The Noxian shores loomed in the distance as the Guardian sea came to an end. Its unforgiving rocky shores were lined with shining ships of steel, some of which were making their way out of the harbor to sea, no doubt on route to Ionia. Red flag's billowed in the wind, as the pale axe symbol of Noxus's strength glared into the sea. The docks were filled with housing made from wood, stone and steel, and tall metal walls spanned inwards towards the middle of the city to separate it into many different sections. Yet, the most noticeable aspect of Noxus stood out from its center, leaving me quite speechless.
"The Immortal Bastion!" Irelia gasped, her voice filled with grudging admiration as she pointed towards the massive steel pillar, formed by three individual smaller yet nonetheless ginormous pillars, looming in the sky lines. The building dwarfed everything below it. The Immortal Bastion was quite as large, if not even larger, as it had appeared to be in my vision. From the Immortal Bastion, fires blazed on its ramparts in the distance. The morning sun gave the flames a curious tint of green from afar. I could almost feel the blazing eyes of the Grand General watching us from atop his throne in the Immortal Bastion.
Ahri gazed steadily towards the tower of steel, analyzing it as if it was no more than the soul of another one of her prey.
"Our answer lies there." Ahri said at last, her ears standing up straight as if she was extremely nervous, or as if danger was near. "I could feel it."
"Whatever you say mam." Sett whistled, as he finished up giving a few final orders to his crew. "Imma dock and come with you guys to check out some … ah … legitimate business. Them Noxians aren't all good, but they ain't all bad either. Then I'll be high tailing it back to Ionia."
"You aren't going with us?" I asked Sett in surprise.
"Hey kid." Sett replied, seizing me up. "Free bit of advice, never pick a fight you can't win."
Sett shrugged, before walking off. Irelia scoffed at him from behind. As Yasuo and Master Yi hauled up a bucket of Noxian themed overcoats for us to put on, so that we aren't too easily recognized in the crowd. Ahri donned a dark red and black cloak which hid her tails and ears, before bending down to help me put on a Noxian colored jacket.
"Alright darling, watch your step and stay calm." Ahri whispered in my year, before gently patting my head reassuringly. The boat floated closer and closer to the shorelines, before finally reaching the wooden docks of Noxus. A gang member tossed a wooden board to connect our board with the deck, and Sett led the way down while the rest of us followed suit. A few of Sett's gang members followed behind us, carrying boxes of smuggled goods.
Our group followed Sett over to a small tavern, where we sat down for organization. Master Yi, Yasuo and Irelia produced a map of some sort and started conversing over it while each drinking a bottle of Noxian beet wine as Sett led his men to the back of the building to meet with his buyers. Ahri and I sat near the windows, glancing at the rowdy scenery outside.
"Here Wentao." Ahri sang as she passed me a glass of mocktail. "Drink this. It's yummy."
"Thanks." I said, and took the drink. The bright yellow liquid had a sour sweet taste, and I tried my best to finish it as a few Noxian guards marched by outside. "Wow! This is great."
Outside, I watched as the Noxians went about their daily businesses. To my surprise, I found them to behave quite normally as opposed to fighting day and night as I thought they would. A kid perhaps slightly younger than myself helped his father split firewood while a few passersby would hand them a few coins to take a stack or two. Fishermen hauled their morning catches up the street, and butchers from nearby buildings would come to snatch a few after handing the former some coins. Guards joked around in the corner nearby, as one stuck his own axe handle in his mouth, balancing the axe blade in the air while the others laughed.
"Ahri, why is security so tight in Noxus? Are they expecting some type of attack?" I wondered, as I pointed towards the Noxian guards outside.
"Oh, they're not real guards, hehe." Ahri smirked. "They're mainly there to ensure no actual fatal fights were to break out. It's unfortunately quite common in Noxus. I am afraid their current laws are in shambles. You'll recognize actual Noxian guards when you see them."
I nodded, then looked towards the Immortal Bastion that stood in the distance. I thought about what Yone had said, about how it was built by Mordekaiser who died atop a mountain of corpses. I regretted not doing more research on him back home when I had the chance.
"Mordekaiser's even older than myself." Ahri whispered to my left, and I looked over in surprise. Ahri had clearly read my mind. Ahri finished the drink in her cup before continuing. "I was never too big on history to be frank, but I have heard quite a bit about him. Supposingly, he became the god of the dead and whispered to the most powerful mages of his time in death to help bind his essence to the mortal world so that he may awaken once more by offering them unimaginable power."
"I'm guessing they succeeded?" I inquired. Ahri nodded sadly.
"The mages managed to bind his essence to his armor, and Mordekaiser was reborn." Ahri explained, "Yet the first thing he did after rebirth was slay all of the mages on the spot. It's quite unfortunate really, though I am quite familiar with the lure of temptation. But eventually, a few sorcerers from Mordekaiser's inner circle did manage to sever his anchors to the mortal world. They were called the Black Rose. It's rumored they've shaped the path of Noxus for hundreds of years and are still around today."
I nodded, and slurped down the last of my mocktail before putting down my glass. Yasuo banged on the table behind us, and I noticed he, Yi, and Irelia were clearly drunk. Ahri rolled her eyes before going back to the group and snatching a cup of wine from Yasuo's hand.
Sett walked back into the tavern, clearly in a good mood and holding a large bag of gold in his hands. He tossed the bag from hand to hand, before striding over to our table.
"Business is great!" He laughed carelessly, and tossed the bag of coins to his henchmen. Wiping his jacket, he took a seat beside Master Yi, taking the rest of Yi's wine and chugging it down. Yasuo, in his drunken state, told a few inappropriate jokes, giving us a few good laughs before we stood up and decided it was time to leave.
As we strolled down the aisle towards the front door, a figure stood up from the crowd. He was a burly man, around the same size as Sett, with a bushy black beard and a cleaver hanging from his wrist. The Noxian banner hung from a tabard on his chest. He pointed towards Sett, and gave a wild hoop of laughter.
"Well won't you look at that! It's the beast boy!" The Noxian jeered, and a few Noxians from the crowd joined in. Sett's cheerful mood instantaneously dissipated, and he clenched his fists around his two brass knuckles.
"Shoo!" The man continued in fits of laughter, obviously much more drunk than Yasuo. "Go back to your mother, filthy half breed."
"Sett, brush it off, come on." Ahri started, attempting to grab Sett's hand to lead him out of the tavern to avoid attention, but I could tell it was much too late. Sett was not going to let this slide. He turned to glare at the Noxian as shadows danced in his eyes.
"What'd you say about my mama?" Sett whispered, his voice barely audible yet cutting through the entire room like nails on a chalkboard. The surrounding tavern fell silent, and as if a few of the still sober folks knew trouble was brewing. Yet as they were Noxians no doubt, none of them left the scene.
The large Noxian clearly sensed the fight as well, and he licked his lips anticipatingly before taking a stand and further taunting Sett. "Don't bark half-brute. If you're good, we'll let you have her body when we're done with Ion-"
The Noxian never finished his sentence. Sett ran towards the man, before taking a right swing with his brass knuckles at the Noxian's face. Yet the move appeared to have been fueled more by anger than accuracy, and the Noxian managed to dodge to the left as Sett's fist broke the wall behind the man.
All chaos broke loose, as the rest of the drunkards started towards Sett and his companions, who happened to be us. Yasuo produced his sword to block an attack while Ahri grabbed me in an attempt to rush me out of the fray. The Noxian unhooked his cleaver, striking at Sett's forehead. Sett dodged to the left, and the cleaver striked down on a table behind him. The blade embedded itself deep inside the wood, and the Noxian struggled to remove it.
"You swing on the boss? You better not miss." Sett growled, and punched the Noxian's jawline. An audible crunch rang across the room as the Noxian's skull cracked.
"Ionians!" A voice suddenly shrieked, and I looked over at Irelia who had unleashed her floating blades to defend herself from the Noxians. The Noxians no doubt recognized the blade dancer, and they glared in our direction as if realizing we must have also been Ionians.
"Umm Ahri," I muttered. "Let's leave."
"Right you are, little one." Ahri sang, and grabbed me before summoning her orb to spirit rush towards the stairs. "The door's too crowded. We'll get out from the window. Yas! Yi! Irelia! Come on!"
A Noxian enforcer blew on a horn, and Sett cursed. "They're calling for the Trifarian. Get out of here or we'll be overrun."
"What is the Trifarian?" I asked Ahri as we ran up the stairs. The floorboards creaked under us. "Can't we defeat them? You and Master Yi are so powerful!"
Ahri shook her head. "No. The Trifarian are the most elite fighting force of Noxus, led by Darius, the Hand of Noxus himself. They are composed of the most powerful warriors from all the different regions that Noxus has conquered. I don't doubt we can make quite a stand, but we wouldn't want to linger darling."
"This is all your fault!" Irelia roared at Sett once we reached the top of the stairs. "Hot headed idiot! Can't you just not jump into every fight that comes across your stupid face?"
"Like you're any better when your family gets brought up." Sett snared. In an instant, Irelia had pressed her blades at Sett's neck with a furious expression on her face. I remembered that Irelia's entire family had been murdered by Noxians, which must have explained her hatred towards them. Sett rolled his eyes as he swatted her away, as if he had proved his point.
One by one, our group jumped out of the second floor window of the tavern onto a grassy clearing below, which seemed to be the entrance towards some sort of park. I gulped down my fear of heights before leaping with Ahri's encouragement, and she gently caught me in her open arms before putting me down.
"There they are!" A loud voice sounded to our left, and a hoard of Noxians raced out of an alleyway towards us. "Kill them!"
"Welp." Yasuo exclaimed, drawing his sword. I followed suit, though I doubted it was of any good. Master Yi ignited his blade with vibrant spirit energy, and Ahri ignited her orb of deception to make it glow brighter under the morning sun. Irelia readied her blades, while Sett raised his fists. Golden sparks flew from Sett's knuckles. "Here goes nothing."
As the first Noxian barged into us, axe raised and spittle flying from his mouth, Sett grabbed the man's entire body before leaping towards the crowd of incoming Noxians, using the poor Noxian as a cushion. When he landed, the impact generated a mini explosion that knocked Noxians back to form a small circle of open space around him.
Irelia dashed into the fray, dancing gracefully in a swirl of deadly fury. She tripped Noxians before cutting into them, then dancing towards another to repeat the process. A Noxian threw a heavy battle axe at her face, and she formed a rotating shield of blades around her to mitigate most of the damage.
I looked over to my right, and noticed a calvary of Noxians descending towards us from the direction of the Immortal Bastion. They wore traditional Noxian armor, the same worn by the Noxian soldiers I had fought in Ionia, and each had a unique weapon equally frightening to the ones held by their peers. In their lead, was a man who donned a set of mighty steel pauldrons, and held a signature steel battle axe in his right hand. From all of my time spent playing League of Legends, I recognized the formidable form of Darius. We faced the Hand of Noxus.
"It's the Trifarian!" Yasuo roared, and I felt the wind shift slightly in his direction as Yasuo prepared his sword. "Yi! With me!"
Yasuo launched a twister of steel in the direction of the Trifarian, before dashing in their direction to follow up with his attack. Yi barged towards the Noxians behind Yasuo, leaping into the feud before becoming a swirl of blades. Darius pulled with his ax, managing to catch Master Yi mid air before hooking Yi towards him and swinging his blade. Yasuo noticed in the nick of time, and parried the strike to defend Yi.
"Follow me little fox." Ahri whispered into my ears, before dashing towards the direction of the Trifarian, who were quickly closing in on our position. "Be swift, don't get hit."
Gracefully, Ahri dashed to the right of a Noxian to dodge his attack before launching her orb. The orb of deception flew through a dozen Noxians, seemingly draining them instantaneously of their life essence. Ahri dashed to the right, repositioning herself as the orb returned to her, plowing down another dozen Noxians. Ahri's golden eyes glowed brighter when her orb returned to her side, as she gained power from the life essence of the fallen Noxians.
A Noxian sprang from the crowd towards me, and I flashed behind him before spinning with my blade and lashing out towards the Noxian's left arm. A streak of red appeared on his skin, and I stumbled back in shock as I realized I had drawn blood. Ahri twirled to summon azure fox fires, which rushed towards the Noxian. The flame closed in on his face, and the Noxian fell.
"Good job, Wentao." Ahri told me encouragingly, even though I felt as if I had done absolutely nothing. Ahri smiled. "I guess he just couldn't handle the heat."
By this time, the Trifarian and the Noxian crowd had clashed together, successfully surrounding us as if we were sandwich bread. Sett walked up to Darius after having disposed of his opponent, and swung his fist towards his chest. His brass knuckles barely left a dent in Dariu's thick steel plates, and the Hand of Noxus growled before performing a spinning slash that left quite a large gash on Sett's arm. Sett grimaced.
I turned, and noticed that Yi and Yasuo had been completely surrounded. They were fighting back to back, though a few soldiers of the Trifarian were doing quite well deflecting their strikes. Ahri had dashed up to me in an attempt to shield me from incoming Noxians, though I knew we must retreat immediately or else it would be too late.
"It's going to be alright little fox." Ahri said reassuringly, and patted my head with her left arm. "Don't be scared. If things get too bad, I can dash us up onto a rooftop. The others are seasoned fighters. They'll be fine."
Irelia dashed towards us in a whirlwind of blades, her face bruised yet otherwise fine. "We need to get out of here now!"
She barely finished her sentence before a purplish red ball of energy imploded in the middle of the clearing. It was as if my mind had short circuited, and I knew no more.
