"LeBlanc?" I muttered, slightly annoyed. "What type of name is that? That's literally just French for 'The White'. Lazy."

"Well, you can call her the Pale Lady for all its worth, but she prefers LeBlanc." Swain shrugged carelessly. "Perhaps even she has forgotten her real name. It's been a few millenniums after all."

"I have heard of the Pale Lady in the myths surrounding the Black Rose." Ahri mentioned. "Is it true she can take on the form of others at will?"

Swain didn't bother answering, but instead simply opened yet another doorway to reveal a large circular room, with violet colored drapes on the ground. In the center of the room, stood a large altar with a magnificent crystal orb placed in the center. With her back to us, stood a tall figure holding an interesting looking staff in her left hand. A dark purple cape that stretched all the way up to her forehead barely hid her dark, bluish hair, and on her head was a golden crown that had a symbol of the Black Rose embedded into its center.

"Welcome to the Black Rose." The figure who must have been LeBlanc said, and turned in our direction. I gasped momentarily, as although Swain did say she was named the Pale Lady, I had not expected her skin to actually be pure white. Yet LeBlanc's skin was so pale that a few more dashes of white might have made her disappear. I wondered if she has ever seen the light of the sun ever since she defeated Mordekaiser thousands of years ago. A few dashes of purple hung mysteriously from her eyes, and her staff had strange looking gems that levitated around it.

Ahri was about to step forward, yet Irelia beat her to it. Stepping forwards, she waved her hands and instantly had her blades upon the Deceiver's neck.

"Why!" Irelia roared, pressing her blades deeper into LeBlanc's throat. "Why did you invade Ionia!"

Instead of flinching, which I had done although I certainly was not Irelia's target, LeBlanc simply sighed. To our surprise, her figure suddenly disappeared, before reappearing in a seated position at a table in a different corner of the room.

"Calm yourself, Blade Dancer." LeBlanc told Irelia, before motioning for us to join her. "I deeply grieve for the death of your family, though I had nothing to do with their deaths."

"Yet, the myths say you are the hidden power behind the throne, the figure who has manipulated the path of Noxus for thousands of years. If you are not in control of the war, who is?" Ahri said with a frown, before taking a seat at the table. Ahri patted the seat beside her, and I sat down besides Ahri as a few servants brought us drinks. I took a drink from the cup I was handed, and nearly dropped it in surprise as I realized the servants looked identical to LeBlanc. With a shiver, I realized there was no way to tell the real LeBlanc from the many illusions. Perhaps, the figure sitting at the table was simply another of LeBlanc's tricks while the real LeBlanc observed from the shadows.

"Although I'm not in control, it indeed was my mistake." LeBlanc grimaced, putting her drink back down on the table. "Although lying must be like ninety-five percent of what I do, I was nonetheless deceived."

"Our problems began with the current grand general of Noxus." Swain explained, as his drink lay untouched in the corner. A shadowy raven perched on his shoulders as he spoke. "Old Boram Darkwill started out all right, after becoming Grand General when he gained the favor of the nobles. Yet as he aged, he became obsessed with prolonging his life. Obsessed with immortality, he rejected the Black Rose. For years, he has attempted to cook up potions of eternal life out of materials smuggled from all of Runeterra, greatly depleting the Noxus treasury."

"Oh right, that makes sense." I noted, as I remembered how the Noxian on Sett's ship had said they were loosening up the law on smuggling. "That's why Sett got away with smuggling for so long."

I looked over towards Sett, who scowled down at the table.

"Yes, well." LeBlanc continued, bending over the desk and grasping the edges with her two pale hands. "With all his treasury nearly empty, Boram turned to the tides of war. I am speaking, certainly, of Ionia. The old fool's attacked the island under the guise of obtaining magical weapons, but his true motives are to search the land for magical artifacts that can aid him in his quest for immortality."

My mind swirled, and I felt the clicks of puzzle pieces as the entirety of the situation started to come together, finally making sense. Tendrils of purple magic slithered from LeBlanc's hands onto the surface of the table, materializing into a mini 3D war map. The map showed a sprawl of large islands in the middle of the Guardian Sea, and I recognized the continent of Ionia. Looking more carefully, I noticed a miniaturized version of the village of Weh'le in one of the islands. However, I also noticed that the front lines, the area of fiery destruction, had greatly expanded towards the center of Ionia since I had last seen it from afar.

"Oh no." Ahri whispered, as she had obviously noticed the shift in the frontlines as well. Her golden eyes narrowed and her tails swirled more urgently as she leaned closer towards the map. "If the Noxians don't slow down their advance, we'll soon be overrun."

"Which brings us to our second problem." LeBlanc nodded. "Even if the Black Rose could take control of Noxus once more before sunrise tomorrow, it will be still too late for Ionia."

"What we need, is a diversion." Swain put in, before glancing gravely around the table towards our group. "Some of you will have to return to Ionia to slow down the offensive. I imagine the Ionia army will need their Blade Dancer back, though she alone might not be enough."

"I'll go." Sett put in instantly, before glaring at us as if daring us to say otherwise. "My momma is in Weh'le. Noxus shan't dare lay a finger on her."

"I'll return as well." Master Yi volunteered. "I am sure Ionia can use a swordsman."

"Perfect." Swain clapped, his regular hand thumping against his ghostly demonic hand, generating a loud sound as well as red splashes of mist that swirled towards Yasuo's face. Yasuo swatted the mist away uncomfortably. "You three should get along immediately if you wish to make it in time."

A mirror image of LeBlanc, dressed in servant robes, arrived at the table to lead Irelia, Sett and Master Yi away back to their boat. After the trio left, which left me, Ahri and Yasuo as the only Ionians, LeBlanc started to manipulate her magic to transform the Ionian map.

"Well, it's just us three now, like the beginning." Ahri grinned towards me, her cheerful voice breaking the grim mood of the room.

"Ya. Let's do this." I agreed excitedly, and turned back towards the battle map of the table. The map had changed from the continent of Ionia to a 3D model of the Immortal Bastion, and I watched beads of sweat from on top of LeBlanc's forehead as she concentrated to summon an assortment of passageways throughout the massive iron building.

"Didn't the Immortal Bastion use to be the base of the Black Rose?" I inquired curiously, wondering why LeBlanc needed so much energy to generate a model of it on the table.

"Well, yes." LeBlanc gasped. "Yet generating an enclosed building, especially one as massive as the Immortal Bastion, is much more difficult than creating land. Furthermore, even I don't pretend to know all the secrets of the Immortal Bastion. The deepest secrets of the fortress were reserved for Mordekaiser alone."

As the image of the fortress stabilized, Ahri, Yasuo and I crowded in for a closer glance.

"What's that?" I asked LeBlanc curiously as I pointed towards a maze of corridors deep below the Immortal Bastion that led to a fortified chamber.

"We won't have to worry about that." LeBlanc explained. "That is the chamber containing Mordekaiser's set of armor. I had to personally sever the connection between Mordekaiser's relentless soul from his armor thousands of years ago. The Black Rose eventually sealed the armor deep below the bastion with thousands of traps and barriers. Not a single soul, even me, knows the full extent of every trap."

"Anyways." Swain cut in, his right hand pointing towards the entrance of the Immortal Bastion. "Although the Immortal Bastion is heavily guarded by the Trifarian, the bulk of their forces are outside. Although the spell will require every mage within the Black Rose, LeBlanc will be able to create an illusion that would separate the Immortal Bastion with the rest of Noxus."

LeBlanc nodded tiredly, her hands clenching harder onto her staff.

"After LeBlanc has severed the Immortal Bastion from outside forces, we go in. Our current compound is connected directly with the exterior of the fortress. If we silence the guards swiftly, we can then prepare an offensive."

Swain lowered towards the table, and pointed with his ghostly hand towards the transparent walls of the illusionary fortress. He pointed out three separate wings of the fortress that sprawled outwards from the center, where a large staircase was guarded by a ginormous metal gate.

"We must clear the three separate wings of the Immortal Bastion, before our confrontation with Boram at the summit." Swain continued. "That way, old Darkwill will have no reinforcements. I have no doubt Darius and the Trifarian have taken up residence in the right wing, and the left wing should have been reserved for a special project of the Black Rose that has fallen into Boram's hands. I am talking, of course, about Sion. I believe Yasuo has experience with him?"

Ahri and I looked towards Yasuo in confusion, and the swordsman shrugged.

"He's a massive axe brute. I encountered him with other Ionians before I became an outcast. He's about two times my height, and probably weighs more than a pair of horses. He wields a massive ax, and his stomach has some type of massive red hole in it. He's also got a knife stuck to his forehead" Yasuo said, before glancing at Swain and LeBlanc curiously. "You say he was one of your projects? Where did you even get him?"

"Sion was supposedly the last Noxian warlord who followed the old traditions." Leblanc sighed. "Back then, he was the Hand of Noxus. When he died in battle at last, we prepared a ritual that would partially revive him, to forge him into a weapon. The magic of the ritual was imbued into a single dagger, which was stored inside the Immortal Bastion until when it came our time to use it. Unfortunately, along with many other things, it fell into the hands of Boram Darkwill when he turned on the Black Rose. He's completed the ritual, and is using Sion as his personal guard. He can be brought back to the grave if we remove the knife from his head, but doing so is a bit more challenging."

"And the most important bit. The Immortal Bastion is ever so cryptic. Once inside, no plan will be good enough. Be ready for surprises. Only our wits can save us" Swain said at last. "Alright. Feel free to leave for the moment, get some rest, but gather in the main hall at sundawn. We begin our attack at midnight."

As it was only early in the afternoon, Ahri, Yasuo, and I took a nap so that we would be full of energy during the night. I curled up in Ahri's warm tails under the dim light in one of the Black Rose lodgings, and instantly fell asleep.

When I awoke, I glanced towards one of the clocks in the corner, and saw that it was six in the evening. Yasuo had already gone out, probably to meditate, though Ahri was still sound asleep.

"Ahri!" I whispered, before jumping into her tails, and pushing on her left arm. "Wake up!"

Ahri opened her magnificent lamp-like eyes and yawned, stretching her arms before sitting up. She affectionately fondled me in her arms, while I played with her luxurious, dark hair.

"Alright Wentao." Ahri told me gently, before standing up to her full height. Her white tails reflected the dim purple light of the ceiling lamps, which gave them a soft, violet glow. She put on her Noxian themed cloak, before putting a hand on my back to lead me out of the room. "Follow me darling. Let's get you something to eat."

I followed Ahri up a flight of stairs, and we emerged from inside a hidden bunker door into a small clump of trees. Ahri parted the branches, and we emerged onto a Noxian street. Although Noxus had the bases of a city just as Ionia, its people were much meaner. I noticed passersby glancing up and down towards us, as if gauging whether or not we were worth the hassle of robbing. Yet although Ahri looked quite harmless in her cloak, the Noxians usually stopped after they noticed my sword.

"It's a pity." Ahri sighed, as she looked up and down the shriveled old streets, as well as the people who seemed to be stuck in a state of poverty. Her golden eyes glowed with concern, as she put an arm around my shoulder protectively. "Noxus was actually quite nice back in the days a few hundred years ago."

Ahri bought a meat pastry from a small shop, giving the nice elderly owner quite a generous tip in the process before hiking with me up onto a small secluded hill that overlooked the Noxus streets. She took off her cloak, spreading it gently onto the grass like a picnic blanket before she sat down. I followed suit, and Ahri wrapped her tails around me before she split the pastry in half, and handed me one of them. After we finished our meal, I cuddled closer to Ahri for warmth as the air started to cool in the sunset. In the distance, I saw a Noxian slowly lowering a Noxus flag from its flagpole as the day came to an end. The sky sparkled with vibrant shades of orange as the sun cast its last rays of sunlight through the distant clouds.

"I'm scared, Ahri." I confessed to Ahri, as the full extent of the past day finally drained into me. I had helped fight off a horde of Noxians, and tonight, I was going to infiltrate a top secret military base in an attempt to rid an entire country of a corrupt ruler. For a moment, I wondered if this would be the last sunset I'll ever see.

"Awww. Don't worry little fox." Ahri tilted her head, and gently pulled me into her chest. She wrapped me in her warm, soft tails, which I nuzzled while she stroked my hair. "It's going to be alright."

"But what if something goes wrong?" I whimpered, hiding myself deeper into Ahri's tails. "Just one wrong move and I might die!"

"But you won't." Ahri reassured me. On seeing my disbelieving look, she smiled, and her face glowed brighter than the setting sun in the twilight sky. "Awww. Don't you trust me?"

"Of course I trust you Ahri." I nodded, burying my face into her tails.

"Awww, good fox." Ahri laughed, and patted my head gently. "Everything's going to be okay."

Ahri and I watched as the sun finally fully submerged below the skylines, and drowned Noxian in darkness except for the twinkling of stars, and a full moon that glowed palely in the night sky.

"Alright then Wentao." Ahri said at last, standing up and wrapping her cloak around me to keep me warm. She appeared to not be bothered by the cold herself. "Let's get going. The sun has set. It's time for us to meet up with the Black Rose."

We made our way back towards the clump of trees, by the fiery glow of dozens of torches in the Noxian night. At last, Ahri opened the hidden doors of the Black Rose, and signaled for me to go in. I glanced back towards the Immortal Bastion one last time, which was lit by thousands of torches in its many ramparts, before turning my back towards the towering fortress. Tomorrow at dawn, one way or the other, all this will be over.