In Runeterra, whether a city was violently seized by Noxus or voluntarily pledged allegiance, the Imperial authorities would immediately issue a set of numbers to the War Masons and send them to work in the newly acquired territory. Next, portals made of designated black stone dug out of the mountains around the capital rise on each road leading to the city.

Year after year, as Noxtola (the gateway to your-Knox) spreads across Valoran, these towering structures have convinced travelers from all over the world about who is in charge.

However, Cain was not a traveler, he stood proudly in the shadow of the great Noxtola, surrounded by the corpses of Noxian soldiers. Looking at this ironic sight, a smile appeared on his face.

These triumphal arches, made of dark stone, were originally intended to show off the power of Noxus and instill fear in those who passed through the gates in order to gain loyalty. Now, however, the arch has become a tombstone, a symbol of false strength and blind arrogance, as well as a symbol of the dead warriors being consumed and buried by their own fears.

Cain likes the smell of fear. This is his dependence and his weapon. Just as his brothers in the Shadow Stream Sect were proficient in katana and shuriken, Kai Cain was proficient in fear.

However, mastery also means that I haven't emitted fear for a long time, and sometimes it's boring to think about. And when he set foot on the land of Noxus again after many years, in the pile of forgotten corpses of the enemy soldiers, he finally caught a trace of exciting uneasiness, like the pressure hanging in the air before the storm, longing for release.

So he looked at Najuri.

Najuri and Kai Yin are both disciples of the Shadow Stream Sect, and he holds the knife in his hand behind his back, intending to end his business and private affairs together.

Looking at Kai Yin's face that seemed a little surprised, Nakuri almost completely hid the tremor in his voice: "Have you thought about it, brother?" ”

After a quick flash of surprise, Kai Yin didn't say a word. His hands hung loosely at his sides, and he knew he was in control. What surprised him slightly before was not Nakuri's unexpected hidden strength, nor the double meaning that might be represented behind it, but a vague, familiar feeling, as if he had experienced it all in a dream...... The feeling flashed by and disappeared without a trace, and there was no need to worry about it.

Then, a voice rose out of thin air between the two men in the confrontation - full of darkness and hatred, echoing the painful wails of thousands of battlefields, inciting them to go to war.

"Who is qualified?"

……

It wasn't until he entered the coastal city of Fendor, that Cain gradually extinguished his excitement and realized more of the meaning of the trip. Although it is reckless to fight deep into enemy territory, Cain is not a cautious man. His talent was unmatched, and it would have been impossible for him to trust Ionia's fate to someone else, so there was no doubt that he knew he was destined to achieve great things.

Before dusk, Cain had set up a trap that would save him a lot of effort. Then the sun set and the Horseback Corps appeared far out of sight, raising a wisp of smoke and dust in the orange sky. Correspondingly, a beacon smoke signal slowly lifted into the air, which meant that he could start to take out the three guards of Noxtola.

Silently, Cain moved in the long shadow of the arch as the first guard began to patrol the area. Kai Yin summoned shadow magic and walked into the black stone wall, as if opening a secret door that was open only to him. He saw the silhouette of two guards, their spears clenched in both hands.

With ease, he burst out of the shadow-shrouded wall, draining the life of the second guard with his bare hands. Then, before the third guard could react, Cain reverted to pure darkness, dissolving into the air. Then he scurried across the gravel path, and once again appeared, and in the blink of an eye he snatched the head of the third guard, and easily broke his neck.

The first guard heard the sound of corpses smashing on the ground and turned to face Cain.

The Assassin smiled, apparently enjoying the moment.

"You can't move, can you?" As he spoke, he retreated into the shadows of Noxtola again. "Fear, good taste."

The guard trembled, and he saw his shadow rush up, turning into Cain!

"Now you should run, Noxus guards, go tell them what you've seen."

Seeing the hope, the guards simply threw away the spear in their hands and ran wildly in the direction of Findor. But he didn't run far.

Another figure appeared, Nakuri, dressed in the same jet-black coat as Kai'in, leaping from behind the high wall of Noxtola and plunging the long knife into the deserter's belly. Before and after, he did not look at the deserter, but only looked at Kai Yin.

"The mighty power of Noxus, self-deception......"

"I knew you were impulsive, brother," Cain said gently. "But I didn't expect you to do that. Followed me all the way for so long, just to get my light? ”

However, there was no time to lecture him, and the sound of the approaching horseback regiment was already close to his ears.

"Najuri, you'd better get out of here, so I can settle accounts with you later. If you can survive. ”

……

The long shadow of dusk cleverly half-concealed the corpse, and the corps had almost reached the bottom of the huge arch before noticing something unusual.

"Stop!" The Sentinel Ranger at the front shouted and drew his sword. "Disperse! Alert! ”

The members of the Horseback Regiment, who were equipped with horses but still belonged to the infantry sequence, jumped off their horses in confusion, allowing Cain to see the goods they were escorting for the first time. Just like the secret report said—wrapped in chain mail and coarse cloth, tied to the back of a sturdy Fendosa horse.

Looking away, Kai Cain wanted to pick another target, but was interrupted by Nakuri, who had never considered patience a talent. Without a plan, the latter rushed towards the nearest soldier. And Cain, who always carefully considered when choosing a target, gave priority to the vanguard leader, causing him to fall under his sword, and then the officer......

Shaking off the blood, he looked back at the Fendosa colt, but the scythe on it was gone?

No!

He has already cut himself off, and there is no room for failure!

"Cain!" Nakuri, who couldn't stop swinging his knife and slashing, shouted. "Behind!"

In desperation, a Noxian soldier opened the package and released the last weapon they could try. The red one-eyed man was fierce and exuded a monster-like rage. The soldier's eyes quickly lost their aura, and he viciously waved his weapon at his comrades, who had sacrificed themselves to save them. He couldn't control himself anymore, and he tried in vain to throw down the scythe in his hand.

Rumors, it's true!

The soldier's flesh and blood were being corrupted by the power of the Darkspawn, twisting into a ball in agony. Cain summoned the shadow magic once more, and plunged steadily into the struggling enemy soldier. In a blink of a moment, he saw the world through the eyes of this immortal being, witnessing the pain it had inflicted for millennia—torment, screaming, and wailing. This is the immortal death of samsara, and it is the purest evil that must be stopped.

In a flash of thought, it burst out of the remnants of the Noxian soldier's body—the soldier's flesh had long since twisted into a clump of scales, and now shattered into countless black shards and crystal dust, leaving only the scythe.

Crucially, its single eye has been re-closed. Kaiin reached out, and Nakuri disposed of the last of his enemies.

"Stop, brother!" He shouted as he wiped the blood from the knife. "What are you doing? You've seen what it's capable of! It must be destroyed! ”

Cain looked at him. "Nope. It's mine. ”

The two shadow stream disciples approached each other step by step, and neither of them would retreat. On the other side of the city's borders, alarm bells are starting to ring and time is running out.

Najuri shook the knife in his hand backwards. "Have you thought about it, brother?"

Just then, the Scythe spoke to Cain. The voice seemed to only echo in his head, but Nakuri's wide-eyed eyes showed that he heard it too.

"Who is qualified?"

The shadow hand summoned by the quicker Kai Cain grabbed the massive weapon, lifted it into the night sky, and spun and fell into the palm of his long-awaited palm.

He felt that this was a part of his body, as if he had never been separated from it, as if he had been born to wait for it. He skilfully pulled a few flowers, then pointed a knife at Nakuri's throat.

"Just do it."