7 Tools

"Wha- For your information, I'm not the one in charge of darkness," she sternly told him with an upset frown... before said frown turned into a confused pout. "Well, actually, maybe I am, but that's beside the point!"

Riku couldn't help but let off an actual laugh at his goddess's outburst. He didn't to say any more about what he was seeing. He was sure that Nyx could tell what he was thinking about her anyway.

"You must think I'm a pushover of a goddess," Nyx grumbled, her arms crossed over her chest. "I'm still all-powerful, you know."

"Having power doesn't mean you know how to use it," Riku scoffed. "Still, let's continue with the questions. What am I up against, here?"

As if sensing the sudden change in tune, his goddess's posture straightened, allowing her to at least look the part of being an all-powerful deity again. "Right. As I was saying before, you will be traversing the Deep Blue and all of its Thirteen Realms. Each Realm if resided by one god, and you'll have to get past all of them to get to the very bottom and claim your prize."

"And by prize, what exactly is it?" he further asked. "I get gaining ultimate power, but is that all there really is to it?"

Nyx blinked at him before giving him a shrug. "It's whatever you want it to be. I know some of my siblings bragged about their Champion just wanting to be returned to their rightful time," she explained. "Some of them supposedly want to eternal fame, while some want to change the course of history and all that. Pretty basic stuff, to be honest."

Riku raised a brow at such answers. "Doesn't some of those sound like it would ruin the world if they were granted?" he pondered. "Changing the course of history would fundamentally change everything."

"My siblings will probably just make a spinoff universe for their Champion to reside in, I think. Assuming they even win," the goddess shrugged with a slight scoff. "The God Father made it very clear that messing with the natural order of things would have dire consequences and all that."

The former assassin took his patron goddess's words into account. So what she said earlier before they went into this elevator was all true then. He could theoretically wish for anything and she would be liable to make sure that they come true assuming that he win this game for her. Somehow, that got his thoughts running at what he should do for this entire mess, his long-unused preparation and planning prowess starting to come back to him as he thought about what a god and their chosen Champion could possibly do to become a threat to him... which, come to think of it, would probably be some kind of magical power of some sort.

"What? Thinking of what you want to wish for aside from ultimate power?" Nyx goaded him with a teasing smirk. "You can always just put off thinking about it until you're sure that you'll win."

"Oh, I'll definitely win this," Riku confidently scoffed, a small smirk forming on his lips at his assuredness. "But no, I'm thinking about what tools I have at my disposal to actually do such a feat."

"You mean in terms of power? Well, you have your knife. I made sure that came with you," Nyx smugly replied.

At her words, Riku drew his trusty sushi knife from its holster on his hip. It wasn't much, but it was the sharpest thing he had ever commissioned from his usual blacksmith. Not even his former blades could ever match up to the precision that this simple knife could give him on an everyday basis.

Still, that didn't mean that it would be enough.

"While I can hold my own against a fight with just this, I sincerely doubt that I'd be fighting conventional battles in this game," Riku blandly pointed out. "I need an edge. Something that would allow me to come toe to toe with literal gods." He then stared at his goddess and gave her a level gaze. "You did say that you'll be lending me your aid. Is that part of the process?"

Riku simply stared at his goddess as her expression flickered from that of confusion to clarity as if she had just remembered something. Somehow, he couldn't help but feel like the sight of her was the most adorable thing he had ever witnessed, especially as it clashed with her rather mature figure hidden beneath her cloak.

"Oh right, I did say that," Nyx mumbled to herself. "I... actually haven't thought about what to give you yet."

...

...

And once again, his opinion for his patron goddess fell just as it was starting to rise again. "There's only so much that you can attribute your incompetence to your aspect being Chaos, Nyx."

"Again, I just can't help myself, alright?" the goddess whined with a pout. "Also, since when did I allow you to call me by name?"

"You did so earlier," Riku spontaneously lied, looking to see if his assessment of her was truly reliable. "You should stop being so forgetful, you know."

"I did?"

He held his breath as he waited to see if she would call out his lie. However, as Nyx's expression turned from annoyance to acceptance, he knew right then and there that his goddess was a gullible airhead. An all-powerful, adorable, and downright gorgeous airhead, but an airhead nonetheless. Still, he had worked with worse back in the day in the form of idiotic politicians. He could stomach her incompetence, especially since she was a literal goddess, and was very much great eye-candy.

"Yes, you did," the former assassin reaffirmed. "Why? Is it really that bad?"

"Well, I really can't recall ever saying that to you," his goddess pouted as she frowned. "Still, I don't really mind. It's just not customary for a mortal to address us so casually."

"You do call me Riku, so it's only fair," he shrugged back, hiding his satisfaction behind an indifferent expression. "But back to the topic of tools... If you don't have anything for me, how do you expect me to win?"