'Why is everything pointing toward this tarot card…? Why is it telling me to use it?'
Whatever the voice was… Whatever the strange system window was… None of it mattered anymore.
His eyes slowly lowered toward the tarot box again.
Inside, the top card stood out immediately.
The Fool.
Compared to the other cards, it looked newer. Cleaner. Less worn.
If this thing contained answers, then this card was probably the only lead he had.
If anything, seeing all of this only made Zekai's curiosity grow stronger. It was a bad habit of his. Once something caught his attention—he couldn't just let it go.
He didn't need to believe the rules. He only needed to test them. The decision had already been made in his mind long before his body moved.
"…Let's see."
Without hesitation, Zekai bit the tip of his finger. A small bead of blood surfaced instantly.
Aron reacted immediately.
"Mr. Zekai, what are you doing?! No—blood!"
But Zekai ignored him. As far as he understood, Aron still had no direct connection to any of this.
So he let the drop of blood fall onto The Fool card.
For a second—nothing happened. The throne hall remained silent. For a moment, he almost laughed.
"Great," he muttered. "Worthless."
He casually flicked the card away.
"Waste of time."
But the moment he expected it to fly—
Something responded. Just not in a way Zekai could see.
The card stopped in mid-air.
Zekai froze.
'…Or maybe—it never left my hand.'
The card hung motionless for a fraction of a second, suspended unnaturally in the air as if gravity itself had paused to reconsider.
Then reality snapped back into place.
The card was already in his hand again. Not flying back. Not falling.
It was simply there—without movement, without a path. Like the space between actions had been removed.
Zekai blinked slowly.
"…What?"
For a moment, he didn't move. Not because he didn't understand—but because some deeper part of him did.
It never left.
The distance between "here" and "there" simply didn't exist for it.
Cause came afterward.
Movement came afterward. The result had already happened first.
And somehow—his hand had already accepted that.
"Hey, Aron…" Zekai said quietly, still staring at the card. "Did you see that? The card stopped in the air."
Aron frowned immediately.
"No."
"It's been in your hand the whole time."
His voice sounded completely sincere. That was what disturbed Zekai the most.
He slowly looked at Aron.
'What was he talking about? I just threw it.'
But after that moment, Zekai could no longer clearly distinguish what was happening around him… and what was happening around Aron.
He threw the card again.
The exact same thing happened. The card returned to his palm instantly.
Zekai's eyes never left it.
"Okay…" he muttered slowly. "That's enough."
"Probably just an illusion."
"Maybe some kind of trick…"
His grip tightened unconsciously around the card before he even realized it.
And once fear begins, even ordinary things start looking unnatural.
Zekai's perception had already started changing into something else.
---
But from Aron's perspective, everything happening was completely different.
"Mr. Zekai…"
"You've just been standing there talking to yourself."
"You haven't moved at all."
"You're just holding the card with your eyes closed."
Aron's voice shook as he grabbed Zekai by the shoulders and shook him hard.
"Wake up… Mr. Zekai!"
But no matter how much he shook him—
Zekai didn't respond.
His eyes remained shut. His body wouldn't react.
---
The world around Zekai twisted violently.
He tried to let go of the card. But his hand wouldn't open. Not because it was physically stuck because something deeper had already decided it wouldn't let go.
The card didn't feel attached. It felt integrated.
The skin beneath it burned intensely, not painfully, but like blood circulation violently returning after being cut off for too long.
His breathing broke unevenly.
"Hey—no."
"No, no—"
Zekai grabbed his wrist with his other hand and tried to force the card away.
"Get off…"
"Let go!"
The Fool card pulsed.
Dark red liquid slowly spread across its surface.
It didn't drip. It moved deliberately. Like something alive.
The crimson color spread beyond the card itself and crawled outward through the air in thin branching veins, stretching across the walls and ceiling like ink searching for boundaries.
It wasn't simply spreading through the throne hall.
It was finding the hall.
The temperature dropped instantly. The light dimmed unnaturally. Within seconds, the entire room was covered in dark red patterns.
Zekai turned toward Aron.
But Aron stood completely frozen. Motionless. Even his breathing had stopped. Like time itself had decided Aron no longer belonged to this moment.
"Hey… Aron."
"Wake up."
No response.
Only the system window reacted.
[ EVENT TRIGGERED — IRREVERSIBLE ]
[ Condition: Satisfied ]
[ Arcana Response Initiated ]
The decision had already been made.
Zekai's eyes narrowed slightly.
"'Irreversible'…?"
"What mistake did I even make?"
He looked down at his hand again—the one fused to the card.
Then the card vanished. Just like that. Not disappeared. Removed.
Zekai stepped backward instinctively.
The air felt sealed. Like the throne hall had locked itself shut from reality.
He tried to breathe—but the air felt thinner now. His hands began shaking before he noticed it.
Then—something moved behind him.
Not human.
Before he could react—
Something cold black hands covered his eyes.
He never felt them touch him. Only the moment after they already had.
"WHO THE—?!"
His heartbeat skipped—hard. Then everything broke.
The world didn't break. It shattered. Images flooded his mind. Not memories. Not imagination. Something he had already seen.
✦ End of Chapter 8 — The Vision ✦