Chapter 396: Darius, the Hand of the Storm
"Our child?!" Darius was instantly struck by lightning and froze in place.
He had never cared before who the father of Quelleta's child was.
Because he didn't want to disturb Quelleta's life anymore. Knowing that she was still doing well was enough.
But now think carefully:
The two children look about 9 years old, and they broke up only 10 years ago.
Before this peaceful breakup, Darius and Quirieta had a last 1V1 friendly solo match without equipment in front of Black Rock Lake outside their hometown.
Calculating the time, it is completely correct.
And if you look closely at the two children's young faces, you can vaguely see the outline of his resolute face.
"Brother, don't say that..." Draven also felt the same way. He looked at the two little brats hiding in the distance, and then stared at Darius and Quirieta.
"They really look like your offspring!"
Darius: “…”
He didn't bother to pay attention to his brother, but looked at Quelleta with a complicated expression: "What... are their names?"
"Desius." Quelleta looked at the boy and the little girl: "Inphtia."
"Desius, Inphtia..." Darius silently recited these two unfamiliar names, and then looked at the two children who were watching him cautiously from a distance...
He knew that this was his child.
He knew Quelleta. She couldn't lie about something like that.
"Why?" Darius asked, "Why didn't you come to me then?"
"Because I don't want them to have a father like you," Quelleta said. "At that time, all you saw was war and killing. If they grow up around you, they will become like you."
Darius had become an extremely fanatical imperial warrior, but Quelleta always maintained her innocence and kindness that seemed to be born with her.
They broke up in the end because of their different ideas in this regard, which caused all kinds of conflicts.
Quelleta thought he was a war maniac.
"But then I realized I was wrong. The problem isn't you, Darius. The problem is this world."
"As long as the world remains unchanged, even if I get rid of you, I still cannot give my children an ordinary and stable life."
As he spoke, Quelleta recalled what he had seen and heard from the Leader.
Her experience of becoming a leader is actually not complicated.
She was an extremely rare humanitarian in the Noxian army, like a rabbit grown in a wolf's den.
Before the Battle of Balue, Quelleta had come into contact with and carefully read the theories of the Leader's books, and was deeply moved by them.
If she were still the wandering orphan she was back then, she might have gone to the wind long ago.
However, as the mayor of Besilico and the leader of the Noxian chapter, she has been treated well by the empire for many years and still cannot let go of her loyalty to Noxus.
But her loyalty, which was already unsteady, soon collapsed completely because of the bloody rain brought down by Vladimir.
Quilieta lost almost all of her comrades in arms at the hands of the Black Rose. After surviving with difficulty, she was quickly captured by the Leader who was pursuing her.
In the prisoner-of-war camp, she witnessed with her own eyes how the Noxian soldiers changed from fear and resistance to the Leader, to complaining, and then to actively seeking to learn and transform. She witnessed the powerful appeal of Janna's thoughts that transcend nationality.
Later, because she was the leader of a Noxian chapter and a general of an army, she was transferred by the Leader to the Zaun Senior War Criminal Management Institute for "further study".
Quelleta has a positive attitude towards reform, a solid theoretical foundation, and is always looking forward to progress.
So, after only one day in, and before she had even started attending classes, she had already completed her self-transformation and became a believer of the goddess with the certification of the Line of Faith—and not just a shallow believer of the wind, but a devout leader of the wind.
Levi was curious about this active student who suddenly emerged from the "Gongdelin". Then he asked about the name of this female general and her background... Then, he knew who he met.
"President Levi told me a prophecy that was said to have been told to him by the goddess Janna." Quelleta recalled with a moving expression: "It is a story about what will happen in the future in a world without leaders."
"A world... without Wind Leaders?" Darius mused.
“Yes,” Quelleta told the story.
If the Wind Leader did not exist, she would still be on the Ionian battlefield, fighting the increasingly powerful Ionian resistance.
This protracted war will eventually end with the defeat of the Noxian Empire.
But if it weren't for the "nuclear bomb" dropped by Vladimir, which killed 100,000 troops and sent away the Darkwell regime, the empire could have barely held on.
The war will last longer, be more intense, and the casualties on both sides will become more severe.
Eventually, Quileta would suffer a disastrous defeat and be accidentally infected by the alchemical toxin brought by his ally Amystan on the battlefield, forcing him to lose an arm through amputation and return to his homeland in a dilapidated state.
And this is just the beginning of the tragedy.
“Without the Leader, General Swain would still overthrow Darkwill. But all he could do was to ease Noxus’s illness, not truly save the empire.”
“So, within a few years, Noxus once again embarked on the path of unlimited external expansion.”
"And our child, Decius—" Quelleta looked at the cute little boy and said in a cold tone, "He will be drafted into the battlefield because of the conscription order signed by you, General Darius."
“He will die in the Freljord. Just like all the other children you have sent to the North over the years.”
After Decius' death, Quiletta came to hate the empire completely.
She would start a rebellion in Besilico, which Darius would personally suppress.
The saddest part of this story is that Quelleta did not die at the hands of the Empire's anti-rebellion army, but was stabbed in the back by her daughter, Inphtia.
There was only one reason why she would kill her mother - because Quelleta betrayed the Noxian Empire.
And Darius would never know in the end that he had personally sent his son to the meat grinder-like battlefield, and witnessed his daughter killing her mother.
"This..." After hearing this extremely depressing ending, Darius looked very heavy. But he still said stubbornly: "It's just a story, Quelleta."
"No, this is not just one story!" Quelleta said in a serious tone: "As long as Noxus does not change, stories like this will continue to happen to countless families!"
"Darius, ask yourself - if there is no leader, will the future really be the same as this story?"
"This..." Darius was unable to refute.
Although there are many details in the predictions given by Levi that cannot be proven by deduction.
But his child joined the army and died in battle, and Quirieta rebelled and was eventually killed... This series of tragedies were very likely to happen.
Because the empire's expansion can never be stopped, it will inevitably consume fresh blood.
In this huge machine where everything serves the war, joining the army to serve the country is like Lgbtqiapkdxrew in the 21st century. It is the absolute political correctness that all imperial nobles must abide by.
The imperial nobles also knew that their power came from strength, so they had no objection to sending their offspring to the battlefield to be tempered by blood and fire in order to achieve the goal of training their heirs.
Under this extreme cultural atmosphere and strict legal system, almost no one in Noxus can escape military service.
Children like Decius who come from middle-level generals' families will become the future officers who will be recruited by the empire as a priority.
He will definitely go to the battlefield when he grows up.
Judging from Noxus's war situation in recent years, the probability of a rookie officer returning alive from the battlefield is low.
There was a good chance that he would die in battle, and there was a good chance that Quelleta would lose her child.
Given Quileta's personality, if she lost her son, she would most likely choose that extreme and dangerous path.
"And I am the mayor of Besilico, a member of the upper class of Noxus. If even I can't protect my child and prevent this tragic ending, what about others?"
Quilieta asked repeatedly: "Darius, is this the Noxus you want?"
Darius was completely speechless.
He tried hard to remind himself in his heart that you are the Hand of Noxus and you should be loyal to the Noxian Empire.
But the prophetic story told by Quelletta, that depressing and tragic future, always echoed in his mind.
"Desius, Inphtia..." Darius couldn't help but look at his two children.
The two little children, still blinking their clear and lovely big eyes, were looking at him cautiously from a distance.
They still live under the protection of their mother, innocent and carefree.
Oddly enough...
Darius had sent countless children to the battlefield and regarded their sacrifice as a "necessary price".
But when he thought that his children would also go to the battlefield in the future, he instinctively felt... a little reluctant.
“No! They are Noxians, and this is their responsibility. As long as the empire needs it, even my children... must be sacrificed for the empire!”
Darius is worthy of being the Hand of Noxus. He restrained his selfishness in an instant and muttered to himself.
"I won't just..." he was about to say this.
However, the pile of urns on the dock came into his sight again. The homeless man lying on the busy streets of the Immortal Fortress and the countless soldiers buried under the ice and snow in the north, all these scenes quietly emerged in his mind.
Darius was suddenly speechless again.
He finally realized that he had actually been convinced by Quelleta.
Whether from a selfish or public perspective, he had no reason to refuse the leader's invitation.
"I..." Darius was no longer able to refute.
He was so conflicted that he almost surrendered.
"Brother!" At the critical moment, it was Draven who stood up.
Draven saw that his brother was wavering, so he quickly grabbed him and said, "Brother, you can't surrender!"
"Huh?" Darius looked at his brother in confusion.
He knew that Draven was not a political person at all.
This guy joined Swain's coup group entirely because of his personal friendship with Swain.
The reason why Draven was unhappy with Darkwill was very simple - it was because Darkwill started wars every day and did not manage the economy well, which resulted in the lack of spectators in the arena where Draven worked, leaving him in a depressed situation where no one applauded him when he killed people...
So, Draven rebelled.
How come such a dangerous person who dared to chop off the emperor's head in a fit of rage has now become an even more loyal subject of the empire than he is?
Darius was just wondering when Draven said seriously, "Brother, don't forget Commander Swain!"
"They have been very kind to us! If we were to join the Leader here, how could we be worthy of him?"
Draven has a close personal relationship with Swain, and he is also a very loyal person.
"And we just betrayed Darkwill, and now we have to betray Commander Swain. This..."
"Where in the world can there be such a retainer who changes three masters in a row?"
Hearing this, Darius was instantly conflicted again.
Yeah. He just cast Swain and now he's casting Wind Leader. This skill cools down too fast.
As the Hand of Noxus, he has some sense of shame.
Besides, this time is different from last time.
The last time he betrayed was Darkwill, a puppet emperor who had been doing evil things for many years. Such a worm deserved to be overthrown.
But this time, he betrayed Swain, the great commander who had always been Darius' most respected predecessor.
He had fought alongside Swain on the battlefield many times in the past, and was even saved by Swain once when he was defeated and in despair.
After the coup was successful, Swain trusted him and handed over almost half of the power of the empire to him, making him the "Executive Vice Emperor" of Noxus.
He will never be able to repay the kindness of Commander Swain in his entire life.
How could he have the nerve to betray her?
"Darius, actually..." Quelleta was about to say something.
Darius, however, had come to his senses amidst his self-blame and guilt: "Stop talking, Quelleta."
"There is no two suns in the sky. In my heart, there is only one sun, the commander-in-chief! No matter what, I will never betray his trust!"
"But..." Quelleta wanted to explain.
But Darius had made up his mind this time: "Captain Swain is different from Darkwill, and different from all the previous emperors."
"His character is no less than your leader. Noxus will surely prosper under his leadership."
Darius took one last look at his two children.
His eyes were full of confusion and reluctance.
But in the end, the man still clenched the giant axe in his hand and forced himself to look away: "You go, Quelleta--"
"I will go back and report to Commander Swain that you have already escaped from Besilico by ship before I arrived. This... is the limit of what I can do."
"Okay." Quelleta finally got the chance to speak.
She saw it. Darius's only reason to hold on now was his personal loyalty to Swain.
In that case...
“Darius.” Quelleta sighed helplessly, “I said, I have no objection to Commander Swain.”
"What do you mean?" Darius didn't understand.
But Quelleta carefully used the whirlwind to block out the surrounding sounds, and then said to him: "I don't object to Swain, because..."
"Commander Swain is my superior."
"This plan to subvert you was formulated by President Levi and Commander Swain from the very beginning."
Darius: “???”
He began to doubt his ears.
However, in the next second...
"Darius." An inconspicuous red-eyed crow quietly fell from the sky filled with seabirds.
"This, this..." The brothers Darius and Draven widened their eyes in shock at this moment.
This sound, this familiar magical fluctuation, there is absolutely no mistake.
This is Commander Swain!
"Commander-in-chief, you..." Darius's brain completely shut down: "When did you become a leader?"
"No... Impossible, this is impossible!"
"Why not?" Swain said to him through the crow's mouth: "Have you forgotten? I said that my loyalty has always been to Noxus."
Darius was shocked. He realized that he had misunderstood Swain's words about Noxus.
In other words, it was Swain who redefined Noxus.
The "Noxus" here does not refer to the military empire built on the unlimited oppression of the Noxian people. It refers to the people of Noxus themselves!
“Darius,” Swain said. “We are the same. It’s just that I have found the right path, while you always walk slower than I do.”
"So, Darius - are you willing to catch up with me once again and continue fighting with me?"
Darius's brain was buzzing.
At this moment, he finally figured out many of his previous doubts:
Why did Svetlana hold back on attacking the Leader? Because he was the Leader himself!
Why did Svein specifically ask him to investigate Besilico? Because this was a trap set up specifically for him!
Darius wasn't stupid either.
He had already seen that when Swain made this plan and lured him here, he had never intended to let him go back.
Otherwise, Swain would not have revealed his identity and let him know such a big secret; otherwise, Quelleta would not have taken the risk to incite him to rebel and brought the two children with her.
The leader must have set an ambush here.
If he does not surrender voluntarily, he can only be passively invited to be a guest of the leader.
"Do I have a choice?" Darius pondered for a long time, and finally looked at the crow with a complicated expression.
“No.” Swain answered calmly: “You are the second most important person in the empire. If even you stand so firmly against me, the future situation will become difficult to control.”
So he wouldn't give Darius a chance to choose.
But Swain added: "But you have already made your choice, haven't you?"
Darius remained silent.
Yes, he has made his choice.
He is the Hand of Noxus. But in the end, his loyalty to Noxus depends on his personal loyalty to Swain.
Doesn't this just show that everything he believed in the past has completely collapsed in the face of the leader's theory?
"Wait!" A terrible thought popped into Darius' mind.
In order to gain a deeper understanding of his enemies, he often studies the knowledge theories of the leaders.
Could it be that these theories that he had read into his mind had already...
"Janna, please give me strength!" Darius tried to call out to the goddess Janna in his heart according to the method circulated in the folks.
Then……
The storm surged out of his body.
His figure became extremely light, as if he had started a sprint without a time limit.
“Welcome.” Swain’s voice sounded at the right moment: “Comrade Darius.”
Darius did not answer.
He stood in the storm for a long time, as if unable to accept the cruel fact that he had committed "spiritual treason".
At this time...
"Come here, come to me." Quileta waved to the two little kids in the distance.
"Hmm?" Darius looked over instinctively.
He knew that Quelleta had resisted him before and she didn't want the children to know that he was their father.
That's why she let the kids go.
Now...
"Now you are qualified to be their father." Quileta looked at the two children who were slowly walking towards them and said to them: "Darius, you..."
"Will you be their father?"
Darius: “…”
The last layer of blood rage that overwhelmed his mentality was piled up like this.
He put down his axe and embraced the fresh sea breeze: "I do!"
