Irelia was debating whether she should tell Elder Nanwu's disciples about their suspicions.
Based on everything they knew so far, the Navori Brotherhood looked overwhelmingly suspicious.
But judging by the disciples' current state, if they learned about that possibility, they might march straight to the Navori Brotherhood and demand revenge. That would be no different from throwing their lives away.
After noticing the look Luke gave her, Irelia ultimately decided to remain silent for now.
Only after the four of them separated from Elder Nanwu's disciples did they begin discussing the matter among themselves.
"What are we supposed to do about this? If the Navori Brotherhood really did it, aren't they getting way too brazen?"
Akali frowned slightly.
Her previous impression of the Navori Brotherhood had been that they were a bunch of hot-blooded radicals. Now it seemed that description was far from complete.
"Whatever the truth is, I can't stand by and let the Navori Brotherhood continue like this."
Irelia exhaled heavily.
Even she was angry.
The Navori Brotherhood's willingness to use any means necessary against their own people had completely crossed the line.
Luke thought for a moment before saying, "The Navori Brotherhood may not have done this. What I'm more curious about is what Elder Nanwu wanted to discuss with you, and why he supposedly chose such a conveniently timed moment to enter seclusion."
Ahri offered a theory. "Maybe Elder Nanwu discovered some secret of the Navori Brotherhood, so they killed him to keep him quiet?"
"That's possible."
Luke considered it for a moment before continuing, "But if we take the speculation one step further, what if Elder Nanwu wasn't the person who invited Irelia here?"
The three young women fell silent.
The implications were chilling.
If Elder Nanwu had not been the one who invited Irelia here, then who had?
The killer?
Following that line of reasoning, the murderer might have subdued Elder Nanwu even earlier, then deliberately lured Irelia here.
But for what purpose?
No matter how they looked at it, the entire incident was shrouded in mystery.
They had almost no leads. Without evidence, the Navori Brotherhood would never admit to anything.
Even though Irelia knew the Navori Brotherhood had already tried to assassinate her, she could not simply storm their headquarters and start fighting. Without clear evidence, doing that would only make it easier for the Navori Brotherhood to manipulate public opinion against her.
Their best option was to find Elder Nanwu's killer, force the identity of whoever was behind the murder out of them, and then go after the mastermind.
"I'm going back to the scene. Maybe we missed something."
Luke stood as he spoke.
Naturally, he could not remain an uninvolved observer.
This concerned Irelia, and if the Navori Brotherhood truly had become willing to use such ruthless methods, it could also affect the establishment of a Hexgate in Ionia.
Before long, Luke returned to the small building where Elder Nanwu had been murdered.
Aside from Elder Nanwu's body having been removed, everything else had been left untouched.
Luke emptied his mind and extended his perception outward, carefully sensing his surroundings.
His awareness spread throughout the entire building, focusing especially on the places where traces of combat remained.
Then something faint stirred in his mind.
He sensed lingering magic.
Some kind of magic had been used here, and strangely enough, it felt familiar.
"Irelia, someone else has arrived."
At that moment, the senior disciple hurried in from outside to report the news.
"They're from the Kinkou Order."
"The Kinkou Order?"
Akali's attention was immediately drawn to him.
Luke left the building as well, and the group returned to the reception hall.
A man slowly approached from outside.
He was tall, his footsteps calm and steady. He wore dark blue and black ninja armor, his face concealed behind a mask that gave him an air of mystery. Two short blades were strapped across his back.
The moment Akali saw him, her expression changed, as though she had just encountered someone she had absolutely no desire to see.
Luke, meanwhile, immediately recognized him.
The Eye of Twilight, Shen.
"It's been a long time, Akali. Your presence has become much steadier."
Shen's voice was calm, composed, and utterly collected. His gaze settled on Akali, carrying a trace of approval.
"Hmph. I don't need you to tell me that."
Akali's expression was sour. She snorted coldly and turned her head away, refusing to look at him.
"I'm relieved to see you're doing well."
Shen seemed to chuckle softly, completely unbothered by Akali's cold attitude.
When he had been her age, he too had been passionate and quick to act on emotion.
Akali had been unable to tolerate the Kinkou Order's refusal to intervene in the suffering of the Ionian people, especially its decision to remain on the sidelines during the war. Furious with the order, she had left.
Shen understood that this was a path she had to walk for herself.
They had parted long ago, and now that they had finally met again, seeing her safe and apparently surrounded by new companions put his mind at ease.
Irelia stepped forward and gave him a respectful bow.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Master Shen."
Shen returned the gesture.
"Blade Dancer. I've heard a great deal about you."
"It's only a reputation." Irelia straightened, confusion appearing in her eyes. "What brings you here?"
"There's no need for formal titles between us. I came because Elder Nanwu invited me."
Shen was now the leader of the Kinkou Order and had certainly earned the right to be called a master, but he personally cared little for such things.
Irelia froze slightly at his answer.
Seeing her reaction, Shen took a letter from his pocket.
"According to the letter, Elder Nanwu had an important matter he wished to discuss with me. After considering it, I decided I should accept his invitation. I didn't expect to find all of you here."
Akali immediately asked, "Just how many people did Elder Nanwu invite? What did he want with you?"
Shen seemed to realize something was wrong, but he still answered, "Elder Nanwu was an old acquaintance of my father and had close ties to the Kinkou Order. He was an elder I deeply respected."
Shen's father had been the previous Eye of Twilight, Master Kusho.
However, Master Kusho had died because of the betrayal of the disciple he trusted most. That disciple later left the Kinkou Order and founded an organization known as the Order of Shadow.
Akali had personally lived through those events.
The Kinkou Order and the Order of Shadow had clashed, eventually forcing her people to abandon their original base.
Later, during the Noxian invasion, the fighting between the two orders finally died down. After the war, they reached a fragile understanding to maintain a ceasefire.
"What exactly happened here?"
Having noticed that something was wrong from everyone's expressions, Shen finally asked.
"Elder Nanwu has been murdered. We were invited here as well, and we only just discovered what happened."
Irelia explained everything from beginning to end.
After hearing the full story, Shen fell silent for a moment.
With his mask covering his face, no one could tell what expression he was making.
"A tragic loss. May the spirits grant Elder Nanwu peace."
Shen regretted the old man's death. After quietly offering a prayer, he continued, "Take me to the place where he was murdered."
The others led him to the small building.
Seeing the bloodstains covering the floor, Shen sighed again.
Then he raised both hands and formed a sign.
Magic immediately surged around him.
His eyes began to glow brightly.
The magic radiating from Shen spread throughout the entire building, bathing everything in a clear blue light almost as bright as daylight.
Under that illumination, details that had previously been invisible began to appear.
Footprints, for example.
There were footprints on the floor around the places where signs of fighting remained. From their positions, it appeared that two people had struggled there.
Beyond that, there were traces of magical energy.
Thin wisps of black energy still lingered in the air, though very little remained. Had they arrived any later, even those traces would probably have vanished.
"This is..."
Even Shen paused.
"Shadow magic."
"Shadow magic?"
Akali's eyes widened slightly.
"The Order of Shadow? Was Elder Nanwu's killer someone from the Order of Shadow?"
As the Eye of Twilight, Shen could perceive both the material realm and the Spirit Realm, allowing him to see things that ordinary people could not.
His abilities were perfectly suited to finding clues like these.
Yet even he discovered nothing more.
The lingering traces of shadow magic could only prove that someone who used it had been here.
As for the killer's identity, the implication seemed obvious.
When they thought about it, the Order of Shadow certainly had a possible motive.
Like the Navori Brotherhood, they broadly supported the creation of a centralized nation and a standing military.
However, unlike the openly aggressive Navori Brotherhood, the Order of Shadow operated from the darkness. Its members rarely revealed themselves, and finding their exact whereabouts was extremely difficult.
Luke finally understood what he had sensed earlier.
The familiar magic had been shadow magic.
At this point, the Order of Shadow seemed even more suspicious than the Navori Brotherhood.
Then a low, hoarse voice suddenly echoed through the room.
"There is absolutely no chance the Order of Shadow did this."
The instant Shen heard the voice, his hand instinctively reached for the blades on his back.
Everyone else turned toward the sound as well.
Shadows gathered in one corner of the room.
A figure emerged from within them.
It was another man wearing a different style of ninja armor and a mask. Unlike Shen's mysterious but composed appearance, this man looked far more menacing.
The moment Luke saw him, another name surfaced in his mind.
The Master of Shadows, Zed.
With a metallic ring, Shen drew both his steel blade and Spirit Blade.
Anger surged through his previously calm eyes.
"This is hardly the first time you've done something like this. After everything you've already done, what excuse could you possibly have left?"
The man before him had once been his closest friend.
Now, they were bitter enemies.
The man now known as Zed had once gone by the name Jie and had been Master Kusho's favorite disciple.
He was also the man who had killed Shen's father with his own hands.
"Elder Nanwu spent his entire life doing good, only to meet an end like this. No matter what, I will see justice done for him. And what happened between us years ago should be settled as well."
Shen lowered his body and surged forward at tremendous speed.
"I know you'll never understand what happened back then. That's why I'll give you the chance to take your revenge."
Zed leaped backward, landing farther away and avoiding Shen's killing strike.
"But neither I nor the Order of Shadow had anything to do with this. I've never bothered hiding the things I've done."
"If only this were simply about revenge."
Shen attacked relentlessly, though his voice still seemed calm.
"What you've done has disrupted the balance. For that, you deserve death."
Zed only dodged Shen's attacks from beginning to end.
Shen clearly had no intention of giving him another chance to explain himself.
Facing a Shen who had grown considerably stronger over the years, Zed understood that he could no longer afford to divide his attention.
Shen truly intended to kill him.
And perhaps that was only natural.
Few people could remain calm when facing the man they believed had murdered their father.
Less than ten seconds had passed since Zed appeared, yet the fight had already become increasingly intense.
No one had expected the situation to escalate this quickly.
Watching the two men fight, they noticed that Zed had not attempted to counterattack even once. He was simply defending himself against Shen's relentless assault.
If this continued, Shen would eventually kill him.
Shen was no weakling.
No matter how exceptional Zed's movement was, there was a limit to how long he could endure if he refused to fight back.
That was exactly what was happening now.
Shen unleashed one killing technique after another, yet Zed continued to defend without retaliating.
Akali, Ahri, and Irelia all sensed that something was wrong.
Why was Zed still refusing to fight back when he was on the verge of being killed?
Even Irelia knew that as the Master of Shadows, Zed's strength was unlikely to be inferior to Shen's.
During the war, the Order of Shadow under his command had become a nightmare for many Noxian legions.
"If you don't calm down, I'm going to calm you down myself."
Zed caught Shen's two blades against his arm blades and finally spoke again.
"You think I'm not calm enough?"
Shen suddenly laughed, but his voice carried a cold edge.
"Then try me. Ever since we were children, when have you ever beaten me unless I deliberately let you?"
Zed fell silent.
Shadow magic began surging around him.
It seemed he was finally preparing to fight back.
The battle was about to become even more violent.
Shen and Zed charged at each other simultaneously.
They had fought like this hundreds of times in the past.
Back then, however, they had merely been sparring.
Now, a single mistake meant death.
At that moment, Luke suddenly shot forward like a streak of light and entered the fight.
Holding a blade in each hand, he intercepted both men's full-power attacks at once.
The expressions beneath Shen's and Zed's masks changed.
Neither had expected someone to force their way into the middle of their battle so directly.
Akali, Ahri, and Irelia had not expected Luke to intervene either.
"Gentlemen," Luke said, "why don't you both do Irelia a favor and stop here?"
Irelia blinked, her face going slightly blank.
Why was Luke the one speaking, but somehow using her reputation to make the request?
Perhaps they were wary of Luke's strength.
Perhaps they really were willing to give Irelia some respect.
Whatever the reason, Shen and Zed withdrew their weapons at the same time with remarkable coordination.
Both men studied Luke, committing this unfathomably powerful young man to memory.
If anyone else had tried forcing their way between the two of them, they would have been crippled if they were lucky enough to survive.
Yet Luke had forcibly stopped both attacks.
"From what I've seen, our friend from the Order of Shadow doesn't appear to have come here with hostile intentions."
Luke turned toward Zed with a friendly smile.
The corner of Zed's mouth twitched beneath his mask.
He was clearly unaccustomed to Luke's inexplicable friendliness and responded with a stiff, "Mm."
Shen merely snorted and said nothing.
"What we should be dealing with first is the truth behind Elder Nanwu's death."
Luke looked between the two men before returning to his original position.
"You say the Order of Shadow had nothing to do with it. Then why are there traces of shadow magic at the scene?"
Luke had intervened in their fight because he knew a certain amount about Zed.
As far as he knew, despite the assassin's intimidating appearance, Zed was not actually an evil man.
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