"You've really been through something that even most Ascended never experienced."
Yaanogel's mouth pushed out from Caleb's left hand, and there was a trace of sympathy in his voice.
Xolaani only nodded quietly.
In the distance, Taliyah had finally finished her dance just as the silver moon sank lower in the sky.
"Whew..." She let out a long breath, then turned to Caleb and said, "All the tunnels are sealed now, except the one leading to the Void gate."
Taliyah had been gifted with the ability to guide stone through dance since childhood, and after traveling with the Noxian army to Ionia, that talent had only grown more obvious.
"Good work." Caleb gave a small nod.
That should settle this whole matter.
Azir had not come in person, but the Sun Disc had supported them twice from the sky.
That meant he had still been watching this place.
The battle had looked quick, but in truth they had been walking a knife's edge.
Driving the Void back would have been useless, because for Void creatures, feeding was desire, not necessity. They would not starve to death. The next place to suffer could have been another oasis. And Rek'Sai and her brood would only have grown more cautious, quietly recuperating underground.
By then, the threat would only have gotten worse and worse, and freshly awakened Shurima, with so much still in ruins, probably would not have had the strength left to deal with it.
That was why Yaanogel's approach had been so simple and direct, kill Rek'Sai the first time she broke the surface.
With Azir's help, they had more or less pulled it off.
And conveniently enough, Rek'Sai's place in the Xer'Sai colony was much like a queen ant's place in an ant nest.
Then Caleb and Kai'Sa had gone into the underground nest, wiped out the Xer'Sai larvae, and confirmed that the Void was now cut off behind a giant stone barrier.
And now Taliyah had reinforced it on top of that.
At least for the near future, this patch of Void was not something they had to worry about.
Even so, Shurima was obviously nowhere near as strong as it had been before that war.
And Ixtal's stance still was not settled, so Shurima was basically starting over from nothing.
[Congratulations on completing the mission. Please wait for your reward and the next mission.]
The system's emotionless voice rang out again, finally letting Caleb breathe easier.
At the very least, that counted as confirmation that, for now, the Void around Xolan was not going to stir up any more trouble.
Still, the thought that the Void would inevitably return made Caleb frown.
By the time that happened, would he be strong enough, strong enough to at least rank above T2, to protect this continent from being swallowed up?
Caleb still was not especially fond of this vast desert nation, but he liked it a whole lot more than endless swarms of Void monsters.
Creatures that only knew how to eat were not exactly the kind of things anyone could live alongside.
His body was still aching here and there. There was no helping it, Yaanogel's way of using him was far too violent.
"You there, kid, come over here."
Not far away, Xolaani had barely finished talking with Renekton before she waved Caleb over.
"Hm?"
She was an Ascended, and an exceptionally kind one at that.
According to Yaanogel, she had not even taken part in the Darkin War.
And with how famous she was for healing, famous enough to Ascend because of it, Caleb really did not have much guard up around her.
"I heard everything from Renekton. Maybe I can treat your body a little?"
Xolaani truly was gentle to an almost ridiculous degree. No wonder she had been a healer.
"Of course."
Caleb nodded.
A mass of green holy light rose from Xolaani's palm and slowly flowed into Caleb's body.
He felt a warm current move through all four limbs and every part of him.
Then came a sudden stab of pain.
Even Caleb was caught completely off guard by it.
"This is...?"
He looked at Xolaani uncertainly, then the agony surging through his body twisted his whole face out of shape.
Yaanogel's mouth on the left side of his face answered for her.
"She's putting the tiny broken pieces back together, of course it's not supposed to feel good."
"This is not what I was expecting at all!"
Whenever people got healed in stories, it was always some gorgeous woman pouring energy into them while the pain gradually faded away.
How had he ended up just sitting here while going from fine one second to full-body agony the next?
This one treatment practically sent Caleb to the grave.
For one brief moment, he had almost started thinking about his last words.
No way. What kind of healing was supposed to hurt like this?
All of a sudden, Caleb felt genuine sympathy for the ancient Shuriman soldiers who came down from the battlefield.
How much suffering had they gone through?
It took a full two hours before Caleb finally recovered enough to breathe normally again.
He swallowed with difficulty.
"Don't worry, on the battlefield, to get soldiers back into the fight, Xolaani would numb the pain first and then deal with the biggest problem," Renekton said, his voice sounding strange, like he was trying very hard to hold something back. "The wounded camps after the battle, though, those were nonstop screaming."
"If you want to laugh, then stop holding it in."
Caleb could hear the laughter in Renekton's voice perfectly well.
"Hahahahaha!" Renekton was not the sort to hide things, so he just burst out laughing outright.
"Well..." Caleb's eyes darted around a little slyly as he looked toward Kai'Sa by the edge of the deep pit in the distance.
...
"This is a little tricky."
Xolaani examined Kai'Sa's Void skin, that layer of living tissue that had nearly fused into one with her.
"But it can still be cured!"
Xolaani slapped her thigh and decided to accept Caleb's suggestion.
"You..." Kai'Sa looked at Caleb's face, but in the end she still did not finish the sentence.
Was he really happy that someone could cure that skin covering her body?
Or was he just enjoying the fact that now someone else was about to suffer even more than he had?
"This one will need careful treatment."
...
Caleb was awakened by someone patting him.
He opened his eyes groggily.
The last few days really had been exhausting. Not only had they been traveling nonstop, that battle had also put a serious burden on his body.
Last night, after taking a quick rinse and changing into clean clothes, Caleb had immediately gone to sleep.
With his constitution, he was not going to catch a cold in the desert night anyway.
"Hm?"
Still half asleep, Caleb rubbed his eyes.
The first thing he saw was a graceful young woman in Shuriman woven clothing.
"Holy shit?!"
That woke him up instantly.
Was this Kai'Sa?
Those slender little hands, those pale smooth legs...
That entire layer of Void skin had really been dealt with?
Tears welled up in Caleb's eyes. He almost wanted to bow to Xolaani on the spot.
"What are you yelling for?" Kai'Sa pouted in annoyance.
Last night, while she had been enduring Xolaani's blood magic and healing magic together, a certain heartless someone had been sleeping like a log.
And as expected of an Ascended, Xolaani had not disappointed anyone there.
She had really done it. She had made Kai'Sa look like an ordinary girl next door.
"This is amazing, Kai'Sa!"
Taliyah threw herself at her and even started crying.
"You can be just like everyone else now!"
She had known Kai'Sa the longest, and she knew better than anyone how much coldness and rejection Kai'Sa had suffered because of that skin.
"Hm?" Kai'Sa was happy too, but seeing Taliyah this emotional actually made her calm down instead.
"Wouldn't that lower your combat strength by quite a bit?"
Caleb was still thinking about whether he should give her that book, From Beginner to Mastery, when a fresh shooting mark suddenly appeared in the ground beside him.
Kai'Sa slowly drew back the hand still covered by her Void skin, and it shifted back into the appearance of an ordinary girl's hand again.
"Xolaani!"
Caleb dropped to his knees and slid straight over to the completely bewildered Xolaani.
"Please, let me bow to you!"
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