Riku couldn't help but smirk as the entire ice platform shook and disintegrated above him. With the freezing waters below still waiting for their arrival, he clenched his teeth as he pulled his knife out of the crumbling platform in favor of bracing himself against going head first into the waters below once again.
"You... Impressive!"
Luke's compliments were immediately drowned out by the sound of water rushing into his ears as Riku dove deep into the ice waters. Using the falling ice as cover, he put as much distance between him and the chaos as possible while also keeping an eye on the where his enemy would fall in. With how the man's power worked, the enemy Champion shouldn't have enough time to make a play to keep himself from falling in. No, he was sure to fall in with him, and the former assassin would be waiting with his knife to finish the job.
"Ah... I didn't think I'd have to use it this quickly, but this is looking to be a hard-fought battle, don't you agree?"
Riku's eyes widened as the sound of Luke's voice echoed in his ears. Only, he was still completely underwater, and the old man's voice almost sounded like they were still both in open air talking to one another. That shouldn't be possible.
*WHOOSH WOOSH*
The former assassin quickly moved out of the way just as two torpedo-like pages suddenly shot past him, his hearing thankfully sharp enough for him to notice the sudden attack despite the sound of falling ice still dropping from above. Narrowing his eyes, he turned his attention to his opponent, only to find that the old man now had a bubble enclosed around him, dozens of pages spinning around him in an orbit as if to protect him from the cold of the sea.
"No response? No matter," Luke casually shrugged, his eyes glowing a foreboding brown as the book in front of him flitted through pages at the speed of light. "Then again, you can't even breathe right now. I suppose it's my fault for expecting a reply from someone on the verge of drowning."
Riku narrowed his eyes at those words. Did the old man really think that he'd drown here? But just as he looked up to find a suitable point to get some air, pages began flying out of the Luke's book, shooting through the waters before landing on the ice above. From there, they sealed the broken ice shut, replacing it with the same thick sheet of ice that he once had to cut through.
'Well, this is a problem...'
"This will be your end, Champion of Nyx," Luke calmly stated as if he was already considering it as fact. "I do apologize for giving you such a painful end, but it's all just a Game, isn't it? We all just have to do what it takes to win."
Without warning, more pages suddenly shot from Luke's open book, all of them aimed straight at him with some lagging behind as they glowed an ominous color that just signified their impeding effect.
Left with no other choice, Riku began swimming for his life, his legs kicking furiously as he tried to outrun the pages gunning for him. However, he failed as they all began sticking to his body. He tried to cut some of them down, but the onslaught was just too much as more and more attached themselves to his skin and clothing. Then, with one measly glow, he immediately felt like a brick as he began sinking against his will.
"Fitting, isn't it? A mafia-style death for a clear cut killer," Luke stated as he floated above him, his visage growing ever so smaller the deeper Riku went. "The power of gravity is something that not even light can ever escape. What hope have you, Champion of Nyx?"
Waving his arms about, Riku did his best to fight against the weights strapped onto him by the pages, tearing away page after page, it seemed to do little as he felt little to no improvement on his situation. To make matters worse, he was running out of air, and the edges of his vision were starting to dim as he fought against his body's primal urge to breathe.
"Farewell. I hope you find your peace."
Luke's retreating form taunted Riku as the prospect of death loomed over him ever so closer. His knife was useless, and his Trump had already been activated with a useless power, leaving him helpless against the grip of the Sea of Stars. He was quite literally out of options, both as an assassin and as a Champion of Nyx.
And yet despite this, he felt neither despair or hopelessness. No, instead, he felt a pang of regret at failing to complete a mission. Regret... and an overwhelming anger at his lack of tools for the job at hand.
'I'm not dying here.... I refuse...'
His determination shone against the grip of death, his annoyance at failing even once fueling his mind to think further than what was possible. Against the lack of oxygen in his body, the former assassin thought through his options, reevaluating his tools in an effort to escape certain doom.
'Think... I have [Chaos Walk] still active... My knife's still hissing with Shizu's flames... The papers on me are still weighing me down, and stripping my clothes would do little since most of them are on my skin...'
Letting his body go limp for a brief second, Riku reserved his energy, hoping that a spark of brilliance would come to him at his moment of need... Something... Anything...
A spark... A well of power within him... One that still pulsed as if readily available despite already being spent....
Wait... Was it possible?
[BOONS OF CHAOS: CHAOTIC SYSTEM TRUMP NOT AVAILABLE]
Nyx's robotic voice repeated what he already knew. He had already used his Trump, and it had given him a useless power. However, he had a feeling that he could still push this... He could feel her untapped power still waiting within him.