The Phantom Riser

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO - FEAR ME (2)

System Update

Karenia Zari

Special Skill Activated: Frenzy; Beast-types enjoy a limited period of a power boost as much as five times their original strength and speed. Active time is replenished once a month.

Active Time: 01:30

***

Jovak frowned at the sight of Karenia being in frenzy mode. He was well aware of the fact that she had used it up against Isaac. It was a bother to deal with and somehow, she was able to use it already when it wasn’t even a month yet. Not even close. There was no doubt that the Phantom Riser was involved.

“How is she able to use it already? I’m sure she used it all up against me,” Isaac asked. He looked worried. He knew firsthand how troublesome her frenzy mode could be. And if she was using it alongside Victor’s fire cloak and with Kiro backing them up… winning was looking a lot more difficult.

“You were right not to underestimate them. It’s definitely a special item. Someone like the Phantom Riser would definitely know about it. A special item on the store that could help them replenish their mode timeouts,” Jovak said.

Grey’s potion; was the special item that Kiro had them all purchase to reset their timers. They were more than ready to go all out against them without any restriction.

Karenia charged straight at Jovak at an immense speed but she found herself smashing through a rock. The dust rose quickly from the impact but she quickly freed herself from the area. Something was off. She couldn’t sense her teammates or her enemies. For a moment, it was almost like she was alone. Her thoughts were the beginning of her worries. There was no one around her! She searched endlessly, ran from end to end but found no one. Not a soul in sight!

***

Kiro and Victor just witnessed Karenia vanish from right in front of their eyes. One moment, she was charging at Jovak and the next thing they knew, she vanished. “What was that just now?” Victor asked. He was barely keeping calm.

“I don’t know. This is my first time seeing something like this,” Kiro replied.

“I see. I guess it’s up to us to deal with them then. I’m sure she’ll be okay,” Victor said. His eyes were dead set on the enemy.

***

System Update

Victor Vaneki

Skill move: Earthquake; Causes an earthquake. The scale and magnitude of the earthquake is highly dependent on the user’s level.

***

The ground beneath Jovak and his team shook violently, threatening to swallow them whole. Only a handful of them could actually hold their balance amidst the turbulence.  In the midst of the commotion, Kiro wrapped his spheres around some of his enemies’ heads and pulled them to his side. His aim was to reduce their numbers and the fastest way to do that was to take out the weaker ones first. In a few seconds, the risers caught by Kiro passed out. Victor paid no heed to them. He couldn’t be bothered whether they were alive or not. But they weren’t dead. Only merely knocked out from the lack of air. In front of him were seven Risers; Isaac and Jovak included. They were clearly the strongest of the bunch. Kiro noticed a missing face, however. One that had caught his attention beforehand.

“My friend disappears the same time one of your guys disappears. Coincidence?” Kiro asked, looking straight at Jovak.

He smiled ominously. “Oh, you noticed him? I’m a bit surprised. He always was one who knew how to hide his presence,” Jovak grinned.

“Who are you talking about? I didn’t notice anyone missing,” Victor said, perplexed.

“Using illusions,” Kiro sighed. “I’m immune to them so I noticed him nonetheless. He must have been the one responsible for Karenia’s disappearance.”

“If he’s an illusion user, isn’t that bad for Karenia?” Victor asked.

“Very. But she’ll get through this. I’m positive.”

“Because you know the future or because you actually trust her?” Victor asked. Kiro was quite surprised to hear his loyalty questioned by Victor.

“What do you mean?”

“The future can change at any moment, not trust.”

***

System Update

Victor Vaneki

Skill move: Fire tornado; the user conjures a whirlpool of fire.

***

Jovak smiled in excitement. The fire tornado that Victor conjured was massive. It threatened to rip open everything in its part. But that wasn’t what moved Jovak. It was the fact that Kiro had released his undead from his force field spheres and Victor engulfed them in a fire tornado. Their regeneration was constantly draining Jovak’s energy because they still remained trapped in the fire tornado. “I’m impressed. You actually forced my hand,” Jovak grinned. He undid his undead army. But that didn’t stop Victor’s fire tornado from coming straight at them. Isaac attempted to move towards it but Jovak’s outstretched arm halted him. “Let him handle it.”

One of the seven Risers remaining jumped forward. She had a face cap on, hiding her deep blue eyes. As she activated her ability, her eyes glowed. She conjured from behind herself, a powerful wave of water. It was a violent clash between the wave of water and the tornado, pushing both parties back. In the end, the water wave won and forced its way towards Victor and Kiro. Kiro created a gigantic wedge with his force field, forcing the wave of water to part before them. But the Riser wasn’t done. In quick succession, she shot droplets of water at amazingly piercing speed; water bullets. Kiro’s shield failed repeatedly and Victor had to raise multiple debris of earth to stand as a stopgap.

“We’d be dead if they all attacked at once. Why is he holding back?” Victor asked.

“He’s testing us. He’s not trying to---” Kiro got stuck in his tracks as he noticed that Victor’s eyes were glowing blue; the same color as the water Riser. His eyes were moving quickly as if recalling all he had seen the Riser do.

“So that’s how she did it,” Victor said.

***

System Update

Victor Vaneki

Skill move: Water bullets; water balls are condensed into droplets and shot at very high speed. It is especially useful in breaking down strong defenses.

***

Victor reciprocated with his opponent’s water bullet. In a matter of seconds, it became a battle of two marksmen. Everyone else moved out of their way.

***

System Update

Victor Vaneki

Skill move: Remote water bullets; water balls are created in space and water bullets are fired from them.

Current limit: six water balls.

***

Victor gained the upper hand with his remote water bullets. His opponent was now on the run. Another Riser tried to interfere but Jovak gestured him to stop. “He doesn’t possess your element yet. If you attack him, he’ll copy it. Just like he did Nami’s,” Jovak said.

“Shouldn’t we at least defend her?” the Riser asked.

“If I sense she needs help. For now, leave them be. Watch the Phantom.”

Nami responded with a water whip. From that one whip sprang many others at Victor. He pulled up a debris of rock to shield him from them and in one boost with fire, maneuvered behind his opponent. He went for the kill with a fireball, but she wrapped herself in a water ball and appeared in another area where a water ball had been idly laying.

Victor was surprised to see someone teleport with an element. Nami bit her lips. She hoped she wouldn’t have to show him that move after seeing that he could copy elemental abilities. But it was either that or losing and losing was not an option for her. Amidst the intense battle, a major distraction occurred. It was a time when no one could afford to look away if only a portal wasn’t opening right in between them and no one could be seen conjuring it.

“That’s Leroy’s. Is he done?” Isaac asked. He frowned when he saw Karenia walk out instead of his teammate. She was all bloodied up and had an exhausted but excited smile on her face. But that wasn’t the only shocker. In her hand, was their team mate’s severed head.

“That was one tough Riser. So who’s next,” Karenia goaded.