To War, To Ruin, To the Red Dawn!
Ruination: Return Chapter XXXIV
Absolution Part II
Not all the clashes of this great battle that would enter into legend can be recorded, not every story told, but there are many that can.
Ezreal's head spins as he blinks the swirling galaxy-like motes of energy from his eyes.
"You still with me?" a voice asks, and he turns, the three faces of Kai'sa looking at him as she places a cautious hand on his shoulder.
"I'm," he begins, attempting to blink her false clones away and center on her, "Adjusting."
He looks around and sees warriors from a dozen cultures lunging forward, blades gleaming with silver-green light or marked by purple flame clashing against the Ruination.
"It worked?" he murmurs, repeating louder with a rush of dazed excitement, "It worked!"
Kai'sa grins and helps him back to his feet. "It did, but the battle is far from over. Can you fight?"
Ezreal glances towards the others that helped complete the ritual.
The towering giant with two faces made of flesh and bark had already moved on, rallying the spirits of nature and wraiths still resisting Viego's call to his side. They were not as numerous, but with the other forces of Runeterra at their side, they would have welcomed aid. Gleams of gold, emerald green, and silvery blue dash amongst the defenders, giving aid and protection where they can.
"See to the Maiden," he growls, and with that, he surges down the hill, his great shovel hewing through enemies with ease.
Ryze is to the side, shaking his arms, his runic markings steaming against the chill air.
"That… took more than I expected," he murmurs, readily downing a water skin. "But I will do what I can."
Finally, there was Vladimir, standing off to the side, a chill smile on his face. "Glorious."
He glances at Ezreal and Kai'sa. "Fight well, young ones. This battle is sure to shift the future of Runeterra for sometime. Try not to fail."
"What of you?" Kai'sa demands, "The fight is here!"
"Not every fight, as you well know," Vladimir notes, his eyes flicking from her to Ryze. "And as he can attest, Gods do battle, another tyrant tests his chains, and something watches beyond distant walls, seeking an advantage. They must be seen to. I promise Senna Abaru to see her to the end of the road, and here it lies before you all, my job is done. My nephew falls or ascends this day, but he is not the only monster with aims for this world. Though…"
He gazes out across the battlefield, towards a towering spider seeking to join the clash with the towering Galio.
"Maybe I will give an associate of mine a bit of grief before I depart," he remarks with a sardonic smirk.
He turns to Ryze, "What of you? Your guardianship has gone undone for a fair bit of time, don't you think?"
"I…" Ryze begins, looking down at Ezreal and out across the vast battlefield beyond, "I made a promise, too."
Vladimir smirks, "Good luck then, all of you."
And he becomes a horrid thing of ichor and melts into the cracked ground at their feet.
Ezreal winces as he takes a step forward, his whole body aching from the grand magical expenditure.
But he activates his gauntlet anyway.
"Where are Senna and Gwen?" he asks.
"Senna races to face Viego. Gwen is missing," Kai'sa offers.
"Then we listen to the monk; defending the Maiden takes precedence," he states, and he is off like a rocket, flash-stepping across the battlefield and racing towards her familiar silhouette.
Riven's blade sings, as she tears free of the pack of wraiths mobbing her. She whirls and glances around, seeking any sign of her allies, but all she can see is rubble.
The newest of their number had tackled her free of the strike, but now, she is not certain of where he or truly any of the others are.
She has to find them, find Senna and Gwen, and keep them safe from Viego.
She takes off at a dead sprint, calling the winds to her, hoping they will bring any inkling of her allies to her. She feels the touch of Yasuo, but oh so distant, and begin to turn in that direction, but a cry of pain draws her attention.
One of the Lunari stumbled towards her, clutching at his throat, skin gaunt, vile purple liquid dripping from his lips.
"Help-" he chokes out, slumping to the ground.
Riven is at his side in an instant, sending the cloying fog tugging at him scattering away. As it clears, she sees a dozen people of different nationalities lying still in a scattered cluster before her.
And across the trench, staring at her with sickly glowing eyes, one green, one pink, is the gaunt, inhuman shape of Singed.
"Hello, again," he rasps, taking a step towards her. She feels white fury burn to life within her chest.
The pieces of her blade shoot from her bag and snap back into place as she lets out a feral snarl in his direction. Lightning crackles and wind races all around her as she prepares to lunge for his throat.
"That wind won't keep you from my grasp for long," he warns, and a blinding wave of shimmer and toxin-ridden fumes races towards her.
Copying Yasuo's movements, she attempts to raise a wall to guard her, but her magic shifts to match her stance, and instead of a guarding barrier, a parting slash carves the wave in twain.
She darts forward, seeking to bury her blade deep in his twisted form, and instead, a howling visage of some twisted specter rises to meet her.
She cuts it down, pivoting and hunting, seeking Singed in the roiling fog all around her, instead the dead grasp at her feet, and claw at her face, the toxins seek to ravage her lungs and shrivel her eyes, yet she presses on.
"Alone again," Singed murmurs, "Fighting a losing battle."
"I have overcome everything this world has ever thrown at me!" she bellows, rage hot on her breath. "You are no different."
"Has cutting your way to freedom truly helped you?" Singed asks, clinical in his musings.
"It's left you a wander with no home, no true family," he remarks, "Just the heart of another broken exile, and not even all of it."
She lets his words wash off her like water, seeking to pinpoint his echoing voice within the fog.
"At least in my isolation, I did not allow myself to become a monster," Riven growls back.
"Would your sister say the same?" Singed challenges, and an instant later, the undead Marith comes charging free of the fog, her halberd coming down to crack Riven in the head.
Irelia races across the battlefield, Rakan and Akali in step with her, with Erath ahead and Henrietta raging at any and all that come within biting distance.
"One last fight," Rakan remarks with a grin, "And then I am back to my love and a calm life."
"One last fight against this flavor of tyrant, maybe," Akali fires back, swinging her mentor's blade upward through a charging wraith, releasing it from its torment with a contended gasp.
Irelia finds herself agreeing with Akali over Rakan, but at the moment, she needs to concentrate on keeping the whirling ring of blades dancing around her allies, keeping dozens of other undead monstrosities at bay.
Ionia was healing, but it was vulnerable, as were many of its protectors. It would need time to heal, and the first step was to ensure that the Ruination came to an end today.
The next was preparing for whatever dread threat dared rear its head next.
"Whatever comes next, let us fight like a brighter future is within sight," she offers, thinking back to her love recuperating at home with so many others.
Her dance was for them. In response to her buoyed hopes, her blades began to spin all the faster.
Rakan grins, and Akali nods solemnly as they race after her, cutting down any that get in their way, searching for larger targets.
And one finds them.
Or rather, it is sent rolling towards them, righting itself as it shrieks and snaps, a towering spider, demonic in mien, by another Titan, some great stone giant battling a reptilian-headed spirit, their blows shaking the entire battlefield.
Erath and Henrietta bellow a challenge in unison as the spider right itself, and she notices that several of its eyes have been deadened, and a shard of what appears to be red ice is emerging from them.
This was not a threat to take lightly, though. She could sense the warped magic of this thing, a spirit or demon slain and reanimated by the fall of Helia. Its former purpose dashed away, and all that remained was vile hunger.
Vilemaw, the name comes to her unbidden, painted across its spirit.
"Give it everything you have!" she orders.
Rakan nods, clashing his hands together, and magic rises to shield them as he bolts forward, a cascading tornado of light setting the great spider off balance, but it stays rooted to the ground even as he strains to send it cascading into the air.
Erath opens fire, deadening several more eyes, rolling of Henrietta as she latches onto one of the limbs and begins biting and clawing with abandon.
Irelia casts her blades forward, piercing the creature in a dozen places and slowing its forward charge. She can feel the metal rattle and steam through her connection, the relic edges attempting to undo the dark magic holding the beast together, but it presses on.
Akali throws her blade high into the air and appears beside it a moment more, her body glowing with green and pink light. As she is swallowed in a shell of blue light, she spins and sends the gleaming blade directly down into the head of the titanic spider.
Blue flames cascade out, searing it all along the back, and it shrieks with fury, legs faltering as Irelia draws her blades back to her.
It partially crumbles, and Erath aims a shot at its head.
And the great beast vomits a torrent of caustic venom directly towards him.
Rakan just manages to tackle him out of the way, but he screams as it spatters across his back.
All around them, dozens of smaller but still massive spiders begin to claw out of the ground at their feet.
Akali dodges and weaves as they send similarly caustic webs toward her, attempting to pin her down and swarm her.
Vilemaw kicks Henrietta away, sending her clattering across the rocks, and it turns all of its remaining eyes on her.
She catches its first strike on her blades, but the blow sends her to her knees. She strains as it begins to press down, a cold malice in its eyes as its other vast limbs aim to crush her fellows as well.
The beast hisses and chitters, and she swears she can hear words forming within the insectile sounds, worming their way into her mind.
She feels her muscles begin to go slack as a different kind of poison slowly drips and spatters across her mind, leaving her numb and hollow, even as she fights to regain her footing.
And then the sky above her head is consumed in a cascade of crimson lightning.
The whispers stop, and she regains her strength. She readily sends her blades into the stomach of the shrieking beast, the lightning coursing and snapping across its great form.
It retreats, scrambling away as its new attacker slowly follows. Bolts of lightning crisp its progeny, and Irelia feels fresh bile fill her mouth.
"Rise, girl," Swain orders, his body wreathed in crackling blood-red light, vast raven wings projecting from his back as he ensnares the attacking Ruined in his magic, "Go find prey more fitting of your stature."
"Sure you do not wish to finish it?" Irelia spits, pushing back to her feet, her blades dancing around her, each point held in his direction. The others assemble behind her, weapons rising as they pick themselves up from the ground.
He looks over them all, with a slight eyebrow rise in the direction of Erath, who stares at him with more fear than anything Irelia has seen before. Meanwhile, she just meets Swain's gaze unblinkingly.
He laughs joylessly, "For what, my missing arm, my dear girl, I should thank you."
He flexes the clawed replacement. "Much has become clear to me now since that day."
She snarls, and he holds up a hand, "Yes, yes, our reckoning will come one day, maybe, but for now, focus on the matter at hand."
She doesn't deign to respond, simply spitting his direction and racing off, blades spinning and cutting in a devastating and beautiful dance, the others hot on their tail, though she sends one writing look back and sees him languidly pursuing Vilemaw, a hurricane of black wind, crimson lightning and fluttering ravens feathers.
Another threat on the horizon, but for now, she would stay focused, as much as it sickened her.
Yasuo's blade carves through his latest attacker, eyes hunting for the next foe but also his allies. The battlefield has descended into full chaos, and he'd lost track of any faces that he recognized.
The armies of the various nations clashed all around him with dread mimics stolen from their holds and the ancient dead of Helia, but there amongst the madness he sees someone familiar.
His brother is looking right at him.
"Another echo come to haunt me?" he demands, raising his blade.
The figure raises his own blades, and Yasuo grimaces, cursing silently that he must go through this dance yet again.
And instead, the figure races right past him, slamming aside a spear that was close to take Yasuo directly through the spine.
Xin Zhao darts back as Yone continues his assault, glancing back at his younger brother for but a moment.
"Head on a swivel, little brother, your friends still need you," he warns.
"I…" Yasuo begins, but he stops as he sees a flair of icy magic in the distance, a wave of ice charging through the battlefield.
"We may have a chance to speak once this is finished, but for now," Yone remarks, pressing his attack against his Ruined foe, "Keep moving."
Yasuo nods and races across the battlefield and swiftly finds that he is not alone, as Ahri seems to materialize out of the battlefield on one side.
And Pyke on the other.
"Braum is in trouble," she offers, eyes blazing with blue fire.
"Then let's give him some breathing room." Yasuo returns, lunging above the ice wall and finding Braum beset on all sides, dozens of Ruined pirates and naga assaulting him every angle as they rise from the water at his back, and standing above the carnage, smiling harshly is the Ruined Sarah Fortune, though a bit different.
She was dressed in an archaic garb, a cloak of the mist flowing off her shoulders.
"The gangs all here," she cries, standing and pointing her pistols down, Ahri gasping and Pyke bristling at the sight of her, "Well, almost."
"How?" Ahri asks, glancing at him.
"She… became obsessed, and it led her far astray." is all he can offer in return.
"She needs to be put down," Pyke snarls.
"What we need to do is part her from her folly," another voice remarks, and Yasuo twists to see Illaoi pushing her way in.
Her totem sparks, and the horde swarming Braum are pushed back, and he looks up, smiling widely despite the blood and bruises at the sight of them.
"My friends!" he cries, pointing up at Fortune, "We must save her!"
Fortune chuckles, "Yes, yes, please save me, teach me a lesson, kill me if you can."
She opens her arms wide, and a horrible shriek erupts as from the ocean roil, towering and grotesque leviathans and decaying skeletons of long lost vessels.
"This isn't you, Sarah!" Ahri cries, "This isn't what you wanted?"
"Respect?" Fortune challenges, "Power? The ability to rise above and take revenge on all that ruined me? We win here, and I will scour Bilgewater of every traitor and dog loyal to the bastard who killed my mother. I will see him drawn and quartered, and when I am done, my mother will be back amongst the living, and he will finally be rotting in hell!"
"She's gone," Pyke warns.
"It's not all here speaking," Illaoi returns. "Viego has overpowered her through her grief. Stolen her motion."
"Regardless, we need to stop her. We hold her army here and give the others a chance to stop Viego and the other forces he's gathered," Yasuo states.
"Always the hero," Fortune taunts, glaring down at him. Sure, you don't want to run off and help your lover. She's facing quite a demon of her own—one that nearly killed her not too long ago."
His heart skips a beat, but he can hear Viego's voice inching in, and Ahri glances at him, "We can hold her, if you-"
"Riven can handle whatever this world can throw at her," Yasuo affirms, smiling down at Ahri. She's much stronger than I ever was. I almost pity whomever she's fighting. You and her would get on pretty well, I think. She's beautiful and dangerous all at once."
Ahri smirks and quirks a confused eyebrow. "Careful there, charmer."
Illaoi raises an eyebrow as well, while Braum smiles confusedly as Fortune's forces continue to pull back toward her. Pyke, meanwhile, just rolls his eyes.
"Enough talk," he snarls, pointing his blade at Fortune. "We've got a catch to cull."
"Alright, my friends, see how you match up against the Admiral of the Shadow Isles," Fortune remarks. She snaps her fingers, and cannonballs begin to fall like hail.
Vayne races through the trenches and clambers up ruin, tracing the scent of dragon through the chaos around her, and more faintly, the Gwen's magical tinge, still frustratingly distant.
She is concentrating, but that does not mean she is unaware. Out of the shadow, a barbed point fires out, attempting to spear her through the neck.
She dives under it, going into a tight slide, and comes up with her crossbow nocked and white hot fury in her eyes.
"As deft as always," Evelyn taunts as she slips free of the shadows, greedily drinking in the Black Mists and tracing the still-present scar Vayne had given her during their last altercation.
"Ever the opportunist." Vayne growls, firing her crossbow, but Evelyn slinks out of the way, weaving and winding between the next shots, a laugh on her lips.
"Oh, honey, I'm not here to kill you," she coos, "I'm here to watch."
And another predator enters the midst, snarling and snapping, long claws scraping along the stonework.
Frey looms above her, blocking her path forward.
"Shauna," she rasps, claws extending towards you.
"After all, this is much more juicy," Evelynn purrs, smiling with a mouthful of hooked fangs.
Gwen blinks her eyes open and winces in pain as she stands. She looks around, finding herself in a deep pit without any of her allies in sight.
"I need to get to him," she mutters to herself, looking down at the flaming blade in her hand.
She tosses her scissors down and quickly ascends to the mouth of the pit, flipping over with them clutched in her hand and looking around.
Somehow, despite the carnage and chaos raging in the distance, she is alone. Though not entirely, as she can feel a draw to the north east and as she turns, she sees Viego, staring down across the battlefield, flanked by Vex and Karthus while Rhaasa rages not far away, Regina is in the sky, joining with other horrid fliers to reek havoc across a fresh army from all the wondrous places she had gotten the chance to visit since she awoke, ravaged by the Ruination as they were.
This truly was the final fight.
And there, grasped in Viego's hand, is the music box, the source of the pull.
"Gwen!" a voice calls, and she turns, noticing Smolder's rapidly fluttering approach, his new armor worryingly marked and pitted.
"Are you okay?" she demands, rushing to him.
"Yeah, I'm fine!" he exclaims, nuzzling against her and flexing his relic-stone-tipped claws. "These work wonders!"
"That's good." Gwen murmurs, gently touching his chin, "But it's not safe for you here."
"Is anywhere?" he counters.
"Back with the main force of the others," Gwen states.
"That's true for you too!" he remarks. "Senna is worried; she needs you."
"I have a feeling she and I are headed in the same direction," Gwen says as she continues towards Viego.
"You can't fight him alone," Smolder states. "I can help!"
"It wouldn't be for long," Gwen returns, "But regardless, he is far too dangerous for you. Go back."
"You should listen to the doll, young one," a harsh voice states, and Gwen whirls as barring her way, and towering over her is the feral and gaunt form of the Pantheon.
"This isn't a place for the ill-equipped," he taunts, stepping towards them suddenly.
Gwen holds up her blades, as Smolder coils his tail around her legs.
"I'm not scared of you," Smolder remarks, fire puffing from his lips.
"Oh, really?" the Pantheon demands, spinning his spear. "Well-"
A thunderous crash cuts him off, and they all look up as they see Galio slamming Renakton back, his laughter echoing all around them.
"Take that, you big lizard!" the statue shouts, going for another punch.
Pantheon looks down at them and hefts his spear.
"A moment," he states, and he throws his spear with such force that Gwen is knocked off her feet as the ground craters around them.
The spear collides with Galio's shoulder, where a small figure can be seen standing.
And the explosion that rings out deafens the entire battlefield.
Galio's right arm falls free, and the statue teeters back, screams and cries of shock and horror echoing all around as she sees him grasp for the figure as they fall free.
The spear returns to Pantheon's grasp in a moment, and he turns his burning eyes back towards Gwen and Smolder.
"Always hated interruptions," the Pantheon mutters, coaxing them to speak. "You were saying?"
Gwen swallows and meets his gaze. "We aren't afraid of you."
"Well, you really should be," he returns, spinning his spear. "Viego needs you, doll, but he never specified in one piece."
He glances down at Smolder, "And you aren't even worth my time."
In response, the dragonling spits flame directly into his face.
Pantheon chuckles, batting it away, and prepares to stab him, Gwen throwing herself over the tiny dragon.
And there is a flair of silver as Diana intercedes.
"I was wondering where you went," Diana growls, pushing him back, her whole body glowing with curling threads of silver energy. "We weren't done."
The Pantheon smirks, and Gwen notices that Diana is covered in small cuts, her divine blood spattering the ground. "You couldn't fight me before, but what thinks you have a chance now?"
"You're a coward," Diana offers, and the Pantheon snarls, "And you're alone with nowhere to run."
"Am I?" he counters. Rocks scrape nearby, and Gwen turns, taking in the form of a vaguely familiar warrior.
"Leona does not deter me; she only angers," Diana presses, her blade managing to nick the Pantheon's chin.
A shadow looms over them as Renekton turns his attention down toward them.
"You are one goddess, against three, that I hasten to call your betters," the Pantheon states, kicking her way.
She skids back a foot and throws her hands up to protect Gwen and Smolder, her eyes flicking between her oncoming opponents.
"Do you not see?" the Pantheon taunts, holding his arms wide as the other similarly deific beings begin to close in around them.
"What hope do you h-" he's cut off as a gleaming shield cracks into his helm with a gong, sending him skittering backwards.
Gwen turns, blinking as a figure shrouded in silvery blue flame emerges.
A yordle, smiling and spinning her oversized hammer.
"Hope, reporting for duty," she states, scooping up her shield as a beautiful woman dressed in purple robes with chained wings and pointed ears emerges from behind her.
"Poppy!" Gwen exclaims.
"Hi, Gwen," Poppy returns, waving shyly.
The Pantheon snarls.
"Go, child," the taller woman remarks. "We will keep their attention."
"And who are you to stand against me?" it growls.
"Morgana, a child of justice, hand of mercy, your bane," she threatens, chains unfurling around her, burning with purple flame.
"Just Poppy," the yordle remarks, attempting to sound humble even though Diana can sense the breadth of power roiling within her.
"Hope's Hero," Morgana states, and Poppy scoffs blushingly.
"Well, yeah, that, but anyway, time to take your lumps, crazy war god," Poppy states, and without another word, she lunges for Pantheon, her form gleaming with flame.
"Gwen, get to Senna," Diana states, turning toward Leona as Morgana looks up to Renekton.
"How long has it been since you knew an ounce of kindness?" she murmurs, yet her voice seems to reach the towering giant, who flinches and turns away, "I am sorry for what has to follow."
Gwen looks down to Smolder, "Stick close."
And the pair takes off running, weaving and slicing their way through the massing Mistwalkers.
Vex watches with baited breath as the Sentinels are drawn further and further apart.
And then, the vast golem gets knocked to the ground, reshaping the very battlefield and sewing new chaos. She sees her chance.
But then she catches a glint of light.
She catches the blast full-on, shielding Viego with her form as Senna continues to drink in the Mist. A blazing beam of golden fire eats away at her shadow.
It shrieks and writhes and then Lucian is there as well, his first shot plugging through a chink in her guard and catching Viego in the knee.
She glances down at him, reaching a hand out, but he shakes his head, glaring at their attackers.
"I told you we were ending this," Senna calls, "And you've scattered your forces to the wind."
"So have you," he returns, and his next words are only for her, "Go. Bring her to me."
And she listens, releasing him from her embrace. Sanctity sends a blazing blast of energy racing for Lucian as Viego stands proud and roars a challenge. Regina and Rhaasa turn toward him as she flits away, escaping Senna's surging claws that attempt to keep her there.
She becomes a comet. Her eyes locked on a singular target.
The Maiden.
Her chance. Her heart's desire.
And then she is amidst the Sentinels' backline, and they scatter as her shadow shrieks, filling them with overwhelming fear.
Ezreal and his flashy smile, the elder mage and the damnable monk fall back, yet for a moment tha woman in the living shell resists, snapping at her with her burning blades, so she sends her spinning, a searingly cold blast of shadowy flame causing her carapace to shriek and writhe and pull at this Kai'sa unnaturally as it tries to free itself from her harsh magics.
The Maiden whirls on her, claws gleaming, and she meets her wild strikes with blows of her own.
"You. Again," the Maiden growls.
"Me." Vex returns, smiling madly as the Maiden tries with all her might to rend her, to break free of her ever-constricting embrace.
"I won't be his, not ever again!' the Maiden shrieks.
"Don't worry," Vex comforts, as her blade strikes home, thumping into the center of the Maiden's forehead, "You're going to be mine, instead."
Two forms surge through her cascading wall of shadow, Necrit and Caid, old men, fools, too stubborn to give in.
"Unhand her!" Necrit bellows, raising his staff.
"You heard him!" Caid shouts, firing his rifle at her.
She barely spares them a glance, too intent on her prayer. Her shadow deliberately and brutally answers their defiant cries.
She was always strongest in the dread realm of the Isles, and she has no intention of playing anymore. Not when she is this close.
So quick and easy, her shadow bites Necrit in twain from below, sending him cascading back into the Mist, and it grabs Caid by the head and pops it clean off, sending it bouncing across the stonework. His body crumbles, and it returns all of its savage attention back to the Maiden.
The Maiden falters, reaching for the blade, and Vex's claw plunges into her chest. She feels her whole body alight with energy as it closes around her prize.
Isolde's voice briefly fills her ears as she pulls the fetter free of its age-old cage.
"Fool," she gasps.
Vex merely smiles. For does love not make fools of all?
One last chapter of this war remains.
As always, comments, questions, and critiques are appreciated. This has been VerBeeker, signing off.