As Lloyd and his companions crossed the passage opened by the gatekeeper, they found themselves in a completely different world.
It wasn't destroyed…
nor alive.
It was a still world, as if time had stopped at a moment that hadn't yet run its course.
A gray, sunless sky, and a smooth earth that reflected their shadows like a faded mirror.
Riorno stopped abruptly.
"I don't feel any energy… This is impossible. Even dead worlds leave a trace."
"Because this world… wasn't meant to be a world at all," replied the gatekeeper cautiously.
Before he could explain further—
A soft clap of applause rang out.
One clap… two claps… three.
And before them, a tall man appeared, wearing a dark robe that seemed impervious to the wind, as if the laws of nature wouldn't dare touch him.
His face was… too serene.
His eyes held the gaze of someone who saw not adversaries, but predetermined outcomes. He said with a slight smile,
"I was wondering… how long it would take you to get here."
Lloyd's grip tightened immediately.
"You're Zebra's."
The man bowed slightly.
"My name is… Cirran.
The first to guard the path to the Lord."
The threshold guard froze.
"Cirran… impossible. It's said you disappeared at the beginning of the system's collapse."
Cirran smiled.
"I didn't disappear.
I simply moved into direct action under Lord Zebra's orders."
The Experimental Realm
Cirran raised his hand, and the ground silently cracked open, revealing enormous geometric circles surrounding the space.
He said,
"This isn't a world.
It's an experimental space.
Here we study… who is worthy of access."
Shira looked around.
"An experimental space?! You've destroyed entire worlds!"
He replied calmly,
"Destruction is a consequence."
As for us… we search for those who can survive the destruction."
He took a step forward, and the pressure in the air shifted.
"Lord Zebra doesn't want weak followers.
Or ordinary enemies."
Then he looked directly at Lloyd:
"He wants you to reach him… but only if you can stand before us first."
The confrontation begins.
Lloyd didn't wait any longer.
He charged forward with incredible speed, aiming a direct blow at Cerran.
But—
He stopped.
Not because he was hindered…
But because his body didn't reach him.
The distance between them… was no longer constant.
"Even the void itself is changing!" said Riorno in amazement.
"My ability is called: Distance Liberation," replied Cerran.
"I don't move… I decide how far things are from me."
Lloyd's steps grew heavier, as if the road stretched endlessly.
Fighting Against a Concept
"Don't attack him as a body!" the threshold guardian shouted. "His power is law-based, like the ancient guardians!"
Lloyd closed his eyes for a moment.
Then he said,
"So… I won't fight the distance."
He opened his eyes, and his white energy surged forth, but it didn't explode—
It contracted around him, concentrated in a single point.
"I'll fight the moment he creates."
He vanished.
He didn't rush…
It was as if his very existence leaped between moments.
And for the first time—
Ceran's smile changed.
He raised his arm to block the blow, and the space around them trembled, and streaks of light appeared in the gray sky.
"Interesting…" Seran said in a different tone. "You don't break the power.
You transcend it."
Shira and Ryorno intervene.
Shira seized the moment, activating her stellar energy and sending out light patterns that disrupted the field controlled by Cerran.
Ryorno, however, unleashed his dark fire on the ground itself, not on him.
"If he controls distance…
Let's deprive him of the points from which he measures!"
The world began to tremble.
The seemingly stable space began to lose its balance.
An unexpected admission.
Cerran took a step back.
Not because he was defeated…
But because he got what he wanted.
"Enough," he said quietly.
All forces ceased abruptly, as if someone had halted the battle with a single decision.
He looked directly at Lloyd:
"Now I'm certain.
You're not just a consequence of chaos…
You're a variable that wasn't accounted for in the equation."
He turned slowly, and his body began to fade.
"You may continue."
The next path will lead you closer…to Lord Zebra."
He paused, then added:
"But remember, Lloyd…
We are not trying to stop you from coming.
We are trying to make sure you can handle what you will see there."
And he disappeared.
After the Encounter
Silence fell.
"Why…did he let us go?" Shira asked.
"Because this wasn't a battle," the gatekeeper replied. "It was an assessment."
Lloyd looked at the void where Cairan had vanished. "So the path from here…will be neither a run nor a chase."
Then he clenched his fist.
"But a step closer to the truth."