The staircase rose so high that there was no end in sight, as though it stretched all the way into the starry heavens.
Luke climbed one step at a time, his footsteps calm and steady. The instant he set foot on the stairs, he felt an indescribable force pulling at him. It was almost like walking through a pool filled with invisible water, with a strange magnetic field surrounding his entire body.
He continued upward, step by step. By now, more than half a mile of stairs stretched behind him, yet he never once looked back. There was still no end in sight ahead.
As he climbed, Luke began to sense gazes falling upon him.
One, two, three... more and more gathered on his body, coming from the vast starry heavens above, all carrying the aloof scrutiny of beings looking down from on high.
Luke continued forward. Suddenly, his steps grew heavier, as though an enormous weight had been placed upon his shoulders. With every step he took, that weight increased.
Yet no matter how much pressure bore down on him, he remained upright, head held high, eyes calm, his back never bending even slightly.
Then, at some unknown point, the crushing weight abruptly vanished.
At the same time, the end of the staircase finally appeared.
There stood an enormous ancient gateway, constructed entirely from pure violet crystal.
Beyond it seemed to lie an unknown world. A shimmering silver mirage could faintly be seen, like a shadow hidden behind a gauzy curtain. Sacred light gleamed with brilliant colors, while a massive pillar of radiance shot even higher, connecting directly with the stars.
The sky now seemed close enough to touch. Beyond it, another world blossomed amid halos of starlight, radiant and dazzling.
Luke gazed at the world beyond the gate and stepped forward without hesitation.
Nothing stopped him.
In the blink of an eye, he found himself inside a magnificent open-air temple. The temple was enormous, surrounded by towering stone pillars. Across the floor of intertwined gold and silver was an enormous emblem shaped like the sun.
Luke stood directly at its center.
He could also sense that the gazes that had watched him on the staircase had never left.
Just then, a beam of golden light descended from the heavens and enveloped him.
In an instant, a tremendous torrent of power surged greedily into Luke's body, accompanied by an immensely powerful consciousness.
Luke immediately understood.
He had clearly passed Mount Targon's trial, successfully reached the summit, and become one of the chosen of the gods.
At that moment, he could sense the joy emanating from the power pouring into him, almost as though it were delighted to have found a vessel that satisfied it.
At the same time, the consciousness of the Aspect that had chosen him emerged within that power, attempting to forcibly imprint its will into the deepest reaches of his mind.
The power was undeniably immense.
If Luke accepted it, his strength would rise by at least another level.
But in the very next second, Luke violently broke free from its restraints. Without the slightest hesitation, his consciousness crushed the foreign will inside him, then forcibly expelled every last trace of the power that had entered his body.
Free power was nice and all, but no thanks!
He didn't need this kind of power!
The moment he rejected it, the descending power lost its recipient. Like water overflowing from a container, it began spreading outward in every direction.
Vast waves of energy rapidly swept through the air, whipping up fierce winds. Even the starlight throughout the temple trembled.
Among the stars, a pair of eyes blazing with divine light stared down at Luke. After a brief moment of stunned disbelief, overwhelming fury erupted within them.
A mere mortal had dared refuse his gift!
He had originally intended for this mortal to act as an executor of his will, but now it seemed he would simply have to claim this exceptionally suitable body himself!
In the next instant, the enraged celestial raised a hand.
Divine power erupted from the stars, and an even greater pillar of light crashed downward, carrying an even stronger manifestation of the Aspect's will.
He would personally take control of this mortal's body!
Luke watched the pillar of light rushing toward him with an indifferent expression. He allowed it to descend and engulf him, allowing the Aspect's consciousness to invade his body once again.
Then he suppressed it by sheer force.
The Aspect's consciousness did not even get the chance to resist.
It was annihilated in an instant.
The power the Aspect had sent down once again lost its target and scattered outward.
The pillar of light descending from the stars nearly covered the entire temple, spreading like vast golden clouds toward the outside of Mount Targon.
Those glowing clouds were composed entirely of the Aspect's divine power, which simply dissipated uselessly between heaven and earth.
For a time, fierce winds howled and the summit shook violently.
Everyone throughout the mountains felt the fury of the celestial above. Terrified, they looked toward the heavens, while the most fanatical believers immediately dropped to their knees.
At the foot of the staircase, the elderly man stared with eyes wide open, disbelief filling his face.
He understood what had happened.
The climber had entered the temple and been chosen by an Aspect.
That should have been the greatest blessing imaginable!
Yet in the next moment, the divine power bestowed upon him had been cast aside.
And not long afterward, the exact same thing had happened a second time!
The old man's breathing became ragged. Feeling the celestial's wrath above, even his body began trembling.
That man...
That man!
He had actually rejected a god's blessing twice in a row!
Looking at the divine power dispersing from the temple and the spectacular golden clouds filling the sky, the old man collapsed onto the ground in terror.
He knew he would never forget this sight for the rest of his life.
Up among the stars, those divine eyes were practically burning with rage.
The Aspect could clearly feel that the fragment of consciousness he had sent down had been utterly destroyed by that mortal before it could even react.
Just how powerful was this mortal's mind?
Regardless, this was a provocation against him, an intolerable provocation!
Nothing like this had happened in more than a thousand years, yet today it had occurred twice in succession!
"Very well. Then don't blame me for utterly destroying your mind!"
In his fury, the Aspect descended with the full force of his consciousness.
The terrifying mental power belonging to a celestial entity instantly unleashed an overwhelming pressure.
Originally, he had only intended to seize the mortal's body.
Now he intended to destroy the mind of this blasphemous mortal as well!
The terrifying pillar of light crashed down with a deafening boom, completely engulfing the temple and causing the entire structure to tremble.
The Aspect's seemingly unstoppable consciousness forcibly invaded Luke's mindscape.
Yet it could advance no farther.
Luke's mental world was like an airtight fortress of iron. No matter how much force the Aspect exerted, he could not break through.
And by now, Luke was getting seriously annoyed.
Three times in a row.
This third attempt was openly hostile.
Luke didn't care if the bastard lived in the heavens. He was done putting up with it.
His mental space had already been reinforced by Mental Barrier, making its defenses practically impregnable.
Even Fiddlesticks, the first primordial fear born into the world, had been unable to invade his mind, much less this Aspect.
Some Aspects probably weren't even as powerful as Fiddlesticks.
With Mental Barrier protecting him, Luke had nothing to fear and immediately launched a counterattack.
His mental power had never been weak to begin with. The moment he retaliated, the Aspect's consciousness suffered a tremendous impact.
Shock and fury surged through the celestial.
How could this human possess such powerful mental strength?
Luke took advantage of his opponent's momentary shock and anger without slowing down. Instead, he poured even more power into his assault and charged straight in.
The mental powers of mortal and god collided head-on, causing even the pillar of light descending from the heavens to erupt with explosive blasts.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The sound resembled thunder rolling through a violent storm.
The temple shook even more fiercely, and cracks began appearing across its structure.
Everyone on Mount Targon sensed what was happening, and their hearts filled with terror.
The old man at the staircase nearly fainted.
They were still fighting.
That man was still fighting the celestial!
Here, on Mount Targon, the very home of the gods!
Naturally, such a commotion drew the attention of every Aspect on Mount Targon.
All of their gazes turned toward the summit.
As they watched the mortal below, their expressions ranged from surprise and amusement to curiosity and bewilderment.
Inside her own temple, Morgana also felt the tremors.
She understood that someone appeared to have successfully reached the summit, but that person was now somehow resisting the will of an Aspect.
She had been wondering what sort of brave soul would dare do such a thing.
Then her gaze turned toward the summit.
Her eyes immediately widened.
The cup in her hand slipped free and shattered on the floor.
Why was it him?
Could this guy go even one day without causing trouble?!
Without the slightest hesitation, Morgana spread the wings behind her and shot toward the summit at full speed.
At the same time, the other Aspects began moving as well.
Inside the temple, a calm voice suddenly rang out.
"Enough."
The consciousness invading Luke's mindscape was forcibly ripped out and returned to the heavens.
Taric stood beside Luke.
When Luke opened his eyes, Taric gave him a helpless look.
How had things escalated into an all-out fight the moment he stopped watching?
If Taric hadn't intervened, one of those two would probably have ended up in serious trouble today.
The celestial consciousness had now returned to the stars. Its furious gaze contained a trace of disbelief.
That human had actually fought him to a standstill through mental power alone.
Had Taric not stepped in, even the outcome of their battle would have been impossible to predict.
When had such a human appeared in Runeterra?
After their clash, the Aspect's mental power had suffered significant damage. It would take him quite some time to recover.
Luke, meanwhile, remained completely calm.
His mental power had not suffered the slightest bit of damage.
Only now did he truly understand just how powerful Mental Barrier was. It was practically perfect for both offense and defense. When it came to contests of mental strength, it left him nearly unbeatable.
Luke's mental power increased every day through meditation, comprehending runes, and the automatic cultivation of Sun-Moon Meditation Arts.
It could be said that it was growing every moment of every day.
After this battle, Luke finally had a rough idea of just how powerful his mental strength had become.
Whoosh!
A sudden sound came from above.
One pillar of light after another descended onto the second level of the temple. As the radiance faded, figures emerged within them, one after another.
At the center stood two winged women, one with golden wings and the other with white. Both radiated tremendous power. Their faces bore a certain resemblance to each other, and their cold eyes carried an imposing authority even without anger.
To the left stood a beautiful woman with long orange hair and a sacred countenance. She wore brilliant red-and-gold armor fashioned with the imagery of the sun. Compared with the two winged women, her gaze was somewhat gentler.
Boom!
This time, it wasn't another pillar of light.
Someone had leaped in from somewhere and landed with tremendous force.
A helmet framed his resolute face. He was tall and powerfully built, holding a spear in his left hand and a shield in his right. His eyes were exceptionally sharp, and his entire presence radiated a fierce, martial pressure.
Then moonlight spilled across the temple.
Within it, the slender figure of a woman gradually materialized.
She had snow-white silver hair, delicate but cold features, dark armor, and a crescent moon symbol on her forehead.
The instant she appeared, the Aspect of the Sun directed a complicated gaze toward her.
She also knew that the woman manifested through moonlight was nothing more than a projection.
Her true body was not here.
"Ooh, looks like something fun happened!"
A playful girl's voice suddenly rang out.
A portal appeared, and a head popped through it.
"Hi, everyone! You all missed me like crazy, didn't you?"
She had an adorable, delicate face and was fairly short. Her smooth, flowing hair was almost as long as she was tall, shimmering with the colors of starlight.
No one responded.
The atmosphere immediately became awkwardly silent.
The girl didn't care in the slightest.
She climbed through the portal just as Morgana descended from above on a pair of black wings.
"Whoa! Black wings are way cooler than white ones!"
Her eyes sparkled as she watched Morgana land. She immediately hurried over, rubbing her hands together eagerly.
"Can I touch them?"
Morgana had no attention to spare for her right now.
Her gaze remained fixed entirely on Luke, unable to understand why he had come here.
Luke also noticed Morgana.
Their eyes met.
But Morgana was the first to look away.
She seemed to understand.
It was because she had left without saying goodbye.
She had assumed that with Luke's easygoing personality, he wouldn't care about something like that.
Yet only a few days had passed, and he had actually come straight to Mount Targon to find her.
Worse, he had caused this enormous commotion.
Rejecting an Aspect's blessing?
Who in their right mind would dare do something like that?
Zoe had once again been completely ignored, but she didn't care. Following Morgana's gaze, she looked toward Luke.
Her eyes immediately lit up again.
He was so handsome!
And it looked like he had been the one responsible for all that commotion earlier.
So cool!
He had forcefully rejected some arrogant god three times in a row.
As expected of the man she'd taken a liking to at first sight.
Granted, her first sight of him had been about one second ago.
In the next instant, a portal appeared directly in front of Luke.
Zoe's head popped out. She rested her arms along the edge of the portal and looked at him with sparkling eyes.
"I'm Zoe. What's your name?"
"Luke."
Luke briefly gave his name while looking at the playful, adorable girl in front of him.
Information about her flashed through his mind.
Zoe, the Aspect of Twilight.
"I..."
Zoe was just about to continue when a dignified, cold voice sounded behind her.
"Zoe. Come back."
"None of you were paying attention to me, so obviously I had to find someone who would!"
Zoe turned her head and gave an indignant little huff.
Then she turned back toward Luke and winked.
"We'll talk later! Looks like they have some questions for you."
With that, she slipped back through the portal and returned to her original position, continuing to watch Luke curiously.
She wasn't afraid of that old lady with the golden wings.
She simply wanted to know why Luke had done all of this.
She could probably use magic to calculate the answer, but where would be the fun in that?
The woman who had spoken just now was the one standing at the center of the temple, dressed in golden armor with a pair of pale golden wings.
Mihira, the Aspect of Justice.
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