By the time the desert sands settled back into the earth and even the howling wind fell silent, Kai'Sa and Sivir were finally able to clearly see the "Caleb" standing beside the stone coffin.
Compared to the frail version of Caleb from before, the one who looked like he barely had any strength in him at all, this version of him was terrifying from appearance alone.
Even more unsettling was the long spear with a heart embedded in it.
The heart on the spear was gradually calming down from its earlier frenzy.
Each pulse beat like a war drum.
Deep, powerful, and enough to make anyone uneasy.
"Caleb...?" Kai'Sa could tell that this was not Caleb, but another life altogether.
And when those crimson eyes landed on her, her first instinct was to fire Void Seeker, then vanish with Supercharge.
Sivir was equally confused. There was something about Caleb now that felt strangely familiar to her.
That blood-soaked thing should have had no connection to Shurima at all.
Then the "Caleb" clad head to toe in a blood-red "armor" slowly lifted the anti-magic sarcophagus.
A moment later, he dropped to one knee before Azir.
"My emperor."
"Caleb's" voice trembled slightly, and even his whole body seemed unsteady.
"You are?" Azir asked, puzzled.
Ascended never needed other people's bodies, and very few of them had ever studied this kind of blood magic.
At this moment, the young man's body was operating at full speed, endlessly producing blood to form those horrifying masses of flesh covering him.
"A Darkin, Yanogel." There were even tears glistening in Yanogel's eyes. "One of the Ascended who lost his way after you and the Sun Disc passed from the world."
"So you came to some kind of agreement with him and borrowed his body?"
Azir was incredibly sharp. He instantly grasped the relationship between Caleb and Yanogel.
His sand soldiers had only been able to keep reforming under the impact of Xerath's spells.
Once Yanogel appeared, that violent assault of his had made all the difference.
"Yes." Yanogel clenched his teeth and admitted it. Before the emperor of his own empire, lying was impossible.
"After Shurima fell, the Darkin fought one another, and in the end they were sealed by the Aspects and humanity within living weapons."
"And I was sealed inside this spear. He offered up his own body so I could help you."
As he said that, Yanogel could not help but feel a trace of reluctance.
The other man had been willing to offer up his own life to protect the fallen glory of Shurima.
How could Yanogel simply take his body for himself after that?
The Ascended were a proud people.
It was because of their strength that the empire had once expanded its territory to nearly all of Runeterra.
Even when the Void invaded, Shurima's god-warriors had marched forward without fear, one after another charging into the depths of the Void.
How many mighty weapons had been left behind in that place, standing like monuments?
And now, Shurima had already fallen. Its awakened emperor had been locked in a bitter struggle with one of the previous age's schemers.
And in the end, it was an outsider to Shurima who had offered his own body to secure victory?
Yanogel knew he could never accept such a "gift" with a clear conscience.
"Return the body to him first," Azir said in a low voice.
Shurima had once stood at the peak of the world. If they lacked even that much pride, then there was no point speaking of rebuilding the empire at all.
"Yes."
Yanogel rose to his feet, and all the blood-red tissue on his body flowed toward his left shoulder.
The blood condensed into a single mass, and when Caleb's consciousness returned, he swayed twice and collapsed onto the ground.
"Caleb!"
Wind swirled around Sivir as she hurried over with Kai'Sa and Yuumi to Caleb's side.
"Nasus, take the sarcophagus with you," Azir ordered from nearby.
Without a word, Nasus grabbed the chains and slowly dragged them through the sand.
Under the overwhelming power of the Sun Disc, Xerath inside the sarcophagus was still being drained of energy without end.
No matter how he pounded on it or struggled, his power was kept beneath the threshold needed to break the coffin open.
Nasus had now seen with his own eyes the strength of the Ascended who had once fought the Void.
Under normal circumstances, the Ascended were stationed across the empire, and when it came to conquering minor kingdoms, weaker Ascended were usually more than enough.
But during that great Void invasion, under Queen Setaka's command, almost all of the god-warriors had gone to the front lines.
At the time, Nasus had remained in the city as a civil official.
So now, seeing the splendor of those Ascended, how could he not yearn for it in his heart?
If he had not been gravely ill, his brother Renekton would not have had to carry him onto the platform of the Ascension ritual.
If the two brothers could have received two portions of Ascended power instead of one.
If he had not been a civil official, but a warrior like his brother.
Then perhaps, when facing Xerath, the two of them would not have been so helpless.
And Renekton would not have ended up as he had.
At that thought, Nasus could not help but let out a sigh.
"Caleb! Caleb!"
The distant voices calling his name felt like steel needles stabbing again and again into his numbed nerves.
The blood missing from his body suddenly began to surge once more.
The consciousness he had lost slowly returned, like someone being dragged out of the water after drowning.
Then Caleb opened his eyes.
"Thank God, you're awake!"
The first face he saw was Kai'Sa's. It almost looked like she had been on the verge of tears.
Caleb blinked. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
"What? What do you need?"
"Water..." Caleb managed to force out the hoarse word from his throat.
That Darkin had really been ruthless. Right now, the arcane energy and blood in Caleb's body felt as though they had been completely drained dry.
His muscles and bones had long since shattered, they were only in the middle of knitting themselves back together now.
Caleb didn't even have the strength to bare his teeth in pain.
"You did well, kid."
A voice suddenly came from his left.
Caleb recognized it. It was the voice of the Darkin in the spear.
Looks like I won the gamble.
At last, climbing out of the abyss of absolute exhaustion, Caleb managed a bright grin.
"What are you smiling for, idiot!"
Kai'Sa looked a little angry, which really didn't match the cool, distant version of her she showed in battle.
"Don't worry. I had at least some confidence it would work."
With Kai'Sa supporting him, Caleb barely managed to stand.
Near Shurima's Sun Disc, an oasis had already begun to rise.
Azir and Nasus looked distant now.
But they had left one Skallashi behind for the three of them and the cat.
Sivir looked at the weakened man and found her opinion of him changing.
He might have seemed unreliable and unserious most of the time, but when it came to the decisive moment, he hadn't hesitated for even a second.
"You really did it." This time, Sivir's admiration was completely sincere.
"Oh, cut it out..." Caleb weakly waved one arm.
"But I guess it all wrapped up pretty nicely."
Watching the sun as it slowly neared the horizon, Caleb lay on the Skallashi's back with his head resting on Kai'Sa's lap.
It would have been even better if that Void skin of hers weren't so scratchy.
"At this rate, we can go deal with the Void next!"
Caleb gave a thumbs-up, making Kai'Sa laugh out loud beside him.
"Yay! We can go find Norra!"
Using Caleb's body like a trampoline, Yuumi rolled back and forth across him.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
"What was that supposed to mean? Saying girls are heavy is really rude!"
In the dusky glow of the evening sky, the group headed toward the radiant Sun Disc in the distance.
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