First, take down the Sword Demon, then save Runeterra.

Ato donned Noxian armor and arrived at the Immortal Fortress with Swain.

His current role is Swain's bodyguard.

Being able to observe this magnificent building up close, Aatrox would have been grinning from ear to ear if he hadn't been reminded.

"Old man, can you feel it? Below the Immortal Fortress."

"The stench of death is so strong it's practically overflowing; how could the people of this country dare to establish a nation on this land?"

"Who made that person build the Immortal Fortress so solid? Of course, there's also the intention of monitoring that person."

Ator didn't mention Mordekaiser's name directly, as this place was too close to the Immortal Fortress.

He suspected that Mordekaiser's power was related to demons, or even one of the ten demons.

Names are very important to demons, and calling them by name here could lead to some terrifying things.

Mordekaiser built the Immortal Fortress not to demonstrate his power, but to seal away forbidden knowledge and secret arts.

Swain had just returned to Noxus and hadn't yet begun studying that knowledge; Ator didn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble.

"Halt! This is a royal forbidden area. Only ministers are permitted to enter; guards are not allowed!"

“It’s alright, they won’t do anything to me.” Swain nodded to Atto and walked toward the Nokoshi Hall with his cane.

To commemorate the land where the empire was located, Noxus's first emperor named the place where he held meetings with his ministers the Great Hall of Noxus.

Swain limped into the hall. There were far fewer ministers than usual; Duguel, Darius, and others were still on the battlefield and had not yet returned.

Seeing Swain's current miserable state, the ministers felt a sense of shared sorrow, like the fox mourning the death of a rabbit.

A few minutes later, Swain finally arrived at his seat—first on the emperor's left.

His gaze passed through Darkwell, through the Emperor's throne, and fell upon LeBlanc, hidden behind the scenes.

"Did I ask you to stand in this position?" Darkwell's aged voice rang out, causing a stir among the ministers.

“Your Majesty, the appointment and removal of legion commanders requires formal documentation, and I still hold the title of commander.” Swain remained unyielding.

But in front of the ministers, he still had to put on a show. If LeBlanc realized that he knew everything, he probably wouldn't have a chance to turn the tables.

"Hmph, I'll sign the official documents in a bit. Where's the immortality artifact I asked you to search for?"

"I dispatched soldiers to search every place with magical energy, but found no trace of it. Your Majesty, the artifact may not exist."

"Nonsense!" Darkwell stood up abruptly. "I said it exists, so it exists! If you didn't find it, it's because you're incompetent!"

The ministers stared wide-eyed at Darkwell; they had never seen the emperor like this before, suddenly resorting to nonsense! He looked like a senile old man.

"And another thing! I heard that all your soldiers are dead, and you, how are you still alive? Of course I know, because you fled the battlefield!"

Upon hearing this, the ministers immediately began to whisper among themselves.

Noxus despises deserters the most. Everyone is instilled with the idea from childhood that desertion is shameful. Riven once told Atto about the fate of deserters.

Swain could only remain silent about this; he could not tell the emperor and his ministers that it was Atto who had saved him.

Ato has a mysterious background and possesses great power. He is currently an ally of Swain, who needs Ato's power to solve the problem of the Black Rose.

"What about your honor as a soldier of the Empire? Was it lost 20,000 years ago? I shouldn't have used you in the first place! Your crimes are already..."

"Your Majesty, I am willing to take full responsibility."

Darkwell was taken aback. He pointed at Swain, wanting to say something harsh, but held back for the sake of saving face.

"Fine, since you put it that way, then I'm stripping Jericho Swain of all his military status today! Go back to being a high-ranking nobleman, and don't even think about joining the army again!"

A minister stepped forward to plead for Swain: "Your Majesty, isn't this a bit too harsh? General Swain has made too many military achievements. If he is stripped of his military status, there will inevitably be discontent within the army."

"Anyone who disagrees will be stripped of their military status along with Jericho!" Darkwell had gone completely mad.

Swain's eyes were unusually calm; Darkwell saw no anger, unease, or bewilderment in them.

He's just a puppet emperor and a puppet empire's military registration; if he doesn't have it, he doesn't have it.

"Now that you're no longer the legion commander, you have no right to remain in the Nokoshi Hall. Get out!"

Now that things had come to a head, Swain was too lazy to waste any more words with Darkwell. He gave Darkwell one last cold look and walked out without looking back.

When Ato saw Swein again, he saw an unprecedented ease on his face.

"They didn't strip you of your noble status, did they?"

Swain shook his head: "Losing military status is insignificant; they're all short-sighted. Besides, the Swain family has been hereditary for a thousand years; it won't be so easy for them to take it away."

Atto breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good. As long as we retain our noble status, we can enter the bottom of the Immortal Fortress."

The bottom of the Immortal Fortress contains the knowledge collected by Mordekaiser, and in addition to some officers, nobles can also enter to examine it.

But neither officers nor nobles had much interest in that kind of knowledge.

In Darkwell's view, or rather, in the view of LeBlanc behind him, Swain, without military power, could not possibly cause any more trouble.

Add to that his physical disability—he's just a cripple—and LeBlanc felt that whether Swain was dead or not was no longer important; it made no difference anyway.

Executing Swain directly would cause discontent within the army, and now is a critical time in the war. After weighing the pros and cons, LeBlanc decided to leave him alone.

Swain said, "You've had a hard time these past few days. You must find Draven. I sent men to his arena to look for him, but he's not there."

Atto felt a headache coming on because a small mustache had appeared on his head.

“Leave these trivial matters to me. You should start mastering the knowledge of the bottom layer of the Immortal Fortress as soon as possible. We don’t have much time.”

With the butler's help, Swain got into the Hextech limousine and asked Atto, "Are you sure you don't need me to take you? The capital is huge, and it will be very slow to find your way around without a Hextech limousine."

Ato waved his hand: "Draven is probably not somewhere on a road that a Hextech chariot can travel. We'd be better off using a horse-drawn carriage; we'd have a better chance of finding him on a side road."

Swain frowned. Atto seemed to know a lot about the Delai brothers, but he didn't say anything more. He gestured for the butler to start the car and they left.

"Alright, where should we begin the search?"