Chapter 16
Master Heian stood from a high balcony that overlooked the Grand Hall, sword at his side, his dark wrappings obscuring his face. His body was deteriorating. The spell holding him to this world was weakening. His gripped his side as a dull, dead pain shot through his side. When he pulled his hand away from the spot, dark, brown blood matted a layer of decaying life on his palm.
He frowned. The wound Yi had given him accelerated the decaying process. Soon he would turn back into the corpse he was made from, and he would be powerless to do any more.
He shifted his gaze from his hand to the view over the balcony. In front of him, dozens of Nexi were being collected; the magic stolen and stored from the aftermaths of the Rune Wars. The might of the every nation-once might was trapped in bottomless depths of the Nexus crystal they were stored in, and restricted their flow to only a trickle, so that the devastation that was nearly destroyed the world would never again.
His eyes travelled over the might of nations. There was a dark violet crystal that once held the collective might of Icathia, a brilliant white crystal that shone like a diamond; the remnants of Uristan, a royal blue that held the might of all Shurmia's court mages, and so on.
But there was the most important one. The Ionian crystal.
Master Heian gazed into the depths of a brilliant golden nexus that was being stacked upon a skeltal-pyramid made only of red cedar and painted with the Imperial Red of the Chin Dynasty, blessed with holly and mulberry blossoms.
The Ionian crystal was different from the Nexi of other countries. For while the other countries stored power like a battery, the Ionian crystal was something else entirely.
It was a dam. A plug. A barrier, holding back the Wu from flooding the world.
Destroying this Nexus would be slightly more difficult than moving a mountain. But with the might of every country's Nexi, and the strength of the entire League of Legends...
Master Heian closed his eyes. It would come soon. He only needed a little more time, and the dark soldiers would complete the release ritual. Then the Seal on the Wu would fall apart. And then...
And end to suffering. Only then would he allow himself to die.
The plan was simple.
Cause a diversion and slip in through the back. If they collected as one and launched a frontal assault on the League, they would be crushed by the overwhelming force that the combined rest of the League and the army would bring onto them. The amount of sheer firepower that ninety-plus champions of every nation could bring down on a handful of champions and a company of snipers would make the wrath of God feel like a light spring rain.
Jax took with him the entire company of snipers to mount an attack on the front gate of the League. As one of the strongest champions, and one of the few front-line fighters they had left, he was best suited for the nearly-suicidal task. Pantheon, his willful Rakkor not to be outdone, immediately volunteered for the task as well. Thus the majority of their ragged band left for the most dangerous part of their mission. In their hearts they knew that few would survive. The necessity of the task hardened their hearts. First came their jobs. Survival they could figure out afterwards.
And so they were about to leave, too. A smaller company would make their way to the Proving Grounds and slip through into the Institute through there. There was only Annie left. Upon learning that Ahri was going back into "the bad place", the child cried buckets before Ahri left; it had been up to Ahri to console her, smoothing the her hair, and soothing away the little girl's sobs with her words.
"Your big sister will be right back, Annie. I promise, okay?"
"L...liar. Sis...mama..." Annie choked over more sobs, and her wailing was starting to pick up again. Annie buried her face in Ahri's belly, her tears wetting the silk.
Ahri softly smiled. She had a dumb idea.
"How about I give you one of my nice, fluffy tails?"
Annie giggled a bit between her tears.
"You don't have any."
"That's right. Because I gave it to you."
Annie stopped crying. Her small voice came out less and less shaky.
"That's stupid."
"You're stupid."
Fiora strode forwards from the front of the camp, her rapier dangling from her hip, her eyes lidded with annoyance.
"If you are finished, mademoiselles." Fiora jerked her head over at a small group of less than ten people. "T'e caravan awaits."
"I will be back," Ahri whispered to Annie over her dried tears. "I promise."
She rose, causing her silk strips flowing like water over Annie. With a motion, Ahri turned to step away from the camp, to join the second party. They left wordlessly, trudging down the mountain path that would lead to the Proving Grounds, and eventually the Institute.
And she left; the image of a small girl with her bear fading, staring after her, until it was nothing more than a speck in the distance.
It didn't take long to reach the Proving Grounds.
Ahri crouched low with her comrades over a ridge that had a view of the lone bridge that was the Proving Grounds. Caitlyn had drawn up behind them, with Fiora sitting back on the flattest rock she could find, checking her nails.
"Seems clear," Caitlyn murmured, her trained eyes sweeping over the scene with expert detail. "But I don't see any enemy troops."
The sheriff bit her lip, uncertain.
"I don't like it." Caitlyn jerked her head over to the rest of her men. "The rest of you lot get down. I'll provide overwatch. Ahri, Fiora, that means you, too."
Fiora rose wordlessly, escorted by a rank of snipers, while Ahri turned to pat Caitlyn on the shoulder.
"We're counting on you."
"I know. I'll follow you lot once you've cleared the bridge."
Ahri rose to follow the men down the spiral trail that led to the Proving Grounds. Already, five or six of them had made it down the ridge to the cobblestone steps that made up one entrance of the popular Institute area. Then one of them in the front stopped. He raised his hand, and everyone held their position.
Whee...
"...hey."
eee...
The sniper turned to look around.
""Does anyone hear that whistling sound-" He was cut off as he took an arrow to the back of the head. The man toppled over, blood trailing from his head wound.
"Enemy sniper!" One of men yelled, and everyone took cover behind something.
From the ridge above, Caitlyn saw the arrow, and immediately shifted her focus to where it came from. It was shot from the other side of the Proving Grounds... She shifted her sniper rifle to the general area, and leveled it at where she thought the shot came from. She had a good idea, but there were just so many hiding places. Caitlyn grit her teeth. She flipped over yet another set of magnifying lenses.
"Where are you, you wanker?" She muttered. She adjusted the lenses on her scope to search for the enemy.
Three of the men had taken cover behind a solid rock wall, sitting, their head covered so as to avoid the fire from the unknown enemy. But they were far from safe. Then, from that same place the arrow came from, a shining orb shot forwards. Ahri, now with the rest of the group, recognized it from her many ordeals in the central.
"Run!" She yelled, as the shining orb passed the wall the men were hiding behind, and planted itself only a few feet from the boots of the men. "It's going to blow!"
The snipers reacted quickly, scattering from the orb, but it was too late; the orb exploded, launching the men off their feet. Dead or alive, no one had the time to tell.
"Forget t'is!" Fiora yelled, stepping nimbly out of her cover. "I won't be bled slowly! c'arge!"
She immediately drew fire, arrows grazed the duelist, while various forms of bright magic exploded all around her. Ahri and the rest of the men who could still move charged after her, weathering a barrage of projectile attacks. Soon a third type of attack started spewing from the ridge, lightning fast projectiles shaped with runic branches. One of the men was caught over the shoulder by one; he fell backwards, left to his own devices as his comrades charged forwards.
"Oh no you don't!" muttered Caitlyn. She laid down suppressing fire over the enemy's ridge, which reduced the rate of fire at which her friends took, but still more shots came flooding from the enemy nest while a few attacks were even aimed at her now.
Her rifle flicked, empty, and Caitlyn immediately drew another paper pouch of bullets from her hand, but as she did, an arrow short forwards, catching her in the hand and tearing her flesh and the pouch of bullets. The bullets scattered to the ground, while Caitlyn winced.
"Only a flesh wound..." Caitlyn muttered, tearing the arrow's head out of her hand. Her eyes widened when the Sheriff looked upon the bloody arrow in her hands.
Ahri, Fiora, and but four snipers managed to make it to the other side of the Proving Grounds. Without Caitlyn's fire, they might have all been cut down. Ahri laid hands on her knees, almost gasping for breath; the men were winded, and even Fiora seemed to be breathing heavier.
"A'ri! The shield! Take it out!" Fiora gestured to the blue shield that sealed off the causeway from the Proving Grounds to the Institute Proper. "We 'ave no time!"
"But Cait!" Ahri turned to the ridge, which was now taking the full brunt of the enemy's force. Ahri could barely see the outline of the sheriff, who was shrinking back under the withering fire, only managing a few shots here and there.
Caitlyn rolled on her back, as another runic missile barely missed her. As she did, a pure white arrow seemingly made of ice tore into her hat. Cait caught her headgear as the arrow nearly took it off. She sighed, pulling the hat over her eyes.
"Hurry up and go, you tossers," Caitlyn muttered. "Looks like I'll be having my afternoon tea here." She loaded a flare into her gun, and shot it into the sky. The red trail spiral into the dark clouds above, leaving no doubt for the enemy snipers as to where she was now.
One of the snipers saw the signal.
"That's the captain!" He shouted, pointing. "That's the signal to go!"
Fiora turned sharply to Ahri, her hair whipping into place. The duelist's sharp eyes drilled into Ahri's soft black ones.
"You 'ear t'at, fox-girl? We. Go."
Fiora's eyes softened and she took a step forwards. She surprised Ahri with a slim hand on her shoulder.
"Trust our friends, fox-girl."
Ahri sighed in slight exasperation.
"So you do have friends."
"S'ut up and go."
Ahri nodded, then turned to the blue shield. She called up the Pheonix Sun with an image in her mind. As she did, an orb as brilliant as a second sun burned bright in her right palm. Fire trailed up her sleeve as massive amounts of magical floated off of the artifact in waves.
"Help me, Pheonix Sun."
Her raised her hands, and pushed the orb into the shield. With a brilliant white light, the magical artifact ground into the shield. Where the shield crumbled away burned white like the sun, and everyone turned away to shield their eyes from the light. Ahri closed her eyes, the light still managing to pour through her eyelids, until she could see only white.
"Come on... Phoenix!" She concentrated, the orb spun faster and with more strength to her will.
Then with a brilliant last flash, the shield broke through. A man-sized hole burned white along its edges in the blue protective shield of the Institute.
"Yes!"
And with that, the small band of allies slipped through the shield; even as it was already oozing back into place, healing. Caitlyn managed to catch glimpses of the brilliant white light from her ridge, and smiled when she saw her allies make it through. The sheriff of Piltover rolled on her back, looking up to the ugly, grey sky that hung above them.
"What a terrible day to die," She murmured.
From the enemy ridge, Ashe, frost archer of Freijord drew her wintery bow, setting another arrow of ice in it's mouth. Lux, Lady of Luminosity and Demacian mage of Light, spun her light rod in her slim hands. And Ezreal, the prodigal explorer from Piltover, readied his next round of missiles. As they did, black smoke bled off of their bodies, leaving sinister trails of corruption in the sniper's nest they had built.
Their will may have been dominated, but their aim was not. Each round fired was another round intended to kill. They could not let Caitlyn come down from that ridge alive.
Lux stepped fowards and fired a laser over the ridge that would have taken Caitlyn's head off at the neck if the sniper didn't roll away at the last nanosecond.
Caitlyn turned over, hoping for another look on the sniper's nest, but was driven back by another burst of attacks. Seems like Ashe's aim was the best. An arrow this time had grazed Caitlyn's cheek, drawing a thin line of blood that was rapidly turning into a tiny sheet of crimson on her face.
"Good luck, Ahri, love."
She turned over once more, and the barrage of fire took her hat clean off this time.