Something inside me changed.
The moment the King Knight lunged forward and swung its sword toward my head, my body moved on its own. I didn't think. I didn't decide. I simply stepped aside and dodged.
"Oh—God…"
My breathing became uneven as I stared at my own hands.
My body felt lighter.
Not just lighter—different.
I didn't understand what was happening, but something spread through me. A strange energy moved under my skin, dark but stable.
It didn't feel chaotic or dangerous.
It felt controlled—
like it had always been there, waiting for me to notice it.
A thin shadow coiled around my arms.
Not violently.
Gently.
Like it had always belonged there.
For a moment, it felt like I was floating. Not physically, but internally, like my body had lost unnecessary weight.
"…What is this?"
The fear didn't disappear.
But something else replaced it.
Clarity.
Whatever this was—
this was power.
And I understood one thing instinctively.
This power wasn't meant for running.
It was meant to end this.
It was meant to fight.
To kill the King Knight.
Before I could move again, something unexpected happened.
The knight stepped forward and tossed a sword toward me. It landed right in front of my feet with a dull metallic sound.
I stared at it.
Then at the knight.
It didn't attack.
It didn't move.
It waited.
Like it was telling me to pick it up—
and fight properly.
"…Fine."
"So now you want a real fight?"
I bent down, grabbed the sword, and lifted it slowly. The weight felt unfamiliar, but not impossible.
"Let's finish this properly."
This time, I didn't rush. I stood still and waited.
Let it come.
The King Knight moved first.
Our swords clashed.
The impact ran through my bones, but I didn't lose my grip. I adjusted quickly and struck back, landing a clean slash across its abdomen, then another across its body in a cross pattern.
But—nothing happened.
The blade cut—
but it didn't break through.
The King Knight paused.
Then its presence changed.
The King Knight grew aggressive.
Its movements sharpened.
Faster.
Sharper.
More violent.
"Come… come. This is what I wanted."
This time, it attacked like a storm.
Its blade spun, cutting through the air with overwhelming speed.
I focused.
But I'm not who you think I am now.
"You might have fought others before…"
"But I'm not the same as before."
I stepped in instead of back.
My foot slipped against broken stone—
the blade barely missing my shoulder.
My balance shifted for a split second—
enough to die.
But I forced it back.
I jumped straight into the storm of attacks—
and cut through it—
cutting through its movement.
One clean motion.
I broke its rhythm.
The storm split.
I closed the distance.
I moved past it and drove my sword straight into its throat.
"Take back what you gave me."
The blade pierced through—
like cutting through something that resisted too late.
The King Knight… finally stopped.
But not completely.
The blade halted for a fraction of a second—caught.
The King Knight's hand shot up and grabbed my arm.
The grip tightened.
Cracks spread across its armor, not from my strike—
but from within.
Its hollow gaze locked onto me.
For a moment—
it pushed back.
The pressure forced my blade out slightly.
My footing slipped.
"…You're still standing?"
The shadow around my arms tightened instinctively.
I stepped forward again.
"No."
I stepped in—
and drove the blade deeper.
"Now fall."
The armor collapsed inward—
like something inside had finally given up.
For a second—
everything went still.
"…Huh?"
Then—
it didn't reset.
It didn't rewind.
It didn't return.
This time—
the one who fell—
was the King Knight.
It didn't adapt this time.
It failed.
A sound echoed behind me.
I turned.
And everything shifted again.
The white space fell silent.
Across the table, Zero's hand hovered calmly. Mine trembled slightly—not from fear, but from understanding what this moment carried.
This wasn't just a game.
It was a decision—
one that decided everything after this.
Zero looked relaxed, like the outcome didn't matter.
That bothered me more than pressure would have.
I exhaled slowly.
Trust your instinct.
"Rock. Paper. Scissors."
Our hands struck the table.
[ Zekai : Scissors ]
[ Zero : Paper ]
Paper.
Light flashed briefly between us.
[ ZEKAI — 2 ]
[ ZERO — 1 ]
I won.
For a moment, I leaned back and let out a breath.
"…I actually won."
The word felt unfamiliar in my mouth.
I looked at Zero and smirked slightly.
"Looks like you're the real fool."
But something felt wrong.
Zero was smiling.
Not irritated.
Not surprised.
Amused.
Like this result had already been expected.
"A deal is a deal," he said calmly. "Speak your wish."
I didn't answer immediately.
Something felt wrong.
There was no way Zero would lose this easily. I was just human—nothing more. But him…
he was something beyond that. Something else entirely.
He wasn't something I could measure.
Did I make a mistake?
If I asked wrong—
I wouldn't get a second chance.
I leaned forward slightly.
"Wait."
"I changed my mind."
Zero raised an eyebrow.
"About what?"
"My wish."
My thoughts moved fast.
Escaping from the world with Aron would be the simplest choice.
But that would only solve the surface.
If something like Arcana existed—
then asking for safety was meaningless.
If I chose wrong… there wouldn't be anything left to fix.
Not even close.
I didn't need an answer.
I needed the ability to keep asking questions.
I studied Zero carefully.
Not his smile.
His certainty.
The kind of presence that didn't need permission to exist.
I looked straight at him.
Then I spoke.
I didn't hesitate.
"I want... you."
For a second—
I almost chose survival.
Zero frowned slightly.
"What do you mean?"
A pause.
"You. And everything connected to you."
The space reacted.
I hadn't realized what I was asking.
Zero gestured behind him.
The white world shifted.
The statues around us—
changed.
Their incomplete forms became whole. Faces formed. Limbs completed. Gold lines spread across their bodies like veins of light.
Twenty-one figures stood around us.
Each one felt different.
Heavy.
Silent.
Watching.
They had always been there.
Now—
they were acknowledging me.
"I want all of you... every Arcana."
For the first time—
Zero didn't answer immediately.
Zero laughed.
Not mocking.
Genuinely amused.
"Interesting. No one asks for that."
He looked at me again.
"Are you sure?"
My eyes met his gaze.
"Any problem?" I asked. "You said anything."
He paused.
Then nodded.
"No problem at all," he said—
too quickly.
The answer came too easily.
I felt a quiet warning rise in my mind. Deals accepted immediately were rarely simple.
But I didn't take it back.
Zero stepped closer.
"I grant you myself," he said calmly. "And the Arcana."
Then he leaned closer.
"But the outcome…"
"…is yours."
The words felt like a mechanism locking into place.
I felt it in my chest—like something had turned a key inside me.
The space responded immediately.
Pressure spread outward as if an invisible rule had just been finalized.
Zero placed two fingers against my temple.
"From now on…"
"…You are the Fool."
The word didn't echo.
It settled.
Like a card placed into existence.
The statues moved.
One by one—
they lowered their heads.
The statues didn't just bow—
the space bent with them.
A silent acknowledgment.
Something else had already begun.
The moment the title settled into the space, something inside me collapsed inward.
Then—
everything broke.
My vision blurred—
Every muscle in my body tensed a fraction too late.
My nerves braced for pain that hadn't arrived yet.
Pain tore through my body.
The world seized.
My eyes rolled back, whites flooding my vision. A violent pressure surged through my skull, tearing downward into my spine.
Something flooded my heart.
Too much.
My body lifted off the ground, twisting mid-air as if something invisible was tearing me apart and rebuilding me at the same time.
"Without this," Zero's voice echoed inside me, "you cannot exist outside."
It wasn't a warning.
It was a rule.
Weight settled inside me.
It felt like responsibility without explanation, something ancient settling onto me whether I understood it or not.
The Arcana statues remained silent.
Watching.
As if confirming a decision had finally been made.
My body convulsed violently as my heart slammed back into motion.
I collapsed to the floor.
The impact knocked the air out of me. My breathing came uneven, delayed, like my body had forgotten how to function properly.
My nails dug into the floor hard enough to crack it.
"What the hell… did you do to me?"
"Nothing," Zero replied calmly. "Just a correction."
He clapped once.
Words burned into the air.
[ ONE YEAR OF YOUR LIFESPAN HAS BEEN REDUCED ]
My breath stopped.
My chest tightened—like something had been quietly removed.
I froze.
Completely.
"…What?"
My body reacted before my mind did.
Something inside me… counted.
One year.
I didn't know what that meant.
But my body did.
My pulse skipped—not a beat, but a count. Something inside me recalculated—quiet and automatic.
Like my body had been keeping numbers I was never meant to know.
"Just a token advance," he said.
"For what?"
"Being me… costs your life."
My mind went quiet.
Not fear.
Calculation.
"What happens now?"
"There is no escape anymore," he said calmly.
Zero raised his hand.
The white space began collapsing.
Reality rushed back towards me like water returning after a dam breaks.
Before everything disappeared, he leaned closer.
"Sleep well."
"Soon… you'll break."
"Wait—!"
Darkness swallowed everything.
The white space shattered—completely.
And as everything faded—
I understood one thing.
Something had awakened inside me.
And something had already begun taking everything in return.
There was no going back anymore.
And somewhere else—
something had already taken hold.
✦ End of Chapter 8 — The Wish ✦