IW: Chapter 242 - The Ice of Frozen Flames, Greatness Needs No Words! Ionia-Noxus All-Out War
People are at their most vulnerable when they are asleep.
Ahri had been biding her time for this exact opportunity. She had originally assumed that Bai Ye and Nidalee would crash the moment they stepped foot inside the room, but the two had spent what felt like an eternity chatting. Waiting in the shadows, she had nearly lulled herself to sleep first.
But now, the moment had finally arrived.
After verifying that Bai Ye's breathing was deep and even, Ahri slinked across the mattress. She moved like a ghost, quietly placing a single, soft front paw against his cheek.
Her methodology was simple: as long as a target harbored no active defenses against her, she could freely siphon their essence. With Bai Ye completely unconscious, she refused to believe she could fail this time.
Coaxing her innate magic into bloom, a faint, iridescent strand of soul connection sprouted from Ahri, reaching out to tether his consciousness. Once the link secured itself, the target's vital essence would flow smoothly into her—just as it always had with every other victim. But the very instant she attempted to draw it in, the spiritual thread abruptly snapped.
What in the world...?
A massive question mark practically manifested over the little fox's head.
This had never happened before. A soul connection fracturing on contact? It defied everything she knew about her own nature.
Refusing to accept defeat, Ahri gritted her teeth and initiated the link a second time. But the moment her magic brushed against his subconscious, the thread shattered again. She tried a third time, then a fourth, her desperation mounting with every attempt. Every single link collapsed under its own weight, leaving the little fox completely bewildered.
After a dozen failed attempts, Ahri finally collapsed onto Bai Ye's shoulder with a dejected, heavy sigh. She tucked her paws inward, utterly defeated, unable to comprehend how a flawless execution could yield absolutely nothing.
It seems her current ability is still a bit too weak, Bai Ye mused silently to himself.
In reality, he hadn't slept a wink. While his mind had easily brushed off Ahri's illusions earlier in the day, he couldn't guarantee she didn't possess other, more insidious tricks up her sleeve. Feigning sleep was simply a calculated test to see exactly what the little vastaya was plotting.
From the look of things, her essence-draining magic couldn't even penetrate his baseline spiritual defenses.
With his safety fully verified, Bai Ye finally let his guard down, closed his eyes for real, and drifted off into a peaceful, untroubled sleep.
Perhaps it was because she had only recently been born and her magic power wasn't strong enough. And her magic power was connected to the power of the soul. When his soul strength was stronger than Ahri's, this ability seemed to have no effect on him.
It seems she still needs to awaken and be able to use that magic orb.
Bai Ye had already confirmed quite a bit about Ahri's current strength, so he didn't pay much attention to it anymore.
The next day.
Bai Ye picked up Ahri. The fox probably hadn't rested much last night, constantly trying. Now, she seemed a bit listless, lying in Bai Ye's arms.
He gently poked Ahri, and a human-like look of annoyance appeared on the fox's face.
Ahri was in a bad mood. She had been trying hard all night, sacrificing her rest but still failing. Now Bai Ye was disturbing her rest again.
"Good morning, Bai Ye!"
Nidalee stretched, having slept very well last night. This place was not like the jungle, where she still needed to guard against unexpected occurrences.
"Good morning."
Bai Ye was a little surprised to see Nidalee grooming herself so early in the morning.
Is this a must for felines?
"What's wrong?"
Seeing Bai Ye's surprised gaze, Nidalee felt a bit embarrassed and put her hand down.
This was already her habitual action; she started to smooth out her fur every morning.
However, seeing Bai Ye's strange look made Nidalee unable to speak.
"Nothing. Aren't you from Ixtal? How did you come to Ionia?"
Bai Ye shook his head. Actually, Bai Ye was also a little curious about Nidalee coming here.
"Actually, it's not just me. Rengar and Neeko are also from Ixtal, but we came here to take some Vastaya with us."
Nidalee explained.
The reason they came here was actually to take a portion of the Vastaya to Ixtal.
"So, all those people before were tribes who were going to leave with you?"
A hint of realization flashed across Bai Ye's face. He now understood why people from Ixtal would appear in Ionia.
"Yes, we were originally going to leave, but then Noxus invaded Ionia."
Nidalee nodded, explaining that was why they hadn't left.
Although they were later rescued by Bai Ye, Nidalee learned from Neeko after returning that she had gone to find Rengar and some Vastaya warriors to rescue them.
After listening to Nidalee's words, Bai Ye also realized that his appearance seemed to have caused some chain reactions.
But then again, why did Ixtal want to come here and take the Vastaya away?
"Bai Ye, you want to ask why we came here to take the Vastaya, right?"
Nidalee saw the doubt in Bai Ye's eyes. After thinking for a moment, she probably understood why Bai Ye would ask that.
Actually, they wouldn't have come originally, but the Vastaya here had called for help.
"It's like this, logically speaking, it doesn't make sense."
"Because some Vastaya had already sided with Noxus, many people were against it, so they wanted to leave Ionia and were preparing to go to Vastaya with us, so they contacted us to come together."
Nidalee explained; this was also the reason they came here.
"That's not right. Then didn't you already know that Noxus and Ionia would go to war? And you still came?"
Strange.
Since they knew, why were they still captured?
And since some Vastaya had already sided with Noxus, then Noxus shouldn't have attacked the Vastaya.
How come there's a hint of strangeness everywhere in this?
"I don't know, but according to our understanding, we probably weren't among those who were protected. The Vastaya had already split, and we originally thought that wars between Noxus and its neighbors were always happening, so we could just take the people and leave."
Nidalee explained the reason for this matter.
At the same time, she also recounted their previous thoughts.
Bai Ye also sorted out the matter.
There was a disagreement between the two sides; one faction that sided with Noxus received its protection, while these two Vastaya factions regarded each other as traitors.
Coupled with Noxus's small-scale wars over the years.
No one expected Noxus to launch a large-scale invasion of Ionia, so Nidalee and her group didn't anticipate this. After arriving here, they were captured.
This also confirmed his previous guess that the two sides didn't seem to be very harmonious.
Actually, not all of Ionia's internal factions were warmongers. After all, some people might have thought it better to surrender directly, given that Noxus's strength was indeed greater than Ionia's.
"So, Bai Ye, have you thought about it?"
"Thought about what?"
Bai Ye was a little confused, not understanding why Nidalee would say that.
"It's about whether you've considered joining this matter. I always feel like you're somewhat aloof..."
Of course, what Nidalee meant by "aloof" wasn't in a romantic sense, but rather that Bai Ye seemed to want to participate in this matter but was also worried about something.
He came from Noxus, but he was helping Ionia. At least, what he was doing now didn't seem to benefit Noxus at all.
"I don't want to be tied to any faction. I do things according to my own feelings."
Bai Ye also understood that everyone could clearly see his aloof attitude. Swain had noticed it back then.
"Alright, so where are we going next?"
Nidalee didn't dwell on the matter too much.
She just wanted to know what Bai Ye's ultimate goal was in doing this; sometimes, it was truly hard to understand.
Following his heart?
So, back then, he only chose to save her because he saw her captured?
It seemed she was also a beneficiary of this matter, so what could she say?
"Wuji Village, the Kinkou Order, or the Hirana Monastery."
This time, besides Irelia and Karma, the participants included Master Yi of Wuju, Zed, Shen, and Akali of the Kinkou Order, and the Blind Monk of the Hirana Monastery. All these individuals appeared in this war.
And the Wuju style, where Master Yi belonged, was completely destroyed overnight by Singed's chem-flames because Master Yi had too great an impact on Noxus.
As for the Kinkou Order, it was to see if Akali could be lured away.
After all, Akali would later become the Rogue Assassin for some reason.
As for the Hirana Monastery, the key was just to visit.
Anyway, there wasn't much to do in Ionia. He could just go find Swain after Swain's defeat.
"Then the journey between those places will be quite long."
Wuji Village is on an island in the southwest of Ionia, while the Kinkou Order is in the north, and the Hirana Monastery is in the northeast. The span is truly vast.
It basically means traversing the entire Ionia.
"Let's go to Wuji Village first!"
He had already heard of Master Yi's renown on the battlefield.
He believed it wouldn't be long before that place would be attacked by Singed.
However, with his intervention, it seemed he would have to confront Swain later.
But just as Swain understood him, Bai Ye also understood Swain.
Noxus prioritizes profit. As long as there is value, Swain will not easily turn hostile.
Especially when the outcome is already foreseen by the other party.
"Alright, Wuji Village isn't too far from here."
They had just landed in Ionia, so this place was relatively close to Wuji Village.
After setting their destination, the two packed up, checked out, and prepared to leave.
Along the way, the two experienced the customs of Ionia.
The closer they got to Noxus's occupied territory, the more tragic it became.
After this place was occupied, many people from Ionia began to be transported to Noxus.
Noxus had been at war for years, and its population had already suffered many deaths. Taking this place naturally required replenishing its internal population.
Along the way, Nidalee witnessed too much death and also realized Noxus's brutality.
"Another pile of dead people, all from the war between the two sides."
The closer they got to Wuji Village, the more dead bodies there were. The two sides seemed to have gone through a considerable battle here.
"So many essences!"
Compared to Nidalee lamenting the tragedy of war, in Ahri's eyes, the essences of those who had recently died on the battlefield were a fatal temptation.
These past few days, she believed she hadn't been discovered by Bai Ye and had secretly consumed quite a few essences.
However, Bai Ye had seen all of this but simply hadn't said anything.
Compared to directly consuming the essences of living people, if Ahri consumed the essences of people who had recently died, Bai Ye could still accept it.
He couldn't possibly catch living people every day for Ahri to devour just to raise her, could he?
Wouldn't that be like a demonic cultivator?
However, if Ahri could do that, Bai Ye would just turn a blind eye and pretend not to see it.
At the same time, this also made Ahri realize something: she didn't necessarily have to absorb Bai Ye's essence to follow him. By simply walking with Bai Ye every day, she could consume a lot of essences.
"Her magic has increased significantly compared to before; she truly is a succubus," Bai Ye thought with emotion. He wished he could also absorb essences to become stronger.
"According to what someone said earlier, Wuji Village should be just ahead," Nidalee pointed forward. After traveling for some time, they had arrived here.
In the Wuji Village before them, many people had already gone to the battlefield, while those in the rear were still forging armor and weapons.
Under Master Yi's leadership, many people from the Wuji sect had descended the mountain to resist Noxus.
At this moment, apart from the elderly, children, and some blacksmiths, there was no combat power left in Wuji Village.
On the outskirts, a six-person squad had surrounded the Village.
Looking at Wuji Village, which was so close, their eyes gleamed with a sinister light.
They were a secret Noxus unit.
They had obtained some poison from Singed, a poison that could turn an entire Village into ashes.
If it weren't for Master Yi of Wuji Village, Noxus would not have suffered such significant losses.
Therefore, all of this was their revenge.
They wanted to tell everyone that anyone who dared to oppose Noxus would face the same treatment.
"Captain, should we make our move?" a squad member asked the middle-aged man.
No one knew if Master Yi would return, so they dared not wait any longer.
If Master Yi were to return, it would not be good news for them.
"Act!" The captain nodded. Although most people were not resting at the moment and might be noticed, Singed had told them when he gave them the potion that as long as it was used, there would be no problems whatsoever.
They believed him, after all, Singed was the number one alchemist in Valoran; he wouldn't lie to them, right?
Thinking this, the captain directly took out and flung alchemical flames towards Wuji Village.
The flames burned fiercely, accompanied by dense poisonous smoke, which was the most lethal part.
They watched the piercing screams from the nearby flames, and also saw people constantly running to extinguish the fire.
A cold sneer flashed across their faces as they watched their futile efforts to put out the fire.
This kind of fire cannot be extinguished by water!
"Haha, boss, aren't those guys too funny? They actually want to use water to put out Singed's alchemical flames?!"
"This is the struggle of insects before death!" The captain chuckled, not adding anything further.
However, he still enjoyed watching these insects struggle.
"Everything is for my great Noxus!" Although the plan was to kill the entire Village with one strike, the people below were almost in despair.
But he didn't care at all, because in his opinion, everything he did was for Noxus, so it was all correct!
However, the people below also seemed to realize that they had no way to extinguish the flames, leading to a nearly desperate struggle.
"It's truly tragic. Alchemy can achieve this level," Bai Ye looked at the Wuji Village villagers gathered below, a hint of surprise in his eyes.
Singed's flames were indeed powerful, and this was just one of Singed's alchemical creations.
This kind of flame simply couldn't be extinguished by water, and the most important thing wasn't the fire, but the poisonous smoke. Even Bai Ye felt a subtle discomfort in his body.
"Those guys from Noxus have absolutely no humanity left!!!" Nidalee gritted her teeth, looking at the people below who seemed to have given up struggling.
She had only seen a ground full of corpses before, but truly seeing the Noxians resort to such methods, her anger had reached its peak.
"Is it time to eat?" Ahri had no such concept. After seeing the struggling people below, at this moment, Ahri had no other thoughts than wondering if the souls of these people could all be consumed by her soon.
"You can't eat them!" Bai Ye patted Ahri's head. Ahri looked up at Bai Ye, somewhat bewildered. Did he know what she was thinking?
And what did he mean, 'can't eat them'?
Did he know that she had been secretly eating souls all along?
"Bai Ye, let's save them!" Nidalee said, preparing to act.
"No need to go down." Bai Ye reached out and grabbed Nidalee.
Looking at Bai Ye, Nidalee felt an indescribable sensation in her heart. Was Bai Ye not going to act? Just watch the people below die?
Thinking this, Nidalee gritted her teeth. She decided to go down herself. She also understood that if Bai Ye was unwilling to go down, she couldn't force him.
Was she going to morally blackmail him?
"I will make a move." After Bai Ye exhaled a breath of ice, Nidalee was instantly astonished by the scene before her.
The flames were still burning, but they were frozen within ice.
The ice hadn't melted, and the flames hadn't been extinguished by the ice; both sides seemed to be in a stalemate.
"What the hell?! The flames are frozen?!" The squad leader stared at the scene before him, instantly dumbfounded.
No way, buddy?! Did I see wrong? Or am I dizzy? How could flames be frozen?
"You didn't see wrong; the flames were frozen by me." "It's you?!" The squad leader stared blankly at Bai Ye. He knew Bai Ye; he was directly under Swain, so he had seen Bai Ye before.
The moment he saw Bai Ye, he had a bad premonition.
What exactly did this guy mean?!
"Why are you doing this?!" the squad leader demanded.
This guy was clearly from Noxus, just like him, so why was he helping Ionia?
"No reason, because I want to. I'm sorry..." Sorry?
The squad leader almost laughed out of anger. This guy had done something like this, and he still wanted his forgiveness?
No!
He would definitely tell Swain about this.
Then, he would make sure Swain severely punished Bai Ye.
He wanted to see how Bai Ye would explain himself to Swain then.
However, the next second, before he could say anything more, his eyes saw his own back standing still in place, and everyone else seemed to be the same.
And he also realized why Bai Ye had apologized to him.
You're quite polite.
Killing him and then saying sorry?
"Dinner time!" Ahri greedily absorbed the essences. She had just said she couldn't eat, but in the end, she was still given food!
As she absorbed the essences of these people, Ahri frowned, but there wasn't much burden in her heart.
"You're amazing..." Nidalee walked up to Bai Ye, opened her mouth, and finally managed to utter this sentence.
"It's alright, I'm a bit more powerful compared to others," Bai Ye's strength made it easy to deal with these. If he truly encountered demigods or Darkin, he would probably be out of luck.
Thinking about it, it seemed there was a Darkin sealed here in Ionia, right?
Varus.
He should have been freed by now.
Bai Ye didn't want to encounter a Darkin at this moment!
"How does your freezing ability affect the flames without freezing the people?!" Nidalee was also curious. Given the intensity of the freezing, shouldn't everything have been frozen solid?
"It's a secret."
"..."
If he didn't want to say, he didn't want to say.
This guy actually came up with a'secret' for her.
"It failed." Swain looked up, listening to his subordinate's report.
The mission in Wuji Village had failed; their people had lost contact.
"Has Yi returned?" Swain narrowed his eyes, guessing that the failure might be due to Yi's return. Other than that, he couldn't think of any other reason.
"No, Yi only rushed back yesterday after hearing about Wuji Village. Before that, our people had already lost contact. That fire was very strange..."
Their people went to take a look but didn't dare to get close.
The fire was actually frozen. They observed it for a long time, and the fire remained frozen. This phenomenon was very strange.
At the same time, they couldn't quite understand what was going on, but they were certain that it wasn't because Yi had returned.
So, after getting the intelligence, to avoid being discovered, they observed for a while and then left.
"It wasn't Yi. The ability to freeze fire... does Ionia have such a person?!" Swain picked up the documents in his hand and looked through them one by one. There seemed to be no one like that here, including some previously investigated hidden heroes.
Could it be from Freljord?!
No, that's not right!
They were simply too preoccupied with their own civil wars to care about the rest of the world, making it impossible for them to march south. Moreover, Noxus hadn't directly provoked them, and Ionia had never offered them aid. The Freljord had absolutely no reason to interfere in this conflict.
That left the sudden, localized freezing of the battlefield a massive, unexplained anomaly.
"Never mind. Since the Wuji province wasn't taken, so be it," Swain said, his voice cutting through the silence of the war room. "Pivot our main objective entirely toward the Presidia of Navori."
Since the strategy to eliminate the Wuji Order had failed, they could deal with Singed and his alchemical failures later. The mad chemist had promised that his horrific chem-weapons would guarantee an absolute victory, claiming his toxic flames would burn until nothing but ash remained. But after the strange flash-freeze, even his lethal, poisonous smog had been rendered completely inert. Swain certainly wouldn't let Singed off the hook for this failure.
But for now, the Grand General had no desire to waste resources on an investigation.
The crown jewel of the campaign remained the Presidia. It was one of the most sacred sanctuaries in all of the First Lands—a beacon of spiritual enlightenment where countless Ionians traveled immense distances just to study and commune with the land. For the spirit of Ionia, it was holy ground.
Capturing it would break the very spine of the continent's morale, which was exactly why it had always been Swain's primary target. They needed to tear down that sacred monument.
However, the native population's will to fight was stiffening by the day.
Irelia had rapidly risen through the ranks to become one of their most prominent vanguards, rallying thousands of displaced citizens into a unified, stubborn militia to repel the imperial advance. The Presidia had transformed into an incredibly tough nut to crack, but if the legions could successfully crush it, the strategic rewards would be limitless.
"Our feint at the perimeter was a complete success. We strike tonight and bring the Presidia to its knees," Swain declared, his expression entirely indifferent and cold. He possessed the absolute, chilling confidence of a man who had already seen victory mapped out in his head.
"Understood, Grand General!"
The messenger soldier nodded sharply and turned on his heel to relay the deployment orders to the vanguards. However, as the soldier stepped through the heavy threshold of the war room and away from Swain's direct line of sight, a strange, hollow smile flashed across his features before vanishing into the shadows of the corridor.
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