Chapter 219: Glory (Shurima Resurrection)

His younger brother Renekton was often at the forefront of his legions, so the combination of the two brothers quickly developed an aura of invincibility.

Nasus, who had won so much battle, never found joy in war. He simply understands the importance of war – at least for a short time – to ensure that the empire continues to thrive, and he firmly believes that his greatest contribution to Shurima lies in the knowledge he has accumulated for future generations.

At Nasus's urging, all books, scrolls, doctrines, and histories of defeated civilizations were kept in large libraries and repositories throughout the empire, the largest of which bears his name.

His thirst for knowledge was not for selfish purposes, but for sharing wisdom with Shurima, increasing his understanding of the world, and enlightening the Empire.

After decades of dedication to his duties, Nasus suffered a relentless illness. Some say that he met Amumu and was cursed by the long-dead young king, while others say that he was cast an evil spell by the leader of the cult of Acacia.

Whatever the truth, the Emperor's Imperial Physician made it clear that it was a pity that Nasus was suffering from an incurable disease and would die a week later.

The whole country was in mourning, because Nasus was everyone's beloved star. The Emperor personally prayed to the Sun Curia for divination. After a day and a night of channeling, the priests announced that the sun god intended to bless Nasus and allow him to undergo the ascension ceremony.

At that time, Renekton was already a prominent war leader, and he hurried back to the capital when he learned of his brother's illness. The terrible illness progressed ferociously, and Nasus was already skinny, with atrophied muscles and brittle bones.

He was too weak to even move on his own, and in the final moments when the golden light of the sun's disc shone on the altar of Ascension, Nasus was unable to climb the final steps and enter the Light.

Renekton's love for his brother outweighed any sense of self-preservation, and he selflessly carried Nasus to the altar. Despite his brother's objections, Renekton was willing to flee into oblivion in exchange for Nasus's survival.

However, Renekton was not devoured and wiped out as everyone expected. When the light faded, the two Ascended Ones descended on Shurima at the same time. Both brothers were judged to be qualified, and even the emperor knelt down to thank the gods for their grace.

Ascending, Nasus was a burly, dog-headed, and powerful man, with a fierce spark of wisdom in his eyes, while Renekton was transformed into a muscular behemoth with crocodile features. They joined Shurima's rare ranks of Ascendants and became Shurima's protectors.

Once a great warrior, Renekton has risen to become a truly unstoppable force. Nasus was also endowed with powers beyond mortal comprehension. Ascension also gave him an eternal lifespan that allowed him to spend endless hours studying and philosophical meditation, but this blessing became a curse for him after Shurima's fall.

Nasus was disturbed by some of the side reactions of the Ascension Ritual, one of which was the growing wildness he saw in his brother.

On that day, at the height of the siege of Nasheram, the ancient city was finally brought under Shurima's rule, and Nasus saw the victorious Shurima soldiers slaughtering and deliberately setting fires.

Renekton spearheaded the atrocity, and it was he who set fire to Nashelamer's Great Library, destroying countless volumes of the world's only surviving books, and Nasus was able to manage the situation in the end.

It was the closest the two brothers had come to a bloody clash as they stood in the middle of the ancient city, their swords rattling. Finally, in the stern and disappointed eyes of his brother, Renekton's bloodthirsty mania finally faded, and he finally left in shame.

Over the next few hundred years, Nasus studied everything he could, searching the desert for years in search of relics and wisdom, and finally found the tomb of the legendary emperor beneath the city of Shurima.

On the day of Emperor Azir's ascension ceremony, Nasus and Renekton were tricked to divert the tiger from the mountain, and the ritual turned into a disaster, and the young Emperor was betrayed by his closest advisor, the wizard Zeroth.

The brothers rushed back as fast as they could, but it was too late, and Azir died, along with most of the capital's citizens. Filled with rage and grief, Nasus and Renekton fought to the death against Zeroth, who had become a pure energy spirit.

They couldn't kill Zelas, they had to find a way to imprison him in a magical sarcophagus, but that wasn't enough to imprison him.

Probably to make amends for Nashelam's mistakes, Renekton grabbed Zelas, dragged him to the Emperor's Tomb, and told Nasus to seal them inside.

Nasus refused, desperate to find another solution, but he had no choice. With a heavy heart, it sealed Zelas and his brother into unfathomable darkness, forever cut off from the rest of the world.

The Shurima Empire has collapsed. Its magnificent capital was in ruins, the once-sacred solar disc fell from the sky, and the magic of Zeroth drained its power. Without the solar disk, the holy water flowing from the city dried up, and Shurima fell into death and famine.

Throwing his brother into endless darkness left Nasus with a heavy sense of guilt. He chooses to wander the endless desert, surrounded by the ghosts of antiquity and his own sorrows.

His dim figure often appeared in the dead ruins of Shurima's city, watching the desert gradually bury the remaining ruins, mourning his homeland and those who had died.

Alone and alone, he occasionally glimpsed in the sight of passing travelers, and then disappeared into a sandstorm or morning mist. Few would believe the stories of these travelers, as Nasus himself has become an ethereal legend.

Hundreds of years have passed, and Nasus has completely forgotten the life and meaning of his former life, until that moment, the tomb of the emperor buried underground is rediscovered, and its seal is opened. And at that moment, he knew, Zelas was free.

Ancient vitality stirred in his chest, Shurima rose from the sand, and Nasus made his way across the desert to the newborn royal city. Although he knew he had to fight Zelas again, for the first time in thousands of years, there was a pulse of hope in his heart.

Not only because this may be the dawn of a new Shurima Empire, but also because he finally has hope that he can finally be reunited with his long-lost brother.