Zekai tried to lift his head. His muscles refused. Invisible force pressed down on every inch of him, ribs bending inward, chest grinding into cold stone.
Each breath came shallow. The edges of his vision blurred.
Lucien stayed seated. Relaxed. Like the man dying under his weight wasn't worth the effort of looking at.
"Know your place, Fool."
His pupils contracted.
'Fool?'
The word lodged in his skull. He hadn't introduced himself. Hadn't mentioned his Authority at all.
And yet this thing already knew. Not just his name — what he carried, what he was.
'How?'
A shadow moved behind the throne. The guardian — the same man from the stairs, crossed without a sound and bowed his head.
"My lord Lucien."
Something in Zekai sharpened despite the weight crushing him flat. Lucien.
The name meant nothing to him. The way it was spoken meant everything. No hesitation in the guardian's voice. No familiarity either. It landed like a title stitched into the rules of this place itself — a name the world had no choice but to obey.
The guardian stepped to Lucien's side and leaned in close, murmuring something too quiet for Zekai to catch.
Lucien listened. A thin smile touched his mouth. "...Interesting."
'What did he just tell him?'
Zekai's fingers curled tighter around the hilt. Null Drakular stayed locked in his grip even as the pressure ground him deeper into the floor.
'No. Not letting go.'
His mind dragged him backward, to the first time he'd stood in front of Zero — that same suffocating helplessness. Someone standing above him. Nothing he could do about it.
His teeth clenched. "...Again?"
His vision shook. "Why—" Barely a whisper. "Why does this keep happening to me?"
The weight climbed.
CRACK.
The stone split wider beneath him.
"AHHHHHH!" It echoed across the whole sanctuary.
Lucien didn't react. Not even a flicker.
His right arm shook, strength draining out of it fast. He lifted the other one anyway — just the pinky, barely twitching, a faint glow gathering around it.
The Fool's Authority. His breath came in ragged pulls. "...You—"
Lucien finally looked down at him.
He forced the arm higher. "I—" His whole body shook under the weight. "—don't—"
The pressure doubled. Pain tore through bone. His fingers nearly gave out entirely.
A crooked grin crossed his mouth anyway. "—kneel."
The Fool's Authority erupted. For one instant, reality stumbled, the air twisting like it had lost its place.
Lucien's golden eyes narrowed. His wrist turned, one simple gesture.
"...No."
The force multiplied.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!
His face slammed into the stone. The platform beneath him shattered, cracks racing out in every direction.
His consciousness flickered. Null Drakular slipped from his grip.
His body went still.
Silence. The pressure vanished all at once.
Lucien lowered his hand, calm. The guardian stared down at Zekai's unmoving frame. Neither of them said a word. Only the waterfalls broke the silence.
Then a faint blue light bloomed under Zekai's skin, growing brighter, frost energy spreading fast through muscle and bone.
Crack. Broken bone snapped back into place. Torn muscle sealed shut beneath it — fast, silent, done.
The Snow Monarch's blessing worked without being asked. Within seconds his fingers twitched.
His eyes opened. He dragged in one sharp breath. "Haa."
Awareness snapped back all at once, and the first thing he saw was Lucien. The helplessness cracked open.
The helplessness from a moment ago hadn't gone anywhere. It just changed shape.
Anger.
BOOM!!
He vanished, his body becoming a streak of silver. Null Drakular flew back into his hand mid-motion.
He reappeared directly in front of Lucien, blade already resting against his throat.
"...Again."
His voice caught up to him a second late. "You're not doing that again."
The guardian didn't move. Lucien didn't move.
His eyes burned. "Now." His grip closed hard around the hilt. "...You die."
SHHHHK!!
The blade passed clean through Lucien's neck. For one second, nothing happened.
Then the head came free.
'I did it.'
No blood. No scream. No resistance — the body simply stayed seated, unbothered, like nothing had touched it.
He landed a few meters back and turned. The severed head rolled across white stone.
Thud.
It settled beside the throne.
He stared. For the first time since he'd set foot in this sanctuary, his lungs filled all the way.
"...Hah."
His expression went grim. He raised the blade, eyes shifting to the guardian. "Next."
His smile widened. "—you're going to die too."
The guardian smiled back.
Zekai froze. "...What?"
Something was wrong. He couldn't put a shape to it. No movement, no attack, no sound — just the world flickering once, a single dropped frame, like reality had skipped a beat and forgotten to catch up.
Then everything changed.
He was standing again. Null Drakular in his hand, body untouched, breathing level.
The sanctuary hadn't moved. The waterfalls kept flowing. The throne sat where it always had. And Lucien sat on it. Alive.
Exactly as before. One leg crossed over the other, one hand cradling his cheek, red hair falling loose over pale skin.
Zekai's breath caught. His mind refused to hold the shape of it.
"..."
His eyes widened. How.
He looked around. The guardian stood exactly where he'd been standing before. Gold light lay unchanged across white stone.
Everything was exactly where it belonged. Except Lucien was alive.
He looked down at his own hands. Whole. Unmarked. Like none of it had happened to this body at all.
His grip was steady. Null Drakular rested whole in his hand. He touched his own neck. Nothing there.
His memory hadn't gone anywhere, though. He remembered the swing. Remembered the blade passing clean through flesh. Remembered the head dropping, the body staying put on the throne.
That happened. He could still feel how it had gone — the relief, the second of actual victory.
His hand refused to unclench.
'I know it's real.'
He'd fought monsters. Entities. Things that shouldn't have existed.
He'd even stood against the Fool itself. But this was different.
This thing knew what he was before he'd even spoken.
He'd been called Fool before he'd given Lucien his name. Before he'd explained his Authority. Before he'd even understood what this place was.
His eyes narrowed. "...How do you know me?"
He'd seen it with his own eyes. And the result was impossible anyway. "...Illusion?"
The guardian smiled. "If that makes it easier for you to understand."
Lucien's eyes opened. Light filled the sanctuary, and for the first time, amusement touched his face.
"Hey, Mr. Fool."
Zekai went rigid.
Lucien's expression didn't change. "You thought you killed me."
Lucien's eyes narrowed, gold catching the light.
"You don't understand—"
Gold light pulsed once behind his eyes.
"—what death actually means here."
The air around the throne went unnaturally still.
He leaned forward, slight. "Your death—" A pause, timed like a blade finding the right angle. "—is my life."
Silence dropped over the platform.
Whatever confidence Zekai had carried up those stairs was already gone.
He forced his hand steady around the hilt. He had no idea what the actual rules of this fight were.
Worse.
He didn't even know if death still meant anything here at all.
✦ End of Chapter 62 — Your Death Is My Life ✦