Black chains erupted around him.
One.
Five.
Ten.
They wrapped around his arms. His waist. His throat. His chest.
Zekai struggled. "Get off!"
The chains tightened. He felt his soul being pulled apart from his body. His eyes widened.
"Fool Authority!"
Nothing. Again. "Fool!" Nothing. His breathing became ragged.
He looked toward Null Drakular. The sword was right there. Only a few meters away. But he couldn't reach it.
Hella raised one hand. The shadows beneath Zekai's body opened.
Black hands emerged. One grabbed his wrist.
Another caught his shoulder. Another wrapped around his sword arm.
Zekai's pupils shrank. "Don't..." The hand tightened. "Touch it."
Hella smiled. The black hand pulled. Null Drakular slid across the ground.
Zekai's pupils contracted.
Not because the sword was moving. Because something inside him screamed that he couldn't lose it.
Zekai's heart sank. "No." The sword continued moving. "No."
The Witnesses watched.
Jerom remained silent.
The Beast observed.
Vespercoil smiled.
Nihil turned a page.
Astrael simply waited.
They weren't fighting him in the same way.
Each seemed to be touching a different part of reality.
The Beast watched his movements.
Hella watched his restraints.
Nihil watched his existence.
Astrael watched his choices.
Zekai's expression slowly hardened.
'They weren't fighting the same battle.'
And Zekai was beginning to understand just how badly outmatched he truly was.
Zekai's fingers clawed against the ground. "Don't."
Null Drakular stopped. Hella's chains wrapped around the sword. For the first time, something unexpected happened.
The chains trembled. Hella's expression changed. She pulled harder. Nothing. The sword did not move.
Hella pulled again. Nothing. The chains tightened until the stone beneath Null Drakular cracked. The sword didn't move. Not even an inch.
Hella's expression finally changed. "...What?"
Nihil slowly closed his Grimoire. His eyes narrowed. "Don't pull it."
Hella glanced at him. "Why?"
Nihil stared at Null Drakular. "...Because I don't think it's resisting you."
A beat of silence. "...I think it's waiting for him."
Hella narrowed her eyes. "What...?"
She added another chain. Then another. The sword remained still.
Nihil closed his book. His gaze fixed on Null Drakular. "Interesting."
Zekai stared at the sword. Something inside him stirred. He couldn't explain it. He couldn't understand it.
But somewhere beneath the terror, beneath the pain, beneath the humiliation—something was watching.
Waiting.
Zekai's lips parted. A whisper escaped him. "...Come to me." The sword trembled.
Hella's eyes widened.
Then Jerom spoke. "Enough."
The command wasn't directed toward Zekai. It was directed toward the Witnesses.
Every weapon stopped. Every movement ceased. Even Vespercoil became still.
Zekai noticed. They obeyed him immediately.
They all stopped.
Zekai remained suspended in the chains. His body was battered. His clothes were torn.
Blood stained his face. Yet he was still smiling.
Barely.
Jerom looked at him. "You have mistaken our restraint for weakness."
His eyes briefly settled on the blood staining Zekai's torn clothes.
"You haven't even begun to understand what you're carrying."
Zekai stared back. His breathing was uneven. His body wanted to collapse. But his pride refused. He forced himself to laugh. "So..."
He swallowed the blood in his mouth. "...you were holding back."
Jerom nodded. "Considerably."
Zekai's smile disappeared. That single word hurt more than any punch.
The Witnesses hadn't even been serious. All his attacks. All his movements. Everything he had done.
They had been playing with him.
Zekai lowered his head.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then his lips moved. "Then..." His fingers tightened. "...I'll make you serious."
He pulled against the chains. Every muscle in his body screamed.
Nothing happened. Again. Nothing. His breathing became heavier.
Again. Still nothing. Hella watched silently.
Zekai's arms began trembling. His eyes were no longer confident. They were desperate. "Move."
Nothing. "Move!"
Nothing. His vision blurred. His heartbeat thundered inside his chest.
He looked toward Null Drakular. The sword remained trapped beneath Hella's chains.
Then Zekai heard something. A faint metallic sound.
Tick.
His eyes shifted. For an instant, the world seemed to skip.
The chains flickered. The Witnesses flickered. Even his own hand seemed to exist in two places at once.
Zekai froze.
'What was that?'
The phenomenon vanished.
His Fool Authority remained silent. Instead, something else appeared.
A faint system window. The letters distorted. Reformed.
Then stabilized.
[ARCANA STATUS — ERROR]
[FOOL AUTHORITY RESPONSE DETECTED.]
[CURRENT CONDITION: SURVIVAL.]
[OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE.]
[METHOD: IRRELEVANT.]
[WARNING.]
[IF YOU CANNOT SURVIVE...]
[YOU WILL END.]
Zekai stared. His mouth twitched.
"What is this...?"
Was the system threatening him? Or was it telling him something far worse?
For once, Zekai couldn't tell whether the Arcana was giving him an objective... or simply stating a fact.
He looked at the six Witnesses. They were still standing there. Untouched. Unhurried. Waiting.
Zekai's heart sank. For the first time since receiving the Fool...
Zekai didn't feel chosen. He didn't feel special. He didn't feel like the protagonist of some grand mystery.
He felt small. Very small. Terribly, helplessly small.
Hella raised her hand. The chains tightened.
Zekai's knees buckled.
Vespercoil stepped forward. The skeletal whip dragged across the ground with a dry scraping sound.
The Beast cracked its neck.
Jerom watched.
Nihil opened his Grimoire.
Astrael's golden eyes settled on Zekai.
Six beings beyond his understanding.
One human.
And somewhere far beyond the battlefield, in a throne room hidden from every possible sight—
a man watched the scene through a still pool of crimson light.
Lucien rested his cheek against one hand. His expression was calm. Almost amused. He watched Zekai struggle against the chains.
Then he watched Null Drakular. His eyes lingered on the sword.
A faint smile appeared. "So that's the weapon..." His gaze returned to Zekai. "You still don't understand."
The crimson image reflected Zekai's trembling body.
Lucien's smile deepened. "This isn't your battle yet."
Back on the battlefield, Zekai lifted his head.
The chains tightened once more. And this time—he couldn't break them.
Clank.
The chains tightened. Zekai's knees finally touched the ground.
Null Drakular remained only a few meters away. Close enough to see.
Too far to reach. His fingers dug into the stone.
His breathing shook.
Yet his eyes remained fixed on the sword. For the first time since becoming the Fool Bearer...
Zekai had nothing left to do but survive.
✦ End of Chapter 64 — The Fool's Last Stand ✦