As Ezreal and Katarina challenged the Trials of the Four Elements, the battle outside the mausoleum had already reached a fever pitch.
Boom—
Boom—
Ryze unleashed countless blazing blue beams, crashing down like meteorites.
They struck the magical barrier with thunderous force, shaking the ground and sky.
Whoosh—
A surge of magic erupted from Ryan's body, coalescing into radiant runes suspended in the air.
In the next moment, a powerful torrent of water magic surged upward, clashing with Ryze's spell in a deafening roar.
The moon had long passed its zenith, yet the sky remained cloaked in darkness.
The world was engulfed in chaos—only the explosive collision of magic lit the battlefield.
Ryan stood atop the obsidian gate, his gaze cold as he looked up at Ryze, whose attacks grew more desperate.
"You can't break through my magic, Ryze."
Ryze snorted, the magic tome in his hand glowing fiercely.
"The World Rune cannot fall into your hands. It would mean the end of everything!"
"What are you so afraid of, Ryze?" Ryan sneered.
"You call yourself the world's guardian, yet you hoard the World Runes and refuse to wield their power."
"At least I don't risk destroying everything by using them."
Ryze's expression was unreadable.
He continued pounding at the magical barrier with unwavering resolve.
Their spells clashed, relentless, suspended in a violent standoff between offense and defense.
After a long silence, Ryan lowered his eyes, disappointment flickering in his gaze.
His magic, though potent, couldn't compare to the depth Ryze had cultivated over centuries.
Worse still, Ryze's body had long been tainted by the World Runes, allowing him to wield a terrifying amount of power.
And yet, to Ryan, Ryze was still nothing more than a man guarding a mountain of treasure, too afraid to use it.
If Ryze had truly mastered the World Rune's power, Ryan would already be dead.
Without the strength to dominate, one had no right to hold firm in their beliefs.
The enemies of Runeterra—celestials, the Shadow Isles, Darkin, and the Void—would not hesitate because Ryze chose restraint.
In Ryan's eyes, Ryze was a failed guardian.
BOOM!!
Another violent clash shook the heavens.
The deafening roar sent tremors through the earth and rattled the bones of the spectators below.
The sky cracked with light and sound.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Hearts clenched. A single thought echoed in the minds of all who watched—how small they were in the face of this war between gods.
------------------
Inside the Mausoleum
"Ugh, why is the Wind Trial so annoying? This is way harder than the first three."
Ezreal grumbled, but his body moved without hesitation—sprinting forward at full speed with bursts of Arcane Shift to dodge incoming attacks.
Katarina followed close behind, her twin blades spinning through the air like lethal butterflies.
The air whirled around them, sharp and invisible.
The sound of blades cutting through it was unnerving.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
The sound of metal on metal rang out again and again—Katarina's daggers being knocked away by unseen forces, only to be redirected in a deadly dance under her skilled control.
Wind was supposed to be light, but here it sliced with lethal precision.
This trial was brutal.
Ezreal and Katarina had to resist the chaotic wind from all directions and reach the portal at the end of the corridor in one piece.
While fending off the invisible blades of wind, Katarina's expression shifted—her sharp eyes full of thought.
Something about the battle stirred an understanding in her.
It was faint, fleeting—like a breeze—but dangerously sharp.
Suddenly, she raised an eyebrow, a flash of insight in her blood-red eyeshadow.
Her grip on her blade shifted, loosening slightly as she let the dagger flow with the wind instead of against it.
Her next throw was slower, more delicate.
Swah— Swah—
The daggers whispered through the air, their movements subtle yet piercing—like a taut string plucked by unseen fingers.
Compared to before, the motion was lighter, almost graceful.
But the blades struck with greater force, flashes of white slicing through the unseen wind with surgical precision.
DING!
A sharper, more resonant clash echoed through the corridor.
Katarina smiled.
She caught the daggers as they spun back into her hands, her eyes flashing coldly.
Shhk!
Her blades split again in midair—dozens of daggers shooting forward in a beautiful and deadly arc.
DING!!
The sound of impact rang out all at once, metal colliding with invisible force.
Ezreal winced, covering his ears.
He had already made it to the portal and turned to watch her in astonishment.
He had assumed this trial was just about running fast.
Apparently, you could muscle through it with enough raw skill.
He glanced down at his sleeve—torn.
"Okay... minor miscalculation. Not important."
With a sigh, he fixed his hair, smoothed out his shirt, and put on his trademark confident grin.
At least he made it to the portal first.
"Let's go."
Katarina appeared beside him in an instant, her voice as sharp and cool as her blades.
"Uh—right!"
Ezreal snapped out of his thoughts, nodded, and followed her through the portal.
But deep down, something didn't sit right.
Four trials down—and none had been overwhelmingly difficult.
It didn't add up.
The trials of the Mage King were supposed to be legendary.
This was too easy.
Unless... the Mage King wasn't as strong as the legends claimed.
From what he'd seen, this guy might just be on his level.
Definitely not someone worth sending a councilor after.
But the moment they landed from teleportation, Ezreal's doubts shattered.
The sight before him stole his breath.
His eyes widened, his voice a whisper:
"Does... does the President know about this place?"
A colossal underground palace stretched before them, glowing faintly blue.
Though worn and crumbling, the scale of it spoke to a once-magnificent past—now reduced to scattered stones and broken tiles.
But it wasn't the ruin that made their blood run cold.
Perched on broken beams were dozens—no, hundreds—of grotesque purple creatures.
Misshapen, twisted, with gaping maws that didn't quite resemble mouths.
They looked like unfinished sketches from a mad artist—brought to life in the most horrific way.
The creatures turned as one, eyes—or the closest thing to them—fixating on the intruders.
Then came the roars. Ugly. Wrong. Deafening.
And countless.
Just looking at them made Ezreal's scalp tingle and his heart race with dread.
If not for the shimmering light barrier holding the creatures at bay, he had no doubt he'd already be consumed—swallowed by that endless purple swarm, not even his bones left behind.
Worse yet, he recognized those grotesque creatures.
He was suddenly very thankful that the barrier didn't let sound through.
Just hearing their voices, he was certain, would have been enough to kill him and Katarina where they stood.
Ezreal glanced toward her. Katarina hadn't moved.
She remained rooted in place, hands clenched so tightly around her blades that her knuckles had turned white.
She was holding it together—barely.
Following her gaze, he spotted it too: a skeleton, kneeling among a pile of rubble outside the protective barrier.
It was eerily intact. Judging by the structure, it had once been human.
The flesh and sinew were long gone, reduced to ash.
The bones were no longer white, but stained with a gray-blue hue.
The corpse knelt facing the barrier, as though in eternal supplication.
In its outstretched hand hovered a glowing object—dark blue, pulsing with magical energy.
A World Rune.
The same kind Ryan had told her to retrieve.
"Don't move!" Ezreal blurted as Katarina started forward.
"What?" she snapped, stopping mid-step.
She wanted that rune—badly—but even she could see that the glowing artifact was what was maintaining the barrier, keeping the Void at bay.
"If I'm right, those things out there… they're Voidborn," Ezreal said, his voice low and trembling.
"The Void?" Katarina's expression turned grim.
She hadn't been part of the Va'Zaun expedition, but Seraphine had told her stories.
About the horrors they faced, the near-madness.
Even Ryan had admitted how dangerous it was.
"What are you thinking?" she asked, fingers brushing the enchanted necklace around her neck, ready to shatter it at a moment's notice.
Ezreal stared into the distance for a moment, then exhaled slowly, a bitter smile crossing his face.
"I think this was all part of the Mage King's plan."
"Explain."
"He knew Shurima would come for Icathia. He foresaw the city's fall. So, he opened a path to the Void from his own tomb."
His voice shook as he gave voice to the theory forming in his mind.
"If they succeeded, the whole Shuriman continent would've been consumed."
Katarina raised an eyebrow. "So they went out together?"
"Exactly. I think I understand the Mage King now."
"Whether you were a descendant or just stumbled in, if you made it this far, you were supposed to carry out their revenge. That's why the trials were so easy," he muttered, still trying to contain the chill running down his spine.
"The Mage King didn't trust his legacy—he trusted the Void to finish what he couldn't," Katarina said coldly.
She figured the Ascended who sealed this place must've known.
That's why they locked it down, buried it for good.
The skeleton kneeling before them had likely been the first to find it.
Clearly, he had opened the true tomb.
But instead of the Mage King's inheritance, he had found something far worse—purgatory, in the form of an unrelenting Void invasion.
Katarina remembered Ryan mentioning that this man was considered the progenitor of the Noxian people.
He had chosen to stand his ground, sacrificing himself to unleash the power of the World Rune.
That power had formed the barrier now keeping the Void at bay.
For hundreds of years, the creatures had failed to advance even a single step.
Ezreal seemed to be thinking the same thing. He looked at the skeleton with a mix of awe and sorrow.
"I just don't know how long this barrier can hold. Normal magic couldn't resist the Void for this long…"
He had a feeling this wasn't just ordinary magic.
The light from the World Rune felt even more potent than the energy his arcane gauntlet could generate.
Katarina took a few cautious steps forward. Ezreal tensed, but didn't stop her this time.
She knelt beside the ancient skeleton.
"If we can't get inside… then we need to start preparing our escape," she said quietly.
"What?" Ezreal blinked.
Before Ezreal could react, he saw Katarina crush the necklace around her neck.
A dazzling blue light burst out instantly, forming a glowing rune formation beneath her feet.
Outside the mausoleum, Ryan immediately sensed the signal — and responded.
He glanced up at Ryze floating above, a faint smile playing at the corner of his lips.
Without hesitation, he activated the teleportation circle beneath him and vanished.
"Ryan!!" Ryze roared furiously.
He could feel the surge of powerful magic when the spatial link was triggered — and something within it… something dark, unnatural.
He had no time to hesitate.
The World Rune had appeared.
He could not let it fall into Ryan's hands.
But just as Ryze prepared to forcibly smash through the protective dome below, he suddenly felt his body seize up.
A strange, foreign magic gripped him like invisible chains.
"Wither."
The word drifted on the wind — a quiet, ancient voice from the heart of the desert.
In that instant, Ryze felt the flow of magic within him falter.
His casting stalled, his movements slowed to a crawl. Even raising his staff took immense effort.
"Master!!"
His eyes blazed with fury as he turned toward the voice.
Above the dunes, a figure appeared — a jackal-headed being clad in the golden ceremonial robes of ancient Shurima.
He walked slowly, regally, a massive scepter held in one hand.
"Master Ryze," the figure said solemnly, "I am no warrior. I can only trap you."
The Grand Scholar raised his axe-shaped scepter, golden light swirling and condensing in its head.
"Seal."
With a soft command, a halo of violet-blue magic descended on Ryze, completely binding him.
Ryze snarled and thrashed within the circle, hurling bursts of magic in every direction — but the cage held firm.
Finally, Ryze stopped, panting, eyes burning with outrage.
"Nasus! You will doom the world!"
The fury in his voice was real — and the fact that he used Nasus's name revealed the depth of his rage.
Nasus looked toward the mausoleum entrance, then slowly shook his head.
"No, Ryze," he said softly.
"You do not understand what true destruction is."
With that, Nasus sat cross-legged on the sunbaked sand, unmoving, holding the binding spell with steady focus.
Both men knew Ryze wouldn't be breaking free anytime soon.
At a distance, Sen Yan — the anaconda — stared in disbelief.
He blinked several times, then shook his massive head and muttered, "Impossible…"
Cassiopeia frowned slightly, noticing his dazed look.
"You know him?"
Sen Yan's voice trembled with reverence.
"That's the Grand Scholar of Shurima… The elder we respect most. It's said he existed during the age of ancient Shurima."
"Ancient Shurima?" Cassiopeia raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised.
"That was what, three or four thousand years ago? No wonder he's powerful."
"No," Sen Yan said quickly, shaking his head.
"You don't get it. He's a scholar. We always thought… he had no power at all!"
Cassiopeia chuckled, amusement dancing in her eyes.
She gave him a sideways glance and said dryly:
"Anyone who's lived since that era and still looks like that… was never powerless. By your logic, Vice President Swain is just an administrator."
"Wait—Vice President Swain is strong?" Sen Yan asked, stunned.
Cassiopeia burst out laughing.
"Ten thousand of you and me, combined, couldn't last one second against him."
Sen Yan gulped.
"The sun is up!" he exclaimed, patting his chest nervously.
His tail twitched with anxiety.
---------
Inside the Mausoleum
Within the rune formation, Ryan's figure slowly took shape.
But with each second of his arrival, the entire mausoleum trembled — faint vibrations that grew steadily stronger.
Ezreal staggered slightly, feeling the tremors through the soles of his boots.
"His magic is too powerful… He's destabilizing the entire structure!"
"Self-destruct mechanism?" Katarina's eyes lit up.
"Can it destroy the Void creatures?"
Her voice was cautious but tinged with hope.
Despite her calm demeanor, her body remained taut, hand hovering just above the World Rune, ready to act at a moment's notice.
Ezreal quickly shook his head.
"No — this isn't a failsafe against the Void. It's part of the Mage King's plan. The self-destruction is designed to fully open the Void channel."
Katarina's expression darkened.
"Then we—"
She didn't finish.
Because at that moment, Ryan's body solidified within the mausoleum.
"Don't worry," he said gently, a soft warmth in his voice, as if unaware of the death pressing in from all sides.
"Leave it to me."
The light of the World Rune shimmered in his eyes as he stepped forward, hand outstretched.
With a graceful motion, the Rune floated up from the ancient skeleton's palm and drifted toward his hand — glowing like a star, pulsing with untamed power.
Hearing Ryan's calm tone, Ezreal finally let out a long sigh of relief, as if placing his heart back into his chest.
But he was the only one who had that luxury.
Katarina had already straightened her posture, stepping silently behind Ryan, alert and ready for his next order.
The dark blue World Rune gently descended into Ryan's palm, and the two blue magical lights began to converge, intertwining like rivers of light.
"Om!"
A blinding light suddenly erupted from the World Rune.
At the same time, Ryan extended his other hand.
Intricate runes quickly coalesced above it and shot toward the World Rune like streaks of lightning.
As Ryan's runes tried embedded themselves into it, the glow of the World Rune intensified, becoming nearly as dazzling as the sun.
Ezreal and Katarina were forced to avert their eyes, shielding them from the blinding brilliance.
"…As expected."
When a red rune attempted to fuse and was immediately rejected, Ryan sighed in disappointment.
Then, a dark blue rune — physical in form and uniquely styled — emerged from his chest and floated into the air.
It was the spell-form rune given to him by Syndra: Gathering of Storms — the only physical rune he possessed.
Hum!
As soon as Gathering of Storms appeared, it seemed to resonate, pulled by an unseen force.
It shot toward the World Rune and shrank proportionally, folding down to the size of a fingernail, then began orbiting the World Rune in tight circles.
Ryan smiled faintly.
That confirmed it — Gathering of Storms had successfully integrated.
He could feel the difference immediately.
The magical essence of the fused rune was deeper, more immense.
But most importantly, its resonance with him had grown even stronger.
"One final step," he muttered.
His eyes swept across the crumbling tomb.
The entire structure was moments from collapse.
With a flick of his wrist, he summoned a shield before the Void creatures — to delay them.
Then, with a rare trace of nervousness in his expression, he turned his gaze to the World Rune in his palm.
It pulsed wildly, emitting beams of radiant blue light, and slowly began to sink into his flesh.
The magic beams stretched outward in every direction, flooding the mausoleum in a sea of magic.
Every Void creature touched by the light swelled grotesquely and burst into thick pools of purple ichor within moments.
Ezreal and Katarina watched, stunned, as entire waves of Voidspawn exploded and dissolved.
The light cleared.
At last, they saw the true origin of the plague — a small rift glowing with deep violet energy.
Countless worm-like Void creatures poured from it, only to be incinerated by the blue magic light seconds after they emerged.
The purification cycle repeated endlessly: surge, swell, burst.
Outside the tomb, the beam's brilliance pierced the very stone, and even Ryze could see it.
Eyes wide, Ryze redoubled his attacks.
Arcane energy exploded around him as he thrashed against the magical bindings — so violently that Nasus, still seated cross-legged in the sand, slowly rose to his feet.
------------
Inside the mausoleum, the beam now rivaled the divine light of Targon.
As the World Rune continued to fuse with Ryan's body, a thick, dark-blue magical aura poured off him.
The air itself pulsed with energy.
Yet even as the process neared completion, Ryan frowned.
He wasn't stopping because of the pain — he could endure that.
But something else had halted the fusion midway.
"…Is this my limit?"
He exhaled softly and raised his other hand over the glowing World Rune.
A complex array of auxiliary runes condensed in his palm, then wrapped downward, enclosing the rune.
This was no longer a fusion process — it was rune magic.
The runes he used this time had nothing to do with the four basic elements.
They were rare, specialized symbols — with dark runes making up the majority.
Eighth-Order Spell: The Eternal Seal of Darkness.
A powerful spell developed by Syndra, crafted specifically for this very situation — a last resort to forcefully seal the World Rune within his body.
The blue glow in Ryan's eyes began to darken, and the caster's black orb shimmered with its original form — raw, unfiltered magic.
The portion of the World Rune that had refused full integration was now entangled by hundreds of auxiliary runes.
They locked into a stable triangle formation and pressed downward with irresistible force.
"Hngh!"
Ryan grunted as magical chaos surged inside him, but his hand held steady.
The unfinished World Rune was pushed fully into his body — buried deep into his palm — and then drawn to his heart like a phantom, anchoring itself there.
"Buzz!!"
In the next instant, a vast, overwhelming magic exploded from within Ryan, like a tidal wave crashing outward.
It was only ambient fallout from the fusion — yet it disturbed the small Void portal at the back of the tomb, destabilizing it.
Even creatures on the far end of the rift — still crawling toward the portal — were swept away by the blast and annihilated in droves.
The light in Ryan's eyes now shimmered with tangible magic, his pupils reflecting two mysterious rune sigils that mirrored the dark blue World Rune.
He rose silently into the air — unsupported — as though gravity no longer applied to him.
The magic flowing from his body gathered like a cloak of woven starlight, forming a shimmering mantle of dark blue energy that settled over his shoulders.
"Handsome. Strong. Magic. Shining like a god…"
Ezreal stared up at him, slack-jawed, envy and awe battling across his face.
If he ever looked like that… he'd probably die smiling in his sleep!
"The World Rune…" Ryan said quietly, eyes distant, as if seeing far beyond the tomb.
"It surpasses all our imagination."
His thoughts drifted to a distant figure — one still standing high within the Immortal Bastion of Noxus.
But the destruction of the Mage King's Mausoleum had not stopped — the countdown still marched forward.
The tomb trembled with increasing violence.
Ryan understood.
He raised his gaze slightly, surveyed the collapsing structure — and did nothing dramatic.
He simply extended one finger.
"Buzz…"
A subtle pulse radiated from that finger.
The wave spread in all directions.
Wherever it passed, all tremors ceased.
The violent quakes calmed. The collapsing tomb… stilled.
Ezreal was ecstatic.
If this place remained intact — if the secrets within could be preserved — then the name Ezreal would spread across Runeterra!
In Noxus, accomplishments like this were never ignored.
In mere moments, the self-destruction of the tomb had been halted. Peace returned.
And yet Ryan's gaze shifted once more — to the still-glowing entrance of the Void portal.
His brows furrowed slightly.