Zekai opened his eyes. He inhaled violently. His body jerked upright. His hand immediately went to his chest.
Nothing. No wound. No blood.
He stared at his palm.
'I'm alive.'
But his memory hadn't disappeared.
He remembered the impact. He remembered his heart stopping.
He remembered the darkness. He remembered dying.
He slowly breathed out. "Frost Heal..." He had seen it happen before.
Broken bones. Severe wounds. Damage that should have ended him. But this time was different. His heart had stopped. He had died. And yet—he was back.
Zekai looked toward Vespercoil.
The Witness hadn't moved.
"Again?" Zekai's voice trembled.
Vespercoil raised his whip. The attack came.
Zekai dodged. His chest opened anyway. Pain exploded. He fell. Darkness.
Then—Air.
Zekai gasped. His eyes opened. His body was restored. His fingers dug into the stone.
"...Again." He stared at his trembling hand. Something cold settled inside his stomach.
'It brought me back.'
Vespercoil attacked. Zekai moved. The whip struck his neck. Darkness.
Then—Breath.
He returned again. This time he didn't immediately stand. He remained on his knees.
After that, he stopped counting. The first death had terrified him.
The second had confused him. The third had broken something inside him. After that... death became a rhythm.
Pain.
Darkness.
Frost.
Breath.
Pain.
Darkness.
Frost.
Breath.
He no longer knew how many times it happened.
Ten?
Twenty?
Fifty?
It didn't matter. Every time his body broke...
something brought it back. His body was perfectly intact. His mind wasn't.
Zekai looked down at the ground. His hands were shaking. "I..." His voice barely emerged. "...I died." Nobody answered.
He laughed once. A small, broken sound. "I lost count."
His laughter stopped. Zekai slowly looked at the six Witnesses. They were still standing.
Waiting. Watching.
He understood. They can keep doing this. His eyes lowered.
I can keep coming back. A terrible realization followed.
That's exactly why they aren't afraid of killing me. Hella walked toward him.
"Stand."
Zekai didn't move.
"Stand."
He slowly raised his head.
"Why?"
Hella stopped.
Zekai's voice was quiet. "Why do you keep doing this?"
No answer. His eyes reddened. "Is this supposed to prove something?"
Still nothing.
"That you're stronger?"
His fingers curled. "I know." His voice cracked. "I know you're stronger."
He lowered his head. "You don't have to keep showing me."
Hella looked down at him. "You haven't understood yet."
"What?"
"Your survival is not a victory."
Zekai's expression froze. Hella's silver eyes remained cold.
"It is merely permission for us to continue."
Zekai stared at her. For several seconds, he couldn't find a reply. Because somewhere inside him, he already knew she was right. She had simply stated the rules.
The words struck harder than any attack. Zekai stopped breathing for a moment.
Then Jerom moved. Blood formed around him. Vespercoil raised his whip. The Beast stepped forward. Hella lifted her hand. Nihil opened the Grimoire. Astrael watched.
Zekai stared at all six. His confidence finally cracked. He had thought Frost Heal was his greatest advantage.
Now it felt like a curse.
'They don't need to kill me once.'
'They can kill me forever.'
The first attack struck. Zekai screamed. The second came before Frost Heal had completely finished. His body collapsed. Cold energy restored him.
Another attack.
Another death.
Another restoration.
His face was torn open. Frost Heal repaired it.
His arm was destroyed. Frost Heal restored it.
His leg was crushed beneath the Beast's foot. Frost Heal rebuilt it.
Vespercoil ended his life. Frost Heal brought him back.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Time stopped having meaning. There was only pain. Then healing.
Pain. Healing.
Pain. Healing.
Zekai stopped screaming. That frightened even Hella.
He simply stared ahead whenever they destroyed him. When his body returned, his eyes remained empty. At one point, Zekai looked at his own hand after it had regenerated.
He flexed his fingers. "...Still working."
His voice sounded distant. Another attack came. He didn't react quickly enough. His body collapsed.
Frost Heal restored him. Zekai sat upright. "Still working."
Another death.
Another return.
"Still..." His voice broke. "...working."
Eventually, a terrible thought entered his mind. This isn't healing. His breathing slowed.
'I'm not being healed.'
He looked toward his restored body.
'I'm being returned.'
His fingers slowly touched his chest. The place where his heart had stopped. "Returned..."
The word felt wrong. Healing repaired what remained.
Returning meant something had brought back what was already gone. Zekai's expression slowly changed.
"...Then what exactly is bringing me back?"
The distinction terrified him. He pressed a hand against his chest. "Who..." His voice trembled. "Who keeps bringing me back?" Nobody answered.
He closed his eyes. For the first time since entering the sanctuary, Zekai looked genuinely lost.
"I don't want to do this anymore."
The words were so quiet that even he almost didn't hear them.
"I don't want to..." His throat tightened. "...keep coming back."
He wasn't asking them for mercy. He knew better than that. He was simply admitting the truth to himself.
He was afraid.
Not of death.
Of surviving it forever.
Zekai remained kneeling. His face was wet. His body was healed. His mind still hurt. But something inside him had settled.
Not confidence. Acceptance. He slowly stood. "I can't beat them."
The Witnesses watched.
Zekai lifted Null Drakular. "But I can survive."
His eyes lifted.
Survival was no longer an instinct. It had become a decision.
And The Fool responded.
The Fool's Authority stirred. A faint distortion surrounded his body.
[PATH DEVELOPMENT DETECTED]
Zekai's eyes widened.
[FOOL + ACE OF WANDS]
[PARTIAL SYNCHRONIZATION]
[CHAOTIC MOVEMENT — AVAILABLE]
The system flickered. Zekai felt something explode through his legs. His body moved. Not forward. Not backward.
Everywhere. He shot across the courtyard with a sudden burst of speed.
The Beast attacked. Zekai twisted his body in midair. His spine bent farther than it should have.
The Beast's claw passed beneath him. Zekai landed. The Beast turned. Zekai was already gone.
He changed direction without warning. The Beast's eyes followed.
Too late. Zekai appeared beside it. Null Drakular flashed. A cut opened across its shoulder.
Zekai landed several meters away. The Beast stared.
Zekai's breathing was heavy. His eyes were still wet. But they were alive again.
The Beast stepped forward. "You changed again."
Zekai raised his sword. "I told you." The distortion around his body intensified.
"I don't stay the same."
The Beast lunged. Zekai exploded sideways. His movement became irregular.
One step became three. Three became none. His body twisted through impossible angles.
He wasn't predicting where his body would go. He was allowing himself to become uncertain.
Every movement began with a possibility. Every possibility created another. And The Fool slipped between them.
The Beast attacked repeatedly. Every strike missed. Not because Zekai was stronger. Because his movement had stopped following a pattern.
Astrael finally spoke. "An unstable branch."
Zekai glanced toward him. Astrael's yellow eyes narrowed.
"It will collapse."
Zekai smiled faintly. "Then I'll make another."
He rushed forward. For several seconds, he actually pushed the Beast backward.
Then—
Hella raised her hand. The battlefield went black. Chains erupted from every direction.
Zekai's expression changed. No.
He twisted. One chain missed. Another wrapped around his ankle. A third seized his wrist.
The fourth wrapped around Null Drakular. Zekai pulled. Nothing. Hella's eyes remained cold.
"You've learned enough." More chains appeared.
The sword was dragged from his hand. Zekai's expression changed instantly.
"Give it back."
Hella continued pulling. Zekai lunged.
The chains tightened. His shoulder cracked. Frost Heal restored it.
He lunged again. The chains crushed him. He healed again. He still couldn't reach the sword.
Nihil finally closed his Grimoire halfway. His blue eyes settled on Null Drakular.
"Give me the sword."
Hella tightened the chains.
Zekai looked toward him. His fingers curled.
Nihil opened the Grimoire. A fresh page appeared. He wrote:
NULL.
Nothing happened. His pen paused.
DRAKULAR.
Again, nothing.
Nihil's expression changed by the smallest degree.
He wrote one final line.
THE SWORD.
The ink faded. Nihil's pen stopped.
Nihil stared at the page. His expression became strangely fascinated. "...Impossible."
His voice was barely audible.
"The Grimoire recognizes everything."
He slowly raised his eyes toward Zekai.
"Concepts. Objects. Souls. Authorities."
His gaze settled on the white blade.
"But it cannot recognize that."
Zekai said nothing.
Nihil's expression hardened.
"What are you?"
For the first time, the Witness of Oblivion wasn't looking at him as prey.
He was looking at him as an anomaly.
Zekai didn't answer. He was staring at Null Drakular. Hella's chains tightened around it.
The sword trembled. A black-red glow began forming along the blade.
Jerom looked toward Lucien's distant throne. For the first time, he spoke quietly. "My lord..."
Far above the battlefield, Lucien sat watching. His expression had remained calm throughout the entire ordeal.
Now, however, his eyes rested on Zekai. More precisely— on Frost Heal.
High above the courtyard, Lucien remained seated upon his throne.
He had watched every death. Every resurrection. Every time Zekai's body returned from the brink. His gaze lingered on the frost spreading across the latest wound.
"...So that's what keeps returning you." His fingers rested against his cheek.
The power wasn't responding like an Arcana. It was coming from somewhere else.
Lucien's eyes narrowed. "Interesting."
For the first time, his attention shifted away from Zekai himself.
He was watching what brought Zekai back.
Zekai remained on one knee, breathing through the pain. His body was already beginning to recover.
The frost spread across his wounds, sealing what the Witnesses had broken.
Zekai watched the process in silence.
He had begun to understand something terrifying. They could destroy him.
Frost Heal would simply return him. Which meant they could continue. As many times as they wanted.
Zekai slowly raised Null Drakular again.
Six Witnesses faced him. None looked amused anymore.
The Beast had stopped treating him like prey.
Nihil could no longer erase his sword.
Astrael was watching his Possibility.
Vespercoil had discovered that death alone couldn't keep him down.
Hella knew his power could still be restrained. And Jerom...
Jerom had finally begun treating him like an opponent.
The battle had changed. So had Zekai.
But high above the courtyard, Lucien's gaze remained fixed on the pale frost covering Zekai's wounds.
He had finally found something worth investigating. Not how to kill Zekai. How to stop him from returning.
Zekai tightened his grip around Null Drakular..Reality flickered around his body.
He didn't know how long he could survive.
He didn't know how many times he could die.
He didn't know what waited beyond the sanctuary.
But he knew one thing. He was still here. And as long as he remained here...
the path wasn't over.
✦ End of Chapter 68 — Permission to Continue ✦