"Tell me, Viper, how much do you know about Visionaries?" Jude asked him, as they remained trapped within the lights of the patrolling eyeballs.
The Viper did not respond; he was simply waiting for the moment the Patrolling Lights would search for a new target.
"There are people in this world who purely associate the idea of a Visionary with simple myths and legends, believing that our very existence would cause unimaginable chaos: an imbalance within the structure of life itself. In other words, we're just a bunch of mistakes."
"I concur."
Jude stared at his adversary with a blank expression.
"A sense of humor, huh? Didn't know you had it in you." He ended the digression and continued. "My own master once told me that Visionaries aren't just people with special gifts–they are Vision itself in the form of man.
"So if Visionaries are considered a mistake, but are also the embodiment of Vision, then wouldn't that make the idea of Vision itself a mistake?"
"What are you getting at?" Viper questioned.
"I'm just saying that that kind of logic is fundamentally impossible. Such a contradiction would make this world a cosmic redundance, and thus, every action and all phenomena would also seem pointless, don't you think?
"Still, I believe there is certainly a point to all of this." Jude grinned widely. "The chicken, or the egg? Vision or humanity? Which one do you think came first?"
The Viper stayed silent, trying to decide whether or not Jude's question was worth answering.
"C'mon, Viper, it's not a trick question."
"You already know my answer."
Both of the Patrolling Lights began to move, slowly beginning to free each of them.
"Humanity is nothing but a disease caught by this ailing world, forced into existence. Vision was simply born out of the cosmic chaos that existed even before the world's creation."
"Hah! What a fantastic analogy!" Jude bellowed in amusement. "So, after all these years you're still a believer in Chaos, hmm? Please, allow me to ask… If humans are the disease, what does that make you? The great plague that will put an end to mankind?"
"No... I'm the cure."
The Patrolling Light above the Viper had finally moved completely, but only a quarter of a second before Jude's.
Viper used his 'Dash' to propel himself forward, closing the distance between him and Jude. But just as he was about to land an attack on him, another one of Jude's trap cards activated.
"Shadow Bind!" A dark circle formed beneath them, as shadowy tendrils erupted from the ground, restraining the Viper's movements and grabbing hold of his weapon.
"Wow, you must really like getting trapped, huh?" Jude taunted.
From his feet, Viper released a wild voltage that began to spread across the dark circle, electrocuting the shadowy tendrils and causing them to retract.
"Oh?" Jude leapt into the air while moving away from the electrical current, landing outside the radius of his ability.
The Viper, after reclaiming his weapon, used 'Lurk' to completely vanish.
"That's a neat trick you've got, but unfortunately for you, that has no effect on someone like me."
Jude closed his eyes, using his special Clairvoyance ability to sense the Viper's presence.
Void Bolts began to fly toward Jude one after another from different directions. Keeping his feet planted on the ground, Jude weaved every single attack he launched at him.
"Now it's my turn... Cleaving Winds!" After activating his tool card ability, a severance of wind appeared, cutting through anything in its path.
The Cleaving Winds began to follow the Viper around, despite his invisibility.
Abandoning his stealth-like approach, he used 'Static Body' to increase his speed once again, running across walls and even jumping across buildings.
However, the winds were gaining on him as they began to tear the bottom of his dark robe to shreds.
Viper then noticed Jude, who remained in the same position with his eyes closed, turning to face him every time he changed direction.
He's controlling it… Viper thought as he examined Jude's face, peering into the scope of his rifle.
Although his eyes were closed, Jude had still been moving them behind his eyelids.
I see… I need a distraction. The Viper, figuring out Jude's ability, leapt off of a broken building, flipping himself upside down before shooting a bolt at the building opposite him.
This bolt was much faster than all the others he fired so far, ricocheting from one building to another.
"What the—" The bolt seemed to accelerate as it began to bounce around Jude, diverting his attention as he desperately tried to track its movements. But not even Jude's Clairvoyance was enough to track something moving at such varying speeds.
"You really got me didn't you," he admitted, as he took a defensive stance.
The impact of the bolt scorched Jude, as steam began to emerge from the bright red burn that appeared on his arm, however, the bolt was still unable to fully pierce into his skin.
After his Cleaving Winds ability deactivated, Jude began to search all around him, but was unable to sense Viper's presence.
"Where have you disappeared to now?" he shifted his gaze from one side of the street to another, keeping his guard up while trying to anticipate the angle of the Viper's next attack.
Above! After sensing a surge of Vision energy, Jude turned his focus toward the thundering clouds, watching as the Viper vertically descended from them, a trail of lightning sparking ferociously behind him.
"Well, this isn't good…" Jude gulped.
For the first time during this fight, a sense of caution laced his expression.
At that moment, one of the strings on his 'Soul Strummer' began to glow a yellow color.
"Do, Re, Mi, Fa!" He strummed his weapon once again, summoning a wave of energy that formed a defensive force field in front of him.
Immediately afterwards, Viper's thunderous attack crashed down upon Jude's defensive wave from above.
"Baal's Descent!"
A colossal beam of light was shot into the sky, splitting the clouds apart. The piercing shriek of thunder began to crackle through the cold air as the snow around them started to clear.
…
Everything turned dark and cold–so cold that Amber's body was almost completely numb.
"Amber!?" she heard a voice calling to her. "AMBER, WAKE UP!"
"AH!" Amber quickly sat up from the cold bed of grass, causing a small pile of snow to fall from her head.
She noticed May, who nervously stood by her side.
"May?" she said, panting heavily.
What's happening? Why do I feel like I've been here before? she thought, as she familiarized herself with her surroundings.
"Amber, we need to move quickly... I-It's coming!" May anxiously warned.
"What's coming?" Amber's head throbbed with a mixture of pain and confusion.
"SCRREEEEEECH!"
"What the—!"
The shadow of a massive creature ominously loomed over them.
"W-we're too late!"
May's words ushered Amber's gaze toward the sky, where she saw a winged statue begin to dive toward her at full speed.
"Amber!"
"Shit!"
She quickly rolled her body across the ground, narrowly evading its attack. The creature's head became stuck as its long beak dug straight into the ground.
It began to wildly flap its stone wings in an attempt to free itself, but it was far too deep.
Amber, after noticing it was struggling, activated her Vision Field.
"A-Amber, what are you doing?" May, who was eager to escape, remained still behind Amber as she slowly approached the statue.
This is my chance, Amber thought as she summoned her card.
"Fire Fingers!" After each of her finger tips had caught on fire, she rapidly shot each flame on one hand, however, none of the flames caused any sort of damage to the statue.
"Tch, no effect, huh?"
Amber then loaded the crossbow mounted on her arm, and fired an arrow, which hit the body of the statue before bouncing straight off of it.
"What!?"
"SCREECH!"
The creature began to shriek again as it finally freed its head from the ground.
Amber then noticed the light blue glow that projected from the eyes of the statute.
That light... Where have I seen it before?
For some reason, the color seemed to elicit a sense of familiarity, but she couldn't quite figure out what it was.
"Amber, snap out of it!" May yelled as she grabbed her by the arm. "Let's just get out of here!"
"... No," Amber confidently refused, as a feeling of determination knocked against her heart. "We have to fight it!"
"Your attacks didn't work, Amber! We're not strong enough to fight against something like that!" May protested. "If we try and find the others, maybe we'll have a better chance—"
"No, it's better to fight it here. I think this thing is also a part of the game," she deduced, "and besides, Wolf and Snapper are probably trying their best to find the ice hat; we'll have a better chance of winning this game if we keep it distracted for now."
"SCREEEEEEEECH!"
A large gust of wind hit the two as the winged statue began soaring through the air in preparation for its next attack.