Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

Chapter 745 Avatar

The instant Bloody Lily released the blood arrow was like a breath of hope, a moment frozen in the midst of the frenzied dance of flames. The bowstring stretched under the calculated pressure of his fingers, the red liquid that formed the arrow glowed with a magical light, hardening still. Silence hung for a fraction of a second, a stillness that anticipated the impending storm. Blood Lily's red eyes were fixed on the most centralized point of Belial's armor. If there was one place that would be fragile in this armor, considering the demon's confidence in his own abilities, it would surely be in front of his eyes.

Then, like a shooting star cutting through the night sky, the arrow was released. The air around it buzzed with intense energy as it flew towards its target.

Somehow, Belial sensed the threat even though he was distracted and thought about using a spell to block it, but the arrow was too fast. So the arrowhead pierced through Belial's fiery armor without flinching, penetrating with surprising ease, because it wasn't made of wood or iron, which would easily melt in such scorching heat, it was an arrow of blood. The red liquid that made up the arrow seemed to disguise itself among the demon's flames and, at the last moment, a glow of magical energy emanated at the point of impact, creating a spiral that tore a hole in Belial's head.

The demon let out a roar of agony as the flames around it wavered and trembled. The wound caused by the arrow wasn't just physical; it was an intrusion into its essence and cut through one of its hearts.

Belial's avatar staggered backwards, his wounded pride replaced by an expression of shock and vulnerability.

Zylok, realizing that he was safe, breathed a sigh of relief and quickly thought of what he should do, only he hardly had time to act, because a second after staggering back, the demon roared once again, only angrily, very angrily.

"HOW DARE YOU!!!"

The roar of Belial's voice reverberated through the skies of the grandiose City of Mibothen, a storm that shook the wreckage of ruined buildings. Even wounded and dazed, the demon defied defeat with a determination that was truly frightening.

Zylok, despite the fleeting relief, felt a spectral chill run down his spine as he witnessed Belial's deafening wrath. The vampire realized that, despite the deep wound, the demon was far from defeated. The flames around Belial danced, echoing the call of his fury.

Blood Lily, with her red bow firmly in hand, kept her gaze on the now enraged demon.

The blood arrow she created proved to be an effective tactic, the first since the beginning of the fight. So Belial quickly looked to where the arrow had come from and saw Blood Lily, standing atop what remained of the destroyed vault of the old capitol. His smoky gaze met the player's.

Zylok, aware that the next attack would be on Bloody Lily, looked around for a point to propel himself upwards to try and reach Belial. It didn't matter if he burned himself just trying to reach the demon inside the avatar, as long as he managed to regenerate afterwards. His greatsword glowed with intensity, proof that, even in the face of the wrath of the strongest demon, he would not bend.

Belial, in a gesture of unbridled fury, launched a torrent of flames towards Bloody Lily. The flames, voracious as serpents of fire, snaked through the air trying to reach the woman, who quickly moved from where she was, jumped and dodged, even though the ends of her long red hair were partially burnt.

Bloody Lily appeared just below, near other debris and, as she ran, she raised her right hand, where the cut on her forehead was still leaking blood. She could feel the magic flowing through her veins. The scarlet liquid began to coalesce, forming another blood arrow in her palm, which she quickly positioned on the bowstring to shoot. Without hesitation, she aimed at the same vulnerable area of Belial's armor.

A few moments later, the arrow was released, slicing through the air with the same relentless speed as before. Belial, concentrating on her this time, would logically not let this arrow pass as he had the previous time, at least that was his initial intention. However, he suddenly heard a thud coming from behind him and when he looked over his left shoulder, he saw Zylok already only two meters away from her, with his greatsword even closer. That moment of distraction caused the arrowhead to pierce Belial's fiery armor once again, and the projectile mixed with the demon's flames.

Belial roared, not out of pain, but out of an even deeper rage, and the flames that surrounded him shook violently, shattering the shape of the avatar and creating a tornado of fire, in which Zylok was enveloped and thrown upwards, as was the blood arrow, which also broke in half with the violence of the movement.

After a few moments, the tornado finally dissipated and to Bloody Lily's surprise, she saw Zylok, completely charred, fall to the ground next to the feet of the intact Belial.

The demon snapped his shoulders and neck, as if he had finally warmed up. "I can't believe you managed to take one of my hearts... No human ever has. I have to congratulate you on that, but the end of all this is inevitable." Belial said, smiled and stepped on Zylok's head with one of his feet. "And to think it was this guy who started it all, who gave us the chance to move on to Midgard. From what they said, I thought he was the strongest human in this world, the leader of the Eye of Hermodr, the man who could bring the Chaos entity back to life... Fools, if all the chaos in hell isn't enough to bring Chaos back, how much less a Human Kingdom or two. To bring it back to life, Ragnarok itself would need to happen."

"Why are you saying that?" Bloody Lily asked.

"To show how poor and inferior you are and to force out that fighting spirit of yours, of course. Azrakthar was telling me that once upon a time a very strong demon fled to live as a human, you fool... I would never abandon the heat of hell to live surrounded by creatures like you."

"You only say that because you don't know the warmth of affection. Even your creator doesn't love you, otherwise he wouldn't have sent you to your death like he did today." She put her bow forward and it metamorphosed into a large scythe.

Belial gritted his teeth, slightly annoyed. "Seriously, you humans never know when to stop. Honestly, it's like trying to talk to Infernal Beasts."