Ahri was nearby and had already reached them. The moment she glanced at Xolaani, a suffocating pressure surged over her, as though she had fallen into a cold, bottomless abyss.
"Her soul is stronger than everyone else's here combined. All I can sense is endless deathly silence…"
Ahri spoke with difficulty. Merely sensing Xolaani's soul had already taken a considerable toll on her mind.
She had never encountered such a powerful soul, nor had she ever sensed such terrifying despair and lifelessness within one.
What she saw was like a tyrant capable of destroying the entire world.
Perhaps Ahri's words attracted Xolaani's attention, because those crimson eyes briefly turned toward her.
The moment their gazes met, Ahri felt as though the entire world had plunged into darkness. She involuntarily stepped backward, her breathing becoming rapid.
It had only been a brief glance, yet it was enough to make Ahri realize that this being was unimaginably powerful.
"Forget it. We need to get out of here first."
Seeing Ahri suddenly freeze, Akali immediately stepped forward, grabbed her hand, and rapidly pulled her away.
Wukong glanced at Master Yi before hurrying after them. He knew that with his current strength, he would only get in their way.
Even after Akali and the others had retreated into the distance, Luke did not spare them another glance. His attention remained fixed on Xolaani.
He stared at the creature looming above everyone like a monarch gazing down upon the world.
A Darkin.
A being nearly equal to a god. The ancient wars between the Darkin had nearly destroyed Runeterra.
Xolaani had been one of the central figures of the Darkin War. It was she who had sparked the conflict against another Darkin leader.
She was on an entirely different level from the shield Darkin Luke had encountered inside Demacia's underground vault.
However, Luke was also no longer the same person he had been back then.
At this moment, he finally understood the origins of Mistfall beneath their feet.
This had once been an ancient battlefield thousands of years ago. Its true history had long since been forgotten, but Xolaani's appearance had finally revealed the truth.
This place had clearly been one of the battlefields of the Darkin War.
Those enormous weapons had once belonged to Darkin warriors.
Luke currently knew two important things about the Darkin.
Some powerful Darkin could not be killed. Instead, they had been sealed inside their own weapons, where they spent thousands of years searching for new bodies.
Mortals were their ideal vessels.
Humans possessed weak souls and fragile bodies, making them easy for the Darkin to devour.
Linju, for example, had been a powerful warrior, yet Xolaani had seized control of her body in a single instant.
Once a Darkin obtained a new body, their former strength would gradually return.
However, the new body was not their original form. It was still mortal flesh.
Adapting to that body required time, and allowing the body to withstand tremendous power also required time.
That was why the Darkin were constantly searching for the perfect vessel.
Xolaani's original target had been Akali.
In other words, the Xolaani before them was nowhere near her full strength.
Her power had not completely recovered. Could her current stillness be because she was secretly restoring it?
"Master Yi, this is going to be a difficult battle. Don't hold anything back. She's recovering her strength, so the longer this drags on, the worse it will be for us."
Luke narrowed his eyes and spoke gravely to Master Yi beside him. "Ordinary attacks cannot kill her. The best way to subdue her is to separate her from her weapons."
The moment he finished speaking, Xolaani turned her gaze toward him, her eyes radiating the coldness of winter.
This human…
Master Yi knew Luke was normally lazy and carefree, but he would never joke at a time like this. Master Yi also felt an inexplicable trust in him.
Since Luke was placing his faith in him, he could not betray that trust.
"Understood."
He took a deep breath and instantly raised his condition to its absolute peak.
A radiant green wave of energy erupted from his body, accompanied by surging Sword Intent. Although his frame was lean, he now radiated an overwhelmingly powerful presence.
Even Xolaani gave him a second look. Humans of this caliber had been exceedingly rare even during her own era.
"Had you lived in my age, perhaps you would have become a being like me."
Xolaani understood that leaving would not be easy, so she prepared herself for battle.
Among everyone present, this human was the only one who barely qualified to enter her sight.
Master Yi said nothing. He merely stepped forward.
His figure vanished from where he stood and instantly appeared before Xolaani.
Xolaani's pupils contracted slightly as her instincts drove her to block his first strike.
What followed, however, were hundreds of terrifying slashes.
Attacks surged toward her from every direction like a tidal wave. Xolaani felt as though she were fighting dozens of opponents at once, each one as powerful as the swordsman before her.
Several wounds appeared across her body in an instant. Even her Darkin armor failed to block the attacks, and crimson blood poured from the openings.
The spilled blood transformed into red vapor the next second.
Xolaani's eyes turned scarlet as she shouted.
"Explode!"
Boom!
A terrifying burst of bloody light erupted from her body, stopping Master Yi's countless slashes and blasting him backward.
He landed without suffering any serious harm, steadied himself, and frowned.
"Blood magic?"
He had never personally seen blood magic, but he had heard of it. On Runeterra, it was regarded as forbidden magic. It had supposedly been lost for many years, yet countless people still pursued it.
Blood magic was immensely powerful. By fusing magic into the blood, its wielder could obtain tremendous strength.
Master Yi now realized that this ancient being, who likely came from thousands of years ago, possessed such magic.
"You…"
The wounds across Xolaani's body were rapidly healing. She looked at Master Yi and was about to speak when her instincts suddenly warned her that something was wrong.
It was like enjoying afternoon tea, only to abruptly remember that she had forgotten something.
She kept trying to recall what it was, but the answer refused to come.
Her gaze left Master Yi, then narrowed slightly.
Where had the human who revealed information about her gone?
At that moment, terrifying killing intent erupted behind her, as though something were about to pierce straight through her body.
Xolaani's heart jolted, and her expression changed.
How many years had it been since she last experienced such a feeling?
Had she slumbered within her weapon for too long?
She had actually failed to notice an attack coming from behind.
By the time the killing intent appeared, Luke's attack had already reached her back.
It was a strike made without reservation, empowered by multiple forms of Sword Intent. He held nothing back, seeking only to kill her in a single blow.
In that instant, Xolaani did not even have time to turn around.
All she could do was trust her instincts.
She trusted the instincts honed through centuries of battle and immediately mobilized her blood magic.
Clang!
A sound like a dragon's roar rang out.
Luke's long-prepared killing blow had arrived. Even before the blade made contact, its terrifying Sword Intent shattered the blood-colored armor covering Xolaani's body.
The Snowglance Blade released a series of resonant hums. At that moment, every sword throughout Mistfall began trembling in response.
The energy produced by several different forms of Sword Intent seemed to become tangible, freezing everything in the surrounding area.
This strike was Grand Challenge.
Peerless Swordsmanship allowed Luke to identify his opponent's weaknesses more clearly, revealing every opening in their defenses.
Striking those openings was precisely the specialty of Peerless Swordsmanship.
At that moment, Xolaani's back was filled with openings.
The next instant, the Snowglance Blade pierced through Xolaani's body and released a terrifying burst of power.
Xolaani felt her body being torn apart by several different forms of Sword Intent. Cracks spread across her flesh, as though she were about to be shattered into pieces.
She paid no attention to the pain. She turned around and stared at the human who had pierced her body.
She seemed determined to memorize the face of the human who had successfully ambushed her from behind.
How many years had passed since anyone had attacked her from behind and succeeded?
The next second, Xolaani's eyes became as red as blood.
Her blood magic erupted with a crimson wave even more terrifying than before. Even the sky was dyed scarlet, and the wave seemed intent on swallowing Luke whole.
Even Luke did not dare take it lightly. He retreated at full speed, avoiding the attack as his expression grew even graver.
When the crimson energy vanished, only half of Xolaani's body remained.
One of her arms had been completely severed, and one of the bone saws lay on the ground.
Her other arm had only been cut halfway through. The flesh was mangled, but a crimson thread extended from the wound and connected it to the severed portion of the arm.
That hand still held the other bone saw.
In truth, a Darkin's weapon was their actual body. A human body was merely a vessel for their consciousness and power, one they could replace at any time.
That meant there was an effective method of dealing with a Darkin, separating their true body from their vessel.
Once that happened, their consciousness and power would return to the weapon, placing them back into an almost completely sealed state.
Even at the most critical moment, Xolaani had managed to react, preventing both of her arms from being severed and keeping herself from losing both weapons.
Luke's attack had been intended to cut off both of Xolaani's arms at once, but it had clearly failed to achieve complete success.
Xolaani swiftly pulled the severed arm back. Through the crimson thread, it fused with her body once more.
Her cold expression twisted as she stared at Luke.
"You concealed your true strength remarkably well…"
Luke had succeeded because, in Xolaani's eyes, he had been nothing more than an insignificant human.
Compared with Master Yi's overwhelming presence, Luke had seemed vastly inferior. Even after revealing information about her, she had not considered him worth taking seriously.
She had never expected Luke's concealment to be powerful enough to deceive even her eyes and convince her that he was merely an ordinary person.
His true strength was even greater than Master Yi's.
Xolaani was no stranger to Sword Intent. Many warriors in her era had possessed it, but almost none had mastered several powerful forms of Sword Intent simultaneously.
During that single instant, Xolaani had sensed at least five different forms of powerful Sword Intent.
Had someone like him existed in her era, he would not even have needed to undergo a trial. He would have immediately received the qualification to become a being like her.
Both of these men were among the rarest elites humanity could produce.
A thought suddenly entered Xolaani's mind.
If she could control them through blood magic, she would gain two excellent servants.
Countless thoughts flashed through Xolaani's mind in a single instant.
Then she suddenly sensed that something was wrong.
Her expression changed again, and disbelief flickered through her eyes.
Her strength was draining away.
Why had the healing of her wounds also become so slow?
Only half of her body currently remained. The flesh at the severed edge was writhing and extending, gradually forming a new body.
Under normal circumstances, such an injury would not even count as fatal to her. She should have recovered in the blink of an eye.
Yet the current rate of regeneration seemed unbearably slow.
The greatest strength of Xolaani's blood magic was its ability to heal wounds. Among all the Darkin, she alone possessed the deepest mastery of blood magic.
Even fatal injuries could be restored almost instantly.
However, her current recovery was crawling along at a snail's pace, while her power continued to drain away. An uneasy feeling gradually rose within Xolaani's heart.
She sensed something and looked toward the Snowglance Blade in Luke's hand.
"That weapon…"
She instantly understood that the weapon was responsible for everything.
She could even sense an ancient presence from it, an age not unlike her own.
"Looks like you figured it out."
Luke smiled. "This weapon was specially made to counter Darkin."
Long ago, the Snowglance Blade had been forged by humans ruled by a Darkin specifically to oppose the shield Darkin.
The Snowglance Blade could absorb the strength of its wielder. At the same time, targets struck by the weapon would have their power drained and transferred to Luke.
Luke's previous strike had pierced straight through Xolaani's body, allowing the blade to absorb a portion of her strength.
On top of that, Luke had granted the Snowglance Blade the Grievous Wounds trait, making it even more effective against Darkin creatures with powerful regeneration.
Luke had planned everything from the beginning.
Master Yi would attract Xolaani's attention, while Luke used Stealth Arts to conceal his presence and wait for an opportunity to unleash his strongest attack.
The result had fallen short of his expectations, but it had still been extremely effective.
Xolaani's eyes darkened as she stared at the Snowglance Blade.
As a Darkin, she arrogantly looked down upon everything, but that weapon made her feel genuinely troubled.
Having experienced its effects firsthand, she knew Luke had not lied.
She had only recently entered this vessel, and her strength had recovered to a little more than half of its former peak. After that strike, however, she probably possessed only half of her full strength.
Facing Luke and Master Yi as they stood ready with their swords, even Xolaani felt that the situation had become troublesome.
Her previous intention of simply leaving was now completely unrealistic.
The last time she had felt this much pressure from humans had been when she was still human herself.
Had she been this powerful back then?
Being sealed away for so long truly was troublesome.
Had she managed to possess the human she originally targeted, dealing with this battle would probably have been much easier.
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