Kairo stood erect observing his opponent, a series of thoughts going through his mind. The Collector and his ghost army were advancing, tightening the circle between him and his partner.
"It was to be expected his deck would be different, if not how could he stay at the top for so long?" Kairo thought. At the fountain, the cards the Collector had shown were just parts of a greater arsenal. He had been careless, assuming the Ghost Lord was indispensable to his opponent.
"The only thing left for us is to fight, Kairo. Fight until we win," Nyx said. The starry sky revolving around her frame, giving her an almost celestial aura. The orbs of energy around her condensed into balls that grew with every rotation like planets growing in life.
"I started collecting cards before I learned to talk, Kairo. It's an art that I've practiced for years now. The more resistant the prey, the more interesting the chase," the Collector said, his voice dripping with joy, a smile so eerie it left the duo goosebumps. For the Collector, it wasn't about killing Kairo, no, it was about enjoying the despair in his eyes as his cards left him.
"Murder isn't his goal. Stealing is," Kairo frowned. He was facing another fanatic of card magic. Whether it was Selis, Sam, or even his father Magnus, all of them had fascinations about cards that made their actions seem most of the time illogical.
"It's not a matter of logic, Kairo. It's card magic," he reminded himself. Ejecting the cards from his wrist launcher, he resolved to fight. The circuitry of the void came to life, sending bright lines dancing into the space like silks woven into the void. The silk lines all condensed around Kairo, drawing the Protector armor around him.
With clinking metallic sounds, the chest plate landed, then the shoulders, and slowly the protector armor appeared. Shining bright with its dark blue color in the abyss. Kairo raised his palm forward, blocking the lance that had been hurled towards him.
There was a loud impact between them as his fingers trembled upon impact. "Incredible strength," he muttered. The Protector armor was not only heavy but extremely durable. Yet the lance of the ghost demons managed to make his body shake.
"Nyx, I will take the damage. You find an opening to get rid of the mage. Aim for his head," Kairo said with a detached expression. In his mind it had grown clearer. On the island it was simple: either they acted with their logical mind and finished fried like the mages earlier, or acted on their instinct and survived.
Nyx stared blankly for an instant, clearly not expecting something this radical. But she took to the air, with the Star Dominion around her. She flew into the abyss, evading the burning lights.
"That's it... Kairo, you're growing, getting bolder, getting more like us," the Collector smirked. Waving in the void, the ghost demons armed with hammers stepped into the way. They swung their hammers forward, creating whistling in the air as they connected with the planetary balls.
The stars were shattered upon impact, sending miniature debris all over the abyss. The particles were turned into dust upon entering contact with the strange fire.
The Collector urged his ghost demons, sending them all towards Nyx, with total disregard to his protection. He moved through the abyss, furtively hiding in the dark spots to protect himself.
In the void, the ghost demons evaded the planetary orbs, sliding past them like slipping through them like water through stones. Hammers at hand, they waved in arcs, drawing a dazzling array sealing all possible escape routes.
Kairo summoned the protector lightning. Raising both palms, he waved upward. Lightning clapped from within the abyss, illuminating the entire area. White lightning danced like snakes in the air, skidding through the air like tendrils.
The ghost demons exploded upon impact, giving enough time for his partner to dive down out of the circle, evading the trap.
Nyx directed the starry sky, sending thousands of debris all towards the Collector. Now that they had been broken into smaller particles, they were far harder to intercept for the ghost demons with their huge hammers.
Kairo, followed by the sand paladin, shot towards the Collector, blocking his path. "Well-thought plan, but not enough," the Collector said defiantly. In the middle of the shooting debris, his figure never showed any signs of worry nor fear.
The ghost demons all regrouped around him and began chanting once more. The Ghost Melody floated out of their mouths, articles of words written in an unknown language.
"What's that?" Kairo frowned. The first time this card was activated, he hadn't seen something like this. "Unless he hid it until now. Something unique to the Ghost Melody," Kairo deduced.
The starry sky landed on the Collector's body. The sound of bones cracking echoed in the void. The particles of star energy anchored his body from every side. A few seconds later, the only thing left of the Collector was a bloody figure barely able to stand on his two feet.
"Is it over?" Kairo asked. Nyx landed next to him, equally surprised by how quick it had been. The duo wanted to move out of the abyss but stood rooted on the spot.
The strange symbols of the Ghost Melody went into action. They all began rewinding back to the ghosts' mouths, as if the ghost demons were eating back their words. Kairo found his body taking a step back, Nyx flying back into the air.
When everything ended, Kairo found himself in the exact same location as a moment ago. However, out of the thousand ghost demons around the Collector, more than half had disappeared, brushed away into a white mist never to be seen again.
"Didn't expect to use this so early, but had no choice with you two," the Collector massaged his shoulder like an athlete after a workout. On his body, all the wounds had disappeared, leaving behind only marks of what they had been. "The Ghost Melody isn't a trapping card, Kairo. It goes way beyond what you saw earlier."
Kairo's eyes sharpened as his mind flashed back to what had happened earlier. They knew cards had hidden mechanics, and this was nothing new. The issue was how the Collector had used this to his advantage. The first use was banal and almost too classic. They could have never guessed its power went this way.
"The marks from the wounds have not disappeared. Meaning the Ghost Melody doesn't rewind time like he wants to make us believe. It just rewinds the actions but not the consequences. I bet at this moment he has a hard time breathing after all those impacts," Kairo observed. He didn't need to be a genius to understand the Collector was not totally back in shape.
"We almost got him. The next one will be the right," Nyx gathered the starry sky once more. Kairo condensed the protector lightning in his palm and the sand paladin raised its lance. They were ready for a finishing blow.
"You really think it's this simple?" The Collector laughed. His chest trembling under his voice. With a pained expression bearing a smile, he coughed blood and smiled at them, eyes shining with the light of someone who had nothing more to lose. "I keep a mark of all those people I collected their cards. Only after collecting a mark am I allowed to collect a card… Go, my ghost demons."
His words echoed like an order from the underworld. The ghost demons didn't only move. They grew, they gathered, and they marched. Eyes shimmering with newfound energy. Their advance left Kairo and Nyx frozen in awe.
Everywhere the ghost demons walked, the one taking the lead grew as if the others were feeding it with their power.
"They feed their leaders with their energy. Like some sort of vampires," Kairo said, raising his forearms to shield his body. The massive hammer of the ghost demons was already in front of his face. It wasn't just their size that had increased; their speed and strength too.
For the first time since wielding the protector armor, Kairo was forced backward, his imposing frame skidding on the abyss ground like sliding on ice. His forearms ached as if they would break at any moment. On the protector armor, a faint mark could be seen.
"Nyx, avoid direct confrontation. The ghost demons have evolved into Ghost Vampires," Kairo said, his voice sharper than usual. He couldn't afford to underestimate his opponent now. He had recently learned cards could evolve when their owner faced a certain form of stress or deep desire. Given cards were awakened from the innerself, it didn't feel strange to Kairo. The innerself was part of the mage, and hence the cards too.