At the exact same moment, the rest of the group arrived one after another. Mirelle and Ortega's wounded figures were the first, followed by the few card mage officers that were still alive. Their figures were battered and covered in wounds. Some of them leaning on others but their gaze full of hope. Next came Sam and his daughter among the ICMA; they were the only two who were still alive. Finally the last group to arrive was her.
Selis's appearance in the grand coliseum didn't go unnoticed, not because her group had the biggest number left. Far from that, she was alone, the only one left. As Kairo lifted his head to look at her, he saw something that made his heart quiver.
"Kairo, Fabian? Did you get chosen destiny?" Ortega's voice was full of hope, almost desperate for a favorable answer.
At last, Fabian tilted his head downwards. Kairo couldn't muster the strength to give an answer. His lips flickered open and closed. He wanted to admit it, he wanted to say it was all his fault. But the weight of the expectation in their eyes was simply too big for him to bear.
"We failed you all. If we had been faster, then chosen destiny would have ended in our hands. Captain Mirelle, Captain Ortega. Forgive us," Nyx acted as the voice of Kairo at the moment, voicing out what everyone dreaded.
Mirelle's expression drained of all life. While Ortega's eyes blinked twice, veins tracing all over his neck. The remaining card mage officers all gave out a series of shaken sighs, some falling to their knees, others on their butts.
"You mean you failed? Are you kidding me? Almost all the reapers were killed. All my friends were gone and you tell me you didn't get it?"
"Melodrama is this what Card zero kept repeating back in the days?" Slayer's voice rose, catching everyone's attention. Then he pointed at them. "The card chosen destiny shall stay secure and safe with the card fossil. Now mortals, return to your world and lament not on the loss you had today, but on the foolishness of your own kind. Greed, that's what led you here. Not this little boy. Leave now, or face the wrath of Slayer."
Among the few card mages left, some started turning their backs and leaving. The gold rush for chosen destiny was over. Without the serpent monster, they could not find Mao. And none of them dared to face Slayer head on. Every form of confrontation had been rendered pointless at the moment.
Kairo stood up and dragged his body away from the throne. Nyx forced a smile at him trying to cheer him up. But Kairo simply brushed through her. He would have to face the consequences of his actions.
"Where are you all going?" a familiar voice froze them all on the spot. Slayer and all the captains present took a sharp turn at Selis. The grade six criminal had a smile that spoke volumes of her confidence. "Isn't for chosen destiny that we came? Isn't for this?" She flipped a card in her hand.
The moment Kairo saw that card, his heart skipped a beat. Almost instinctively he felt the urge to rush at her to snatch it out. But forced himself to not act impulsive once more. Slayer stood up from his throne, not in his usual calm and composed manner but in a hurried pace that made every doubt at Selis vanish almost instantly.
"Impossible, how?" Slayer's voice rankled like thunder in the sky. The abyss that were his two eyes whirling like the cosmos. "What have you done of Mao?"
"How, you ask? It's quite simple, don't you think? The moment Mao came in the abyss, I decided to test if the Monarch Rule would work on card fossils. That's how I learned about the plan to take away chosen destiny. If we were to get too close to the castle, the moment the firewall disappeared, Slayer knew Card zero was defeated and thus called Mao to act. All I had to do was wait patiently." Selis played with chosen destiny in between her fingers and smiled in Kairo's direction. "Now obey me all. Take Kairo's Eye of Truth and hand it to me."
"And you think we are going to listen to you? That's our chance to collect chosen destiny, captains, let's do it." The life in the card mage police seemed to have returned only for a brief instant.
Kairo, being the center of their gaze, had the realization dawn on him at the end. Nyx, Felix, Fabian, Mirelle, Ortega, Sam and his daughter. All the reapers and all the card mages still alive all moved toward Kairo almost like zombies devoid of any free will.
"How could I miss something this obvious?" Kairo asked, his eyes taking a clear look at Selis variant. She had already been called the greatest criminal of the world. But apart from her impressive magic, there was something very subtle Kairo and all the others had not seen coming.
"Mortal, this human being seems to have the ability to control people of her kind. My eyes tell me it is linked to the admiration they hold for her," Slayer said.
"Oh, the Monarch Rule. Doesn't work on you. Strange. But after all, you're Slayer, it would have been puzzling to be able to control you so easily," Selis said, exhibiting her usual confidence that had earned her respect over the years. "Well, let me make things simple for you, Kairo. Hand over the Eye of Truth and maybe I will leave some of them alive. Try to resist, and everything you care for might go down with you."
For the very first time ever since they had met, Kairo saw not calm but real terror in Selis's eyes. More than a criminal, she really felt like an insurmountable mountain that he could only look at pitifully from the top. From the very first day they met, he thought he understood her. But only now did he see how naive he had been about her.
Selis wasn't just a grade six criminal. She was a real nightmare to their world. If Slayer's assumptions were right, then she had not cultivated that aura and presence of untouchability just for the sake of appearing cool on media, not only to be admired and feared in the criminal circles. Because the Monarch Rule worked only on those that had her in admiration. She had to spend time patiently cultivating that person she was.
"To think I too had you in admiration at one point. Without the Eye of Truth, I would be nothing other than a mindless puppet like all the others at the moment," Kairo said. Cold sweat trickled down his back. He was alone, against all the captains, against Selis, against Slayer. All alone.
No matter how unique his cards were, whether mirror, switch, or double face, he would never be able to face them all. She had ended the game before it even started. "She must have used her ability on Mao when he came to warn them. That's how she could control him after Slayer asked Mao to leave with chosen destiny."
"How can you be so cruel, Selis? You who keep chanting the songs of freedom for card magic. You have spent your entire life controlling people like puppets. Their lives, their dreams, all of those who had you in admiration have been nothing more than pawns from the very first day they laid their trust in those devilish eyes. Yet you dare claim freedom for card magic. What kind of hypocrisy is that? Tell me."
"Naive to the point it feels disgusting," Selis let out an amused laughter. "You understand very little, Kairo. I offer them what they had always wanted: freedom. By refusing to let them decide, I take away the need to struggle. The need to change. That's ultimate freedom from everything."
"I thought mortals like him existed only in the world of the past. But I was wrong. You're not different from Donatello."
"I do not agree with such a simplistic view, Slayer. Donatello wanted a lifeform he could control. That's selfish and egoistic. I propose nothing more than liberation." Selis variant then pointed at him, her eyes beaming with newfound determination. "Collect the Eye of Truth, take his head if necessary."
The first to react was Ortega, releasing the Titan set. He caught the first card ejected from his launcher. The Titan aura spread out like a rising tide, slamming into Kairo just as he covered himself with the protector armor.
Nyx ascended the sky, taking her angelic form. Mirelle summoned her complementary cards. Fabian unleashed the Divine Precision. One after another, all the strongest card mages and all the others unleashed their card magic.
Only at that moment did Kairo understand. Looking at the approaching army of card mages, whether he liked it or not, it would end here today for him. They wanted the Eye of Truth and they would do anything to get it.
Nyx painted a golden light in the sky as her sword traced an arc downward. Kairo was about to be blown away. The pitch black figure morphed into existence, caught the sword with his bare hands, tossing it to the side like a mere toy. Nyx's figure was sent flying, but with a flap of her wings she stabilized her figure midair, resuming her zombie-like march with the others.
"Mortal, rise," Slayer said. "Today this woman has proven even more dangerous than Donatello had been in the past. She needs to be destroyed before she becomes unstoppable. I shall borrow you my power, mortal. Together we will teach them one thing," Slayer said, his figure releasing a wave of dense black energy. "To fear Slayer."