Chapter 61: Some Respite

Draco, now locked into the Guilty Matrix, gave Kairo and his group one last chance. His mouth was sealed by the electrified net, preventing it from releasing its terrifying breath.

Rellion, after majestically landing on his two feet on the water, his devilish eyes scanned Kairo and his group. Clearly, he wasn't going to let them take Draco down.

"It's useless. I just have to deal with Donsetos for your plan to fall in pieces. It will be a mistake to underestimate me," Rellion said, flipping a card in his hand.

A subtle wave of energy flowed out when the circuitry of the void was activated. Nothing like the power of the Sky Tear from the last time—instead, a circular symbol appeared behind Rellion, shining with several markings that reminded them of astral symbols.

"Four Corners Divination."

Rellion turned into an unstoppable light, skidding across water.

"Is this another card he forced a pact with?" Kairo wondered. The Sky Tear had left a deep impression on him. However, in this environment, it was impossible for Rellion to summon a card of that magnitude.

"Felix, it's up to you now," he said. Kairo didn't trust him, but they needed time to take down Draco, and with his card The Honorable, it was their best bet.

Felix nodded, using the single card he had in hand. His figure began floating above the water, like an immortal rising to power. Strands of gold flickered around his eyes and body, giving him an otherworldly aura.

Rellion frowned deeply when he saw his body move on its own, as if the golden strands from Felix's body were the ones guiding his movements. Midway, he pivoted, switching targets from Donsetos toward Felix, who was attracting him in another direction.

He cursed loudly, "You fool, you will be the first to die!"

The duo entered a race, with Rellion chasing after the fleeing Felix. Kairo gave back his attention to Draco and called forth the card in his hand.

The special aspect of Mirror cards was that they were an inherent part of the original card. So Kairo just had to hold the Sand Paladin in one hand and focus on it to summon the Mirror card in his left hand. This was why Donsetos said they didn't take more space—which was quite practical. It was like having a new card without having to eject from his card launcher.

"Be careful, Kairo," Nyx said. Finally giving in, the strain was too much—she fell into the water. The golden halo of the pocket hourglass vanished.

Kairo nodded, feeling the temperature shoot to the sky in seconds. Although they were very far from the hotbed of Draco's breath, the temperature was rising every passing second.

They had to be quick to execute their plan. Everyone had played his part—it was now up to Kairo to finish it. With slightly trembling hands, he raised the card forward.

"Come forth to me, Dead Paladin," Kairo murmured.

A soft hiss occurred in Kairo's ears—it was like he could hear the approaching galloping of something. Yet he could not see anything.

'So cold all of a sudden,' he thought.

He could not explain why, but the temperature from the hotbed was not affecting him anymore—the cold winds kissing his already weakened body.

The water parted to the side when it appeared. A majestic war horse hissed, leaving white air to escape its nostrils. On it was a tall warrior, made entirely of bones. A smile on its face, it wielded its lance with malice, drawing a menacing arc in the void.

"Children sing lullabies, I sing the song of death," it said. The war horse hissed once more, tapping its left leg once on the ground.

"Is this really a mirror of the Sand Paladin? It's frightening," Kairo thought.

As if it could hear Kairo's thought, the Dead Paladin's bone-like teeth curved upward. It began riding the horse, stepping into the void like an angel of death. It was galloping toward Draco.

"It can fly too?" Kairo's jaw almost dropped at the scene.

Draco felt the danger approaching and went berserk. Its massive figure began rocking back and forth, trying to free its body from the guilty matrix. It slapped its tail into the submarine walls again and again, causing the water to get in faster. But Donsentos was like an anchored stone on the ground. Teeth tightly shut—almost like they would break if he gritted any harder. Blood was sliding down his fingers, but he didn't care, keeping the net tightly shut around Draco.

Rellion's expression flashed with a hint of panic. But he was locked down with Felix, unable to touch him.

"You should not have formed a pact with a card like the Four Corner Divination. You don't have the cool mind required for using its power," Felix kept jabbing him.

Kairo stared in awe at the Dead Paladin. Nothing could stop its progression. One step after the other, it arrived in front of Draco and raised its lance.

"Die," its skeletal voice echoed. And it swung it down.

Draco let out a painful cry. On his forehead, cracks began spider-webbing outward until they covered his entire body.

Crack…

Kairo and the others all closed their eyes when a wave of energy swept past the submarine, blowing everything in its path. The shock was so violent that the submarine tilted to the side, almost losing its balance.

Dawring's body fell from the sky, his eyes blank. Having been defeated, his soul returned to its original body, leaving Rellion and his acolyte alone.

"I'm not a fighter… just a comm… I'm sorry, Rellion," the other party said, releasing the body of the officer and letting his soul return.

"It's over, Rellion. You're alone now," Kairo said.

The fighting was now over. All the officers slowly retreated to the pod while the water kept rising at an alarming rate.

"You think so?" Rellion smirked, pointing to the side.

Kairo, surprised, followed after his finger only to see Felix behind Donsentos—a broken iron bar in hand.

Donsentos's body was pale, staggering in the water. From his neck, blood kept flowing, painting the water around him in crimson red.

"I never forgot you were the one who sent me into this hole, Inquisitor Donsentos Mar. Now we are even," Felix smirked, rushing back to his cell. Having accomplished his vengeance, he was running to hide in his chamber to avoid being drowned.

Kairo was taken aback. "That bastard," he cursed loudly.

He had never trusted Felix from the very beginning, but he never expected him to do something like this—especially since they had all been in danger at the time. He had been arrested by the Inquisitor Mar in the past and was willing to risk his life just to get his vengeance.

Despite his initial shock, Kairo didn't stay paralyzed. Using his last bit of strength, he rushed to get Nyx and Donsentos in his hands, dragging them toward the safe pod. Blood trailed in the water as they moved, causing Kairo to swim even faster. He didn't know the extent of the damage, but he had to do everything he could to save them.

After they got close enough, Danzan jumped into the water to help Kairo drag them inside. With the distance that Felix had created luring Rellion, he could only look at them powerless—running with his prey.

"This is far from over, Kaior. I will get the Seruth monster after getting rid of all of you," Rellion said, collecting a pair of cards from one of the officers' bodies. This one had been the first to burn when the hot beds appeared.

Kaior's heart ached at the rest of the battlefield. Several officers had been wounded, and two had lost their lives in the chaos. Coupled with the officer that had been assassinated by Donsentos earlier, and the prisoner which Kaior had killed, the bilan was growing heavier for him. "This mission is a fiasco," Kaior thought.

The officer Rellion was scavenging cards from was the exact guy they had been smashing the submarine with. Kaior had been extremely close to him moments ago, at least physically but now he was gone.

"Complementary cards... cool. This could be useful," Rellion said, keeping the cards in his pocket. "Bye, Kaior," he said, swimming to one of the safe chambers.

Kaior's face darkened. This was a dead officer's memory—how could he just take his card without scruple? Kaior felt disgusted and ashamed. Rellion was not the same person.

He had finally pieced out the secret in his mind. The reason why the card mages were keeping cards of dead people was this. It was because of these pacts, which allowed them to circumvent the aura lockdown on other people's cards—essentially bending the rules of card magic for their own use.

Pacts were like agreements one made with another person's card to be able to use it. Normally, cards had the owner's aura infused into them such that only they could activate their cards or get their aura drained by them. This meant that after death, no one could ever make use of those cards again. This would have been a great loss, Kaior had thought in the past—but that was only in theory.

Because pacts evened the grounds. By forcing a deal with the card, one could obtain its power—but not its exact power. For the card would rewrite itself, modifying—most of the time—the activating conditions to be harder on the person who forced the pact, and in very rare cases like that of Rellion, change the effect of the card completely.

This was the reason why Rellion and his group could use card magic without being part of the Card Mage Police or having awakened their cards there. They stole them from their targets.

"Get in, Kaior, it's over—the submarine will sink!" Danzan called out.

Kaior balled his fist and said no more, turning his back to the disappearing figure of Rellion to dive into the safe pod. With a loud thud, the doors closed, giving the group some moment of respite from all the chaos that had stormed their way.