"Friends can be your best kind of enemies." –Twisted Fate, the Card Master With No Friends
The Champions' Break fell under a state of chaos after the Maven of Strings vanished the next day.
"I heard Mordekaiser ate Sona and he was 'k," Gangplank muttered in an unenthusiastic, not-so-piratey tone. At this, Xin Zhao, the Seneschal of Demacia, shrugged.
"I doubt he'd hurt her," he said, but no one listened to him because he was Xin Zhao. As he trudged away in the saddest way possible, Katarina rolled her eyes as she turned to the assembly of champions in the first floor lobby. Lux looked extremely content with the situation, and as far as Katarina knew, she was still good friends with the Maven of Strings despite her worries over her brother. The Sinister Blade sighed as she sat on the tip of a large fountain of water.
"Zed," Katarina asked, clearly exasperated from all the searching she did to find Sona's whereabouts, "have you found Sona, yet?"
Zed, the Master of Shadows, shook his head. Though he hated to admit defeat, searching for Sona without getting obliterated by the Iron Revenant was an all-too-impossible task. "The Master of Metal is obviously involved with this," he stated. "As much as how far I'd like to go for power and absolute recognition, it seems that the Iron Man went quite over the line this time."
"Quite? Quite?" Katarina seethed. "Are you seriously saying 'quite' and 'Mordekaiser' together? If I recall correctly, that monster tried to legitimately kill some of us! And you're saying that he went quite over the line this time?"
With a small shrug, the Master of Shadows chuckled. "I doubt a strong woman like Sona would die off like a dayfly. I, too, am worried, but provoking me will get you nothing but trouble, Noxian." As he walked away, he vanished into a puff of dark smoke, disappearing from the naked eye. He did admit that things would get troublesome if the Maven of Strings really was together with the Iron Revenant.
Master Yi then asked all of the champions gathered at the lobby,
"Who wants to traverse into the deep lands of Mordekaiser Land with me?!"
And with those words, every champion felt a bit of respect for the Wuju Bladesman. Wow, he looks super brave! They all thought. But what the heck is Mordekaiser Land?
"I will!" A voice cried out. Garen, who had been looking for Sona as well, turned to the source of the voice and paled.
Prince Jarvan IV, the Exemplar of Demacia, stood with his majestic armor and lance ready. Not only did he feel concerned about the Demacian maiden's wellbeing, but he also sensed a boiling rage about the idea that someone would dare to hurt her.
"I will go with you," Jarvan IV muttered. Before the prince of Demacia took any further steps, however, another champion placed a cold hand on the warrior's chest and stopped him.
Swain, the leader of Noxus, remained still with his hand on Jarvan's armor. His empty eyes stared through Jarvan's eyes as he mumbled, "That is a stupid strategy."
Hailing from city-states that traded lives and resources through countless wars, Demacia and Noxus never really grew fond of each other at any given point in Runeterra's history. While some of the champions that hailed from said countries had put aside their hatred for their rival countries, there were certain champions that refused to drop the rivalry down.
Two of those certain champions were Jarvan and Swain. And not to mention, but they were leaders of the city-states.
"Excuse me?" Jarvan blurted out as one of his eyes twitched in annoyance. "Are you actually stopping me from helping one of my comrades?"
"Have you ever considered the idea," Swain attacked with a simple question, "that he is expecting something like this to happen?"
And indeed, it did seem strange that the lord of undead would suddenly snatch up an innocent Demacian maiden that had nothing to do with him. As the champions gathered at the first floor lobby began to understand what the Master Tactician implied, they steadily grew quiet.
"There seems to be some confusion as to how we could approach the Iron Hand of Death, as we like to call him," the Noxian man continued as he moved away from an angry Exemplar of Demacia. "But we should not jump in headfirst. Who knows what his plan could be?
"He could be intentionally waiting for us at this very moment. He could be plotting something on a scale that we could not comprehend. So we should find something that could potentially stand up to him. Something similar to him, that is."
Everyone wondered what could be similar to Mordekaiser. Pantheon, the Artisan of War, quickly abandoned his confusion as he pointed out,
"He is not the only one from the Shadow Isles."
It was then that everyone realized what Swain had meant.
Swain blinked.
"…Well, I was talking about how he loved smashing things around, so I was thinking about sending in Sion or something."
Or maybe not.
"But still, you bring up a good point," Swain quickly continued as soon as he saw Jarvan opening his mouth to speak, much to the Demacian's annoyance. "Undead cannot die. But nothing can prevent itself from being apprehended if it does not see it coming."
He let out a small cough as he reached out for the black bird on his shoulder. As the bird leaned its head forward, the Noxian pet its head.
"In order to execute this plan in the first place," he concluded, "we'll need a good speaker."
...
...
...
Like Mordekaiser, the Shadow Isles were far from what one would expect for a notorious, monster-filled world. The Isles had plenty of negative connotations to it, and they certainly were true: undead roamed the dead lands, the sun did not shine as brightly as it would in other places on Runeterra, and very rarely did those who venture inside the Isles come back out alive and well.
And most people who went into the Isles were full of intentions to erase the undead. Now, that was not nice to the king who lived there, was it not?
A bony prison warden with green spectral flames coating its body remained seated in front of an object of light. He held a device that allowed him to control his fate. He was one of the Shadow Isles' strongest warriors. He was one of the Ruined King's personal officers. He was from the Shadow Isles, and he represented a good portion of it.
And as he scored a Double Kill in the video game he played, the Chain Warden pumped a fist.
"HA HA HA! LONG UNLIVE THE SHADOW ISLES!"
Yes; he really did represent a good portion of the Shadow Isles, if not all of it.
"Another multi-kill score?" An undead lich who went by Karthus asked unenthusiastically. "At this point, I won't be surprised if you showed up at MLG or something."
Thresh glared at Karthus, the Deathsinger, as he argued, "But you can't score multi-kills in MLG that well!"
"…You know what, I'll admit what you said is debatable in understanding ways. That's a first."
"Ah. I broke your controller."
"STOP BREAKING MY SH#%, DAMMIT!"
As soon as Karthus screamed, the sound of dishes crashing against the ground erupted from his dormitory's kitchen. The Deathsinger scrambled over to the kitchen as he found a crooked friend with a shady hood remaining still in front of what was left of Karthus' rare Ionian plate. Cookies were everywhere, and Karthus felt like his mom's spaghetti.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY STUFF, YORICK?!" Karthus screamed frantically. "STOP COOKING IF YOU WON'T STOP BREAKING MY DISHES!"
Yorick Mori, the Gravedigger, blinked as he muttered, "But you're the one who said you don't care about the dishes since you stole all of them."
"No, I bought that stuff! Really now, be careful with my plates. The fact that I have to buy a new controller every day for that stupid warden is already nerve-grating enough."
Though his plate broke, the Deathsinger had faced worse. After all, nothing was as bad as seeing his comfortable coffin being destroyed by a blue undead centaur.
Karthus wondered why he suddenly thought about a blue undead centaur sitting on his bed. Following his intuition, he went to the bedroom and found Hecarim, the Shadow of War, sitting on his once stable coffin.
"Hey Karthus," Hecarim exclaimed as Karthus took a deep breath to scream in agony. "Your bed sucks."
As the cries of an undead lich echoed throughout his own dormitory, Thresh laughed as he continued playing video games with another controller Karthus's dorm had in store.
Something knocked on the entrance door.
"…Phooey," Thresh muttered as he dropped the controller he just picked up.
The Chain Warden smashed the door open as he leaned against the doorframe like any lazy college student would. Standing in front of him was Ashe.
Thresh's breathing froze.
Though she was a beauty from the Freljord, Thresh did not find her physical appearance to be breathtaking. He did not find the white, silky hair to flow like silk, because he was far from being truly poetic like that. He did not find her porcelain skin to be enticing, either. Even her physical structure did not charm him.
But she was a wife.
And he loved to steal them.
Before the Chain Warden attempted to smash her head with his lantern, the Frost Archer pointed her bow at his face and fired a glowing ice arrow straight into one of his eyes. The entirety of his head froze as he fell on the ground. With his body flapping around unnaturally, Ashe sighed.
She was sent to the Shadow Isles meeting dormitory- also known as "Karthus' dormitory"- for the purpose of convincing the champions to bring Sona back from Mordekaiser's clutches. But as much as she was skilled in the art of diplomatic peace coercion, she had no idea how the Shadow Isles champions mentally functioned.
"Pardon me for the interruption," she said as Hecarim and Yorick poked their heads out behind the doorframe. "I have come for a request."
"…A request?" Hecarim pondered. "Hmm… Usually we only get requests for one certain thing."
Yorick turned to the Shadow of War; even he seemed curious as to what that one certain thing was.
"And that is?"
"To go get a life."
"We're already dead, though."
"Exactly."
Hecarim laughed maniacally as Yorick sighed. Ashe gulped, the harrowing sound of Hecarim's laughter naturally making her nervous.
"Anyway," she proceeded bravely, "I come to request of you to take Sona, the Maven of Strings, out of… your friend's hands."
"…Friend?" Yorick muttered.
"Yes. Mordekaiser."
Thresh finally managed to grab one of Ashe's feet, only to get kicked away like a soccer ball.
"Mordekaiser?!" Hecarim gasped. "Huh, well that's pleasant news- wait, what did he do?"
"He took the Maven of Strings with him.
"WHAT?!"
The Shadow of War dropped the bagel he had been holding throughout the entire conversation as his eyes widened. Even Yorick seemed shocked, and Yorick rarely ever got shocked.
So it had finally happened, they thought together. And indeed, in their perspective, the news was certainly urgent.
They made an oath, after all.
Months ago, Mordekaiser had clearly stated,
"None of us shall become romantically interested this year. Whoever breaks this oath shall be sent to the devastating wastelands that none had survived in yet…
"…Germany."
And yet, news of Mordekaiser taking Sona with him confirmed that he bluntly broke his own oath.
Hecarim and Yorick thought together,
One of us finally got a girlfriend.
And it's not me.
Fire shot out of Hecarim's eyes as he screamed in jealousy and adrenaline. "HOW DARE HE TOUCH THE MAVEN OF FREAKING STRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINGS AUGHGHGHGGAGHGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! HE SHALL HAVE HIS HEAD ON A PEDASTAL!"
Thresh mumbled inaudibly as he walked back to the dormitory. "Hey, what's going on?" He asked. "Why is Hecarim having gonorrhea all of a sudden?"
"Morde got laid," Yorick muttered. Unfortunately, he misunderstood what Ashe said. Just before the Frost Archer was able to correct him, Thresh dropped his lantern.
"THAT F$%#ER GOT MARRIED?!" Thresh screamed with the wrath of a plentifully aged virgin. "OH, THAT ARROGANT LITTLE SH$%HEAD! ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"W-Wait," the Frost Archer attempted to explain, but the poor woman was interrupted by Karthus, who emerged from the dormitory.
"What's going on?" The Deathsinger asked.
Yorick muttered, "Mordekaiser has children."
"WHAT?! THAT TIN-TIN MOTHERF#$%ER GOT MARRIED IN SIX MONTHS?! I'M GOING TO NOSCOPE HIS CHILDREN UNTIL THEY START TEABAGGING HIS STUPID FACE! GRAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"L-LISTEN TO ME, YOU IDIOTS!"
Chaos consumed the once peaceful Shadow Isles champions. Thresh went back to his dormitory and emerged, fully armed to the teeth.
...
...
...
Mordekaiser polished Nightfall.
It was a fine day to polish Nightfall, as the disgusting sunlight allowed him to clean his mace contently. He made sure to clean even the chipped parts of the mace. He liked to keep his weapons as metal as possible. Rust and dust were the last things he wanted to see coating his mace.
Remaining seated on his throne, he heard something rustling in the bedroom. He let Nightfall vanish from the daylight as he went to his bedroom, only to find that Sona had woken up. Her hair was messy, and her clothes had more folds in them than they normally had. It was a shame that she did not bring pajamas, but then again, she slept without warning.
"Awake?" Mordekaiser asked. "You slept quite well."
Sona rubbed her eyes as she blinked with half-open eyes.
The lord of undead sighed as he pointed at his kitchen's direction with a lazy thumb. "I'll cook up breakfast. Feel free to leave at any time."
The blue-haired maiden nodded silently. The Iron Revenant felt somewhat intrigued by the fact that she was the first human to not suspect that he was cooking up some sort of poisonous burrito. And it actually impressed him that there would be a person who did not mind his cooking.
Therefore, he decided to impress her.
I can make burritos, but I do that every day, he thought to himself as he approached the kitchen. I just need to make a cuisine of death, and I'm sure she would spread word of my awesome cooking skills. Then, some idiots would want to befriend me, and I would do the task Mercedes gave me in literally one week! That's three birds with one stone!
The Iron Revenant snickered. He had to admit, the idea of people worshipping his awesomeness sounded all too pleasing. Eager to cook, the Master of Metal marched towards the kitchen.
Sona slept for thirty more minutes before waking up again.
She spent the entire night learning more about one of Mordekaiser's favorite hobbies, and so far, she could tell that it was not harmful. He proved Garen's words wrong; he was not simply interested in destroying things and inflicting pain upon others, and that was enough for Sona to feel relieved. Though he spoke roughly, the Shadow Isles warlord had gone as far as to cook for her. He also took his time to teach her things she was unfamiliar with.
It had been an admittedly fun night. She wondered if she should try out games as well.
After twenty minutes of loitering around the room and reflecting upon the night, the door opened. She turned and found Mordekaiser standing by the bedroom door.
With a tomato pierced through the horn on his helmet.
Sona blinked as she took note of the metal spatula in one of Mordekaiser's armored hands.
"Breakfast is ready, woman," he boomed as he waited for her to move. "You will eat it."
The Demacian maiden nodded as she walked out of the bedroom with the lord of undead.
A strange fish stew lay on the dining table. Diced tomatoes, onions, and various other ingredients were added into it. There were several shrimps and peppers placed on the stew, fully cooked.
What surprised Sona the most was how alluring its scent was.
"From the heart of Brazil itself," Mordekaiser cackled with pride. "This is a moqueca crafted with my own hands."
He did not want to admit that he had relied on a cookbook as if his life depended on it.
Staring at the strange food, the woman softly sat on one of the Iron Revenant's steel chairs. Taking a closer look at it, she could tell that the food was heavily rushed. Nothing about the positioning of the toppings were organized, and some of the sauce had splattered over the dish's edge. She took a bite out of the moquela.
It would have been rude of her to lie that it did not taste good.
"…Is it good?" Mordekaiser asked, only to snicker when she nodded. "Of course it does. It's from Brazil. Everything from Brazil is satisfactory to some extent among every living and unliving being alike."
Sona continued to eat the stew. It certainly did taste great compared to her expectations. It was not decent; it was just good, and that alone surprised her.
The lord of undead laughed for no reason as she ate. "It is good to see that I'm not the only one with a reasonable taste," he said as she look up to give him her attention. "I get sick of those artificial foods every now and then."
Sona nodded.
"Do you feel that way as well?"
Sona nodded again.
"How painfully delightful."
Sona nodded yet again.
"If you beg- er, ask for more, then I shall deliver."
The maiden nodded again.
"Ha ha ha!"
That morning, she ate a good amount of moquela.
...
...
...
After eating the food Mordekaiser cooked up for her, Sona found herself sitting next to him again on the metallic couch. The Iron Revenant mashed a bunch of buttons as he lazily destroyed hundreds of soldiers with some overpowered spearman.
"Life should be like this," he muttered as he proceeded to go ham on a boss-level enemy that popped up in front of his character. "Mash one button to solve all problems in life."
Sona did not know how to respond to his remark, so she remained silent.
A few minutes later, something knocked on the dormitory door.
Before the armored warrior stood up, Sona stood up first as she bowed politely to him. The Iron Revenant watched the Demacian maiden scurry up to the entrance as he turned back to his television. Having a comrade meant that one could answer doors in his stead.
That sounded extremely interesting to think over for the game addict.
Someone who could listen to whatever crap he had to say. Someone who could close the door at any time if he could not.
Sona was perfect servant material, but for some reason he could not take her seriously in that kind of light. The Iron Revenant sighed as he planned to find some fool who would fit for the job better than the maiden did.
As soon as the door opened, Mordekaiser turned to see who the visitor was.
Only to find a strange surprise.
"?!"
Mordekaiser stood up, only to find Thresh standing at the entrance.
With a machine gun.
"Thresh?!" Mordekaiser blurted out as he bolted up from his couch. "What do you think you're-"
"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Letting out a fierce and emotionally-torn battlecry, Thresh ran forward and sent a barrage of bullets at the lord of undead's way. Mordekaiser was pummeled around by the sheer force of the gun, his body flinging itself around in place like a ragdoll as sparks emitted from his armor. After unloading the rest of his ammunition on the iron man's durable armor, the Chain Warden took out a Magnum and blasted the Iron Revenant six times. Each time, Mordekaiser felt himself bouncing in the air. He soon fell on his back, his eyes widened as he attempted to comprehend what just happened.
"I can't let you live!" The Chain Warden seethed as he loaded one more bullet into his Magnum as he dashed towards the Master of Metal one last time. "I CANNOT LET YOU LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!"
As Thresh got to point-blank range with Mordekaiser's helmet, the lord of undead threw out one of his iron hands as he grabbed the Chain Warden's hands, both of which were occupied with holding the firearm. Slamming a foot against the warden's stomach as he lifted him up, Mordekaiser kicked Thresh towards one of his windows.
The wide windows turned into a million shards as wind suddenly blew into the dormitory. But surely, the wind was not supposed to blow in such a powerful manner by natural means. Curious as to why so much freaking wind blew into the dormitory, Mordekaiser looked around the Institute, only to find that the stupid mages were concocting some sort of event. Some half-naked guy flew around the air while whirling around a small tornado.
Mordekaiser pretended he did not just see a half-naked dude facing the wind.
As the lord of undead prepared to jump out, he saw the Maven of Strings being flung out of one of the windows due to the sheer amount of force pulling at the objects within the dormitory. Fortunately for him, his stuff did not fall.
The only problem lay in the fact that his guest was about to fall to her death.
Reaching out for the Demacian maiden, he caught her hand as he pulled her frail body towards him. After all, if she got obliterated at that moment, he would risk the possibility of getting banished from the League of Legends, thus labelling him as an enemy to literally all of Runeterra. That would prove to be problematic since that would cut down his gaming time by a huge chunk.
Sona curled up against the iron man's chest as the two fell down like a meteorite.
Landing in front of the Champions' Break, Mordekaiser left a huge crater on the once smooth ground. Thresh picked himself up from a nearby crash site he was unwillingly sent to, shaking his head groggily.
The Chain Warden blinked as he saw Mordekaiser carrying the Maven of Strings.
"Wha-"
Before he was able to go any further, however, the lord of undead took out a gun and shot Thresh in the face, knocking him down to the ground. The Chain Warden yelped in brief pain as he clutched his bony face.
"Argh! Mordekaiser, why did you shoot my face?!"
"Thresh, why did you shoot my entire body earlier?"
"…Uhh…"
In an attempt to come up with a decent reason, the Chain Warden explained, "I got salty because you got married while you were out of the League."
"…The f#$%? I'm not married, idiot."
"…"
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
And so, the tense battle between Mordekaiser and Thresh ended up favoring the Iron Revenant within two minutes after their strange reunion.
"Why… didn't you tell me?" Thresh mumbled as he placed the palms of his hands against his face. "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, now I get it. Of course, that makes sense. It'd be weird for a NEET like you to suddenly have five children."
"Yeah, you're right- wait, what's this about five children, Thresh?"
"I mean, someone said that you got married and brought five horrifying children to this world. I guess that was just a rumor."
"Of course it's a rumor. Thresh, don't tell me you actually believed that sh#%."
"Nah, I didn't fully believe it. I was just fully convinced that it was true."
"That's the same thing, you moron."
As the two Shadow Isles officers bickered on, Sona blinked, wondering if the Master of Metal had any intentions on putting her down. Then again, his iron armor made her feel safe from the Chain Warden, even if the lantern-holder did not seem to have any intentions on hurting her.
Suddenly, a Demacian battlecry boomed from the skies. Sona looked up, her eyes finding Jarvan IV in the skies.
"SONAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Jarvan roared as he spiraled towards Mordekaiser with his lance aimed at the iron man's head. "DON'T WORRY! I'LL-"
Thresh pointed the gun he originally loaded to shoot Mordekaiser with and shot the Exemplar of Demacia. Before being able to even descend from the skies, Jarvan propelled backwards and tumbled towards an incoming group of League champions. His armored body collided against several of the Demacians.
Though the group was not particularly large, there were about ten champions that ran out of the Champions' Break to follow Jarvan IV. Garen, who was amongst them, gulped as Master Yi walked out of the group.
"Mordekaiser," the Wuju Bladesman said as he proposed peacefully, "let's make this Yi-zee for both of us. Put down Sona and we'll stop talking about the many ways you could have killed her."
The Iron Revenant sighed as memories of annoyance surfaced from the depths of his mind. He did not see why it was so important of him to put down the woman. It was just a woman being held by an armored and experienced warlord from the Shadow Isles. What could have possibly happened?
As he put down the Sona in a very lazy manner, the Iron Revenant crossed his arms as he muttered,
"So it seems I have not properly re-introduced myself yet."
The champions that ran up to him froze deathly still.
"I am Mordekaiser. If you have forgotten who I am, I would surely hit you all enough so you could remember me. It's been a long time since I've visited the Champions' Break, but it seems that we will be seeing each other more often."
Jarvan flinched despite being unconscious. The lord of undead snickered as he raised an iron hand, clenching it as if to mercilessly squeeze a human heart.
"Mark my words; as long as you do not bother me, you will not have to worry about having a heart attack. Is that clear?"
Katarina bit her bottom lip as she remained still behind Garen, one of her daggers prepared in case the lord of undead decided to disregard his own words and attack everyone. An Ionian blademaster, Irelia, looked as if she did not know why she was stuck with the group in the first place, and Gangplank ate an orange as if nothing happened.
Everyone was clearly intimidated. Except for eight people.
Why isn't anyone intimidated with this guy? Katarina thought out of legitimate curiosity. But the truth was that everyone did feel afraid. Gangplank was chewing tad too quickly, and Irelia wanted to leave the group due to how the Iron Revenant was glaring at her occasionally with his fierce red eyes. Xin Zhao, who collided with Jarvan a minute earlier, wanted to run back to his Xbox before his character got killed. As a matter of fact, Xin wore a boring t-shirt and blue briefs.
The Master of Metal laughed as he took a step forward. Everyone instinctively took a step away from him.
Except for Sona. She walked up to the lord of undead with a bag of money as she poked at his arm.
"…Oh."
Mordekaiser took the bag from Sona as he muttered "Thanks" for a split moment before walking again.
He was quite the monster.
As soon as he left, the champions surrounded Sona, worried for her safety. She was plentifully healthy, and she felt quite strange.
For some reason, the armored man seemed like a normal person to her.
A very unique person, actually.
...
...
...
Author's Notes:
There's a particular scene that I wanted to write out in this chapter, but I'm planning on saving it for later. So I changed up a lot of things in this segment. :P
Also, I'm quite happy to announce that Illaoi, the new champion for League, would fit right into Steel Re-Revolution! Now Hecarim finally has someone to be legitimately annoyed with.
(SPECIAL CREDITS TO Rookie141, who made an awesome comic inspired by Steel Revolution! Check it out on my profile page!)
Next chapter: "Super Mega Death Mordekaiser!"