The first thing Caleb felt after arriving in Noxus was thickness. The Black Mist might have tangled itself with blood, leaving the air heavy with the sharp, dense stink of gore.
Caleb's brows drew together. Several incredibly powerful auras were gathered here, and only one of them felt even somewhat familiar to him.
"Everything has a choice, even truth."
Swain made no attempt to hide his demonic arm, leaving only the fully armed soldiers stationed outside the Immortal Bastion.
"Why do I have a really bad feeling about this…"
Caleb's expression darkened. These people did count as support, and Aphelios and Irelia had joined as new combat forces, but when he thought about Noxus's Immortal Bastion, the lineup here was already terrifying.
Yet even with that, Caleb still felt no certainty in his heart.
Viego already had every usable force from the Shadow Isles, and with the champions controlled by the Ruination added on top, the strength under the Ruined King's command could only be called,
"Is it because of the Twin Cities' resistance that the Ruination arrived a little slower?"
Caleb's review of the situation was mostly correct. It probably required a certain sacrifice of Shadow Isles undead to free the Ruined King.
The thing worth paying more attention to was that after Isolde died, she had not gone to the realm of the dead, but had instead wandered through the world.
Unfortunately, Caleb did not know a death god like Kindred, someone who could communicate with the realm of the dead.
Otherwise, he might have been able to understand this tangled mess more clearly.
"Ano."
"Are we really that close?"
An eyeball pushed out from Caleb's shoulder and spoke in a somewhat irritated tone.
"But I don't think 'Yaanogel' rolls off the tongue."
Caleb's tone was playful, but he still swapped his twin blades for that dark spear.
As for the Blade of Light, Caleb bit down on it between his teeth.
"What style is that supposed to be?"
Lucian had been to Ionia before, and even there, he had never seen anyone bite a sword hilt like this.
"With my physical condition, I still don't think I could clamp down on a sword tightly enough to cut people with it. How exactly does Zoro do it?"
Caleb also fell into confusion. This thing not only failed to help in battle, it actually interfered with the spear's performance.
What was the principle behind that Three Sword Style anyway?
At the center of the battlefield, Viego looked at the man before him, the one controlling blood like a tide, and showed a mocking smile.
"Great-uncle, I'm surprised those mobs didn't tear you limb from limb."
The man Viego called his great-uncle had a gloomy expression. The skin exposed outside his clothing was extremely pale, and at this moment he remained silent, controlling the blood as it surged upward.
A soul lantern appeared before Viego, and countless wraiths poured from within it, resisting the tide formed from blood.
"Great-uncle, it was only a letter left unanswered a thousand years ago. You don't need to stay angry until now."
Viego moved through the Black Mist. The monsters far outnumbered the Noxian soldiers, but they had no discipline.
A graceful figure stepped out. As she darted and leapt, orbs scattered in every direction, and Ethereal Chains formed from magical energy followed close behind.
However, a faint aura of death had already settled over that woman.
Fortunately, Mirror Image activated in time, and her clone took the heart-ripping strike for her.
"I'm going to show them what real 'whatever' looks like! Or never mind…"
A small figure walked out from the rear. Her lifeless, oversized eyes looked especially striking in the darkness.
"King, you can still turn back."
Swain's voice remained calm. He already knew the goal of Caleb's group.
"As long as Isolde does not return to this world, everyone on this continent will pay with their lives for the Ruined King."
Hecarim gripped his weapon and faced Darius, who had nearly been corroded by the Ruination moments earlier.
"Honestly, with this many people here, I almost feel like there was no need for me to come."
Caleb shrugged.
"We cannot underestimate them. Their real trump card has yet to appear."
As soon as Senna finished speaking, the members of the Ruined Legion also appeared in Caleb's field of vision.
Pantheon, returned as the Aspect of War. Karma, the radical Spirit of Ionia.
Sarah, who controlled Bilgewater, and Draven, the Executioner from the arena.
From the expressions on these people's faces, Caleb could tell that even the weakest among them, Sarah and Draven, had already crossed the threshold of T3.
Pantheon and Karma had gone even further. They were also the combat power Noxus could not spare any strength to deal with.
"All together!"
Senna did not waste words. She raised that enormous gun and fired at the members of the Ruined Legion.
Lucian slid forward as well, both pistols constantly pouring bullets toward the front.
However, when the smoke cleared, a thick shield was blocking the space before Viego. It was not only the shield Karma had created, but also Pantheon using the shield in his hand to block most of the damage.
"This is really troublesome… It'd be great if Aatrox were here."
Caleb knew that when facing Pantheon, Aatrox was the one with experience in that area.
By comparison, if Caleb used Yaanogel, even with the vial of liquid he had extracted from Mundo's body, he could not guarantee that he would make it out completely unharmed this time.
"Let's go!"
Most of the Sentinels of Light still used firearm-type weapons, and in this world of magic, even if those guns had enchantments, their damage was actually still quite limited.
Caleb knew this, which was why he had invited Yaanogel over from Shurima.
As for Aatrox, who had returned beneath the Sun Disc, he was probably dealing with the monsters in the Black Mist right now.
Compared with the other nations that were pitch-black under the Black Mist, Shurima, with the Sun Disc shining over it, could still sometimes be as bright as day.
Irelia followed Caleb forward, the girl who had severed Swain's arm when she was only fourteen years old.
Caleb wondered whether Swain's arm faintly ached whenever he looked at her now.
The Hallowed Mist around Gwen seemed to counter the Black Mist, and that huge pair of scissors rose and fell with her light steps.
"Choosing to deliver yourselves to me?"
A faint smile appeared on Viego's face, and he gripped the Blade of the Ruined King in his hand.
This weapon, carrying a sinister chill, made Caleb want to avoid its edge for the moment even while holding a spear.
"Go!"
Yaanogel let out a shrill howl, then took control of Caleb's body.
That spear thrust forward again with an extremely tyrannical speed, as if the Black Mist meant nothing.
In a single instant, it clashed with Pantheon's Comet Spear and could not advance another inch.
"He's actually this strong?"
Caleb had originally thought that even if this strike failed to land, he could hit and retreat in one motion. Yet the spear in Pantheon's hands now made it extremely difficult for Caleb to withdraw.
"If I back off, I'm afraid my entire body will be run through…"
"And if that happens, there'll be no saving me…"
Cold sweat ran down Caleb's cheek. This was his first time facing an Aspect. Although he had an Ascended helping him, he still had no absolute confidence.
"Final-boss Viego must have been holding back an entire ocean's worth…"
Seeing how difficult the battle had become, Caleb could not help but complain.
Even so, Caleb's heart only grew heavier and heavier, unable to relax at all.
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