The Phantom Riser

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE - ALLIANCE OR DEFIANCE

It took a few seconds for Jovak to fully register what had just happened. Did someone just interfere in his fight? Much less, stop his blade with his bare hands? His ultimate blade? He was fuming. His bloodlust was crystal clear. But it wasn’t directed at Victor but at the intruder. Victor put some distance between himself and the other two. Jovak was dangerous as he was and now there was an extra entity that seemed to be even more trouble.

“Hey, what do you think you are doing? Jovak said so calmly that it sent chills down the Ranger’s spine. He grinned at the realization of that fact. The look in Jovak’s eyes was clear. He was enraged. he wanted nothing more than to put him down. But that was because he didn’t know what he was dealing with yet.

“Hey, relax. I’m not after you,” the Ranger replied. The ominous aura that he emitted was enough to force Jovak to his knees. Kiro stared in disbelief. He knew exactly who that was; the Ranger that was sent to kill him! And where was that other Riser? Was he actually stuck somewhere?

Kiro had little time for thoughts. In an instant, the Ranger was up in his face. No one had tracked his movement till he got there. “Oh, you don’t look as scary as they make you sound. What could you have done really?” he said as he observed Kiro. Karenia reacted impulsively to attack the Ranger. You would think that she would be greatly intimidated by their power differences. And she was. But no one, absolutely no one dared to threaten Kiro in front of her. She maneuvered skillfully around the Ranger, who seemed to pay her no heed as he easily parried away her attacks. Maybe because he looked down on her or because he wasn’t really outing his mind in their fight, Karenia managed to land an attack.

“Oh, not bad,” he said. One punch was what it took to send her flying. She might have taken more damage if Kiro had not cushioned the blow with his forcefield. He stared down Kiro. There was nothing he could do at that moment. “Still protecting others? You don’t have that luxury. Or am I not scary enough for?”

He ducked to evade Jovak’s swing who finally caught up with them. A little closer and he might have actually taken Kiro’s head. The Ranger retreated momentarily. “Don’t get this wrong. I’m not doing this for you. I don’t care how powerful he is. No one takes away my prey!” Jovak proclaimed.

“Temporary truce?” Kiro asked. It was the only way they could do something without the other Ranger around.

“No… problem,” Jovak replied reluctantly. As much as he hated to admit, he knew he couldn’t take on his opponent on his own. Kiro wasn’t necessarily delighted by his answer. Not because he detested the idea of working with Jovak; which he did of course. But because deep down, he knew that irrespective of what they did, nothing would change. Victor sent multiple attacks of fire and lightning, which the Ranger evaded effortlessly. Isaac shot multiple lasers at him as well. But not a single ray hit him. Nothing. And he didn’t look like it took anything out of him.

***

System Update

Jovak Leonard

Special skill move: Empower; maxes out the user’s stat for up to five levels higher. 50% more if god killer is activated.

Time Limit: 01:00

***

The Ranger’s eyes narrowed a bit. It wasn’t possible to lay a scratch on him, considering how low their level was. But the god killer was a completely different matter. Where did he end up with such a special weapon? And the way he handled it as if he was a Knight-class Riser. But he was a necromancer. That’s some insane talent.

Jovak moved faster, faster than he was before. Way faster. He had to if he had any chance of taking down the Ranger. He swung his sword to cut the Riser in half, but he easily jumped over it. He moved so many times to Jovak’s back, but Jovak’s skillful handling of his sword made it difficult to counterattack. Kiro made their movements easier and sharper by supporting them with his force field spheres. For the second time and surprisingly so, Karenia landed a second hit amidst her twisting and turning. Although, it left little or no damage to the Riser’s face

It was the second time. Was she faster than even Jovak? The Ranger however was getting bored. He knew they wouldn’t stand a chance against him, but considering all the hype around them, he thought they might actually be worth something.

“How disappointing. I guess that’s all you can do,” he said as he shoved aside Victor’s futile attempts at an attack. He materialized a blunt sword out of thin air. “This should do.”

Jovak charged straight at him once more. “Your weapon is impressive. It will be a force to reckon with in the future. But right now, to me, it’s just glass.” He solidified his hand as Jovak’s god killer made contact with it. It shattered like glass. Without giving Jovak any time to respond, he hit him with the blunt sword at the back of his head, forcing him to lose consciousness. He did the same with the others before they could react. Except for Kiro of course. Karenia and Jovak struggled to get to their feet, much to the Ranger’s irritation. He hit them one more time while yelling that they should stay down. He really didn’t want to kill anyone other than his target. And now, that was who was left to deal with.

“So, any last words Phantom Riser?” he asked. He stared at Kiro as he shivered. Not out of freight but out of anger. The Ranger took a step back as soon as he felt Kiro’s aura. It was completely different from what he felt from him a few moments ago. What had changed?

“I’LL KILL YOU,” Kiro declared. A declaration of war that soon made history.