Riku had no idea what was happening. Still, that didn't mean that he could just stand still and hope for the best. "Nyx! Can you break through the ice?!"
"Nope!" the goddess almost humorously answered back, though the hint of panic beneath her words still remained. "I mean, I can, but something's telling me that I'll be breaking the rules if I did!"
Clicking his tongue in annoyance, the former assassin could only do what he did best and look up. Swinging his knife around, he returned to defending the ship once more, letting Shizu breath out a sigh of relief as she finally felt her workload lifting a bit.
"You're back?! What's happening, Riku?!" she shouted against the loud backdrop of shattering ice around them. "Did we stop?!"
"That's right!" he shouted back, his knife cutting through the projectiles. "We can't move right now!"
It was something that they obviously had to address. With them still unable to even see where the attack was coming from, the only thing they could do was to run and wait until they could get more information. But before they could do that, they had to first cut through the ice.
"Give me the fire power, Shizu!" he instructed her. "I'll chip away a path for us!"
Shizu nodded. "Give me cover while I look for it!"
With his instruction given, Riku could only wait as Shizu's attacks began to slow as she looked through the cards she was throwing out for the right power to give to him. Likewise, he began picking up the slack, defending the ship with his knife as he pushed his legs to the limit. Jumping back and forth across the deck, it almost looked like insanity with how he was somehow managing to keep their ship hole-free.
"Got it! [Fate's Edict! The Sun: Upright Position]!"
The telltale glow of Shizu's power flowed around her before then being directed straight into his knife. Like the last time his partner used such a power, his attacks were now imbued with flame as he promptly jumped out of the side of the ship and began cutting through the ice keeping them captive. With each swipe, his flames cut through the ice like butter as the sea beneath boiled against the heat of the sun.
"Nyx! Get ready to follow!" he called out to her. "I'm cutting us a path!"
"Wha- Sure!"
Using his newfound speed after killing a few more fish through the Depths, Riku braved the fog as he looked out at the path ahead. The ice seemed to stretch on forever in front of them, which meant that he had to keep this up until they could either escape, or the Champion causing this finally reached them. Thankfully, the rain of ice didn't seem to stretch out further as he found himself having to defend himself less and less the further he managed to cut through the ice. Although, that also meant that he found himself slowly leaving Nyx and Shizu behind with the boat as he led forward with his icebreaking operation.
'So far so good,' he thought to himself as the channel he was building for the boat lengthened ever so slowly with each swipe of his flaming knife. 'Just have to keep this up. The sea won't freeze over as quickly, and Nyx should be able to-'
*CRASH!*
Before he could even finish his thought, another projectile suddenly came crashing down in front of him. Caught off guard, Riku rolled away, using his back as a shield as a meaty chunk of ice erupted right in front of him. The resulting rain of seawater then momentarily blinded him from everything around him as he braced himself for any other attack.
"Riku!?"
Shizu's screams of worry pierced through the air as the former assassin quickly regained his bearings and slashed through the cloud of ice that had enveloped him. He didn't think that the ice projectiles would reach as far as he had ran, but it would seem that he was wrong. Although... wait... This was different.
Blinking, the first thing he noticed was the sudden rise in temperature in front of him. A different power then, which meant that this was yet another Champion thrown into the mix. The hole in front of him was... burning, a floating piece of paper seemingly bursting into flames completely unaffected by both the ice and the water around him.
'Nyx, how many Champions are near us at the moment?'
/Currently still three, but one of them is rapidly trying to leave,/ Nyx advised him. /Be careful out there. I can sense one Champion quickly nearing you. Shizu and I are doing our best to catch up, but there's also a Champion getting near us as well./
'Got it.'
Cutting the connection, Riku didn't know whether to feel anger or despair at the confluence of bad luck suddenly working its way around his group. Two Champions, both seemingly sandwiching them right in the middle in a seemingly coordinated attack. Were they working together then?
He shook his head before moving forward. No matter. Whatever was the problem, they'll just have to work through it one step at a time.
"Going somewhere, Champion of Nyx?
*CRACK!*
Riku gritted his teeth as another burst of power suddenly erupted right in front of him. Only this time, a wall of ice and papers suddenly barred his escape, forcing him to turn to the only direction he was being allowed to go. It was then that he saw the Champion that was supposedly near his location.
"An unexpected surprise, but certainly not an unwelcome one," the old Champion softly chuckled, in his had a open book whose pages were currently fluttering about with unbridled power. Some of it were even floating around him, fire, ice, and other elements circling around them like small satellites. "I knew there was a reason why the ice storm suddenly stopped, but I didn't think that another Champion got into my existing fight with another."
Riku clicked his tongue at that information. If what this old Champion said was true... This was the worst thing that could ever happen now. A free for all in the middle of an ocean was something he didn't think would ever happen in his life, but he supposed there was a first time for everything.