{SHIZU POV}
{REALM: THE SEA OF STARS}
{DEPTH 15}
Back on the ship, Shizu was doing her damn best to keep herself in the fight with how many icicles were still raining down on them. She wanted so badly to rest her arms with how many cards she had thrown in the last few minutes, but without her defense, the very ship that she was currently standing on would undoubtedly sink, and she really didn't want to experience what was literally ice cold water when she could barely handle taking cold showers back home... which was bad since she was already starting to feel the boat sinking right underneath her.
'I'm not gonna last much longer at this rate,' she worriedly thought to herself. 'My arms are getting tired...'
/Oh? Would you like some assistance then, my Champion?/
The fortune teller's eyes widened at Tyche's sudden interference in her thoughts. And here she thought that she had heard the last from her patron god.
/You wound me yet again, my Champion,/ the god cooed into her thoughts. /I only want what's best for you, you know?/
'I know,' she inwardly grumbled. 'I'm busy here. Can you pick a better time to bug me?'
/Oh, the vitriol~/ Tyche teasingly mocked her. /I'm guessing you don't want me to swoop in and give you a ride out of your problem then?/
Shizu actually froze at that offer. True enough, the situation only seemed to be getting worse and worse the longer it went. Riku was currently out there fighting another Champion, while she herself was engaged with yet another one that she hadn't even seen yet. The boat beneath her feet was slowly sinking, and her arms were starting to get tired from all of the throwing she was doing. Hell, it was the reason why the boat was sinking in the first place.
'No thanks,' she defiantly replied. 'I'm not going to betray my friends.'
/You might not, but who's to say that Riku won't?/
The fortune teller gritted her teeth at the slanderous words being fed right into her thoughts. Not that she didn't already know of such a possibility existing. While her feelings for the man was slowly shifting into an even more positive light, even she wasn't blind enough to know that Riku was no saint whatsoever. He had clearly killed people before, and his behavior almost seemed sociopathic if not for him actually showing genuine emotion at times. Indeed, he was the kind of person to betray his allies if it meant furthering his goals. However...
'That's a risk I'm willing to take,' she firmly stated. 'You did say that I have my own choice, right?'
/I did say that,/ Tyche hummed. /Very well. Carry on with your efforts then, my Champion./
And just like that, her attention was turned to the real world once more as her pace quickened. Not as fast as when she first started, of course, but still fast enough that the damage the ship was sustaining got lessened by a decent margin. That didn't mean that the damage wasn't debilitating, however, and they were still sinking at an alarming rate.
"Nyx! Any word on when we can escape from this guy?!"
"I don't know, Shizu! I'm already doing my best to keep the ship afloat here!" the goddess whined back, her chaos tendrils hard at work in patching up the boat. "Riku hasn't responded in a while too, and I can tell that he's engaged with another Champion!"
Shizu clicked her tongue at the bad news. The worry bubbling up in her chest didn't help one bit as her hands started shaking from both fear and exhaustion. She didn't have much else left in her to keep defending like this. She had to do something. She had to actually start looking at her cards and use her power.
"Nyx, how much more can the ship take?!"
"Around a minute of unguarded sustained damage will sink us," the goddess replied. "At your current pace of defense, we probably have an hour left before my limited rate of repair is overwhelmed."
Immediately, the fortune teller did a mental calculation on what she could do at the moment. The attacks would never stop unless she cut it off from the source, but she could leave the ship undefended either. She knew she had a card that could help, but could she rely on her luck to draw it without the help from her Trump?
'I can't even use my Trump,' she grumbled to herself. 'It would take too long to prepare myself.'
In the end, there was only one logical choice of action to be taken. She would have to gamble with the luck of the draw, hoping that she'd draw the one card she needed to be able to leave the ship and try to fix this mess at the source.
"Nyx! I'll have to look at my cards for a second!" she warned the goddess. "Can you manage?!"
"As if I have anything better to do!" the goddess scoffed aloud. "I'm not worried about myself, I'm worried about you and my Champion!"
Shaking her head, Shizu did her best to position herself behind what little cover the ship had left for her before quickly skimming through each and every card she drew. Whenever she didn't get what she wanted, it was immediately thrown right up at one of the many icicles raining down on them, hopefully stalling their inevitable demise just long enough for her to get the hail mary card that she was hoping for.
"Come on... Come on..."
With each card that she drew, the more water started lapping up at her feet. The more the threat of sinking into the starry sea became apparent as her heart hammered with each card that she stared at.
"I hope you're close to getting the card that you want, Shizu!" Nyx worriedly told her. "The ship can't sustain much more than this!"
Tears began running down the fortune teller's cheek the more cards she went through. With every single wrong card she drew, the more her hopes vanished. Was this truly the end for her?
No... No!