"Master, the ice hat's location… It seems to be in the park near the burial site."
When such words reverberate inside of his mind, the delightful Jude Clover exhibited a menacing grin.
"Excellent work, my puppet." Jude only spoke the words internally, but they still seemed to reach the princess. "I'll be there soon."
"... Then I shall be elated in your presence."
The telepathic communication between the two ended there, and shortly after, a bolt was fired from the Viper's rifle.
"Hmm?"
This was no ordinary bolt. Right before it even made contact with Jude's head, it shattered into multiple tiny fragments, which instantly dissolved in the air and produced a blue cloud of smoke.
"What?"
Once the smoke cloud wafted into his nostrils, Jude began to feel a numbness coursing through his entire body.
Is this another kind of poison? As Jude's mind and body grew disoriented, he slowly began to descend while the orb of blue light followed his movements. How is it able to affect me?
There was a certain reason as to why Jude felt he should have been immune to such an attack.
However, the ability the Viper used was generated from Void Energy, as opposed to this world's typical energy source: Vision.
Jude became overwhelmed with nausea and body fatigue as the image of the enemy before him seemed to grow more twisted and ominous while gradually becoming distant.
But in truth, the Viper's appearance hadn't changed at all, and he remained still, counting down the seconds before his 'Bide' ability wore off.
3…
2…
1…
"Manifest: Dragon Breath!"
Due to the effects of 'Bide', the strength of this attack had been boosted in almost every way possible.
The flames–similar to specialized chemical combustion–instantly turned white as they grew, melting the air with amplified heat. The range had tremendously increased to the point where it could almost cover the entire width and length of the street.
It was almost impossible to react to the speed of the attack, however, in a state of alarm, Jude pre-emptively summoned another card and muttered something under his breath right before the flames engulfed him.
Blown away by its sheer force, Wolf and May shielded a part of their faces while gazing compellingly at the wild flames.
They watched Jude's body quickly disappear before them, and began to wonder whether this fight had finally reached its conclusion.
But that was until the raging fire had completely dispersed, leaving various smoke trails along the street.
There was an acute dryness in the hot air that made it difficult to breathe, but unfortunately this wasn't the cause of May's unconstrained gasp.
"N-no way! H-How is he still standing after that!?"
A distance in front of them, the false detective rose from his crouched position, the numbness from the Viper's previous attack gradually escaping his bones.
He had partly emerged from behind a tall shield that he summoned just before the flames could reach him.
That shield…Did it protect him from the flames? Curious, Wolf appraised it using Clairvoyance; the material was grade-5 Edisium, which didn't seem to surprise him. But there were some other things Wolf noticed, which caused him to furrow his brow. Is that the Scale Wings crest?
Embedded on the shield was a gold-colored pattern of tall butterfly wings, which curved outward on either side of the shield's face.
Wolf also noticed a familiar blue light illuminating the center of the shield's face as though it were a single eye that gazed back at him.
"What is that thing…?" Wolf muttered aloud, sensing a disturbing amount of energy concentrated within the shield.
Jude quietly chuckled as the shield autonomously rose in front of him.
Wolf, May, and the Viper were all simultaneously taken aback by this.
"What's the matter?" Jude asked, feigning confusion, "Never seen a shield fly on its own before?"
He chuckled some more as the three remained silent.
"Alright then, how about this?!"
As if the flying shield wasn't ready enough of a surprise, a few cards–unreadable even with Wolf's Clairvoyance–suddenly flashed around it, inducing an amazed stare from the three witnesses.
"Have you ever seen anything like this before, hmm?!" Jude flailed his arms around in excitement.
Was it always possible for an object to be a Card Holder? Wolf silently wondered while gazing at the shield in awe.
Typically, such a thing would be considered impossible, however, this was no ordinary object.
Just like the bird statue that May and Amber fought against, the shield had been possessed by the blue orb of light, eliciting an uncanny nature of semi-sentience within the object.
This phenomenon is known as a 'Perception Theory', a Visionary Art that involves the conjuration of a condensed Vision mass known as 'Perception', which contains the user's spirit–or perceived reality–as an extension of their own nature and will. When imbuing the 'Perception' inside of an object, the level of sentience it carries is solely dependent on the user's affinity with Vision.
Jude, now seeming to have withdrawn from this battle, began to float much higher as though he were leaving the responsibility all to his Perception.
"Where do you think you're going?" Viper, noticing that Jude was attempting to escape, immediately fired another poison bolt from his rifle.
However, it was swiftly intercepted by the shield which sprung into the air to defend Jude the very instant the bolt was fired.
"Tch," the Viper snarled as he watched the void gas from the bolt spread along the surface of the shield, unable to affect it in any way.
"Oh? Are you offended that I'm leaving so soon?" Jude playfully teased. "Don't worry, my Perception will keep you all company while I'm gone. It will be as though I never left."
Saying this, Jude gave a short wave before turning away.
"No!" Wolf yelled realizing that Snapper and everyone else were in much more danger now. "He's going for the ice hat!"
Wolf began to rush forward, attempting to chase Jude down as he flew toward the park, however…
"Wolf, watch out!"
Just as May warned him, the shield suddenly came crashing down, sending his body back with blunt force.
"Gah!' he cried, feeling the weight of the shield's base crushing his abdomen.
May immediately ran to his side.
"Wolf–!"
"I'm fine," he assured, struggling as he picked himself up. "Snapper's the one we should be worrying about. He's going to have to deal with both Mel and Jude all by himself while we're stuck here fighting against a shield."
Saying that last part out loud felt strange to him, but things already seemed to be moving in that direction.
With the few cards Jude shared in its possession, the shield slowly crept forward while still afloat above ground.
May gazed at the shield with wide eyes, noticing the blue glow in its center.
It's like the same one the bird statue had… she thought. Could it be–!
"Mr. Viper!" she yelled while turning to face him. "I think I know how to defeat the shield! You have to aim for the light!"
Once she pointed her metallic finger toward the shield, Viper was able to understand what she was referring to.
The dark assassin immediately scoped into his rifle and aimed for the blue light directly in the center of the shield. But just as his finger pressed down on the trigger, three of the shield's cards were suddenly activated.
"Summon: Stone Soldiers." An eerie voice, similar to Jude's echoed from the shield as three large stone creatures appeared in front of it.
Bang!
The bolt that Viper shot exploded on impact, blowing a hole through one of the stone figures.
A moment later, the wound in the stone figure's stomach began to regenerate, soon filling the hole back up as though it were never there.
"What are those things?" Wolf asked, having never encountered such creatures before.
"They're called golems," Viper replied in his usual husky voice. "They are typically only level three dungeon beasts, however, these ones seem to be much stronger than usual..."
The Viper's suspicions appeared to be correct as each of the unreadable cards that summoned these beasts possessed a rank of four stars, making the golems much stronger than they originally were.
The eerie voice projecting from the shield continued as it rose into the air above the middle golem's head.
"My master wishes to entertain you all before the arrival of the Soul King.I intend to carry out his command to the best of my abilities, however, I am still quite inexperienced, so… My apologies if I end up slaughtering you all too soon."