I've been looking through the MageSeeker game again, and I've realized something that feels… odd. If we take everything that happened in MageSeeker as canon, then it means Sylas canonically defeated both Shyvana and Jarvan in combat. By himself.
How?
Is that a nerf to Shyvana, or an absurd buff to Sylas? Of course, Sylas is the main character, so narratively he isn't expected to lose, but the context clearly states that he beat Shyvana, and honestly, that irritates me more than it should.
Anyway, back to the chapter.
---
Shyvana groaned as she plummeted from the sky, her draconic form collapsing into her humanoid body mid-fall before she struck the roof of a palace hall with a bone-rattling crash.
Jarvan was beside her in an instant.
His armor was scorched in several places, dented where raw magic had hammered against the steel. Each breath he drew came with a faint, ragged wheeze. He grimaced, recognizing the sensation with grim clarity.
'A punctured lung… wonderful.'
Still, he set himself between Shyvana and the approaching threat, raising his sword though his arm trembled.
"So," came a voice steeped in mockery, "the princeling reveals himself a hypocrite."
Jarvan lifted his gaze to the figure walking toward them.
Sylas of Dregbourne.
The man who had just slain Eldred Crownguard, council member, commander of the MageSeekers, and one of the kingdom's most influential figures.
And the man who had defeated the two of them, alone.
Jarvan still struggled to comprehend that fact. He and Shyvana had fought with everything they could muster. She had drawn deep upon her dragon flame; he had pushed himself to the brink.
And still Sylas had overpowered them.
Sylas clicked his tongue in amusement as he loomed over the fallen pair. "The king who outlawed all magic secretly loves a dragon." His smile was sharp, cruel. "You monsters do have a habit of devouring your own."
Then his expression shifted, mockery giving way to simmering rage.
"And now," Sylas growled, chains coiling with murderous intent, "you may die at his side."
Shyvana's eyes widened as she felt the shift in Sylas's mana, felt the intent behind it, sharp and murderous.
"No!" she roared.
Flames burst from her skin in an eruption of crimson and gold. But the inferno did not lash outward at Sylas. Instead, it curled inward, coiling around her and Jarvan in a protective ring. The fire rose higher and higher, enclosing them within a blazing ward that shimmered like a fortress of molten glass.
Sylas scoffed, turning toward the barrier with a sneer. He raised his chains, magic humming darkly along their length.
The wall behind him suddenly split apart in a violent burst of blue flame. Stone shattered outward as a figure barreled through, embers scattering like stars.
"Sylas! We have to go!" Rukko bellowed as he emerged, smoke trailing off his shoulders.
Sylas didn't even spare him a glance. "What? Why?" he demanded, eyes still fixed on the flaming barrier. He dragged magic into his chains, the metal glowing with a sinister, void-touched light.
"Our people are trapped!" Rukko shouted, voice cracking with urgency. "More MageSeekers are coming! If we don't help them now, they will all die!"
"Just one moment," Sylas growled through clenched teeth. "I can break this. I can."
He poured more magic into the chains, shadows writhing around him as the air trembled.
"Sylas, no!" Rukko pleaded. "There is no time! Remember what Leilani said!" His voice was desperate now, fear and frustration mixing together.
Before Sylas could answer, another shout cleaved through the sky, powerful, commanding.
"Sylas!"
A shockwave hit the courtyard as a new figure dropped from above. Dust billowed. Light cracked across the ground.
When it cleared, Asta stood in the center of the destruction, rising smoothly from his landing crouch. Fifteen year old Mira, sat on his shoulders like a child riding atop a calm giant, her hands loosely clasped in his hair.
Asta met Sylas's glare with a steady, unyielding gaze.
"That is enough."
"Asta," Sylas growled, venom still fresh in his voice.
"Sylas. We must leave," Rukko urged, his fear rising with every heartbeat. "He's the one who fought the Veiled Lady. If he's here, then..."
Sylas exhaled sharply, fists clenching until the chains rattled. He cast one last look at Jarvan and Shyvana, still trapped behind the wall of roaring flame. "It seems the heavens insist the two of you live a while longer," he spat. "Do not grow comfortable. Your reprieve will not last."
With that bitter promise, he and Rukko fled into the wash of blue fire, vaulting over the roof and disappearing into the night.
Asta watched them go, his expression unchanging but unmistakably unimpressed. Only when their presence faded entirely did he turn back to the wounded pair.
"So," he said calmly, "you two lost." His voice held no mockery, only a disappointed bluntness that somehow stung more.
"He's getting away," Jarvan snarled through gritted teeth.
"To that guy?" Asta replied, almost incredulous. "Truly? I expected more from you, Shyvana. I thought you were the strongest one here."
Jarvan bristled, pushing himself upright despite the pain lancing through his ribs. "We do not have time for this nonsense. If you're as strong as you claim, why did you not stop him? That man murdered my father, and you let him walk free."
"He told me he didn't do it," Asta said simply. "And he wasn't lying. I can tell."
"I refuse to believe that," Jarvan snapped back. "He just slew Eldred Crownguard before our eyes, and now he escapes, because you allowed it."
Asta shook his head, his expression softening only slightly. "No one else needs to die today."
"And how does letting him flee prevent further bloodshed?" Jarvan shouted. "They'll kill more, spill more innocent lives..."
Asta's voice cut through his rage like a clean blade.
"Tell me, Prince Jarvan," he said quietly, "would you have spared the mages had I captured them all for you?"
The question struck harder than any blow.
Jarvan's jaw tensed, once, twice, before settling into a rigid, miserable stillness. His silence was an answer long before the words ever came. "That's not..."
"It doesn't matter who strikes first," Asta continued. "If all of you keep answering violence with more violence… you'll reach the same ending. Your kingdom dies. Your people die. And you'll stand on a pile of ashes asking who struck the match first."
"That is not..." Jarvan started again, but he stopped. The protest felt childish even as it reached his tongue. He grit his teeth. "I have a duty. To Demacia. To justice."
Asta exhaled softly, shifting Mira's weight on his shoulder. The girl, who had been silent the whole time, rested her chin atop his head, watching the battered prince and half-dragon with cautious curiosity. "You fight for Demacia," Asta said. "Then fight for all of Demacia. Mage or not."
Asta turned, ready to leave, Mira shifting on his shoulder.
"Where are you going?" Shyvana asked.
Asta shrugged lightly. "To find Sylas. To stop him from making a bigger mess."
Jarvan stiffened. "To join him?"
"No," Asta said, as if it was obvious, and it was. "I gave my word remember. In writing even. I won't let Demacia fall. For any reason."
---
Sylas sprinted ahead of Rukko as they descended the wide stone staircase, the echo of their footsteps swallowed by the cramped passage. But at the base of the stairs, he skidded to a halt.
A familiar group stood there.
At their front was Leilani, a young woman with brown hair tied back, a wooden shield braced firmly on her arm.
"Leilani," Sylas exhaled, disbelief sharpening his tone, "you were supposed to be gone by now." They had discussed escape routes thoroughly. There was no reason, no sane reason, for them to have stayed behind.
"If we left you, they would kill you," Leilani replied without hesitation.
"I do not care about that!" Sylas snapped, voice rising, his chains clattering at the edges of his frustration.
"Well, I do," she shot back, just as fierce.
Sylas stared at her for a heartbeat, thrown utterly off balance. Had they all truly risked themselves, for him? What madness drove them? No… he corrected himself bitterly. This was Leilani. Reckless loyalty was practically stitched into her every breath.
He dragged in a steadying breath. "Fine. Eldred is dead regardless. Let us run."
But as though summoned by his words, the chamber suddenly flooded with MageSeekers. Dozens stormed in from the far archway, weapons raised, mana flaring.
"Sylas of Dregbourne," a voice called sharply, "answer for your crimes. Do not force your companions to suffer for your choices."
At the head of the MageSeekers stood a violet-haired woman, Wisteria. The anguish on her face told Sylas she had already found Eldred's body.
He stepped forward to speak...
...but Wisteria swung her staff with a furious cry, and a wave of magic thundered into him. Sylas crashed to his knees, breath punched from his lungs. She was far angrier than he had anticipated.
Through the ringing in his ears, he dimly registered that the others had been flattened as well, thrown to the floor by the sheer force of her spell.
All except Leilani.
She stood alone against the magical onslaught, shield raised. And the shield, simple wood mere hours ago, now glowed with a strange, radiant aura, as though something ancient had awakened within it.
Wisteria was taking no prisoners, that much was clear. Her staff flared with a searing white radiance, gathering heat so intense it warped the air around it. The chamber itself seemed to dry by the second, the atmosphere thinning as though consumed by her conjured flame.
Sylas felt the hairs on his arms rise as the temperature climbed. The sensation dragged his memory sharply to Shyvana's dragonfire. This attack would be no mere threat, it would burn them all to ash if he did not move.
But before he could rise, Leilani stepped in front of him.
She smiled, softly, almost serenely, as though the heat licking at her hair tips were nothing more than a summer breeze. "Been saving this spell for the right moment," she said, lifting her shield. "I think it's finally time."
"Spell?" Sylas echoed, baffled. Her calmness unsettled him far more than Wisteria's fury.
Then realization struck him like a hammer blow. The spell. That spell.
"The… the spell... Leilani! Don't!" Sylas' voice cracked with something dangerously close to panic.
"You said once," Leilani replied, never taking her eyes off Wisteria, "that you must be willing to sacrifice anything, anyone, for the cause." She shifted her stance, raising her shield high as it began to glow with a brilliant, pure white light.
"You were almost right, Sylas."
Before he could grab her, she slammed the base of her shield into the stone floor.
A dome of shimmering, transparent light blossomed outward, enveloping the entire group in a radiant barrier. At its forefront glowed the emblem of a shield.
Sylas felt the blood drain from his face.
He knew this spell. Leilani had told him of it. She'd also told him of the price.
Leilani had invoked a sacred spell capable of stopping any magical attack, no matter how overwhelming. It could block the fire of dragons, the wrath of storms, the fury of angels.
And in return…
The caster's life was extinguished the moment the barrier fulfilled its purpose.
Leilani had already signed her death warrant.
He reached for her too slow. Wisteria's white-hot spell crashed into the dome.
The world detonated in light.
The beam of magic pushed against the barrier, like a river against rock. At the same time the air rippled and split behind Leilani.
A figure appeared.
Asta.
He still carried Mira on his shoulder, though she blinked in confusion at the scene. Asta looked around calmly, then at Leilani, then at the stalled beam of destruction.
"Wow," he murmured. "You were really about to die."
Sylas stared, unable to breathe. "Asta… what..."
Asta raised one hand, the strange sword materializing in his grip with a low hum.
A pressure swept through the chamber, bending, as if gravity itself recoiled from the blade.
He brought the sword down.
The world lurched. Wisteria's spell twisted back on itself, reversing its path in an instant. The searing white wave slammed into the MageSeekers instead, sending Wisteria and her squad hurtling across the chamber. They struck the far wall with resounding crashes, limbs sprawling, weapons clattering.
Leilani gasped and stumbled backward, dazed. Sylas caught her by the shoulders before she hit the floor.
"What… what just happened?" she whispered.
"Why would you use that spell?" Sylas barked, voice cracking from shock and fear. "Leilani, you..."
But she didn't answer him. Her eyes were wide, unfocused, flicking down to her still-intact body.
"How… how am I alive?" she breathed. "I blocked the attack. The barrier should've... should've killed me. That's the price. That's how it works…"
Across the chamber, Asta crouched beside fallen MageSeekers, checking each pulse with surprising care. When he confirmed they were all still breathing, his shoulders loosened in quiet relief.
"So the barrier really was going to kill you?" Asta said as he walked back toward the group. "I only took a guess. I saw the tether connecting the spell to you, and your ki was draining like a punctured barrel. Had to move fast. Looks like I guessed right."
The group recoiled the moment he stepped close, stances raised, hearts racing. Even Sylas's grip on Leilani tightened protectively.
Leilani, however, stared at him with something between confusion and awe.
"Did you… save me?"
Asta kneeled so Mira could slide off his shoulder. The fifteen year old girl hopped down and clung to his sleeve. "Guilty as charged," he said lightly.
"Why?" Leilani whispered. "And… how?"
"No one else has to die today," Asta replied, smiling faintly as he ruffled Mira's hair. "As for how... this sword can sever casualty."
He lifted the blade slightly. Its edges shimmered with a strange, impossible distortion.
"More specifically, cause and effect. I cut the connection between them. Your barrier was the cause. Your death was supposed to be the effect."
Leilani blinked, speechless.
"So I severed the link," Asta finished. "Your barrier still worked, but the consequence never reached you."
"What the hell kinda magic is that…?" an elderly white-haired woman muttered, utterly baffled, her voice echoing through the chamber.