The Celestials could be called the first beings born on Runeterra.
As T1 beings, however, their power did not come from nature, nor from answering people's prayers.
It came only from stealing from that great existence.
Caleb had the nerve to climb those unreachable peaks partly because he possessed one of that being's skills.
More importantly, he had World Runes on him, and Ryze could come charging in at any moment.
Better to hide somewhere outside the twin cities first.
Caleb had seen that deathmatch with the old man that day. Even after all that, Ryze had still crawled out of the ruins in the end.
Caleb admitted that with two complete World Runes in his hands, he might not necessarily lose to Ryze.
But there was a problem. There was a guy called Brand who lost himself because of a World Rune and turned into a vengeful demon with nothing but revenge in his head.
His whole body was on fire too.
Caleb followed Aphelios across the mountain rocks, while Kai'Sa carried Yuumi behind them and kept up with everyone without pressure.
"New wings really are nice. Flying doesn't look nearly as hard now."
However, Caleb also knew that this was only at the foot of the mountain. Once they reached the thin air higher up, Kai'Sa would probably use another method of flight.
There was very little air in the Void too, but Kai'Sa could still expend plasma to move freely through it.
And after becoming Ascended, Caleb could also tell that plasma was now practically endless inside Kai'Sa.
The thought of gathering the K/DA girl group and the top-lane Four Horsewomen started stirring restlessly in Caleb's heart again, but he quickly suppressed it.
Business came first right now.
"Aphelios, you're back?"
A follower came out and looked around. When he saw the people behind Aphelios, he hesitated.
Especially that man holding a spear and shield. At a glance, he looked like a believer of the Aspect of War.
"They're fine. They're our allies."
Rarely, Aphelios made a sound, though it was a gentle female voice.
"If Lady Alune says so."
The other person hesitated for a moment, then seemed to think of something and hurriedly walked back.
"But something serious happened recently. Monsters have been appearing constantly along the coast beside Targon."
"Monsters?"
Caleb's ears perked up too.
He still remembered Heimerdinger's calculations. The pollution discharged by Zaun would eventually follow the ocean currents to the area near Mount Targon.
Because that Revered Inventor seemed to know that there was a purifying force there.
Could it be that Zaun's pollution had spread here and mutated the fish and shrimp in the sea?
Then the fish grew legs and started hopping onto the shore?
Caleb could not help feeling a little guilty, but he still perked up his ears and kept listening.
"The Marai are losing people almost every day."
The follower's voice was very low, but almost everyone present had sharp ears.
"What do these monsters you're talking about look like?"
Kai'Sa also cut in. The aura on her body made the Lunari feel the most uneasy.
However, since Lady Alune had sent word from that temple, they chose to trust these people too.
"They're mostly purple. They have strange scales and things like that on their bodies, and they seem to have an instinct to devour the living creatures around them."
"One Moonstone Renewer was lost, and the other is still being purified."
Aphelios immediately looked as if he was about to get up and head for the coast.
"That sounds a lot like Void creatures…"
Caleb thought for a moment and could not help raising his head as he spoke.
Generally speaking, the top predators in the sea were like the Ursine in the Freljord.
They were not exactly short on food.
Most of their killing was more about satisfying their own desires.
But since the word "devour" had been used, that meant endless feeding.
Only Void creations had that kind of nature.
Kai'Sa's brows furrowed too. After all, she had not expected that in the south of this land, it was not only Icathia in the far east that had Void problems. Even Mount Targon in the west had them too.
"Wait… what did you say you used to seal it?"
Caleb vaguely remembered hearing a familiar term.
"Moonstone Renewer. It is our order's sacred relic."
For Lady Alune, aside from communicating with her brother Aphelios and giving him guidance, everything else consumed an enormous amount of mental strength.
And Aphelios had a constitution that prevented him from speaking, so the tribe still had to understand his meaning through sign language.
"What a shame. If only the Renewer that hadn't been corrupted hadn't been destroyed…"
The tribesman looked regretful too, but after all, that had happened during the Black Mist. That time, Pantheon's return from death had shaken Mount Targon terribly.
"Is this the thing you're talking about?"
With a flick of Caleb's fingers, he originally imagined an artifact appearing in his palm and looking extremely cool.
However, the sudden dragging weight on his fingers smashed Caleb's hand straight down onto the hard rock surface.
"Ah… Ow, ow, ow…"
Caleb felt as if he had taken an arrow to the knee.
"Where did you get that?"
The followers looked as if they had seen a ghost and all dropped to their knees.
This was a sacred relic, and it was quite large too.
Where on earth had this man pulled it out from, and so casually at that?
"Why don't you carry it over and use it first?"
Caleb did not think too much about it. This thing was definitely meant to be used here.
"…Are you serious…?"
In truth, the followers still found it somewhat unbelievable. After all, this person had pulled a weapon like this out of his pocket.
Aphelios nodded and drew his hand back from the Moonstone Renewer.
As a Lunari elite who had been trained since childhood and could skillfully use five different moonstone weapons, he could tell.
This thing was almost no different from the other Moonstone Renewer he had seen before.
Watching his busy tribespeople and thinking about how this thing had to be carried to the seaside, Caleb could not help feeling a little sorry for them.
"Why don't I go?"
Caleb originally wanted to put the Moonstone Renewer away, but Aphelios's slender fingers pressed down on Caleb's hand.
Seeing the other man gently shake his head, Caleb did not insist.
In the end, however, Caleb still watched the Lunari followers carry the Moonstone Renewer toward the coast.
A beautiful Marai emerged from the waves and received the Moonstone Renewer that several people had struggled to lift.
"Is that Nami?"
Before Caleb could even mutter the whole sentence, he was directly dragged up the mountain.
In the darkness, no matter how good Caleb's eyesight was, he still could not see the Marai's face from so far away.
So naturally, he could not tell whether that was Nami or not.
"Next, we begin the climb."
Atreus gripped the hard rock with his fingers and started advancing toward the summit.
"Go, go, go!"
Yuumi was delighted too. After all, she did not have to climb. She only had to stay beside Caleb.
Caleb looked at the seemingly unreachable light at the summit, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
He had been here for so long and had seen many truths of this world.
And now, the guys known as "gods" would have to face their challenge too.
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