33 Preparations

{REALM: THE DICASTERY}

{DEPTH 9}

Riku and his group arrived at the ninth Depth of the first Realm, and so far, other than that one hiccup where they almost got sucked into a battle they were far from prepared for, things seemed quiet enough for them to relax again. They haven't run into any other Champions yet, and other than the occasional lion from the last Depth, things were smooth sailing for the most part.

"I'm getting bored, to be honest..."

He let off a faint scoff as he heard Nyx mumble aloud while snacking on her newest batch of lion sashimi. How she never got bored eating the same food over and over again for what felt like days now was a mystery to him, but he didn't want to question it alongside why was it that he and Shizu never really got tired despite them traveling and walking nonstop for what was literally days now.

"Getting bored is a good thing though," Shizu sagely replied with her own small portion of sashimi in her hands. "It means that life is good enough that you don't need to work. Also means that you're rich enough to not fear where your next meal will come from."

"Speaking from actual experience?" Nyx teased, her voice lowering, signifying that she was using her competence on this. "I don't make it a habit to read people, but I can tell that you were broke based on how you acted."

"H-Hey... You don't have to say it like that," the fortune teller weakly chuckled. "I managed to eat three meals a day for the most part."

Once more, Riku shrugged as he tuned out the casual banter happening behind him in favor of focusing on keeping the two women safe. Well, only one of them since Nyx technically didn't need saving. Narrowing his eyes, he couldn't help but notice that they haven't seen any sort of enemy for a good long while now. In fact, it was getting to the point that the lack of lions was kind of off-putting. It would seem that the entire Depth was practically devoid of anything that even resembled an enemy, which was far from natural compared to the Depths prior to this.

And the lack of Champions... Surely, Nyx would be worried if any of them managed to move to the next Realm, and she clearly knew who was in what rank at any given moment.

"Nyx."

"It's not- Yes, my Champion?" Nyx cut herself off as she turned to him.

"In terms of rankings, where are the other Champions?"

"Let me check..." the goddess hummed as she closed her eyes for a brief second. "Ah, beyond the two Champions behind us, the rest are... stuck in Big Brother Themis's challenge. Wow, I guess he really made his challenge that much of a problem."

You raise a brow at her words. And here you thought that some were already well into the second Realm by now with how far you've been lagging behind. You held no illusion that your group was in the middle of the pack. You and Shizu were both far behind, and it was only a miracle that there were two other Champions lagging even further behind you two.

"Oh, so that's why we haven't seen anyone else yet," Shizu chimed in with a curious tone. "They're all just stuck in the end of this Realm. That's... kind of reassuring, to be honest."

"So you actually want to be competing?" Nyx curiously asked. "I thought you were following Riku's lead?"

"I did say that we wanted to at least be middling and not dead last," Riku shrugged. "Still, this means that we'll see the rest of the competition once we enter the next Depth."

"Which means we'll have to be ready," Shizu nodded in determination. "Though... Maybe we can just shoot past them if we can solve whatever puzzle it is that's keeping them from moving forward?"

Riku raised a brow at such a suggestion. It was certainly possible, assuming that the puzzle was something they could piece together without much trouble. Still, he doubted that the other Champions were dumb enough that they'd get stuck in a puzzle simple enough that they themselves could easily solve it. No, what was waiting for them on the next Depth was surely something that needed preparations. Perhaps a few mind exercises would do them good, especially if his and Nyx's reads on the Themis proved to be correct.

"That remains to be seen," he sagely pointed out. "For now, we should just prepare for the eventuality of having a puzzle to solve. There's also a high chance that we'll be fighting a hostile Champion in the very near future."

"That's probably inevitable once we move down," Nyx shrugged. "It would make for great entertainment though, assuming you two don't lose, of course."

"I-I'm pretty sure we won't lose," Shizu quickly shook her head. "At least, that's what I hope will happen."

The former assassin simply nodded. Even if they had to fight, he'd make sure that they'll come out on top. Or at the very least, they escape with their lives intact to lick their wounds and try again once they were better prepared. Fighting this early with his power still weak wasn't ideal, but he supposed that he'll have to rely on his Trump once it happened.

"Alright, let's move then," he firmly stated. "I can see the exit just ahead, and there are no lions present near it, correct?"

"That's about right," Nyx casually replied. "I'm getting kind of excited now."

"Then let's get to it," Shizu eagerly nodded. "We'll get through this, and we'll get to live another day!"

...

...

Shizu quickly moved her mouth to her lips the moment she realized that she just shouted out their position to the high heavens. Thankfully, nobody seemed to have heard her as they were left untouched by the elements of the Depths. Still, that meant that they had to leave now before that stopped being a fact. All the while, Riku couldn't help but think of teasing the fortune teller about this once they were in a safer position.