"Let's rebuild Piltover and Zaun Jayce." ~ Mel, The Soul's Reflection
In this fight, Yi is not pulling things out of his ass. He can do this in game and I try to incorporate that into the fights.
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Yi watched as another chakram jetted toward him.
Blocking it was impossible. The jagged edge had just sawed through the ground. The only options he had were to deflect it or to dodge it entirely.
And he dodged.
Not because he wasn't confident about being unable to deflect the attack. But because he realized something.
She controlled her chakrams through magic.
Out of the six surrounding Her, she had launched two.
And the first one was still underground.
BOOM
The earth erupted as one chakram flew into the ground while the other burst out, both narrowly missing Yi.
He was not one to ignore all the warnings that man had given them during their meeting. A Darkin could not be underestimated. These were millennia old warriors. Every dirty trick. Every strategy. Every possible tactic that ever existed..... these warriors would have used.
"The only ways to beat them was to overpower them, outcast them.... or to trick them."
Tricking Xolaani was out of the question. That tactic only worked if the Darkin in question was insane.
Xolaani was perfectly sane. Or at least capable of clear thought.
That meant he had to either overpower her.... or outlast her.
Spitting some of the soil that had found its way into his mouth, he raised his blade once more. Again. One chakram underground while the other zipped above him.
Outlasting her was also not a viable option.
The thralls weren't just her puppets for battle.
They were her storage for blood. An army that could be consumed on command.
Now who would win a fight, two mortals or an immortal being that wouldn't tire.
The answer was obvious.
That meant the only way to beat Xolaani was to overpower her. To do that... the least he could do was reach her. That was the first step.
But the rock formations were all mostly flat and even with no possible way to reach her.
Jumping was not possible either. Despite his skill in battle... at the end of the day... he was only human.
That meant he had to make her come down.
How?
He disappeared from vision, reappearing on another rock formation as the dual attack hit where he was previously stood.
This time both attacks pivoted and flew toward his new position. He grasped his blade and swung it at the first chakram hoping to knock it out of course so he could focus on dodging the second one.
CLANG
His blade was repelled, instantly numbing his arms and sending his arms up in the air.
Years of training was the only reason the blade still remained in his grip.
But it was enough.
The first chakram had been knocked off course by a tiny bit. Just enough to graze the top of his helmet.
The second chakram flew toward his legs and he just let himself fall to the ground while raising his feet.
THUD
The chakram barely missed his feet as it shot past.
His body then landed on the ground prone from dodging the attack.
Yi shot right back to his feet. There was no need to inspect his blade, it was Doran's last creation. And arguably his greatest. Forged from the very breath of Ionia, as long as the FirstLands stood.... the blade would stand as well.
Pushing his vision to the absolute maximum using the SevenLenses of Insight, he swung his blade once more at one of the chakrams while simultaneously shifting his body to dodge the second by a hair.
It was a battle of extreme speed.
If Yi was any slower he would have been dismembered his body strewn about.
But Xolaani was not giving him any room to breathe. Attack after attack flew at him as the chakrams swirled around him.
His eyes began to burn as the exhaustion from using his helm to its fullest extent began to set in.
BLINK
A single instant where his eyes were closed. One-tenth of a second.
In a fight at extreme speed that was all Xolaani needed.
SLASH
One chakram sliced through his side, the armor doing nothing to stop it. His eyes looked down as the saw passed through his side, shooting off toward the distance before swinging around back toward him.
He groaned from the pain as blood began pouring out of his sides, a hand went down to clutch his side, applying as much pressure as possible to the wound.
But the battle was not over yet.
His blade hadn't been damaged when he had deflected the chakrams. But the chakrams had.
The helm had helped him spot the cracks on those bone chakrams.
The chakrams could be broken. Yi did not know if Xolaani could immediately remake them but it was his only out.
SCHWING
SCHWING
The two chakrams spun back around toward him.
The hand clutching his side flew up, gripping the sword to steady it.
There were cracks on the chakrams.
He would need to hit them exactly on the cracks in irder to break them. And with them spinning as well as moving at high speeds that was easier said than done.
But he had a helmet designed to help him with this exact situation.
And he raised his blade to meet the two chakrams. His feet dug into the ground as he steadied himself.
Then.... he disappeared. Dust rose up from where he once stood as he sprinted toward the chakrams.
SWING
He ducked the first chakram and swung his blade at the second. His blade meeting the chakram at exactly where the crack lay.
The impact sent his sword upward, the force sending vibrations across his arms once more.
But it was a victory cracks spread a bit more, reaching the width of the chakram.
Yi grit his teeth as he forced his body to ignore the force knocking his arms up and swung down once more in the very same instant. His muscles screamed in protest but pure willpower powered them, ignoring them tearing in response.
SWING
His attack connected.
CRACKKK
The chakram broke in two.
In this world... there were many who considered themselves swordsmen. But there was only one who stood at the top.
Yi.
He had once again done the impossible by executing two attacks in the same instant.
Exhilaration filled his as he spun around to break the second chakram.
But there was nothing there.
It had flown back to Xolaani who was inspecting the cracks.
"The sight of mortals struggling is truly entertaining." Her finger touched the chakram and the cracks sealed up, the bones mending. She then looked at him, "How would you struggle against the rest?"
WHHHOOSH
Five chakrams now rushed forward, threatening to cut him into ribbons. They circled around each other creating a screeching sound as they tore through the wind.
Yi raised his blade once more, but the blood loss and the extreme physical and mental exhaustion was taking its toll on him. His blade shook in his grasp as his arms shivered.
He looked at the attack.
His life flashed before his eyes. Memories of the past. His decisions. His mistakes. His regrets. They sped past him. Leaving only memories that left him content at the life he had lived. He had lived true to himself and had stepped onto this battlefield with conviction even when knowing his death would be highly likely.
His only hope was the somehow Wukong would make it out alive.
His last disciple. And one who had always made him proud despite his prankster nature.
In his vision, the chakrams had changed. They were bones anymore. They were teeth. The teeth of a Wolf closing onto him.
Death had come. And he close to accept it.
The jaws of the Wolf disappeared, turning into arrows.
His eyes closed in one final meditation.
Thunder rumbled in the cloudy sky.
BOOOOOOM
Earth exploded.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Wukong roared as he swung his staff in rage and despair. The thralls had begun to overwhelm him now and every swing was a struggle. But watching his master die and being unable to do anything about it was more painful than struggling against this endless horde.
He cursed himself for not being able to awaken the powers that they said that he had. Powers that would help turn the tide. But it never came.
An unbearable itch began in his ear as his eyes widened at the sight in front of him.
-x-
Yi opened his eyes expecting to find himself in a new realm but his enemy was in his vision.
Not in the sky this time.... no... he was standing face to face with her.
He looked around and noticed his feet still on the ground.
A chuckle escaped his mouth.
He had accepted death.
And Ionia had denied it. And it had solved his issue of being unable to reach her by raising one of the rock formations to her level.
The living land had deemed his life necessary for this battle.
His grip hardened and his blade straightened as a sudden surge of energy erupted within him. The land itself was helping him.
With the might of Ionia behind him, he swung his blade.
SLICE
Xolaani's head was separated from her body.
Yi's feet stilled as he appeared behind the body, his attention on the now rolling head. A soft breath escaped him. The magic of Ionia began to slowly leave him.
It was done.
One attack was all it took.
"The Darkin had died and his disciple was finally free."
A smile came to his face as he acknowledged that statement.
But the smile froze as he realized that he hadn't thought that but heard it. He looked toward Xolaani's head.
And it stared back at him with a wide smile on its face.
"Did you really think you could kill me like that?" Xolaani's voice echoed through the battlefield, "Though I have to say.... you are among the strongest mortals I have ever seen."
Yi raised his sword once again unsure if had to attack her head or her body.
"But you can die now."
While the head stayed still, the body did not. It moved forward and then stood on one leg.
Her sickles turned into a blur as she dashed toward him. A flurry of slashes attacked him from every angle. Yi leapt back and blocked every attack coming at him from the front. The body paused for a moment before leaping again, doing the same attack once more.
With the final dregs of the magic of Ionia within him, he dashed through the attacks while barely avoiding the slashes.
SLASH
He managed to land a single blow onto her torso before skidding to a stop behind her.
But the damage done healed immediately.
The body turned around before leaping once more, twisting through the air and sending a flurry of spinning slashes.
Without any energy left, Yi did his hardest to block the attacks. and he did manage to block them all.
The body steps back and walks toward her head.
Yi took in heavy breaths before falling to his knee.
Picking up the head, the body placed it back onto it. The neck healed at the seams and the head was reattached.
"Oh? You are a lot more resilient than I had pegged you for... Or rather.... the pain hasn't caught up yet." Xolaani spoke as she stepped closer to him.
Yi frowned before inspecting his body and he spotted what she had meant. He hadn't fallen to his knees because he was tired.
He fell to his knees because his right leg had been sliced off at the knee. He grunted in pain as the pain finally caught up to him, as the adrenaline began to fade away.
"You can die now." Xolaani raised her sickle, aiming to end his life.