Legends of Runeterra

“Boom~Boom~Boom~!!”

A deep and powerful sound came from deep within the earth. The ground was shaking slightly, as if the rock strata beneath the ground were being squeezed and changed.

Ezreal subconsciously raised his left arm, but remembered that his arm guard was already floating in the air.

"No... No way, is there still such a guy!?"

Milio's face turned slightly pale, and he couldn't help but hold the "Fire Treasure" tightly in his hand.

"With Li En here, what are you afraid of?"

"Yeah, well, Neeko isn't worried either!"

Nidalee didn't say anything, but she didn't look worried at all. She stood beside Neeko with a natural look on her face.

“Boom~boom~boom~!”

The vibrations deep underground gradually subsided, and Ezreal and the others relaxed a little.

next moment.

“Crack! Crack! Crack!”

The soil that was turned up in the previous battle parted like waves, and a rough and hard rock with a strange brown color slowly emerged from the earth.

Like a jagged stone wall, it stands before everyone's eyes.

"Is this... Is this 'Murphy Rock'!?"

"I am... Malphite..."

The sound was deep and powerful, and each word sounded like huge rocks colliding and crushing each other. The huge roar made Ezreal and others feel a slight stuffiness in their chests.

Then, in front of everyone's eyes, the stone wall moved, rubbed, and changed its shape by itself.

First, two deep pits appeared, like a pair of closed eyes, and a raised rock cluster might be a nose.

A cloud of dust gushed out from an arc-shaped, jagged gully, like a giant mouth slowly opening.

Then, the two sunken rock eye sockets slowly opened, and two huge yellow gems appeared in them, shining like flowing water.

"Wow~! Nidalee, the stone...the stone is talking!!"

"Yes, Neeko, I can see it."

The brown stone giant named Malphite ignored the two Vastaya. Its jewel eyes were fixed on the phantom soul floating in the air from the beginning, revealing a hint of hesitation.

Since it woke up, it had never had any memory of this figure, but looking at this figure, Murphite instinctively felt a sense of admiration for it, like a wanderer returning home.

After dispersing the magic circle, Nazuk in mid-air looked at the rock giant who had his head sticking out from the ground and looked a little dazed.

"Morphite, is this the name you gave yourself?"

"...

Um..."

Following his instinct, Malphite responded to the soul he met for the first time.

"Hoo~!"

Nazuk floated through the air and came to the stone head that was ten meters wide and twenty meters high.

The soul's hand slowly reached out and gently touched Malphite's brown rock face.

The rough but warm touch on his fingertips reminded Nazuk of the time when the Monolith Fortress had just been built and he and his compatriots had gone to the war to save the world.

"I am Nezuk Yuntar, the Ascended God, Chief of the Yuntar Council, and one of the founders of the Primordial Justice.

Your predecessor, the Monolith Fortress, was built by me personally."

"..."

Malphite looked at Nazuk with a calm and honest look in his eyes.

"You are...my...'father'!?"

The word "father" with an uncertain tone made Nazuk suddenly stunned.

Long before he became the 'Ascended God', Nazuk was a top-notch elemental mage. His magic prolonged his life, but it also made him bid farewell to his loved ones time and time again.

After joining the ranks of the Ascendants, although according to the rules set by the 'Ascended Empress' Setaka, the Ascendants addressed each other as 'brothers and sisters', not to mention the huge difference in existence time between the new and old Ascendants, the different cultural backgrounds brought by different regions made the Ascendants always have differences in concepts.

But when this creature that he created with his own hands called out "Father", Nazuk felt a little comforted.

"Good boy."

Gently touching the cracks on Malphite's rock face, with Nazuk's experience, he could easily see that these were the marks left by the minions of the void.

"You've worked hard over the years."

"No, father, the purpose of my existence is to crush those guys.

I feel happy to protect this beautiful world and find the broken pieces to complete myself."

“Well, when I first saw that the jungle of Ixtal was still so green, I knew how much you had worked hard over the years.

Come on, boy, absorb the fragments, and you'll be safer against those guys."

"Okay, Father."

“Crack! Crack! Crack!”

Unlike the charred stone giant controlled by the void before, Malphite's appearance did not cause much noise. As the soil rolled over, a brown rock giant rose from the ground.

Although the figure, which is over a hundred meters tall, is not as large as the giant lying down, it is still majestic and magnificent at such a close distance.

“Boom~Boom~!”

Lifting his feet and stepping over the crowd, Malphite took a few steps to the trapped giant.

Then a hint of obvious excitement appeared on its rocky face, and then it slowly stretched out its hands.

The 'Power of the Ancient Lords' did not stop Malphite, and its palms passed through the barrier and rested on the giant.

"Om~!"

A dark brown light rose up, and starting from the point where Malphite's palms touched, the charred 'Murphy Rock' gradually turned into the same dark brown color as Malphite's body.

"Click~Click~!"

The transformed stone was completed by Malphite, and its body grew taller and larger at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Seeing that his "child" was successfully absorbed, Nazuk returned to Li En.

"Li En, thank you for allowing me to see my hometown thousands of years later, and to..."

Nezuk said, turning his head slightly to look at Malphite who was constantly replenishing himself.

“I never thought that I, Nazuk, would have a ‘child’ of my own.

Anyway, thank you Li En, thank you very much! ”

"Om~!"

Without waiting for Li En to answer, Nazuk's soul quickly lit up, and a blue light dot the size of a pigeon egg floated out of his soul.

“Please accept it, it contains my life’s knowledge and insights.

It is the only thank you gift I can give, and it is also... the last thing I can do for this world..."

"Finally, please forgive my greed. If possible, I hope you can take care of Malphite. For this world, it is still too... immature..."

After surviving the Battle of Icathia, tearing and splitting his own soul, and sleeping for thousands of years, Nazuk is now very tired.

Being able to see that this world is still going on, and being able to recognize his "children" after thousands of years, Nazuk has no regrets in his heart.

"Hoo~!"

With one last look at the emerald green jungle in the distance, Nazuk's soul dissipated like mist. The one who once ascended like a god has now returned to dust.