And Zekai finally understood the first rule of survival.
He didn't need to find the path that would save him. He only needed to create one.
A path that should never have existed.
For the first time since entering the sanctuary, the Witnesses looked at Zekai differently.
Not as prey. Not quite as an equal, either. Something in between.
Zekai noticed it immediately.
He tightened his grip around Null Drakular and forced himself to breathe normally. His body had already recovered from the injuries inflicted moments ago, but his mind still carried the weight of every impact.
The six figures remained scattered across the ruined courtyard, but none of them moved to attack.
Jerom stood with his arms folded, crimson hair shifting in the wind. Hella's silver hair fell across her shoulders as she watched Zekai in silence. Vespercoil rested his skeletal whip against one shoulder, while the black-haired Beast remained crouched several paces away, studying him like a puzzle it had yet to solve.
Nihil held his blue-black Grimoire open, its pages turning lazily in the wind. Astrael stood furthest away, yellow eyes fixed on Zekai with an unreadable calm.
They weren't giving him an opening. They were waiting for something.
Zekai glanced at them one by one.
They're waiting.
The realization made his stomach tighten. They weren't rushing him.
They wanted to see what he would do. Zekai lowered Null Drakular slightly.
Then he smiled. It wasn't the confident grin he had worn earlier.
It was smaller. More cautious. "Fine." His eyes settled on the Beast.
"Fine." His eyes settled on the Beast. "Let's see how much you've learned."
He stepped forward.
The Beast moved at the same instant. Its body crossed the distance between them almost instantly.
Zekai raised Null Drakular. The creature's fist came toward his face.
Zekai didn't block. He shifted his head slightly. The punch passed beside his cheek.
The Beast's fist stopped for the briefest fraction of a second.
Its eyes narrowed. It hadn't missed because Zekai was faster.
It had missed because the distance had changed.
His eyes widened. Too close. The Beast immediately followed with its other arm.
Zekai twisted his waist. The second strike missed by inches.
He stepped backward. The ground beneath his foot seemed to move with him. For a fraction of a second, the distance between them became wrong.
Zekai's eyes sharpened. There. He understood it now. Possibility wasn't making him stronger. It wasn't making him faster. It was making reality uncertain around him.
The Beast attacked again. Zekai stepped left. The creature corrected its trajectory.
Zekai suddenly stepped right. The Beast followed.
Then Zekai did something completely irrational. He stepped directly toward the attack.
The Beast's fist passed behind his shoulder.
Zekai rotated beneath its arm and brought Null Drakular upward.
SHING!
The white blade cut across the Beast's chest. A shallow wound opened. Black blood spilled onto the stone. The Beast stopped.
For the first time, the Beast's expression changed.
Not pain.
Recognition. Zekai noticed it. It learned something.
The realization chilled him more than the creature's strength.
His first successful dodge had taught it more than his attack had taught him.
Zekai landed several meters away. He stared at the cut. Then at his sword.
He had actually done it. A breath escaped his lips.
"...I hit you."
The Beast looked down at the wound. Its fingers touched the blood. Then it looked back at Zekai. Its expression remained calm. "You changed."
Zekai raised an eyebrow. "Apparently I'm not very good at staying the same."
The Beast disappeared before Zekai could enjoy the opening.
His smile vanished.
Too fast. He barely raised Null Drakular before the impact reached him.
BOOM!
The impact sent him flying. He crashed through a broken pillar and struck the ground hard enough to crack the stone beneath him.
Pain exploded through his ribs. Before he could even breathe, the Beast was already above him.
Zekai rolled. A claw tore through the stone where his head had been. He scrambled backward. It adapted already.
The Beast wasn't simply learning his movements anymore. It had learned his reaction to Possibility.
That was the difference. Zekai's expression hardened.
'It knows that I don't know where I'm going either.'
The Beast lunged again. Zekai moved. The creature followed.
Zekai twisted. A claw caught his side. Blood sprayed. He staggered. The Beast grabbed his shoulder.
Zekai swung Null Drakular. The creature ducked. Its knee slammed into his stomach.
Zekai folded. A fist struck his back.
He crashed into the ground. The pain came faster than his thoughts.
Zekai forced himself onto one elbow and looked beyond the Beast.
Jerom hadn't moved. Neither had Hella, Vespercoil, Nihil, or Astrael. But they were watching. All of them.
Zekai's grip tightened around the sword.
'I've been treating them like six separate enemies.'
His gaze moved across the courtyard.
That's the mistake. They weren't waiting for their turn.
They were waiting for an opportunity. Frost Heal. Cold spread through his body. The broken ribs repaired themselves.
Zekai pushed himself up. His breathing was ragged. The Beast was already waiting.
Zekai looked at it. Then at the other five.
No. He suddenly understood.
'I'm trying to beat them individually.' His eyes narrowed. That's the wrong approach.
He didn't need to defeat them. He needed to survive them. The moment that thought settled into his mind—
A crimson flash passed through the air. Zekai's instincts screamed.
He twisted aside. A blood spear pierced the ground where his chest had been.
He hadn't seen Jerom move. He looked toward the Crimson Marshal.
Jerom hadn't even unfolded his arms. His expression was almost bored. "You've spent enough time learning."
Zekai's expression hardened. So much for waiting their turn.
"You're joining in."
Jerom extended one hand. The blood scattered across the battlefield began to move.
Drops that had soaked into the stone rose first. Then the blood clinging to broken weapons.
Then the stains beneath Zekai's own feet. Every trace of crimson answered Jerom.
Zekai's stomach tightened.
'The battlefield itself is his weapon.'
The droplets lifted from the stone. Then hundreds of crimson threads spread across the courtyard.
Zekai's expression changed. Blood. The battlefield itself had become a weapon.
Jerom closed his fingers. The blood converged. Spears formed from every direction.
Zekai moved. One passed his shoulder. Another struck his leg. A third pierced his side.
He twisted away from the fourth. His movements became increasingly erratic as Possibility distorted the trajectories.
Jerom watched carefully. Then his eyes narrowed.
"Not bad."
A spear suddenly changed direction. Zekai's eyes widened. It struck him through the shoulder. He stumbled. Another spear followed.
Zekai raised Null Drakular and deflected it.
Jerom's smile deepened. "You aren't controlling probability."
Zekai's expression hardened. "Then what am I doing?"
"You're creating uncertainty."
Jerom closed his hand. "And uncertainty can be manipulated."
Zekai's expression changed. He understood the warning a second too late.
If he could make reality uncertain... so could someone else.
The blood on Zekai's clothes suddenly moved. His pupils contracted.
What—?
The blood hardened around his arm. His hand jerked violently. Null Drakular nearly slipped from his fingers.
Zekai stared at his own arm. "Don't..." His fingers tightened. His hand moved against his will.
Jerom walked forward. "You've been wounded."
A thin crimson line crawled beneath Zekai's skin. "That is enough."
Zekai gritted his teeth. "What did you do?"
"Crimson Baptism." Jerom's voice remained calm.
"Once my blood enters you, your body becomes part of my domain."
Zekai's pupils contracted. His heartbeat became irregular.
Thump.
Thump—
THUMP.
His vision blurred. His right arm suddenly swung toward his own chest.
Zekai grabbed his wrist with his other hand. "Get out!"
Jerom continued approaching. "Your body belongs to you only while you control it."
Zekai's muscles trembled. "Shut up!"
His own arm pushed harder. The blade's tip approached his chest.
Zekai gritted his teeth. Think.
Jerom required blood. The blood inside his body had become an anchor.
But Jerom didn't know one thing. Zekai didn't need reality to behave normally.
His eyes sharpened.
Possibility. He deliberately allowed his grip to loosen.
Jerom's control immediately forced the arm forward.
That was exactly what Zekai wanted. The instant the movement became certain, Possibility twisted the outcome.
His sword arm veered several inches away from his chest.
Jerom's eyes narrowed.
Zekai used the opening. He stepped sideways. His own controlled arm followed the altered trajectory.
Null Drakular sliced across the blood threads.
SHING!
The connection snapped. Zekai stumbled backward.
Jerom's eyes narrowed. "You used my control against itself."
Zekai breathed heavily. "I told you."
He wiped blood from the corner of his mouth. "I'm starting to understand."
Jerom smiled faintly. "Then understand this." His fingers closed. Every blood spear converged.
Zekai's eyes widened. The attack came from everywhere.
He moved.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
He escaped the first wave. The fifth pierced his abdomen.
The sixth entered his chest. Zekai coughed blood. His knees buckled.
Jerom looked down at him. "You learn quickly."
Zekai fell to one knee.
"But not quickly enough."
Before Zekai could recover, something green flashed at the edge of his vision.
Vespercoil had already moved. The skeletal whip rose from his hand.
Zekai barely had time to turn. Zekai looked up.
"Wait—"
The whip struck.
CRACK!
The weapon wrapped around Zekai's chest. A cold sensation entered his body.
Something was wrong. Zekai pulled against the weapon. Nothing happened.
Vespercoil's voice was quiet. "Marked."
A black symbol appeared beneath Zekai's skin. His eyes widened.
It wasn't a wound. It felt like a destination. Somewhere beyond the present moment, something had just recognized him.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing that your body can heal."
The whip disappeared.
Zekai looked down. There was no wound. Yet he could feel something. A destination. A point waiting somewhere ahead of him.
Vespercoil raised his hand. "Run."
Zekai frowned. "What?"
"Run."
The next second, Zekai's instincts screamed. He jumped backward. The skeletal whip struck the place where he had been standing.
He exhaled. "Too slow." He moved again. The whip missed.
Zekai smiled faintly. Then pain exploded across his chest.
He froze. Blood poured from a wound that hadn't existed a moment ago. He looked down in disbelief.
Vespercoil lowered the whip. "You avoided my weapon." His green eyes remained fixed on Zekai.
"You did not avoid your death."
Zekai's expression slowly changed. He finally understood why the whip had felt so strange.
Vespercoil wasn't hunting him.
He was hunting the moment he would die. And those were two very different things.
Zekai's pupils contracted. The wound began closing. Frost Heal activated. Cold spread through his chest.
The injury vanished. Zekai touched the healed skin.
"...So that's your trick."
Vespercoil said nothing. The whip moved again. Zekai dodged. The wound appeared again. He healed.
The whip struck once more. He moved. Another wound appeared.
He healed.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Zekai's breathing became increasingly unstable.
'It's not tracking me.' His eyes widened.
'It's tracking the destination.'
Vespercoil slowly approached. "You understand now."
Zekai stared at him. "That's..." His voice weakened. "...really annoying."
The next strike came faster. The whip struck. This time Zekai didn't move fast enough.
It pierced his chest. His body went rigid. He looked down. The weapon had gone straight through his heart. For one second, everything became quiet.
Zekai's eyes widened. His lips moved. "...Ah." His knees collapsed. He hit the ground.
The world faded.
Darkness swallowed him.And for the first time since entering the sanctuary...
Frost Heal had nothing left to repair.
✦ End of Chapter 67 — The Price of Possibility ✦