Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

Chapter 729 Opportunities Slipping Through the Fingers

As hard as it was to admit, Azrakthar was right. He wasn't the most powerful demon present in the Capital of Mibothen back then and, somehow, Kaizen knew it, because, while he and Og'tharoz were fighting Azrakthar and Delgron respectively, all the time they felt tremors and explosions coming from the center of the city.

Kaizen, with Azrakthar's hand holding his face and pushing him backwards through the rubble, heard a tremor once again and thought:

'Calm down, Emma... I'll sort it out here and come over, just don't do anything you wouldn't normally do.

Meanwhile, Bloody Lily was in a not dissimilar state of shock.

Just now, Zylok had finally managed to kill the demon he was fighting. It was a hard fight, but the First Bishop didn't even reach the yellow part of his life bar. However, this demon was like a warrior uselessly protecting a wall, because the strongest demon, Belial, was all the time just protecting the portal and observing the battles going on around the city, analyzing them.

Belial may not have been the strongest demon physically, but legends said that his magic was easily on a par with that of a god.

And then, when Zylok ripped the heart out of the chest of the demon who had killed him, Belial landed in front of him, both hands behind his back, also hidden by his long cloak.

"Betraying demons isn't very common. I'm afraid I have to congratulate you on being smart enough to have done it before we did it to you, but treacherous beings are always prepared to react to betrayals." Belial said with a serious expression. "By the way, where's your other friend, Fryft by name, no? Is she involved in this plot?"

"Unfortunately, I have to disappoint you. She's sorting something else out." Zylok said as he wiped some blood from his nose.

Finally, Belial brought one of his hands forward, which immediately made Zylok's muscles tense, only for the demon to place a hand on his chin. "That means you still have a card up your sleeve. By the way, why am I moving my hand like that? Urgh! I seem to have picked up a human mannerism from watching you being tortured... You know, in hell there are many different types of torture, not all of them are like human legends say, with fire and coals, and one of the greatest tortures we've ever invented is forcing stupid, impatient minds to think in puzzles with fluid solutions and..."

"Humph! You talk too much. Do you think I have to listen to you babble on all night?" said Zylok, adjusting his posture and leaving his sword pointed at the sky.

Belial's mouth closed, leaving only a faint smile. Then he drew back his hand and answered:

"I was trying to help you, give you some time to rest from a fight and think about how you could attack me, so here's what we'll do: I'll give you a five-second head start in which I won't move a muscle and you can attack me however you want, then I'll start fighting. However, I must warn you that I'm the demon with the most hearts, nine in total, and the only way I can kill you with a single blow is to rip my head off, thus separating my material body from my soul, but even Surtr hasn't managed to rip my head off when he's furious."

Zylok remained serious. "As if I'm going to trust a demon..."

"Five..." Belial started counting down, but Zylok didn't move a muscle. "Four..." he continued, keeping his hand behind his back, as if he were willing to keep his word, but with a hint of disdain in his expression.

In that tense moment, a figure appeared in Zylok's field of vision, behind the wreckage, it was Bloody Lily. Her amber eyes met Zylok's, and she hid again.

Zylok looked away for a moment and when he returned, he was met with Belial's piercing gaze.

"Three..." Belial continued, his tone now more serious, indicating that the demon's patience was beginning to wear thin.

'Is he bluffing?' Bloody Lily asked herself, and her will to act was now great, but her hands were still shaking from Belial's presence.

"Two..." The counting continued, and the tension intensified.

Belial raised an eyebrow, about to utter the last second of the countdown when an urge crossed Zylok's mind and, heeding an intrusive thought, he positioned his great sword in a thrusting motion and thought:

'Fuck it!

The vampire lord crossed the space between him and Belial in milliseconds, with a speed so ridiculously high that it made him seem able to teleport and, to his own surprise, he could not only feel but also hear the sound of flesh being torn by his blade.

'He really...'

However, things were clearly not going to be as easy as they could have been.

"One..." The countdown ended.

When Zylok's vision stabilized from the blur of images it had become and his mind processed what his eyes were seeing, he realized that his sword had indeed pierced something of flesh, but it wasn't the demon's body but a sturdy, purple hand that came out of a small portal that appeared out of nowhere.

"As promised, I didn't use my muscles to protect myself." Belial said, and he really did have both hands back still. "However, at no point did I say that I would let you land a blow on me, so I used my mind. That means that even demons can keep their word sometimes, so why do humans find it so hard to keep contracts?"

The demon sighed, looking disappointed, at which point Zylok tried to pull his sword back, as it was embedded in the palm of a giant hand, but when he tried to do so, Belial stretched his left hand forward and said:

"You've reminded me that you've run out of time, now I'm going to take this fight a bit seriously."

Then, following the movement of the demon's hand, a series of other portals appeared on their side and out of these portals came other giant hands, which gripped Zylok's sword very tightly, preventing him from pulling it back. In addition, other hands began to reach out to try to catch up with Zylok, who had to decide whether to keep the sword or resist a few pulls, and as he had no idea of the extent of Belial's powers, he chose to retreat, leaving his sword behind.

"Um... Clever of you, because all those hands are extremely dangerous to attack." Belial congratulated him and Zylok's sword began to be corroded by the touch of the various hands.

'I knew he was strong, but he created portals out of nothing. Zylok gritted his teeth.

However, dropping his main weapon didn't seem to be enough for Zylok to shake it off and several other portals began to appear around him, with purple hands from the dimensional portals reaching out towards Zylok, who deftly dodged to avoid them. Belial watched with a subtle smile, as if amused by the vampire's bewilderment.

"Do you have any tricks besides dodging, vampire?" Belial teased as his hands moved in a coordinated fashion, creating an almost impenetrable barrier between Zylok and the demon.

The vampire lord was aware that, without his sword, he needed to be more cunning than ever. He pondered his options as he continued to back away, keeping his eyes fixed on the hands that moved like serpents in search of prey.

"You've forgotten the basics, demon. Vampires have more than just speed," Zylok retorted, and a crackling aura began to form around him.

Belial raised an eyebrow, noticing the change in atmosphere. Like demons, vampires were not beings of light, but it was rare for those who could manipulate their mana so well as to achieve powers of darkness, only Zylok was one of those and that was why he had an ability called <Shadow Distortion>.

The demon, intrigued, didn't know what was going on, he just felt that something had changed, no wonder his smile had disappeared. Little did he know that while his hands continued to pursue the vampire's image, Zylok was actually invisible to everyone in his field of vision, meaning that as long as he kept his eyes fixed on Belial, he would have an opportunity for an attack.

Belial, for his part, kept his posture firm, controlling his hands with ease through his sharp mind. However, the doubt created by Zylok in Belial's mind began to grow.

"You're more cunning than you look, vampire," said Belial, finally pulling back his left hand and making the purple hands stop. "However, children should know better than to spy on adult fights."

At that moment, Bloody Lily, who was hiding behind debris, felt a chill and when she noticed something moving in her field of vision, it was almost too late. A purple hand tried to grab her from the right, but she managed to dodge it in time, and in the end it forced her to come out of hiding, finally appearing in full body to Belial.

"There you are! You thought you were hiding? HAHAHA! I could smell your fear the whole time!"