Journey to Become the Zenith

Was My Life Ever Mine?

The ground beneath her felt strangely cold.

She could remember so many things.

People she had helped.

People she had failed.

Battles she had fought.

Moments when she had felt fear and pushed through it anyway.

Moments when someone had smiled because she had arrived.

Had those smiles been the reason she fought?

Or had she been made to value them?

The difference seemed impossibly small.

And yet it changed everything.

Videl swallowed.

She didn’t cry.

Somehow, that would have been easier.

Instead, she simply sat there with her thoughts tearing through everything she had believed about herself.

Niklaus didn’t interrupt her.

He understood that there were some wounds that could not be healed by words.

Even the two weapon spirits remained quiet.

Amura stood nearby, her steel-colored hair shifting in the wind. The spirit of the Long Sword had always been the more experienced of the two, and even she had trouble processing everything Niklaus had revealed.

Rika was no different.

Neither of them had expected the truth behind the Natural Hero to reach such a level.

A hero being controlled by destiny was already difficult enough to accept.

But an entire category of heroes being created as an experiment by unknown beings from a higher realm?

That was something else entirely.

Amura’s gaze shifted toward Videl.

She could see how badly her master was struggling.

Yet there was nothing she could say.

What words could possibly make this easier?

If Amura told Videl that everything would be fine, it would be nothing more than an empty lie.

If she told her that her feelings were definitely her own, she would be making a claim she could not prove.

So she remained silent.

Niklaus eventually spoke again, his voice quieter this time.

”There is something you need to understand.”

Videl slowly lifted her head.

Niklaus’s expression remained calm.

”The fact that someone may have influenced the beginning of your life does not automatically mean every choice you have made belongs to them.”

Videl’s eyes trembled slightly.

Niklaus continued.

”That’s the part I want you to think about carefully.”

Videl stared at him.

”You don’t know that I’m completely controlled.”

”No.”

”You don’t know which feelings are mine.”

”No.”

”You don’t know whether the destiny they gave me can actually be broken.”

Niklaus paused.

”No.”

His honesty almost hurt more than another explanation would have.

Videl lowered her gaze again.

”But you do know one thing.”

Niklaus’s crimson-golden eyes narrowed slightly.

”You are already questioning it.”

Videl’s breathing stopped for half a second.

The words struck deeper than she expected.

Questioning.

That was exactly what she was doing.

If her destiny were absolute, would she even be capable of doubting it?

If her thoughts were completely controlled, would she be sitting here trying to determine whether they belonged to her?

Niklaus wasn’t giving her an answer.

He was giving her something far more dangerous.

A possibility.

The possibility that the chains around her had already begun to crack.

Videl clenched her fists.

”But what if this is also part of it?”

Niklaus looked at her.

”What?”

”What if me questioning my destiny is exactly what they wanted?”

Her voice became unsteady.

”What if even this rebellion is something they designed? What if I’m only following another path they created?”

Niklaus was silent for several seconds.

A faint smile eventually appeared on his face, though there was no amusement in it.

”That’s the problem with trying to find absolute certainty.”

Videl looked at him.

”You can question everything until you no longer know what to believe.”

He stepped closer, stopping several paces away.

”But there is one thing you can still do.”

”What?”

”Choose.”

Videl’s expression tightened.

Niklaus looked toward the sky.

”You may never know whether your first thought was truly yours. You may never know whether your instincts were planted inside you. You may never discover who created the first Natural Hero or why those beings wanted to recreate that existence.”

His gaze returned to her.

”But you can decide what you do with the person you are now.”

Videl stared at him.

For the first time since the explanation began, something inside her shifted.

It wasn’t peace.

Not even close.

The confusion was still there.

The fear was still there.

The terrible possibility that her entire existence had been manipulated was still sitting heavily inside her chest.

But beneath all of that, there was something else.

A small resistance.

A refusal to simply accept that she was nothing more than a puppet.

Videl slowly looked down at her hands.

These were her hands.

She had used them to protect people.

She had used them to fight.

She had held weapons with them.

She had reached toward people who needed help.

Maybe she didn’t know where those instincts came from.

Maybe she never would.

But the memories themselves were real.

And for now, that was all she had.

Niklaus didn’t push her further.

He had already given her more than enough.

The truth of the Natural Hero was not something that could be swallowed in one sitting. It was something that would continue gnawing at Videl long after this conversation ended.

Even Amura, who had lived far longer than her master, found herself staring into the distance with an unusually solemn expression.

She had always believed that power was the greatest mystery in existence.

Now she wondered whether destiny was even more frightening.

Videl finally raised her head.

Her sapphire eyes were still clouded with uncertainty.

But she was listening.

She hadn’t turned away.

And perhaps, for the moment, that was enough.

The silence returned to the clearing.

Niklaus stood before her.

Videl sat upon the earth.

Between them remained the unanswered questions of destiny, free will, gods, the Universal Emperor, and the mysterious beings who existed beyond their world.

And at the center of it all was one terrible possibility Videl could no longer ignore.

Perhaps the life she had always believed was hers had been created for a purpose that had never belonged to her at all.