"You maggot!!"
With a roar full of sinful Pride, Hecarim watched helplessly as rapidly growing crystals filled the gaps in his armor. He could no longer stand. Crushed by overwhelming power, all he could do was remain kneeling, humiliated.
"You'll never trample me beneath your feet! I transcend death itself!"
Flames surged from Hecarim's chest as he swung his massive halberd in a desperate bid to break free.
Clang!!
With a flash of his ionic blade, the Sin of Pride cleaved Hecarim's halberd into pieces. The broken weapon clattered to the ground. The flames flickering in Hecarim's eye sockets froze mid-flicker, he couldn't comprehend how his weapon had been destroyed so effortlessly.
"I told you, you'll have to give me everything you've got to entertain me."
The Sin of Pride leaned in close, his gaping maw glowing with fire.
"So? Show me what tricks you've got left," he said with a low, chilling tone.
"RAHHH!!"
Hecarim howled in defiance. He was slaughter. He was ruin. A force of destruction that could not be stopped!
But now, his armor filled with crystal, he could only watch as the Sin of Pride placed a palm on his head. Unfathomable power surged into his soul. And then, he inhaled.
With a single breath, most of Hecarim's soul was devoured.
"No...!"
He struggled, but it was useless. All he could do was watch as the essence of who he was was siphoned away.
As Hecarim's soul faded into weakness, a thin wisp, his core essence, slipped out of the armor and disappeared into the black mist.
The Curse of the Ruined King had rooted itself deep into his soul. Only by lifting the curse or being bathed in the Waters of Life could he ever find peace.
Everything else, his power, his will, was consumed.
"Huuuh…"
The Sin of Pride exhaled a breath of fractured light, then turned to face the others.
Miss Fortune swallowed hard, her voice tentative.
"Duke… Are you okay?"
"I've never felt better."
Exhaling again, breath shimmering with scattered brilliance, the Sin of Pride turned to Tahm Kench.
He hadn't left after teleporting in, he was lingering, curious about what came next.
"Tahm."
The voice, brimming with raw dominance, echoed across Pickpocket Plaza. Tahm flinched.
"At your service!"
"Bring him here."
"Eh?"
Tahm blinked his beady eyes, then nodded in sudden understanding.
"No problem, boss."
Opening a swirling portal in the river, Tahm vanished into it.
There was something… off about the "boss" now. His soul radiated a devouring hunger, held in check only by sheer force of will. It wasn't normal.
After Tahm left, the Sin of Pride gazed at Hecarim's body, now a hollow statue. With his soul gone, the proud warlord was nothing but cold stone.
With Hecarim defeated, a third of the Harrowing's threat was gone.
What remained were Thresh, the Chain Warden, and the Black Mist itself.
The Black Mist, as an extension of the Ruination, was far more terrifying than the undead it created.
Duke hadn't completely lost himself. He still remembered his purpose: to help Miss Fortune survive the Harrowing. But time was against him.
The Sin of Pride's soul grew more tempting by the second.
If not for Duke's extraordinary self-control, he might've already consumed it.
That soul, born from Duke's own fragmented essence, had matured into its own being. And now, Duke felt a primal hunger to reclaim it.
"I can't let this continue… I'll end up devouring him."
For a fleeting moment, clarity returned to Duke's eyes within the Sin of Pride. A gentle glow pulsed from the amulet inside his shirt, the bluebird charm.
It was time to call on the wind goddess.
Tahm didn't keep him waiting. Bursting back through the river portal, he opened his massive jaws and spit out a man clad in ancient robes, Thresh.
"You damned gluttonous devil! How dare you treat me like this?!"
Thresh erupted in fury the moment he landed. Tahm just shrugged and pointed behind him.
Thresh, lantern in one hand and scythe in the other, the flame in his skull still burning bright, turned to face the looming shadow behind him.
The Sin of Pride silently approached.
His breath, laced with fragmented light, hit Thresh like a hammer. Instinctively, Thresh hurled his hook.
Clang!
The chain struck armor, then fell uselessly to the ground.
The Sin of Pride looked down at the fallen hook with disdain and exhaled.
"Thresh."
"Your strength is like an ant trying to shake a tree, laughable!"
"Your weapons are deceit and words, unworthy of power!"
Duke crushed the chain underfoot.
"You will never ascend to the realm of true strength."
"Ah, so it's you…"
Despite the blended voices, Thresh recognized Duke's tone. With his talent for reading souls, he sensed Duke inside the armor.
"A new toy already?"
He tried to taunt him.
But the Sin of Pride's grip on the chain was absolute, Thresh couldn't pull it back.
"I told you, you're like a gnat. Powerless. Laughable."
The Sin of Pride vanished in a blur, too fast to follow, and reappeared behind Thresh, gripping his skull.
"You are weak."
Thresh's skull cracked under the pressure. Panic flared. How had Duke grown so much stronger in mere minutes?
What he didn't know, Duke had designed the Sin of Pride not only as a living machine but also as his ultimate battle armor.
And it wasn't the only one. Six others were hidden within his blueprints.
"You can't kill me!"
With the Black Mist's curse protecting him, Thresh felt invincible.
The Sin of Pride said nothing.
He crushed Thresh's skull.
Green flames seeped from his crushed head, then reformed atop his body. Thresh was not truly dead, the Mist wouldn't allow it.
But that only meant he hadn't met his true predator yet.
Should Kindred ever find him, the hunt would end quickly.
The Wolf would chase him forever.
"See? I told you your attacks were useless!"
Just as his head reformed, a massive hand gripped his throat.
The Sin of Pride leaned in, fire burning in his mouth.
"And so what?"
"You who cling to curses like a sewer rat, you disgust me."
"Now, let's begin your real torment."
He stole Thresh's line, and followed it with fire.
From his maw erupted a stream of magical dragonfire, endless, relentless.
Thresh howled in agony.
He lashed out with his hook again and again, but couldn't even scratch the armor.
Meanwhile, a bluebird soared through the mist and transformed above Bilgewater, becoming a goddess holding a staff.
"Let it begin."
Janna's voice, light and ethereal, echoed across the skies.
In Pickpocket Plaza, everyone heard Thresh's screams. Lucian, for one, was delighted.
Watching Thresh suffer brought him immense satisfaction, though a part of him regretted it wasn't his own doing.
Camille watched in silence.
Jayce, clutching his wounded arm, asked,
"Madam, are you sure we shouldn't stop him?"
Camille replied quietly,
"He needs to vent."
Gazing at the Sin of Pride breathing fire, she added,
"This is his choice. We must respect that."
"Young man," she continued.
"Even the closest of friends, even brothers, will one day walk different paths."
"He's already surpassed all of you."
Miss Fortune stood frozen.
Since Duke merged with the Sin of Pride, he'd felt… distant. Like the man she once knew was fading.
"Stop!!"
But Duke's breath kept coming. Thresh screamed as something inside him was torn away.
"Damn it!"
Thresh finally acted. He opened his lantern.
Inside, a green singularity pulsed.
With pain in his eyes, he did what he had to.
Countless souls burst from the lantern, flooding the sky, fleeing in all directions.
His hoarded strength, gone.
But he'd kept a few precious souls back. The portal in the lantern shut as he waited for a chance to escape.
"Thresh opened his lantern?!"
The sky was filled with spirits, screaming in newfound freedom.
Then, a howl echoed through the void.
Countless souls were devoured by invisible wolves.
The sea of spirits darkened the skies. Everyone in Bilgewater could see it.
A black wolf, bearing a white sheep's mask, hunted through the mist with savage joy.
And beside it, a small lamb wearing a black wolf's mask, dancing gently through the air with a glowing bow.
Kindred, the Eternal Hunters.
They had guarded the Shadow Isles for centuries. Today, they claimed their due.
As the Wolf's howl rang through the void, Duke snapped awake. The Sin of Pride faltered.
Seeing the twin hunters, Thresh's face twisted in fear. He flung his lantern into the mist and vanished.
Kindred had arrived.
Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. The dead must rest.
And then, finally,
The wind began to blow.
End of chapter...
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