Azorszos groaned. "Your Highness, you are crazy."

"You are fortunate that your immortality means I can't kill you."

"Believe me, it would be a blessing, that I could die."

Ostarion and Azorszos sat in the mostly intact remains of the keep. Upon the table before them was a map, once used by the now-reanimated Noxian garrison. They had a new base of command. The question at hand now was where to go.

"You can't possibly expect to conquer Noxus in only a month."

"We've angered but a single city-state. It appears to be a rather large city-state, but that's of minor importance. And from what I've gathered from my new subjects, it's a city state that's in direct conflict with another. The only power stopping us is this 'League of Legends' that's lost relevance anyway."

"We have nothing! No production base, no reliable source of soldiers, and no political ties! Do you expect a major representative from a nation to just waltz up to this fort which, according to this map, is in the middle of relative nowhere, and- "

"You need better security."

Azorszos and Ostarion looked up to see a eagle, a piece of armor in its beak, perched upon an arm. Ostarion raised an eyebrow, then smirked. "Well, where are my manners? Come, join us."

Now, Ostarion never did have the best of luck with wildlife. Maybe it was the whole "undead" thing. Still, most had the sense not the mess with the Wraith King, and he had enough apathy and strength to not mind the ones that did. Looking at the massive eagle before him, though, it was clear it didn't like him, squawking and flapping.

"Valor! That's not nice. He's just as much a king as Jarvan the Third… Even if he doesn't look it."

Ostarion scoffed. "You'll forgive me if I left my more regal attire at home. The armor is more… functional. But that's not why you came here, to make fun of my choice of clothing?"

She sighed. "No… My name's Quinn. I'm a soldier of Demacia. My mission was to capture this fort… but you beat us to it."

"The answer is no."

"Wh-what?"

"No. You're not having it. This fort is now under the jurisdiction of the Empire of Wraith."

"That… that's not quite what I was going to ask." Under her breath, she muttered, "Would have been nice, though.

"What I was going to ask for was… a declaration of cooperation, so to speak."

"You ask for this after cutting through my men and sneaking in? Noxus falls upon this fort tonight, and I could have used them."

"I was going to ask just about that. We would like to aid you in defending this fort…"

"I'm sensing a condition here."

"... if you give us the fort after."

Ostarion was unamused. "No."

"You need us to keep this fort."

"You need us to keep it in your hands."

"Demacia does not usually negotiate with undead warlords."

"But I'm special, is that it? Very well. I shall cede the fortress to you after we finish defending it under one condition."

The eagle gave him an angry stare. "Which is?"

"You work for me once it's done."

"What?" The eagle resumed its angry flapping, and this time its owner made no move to quiet it. "I will never betray Demacia."

"Betrayal? I'm not asking you to betray your home country. I'm just asking for a… change in employer."

"Those two are one in the same."

"Then we are at an impasse. Tonight, the fort returns to Noxus, which displeases us both. A pity."

The woman… Quinn, that was her name, turned away. "A pity indeed."

I never was one for negotiating anyway, Ostarion thought as he watched her leave.

And now, we wait. Patience was not one of the strongest virtues of the Wraith King, and he found himself pacing the walls.

So, I've made two enemies now. Two enemies who will probably both attack tonight. He smiled. At least tonight will be more interesting.

"Your Highness, they're here!" Indeed, Ostarion could make our the red banners of war.

"Well, let's not keep them waiting, shall we?"

Darius strode towards the fort. He wasn't completely clear on who had dared defile Noxian land – Swain said something about wraiths – but he was more than prepared to crush whoever it was. What we was less prepared to see was a small band of soldiers, no more than perhaps a hundred, striding out to meet him and his army, hundreds strong. In front was the supposed leader, the self-proclaimed King of Wraiths.

"Are you the leader of this force?"

"You stand before the only king that matters, King Ostarion of the Empire of Wraith. I accept your surrender."

Darius gave a cross between a grin and a scowl. "Surrender? Don't worry, I won't give you the chance to do that. I'll give you some credit, you took this fort. Too bad that's the last thing you'll have ever done. I am Darius, Command General of the armies of Noxus, and tonight you die."

Battle cries echoed, and the two armies charged towards each other.

"Wait for it…."

Azorszos stood atop the walls, overlooking the battle. Though outnumbered, His Highness' ability to call upon the dead helped even the odds. He ducked a few arrows, then returned fire, magically tearing his rib out and shattering it, before blasting the shards into the fray. Immortality teaches one strange battle habits.

He grimaced. The reincarnated archers alongside him were thinning in number, which freed up more archers to shoot at the still small forward force below. Even Ostarion was immortal, but he wasn't that immortal (if that made any sense).

Out of the corner of his empty eye, he thought he saw movement in the trees where the wraiths had first hid, but he paid it no mind.

Bone met steel once more, and Ostarion pulled Ambinerath's jaw back as Darius pulled back his axe. Clash after clash, clang after clang, all while the battle raged around them. Darius was not making much progress in killing the Wraith King… but neither was Ostarion coming closer to killing Noxus' Command General.

"I tire of this charade." The Wraith's King's next blow was not met with Darius' axe, but his plated shoulder. Darius returned the favor, his axe cutting into Ostarion's own pauldrons. Two more swings found teeth into Darius' left side, a cut into Ostarion's right.

"I can do this all day, you so-called king."

"Can you do it for longer than I can?"

Blow after blow, Ostarion drank in the essence from the spilled blood. While his foe had no such regenerative ability, he was assuredly determined, and showed no worse for wear. Unfortunately, Ostarion could not quite say the same for his men.

"Even with you reanimating our dead, you've still lost. Your archers are dwindling, your swordsmen fall, and soon you will, too."

Ostarion gripped his sword tighter as the forces of Noxus closed around him. I don't like where this is going.

Darius smirked. Another petty insurrection put down. He raised his axe up, and felt an arrow stick into his hand. Then another stick his arm. And another. And another.

"What? What is this?"

The cry of "Demacia" was so great that Darius would have sworn that Garen was there. However, he failed to spy Demacia's Might as soldiers clad in blue and gold stormed out of the forest. He failed to spy much more as an eagle's talons filled his face. A swat of his axe thankfully shooed the bird away, and he found himself face to face with –

"Quinn. How nice to see you outside of the Fields."

"A pity I can't say the same, Darius. Fancy meeting you here."

"You almost had us surprised there. Almost." He grinned at Quinn's widening eyes. "But not quite." A rock sailed through the air, crashing into the trees. The trees feel to reveal more Noxian soldiers, hundreds more.

"But there are more important matters at hand. I'm almost sad I won't get to kill you again and again after today."

"You're right. I'll make sure you get some memorial rock in your honor."

A dead soldier sailed between them, chest still smoldering from wraithfire. "So sorry to break up the reunion, but I'm sure you'll both have plenty of time to catch up later… as wraiths."

Soldiers clad in red stood against those clad in blue. Yet others glowed a sickly green, wearing both colors, and fought against all those still living. Darius grinned. Quinn readied her crossbow. Ostarion gripped his sword. Valor squawked.

Behold and thusly, an update! My thanks to NotNick, who helped with lore and general acceptability.