Kairo took a seat in front of the patient, while Nyx and Celia stood behind.
"Be careful, Kairo. He has a card called Equal Grounds. Talking with him will transfer all his pain and trauma to you as long as you keep asking questions," Celia warned. "Many have lost their minds just from speaking with him. Do you understand the risk?"
Kairo didn't listen to Celia - or at least, he didn't want to. Right now his head was too foggy to think clearly. All he wanted were answers. And no more lies.
"Tell me, what do you know about the Surgeon?" Kairo asked.
The patient's face shifted so drastically it was like he was falling into an abyss. The circuitry of the void flickered into the entire room - nothing like the usual controlled and perfectly drawn circuits of Kairo and the others. It was a chaotic burst of energy that rippled through the room like a black storm.
Within the black storm, Kairo and the patient were talking while no one outside could hear what was being said. Kairo's expression was one of pain - it was like he was being stabbed from every angle. But even worse was that the moment he felt his mind would break, the pain would recede and start again from slight pain.
'What has the Surgeon done?' Kairo's eyes showed pure disbelief.
The patient, on the other hand, looked completely free, as if he didn't feel any pain or trauma anymore. Thus he started talking calmly:
"He can see the future of his operations before they happen. They call it Promised Result."
"See the result of operations? Wait, tell me more about what Promised Result does," Kairo's pained voice echoed.
"I can't remember. I know I'll never be the way I was in the past. My life has been destroyed thanks to him. He righteously claims he wants to free us, but is this freedom, Kairo?"*'
"Kairo, that's enough! Your body won't take it anymore!" Nyx screamed from outside the storm.
Kairo's body was turning dark as if he was being devoured by something within. This was the patient's trauma trying to take over his mind.
"No, wait a little longer. I need to know. Do you know his name? Please tell me something I can use to help them... tell me!" Kairo continued screaming.
The pain had completely disappeared as if everything was fine - but the pain had passed his feeling threshold. Kairo's eyes were dimming in the storm while the patient was smiling like a devil, despite no malice in his expression.
"I will be free," he seemed to say. "Sorry, Kairo, I couldn't take it anymore. You said you wanted to save me. Take it for me, Kairo. Bear it for me."
Kairo's breathing was slowing down as he fell from his chair. Celia pulled out her cards, but the circuitry of the void was so unstable she was unable to activate her magic.
"Nyx, what are you doing? Entering the storm could kill you!" Celia warned.
But despite his blurry vision, Kairo saw the dazzling figure move without thinking into the furious black storm. One step after another, Nyx dove into hell toward him. Her long black hair floated as she covered her face, her own clear skin turning dark as the trauma attacked her.
'Is she stupid? She'll die at this rate,' Kairo's heart skipped a beat.
But his body was so heavy that even moving a finger felt unbearable. Nyx took another step forward before almost stumbling.
"No! You can't die because of me. You were right - we can't let our past choices dictate who we are. Nyx, stop now!" Kairo's voice echoed.
With a final push, Kairo's body started crawling upward under the heavy black storm. Slowly, the duo walked toward each other.
"You were right," Kairo said as Nyx's frail figure finally fell into his arms.
With the Eye of Truth in his own eyes, Kairo glanced at the storm and it vanished out of sight, returning into the patient's body.
"No...!" the patient screamed in fear, running away. But the trauma caught him again, sinking back into his body. In a matter of seconds, his face shifted again, returning to the scared and blank expression he had when they arrived.
"You two are really crazy. Get out of here," Celia ordered.
...
Kairo and his group returned to the Card Mage Police headquarters. In the resting room, Nyx sat on the sofa while Leli - still not talking to him - left immediately. Her attitude toward him had taken a drastic turn. 'I probably owe her an apology,' Kairo thought as she left. Still, he didn't say a word.
"Thanks to the patient, the Eye of Truth showed me the children are still safe for now and haven't been tampered with. At least some good news," Kairo said.
Nyx nodded, hugging herself tightly as if she were freezing. Kairo took off his jacket and placed it over her shoulders, leaving his well-built torso exposed. "Thank you for earlier," he said. The trauma had almost overwhelmed him - without his partner, he would have been in deep trouble.
"You would have done the same for me. There's nothing to be thankful about - we're partners, aren't we?" Nyx smiled. "And don't stay this close to me, Kairo. Once you get drawn in, there's no turning back."
"Yeah, we are... I mean partners..." Kairo's expression turned somehow embarrassed as he stood up, stepping backward. 'Even in this moment she finds the energy to tease me. I don't understand why I can't look at her for too long. It's easy to get drawn into those eyes.' The day had been long and strenuous. Kairo waved at his friend and left too.
On his way back to his special "bedroom," Kairo ran into Danzan. "Still alive, you. Good thing," Danzan patted his back. Kairo was unsure whether to be happy or sad at Danzan's words. One time he was willing to fight everyone for them, and another he appeared not to care the least about what happened to them. 'You should decide your camp,' Kairo complained inwardly.
"Little gift from the house, Kairo. You've proven quite useful over the past days," Danzan handed him a little box. Kairo's expression shifted - he didn't have to guess to know what was inside. From the shape of the box alone, it was quite clear it was a new card.
"An auxiliary card I got from the fool you punched last time. I don't know if it will be useful, but I decided to hand it to you for now. Make good use of it."
Kairo opened the little box and pulled out the card inside. Unlike his own cards, it had no particular aura attached to it. That was why he could use them. "Animate - so this was how he controlled the scarecrows," Kairo's face illuminated.
The card was called Animate and could turn anything into a living form. 'I can issue only one command in the form of a single phrase to the object I animate. And there's not even a limit to the number I can animate other than my aura.' Kairo's face brightened. Still, he quickly realized how limited this card really was. "It will really be terrain dependent. If I find myself in a place with nothing to animate, it will be useless."
"That's why I handed it to you and not Nyx. You'll surely find something interesting to do with it. See you," Danzan left afterward.
Kairo added the auxiliary card to his belt pocket. Although he still had no idea how he would put it to use, it was always better to have one more card. 'Now let's find out who the Surgeon is.' Kairo had no intention to sleep. He had information. They knew the Surgeon was definitely not an old man - a man in his early twenties whose knowledge of the body had no value, since if what the patient said was true, it would be useless. 'He can see the result of his operations before they happen. It's like having an eye in the future guiding him through his procedures. That's frightening. With that, there's no need for years of practice. Our initial assumptions were all wrong.'
Kairo wondered if he would be able to help the little girl. He had promised to find a solution, but if Promised Result wasn't just the patient's mind going astray... could there be any solution? Would he be able to keep his promise?