Hiding in the shadows behind Kayle, Aiden watched the angel shatter the fireball with her sword. He was safe, but his heart was filled with sorrow.
Until this decisive battle, Aiden had never truly worked hard to improve his abilities. He always thought that with the Heart of Valoran, he could command over a hundred heroes; with his understanding of Azeroth's history, summoning these heroes would be a breeze. It seemed he didn't need to deliberately enhance his own strength.
And to deploy the strategy for the upcoming expedition, even though the Heart of Valoran had a large amount of unused energy, he didn't immediately use it to summon new heroes. Instead, he waited for the future northern expedition to summon heroes and troops that could gain an advantage in Northrend: such as the heroes and troops of the Freljord lineage, who could exert their maximum combat power in the harsh, icy environment.
But such grand plans became exceptionally fragile when faced with real-world challenges. If he had spent some energy to summon "Rek'Sai, the Void Burrower" when Anub'arak burrowed into the ground that day, he could have easily tracked down these two fleeing Scourge heroes using her abilities, and there wouldn't have been so much trouble later.
Never before had he so desperately yearned to become stronger, so others wouldn't have to sacrifice themselves for him.
"Almost there," the mysterious mage muttered to himself, noticing that the sword in Kayle's hand no longer emitted holy flames. "Final blow!"
He conjured a new Pyroblast, tossing it out and then ignoring it, instead beginning to chant a spell for the first time.
Aiden saw the raging fireball flying over, but Kayle didn't seem to make any move to shatter it with holy flames or activate "Divine Shield" to negate it. Instead, she turned to face Aiden, folding her wings to envelop him.
Aiden felt ice-cold all over. Seeing Kayle's calm and resolute eyes, he felt as if an invisible hand had grabbed his heart and was ruthlessly crushing it.
"No!"
The Pyroblast exploded behind Kayle. Aiden felt a scorching gust of wind pass by. He heard Kayle let out a muffled groan, collapsing into his arms.
"Drip, drip!"
He saw faintly glowing blood dripping from the gaps in Kayle's helmet, landing on the back of his hand.
Aiden's nose tingled, and tears fell. He felt incredibly guilty. Why would Quinn and Kayle risk their lives to save him? Was it because he was the master of the Heart of Valoran? Could a contract really make them sacrifice their lives to protect someone else?
He grabbed his Staff of Time, frantically activating any healing methods he could use. Holy power, nature spells, anything would do. But the mana in his body had long been exhausted. The Mark of Cenarius was also dim and lifeless.
He remembered that in the Emerald Dream, Cenarius, Lord of the Forest, had told him that if he couldn't comprehend the true way of the Druid with this mark, it would only be a mere consumable, and the divine power within would diminish over time.
When he activated it to heal Quinn just now, the power in the mark had almost been completely exhausted.
Clutching at the last ray of hope, Aiden activated the mark, and the remaining power formed a faint green light on his staff, but it dissipated before it could take shape. The remaining energy in the mark was simply not enough to sustain a spell.
He felt the mark shatter, unable to find any trace of its existence in his consciousness. Cenarius' blessing had finally run out.
"Holy Light, Holy Light..." Aiden cried incoherently, "Damn it, doesn't Holy Light come from the Naaru? I'm praying sincerely now, please save Kayle! I will repay you a hundredfold in the future! Quickly, respond to me!"
But the Naaru did not respond.
Although the holy power from angels and the Holy Light of Azeroth were essentially the same, they belonged to different systems.
Aiden felt Kayle's faint, almost vanishing breath. He absolutely couldn't bear to watch Kayle die, even if saving her would come at a great cost!
He looked at the Catalyst Stone on the Staff of Time, making up his mind: when Zilean gave him this staff, he had told him that the Catalyst Stone sealed a one-time-use "Time Warp"—Zilean's ultimate move, which could revive someone!
But Zilean had also warned him that such magic, which forcibly interfered with the timeline, would inevitably be punished by time. Each time it took effect, it would permanently strip away the target's lifespan. The stronger the target, the more that would be taken.
Kayle was definitely strong enough. Zilean had once said that Kayle was a true god with a divine personality. What kind of punishment would be incurred if Time Warp was used on her?
At this moment, the spell cast by the mysterious mage who had severely injured them was completed. It was a portal. While summoning Broxigar, he used magic to block the heroes fighting against Broxigar.
"It's time to go, Death Knight."
The orc Death Knight was wounded all over and almost couldn't hold on, but fortunately, he received his support. Broxigar looked at Anub'arak, who was still twitching on the ground, and asked, "What about this beetle?"
"Can't save it," the mage replied calmly and ruthlessly.
At this moment, another figure floated from the sky. Vayne immediately shouted when she saw him, "Karthus, do something to stop them from escaping!"
The one floating over was "Karthus, the Deathsinger." He immediately saw the situation on the field—Quinn and Kayle had both been severely injured and were unconscious. Commander Aiden also seemed to be badly injured.
Seeing the mage dragging Broxigar towards the portal, he immediately chanted a spell loudly, and three red rays of light descended from the sky, locking onto Broxigar, the mysterious mage, and the dying Anub'arak.
Karthus raised his hands high, continuously channeling his ultimate move, "Requiem."
From the energy fluctuations, the mysterious mage felt that this was a very powerful spell. When he realized that he couldn't counter this spell, he could only take defensive measures. He frowned as he saw Broxigar, who was covered in scars. This orc clearly didn't have any ability to resist "Requiem." Thinking of Broxigar's importance, he had no choice but to put more protection on this guy than on himself.
"Boom!"
The spell was completed.
A pure annihilation energy exploded above the heads of the three Scourge heroes.
Anub'arak's carapace, which he prided himself on as being tougher than steel, was useless in front of it. He was completely blown to pieces and died completely.
The mysterious mage's shield negated most of the damage, but the remaining power still severely injured him. The cloak on his head was torn to shreds, revealing his true face: he had grayish-white hair, long eyebrows, and pointed ears—undoubtedly, he was an elf mage!
The elf mage spat out a mouthful of black blood, indicating that his body had been transformed into an undead.
Broxigar was already seriously injured. After suffering this blow, he fell into a coma.
The elf mage picked him up, and the two rushed into the portal together.
Karthus originally wanted to chase in before the portal disappeared, but reinforcements would still take a while to arrive. Even if the Scourge leader disappeared, their forces still had an absolute advantage. If he rashly pursued and caused any of the heroes here to be harmed, it would be a greater loss!
So he turned to face the Scourge soldiers, using his soul to interfere with the Lich King's command over them.
Subsequently, the Scourge soldiers who received conflicting orders fell into infighting.
Aiden didn't dare to hesitate too much. No matter the cost, it was better than regret!
He pried out the Catalyst Stone.
Just as he was about to activate the sealed magic inside, he felt a gentle tap on his back.
Looking down, he saw that it was Kayle's hand.
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"Don't, don't do that... I'm fine..." Kayle's voice had never been so weak.
Aiden's nose tingled, and he couldn't help but feel happy and worried.
Angel Pamyel and Ophiel quickly came over, kneeling on either side, looking at the two with concern.
"I have... the Lightforged Armor... protecting me, don't worry... about me. Don't use..." Kayle's voice was intermittent, almost using all her strength.
"I know, I know, don't talk," Aiden comforted softly.
Pamyel and Ophiel helped Kayle up, using the remaining holy power to heal their queen as much as possible.
Karthus came forward to help Aiden up and set his fractured right hand. He said, "Thank you."
"No, it's me who came too late," Karthus said.
Aiden shook his head, knowing that it wasn't Karthus's fault, but his own greed.
Karthus helped him to Quinn, where Vayne was taking care of her.
"How is she?"
"The injury is a bit serious," Vayne looked at her good friend with concern.
Aiden looked at Karthus and asked, "Besides Soraka, which heroes can heal their injuries?"
Karthus replied without thinking, "For such serious injuries, you might need a professional healer. I recommend the Gem Knight—Taric!"
"That's him!" Aiden immediately grabbed the Heart of Valoran, forcing himself to forget the pain in his body, and quickly entered a meditative state.
Aiden's will merged into the Heart of Valoran, and he immediately imagined the image of the Gem Knight. The other party also responded to him quickly.
After the light of the summoning array disappeared, a handsome and upright young man stepped out. His blue armor was inlaid with various gems, as was the warhammer in his hand. The whole person looked jeweled, noble, and charming.
Taric, the Gem Knight, one of the most handsome heroes in the League of Legends—in the game, this hero had long faded from everyone's sight due to version changes. But in the real Runeterra, he is definitely a popular hero in Valoran!
Taric glanced at the surrounding situation and immediately said to Aiden, "Leave it to me, Summoner!"
"Please!" Aiden breathed a sigh of relief.