A blade was at my throat before I even had time to react. I looked up and was startled to see a girl, perhaps in her early twenties, in an elaborately patterned rose pink and dark blue bodysuit with metallic armor strategically placed for protection. Her eyes were a startling shade of blue, and a silver crown of some sort was perched on her head. She was pretty, not Ahri leveled pretty, but still quite pretty. Yet, her most defining feature was a hail of blades that levitated around her in a spiral pattern. The blades seemed to move with the wave of her hand, and one of those blades was placed at my neck.
Due to her signature blades, I actually was able to recognize her as Irelia, the Blade Dancer. Irelia stared at me intently for a few more seconds before seemingly deciding I was not a threat and lowering her hands. The blade retracted to join its brethren hovering behind Irelia. Behind Irelia, was a group of around a dozen Ionian soldiers, no doubt her followers. Each stared at me intently, with weapons in hand.
"Who are you?" Irelia whispered to me in a cold, guarded voice.
"My name's Wentao." I coughed out, before hesitantly extending my hand. "You must be Irelia. Nice to meet you."
Irelia awkwardly took my hand, and shook it on her own. Her hands were smooth yet hard, like the metal of her armor.
"How did you blink into our barricade?" She inquired. "Do you know magic? We could use a mage."
"Well, no." I stammered. "I know somebody who does though. In fact, she should be nearby."
I prepared to stand up, but was instantly pulled back down by Irelia.
"Keep down, idiot." She whispered to me harshly, and I shrank. "Unless you want an arrow in your head."
Irelia noticed my frown, and signed.
"Alright, look." She told me a bit more gently. "We've been surrounded by Noxians for about two hours. Ambushed. Lost a full cart of supplies, and half our men. It just isn't easy. So please. Just try to work with me. Don't do anything stupid. If we can hold out a bit longer, reinforcements should arrive."
I glanced around the group, and noticed one of the soldiers was clenching his leg.
"How is it?" I asked him quietly.
"Broken." The man grunted.
"Let me help with that." I said, and moved a bit closer to him. I clenched my right hand into a fist, and concentrated. A green blaze of light enveloped both me and the man, before slowly dissipating. A crunch was heard and the man let out a relieved sigh as his bone was mended.
"Woah." He breathed, and moved his legs. "Thank you."
Irelia surveyed me with renewed interest. "You said you don't know magic?"
"Long story." I said, before turning my attention towards the wall of the barricade. Small holes were in the wreckage so that people inside could look out though it would be difficult to spot anything from outside.
"It's a stalemate." Irelia explained heavily. "They don't have the power for a direct confrontation but we can't leave either. They've got us boxed in, at least until our reinforcements arrive."
I considered this. About three days ago, the Noxians were still miles from our location. Yet just two days ago, the Noxians had broken through the frontlines by using chemical warfare. That would have meant they must have at least been able to advance a few more miles in the span of two days.
"No." I shook my head. Irelia looked over at me curiously. "The Noxians should have some kind of forward base just a few miles out from here. That must mean the Noxians would also be able to call in reinforcements. We need to get out of here, now."
Irelia shook her head. "That wouldn't be possible. I don't doubt my abilities in a direct confrontation, but the moment we attempt to leave our position, those Noxian cowards will shoot our eyes out."
"We might not have to." I explained. I was about to inform Irelia about Yasuo, Yi, and Ahri, before remembering that two of them were wanted criminals. Thus, I decided to only bring up Yi. "Master Yi's somewhere nearby. I wasn't supposed to wander far and my group is probably looking for me."
"A Wuju swordsman." Irelia frowned. "I know Yi. He's more than a competent swordsman. But I thought they perished when their village was destroyed. My squadron searched the place. It was…terrifying. We found no survivors."
"Well he survived." I replied. "We just have to wait."
We crouched inside the wreckage, and waited. Irelia's blades started vibrating, and she made a face of confusion.
"That's weird." Irelia said. "I've never seen them do that before. But that must mean there's some kind of disturbance in the Spirit Realm. I wonder if-"
Before she could finish her sentence, a loud yell was heard from the faraway tree line. From my peep-hole within the wreckage, I saw Noxian warriors peak their heads out from the bushes, as another Noxian archer fell from a nearby tree, presumably dead.
A red, rectangular doorway opened in mid air within our wreckage, and the Ionia soldiers readied their swords. From the doorway, a familiar figure emerged.
"Azakana!" A terrified Ionian soldier yelled, before other shouts were heard to destroy it.
"Wait!" I interjected, as I recognized the figure to be that of Yone. "Stop!"
Irelia held up her hands to quiet her soldiers as Yone fully emerged. The doorway sealed behind him. His crimson mask glowed eerily.
"I am not your enemy." He addressed the soldiers, before he drew his steel sword with one hand while the red azakana sword materialized in his other. A few soldiers fearfully pointed their weapons at him, which he ignored. In one swift, powerful strike, he let loose a controlled burst of wind and spirit energy that opened up a gap in the blockade. "Go!"
With the Noxian archers either dead or distracted, the Ionian troops were restored with renewed vigor. Through the tree lines, a dozen Noxian brutes stepped out, weapons pointed at us, while more of their allies defended their flank from what I presumed to be Ahri, Yasuo and Master Yi.
"Hold your ground!" Irelia shouted, towards the Ionians, and held up her hands as if she was praying. Her blades spun around her, before making an upside down V formation behind her.
The two armies ran towards each other at a tremendous speed, before colliding into the chaos of war. I looked around myself, and observed the surrounding carnage in almost a dream-like state. Never before had I witnessed bloodshed, and here, thrown at me, were warriors cutting and stabbing each other apart.
A Noxian slightly taller than me made eye contact with me across the battlefield. He drew a small, steel ax, and pointed it at me. Something had been ignited in me. It was like an anger made manifest, burning into my skin. At that moment, I hated every bit of that one random Noxian to the littlest detail. Ionia had welcomed me, perhaps more than my original world. He was trespassing.
I drew my sword and pointed it at his face. The Noxian yelled, and charged me. Even though I had zero experience with a sword, I still deemed myself an acceptable League of Legends player, with decent awareness and strategy. Fighting hand to hand was the Noxus warrior's game, in which I had no chance. But I wasn't a Noxian. Fighting wasn't my game, League of Legends was. The Noxian was nothing but a minion. I would play to my own strength.
I sheathed my sword, and took inventory of what I had, and realized I had the strength to cast every summoner spell except for heal, which was still recharging. As the Noxian soldier was about to leap into the air, preparing to execute a downward midair cleave, I held up one hand and casted "exhaust". The Noxian's form became sluggish, and landed in front of me, his axe harmlessly splitting the dirt right in front of me. Had the weapon not suddenly become heavy in his hands, no doubt he could have chopped me in half. Taking my chance, I made a fist and punched him hard in the face.
Dazed, the Noxian roared in fury before standing up and chasing me with his ax. I activated "ghost", and ignited the warrior before running in the opposite direction, kiting him while waiting for the spell to slowly whittle the Noxian down. The Noxian cried out in agony as the fire slowly but steadily burned through his armor, into his flesh. However, it soon disappeared after the spell had completed its course.
As my "ghost" wore off, I turned around to face the Noxian as he lumbered towards me. With a slideway cleave, he attempted to slash at my head, but I held up my hands to perform "barrier". His axe bounced harmlessly off of me before I gave him an uppercut, knocking him off balance before backing away. In a final desperate attempt, the Noxian warrior threw his axe towards me. As the blade of the weapon approached my face, I dashed towards the weapon, flashing midair to the other side of the blade and punching the surprised Noxian once again in the face. The axe clattered harmlessly on the ground behind me. As the Noxian fell to the ground, his heavy armor helping me more than it helped him, I drew my sword and pointed it towards his unconscious face.
As I prepared to plunge the blade into the Noxian, my grip shook and the tip of my sword faltered. Who was I to take this man's life? I was no killer. The sword felt cold in my sweaty hands. I shook my head, before looking up towards the battlefield.
Irelia and Yone had ripped through the Noxian invaders like paper. Ahri, Yasuo, and Master Yi had emerged from the trees to join the fight. Ahri was gracefully dashing between Noxians, firing off small orbs of energy towards them while hurtling her Orb of Deception left to right. When an enemy got to close, she would blow a kiss towards them, incapacitating them to allow her orb to do the rest.
Yasuo was dashing through Noxians, launching mini tornadoes and creating massive walls of wind to block Noxian projectiles while Master Yi was a blur of blades that cut down any Noxians in his path. A band of archers fired a volley of arrows from the tree line, and Yasuo unleashed a ginormous wall of wind to block all the projectiles while Master Yi dashed into the forest to finish them.
Yone materialized next to me and put a hand on my shoulder.
"Go." Yone told me, before nodding towards Ahri and then towards the Noxian on the ground. "Join her. I'll handle him from here."
I ran across the clearing, huffing all the while, towards Ahri. When Ahri spotted me, a grin lit her face as she dashed towards me before dismissing her orb.
"Wentao!" She called out with open arms, and I melted into her hug as she caught me. "Awww. It's alright. I got you now. Everything's going to be alright."
I sank into her arms as the horrors of the battle fully dawned on me. A tear dripped from my eyes, and Ahri gently brushed it off with her hand. Her tails formed a floating cushion in mid air, and she leaned back onto it with me still in her embrace.
"Next time," She whispered to me, before moving my hand up to stare into her eyes. I could still see the lines of worry when she had found me missing. "Don't wander off again on your own please."
"Sorry about that." I said. "I got lost."
Ahri smiled, before putting me down and we surveyed the battlefield. A few Ionians had been injured in the brawl, but there weren't any casualties. It was a whole different story for the Noxians, however. The ground was tainted with red surrounding their shattered bodies, matching their crimson uniforms. A few Noxians had run back into the tree lines, presumably in a retreat. Yone was standing guard over the Noxian I had fought moments ago, who was the only living Noxian still in the field.
Suddenly, Ahri stopped.
"Darling, give me a moment." She said, as she knelt down onto the earth near a fallen Noxian soldier. Her eyes flashed bright gold, and she exhaled. A blue essence, life essence, flowed from the Noxian's lips, into Ahri's own. As I watched, entranced, more and more life essence from Noxians all over the clearing gathered towards Ahri, who consumed them in a single breath.
"No point wasting good life essence." Ahri breathed as she finished and stood up, somewhat avoiding my eyes. Although I still found it somewhat creepy, I realized that Ahri must have been starving after nearly three days without essence, all to make me feel more at home. Ahri summoned her orb of deception, which glowed much brighter, giving off a vibrant sky blue hue before disappearing. Ahri moved her tails behind me once again, and guided me towards Yone.
