Unexpectedly Captured

There was a small town not far south of Doco. Few people passed through, and the occasional figure walking down the main street seemed strangely out of place. It was obvious they weren't ordinary people.

They were powerfully built, with steady strides. Anyone could tell they'd been through military training. They looked at Darius with admiration. This had to be our destination.

Darius led us to a spacious residence. The buildings inside were somewhat dilapidated, with patches of peeling plaster that looked like rust on metal.

He knocked on the door. The man who opened it was an old fellow with a face full of wrinkles. He must once have been quite tall, but his stoop had taken several inches off his height.

"General, please come in."

"You two wait outside. Find somewhere secluded to hide, and don't let any suspicious people get away."

Darius went inside. I saw more than twenty people standing in the courtyard. The aura of bloodshed drifting from them told me they were all battle-hardened soldiers.

Talon leaped onto the roof of a nearby building. As an assassin, he was very good at finding concealed positions. I'd also learned plenty of stealth techniques from Teacher Shadow, so I found a suitably clever hiding place too.

After a while, no suspicious people showed up. Instead, a fully armed squad headed straight for the residence. A woman led them. Her red hair fell in a mane, and her light armor did nothing to conceal her graceful figure. A scar ran down the middle of her left eye. It was Katarina!

She ordered her soldiers to surround the residence and called out in a firm, ringing voice, "Darius, Swain, you're surrounded. Surrender at once and come with me to see His Majesty."

There was no response, so she continued, "I'll count to ten. If you don't come out, don't blame me for what happens next! One, two..."

Darius had told us not to let any suspicious people get away, but so many had suddenly arrived that I didn't know what to do. Were we supposed to fight them head-on? As I hesitated, Talon appeared beside me from nowhere.

"It looks like things haven't gone as planned. There's no point going inside to warn them now. We'll hold them off!"

Before I could reply, Talon dashed out. Three men immediately dropped with muffled thuds wherever his throwing knives flew. Then he slipped into a nearby alley and vanished from sight. It all happened in an instant, and the enemy immediately shifted their attention to him.

"They have accomplices outside! Be careful!"

"Don't bother with them."

Katarina didn't seem concerned. After finishing her count, she called into the residence again. "If you think those two can hold us off, you're sorely mistaken. Since you won't come out, don't blame me for what happens next. Prepare to attack!"

"Don't be so impatient, little sister Katarina. You should at least give us time to get dressed before we come out to see you."

Darius emerged with a broad smile. Beside him was a limping man with an ugly face and almost entirely white hair. He wore a black cloak and looked thoroughly sinister. It was Swain.

"Just the two of you? My intelligence says there are twenty-seven people inside. Where are the other twenty-five? Those two clowns don't count, do they?"

I hadn't shown myself at all, yet Katarina knew there was someone besides Talon. She really was impressive. Her instincts as an assassin were sharp too.

"Swain and I often sit around chatting. Since when were there so many people here? Your intelligence must be wrong. Why don't you come in and talk for a while?"

"Two homeless men chatting together? What a joke. Since you won't admit it, I'll search the place myself!"

The house was already run-down, and after all that commotion they nearly tore it apart. They still found no one else. It looked like there was a secret passage inside.

We hadn't managed to delay them, but they had already left. I just couldn't understand why Darius and Swain hadn't left with them.

Katarina was furious when her search turned up nothing. She ordered her men to lock the two of them up. I couldn't stand by any longer, so I charged out with Steel Spear in hand. To my surprise, Darius waved me away, then meekly let himself be bound without the slightest sign of resistance.

Talon returned to my side. "We should leave now. If we wait much longer, we won't get away. From Darius's expression, he doesn't seem to want a fight here."

I was still hesitating when Talon suddenly rushed in front of me and knocked away a throwing knife with a clang. But another knife struck his right arm.

"Go! Now that she's caught Darius, she'll soon turn her attention to the two of us."

We made a quick retreat and ran into the woods west of town. I felt terribly guilty. Not only had I failed to help, I'd gotten Talon hurt. If he hadn't saved me, I would probably have died beneath Katarina's throwing knives.

No wonder Teacher Shadow always said that you had to stay alert at all times when facing an assassin. Some killing moves came without warning.

"I'm sorry I got you hurt."

"You need to stay fully focused in every fight, or you'll die a horrible death. Come on, let's go to the Immortal Fortress. That woman will definitely take them both to the capital for trial. We'll see what happens then."

"That woman's name is Katarina. She's an assassin, just like you," I reminded him.

The Immortal Fortress was the capital of Noxus. Unlike Silver City, it had not only prosperous districts and schools but also countless poor people and slaves. Extreme divisions and conflicts existed side by side, like ice and fire.

I knew a little about this place from the game's backstory, but seeing it with my own eyes was a different experience. This was just one city, yet it showed every facet of life.

You might see a group of townspeople enjoying themselves one moment, then witness a slave owner whipping and berating his slaves the next. Beside a quiet corner filled with academic atmosphere, prostitutes and their customers might be walking arm in arm.

We arrived before Katarina. She didn't get there until a day later. By then, everyone in the Immortal Fortress was talking about Darius and Swain's supposed rebellion. Most people were convinced they wouldn't rebel, but the Emperor's order to execute them left them helpless.

Darkwill seemed determined to kill the two of them. In response to the public's doubts, he ordered an open trial, scheduled for two days later.

Talon and I carefully disguised ourselves and scouted the area around the execution ground. Talon knew the place well. Tam had said that he'd once been caught after an assassination attempt failed, then sold to an arena.

I'd always wondered what kind of person could escape Talon's assassination, so I tentatively asked him. His answer surprised me: Swain.

"If you wanted to kill Swain, why are you helping them now?"

"Because I'm on a different side now. I spent years honing my skills so I could kill the man who once trampled my homeland—that is, Swain. But I failed. Later, I learned that Swain had already been dismissed from his post, and the Emperor had forced him to invade Ionia. Since he wants to overthrow the Emperor now, of course I'm willing to help him."

"Is this the shared ideal Tam mentioned?"

"I don't know what their ideal is. I just want to kill the Emperor."

From what I could see, the execution ground in the Immortal Fortress was about the size of a soccer field. Tier upon tier of stands surrounded it, and supposedly the entire city could fit inside. In Noxus, every kind of killing was popular.

It had been raining for the past two days, but that hadn't dampened people's interest. The open trial of Darius and Swain had drawn a huge crowd, making it easy for Talon and me to blend in.

Five people sat at the judges' platform. The one in the middle, dressed in fine clothes and wearing a crown, had to be Brawn Darkwill, the Emperor of Noxus.

Katarina sat on one side of him, and a person wearing a black veil sat on the other. At the far ends sat two old men holding books, who looked like they were responsible for passing judgment.

Usually, when the people saw Darkwill, they would shout, "Long live the great Emperor!" But today, they were calling out, "Spare them!"

I thought no ruler would want to see a scene like this: the people loved their subordinates more than they loved him.

He silenced the noisy crowd. "Quiet! My dear subjects, I know how much you admire these two men. I once thought highly of them too. But when you learn what they've done, you'll understand why I had to make this painful decision."

The people quieted down and listened as Darkwill explained the events. "As everyone knows, Darius failed to conquer Demacia, and the elite of the War Axe Legion suffered more than fifty percent casualties. Swain was even defeated by those primitive people of Ionia, leaving the Black Feather Legion severely weakened. The defeat of these two legions cost Noxus years of effort."

The people weren't buying it.

"They conquered plenty of places!"

"They were pioneers of the Empire!"

"They made Noxus famous throughout the world!"

"Let me finish. These two men have rendered great service. I could forgive one defeat, but they actually plotted to overthrow the Empire!"

The crowd fell silent for a moment, then began voicing their disbelief. How could two renowned generals, who had risked life and limb for the Empire, possibly try to overthrow it? No one could believe it. At that moment, Katarina stood up.

"Everything His Majesty has said is true. I am Katarina Du Kao, eldest daughter of the legendary General Dukao. I'm sure you all know my father. Ten years ago, news of his sudden death plunged all of Noxus into grief. Many said he had been assassinated by the enemy, but that wasn't what really happened."

Katarina saw that she had successfully drawn everyone's attention and continued.

"In his lifetime, my father served as Great General of Noxus. His two most trusted subordinates were Darius and Swain, and he entrusted them with the two elite legions, the War Axe Legion and the Black Feather Legion. But I never imagined their ambition went further than that. They wanted greater power, so they plotted together to murder my father!"