53 Martyr

Fighting for prolonged periods of time was something Riku was not trained for. Sure, he knew how to do it, but it was far from what he actually specialized in. He specialized in quick operations where he'd be in and out in less than an hour, maybe even minutes if the target was that easy. There was no such thing as prolonged fighting in the hitman business. Being caught in a fight meant more chances of being caught, and more chances of being caught meant more chances that he'd lose his life either by being discovered by the wrong people of by being caught off guard by reinforcements. Nevertheless, he still knew how to fight if the situation called for it. It happened rarely, but thankfully, he always managed to escape without much trouble.

However, only now was he starting to realize a few things that he actually lacked.

"Hah! Are you slowing now?" Shizu fake-taunted. "Is that all your justice has for you?"

Riku clicked his tongue in genuine annoyance as he replied, "Not at all. In fact, this fight will end in but a few more minutes."

It was already a foregone conclusion. He knew that his stamina wasn't up to par compared to actual soldiers, but he didn't think it would matter in the long run, especially after he retired. Only now was he starting to regret shunning endurance training back when he was active. But then again, why would he ever bother when he seriously thought that he'd never see a need for it in the first place?

"Are you sure?" his opponent cheekily asked, her cards starting to flicker as her fingers moved her projectiles around.

He simply scoffed at her, not wanting to waste any more of his breath at this farce of a battle. While it had been fun, he was serious in wanting to end it as quickly as he could now. On top of that, he was pretty sure their allotted hour was about to run out as well. Perhaps it would be better for their bout to end in a draw to possibly allow both of them to advance, but honestly, Riku didn't care. And besides, having one of them win would at least allow either of them to get out of this Realm and onto the next. There was still a chance that Themis wouldn't allow them both to go through if none of them won, after all.

Well, that, and he really didn't want to go through this again.

Raising his stance yet again, Riku took a short breath before training his focus even higher, allowing him to come closer to his former peak as he visibly signaled to Shizu that was yet again raising the skill level between them. In response, his partner surprisingly buckled, her defense slacking as if she had already given up.

What?

"I see... If that is your plan, then come at me with everything you've got!"

Shizu's shout seemingly reverberated within the entire courtroom. The audience that Riku had pointedly ignored this whole time suddenly pushed themselves back into his periphery, their loud cheers threatening to break his focus if it wasn't for the fact that he quickly adapted to them. Throughout all of this, the fortune teller's stance suddenly solidified again. It wasn't hard enough that he'd have a hard time, but it was just enough to tell him that she'll tank whatever hit he had in store for her.

Immediately, he saw what she was planning.

'I see,' he inwardly chuckled. 'A martyr's death. What better way for her to show her justice than by dying to her own supposed cause?'

It was ingenious, and it was something he was going to praise her for once they were out of this place. Shizu really was smarter than she gave herself credit for. Unlike Nyx whose competence ebbed and flowed like her chaotic nature, Shizu's was subtle stream that slowly grew overtime. She was a river lazily flowing through the narrow cracks, but eventually pushes through with its energetic potential.

"If that is your wish, then I shall grant it to you," Riku solemnly nodded as he readied his knife for his last attack. "Get ready to face your justice then."

"I am," Shizu smirked, her hands filled with cards for what was presumably her final defense. "This will end in your defeat, Riku."

Raising a brow, he gave her a nod of approval before quickly pumping his legs for one final lunge. In response, Shizu quickly jumped away, her deck glowing as she invoked her power one final time.

"[Fate's Edict]!"

Seeing her response, Riku quickly threw his knife at her, jumping to the side in anticipation of her attempt to stop him from approaching.

"[The Magician: Inverse Position]!"

Like last time, a massive image of the tarot card in question appeared above Shizu's head. Showing up upside down, the visage of The Magician glowed an eerie green before a beam of energy flowed out of it and hit his knife mid air.

At first, Riku paid no mind to such an attack and instead merely focused his attention on the barrage of cards that Shizu promptly threw at him after casting her power. However, what he didn't anticipate was his knife momentarily glowing green just as it was about to hit her, its trajectory jerking in a right angle before promptly returning to his hand with the dark glow of chaos once more.

That was... He didn't know what happened, but he'll just have to roll with it.

Ignoring the weird power interaction, Riku sliced through Shizu's projectiles and just went straight at her with his weapon drawn. Winding up his arm to slash, he was about to hit her when his knife glowed green yet again and promptly yanked him away from hitting her. It was unnerving, and frankly, very alarming.

"The Magician can do a lot of neat tricks, no?" Shizu genuinely chuckled, her own surprise apparent in her tone.

Riku couldn't help but chuckle back as he yanked his knife back under his control. Clearly, she wasn't ready to end this battle just yet. Well, he'll just have to improvise.