Kairo had experienced card realms earlier in his career as a card mage, but afterward had barely encountered any worthy of mention. A world that obeys fully to the rules of the card mage that created it.
"I don't have time for this. Everyone is dying outside at the moment," Kairo told himself. And started running forward. Even if he had to brute force his way through Sam, he would do it. But as Kairo ran forward, images began replaying on both sides of the shadowy path.
In them, Kairo could see laughter, he could see joy. He could see tears. To whom those images belonged, he couldn't be sure in that moment. But those memories were deep. So deep that Kairo didn't notice when he started slowing down.
And by the moment he reached Sam's level, he was already on his knees. Unable to take a single step forward. The prison of memories. "No matter how hard I try, the protector armor doesn't seem to respond." Kairo's soul rocked back and forth in its own body as if trying to escape the prison that had always held it.
With every passing second, the memories dimmed, and with them, the light in Kairo's eyes. "He has lost his son. His family left only with Luve. His love for his son was so big he went on this death expedition just to avenge him." The more Kairo stayed in the prison of memories, the more he seemed to understand Sam's character.
Unlike his own father Magnus, who never showed love the conventional way, Sam was the real opposite of everything Magnus was. The very definition of what one would call father. Amidst his grand ambitions for the ICMA, his grand ambitions for Luve, there was nothing else than pure unadulterated love, even egoistic in a sense. As Sam didn't care how his actions reflected on the world as long as those memories of whom he called family were safe.
It was subtle, but Kairo almost envied Luve and the dead son. But then again, his own memories began resurfacing. That day in the car with his father. The media relay of flares of victory when his father faced the entire of Selis's army. And then the faint but subtle pride he had shown looking at Kairo. It wasn't as big nor grandiose as what Sam was able to do for his kind. But it was enough.
"They don't have to be the same, they don't have to look alive. You're a good man, Sam. Luve still needs you," Kairo said. The protector armor roared to life and the sparkles of the ember sky spread out in a field. With trembling legs, Kairo forced one knee off the ground.
The memories intensified around him, spiraling and reflecting many more others, trying to chain his very soul in the prison once more. However, Kairo slammed his fist sideways, and the entire void around him broke like a mirror. Distorting into particles and orbitable shards. Until he was back into the coliseum.
With a gentle tap on his neck, Kairo caught the unconscious Sam. Gently laying him down on the ground. "I still have something to accomplish," he muttered gently. In that moment, Sam's fading consciousness, Sam's eyes moved. Kairo at the moment wasn't the boy they had met back in the days; he was the solid shield of the card mage police, the very definition of what Magnus had strived years to carve.
Kairo shifted the protector armor back to the task at hand. At this point in time, the reason in Selis seemed to show faint worry. "What are you all doing? Stop him now."
"It's too late, Selis. I'm coming for you." Kairo's soul ignited with the protector armor. Piercing forward at incredible speed. As Kairo neared dangerously close to Selis, Fabian came into view over the horizon. With his extended fingers, he condensed green flames at the tip.
"The Divine Precision again." Kairo was well aware of Fabian's abilities. However, he never stopped his charge because he was confident in the protector armor. The first impact landed with the weight of falling stars.
Kairo stopped dead on his track, his legs continued moving forward but his torso was forced back, shielded by his forearms. With balance gone, the protector armor crumbled under its own weight. "What was that?" Kairo gasped in between his breaths. He had faced Fabian more than once, but it was during training.
The realization dawned on him as Kairo rose back to his feet. "No wonder he is a five-star captain." Kairo had naively underestimated Fabian for being nothing more than a good spy. However, after brief thought, it was foolish to think his father's best friend was nothing more than a decor.
"After father learned that you knew about Mirelle's plan, the rift between you two became too big to close by time. This mission was supposed to be your salvation. I understand, Uncle Fabian," Kairo said. Despite the pain in his arms, he felt deep pain in Fabian's lasers. He had failed everyone by staying back to help Danzan. But did he regret it? He wasn't sure. One thing was sure: if he could still change things, then even if he had to hold the weight of the sky in his palms, he would do it.
Kairo kept moving, resuming his sprint towards Selis, now in view. However, Fabian was far from having shown him all. As he spread his five fingers outward like a pianist, he played the chords of the void. And more lasers were given birth. One after another, they created green paths that connected the two spaces. In a matter of seconds, they were within reach of the protector armor.
However, Kairo had already played his plan. With a flicker of his palm, the protector armor was gone. And instead, he caught the ejected card from his launcher in between his palms. "My dear friend, it's time for you to shine," Kairo said.
From the depth of his palm, in between the card frame, sand shot out, morphing and curving like liquid water. The sand paladin maneuvered its lance, using the edges to parry the lasers one after the other. While Kairo followed close behind him.
This time, the paladin was acting as his protector. However, with every chord struck by Fabian's fingers, the laser would ricochet off the tips of the lance and curve in the space to attack from another side. But the sand paladin appeared to have no dead angle.
He gripped Kairo by the shoulder and shifted him forward, parrying another wave of assault, then shifted again and parried those ahead. "The lance like last time," Kairo said. The sand paladin gave him a brief glance and nodded. Throwing off his lance into Kairo's palms.
"I wouldn't have another chance." Kairo caught the lance and leaned his arm forward. Aiming it like a javelin, he swung. There was the sound of an explosion, waves blowing like waves outward, and Kairo was gone.
The lance traversed the void with blinding speed. So fast that curving lasers had no time to curve in time. Fabian simply tilted his head sideways, his hair blown away by the winds generated by the traversing lance.
Alarmed, he shifted his attention behind him. Only to see Kairo catch the lance mid-flight behind him. Morphing back to life, the sand around his figure reconstructed into the sand paladin. "To Selis now," Kairo screamed. The sand paladin materialized below Kairo. Using Fabian's shoulder as a trampoline, he pushed his lance along Kairo's foot, causing another shockwave as Kairo's figure was gone.
This time upwards, straight at the last obstacle that was Selis now. As he fell down, he summoned once more the protector armor. The dark blue armor coiled around him like a living being, and Kairo stretched his palm forward. "It's over."
"Dream on it."
Kairo's palm bowled into the ground, causing cracks to spider web outward into thousands of miniature signs. However, Selis's figure was gone, lifted by chains that coiled around her figure. She used them to maneuver like vines, clasping onto the gigantic figure of Ortega's Titan.
"She is almost within reach. A little more." Kairo coiled his knees inward, using the force to propel him upward in another explosive movement.