Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

Thenomor felt his skin become hot as his muscles heated the blood to gain more volume. The smell of blood invaded his nose. His fangs began to grow, and his nails became razor-sharp claws. His eyesight also became sharper, as if he could see even the slightest movement of Kaizen's pupils.

Soon he could feel that his body acquired a supernatural strength, and an insatiable thirst for blood gave him the sensation that his tongue was dry.

Thenomor looked frightened for a moment, but contrary to what Kaizen imagined, this fright was more a fascination with the sudden improvement and intensity of his powers than fear. For Thenomor, this time was being different from the last time he transformed, several weeks ago.

"I feel a new energy inside me, which is moving stronger and faster." Thenomor stated loudly and closed his right hand completely, causing his claws to deeply entangle his own skin. "Nothing... I don't feel anything."

Thenomor was now in his true vampire form, but his heart was still mostly human, so he still preserves all his rationality. And after a few moments he looked at Kaizen with his intensely red eyes and said:

"Where were we again?"

'Shit! I was so curious about what was happening to him that I forgot to attack him while he was transforming.... What a cliché thing to do!' Kaizen thought, and was unable to quickly dodge Thenomor's sudden right kick.

Since the Psyker had lost his left hand, he didn't even have a chance to defend himself with his arms either. The kick was so powerful that it threw him several meters to the side. Unwittingly, Kaizen bumped into some more soldiers in black armor who had been paralyzed until then, waking them up.

Kaizen stood up, breathing hard from having lost over 70 HP in a single kick, looked at the soldiers he had just awakened and stated:

"I know that theoretically I shouldn't be doing this, but it's you guys are still trying to kill me. So, excuse me for that."

Swinging his sword with one hand, Kaizen cut down several of the soldiers in half a second, and with his agility he quickly got out of that position before he was surrounded. As he moved, he had to cut down a few arrows that flew in his direction as well, and all these elements only served to divide his attention somewhat, for Thenomor, who watched the scene with a mixed feeling of surprise and admiration, advanced against Kaizen at breakneck speed once more.

The speed with which this man ran was so high that it generated a whirlwind around him with his lunge. His feet marked the points on the marble staircase where he stepped, leaving obvious footprints.

However, at that moment, another thunderous sound resounded throughout the lobby, especially within the bubble in which the battle was taking place.

While running, Thenomor briefly slowed his speed of movement and searched for the source of this strange sound, and when his eyes peered upwards, he saw a large figure in the air, falling towards him. Quickly, he braked his run and jumped backwards.

*Brruummmm!

Another crash made the earth shake as the large figure landed in the area between Kaizen and Thenomor. That figure was of a large knight with red armor and gray hair, the famous Captain of the Royal Guard, Arthas.

"Looks like I'm right on time!" He said with a friendly smile to Psyker and with his right hand he raised his shining sword.

Kaizen frowned. "Huh? Who are you again?"

Arthas' smiling countenance turned nonplussed and sad at that moment, but Kaizen soon said with a sly smile:

"Just kidding. I listened well to your presentation just now. Arthas, right?"

Arthas looked deeply relieved and smiled back.

"HAHAHAHA! Kid, you're lucky you're not a cadet of mine, otherwise I'd make you pay a thousand push-ups right now for that joke!" He turned his body toward Thenomor and muttered to Kaizen as his smile faded, "I don't know how you got the bubble to stop growing, but when I saw you getting into it, I knew I could handle it too. However, it's hard to keep consciousness in here, isn't it? Do you know the reason for that? A magic?"

"I believe it's the Queen's mind control powers."

"Don't call Niah that way boy, she is no longer worthy of such a title.... And I don't know anything about these such powers of the Queen, but I always knew she could be quite cunning and convincing, and analyzing the fear of my soldiers, it seems that things became more flexible after she managed to push me away. Still, it seems that this power she is releasing is so great that even she is not being able to control it."

"Her necklace is key, I believe. That must be what is giving her so much power."

"And you have a plan against it?"

"I can get it off her if I can get at least ten feet away from her."

"So, if that's the case, you're going to have to go through it. Go ahead and I'll hold him off."

"But then the other guards under control who are right behind us will surround you."

"With my subordinates I'll take care of myself. Don't worry... Now walk, go on!"

"If you make sure, that's fine by me!"

Then Kaizen began to climb the steps toward the queen and gradually began to increase the speed of his steps until he began to run.

Thenomor even threatened to move to stop him from this, but Arthas put his great sword in the middle, preventing passage and threatening him with a look.

"Don't even think about turning your back on me. Don't let me down like this. Your opponent is me now." Arthas said, shaking his head negatively as if he was already disappointed.

Obviously, Thenomor did not risk doubting Arthas. Since he himself had replaced Arthas' official position, he knew well the strength of this former captain.

Arthas started walking a little to his left of the ladder, staring Thenomor in the eyes and stated:

"That look on your face is not normal. Most people would say you're afraid, by the way your irises are trembling, but my guess is that you look more like an animal that is very sick. You are fighting something internally, like a dog that is trying to fight off the rabies virus. It could be a crazy urge to take blood, or a violence that you are trying to control. Those claws, those muscles, those teeth, that sudden change of appearance into a feral form. You are a vampire, aren't you?"

Thenomor did not answer, nor did he react, yet his whole body was trembling as if he was cold.

"No doubt you are one of them, but you are not a pure vampire. If it were one, this palace would probably no longer be standing, nor would I be alive anymore. Still, this ability of yours to be able to assume a physically stronger form is impressive. I didn't know that fake vampires could do that."

"I am not... a fake vampire." Thenomor retorted angrily, still trying to keep his cool in a way.

"Haha! So, you admit that you are a vampire, and it seems that being called a fake vampire is offensive to you. Well, I have had to study a bit about the occult during my career, precisely to try to find the answers to various inexplicable things that I have seen with my own eyes all these years. And of one thing I am sure: you are a fake vampire. This behavior is not that of a legitimate vampire." Arthas had a debauched smile as he pointed his sword at Thenomor.

"Don't talk about what you don't understand!"

Thenomor suddenly advanced against Arthas, only for the knight to quickly brandish his sword to hit him, because he already expected a sudden rage attack. Still, Thenomor deflected with monstrous agility from the blade, making it look easy. His body was large and monstrous now, but both his speed and also the agility with which he moved his body were on a level above his human form.

If before Thenomor had advanced fencing techniques mixed with the calmness gained through all his experience, now he had all this combined with the instincts of a predator from the highest level of the food chain.

Since the early days of Midgard, there had always been rumors about people capable of transforming into bloody beasts.

The ancient humans thought that these people were just transmorphic mages or something of the sort, since knowledge of such an ability was widespread in higher student circles. Many magicians could transform into different animals.

However, thousands of years passed, wars were fought, and the knowledge about transmorphic magics practically disappeared from all over the world.

Even so, rumors about people capable of turning into beasts thirsting for carnage have always remained very active.

At some point in history, the term 'vampire' began to be used to describe these beings, and this became widely known. Scholars and scientists studied this phenomenon that turned people into untamed beasts and interviewed people from various regions who claimed to have been attacked by vampires. Soon, these scholars discovered some patterns, characteristics and weaknesses of vampires that were virtually the same all over the world.

Well, at least, this was the information that some dataminers found in one of the files from the first beta test of Rise Online, when all the files were not state-of-the-art encrypted.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

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