Arcane: The Gods Want Me to Pick a Route

"My... God!"

Janna's mouth fell open as she watched Lissandra fully unleash herself against Volibear. The witch was no longer graceful. She had thrown herself into close-quarters combat with him, and the magic inside her body poured down from the sky like a celestial river, turning into glaciers and frozen torrents beneath the white phantom behind her.

The Freljord was already a land of bitter cold, but under Lissandra's power, the chill across the entire north rose yet another level.

Volibear thrust his enormous head forward and roared as he swallowed the glacier in front of him. Horrifying sounds exploded inside his maw as ice and lightning collided there, making the whole scene look bizarre and unnatural.

"So... what am I supposed to do now?"

Janna simply could not take part in a battle like this. She could barely even get close. And only now did she realize that both the witch and Volibear had been holding back before.

On top of that, after hearing Lissandra and Volibear talk earlier, Janna had come to understand one thing.

These two were old friends from the ancient world.

She, Janna, was a modern god. Whether in age or in strength, she really could not compare to either of them.

That realization left her a little helpless.

She really had been working hard to become stronger. Ever since Logan brought the Twin Cities together, and under Silco's orders Renata carried out the restoration of the divine plan, the two cities had provided Janna with an enormous amount of faith.

And thanks to the Twin Cities' promotion, the little coastal towns nearby had also come to know Janna, the gentle and compassionate wind goddess.

So people who made their living by the sea were generally willing to believe in her. After all, it did not cost them anything precious.

All they had to do was make a little wooden bluebird plaque, spend a bit of time praying to it each day, and in return they could receive a god's protection. That was not a bad trade. So even if Janna was false, even if she was a lie manufactured by the Twin Cities, that faith still gave people at least a little sense of security.

That was why Jinx was always saying she was getting chubbier and sleepier, calling her a drowsy little bird. But Janna felt wronged too, all right?

She was getting plumper because she had absorbed too much faith. Before all of it could be fully refined, that power of belief would temporarily manifest outward along with her as "flesh and blood," because Janna was a god born from faith.

In a sense, Janna was a spiritual construct, a spirit of nature. She did not truly have a physical body in the normal sense.

That was also why, despite being a god like the others, Janna possessed the ability to travel anywhere she pleased. Every gust of wind, every wind element in all of Runeterra, could become a vessel for her.

And the reason she kept dozing off was because every day she had to work hard converting enormous amounts of faith, which consumed a tremendous amount of energy.

Even so... the enemies Logan faced kept growing stronger and stronger.

Against a being like Volibear, if Janna could get half of humanity in Runeterra to believe in her, and then had enough time to grow, she was confident that someday she could surpass him. That was the terrifying part about a god of faith.

To put it plainly, Janna's upper limit was absurdly high. She was the only true god in all of Runeterra genuinely born from human faith. The way she absorbed faith, and the scale at which she could do so, was something no other god could compare to.

Ancient gods like Nagakabouros, Volibear, and the Iron Boar also drew strength from worship, but the enhancement they gained from faith was limited. They were nothing like Janna, who could become stronger in direct proportion to however much faith she received.

But... it was still too slow.

She still could not help Logan.

Thinking that, Janna looked back toward the battlefield between Volibear and Lissandra. The two ancient gods were no longer trading barbs. They were trying to kill each other outright.

Just as Lissandra had said, once she truly let loose and stopped caring about being wounded, the power she unleashed was not the slightest bit inferior to Volibear's. If anything, she was even starting to suppress him.

But after watching for a while, Janna realized that Volibear seemed to be unable, for some reason, to unleash his true strength. Whenever the magic he released climbed to a certain height, it rebounded. For a few brief seconds, he would noticeably weaken.

"..."

Forget it.

I'll go help Logan.

There was no getting involved in this battle anymore. So she might as well check on Logan instead. He had to still need her, right?

With a single thought, Janna vanished from the land of the Ursine.

"Witch, your little helper has already run off!"

"And what of it, Volibear? The old you would never have said something like that in the middle of a fight. Your wounds still haven't healed, have they? Having all those distracting voices rattling around in your head must be making things miserable."

Lissandra's answer was hoarse and cold.

A gigantic claw of ice drove into Volibear's arm, and when it tore free, it ripped away a huge chunk of flesh with it.

"Hahaha! Lissandra, I admit it—you've grown stronger. You're nothing like the woman whose eyes I clawed out back then. But this battle isn't over yet. More importantly, you aren't standing here fighting me because you've become stronger. You're only able to do it because I'm injured!"

Volibear laughed wildly, then thundered, "The return of the Old Ways cannot be stopped! Even if you hold me back here, what about the rest of the gods? You should know that over all these years, it isn't just the gods of the Old Ways who have grown dissatisfied with humanity!"

"The ones hidden in the northern seas, the molten caves, and the deep places beneath the earth... they've wanted to overthrow humanity's rule over the Freljord for a very long time!"

To Volibear, humanity was a race he both loved and hated. By nature he was warlike, boastful, and hungry for praise. The worship and admiration of mortals was the most wonderful thing in the world to him. He loved being served by humans, loved being held high above them.

But human faith could change at any moment.

Their lives were too short. Their loyalties could shift because of a single event.

That was what Volibear hated most: human faithlessness.

In that case, the best solution was to bring all humanity under his rule, build a new Freljord, and transform them all into Ursine.

That was the blessing bestowed upon humanity by the great Thunder's Roar—

No.

He was no longer the Thunder's Roar.

Now he was the Relentless Storm.

This was the blessing that the great Relentless Storm granted to mankind.

Lissandra said nothing. She only charged at Volibear again.

Above the Ice Sea—

Janna appeared over the Ursine tribe and saw Logan covered in wounds. A flicker of anger flashed through her eyes.

"Logan, I'll help—"

She raised one graceful hand and swung her staff, ready to unleash blades of wind and wipe out the Ursine.

She couldn't beat Volibear, but did that mean she couldn't handle these monsters?

Of course not.

But hearing her words, Logan—one side of his face blackened, one eye already gone—lifted his head and forced out a rasping voice from his throat.

"Don't interfere, Janna. Let me do this myself."

"Let you do it yourself? Look at the state you're in! If Jinx finds out, she'll hate me forever!" Janna said immediately.

Under the pressure of a god's presence, the Ursine no longer dared attack Logan. One by one, they stood there stiffly, staring up at Janna in the sky.

They looked at the unfamiliar goddess with fear, then looked at the human below her, a man with hardly a patch of uninjured flesh left on his body.

Were they the monsters?

No.

This human was the monster.

By now, he had already killed more than a hundred Ursine.

And the Ursine had kept attacking him in turn, leaving him grievously injured. But he was like something that refused to die. No matter how badly he was hurt, he could still drag himself up and keep fighting.

The Ursine who worshipped Volibear were warlike, but no matter how bloodthirsty they were, when faced with a human who simply would not die while more than a hundred of their own had fallen, even they began to feel fear.

"It's fine, Janna. You know my situation."

Seeing that the Ursine no longer dared move under Janna's pressure, Logan started taking deep breaths, then smiled at her.

That smile made Janna's heart tighten.

A Ursine priest's lightning had punched through half of Logan's face, and without lips to cover them, part of his teeth and jawbone showed through.

"I'm not going to die. You know that perfectly well," Logan said firmly.

Janna stared at him in silence. "..."

"How's Lissandra doing?" Logan asked, dropping onto the ice to rest for a moment.

He had heard Lissandra's earlier declaration, and it had honestly amused him.

That turtle who had spent ten thousand years hiding in her shell had finally decided to stop shrinking away.

If you only knew the surface-level lore, then all you'd know was that Lissandra had dealings with the Void, lost to Volibear, and was a demigod.

But if you actually knew the backstory and followed the clues, then you realized Lissandra was a true master schemer.

She had hidden in the shadows for nearly ten thousand years. The Watchers granted her power, and with Anivia's help she created a form of dark True Ice that belonged to her alone—something even Anivia herself could not control.

When it came to raw power in Runeterra, putting aside the Void and the spiritual realms, Lissandra absolutely ranked among the top ten.

That was also why Logan believed Ahri could not beat Lissandra.

And because Logan refused to accept her goodwill, Janna was a little annoyed. So she answered him with irritation, "She's stopped holding back. She's fighting that bear head-on now."

"Can she win?"

"Hard to say. But she probably won't lose," Janna said after thinking it over.

For some reason, Volibear could not use his full strength. But in a life-or-death crisis, Janna had no way of knowing whether he might force it out in the end.

"Ridiculous!"

One Ursine finally worked up the courage to step forward and roar, "How could Valhir pos—"

Blood sprayed from his throat.

Janna narrowed her eyes and lowered her hand.

"Did I say you were allowed to speak?"

She stood high above them, looking down at the Ursine, and began killing them again.

Logan shook his head at once and quickly struggled back to his feet.

"That's enough."

Janna was using this as an excuse to kill the Ursine for him.

But that would not work.

Logan had to do this himself.

"Let me do it, Janna. Let me do it alone."

"If I fail, and die here, then you can handle these Ursine," Logan said, speaking both to Janna and to the Ursine themselves.

Janna looked at him, pressed her lips together, and finally nodded.

Logan gave her another smile.

Then, sword in one hand, he looked at the trembling Ursine and started walking toward them again, one step at a time.

With every step, Logan thought the same thing:

Just a little more. Just a little more...

In this life-and-death slaughter, Logan felt as though he was on the verge of grasping something.

The strength of his soul had always been increasing, and he had always been getting stronger. But the stronger he became, the more he came to understand Runeterra.

And after hearing Lissandra speak about the power of laws, Logan felt that perhaps what he was about to grasp was exactly that.

If he could master the power of laws, then he would no longer have to rely purely on soul strength to increase his body's power.

And he was only one step away.

He truly was only one step away.

His understanding of the wind had grown sharper. At times, he could almost see things he had never seen before. He could see the blood vessels pulsing beneath Ursine fur, the bloodshot veins in their eyes, the magic flowing through their bodies...

But that state only lasted for a single instant, and that frustrated him.

Was it because his accumulation still wasn't enough?

Or was it that a so-called life-and-death crisis simply didn't work on Logan?

People often gained enlightenment on the edge of death. Sejuani had. Ashe had. Udyr had too.

But the life-and-death trials they experienced were real. Iceborn who sought to master True Ice constantly lived with death hanging over them. And as for Udyr, borrowing the power of the spirit gods was even more dangerous.

But Logan?

He had Spirit Blossom. He had system space. He had Ahri and Kindred watching over him.

Logan had never thought Spirit Blossom was some weak cheat. Because of Spirit Blossom, in less than a few years he had already become one of the strongest humans alive. Put his experiences into a xianxia novel and his rate of growth would have taken several hundred chapters, minimum.

But precisely because he had the protection of the Spirit Blossom gods, his growth had lacked a certain degree of pressure.

He was not afraid of death.

But perhaps not fearing death was not actually a good thing.

Forget it.

There was no point thinking about that now.

What Logan needed to do now was trigger that state again, then seize it by any means necessary.

Master it.

Once more, Logan charged into the Ursine ranks.

"..."

Time passed little by little.

More than once during that time, Janna nearly failed to restrain herself and stepped in.

By the end, she could only stand there in silence, watching Logan suffer wound after wound.

At last, dawn came.

Rows upon rows of Ursine corpses lay scattered across the Ice Sea.

In the end, Logan had still run out of strength.

Looking at the nearly hundred Ursine that remained, Logan's lips moved slightly as he collapsed onto the ice in resignation. The life inside him slowly began to fade away.

And yet... he had still fallen just short.

He had entered that state again just now.

Time had seemed to slow. His limbs had grown powerful. His blood had boiled and burned. His veins had pulsed, and the beating of his heart had sounded strong and vibrant.

But the state had still passed.

"Janna... I'll leave the rest to you," Logan said slowly before closing his eyes.

Janna let out a sigh and raised a hand. In an instant, all the Ursine were trapped.

But just as she was about to compress the ring of wind and grind them all into dust, she gave a soft sound of surprise and looked toward Logan's body, which had not yet disappeared.

"What's going on?"

Janna moved to Logan's side, curiosity rising in her.

Before, whenever this happened, Logan would vanish and go to another world.

So why... was he still here this time?

As she was thinking that, Janna heard a faint thump.

It was the sound of Logan's heart beating.

"Huh? He came back that fast?" Janna asked, eyes wide in surprise.

—————

His mind was clear.

Other than a slight weakness in his body, there was no other discomfort.

Logan opened his eyes and found himself beneath blue skies and white clouds.

A beautiful pink lotus was blooming before him, and at its center were three tiny little bubbles.

Logan walked closer and looked at the three bubbles. Then his expression turned strange.

Each bubble held a chibi figure.

One was a tiny Ahri, pouting as she stretched out a hand and blew a little heart from her lips. Another was Lamb, cute and elegant, standing upright with a gentle smile while Wolf circled playfully around her.

And the last one...

A tiny purple Thresh, wearing a demon mask, carrying a crying lantern, and nodding off in his sleep?

"What is this?"

Logan cautiously reached out to touch the bubbles.

In the next instant, a system window popped up.

[Spirit Blossom Ahri has sensed your condition and is worried about you. She is currently running all over Blossom Valley, asking why you didn't ask her for help.]

[Spirit Blossom Kindred has sensed your condition and feels helpless. Lamb is preparing an ice coffin, while Wolf is running around searching for soul fruit.]

[Spirit Blossom Thresh has sensed your condition and is crying in anguish. He is trying to break out of Spirit Blossom and find you with his spiritual power. He says he will never let you die.]

After reading the three little bubbles, Logan understood that they represented the states of Ahri, Kindred, and Thresh.

No, Ahri and Kindred worrying about him didn't surprise Logan. Their affection levels were what they were.

But...

What the hell was wrong with Thresh?

Seriously?

Are you ever going to let this go?

They had only met once back then, hadn't they?!

How many years had passed since then?!

Why are you still hung up on me?!

Logan finally lost it and cursed under his breath.

"No, seriously, Thresh... what the hell do you want from me?!"

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