Demon Lord trying to kill a hero.
• Heroic Resolve: When Jiwon is called upon to fight the Martial Arts Warrior and help Korea secure all of the remaining Warrior's Relics, he agrees to fight without hesitation. Despite suffering third-degree burns all over his body and being in constant, excruciating pain from being cooked alive in his suit, Jiwon refuses to give up until he's beaten the Martial Arts Warrior and bought time for his sister to get away with the Shield Relic. By the end of the fight, the belt informs the Martial Arts Warrior that Jiwon is already biologically dead from having his flesh melted into sludge and is continuing to move through nothing but sheer willpower.
• High-Altitude Battle: The battle between the Transformation Warriors of the 20th and 21st centuries takes place atop Silicon Valley, in actuality a flying weapon platform developed by Marie and scientists like Neils Bohr and Oppenheimer as a contingency against any future Warriors who would threaten humanity. As the fight continues, Marie orders Asimov to take the fight into low orbit to make harder for the Iron Arm Warrior to interfere.
• Human Sacrifice: Hana's "miracles" involve the sacrifice of at least one person to power them, whether it's absorbing damage meant for her or reducing her foes to petals.
• Hoist by Their Own Petard: In one timeline, the U.S. is able to use a nuclear weapon launcher hidden in space called "God's Fist" to nuke Korea and kill the evil Warriors. Unfortunately, the Resurrection Warrior is able to use his death to rewind time and warn the Transformation Warrior in advance, allowing her to hack the platform and turn it against every major capital city in the world.
• Hope Spot: Minsu's companions from the Sword World all pull out their greatest techniques and deepest reserves of strength in an attempt to save Minsu from Ivan. But their efforts do nothing to stop Ivan's advance and he kills them all one by one in increasingly gruesome ways.
• Irony: Minsu and company becoming irredeemable mass-murdering supervillains saves the entire universe.
• It's All About Me: Many of the fallen Warriors are so deep in their own despair that they can't stand the thought of anyone being remotely happy or hopeful, which is what fuels their mass murders.
• Law of Inverse Fertility: Dohun's parents tried for decades to have a child, but struggled to concieve one even with the use of artificial insemination. They only succeeded in their mid-40s after suffering through three miscarriages. Because of this, Dohun became their world and they worked tirelessly to love and care for him. This is why Dohun feels obligated to return to his world and see his parents despite his aged state, as he feels the need to inform them their their son is alright.
• Look Both Ways: Damien was sent to the other world when he ran into the path of a moving carriage while trying to escape his abusers at ten years old.
• Magic Must Defeat Magic: Demon Lords are beings so powerful that no manmade weapon in the modern day could possibly hope to defeat them. Only a Warrior imbued with power beyond that of man can possibly stand up to one. This is perhaps best shown when Minsu, now a Demon Lord, survives Russia's entire nuclear arsenal simply by wrapping himself in his cape.
• Maou the Demon King: All of the other worlds have a Demon Lord that Warriors are summoned to defeat. These Demon Lords are usually vague in their intentions aside from being evil and powerful enough to kill certain unlucky heroes, leading to the end of the worlds they were summoned to. Jeongsu actually heals the Demon Lord he fights just so he can fight the Demon Lord again to get stronger.
• Militaries Are Useless: Downplayed. Despite their best efforts, the militaries of the world are largely helpless against the Warriors, who are too powerful to stop and too durable to kill with even the latest military technology. But as Marie points out, the military is essential for evacuating people away from the Warriors' rampages. This is something that a terrifying, otherworldly being like a Warrior can't do, especially one like Marie who has replaced most of her body with machinery. They're also responsible for many operations pivotal to turning the tide of the battle against the Warriors, such as securing all of the Hero's Relics used by the Warriors killed by Minsu, allowing Jeongsu to use them in the eventual final battle with the new Demon Lord.
• Muscles Are Meaningful: All of the male Warriors who engage in melee combat are incredibly muscular due to their rigorous training and how important it is for them to be fighting fit. Their superhuman strength, speed, and durability makes them The Juggernaut against normal human forces, as shown by the Sword Warrior's and the Iron Arm Warrior's rampages across Korea, toppling bulidings and flattening city-blocks with single blows.
• My God, What Have I Done?: The leaders of the Time World are horrified by the price Dohoon paid to save their world and beg his forgiveness for being unable to help him more after he's sacrificed all but six years of his lifespan. They offer him every manner of luxury and comfort in a desperate attempt to make amends. He refuses them all, as his one desire is to go home to his parents.
• My Sister Is Off-Limits: Gender-inverted. In the original timeline, Jiwon hasn't been able to get a date for more than ten years after the Warrior War, partially because his sister Yeji disapproved of every single girl he brought home. He sobs about being the only Warrior still single after it all while Drowning Their Sorrows.
• No Biochemical Barriers: Averted. Su-a Shin found out the hard way that her husband, the king of the other world she saved, couldn’t handle being in her world’s polluted ecosystem and slowly lost his ability to remain in human form.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Many of the Warriors didn’t receive any reward for saving another world, other than keeping the powers they developed. In fact, some Warriors were heavily punished for suddenly disappearing for a whole year, like Minsu Kim and the Golem Warrior.
• Nuke 'em:
  • The U.S. unleashes a nuclear weapon to kill the evil Warriors of South Korea before they can escape and cause even more harm. Unfortunately, the Resurrection Warrior is able to use his death to go back in time and have the Transformation Warrior hack the nuclear weapon launcher, turning it on major capital cities like Beijing and Washington D.C. instead.
  • Russia also attempts to nuke Minsu to death, even if it renders most of the country uninhabitable from nuclear fallout. Unlike the attack with Gods' Fist, Minsu had already become a Demon Lord and just wraps himself in his cape to withstand the explosions and the radiation without a scratch.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: Flashbacks shows that the efforts to stop Minsu were stymied by the Korean government's fear of the Warriors and wishing they would wipe each other out. So instead of helping them all attack Minsu all at once, the government sent them in one at a time to be killed one after the other as part of "Operation Fighting Ring". The Korean government hoped to be rid of all the Warriors by the end of the year. This strategy ultimately did nothing but doom the efforts to contain Minsu and leave many Korea's greatest heroes dead. Season 2 reveals that Seongjun deliberately planted the idea in Director Kim's head by posing as a "Future Warrior" with the power of foresight who promised Kim prestige in exchange for his cooperation.
• Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: The midpoint of Season 1 sees surviving Warriors from previous summonings coming out of hiding to face the newest generation of Warriors and save the world. "The Old Guard" includes Saint Damien Arcadius, the Faith Warrior of the 14th Century, Marie Stevenson, the Transformation Warrior of the 20th Century, and Ivan Pushkin, the Glacial Warrior of the 20th century. They each face their 21st century counterparts with the exception of Ivan, who stands at Russia's border to impede Minsu's advance across Asia.
• Off with His Head!:
  • This is the fate of the Magic Warrior, who fought Minsu to stop his rampage in exchange for money and fame. Minsu allows the Mage Warrior to attack him repeatedly to get the Mage Warrior to underestimate Minsu's speed and attack range. As soon as the Mage Warrior got too close, Minsu takes Yuseong's head clean off in a Single-Stroke Battle. Minsu attempts this again against Ivan, who anticipates this and replaces himself with an ice dummy before it hit.
  • In World War II, Ivan executes Siegfried, the Sword Warrior of the 20th Century, by freezing Siegfried solid before taking the Sword Warrior's head off with an axe shaped from ice.
• Ordinary High-School Student: The summoning ritual that pulls people from Earth to serve as heroes in other worlds can only target children and teenagers. This is why all of the South Korean Warriors are teens who mysteriously vanished for year before returning seemingly unharmed by their near-death experience.
• Omnicidal Maniac: A common trait among Demon Lords is their desire to kill all life and destroy the world they live in. Minsu only desired to make everybody else as miserable as he is at first, but upon becoming a Demon Lord, his motivation changes to outright wanting all of humanity to die. And Word of God states that if he manages to travel to other worlds, he would desire to kill all life there as well.
• Out of Continues: The finale of Season 1 ends with this, as Sunjeong's death at Minsu's hands ensures that there will be no way to undo mistakes or try again in the face of failure. This means the heroes only get one more shot to save the world.
• Patron God: The Warriors of fantasy worlds often have a goddess as their patron responsible for helping them power up to fight the Demon Lord. Seraphine continues to bless Minsu and grant him Nigh-Invulnerability to most attacks, whereas the Witch of Frost visits Ivan as he lays dying from the wounds inflicted upon him by Minsu's comrades.
• Paying It Forward: While feeding the orphans and Street Urchins bereaved by the Black Death, Saint Damien did not ask for any payment, simply telling these children to pay their kindness forward to others. Damien's kindness would persist through the ages, with these children growing up to become philanthropists who fed children just like them in times of crisis. This becomes essential for Damien's victory over Hana, as his kindness inspired a pure faith in the children cared for by the last orphanage built in his name. This faith is capable of shattering her control over her followers.
• Poor Communication Kills:
  • The "tragic comedy of errors" takes place when Minsu's comrades from the Sword World mistake Ivan for a Demon Lord trying to kill him. Ivan is too exhausted and angry to explain himself properly, so Sword World denizens all fight to save Minsu and Minsu's world, not knowing that they are helping to doom it.
  • Jiseong Cheon, the Martial Arts Warrior, did not initially set out on a rampage against humanity. He only fell once he discovered his grandmother's decaying remains after finally returning home. Yeji Ahn's men who were sent to recruit Jiseong find him in the midst of grieving. Seeing him hunched over his grandmother made those men draw their weapons out of fear that Jiseong murdered her. When Jiseong sees these weapons, he comes to the conclusion that they murdered her and lashes out.
• The Power of Friendship: Invoked. Jin, one of Minsu's comrades from the Sword World, realizes that the reason why Minsu is so powerful is because he fought to protect his friends and all the people who counted on him. Jin hopes to harness this himself when fighting Ivan so Cleric and the rest of Minsu's comrades can save Minsu from freezing to death. But it's not enough and Jin dies to the monster that Ivan has become.
• Prequel: Season 2 of the webcomic is titled "Losers". As the name implies, the season covers all of the Warriors who died trying to fight Minsu and the Nine Warriors before the events of Season 1. Given what happens, their defeats and deaths are a Foregone Conclusion.
• Pyrrhic Victory: No matter what, every single victory the heroes have against the fallen Warriors is hard-fought and at incredible cost. All of the members of The Old Guard perish fighting the Warriors of the 21st century, but manage to defeat Hana, make Garam undergo a Heel–Face Turn, and temporarily take Uiho Jeong out of the fight. Ivan's murder of Minsu's comrades turns Minsu into a Demon Lord. This in turn would allow Seongjun to die, ending the "Groundhog Day" Loop that kept the entire universe hostage. Then Seongjun does finally succeed in achieving his final death and thus allows time to finally continue forward unimpeded, but his actions have left the world at the mercy of a being only seeking to eradicate all life out of spite.
• Refuge in the West: Most of the population of Europe and Asia flees west toward North America and Africa after the surviving Nine Warriors leave South Korea. The necessity of evacuation only intensifies after Minsu becomes a Demon Lord and it becomes clear that no earthly force save for another Warrior can possibly stop him. Even then, it's only buying time because Minsu is an Implacable Man only impeded by travelling on foot.

• Retcon: It was implied in Minsu dispatched Yuseong, the Magic Warrior, via Sword Beam given how Minsu tried to kill Ivan. When the comic reveals the fight proper, it's shown that Minsu killed Yuseong in a Single-Stroke Battle after allowing himself to be hit to gauge Yuseong's power, range, and defenses.
• Ret-Gone: A major turning point in the story is the reveal that Seongjun's actions are all tied to preventing this trope, as his resurrections and rewinding of time wipes his previous timelines from existence. His attempts to let humanity and the universe itself move beyond his "Groundhog Day" Loop is the catalyst for the plot.
• Robbing the Dead: Flashbacks show that Jeongsu's armor originally belonged to the Demon Lord of the Spear World. Presumably, Jeongsu took it for his own use after finally killing the Demon Lord when the Demon Lord outlived his usefulness as a practice dummy.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran:
  • Double Subverted. Minsu is clearly shaken by the violence of being essentially a Child Soldier, but was able to remain sane and kind thanks to the friends he made and the knowledge that he made the world a better place. But once he returns home and finds nothing left for him there, he snaps and begins his violent rampage across the country. He snaps even harder when his teammates from the other world all die trying to save him from the Glacial Warrior, driving him so far over the Despair Event Horizon that he turns into a new Demon Lord.
  • This is largely shown to be true of all of the fallen Warriors, who were ordinary teenagers drafted to fight in horrific wars on behalf of others. Those who did not have friends and loved ones to keep them tethered to their humanity went insane and decided to vent their anguish on everyone else.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: When Marie asks Garam to stand down and repent, Garam responds by scoffing at Marie and calling her foolish for trying to fight her with 100-year-old technology. That's when Marie unveils that she hasn't been twiddling her thumbs for the past century and admonishes Garam for diminishing the achievements of humanity.
  Marie: The painstaking efforts of humanity over the past 100 years in order to protect future generations, the dedication and sacrifice of countless people during that time.... Show them the respect they deserve.
• Shout-Out: The Iron Arm Warrior's death, in which his heart is ripped out before collapsing before the protagonist while declaring them his successor, is reminiscent of the final boss' death scene in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.
• Stock Shōnen Hero: Jiwon Ahn, the Metamorphosis Warrior, is a kind-hearted man who idolized the setting's version of Super Sentai as a child. He believes he doesn't need a reason to help others and pushes himself above and beyond his limits to keep his promises. He battles as Lightning Bruiser Henshin Hero who will not stop until everyone he loves and cares about is safe.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • A common thread among all the Warriors is the impact their one-year absence has had on their personal lives. In Minsu's case, his parents died while trying to look for him, his friends want nothing to do with him, and he's financially ruined and expelled. However, it's later revealed that Minsu would have returned home to his family had Seongjun not killed them as part of his plans to turn Minsu into a Demon Lord. That being said, the Sea Dragon, Iron Arm, Golem, and new Transformation Warriors still fell even in the timeline where Seongjun fought alongside the heroic Warriors to save Earth, so Seongjun wasn't likely responsible for every tragedy that befell the fallen Warriors.
  • The king of Atlas follows Su-a back to her world so they can live out the rest of their lives as a couple. His own subjects try to get him to reconsider, noting that No Biochemical Barriers is not a thing and that Su-a's world may be inhospitable to someone like him. Their concerns turn out to be correct, as the polluted and industrialized Earth quickly sickens the king of Atlas compared to the pristine waters of his home. His need to be in his sea dragon form for periods of time further complicates matters, ultimately leading to him transforming atop a ferry and being targeted by the Korean government.
  • Sunjeong's Resurrective Immortality powers means that Death Is Cheap for him unless he's fighting a Demon Lord. While this means he can redo fights as many times as he wants, he still has to carry the burden of being gruesomely killed over and over. The sheer amount of memories Seongjun has in 150,000 years of existence does serious damage to his psyche. He's thoroughly traumatized by living for an unfathomable amount of time in a "Groundhog Day" Loop where all his efforts will be undone no matter what he does. He reaches his limit while fighting Minsu for the last time, barely able to cling to his sanity after replaying the fight tens of thousands of times, nearly succumbing completely to his Death Seeker desires before reminding himself to stake his all to take off Minsu's arm.
• Taking You with Me: This is the ultimate fate of Hana Baek and Saint Damien. Damien impales Hana with a spear forged from the benevolent faith of the people inspired by his Paying It Forward centuries ago. Hana, unable to heal herself thanks to the purity of that same faith shattering her control over her followers, attempts to kill him to restore her powers. To her astonishment, he makes no attempt to dodge and instead welcomes her with open arms, impaling him too as he embraces her and tells her that he wishes he were there to answer her prayers. They're sealed in a coffin of light that vanishes, taking both Faith Warriors with it.
• Teens Are Monsters: Many of the fallen Warriors are teenagers pushing college age at the oldest. The monster part is self-explanatory, considering they've been slaughtering people by the hundreds. For a less fantastical example, there are the bullies who tormented Uiho for being overweight and later tried to force him to rape a girl who had befriended him.
• Time Stands Still: The Witch of Frost, the goddess of the Glacial World, freezes time when she comes to visit Ivan while he's on the verge of dying to Minsu's comrades from Sword World, preventing anyone from interrupting their meeting.
• Together in Death: After being cut in half by Jeongsu, Su-a's and the king of Atlas' last thoughts are of how much they love each other, with both of them closing their eyes peacefully as if they just fell asleep next to each other.
• Unflinching Walk: After leveling most of Korea, Minsu begins walking across the rest of Asia to continue his rampage. Although he's capable of running much more quickly, he chooses to walk and casually wiping out anyone who tries to fight him. This shows his apathy and Motive Decay as he wonders why he even started killing for when his actions aren't making him feel better. After becoming a Demon Lord, he continues his walk across Asia, wiping out Russia's entire nuclear arsenal with a wave of his hand before continuing on toward Europe.
• Walking Armory: Jeongsu has up to nine magical spears in his arsenal at any point. So long as he's holding one spear, he can summon any of them from the Spear World. The ultimate plan to defeat Minsu involves giving Jeongsu as many Heroes' Relics as he can get his hands on. Garam even gives him extra arms just so he can use as many as he can simultaneously.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: This is revealed to be the ultimate motivation of one of the fallen Warriors, who wishes to end the "Groundhog Day" Loop that Seongjun's powers have trapped the world in by turning Minsu into a Demon Lord who can kill him, But to achieve this goal, he willingly plays the part of a villain responsible for hundreds of millions of deaths and displacing countless others.
• Wham Line:
  • Just before dying to the nuclear weapon launched by the God's Fist, Seongjun reveals that he killed Minsu's parents and made it look like an accident and suicide.
  • While killing the Vampire Warrior, Seongjun reveals his true motives since his opponent is about to die: that he's trying to save his world.
• The Worf Barrage:
  • Jeongsu summons all nine magical spears in his arsenal in his fight against Minsu, using a Yin-Yang Bomb, Blade Spam, and all sorts of other attacks in his attempt to kill the Sword Warrior. While he's able to draw blood, Minsu ultimately overpowers him with only moderate effort, shattering Jeongsu's confidence and forcing Yerin to save him at the cost of all the life in the B12 Shelter.
  • Yuseong used his most powerful magic, the Light of Creation, in an attempt to vaporize Minsu along with the district he's standing in. But Minsu is completely unscathed due to the toughness of his armor and his goddess' blessing. He then withstands all of Yuseong's subsequent magical attacks with a bored expression on his face, emphasizing Minsu's status as The Juggernaut.
  • In a desperate effort to kill Minsu, Russia deploys its entire nuclear arsenal, including weapons that were officially dismantled. Minsu effortlessly destroys most of the nuclear bombs dropped on him via Sword Beam and withstands the rest simply by wrapping himself in his cape. Given how one bomb was enough to kill him in a previous timeline, this shows just how much more dangerous he is as a Demon Lord.
• Worf Had the Flu: Jiwon Ahn winds up being relatively evenly matched against the Martial Arts Warrior despite being strong and fast enough to compete with Minsu. This is because Jiwon is already dying from his third-degree burns and fighting is only accelerating his death as he's cooked alive in his suit. Despite having one foot in the grave, Jiwon still manages to force the Martial Arts Warrior to give up his powers just to barely survive their battle.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
  • Jeongsu uses powerful elixirs to constantly restore the Demon Lord of the Spear World to fighting shape so he can fight the Demon Lord over and over to get stronger. Eventually, the Demon Lord is reduced to begging for death. Given that he went home and donned the Demon Lord's armor as his own, Jeongsu presumably killed him after he was no longer useful.
  • This is Seongjun Lee's response to the Vampire Warrior or rather, the Demon Lord of the Exorcist World after they cease to be useful to his plans. He then pulls out a weapon to kill the Vampire Warrior.
  • Season 2 reveals that Operation Fighting Ring came about because of Director Kim being talked into it by Seongjun. After Kim gets multiple Warriors killed and drives South Korea into disarray, Seongjun appears at the Korean military's headquarters to kill Kim and the rest of South Korea's leadership.

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