A/N: Of course they fail. It would be far too easy if they didn't fail.
Anyways, we hit 50k words! Isn't that great? Still waiting for that TVtropes page and a There For You Too themed skinline from Riot Games.
Remember to rate and review, and as always thanks for enjoying!
"TRUESHOT BARRAGE!"
The bulk sand soldiers evaporated as the wave of gold washes over them, the throne room's wall shattered into rubble by Ezreal's ultimate attack. His left hand forms into a fist, firing a Mystic Shot that knocks the head of one unlucky guard right off their shoulders.
An arrow exploding mid-air. Kai'Sa had been so quiet that the explorer assumed that she had left, but the deafening booms of her cannons quickly drowned out everything else. She takes his arm, rockets firing up to their full strength and carrying them towards the gap he had made.
Azir does not give chase.
They dip down, nearly crashing into a few stone towers. Ezreal fires off a few Mystic Shots at any towers she swerves too close to, seeing as Kai'Sa was far from the most stable of carriers. Arcane Shifting elsewhere might have worked, but that idea is discarded once Ezreal sees the steep drop to the ground. Even a water landing would leave him broken bones. Or worse.
"What are you doing here?" He shouts like a frantic child, no longer brave and eloquent. "I thought you were gone!"
She dodges the question as easily as the sand arrows, a few whizzing by his cheek. Again, the boy was impressed she wasn't even close to panicking.
"We cannot beat the Hawk Father. We must retreat as far as we can."
"Well that sounds like a swell idea, Gods above why didn't I think of that?"
A roar cut off their banter.
Kai'Sa swings him to one side as the living sphinx dives past them: throwing up his fluffy hair with the force of its passing. His one-handed Trueshot Barrage managed to turn its head and shoulders into sand, but more sand rushed in to fill the gap. Biting jaws lunge forward, but Ezreal is quick to respond.
"Essence Flux!"
The golden beads are detonated mid-air: causing the lion to roar and fall to earth. Ezreal feels a brief amount of hope, only for it to be crushed upon seeing the dozens of others in pursuit. Arrows whizzed by his head, one or two managing to cut at his bare skin despite his attempts to maneuver. With her current position, Kai'Sa couldn't exactly provide covering fire - leaving it up to him to keep the dozen or so sphinxes off their asses.
"Be ready." The huntress grunts. "I can't keep this up for any longer."
The warning is not enough.
Kai'Sa takes a sharp turn, throwing them both off onto the roof of one of the many watchtowers within the innermost layer. The sand cushions the blow, but not enough to relieve all of the pain. Ezreal takes a moment to catch his breath and collect his thoughts. Even the huntress had her hands on her knees, a rare show of windedness and a very bad sign.
"You still haven't answered me."
"Not now." Kai'Sa fires back, even as she helps him up with one hand. "We have no time for this."
"I- you know what, fine. You're right, but we will talk about this later."
Ezreal pinches the bridge of his nose, pushing out the growing wingbeats of Azir's animated statues to reign in his rampaging emotions.
Going down was not going to be smart considering the guards likely swarming the palace grounds. The Hawk Father himself was thankfully still at the palace, hopefully too overconfident to take care of things on his own. The fact that the Ascended hadn't intervened was the only reason they got this far. Ezreal needed to take advantage of that while they still could.
"Wait! We can go underground!"
Shuriman cities were famous for their advanced irrigation, how else could Zaun have built their intricate sewer network without the blueprints of their forefathers? If this was the same Shurima City built years ago, then the capital definitely had the sewer system to go with it.
"If we get to the garden layer, we might have a chance to get back into the Great Sai. Maybe the plants can hold Azir or something, they don't seem to like the golden guards anyway."
Her nod of approval makes Ezreal dozens of times more confident. Just by having Kai'Sa here, he feels a little less petrified at the thought of escaping an Ascended within their own city.
"Alright, alright let's go. There's got to be a way down here somewhere."
A golden hand erupts from the wall behind them, only to be turned to glass by Kai'Sa's plasma missiles.
More sand soldiers begin to rise from the ground. The gauntlet sparks as Ezreal continues to fire into the swarm, a futile effort considering their sheer number. Kai'Sa was doing better, every missile leaving the guards as shards of gold and glass.
"TRUESHOT BARRAGE REQUIEM!"
His attack slams into the ground, revealing the glittering turquoise waters of an ancient sewer tunnel.
The sand soldiers disappear back into regular sand, cloaking his eyes in dust. His goggles allow enough vision for Ezreal to swim upwards, breaking through the surface with a gagging cough. Lesson learned, leather coats and pants didn't make for good swimwear.
"THIS MAY HAVE BEEN A BAD IDEA!"
He is pushed under by the currents, arms flailing desperately to keep his head above the water's surface.
"DO YOU KNOW HOW TO SWIM?"
Of course she did.
Her inhuman strength pulls them both out of the water, and her speed keeps them ahead of the tidal wave of sand from the tunnel's sudden collapse. Kai'Sa moves with the grace of a professional, clearly there was something more to that.
There!
Regaining his wits at the sight of the blue sky, Ezreal charges the gauntlet of Ne'Zuk: taking aim at the growing wall of sand rising from the pipe's circumference. He closes one eye to better aim through the droplets of water dotting his goggle lens.
"TRUESHOT BARRAGE TIMES THREE!"
CRASH!
Ezreal had never been happier to see the moat, the River of Life winding so far down beneath their feet. The Garden's plants nip and jab at the air beneath their toes. A few shot acid, but the huntress dodges and rolls with ease. Ezreal's nausea was offset by his jubilant smile, the distant walls of Shurima's outermost layer coming closer and closer. He looks to the sphinxes milling about the Emperor's dais and the Sun Disc.
This was it.
They had escaped.
"We did it!" He cheers. "Honestly, when we get to camp I could practically kiss you on the-"
It is then Kai'Sa slows down, her grip on his arm suddenly slipping. Ezreal assumes it was the joke, but the humor evaporates when he hears the grave calm of her voice. The grave calm that comes before a battle.
"I'll hold him as long as I can."
"Huh?"
Ezreal yelps as she pivots in the air, throwing him to the side and through the air. Their eyes meet as he falls in slow motion, the huntress' utterly alien mask betraying not a hint of what she was really feeling. Leaves and thorns cloak his vision yet muffle the impact of his fall.
"Run."
The Hawk Father's diving kick breaks the sound barrier. Some of the plants catch fire.
Ezreal's head hurts in ten different places from the impact. His muscles burn, eyes watering from the pollen and dust kicked off by his tumble to the Earth. The gauntlet on his wrist burnt his skin, but the explorer pays it no heed as the canopy above burns with gold and purple light.
Kai'Sa had somehow remained in the air, her obsidian armor having fallen off in multiple places. One violet eye is visible through a crack in her mask. The huntress fired volley after volley of plasma with pinpoint accuracy, dashing through the air at speeds impossible for any human to dodge.
But the God Emperor was not human.
One spin of the golden spear destroys all of the missiles, and the Hawk Father darts forward before he can blink. Ezreal shouts a little too late. Kai'Sa barely blocks the attack with her good arm, even as it sloughs another sizable chunk of her living armor. He knows he could live to fight another day if his legs just turned and moved.
The gauntlet of Ne'Zuk charges up, and Ezreal aims skywards.
But he can't shoot a Trueshot Barrage, not without risking burning his friend alive with his magical energy. Mystic Shots would have to do. A plant nips at his heels, and Ezreal bursts into motion: firing upwards while doing his best to push through the thorny bramble.
"How amusing." The Ascended laughs, twirling his twin-headed spear. "I have not fought like this for years."
His spear shoots forward at an angle, catching her off guard.
The God Emperor wastes no time in pressing the advantage, grabbing her by the throat even as she scorches his golden face with plasmic wrath. With a sadistic chuckle, he throws her down to the garden; the huntress bouncing across the grass. The explorer shouts something, his ears ringing from the noise of another object breaking the sound barrier. Azir's talon presses onto her chest; pressing down. Kai'Sa digs her claws into the metal, but it doesn't even leave a dent.
There.
His fist was clenched so tightly that his knuckles were bone white. Gold and blue energy floods into his arm. Azir was going to pay, he was going to pay for every ounce of pain he dared inflict on Kai'Sa. His hands tremble.
"TRUESHOT BARRAGE REQUIEM!"
The Tear of the Goddess peters out weakly, the gauntlet of Ne'Zuk sizzling to a halt with a despondent whine.
"W-what? No!"
Ezreal slaps at the metal, cursing in a myriad of languages and pushing the gem into its nook. The world turns red and blurry, the metal on his arm heating to the point it left marks on his skin. His shouts become hoarse, throat burning.
"TRUESHOT BARRAGE REQUIEM!"
"TRUESHOT BARRAGE REQUIEM!"
"Come on! I just need to-"
With one last flickering crack, the Tear fully extinguishes into a dead shade of blue.
"Pathetic."
Azir's spear presses on her bare throat, but his uncaring gaze falls to the explorer.
"Even the gauntlet knows you are not worthy."
The tip of the weapon pushes even deeper, causing the skin to whine and shriek in unholy pain. Not even the armor of a Xer'Sai could endure the might of an Ascended. Purple and red blood taints the gold of the blades. Suddenly, Ezreal is back in Zuretta.
Watching her die in his arms.
"STOP!"
"I do not take orders from you or anyone else, Graverobber. I do as I please."
"TRUESHOT BARRAGE MAGNUM OPUS!"
The golden wave distorts the air with its sheer heat, his arm snapping back from the magnitude of the shockwave that follows. A pure magic blade of wrathful vengeance, singing and sizzling with enough power to melt through the strongest of Piltovan steel.
It fizzles out uselessly against the Hawk Father's open palm.
"Did you not hear me!" His voice is high-pitched, vocal chords nearly tearing from frustration. "STOP OR I'LL-"
"Go on then. Try your hand, Graverobber."
Every Mystic Shot is blocked by sand bodies, every Arcane Shift only serves to exhaust his depleted energies even further. Sweat covers his flushed skin. Ezreal pushes himself back up even as his throat strains to keep up with his heavy breaths. His legs beg for him to kneel.
"Do you really think you can even hurt me?" Azir drawls. "An Ascended?"
A pair of larger Void seeker missiles punches into the underside of his beak. Not even a scratch. His taloned foot struck down a second time. She coughs blood.
"Kai'Sa!"
"I tire of your tenacity, Icathian."
Ezreal grits his teeth with what felt like enough force to shatter them, stomping in frustration and loosening his death grip on the gauntlet of Ne'Zuk. There was only one way out of this situation.
"Wait! Emperor!"
If Azir saw him as a threat, the Hawk Father did not show it. The bastard was too busy savoring the sadistic way his golden blade had begun to cut an innocent young woman's neck open.
"YOU BASTARD! DID YOU HEAR ME?!"
Azir pauses. The spear lifts, and a dozen guards march towards Ezreal at once. The explorer shows no fear, his face set in grim resolution.
"Speak to me like that again, boy. And I will skin you alive."
"I won't have to."
Something small rolls across the floor, clattering to a stop beneath Azir's talon.
The gauntlet of Ne'Zuk.
Every memory, every achievement and every success in his life is etched into the fine carvings. Ezreal was only where he was because of it: he was only himself because he had the gauntlet of Ne'Zuk by his side. He watches it rise up into Azir's talons, the Hawk Father holding it as one would a cup or a plate.
The gauntlet was everything to him. And it was gone.
"The Tear of the Goddess as well."
A sand soldier snatches it from Ezreal's hands, even as the explorer tries to hold on to it.
"Let her go."
Azir does not move from his place. The gauntlet of Ne'Zuk hovers and slots into place on one of the Ascended's arms, contorting to better fit its new master. Ezreal swallows a dryness in his throat. His spear remains firmly wedged in place, Kai'Sa eerily still. Only the subtle movement of her chest showed she was alive, and the slow growth of her second skin over her pale scarred body.
"Is this your idea of Shuriman justice? She didn't do anything wrong."
"Please just don't hurt her. I'll do anything."
"In a bargain, never fulfill your end before the other makes good on their word. I hope you know that I could have you both executed at a moment's notice."
Was this all a game? A test? The explorer mutters a prayer to whatever Gods could hear him. Please, please just let her be ok.
"Thankfully for you two, I am a good man. And a very generous ruler."
His spear lifts. Something scrambles from beneath and to his side. Kai'Sa didn't say anything, nor did she have to. Ezreal feels guilty enough as is. The explorer stretches out one arm as the towering Ascended steps towards them, at least his body would give her a slight window to react if Azir decides to turn him into Ancient Shuriman kebab.
"Icathian. A word."
Her inhuman growl was fierce enough to carve through stone.
"I personally think you could be of use in my reborn empire. A hunting dog, of sorts."
"The only dog here is you."
"You could be a Seeker, live lavishly within the safety of my care." The Hawk Father's eye twitches. "I was thinking of offering you a position among my troops. Do you know how much of an honor that is?"
"I have riches beyond your wildest dreams, power beyond anything that you Icathians could even fathom. My magic controls all of Shurima, down to the smallest grain sand and up to the largest of mountains."
"Whatever wish you so desire, I can grant. So long as you remain loyal to me."
"I do have a wish."
Ezreal had seen Kai'Sa angry very few times. Even Azir is taken aback, a reminder of just how intimidating her fury could really be. His heart swells with both pride and worry as the girl brushes past his arm, craning her neck up to glare at the unfeeling eyes of an Ascended with nothing but heretical spite.
"I wish for you gone from my life." She spits. "Forever."
The air grows electric with the radiance of the Sun. Ezreal wants to say something to ease the tension, but a talon wraps around his throat before he can speak. Azir darts back out of reach, blocking Kai'Sa with a battalion of shield-bearing sand soldiers. Gilded feathers erupt from beneath his cloak in the shape of a pair of wings.
"Let us see what you think." Azir tightens his grip, Ezreal turning blue from the claw around his neck. "After I am done with this brat."
The Ascended takes off, and the explorer barely hears someone shout his name as he shoots into the clouds.