"The Queen's Royal Guard is coming. If you don't want to be devoured, then fight!"
The living carapace on Kai'Sa's neck crept upward, wrapping around her head. Her voice, filtered through the organic armor, became slightly distorted.
"The Queen's Royal Guard?"
Duke raised an eyebrow. The divine sight of his Eye of Righteousness pierced through layers of rock and soil, revealing a labyrinth of underground tunnelsinside which a dozen burrowing beasts were clawing madly upward.
They were about to burst through the surface.
These eyeless Void burrowers possessed an incredibly sharp sensory system, capable of detecting even the faintest tremors within a radius of several kilometers.
Any vibration from above or below the ground could provoke them.
Just like how the scent of blood in the ocean drives sharks into frenzy, so too did any tremor or quake draw the burrowers closer.
Even a casual stepa heel lifted and pressed back into the earthcould be enough to lure them in.
The noise Duke had made when he blasted away one of their kin earlier had already drawn the attention of every nearby burrower.
It was no different from dumping blood into a sea teeming with sharks.
Crack… crack…
The rocky surface began to split apart, a zipper-like fissure racing rapidly across the ground until it reached Duke's feet.
Buzz!
In Duke's hand, the Dark Sword hissed to life, its obsidian blade formed from a restrained field of plasma. At the same moment, a golden afterimage peeled off from his body, spiraling around him like a living phantom.
Zzzzt!
Purple electricity danced across Kai'Sa's form. As the burrowers drew nearer, the pain from her symbiotic armor became sharper, clearer. She frowned slightly, sensing the vibrations rumbling beneath them.
Boom!
The ground suddenly collapsed. A massive burrowerlarge as a tractorerupted from below. Its face was smooth and featureless, devoid of eyes or nostrils, with only a gaping maw.
"Hissss!"
The serpent-like screech pierced Kai'Sa's ears. At the same instant, her gauntlets flared with plasma light, unleashing dozens of violet bolts from her shoulder pods that streaked toward the creature.
The volley struck the burrower's carapace, making it shriek in agonybut instead of retreating, it widened its jaws and lunged at her with reckless ferocity.
Whoosh!
The air whistled as it was compressed by speed. Kai'Sa dashed sideways along the rock wall, her figure blurring into a streak of motion. She fired continuously, her plasma bolts raining like a storm, while arcs of purple lightning flashed from her shoulders.
Her barrage swallowed the beast in blinding light. She glanced toward Dukebut that one glance made her pupils shrink sharply behind her mask.
Six burrowers were attacking him at once.
Between the two of them, Duke was clearly the greater lurethe richer prey.
Void creatures were forever driven by hunger, compelled to devour fresh flesh to evolve. Duke's aura was an irresistible delicacy to them.
As for Kai'Sa, being a symbiotic lifeform of the Void, her allure to them was far weaker.
Crack!
The ground beneath Duke shattered, revealing a yawning pit of blackness. Toxic violet mist spewed upward, and within that mist surged a massive burrower.
"Hiss!"
Duke narrowed his eyes. Without hesitation, he unleashed his Force Power.
In that instant, the burrower that had lunged at him like a dragon from the depths struck something unseenan invisible wall.
Its claws shattered instantly. Its smooth headplate cracked apart.
"Back down!"
Duke's voice thundered as he pressed his hand downward. The creature's body slammed into the ground. He then stepped upward through the air as though climbing invisible stairs.
Another burrower burst through the side wall, pelting him with shards of rock and lunging with massive electrified claws.
It thought Duke was cornered.
But what awaited it was searing death.
The Dark Sword met it head-on, slicing clean through its armored hidethrough muscle, bone, and soft innardsuntil the creature was cleaved neatly in two.
Bzzzz…
The plasma blade's hum echoed. Two down. Four to go.
Kai'Sa froze in disbelief. In the blink of an eye, Duke had slain two Void burrowers.
The other four tore through the ground, leaving behind craters of ruin as they pounced together.
Chirrrrp!
A cicada's cry echoed faintly. A golden blur flashed across the air. Before the beasts could even touch Duke, their bodies fell apartshredded into fragments.
"That's… impossible…" Kai'Sa murmured, stunned.
Before she could process it, another burrower lunged at her from the shadowsthe same one that had been chasing her earlier.
Her brief distraction had given it an opening.
The creature's claws, sharp enough to rend solid stone, swung down toward her. Gritting her teeth, Kai'Sa braced herself to take the hit head-on. Her shoulder pods were charged and ready to fire
but before she could act, a strong hand seized her shoulder.
A black blade swept before her.
Bzzzz!
The hum of plasma filled her ears. The burrower was cut into a rain of pieces before it even hit the ground.
Dukewho had mastered the Duelist's Waltz of the Swordmaiden's lineagemoved like a reaper, his plasma sword dancing faster than thought. Seven strikes in a single second.
The air itself became his grinder, and the beasthis meat.
As the radiant swordlight filled Kai'Sa's vision, Duke felt a faint stinglike a bug's bite. It wasn't strong, but it immediately caught his attention.
By the time he reached the top of the canyon with Kai'Sa and released her, the pain had vanished.
Looking down at his palm, he saw that the skin had reddened and swollen slightlythough it healed quickly.
It was enough to confirm one thing: Kai'Sa herself wasn't dangerous, but her living armor certainly was.
Kai'Sa noticed his reaction and said quickly, "Don't be alarmed. I may wear a Void shell, but I'm still humanjust like you."
"I know," Duke replied calmly. "Relax."
He studied her intentlythe way the Void skin rippled faintly with energy, alive yet obedient. That armor had once been a fragment of a Void creature, but by sheer chance, it had bonded with Kai'Sa, becoming one with her.
Through countless battles, it had grown to envelop her completely, achieving a perfect symbiosis few could survive.
Anyone else would have been devoured long before that stage.
The birth of the "Daughter of the Void," Duke mused, was part accident, part miracle.
Kai'Sa blinked, slightly dazed. She had expected fear, disgust, rejectionthe reactions everyone else gave her.
But Duke only looked at her with curiosity, even admiration.
It was… unsettlingly different.
"What are you looking at?"
"I'm studying your Void carapace."
"You're not afraid of me?" she asked bluntly.
Duke stepped closer, reaching out to touch the surface of her armor. "Why should I be? A human who can coexist with the Voidnow that's a miracle."
His eyes gleamed with the fire of a scientist and a seeker.
How had she survived the fusion? Could her success be replicated? What were the limits of the armor? Did it possess sentience of its own?
Each question burned hotter than the last.
Kai'Sa watched him silently, her heartbeat quickening. No one had ever stood this close to her before.
No one had ever looked at her like this.
"I…" she began softly.
"What is it?" Duke asked, looking up at her.
"What's your name?"
"Duke. Duke Sánchez."
"I'm Kai'Sa."
"Nice to meet you, Kai'Sa."
He brushed his fingers along her shoulder pod again. The sting returned. Duke raised an eyebrow. The armor's reflexive defense was fascinating.
"Interesting," he murmured, circling her once more.
"You seem really interested in my second skin," she noted dryly.
"Of course. I'm a scientist. I'm fascinated by how you can coexist with the Void itself," Duke replied. "You know the Void dissolves all organic matter on contactyet you haven't been consumed."
His gaze met hers. "Your existence defies reason. If I can study you, maybe we can unlock part of the Void's mystery."
"Really?" she asked quietly.
He nodded. "If we succeed, we might even develop a way to fight it."
At that, Kai'Sa reached to her waist, gripping a piece of her armorand tore it off.
Duke's eyes widened slightly as she winced from the pain. The wound began to regenerate slowly, the surrounding armor knitting together to close the gap.
"Here," she said, offering him the fragment. "Use it for your research."
"If it's not enough, I can give you more."
"Why would you"
"As long as it helps destroy the Void," she said firmly, "I'll give everything I have."
Her tone was so earnest, so resolute, that for a moment, Duke found himself at a loss for words.
End of chapter....
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