"Flying solo hasn't worked out for you, huh? Still a mercenary? For whom?" Otoru wasn't worried in the slightest. The security was getting knocked out one by one, and he wasn't even using his Treasure. He believed keeping the information secret would be the best choice for a surprise attack.
Eventually, everyone else other than Kim was finished, with Otoru taking no hits. Everyone else in the casino fled in fear, and the workers hid underneath the tables.
"I knew I recognised you the moment you entered the casino, but I for some reason assumed you wouldn't be that stupid to come here." The deck of cards glowed in Kim's left hand. He drew one and threw it at Otoru, flying at dangerous speeds.
"Cards? Don't make me-" He underestimated the flimsy cards, but the confidence on his face disappeared as its tip cut right through his abs. "Why the hell is it this sharp?!" He pulled it out and tried to bend it or even break it, but it didn't even budge. "How are these so durable as well? Whenever he does something, this glows. The cards must be his Treasure then. That explains it. Treasures are unbreakable. Luckily, it didn't go that far in, mainly because I'm shredded-"
The card quickly flew right back to Kim's hand, slipping out of Otoru's.
"You're chatty." Kim's smile twitched just for a second.
Kim's eyes glowed, catching Otoru off guard, making him take a step backwards out of instinct.
Then, Kim stared at the card in his hand. "Useless." He put it inside the deck with a disappointed expression.
"Weird, what was that about?" Otoru ran to close the distance.
"Uh-oh." The cards started levitating, then 40 of them started to spin around Kim at dangerous speeds. "You still want to get close?" Kim began to run towards Otoru as well.
"Sure, why not? How about a welcoming hug?" Otoru's earrings glowed. The ghost launched a left hook through the cards. Otoru was hoping they could phase through the cards thanks to their metaphysical property.
But they cut the ghost's fist, and the same wound appeared on Otoru's fist. "Huh?!"
Though this confused Kim as well, because from his point of view a wound just appeared on Otoru's hand out of nowhere. "His Treasure has to do with something invisible." Kim kept rushing in, and Otoru started retreating in response.
"What happened to giving me a hug?" Kim snapped his fingers. The floating cards flew away from him. Otoru jumped over them, making them hit the wall instead.
"Now!" Otoru began to move closer once more. In return, the cards were coming back to Kim's hand.
Otoru dodged and avoided them coming from behind while continuing his pursuit. "I need to finish him off before he can figure out my Treasure. Once he does that, he'll realise that the cards are the only thing that can stop them! I won't be able to stop him then!"
Otoru jumped in with a flying knee-strike. Kim blocked with both of his hands, and the cards dropped onto the floor.
His strength wasn't enough to block it, and his own hands slammed into his face against Otoru's might. "Isn't there something you're forgetting?" Kim smiled through the pain. The cards on the floor glowed.
Otoru's eyes widened in response. He quickly used Kim as a stepping stone to leap backwards while the cards were shot at him like arrows. He dodged almost all of them, but one sliced his cheek.
Kim withdrew the bloody card back to his hand. His eyes glowed again. "Oh?" His smile grew bigger. He turned the card towards Otoru, excited to see his response. "What's this?"
The card was normally a King. But the illustration on it instead showed Otoru himself with 2 translucent figures splitting from him while his earrings glowed. "How?!" He gasped.
Kim's Treasure, Fatesman, was a deck of cards. It was a glitcher-type, much like Otoru's; it had abilities one could dismiss as useless.
Its main ability allowed Kim to foresee the future under strict conditions. First, the future would be based upon the information Kim fed to it. It predicted the future without failing, given that Kim's assumptions were true.
That's why he failed just a moment ago. The Treasure predicted Otoru would stand against a 17, because Kim didn't know that Otoru actually knew how to play the game and recognised Kim.
Second, the predicted future was illustrated symbolically on the King card. So even after all that, Kim had to be the one to make assumptions on the drawings.
However, if the card was covered in the blood of someone, it could make correct predictions about that person, regardless of whether Kim knew anything about them or not. Though the blood on the card had to be refreshed after the first use, making it so that Kim could not bank on just a single lucky attack for the remainder of the battle.
Otoru knew the first rule, but didn't know anything about the second or the last. And more importantly, he didn't understand how Kim was able to manipulate these cards.
"I think I get the gist of your Treasure." Kim came within reach. "Damn it!" Otoru raised his hands to block Kim's attack.
Kim delivered a spinning kick to Otoru, only to have it blocked. "You can… simulate your actions through invisible checkpoints." Kim cackled.
"..." Otoru didn't know what to say. "No! Agh! How did you figure it out?!"
"Fate knows everything, Otoru." Kim snapped his fingers once more. The cards were all collected and decked in his hand. He then threw them one by one.
With a swift maneuver, Otoru dodged them once more to then strike a few quick jabs. After avoiding his attacks, Kim launched himself in the air and began shooting the cards again.
"I'd like to block the cards with Ghostfeet, but I would prefer to take advantage of his wrong assumptions! If he saw something invisible slapping the cards away, he'd get suspicious." Otoru ran around the casino and used tables to block Kim's attacks.
Otoru then threw the table at him to block his vision. But Kim already guessed he would do that, so he recalled the King card with his eyes glowing. The card showed Otoru swinging his left fist.
When Kim punched the table away, he realised that Otoru neared him without Kim noticing. "Ugh!" He swung his left, only for it to be swiftly parried aside.
"He knew I was using the table as a misdirection?!" Before Otoru could regain his footing, Kim elbowed his back and slammed him to the ground.
"It's over." He held a card right up to Otoru's neck. "They call you the Undefeated, huh? I guess there is a first time for everything."
"They all fucking say that…" Otoru groaned, then the earrings glowed. A quick jab landed on Kim's face using the ghost when he was paying that much attention, dazzling him.
Otoru used this moment to get up again, but the cards began rotating around Kim again. "I won't let you get close!"
"You're annoying!" He retreated to avoid the cards. Though seeing them this close, something caught his attention, making him gasp quietly. When Otoru opened the distance, Kim then sent the cards flying in rapid fashion.
Most were easy to avoid, but then the pressure eventually overwhelmed him. At least a dozen of them were stabbed into his body. "Goodnight!" Kim shot the last card remaining in his hand, aimed at Otoru's jugular vein.
"UGH!" Otoru let out a war cry. His earrings glowed. The ghost didn't punch the card away, but punched… seemingly nothing. The attack was aimed at the space between the card and Kim.
And yet, for some reason, the card dropped to the ground and lost its momentum once Otoru did that.
"I SEE IT NOW, KIM!" He screamed, then rushed in again. "I see it… I see it! From this moment on… you won't be able to hit me!"
"So confident!" Kim tried to hide his nervousness with jokes and recalled the remainder of his cards. "Let's see if you will keep your promise!" Panicking, he again tried to overwhelm Otoru by shooting the cards.
And instead of dodging them, Otoru just kept sprinting while his earrings kept glowing. The cards were dropping one by one without touching Otoru. "How?!" Kim muttered under his breath. "It's so clear now, how could I not see it before? The way he is manipulating the cards isn't a part of his ability! It's an Aura Technique! He uses his Aura Link like an actual string to puppeteer the cards!"
Even when the cards sped up, Otoru increased his pace in response.
Nothing would be able to stop him from this moment on.
Not even himself.
"My ghosts can destroy these strings of yours!" Otoru screamed. "What the fuck are you talking about?!" Kim lost his composure and screamed back. He sent a few more cards, making it so that the only one remaining in his hand was the King.
"Uss, uss, uss!" Otoru breathed out after each attack. Only a few meters were left between him and Kim. "I got you now!"
"In your dreams!" Kim swung the card desperately, like a knife, slicing Otoru's chest. His eyes glowed, and he used the opportunity to inspect the card.
The illustration showed his face, pummeled by a barrage of fists.
"...Huh-" Before he could even be shocked, Otoru started to unleash a flurry of punches to Kim's face. He used both his actual hands and his Treasure. "Fuck, fuck! Stop!" Kim tried to defend himself, but he really didn't stand a chance in Otoru's range.
Fate knows everything, after all.
Each ghost punch only doubled the pain, and each actual punch tripled the injury. Even after Kim's face was unrecognisable, Otoru didn't stop.
He then began targeting his chest and stomach. The punches were too elegant; it was clear that he wasn't fueled by anger, but patience. He was willing to even take lethal attacks just to keep his Treasure hidden, and it all paid off.
Inevitably, Kim lost all his strength to keep standing and fell on the ground. "Stawp… stawp!" He pleaded through broken teeth. "I lost! You fawking win, stawp!"
Otoru raised another fist. Kim flinched and blocked his face with his hands. "Stawp!" He yelled once more. "Who are you working for? The Caedis?!" He yelled.
"No… no! T-The St. James crew hired me!" Kim couldn't even look at Otoru.
"That sounds... familiar. Tell me what you know about them!" Otoru yelled again.
"They're an underground gang, named after St. James Street! That's where they operate…" He sobbed in pain. "They are revolutionaries in a way… but not really- It's complicated, okay?! They are the ones that captured your pink-haired friend!"
"Wait, they have Pablo?" Otoru raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Y-Yeah…? Isn't that why you came here?" Kim was confused as much as Otoru. "No?" Otoru wiped the blood off his fist.
"Then why the fawk did you beat my ass?!" Kim screamed.
"BECAUSE YOU WERE GOING TO SCAM ME! I came here to make some noise and get attention!"
"Oh, you got attention alright… you know who's your enemy now? Huh?! You'll regret this…"
"Whatever you say." Otoru sighed. "St. James Street, you said? How do I find that street?" He began to walk away.
"The signs… there are signs that'll lead you to it." Kim coughed blood and began to breathe heavily. "Shit!" Kim spat his broken tooth out of his mouth.
"Still undefeated." He left the casino with a smirk on his face.