Night Curse

"Du Couteau..."

A gloomy voice, as though drifting up from a well abandoned for a thousand years, echoed through the dim marble church.

"I'm here."

In the church's shadows, a middle-aged man bowed his head respectfully.

"My greetings, Lord of Death, King of the Underworld."

"You once told me you wanted enough power to overthrow Noxus?"

"Yes. Just as you said, I dream of gaining such power."

"Then you'll have to prove your worth."

The gloomy voice gave a cold snort.

"A mere fraction of my power has already descended upon this world. Go. Make good use of it, and show me whether you're worth continuing to use."

"As you command."

The middle-aged man bowed deeply. Only after the oppressive presence in the church had faded did he rise. He took out a Blood Crystal and gazed at it, his cloudy eyes brimming with fervor.

"I will have Noxus! Otherwise, I'll turn it into scorched earth!"

"Gods above, oh, dear mother of mine! What in the world happened here?"

The loudmouthed stonemason stared at the unbelievable scene before him, his eyes wide as saucers. He didn't even notice when the hammer fell from his hand. Ling Ying dashed past with Shadow Step and pulled him to a safer spot behind them, but he still looked completely dumbstruck.

"How much longer until the portal's fixed?!"

"Huh? What?"

"What do you mean, what? I asked when the portal will be fixed!"

"Oh! The portal."

The stonemason slapped himself hard and finally snapped out of his stupor.

"Probably another twenty minutes!"

"Ah!"

Before the stonemason had finished speaking, a scream rang out. One of the stonemasons who had come through earlier failed to dodge a spear hurled through the air, and it pierced him straight through. He was clearly beyond saving. The one who had thrown the spear was a Rebel Soldier glowing with a deep-red light. Or perhaps it was more accurate to call him a corpse. His body had been cleaved nearly in half, and he had been dead for some time, but now some bizarre, Blood-red Viscous Substance had stitched him back together and made him rise once more. With stiff, mechanical movements, he picked up whatever weapon he could find and staggered toward the portal. Behind him came still more soldiers Returned from the Dead. Spears, Short Swords, bows and crossbows—another stonemason was struck in an instant. A piercing wail rang through the night.

"We're screwed. Now it'll probably take forty minutes."

"But we don't even have twenty!"

Ling Ying stared intently. A dead soldier near the front was about to draw his bow when one of the few remaining Crimson Elite struck him. The Enchanted Arrow blasted his head off, but the impact merely knocked him to the ground. In an instant, he stood back up. Red liquid surged around his neck, reshaping itself into something like a head, though it had no facial features. The loudmouthed stonemason's jaw dropped so far he could've fit a goose egg in his mouth.

"Teemo's balls! These things are seriously creepy!"

"Forget those monsters—we have to retreat! Take him with you! I'll go check on the others!"

Ling Ying gave the order, but just then, a colossal Dark Red Energy Beam shot straight up from outside the fortress, reaching from earth to sky. It struck the portal inside the fortress. Light flowed across its surface, and the portal Ling Ying and the others had been longing for began to hum and restart before their bewildered eyes.

"Good grief... Heavens above! A beam like that can power the portal directly? And from outside, without going through the Energy Core? Just... how much energy would that take?"

"Stop gawking! We've got help—now run!"

Ling Ying didn't have nearly as much to say as the stonemason. After only a few seconds of surprise, she immediately sprinted for the portal. As if she'd wait for the undead soldiers to reach them before deciding to leave! She wasn't about to give her life for Noxus. The Noxians could clean up this mess themselves.

Unfortunately, perhaps Ling Ying had been having a run of bad luck lately. Just as she reached the portal, a flash of light appeared, and a giant of a man—nearly eight feet tall, carrying a great axe on his back and clad in Heavy Armor—strode through. A dense stream of light followed him as many bright-armored soldiers appeared one after another, quickly packing the open ground before the portal until it was impossible to move.

"I am Darius, Trifari Legion Commander."

The armored giant glanced down at Ling Ying, who was nearly two heads shorter than him, and spoke in a deep voice.

"You've done well. Leave the rest to us. Trifarian Legion! Clear the front! Form ranks and advance!"

"Hoo-ah!"

Darius raised his arm and shouted. The Trifarian Legion's soldiers immediately roared and formed ranks before charging the undead soldiers. Those with Enchanted Spears thrust and withdrew in near-perfect unison. In a flash, dozens of undead in the front ranks had been stabbed into a mass of writhing gore. Against the scattered, undisciplined undead, the Trifarian Legion's orderly ranks crushed them like a meat grinder.

"Whoosh, whoosh!"

Several corrupted arrows arced from the undead soldiers into the Trifarian Legion's ranks, but quick-eyed sword-and-shield soldiers intercepted them. The arrows clanged against shields made of Inert Demon Metal without leaving so much as a mark. Soon, a bright fireball rose from the rear of the formation and slammed into the area where the archers stood. Explosions and flames followed. Battles like this were unfolding on all sides as Noxus's legions rapidly pushed the front line outward. Before long, not a single undead soldier remained standing beside Ling Ying. Chunks of flesh mixed with red liquid still writhed, trying to pull themselves together, but the soldiers' iron boots trampled them again and again, grinding them into even smaller scraps.

"Whew, we're saved now."

Seeing the danger ease, the loudmouthed stonemason started blustering again.

"Looks like these creepy things are nothing special after all. They're no match for Noxus's iron hooves! Ha! Come on, then! Bring it! Ptooey!"

Ling Ying shot him an exasperated look. But perhaps his loose tongue had jinxed them: the clouds shifted suddenly, and dark-red light gathered in the night sky, forming a huge face. In an instant, it grew into a body stretching from earth to sky. A Blood-red Phantom now loomed between heaven and earth, its overwhelming presence bearing down on the Noxian soldiers below.

"Noxus! I'll make you witness my power—and then submit to me!"

The Blood-red Phantom's voice rang across the entire fortress. The madness in its words and its towering, city-wall-like form made even battle-hardened soldiers retreat involuntarily. Their once orderly ranks instantly began to falter.

"Soldiers! Steel your resolve!"

Just as the Blood-red Phantom was about to throw the legions on the front line into chaos, Darius raised his iconic Black Great Axe high and let out a thunderous roar. It startled Ling Ying beside him; she had never seen anyone produce such a deafening sound without any aid. It struck like a bolt of thunder right beside her.

"He's nothing but the remnants of a false monarchy from the past! Think of all we've done to get here! We sent those guilty kings to the gallows! We raised the people of Noxus out of the shadow of royal rule! If those once-arrogant kings couldn't make you afraid, are you really going to fear a rotting, stinking Remnant of Royal Power?!"

Darius pointed his axe at the Blood-red Phantom in the sky. His square, sharply chiseled face showed no fear.

"Keep fighting, soldiers! Let me see your courage! Trifarian Legion!!!"

"Victory through battle!"

The soldiers answered Darius with a deafening roar, and their morale rallied in an instant. Beside them, Ling Ying couldn't help admiring Darius's leadership and the Noxians' fighting spirit.

"Darius! You're nothing but a dog guarding someone else's house!"

The Blood-red Phantom shrieked in fury, its cry as chilling as an evil spirit wailing in the depths of the underworld.

"First you were Bokwell's dog, and now you're that damned cripple's dog! You and your brother will always be nothing but playthings at the feet of nobles!"

"And whose plaything are you, General Du Couteau?"

Darius looked at the face of the Blood-red Phantom. It had once been a face revered by countless people in Noxus, until the monarchy fell. Of the two men who had fought for the throne, one now lay cold in his grave, while the other had become what he was now.

"Swain saw through the oddities behind this rebellion long ago. You and Bokwell—your time is over. Noxus no longer needs an emperor. If you'd stayed missing, perhaps you could have lived out your days in peace beyond Noxus."

"Ridiculous!"

Du Couteau, transformed into the Blood-red Phantom, gave a furious shout.

"I will become the master of Noxus! You damned pawns! I'll settle things with that damned cripple myself. As for you, Darius—you and your Trifarian Legion will be buried here today!"

"Perhaps you're the one who'll be buried here today, Father."

A figure at Darius's side, draped in a short cloak and silent until now, slowly lowered her hood. She revealed a head of fiery red hair and a pretty face, though a scar ran down across her left eye, lending her a more fearsome air.

"For Noxus, I've come to see you off."

"Katarina. From the first time you disobeyed my orders, I knew you'd eventually betray me!"

Du Couteau turned his gaze to his daughter. His voice...

"Enough. Since you've come, you can die here with your comrades. I'll give you a grand funeral!!! Hahahahaha!"

With a crazed laugh that shook the ground around them, Du Couteau's phantom disappeared. A hazy blood mist spread through the fortress instead, and countless grotesque monsters, shaped like vengeful spirits, charged out of it. Their bodies were made entirely of the same red substance as before. Tattered armor, barely recognizable for its shape, clung to their vaguely humanoid forms, and they clutched rusted battle-axes, spears, or scythes. The heads atop their necks were horribly misshapen and not the least bit human. These things rushed out of the mist and immediately clashed with the Trifarian Legion. Fortunately, Noxus's most elite troops somehow held their ground despite their fear of the unfamiliar foes. The vanguards of both sides interlocked across the enormous fortress, and the fighting once again fell into a stalemate—until an ear-grating scrape of metal armor came from the mist. A whole line of tall, heavily armored soldiers in rust-colored armor marched out and stopped opposite the Noxians. These soldiers... or perhaps they shouldn't be called soldiers, because they were nothing more than hollow suits of iron armor. There was nothing inside them, only two wavering, ghastly green will-o'-the-wisps in the slits of their helmets. And yet, they could move freely in a manner that defied all reason.

"Our king's will must not be questioned!"

The iron armors muttered indistinctly and charged at the Noxian ranks. Standing over three meters tall, they withstood countless spear thrusts, sword blows, and magical bombardments without falling. Like gigantic humanoid beasts, they rampaged through the enemy lines. A casual swing of their maces or spiked clubs could unleash a bloody storm among the Noxians. Many soldiers were smashed into a pulp before they could react. The front of the formation was breached, and chaos quickly spread to the rear. The invincible Trifarian Legion was suddenly at a disadvantage, and that disadvantage kept growing.

"Hyah!"

With the legion's lines on the verge of collapse, Darius suddenly charged forward from the rear. His heavy armor smashed several undead soldiers aside, and then he leaped into the air, raising his great axe and bringing it down on an iron armor that had broken through the ranks. The black blade looked heavy and blunt in the night, but when it came down with a whoosh, it cut through the iron armor as easily as a hot knife through butter. The armor, which had been impervious to blades and spears, was cleaved diagonally in two from head to toe. It crashed apart onto the ground, leaving only a ghostly green will-o'-the-wisp flickering in place. Ling Ying was quick to react. She raised her gunblade and fired at the flame, which was immediately engulfed in scorching fire.

"Our lord will return to the earth above. Then, all beneath the heavens will belong to the king!"

The will-o'-the-wisp gave a low growl before it was snuffed out by the blast of the energy round. At last, the iron armor fell apart into lifeless pieces. Yet, looking around, dozens more were still fighting the Noxian soldiers.

"Boom!"

A violent flash and roar suddenly erupted from the rear of the Noxian ranks. Several enormous fireballs trailed smoke like falling meteors, slamming straight into the area behind several iron armors. The explosions instantly engulfed several unstoppable iron armors, and the shock waves sent most of the Noxian soldiers flying as well. Screams and wails filled the night.

Ling Ying looked at Darius beside her with a complicated expression. She hadn't expected this Hand of Noxus to be so ruthless as to fire artillery into the front lines. The bombardment had clearly caught quite a few soldiers in the blast. Even with a full set of enchanted armor offering excellent protection, they could barely withstand the shock waves at the edge of the blast. But the effect was immediate: a wide empty space opened up between the two armies, whose front lines had been locked together.

"Array Mages! Turn the ground into a trap!"

At Darius's shout, a group of mages in brown robes began chanting in unison. Several iron armors immediately fell flat on their backs. They tried to get up, but soon slipped again. Somehow, the ground beneath their feet had turned as slippery as a bar of soap. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't stand. In other places, the iron armors suddenly sank into ground like quicksand or had their feet trapped in frozen earth. The ground seemed to have come alive, trapping the iron armors in countless different ways and keeping them from reaching the soldiers before them.

"All troops! Pull back and narrow the line! Get out of the firing zone!"

"Toot, toot, toot!"

The legion's centurions blew their signal horns as they received the order. The soldiers quickly gathered around their leaders, and then the whole Trifarian Legion pulled back together. The trapped iron armors and other monsters stood ahead of them.

"All Array Cannons! Saturate the trapped ground!"

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Darius was answered by a dense barrage from the rear. A great many shells were hurled by the large-caliber cannons, soaring over the iron armors and monsters. After a deafening series of explosions, the entire trapped area was engulfed in flames. Many monsters were blown to ashes. Most of the previously unstoppable iron armors were blasted apart as well. Their shattered plates were scorched black in flames fed by magical accelerant, stripped of all their earlier menace.

"Damn."

Ling Ying shook her head hard, but still felt woozy. She'd seen her fair share of big battles, but this was her first time taking part in a full-scale head-on war. A shell had landed a little too close just now, nearly knocking her unconscious. Meanwhile, the loudmouthed stonemason was hopping around like a drunk, flailing in a frenzy.

"Holy crap, that's awesome! Hahaha! Gods above, Array Cannons are so damn awesome! Take that, you monsters! Let's see you gloat now! Come on! Bring it! Hahaha!"

Ling Ying instinctively wanted to rush over and shut him up. She wondered if the man had been possessed by some famous person from another world who'd laughed three times after flying into a rage. As his taunting laughter rang out, a series of hoofbeats sounded from the blood mist on the other side.

"Clip-clop, clip-clop!"

The metallic sound of horseshoes striking the ground rang in every Noxian soldier's ears. Even Darius couldn't help looking toward the blood mist. Before long, the first thing to appear was a huge, long horse's head clad in black armor. Then came a five-meter-tall body and the rider on its back. Like the iron armors, the rider stood over three meters tall and was clad in thick, airtight black armor. Two crimson will-o'-the-wisps showed through the slits in his cross-shaped visor. The lance in his hand was taller than a man. If the iron armors were humanoid beasts, then the rider emerging from the blood mist was a Humanoid Tank. And there wasn't just one of these tanks—there were more than a dozen. Ling Ying could hardly imagine how the Trifarian Legion could defeat such opponents. If the Noxians were defeated here, she certainly wouldn't escape being left to rot in the wilderness.

"Oh? Nether Soldiers, Soul Armor, Undead Knights? He really went all out this time."

Just as Ling Ying was desperately considering her options for escape, a somewhat familiar voice sounded behind her. She turned around and saw an unfamiliar woman standing there. Even so, Ling Ying wasn't surprised. She knew that the strange woman was almost certainly LeBlanc indulging in her usual tricks.

"I heard you'd run into some trouble, so I came to take a look. Seems I arrived just in time, because..."

LeBlanc looked toward the imposing Nether Knights in the distance, her voice edged with coldness.

"The king who should've rotted away with time is once again coveting the land beneath the sun."