90 Viking

{SHIZU POV}

Her chest still hurting with a dull throb, Shizu used [The Chariot] and [The Magician]'s power to propel her further and further into the source of all the icicles, all while using her cards to shoot down any and all of them that she couldn't manage to dodge properly. It was a painful experience, and she didn't know what awaited her at the end of her journey, but what she did know was that she had to end this quickly if she didn't want to black out from all of the pain that she was currently feeling.

'Endure, girl...' she mentally told herself, ignoring the growing pain in her chest the more she forced herself to fly through the air. 'Just a bit more...'

Hissing through her teeth, Shizu did her best to keep herself afloat before the searing pain in her chest eventually forced her to go back down on the ground. Keeping cards in between her fingers, she dashed from cover to cover, using some of the old icicles that fell on the ice to protect herself while slowly inching her way to her destination.

"Surely, I'm close," she whispered to herself as she threw out card after card up into the air.

Eventually, her efforts finally paid off as the mist in front of her revealed what looked to be an old timey sail boat. It looked suspiciously like it came from a viking armada as frosted ice covered it from head to toe.

Once she was close enough, the fortune teller stuck to the side of the floating vessel, using her buffs to keep her afloat once more as she slowly boarded the ship. Once on deck, she took shelter behind one of the many boxes that littered the ship, hoping that it would hide her from the Champion causing the attacks in the first place.

'Okay... Now what?'

Wresting control of her own thoughts, Shizu slowly made her way to the front of the ship, her steps slow and careful as she navigated the thick fog still blanketing the ship. Inevitably, she made her way closer to her target, until finally, she saw him... and he didn't even seem bothered upon seeing her... which was bad since she really didn't want to be seen just yet.

Frozen, Shizu quickly raised her cards to aim at the man casually leaning on the rails of the deck with his eyes closed. Surely, the man already knew she was there, right?

...

...

For a few seconds, nothing happened as Shizu felt her heart fluttering in both fear and determination. The tension was so thick that she could probably cut it with a spoon, and yet... nothing was still happening? Why wasn't this guy attacking her?

"You... You're Big Brother Tyche's Champion, correct?"

Shizu's eyes widened. Brother? Wait...

Squinting, the fortune teller gave the man another close look. For a brief second, recognition scratched against the surface of her mind until she finally recognized the god that was casually talking to him despite her infiltrating their ship.

"You're... Bellona..." Shizu stated in recognition. "Why aren't you telling your Champion that I'm here?"

"He can look after himself," the god casually stated without a care in the world. "I don't care who wins anyway."

The god then made to gesture at her with a wave of his hand, shooing her away like she wasn't an enemy that needed to be destroyed. Likewise, Shizu blinked in both shock and disbelief before she quickly took her leave, not wanting to let the opportunity of remaining undiscovered go past her.

'I... I don't know what happened, but that was lucky...'

Letting out a sigh of relief, Shizu could only hope that the god was truly as uncaring as he seemed as she turned to a different direction and moved forward. She knew that gods could talk to their Champions, after all, so it was possible that-

"Coward! Show yourself!"

A strong and masculine voice echoed from the very front of the ship just as Shizu reached another crate to hide behind in. Her cards trembling in her fingers, she took a peek at the Champion that was responsible for the ice sheet stopping them from progressing.

"There is no escape from the servants of Odin!"

Looking at what was quite literally a viking, Shizu could only describe him as brash and burly as his thick furred armor covered his entire body. He had a shield and an axe on each arm, with the latter glowing a dull blue as if signifying that it was the source of his power.

"Your cowardly projectiles are no match to the cold of the north!"

Shizu blinked. She was pretty sure that the only projectiles that she encountered all came from this man shouting into the wind. Was she fighting someone else? She didn't think so...

Still, she was probably wasting enough time as it is. She just wanted to relax and get this over with, and Riku would probably be scolding her already for not taking advantage of her position.

Peeking out of her cover once more, the fortune teller loaded both of her hands with cards as she took careful aim at the Champion of Bellona. It seemed that the god was true to his word, and the man didn't even bother looking around even as Shizu let go of her cards. Waiting with bated breath, Shizu watched her cards soar through the fog before they all inevitably hit the viking.

"ARRGHGH!! An enemy?! From behind?!"

Shizu immediately ducked behind her crate, shocked at the fact that her attack didn't kill. Was she that weak? She was sure that she hit him right, and it was full volley too!

"Show yourself, coward!" the viking taunted as he bashed his shield with his axe. "Come and fight me like a real warrior should!"

The fortune teller gulped. She really didn't want to fight head on against someone that clearly knew how to fight... But then again, wasn't that what she did with Riku whenever he trained her?

'You can do this... You can do this...'

Giving herself a chant of encouragement, Shizu drew another stock of cards as she took in a deep breath. She got this... She was going to win this.