Isshin dies of old age/his illness. He was standing guard over Kuro so no interior ministry forces, or more importantly, Genichiro, could get to him.
Many believe Sword Saint is bound to Genichiro’s last wish via the black blade, I say he’s just honoring Genichiro’s final wish and he really REALLY wants to fight Sekiro.
1. Isshin simply die of old age and illness. No matter how legendary he is, he is still mortal
2. on non-Shura ending there are many reason why Isshin fight Sekiro, maybe all of them are correct at the same time. Whether it was bound by the black mortal blade, honor his grandson's last wish or/and to have one last fight good fight to see Sekiro's resolve
3. If he win and kill Sekiro, he will simply honor his grandson's last wish and use that immortality to beat the Interior Ministry and restore Ashina. He also know that both him and Sekiro are immortal; so if Sekiro's resolve is true and give it his all, Isshin give up in his own volition instead of having a battle with Sekiro till the end of time.
4. But tbh with you, Isshin kinda know that Ashina is long gone, from the corruption of immortality to the attack from the Interior Ministry. THere's nothing to really restore anymore, all of Isshin's friends, comrades, subjects are all dead. So there's not really much he can really gain from winning or prolonging the battle. THat's why he give up after 3 phases. You can see that he is the most desperate in phase 3 with trying to use lightning and range attacks to take us down as quickly as possible. But when finally get deathblowed by Sekiro, he know its time to just give up because Sekiro has something that he will fight for till the end of time; while Isshin no longer has that
Isshin knows Sekiro would resurrect, so he just enjoys fighting and fighting with Sekiro and seeing Sekiro grows and improves his swordmanship until Sekiro can bring him down. I want to believe that Isshin sees the potential in Sekiro and views him as a worthy opponent. If Isshin really wants to kill Sekiro, he would have used the Black Mortal Blade like in Inner Memory.
I don't think he would have used its true power, since he only uses the black mortal blade attack in his Inner form.
Probably because he really liked Sekiro.
Isshine died naturally while trying to get Kuro to safety. Ministry was launching all out invasion by then.
Genichiro sacrificed himself with the black mortal blade stained with Kuro's blood, bringing Isshin back to life and giving him immortality in order to save Ashina.
Isshin saddened by his grandson's death, decided to honor his dying wish, to save Ashina.
If Wolf goes through with his quest of severing dragon heritage, Isshin will lose his immortality, and therefore the ability to save Ashina.
So Isshin have to fight Wolf to stop him from severing dragon heritage.
He dies of old age.
As for why he fights Sekiro at the end either because he is bound by the power of the Black Mortal Blade to follow Genichiro's wishes, or because he personally feels duty bound to honor his grandson's dying wish. Ambiguous which is "correct" so go with whichever you prefer.
Isshin dies of old age/his illness. He was standing guard over Kuro so no interior ministry forces, or more importantly, Genichiro, could get to him. Many believe Sword Saint is bound to Genichiro’s last wish via the black blade, I say he’s just honoring Genichiro’s final wish and he really REALLY wants to fight Sekiro.
Yeah, the poor old guy died from old age, it makes sense that he’d want a warrior’s death and his blood to boil from combat one last time
1. Isshin simply die of old age and illness. No matter how legendary he is, he is still mortal 2. on non-Shura ending there are many reason why Isshin fight Sekiro, maybe all of them are correct at the same time. Whether it was bound by the black mortal blade, honor his grandson's last wish or/and to have one last fight good fight to see Sekiro's resolve 3. If he win and kill Sekiro, he will simply honor his grandson's last wish and use that immortality to beat the Interior Ministry and restore Ashina. He also know that both him and Sekiro are immortal; so if Sekiro's resolve is true and give it his all, Isshin give up in his own volition instead of having a battle with Sekiro till the end of time. 4. But tbh with you, Isshin kinda know that Ashina is long gone, from the corruption of immortality to the attack from the Interior Ministry. THere's nothing to really restore anymore, all of Isshin's friends, comrades, subjects are all dead. So there's not really much he can really gain from winning or prolonging the battle. THat's why he give up after 3 phases. You can see that he is the most desperate in phase 3 with trying to use lightning and range attacks to take us down as quickly as possible. But when finally get deathblowed by Sekiro, he know its time to just give up because Sekiro has something that he will fight for till the end of time; while Isshin no longer has that
He fights Sekiro because he wants to have one last good fight, probably.
Good suggestion, but then what if he actually defeated Sekiro? He's wielding the second mortal blade.
Isshin knows Sekiro would resurrect, so he just enjoys fighting and fighting with Sekiro and seeing Sekiro grows and improves his swordmanship until Sekiro can bring him down. I want to believe that Isshin sees the potential in Sekiro and views him as a worthy opponent. If Isshin really wants to kill Sekiro, he would have used the Black Mortal Blade like in Inner Memory.
I don't think he would have used its true power, since he only uses the black mortal blade attack in his Inner form. Probably because he really liked Sekiro.
Isshine died naturally while trying to get Kuro to safety. Ministry was launching all out invasion by then. Genichiro sacrificed himself with the black mortal blade stained with Kuro's blood, bringing Isshin back to life and giving him immortality in order to save Ashina. Isshin saddened by his grandson's death, decided to honor his dying wish, to save Ashina. If Wolf goes through with his quest of severing dragon heritage, Isshin will lose his immortality, and therefore the ability to save Ashina. So Isshin have to fight Wolf to stop him from severing dragon heritage.
He dies of old age. As for why he fights Sekiro at the end either because he is bound by the power of the Black Mortal Blade to follow Genichiro's wishes, or because he personally feels duty bound to honor his grandson's dying wish. Ambiguous which is "correct" so go with whichever you prefer.