By now, the maple forest was filled not only with the smell of blood spreading everywhere, but also with cries of pain and screams echoing from all directions.
Of the 444 people Jhin had gathered here, at least half had died because of him.
Luke found the spirit talisman Jhin had used to teleport on his corpse. Unfortunately, after probing it with magic, he discovered that the talisman could no longer be activated.
Apparently, all of its uses had been exhausted.
After everything at the scene had been dealt with and all the remaining survivors had been escorted out of Bufeng Valley, everyone returned to Jhin's corpse.
Shen and Zed looked down at the dead villain. Although there was some regret that neither of them had personally killed him, the weight hanging over their hearts had finally lifted.
"We should have killed him back then. If we had, today's tragedy could have been avoided."
Thinking of all the people who had died because of the Golden Demon today, Shen couldn't help sighing. If he hadn't hesitated all those years ago, none of this would have happened.
Luke disagreed.
"If the Golden Demon had died, then today it might have been a Silver Demon or a Bronze Demon instead. Nothing would really have changed."
Akali nodded. "Exactly. What matters is figuring out who ordered this bastard to do all of this. If we don't drag that person out, then sooner or later there'll be some other Silver Demon or Bronze Demon."
"He escaped only two months ago, yet he had already prepared all of this," Zed said. "Someone was unquestionably supporting him from behind the scenes. Unfortunately, we can't interrogate a dead man."
"I'll try."
Ahri stepped forward, closed her eyes, and released her spiritual power.
Luke stood nearby in thought.
The moment the Golden Demon had appeared, Luke had actually already suspected the answer.
"His life essence hasn't completely dispersed yet. I should be able to find it."
Ahri had already sensed the fragments of Jhin's lingering life essence. As she absorbed them, memories began flooding into her mind.
Khada Jhin's early life had been miserable.
Because of his ugly appearance, he had been unwelcome wherever he went.
His mind had already been troubled to begin with, and after enduring discrimination day after day, he had eventually become completely deranged.
He began to view killing as art.
To him, the moment blood blossomed was as beautiful as a flower opening.
He started by torturing and killing small animals.
Eventually, he moved on to people.
He became increasingly daring.
Ahri watched these memories without emotion.
Before long, she found the crucial clue.
Jhin truly had been rescued by someone, and he had been in contact with the mastermind long before his escape.
That person was...
"Kusho."
Ahri opened her eyes and softly spoke the name.
"What?"
Shen froze in place.
Akali was equally stunned.
Naturally, neither of them was unfamiliar with that name.
Shen's father, the previous Eye of Twilight of the Kinkou Order, had been Master Kusho.
But hadn't he died seven years ago?
Killed during Zed's rebellion.
When Zed heard the name, he was briefly stunned as well. Then he sighed, seemingly unsurprised.
"I should have realized it sooner. Who else would have been capable of quietly rescuing the Golden Demon without anyone noticing?"
"What are you talking about?"
Shen immediately turned toward Zed, his voice turning cold.
He stepped forward and stared hard at him.
"What exactly have you been hiding? Why would you say that?"
Akali remained somewhat calmer.
"Could Master Kusho still be alive? Thinking back on it carefully, seven years ago... we really never saw his body."
She had been there when the rebellion happened.
She had personally watched Zed walk out covered in blood before ordering the Order of Shadow to attack the Kinkou Order.
Before anyone could react, the fighting had already erupted.
Caught completely off guard, they had been forced to flee the Kinkou temple.
Throughout the entire incident, there had only been one statement from Zed.
Kusho was dead.
The Order of Shadow would rise.
"I had planned to keep this hidden forever."
Zed glanced at Ahri.
He knew there was no longer any way to keep the truth from everyone.
Shen finally lost his composure.
He grabbed Zed by the collar and demanded, "What have you been hiding from me?!"
Zed looked into Shen's trembling eyes.
In the end, he slowly began recounting what had happened all those years ago.
When war broke out, the Kinkou Order had been bound by its doctrine, the path of balance. All it could do was stand by and watch while the people of Ionia suffered.
Zed could not accept that.
So he entered forbidden grounds and touched a forbidden power.
The shadow magic he wielded today.
Afterward, he left the order and gathered a group of warriors willing to follow him into battle against Noxus.
Eventually, he realized they still lacked enough power.
Once again, he thought of that forbidden strength.
But because Zed had left, many members of the Kinkou who could no longer bear to remain passive began leaving as well, taking up arms against Noxus.
Even the son of the Eye of Twilight, the man expected to become the next Eye of Twilight, Shen himself, had secretly traveled to the front lines to fight.
Zed realized that if things continued this way, the Kinkou Order would eventually collapse entirely.
Then no one would remain to safeguard the balance between the spirit realm and the physical realm.
And so, bound by a promise of loyalty, Zed and Master Kusho staged a rebellion and a false death.
This would also allow Kusho to wield forbidden power to protect Ionia.
Because of Zed's apparent betrayal, the remaining members of the Kinkou Order united against the Order of Shadow.
And throughout all these years, the Order of Shadow had actually been serving Kusho from the shadows, silently carrying every stain upon its reputation.
"That's what happened back then."
Zed stopped there.
"So there really were a lot of people like me back then."
Akali finally understood why the Kinkou Order had so few members now, and why they had been completely overwhelmed when the Order of Shadow attacked.
She had simply been too young at the time to understand what was happening.
So that was what had actually happened all those years ago?
She couldn't help looking at Shen again.
Perhaps she had misjudged him somewhat.
He hadn't simply stood by and done nothing.
He had secretly gone to fight as well.
Shen's grip on Zed's collar slowly loosened.
Behind his mask, he opened his mouth several times, yet couldn't manage to say a single word.
He didn't want to believe any of it.
But somewhere deep down, he knew.
This was the truth.
Zed wasn't lying.
Shen had actually suspected something before, but Zed's deception had been too perfect, causing him to overlook every strange detail.
Now, everything fit into place.
Suddenly, Shen raised his head and looked at Ahri.
"Where is he now? I have to ask him myself. Was all of this really his doing?"
Ahri shook her head.
"I can only see Jhin's memories. There was nothing in them revealing where Kusho is."
"I might know," Zed said.
If not for today's unexpected developments, he could have kept this secret hidden indefinitely.
Even if he eventually discovered the truth himself, he could have dealt with it alone.
He had once hoped Shen would uncover the truth on his own someday.
But now, there was no longer any point in concealing it.
Everyone immediately decided to go after the mastermind.
Finding Kusho wasn't particularly difficult.
He had been operating in secret for years.
He had also founded the Navori Brotherhood to oppose Noxus.
That was right.
Kusho was the true power behind the Navori Brotherhood.
At the same time, he was also the true authority behind the Order of Shadow.
Zed might have been the Order of Shadow's master, but because of his old promise, he still had to obey Kusho's commands.
In other words, the order to attack the Kinkou had come directly from Kusho himself.
After learning all of this, Shen remained silent throughout the journey.
About sixty miles west of Nanwu Town, at the foot of a tall mountain, stood a Navori Brotherhood camp.
It was also where Zed believed Kusho was hiding.
A large number of Brotherhood members were gathered there, drilling and patrolling like an organized army.
"There are way too many of them. We should go around."
Akali's suggestion was quickly accepted by everyone.
They might have come here to confront Kusho and demand answers, but charging straight through the main gate would be a poor idea.
There were simply too many people.
Kusho was probably somewhere on the mountain.
The group circled around to the back and looked up at the steep cliff face.
They decided to climb from there.
For ninjas as skilled and agile as Zed and Shen, it was naturally effortless.
For Irelia, it was even easier.
She only needed to release her blades, step onto them, and control them with her spiritual power.
She could simply fly upward without climbing at all.
Seeing Akali and Ahri standing there blankly with their heads tilted back toward the towering mountain, Luke walked over, slipped one arm around each of their waists, and lifted both women at once.
Then he leapt toward the summit.
"Ah!"
Both women cried out in surprise.
Once they realized it was Luke carrying them, however, their nerves suddenly eased.
Luke practically flew through the air.
Even while carrying both women, he showed no difficulty whatsoever. Stepping through the air, he rose more than a hundred meters in the blink of an eye.
Shen, Zed, and Irelia immediately followed.
The steep cliff face might as well have been flat ground beneath their feet as they moved upward at astonishing speed.
Irelia flew straight up on her blades, moving no slower than Luke.
Before long, Luke reached the summit with Akali and Ahri.
After setting them down, he wasn't even breathing hard.
Once her feet were steady again, Akali glanced back at the seemingly bottomless cliff.
"That's it? We're already up here? That was way too easy."
Luke smiled. "Want to go back down and try it properly?"
"I think I'll pass."
Akali cleared her throat and walked ahead.
Ahri's cheeks were slightly red.
Apparently, she was still thinking about the feeling of Luke's arm wrapped around her waist.
A moment later, Irelia flew up on her blades and landed smoothly, looking equally relaxed.
Zed and Shen arrived after her.
The group continued onward toward Kusho's camp on the mountain.
It wasn't difficult to find.
Before long, they spotted a tall temple built into the mountainside, with several Navori Brotherhood members patrolling around it.
After silently taking down the patrols, the group headed directly toward the temple entrance.
There was only one person inside.
Shen's eyes immediately narrowed.
High above them, seated atop a raised platform, was a thin old man with a head of white hair.
His eyes were closed, as if he were resting.
It was Kusho.
On a platform to his left sat a strange container.
Inside the transparent box was a black liquid.
And floating above his right hand was a red crystal.
A fragment of a World Rune.
Luke narrowed his eyes slightly.
So the rune fragment he had sensed was here after all.
As though sensing their arrival, Kusho slowly opened his eyes.
His face was pale, but his eyes were sharp and clear.
And utterly calm.
"Oh? There are some unfamiliar faces as well."
Seeing the group, Kusho seemed slightly surprised.
Then he muttered to himself, "It seems Jhin's plan failed."
Hearing that, Shen froze.
Suddenly, it felt as though all the questions he had spent the entire journey wanting to ask no longer needed answers.
None of it seemed to matter anymore.
Kusho really was the mastermind behind Jhin.
Everything had been done at his command.
"Why did you deceive me?"
Zed was different.
He needed answers.
He stepped forward.
"For all these years, the Order of Shadow has obeyed your commands like a cold-blooded weapon, carrying every kind of disgrace on its shoulders. I did all of that because I believed you would guide Ionia toward stability. The war is already over. Why are you still creating chaos?"
"If I don't create chaos, where will the Brotherhood's prestige come from?" Kusho looked calmly at Zed. "And why would the people place their hopes in the Brotherhood?"
"So you deliberately released the Golden Demon?"
Zed seemed to realize something.
"Those reports about Noxian spies were also spread by you, weren't they? And you were the one who ordered the Golden Demon to deal with us."
Although the war had ended, rumors had continued spreading among the population that Noxian spies had secretly infiltrated Ionia.
The open war was over.
Now the hidden war had begun.
The people had never truly been allowed to feel safe, forced to live every day in anxiety.
Thinking about it now, those rumors had clearly been spread deliberately by Kusho as well.
"That's right. As long as all of you remained alive, eventually you would interfere with my plans. And you have already exhausted your usefulness. You had to be removed."
Kusho had no intention of hiding anything.
His voice remained calm.
"The war is far from over. I already fulfilled what I promised you. But Ionia can never return to what it once was."
"What I want to bring the First Lands now is true stability. Only through unification, only by becoming a king before whom all of Ionia kneels, can I achieve that."
"For that day, every method is necessary."
"Elder Nanwu, Irelia, it makes no difference. They are obstacles standing in my path, and obstacles must be removed."
"If sacrifices are required, then I am willing to make them."
His gaze shifted toward Shen before moving away again.
"It simply appears that Jhin failed."
Shen clenched his fists and stared at the man who suddenly seemed like a complete stranger.
"Father... why did you become like this?"
"So you already know everything."
Kusho raised one hand, remembrance entering his eyes.
"Why did I change?"
"Yes. I watched, little by little, as desire consumed me. I watched my ambition grow larger with every passing day."
He smiled faintly.
"It truly is an intoxicating feeling."
He seemed completely unconcerned that the image his son once held of him was collapsing.
The moment Kusho had decided to abandon his former identity, he had abandoned his family along with it.
Shen's fists tightened further.
Never before had his father seemed so unfamiliar.
The gentle, dignified father in his memories completely collapsed at that moment.
"I originally had no intention of dealing with the Kinkou Order this soon. But since you already know the truth, there's no longer any reason to continue this performance."
As he spoke, Kusho rose from his seat and picked up the box within reach of his left hand.
"Jhin truly was disappointing. He failed to eliminate even one of you."
"But since you've all delivered yourselves to me together, you've saved me the trouble of hunting you down one at a time."
The moment he opened the box, black light erupted from within.
An ominous, shadowy presence instantly filled the entire temple.
Luke shot forward without hesitation, attacking Kusho at his maximum speed.
Everyone else moved at the same time, but compared to Luke, they were far too slow.
In the blink of an eye, Luke's razor-sharp sword had already come down without mercy.
Yet faced with the lethal strike, Kusho showed no panic whatsoever.
He merely smiled.
The red rune floating above his right hand erupted with magic.
A protective barrier formed instantly.
And Luke's strike crashed against it.
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