Momentum. This is the very thing the Viper needed to build in order to unleash his deadly attack: 'Baal's Descent'.
After using 'Dash' to launch himself high into the air, he allowed his body to fall freely, building more than enough momentum to activate it, thus striking his opponent with a destructive force.
"Your abilities are quite flashy, aren't they?"
Jude, who had been grinning joyfully, maintained his defensive position against the Viper's strong attack.
Sparks of electricity dispersed from the contact of their clash, but it still wasn't clear who was overpowering the other.
They were at a complete stalemate.
"Tch."
Viper, frustrated by this deadlock scenario, withdrew his attack, falling back a good distance away from his opponent.
However, their fight was still far from over, as a verbal battle between the two soon followed…
"It seems your body isn't as strong as it used to be," Jude noticed, deactivating his defense wave. "I could tell that the attack was draining your stamina quite a bit."
Viper, who had mainly been on the offensive, was now experiencing the repercussions due to the frequent use of physically demanding abilities.
Viper then retaliated by saying, "The loss of one's youth is essential to the development of the mind, however, that doesn't seem to apply in your case."
Taken aback by the Viper's insult, Jude began to pout. However, his face soon hardened at the possibility of his words possessing a deeper meaning.
"How come you haven't changed since the first time we met?" Viper confronted.
"Hmm? Are you really that curious about it?"
"Twenty years isn't that short. You'd think there'd be at least wrinkle or two to prove it. But then again, your face is already hideous enough."
Taking offence to the continuous insults, Jude decided to retort in a rather childish manner.
"Well, that's rich coming from the guy who hides behind a mask all the time. Is there any reason for you to be wearing that stupid thing anymore?"
Viper remained silent, knowing that Jude was only trying to provoke him. But Jude, who was expecting this response, couldn't suppress his grin.
"Oh, how could I possibly forget… that little brat you adopted still doesn't know who you really are, right?
"I must say, it was really nice what you did for her." Jude held up his left hand while pointing toward it. "I guess you're still pretty 'handy', huh?"
Jude, being the only one to find his joke funny, began to laugh hysterically as the Viper's silence continued.
This hilarity lasted a minute longer until the Viper raised his voice again.
"Are you done?"
"Ugh, you're no fun," Jude complained, returning to his moping expression.
Viper cautiously continued to observe Jude's stance, wondering if he still had any more tricks lying under his sleeve.
There were still a handful of cards that Jude had yet to use, and because his arsenal mostly consisted of traps, he had to proceed very carefully.
Jude, able to anticipate what the Viper was likely thinking, smiled before activating a Tool Card.
"Ice Fissures!" From his level three, four-star card, four icicles were summoned and suspended right above Jude, their stone-piercing tips pointing toward the Voiceless Viper.
Without any warning or indication, an icicle was shot directly at the Viper, who narrowly evaded it with a deft weave of his head.
After the first icicle, each remaining icicle would take thirty seconds to fire at the user's desired target.
The speed of the attack was practically identical to the bolts that Viper fired from Venum, forcing himself to create more distance between him and his opponent.
However, the moment Viper backed away from Jude, he was caught in another one of his incessant traps.
"Kuh!"
The ground beneath his feet had suddenly turned into quicksand as his lower body began to sink into the earth.
"HAHAHAHA! You should've been more careful, Viper!" Jude mocked. "Seems you've got yourself in a sink-or-swim situation."
Viper, now knee deep into the sand, struggled to escape. By now, he would've used 'Dash', 'Static Body', or 'Gravitational Defiance' to free himself, but he had reached the limits of their usage. 'Lurk' was also not an option as he no longer stood within any shadows.
His enemy had set this trap preemptively, knowing that he had no other mobility cards left within his arsenal.
Jude slowly took a step forward while grinning pridefully.
"I've finally caught you this time, haven't I? Perhaps I should wait here and watch from afar, so I can at least savor this moment while it lasts…" Jude kept his distance, making sure that he wasn't within range of a surprise attack, "Well, that's unless you have any more cards that I don't know about."
Truthfully, there was a card within Viper's arsenal that Jude himself wasn't aware of, however, the voiceless assassin was planning to save such a card for a significantly dire moment.
The situation he was in currently, hadn't fallen into that category yet. He was merely caught by surprise.
With his waist completely engulfed by the sand, another card miraculously flashed beside the Viper's head.
".... What!?" Jude's sleuthing eyes widened in disbelief as the Viper began to activate his ability.
"Dragon Breath!" From just outside of his mask–the lower part where his mouth would be–a ferocious flame charged out in a continuous burst.
Jude immediately shielded his face with his arms, thinking the attack was meant for him, but it proved only to be a false assumption.
"W-WHAT!?"
After peeking through his instinctive defense, Jude witnessed something so unexpected that his expression grew indiscernible.
Instead of aiming the attack at his enemy, the Viper tilted his head down toward the ground, using the flames against the sand.
Wait…
It only took a few seconds before the sand began to vitrify.
He's using the heat from his ability to turn the sand into glass...?
Jude's thoughts became apparent as the moist silica crystalized into a rough fulgurite texture, which ceased the sinking and allowed the Viper to promptly break himself free.
As he rose from the ground that he shattered with his fists, Jude applauded his efforts with genuine awe.
"You're just full of surprises, aren't you!" he cheered. "Well, that's gonna be a tough act to follow, but I'll certainly try my best…"
Not even a second after the Viper had recovered from Jude's trap, another icicle was shot directly at him.
Without enough time to anticipate the attack, Viper reflexively blocked it using the butt of his rifle.
However, the sheer force of the attack was enough to push his body a couple inches and leave a deadly strain on his wrists.
Once the icicle crumbled into tiny shards of ice, Jude immediately rushed to his opponent.
"Do, Re." he chanted, plucking the blue string on his Soul Strummer.
Using the arm that the void strings were attached to, Jude lunged forward, striking his right fist against the body of the Viper's weapon.
While still using Venum to shield himself, Viper absorbed the blow which was amplified by Jude's Soul Strummer.
Bang!
A delayed wave of energy permeated right through the Viper's rifle, and knocked straight into his chest before he was sent tumbling backward.
With the force still dragging his entire body along the street, the Viper clawed the ground tiles with his hands, preventing himself from travelling any further.
His layered armor of black leather and high grade metal plating in some smaller areas seemed to have failed defensively, unable to prevent Jude's attack from rupturing him internally.
A few of his ribs had been shattered, and some of his intercostal muscle fibers were violently torn apart.
Viper's breathing became stifled, however, that was the least of his worries.
"Wow, this thing's much heavier than it looks," Jude muttered as he retrieved the Viper's weapon from the ground. "Too bad I can't use it though…"
Disappointed that he was unable to use another person's Tool EX, Jude casually tossed Venum aside, making sure it was kept as far from his enemy's reach as possible.
Tch, so that's what he was after. Realizing Jude's goal was to disarm him all along, Viper cursed under his breath in frustration before activating a Manifest card.
"Manifest: Bide!"
This card disabled the use of any other abilities for a period of five minutes. But after that period ends, the next card he uses will double in power.
With the user's cards now unavailable to him, Viper slithered his hand into the inner pocket of his cloak, and retrieved what appeared to be an intensely sharpened dagger with a blade of black metal.
"Oh? So you had a backup, after all?" Jude, acting curious about the Viper's new weapon, attempted to ascertain its value using Clairvoyance.
However, there seemed to be a problem. Hmm?Just what sort of weapon is this? It doesn't appear to be graded…
Jude instinctively took a step back.
As it turned out, the metal that formed the blade was completely unknown to him, thus eliciting his caution.
The Viper then used this disorientation as an opportunity to proceed, charging wildly at his opponent with the tip of his blade pointing forward.
With a swift lunge of his arm, the Viper attempted to stab Jude in the neck, however, his advanced perception allowed him to track his movements with ease.
"I can't tell if it's your old age slowing you down, or that I've just gotten much faster over the years." Jude, continuing to taunt his opponent, caught the tip of the Viper's blade between his thumb and index finger without receiving so much as a scratch.
With the abnormal strength of his grip, Jude attempted to break or bend the dagger, but the metal appeared too dense for him to do so.
Ah, so this weapon should at least be above fourth grade, he deduced. I guess I'll have to be careful from now on–
As the Viper struggled to pull his weapon out of Jude's grasp, Jude suddenly let go, slightly backing away from him.
What was that…!? he thought, reacting to the sudden numbness that began to course through his arm the moment he made contact with that blade. Is it some kind of poison? No… Something like that should have no effect on me…
While Jude was still trying to figure out what caused that sensation, Viper took advantage of this distraction, adjusting the position of his dagger and swinging with his right hand.
Crap!
Jude, after reacting just in time, caught Viper's wrist with a strengthened hold, preventing the blade from reaching his head.
Using his free hand, the Viper dug a clenched fist right into the side of Jude's jaw.
"Keh!" Jude's head recoiled as he stumbled backward, holding his jaw in his hand while clicking it back into place.
It was a direct hit, and the first attack that seemed to deal significant damage!
But how come?
The amount of force applied into that punch was light in comparison to all his previous attacks, so the Viper began to wonder…
Is this the effect of a card ability? While his Clairvoyance was better than average due to his advanced CCU model, it wasn't on par with Jude's, meaning he could ascertain all the statistics of a card but neither the name nor description.
Viper continued to think deeply, trying to figure out what he did differently this time compared to his previous attacks.
Every other time he attacked Jude, he was unable to leave a scratch. His body still felt the force of the attack but there was no physical damage done to his body.
Even when he was attacked, he would never bother to evade it. He would face it head on without lifting so much as a finger…
That was it!
This time the Viper had caught Jude off guard, and forced him to perform an action.
There was a great deal of strength applied in the hand that grabbed his wrist, and for some reason that left the rest of his body much more vulnerable than usual.
His ability… it probably trades offence for defence and vice versa by transferring strength from one part of his body to another in a particular ratio.
Viper was able to deduce all of this simply via comparison. He was able to spot a pattern, and therefore realize the effect that occurred once that pattern had changed.
It was this genius level of intellect that allowed him to hunt Collectors while remaining elusive for so long, leaving zero traces behind him until now.
[The snow begins to fall a second time…]