29 Fighting Retreat

Carefully treading ground, Riku did his best to be silent as he led his party through the ever increasingly treacherous that was a former battlefield. The more they neared their exit, the more the silver road had pocks and chunks of it taken out. All of the marble columns around them were battered and destroyed, and there were even a few lion carcasses scattered throughout the battlefield. But while that was a relatively normal sight, what was eye-catching was the fact that there were numerous spires of ice and earth jutting out of the ground, some clearly shaped into fighting implements while others seemed to just be haphazardly thrown like massive projectiles.

"W-Wow... To think that some of the Champions are capable of this," Shizu couldn't help but gape in awe as she followed behind him. "Ice and earth... These are from two different people, no?"

"Most likely," Riku hushed back. "We can at least infer a few things from what we're seeing, at least."

Shizu stared intently at him even as they sneaked through the ruined alleyways, clearly waiting for his thoughts about what he saw around them. Likewise, Nyx was eagerly listening to him as she remained standing, her legs having supposedly started hurting a few minutes ago despite being a supposedly omnipotent goddess.

"Alright, my Champion. Tell me what you're seeing," Nyx smugly stated.

The former assassin scoffed at his patron goddess's smug attitude. Beside him, Shizu simply chuckled quietly even as her eyes darted back and forth to look for danger. All the while, an idea was forming in his head as he thought about the reason why Nyx was being smug in the first place.

She obviously knew who these Champions were. It was only because of some rules that she was unable to tell them who they were unless they supposedly saw them themselves. Well, he really didn't plan on doing that right now, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't be able to infer what they could do based on what he was seeing, especially since they had someone that was an obviously bad liar like Nyx whose practically an open book whenever she was in her 'competent' mode. All he had to do was read her expressions while he was fielding his guesses and he'll have all the confirmation that he needed to know that he was correct.

"First off, the ice user. Whoever they are, they probably rely on strong and heavy attacks based on the size of the icicles jutting out of the ground," Riku began, his eyes roaming on the chunks of ice roaming on the battlefield. "There's no consistency to his style based on the various sizes of ice lying around, and what few chunks he used to defend themselves immediately got hurled right back at the enemy."

"Woah... You can get all that just looking at all this?" Shizu wondrously praised.

"That's a general assumption," Nyx hummed in smug knowing.

Riku scoffed as he kept moving, further leading them closer to what was hopefully the exit. That didn't mean that he was done with his observations, of course. That was, until he felt a shockwave that was much closer than he would've liked.

"They're close," Nyx quickly warned, her tone lowering as she neared becoming competent again.

"Stay down low," Riku instructed, the two women promptly nodding before joining him in the nearest wall still standing. "We'll have to find a better place to hide though..."

Peeking his head up, the sound of ice and earth being thrown around crept up to them ever so slowly as he kept his eyes peeled for better cover. The moment he found one in the form of a half-crumbling dome of earth, he led Nyx and Shizu as they all took shelter from the dust clouds rapidly coming for them.

"Tch... We risk getting caught at this rate," he clicked his tongue in annoyance. "I don't want us fighting these two by any means."

"I don't too," Shizu fearfully whispered. "But it looks like we won't have a choice..."

"We can still run if we can play our cards right," Riku insisted, his knife already waiting to be drawn as he looked around for their next move. "Nyx, any hints on how close we are to the exit?"

"Close, but not close enough," Nyx stated. "That's all I can say without outright saying where it is."

Riku nodded in understanding. Based on the last few times Nyx said the same thing, he'd say that they were less than a kilometer from their destination, perhaps even less than half that. It was a good thing, at least. They could do a fighting retreat if it ever came down to it.

"Good enough. We can work with this," he firmly stated before turning his gaze to Shizu. "Stick close to me, alright? We'll run for a few good minutes to gain some ground away from all of this. It's too dangerous to move slowly now."

"R-Right. I'll do my best."

Taking a short breath, Riku did his best to calm his nerves as he prepared himself to run out in the open. With the temperature of the air around them dropping rapidly, he knew that it was only a matter of time until the ice user finally showed themselves. It was a good opportunity to gain some information about them, but now wasn't the time for that. He wasn't ready, for a fight. Not until the [Chaotic System] gave him something that was actually useful in a potential duel.

'If all else, I have a [Trump] I can use to maybe allow us to get away,' he thought to himself as he drew his knife in preparation. 'It won't be ideal though... I really don't want to have to use something I have no control over...'

With those thoughts, Riku got back up on his feet and prepared to run. Beside him, Shizu stood by, a few cards already in between her fingers as she followed his lead. It was going to be close, but he liked their odds for once.

Sadly, it wasn't meant to be.