Turning on a dime, both Riku and Shizu promptly ran away from the galaxy that almost looked like it was going to attack them. Thankfully, it didn't purse them, but it was still a wake up call that all wasn't what they seemed in this planetarium.
Clearly, there were more dangers within than just getting lost or encountering other Champions.
"What in the world was that?" Shizu couldn't help but chuckle despite the obvious confusion in her tone. "Some kind of sentient galaxy or something?"
"I don't know, but I really don't want us to find out. At least, not without ensuring that we can fight them off," he sincerely stated. "Let's arm ourselves then. We might as well if we're going to encounter resistance like this."
Shizu nodded, and Riku did the same as he drew his trusty knife. Likewise, the fortune teller armed her left hand to the teeth with cards, leaving her right hand empty for now just in case there really was nothing to be worried about. Now armed and ready, they continued with their walk, now treading more carefully as the shooting stars that lazily passed them became much more numerous in number.
"Is it just me, or does it feel like we're walking right into a death trap?" Shizu awkwardly chuckled out, clearly trying to soothe her own nerves. "We didn't have to dodge this many projectiles before."
"We just have to keep moving," he insisted just as he used his knife to redirect another stray shooting star away from him. The blade of his weapon glowed red from the sheer heat he handled, but it wasn't as bad as the flames of his own jet stove back home. "Think of it as us getting nearer to our destination. Perhaps these are defensive mechanism to deter any kind of intrusion."
It made sense, after all. Most places of importance at least had a token defense to prevent unauthorized access. From CCTV cameras to literal gun turrets, he was honestly surprised that the Deep Blue didn't have something of the sort to at least give them a challenge. Then again, what use did the gods have for defenses when there was literally nothing that could ever invade their home anyway? These were probably just here for show for the game, or maybe it was just because the gods liked having something cool to invade their Realm.
"Maybe..." Shizu shrugged, her hand raised with a card as she kept an eye out for stray stars. "I'm really not looking forward to things getting harder after this though."
Scoffing, Riku merely returned to the task at hand as he navigated both him and Shizu through the ever growing field of shooting stars seemingly blocking their way. On top of that, the errant shifting galaxies were starting to become more common, absently shooting out projectiles in every random direction without any rhyme of reason.
"At least they're not really aiming at us," she chuckled at the silver lining. "They're almost like plants in a sense. Or like environmental hazards."
"So it would seem," Riku hummed in agreement. "They're still all slowly moving towards us, however."
Raising his knife at the ready, the former assassin did his best to deflect star after star in an effort to keep himself from moving too much. Likewise, Shizu was starting to increase her interception rate with her defense, throwing out card after card to keep themselves in the game. The density of the stars then rose higher the deeper they went, causing them move faster in an attempt to keep themselves safe from the deadly heat of the stars.
Even worse, the speed of the stars were starting to get faster.
"Is it just me, or are they starting to get faster?" Shizu huffed, the exertion starting to get to her.
"No, they are," Riku confirmed, his knife already red hot with the constant need for deflections. "We're going to get overwhelmed at this rate."
Looking around, the shifting galaxies around them were firing nonstop without a care in the world. There was no aim to them whatsover, but their ever looming closeness was making it so that their projectiles were getting harder and harder to predict. On top of that, he could tell that his speed was starting to lag with how much he had to move, and Shizu was clearly getting tired as well.
There was no other choice. They needed to get some breathing room, and quickly.
"Shizu, can you try aiming at one of the galaxies?" he asked. "I'll cover you."
"What? Sure."
His knife still busy defending, Riku did his best to keep Shizu safe as she began aiming at the galaxies responsible for the shooting stars. Her cards flew true as they soared through the empty space, and the moment they hit their target, something unexpected happened.
"Are they... absorbing my cards?"
Shizu's gasp in horror was something Riku almost shared with her as he watched the galaxies shrug off the attacks like they were nothing. And to add insult to the fact, the galaxies then began shooting straight at them, almost as if it was just returning any and all attacks that just came for them.
"Damn!"
The fortune teller cursed as her defense quickly resumed. Likewise, Riku returned to his own defense, making sure to deflect each and every star properly to avoid them going back to the galaxies where they came from. It wasn't much, but at least it was keeping them alive.
However, that might not be the case forever.
"We need to do something," he hissed through his teeth, their progress now completely stalled as they stood their ground. "I remember you having something for this exact scenario."
Shizu gave her a knowing look before nodding. "Give me some cover so that I can look at my cards then. I'll draw one soon enough."
Giving the fortune teller a nod in return, Riku positioned himself closer to Shizu, offering himself up to the firing line in order for her to get them some kind of cover. Assuming she was fast enough, he'd hopefully not have to ask Nyx to repair his clothes for him again.