Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

Hearing the shouts and laughter of the people around him, Taznaar was wide-eyed and open-mouthed, completely stunned. He couldn't believe that he had been humiliated like that.

'How... how was he faster than me? How did he manage to dodge my sword?'

Taznaar's head was a complete mess. He couldn't tell if he was in a nightmare or if all this was really real.

His vision was blurred, like windows during winter, and everything seemed far away, even the sounds. An incessant whistling sound haunted his hearing, and his breathing was labored. Still, Taznaar stood up, dragging his hand across the sand and dirtying his fingernails for the first time in his life. He was on his knees, now clearly hearing the laughter of everyone around him.

However, Taznaar was not someone so weak emotionally to succumb to this alone. He remembered who and what he was at an amazing speed that made the fire in his hair become vigorous again, as well as his phoenix wings that sprang up again.

When Taznaar stood up, the whole atmosphere was scorching hotter than before.

To some people, it was apparently clear that the anger caused by the shame the Desert Lions Guild Leader felt was responsible for intensifying his powers, but Rise Online was a VRMMORPG and not an anime. There was no such thing as the power of anger, love or friendship. What really happened at this point was that Taznaar stopped controlling the amount of mana he used in each of his abilities and this increased his power of destruction.

Obviously, now that Kaizen knew that the power of fire was proportional to the amount of mana used, he knew that Taznaar was not thinking straight.

The flaming-haired man looked at Kaizen with hatred. "You... have no idea what you just did." He said and then made a ball of fire appear in each of his palms.

"Eh? I think I do. I just humiliated you in public, didn't I?"

Taznaar had no words to refute Psyker, so he brought the two fireballs he created together, slapping both hands together. From that collision of flames, a more intense, bluish fireball emerged, and by applying much more mana to this magic, that blue fire became more intense. Again, a confident smile appeared on his face and he threw this bluish fire at Kaizen.

In response to this, Kaizen simply mimicked his opponent's movements.

[Activating <Free Manipulation of Flames>.]

Surprising everyone in the Arena and the webnet, a fireball appeared in each of Kaizen's hands and by putting them together Kaizen managed to make, as Taznaar did, an intense, bluish fireball. Without fear, Kaizen threw this blue fireball against this same Taznaar technique. When the two blue fireballs collided, a burst of heat occurred.

The popping was so intense that even the Arena walls were shaken, and the heat was felt by the thousands of people watching in the stands. The temperature in the air increased considerably, and although they were not in the danger zone, all the spectators felt the temperature rise.

Taznaar was in shock. Not only him, but everyone. Since when did Kaizen have such similar firepower to Taznaar?

Seeing Taznaar's shocked expression, Kaizen smiled. "That trick is cool, thanks for teaching me."

Everyone was still dumbfounded.

Taznaar could not believe what had happened before him.

'So he is a mage? Only that can explain him being able to use fire like me and also having such different abilities than ordinary. Still, my class gives me the ability to control fire magic better than anyone else, he shouldn't be able to match my power with just a few fireballs that some mages can do. Does this mean that... he used a lot of mana? Yes, that can only be the answer!'

Taznaar's shocked expression evidenced his confused thoughts.

'If he spent a lot of mana, I can defeat him now!' Taznaar said to himself.

Despite everything, Taznaar had enormous confidence in himself. Something he had built up since he was a child that would not be so easily broken.

Crediting that Kaizen was exhausted, not wanting to believe his eyes, which saw Kaizen carefree, Taznaar leaped forward and flapped his flame-wings just to increase his speed.

Ricroar was busy fighting Jayaa and Ravastine, but he didn't stop paying attention to the other Arena battle for even a second. When he saw Taznaar advancing against Kaizen, he raised his eyebrows and shouted:

"No, Taznaar! Don't be an idio--"

It was too late. Taznaar's careless advance would not be ignored by the Psyker.

Kaizen clapped his palms together and used the <Free Manipulation of Flames> skill, generating a huge wave of heat. Since this fire was his own, Kaizen felt nothing more than a slight breeze. As soon as he separated his hands again, the fire should normally explode, but Kaizen used <Telekinesis> to drive it down both his arms, thus creating two gauntlets of unceasing flame.

He pointed the gauntlets at Taznaar and rotated them around his own arms, thus causing dozens of flames to strike Taznaar. This was like the tornado that Taznaar created while fighting Ravastine, but on a smaller scale. Still, this was impressive to those watching.

"Shit... how did you...?" Taznaar began to sense the attacks and braked his advance. To protect himself from the fire, he used his two wings as a shield.

"Like me? You're not the only one who can control fire, but I'm still getting used to it." Kaizen said and then took the first step forward, hinting that he no longer had anything to fear from Taznaar.

Then Kaizen started to run towards his opponent, and the moment Taznaar spread his wings, the Psyker punched him right in the face. Then a left jab to the other side of his face.

Taznaar tried to escape, flapping his wings, but Kaizen held them back with his hands. Despite taking damage from this, he didn't mind and began spinning Taznaar in the air. When Psyker let go of his enemy's wings, the flaming-haired boy only stopped bouncing on the ground, like a smooth stone in a lake as, when he collided with one of the Arena's walls.

[Super critical damage!]

Seeing that the battle was over and Kaizen was still standing, everyone in the Arena fell silent. It was as if time had stopped as Kaizen took the lead in the battle. Despite everything, few people believed that Taznaar would actually be defeated.

Ricroar and the rest of the Desert Lions Guild could not believe their eyes.

Kaizen approached his opponent, who was sitting on the ground with less than 100 HP.

Since he used <Phoenix> the whole time, Taznaar's mana was also near its end and he couldn't even heal his wounds anymore like before.

"You... can't defeat me." Taznaar said, but his voice was without strength. His haughtiness prevailed.

"You were disappointing. I expected to find a strong person, but what I found was a spoiled child. However, I will give you a taste of what I have prepared for our fight." Kaizen replied calmly and then turned his back on Taznaar.

Opening his inventory, Kaizen equipped the sword called Snowy Limbo. This sword had a similar base as the Næġling Falske, but the blade was different because it did not look like a needle. The Snowy Limbo was much larger on the sides and upwards as well compared to ordinary swords. From both sides of the white blade, an icy gas was emanating.

As soon as Kaizen took the hilt of the sword, with the blade facing down, he turned his body back towards Taznaar and brandished the Snowy Limbo once. In the direction of the sword slash, in the blink of an eye everything was frozen to below zero degrees, including the entire body of the Desert Lions Guild Leader.

Finally, Kaizen drove the sword into the ground, and it seemed as if the Snowy Limb sucked all the ice created into it back. The thick layer of ice that covered Taznaar was cracked and returned in millions of snowflakes to the Snowy Limbo. Where Taznaar's body once was, there were now only blue dice particles and a small glowing sphere that would disappear when the cooldown to respawn was over.

[You killed the player 'Taznaar'].

[You gained +100 XP.]

[You have successfully completed the Story Mission 'One for all. All for one.']

[You gained +1000 Fame.]

[You gained +30000 XP.]

[You changed the fate of Lydia Spelloyal.]

[You changed the fate of Ravastine Spelloyal.]

[You changed the fate of the Tretidian Kingdom.]

+

[Item: Snowy Limbo (+7 Enhancement).

A sword made with Icy Ore and crafted to the highest level, using Mutant Classification components and ancient smithing techniques.

The amount of ice this sword can release is proportional to the level of its user.

Class: Epic

Item Level: 1 of 3

Attack: 200 (+70)

Defense: 50 (+70)

Physical Fitness Level Required: 55]

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

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

More character images in:

https://discord.gg/bpqq9u4gS8

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