Nyx had been severely wounded by the ghost vampire, lying now on the ground she could barely stand on her two feet. Kairo dragged his body towards his partner.
As Kairo got closer he felt something was off. With a sharp turn he caught with his eyes what happened.
After the Collector got impaled by the lance, the Ghost vampire didn't disappear. Its eyes turned bloodier and it dove down from the sky. Hammer in hand, it connected with the dead paladin. The impacts caused its bone-like body to crack as it was sent flying off its mount.
The Ghost vampire was like a lost child looking for its master. It floated above the Collector, eyes burning with fury in the dead paladin's direction.
"Impossible, why hasn't it disappeared yet?" Kairo asked. His mind shifted to the last palm of the Collector on his chest. It hadn't been out of desperation to attack but to finish what he started. But how? "You have showed all your three active cards, how is this possible? Did you have a fourth one on you?"
This was the only explanation Kairo could think of. The Collector had broken the convention before even getting on the island; he had equipped himself with a fourth card. Disregarding the aura drain. Stayed silent all through the trip until the very moment he got the opportunity to get what he wanted from Kairo.
"Deck sealed, Kairo. I got all the cards I wanted. Even if I couldn't defeat you, I still collected your cards," the Collector's bloody voice echoed. Choked by his own blood, it was hard to clearly grasp his words. Yet he never stopped talking. For him this was the ultimate victory. "Here, Kairo. Thanks to the Despair Theft... The Eye of Truth belongs to me."
The Collector raised the card above his head. Lying on the cold ground, he felt alive and at ease. He didn't win but his goal had been achieved. The Ghost vampire slowly faded, blown away by the winds. The Collector's life was slowly leaking out of his body, making it impossible for him to continue fighting.
Kairo walked to the Collector's side, looking at his bloodied figure from above. There was no anger nor frustration. Almost understanding. The Collector had lost but had stayed true to himself till the end. Kairo reclaimed the Eye of Truth from his hands. In his state, he couldn't offer any form of resistance nor did he intend to. The Despair Theft allows him to steal a card from his opponent's deck, but for that he needs to offer a life in exchange — either his own or his opponent's life. This was why he didn't stop at collecting people's cards and had to kill them.
Kairo took a deep breath. "You did win, Varion," Kairo said in a low voice.
"From you it feels satisfying…" The Collector's last words flowed in the air as his eyes became still, blank like the abyss in which they were.
Kairo dragged his body to his partner's side, falling on his knees. He took Nyx in between his arms. "I'm here," he said in a low voice. Heart bleeding in his chest. Nyx was barely talking, eyes fading into the silence. He had known the island would be dangerous, however he simply didn't expect it to be to this level.
"I recently learned that I am connected to something called the Card Graveyard. It's the reason for the wounds I had before we met. I am fine," she said, in a futile attempt to reassure him. Her voice was pale and almost colorless.
"Card Graveyard?" Kairo was startled. This was the first time he heard about such a term. Despite his curiosity, he didn't linger on the thought. He needed to take her out of the abyss before things got even worse. Selis hadn't attacked them before she left — why exactly Kairo was uncertain. But this was their luck.
"Just how scary are the others... Selis... Sam... Slayer?" Kairo kept questioning himself as he took Nyx away. Holding her by the shoulder, the duo walked away leaving the abyss. One step after the other, they slowly got out.
After stepping out of the abyss, Kairo squinted his eyes; the sudden clarity made his pupils hurt. Kairo and Nyx observed where they found themselves. They hadn't left the forest but had ascended quite far up the mountain.
"They should be all gathered at the fire," Nyx pointed.
Kairo lifted his head upward. A few meters away from them, he could see a wall rising thousands of meters in the air. A wall made of shining particles that sparkled like flames.
"It's the same light of the abyss. If it blocks the way we would be stuck here," Kairo thought. He had seen for himself how hot it was. Furthermore, there was no telling if it was a card fossil or simply the island trying to slow them down.
Kairo kept his thought away and paved the way forward. Slowly they left the forest behind, coming to the edges of what felt like a garden entrance. On the garden's broken walls was green goose that had grown, recovering as far as their eyes could go.
In front of the garden was the bright fire, a form of barrier that had stopped the entire card mages. Kairo soon noticed that they weren't the first to arrive.
In corners, the card mages had gathered in groups of their faction. All blocked in front of the fire. Kairo felt like the entire expedition had come to a forced halt. In front of the fire, some mages cursed, others observed, others even tried to go above the fire.
Using their card magic to fly above, propelled by winds, fire boots and more. But each time the result was the same. Before the mage could cross the fire, it would come to life almost as if it was sentient, devouring the mage in one swoop.
After which the mages' bodies broke into the same particles of light that formed the wall, becoming part of it. Kairo gasped in horror. "The particles of light are mages…" he said. Observing the starry fire, it was wider than the cosmos, with thousands if not millions of particles in it.
…..
At the top of the island altar
The pitch black figure of Slayer observed the path downward. Standing at the edges of the altar, his eyes scanned the entire island. Although he couldn't see what was underneath, he could feel everything that was happening in this place.
Behind him, the figure in mask stood with a questioning look. Of all the card fossils on the island, he was the only one allowed to stand this close to Slayer. This was because all the other fossils instinctively feared Slayer — it was part of their genetic modification to fear him — but Card Zero was... different.
He was Slayer's ally, he was his eyes out of the island. Eyes through which Slayer could observe how the card mages of this era developed.
"Earlier I felt something from the two souls fighting underneath," Slayer started. Ever since the card mages arrived, fighting had been constant on the island, but this fight had been different. Within it, he felt something he couldn't imagine would happen.
"I thought shaping card magic with desire was reserved to the elite... those called arch mages. Like the creator," Card Zero said. His demeanor observant and calculating, making it hard to figure out what was behind the mask even for Slayer.
"Potential arch mages, you mean," Slayer corrected, his voice firm on the clear distinction. Raised his palm forward, his pitch black fingers formed a fist. "Until they reach the mage awakening, they can't be called arch mages. Hence are bound to fail in their ascension of the mountain. Crush them all. Burn them to ashes."
"The fire will not hold them indefinitely... I will end this." Card Zero nodded and took his katana off his back. Ever since it awakened as a card fossil, this katana had never activated more than a single card. Despite the three embedded into it, Card Zero felt it was time to show his last card.