"In part," Faen shrugged, not denying it.
Hearing Faen's words, Karma fell into a brief silence, a trace of complexity surfacing between her brows. However, Karma was Karma, after all; she quickly suppressed the many thoughts in her mind and turned her gaze toward Faen, continuing: "How do you wish to address me?"
"Darha." Hearing her ask how he wanted to call her, Faen chose the name Darha without hesitation. For a person, a world-renowned name is sometimes not one they truly identify with. Of course, an old name might not be fully embraced either, but there was no doubt that by knowing this name, you became someone special to the other party, at least in terms of address.
However, calling her Darha out of the blue was a bit presumptuous, so Faen added: "In private, I would prefer to call you Darha. It makes me feel that you are a living, breathing person, rather than an ancient symbol. Of course, in public, I will still call you Karma. After all... for the sake of tradition."
Hearing Faen—who had just been ranting and attacking Ionia's ancient traditions in the Temple of the Long-Standing—now say with a serious face that he was doing it for the sake of tradition, a fleeting arc of a smile appeared at the corner of Darha's mouth.
The arc existed for such a brief moment that even Faen wasn't sure if she had actually smiled. Afterward, Karma said: "Then let us talk about Ashlesh."
Hearing Karma speak the name of the demon he had contracted with, Faen showed no surprise. Karma's spirit contained the memories and essence of every Enlightened One from antiquity to the present. In such a state, forget identifying Ashlesh's form in the spirit realm; Faen wouldn't be surprised if she had personally fought the demon in ancient times.
Thinking this, Faen inquired: "What do you want to ask?"
"What do you intend to do?" Karma countered. "And what exactly is your relationship with Ashlesh?"
With a hint of doubt between her brows, Karma continued: "When I first noticed you had signed a contract with Ashlesh, I once considered sealing you. For this current era, once such an ancient Primordial Demon reappears in Runeterra, the emotional impact it generates would inevitably affect Ionia. Growing up here, you should know that compared to wars in the material realm, chaos in the spirit realm causes far more damage to Ionia."
Faen nodded in understanding.
The war between Ionia and Noxus was very twisted, and the most frustrating part was the Temple of the Long-Standing constantly hindering the resistance—specifically those pedantic elders who believed that even if Noxians started a war, they shouldn't resist.
In truth, they had their reasons, which became evident after the First Ionian War. For over a decade afterward, conflicts between humans, between humans and Vastaya, and between human expansion and primordial natural magic intensified. In the spirit realm, evil spirits attacking villages and land spirits refusing to communicate with humans became commonplace.
Even though the war ended, the scars left in the spirit realm changed Ionia forever. The establishment and expansion of organizations like the Navori Brotherhood and the Order of Shadow were the best proof of this.
Faen explained his thoughts and actions.
At first, Karma listened with skepticism. But gradually, as she heard about the changes in Zaun, Piltover, and Bilgewater, her expression became more thoughtful. When Faen finished explaining his philosophy and listed the results he had achieved in the Twin Cities and Bilgewater, Karma fell into a long silence.
In this prolonged silence, Karma suddenly felt an extremely dangerous yet irresistible abnormality. As Faen demonstrated those thoughts he had transformed into "hope" and "joy" within the spirit realm, an extremely pure, primal pleasure slithered through the spiritual connection and quietly bored into her body.
"Mgh..."
This Enlightened One, who carried thousands of years of Ionian solemnity, suddenly gave an extremely slight shudder. Her delicate body, hidden under thick, magnificent robes and long since cut off from worldly desires, actually began to flush with uncontrollable waves of heat. She discovered in horror that her pair of "doves," which should have been as calm as a still well, were currently hardening, rubbing against the soft fabric with a heart-pounding numbness.
What made her feel even more ashamed was her lower half. That private flower house, which had never stepped into the world of mortals, seemed to completely betray the will of the past Enlightened Ones under the pull of Ashlesh's primordial aura. A sliver of scalding love juice seeped from between those tightly closed flower lips, and with a "squish," it soaked a patch of embarrassing wetness into her tight undergarments.
Though it was only an infinitesimal reaction, the intense sense of immorality—where the "soul was discussing truth while the body was uncontrollably leaking water due to the other's aura"—caused a flash of panic and daze to cross Karma's emerald eyes. She had to use all her strength to tighten her thighs, forcibly suppressing the ultimate bliss that nearly made her gasp aloud.
"To transform the pursuit of extreme pleasure into a longing for hope through collective thought... I must say, it is indeed a brilliant method. At least, it still falls under the root emotion of 'Joy' that Ashlesh represents."
After pondering for a moment, Karma shook her head with a bit of emotion: "But you are quite generous, actually willing to share a part of Ashlesh's essence with the 'Gods' of Zaun. Even with a contract, this remains exceptionally precious."
Even for an ancient existence like Karma, the essence of a Primordial Demon was extraordinarily valuable. It wasn't just a single power, but a part of the source in the spirit realm for all sentient life and all living things in this world. If the foundation of the material realm was the composition of matter, then the foundation of the spirit realm was these spiritual sources.
Both humans and beasts possess the emotion called joy; whether they actively pursue it or not, joy itself is there, causing them to instinctively produce it, feel it, and know it.
Faen was very open about it: "Ten birds in the forest are not as good as one in the hand. Compared to Ashlesh's massive uncontrollability, I would rather completely master a portion of its power than face the risk of a backlash every time I use it."
"A wise choice," Karma sighed. "But not a correct decision that everyone could make."
She continued: "Your explanation was magnificent, but as Karma, I cannot easily reach a conclusion. Therefore, I will continue to observe."
"As you wish." Faen shrugged, not minding at all. After all, Karma was just fulfilling her duty.
After saying this, Faen added: "Speaking of which, negative emotional spirits like the War Spirit should still be in Ionia, right?"
"They are, though they are all sealed away." Hearing Faen's inquiry, Karma wasn't surprised, but she said with a bit of a headache: "Noxus has launched a war against Ionia. No matter what, these negative spirits will reappear in the world."
"Where are they now?" Faen said. "I'll go deal with them."
Having grown up in Ionia, Faen knew better than anyone that changing Ionia was much easier to accomplish in the spirit realm than in the material realm.
To this, Karma was silent for a moment before tentatively asking: "Whether to deal with them or not is one thing. The key point is... do you know of Syndra?"