From Dusk Till Dawn – Chapter 7: Ultimate Gamble

'Today…ends it all. We will either die heroes, or live to see another day. We have lost so much already, now all we can do is take it to the heart of the shadow isles. I would rather die than live as a coward.'

Yasuo, along with Ahri and Karma, met with Udyr and Soul at the pier of Trinity Island. Soul looked much stronger from the last time Yasuo had seen him. He even felt his spirit essence escaping out of him. Karma got ahead of them, and used her clairvoyance.

"…I see a long isle of souls this way. Hold on…" Karma intensified when she saw some key figures. "No…no way. I can see Nidalee, Krystal, Riven, and Lucian."

Yasuo felt a deep sharp pain when he heard that Riven was here. "Riven…this is really bad. We need to get a move on!"

"Right!" Udyr and Soul were already ahead of them with their insane speed. The rest of them followed behind.

Karma was falling behind for a moment when she sensed something very powerful coming close. She stopped, and fell to the ground.

'I almost feel frozen, this power is overwhelming. 800 meters…500 meters…NO, IT'S HERE!'

Karma called from behind. "YASUO, AHRI, GET DOWN!" Both of them looked back, and Yasuo also felt the same presence. He grabbed Ahri and fell to the ground. Instantaneously, there was a sharp spirit slash that just whiffed right above them. Udyr looked back, but it was too late. The slash hit him straight on, and he was entangled in soul shackles.

"What the hell is this?! I can't break free!" He looked around, and saw the march of the dead coming his way. Hecarim, Mordekaiser, and Thresh, along with an army of the undead. "Pathetic, I have to bring down more of them without my hands. LET'S GO SOUL!"

Soul transcended into the hawk. "They don't stand a chance!"

When the marchers got closer, Soul felt his life draining. He started getting dizzy, and fell to the ground.

"NO!"

Yasuo and Ahri came by Udyr's side and took him away before the undead army could get any closer. Hecarim, who was in the front, stopped the marchers. Hecarim then came forward to greet Udyr.

"Hand over the boy, unless you wish for a bloody grave."

Udyr hesitated. "You fear us because you know we can destroy you with the flick of a few fingers. Release me, you bastard!"

Mordekaiser was behind Hecarim, and came out laughing. "We know all your tricks, Spirit Walker. There are always alternate options if you do not comply with us." Mordekaiser conjured the dead from the ground beneath him, and in the center of them was a shadow. This shadow took form, and Udyr took a long, hard gaze into her face.

"You…What have you…WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" It was Nidalee, but this was not the same Nidalee. Nidalee's face looked old, and dead.

"Do not fear, she's only a bit tired." Mordekaiser kicked her to the ground. "Wake up, you peasant!"

Udyr tried to break free, but the more he struggled, the more painful it felt.

Mordekaiser snapped his finger, and Nidalee got up, and looked younger again. Now, the white in her eyes had color. Mordekaiser had full control of her.

"Kill him."

Nidalee stood up. "Understood." At the same time, Mordekaiser freed Udyr from his shackles, and his tremendous power blew her back. Still, she got back up and walked towards Udyr.

"WAKE UP, YOU FOOL! YOU CAN STILL CHOOSE FOR YOURSELF!"

Nidalee refused to respond. Instead, she went into her cougar form and attacked Udyr to the ground. It was hard for Udyr to defend himself, because he knew he could get through Nidalee somehow.

Yasuo wanted to intervene, but he knew Ahri and Karma would stop him like before.

'How is it that I can just sit by and watch my closest friends get beaten to death? Why can I never intervene?'

"Spirit Walker, why are you not fighting me back?"

"I told you…I would never give up on you."

Nidalee still attacked Udyr mercilessly. "Why?"

Udyr looked down. "I have faith that you are still alive inside."

Nidalee returned back to her normal form, and got very close to Udyr, looking him in his eyes. "Who are you?"

Udyr grabbed her shoulders, and looked deep into her eyes. "YOU KNOW WHO I AM. OUR SON IS BEING THREATENED BECAUSE YOU CAN'T WAKE UP, YOU FOOL!"
"I…have a son?"

Mordekaiser yelled back. "What the hell is this? KILL HIM!"

Nidalee looked back, and growled. "You monster." She threw her sharpened spear straight at Mordekaiser, who smashed it into a hundred pieces with his mace.

"Wrong choice, you worthless bitch." Mordekaiser snapped his fingers, and Nidalee fell to the ground, shrieking in pain. "You are next, Spirit Walker."

Udyr's power finally came back to him. He could feel the energy overpower him. "THAT'S IT! Yasuo, you take the minions, Mordekaiser is mine!"

Karma came alongside Nidalee, and healed her back up. Nidalee was just finally breaking loose from Mordekaiser's grasp. When Nidalee woke up, she felt like she had a headache and lost a bulk of her memory. She saw Udyr unleashing his power. "Uh…that man, is fighting for me?"

Hecarim commanded his warriors to battle. Yasuo backed up Udyr, as they fought alongside each other. Udyr's focus was Mordekaiser, but he was being overwhelmed. Ahri and Nidalee aided Udyr. "I don't remember who you are, but I know you are important. Go and kill Mordekaiser, and we can take care of the rest."

Udyr went ahead, and powered up. "One blast will be enough to send you into oblivion, metal head."

Mordekaiser surrounded himself in a thick steel shield. "We shall see, Spirit Walker."

Udyr focused all his energy into one piercing blow, and he clashed directly with Mordekaiser. Both were standing at equal footing, waiting for one to give in. Instead, Udyr put in more power. "OVERWHELMING FORCE, SPIRIT DECIMATION!" Udyr's spirit energy transformed into a shockwave around his arm, and it increasingly shook back Mordekaiser until the blast had completely shattered Mordekaiser.

'One down, only a few more to go.'

Udyr transcended from being in too poor of a condition to fight. Instead, he saw Ahri and Nidalee fighting in perfect condition. Ahri learned how to effectively use a sword from Riven and Yasuo, and Nidalee had always been an excellent close quarter comeback fighter. Yasuo was fighting Hecarim, and faring quite well without his blade.

Karma came to aid Udyr, and heal his wounds. Karma, however, had a stressful look.

"Why do you look like you are in a time of distress? We are rolling right over the Shadow Isles!"

Karma stood back up. "It is not them I am concerned about. Within my clairvoyance, I saw Riven and Krystal, but they are no longer in sight. It is as if their life force was suddenly depleted…"

"Quite the opposite, Karma." The soul reaper, Thresh, had hooked both Karma and Udyr towards him, and enclosed them in his spectral box. "You look so worried for your friends, why don't you say hello to them?" Thresh threw his lantern on the ground, and Karma could hear Lucian and Senna crying out endlessly.

Yasuo, hearing this, turned around towards Thresh. He quickly took his sword back from Ahri, and was planning on breaking Thresh's box from the outside. Instead, he was knocked to the ground from behind.

"Going somewhere?" Now before Yasuo was Riven.

"RIVEN?!" Yasuo was in grief seeing how Riven looked at this time. Now, her clothes were torn apart and revealing her bloody wounds. The mark of the Black Rose had fully consumed Riven's body. "This can't be…have you really thrown away your life to the Shadow Isles?"

Riven picked up Yasuo, and threw him against a rock pillar. "You are worthless to me. It is only through blood in which true warriors are born!"

Yasuo got up, shrugging off his wounds. 'That is not Riven, it's impossible. The death mark shouldn't have gone over her whole body after Karma sealed her spirit. She's being used…I just know it.'

"Will you fight me, Yasuo?"

Yasuo drew his blade. "You are not Riven, so I will have no trouble in killing you."

Riven scoffed, and went on the offensive. "You always thought of me as the weaker one, even though you knew I could have killed you back in Noxus. I AM THE TRUE WARRIOR!"

"You are nothing more than a shadow of yourself!" Yasuo went for a piercing blow to Riven's chest, and Riven instantaneously went on the defensive.

'Hmm…if I attack her in the upper portion of her body, she hesitates.'

Yasuo decided to go for more slashes, all of which were barely dodged. One slash in particular caught Rive off guard, and Yasuo flung her sword out of her hands. Instead of finishing her off, Yasuo held her close, and took a long look into her fierce eyes. "Let me go, you weakling!"

'I really hope that this has few repercussions.'

"Calm down, you silly little girl." Yasuo kissed Riven, and she lost her fierce look. Instead, she looked much more innocent, and she kissed Yasuo back. Ahri looked over for just a bit, and growled at both of them.

"Yasuo, you didn't have say anything. I knew that you would choose me in the end." Riven pushed Yasuo to the ground, and got on top of him. "Just let me take care of everything…"

'I…am…confused…'

Then, while Riven was on top of Yasuo, her charming yet innocent look turned into painful tears. "I caused you and everyone so much pain…I'm such an awful person, aren't I?"

"Uh, what?"

Riven got up, and handed Yasuo his sword. "Kill me."

Yasuo was both puzzled and disturbed at this point. He did not understand why Riven's emotional state was ever so changing. Then, he realized what was going on when he saw her blood veins on her right arm just as the death mark had spread. Riven was in full control, but her emotions separated her. With this, she was going through all the emotional states in her life when she was young, innocent, girly, upset, and depressed.

"Embrace DEATH!" Hecarim charged towards Riven, and she instantly empowered her sword and protected Yasuo. She called on her spirit energy, and it came out of nowhere. Riven stopped Hecarim straight in his tracks.

"No longer…" She looked up at Hecarim, with fiery eyes. "No longer will I live being PUSHED AROUND BY ZED OR HIS MINIONS!" Riven slashed Hecarim up, and blew him away with her wind slash.

'Ironic, the same Wind Slash used to frame me is the same one that is used to save my life. Thankfully Riven is on our side.'

Riven was losing control of herself, and she fell asleep into Yasuo's arms. Ahri came to assist him, and gave him Soul as well. "Don't act like I didn't see your romantic scene, Yasuo."

Yasuo shrugged it off. "Sorry Miss, I can't help myself!"

After Yasuo said this, the sky got a lot darker, and the wind was picking up pace around Nidalee, who was out in the open. Her shadow began to enlarge, and she was confused on what was happening. Udyr was watching from Thresh's prison, as he saw Nidalee get surrounded by multiple shadows.

"Finally, you are mine." The shadows dashed around Nidalee, and Nidalee was marked for death.

"NIDALEE, RUN AWAY!"

Nidalee looked back. "Huh, wha-" Nidalee was stabbed in the back, and it pierced right through her arteries. She coughed blood on the ground, and fell over. It was Zed.

"Spirit Walker…I know you can still fight. Don't give up…I'm counting…on you…" Nidalee's last breath was taken, and she fell over dead.

"Zed…you insolent bastard you…" Udyr's power was so tremendous, that is shattered Thresh's box and sent him flying in the other direction. Then, Udyr teleported next to Zed, and smashed him to the ground. "HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO KILL YOU GOD DAMNIT?" Udyr picked him up, and started beating the hell out of him. He eventually cracked his armor, and his face showed. This was no ordinary face, but it was déjà vu to Udyr. He put Zed down, and walked back. "You can't be serious…"

Zed took off the rest of his helmet, and revealed who he truly was. "I am sorry, Udyr. The lust for power has consumed me…"

...

...

Zed...

Zed…was…Udyr's Master – Spirit.

Yasuo was in fear of what he just saw. 'That's…That's the legendary Spirit Walker who taught Udyr everything? How the hell is he still alive?! This is crazy…what will happen next?'