The sanctuary had finally become silent.
Not the peaceful silence of an empty place, but the silence left behind when something had been pushed beyond its limit.
The distortion around Zekai's foot faded as quickly as it had appeared.
Whatever had answered his step was gone.
Zekai was still standing, although barely. Blood darkened his clothes, and every movement sent another wave of pain through muscles that had already been pushed far beyond their limits.
He looked down at the cut across his palm. Usually, this was the moment the cold would come.
It always did. Zekai waited. A second passed. Then another. Nothing.
His fingers tightened slightly. He waited again, expecting that familiar chill to spread beneath his skin. Still nothing.
Zekai's eyes slowly narrowed. "...Frost Heal?"
No response. The wound remained open. Blood continued slipping down his palm.
For the first time since receiving the blessing, Zekai didn't know whether the next wound would heal.
Behind him, the six Witnesses remained silent.
Jerom's red hair shifted in the cold wind. Hella's silver hair fell across her shoulders, her chains withdrawn into the darkness. Vespercoil watched with those unreadable green eyes, while the Beast remained motionless. Nihil had closed his grimoire, and Astrael's yellow gaze stayed fixed on Zekai.
None of them looked surprised. That was what unsettled him most.
The entity stepped away from his throne. One quiet step.
That was all. Yet the atmosphere changed.
Zekai's exhausted eyes slowly lifted. Lucien walked toward him.
His white robe brushed against the stone floor with each step. His expression remained calm, almost thoughtful.
Zekai instinctively tried to raise Null Drakular. His arm barely responded.
Lucien noticed.
"So this is what remains when everything you depended on is taken away."
Zekai's breathing was rough. "What... did you do?"
Lucien stopped several meters away.
"I removed the thing that kept returning you to the battlefield."
"The power is still there. You simply cannot reach it anymore."
Zekai stared at him. His eyes slowly lowered to the wound on his palm. "...Frost Heal."
Lucien's gaze didn't move. "Yes." Lucien's golden eyes moved over his body.
"I severed your access to it."
Zekai's eyes narrowed. "The Snow Deer Monarch's blessing..."
"Yes." Lucien's golden eyes remained fixed on him.
"The blessing itself has not changed. Your connection to it has."
Zekai stared at the wound in his palm.
He knew exactly what Frost Heal was. The Snow Deer Monarch had given him that rare blessing after Wolfrezon's death. Since then, the frost had answered every injury his body suffered.
It had become so reliable that he had stopped thinking about what would happen if it ever failed to answer.
Now he knew.
Lucien continued, "You were beginning to mistake borrowed protection for your own strength."
"Every time you survived, you called it strength."
"But survival and strength were never the same thing."
Zekai's lips parted. "So you... stole it."
Zekai looked down at his hand again. A drop of blood slipped from his palm and struck the stone.
Nothing answered. His shoulders lowered almost imperceptibly.
Lucien watched him.
"Perhaps now you'll see what remains when certainty is taken away."
Zekai's eyes slowly rose. There was no confidence left in them. Only exhaustion.
"And what exactly was it?"
Lucien stepped closer. "That power doesn't exist to save you."
Zekai's jaw tightened.
"You've been using that sword, your Authority, that healing... yet every time you survived, you believed you had become stronger."
Lucien's gaze sharpened. "But you were merely being allowed to continue."
Zekai said nothing. The words dug deeper than any wound. Allowed to continue. That was what all of this had been.
Every resurrection. Every recovery. Every time he had stood back up believing he had overcome death.
He hadn't. He had simply been given another chance to fail.
Lucien stopped directly in front of him.
Zekai looked up. For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Lucien reached out. His hand closed around Zekai's throat.
Zekai's eyes widened. The fingers tightened. His feet slowly left the ground.
"Kh—!"
Lucien lifted him effortlessly. Zekai's hands immediately grabbed Lucien's wrist.
He tried to pull it away. Nothing. His fingers trembled against Lucien's skin. The pressure around his throat increased. His vision blurred.
Lucien looked directly into his eyes. "You wanted answers."
Zekai struggled to breathe. "You wanted to know why this place chose you."
His fingers slipped. "Why the Arcana responded to you."
Zekai's lungs burned. "Why that sword follows you."
Lucien's grip tightened. "Perhaps you should have asked yourself a simpler question."
Zekai's face reddened. Lucien leaned closer.
"Why are you still alive?"
Zekai's eyes shook. He couldn't answer. Lucien watched the realization forming. Then he said quietly, "You're not."
Zekai's pupils contracted. "Not anymore." The pressure increased.
CRACK.
Something in Zekai's neck gave way. His vision exploded with white. He tried to breathe. Nothing entered his lungs.
His hands weakened. His body hung uselessly from Lucien's grip. And for the first time, Zekai didn't fight back.
He couldn't. He was tired. So tired. A broken laugh escaped his throat.
Lucien looked at him. "What is amusing?"
Zekai's lips trembled. "...Nothing." His eyes became wet. "I just..." He swallowed against the crushing hand. "...finally understand."
Lucien waited.
Zekai's voice became barely audible. "I'm useless." The words remained suspended between them.
They tasted worse than blood.
"I thought..." His eyes closed. "I thought if I became stronger, I could save them."
A tear slipped down his cheek. "But every time..." His fingers slowly fell from Lucien's wrist.
"...someone dies." His voice cracked. "And now..." He looked at Lucien again. "...I can't even save me."
For the first time, there was no sarcasm in Zekai's voice. No arrogance. No cynical humor. No determination.
Only a young man who had finally run out of reasons to pretend he wasn't afraid.
"I don't want this anymore."
Lucien's eyes remained on him.
Zekai's breathing became weaker. "If you're going to kill me..." He struggled to speak. "...then just do it."
His eyes closed again. "But..." A faint tremor passed through his lips.
"Please..." His voice almost disappeared. "If there is a next time... don't bring me back."
Lucien's expression changed slightly.
Zekai continued. "I don't want another chance." His voice broke. "Don't bring me back."
He inhaled with difficulty. "Just make me nothing." His eyes opened. "Erase my soul."
"Erase everything." A bitter smile appeared. "Even if I never existed..."
He looked at Lucien. "...I'd rather that."
Lucien stared at him for several seconds. Then his fingers tightened. "So this is what remains when the Fool finally stops moving."
Zekai didn't answer. His consciousness was fading.
Lucien lowered his voice. "How disappointing."
The pressure increased.
Zekai's vision darkened. His eyes trembled. He wanted to forget.
He wanted everything to disappear. But those memories refused to leave. A strange anger slowly replaced the emptiness.
Not courage. Not hope. Anger.
Why? Why was everything happening to him?
Why did everyone he cared about have to disappear?
Why had Zero chosen him?
Why give him The Fool if he wasn't strong enough to change anything?
For the first time, Zekai didn't want an answer from the world.
He wanted someone to blame. His fingers curled. "...Why?"
Lucien looked at him.
Zekai's voice became louder. "Why me?" His body trembled. "Why does everything happen to me?!"
His eyes filled with tears. "I don't understand!" He struck Lucien's wrist weakly.
Once. Again. Nothing.
"I can't save anyone!" Another strike. "I can't save myself!"
His voice cracked into something almost childlike.
"Then why did you give me this power, Zero?!"
"Why did you make me the Fool if I can't save anyone?!"
The Fool Authority flickered. Barely. A tiny distortion appeared beside Zekai's hand. For an instant, its shape resembled the edge of a card.
Then it vanished.
Lucien noticed. His eyes narrowed. Only slightly.
"Zero..."
The name left his lips so quietly that Zekai didn't hear it.
Zekai didn't. He was too broken to notice.
"You keep calling me a Fool..." His breathing shook. "...but what am I supposed to do?"
The distortion vanished.
Lucien watched the distortion disappear. His golden eyes remained fixed on the place where The Fool had flickered.
"Even now, you're asking the wrong question."
Zekai stared at him.
"Then what's the right one?"
Lucien's expression remained unreadable.
"What will you do when power stops being enough?"
✦ End of Chapter 71 — When Power Is Not Enough ✦