92 Absolute Zero

The moment their eyes met, Shizu felt her senses return to her as she felt her body lurch into action once more. The overwhelming cold stopping her from moving had disappeared, allowing her to think again as she quickly threw whatever cards she had on her person.

"Finally! A proper fight!"

Shizu held her tongue as she watched her cards hit the viking's shield, her attacks embedding themselves onto the wood before he swung his axe at her general direction. Immediately, a crescent shard of ice erupted from his swing, quickly traveling through the air to cut her down.

Thinking quickly, the fortune teller let herself go limp, her body dropping down onto the deck to let the attack soar past her. She then used the effect [The Magician] still had on her and jerked her body to the side toward cover. Kneeling back up, she peeked out of the mast that she was now hiding behind and threw out more cards at the man.

"Hah! A ranged fighter, I see," the viking taunted as her cards landed on her shield with a thud. "Nothing that my shield cannot handle!"

Shizu clicked her tongue as she drew new cards, not even bothering to look at them before throwing them at her attacker. At the same time, icicles formed right above her, all poised to skewer her outright if not for her power enhanced speed and reflexes. Flitting from cover to cover, she threw card after card at the man, hoping that it would slow him down while she gathered enough of her strength to call upon the card that she wanted to use.

"Still running away?!" the viking taunted. "You dare to disrespect Valhalla like this by dying a cowardly death?!"

Despite herself, Shizu couldn't help but reply, "I'm just trying to stay alive here!"

"Staying alive?! What a fooling notion!" he barked. "What kind of Champion would be afraid of combat?!"

Shizu mentally answered that question with a yes just as she threw out more cards at the man. In response, the viking began charging at her, his axe and shield raised up high as if to goad her into attacking him. She did her best to aim at the viking's limbs with how his shield kept blocking her, but to her annoyance, the man just moved with the agility of a seasoned veteran with every card she threw.

And ever worse, it almost looked like he was starting to predict her movements. With every piece of cover she managed to find, the viking cleaved through it with his axe or ice, uncaring of the fact that he was damaging his own ship in the process. Slowly, he was gaining on her, and there was only so much ship that she could run to until-

"Stop running!"

Her eyes widened as the viking's axe came inches away from cutting her head off. Thinking quickly, she used one of her cards to turn the situation around.

"[Strength: Upright Position!]"

The resulting shockwave coming out of her quickly pushed the axe away from cleaving her body in half. Likewise, it also pushed away any and all ice aimed right at her, giving her some breathing room as she put some distance between her and the Champion in front of her.

"Such sorcery... You are the Champion of Tyche, correct?"

"What of it?" she asked as she drew a new set of cards, partly hoping that she could stall long enough to gather more energy. "And you're the Champion of Bellona, right?"

"You... A servant of fate... Why fight against what is your inevitable defeat?" the viking genuinely asked. "As a servant of Odin, not even fate is strong enough to hold me back. Only his valkyries would be able to willingly bring me down."

Shizu blinked. The man just dodged her question outright. Still, that meant that she could just ask him again. Also, his obsession with Odin was kind of weird considering that there wasn't a single god named Odin out of the Thirteen. Or at least, that was what she remembered.

"But you're the Champion of Bellona, right?" she repeated. "And we've met all the gods. Odin doesn't exist."

"Ah, but that's where you are wrong, craven! Odin does exist in the form of the God Father, and his challenge to us mere mortals will prove that we are worthy of inheriting his power!" the Champion almost preached. "It is truly fitting that the next to ascend to the halls of Valhalla need to prove themselves to the gods of being worthy!"

Once more, the fortune teller found herself blinking in confusion. What she just heard made no sense whatsoever. Thankfully, she got just enough to learn that this man just thought the Thirteen were the Norse pantheon with different names. Maybe he thought that the Deep Blue was Yggdrassil or something. She didn't really know enough about Norse mythology to speak to this man about this stuff.

"But enough talk! Let us fight and prove our worth to the gods!" he proclaimed with a the fervor of a raging berseker. "I, Skuld, shall bring honor to my gods and ancestors through the glory of combat! All will freeze to [Absolute Zero]!"

Before Shizu could even prepare herself, the viking had already frozen time itself. Watching on in horror, the viking walked up to her, his shield held back before he bashed it right at her side just as time resumed its course.

"U-Ughh!"

Flying across the frozen deck, she did her best not to vomit from the pain as she shakily picked herself back up. She was only thankful that he didn't use his axe and just killed her outright, but she supposed that was his love for combat not wanting to just easily kill her.

"Fight me, Champion of Tyche! Show me what the fates are truly capable of!"

Shizu spat out a bit of spittle as she raised her card-filled hands once more. She just needed a bit more... She just had to stall.