Great Icathia, how quickly came your fall. So dark and mischievous your gods of worship and so quick were they to abandon on your end of days. Capable were your great Seers to look beyond the realm of the living, blind were they to the deception in plain sight. Destined were your bodies to return to dust, and your souls to remain forever lost.
- Unknown Scrolls
Meridian, Bordering District of Demacia
"What is that sound?" Fiora asked as she breathed deeply to catch her breath, looking around to find the source of a rhythmic low beeping noise that filled the underground chamber.
Without responding to her question, Leon quickly sheathed his mageblade and proceeded to run towards the electronic tablet on one of the side tables that had previously been quiet. He opened his eyes wide in surprise, letting out a gasp as he analyzed the readings on his tablet.
"Sorry but we'll have to cut this short. We need to go now!" He announced as he paced to the duelist, a stern look on his face.
"Why? What has happened?" The duelist asked, causing a silence to fill the air. "Leon, what is it you're not telling me?"
"The convoy train," He finally answered with hesitation, averting his eyes to avoid her gaze. "The one carrying Luxanna… It's been attacked."
"Attacked? By who?" Fiora asked, her voice becoming more frantic as those words caused her heart to sink.
"I don't know. There's no way to tell from here. Our time has been cut short, we need to move now!" He responded as he reached into one of the large cases that had previously stored his mageblade to produce a purple colored ceramic flask. "Drink this."
"What is it?" She asked suspiciously.
"An Ionian elixir. It allows rapid healing and regeneration of your energy. Ideally I would have wanted to leave for Piltover tomorrow after resting, but that's no longer an option. This will be a quick substitute for that." He said as Fiora uncorked the bottle.
Tilting the bottle back, she poured a small amount of the elixir into her mouth. As soon as the liquid hit her tongue, the duelist almost gagged as it was the most bitter and horrendous tasting substance that she had experienced in her life. Taking all of her willpower to avoid spitting out the liquid, she managed to quickly swallow the elixir. Though she felt her energy returning to her a few moments later, she maintained a face of disgust that gave Leon a mild sense of amusement. Letting out a series of harsh sounding coughs, she returned the bottle before walking away to continue her bout of coughing, not wishing to give the black haired mage the satisfaction of seeing her in this state.
Leon took a sip of the elixir without even a flinch before recorking it and placing it into his coat pocket. Picking up his mageblade along with a few supplies, he approached the duelist, who was still standing in a corner of the room recovering from the ordeal.
"Do you need to bring anything else?" He asked.
"No…I have everything that I need." She answered as she raised her head towards him. "So how were you planning on getting us across thousands of miles of land?"
"Like this," Leon answered before closing his hands together.
The duelist watched as a bright white aura surrounded his hands. Dropping to the ground, he pressed his palms against the floors to cause three large concentric circles of light to form around them. Swirling his hands while on the ground, multiple rune symbols began to form in the spaces between the circles. Five symbols formed along the edge of the smallest, each shaped to represent the elements of the world appeared equally spaced before a line connected them to form a pentagon that began to rotate within the circle.
"What is this?" Fiora asked in amazement as a cylindrical barrier of light surrounded the two of them, vertically rising streaks of white light flowing upwards.
"Odin's Blessing. In the Summoner's Arenas, no doubt you've been teleported back to your home base by your summoner using a Recall spell. That allows them to transport you through a realm beyond space and time to their origin of power. In this case, we are going to do the opposite and transport ourselves directly into Piltover. From there, we will travel towards the site of the crash to find them." He explained as their surroundings became increasingly brighter.
Fiora could all but cover her eyes as her surroundings blinded her vision. As the area around her began to dim, she found herself suspended in mid air, the environment around her comprised of countless bands of golden light that spiraled around her in the form of flowing helices. The golden strands appeared homogeneous in color and intensity, save for occasional flashes of lights that traversed along their length. Beyond the golden helical bands was a bright aqua blue backdrop that appeared to be textured in the form of clouds, creating swirls that seemed to move in random patterns.
"What is this place?" She asked in wonder as she looked around wildly with eyes wide open in amazement.
"The Eden Stream, the edge of the realm of the Goddess. Here, time does not flow linearly and space does not follow the laws of physics as they do in Runeterra. You've been here before; each time you are recalled in the Summoner's Arena, you pass through this realm. Because the distance that you travel is so short in those situations, you brought through this place only for an instant and would not even realize you were ever here."
"The realm of the Goddess…How are you able to do any of this?" She asked, a mix of awe and disbelief filled her mind.
"Anyone who is capable of magic in theory has the ability to access this realm. Controlling it and not getting forever lost here is another matter."
Fiora became entranced with the magnificence of her surroundings. She had never seen anything like this before and just a week ago, would never have even dreamed of the things she had experienced in the past few days. Being here almost felt overwhelming, yet something about it bothered her. Maybe it was because she really had been here during her time in the Summoner's Arena and just wasn't consciously aware of it, but she couldn't help shake the feeling that there was something familiar and warm about this place.
While Demacia and Noxus engaged in active warfare, a third human society emerged from the shadows of the two superpowers, growing in its own way. Their focus was the conquest of technology and science, rather than territory. Piltover…the land of the North, often referred to as the City of Progress. With the Yordle Science Academy at the forefront of its development, their society engaged in fierce competition against their rival nation Zaun for technological superiority. They were locked in an endless stalemate for scientific dominance…or so everyone thought. Three years ago, a discovery under the very earth of the City of Progress would reshape the evolution of Valoran, and push Piltover far beyond what its neighboring societies could even imagine.
Odinfall, Central District of Piltover
A few moments of silence passed before her surroundings became engulfed in a bright light again, causing the duelist to shade her eyes. As her environment dimmed again, she opened her eyes to find herself next to Leon in a room that looked almost identical to the living room of her mentor's house in Demacia. A rune circle identical to the one that had surrounded her moments ago in Demacia was present on the ground around them, gradually dimming before disappearing.
"This looks like your house. Did it not work?" The duelist asked, a sense of fear beginning to run down her spine.
"No," Leon answered simply before walking towards a large window with the curtains drawn, pulling them aside to bring light into the room. "Welcome to Piltover."
The purple haired duelist let out a gasp of awe as she stared into the distance to find an endless field of skyscrapers colorfully lit that seemed to extend to the horizon, contrasting the otherwise dark evening sky. From the elevated condominium unit, she saw a complex network of roads that connected the city, many of which spanned multiple levels above the ground. It had been five years since she had last visited Piltover. Though it was an advanced society even at that time, never could she have imagined the city of progress could look like this today.
"This…is modern day Piltover?" Fiora asked in disbelief.
"Yeah. A lot of what you see in front of you is possible because of the work of Dr. Heimerdinger and the Science Academy." Leon explained before turning towards the duelist. "Sorry to cut into the moment, but we need to move now."
Acknowledging him, Fiora followed him as he left his accommodations. On her way out, she caught a glimpse of a tablet with bright blue rune symbols on a shelf. Though it was only a moment, the symbols that she saw were unmistakable; they were identical to the symbols etched on the pendant that hung from her neck. Though it was possible that it could have simply been a coincidence, a part of her couldn't help but wonder about its significance. She knew, however, that time was running short and there would be future opportunities to ponder it further.
The two of them proceeded to descend down a brightly lit elevator that moved smoothly, the only sound a soft humming noise as the machine worked. Reaching the lower level, they exited to find themselves in a dimly lit parking garage. They walked until reaching the end of the pathway to find themselves standing in front of a pair of machines that resembled new motorbikes that Fiora had recently seen in the streets of Demacia. Rather than a pair of wheels, however, two sets of large circular discs existed in their place. They were designed in a sleek and aerodynamic manner, the front panel extending back to cover the handlebars.
"They're called Graviton Cycles, similar to motorbikes that have only recently been made available to countries outside of Piltover. These, however, use a special gravity drive system that elevates it off of the ground and moves much more smoothly. It's still considered experimental technology that the Science Academy is working on, but so far I've found no problems with it." Leon explained as he picked up a black helmet from the seat of the bike with the corresponding color, fitting it snugly over his head. "Take the other one. If you've never driven one of these before, don't worry. These are a lot easier to use than traditional gear-based motorbikes."
The duelist doubted his claims, but knew that there was no other option at this point. Placing a white helmet over her head and adjusting the visor to allow her to see properly, she leapt onto the white colored Graviton Cycle. Following her mentor's instructions to start it, she felt a soft humming sensation coming from the machine between her legs. The circular discs on each side of the bike began to glow a bright sky blue color as they spun rapidly. Moments later, every muscle in her body tightened in anxiety as she felt herself lifting from the ground, suspended in a position a few inches above the cement underneath.
"This…I don't like this one bit." Fiora objected, her voice tense at the thought of being on a machine that was elevated off of the ground, especially one that hadn't even been fully tested.
"Just follow me. I know how to get there. Once we leave the city limits, these cycles can go at well over a hundred miles an hour. It won't take long." Leon said as his cycle slowly sped off, the duelist still uneasy but trailing behind him.
As they followed the twists and turns of the underground parking structure, they eventually emerged onto the streets, neatly paved with cement. Minutes later, they passed through Central Piltover on a roadway that was elevated a few stories above the ground. To both sides of the street, large flat panel electronic screens lined the buildings at street level, displaying streams of news announcements and colorful advertisements for new electronic products. Pedestrians lined the sidewalk along the street they were driving on, many of whom looked like they were in their mid twenties, gleefully laughing as they were enjoying the bustling urban nightlife.
Fiora looked to her right to see a pair of young couples that appeared around her own age standing at the corner of the intersection, hand in hand with smiles on their faces. The two young girls burst into laughter over something that was said amongst them while their respective partners gave each other uneasy glances over what was said. Close by to them stood a man that appeared only a few years older than the duelist wearing professional appearing attire that looked foreign to her, but was commonly advertised over the large overhead digital screens. He spoke loudly with a slightly humored voice as he talked into a wireless phone, discussing minor issues that he followed up with laughter.
They look so…peaceful…and happy. I hated this place so much after they took Lux that I didn't stop to think what it was I was angry at. Never did I expect that the people here were like any other, living life and finding joy in it. This place, a city of lights that never sleeps…it's…beautiful. The duelist thought to herself in awe. They go through life peacefully, living one day at a time blissfully unaware that the person in front of them right now is likely one of the most wanted people by their government. They are totally unaware of the danger that lies beyond the borders of this city.
Fiora shifted her eyes away from them, turning her gaze towards the road ahead of her again. A part of her wondered what it would be like had things turned out differently. She wondered what life would have been like for her if she was like them, living from day to day in the City of Progress. She couldn't help but ask herself whether the roles would be reversed right now, or would her innate nature win out and she would still be on this Graviton Cycle riding into what dangers lie waiting for her ahead.
It would take the next hour before they slowly made their way to the western border of PIltover, following the rest of the metropolitan traffic to avoid drawing suspicion from the police force. Upon leaving the city limits, the Graviton Cycles let out a high pitched ring as they increased the speeds on their cycles to quicken their journey towards the last reported location of the convoy train.
The Kalidorum Woods
After spending the past hour slowly pulling the unconscious explorer away from the wreckage site, Lux ultimately chose to stop and rest at a small clearing in the forest. She propped Ezreal against the trunk of a large evergreen tree, the bark of which was hard but relatively smooth to the touch. Calling forth her magic energy, she conjured a Lucent Singularity comprised of swirling strands of light and threw it into the center of the clearing to provide some light to the otherwise dark forest.
Minutes passed, but to her, it every second felt like a lifetime. Her companion had practically sacrificed his life in order to protect her and she now felt helpless to do anything for him. Even though she had constantly checked to ensure that he was still breathing regularly and had a pulse, she didn't know when he would regain consciousness again.
The only things that will be looking for us will either be more soldiers or hungry creatures looking for their next meal. A fire to keep us warm is out of the question. Lux thought to herself, contemplating what to do next. All I can do now is keep watch and hope that he wakes up at some point.
Propping herself against a tree next to Ezreal, she alternated her focus between him and her surroundings. Though she was initially wary of the slightest sound that came from the forest around her, hours had passed and no signs of life could be seen, save for a few small rodents scavenging for scraps of food.
"Hey Ezreal," She finally said as she turned to look at him, breaking the otherwise silent night.
She paused a moment, hoping that her companion would somehow respond to her. When no answer came, she turned her head towards her Lucent Singularity, her eyes focused on the colorful swirls of light that she had made hours ago. Countless thoughts went through her in that moment, creating swirls of confusion in her mind similar to the light in front of her, as she didn't know what to do next.
"Did I ever tell you," She began to say, keeping her gaze away from her unconscious companion. "What I thought of you the first time I met you. It was in the Summoner's Rift Arena, my first time being chosen for a match. We were teamed up together…and me being shy, didn't even introduce myself to you. At the time, I didn't think much of you. Compared to the people in the military that I've been surrounded with the years prior to that, you didn't seem particularly strong."
Lux closed her eyes, a tear flowed along the side of her right cheek. A part of her felt pathetic for being able to say these words only when her companion was not able to even hear her. Another part of her, however, wanted to keep going in hopes that her words would somehow be heard and give him a reason to return to the world of the living.
"That same match, you proved me so wrong. I wandered off and found myself ambushed by enemies. I thought I was going to die for sure, but then…you came. Even though you knew that I would revived by my summoner if I fell, you came and saved me. You told me then, the same thing you told me today, to never give up and die without a fight. You didn't look it at first, but you really are brave, far braver than I can ever hope to be. You aren't like the other people that I know…you act of your own free will and explore the world to find yourself rather than following orders that someone else gave you. Unlike me, you're not a dog of the military and you never will be. You are brave, strong-willed, free…things that I always wanted to be but could never achieve. I guess what it is that I'm trying to say is…"
A lump formed in her throat, causing her to choke as she tried to finish those last few words. She let out a few sobs, keeping her eyes closed as tears streamed along the side of both of her cheeks. Despite having known the explorer for two years, she had only found the courage to befriend him outside of the Summoner's Arena the past few months. Though she originally did not appreciate how he would disappear from the Institute for weeks on end during his travels, she came around to realizing that this free-spirited personality was what she admired most about him. She had always wanted to tell him these things, but could not find the right moment. Taking a deep breath, she finally recomposed herself enough to continue speaking.
"Please, Ezreal…don't leave me. There is nothing for me in this world and if you…If you were to die…I don't know what it is that I wo-" She managed to say before the sound of shifting to her right caused her to open her eyes and turn her gaze.
She watched in surprise as the explorer began to shift slightly, struggling to raise his head. Wiping away the tears on her face with her sleeve, she quickly got up and paced over to her companion, kneeling down to place her hands on his shoulders.
"Ezreal? Ezreal? Can you hear me?" Lux asked, her voice frantic with concern.
The explorer let out a painful groan as he tried to straighten his back. Finally managing to prop his upper back upright against the tree behind him, he opened his eyes partially to reveal cerulean orbs that stared back at Lux.
"Wh-Where am I?" He asked with a weak but steady voice.
Lux kneeled motionless for a few moments before proceeding to wrap her arms around his neck, resting her head on his right shoulder. Though a mild amount of pain shot through the explorer due to the weight of the blonde mage pressing against his shoulders, it was confusion about the way she was acting that filled his mind.
"Ezreal…promise me that you'll never do that again." She managed to utter before pulling herself away from him.
"Huh." The explorer began to say before looking up, noticing that the sky had become significantly darker since he was last awake. "Ah… all right. I won't…sorry to have worried you. How long was I out for?"
"A few hours…I didn't know if you were ever going to wake up. With your injuries, I didn't know what to do. I…I-" Lux began to say as she continued to kneel a few feet away from him, recomposing herself.
"You don't have to say it. I'll be all right…we'll make it through this."
Thank goodness. Even when he's badly hurt, he's still the same person from that time.She thought to herself, her heart that was distraught just moments ago now more calm after hearing the confidence in her companion's voice.
"How will we get out of this? I don't even know where we are. I just instinctively brought you away from the crash site in case more soldiers came for us."
"Four miles northeast of the crash site is a highway. My car is parked along the side of that road. If we can get there, we can go somewhere to rest and hea-" He began to explain as he forced himself to stand up, stopping mid-sentence as he looked up, his eyes opening wide in fear. "Get down!"
Ezreal lunged forward to grab hold of the lady of luminosity before falling to the side and taking her with him. Before Lux realized what was going on, a large dark figure flew past them, narrowly missing them by inches. She raised her head to look up in time to see a large winged creature covered in black feathers rising into the air, letting out a distorted roar of anger. Moving swiftly, it flew to form a large loop in the air before rapidly diving towards the two magi.
"Swain?" She exclaimed in horror as she quickly got to her feet.
"Watch out!" Ezreal exclaimed as he quickly got up, dashing forward to push her out of harm's way.
As she fell to the ground, she was only able to watch as the large raven collided with the explorer at the spot where she had stood just moments ago. Quickly getting up, she saw him being thrown to the ground like a rag doll, tumbling a few times before stopping to lie on the ground motionless. The large raven flew upwards before looping in the air a second time to dive towards the ground. As it landed, a large rumble shook the ground around him, sending debris flying towards the blonde mage.
As the dust cleared, Lux saw the raven's wings wrap around itself before the feathers began to quickly disappear in wisps of smoke, revealing the robed human form of Swain. He opened his eyes to reveal pitch black pupils that seemed to pierce the very core of the blonde mage's soul, leaving fear in its wake. Though she didn't know why he suddenly appeared in this place, she could feel a strange aura of evil coming from him, indicating that things were about to get a lot worse.
"Swain, what are you doing here? Why did you attack him?" She demanded, assuming a defensive position in preparation for an oncoming attack.
"Taking care of a pest problem. Don't worry though, after I'm done with him, you'll be next." He answered as he extended his left hand, forming a black Chaos Blitz sphere over it before firing it at the fallen explorer.
Realizing his intentions, Lux quickly conjured a white Blitz spell in her hand, launching it to intercept the tactician's attack. The collision of the two attacks caused a loud explosion to fill the nighttime air, causing flocks of birds in the area to let out loud shrieks as they quickly took off to evacuate the area. As the smoke began to clear, the blonde mage quickly ran to stand between Swain and her fallen companion, holding out her hands indicating that she intended to block his path.
"So many times he's saved my life. Now it's my turn!" She said as she faced Swain, assuming a battle stance. "You want to kill him? I won't let you!"
"How unfortunate…And here I was, hoping I'd watch you suffer in despair by as I killed your friend over there. It would have given me pleasure to see after you thwarted my plans in Demacia. But…if you are so eager to die, then perish with him!" Swain responded.
The blonde mage quickly called forth her magic, starting off by holding out her right hand, which glowed with a white aura, to form a spherical protection barrier around herself. Without hesitation, the raven on Ezreal's shoulder took off, opening its beak to form a purple colored sphere of energy in its mouth as it rapidly approached the blonde mage's position. Anticipating the incoming attack, Lux quickly brought her hands together to form swirls of light energy in her palms, swinging her right hand outwards to launch a Lucent Singularity spell. As the raven rose up to dodge it, Lux clasped the wrist of her right arm with her left hand, bringing it upwards with an open right palm. In response to her movements, her spell rose upwards to follow raven, closing in quickly before the blonde mage closed her right hand to form a fist, causing a reaction in the swirling sphere of light to explode. The shockwave of the explosion caught the creature in its grasp, knocking it to one side to collide with a large branch.
Letting out a high pitched screech that sent a chill down the mage's spine, the raven quickly dove backwards towards its master, fluttering a few times in the air before returning to its position on the tactician's shoulder. Frustrated at the failed attack, Swain raised his right arm, opening his palms to cast a spell in the form of a large glowing white circle with multiple rune symbols appearing below the blonde mage. Talons quickly rose from the ground, latching onto Lux's legs and hindering her movements.
"Know despair!" Swain exclaimed as he conjured three Chaos Blitz spells that swirled around his right hand.
Swinging his hands outwards, he launched the volley of attacks towards his opponent, still bound by his last spell.
"Not done yet!" Lux replied as she conjured up three white Blitz spells herself, firing them in rapid succession aimed with pinpoint accuracy at each of the attacks that the Noxian had sent towards her.
A series of loud explosions disturbed the otherwise quiet forest as the three sets of attacks collided with each other. A large cloud of smoke rose into the air above the treeline, slowly carried away from the area by a Northern wind.
"Oh? Impressive…didn't know someone like yourself could fight at this level. What happened to your fear?" The tactician asked with an arrogant voice as the smoke began to clear.
As if in response, a fourth Blitz spell shot through the smoke, causing the Noxian's eyes to open wide in surprise as it curved downwards towards him. The loud cracking sound of the light mage's spell sounded through the forest as it found its mark, kicking up another cloud of dust into the air.
"I disposed of it. What use is fear if all it does is gets everyone else involved hurt in the process? I said this before…this time, I'll be the one who will save another's life." Lux announced confidently.
"Ridiculous. Disposing of fear in the face of overwhelming danger only means you accept death." Swain responded after a moment of silence.
The smoke finally cleared moments later to reveal the Noxian tactician standing unscratched behind a large yellow colored barrier that appeared to be comprised of multiple hexagons connected together at the edges. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the light mage, the raven on his shoulder doing the same with glowing red eyes.
"Words of self-sacrifice from someone of your level means nothing more than that you are willing to throw away your life." The tactician said after a moment of silence, an arrogant grin on his face.
Without hesitation, Lux quickly conjured three more Blitz spells, swirling them around her right hand. Swinging her hand outwards, she quickly launched the barrage of attacks at her opponent, causing a flurry of explosions that shook their surroundings. As the smoke cleared, the white mage's eyes widened in shock as Swain stood there without a scratch on him, the yellow barrier in front of him still active.
"Impossible. I've fought you before in the Summoner's Arena multiple times and this has never happened before. Just who are you really?" The white mage finally said, realizing that something was very wrong.
"That is something you do not need to know. There is no point in explaining the truth to someone who will die before they get the chance to see the next sunrise." He answered simply as the raven on his shoulder took off into the air again.
This time, the tactician brought his hands together. A dark aura began to surround his whole body before he brought his hands apart again, extending his right arm upwards. The raven's eyes glowed brightly before it also became surrounded in a dark aura.
"I'll show you, just how great of a difference exists in our power." He said after a moment, a strange echo beginning to appear in his voice that caught the white mage's attention. "Darkness Descent!"
With those last words, feathers began to shed from the raven. As the feathers began to drop towards the ground, each of them glowed and expanded, revealing dozens of ravens identical to the first. Lux could only look in shock as each of them rapidly dove towards the white mage. As they neared her position, each of them opened their beaks to activate their Decrepify ability. Lux quickly conjured up a set of Blitz spells, launching them with great precision to the ravens that were closest to her. She followed this up with a second round of attacks, but found herself unable to take the ravens out fast enough. As their attacks landed on Lux, she began to feel herself rapidly drained of energy.
Knowing that she had to do something besides simply defending, she quickly held both of her hands together, causing the appearance of a white rune circle in front of her. Despite feeling her energy dissipating from her with every passing moment, she forced herself to channel her spell. Letting out a loud cry, she fired a large beam of light energy from the rune circle towards Swain. All of the ravens that were in front of her were instantly vaporized by the force of the attack.
Swain's eyes opened wide with surprise as her ultimate spell neared him. He held out his hands to channel his energy in order to fortify the barrier that had been protecting him. As the white mage's attack hit, a bright dome of light consumed the area, sending shockwaves outwards with the tactician's position as the epicenter. Large trees around him began to tip over, causing a series of loud crashing sounds as they collided with the ground.
Lux panted loudly to catch her breath after that last attack, beads of clear sweat forming a trail along the side of her face, dripping off at the bottom of her chin. Looking up at the sky above her, she noticed that the ravens that had previously been relentlessly assaulting her now circled around her in the air with no indications of attacking. She had hoped that it would be the end of this confrontation but a part of her knew that it was too good to be true. As the smoke cleared, her suspicions were proven true as the Noxian tactician was still standing, breathing hard but still without a scratch on him. The yellow barrier that had been protecting him was now shattered, shards of brightly glowing energy falling to the ground, resembling the sound of shattering glass.
"How wonderful," He began with a taunting voice as his breathing slowed, the smirk on his face now gone, replaced with a look of anger. "To be honest, I had underestimated your potential. Stopping all of my attacks and even though it took you your strongest technique, you managed to destroy my powerful defense."
Lux quickly whipped into a battle stance, preparing for an imminent attack. She knew that she was in trouble. Even with her Finales Funkeln, she was unable to even land a single hit on her opponent. It was apparent from the evil feeling coming from him that this was not the same Swain that she had faced many times before in the Summoner's Arenas, but rather was something totally different. It didn't matter, however, who it really was that stood in front of her. She was fighting a losing battle and knew that she had only one chance to come out of this alive.
"However," The Noxian began before raising his hands to reveal a Chaos Blitz spell dancing in his palm. "It only means that no longer are you merely an annoyance, but rather someone who must die!"
Lux quickly brought her hand up, drawing out whatever amount of energy she could in that short time to form a barrier around her as the tactician launched his attack. A loud cracking sound filled the air as the attack collided with its target resulting in copious amounts of dust and smoke to accumulate before slowly dissipating with the light breeze.
"It's over. For someone at your level, you really did put up an interesting fi-." Swain said after a long pause before stopping in mid sentence, gasping in horror at the sight in front of him.
Lux revealed herself in a battle stance as the cloud of dust cleared from the area, a warm glowing aura of holy magic surrounding her body. She held her arms held outwards to channel her energy into what appeared to be the outline of a glowing triangle in front of her. The edges of the triangle intensified in brightness as a projection from each of the corners extended outwards towards the Noxian.
"You're right…it took the strongest ability that I had and it still wasn't enough. However, that doesn't mean that I will give up and die without even trying. I don't even know if this will work, but it is my final shot at ending this." She said, continuing to channel her energy into the spell, causing the projections from each corner of the triangle to sharpen, forming the shape of three spears.
"This is-" Swain managed to utter out, a look of terror in his eyes staring back at the blonde mage, who leapt into the air with a swift motion, her spell following her movements to form a bright streak behind her.
"Wave of the Trigram's Light." She said confidently before letting out a loud high pitched cry.
Three spears of light began to glow brightly, blinding her opponent. With a high pitched hum, they shot forward with such immense speed that it was impossible for the Noxian to dodge. Three loud collisions rang through the forest as the attack found its mark, followed by a loud scream of pain from the Noxian. Lux felt her energy fading rapidly after that last attack, the bright aura surrounding her disappearing as she fell from her elevated position onto the ground. She tumbled to break her fall as she landed, a skill that she had seen being used by many of the other champions during their battles in the Summoner's Arenas. She was slow get on her feet, but a sense of satisfaction passed through her as she saw the results of her attack.
Swain laid on the ground, making only slight movements of his muscles as anything more caused him to wince in pain. Three spears of light impaled him against the ground, one in each shoulder and a third in his right lower abdomen, thus preventing any mobility to come from the fallen Noxian. Copious amounts of bleeding came from where the attack had hit its mark, a pool of blood beginning to form around her fallen opponent. The lady of luminosity was surprised as she stepped backwards towards Ezreal, both at the extent of the damage that her last attack was able to do and that her enemy was even still alive with those wounds. It had been almost a week since her first time seeing this spell used by the mysterious mage who saved her life. Upon seeing it in action, she was intrigued by how powerful and effective of a spell it was that she had decided she would devote all her efforts into reverse engineering it and learning to use it herself. She had spent the two days prior to her capture by Piltover training herself to use that ability, failing each attempt during that time. Thus, it came as a total surprise to her that her first time successfully using it was in the heat of battle against the strongest opponent she had ever faced before.
"So," Swain began to say in a deep, hoarse voice causing the blonde to stop after a few steps. "You managed to replicate hisability, didn't you? You think you've won with that last trick?"
"Swain, enough! I don't know what has gotten into you or why you're even here, but I don't want to fight you anymore." Lux said, staring intently at her opponent as she was shocked at his ability to even speak.
"You speak almost as though you pity me." He responded, his voice now growing louder and with more anger in it. "Are you happy that you managed to destroy my defensive barrier? Are you happy that you managed to counter all of my attacks? Do you think you've won because your attack hit me successfully? Perish the thought, you pathetic human woman!"
With those last words, which resembled screams of anger, a bright green aura surrounded the fallen Noxian. The ravens that had been circling in the air over the light mage changed formations, diving downwards and fusing into a single creature before reaching Swain. As the bird reached its master, a bright flash of light filled the area, followed by a loud, distorted, piercing scream. Lux could only watch in horror as the tactician became surrounded in dark wisps of energy that solidified, causing him to grow larger in size. Black feathers sprouted from every limb of his body and covered his robed torso from top to bottom.
As he completed his transformation into his raven form, he let out a second animalistic scream before a releasing a large amount of dark energy, the very sensation of which caused the blonde mage to almost suffocate. She let out a gasp as the three spears that had impaled her opponent into the ground began to crack along its length, shattering completely seconds later as the large raven forced himself off of the ground. A bright yellow light surrounded the large raven before forming into individual hexagons that linked together to reform the barrier that had previously shattered.
"No way… there is no way that this is even possible." Lux said to herself, a cold sweat beginning to form on her face as she ran forward to avoid any collateral damage to her fallen ally behind her.
Swain's raven form took flight, letting out a loud distorted scream as it opened its mouth before a red sphere of energy began to form in front of it. Sensing the imminent attack, Lux quickly mustered up the remains of her energy to form a barrier around her as she simultaneously spun to her left in hopes of avoiding a direct attack. This proved to be futile, however, as the large raven fired a barrage of red spheres towards where she had stood, each of them causing a large fiery explosion upon impact with the ground. The shockwave from the attacks knocked the blonde off her feet, sending her airborne backwards in a manner that she had no control over. Though only seconds had passed, the blonde mage felt herself suspended in the air for what seemed like days before falling to land hard on her back, her momentum sending her tumbling backwards multiple times before finally stopping.
When her senses finally returned to her, she felt a sharp pain in her left arm as she tried to move. She turned her head to find a deep laceration that spanned part of the top of her shoulder down to the mid portion of her arm. The skin around it was a bright red color and painful to the touch, caused by the intense temperature of that last attack. A ringing filled her ears, drowning out all of the noises of her surroundings. She managed to set herself on her knees before looking up towards her opponent. Her sight was also beginning to fail her as the weakness in her body overtook her, the world around her starting to appear blurred.
Swain's raven form opened its mouth to form a second red sphere of energy, preparing to launch a second barrage of attacks to finish the job he had set out to do. The blonde could only kneel and watch as her opponent prepared for his final strike. Reality began to feel surreal, time slowing down as she distinctly felt each beat of her heart, knowing that she was closer to death with each thumping sound that filled her ears, interrupting the ringing that was finally beginning to dissipate. She felt the cool nighttime breeze against her face, causing golden strands of her hair to brush up along her cheeks with soft smooth strokes.
Lux knew that she would not survive the next attack, but refused to avert her gaze. Perhaps it was too late, but she finally understood the words that Ezreal had said to her years ago about accepting death. If she was going to die, she would rather face it head on instead of closing her eyes and giving up. As she saw the raven's attack beginning to split into a barrage of red spheres, multiple high pitched whistling sounds filled the air as a wave of fire and wind projectiles flew past her, clashing with the large raven to release a series of explosion.
The shock of seeing her opponent engulfed in flames snapped the lady of luminosity back into reality in time to hear a loud, distorted cry of pain coming from the raven as it fell to the ground. The sound of two sets of footsteps rapidly approached, stopping as they reached her side.
"Pretty impressive job you did here, Lux." A familiar female voice announced, causing the blonde mage to look up at her new reinforcements with a shocked expression on her face.
A young woman with the left part of her face covered with purple hair stood to her left, wearing a long-sleeved white coat that extended to her waist and tight blue pants with composite armor leggings. A thin three-piece cape connected to her coat at the left shoulder waved in the air, eventually settling over a large sheathed blade that hung at the left side of her waist. To her right was a man with black hair that extended to his mid neck, wearing a long unbuttoned black overcoat that extended to his knee. A similar sized sheathed sword hung at the left side of his waist, protruding out through the middle of his coat.
"Fiorie? Leon? What're you doing here?" Lux asked in a weak voice of disbelief.
Without answering, Leon held his right hand in front of his face, opening his palm to produce a bolt of blue energy that slowly flew towards the blonde mage, a trail of flickering lights in its wake. Upon contact with her skin, Lux felt a surge of energy returning to her body, the weakness and fatigue from her battle almost completely disappearing in an instant. Using her newfound strength to stand up, she let out a wince of pain as she tried to move her left arm.
"Hold still," Fiora commanded as she placed her hand a few inches away from the wounded shoulder.
A shock went through the blonde mage as she saw the duelist's hand now surrounded by a bright green aura. A trail of green colored energy flowed from Fiora's hand to her shoulder, a warm sensation surrounding the area as the pain began to slowly disappear. The deep wound she had suffered earlier rapidly closed up, leaving behind a small scar. Flakes of dark charred skin began to fall from the burnt part of her shoulder, leaving behind a new layer of pink colored skin.
"Fiorie, wh-…how?" Lux stumbled to ask, greatly confused at what she was witnessing until a loud fiendish roar snapped her out of it.
She turned in time to feel a gust of wind in her face, sent by Swain as he managed to extinguish the flames that had previously surrounded him. Yellow shards of energy slowly descended to the ground as the barrage of spells had managed to destroy the defensive barrier that the Noxian had conjured. Staring back was a set of eyes that now glowed a bright red color as it examined the two new opponents that had appeared in this battle, an intense feeling of murderous intent now coming from him.
"We can talk later. For now, let's deal with him first." Fiora responded confidently.
"Are you ready for this?" Leon asked, shooting the duelist a glance as he drew out his mageblade, Blazing Edge, bringing it over to his right side with a swift swing.
"Tch…are you kidding me? He won't even know what hit him." Fiora answered as she unsheathed her Highwind, swinging it in a smooth downward motion to her right side as she brought her right leg backwards to move into her battle stance.