"Li Lin!" Morgana exclaimed, her tension easing slightly as she saw him.
Kayle and Leona stared blankly for a moment at yet another massive mechanical beast in front of them.
Kayle had heard Morgana speak of Li Lin's many mechanical creations, including the Colossus she had fought earlier and the towering mechas, some sixty meters tall.
However, what surprised her was that Li Lin seemed to have two more giant humanoid mechs, on par with the divine warriors, adding to the already overwhelming display.
Seeing the Titan Beast, Leona's expression grew even more astonished. Her gaze fixed on the chest of the mechanical beast, where golden light, like the sun itself, shone brightly.
The power of the sun... is inside this machine?
How is this possible?!
Since Kayle had patched up her relationship with Morgana, she had discussed with her in detail the many baffling creations of the young man known as the "World's Chosen"—Li Lin. She had never expressed much surprise at his incredible inventiveness.
Leona, on the other hand, remained stunned for a long while. It wasn't until Li Lin opened the cockpit of the Titan Beast and flew out, landing steadily in front of the angel sisters and the desert emperor, that she snapped out of it.
Since Xerath had fallen into silence, clearly unable to believe Li Lin had survived, he had yet to remove his battle armor.
"You..." Azir had a thousand questions, but even as an emperor, recalling the explosive "sun" incident, he was still so stunned that words failed him.
Then, Leona's wide eyes turned toward Li Lin, and she instinctively asked, "What exactly are you?"
"Of course, I'm human. What else could I be?"
Li Lin glanced back at her, lifting his helmet to show her his human face.
"My name is Li Lin, and I come from the Kiramman family of Piltover, which is like your Mount Targon Tribes. This armor I'm wearing is my latest invention, based on nanotechnology."
"Uh..."
Leona understood Li Lin's introduction up to a point, but the technical terms like "nanotechnology" were beyond her grasp.
Being a devotee of magic and worshiper of celestial spirits, Leona had never been exposed to advanced technology. The knowledge of science in the Mount Targon was the lowest among all the Runeterra nations, and Piltover had no reason to share their technology here since there was no profit to be made.
As a native of Mount Targon and a knight of the Sunfire Order, Leona had once been blessed by the Sun Star spirit and had become the new Dawnbringer, but she only knew of Piltover's existence. She had never ventured beyond the mountains, as her sole purpose was to protect the Solari Order's believers and eliminate threats, particularly from the opposing "heretic" Moonlight Order and her beloved Diana...
At that thought, Leona shook her head, pushing away the image of the face that had unexpectedly appeared in her mind, the knot in her heart making her uncomfortable.
Li Lin, noticing Leona's distracted expression, glanced toward the satellite data showing two people in the vicinity, both with strong celestial energy signatures.
One was Soraka, who had already been spotted by the drones and was attempting to summon the power of the stars to repair the nearby mountains.
The other signature remained hidden, but Li Lin easily guessed it was likely Diana, the Moonlight Goddess, hiding in the shadows.
Due to his past connections with Zoe and the Star forger Dragon King, Li Lin didn't have much affection for celestial beings. He only felt sympathy for the lovers torn apart by mortal taboos.
But that wasn't his concern right now.
"I understand you have many questions," Li Lin said, turning to Azir, who was still deep in thought, then glancing at Xerath, who was barely holding onto a human form, reduced to a floating orb of arcane energy.
"I must take advantage of Xerath's weakened state and modify him now."
Azir nodded slightly in agreement. "How do you plan to proceed?"
"With this."
Li Lin waved his hand, and several folding compression boxes that had been stored inside the Titan Behemoth quickly detached, transforming mid-air into a lock-like "armor" shape.
[Arcane Restraint Device (Epic): The complexity of the human soul deeply fascinated Viktor, so he created numerous battlefield mechs to conquer the world. Xerath was also influenced by this behavior, and like a beast imprisoned in hell, the device trapped powerful psychic energy, constantly emitting super-powered attacks in all directions.]
[Base Attributes: None]
[Ability Effects]
[Arcane·Modification: This device has been specially modified to restrain arcane energy entities.]
[Spirit Restraint: The device can fully imprison arcane energy entities, and through "mental control," it can issue commands to control them.]
[Mental Control: This device can completely erase the self-awareness of an arcane energy entity.]
[Arcane Enhancement: This device enhances arcane magic, boosting its effect by up to 30%.]
This battlefield mech was unlocked after defeating Xerath, using 10 skill points and 1000 orange essence, and it is also known as the most critical device in the Battlefield Mage: Xerath.
In fact, it was precisely because of the urgent work needed to create this device that Li Lin hadn't returned to the battlefield after the nuclear fusion missile explosion to search for Xerath, who was unlikely to have been killed by the blast.
However, he had never worried about the ancient mage escaping.
Not to mention that Azir would never allow this traitor to escape, but after the explosion subsided, several drones, controlled by the intelligence brain, secretly lurked around Nerimazeth. They had already tracked the traces of arcane energy.
Even if Xerath tried to flee, given his currently weakened state, he wouldn't be able to escape from Li Lin's grasp.
Li Lin was determined to succeed, having crafted a battlefield mech from celestial materials.
Azir, able to sense the energy confinement effect of this mechanical device, released Xerath without hesitation.
Soon after, the Arcane Restraint Device locked onto Xerath. As his fearful screams filled the air, the specially crafted "locks" separated and firmly trapped him. The restraint core clicked shut, and soon, there was no sound.
The transformation of Xerath's mind had already begun.
In a few weeks, once this celestial being's soul was completely wiped out by the Arcane Restraint Device, it would be time to transform him into a humanoid weapon—the Battlefield Mage.
"Your device is quite special; at least it's more useful than Shurima's sealed sarcophagus," Azir remarked, staring at the mechanical device that now completely enveloped Xerath's body.
"Every device has its own unique purpose," Li Lin smiled. "This is just taking advantage of Xerath's weakened state. It's nothing extraordinary."
"Hahaha… A person both outstanding and humble, your mindset is far better than I expected."
Azir's hearty laughter began to fade, and Leona, unable to suppress her curiosity any longer, stepped forward to Li Lin.
"Solar power… How did you manage to do it?"
(End of Chapter)
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