"Hold on. Let me process this…"
The young man's words were far too shocking.
Aatrox had spent such a long time in darkness that he had almost given up hope.
Yet here, in the far north of the continent, someone was actually telling him that the ancient empire of Shurima in the south had risen again?
Aatrox did not rule out the possibility that this man had gone to Shurima, or even visited the tombs of its nobles.
But how did he know about Azir? How did he know about the Sun Disc, about Yaanogel, and even about the Void?
Seeing that Aatrox's gaze seemed a little dazed, Caleb silently took a breath.
He had gambled right.
"I also know that your animal prototype was a horned weasel, one that could glide through the air."
"What about Yaanogel?"
Aatrox's expression clearly darkened.
"A hidden tiger."
Caleb answered without hesitation.
When Yaanogel had possessed him, Caleb had been especially impressed by his fighting style.
He was even more frenzied than Jinx.
If one strike missed, he would vanish into the surrounding environment, then search for another opportunity.
Even Xerath, who had stolen Ascended power, had been helpless beneath Yaanogel's spear.
That domineering creature matched Yaanogel perfectly, the kind of warrior who only had two modes in battle, attacking, and preparing to attack.
"It seems everything you say has a basis."
Aatrox could not help falling into thought as well.
Could this man really have met Yaanogel, who was also a Darkin?
Was there actually a human in this world who could meet a Darkin and still speak so firmly?
After all, the Darkin had always been regarded by humans as living disasters, or rather, as true disasters in flesh.
Humans either knelt on the ground and begged to be used by them, or avoided them at all costs, terrified of being dragged into their killing machines.
"You… are not afraid of me?"
After hesitating for a moment, Aatrox still asked.
"I know you were once great god-warriors."
Caleb paused, then continued.
"But you had your limits before. You fell into confusion and did wrong."
Caleb's expression was calm. This world had never been purely black and white. Although there were characters of pure darkness or pure light, Caleb did not see things that way.
In Xerath's eyes, Caleb was probably like a demon who had destroyed what should have been the rest of his glorious life.
In the eyes of the Undercity, Caleb was an irreplaceable Governor who had done many practical things. Even a genius like Viktor had only claimed the position of "acting Governor."
From the perspective of Topside, the way they looked at Caleb was even more complicated.
The definition of good and evil had always been vague. To a lion, eating a sheep was only natural.
But to the sheep, being attacked after settling down peacefully was an undeserved disaster.
So should the young lion that had not yet learned to hunt starve to death, or should it bite through the throat of an old sheep?
Caleb's answer was to let nature take its course.
What had already happened could not be undone, but perhaps greater disasters in the future could be avoided.
"Take this."
Hearing how much Caleb understood, along with the existence of that girl wearing Void skin earlier, Aatrox had more or less accepted Caleb's explanation.
"What?"
Caleb accepted the complicated blood-red heart, looking rather unwilling.
There was no other reason. It was honestly kind of disgusting.
"When you need me, crush it, and I will come."
Aatrox also knew that with his current appearance, there was no way he could travel together with Caleb, so he switched to another method.
At the same time, it was also a tracking device.
Caleb took the heart, still looking disgusted.
"Don't you have something else? Something that isn't so bloody and messy?"
Caleb understood that as a Darkin, most of the blood magic Aatrox used would be somewhat horrifying.
But even if he understood that, Caleb still did not want to walk around carrying a sticky, beating heart.
"Then use this sword."
He called it a sword, but it was actually only about the length of Caleb's palm.
This was much better.
Although it was also blood-red, at least he could cover it with ice and snow.
And he would no longer need to crush a beating heart, making himself look like a murderer.
"Break it, and that will be enough."
"Well…"
Caleb hesitated.
"Speak."
Facing the young man who had told him that his homeland had awakened and that the Void had returned, Aatrox had become much more patient.
"Make some noise. I need to give them an explanation somehow."
Caleb felt a little awkward. After all, he did not particularly dislike Tryndamere.
No matter how great Aatrox had once been, he had truly slaughtered Tryndamere's entire tribe.
"Heh. You are worried about that maniac swinging a blade around?"
Aatrox let out a contemptuous snort.
"All right. Looks like there's a story there too…"
Caleb sighed, then ran out of the cave.
His companions would definitely have left marks outside. He could understand them.
At the very least, Caleb was sure that Kai'Sa and the yordle cat would not abandon him.
Not long after he ran out, there was a thunderous boom behind him, and more than half of the cave collapsed.
"That's ruthless enough…"
Caleb also knew that Aatrox had done this to create the illusion that he was temporarily trapped. That way, no one would interfere with the fresh troll corpses inside the cave.
So-called blood magic, no matter how it was reconstructed or used, could never escape its essence, blood.
Whether it was Xolaani's healing magic for Kai'Sa or Aatrox's crude construction magic that forcefully pieced together the form he once had, the essence could not be separated from flesh and blood.
And the trolls' bodies, much stronger than human bodies, were the best material for blood magic.
…
"How did it go?"
Seeing Caleb find the camp safe and sound, with no shadow behind him, everyone relaxed somewhat.
To be precise, the fact that there was no enormous demon with spread wings following him was already a great fortune.
"The cave collapsed. He probably won't be able to get out for a while."
Caleb silently wrapped the little sword-shaped token in cloth and put it into his pocket.
If he told everyone that Aatrox knew their current location and could be summoned at any time, would they immediately panic?
"That hateful bastard will fall by my hand one day!"
"Then I have to recommend one of Zaun's products to you."
Caleb's words drew everyone's gaze.
Compared with such a huge blade, there was actually a more useful weapon?
"Its name is the Chempunk Chainsword."
It had to be said that such a long name stunned the entire squad for a moment.
"What is that?"
Even Kai'Sa had never seen Caleb use this thing before.
"That thing? Well… back home, we had a patient who thought he was a doctor, but he ended up drinking a whole mess of random drugs."
After listening to Caleb explain the entire process of dealing with Mundo, even Tryndamere's opinion of him changed.
So his nature was actually that brutal?
Tryndamere was a warrior born for battle, but asking him to use a saw to counter an opponent who could constantly regenerate…
Mm. Even if Tryndamere was overflowing with fury, he still would not do something like that.
"Next, we need to arrange the route."
Running into Aatrox and Ryze counted as an unexpected incident, neither too big nor too small. Now they had no choice but to split up.
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