Heartsteel: The Price of Fame (A League of Legends story)

Chapter 24: Faith

Akali's eyes widened in shock, her breath catching as Kayn's grip tightened around her wrists. Fear gripped her heart as she stared into Kayn's eyes, desperately searching for a glimmer of the person she knew beneath the demonic mask.

"Kayn? Snap out of it!" she exclaimed, trying to pull free.

Rhaast's laughter, dark and mocking, echoed through the dimly lit room. "What, am I not being gentle enough?"

"Don't use him like that," Akali spat angrily.

"Awww, don't be so cold," Rhaast replied, the tone oozing with insidious charm. "Do you not crave his touch? He craves yours!"

Akali's face flushed with anger. "You're not him. I'll tear you out of him if it's the last thing I do."

"You'll have to bury us together," Rhaast replied. "There's no saving someone after they form the pact."

With a swift move, Akali stomped on Kayn's foot, using the momentary distraction to wrench her wrists free. "I'll find a way," she hissed.

The room became a whirlwind of motion. Akali's agility was her strength, allowing her to dodge and weave between Kayn's powerful strikes. But as they clashed, it was clear that Rhaast's influence had amplified Kayn's strength. A particularly forceful blow sent Akali crashing into a mirror. Shards of glass rained down around her. As Kayn slowly approached, his sinister smile was reflected in a thousand pieces of shattered glass.

Akali scrambled to her feet, carefully keeping her distance from Kayn. Maybe if she knocked Silco unconscious everyone would come to their senses. She fixed her eyes on the sinister man.

Silco, watching the scene unfold with a smirk, began to utter activation codes. "Diamond heart," he intoned, and Evelynn, her eyes vacant, lunged at Akali with razor-sharp claws extended. "White Fox," he continued, and Ahri began preparing the ominous-looking chair, its restraints open and waiting.

Akali, now facing both Kayn and Evelynn, danced between their attacks, her movements a blur. But the odds were against her. Just as she thought she'd found an opening, Ahri's tails ensnared her, pulling her towards the dreaded chair.

"Don't worry, Akali. I'll only shatter your personality once," Silco sneered, his eyes gleaming with sadistic pleasure. "We'll craft you a new alter. Something more obedient. Perhaps you can feature as a background dancer in Kayn's next music video."

Akali thrashed as Kayn pinned her forcefully against the chair while Ahri secured the restraints. "Wake up, you two!" Akali pleaded.

"Or perhaps we'll turn you into a killer, like Kayn," Silco mused. "Have you finally put an end to True Damage, once and for all. Your bandmates never stopped causing trouble after that."

"Leave them out of this!" Akali screamed, thinking of Ekko, Qiyana, Senna and Yasuo.

"Either way, it's time we got started." Silco turned to Kayn, a malicious grin on his face. "Go ahead. Do the honors. Give Akali her first taste of true freedom." He motioned to a lever that was wired to the chair.

Akali's eyes widened in terror, her voice desperate. "Kayn, please! Don't do this!"

But Rhaast's influence was too strong. With a cold, detached expression, Kayn pulled the lever. Electricity surged through the device, and Akali's scream pierced the air, her body convulsing violently. Pain surged through every muscle in her body.

Meanwhile, Silco prepared a syringe filled with a toxic green serum. "This," he said, holding it up for everyone to see, "will accelerate her metamorphosis."

As Silco approached Akali, ready to administer the serum, the Bible slipped from Kayn's pocket. The pages fluttered open, revealing a passage.

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

The words resonated deep within Kayn, breaking through Rhaast's hold. With newfound clarity and strength, he lunged at Silco, knocking the syringe from his grasp. Using the momentum, he hurled Silco against one of the mirrors. The glass shattered on impact, and Silco crumpled to the floor, unconscious.

Rushing to Akali's side, Kayn quickly released her from the restraints and pulled her into his arms. "You okay?" he asked, looking into her eyes.

Akali, still shaking from the shock, nodded weakly. A moment of understanding passed between them, a hint of something deeper, before Akali's voice broke the silence. "What about Rhaast?" she asked, her tone tinged with fear.

"About that... I think you were right all along," Kayn replied, his voice filled with conviction. "I don't need rituals or chants to face Rhaast. I can't pry him out by force. I just need to genuinely believe."

"Believe that you can kick his ass?" Akali asked. There was a playful smirk on her lips as she got shakily to her feet.

Kayn grinned back. "Something like that."

The atmosphere was thick with anticipation as Kayn retrieved the worn book from the floor. He found the dog-eared page he marked earlier, when reading in the church.

"Alright, if there's someone up there, I could use a little help. Got a pesky demon to evict," said Kayn, voice firm as he began the passage. "What causes fights and quarrels among you?"

The words echoed in Akali's mind, penetrating the layers of chaos that had enveloped her. Wasn't it the desires battling within them that had brought them to this dire moment?

"You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight." The scripture echoed through the room, each word striking a resonant chord. "You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."

The words became a mirror reflecting not just the external conflict but the internal strife that had brought them to this precipice. Akali's thoughts swirled as she considered the implications, the raw honesty of the passage cutting through the facade of her own desires and fears.

"Don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God?" The accusation in the scripture reverberated, and Akali couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt. The choices they had made out of greed, the compromises with the darker forces, had set them on a perilous path.

Kayn continued, the words echoing in the darkness. "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

As Kayn recited the scripture, the oppressive atmosphere lifted, replaced by a sense of peace. As he finished the passage, Akali felt a weight lift from her shoulders, and her breath came easier.

"I... don't feel his presence anymore," Kayn said, his eyes clear and focused.

"And all you had to do was read that passage?" Akali replied, unconvinced.

"It wasn't about reading the passage. It was about really believing for the first time," Kayn said. "I nearly lost to Silco and Rhaast. They had me convinced I couldn't be saved."

Akali studied Kayn intently, searching for any trace of deception in his eyes. But as she peered closely, she noticed the absence of Rhaast's sinister influence. Kayn's left eye, once a haunting red, had reverted to its natural emerald green, the same eyes she remembered from their childhood. They were clear, free of any demonic taint or unsettling glow.

"You're right," Akali said, her voice tinged with a mix of surprise and relief. "He's really gone." Her eyes then drifted to Evelynn and Ahri, who remained in their trance-like state. "But what about them? Can we save them too?"

"We'll find a way," said Kayn. "But first, we need to get out of here and get everyone to safety.