Zekai looked at him.
"...A final test for what?"
A faint smile spread across Sebastian's face.
"To determine whether Null Reality recognizes you..."
His gaze remained steady.
"...or rejects you."
Zekai stared at him in silence.
Seriously...?
More cryptic nonsense?
A tired sigh escaped his lips.
"So that's why you dragged me all the way down here?"
"Just to tell me another mysterious story?"
Sebastian didn't react.
Instead, he smiled with the same calm patience of a teacher indulging a stubborn student.
"I've learned something over the years."
"The answers people remember..."
"...are rarely the ones they're given."
"They're the ones they discover."
"I never speak without a reason."
Zekai rubbed his forehead.
At this point, arguing was a waste of energy.
"I don't exactly have a choice, do I?"
"I'm still your prisoner."
"So... I'll play along."
Sebastian slowly shook his head.
"I never said anything about fighting."
He stepped forward.
Before Zekai could react, Sebastian gently raised a finger and placed it against the center of his forehead.
"What you're about to do..."
"...is surprisingly simple."
He withdrew his hand.
"But first..."
"You must quiet your mind."
"Not around you."
He lightly pointed toward Zekai's chest.
"Here."
Sebastian took a single step back.
"Close your eyes."
Zekai hesitated for only a moment.
"If something goes wrong..."
"...you're taking responsibility."
Sebastian's smile deepened.
"I'll do far more than that."
Zekai finally closed his eyes. Darkness swallowed his vision.
Sebastian's voice echoed gently through the silence.
"Clear your thoughts."
"Empty your mind."
"Become one with Null Reality."
"And allow the forgotten weapons resting within this place..."
"...to choose their owner."
Silence.
Nothing happened.
At first.
Zekai concentrated on slowing his breathing. The tension in his shoulders gradually faded.
Empty your mind...
Simple enough.
Except...
The harder he tried to erase his thoughts...
The louder they became.
Questions.
Confusion.
Aron.
Marcus.
The black stone cube.
The Graveyard Dimension.
One memory after another crashed into his consciousness, tearing apart every ounce of focus he had.
A sharp ringing pierced his ears.
"Tch..."
This isn't the time to lose.
Not now...
Focus.
Then—
The ringing vanished.
Not faded.
Vanished.
The air itself ceased to exist.
There was no wind.
No heartbeat.
No breathing.
No sound.
It wasn't silence.
It was the complete absence of the very concept of sound.
Absolute stillness.
Then—
Within the endless darkness behind his eyelids...
Tiny strands of light appeared.
One.
Then dozens.
Then thousands.
Each glowed with a different color.
Blue.
Gold.
Crimson.
Silver.
Emerald.
Like rivers of living starlight, they intertwined into a single flowing current that stretched endlessly into the darkness.
The current slowly drifted away.
Something inside him wanted to follow it.
His right foot lifted slightly—
Then stopped.
...
A freezing sensation suddenly wrapped around his wrist.
Not physical.
Familiar. Cold.
A pair of pitch-black hands emerged from the darkness around him, their touch impossibly cold.
The feeling was unmistakable.
The same presence...
The same unnatural cold...
Zekai's breathing caught.
'These...'
'I've felt them before...'
The same invisible hand he had once felt while confronting The Fool card during the irreversible event.
The hands tightened. They weren't pulling him forward.
They were holding him back. As if warning him.
Or protecting him.
Zekai clenched his jaw.
"Move."
Nothing.
His inner eyes fixed on the river of light stretching into the distance.
Something deep inside him rebelled.
'No.'
'Whatever lies ahead...'
'I need to know the truth.'
With every ounce of will he possessed, he forced one foot forward.
"Not this time."
The invisible grip trembled.
Then—
It shattered.
The freezing sensation vanished as though it had never existed.
The path of light welcomed him.
Without realizing it...
Zekai began walking. His eyes remained closed.
Yet his feet moved on their own.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Sebastian's gentle smile disappeared.
His eyes widened.
"...No..."
A chill ran through his body.
"...That's not where they're supposed to lead."
He immediately hurried after him.
"Zekai!"
But Zekai never responded.
As though guided by an invisible force, he slowly raised one hand toward something only he could perceive.
Sebastian's composure shattered.
"Don't touch it!"
"That one's far too dangerous!"
No response.
Zekai couldn't hear him anymore.
His consciousness had already crossed into a place beyond the physical world.
He continued walking.
Step after silent step. Completely unaware...
That he now stood before the colossal sapphire eye suspended in the endless sky.
Sebastian froze. Every instinct screamed for him to pull Zekai away.
Yet the Grave Energy coursing through his body violently warned him otherwise.
He knew that eye.
Every relic sealed within Null Reality had its own resting place.
Every guardian had its own law.
And every veteran of the Bureau knew one unbreakable rule.
If a relic chose to awaken...
You never stood between it and the one it had acknowledged.
Don't interfere.
Don't touch him.
Don't even move.
Years of surviving supernatural disasters had taught him to trust those instincts.
For the first time in a very long while...
Sebastian hesitated.
Zekai slowly extended his fingertips.
At that exact moment—
Every floating eye scattered across Null Reality turned.
One by one.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
Until every single eye stared directly at him.
Even then...
Zekai remained unaware. His fingertips reached the sapphire eye.
The instant they touched—
His hand passed straight through it. Like reaching into still water.
Something was hidden inside. His fingers instinctively closed around it.
Then—
A strange sensation. It didn't feel like he had found something.
It felt...
As though something inside had grabbed him first.
His heart skipped a beat. Instinct took over.
He pulled. Nothing happened.
For one heartbeat.
Then—
BOOM!!
The air itself screamed.
A circular shockwave ripped across the endless fields, scattering the floating eyes as reality itself seemed to ripple for a single heartbeat.
Something burst from within the giant eye like a projectile fired by the heavens.
The sheer force ripped the object from Zekai's grasp.
It spun wildly through the sky—
Straight toward Sebastian.
His pupils shrank.
"...!!"
His body reacted before his mind could. He threw himself sideways.
Slash!
A razor-sharp blade skimmed past his head. A thin line opened across the edge of his ear.
Blood scattered through the air.
Sebastian stumbled across the grass, one hand pressed tightly against the wound.
His breathing became uneven.
Slowly...
Almost unwillingly...
He turned toward the object that had nearly killed him.
"...Impossible..."
"...No..."
"...Not that one..."
The word escaped his lips as little more than a whisper.
Not disbelief.
Fear.
Pure fear.
The weapon continued soaring across the endless heavens.
It carved enormous circles through the sky before gradually losing momentum.
Then—
BOOM!
It plunged into the earth.
The endless sea of grass rippled outward in perfect circles.
Not because of the impact.
But because the land itself...
Had acknowledged its return.
The weapon stood upright.
Silent.
Motionless.
Waiting.
Only then did Sebastian truly see it.
A magnificent longsword.
Its flawless blade shone with immaculate white brilliance.
Gold adorned the guard and hilt in intricate, ancient patterns.
A single crimson line stretched along the center of the blade—
Like living blood flowing through its veins.
Ancient.
Elegant.
Majestic.
It radiated the dignity of a king long forgotten by history.
As though it had waited through countless ages...
For one person alone.
Beside the sword—
Zekai slowly opened his eyes.
His gaze lingered on the colossal sapphire eye.
Confusion filled his face.
"Why am I standing here?"
He couldn't understand what had just happened.
Almost unconsciously...
He took a slow step backward.
Then his eyes drifted toward the sword.
The wind finally returned.
The countless floating eyes quietly looked away. As though the ceremony had ended.
The moment his gaze met it...
A strange feeling settled deep within his heart.
For the first time since entering Null Reality...
He felt it.
Not fear.
Not danger.
Recognition.
As though something sleeping within this forgotten world...
Had finally opened its eyes—
And noticed him.
✦ End of Chapter 46 — The First Recognition ✦