A strange pressure descended. The possibility vanished.
Zekai felt something inside his mind being cut away. His expression changed. "What did you—?"
Astrael's voice remained emotionless.
"Your intention to reach the sword."
Zekai stared at him. "You judged my intention?"
"I judged the outcome." Astrael's expression didn't change. "Your choice was never accepted."
Zekai's fingers tightened. So even choosing could be taken away.
Zekai stared. "So that's your Authority."
Astrael didn't answer.
Lucien smiled. "Now you understand."
Zekai's eyes narrowed. The Witnesses weren't simply attacking him.
They were teaching him. Not intentionally.
Not kindly. But every attack forced him to understand something he hadn't understood before.
Blood.
Chains.
Death.
War.
Oblivion.
Judgment.
Each one represented a different way something could be brought to an end.
And The Fool—
The Fool was the one thing that refused to accept that every ending was final.
Zekai looked at the six figures. His breathing steadied. "Fine."
He slowly raised his hand. The air beside his fingers distorted.
One version of his hand moved left. Another moved right.
Neither actually happened. Yet the space between them flickered.
Lucien's smile disappeared again.
Zekai noticed. Lucien didn't speak. But his eyes followed the distortion with a focus they hadn't shown before.
For the first time, he understood something. Lucien had seen it too.
Whatever was happening inside him wasn't random.
It was beginning.
Zekai stared at his own trembling fingers.
"Possibility..." The word felt strange in his mouth.
He didn't know what it meant yet. But he could feel it. A path.
No. Not one path.
Paths. Countless possible outcomes branching from every decision.
He had always thought of possibility as something to choose from.
Now he was beginning to understand that the Fool didn't merely choose between possibilities.
It could interfere with which possibility became real.
Every movement opened another. Every mistake created another.
The problem was that Zekai had spent his entire life searching for the safest one.
The Fool inside him seemed to be asking a different question.
'What if there doesn't have to be a safe path?'
His expression changed. "Then I'll make one."
Lucien's golden eyes narrowed. "What did you say?"
Zekai looked directly at him. "I said..." His fingers curled. "...I'll make my own."
The air fractured. A single black-red line appeared beside Zekai.
It vanished almost immediately. But this time—
Zekai had seen it clearly. So had Lucien.
The sanctuary remained silent.
Then Lucien stood. For the first time since Zekai had entered the throne hall, the entity abandoned his throne.
The Witnesses noticed immediately.
Jerom straightened. Hella's fingers tightened. Even the Beast shifted its weight.
The atmosphere changed with him. None of them questioned him.
Lucien had decided to move. His white robe settled around his body.
Golden eyes remained fixed on Zekai. "You've learned quickly."
Zekai's smile disappeared.
Lucien descended one step. "But learning is not the same as understanding."
Another step. "And understanding..."
His gaze shifted toward Null Drakular.
"...is not the same as surviving."
Zekai's body tensed.
Lucien stopped. He didn't attack. Instead, he looked toward Hella.
"Release the sword."
Hella's silver eyes widened slightly. "Lord Lucien?"
"Release it."
Hella obeyed. The black chains wrapped around Null Drakular began to loosen.
One.
Then another.
Then another.
The sword remained still. Zekai stared. His heartbeat accelerated.
Lucien looked toward the sword. "Let's see." His eyes returned to Zekai. "Will it choose you again?"
Something felt wrong.
Lucien smiled faintly. "Go ahead."
Zekai slowly reached toward the sword. The distance between them was only a few meters.
Yet it felt like an entire world.
He took one step. Nothing happened.
Another. His body shook. Another. His fingers extended.
The moment they touched the hilt—
Null Drakular moved. Not toward Lucien. Not toward Hella.
Toward Zekai. The blade tore itself free from the final chain.
The black-red veins along the blade ignited at once, as though something inside the sword had finally awakened.
The chains didn't snap from force. They simply lost the authority to hold it.
CRACK!
Black-red energy erupted across the sanctuary. The Witnesses reacted instantly.
Jerom's eyes widened. Hella stepped backward. Vespercoil raised his weapon. The Beast lowered its stance. Nihil's blue eyes sharpened. Astrael's gaze became focused.
The sword flew across the distance. Straight toward Zekai.
He caught it. The impact forced him backward several steps.
His fingers closed around the hilt. He raised Null Drakular. Black-red energy crawled across the blade.
Zekai looked at Lucien. His expression was exhausted. His body was barely standing.
The strain of everything he had endured still weighed heavily on him, even though Frost Heal had already closed every physical wound.
But his eyes had changed. "I don't know what this power is."
The blade hummed. "I don't know why this sword chose me."
His grip tightened. "I don't know how I'm supposed to survive six beings like you."
A faint smile appeared. "But..."
The Fool's crimson distortion flickered around him.
"...I can learn."
Lucien stared at him. Then, unexpectedly—
He laughed. A quiet, genuine laugh. It was the quiet amusement of someone who had finally seen something worth watching.
"Good." His golden eyes glowed. "Then show me."
The sanctuary trembled.
And somewhere deep within Zekai's Arcana—something answered.
[FOOL AUTHORITY — RESPONSE DETECTED]
[PATH INSTABILITY: INCREASING]
[REALITY GLITCH: ACTIVE]
[UNKNOWN POSSIBILITY — FORMING]
Zekai's pupils contracted.
The message disappeared before he could read the rest. But the six Witnesses had already moved.
Jerom drew his weapon.
Hella's chains emerged from the floor.
Vespercoil's green eyes opened fully.
The Beast lowered itself like a predator preparing to leap.
Nihil opened his grimoire.
Astrael raised one hand.
Six authorities awakened at once.
Zekai tightened his grip around Null Drakular. His body wanted to run. His mind wanted to surrender.
Beneath the exhaustion, the familiar cold of Frost Heal still lingered within him.
Zekai took that cold for granted.
Every instinct told him that this was impossible. But the Fool inside him whispered something else. Not survive. Not win.
Something much simpler. There has to be another way.
Zekai stepped forward. And reality glitched around his foot.
✦ End of Chapter 70 — The Fool Refuses to End ✦