The remaining members of the warband wanted to run, but it was already too late.
Luke had no intention of letting them get away that easily. With a single order, as he watched his royal guards give chase, he did not slow down either. He pulled out the bow he had just put away.
His eyes did not even blink in the snow. He simply nocked an arrow, drew the string, took aim for an instant, and loosed.
Even under the blizzard with snow swirling everywhere, his shot was not affected in the slightest. It was so fast that only an afterimage flashed through the air before one man's head was pierced clean through.
A sharp whistle cut the air.
The second arrow followed immediately after. In the span of a blink, two men died under Luke's arrows.
The red-haired woman weaving through the snow could not help but feel secretly astonished when she saw those two shots.
What ruthless archery.
Just from those two arrows, she was already certain that Luke's skill with the bow was extraordinary.
Noxian helmets were forged from blackstone ore fused with other materials. They were not as strong as fine steel, Demacian steel, but they were still quite tough.
To precisely punch through two helmets from over a hundred meters away in weather like this, without any loss of accuracy, that was already...
A third one.
That thought had just flashed through the red-haired woman's mind when Luke's third arrow had already flown.
Another man dropped.
This man was dangerous.
A flicker passed through the red-haired woman's eyes as she keenly sensed that.
By now, the deadly arrows had filled the fleeing soldiers with panic. No one wanted to be the next one shot, and every one of them desperately tried to move faster.
But in weather this brutal, escaping was easier said than done.
"Damn it, we can't get away. Turn around and fight them!"
Very quickly, someone realized that and cursed, spinning around to make a desperate stand.
But a sharp dagger had already sliced across his throat. Its owner did not even spare him another glance before, like a hunter, she coldly pursued the next target.
The red-haired woman was even faster than the royal guards. Her agile figure slipped through the forest beneath the heavy snow, and every swing of her dagger was accompanied by spraying blood.
Many people realized they had never seen her before. She was like someone who had appeared out of thin air. But from the look of things, she did not seem to be an enemy.
The warband captain, who had fled the fastest, realized the ghostlike figure behind him was closing in and understood that he had no choice but to fight.
He raised his weapon and hacked backward.
With a crisp clang, the other side blocked his attack using only a light dagger, and that let him see the woman's face clearly.
For a moment, he froze. "You..."
But that single instant of distraction exposed a fatal weakness. The woman did not let him finish. Her other hand came up and sliced straight across the warband captain's throat.
A moment before the blood erupted, she had already stepped back and avoided it.
Bright red blood stained the snow, only to be quickly covered again by the falling storm.
The warband captain still collapsed with unwillingness written all over him. But before he fell, as he looked at the red-haired woman who had ended his life with her own hands, he revealed an expression that invited thought.
Shock, confusion, anger...
But no one noticed.
Looking at the corpse on the ground, the red-haired woman showed no expression at all, as cold as frost.
Seeing that, Luke did not really know what to say. He walked over and said, "That was a fast dagger you've got."
"It was trained that way."
When the red-haired woman looked at Luke, a hint of relief flashed through her eyes, and her icy face eased a little.
It was as if she had finally let go of an obsession she had held for a long time.
"This isn't the place to talk. Our camp is nearby, why don't you come back with us first?"
The wind and snow were so fierce that Luke's face had already gone numb from the cold, so he took the initiative to say it.
The red-haired woman seemed to hesitate for a second, then nodded.
"And this one too... come back to camp with us."
Luke then looked at Shyvana.
After the battle ended, Shyvana seemed even weaker than before. She really did need a place to rest, so she nodded in agreement as well.
The group then began making their way back to camp by the same route.
No one spoke on the way. Once they arrived, Lux and the others came forward to meet them.
"What took you so long?"
She asked as she looked curiously at the two unfamiliar faces in the group.
"We ran into a Noxian warband out there. Took a little time to deal with them."
Luke answered casually.
"Noxians?"
Lux froze for a second, and suddenly regretted not going along just because it was too cold.
She had grown up this long without ever seeing what Noxians looked like.
"They look just like you, two ears, two eyes, one nose, one mouth."
One look at her expression was enough for Luke to know what was going through her head, and he chuckled.
Once they returned to the tent, the temporary stove in the center kept radiating warmth around them, and before long their frozen hands and stiff faces began to recover.
After entering the tent and losing the interference of the wind and snow, Shyvana finally could not hold on anymore and collapsed, only to be caught by Frey beside her.
"She passed out from exhaustion. Let her sleep for a while first."
Luke stepped over and checked on her. After confirming she was fine, he had Frey settle Shyvana down.
At that moment, Yurna brought over two cups of hot water.
Luke took them, then handed one to the red-haired woman. "I still haven't asked your name."
"Katarina."
The red-haired woman gave her name directly and took the cup from his hand.
Without the wind and snow outside concealing her features, her face looked even more refined, the very image of a cold beauty.
Katarina was also studying Luke at that moment. She had already noticed it earlier, but now that she was looking at him from up close, she realized that this man's face was really strikingly handsome.
So handsome that even she found it a little dazzling.
"My name is Luke." Luke gave her a gentle smile. "I should also thank you for stepping in back there."
"I had no intention of helping you. I was on my way to get revenge and happened to run into you."
Katarina's voice carried a distant chill. As she spoke, she lowered her head to look at the cup in her hand, and a trace of loneliness appeared on her face.
"Revenge?"
Lux voiced the obvious question at the perfect time. "What did they do to you?"
"These Noxians slaughtered my village. My family, my friends, all of them died by their hands. Only I survived, because I was out hunting."
Katarina kept her gaze on the water's surface in the cup. Her calm expression made it sound like she was talking about something that had nothing to do with her, but it was more like she had suffered so much grief that no expression remained. "So I tracked them all the way here, and just happened to see you fighting them."
She explained why she was here, and also why she had shown the warband no mercy at all.
After hearing that, Lux fell silent for a second. "I'm sorry for your loss."
"My condolences," Luke echoed, though his expression was a little strange. "So that means you've finally avenged them now."
Katarina nodded faintly, not noticing the subtle look on Luke's face. "I should thank you all too. Without you, I might not have been able to defeat them on my own."
As she said that, her frosty expression seemed to thaw a little.
"No need. Noxus is our enemy anyway." Luke thought for a moment, then asked, "Since you've had your revenge, what are you planning to do next?"
Katarina shook her head. Her tone carried a bit of uncertainty. "My village is gone. I'm the only one left. I don't know what I'm going to do next. Maybe... kill more Noxians."
Seeing that, Luke suggested, "In that case, why not stay with us for now? Noxus is a common enemy to all of us."
Katarina seemed to think for a few seconds. Then she looked at Luke and nodded. "All right."
"Sit down and rest for a bit first." Luke gave her a gentle smile, then looked at Yurna. "Go prepare some food. Make extra."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Yurna acknowledged the order and left the tent, braving the wind and snow.
"Your Highness?"
When Katarina heard that form of address, she froze for an instant, and her gaze could not help falling on Luke's back.
There was no doubt that Luke was leading a Demacian force.
And from what Katarina knew, in Demacia, only two people could be addressed as Your Highness.
She knew some information about those two princes as well.
Just from the name Luke, she had not made the connection at first. But now that she had heard Your Highness, and seen the respectful attitude of the people around him, she instantly confirmed it.
The man before her was one of Demacia's two princes.
The second prince who had vanished for more than a decade, only to suddenly return.
She had not expected that the moment she stepped outside, she would run into a prince of Demacia.
Luke smiled. "A proper introduction then. My name is Luke Lightshield, second son of the king of Demacia."
His personal introduction completely confirmed his identity.
"Your Highness."
Katarina bowed slightly in greeting, but in the instant she lowered her head, killing intent flashed through her eyes.
To Noxus, the head of a prince meant a tremendous amount of merit and bounty. If she could successfully take it back, there was no doubt she would become one of Noxus's hottest names afterward.
Of course, that was without even considering the odds of success, or the odds of escaping afterward if she somehow succeeded.
It was normal for an assassin to feel desire toward a noble head.
But this time, she had not left Noxus for the sake of an assassination.
Now, she had already smoothly infiltrated a force personally led by a prince, and judging from her actions and her performance, she had clearly earned herself a wave of goodwill.
She had no intention of wasting such a perfect opportunity.
To her, Prince Luke's identity was simply an unexpected delight.
"No need to stand on ceremony. Sit down and rest for a bit."
Luke waved a hand, signaling her to forget the formalities.
So Katarina calmly sat back down and drank the hot water in her cup.
"Your Highness, I feel like she wasn't telling the whole truth."
At that moment, Sona's voice sounded inside Luke's mind in warning.
Sona was looking at Katarina from where she sat, sensing the chill in her heart and the unpleasant melody drifting out from within.
Her intuition told her that this red-haired woman was not as simple as she looked.
Luke gave her a look that told her not to worry, then sat down unhurriedly and drank his own hot water.
As his body temperature gradually rose, he slowly let out a breath and looked at the snow outside. "No telling when this storm's finally going to stop."
Once Sona saw the look in Luke's eyes, she understood the situation and said nothing more.
The moment he had first seen Katarina, Luke had already recognized who she was.
The Sinister Blade, Katarina.
A daughter of one of Noxus's assassin families.
But why had she appeared here?
That was the question Luke was currently considering. Had she taken some kind of contract and come here to assassinate him?
That was certainly possible.
Luke was in no hurry to expose Katarina's identity. He wanted to see what this little assassin was planning.
At that moment, Yurna returned with the food she had prepared.
Luke looked at Katarina and said, "Have something to eat."
Katarina was indeed a little hungry, so she did not refuse. She nodded slightly. "Thank you."
Not long after she started eating, Shyvana, who had been unconscious for a while, let out a muffled groan and slowly woke up.
The moment her eyes opened, she looked a little dazed, but she quickly reacted to the situation and sat up at once.
The movement was too sudden, causing her cloak to slip away and reveal her face, black-violet hair, and reddish-purple skin.
"You're awake. Eat something."
Kahina, who was sitting closest to her, enthusiastically handed over a piece of bread.
Shyvana noticed that no one in the tent seemed to care about her appearance, and with how hungry she was, the bread instantly stole all her attention.
"Thank you."
She thanked her as well, took the bread, and bit into it.
With just one bite, a third of the bread was gone.
It was obvious that she was truly starving.
So Kahina, sitting right in front of her, kept passing more food over.
And with hunger driving her, Shyvana kept eating.
Gradually, the people inside the tent started to stare in shock. Even Katarina, who had nearly finished eating herself, stopped and looked at the still-devouring Shyvana.
How many loaves was that now?
Bread was the easiest food to preserve, carry, and fill the stomach with, so they had brought a lot of it.
At some point, everyone realized they had forgotten to keep count.
But in any case, it was clearly a lot.
Not even Lux and Poppy could necessarily eat as much as Shyvana, right?
This was the first time they had ever seen someone eat this much.
Only Luke was not surprised. He had expected it and had already told Yurna to prepare extra food.
And Yurna had clearly understood what he meant, because she really had made a lot.
At least enough for Shyvana.
Perhaps realizing that everyone in the tent was staring at her, Shyvana finally looked a little embarrassed and put down the loaf she had just picked up again. "Sorry. Am I eating too much?"
"There's plenty of food." Lux immediately shook her head and, with bright, eager eyes, looked at Shyvana and said, "Keep going. We've just never seen someone with an appetite this huge before."
At that moment, she looked just like someone watching one of those competitive eating streams.
She could not help thinking that now, when Luke looked at her, would he still say she ate a lot?
Now someone who ate even more than her had appeared!
"I was born with a slightly bigger appetite than most people."
Shyvana offered an explanation.
Everyone thought the same thing, slightly?
After that, Shyvana ate four more loaves of bread before she finally seemed to be full. And after eating her fill, her whole aura changed.
She no longer looked wilted and drained like before and after she had passed out. Now she gave off a distinctly energetic feeling.
Only then did Luke speak up. "Why were you being surrounded and attacked by those Noxians?"
"Probably because I attacked some of their allied troops."
Shyvana caught her breath and slowly told them what had happened on the road.
After hearing her out, everyone looked at her with a few degrees more respect.
Anyone with common sense knew that Noxian warbands were not easy to provoke.
A lone wanderer like her would normally avoid them on sight.
But Shyvana had chosen to provoke them on purpose, and the fact that she had stood up to protect the weak also fit well with Demacia's ideals.
After finishing, Shyvana looked at Luke and said gratefully, "I should thank all of you too. At that point, I was already almost at my limit."
Luke smiled. "Noxus is our enemy. If we saw something like that, of course we were going to step in."
"Even so, thank you."
Shyvana thanked him solemnly, then turned her gaze toward the tent flap and the flying snow outside, suddenly looking a little distant.
Seeing that, Luke asked, "Where do you plan to go next?"
Shyvana shook her head. "I don't know. I've been wandering without any destination for a long time."
Luke suggested, "Then why not stay for now? You can leave after you've figured things out."
Shyvana hesitated. She did not want to remain in one place for too long.
As for Demacia, while she knew it was a kingdom that forbade magic, she did not dislike it. Her father had told her many stories about Demacia.
After starting her flight, she had headed west the whole way, and before she knew it, she had made it here.
Luke and the others had saved her, and they had given her food and water. By all reason and sentiment, Shyvana felt she ought to stay and repay them.
Thinking that so much time had already passed and it still had not come after her...
After hesitating, Shyvana nodded. "I can stay for a while. But for certain personal reasons, there may come a time when I have to leave."
"No problem."
Luke nodded.
And so, both Katarina and Shyvana stayed with them for the time being.
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