A Mage from Noxus

"General Du Couteau, is she your chosen candidate?"

Inside a military tent steeped in a grim, murderous air, two people stood out among the iron-blooded soldiers clad in steel armor.

Ryan, who had just spoken, was one of them. Dressed in a blue-and-white formal suit, he looked nothing like a warrior on the battlefield and more like an aristocrat out for leisure.

At that moment, he scrutinized the girl entering the tent. Her wine-red hair, lovely figure barely covered by simple black leather armor, and icy face all carried an unshakable resolve.

"Lord Meredith, Katarina was trained by my own hand. She has more than enough ability to complete this mission: infiltrate the enemy camp and kill Demetrius."

Du Couteau, seated at the head of the tent, was a stern-faced middle-aged man. His words brooked no doubt.

"As you wish, General Du Couteau."

Seeing how resolute the other man was, Ryan gave a slight bow and said no more.

This was the Noxian camp. As Noxians, they had never been willing to waste time waiting for others to prove themselves.

He saw a blade-like will in the girl named Katarina, while the scars across her fair skin all displayed her strength and effort.

Unfortunately, this blade had only just been sharpened. It was still too new and might not yet be reliable.

Watching Ryan leave with obvious dissatisfaction, Demetrius let out a leisurely sigh.

After the other generals had left the tent, Du Couteau frowned at Ryan, who remained calmly seated.

"Lord Meredith, rumors in the Immortal Bastion say you have a keen eye for talent. Katarina is my finest eldest daughter, a genius assassin said to be destined to surpass me. I do not understand your concerns."

"She is outstanding enough, but this is her first mission, is it not?"

A faint smile hung on Ryan's lips as he crossed his right thumb and middle finger, then snapped sharply.

In an instant.

Flowing water surged into the space between him and Du Couteau. It gathered into a ball, then spread outward to form a circular surface like a mirror.

The water rippled, like flowers seen through a mirror.

As waves spread across its surface, an image appeared within it.

Inside the Water Mirror, Katarina carried two sharp daggers on her back. Like a dancer of shadows, she concealed herself in the quiet night without making a sound.

In less than half an hour, she had successfully slipped into the enemy camp and crept toward its largest tent.

"The young always have their own naive ideas. They think they are strong enough to kill the enemy commander, that they can decide the course of a war."

Ryan ignored Du Couteau's darkening expression, his lips still carrying a composed smile.

Katarina's mission was simple: assassinate an enemy squad captain named Demetrius. Yet the direction she had chosen to infiltrate led to the enemy commander's tent.

Under cover of darkness, Katarina bypassed obstacle after obstacle. With a leap, she entered the commander's tent and looked at the sleeping enemy commander on the bed with mockery in her eyes.

Ryan watched the scene with amusement in his gaze. Young calves always loved to overestimate themselves. Why not use their brains a little more?

For victory in war, Noxus could employ any means necessary. But since this was an assassination, why kill an ordinary squad captain instead of the army's supreme commander?

The eldest daughter of Du Couteau still had a long road ahead of her.

Slash!

In the image shown by the Water Mirror, Katarina covered the man's face with one hand and lightly drew her dagger across his throat with the other. As the blade pierced his skin, the commander's eyes flew wide open. Blood soaked the bedding, and within a few breaths, he fell silent.

Inside the distant Noxian camp, Du Couteau witnessed everything, and his expression only grew uglier.

"Lord Meredith, your judgment was correct."

"She wanted too badly to prove herself—to prove that she had the strength to personally end a war. But who could have guessed that their commander was a mediocrity, while Demetrius was the truly troublesome one?" Ryan shook his head slightly. "More importantly, with her immature abilities and clumsy stealth, she no longer has time to assassinate Demetrius."

"Hmph. An idiot who ruined a favorable situation. A war that should have ended without losses now has to suffer another setback."

Du Couteau slammed both hands down onto the Water Mirror, shattering Katarina's delighted face within it. Rage filled his expression.

The change in assassination target had brought the decisive battle forward.

"Before she left, I clearly reminded her of the importance and danger of this mission's target. Yet she turned out to be a useless fool who only knows how to act recklessly."

With that, Du Couteau rose to his feet and headed for the tent entrance.

"General Du Couteau, what do you intend to do?"

"Kill Demetrius myself, then send that useless fool on her way. Noxus has no need for failures." Du Couteau did not slow his pace, and an icy chill radiated from his entire body.

He was Noxus's war fanatic. His greatest talent was not his artistic command of warfare, but the fact that he himself was Noxus's sharpest assassin.

"We should not be so harsh. No one is born successful. I believe her heart still belongs to Noxus. And you, General Du Couteau, may also need to make a choice." Ryan remained as elegant as an aristocrat, a faint smile on his lips.

Du Couteau paused slightly on his way out. Listening to the increasingly noisy clamor beyond the tent, he replied coldly.

"Lord Meredith, I need some time."

"The Trifarix is willing to give you time. The performance to come will be a small token of our sincerity."

Ryan stood and removed the white glove from his right hand, revealing a dark-blue ring on his ring finger.

Buzz!

As Ryan twisted the ring, it suddenly lit with a faint blue shimmer. A massive magic circle rose around him, carved with all manner of unknown runes.

The hem of his blue-and-white suit fluttered in the wind. Ryan stood at the center of the magic circle, surrounded by its formation and runes like a sovereign of the arcane.

Blue arcane light shot from the tent into the sky and scattered in every direction.

In an instant, lightning flashed and thunder roared, and droplets of yellow rain began to fall from the sky.

The droplets descended from above, yet seemed to defy all physical sense as they surged toward an army charging through the darkness at the Noxian camp.

The army's leading commander was a knight clad in silver-white heavy armor, riding a warhorse covered in the same heavy plating. He was Shurima's hero—Demetrius.

Boom!

Thunder crashed through the sky once more as the yellow raindrops engulfed Shurima's army like a waterfall.

Shuriman soldiers were struck by the yellow rain, letting out miserable screams. Warriors fell in great swathes, and only Demetrius continued his fearless charge.

Yet the yellow rain had already seeped through the gaps in his armor and corroded his flesh. The face beneath his iron helmet had rotted away beneath the yellow droplets, his eyes filled with grief, and even the hand gripping his knight's greatsword trembled.

Even so, he fiercely dug his heels into his horse's flanks and maintained his charge, determined to crash into the Noxian battle formation that had long been waiting for him.

"Noxus!!! Die!!!"

With a resolve to die, Demetrius charged alone into the Noxian camp. His greatsword swung with all his might, knocking down Noxian soldiers one after another.

At that moment, he stood like a god of war amid thousands of soldiers, blazing with his own light and heat.

The knight's horse had long since been brought down by spears, but he still stood tall and fought within the soldiers' encirclement, trying to take as many enemies with him as possible before his death.

Ryan walked out of the tent and watched quietly from the side, undisguised admiration in his eyes.

"Demetrius deserves to be called an opponent of Noxus."

The blue glow from his ring weakened. Rain still fell from the sky, but it no longer carried that corrosive yellow color.

Noxus respected every powerful opponent. Everyone who was not a coward deserved respect.

On the battlefield, Demetrius was still making his final stand, but Ryan no longer had any intention of intervening.

Now it was Du Couteau's time to take the stage, both to bring this sudden battle to an end and to make up for the mistake made by his young daughter.

"Will Katarina be the key to winning him over? Old superior, you have truly given me a difficult problem." Ryan sighed.

Stab!

A sharp blade pierced through a gap in Demetrius's armor. Du Couteau had made his move personally.

As Noxus's current strongest assassin, he vanished like a ghost, appeared again, then disappeared once more.

Each time he appeared, another wound opened across Demetrius's body.

Boom!

A bolt of lightning descended from the sky, illuminating the battlefield that had already grown dim.

This time would be Du Couteau's final appearance. He stood openly before Demetrius and, beneath his opponent's furious yet powerless gaze, slowly pushed the spotless sword in his hand into the man's throat.

Du Couteau expressionlessly severed his opponent's head, raised it above his own, and swept his gaze across the soldiers surrounding him.

"Noxus is about to rise!"

The Noxian soldiers around him raised their weapons with fanatical expressions and roared in unison.

"For Noxus!"