"Of course I do!" she shot back. "But I know him enough to know that he won't give up. He can win this. The best we can do is to give him advice."

"What kind of advice?" Jinx asked curiously.

"This advice," she smirked. She shouted at Draco just after he kicked Shadow away, hard, "Otouto-chan!" That got Draco's attention. He looked to his sister and listened. "Do you see the device on your forearm?" He nodded. She continued, "Slide your Category Queen into it before slashing your Category Jack through it!" Draco nodded and inspected the device on his arm. There was a slot in the back for a card and another slot for slashing through cards. He knew what he had to do.

Shadow came charging at him, several vines following him, as Draco blew him back away with a blast of wind. He knew he didn't have much time until Shadow recovered so he had to do this quick. He spread his cards out in front of him and took out both the Jack of Spades and Queen of Spades. He slid the Queen in first.

"ABSORB QUEEN!" the device announced. So far so good. Shadow had gotten up and charged at him. He drew a card and slashed it through.

"BITE!"

Draco slashed through the Jack of Spades and the device announced, "FUSION JACK!" There was a golden flash of light.

Episode 23: Ascension

A golden projection flew out of Draco and smashed Shadow away, negating his attack. The Titans and Pluto looked on in awe as Kat smirked.

The golden projection wasn't the usual rectangular energy field bearing the image of their Category Aces. The projection was a golden eagle with its wings spread out. It then swept over Draco and activated the transformation.

Draco's chest-plate, faceplate and shoulder-guards glowed gold before the glow dispersed. He was now clad in his newly upgraded armor. His new armor looked the same with several key differences. First off his chest-plate, shoulder-guards and faceplate were now gold. The spade symbol of his chest now had a golden eagle engraved in it instead of a dragon. The tip of his Dragon Blade grew longer and sharper. The blade had also turned gold. However, the most extreme change was that he now sported a pair of golden eagle wings on his back that hung down to look like a cape.

Shadow's eyes widened from behind his faceplate. "What is this power I feel?" he wondered.

Draco did a pose with his sword, his wings spread out regally. He looked completely awesome. He announced, "The blade of the sky has descended! Advent Knight of the Azure Dragon: Draco Jack Form KENZAN (Is here)!"

Kat smirked as she looked at her handiwork. The Advent Absorber had worked and now her brother was clad in his newly acquired Jack Form armor. The game had gone up to a whole new level.

Jinx watched Draco's transformation in awe especially when he spread out his wings like that. He looked so much like an avenging warrior angel.

Shadow gripped his staff. So what if Draco had transformed? He could still defeat him and take his cards. With a cry of fury he summoned several vines to lash out at Draco.

Pluto was fighting the Zebra Beast Spirit who had created a clone of itself. He fought them the best he could, punching, kicking and shooting. He even sent mud their way before slamming them both with a double-footed jump kick.

Draco used his newly acquired wings to carry him into the air and away from the vines. The ones that came too close were sliced to ribbons by his upgraded Seiryu Blade/Dragon Fang. When he had acquired enough altitude he dove down with his wings folded. He was doing a freefall straight for Shadow.

Shadow saw this and fired a blast of water. This was his first mistake as he underestimated his opponent.

"RAIJIN!" Draco cried out as he fired a powerful bolt of lightning at the water blast. The electricity surged through the attack and straight for Shadow. Shadow should've remembered that water conducted electricity.

Shocked, both literally and emotionally, Shadow was thrown back by an explosion of electrical power as his attack backfired. He fell on the ground as Draco descended slowly with the aid of his wings.

Pluto drew a card and slashed it through. "THIEF!" His Byakko Revolver announced as he copied his opponent's ability to clone itself. Now it was two Plutos VS two Zebra Beast Spirits.

Getting back up to his feet, Shadow decided to take the direct approach. He charged at Draco and swung his staff at a horizontal arc only for Draco to block it with the blade of his sword. He then kicked Shadow away and the force of the attack cracked his armor right before Draco's fist rammed into his faceplate. He was sent staggering back. He stumbled into a puddle and then sent vines to attack Draco again. They were totally useless as, like before, Draco completely sliced the vines to pieces.

"UPPER!"

"DROP!"

The Plutos had swiped a card through each and dashed towards their targets. The first Pluto attacked his target with a powerful uppercut while the second Pluto used a drop kick that smashed the skull of his target.

Shadow was at the end of his rope. He drew two cards and slashed them through. "POISON! SCREW!" He launched a powerful venomous punch but Draco grabbed his fist and shocked him with electricity. He then threw Shadow over his shoulder before drawing his cards out of his sword. He only needed three to finish this battle: Slash Lizard, Thunder Deer and Mach Cheetah.

Shadow was ready to counter him by reaching for his card holster but a bolt of electricity blasted into it and sent all of Shadow's available cards flying out. His cards lay on the ground as Shadow watched in horror as Draco swiped the cards through his Dragon Fang.

"SLASH! THUNDER! MACH!" the sword announced, "SLASH SONIC!" Draco's wings once again spread out behind him and took him into the air at high speeds. Shadow watched as Draco flew towards him. He rolled out of the way only to see Draco flying towards him again. He ducked to dodge. He then realized his error when he looked up to see Draco coming down at him with his electrified sword. He slashed down on Shadow and the force of the attack sent Shadow flying and deactivated his buckle, forcing it close and ejecting his card. Desmond fell on his back on a wet puddle as Draco landed.

Pluto, now one, stood over the Zebra Beast Spirit and using a Blank Seal card sealed the Beast Spirit in it once more. He looked to see Draco had defeated his opponent as well. He reached down to his new Advent Buckle and the panel flipped over before he took out the card. The energy field swept over him again to undo the transformation.

Desmond was crawling on all fours pathetically in the rain as he attempted to recollect all his cards. "My…cards….I need them…" he struggled. He began coughing up blood on the ground. He was getting soaked. Usually, a warrior would use this chance to finish off their opponent for good. But what was the honor of kicking a man when he was down? Draco took pity on Desmond and flipped the panel of his buckle over before withdrawing his card. His transformation unraveled itself thanks to the energy field that once initiated it. He went over to Desmond's scattered cards and picked each of them up. He then handed them over to Desmond before offering his hand.

"Need help?" Leo asked. Desmond looked at him in wonder as he began coughing up some more blood. He was growing weaker and being in the rain was not helping. He could catch a cold or worse. He was surprised that Leo had decided to help him but took his hand nonetheless. Leo pulled Desmond up and supported him against himself, resting one of Desmond's arms over his shoulder as he placed his hand on the fallen Knight of Genbu's hip. He walked over to the shocked Titans and said, "Let's get him inside. He's hurt badly. We need to help him recover so that he can answer our questions later."

The Titans, still shocked by the latest turn of events, nodded. Cyborg took Desmond off Leo's hands and carried him into the Tower and out of the rain. Leo then said to the Titans, "Better get inside and dry up. I'll make you all some hot soup."

Kat shook her head and smiled at her brother. She said to him, "You're just too nice for your own good, you know that?"

Leo replied, returning the smile, "I thought it was one of my most redeeming qualities." Kat let out a laugh at that. She then yawned. "Daijoubu, onee-chan?" Leo asked his sister with genuine concern for her. After all he was her brother even if she was just a clone of his original twin. She just gave him a smile and another yawn.

"I'm fine, just a little tired. Let's go in. You have that soup to make, remember?"

"Hai, onee-chan."

Cyborg placed Desmond in an empth bed in the infirmary. His Advent Buckle had been removed and placed on a nearby table with his Rouge Cards. He looked really frail and weak right now. The others had gone to get themselves dried up and change into drier clothes. Cyborg had a towel over his shoulders which he had used to dry himself and Desmond off. The only other Titan with him was Raven.

"How is he?" she asked, worried about the black clad boy that was in bed. He looked paler than normal and they had seen him coughing up blood. His crucifix lay on his chest as it rose and fell with each breath. Raven had placed his bible on the table with his Advent Buckle and Rouge Cards. She laid his coat over the back of a chair.

Cyborg was doing a scan over Desmond's body and found something. His eyes widened and his expression was grim. Raven could feel it with her empathy. It wasn't good.

"Well, what is it?" she nearly demanded.

"Raven, this guy…" Cyborg began.

"His name is Desmond," she said to him firmly.

"Right, Desmond, he's…well, I don't know how to tell you this, but…"

"Spit it out, Cyborg!" she shouted, surprising both him and her.

"I did a scan over his body with the equipment and it says here that he's suffering from…" Cyborg took a deep breath as he paused. He then said, with some sorrow in his voice, "Cancer."

Raven's eyes widened. "No…" She didn't want to believe it. Desmond was so young and they had only just met. Why did he have to suffer like this?

"He's dying, Raven. The cancer, based on my scans, is already at a critical stage. I don't know how to tell you this but it looks like he has only months to live."

Raven was struck speechless. This just didn't seem fair. It seemed to be that a lot of people in her life tended to hurt her once she got too close to them. Malchior was a good example. He had used her loneliness and her yearning for a kindred spirit to take advantage of her. She had fallen for him but in the end it had only been a ruse. Her heart had been broken and she thought she would never find love again. Well, that was until she met Desmond.

He was human but there was something about him that made them connect to one another. It was probably loneliness. They had both been outcasts in their own way. She was the demonic spawn of Trigon while he was born an albino. The hair color he had now was due to him dying it. He wanted it to be black but it was more of a really dark shade of blue. It looked nice on him nonetheless. She had never really seen his eyes though. They were either covered up by black sunglasses or his bangs.

At first she had thought he would shun her for being a half demon. After all he was a Christian and went to the church nearly every day to pray and read a passage from the Bible. Her eyes went over to the book on the table. If she had been a full demon it would've burnt her but she was safe for she had human blood mixed with the demon blood. She hadn't told him much of her past and neither did he. They did get to know a bit about each other. For instance they both loved dark poetry and enjoyed a good cup of herbal tea. He preferred Earl Grey tea of course and she had enjoyed her first cup of tea with him. He liked flowers and it wasn't surprising since his powers revolved around plants. He even told her that he could hear plants' voices. It would sound ridiculous but Raven had experienced a lot of strange stuff in her life. They had a Titan who could talk to fish so why not one who could talk to plants as well?

Cyborg said to Raven, "I'm going to get something to eat. You want to come with?" Raven shook her head and pulled up a chair to sit on. She was watching over the sleeping Knight of Genbu. He looked so peaceful.

"You go," she said. "I'm going to stay and keep him company."

Cyborg, knowing that Raven could be stubborn sometimes, went on his way to the kitchen. Raven brushed her hand through a few locks of his dark blue hair. She whispered, "Why didn't you tell me how much you were suffering?"

In the kitchen, Leo was already hard at work. He chopped carrots, celery and potatoes with incredible expertise. Heck, he was good with a sword, why not a kitchen knife? Jinx and Starfire were awed at his skill while Kat smiled proudly as Beast Boy was waiting hungrily. Robin was sitting on the couch flipping through channels to past the time. He had a lot of questions to ask. Takada was sitting next to him. The Knight of Byakko was looking at his new Advent Buckle. The design had been well altered and he had questions of his own. His eyes wandered over to the raven haired Knight of Suzaku who was chatting with the girls. She had done something to fix the buckles. He didn't know what it was but he intended to find out.

Contrary to popular belief, Takada was not as dense as he appeared. Sure he was forgetful at times, but he had a keen sense of things as well. When he had first met Kat those many months ago back in Tokyo he knew there was something off about her. His superiors had told him that there was something special about her and that was why she was made the Advent Knight of Suzaku. Takada didn't question his superiors and delivered the Advent Buckle to Kat together with instructions and the Category Ace of Hearts Change Suzaku card. Her reaction seemed a bit delayed when he handed the items over to her as if she had been expecting them. Her twin brother, of course, showed a more natural response: he fainted.

The twins were as different as night and day, he observed. Leo was calm and was easily unnerved when people he cared for were getting hurt. He was also oblivious to certain things (i.e.: girls) since Takada had observed that Leo had never had any interest in girls other than friendship even if the girls themselves wanted something more. Of course, Leo also had a sense of justice and followed the Code of Bushido. It was a code of honor for warriors, especially Samurais, and Leo followed them to the letter. Leo was the last person who would lie about anything. The kid was weird, especially when he quoted his mom's advice as well as his trademark quotes involving the blade of his sword slashing the path to heaven, but he was still a good kid. His sister, Kat, on the other hand was very temperamental. She would often go ballistic if people pushed her buttons. The only person to calm her down would be Leo since he knew her well. They had some sort of a psychic connection rumored to exist between twin siblings. Takada had seen it many times like they knew if the other was in any sort of danger. But, the signal could be jammed at times and sometimes they wouldn't know what was happening to the other. Kat and Leo were like two sides of the same coin, Yin and Yang, black and white…they balanced each other out and they worked together well. Kat would give the orders and Leo would follow since she was the eldest and he was the youngest. They never argued, at least he hadn't seen them argue, and they were exceptionally close to one another.

Kat, as he had known, was often very secretive as well. Her trademark 'you never asked' and 'it's a secret' were very annoying but it was how she responded to questions about her secrets. She could keep any secret and no form of interrogation was able to get them out. If she did have a secret then her lips were sealed.

Cyborg came in and Robin jumped off the couch and asked, "How is he?"

Cyborg shook his head grimly. This didn't look good. He then said to the Titans, "Y'all, you better sit down for what I'm about to tell you."

Desmond began to stir as he began to grip the sheets. Sweat was forming on his face as he started to twist and turn. Raven was alarmed at this and started to get really worried. She then heard him talking

"Need…to live…" he started to mumble, "Must…seal all…the Beast Spirits…Cannot stop…Not much time…"

Raven, pitying him, decided to take his pain away. She placed her hand on his forehead and gently rubbed her hand through his bangs. "It's alright," she said soothingly. "Calm down…hush now…" she said gently. She was actually absorbing all of his pain and it was overwhelming. He was obsessed in getting all the cards since he knew of the true power they had. He would get all the cards no matter what and no one would stop him. He needed them dreadfully for his life was at stake.

Raven pulled her hand as if bitten by a snake. All that pain was overwhelming. How could he handle all that? It seemed inhuman. She panted as she tried to calm herself. She then closed her eyes and started to chant, calming herself, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…" she repeated the chant over and over again to regain her bearings. She then began to breathe properly as she looked at the boy in bed.

"You poor thing," she said genuinely sympathetic for him. His obsession, she felt, was killing him and he knew that too. However, it was the only thing he knew that could keep him alive. She watched as he continued to sleep, his breathing now normal. Her eyes went over to the crucifix that hung loosely from a chain around his neck. It was a symbol to his faith and she respected that.

The Titans listened and were shocked. Starfire was the first to respond.

"He is…dying?" Starfire said in disbelief. She had only just met Desmond. He was their friend even if he had been brainwashed by the Royals. This just didn't seem fair to her.

Robin asked, "You sure about this, Cyborg?"

Cyborg nodded. "Absolutely. Raven found that his mind had been messed with and fixed that part of course. Then I scanned his body and found that he has cancer at a very critical state. It's so critical that there's nothing anyone can do. He, according to my readings, only has a few months to live."

"May Kami help him," Leo said sympathetically. He had come to respect the Knight of Genbu somewhat in his commitment. Kat just seemed impassive. She also seemed exhausted. Fixing the buckles and modifying them had taken a lot out of her. The only reason she hadn't fell over or passed out was by sheer will power. She was a very stubborn individual and no amount of exhaustion could bring her down. Of course, she felt she was ready to pass out at the moment.

"Dude, this is just so unfair!" Beast Boy shouted out. Sure Desmond had tried to kill them but it wasn't really his fault. It had all been mind control and they knew who the culprits were. It was the Royals and they would pay dearly for this. Maybe they caused his cancer.

"Is there anything we can do for him?" Starfire asked sorrowfully.

Cyborg said, "I guess we can only make the last few months of his life the best we can." It made sense but it was still painful. People knew they would die eventually but knowing that time was running out so soon was a frightening thought.

Takada sighed sadly. This was gonna be bad since now the Corporation would not have anyone to take it over in the family's name.

Desmond's red eyes opened up under his bangs. He looked to see Raven, holding his hand. Where was he? What was he doing here? How did he get here? Suddenly, the answers came at him, coming back to him and he gasped in shock.

"Dear Lord…" he spoke up and Raven was jerked from her meditation.

"You're awake!" Raven nearly shouted out in relief, not at all looking like the moody and stoic person she was known for.

"Did I really…did I really hurt them?" he asked. The answer would hurt him but he needed to know. Raven's silence was good enough to answer his question. He had been obsessing over getting his hands on the cards but he never thought of resorting to murder before. He didn't really want to kill the other Knights. He only wanted to live.

He had read the data and notes recovered from the dig. There was a myth saying that the cards held great power and together ANY wish could be granted. Despite his faith in God he had no other choice. He had so much to live for and his life was too precious for him to just give it up. He NEEDED…DESIRED that wish and it didn't matter who got in his way. He had committed so many sins. He had betrayed the people who had called him a friend and betrayed himself by giving in to his desires. He deserved to die and burn in Hell for his crimes. That was the only way he could truly redeem himself.

"Is that why?" Raven began to ask him. He wondered what she meant. Was it about the cards? She then asked fully, "Is that why you want the cards, because you're dying?" His eyes widened. She knew! That meant that the others probably knew as well. Great…he didn't want a pity party. He didn't deserve it anyway.

"Yes, it is," he answered.

"Why didn't you tell m-us?" she asked. She had wanted to say 'me' but it would've sounded too personal. Desmond, however, had picked it up and apologized.

"I'm sorry," he told her. "It's just that I didn't want to worry you."

"Too bad, we're worried already." She looked like she was about to cry. "How long have you known about your cancer?"

"Only recently," he answered. "One day I had these dizzy spells and when I started coughing up blood I knew something was wrong. I checked with a doctor and I was diagnosed with terminal cancer. It was the same time I found out about the Advent System, the Beast Spirits and the myth about the cards."

"Myth?" Raven asked.

Desmond then said, "Let me start from the beginning. It all started over 10,000 years ago…"

New form features:

Draco Jack Form

Attained By: Usage of the Advent Absorber, Category Jack of Spades and Category Queen of Spades. Slide the Queen of Spades into the Absorber before slashing through the Jack of Spades through the Absorber.

Armor Alterations: Golden faceplate, chestplate and shoulder guards. Possess a pair of wings for flight. Eagle replaced dragon in Spade symbol on chest.

Advantages: Longer blade and flight. Increased power due to fusion with Eagle Beast Spirit.

Side Effect: Unknown. Possibly the ability to fly in human form.

New combo: Slash Sonic

Cards used: Slash Lizard, Thunder Deer and Mach Cheetah.

A/N: I'll let that story continue over to the next chap. Meanwhile I think it's time for our heroes to rest up. They've had a really hectic day. I mean they just saved a person from himself. Wanna know what's the myth? Stay tune next time.

Preview to the next chap: The truth of the Beast Spirits' origins will be revealed.