Chapter 917 [0912] Choice

Reel could clearly feel the magic flowing through her blood vessels like iron filings.

Perhaps, the blood magic mark used to plunder magic talent should be used on magic items in the "wrong way", after all, Reel was suffering from bone-eroding pain at this time.

But it must be said that blood magic is quite useful.

Regardless of the cost, it can be used at least now.

Reel didn't know that the blood magic mark was effective not because "it can be used on magic items", but because "Reel's talent can make metal a part of her", so the mark is effective for "Reel's metal prosthesis".

In other words, this part of Reel's power is actually temporarily obtained from Modkaiser's iron armor. When her magic power can no longer support it, this power of death will also be invalid.

Moreover, the price of using blood magic in this way is that metal also becomes a part of her blood. What Reel feels as "metal flowing in the body" is not a metaphor, but a fact.

Don't look at Reel jumping for joy now.

But as long as her magic power is insufficient and she cannot control the metal flowing in her blood, she will probably die on the spot in a minute.

Rell herself does not know, but Mordekaiser knows.

But even though Mordekaiser knew that Rell could not last long like this and knew that if he continued to put pressure on her, she would not be able to bear it, but Mordekaiser still ran away first - he was scared.

Or, he thought he did not need to compete with a mortal.

When Mordekaiser was not called this name, he was still called Saan Uzul, and he was never afraid of death. At that time, he regarded death as glory and destination.

However, after truly gaining an immortal body, when he faced possible death again, he hesitated and hesitated.

Perhaps this hesitation is understandable from an absolutely rational perspective. Mordekaiser may have a thousand reasons to prove that he does not need to continue fighting with Rell.

But behind these thousand reasons is Mordekaiser's change in attitude towards death.

Although he is an immortal.

But he is full of fear of death.

Perhaps, this is why the Mother of Masks did not come to him, but just watched his performance quietly.

……………………

Mordekaiser's flight announced Rell's staged victory.

But the overall situation of the Immortal Fortress is still not optimistic at this time.

Even if the Black Mist Legion did not leave the range of the Dark Well after opening the seal of the Curtain of Life and Death.

Even if Aatrox did not let the Black Mist spread widely as agreed.

But the panic brought by the Black Mist itself is impossible to avoid in any case.

Under the "cover" of the Black Mist, many things in the gutter can be put on the table openly. Because Darius transferred the last Noxian elite around the Immortal Fortress, and the remaining garrison regiments needed to defend the Dark Well, the remaining security forces of the huge Immortal Fortress can only be described as pitifully small.

And for the country of Noxus, without the vital security forces, the result can only be endless chaos.

The first place where chaos broke out was the forging workshop on the outer ring of the Immortal Fortress.

This is the largest slave work center in Noxus. Many slaves sentenced to serve sentences will be arranged to work here. They need to do simple forging work. Their living conditions depend entirely on the quality of the finished product. If their skills are stable, they can get rid of their slave status and become free people.

According to the laws of Noxus, most of those arranged here are political prisoners.

In the Darkwell era, they were people who were dissatisfied with the commander-in-chief; in the Swain era, they were noble children who were caught; and in the era of Darius, he was more direct - most of the old nobles were thrown into this furnace.

According to Darius, these people will be the last batch of slaves serving sentences here. After that, Noxus will abolish the slave law and use more direct means to deal with criminals. Riel, who he is very optimistic about, also agrees with this.

However, during this last shift, due to the arrival of the Black Mist Legion, the old nobles who were demoted to slaves sensed an opportunity. They took advantage of the opportunity when the guards became weak and seized some weapons and occupied the processing center with the advantage of numbers.

Moreover, they sent messengers to contact those who still had relations with them, either through coercion or through bribery, in an effort to gather a team.

For them, this was an opportunity to make a comeback, but also a helpless choice to give it a try.

However, the effect of their wooing work was not ideal. Those who could cut off from them had already chosen to cut off from them. Most of the messengers they sent this time were sent to the police station - even if there was no one in the police station, they were tied up with iron chains and carefully watched by the people who sent them here, for fear of implicating themselves.

In this case, it seemed that the resistance of the slaves would soon fail.

Just when these old nobles were scratching their heads in anxiety, an ally that they never expected appeared.

Another group of slaves.

To be precise, it was the gladiators.

……………………

In Noxus, the arena should be the bloodiest place.

According to the laws of Noxus, people who are guilty of treason and other crimes will be thrown into the arena for a series of death fights, and the final winner will have a chance to cleanse the past with blood - this is a part of the Noxian people's meritocracy.

However, criminals alone cannot fill the arena of Noxus, so Noxus sometimes buys some slaves from slave traders as a supplementary reserve for gladiators.

Although Darius has also worked hard to promote the "de-slavery" of Noxus after taking office, in his eyes, Noxians should not be slaves, but if they are not Noxians, it is normal to have slaves.

Therefore, although Noxus has also undergone some reforms, the arena is still quite lively.

Noxians obviously don't care about the lives of gladiators. Even Mr. Draven, the younger brother of Grand Commander Darius and the former commander's personal guard, will personally participate in the fights when he is interested and execute those gladiators who have committed treason. In the eyes of most Noxians, fighting is a part of their martial arts.

It is precisely because of Draven's frequent personal participation in the arena with bad taste that there are very few gladiators who have committed treason in the arena now.

And Riven is one of the few people who became a gladiator because of treason in the Immortal Bastion Arena at this time.

However, unlike other betrayers, Riven can actually leave. Her winning streak has reached the requirements to wash away the shame, and she also passed the "final test" from Draven last year, but she gave up the opportunity to fight for Noxus again and stayed in the arena.

Most people regarded her choice as a bold move, which made her fights extremely popular, but only Riven herself knew that deep down, she was no longer willing to fight for Noxus.

Riven was born in Triwell, and like most children in the state farm, she didn't know who her parents were since she was a child.

There, she had to undertake the labor of an adult from the age of twelve, and in return, she would get half an adult's ration and a set of coarse cloth clothes a year.

Of course, compared with many countries that don't behave like human beings, the state farms in Noxus still have their advantages. When children who grow up here get married, the farm will give a large amount of property purchase fees for settling down, so children who grow up in state farms and can work are often in high demand in Triwell's marriage market.

But Riven didn't wait until that time.

At the age of sixteen, she signed up for the army, and after passing a series of selections, she became a "glorious" Noxian soldier.

After that, Riven fought for Noxus for five years.

During this period, she was received by Darkwill for her heroic fighting and was awarded a magic sword as a weapon. In the Immortal Bastion, she was once a rising star.

Until the Ionian War.

In that war, Riven and her Spellblade Regiment accepted a seemingly ordinary transportation mission. The carriage they escorted was full of fragile amphorae, and no one knew what use this kind of thing had on the battlefield.

During the transportation, they were attacked by the Ionians as expected. Many Ionian spellcasters were dispatched in that attack. They called on the power of the First Earth to block the Noxians. Under Riven's feet, the earth seemed to resist their arrival. Under the double pressure, the Spellblade Regiment fell into a passive position, and Riven, as the commander, asked for support as soon as possible.

Soon, she got support.

Rockets fell from the sky and ignited the carriage.

Under the high temperature, those ordinary-looking amphorae exploded one after another, and terrible poisonous gas began to spread. Within the range of the poisonous gas, both Noxians and Ionians gradually collapsed in painful groans. Only Riven barely survived under the protection of her greatsword.

But Riven was not grateful.

For this sword and the runes on it that protected her, she felt extremely blinded. She must break the sword and completely destroy the last connection between her and Noxus - unfortunately, even if the greatsword was broken, her heart was still not at peace.

In this way, Riven stayed in Ionia until she was accepted by an old Ionian couple who had lost their children.

Beside them, Riven finally found the feeling of being a "human".

It was also here that she silently watched everything in Ionia from the perspective of an outsider.

The kindness and forgiveness here, the weakness and betrayal here, the darkness and light here...

She once met a killer from the Shadow Stream, and the two sides fought in the night until the old couple got up and they finally stopped fighting.

She also experienced the Blossoming Spirit Festival and the Harvest Festival, and appreciated the traditional silk dance of Ionia.

She once wondered why Ionia's taxes had to be accepted by monks, and she didn't quite understand why Irelia didn't become the commander-in-chief.

And finally, on the eve of the Battle of Tobysia, the minions of the Black Rose found her and ordered her to hand over the greatsword-after being refused, the two sides broke out again.

Riven had a chance to win.

But she didn't have the confidence to deal with the Black Rose bastards before they attacked the old couple.

So, Riven was taken back to Noxus and thrown into the arena in the name of treason.

She had experienced ups and downs here, fought countless battles, and heard from others about Noxus's failures one after another. Although she was strong and aggressive every time she fought, her heart had long been dead inside.

It was for this reason that when Draven invited her, she was unwilling to fight for Noxus and continued to stay in the arena.

This was a kind of self-exile.

Until today, the black fog shrouded the Immortal Bastion.

The gladiators who noticed the lax guards planned to snatch weapons and break out.

Originally, they didn't plan to tell Riven that the one who stopped the connection was a Vastaya named Alistar. He seemed to be a second-timer and had some experience in escaping the arena.

As for their escape, Riven's attitude was neither supportive nor opposed. Although she was still alive, she was like a dead person in many aspects.

Until the guards of the arena found a little girl named Alia from nowhere - it seemed that Alistar cared about someone very much. They hoped to use this little girl as a threat to make Alistar lay down his weapon.

Riven, who saw this scene, couldn't help but think of the time when she returned to Noxus for similar reasons.

Just at this time, a large-scale explosion occurred in the Dark Well, and several gangsters who took advantage of the fire brought out a batch of weapons stored in the Dark Well, including the one that Riven was most familiar with.

Rune Greatsword.

Almost from an instinctive trend, Riven opened her arms and awakened the greatsword in the backpack of the robber.

In the light of rune magic, a sword energy swept across the complacent arena guard who was threatening Alia - the sword energy stopped abruptly in front of the little girl, and Alistar, who was about to hit him head-on, barely stopped his movement and almost fell down.

"Come with me." Riven wiped a big sword expressionlessly, "I should be more familiar with the Immortal Bastion than any of you."

So, Riven, the jailbreaker who originally didn't want to participate, became the core of the jailbreak team.

Soon, they met the old noble slaves who were seeking support, and the two sides joined forces and planned to break out of the city wall.

Just as the gladiators were ready to fight, Riven, who remembered the fire in Ionia, whispered to Alistar.

"Be careful of betrayal."

That's great, now I can't bow my head, even to wash dishes.