The red in Renekton's eyes finally began to fade.
In the end, the will of an Ascended had proven stronger than the brainwashing magic that had built up over centuries, maybe even a thousand years.
After all, Xerath had already lost his magic. On ordinary mortals with no magical resistance, the spell might have lasted longer. But Ascended were different. Their skin alone could reflect low-level magic.
While he fought Renekton in the Tomb of the Emperors, Xerath had fed those ideas into his mind little by little.
Not long after Renekton came out, Azir awakened along with the Sun Disc.
Though Renekton had been planted with the belief that Nasus had sealed him away for the sake of honor, he chose complete madness and began attacking everything around him indiscriminately so Xerath would not be able to use him.
After that, the two of them made their way from the Tomb of the Emperors back to the surface, and everything that Caleb's group experienced came afterward.
Renekton shook his head and stared blankly at the spear driven through his chest.
He remembered this one. After becoming Ascended, he had often kept in contact with the commanding officer of the army he served under at the time.
Yaanogel, one of the Ascended stationed on the front lines.
But why had he become so small?
That question was cut short by a burst of pain as Yaanogel yanked the spear back out of his chest.
Renekton grunted, clamping one claw over the wound to stop himself from losing too much blood.
Yaanogel had been precise. The spear had gone into his chest, but skillfully avoided anything vital. It was enough to pin down an Ascended, but still the kind of wound that could slowly heal.
"Renekton."
The voice was instantly familiar. The crocodilian Ascended snapped his head toward it and saw Azir on the throne, with Nasus standing off to one side.
"Your Highness, Nasus..." Renekton said in a daze. "What... happened to me?"
"Could it be that the Shuriman Empire never truly fell?"
"No," Nasus said, shaking his head and setting aside his ceremonial axe. "The old empire has already been gone for a thousand years."
The crimson color faded from Caleb's body. He swayed, his face pale, but at least he did not collapse.
Half an hour later, Renekton finally understood.
"So that's what happened!"
While he listened to Nasus explain everything, Azir raised his scepter and guided the spilled blood back into Renekton's wound.
Meanwhile, Yuumi kept casting Zoomies on Caleb at his side, helping his body rapidly recover.
"Hah..." Caleb finally managed to put his wrecked body back in order.
No other way to say it, that Darkin's way of using his body was way too brutal.
Caleb had already made up his mind. Unless his life was truly on the line, he was going to avoid using Yaanogel's power as much as possible.
Even with Yuumi constantly restoring him, Caleb still knew this kind of damage would probably leave lasting problems behind. The hidden injuries buried in his body were hard to fully heal with the regeneration Zoomies provided. The more often he used that power, the worse his condition would become.
"That Xerath is absolutely despicable!"
Renekton slammed a fist into the floor, making the hall hum with the impact.
"He doesn't have long left to live, even by mortal standards," Azir said.
By Azir's estimate, that meant a few decades at most, but in truth, Xerath probably did not even have ten days left.
A weakened body, a brutal environment, and magical seals he could neither use nor remove, it would not have been strange if Xerath died on any given day.
"And the fault was not small on my side either," Azir said with a self-mocking smile.
"Your Majesty!"
"You must not say such a thing!"
The two Ascended dropped to one knee in unison, looking toward Azir on the throne.
For just an instant, Caleb felt as though he had been carried back a thousand years, to Azir's Shurima. People moved through this magnificent hall, and Renekton and Nasus were not the only ones there. There were ministers too, loyal servants of the empire standing beneath the emperor's gaze.
Caleb still managed to resist the urge to kneel with them.
"There seems to be Void activity again near Icathia in the south. Go with them."
"Make sure this threat is eliminated. The people must not suffer again."
Azir put extra weight on that final sentence.
"By your command!" Renekton knew those words were meant for him.
Otherwise, there would have been no need to use the power of the Sun Disc to help him. Azir could have simply let him heal on his own.
Renekton's eyes passed over Caleb and the cat at his side.
The two women behind him, one carried royal blood in her veins, and the other bore the aura of the Void.
Captives? Guides? Something else?
He did not bother asking. He walked straight up to Caleb's side, then turned his great blade toward himself in a solemn gesture.
"I am the Ascended Renekton. In this operation, I await your orders."
Even Caleb's heart started pounding at that.
Only when a mouth suddenly grew on his left hand and coughed twice did he snap back to reality.
"My name is Caleb," he said quickly. "The yordle cat beside me is Yuumi. The two behind us are Kai'Sa and Sivir. Our destination is Zuretta."
"Yes."
To Renekton, Caleb was not merely Caleb. He was also Yaanogel.
So all Renekton had to do was trust him and follow his commands.
"Then... shall we get moving?"
As Caleb spoke, he glanced at Azir.
"Go."
It was the same as before, Skallashi. For Caleb, these were the kind of creatures you could only tame if you happened to run into one. For Azir, they were just a fairly convenient means of transportation, summoned when needed and dismissed when they were not.
After a quick bit of packing, the group climbed back onto the camels.
"I swear, once this job is done, I'm going back to Piltover and living a normal life for at least a couple of days."
Caleb stared ahead with half-lidded eyes, tempting fate as soon as the words left his mouth.
"What's wrong with this kind of life?" Sivir asked. She was already used to living on the move, and getting to take part in something this big genuinely made her happy from the bottom of her heart.
Kai'Sa looked eager too.
At last, the problems here were settled. Now she could go deal with the Void.
Compared to luring Queen Rek'Sai back into the Void by herself, it was obviously better to go with the group and tear apart the nest itself.
She wondered how Taliyah was doing, the girl who had once fought at her side.
Kai'Sa did not understand much about Shurima's emperor or the Ascended, but when it came to the Void, that was a different story. She knew it better than anyone.
What Renekton thought about was glory.
He had watched the Shuriman Empire collapse before his eyes, then spent a thousand years in a pitch-black tomb.
Now the emperor of old had returned. The time to build great deeds had come again.
With the Sun Disc restored, how could Shurima fail to rally itself and rise once more?
Only Caleb found himself missing the twin cities a little.
He missed the machinery, and all the endless good food over there.
No matter how beautiful the desert scenery was, seeing it every single day wore you down.
The twin cities were better. They never got old.
Zuretta was a dangerous place, where Queen Rek'Sai lay hidden with her many children, the Xer'Sai.
Kai'Sa and Taliyah had once argued over whether that place was heaven or hell.
Later, it turned out Kai'Sa had been right. That lake had long since dried up.
And now the group was setting out from the Sun Disc, heading for that patch of Void corruption.
This is why I survived, Kai'Sa said silently to herself as she looked at the tiny dots in the distance, a merchant caravan moving across the sands.
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