Yorick stared numbly at this once ignorant and incompetent king.
Just for one woman, he had actually conquered the Blessed Isles.
Worse still, he had turned the entire island into this ghostly ruin afterward.
Yorick was probably the strongest among the monks. Even standing before the Ruined King, he could still keep his mind intact.
Viego coldly tightened his grip on his longsword.
With just one strike, the lingering souls clinging to Yorick's body were drawn into the endless Black Mist.
If, before Viego's arrival, the Black Mist had been a unit of light cavalry obeying Thresh, able to come and go, repeatedly harassing any nation in the world, then in Viego's hands, it had become heavy cavalry capable of flattening everything beneath it.
Wherever it passed, it was more than barren. It became an existence no one could resist.
As long as Viego failed to find Isolde, the entire world would have to pay with its life for the Ruined King.
Yorick looked down at his own chest in disbelief. It had been pierced through by Viego's Blade of the Ruined King.
How could this be? The last time they met, he had only been a spoiled royal wastrel.
From Viego, Yorick could tell that although he possessed an extraordinary obsession, in essence, his mental realm was still far below that of the monks.
"Before I was sealed, you could not even defend your own temple. And now you wish to challenge me?"
Viego turned his wrist, and Yorick's head silently fell to the side.
Unlike ordinary creatures of the Shadow Isles, this time, Yorick's head did not return to his body.
Instead, both his head and body slowly scattered, becoming part of the Black Mist.
Behind him, the Maiden of the Mist made no sound. She only looked at Viego with joy.
"Bring her back!"
Viego pointed his longsword at the Maiden of the Mist, and she immediately let out a cry of happiness.
A small cluster of soul light slowly stopped at the tip of the sword in Viego's hand, seeming almost excited.
"My king..."
Thresh reminded him quietly.
"That armor..."
"Before Isolde is found, everything else can wait. Do you understand?"
In Viego's eyes, glowing with ghostly green light, there was only that small drifting fragment of soul.
"I can hear her calling to me. Viego, save me!"
The tenderness in Viego's eyes turned firm in an instant.
"Black Mist, go!"
With just one command, the dense Black Mist of the Shadow Isles, so thick it almost seemed solid, surged madly toward every corner of the world.
...
"So, you visited the Shadow Isles, but found that place strangely calm."
"We were wondering if there was something wrong with that."
"This is more than something wrong. This is a huge problem!"
When Caleb heard the two of them say this, he truly could not stay still anymore.
He called over Ekko and Heimerdinger, the young one and the old one, who were still celebrating in the distance, then said with a grave expression, "From now on, the Twin Cities are entering a state of readiness for war. This is more serious than the last Harrowing. Hurry and make preparations."
When Viktor heard Caleb say this, he immediately lost his composure.
"Are you serious?"
A city in wartime was very different from a city in peacetime.
The simplest difference was food reserves.
In Piltover, basically all food reserves were purchased from outside sources and stored for unexpected emergencies.
But if these reserves, which were rotated every few years, only had to last a few days, that would be fine. If it lasted a few months...
Then some things might happen that "civilized" Piltover would not want to see.
But by then, Caleb could not guarantee how much "civilization" Piltover would still have left.
"Do as I say. Tell them the Harrowing is about to return."
The system had still not refreshed a mission, but Lucian and Senna had already come right to him.
Caleb's body suddenly moved. He rushed toward the eastern coast at high speed.
Although Lucian and Senna did not understand what he meant, they still followed him as quickly as they could.
Lucian had experienced countless battles, large and small, and with his Relentless Pursuit ability, he was naturally not slow.
Caleb only sprinted along the road and did not use a method like Shadow Step, where the shortest distance between two points was a straight line.
Even so, his speed along the way was not the slightest bit inferior to the cars built by Piltover.
"It's over..."
When Caleb saw that smear of black along the coastline, his expression immediately worsened.
"Quick! Everyone! Enter wartime status!"
There was naturally no need for Caleb to explain what wartime meant.
After all, during the previous Harrowing, Zaun had already defended against a wave of monsters from the Black Mist.
Thinking about it now, that was probably partly because the Sentinels of Light among the people had been protected as well.
But what exactly was this "light"?
Caleb had no time to dwell on that now. The Ruination had already arrived.
Why exactly would this ancient curse destroy the world?
In truth, Caleb did not care where the Black Mist went. At worst, it was like the whole world had turned off the lights for a few days.
The key point was that the things inside the Black Mist hurt people, damn it!
Why? Couldn't you just take your wife's relics and leave?
Caleb could not quite understand this "Ruined King," but from the looks of this Ruination storyline, it was completely different from the cinematics in his previous life.
He could only take it one step at a time.
Under Caleb's shouting, almost every Zaunite had already rushed into wartime preparations.
Aside from the members of the Firelights, most people were packing up their valuables.
This was the place where they had grown up. They could not casually hand it over to the Black Mist.
Jinx's Fishbones clattered loudly. Zeri's electric gun had already lit up.
Zaun had been holding back a bitter breath of anger. How could it possibly endure this kind of invasion?
The Black Mist drew closer and closer. It had already reached the point where it could be seen with the naked eye from the Promenade.
Piltover had received no early warning, and there were far more things there to move. Compared with Zaun, it was much more chaotic.
"Jayce, take the Mecha suit up there!"
Caleb's words allowed no doubt. Then he said to Lucian and Senna, "You two go up there."
Seeing that the Black Mist was about to arrive, Caleb still made a decision, send these two Sentinels of Light to the upper city to fight.
There was no other reason. Mainly, he was strong enough.
But if only Sentinel weapons could kill the monsters inside the Black Mist, Caleb could only choose a defensive stance.
However, the appearance of the Black Mist this time was not quite the same as before. Even from far away, Caleb could see it with Absolute Focus.
The Black Mist was closing in further and further. Bilgewater had probably already been swallowed by it.
After that came Ionia, Noxus...
Caleb was already trying hard not to think about those places, but reality was probably far crueler than anything he imagined.
"I should take care of myself first..."
Caleb looked toward the front of the Black Mist. There seemed to be a white-haired man there, carrying a king's sword on his back that was even longer than his body.
"Viego really has descended, huh?"
Caleb frowned as he watched the boundless Black Mist surge toward them like a tide.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry!"
Compared with Piltover's chaos, Zaun seemed a little more orderly.
At the very least, by the time the Black Mist truly descended, every Zaunite had a weapon in hand and was ready to fight.
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