The Beginning of Destruction
Shetaka summoned the Ascended scattered throughout the lands, forming an unprecedentedly powerful legion, ready to use this unparalleled force to raze the border town of Icathia. 🍩💋 🐟☠
Aatrox recommended two options to her, and she chose the second one: to let the entire continent witness the mighty power of the Shurima Empire!
The only consequence of betraying the empire is destruction!
The army set off in a grand procession, and I was among them, only reaching the calves of the Ascended.
The ordinary soldiers behind them had to jog to keep up with the Ascended's pace, but they were used to it. The Ascended led the way in conquering new territories and protected them all, so this hardship was nothing.
Between the ascended beings and ordinary soldiers, there was a person floating in mid-air. She could take off without wings; it was none other than the ascended Empress Setaka.
Ascended are all arrogant; among so many people acting at the same time, only she can control them.
At this marching speed, it would take at least a month to travel from Sun City to distant Icathia, but in this illusion, I was only halfway there in the blink of an eye.
Suddenly the army stopped. Several soldiers who had escaped from the battlefield of Icathia came to Shetaka. Terrified, they stammered as they recounted the horrors they had witnessed on the battlefield.
The enemy wasn't the Icathia, but a group of monsters never seen before!
Shurima is teeming with venomous insects and ferocious beasts, and there are quite a few things that could be called monsters, but no monster capable of killing Ascended has ever been heard of.
Icathia is a city of mages, ruled by a king known as the Mage King. Shetaka was initially worried about what powerful magic they might use, but now that she heard the enemy wasn't Icathia but some unknown monster, she felt much relieved and ordered them to speed up their march. She wanted to avenge her men herself!
As everything went black again, I waited for the next scene to unfold, but this time I couldn't see anything, only hear people talking:
Woman: "We are all noble mages, glorious citizens of Icathia, why should we suffer the oppression of those Shurima?"
Man: "They don't acknowledge our nobility; they believe themselves to be the noblest warriors."
Woman: "Bah! They only know how to conquer other city-states with brute force, they're no different from beasts, especially those guys who call themselves Celestial Warrior, they all look like wild animals, it's disgusting!"
The man said, "But their power is too great; we are no match for them at all. The crushing defeat of the previous Mage King has already proven this."
Woman: "Don't worry, since they won by force, then we'll overthrow them by force!"
Man: "What are you talking about? Overthrow them by force? The Mage King wouldn't agree to that. He's the most powerful mage here, and even he doesn't have that confidence."
Woman: "Believe me, I discovered a powerful force in the south, and a mysterious sage generously taught me how to break the seal!"
Man: "Mysterious adult? Are you from Icathia?"
Woman: "I don't know either. He was wearing a long robe and a hat, and his aura was even stronger than that of the Mage King!"
Man: "Are you sure he meant well?"
Woman: "He didn't say he meant well; he just told me that power could defeat the Ascended!"
Man: "I have a bad feeling about this. If that power can defeat Ascended, how are we supposed to control it?"
Woman: "You're such a coward! Haven't you had enough of being oppressed all these years?"
→
Man: "I'm only thinking of Icathia!"
Woman: "Stop making excuses for your cowardice! If you won't go, I will!"
Man: "Wait a minute, I think we should at least discuss this with Teacher Kieran!"
Woman: "Teacher. Kieran has gone on a long journey and we don't know when he'll be back. We'll let him know later."
Man: "Then I'll go and tell Lord Jax!"
The woman said, "Jax is a brute, what does he know? Go and report it yourself. I'll go check out that energy first. If I'm sure it can defeat the Ascended, I'll inform the Mage King and drive those beasts out!"
It's not hard to tell from their conversation that I've come to the Kingdom of Icathia, which is on the verge of destruction. The people here are very dissatisfied with the rule of the Shurima Empire and want to overthrow them, but they are also afraid of the power of the Ascended.
The woman, guided by someone, discovered "a powerful force," while the man was suspicious but helpless, and the two ultimately could not reach an agreement.
Undoubtedly, this powerful force originated from the void, and it's unknown whether the "mysterious master" who guided the woman to open the void rift is the same person as the That Great One " mentioned by Jhin and Sylas.
As I was pondering these things, my vision suddenly cleared. I was not back in the army of Ascended, but instead found myself in a sea of fire!
The surrounding buildings were completely engulfed in flames, people were wailing and their faces showed despair, and waves of flame were as ferocious as tsunamis, devouring everything in their path.
Why does this scene look so familiar? That's right, this is the sea of fire I saw in the nightmare of the Mutated Eye!
I ran through the city, trying to find some clues. Besides the dead, there were many survivors, and these survivors were setting fires!
Why weren't these people killed by the Void Creatures, but instead burned down their own city?
I walked up to the arsonists and overheard their conversation. I then realized that these people were actually the mages who had opened the rift in the void!
They deeply regretted opening the Void Rift, which led to the devastation of Icathia. Now that things had come to this, they only wanted to make amends in this way.
How could the Void Creatures be burned to death by such flames? Before people could even escape, they were devoured by the bizarre monsters.
Despair, fear, resentment, and confusion filled the Icathia until their deaths; they never understood what had happened.
But that's all in the past. I don't care about those things. I just want to see if there's any other connection between this place and my dream. Unfortunately, I didn't see those evil eyes until I left the sea of fire.
I pondered the conversation between the man and woman I had just heard. They were students of Kieran, and under the guidance of a mysterious figure, they broke the seal and released the Void Creatures.
After destroying the three Ascended and the army sent by Shetaka, the Void Creatures turned and destroyed Icathia.
Apart from the messenger bird and the few remaining soldiers we encountered along the way, were all the others killed in battle?
Although no other clues were found, some information can be confirmed:
The mysterious figure who guided the Icathia to open the Void wanted to destroy Shetaka's Ascended army. I don't know what deep-seated hatred he had for Shetaka, but taking revenge in this way was far too extreme.
The sea of fire in the dream is related to the invasion of Void Creatures, and the world anomalies that Darius foresaw are very likely a threat from the Void!
Thinking of the distant Howling Abyss, I wonder if the frozen scene in the dream is what Lili looks like after using Sealing Magic. I need to tell Darius this information when I meet him.