In the early morning, exhaling a long, cloudy breath, Faen unhurriedly climbed out of bed. As he pulled on his pants, he couldn't help but sigh with genuine emotion:
"Even though it was her first time, that level of intensity truly exceeded my imagination."
Hearing Faen's words, Syndra, lying on the bed, merely fluttered her eyelids and revealed a languid smile. To an ordinary person, it might seem overly exaggerated, but for Syndra—who had mastered the Darkness of Ionia—several consecutive days and nights of passionate, earth-shaking lovemaking were just enough to satisfy the longing she had accumulated over the past dozen years.
Sprawled on the bed, her smooth, silver hair cascaded messily over her shoulders. Meeting Faen's gaze, Syndra smiled and said, "It felt wonderful, didn't it? Actually, I had been looking forward to this day ever since I was twelve. I just didn't expect I'd have to wait until I was twenty-two for it to happen... I was right there on your lips; why was Teacher so unwilling to eat me sooner?"
"Teacher's ethics," Faen sighed wistfully—though he didn't even believe that excuse himself.
Although it was the Spirit Realm, Faen had genuinely held back in that environment for over a decade. To say he didn't have any thoughts would be impossible. The reason Faen hadn't acted earlier wasn't because he was afraid to make a move without using the Joy Factor, but purely because he couldn't be certain if doing so would give the Darkness of Ionia an opening to exploit.
It was much like how Caitlyn, Vi, and Jinx viewed Faen's personality as incredibly wicked. He could clearly have them whenever he wanted, but he purposely dragged things out, refusing to drop his pants until they absolutely couldn't take it anymore and had to proactively lift their skirts, present their asses, and beg him to devour them completely.
Faen did this not just to satisfy his own inner sense of accomplishment and desire to conquer. It was also to make the girls realize that this wasn't Faen forcing them; they were asking for it. This prevented future issues where, if there was even a hint of coercion, they might stubbornly insist everything was Faen's fault.
The most obvious example of this was Riven. If Riven hadn't figured out certain things for herself, Faen wouldn't have just eaten her clean. Syndra's situation was even more complex because there was a literal dark entity in her Spirit Realm constantly trying to bewitch her consciousness.
Precisely because of this, he had to be extra careful when dealing with matters concerning her, to prevent all their efforts from going down the drain and turning her fall from a childhood trauma into a descent driven by love turned to hate.
Having tidied everything up, the two of them simultaneously fell into a brief silence. A moment later, Faen looked at Syndra and said, "I might... be leaving now."
"Ah, I felt it." Hearing this, Syndra nodded. The joy and happiness in her eyes gradually receded, transforming into a calm acceptance she seemed to have been waiting a long time for.
"I can feel that the inexplicable restraint that has always surrounded me in the past is disappearing little by little. Just as you said, the Dreaming Pool has fulfilled its mission and is beginning to gradually dry up."
She paused, falling into a short silence, before raising her head and looking at Faen with a smile. "But don't worry. I can feel it; I have been liberated now. I am happy."
Hearing this, Faen couldn't help but open his mouth. But just as he was about to say something, he sensed the mana in the surrounding environment pulsating rhythmically. He instinctively raised his hand. His skin, which had not aged a day during their time in the illusion, was visibly breaking down and dissipating into free-floating mana.
The mission of the Dreaming Pool was complete; Faen's consciousness was returning to the real world.
Realizing this, Faen instinctively looked toward Syndra. She had already stepped in front of him. After a brief embrace, the water curtain that had enveloped the mountain peak—obscuring it from sight and isolating it from sound—suddenly collapsed with a resounding crash, as if it had lost all support. Within the cave, only Syndra's solitary figure remained.
After a moment of silence, Syndra quickly collected her emotions. After all, she had prepared herself for this well in advance. Manipulating her Dark Spheres to lift her body, she quickly arrived before a ruined, collapsed ancient sanctuary. Spreading her hands, dark magic tore a curved passage through the ruins of the sanctuary. Entering it, she soon reached the temple's underground chamber.
Within the cavern beneath the ruins lay a pool of clear water. Ancient spirit trees took root within it, and lively sprites danced among the drooping leaves. Perhaps due to the darkness in her heart, Syndra found this slightly irritating to look at, but the gift from her teacher inside her body still radiated a warm afterglow. It spread outward from her flower-room, conveying a warm sense of love.
From Faen's seasoned techniques, Syndra could more or less guess that this was definitely not her dear teacher's first time doing this. Even though it was her first experience, Syndra could still feel the skill accumulated through vast experience in Faen's composed body, movements, strength, and postures.
But Syndra didn't care—or rather, for the current Syndra, there were things that required far more of her attention.
Releasing her dark energy into the pool water before her, Syndra drifted into it with a peaceful expression.
"Darkness, let us begin."
"Of course." Within Syndra's Spirit Realm, the pitch-black silhouette of Syndra let out a soft chuckle. "This will connect directly to that pool of illusion where our dear teacher resides~"
The Material Realm. Ionia. Fae'lor.
"Is it still not over? These Noxians are acting like madmen, charging over here one by one as if they don't care about their lives!!!"
Throwing a hunting net, the stone weights attached to its four corners spread the net wide under centrifugal force, ensnaring a charging Noxian soldier. Immediately after, accompanied by the sound of a burning fuse, those few soldiers exploded violently. A closer look revealed that these soldiers' eyes were completely hollow, their faces covered in blood-like veins. Their skin was pale, their limbs stiff, and they showed no physiological reactions like a heartbeat or pulse. They were clearly a group of single-use expendables, forcibly awakened by blood magic, launching suicide charges while clutching black powder.
After several hours of continuous fighting, even as a Primordial Kiilash, Kalan felt a wave of exhaustion. And those Noxians? With these undead soldiers, they showed no signs of stopping their assault!