Kairo and his group left the camp of the card mage police. Finding a suitable spot to open a path through the fire wasn't hard; what was hard was avoiding the other groups' attention.
Along the walls that was the fire, the other groups had started moving in their direction. Kairo had a light frown on his face as he observed the approaching figures. "Would they be able to handle themselves?" Kairo had no doubt in the card mage police's abilities, but these were the best card mages of this entire generation gathered here.
They probably had no idea of why Kairo and his group were moving, but out of instinct they wanted to stop them. Well aware the card mage police knew more than all the others thanks to the reaper knowledge, it only made sense their every move was monitored.
From the distance, Kairo could see Mirelle and Ortega form a line in the form of a dome around them, blocking the advance of the approaching crowd. From the distance he had the vague impression the entire world had turned against them once more.
"It's just like at the fountain, but this time we have a more important mission. I can't be part of this." Kairo's blood was itching, boiling with the need to stand at the forefront with the protector, to be the shield he had decided to be when he awakened the protector. But he also understood how important it was for them to move forward and move fast.
"Kairo, chosen destiny is forward, not in our shadow. Get ready. It's time for us to shine brighter than the stars. Let that fool of Ortega understand he made a huge mistake."
Kairo's focus was drawn back to the task at hand and he nodded, sealing his resolve inwardly. There was only the task at hand: forward. At the forefront of the fire, Nyx had ejected a card from her launcher, swiftly catching it between her fingers. She summoned the circuitry of the void.
But this time, Kairo could see the atmosphere in the area shift, almost as if a storm was gathering around them. Howling winds swooped past his ruffling coat, forcing him to shield his eyes from the singing dirt. Then he saw it.
The sparkles in the fire wall started whirling, almost moving like living stars. They swarmed around Nyx, enveloping her figure into a cosmos of light. By doing so, an open path was carved into the otherwise impenetrable wall that was the fire.
"That's it. She did it." Kairo had a wave of pride rise in his heart. But he still understood this wasn't time to rejoice. One after the other, they dashed into the opened hole. Fabian and Danzan led the path forward, while Kairo and Nyx followed behind them. Just as Kairo jumped through the portal, he took one last glance behind them, only to see the circuitry of the void ignite behind them. The clash between the parties had started.
Just as he landed on the side of the garden, Kairo lifted his head back to the path forward. "It's not time to worry for her. Chosen destiny should be our only focus," he told himself. "You all stay precise and sharp. The card fossils will definitely not allow us to get near the altar without confrontation."
"They can play it all if they wish. I will burst right into that altar and snatch the card before Slayer even has time to blink." Danzan stretched his figure as he prepared for the sprint of his life. Clearly he had been all pumped up for the island.
However, before he could move, Kairo called them out. "Did you all hear that?" Kairo leaned his palm on the broken walls that ornated the garden walls. The green humid moss sank into his palm but Kairo ignored the dirt, trying his best to listen more intensely.
"What's wrong, Kairo? Can you hear something we can't?" Nyx asked.
"This could be the Eye of Truth reacting to us getting closer to the altar. If that's the case, then we are in the right direction. Keep aiming forward," Fabian said.
Guiding their path through the winding path, Kairo could see on his lonely back just how much weight rested on his shoulder. Well aware of how impulsive Danzan was, Ortega and Mirelle had rested the success of this operation on his head, trusting his ability to stay focused on their mission.
As the group progressed through the garden path, Kairo heard the rumbling of flowing water. In a matter of seconds, their uniform had turned wet, with the visibility reducing around them. "Be careful, we are getting closer. Here the weather doesn't seem to obey any rules," Fabian was about to take another step forward when his figure suddenly froze midway.
At the rear, Kairo and Nyx rushed to his side, about to question what was wrong when they noticed the rolling head of a figure, pooling in its own blood. The head had eyes still blinking, the incoherence in his eyes still vivid for them to see.
The moment Kairo saw the lifeless head, something seemed to click in his mind. "It's him," he muttered to himself. He shifted his weight about to warn his friends and Nyx to the side when he saw it. Almost as if the world had slowed down in that very instant. His lips moved in a warning but the words seemed to come too slow.
From the shadows of the garden fog, a beaming figure was moving. A katana in hand. Its lean figure arched the blade in a perfect swing at Nyx just by his side. In that brief instant, Kairo had his heart jump in his chest.
Just as the katana was about to slice through the still agonizingly slow Nyx, a sparkle of light traversed the void. Curving in the void like thunder jumping along water droplets. In the agonizing slow scene, Kairo could clearly see the fist of Danzan aiming at the masked figure.
Card Zero simply changed course of direction mid-swing and vanished into the shadowy fog once more. The moment his figure went out of their vision, Kairo's voice came out, Fabian caught his ejected card, and Nyx's lips finally moved.
"It's hard to admit anyone is faster than me. But this time I was slower," Danzan said, his voice carrying a rare tinge of seriousness.
"Stay close to me. I didn't expect we would have to deal with Card Zero so early on," Fabian waved at them, his focus shifting left and right as if trying to pinpoint the location of their target. Kairo and his friends stacked in a circle, backs glued against each other, they all observed carefully the now shaky fog.
"Card Zero here? Could he have sneaked into the portal we created earlier? Ever since the expedition started, no one had noticed his presence."
Kairo shook his head. Nyx's reasoning wasn't wrong, but not right either. His mind was stirring, piecing what this all meant. Sam had made a pact with them to find Card Zero in order to understand why his son had been killed, watching over Kairo. The answer had become very clear at the fountain: it must have been because of the Eye of Truth.
"Card Zero knew about the Eye of Truth being part of the deck of origin. It simply means he is connected to the deck of origin and Slayer or the card fossils." Kairo's eyes sharpened, following the shadow in the fog. "From the very start we have been wrong. Card Zero was never part of the Order of Bounty Hunters. His goals from the very start were to watch over the deck of origin. He might have the answers to all our questions about where the other cards of the deck are located."
"We don't have time for this, Kairo. Our priority here is chosen destiny. And everything that stands on the way must be eliminated." Danzan caught the ejected card from his launcher. "His katana contains cards that can be used to activate card magic. That's how he was able to slow down time. He is not the right opponent for any of you. Continue forward. I will handle him here." Flipping it between his fingers, he summoned the circuitry of the void. Just as the circuitry came to life, drawing a series of concentric circles mimicking the carefully drawn electric circuitry in the air, Danzan's figure blitzed once more.
The two beams of light danced in the watery garden. Danzan's palm sealed the katana of Card Zero, forcing both fighters into a brief halt. Then the two lights melted with light once more, connecting like two coiling dragons.
"I never met anyone who could match Danzan's speed with so much ease. His cards don't seem able to slow time, but just those within a striking range of his katana. That's why we can still move." Kairo glanced at Fabian. Under the dark foggy rain, part of his face was covered in shadowy black.
"Stay safe, my friend." Fabian shifted on his heels and started running forward.
Kairo had a hard time digesting what he saw. Fabian was abandoning Danzan to his fate here. He knew the mission came first, he knew chosen destiny was their only sole target. But still. Card Zero could slow down time. No matter how fast Danzan was, he was bound to lose. And in those earlier seconds, Fabian had clearly understood it.
Kairo had always thought he had grown strong enough to see the greater picture. To be like his father, a sword that stayed straight no matter how hard the decision he needed to take was. But for the first time ever since they arrived on the island, Kairo had doubt rise in his mind.
"We need to leave now, Kairo. Fabian has already left." Nyx's hands landed on his shoulder, a subtle but clear reminder of where they were.
Kairo searched in her eyes for the answer, only to see the same emptiness like that of Fabian. In her expression, it was hard to say if she was crying or just the rain washing down her face. "Captain Danzan asked us to keep moving, Kairo. You need to listen."
"But..." Kairo balled his fist. Head low. The answer was so simple yet he couldn't resolve himself to accept it. Just as he took one last look at the fight, he noticed it. Danzan had been overwhelmed. After another missed fist, the katana of Card Zero moved towards his chest, going through the figure of the smiling Danzan.
Kairo's eyes widened, a cry so deep it made the entire garden respond. As the rain, the fighting, all had fallen to the background.
Danzan's figure fell over Card Zero's shoulder, a faint smile on his lips. "It's you, right? Kaili?" His voice was almost nonexistent but loud enough to shake the soul of Card Zero. "Dying at your hand is the best gift I could receive. I am finally allowed to repent for my sins."