Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

\'These things are very strange. They don\'t look like physical things, nor are they made of a liquid or gas, so what are they? Well, I\'m not going to let it touch my skin to find out.\' Kaizen thought as he sidestepped.

So he finally stood in front of Niah, sword swinging in his hand.

The former queen, was dying in pain and struggling against the brutality of that necklace, yet she merely opened her eyes when she heard Kaien approach. She was overcome with pain, hatred and power, and all these sensations became more burning when she saw Psyker\'s determined expression. It seemed that she finally understood that he was not going to give up or bow to her command. And she didn\'t want to accept that, because everyone throughout her life had bowed to her at some point, and for the first time in her life, she now felt that this outcome was all Kaizen wanted.

Niah tried to fight until the last second, commanding his tentacles, but Kaizen was not hit by any of them as he ruthlessly advanced once again. His face was inches from hers, and then he smiled, grabbed her metal necklace, and kicked her away with great force.

With that, the tentacles shrank fully into the necklace again. The red bubble, which enveloped the entire surrounding area gradually crumbled on its own as well, and the soldiers, who were only not attacking Arthas because Davster was managing to hold them back, returned to normal, their consciousness intact.

In Psyker\'s hands, the heat suddenly cracked, turned to dust, and then oozed out between his fingers.

However, at the same time that everything seemed to take a good turn, the sound of a stab and a brief groan of pain captured everyone\'s attention. Kaizen turned back and saw that the intense battle that had been going on for a few meters finally had an even faster outcome than expected. Arthas\' sword had pierced Thenomor\'s chest, but the vampire was not the only one wounded. By a twist of fate, at the same moment that Arthas saw the opening for an attack in Thenomor\'s stance, he also saw an opening in the knight\'s stance, so they both struck at the same time. While Thenomor had a sword in his chest, he also had all five claws of his right hand digging deep into his opponent\'s stomach.

When Thenomor saw blood dripping from the corners of Arthas\' mouth, he smiled with pleasure.

"At the end of the day, you are nothing but a flesh and blood soldier." The vampire stated and at that moment he saw with his peripheral vision his cumplice, Niah, lying on the ground, unconscious.

"Damn you!!!" Davster exclaimed, exploding with rage at seeing his former captain being injured.

That shout brought Thenomor back from his shock of reality, and he deftly stepped back with a leap backwards, easily getting rid of the sword wedged in his chest and pulling his claws out of Arthas\' belly. In a single leap, he made it back to the second floor, where some archers and knights were.

Thenomor looked at Kaizen, smiled briefly once more, and said something inaudible. A moment later, a puddle of black liquid appeared below his feet, and he emerged into it, never failing to look Psyker in the eye.

Kaizen didn\'t understand anything, except that his instincts said that Thenomor would still bring trouble for him in the future.

"Captain, are you okay?"

"Hey, the Captain\'s been injured! Look for a healing mage!"

"But he fainted everyone when he came in!"

"Shit..."

Although Arthas felt the pain equivalent to five knives going through his stomach for a few seconds, at no point did he fall to his knees. Clearly, he was feeling a lot of pain and wanted to stay on his knees, except that the King was watching from afar, not to mention his dozens of recruits. He knew he couldn\'t look like a wimp in front of them.

Davster approached Arthas, running up the stairs and questioned with desperation:

"Captain! Are you all right?"

The knight stood with one hand at the site of his injuries and the other using his sword to keep himself upright. He smiled at his companion and laughed with difficulty.

"Hah-haha! That\'s not the first time claws have gone through my belly, I\'ll be fine. You know, there was one time I met a Wyvern in the mountains and he..."

Kaizen was happy to note from afar that Arthas\' wound was not as bad as it looked. So he approached Niah, knelt beside her body and lifted her up with his right hand. Then she woke up and Kaizen said with a smile:

"We have to have a little chat before you knock boots. Don\'t you think?"

"W-what do you want to know?" She asked almost unable to breathe from the strength Psyker had in his hands.

"Where did Thenomor go and what was your deal with him?"

Niah smiled as she listened to the questioning. "Is that what you want to know? So, you mean you haven\'t been able to connect the dots yet? That\'s good. If you want to know, think about it yourself, mighty Kaizen."

With the same hand that held her, Kaizen activated <Free Manipulation of Flames> and gradually his skin began to heat up and burn her neck.

"Are you sure you don\'t want to talk?"

Niah gritted her teeth and resisted the pain initially, trying to kick Kaizen a few times as well.

"A-ande, kill me! I won\'t talk at all!"

The Psyker was ready to be a little more \'convincing\' to get an answer, after all Niah was already scheduled to die at the hands of some executioner in the Kingdom.

However, he didn\'t get the chance to do that because suddenly Lydia said to him:

"Kaizen, please stop."

Immediately, Kaizen stopped what he was doing, let go of Niah and looked to his right. Therefore, he saw Princess Lydia and next to her were some soldiers and King Spelloyal.

"I understand your anger, man. You are a dear friend of my daughters from what they have told me and you must feel disgusted by my ex-wife\'s attitude. However, we cannot allow you to kill her before a public trial. Do you understand that?"

Kaizen nodded and stepped back. He had been unable to obtain information about Thenomor, but he was more than happy that the battle had finally come to an end.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa /NandoFalske

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