Small, ragged cuts covered both of his arms.
Deep, blistered burns spread across his left shoulder.
Frost Heal continued repairing them.
Slowly. Painfully. But it wasn't fast enough to entirely erase the accumulating damage.
"...Haa..." Zekai exhaled, his chest heaving.
Every healed wound left behind a dull ache. A reminder...
That survival still had a price.
"So that's your limit..."
He looked at the circling beasts, then laughed quietly to himself.
"...Mine isn't."
His blood-soaked fingers tightened with a crushing grip around Null Drakular's hilt.
The weary smile slowly vanished from his face.
"No... I'm not losing anyone ever again."
"Not anyone."
The fractured memories flashed vividly before his eyes in a split second.
Aron.
The helpless people he had been forced to watch die.
His ragged breathing suddenly steadied. Everything around him slowed to an absolute crawl.
The countless radiant paths of possibility appeared once more within his vision.
Hundreds. Thousands.
Every potential path.
Every incoming claw. Every muscle movement.
This time... he didn't just chase the safest route.
He chose one definitive path to end it.
Then—he moved.
One Alpha Wolfrezon committed to a forward lunge first.
That single mistake instantly unraveled the pack's entire defensive formation.
Zekai inhaled slowly, letting the cold air fill his lungs. His heartbeat steadied to a rhythmic pulse.
The fear was still there.
The phantom pain was still there. But neither of them controlled his body anymore.
"...I won't run."
The remaining Alpha Wolfrezons didn't retreat.
They lowered their bodies. Their crimson eyes burned brighter than before.
They had witnessed the deaths of their own pack...
Yet none of them chose to flee.
Instead—
They prepared to fight.
Zekai watched them in silence.
A faint smile slowly appeared.
"...Good."
He lowered his stance, bringing the white steel horizontal.
"...So you haven't lost your courage."
Null Drakular hummed softly, vibrating with supreme authority.
His grip tightened around the hilt.
"Come."
"Let's finish this."
Then—he completely disappeared from their line of sight.
The frozen battlefield instantly erupted into chaos.
Blinding silver arcs danced flawlessly between the towering bodies.
Each precise step carried him fluidly between snapping jaws and sweeping claws, his pristine blade striking only once with surgical precision before moving to the very next target.
Black blood scattered like crimson flowers against the endless white snow.
Massive pine trees collapsed into splinters.
Localized snowstorms rose from the kinetic friction.
The forest vanished behind storms of snow and silver light.
Only lethal flashes of light remained in the haze.
One. Two. Three. Ten. Twelve.
The sword no longer felt heavy.
It felt... like an extension of his own body.
The last remaining Alpha Wolfrezon took two heavy, staggering steps forward, its crimson eyes losing their light, before its massive ten-meter body finally gave way.
Then—absolute silence reclaimed the clearing.
The violent wind settled. Snowflakes drifted gently through the air once more.
From high above, the frozen battlefield looked like a gruesome painting.
Gigantic Alpha Wolfrezons lay scattered across the blood-stained clearing.
Some were split cleanly in half from snout to tail.
Others were completely beheaded.
Others were pierced straight through the center of their hearts.
Each and every one had fallen from a single, decisive strike.
At the exact center of the carnage...
Zekai stood entirely alone.
Null Drakular rested point-first in the deep snow, supporting his weight.
His heavy breathing echoed softly in the quiet.
"Haa..."
"Haa..."
Cold, white air escaped his lips like plumes of smoke.
High above him... the black crows slowly circled the perimeter.
Yet, strangely, none of them dared fly toward the northernmost sector of the forest.
It was as though something sleeping deep within that frost...
Stood far above every single apex predator Zekai had defeated today.
It was watching. It was waiting.
Almost as if it were silently acknowledging the birth of a terrifying new predator in its territory.
Zekai slowly looked around.
Gigantic corpses surrounded his position.
Every single Wolfrezon had fallen.
A slow, genuine smile appeared across his face.
The clearing had fallen entirely silent.
Twelve gigantic corpses lay scattered across the stained snow.
His own steady breathing echoed softly through the frozen forest.
"...I..." He looked down at the immaculate white steel of Null Drakular.
A quiet, resolved smile slowly formed.
"So... this is what it truly means to become stronger."
He closed his eyes for a brief moment. It wasn't because he was tired or ready to give up.
It was because, for the very first time since the crossing...
The crushing weight of helplessness inside his chest had become lighter.
"If I keep growing..."
"Then maybe..."
"I really can save him."
Aron's bright smile appeared clearly inside his mind.
Zekai tightened his grip around the hilt of the sword.
"No."
His eyes snapped open, burning with determination.
"I will save him."
"No matter what waits for me in the dark."
He slowly lifted the blade, resting Null Drakular casually against his shoulder.
The cold wind brushed across the white blade.
For the first time... it no longer felt unfamiliar.
A faint, dangerous grin appeared on his face.
"Come on."
"I'm done running."
For the first time since everything had begun...
For the first time since entering the Reality Fracture, he felt powerful enough to keep walking forward.
The hunter had survived.
But somewhere beyond the northern forest...
Something far older quietly opened its eyes.
Then—
A familiar sound echoed.
✦ End of Chapter 56 — The Hunt of Twelve (Battle) ✦