Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

When Evan was thrown violently away by Kaizen, he ended up crashing into one of the high rock walls of the bleachers and fell to the ground with a thud. He tried to recover quickly, but the damage from the impact left him dizzy and struggling to get up. Meanwhile, Kaizen moved forward with wide strides, his sword in his hand.

Evan looked ahead, his eyes still slightly closed, and knew immediately that he was in trouble. If Kaizen got what he wanted, hand-to-hand combat, he would be at a serious disadvantage. So he stretched his staff forward and used magic to create a wall of fire between himself and Kaizen, trying to buy himself time to recover. The fire barrier blocked Kaizen's momentum, forcing him to retreat for a moment to avoid the intense heat of the flames.

'Damn... He thinks too fast. Kaizen mentally cursed, but was undeterred, and it didn't take long to create a small opening in the fire barrier.

With a quick movement, Kaizen moved closer and used his imbued sword to cut through the fire barrier, making his way towards Evan.

Realizing he was running out of time, Evan focused what little mana he had on the ground below Kaizen, using <Earth Control> to create a trap. He caused the ground to abruptly open into a deep pit, causing Kaizen to fall into it. However, Kaizen was prepared and used his <Giant's Lung> ability to quickly recover from the fall and jump back up, using the walls of the hole to propel himself in several jumps. At this point in the battle, Kaizen's determination was so great that it was almost impossible to stop him. He approached quickly and attacked with his sword in one swift and accurate strike.

Evan once again used magic to create a defensive wall of ice, blocking Kaizen's blow and giving him time to think about his next move. He knew he was running out of mana and needed to be strategic. Then Evan had an idea. He used his Wind and Fire spells to heat the air around Kaizen, creating an intense updraft of hot air.

Unexpectedly, Kaizen was lifted by the updraft and flung through the air like a puppet. Evan then cast a powerful lightning spell and aimed it at Kaizen while he was in the air. Surprisingly, the combination worked, and the lightning struck Kaizen, who fell to the ground without even reacting.

Evan, exhausted from the battle, approached Kaizen panting, ready to end it all. But to his surprise, Kaizen was smiling, looking up at the gray clouds that covered the arena's sky.

"Why are you still smiling, idiot?" Evan asked seriously.

"This is fun," Kaizen confessed. "You're even better than I thought. Definitely one of the most versatile mages I've met since I started playing Rise Online."

"Thank you? But are you sure you should be praising your opponent in the middle of a tournament? Does that mean you are admitting defeat?"

"Admit my defeat? Of course not." Kaizen inquired, standing up a bit and sitting down on the ground.

"Then why are you so talkative?"

Kaizen looked back and said to Evan with a cheerful smile:

"It's because I've already won this battle!"

Kaizen's genuine smile of joy caught everyone watching in the Valkyria Arena and online broadcasts by surprise. Since when could Kaizen smile like that, and not just in the usual scary way?

Taznaar, who had been watching the battle from the competitors' box in the Valkyria Arena stands while waiting for his match, saw this with a certain disgust. He still harbored a hatred for Kaizen after all that had happened between them in the past.

Emma the Bleeding Lily, who was watching this fight in the real world on her laptop screen, leaned her head on her right hand, which was resting on the table, and smiled unconsciously, seeing this smile that she was lucky to see only a few times.

"He hasn't changed a bit, good." She said aloud.

And what Emma said was exactly what another former teammate of Kaizen's named Issac Kaufman thought as he sat in his office in one of the tallest buildings in Shanghai. The glow of the holographic screen reflected off his square glasses, but Kaizen's cheerful smile overcame it, reaching up to his eyes and making them widen.

In the center of the Valkyria Arena, on the battlefield, Evan still looked a little confused. After all, he could still move and had enough mana for one last strike, and Kaizen was the one on the ground, so how had he already lost?

"Have I lost? I don't think so." Evan said, pointing his staff at Kaizen's face, and the sparks of a fireball began to appear, but before a fireball formed, Kaizen aimed it over Evan's head.

The arena fell into a tense silence as Evan raised his eyes and saw something the crowd had noticed a second earlier: a thin sword hovering over the mage's head. Evan stayed calm and took a deep breath as his mind searched for a solution. He knew he couldn't undo the sword's magic, and a gust of wind probably wouldn't be able to swing it. Maybe an ice barrier could solve it if Evan had the ability to create it in mid-air, but physically that wasn't possible because it would fall on his head. Evan thought for another moment, analyzing all the possibilities and positions he could take, but in none of the scenarios did Evan see himself being able to escape a swift blow from a free sword at this distance. That was checkmate.

With a friendly gesture of surrender, he dropped his staff to the ground and bowed his head before Kaizen.

The onlookers were not so surprised by Evan's attitude, as Kaizen looked at him with confidence.

Evan raised his hands in a sign of peace and spoke in a friendly tone: "Kaizen, you have me. You won this battle. I surrender."

Kaizen, initially surprised by Evan's severity, lowered his sword, smiled, and extended a hand to help Evan stand. Evan accepted Kaizen's outstretched hand and gladly helped him to his feet.

The crowd applauded the mature and sportsmanlike attitudes of both players, and this was the only match in the entire tournament that ended with one side surrendering.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

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