The vast chamber pulsed with a faint, rhythmic hum like the beating of a colossal, unseen heart.

Scarlet veins of light ran along the marble floor, forming circles and sigils that twisted in and out of existence.

At the very center sat Lucere, the leader of the Hollow Nine.

Pink hair fell over one side of his face, uneven and sharp, a wolf-cut that caught the glow of the veins beneath him.

His lips curved in a grin that almost looked human, but his eyes betrayed him.

Those eyes — swirling with orange, red, and black were a storm of layered gazes, as though a thousand souls were watching through him.

When he spoke, the air around him seemed to kneel.

A tremor rippled through the chamber.

A door of light opened, and K stepped in bowing low, his usually calm expression slightly strained.

"My lord Lucere… the twins failed. The shard remains with the Dragon Knight."

For a long, suffocating moment, Lucere said nothing.

The only sound was the drip… drip… drip… of blood from somewhere high above though there was no wound, no corpse. Just the sound.

Then Lucere smiled.

Not kindly.

"Failed? Again?"

His tone was soft, but the veins on the floor pulsed once — violently.

K dropped to one knee instantly. "I take full responsibility. The interference of Khael Corzedar—"

The name made Lucere pause.

Then his grin widened.

"Khael Corzedar?"

He leaned back in his throne, a quiet, almost delighted laugh escaping him.

At first, soft. Then louder. Louder still.

"Hah… HAHAHAHA!"

The laughter echoed, bouncing off the cold stone.

The air distorted, the sigils flared to life.

K didn't dare move.

He knew this wasn't joy. It was madness dancing on reason's edge.

Lucere wiped a tear from his eye, still smiling.

"So the little disciple of Isen lives. How poetic. The student protects the fragments his master once sealed. And you, K… you thought this was failure? No. This is fate."

K raised his head slightly. "My lord?"

Lucere's grin returned sharper this time.

He waved his hand, and from the air materialized a crystalline relic, glowing faintly, a shard pulsing with veins of flesh-like material.

It was one of the Fragments of the Forbidden relic— the Shard of Flesh.

He gazed at it with something resembling reverence.

"Do you know why I want these shards, K?"

K shook his head slowly.

"I assume they are… the keys."

Lucere chuckled.

"Keys, yes. But not just to power. They are pieces of her."

He stood from his throne, stepping closer.

"Yuna. The Dragon Slayer. The First Dragon Knight. My master, my everything."

The temperature dropped.

K could feel the pressure heavy, suffocating as Lucere's voice grew quieter, almost trembling.

"When the gods turned their backs, she burned the heavens. When dragons ruled the skies, she slew their king. And when the world began to rot, she… died to stop what was coming."

Lucere looked down at his hand the shard still glowing faintly.

"I will bring her back. I already have four fragments."

He smiled wider, but it never touched his eyes.

"Only six remain. And one of them, the Shard of Flesh rests within Khael's grasp."

K's gaze darkened.

"Then you want me to eliminate him."

Lucere's head tilted slightly.

"No."

K blinked.

"No?"

Lucere's grin stretched, unnervingly serene.

"You don't kill him yet. You bring him to me alive."

"Alive?"

Lucere turned, walking toward the massive mural behind his throne an ancient depiction of Yuna standing atop a mountain of dragon corpses, blade dripping gold.

"Khael Corzedar was Isen's disciple. Isen, my best friend, my brother in arms. He sealed the dragon, K. He took from me the light of the world. And his disciple now guards what's left of the shards Tell me… isn't that poetic?"

K stayed silent.

Lucere's voice softened, almost tender now.

"Isen sealed the strongest dragon herself — the dragon who defied even Yuna her.. flames. To unseal it, and her, I need all fragments. That dragon…"

He glanced over his shoulder, his mismatched eyes gleaming.

"…was her final sin. And my future salvation."

K dared to ask, "Then what is your true plan, my lord? Once Yuna and the dragon both awaken?"

Lucere's grin faded into something far quieter, far more dangerous.

He turned back toward the mural, placing a hand against it.

"That, my dear K, is for when the world stops pretending it's alive."

A faint ripple of Shinrei spread from his palm, and the mural Yuna's eyes blinked.

K felt a chill run through him.

The painted woman's gaze met his, and for a fleeting second, he swore she was smiling.

Lucere turned away.

"Go. Retrieve the Shard of Flesh. The time of dragons draws near again. And when Yuna returns... My plan…."

K bowed deeply. "As you command, Lord Lucere."

Lucere's smile returned, soft and haunting.

"Good. Because if you fail again… I'll make you her first offering."

As K vanished into the ripple of light, the chamber fell silent again.

Lucere looked up through the black ceiling and into the unseen stars above.

"Yuna… soon."

"The world you died to protect… I'll burn it for you."

Lucere's grin didn't leave his face, but the room chilled an extra degree when Miraku laughed a thin, childlike sound painted over a predator's hunger. The clown mask's painted smile looked almost earnest in the shard-light; the eyes behind it were flat coals.

"You're here, then." Lucere's voice was silk. "Good. You always find the theatre in the worst places."

Miraku spat a little laugh and tipped his head, the mask's smile warping with the motion. "Master… Master… is Kaen there? I want that scream again. The way his flame snaps when you touch his past—delicious."

Lucere's face hardened for a breath not with anger, but with the weight of decision. He tapped the marble at his feet; veins of red light traced out like a map. "The cursed child is not at Tashi." He spoke the fact sharp as a blade, then softer: "But that does not mean you cannot have your entertainment."

Miraku's grin widened until the mask looked almost obscene. "Suck, I want to fight that boy again. That ecstasy."

"Soon." Lucere's answer was a promise, not a plan. He leaned forward, eyes folding K's name into the silence between them. "K has the Shard in hand now; Khael Corzedar protects it. Your appetite shall be fed, Mirak but not yet." He let that sit like incense. "You're a blade best used while the wound still thrashes. Go stir the veldt. Draw broken things out. Find where Kaen hides his small, hot wounds. Make the boy bleed into the open."

Miraku's fingers flexed, mask creaking with movement. "Oh, I can sing him lullabies of fire and knife. I'll put on a show. He'll remember every cut."

Lucere's laughter rippled through the hall, low and delighted. "Good. Break him a little more. Make sure he learns to be afraid of his own shadow. Then when the net is drawn, we will choose whom we take alive." He turned, the mural behind him swallowing the light as if listening.

Miraku bowed low, the mask's smile stretched wide. "Master. It will be the best performance. I promise."

As the clown slipped back into the darkness, Lucere watched the place where his shadow vanished and murmured, quiet enough for only the shards to hear, "Soon, Yuna. We will wake you with fire."

To be continue

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