Arcane: Twin Cities Mechanic

The magical energy in the air was almost entirely drained by the increasingly dense vortex of dark clouds above. It was no longer possible to draw any magic from the environment.

This was the state after destroying the obelisk that Xerath had used to extract leyline magic. 

If he had been able to harness the leyline's power, it's likely that even Li Lin, Azir, Nasus, Malphite, and Renekton combined wouldn't have been able to defeat him.

[Warning! Warning!]

[The storm clouds' power has exceeded Piltover's maximum storm classification by a factor of 15.67!]

[The temperature of the magical lightning has reached 97.86 times the surface temperature of the sun!]

[With the current combined values of the Titan's shield, Azir's sand barrier, and the magical barriers provided by the Banshee's Veil, it is estimated that they will only withstand fewer than ten strikes before breaking!]

[Although the mech's material is resistant to the high pressure and temperature of nuclear fusion, each strike of the lightning reduces armor durability by 1.67% to 3.86%!]

Li Lin gritted his teeth. "Send Gaboga over here! It still has one minute of force field shielding left, and there are two orbital satellites. Use everything! This is not the time to hold back!"

[However, the orbital kinetic projectile satellite just fired its gigaton cannon and has 25 minutes and 47 seconds of cooldown remaining.]

"Then use the nuclear fusion missiles! They don't have a 30-minute cooldown."

[Understood. Redirecting the orbital satellite and locking onto the coordinates of Xerath and Nerimazeth…]

The orbital laser satellite could directly target Xerath's body. No matter how fast he moved, the calculated trajectory of the matter-disintegration beam would catch up to him. 

The kinetic bombardment satellite, however, was a different matter. Once the projectile was fired, it couldn't be redirected, requiring the target area to be a broad firepower coverage zone. 

With the Titan's force field shield still requiring over three minutes to recharge, it fell to Gaboga to control the battlefield and ensure that Xerath couldn't escape the blast radius of both Nerimazeth and the missile impact zone.

As Xerath's manic laughter echoed across the battlefield, his Arcane Shock Spheres, Arcane Pulses, Arcane Bursts, and Arcane Comets matched the incoming hail of disintegration projectiles. His attacks not only intercepted incoming fire but also blocked the Titan Beast's potential retreat paths.

A thunderbolt, several meters thick and imbued with the power to melt anything in its path, struck down directly. It shattered Azir's sand shield and dimmed the magical barrier reinforced by the Banshee's Veil and the energy shield.

And that was just the beginning.

In the blink of an eye, dozens more bolts of magical lightning rained down, piercing through the Titan Beast's shield and melting its liquid metal armor. Its structural integrity fell to 92.77%.

"Ugh…" Li Lin let out a groan of pain.

To better control the Titan Beast, he had deliberately configured the neural link to relay 30% of the damage feedback directly to his nervous system. This allowed him to sense the mech's damage in real-time.

Right arm, chest, left leg…

The bursts of tingling pain made even the physically-enhanced Li Lin wince. The cockpit sparked and shook violently, evidence of the terrifying power unleashed by Xerath's "final ritual."

If Xerath weren't dividing his attention between Li Lin, Azir, and Nasus, the lightning storm might have dropped the Titan Beast's structural integrity by 20% in mere seconds.

As for Malphite, who had long retreated underground under the Grand Scholar's orders, Li Lin ignored him entirely.

"Li Lin, we can't drag this out any longer!" Azir shouted, struggling to protect his troops. He used his sands to pull them out of the lightning storm's range.

Unlike Xerath, who disregarded the lives of his followers, Azir could not abandon those loyal to him.

"Xerath's secret weapon is already in play. We must retreat!" Azir's commanding voice carried urgency and authority directly into Li Lin's ears.

"Retreat? Hahaha… Have you asked for my permission?" Xerath sneered.

He summoned lightning to strike the struggling Nasus repeatedly, each bolt inflicting significant damage. Meanwhile, Xerath noticed the massive mechanical fist that had destroyed several of his obelisks. A non-magical teleportation portal appeared once again, but this time, it was dozens of times larger, positioned several kilometers behind the Titan Beast.

"The same trick won't work on me twice!" Xerath sneered.

With a wave of his hand, he commanded the storm clouds to shift to their maximum range, trapping Nasus within his assault zone. At the same time, he unleashed a barrage of lightning toward the spatial rift.

Although Li Lin had set the teleportation portal to be unidirectional, making it immune to attacks on its origin point, the unstable nature of the subspace made it vulnerable to interference from Xerath's arcane magic. It was even possible for the disruption to affect the quantum particles being transmitted.

The teleportation process would only take about a second, but battles between ascended beings were measured in heartbeats and blinks of an eye. There was ample time to disrupt the portal before Gaboga arrived.

Sensing danger, Li Lin quickly maneuvered the Titan Beast in front of the portal. Overloading the mech's energy shield, he held the position until Gaboga materialized. The Titan Beast's structural integrity dropped below 90% just as Gaboga entered the battlefield.

"The Titan Beast is under your control now!" Li Lin commanded.

With that, he disengaged from the cockpit of the Titan Beast, his neural link severing in an instant. Using his Blink ability, he teleported to another mech entirely different in design.

Now operating autonomously, the Titan Beast unleashed over a thousand quantum bombs, supported by a barrage of plasma missiles, kinetic shells, and particle beams. It even fired its matter-disintegration cannon from its maw, covering Gaboga's arrival.

Without the enhancements of his Infinite Battle Armor, the Titan Beast's energy weapons were significantly weaker, which left Xerath perplexed. But when Gaboga unleashed a triple-barreled disintegration beam from its right arm, its penetrating power, augmented by the "Void Staff," forced Xerath to divert his focus toward Gaboga.

The countdown of one minute initiated the force-field shield once more, blocking Xerath's attacks entirely outside its nearly transparent barrier. 

Taking advantage of this moment, the AI discreetly maneuvered Gaboga, the colossal war machine, away from the battlefield. 

"Damn it, not this trick again!" 

Xerath roared in frustration, abandoning the heavily wounded Nasus and channeling his storm clouds and lightning into a relentless assault against Gaboga. 

Azir initially planned to summon the sands to attack Xerath, but Li Lin's voice, transmitted through a drone with the command to "retreat," gave him pause. 

Moments later, beams of light resembling divine punishment from celestial gods descended from beyond the skies. Azir's eyes reflected a growing inferno as he involuntarily gasped. 

"So, this is your trump card…" he murmured to himself. 

This kind of light, which couldn't even be categorized as magic, struck Azir with the realization that if its target had been him, even with the power of the Sun Disc, he doubted he could last a full minute against such heat. 

It was a brilliance more scorching than the sun itself! 

Wasting no time, Azir commanded his elite Golden Legion, already down by hundreds, "Fall back! Retreat!" 

Using flowing sand, he lifted everyone—including the gravely injured and slow-moving Nasus—and hastened their withdrawal from the vicinity of Nerimazeth. 

Azir had a hunch: the weapon Li Lin had just unleashed was likely not his ultimate card. Stronger, more devastating devices could follow. 

His instincts proved accurate. Over a hundred kilometers into their retreat, Azir looked back toward the horizon and froze in shock. 

"This… this can't be!" 

He could sense it—a sun was descending. 

Back within the ruins of Nerimazeth, Li Lin and Xerath stood together under the material-dissolving beams fired from the orbital satellite. Shielded by the force-field barrier, Gaboga's colossal fists continued to battle Xerath in close quarters. 

Even just one fist, several times larger than the ancient mage's form, was overwhelming. Though the storm clouds and lightning had slightly dampened the energy beams, this level of devastation wasn't something even Kayle, with her celestial powers and invulnerability from the Divine Sword, could withstand. 

Yet Xerath endured the orbital satellite's rays for dozens of seconds while exchanging blows with Gaboga. 

"I must admit, I underestimated your strength," Xerath said, his tone weaker than before yet still brimming with arrogance. "You are no Shuriman, yet you wield technology rivaling Nasus' might. Why assist Azir?" 

"Because you're a threat," Li Lin responded coldly, his eyes glinting as he sought to buy time. 

The energy-dissolving beams severely dulled Xerath's ability to sense external forces. He was entirely unaware of the fusion missile nearing him. 

"A threat? Me? What nonsense is this?" 

"My city is currently facing a Void incursion. Only by helping Azir eliminate you can we unite to face the Void." 

"The Void? Hah!" Xerath's laughter dripped with disdain. 

"At my zenith, the Void was nothing to me! Instead of relying on the feeble Azir, you should serve under me. I'll help you eradicate the Void and even grant you dominion over your city-state!" 

Oh, so now that you can't quite defeat me, you're offering an olive branch? 

Li Lin inwardly scoffed. Even Setaka, the once-legendary Ascended Warrior Queen, fell in battle during a Void War without the presence of a Void Watcher. 

And if the Watchers of Freljord ever broke free from their ice, did Xerath think his words alone could "blast" them back into the Void? 

Everything Xerath said was a lie—from his claim of being capable of defeating the Void to the promises made to Li Lin. 

A being as controlling and unwilling to leave threats unchecked as Xerath would never allow someone with the potential to surpass him to grow unchecked. 

Li Lin sneered silently, feigning hesitation as if weighing Xerath's words. 

"You've seen my power," Xerath continued, his voice laced with an insidious charm that had once driven Renekton mad in the Emperor's Tomb. "Two Ascended warriors—no, counting you and your mechanical creation, perhaps four—" 

"Four Ascended beings can't defeat me. My magic is limitless. I trust you'll make the right choice." 

Xerath's voice brimmed with the confidence of someone who believed his sinister sorcery could sway hearts and twist minds. 

But what Xerath didn't account for was Li Lin's triple-stage enhancement, which had significantly boosted his "mental magic resistance." Combined with the "anti-demonic device" reducing mental magic's effectiveness by 90%, Xerath's influence was negligible at best. 

"Are you… telling the truth?" Li Lin asked, feigning curiosity in a hesitant tone. 

"Of course!" Xerath laughed heartily, mimicking Azir's once-magnanimous demeanor to project a facade of trustworthiness. "All you need to do is cease this damned energy beam…" 

"Ah, my apologies, I'll stop right away," Li Lin interrupted abruptly, his words making Xerath inwardly suspicious. 

But as the satellite's rays ceased moments later, Xerath felt a surge of relief. 

Looks like my magic worked after all… 

Yet before that thought could fully form, Xerath abruptly looked up, sensing the presence of a "sun" now directly overhead. 

"What did you do?!" 

"Don't worry," Li Lin replied mockingly. "Consider it my 'gift' to commemorate my 'surrender.' Have a taste of the sun's power!" 

As his words fell, and with only 20 seconds left on the force-field barrier, the fusion missile reached an altitude low enough to be seen by the naked eye. 

And then, a second "sun" ignited over Runeterra. 

(End of Chapter)

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