"Get back in your cell! N–UAGH!"
The cell door burst open violently. The Enforcer barely had time to raise his weapon before a violent gust of wind ripped through the corridor. His gun flew upward, slamming him back against the wall.
"What the—"
A mana-infused punch silenced him, knocking him out cold. Orion staggered forward, wheezing, one hand clutching at his bandages already soaked through with fresh blood.
"Hey! Let us out too!"
"We'll help you escape! Just unlock these cells!"
Dozens of voices rose at once. Most were not the Undercity riffraff. Some were merchants, others nobility looking miserable, and a few bore the hardened faces of mercenaries. Their pleas grew more desperate.
"Grab the guard's keys! We'll fight with you, distract them, just don't leave us here!"
'They will make a good distraction,' Orion thought grimly, bending down to snatch up the keys. 'If I can make it to the canal, I'll stowaway on a vessel. Anywhere is safer than Piltover right no-'
The thought was cut short.
Like a nightmare given form, the prison's iron and concrete walls exploded inward. For a split instant, Orion felt the Arcane threads branching unnaturally, lashing out, reaching for his psyche.
Instinctively, he channeled calm blue mana into his body, a protective shimmer flooding his veins. There was no time to raise a shield.
"AGH!" Debris slammed into him, hurling him across rubble and shattered stone. Without the defensive mana, he would've been dead.
Orion forced himself up, vision wavering. Through the haze stood a silhouette, cape billowing like a banner.
'Pantheon!'
"You are wounded," the warrior's voice rumbled, heavy and harsh. "I had hoped we would fight with all our strength in glorious combat. Yet I find you broken already."
His golden spear glowed impossibly bright in the dark corridor.
"Surrender! There is no hope for you today."
"I don't even know who you are," Orion spat, bracing against the wall, his hand slipping on blood.
'What do I even do? He outruns mortals, slays demigods. How am I supposed to—'
"You are an Aspect of Aurelion Sol!" Pantheon declared as he slammed his spear into the floor. "The gods demand servitude. But I-" his eyes burned beneath the helmet, "-I will judge you as a man, here, today!"
Orion almost laughed, despair and fury mixing. "What do you want me to say? I don't know you, I don't want Aurelion's power, I'm just trying to fucking live!"
"Do not run from your destiny!" Pantheon roared, shifting his stance. "I am soldier. I live to fight and you must die to learn what it means to live!"
"What destiny?! I don't want to fight!"
"Prepare yourself, young soldier."
A radiant flash erupted beneath Pantheon's feet. In an instant he was airborne, spear and shield gleaming like a falling star.
'Shield Vault!'
Orion barely leapt back, but with only defensive magic coursing through him, he couldn't evade. Pantheon's shield slammed into him, blasting him through a concrete wall.
"Focus! Find your strength!"
An echoing voice cut through the ringing in his skull. Orion twisted aside just in time as the golden spear stabbed into the wall where his head had been, cleaving through stone and iron as though they were paper.
The grinding shriek of metal filled the air, and Orion ducked again, heart pounding as Pantheon tore his spear through the wall horizontally until it was free.
Orion sent a kick at Pantheon's knee but the greave absorbed the strike, glancing off uselessly. It took only a split second for Pantheon to seize his bandages and hurl him across the rubble like a rag doll.
"Fear makes you brave! Keep fighting!"
"AGH!" Orion coughed up blood, adrenaline forcing him back to his feet. Pain dulled under the surge, but deep down he knew the cost would come due.
A flash and Pantheon was less than two meters away, his spear thrusted like lightning. Orion twisted, dodging the strike when he realized too late...
'Shit, his next strike is empowered!'
The shield slammed into his chest like a giant hammer, the impact flinging him into the last concrete wall. Stone burst outward, revealing Piltover's clean air as it mixed with the horrified cries of wounded innocents outside.
The magic flickered and faltered inside him, the pain crashing back in waves. Sparks of wild energy bled from his wounds, tearing his flesh further as he struggled to let the threads dissipate without ripping him apart further.
"Ugh…" Orion groaned as Pantheon's gauntlet clamped around his throat, lifting him effortlessly into the air.
"You are not worthy of this power. I will claim it and strike down the gods myself!"
Blood sprayed across Pantheon's helmet as Orion spat in defiance. He couldn't speak under the crushing grip, but his eyes burned with the words he could not speak.
'If I don't have a choice, then fuck you.'
"Hmph," Pantheon grunted, oddly approving. "Good. This is your first death, embrace it!"
He leveled his spear, its glinting tip aimed at Orion's chest as his body arched in preparation for the death blow.
"What is your name, young soldier?"
"His name is Orion. Pathetic, isn't he?"