You Brute

Garen was confused. He had no idea where he was.

His memories still lingered on his battle with a Void Mage. The Void Mage had released a silver-white sphere of magic power, and after Garen's attack collided with it, he remembered nothing else.

In truth, Garen was confused as well. He could not be certain whether the other party had truly been a Void creature, because the magic he used had not been the usual purple of Void Magic, but silver. Yet the Void aura around that fellow had been impossible to hide from Garen. Looking back, Garen felt that he might have been a human who had learned Void Magic.

"But what happened after the explosion? I seem to vaguely remember someone trying to attack me?"

Garen looked around and found himself in a room. It was not particularly large, and its furnishings were vastly different from anything in his memories. Garen could tell it was a guest room. He figured he had been saved by some noble, though he had no idea which land that noble came from.

"As long as it isn't Noxus."

Garen touched the wounds on his body and was surprised to find that they had completely healed. Over the past few days, he had often awakened, only to be knocked unconscious again by a young mage before he could figure out what was going on. Now it seemed the mage had merely been trying to treat him and bore him no ill will.

"But I remember the language they spoke. It seemed to be entirely unfamiliar to me?"

Garen truly was a qualified warrior, a qualified soldier. He always noticed things others might overlook. Language was the foundation of communication between people; if they did not share a language, then communication was impossible.

It was not as though Garen had never pretended to remain asleep after waking, but that trick could not fool a mage at all. He would be discovered almost as soon as he woke up. It troubled Garen, but there was nothing he could do. The maid caring for him had no cultivation whatsoever. Perhaps her master did not want an unfamiliar stranger like him causing trouble.

After moving his body a little, Garen found the healing methods here to be quite impressive. When he had first awakened after being injured and falling unconscious, he had known exactly how severe his injuries were. With wounds like those, he would probably have needed to seek out Soraka in Ionia, and even then, there was no telling how long it would take to recover. Yet here, they had actually healed him completely.

"Could this be Ionia?" Garen stroked his chin. But he immediately dismissed the idea. People in Ionia basically all knew him; they would never have needed to knock him unconscious in order to continue treating him. Besides, the languages across the Valoran Continent were generally mutually understandable. Even if one did not fully understand them, one could still grasp the meaning. Here, Garen could not understand a single word, because this was not even a language from the same linguistic family.

Just then, the door suddenly opened. Garen turned and saw a maid. She was beautiful, but after curiously glancing at him, she merely placed some food on the table. Behind her, a male guard brought in Garen's armor and set it before him.

Garen hurriedly took it, nodding repeatedly and thanking them. Unfortunately, neither of them understood what he was saying. After exchanging a glance, they simply nodded at Garen and left the room. It made Garen feel miserable. This inability to communicate was truly painful.

"Perhaps that Void Mage had wanted to say something to me back then, but I simply could not understand him. It must have felt the same for him."

For some reason, Garen suddenly thought of Josh. Back then, Josh had seemed to want to communicate with him, but because of the language barrier, Garen had no idea what Josh was saying and had directly fought him instead. Still, Garen felt that even if he had understood Josh, he might have attacked him anyway. After all, Garen believed Josh was a Void creature.

After putting on his armor, Garen felt that he looked rather ridiculous. There was a large hole in the chest plate. Although it had been repaired, it was still clearly visible. This was heavy armor capable of resisting magic. Garen had relied on this set of armor to suppress Josh so thoroughly back then. For it to have become like this, one could imagine just how powerful that explosion had been.

"After an explosion like that, that Void creature must have died in it." Garen thought viciously. But even an ordinary person would likely think the same. That explosion had been terrifying; the entire sky had been stained silver-white.

After finishing the food the maid had brought him, Garen felt much better. He planned to leave. Though he did not know where this place was, Garen believed that as long as he was given a general direction, he would certainly be able to find it. He was deeply grateful to this place's master and decided that once he had dealt with this matter, he would return and properly repay the kindness shown to him.

Yes, Garen was still thinking about his scattered soldiers. He could not bring himself to abandon his companions. He did not know how much time had passed, nor did he know what had become of his soldiers, but Garen still decided to go look for them.

"If you have all been killed, I will personally hunt down the murderer and avenge you!"

Garen swore silently, though he did not want such a tragic thing to happen. Garen cared deeply for honor, but he was also a deeply emotional man. In Demacia, magic was almost synonymous with a plague. Since childhood, he had constantly heard from his uncle about the horrors of magic.

But fate seemed to be toying with their family. Garen's younger sister, Lux, had been born a mage! More than once, Garen had thought of destroying his sister with his own hands, but he could never bring himself to do such a thing. Because he loved his sister, and he loved his family.

Just as Garen's thoughts were running wild, the door to his room opened once more. Garen turned and saw Frank, the mage who had kept knocking him unconscious. Though he had no fondness for mages, he had no choice but to accept the fact that the other man had saved him.

Garen's expression turned solemn. Though they did not share a language, Garen still wanted to step forward and express his gratitude. But to his surprise, the mage merely glanced at him before respectfully stepping aside, allowing someone behind him to slowly walk forward.

Of course, Garen could tell that Frank's strength was roughly comparable to his own. Though he might have been slightly weaker, mages were far more effective in battle than warriors. Garen had no choice but to admit that. Just thinking of that Void Mage was enough. He had been lower-ranked than Garen, yet he had nearly taken Garen down with him. That alone showed how terrifying a mage's explosive power could be.

"Anyone who can employ a mage like that must be a great noble."

Garen thought to himself, but as the figure slowly approached, his expression began to change—from initial respect, to disbelief, even blankness, and finally, overwhelming fury! What had he seen? The person that young mage treated so respectfully was actually that damned Void Mage!

Garen immediately grabbed his broadsword, intending to attack, but he instantly felt several auras locking onto him—some roughly as strong as his own, others even stronger! Garen had no choice but to calm down. He knew that even if he fought desperately, he would not have the slightest chance. Rather than throw away his life, he might as well see what the other side wanted.

Josh inwardly praised the Garen who had calmed down. So he isn't just a reckless idiot. Very quickly, Josh condensed his magic power, then used his spiritual power to construct a diamond-shaped point of light. He slowly walked up to Garen and extended his palm. The point of light floated above it.

Garen gave Josh a puzzled look. He was wary, but after thinking about it, since the other side had saved him, they probably had no need to kill him in such a roundabout way. Garen did not think they would go to such unnecessary lengths, so he reached out and grasped the diamond-shaped point of light. To his surprise, it immediately entered his body!

"Can you hear me?"

Just as Garen was full of questions and suspected that the other party intended to control him and turn him into a war puppet, a voice appeared in his mind. Though he still could not understand the language the other party spoke, he could clearly understand its meaning.

"Is this magic?" Garen touched his head. In his impression, was magic not supposed to possess only overwhelming lethality and destructive power? But he did not hesitate to respond to the voice in his mind. "Yes. Did you save me?"

"Of course. What else did you think?" Josh rolled his eyes. "To be honest, I originally wanted to kill you. You were far too barbaric. You actually tried to kill me without a word. But later, I gave up, because I might need your help."

"Oh, and I'm sorry to tell you this. You are no longer on the Valoran Continent. This place is called the Muya Continent. Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Josh, and my surname is the name of this empire. This is the Augustus Empire, not some endless void!"

"..."

Garen felt that he could not quite process this. What did he mean, his surname was the name of this empire? But he soon understood. This young mage before him was trying to intimidate him! As for no longer being on the Valoran Continent, that left Garen completely unable to make sense of the situation.

"There is one thing you did not get wrong. I am indeed a Void Mage. But there is also one thing you got wrong. I may be a Void Mage, but I have no interest whatsoever in your land. Void energy was originally ownerless energy, and anyone with talent can practice Void Magic. I do not know what your land has experienced, but I must say, you truly offended me, you brute."