77 Ice

A sudden splash of water ruined the conversation as Riku and Nyx quickly shielded themselves from the starry shimmering waters raining down on them. By the looks of it, a massive projectile just narrowly missed their ship, causing the water around them to splash out in a rage around them. Even worse, the strength of it was big enough that a massive wave erupted right beside them, causing their boat to splash and move around without so much as a warning.

"Hold on!" Riku yelled out as he quickly shifted his weight low to the deck, his other hand instinctively pulling Nyx down with him as they rode out the sudden waves.

"T-Three Champions!" Nyx told him in a panic. "I-I didn't see them earlier! I'm sorry!"

"It's alright," he immediately told her, doing his best to assuage her fears. "Just get us moving away from all of this until I say otherwise."

Letting the goddess go, she quickly returned to her perch on the ship, leaving Riku to click his tongue in annoyance as he did his best to regain his bearings. He had no idea what kind of attack just almost hit them, but he really didn't want to be on the receiving end of another one if he could help it.

Forcing himself to stand up, he narrowed his eyes out at the horizon. Hoping that he'd spot the Champion that just hurled the proverbial cannonball at them. However, no matter how much he tried, all he could see was empty ocean with not even a wave of the waters in sight.

"What happened?! Are we under attack!?"

Partially turning his gaze, Shizu quickly greeted him with a look of frightened alertness in her eyes, cards already perched in between her fingers as she looked around madly for anything she could start attacking.

"So it would seem," he confirmed with a grave nod. "Keep your eyes peeled. It might be Stephen again."

Unsheathing his knife, The former assassin kept an eye out for any of the signs that he caught when they first met the Champion of Astra. It was highly possible that it was him again based on the size and strength of the projectile. Add in the fact that he wasn't seeing anything suspicious, he could only guess that the enemy Champion was employing stealth tactics again. He was prepared for it now, however. Using his planets' gravity to pull water over his massive yacht looked just a bit off if one knew what to look for.

...

....

The tense silence of the Sea of Stars only heightened his senses as he raised his knife up to defend himself. Behind him, he could feel Shizu tensing up, preparing herself for the inevitable fight that was bound to happen if his hunch was right. Three Champions... One possibly being Stephen... If they were going to get caught in something, then-

"Riku!"

Shizu's scream took him off guard as he quickly turned to face her, only to see her already throwing card after card as icicles rained down upon them without stop. Over and around them, ice blanketed the surrounding area without mercy, most of them even landing around them as if the enemy was just banking on a spread out attack and hoping some of them stick. Thankfully, none of them were getting past the fortune teller's guard, but it was only a matter of time until one of them did.

Clicking his tongue, he quickly got into position, his arms slicing through the air as he began cutting through some of the icicles that found their way past Shizu's defense. Running up and down the deck, he ended up having to cover most of the deck while Shizu did her best to thin the endless amounts of ice raining down on them. The sound of shattering glass boomed around them, the air temperature around them slowly dropping as cooled sea water splashed all around them, his breath becoming visible with each huff of air that he took.

"I-Is it getting colder?" Shizu shakily asked, her arms still a blur with her own attacks. "I-I'm... shivering here..."

Riku gritted his teeth against the unnatural cold. He didn't bother replying at the obvious question. Instead, he focused more on where the attacks were coming from. Looking beyond, it almost looked like the icicles were coming from the sky instead of from the sea. Add to that, the more icicles they destroyed, the more of them kept on coming. It was as if their enemy was responding to their actions with more and more force... but something was wrong here...

It almost felt like they weren't even being properly targeted.

'Nyx?!' he mentally called out to his goddess. 'How long until we can get out of here?!'

/I'm doing my best here!/ she cried out. /There's so much ice in the way though!/

His eyes opened wide in alarm. He wasn't seeing anything that would stop them from moving so far. Unless... "Shizu, cover me!"

"Right!"

At his partner's callout, Riku quickly tore his gaze away from the sky and back down to the sea to find the problem. Only then did he realize that something had seriously gone wrong during their defense.

"This is..."

There was ice everywhere, chunks of them floating all around them like icebergs, blocking their potential escape like they were nothing. Even worse, a thick fog was starting to form around them, further limiting their visibility and dropping the temperature around them even lower. It was positively freezing now, something that he never thought he'd ever encounter even after seeing the familiar power being exerted back in the first Realm. But then, he noticed something even worse than what was happening.

His feet was planted firmly stable on the deck. The waves had stopped, for the waters around them had frozen solid.