32 Weapons of War

"That's great though," Shizu complimented him. "It just means that you just have to go deeper and nobody will ever be able to beat you."

"That's discounting that I have to get to that point in the first place," Riku pointed out to her with a raised brow. "But that's the plan."

His fellow Champion nodded and hummed to herself at his plan for the entire game. It was a vague one at best, if he was being honest, something that anyone would think of once they knew the nature of his power. Not that he would tell her what he was planning if he had a detailed one in mind, though. He was still making sure that he was going to win this whole thing, and not even Shizu's supposed loyalty will keep him from playing it cautious.

"Hey, at least it's something," she chuckled. "Meanwhile, I'm just here tagging along hoping that it'll keep me alive."

"You'll live, Shizu. I'm here, after all, and my Champion's the best," Nyx smugly chimed in. "Even Big Brother Tyche thinks that it'll do you good, right?"

"Right..." Shizu awkwardly replied. "He did say that it doesn't matter if I lose. He just wants me to do what I want."

Riku raised a brow at that last tidbit. That was something he hadn't known about. So Tyche wasn't expecting Shizu to win, if even survive at all. Was there something more there? A ploy of some kind?

"That sounds like him," Nyx scoffed. "He's all about self-determination and all that even though his Aspect is literally Fate."

"He said that Fate wasn't always set in stone," the fortune teller stated. "That I should keep moving forward and have faith in my abilities."

Tuning out the background conversation, Riku turned his attention back to the task at hand, which was to find a way out of this Depth. They had been walking for quite some time now, and it almost looked like it was going to be a smooth Depth unlike the one that came before it.

"Oh, since we have the time and we're not encountering anything anyway, I can tell you about Big Brother Brahma's Champion," Nyx suddenly stated with an eager tune. "That way, I can get a lion sashimi the moment we find one."

"Alright, tell us all about this man then," Riku graciously nodded, leaving Nyx to talk as he continued pathfinding for them.

"Right, so Brahma's Champion is.... Atum, if I'm pronouncing this right," the goddess began, her brows scrunching up as her eyes glowed with an ethereal darkness while she tapped into whatever it was that she was getting her information from. "An Ancient Egyptian from the age of the pharaohs... Huh, no wonder Big Brother Brahma chose him."

"Why?" Shizu curiously asked.

"Atum's a builder. Well, an architect would better describe him," Nyx shrugged. "Knowing Big Bro, he must've liked his stuff to give him his power."

"I see. That would explain the earthly powers, I suppose," Riku hummed in thought. "A builder with a hammer and chisel... Not the weirdest weapon I've seen so far, but something that we shouldn't underestimate either."

After all, he was standing right next to someone with an esoteric weapon herself. Tarot cards were far from the deadliest of weapons he had ever seen, and he had seen a lot of weapons during his time. From kukris to literal ball and chains, humanity was never lacking in terms of how to kill people with what kind of mortal instrument or method. He himself employed a few heinous methods just to prove a point, and while most would look at him and call him a monster, he considered what he did to be a natural conclusion to what he did for a living. It was just business. He promised results, and that was what he did no matter what method he had to use to get there.

"I know. Hell, you're only using a knife too," Shizu chuckled at him, her mirth slowly evaporating as she noticed how he wasn't laughing with her. "Err... I guess you're just that good with it."

"A knife is one of the oldest weapons in humanity's history," Riku coolly pointed out with a raised brow. "Daggers and bladed weapons have been around for thousands of years. While small, a knife is still just as deadly as any other weapon of war."

"Wow, way to scare her, my Champion," Nyx chortled. "You didn't have to say it like that, you know."

The former assassin simply shrugged. He had no reason to sugarcoat things. He was proud of his knife and his bladework, and he didn't want anybody slandering knives and daggers thinking that they were puny blades compared to swords or any other weapon of war. Granted, he'll concede that one shouldn't bring a knife to a gunfight, but even that wasn't completely true based on his own experience.

After all, one didn't say that he couldn't throw said knife at the gunman before he could even fire a single shot.

"No, he's right," Shizu quickly shook her head. "Knives are just as dangerous. It's the most common murder weapon for a reason."

"Exactly," Riku smugly nodded despite himself. "Besides, anything can be a weapon if you're creative enough. Even your own body can be your deadliest tool if you trained enough for it."

"You're really not selling yourself as a simple sushi chef. You know that, right?" Nyx amusedly pointed out. "What with your talk about murder and weapons of war like they're nothing."

Shizu seemingly noticed that as well as she gave him a scrutinizing look, and Riku did his best not to sigh as he quickly came up with an excuse.

"I'm just well read," he casually shrugged. "Anybody with enough knowledge about history can tell that humanity loves their weapons."

"Yeah... I guess so," Shizu sighed, having bought his reason for his knowledge. "That's just... depressing, you know?"

The sushi chef wordlessly nodded before continuing on with his task. It was the way that the world worked, unfortunately. He didn't make the rules, he just excelled at following them.