The white space fell silent.
Across the table, Zero's hand hovered calmly.
Zekai trembled slightly—not from fear, but from understanding what this moment carried.
This wasn't just a game. It was a decision—one that would determine everything that came after this.
Zero looked relaxed, as if the outcome didn't matter.
That bothered Zekai more than any pressure would have.
He exhaled slowly.
'Trust your instinct.'
"Rock. Paper. Scissors."
Their hands struck the table.
[ Zekai : Scissors ]
[ Zero : Paper ]
Paper.
Light flashed briefly between them.
[ ZEKAI — 2 ]
[ ZERO — 1 ]
For a moment, he leaned back and let out a breath.
Zekai had finally won.
"…I actually won."
The words felt unfamiliar on his tongue. He 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," Zero said calmly. "Speak your wish."
Zekai didn't answer immediately. Something felt wrong.
There was no way Zero would lose this easily.
Zekai was just human—nothing more.
But Zero was something beyond that. Something entirely different.
Zero wasn't something he could measure.
'Did I make a mistake?'
'If I asked wrong thing, I wouldn't get a second chance.'
Zekai leaned forward slightly.
"Wait."
"I changed my mind."
Zero raised an eyebrow.
"About what?"
"My wish."
Zekai thoughts moved fast. Escaping this world with Aron would've been 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.'
No. That wasn't enough. He didn't need an answer.
He needed the power to keep asking questions.
He studied Zero carefully. Not his smile. His certainty.
The kind of presence that didn't need permission to exist. Zekai looked straight at him.
Then he spoke. He didn't hesitate.
"I want... you."
For a second—he almost chose survival.
Zero frowned slightly.
"What do you mean?"
A pause.
"You. And everything connected to you."
The space reacted. Only then did he realize what he had asked for.
Zero gestured behind him. The white world shifted. The statues around them—changed.
Their incomplete forms became whole. Faces formed. Limbs completed. Gold lines spread across their bodies like veins of light.
Twenty-one figures now stood around them. Each one felt different. Heavy. Silent. Watching.
They had always been there. Now—they acknowledged Zekai.
"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 Zekai again.
"Are you sure?"
Zekai's eyes met his gaze.
"Any problem?" He asked. "You said anything."
Zero paused. Then nodded.
"No problem at all."
The answer came far too easily.
Zekai felt a quiet warning rise in his mind. Deals accepted immediately were rarely simple.
But he 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.
Zekai felt it in his chest, like something had turned a key inside him.
The space responded immediately. Pressure spread outward as if an invisible rule had just been finalized.
Zero placed two fingers against Zekai's temple.
"From now on…"
"…You are the Fool."
Something in the white space accepted that title before Zekai did.
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 Zekai collapsed inward.
Then, everything broke. His vision blurred—Every muscle in his body tensed a fraction too late.
His nerves braced for pain that hadn't arrived yet. Then it tore through his body.
The world seized.
His eyes rolled back, whites flooding his vision. A violent pressure surged through his skull, ripping down his spine.
A presence flooded his heart. Too much to contain.
His body lifted off the ground, twisting mid-air as if something invisible was tearing him apart and rebuilding him at the same time.
"Without this," Zero's voice echoed inside him, "you cannot exist outside."
It wasn't a warning. It was a rule. Weight settled inside him.
It felt like responsibility without explanation, something ancient settling into Zekai whether he understood it or not.
The Arcana statues remained silent. Watching. As if confirming a decision had finally been made.
Zekai's body convulsed violently as his heart slammed back into motion.
He collapsed to the floor.
The impact knocked the air out of him. His breathing came uneven and delayed, like his body had forgotten how to function.
His nails dug into the floor hard enough to crack it.
"What the hell… did you do to me?"
His heartbeat felt heavier—like it was counting something he couldn't understand.
"Nothing," Zero replied calmly. "Just a correction."
He clapped once. Words burned into the air.
[ ONE YEAR OF YOUR LIFESPAN HAS BEEN REDUCED ]
Zekai breath stopped. His chest tightened—like something had been quietly removed. He froze, completely.
"…What?"
His body reacted before his mind did. Something inside him… counted.
"One year. I didn't know what that meant."
But his body did.
His pulse skipped—not a beat, but a count. Something inside him recalculated—quiet and automatic.
Like his body had been keeping numbers he was never meant to know.
"Just a token advance," Zero said.
"For what?" Zekai asked.
The meaning landed before the fear did.
"Being me… costs your life." Zero replied quietly.
"There is no escape anymore."
Zekai's mind went quiet. Not fear. Calculation.
It wasn't just one year. Something told him the next time wouldn't be the same.
"What happens now?"
Zero raised his hand. The white space began collapsing.
Reality rushed back toward Zekai like water bursting through a broken dam. 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, he understood one thing. Something had awakened inside him.
And something had already begun taking everything in return.
There was no going back anymore. And something inside him—had already started counting.
✦ End of Chapter 18 — The Wish ✦