Chapter 55

"This is absolute insanity!" Yelled Vayne with a glare as she looked at Senna. Obviously the Sentinel had said something that angered her. The two women, Lucian, and Olaf were in a secluded room in the Sentinel of Light main headquarters in an effort to discuss in private on whether or not to take the offer of the demons that literally dropped on top of their heads a few minutes ago. Though really it was more trying to convince Vayne to go with it as the Demacia woman was the only one unwilling to go along with it. Senna sighed before speaking.

"Vayne, as much as it pains me to admit, we don't have a lot of options." Said Senna with her arms crossed. "Tens of thousands, even millions, of people are dying right now because of the Harrowing and so far we've had little success in actually stopping it. Every time we tried to defeat Viego, he gets away with a piece of Isolde's soul and we end up with nothing but a new member to join our ranks. If we want to take Viego down, we need to be one step ahead of him. And if these demons offer that solution then we have no choice but to accept it."

"We do have a choice!" Said Vayne with a scowl, not believing that Senna was actually considering working with demons. "To trust a demon is the epitome of foolishness and stupidity. You would know this if you truly have experience with demons, Senna." Senna scowled at Vayne, frustrated at the Demacian's continual disapproval of trusting the demons, even if they weren't unfounded.

The demons of Runeterra were pure evil. Feasting on the emotions of sentient begins in Runeterra to both sate their hunger and empower themselves. Even the ones that feast on the more positive emotions were cruel creatures that forced people and animals to feel their chosen emotions against their will so they can gorge on said emotions. Demons were a plague on Runeterra and that was what they will always be.

"I do have experiences with demons, Vayne." Said Senna as she looked at the Demacian with understanding and frustration. "Despite the Sentinels mainly focusing on the undead of the Shadow Isles, we do have a few run-ins with demons. All of them ended in violence, some of which nearly done me in, but they did give me some insight on the working of demons. They're cruel, yes, but some of them are also practical. They need living animals and people to feast on and the Ruination is threatening to take away all that. And that's something no demon will ever tolerate. Someone taking away their favorite things to toy with. So, if nothing else, we can rely on a demon's selfish desires to help us defeat Viego." Despite the practical argument, Vayne still kept scowling at Senna, causing the woman to sigh.

"Look, Vayne, I don't want to make this an order, but I will if I have to." Said Senna as she looked at the Demacian woman while Olaf and Lucian just looked at the two women butting heads over this. "You may want to keep your pride as both a hunter of demons and a Demacian over saving lives, but I won't. If these demons are offering a way to save lives from the Ruination, I'll do it." To help his wife with her argument, Lucian, Senna's husband, spoke up.

"None of us like this anymore than you do, Vayne, but like Senna said, people are dying every second to the forces of the Shadow Isles and its our duty as Sentinels to save as many as we can from them. By any means necessary even if it means working with demons." Said Lucian with his arms crossed. "Don't get us wrong, Vayne. If these demons intend on betraying us or using us for their own ambitions after all this is over, we'll deal with them, but right now, we need their help to save lives and stop Viego. If you don't want to go along with this, Vayne, then your free to leave, we're not stopping you. Even though we need all the Sentinels we can get, we're not going to force you to do work with demons if you don't want. I know your reputation as a demon hunter Vayne. I heard the rumors as well, so I understand why you don't want to work with demons Vayne." Upon hearing that, Vayne gave Lucian a murderous glare, one that was far worse than the one she gave Senna. Before she could say anything, Olaf spoke up.

"If we are done trying to convince our Demacian friend in working with demons, we should go back to our other allies." Said Olaf as he looked at the southerners that were his allies for the time being. "We've got undead to fight and if these demons can help find a fight with them, then I say we let them help. And if they intend to betray us, then we fight them as well. Simple as that." With that, Olaf departed the room to find their other allies as well as the demons that offered their help to the Sentinels.

Sighing at the words of Olaf, Senna told Lucian to follow him and that she'll catch up later. Looking at his wife in concern, Lucian nevertheless went after Olaf, trusting Senna in her decision to talk to Vayne alone. Once both women were alone, Senna spoke up to Vayne.

"Vayne." Said Senna softly to the scowling Demacian as she crossed her arms. "I know this is hard for you, who makes it her life's work to hunt demons and monsters that threaten the lives of innocent lives, but this whole Ruination is something that's forcing us to make difficult decisions. Decisions that we normally wouldn't make and you can clearly see it with the state the Sentinels are in right now. This new Ruination forced us to lower our recruiting standards significantly as you can probably tell." Vayne just scoffed at that. "And we're forced to send a literal rookie to help combat the wraiths and revenants of the Shadow Isles with little to no training I might add. If that doesn't scream how desperate we are, then I don't know what can." Senna then sighed again. "Vayne, if you want to leave, we won't stop you, but please consider this. Would you rather have your pride and let countless lives from all over Runeterra die for it? Or swallow said pride and save all those people? Isn't that why you became a demon hunter after all?" With that, Senna began to leave the huntress alone to her thoughts.

Scowling as Senna left her alone to her thoughts, Vayne pondered on the Sentinel's words. To rely on the help of a demon was going against everything what she stood for as a demon hunter. She already compromised her beliefs by working alongside these Sentinels, both those as a demon hunter and a woman of Demacia, but she refused to even consider the idea of working with demons. Not after all that she's seen of the work of demons. Not after…not after what that demon did to her when she was a child.

But, as much as Vayne hated it, Senna was also right. Was she willing to let thousands, even millions, of lives because of her own hatred for demons? As stoic and emotionless as Vayne was considered by most of Demacian nobles, and that reputation was well-founded, even she wasn't emotionless enough to not be offput at the idea of letting so many people die just for her pride. And a lot of people were going to die if they don't find Viego soon and stop him as the source of the Harrowing and its increased power, according to Senna, came from him. And if these demons gave a way to stop it soon, then shouldn't they take it, even though logic and experience told that that it wasn't a good idea to trust demons? Was she denying the help of these demons because it was logical or was it because of her pride and trauma from her childhood? Or perhaps it was a bit of both?

Growling, Vayne departed the room she was in to find someplace to let off some steam. She always thought best when she was off fighting something, even if it was just practice dummies.

Meanwhile

Moxxie

Okay, it was official. His dad has quite a few odd people that he considers friendly acquaintances. Case in point, this Gwen. She was just so cheerful and bubbly as she asked question after question about his dad's alter ego and how Moxxie knew him that Moxxie thought she was Charlotte Morningstar for a second if she decided to dye her hair blue and done her hair in curly twin tails.

And that smile. Damn, that smile was just so cute and charming that he can see why his dad said she had a way of making people see things her way.

"Be careful around Gwen, Moxxie. She has a way to convince you of the naïve viewpoints she has. Which, admittedly, is more than what the Princess of Hell will ever have." That was what his dad said about Gwen when he sent him and Millie to tell the Sentinels of Viego's next move. And Moxxie had to say, his dad really understated just how cheerful she was and how that aura of hers that just makes him want to be friends with her from that alone. Fortunately, it seemed Gwen either didn't know about it or didn't want to use it to take advantage of people as she genuinely was a kind and caring person. Even if she can be somewhat overwhelming with the barrage of questions she was giving Moxxie right now.

"Well, Rogier and I go way back." Said Moxxie, remembering the fabricated story he gave Moxxie when it came to interacting with Gwen and the Sentinels as none of them knew who he actually was, Gwen especially. Although information about him has been lost through a combination of time and the machinations of his enemies, Mordekaiser wasn't taking chances of the Sentinels knowing who he was and thus refusing his help because of his history. When he asked his dad if he was going to reveal his true identity to them at some point when he came to help against the Ruination, Mordekaiser said plainly that he will. But only after they defeat the Ruination and Viego. "You could say that we're very close friends. Sort of. He and I don't interfere in each other's businesses and we leave each other alone unless its something important. That's basically it. I owed him a favor and he wanted my help in defeating the Ruination, so here I am with my wife." While Gwen found this all fascinating, Riven and the other Sentinel were a bit confused on a few things.

"How come a demon has a wife?" Asked the unnamed Sentinel, who Moxxie and Millie were honestly forgetting his name for some reason. He told the two Imps his name along with Riven and Gwen when they all properly introduced to each other after the others left, but he honestly can't remember his name. He was that forgettable honestly. "I've been with the Sentinels for only a bit, but I never heard of a demon taking another demon as a wife?"

"Yeah, I was wondering that myself as well." Said Riven as she looked at Moxxie and Millie with some small interest, having never seen demons like them before. Granted, she never seen demons before but she heard stories of them and none of the stories has demons with appearances like Moxxie and Millie right now.
"Well, we found each other out in the world and things clinked between us." Said Millie as she looked at the humans before her, eyeing them all up, wondering if any of them were going to try and hurt her or Moxxie. If they try, they're going to have to deal with her. Unfortunately, as much as Millie wanted to deny it, she didn't like her chances with Riven or Gwen.

The guy that she can't remember his name seemed like he was an absolute joke when it comes to fighting, but Riven and Gwen were out of the question. Even from just a glance, Millie can tell that Riven was a human that was far more skilled than the people that she normally kills in both Hell and on Earth. She was more muscular, more alert of her surroundings than the normal idiot humans and demons she meets on a day-to-day basis, and those eyes. Those were the eyes of a true warrior. Someone who knew how to fight. Like really fight. Not the family tussles she had with her siblings or the Pain Game fights. No like actual fighting. The type of fighting that soldiers and warriors of old always did when they fight in wars. The type of fighting that her pa and ma always gloried every chance they get. And those scars. Damn, what Millie would do to get scars like Riven has all over her body. Each one looked like they came from a great battle against a great foe. If she was only a demon then Millie felt like they could be really great friends.

As for Gwen…well as much as she looked like someone that Millie would have no problem in beating, her stepdaddy told her that she was a lot more powerful and skilled in fighting than she looked. He even stated that her weapon was more than capable of granting a Sinner a true death, which is basically permanently killing them. This was something that shocked Millie as she was told all her life that only weapons made from Heaven can kill Sinners and demon royalty. To hear that a random girl that looked like she belonged to a fairy tale book possessed a weapon that can kill Sinners for good was quite a shock to Millie. Even more so when Mordekaiser told her that Gwen's weapon wasn't from Heaven. So that, combined with Mordekaiser's warning of the power and skill of Gwen left Millie a bit wary of her chances at actually beating the blue-haired girl in a fight.

"Oh, that is so nice to hear!" Said Gwen with a smile. "Its always good to hear that people find love." Millie just chuckled awkwardly at Gwen's words. She really was so damn cheerful like Mordekaiser said. "So, tell me are there more demons like you? And just as reasonable as you as well?" Moxxie was about to answer that question when Lucian, Senna, and Olaf came back to the map room. Vayne, however, was not amongst them, something that Moxxie noticed immediately. Slightly saddened by this, Moxxie nevertheless stood straight as Senna walked right up to him and spoke.

"We talked about your offer and we decided to accept it." Said Senna, causing Moxxie to let out a sigh of relief. "Although one of our rank is reluctant to trust you, given her time spent as a demon hunter, we decided to trust you, demon, despite the nature of your kind, given the situation we find ourselves in. Do not make us regret this, demon, or you'll regret crossing the Sentinels of Light." Upon hearing all that, Moxxie nodded his head in understanding.

"Don't worry." Said Moxxie as he looked at Senna. "I have no intentions of betraying your trust. You have my word, even if it doesn't seem much given I'm a demon." Senna just frowned at Moxxie's words before nodding.

"See that you do." Said Senna before sighing. "You said that you have information that'll stop Viego?" Moxxie nodded at her question.

"Yes." Said Moxxie before relaying what his father told him about Viego's next move. "According to my friend Rogier, your Viego is planning on going to Ionia next. He says that Viego is planning on taking a soul fragment there. Someone called Isolde." Upon hearing that, Senna widened her eyes in shock. A fragment of Isolde's soul was in Ionia and Viego was planning on taking it? That could be a huge boon of information for them if they get to that fragment first. Taking that fragment meant they could force Viego to actually stay and fight them rather than leaving the Sentinels alone when he succeeds in his goal of obtaining a fragment of Isolde's soul. And if they can fight him in a favorable position, then their chances of taking him down would increase considerably. This is, of course, assuming they can actually get that fragment of Isolde before Viego gets it and this Moxxie wasn't leading them to a trap for his own purposes.

"That's…quite an important piece of information you got there." Said Senna as she crossed her arms. "How did your friend acquire this information?" Moxxie just looked at his feet at that.

"He didn't say." Said Moxxie, trying to keep the nervousness from creeping in his voice. This was probably the second biggest hurdle he had in convincing the Sentinels that he wanted to help them. Them trusting the source of his information. "All that he was willing to say was that he got his information himself when he ventured to Ionia and that he believes that Viego is going for that piece of Isolde's soul soon, given how weak Ionia is right now between the Harrowing and the Noxian occupation of some of its territories. I know it isn't much, but I trust him and he wants Viego gone as much as you all. So, if anything, you can rely on that. He seems to really hate Viego." Seeing the mistrust from Senna had towards this information, Gwen spoke up in defense of Moxxie and also her friend.

"We can trust the information, Senna." Said Gwen as she raised attention to herself. "Rogier may not be the friendliest of individuals, but he is someone that we can trust to be there when we need of him. After all, he didn't need to save me nor that village of innocent people from the denizens of the Shadow Isles months before all this. He may be undead, but he's one that understands the danger that Viego has towards the living. We can trust him, believe me." Senna, looking at the sincerity in Gwen's face before sighing.

"Trusting both undead and demons to help defeat another undead, huh? The founders of the Sentinels will have thrown a fit at what we have become." Said Senna with hint of mirth in her voice. She then turned to Moxxie. "Alright, fine. We'll go to Ionia. Did your friend also happen to know where exactly the fragment of Isolde's soul is in Ionia?" Moxxie just nodded before telling everyone where fragment was exactly. As he was explaining where it was, Gwen was wondering about her friend and what he was doing exactly right now.

"Moxxie said he was doing something against the Ruination, but he didn't say what it was exactly." Thought Gwen with a look of wonderment. "I wonder what it is exactly."

Meanwhile

Mitna Rachnun/Grey Realm

Mordekaiser's throne

"It seems the Sentinels have accepted Moxxie's help. Good." Said Mordekaiser as he spied on the Sentinels, his son, and his son's wife made preparations to depart the Sentinel's main base via a small portal he made that showed what was occurring in the Sentinel of Light's headquarters. The fact that this was done without them knowing showed just how unaware the Sentinels were to his presence.

Clutching his helm, Mordekaiser thought of the information that he instructed Moxxie to give to the Sentinels on how to defeat Viego as well as convince them that he was on their side. Truth be told, he didn't expect the Sentinels to accept the help of his adopted son so quickly given his demonic nature, even with Gwen among them to help convince them of Moxxie's intentions. They truly must be desperate to stop Viego.

In any case, everything was falling into place. The Sentinels were traveling to Ionia to acquire this Isolde's soul fragment that this Viego is so keen on acquiring. Why would he do so, Mordekaiser didn't know, but it did leave an opportunity that the Iron Revenant can exploit to defeat him.

Out of all the remaining soul fragments that Viego hasn't collected yet, the one in Ionia was the most likely to fall. According to his spies and his own observations, Viego's forces have yet to make a foothold in the cities of Piltover and Zaun, where one of the fragments was located in as well as struggling to gain any headway in the regions known as Shurima and Targon. His advisors believe it was a combination of both how far those cities and regions were from the Shadow Isles and how focused Viego is to acquire the fragments of this Isolde's soul. Not to mention the strength of the forces present in said regions and cities as well with Targon even rumored to be where powerful gods and demigods made their home.

"Why this Viego focuses so much on acquiring this Isolde's soul is beyond me." Thought Mordekaiser in annoyance at the thought of the Ruined King. When he learned the true goals of this Ruination were from his spies and a few interrogation of a few Wraiths and Revenants from the Shadow Isles during this whole debacle, he did like to be kept in touch with events around Runeterra and the chaos surrounding the Harrowing helped prevent people from learning about Mordekaiser's activites, he couldn't help but scoff. "He has the potential to conquer the entire world in his name and yet he wastes time and resources trying to find the soul fragments of a dead woman. What importance does this Isolde have to this Viego? Was she a powerful servant of his? Or is she simply a favored wench to him? In either case, it matters little. If the Sentinels are as competent as I believe them to be, they'll draw Viego out in the open enough that they can defeat him. And if they can't, I'll have to handle it myself then."

That was the plan that Mordekaiser discussed with Moxxie. He and Millie will attempt to convince the Sentinels of Light to head to Ionia where Viego is most likely to head to next given the difficulties his forces are in taking the other regions where the other fragments of Isolde's soul were and attempt to draw him out, either by taking the soul fragment themselves or forcing Viego to come out in the open long enough for them to defeat him while his own forces helped prevent Viego from escaping and preventing his subjects from interfering. And if it was required, then Mordekaiser will come and deal with him should the Sentinels fail. It's quick, requires minimal effort on his part given he didn't want to do this in the first place, and will end this current Ruination quickly as Viego is the main source of it. With him gone, the undead invasion will end and Mordekaiser can go back to focusing on his own plans to conquer Runeterra, Hell, Earth, and Heaven.

Speaking of which, the next Extermination of Hell was to commence in just a few days. He had already ordered those under his thrall to make preparations to hide from the angels as they make their slaughter of Hell's Sinner population, ensuring nothing of his will be lost in this Extermination. He had also ordered several teams of his best soldiers and warriors to make assassinations of some idiotic Overlords and private investigators that decided it was a good idea to try and investigate him.

It appears after his little speech, Mordekaiser had become the most wanted man in all of Hell for a number of people in power. From lowly Overlords to even the Sins themselves. He would be amused if their efforts to find him weren't so pathetic. Why was everything going so smoothly in Hell for him? Everyone that bothered was either not doing much effort to try and find him or made it so easy to counter their efforts with his own. He hoped Heaven would be a more difficult conquest for him when the time comes to conquer Heaven next, otherwise he'll be completely disappointed in everything about these two realms. As if he wasn't disappointed enough.

"It's a shame Carmilla has to be a scapegoat for my plans." Thought Mordekaiser as he thought of the Overlord in charge of Angelic Weapon scavenging and manufacturing, who no doubt is making preparations for her annual scavenging of angelic material for the very things that keep her afloat as an Overlord. "She's one of the few beings in Hell I can respect. One of the few with common sense, but alas. Sacrifices of the insignificant must be made to create greatness. And Carmilla is simply insignificant to what I have in store for both Heaven and Hell." The Iron Revenant soon began to laugh as he thought of what he had in store for Carmilla and the rest of Hell when the Extermination is over.

Once, he stopped laughing, Mordekaiser soon thought of Moxxie and what he said to him prior to leaving for the Sentinels of Light.

"Dad, before I go, can I ask you to look out for Morgana? I know that you are making plans to help against this Ruination and all, but can you speak to her and try to get her to help as well. I mean, its her home too that's being threatened. Shouldn't she be out defending it as well?"

That was the final words of his son before he departed for the Sentinels of Light. Thinking about his words, Mordekaiser couldn't help but agree with them.

"The nation she helped create is in danger and she hides in a room, thinking about what she did to that idiotic noble, while I do something that she should be doing herself." Thought Mordekaiser as he thought of the Winged Woman that was involved in his life ever since Moxxie began interacting with her. Thinking about it some more, Mordekaiser made his decision.