Zekai remained suspended in the chains.
His feet couldn't touch the ground. His arms were pinned behind him, and every breath felt as though an invisible hand was squeezing his lungs from the inside.
He had stopped struggling. Not because he had surrendered.
Because he had finally understood something.
I can't win.
The thought came without panic. That was what frightened him.
Until now, every defeat had carried an answer. Every enemy had a weakness. Every impossible situation had eventually produced some opening he could exploit.
But these six—
There was no opening.
Jerom watched him from the stone platform without moving.
Hella held the chains with one hand.
Vespercoil stood several meters away, his skeletal weapon resting loosely across his shoulder.
The Beast crouched nearby, watching Zekai's breathing.
Nihil had his ancient Grimoire open.
Astrael stood silently at the back.
Six figures. Six completely different presences.
And Zekai had already been forced to accept that the six of them hadn't been fighting seriously.
His confidence had been crushed. Yet something inside him still refused to disappear.
Zekai slowly raised his head. "Let me ask you something."
Hella glanced at him.
Zekai's voice was hoarse. "Do you always need this many people to deal with one human?"
A faint smile appeared on Hella's lips. "You're still trying to provoke us?"
"I'm trying to understand."
Zekai looked toward the others. "Six of you." His eyes settled on Jerom. "One of you is already enough to kill me."
Then Nihil. "Another can erase things from existence."
Then Astrael. "Another can reject what I do."
His gaze moved toward Vespercoil. "Another seems to know where I'm going to die."
Then the Beast. "And that thing..."
The Beast's eyes narrowed. "...is learning me every second."
Finally, he looked at Hella. "And you're keeping me from using the one weapon that might actually matter."
Zekai smiled weakly. "So why haven't you killed me?" For the first time, the six exchanged glances.
Jerom answered. "Because death is not the purpose."
Zekai's smile disappeared. "What is?"
Jerom didn't answer. That silence was enough.
Zekai understood.
They don't know either. Or perhaps they did. Perhaps whatever stood behind these six had simply ordered them to keep him alive.
That possibility unsettled him more than their strength.
Hella raised her hand. The chains tightened.
Zekai's body jerked. "Enough questions."
A black hand emerged from the darkness behind him. It seized his shoulder. Another appeared beneath his ribs. A third wrapped around his wrist.
Zekai's eyes widened. "Wait."
The hands pulled. Pain tore through his body. His back arched.
Hella's expression remained calm. "You don't understand, little Fool."
The chains wrapped tighter around Zekai's arms. "I'm not trying to break your sword."
She looked toward Null Drakular. "I'm making sure you can't reach it."
The black hands dragged the sword farther away.
Zekai's heart sank. "No."
The sword scraped across the stone.
"No, no—" He twisted against the chains. "Don't touch it."
Hella pulled again. Null Drakular slid another meter.
Zekai's breathing became frantic. "Stop!" The chains tightened. He screamed. The sound echoed across the battlefield.
Then—Silence.
Zekai froze. His own scream had disappeared.
Nihil had written something in the Grimoire.
The world became soundless. No wind. No footsteps. No chains. No breathing.
Zekai stared at Nihil.
The blue-haired Witness looked down at the page.
"Sound."
The word appeared in ink. Then vanished from reality.
Zekai's mouth moved. Nothing came out. He erased sound. His mind raced. Not blocked.
Erased.
Nihil turned the page. His eyes settled on Null Drakular.
The Grimoire opened to a blank page. Nihil lifted his hand.
He wrote: NULL DRAKULAR.
The ink touched the paper. Nothing happened.
Nihil paused. He looked at the page. Then at the sword.
He wrote again. NULL DRAKULAR.
The page remained empty. A faint tremor passed through the Grimoire.
Nihil's expression changed. Only slightly. But Zekai saw it.
The first genuine emotion. Disbelief. Nihil reached toward the sword. The instant his fingers touched the hilt—nothing happened.
Null Drakular didn't disappear. It didn't crack. It didn't even react.
Nihil slowly withdrew his hand. "... Impossible." His voice was quiet.
Zekai couldn't hear it. But he could read his lips.
Nihil stared at the sword as though he had encountered a question reality itself refused to answer.
Then the sound returned. Zekai sucked in a breath. The sudden return of his own breathing almost made him dizzy.
Nihil closed the Grimoire. "I cannot erase it."
Zekai blinked. What?
Nihil looked toward Jerom. "That weapon possesses a resistance I have never encountered."
Jerom's eyes narrowed. "Can you destroy it?"
"No."
"Something that doesn't exist in reality…"
"It means… it's Originless."
A small smile touched Zekai's lips. It was the first genuine smile he had shown in several minutes.
"So..." He looked toward Hella. "...you're all afraid of my sword."
Hella's expression darkened. "No." She pulled the chains.
Zekai's smile vanished.
"We are simply preventing an inconvenience."
The chains ripped him downward. His body slammed against the ground. Pain exploded through his shoulder. Before Frost Heal could react, a shadow passed over him.
The Beast.
Zekai barely rolled away. A fist crashed into the ground where his head had been.
The stone shattered. Zekai scrambled backward. The Beast followed. A second punch.
Zekai ducked. A third. He stepped aside.
A fourth—
Zekai raised his forearm. The impact threw him several meters. He rolled across the ground.
Too fast. He pushed himself up.
The Beast was already there. A knee struck his stomach. Zekai folded.
The Beast grabbed the back of his head and drove him into the ground.
CRACK.
Zekai's vision blurred. He forced himself to breathe. Frost Heal. Cold spread through his body.
The damage vanished. His ribs realigned. His breathing stabilized.
Zekai stared at his own hands. Again. He stood.
The Beast attacked. Zekai dodged. Barely. A fist passed beside his cheek. He stepped back.
Another. He ducked.
Another. He twisted.
For a few seconds, he survived. Then the Beast stopped.
Zekai stopped too.
The creature stared at him. Its eyes moved over Zekai's feet. His shoulders. His hands. His breathing.
Zekai's expression hardened.
It's watching.
The Beast stepped forward. Zekai moved first.
Left. The Beast followed.
Right. Blocked.
Zekai feinted high and struck low. The Beast caught his wrist.
Zekai's eyes widened. 'Already?'
The Beast slammed him into the ground.
Zekai coughed. Blood filled his mouth. The Beast released him.
Zekai rolled away and stood. His heart was beating faster. It learned my rhythm.
He stared at the creature. 'Every time I repeat a movement, it becomes easier for it to read me.'
Zekai's eyes moved toward Null Drakular. Still too far. He couldn't reach the sword. He couldn't overpower the Beast.
He couldn't predict the others. And his Fool Authority still refused to answer.
'Then what am I supposed to do?'
A strange thought surfaced. 'If I can't predict them...'
He stared at the Beast.
'...then maybe they shouldn't be able to predict me either.'
The Beast lunged.
Zekai moved. Not according to a plan. Not according to a technique. He simply moved. His foot landed slightly farther than he expected.
The Beast's fist passed beside his face.
Zekai blinked. 'What?'
The Beast attacked again. Zekai leaned backward.
The fist passed within an inch of his nose. He hadn't intended to lean that far.
He stepped sideways. The ground seemed to shift beneath his foot. For the briefest instant, Zekai saw something impossible.
His own body appeared two steps away from where it actually was.
The image vanished. Zekai froze.
'What was that?'
The Beast attacked again. Zekai instinctively moved. The creature's claws swept through empty air.
Zekai stared at the space between them. His heart skipped. 'I didn't dodge that.'
He looked at his hand. His fingers were trembling. The attack missed. A faint distortion passed through the air beside him. Almost invisible.
Almost like reality had forgotten where he was supposed to be.
Zekai's eyes widened. Then a system window appeared.
Its letters flickered violently.
[FOOL AUTHORITY — CRITICAL RESPONSE]
The message glitched.
[SURVIVAL THRESHOLD EXCEEDED.]
Another line appeared.
[PATH EVOLUTION DETECTED.]
Zekai stared. The words distorted again.
[THE FOOL HAS DISCOVERED—]
The sentence broke apart. Letters scattered. Then reformed.
[POSSIBILITY.]
✦ End of Chapter 65 — The First Possibility ✦