The scenes from the memories flashed by one after another, transforming into countless tangible points of light in the air. The emotions of the person remembering them, sorrow, pain, happiness, and joy, flowed from those lights.
In that brief span of time, everyone witnessed the remarkable and tragic life of one man, leaving them filled with sorrow and sympathy.
By the time the memories reached their end, Vi and Jinx were already standing among the group with tears streaming down their faces.
They immediately rushed to Vander's side. Even though he no longer looked anything like the man they remembered, neither of them cared.
"Vander!"
Tears continued spilling from Vi's eyes as she called his name, overwhelmed by grief and joy.
Jinx dropped to her knees beside him as well, staring at him with concern while tears rolled continuously down her cheeks.
Neither of them had ever imagined that they would see Vander again, much less that their reunion would happen like this.
Only then did everyone else realize that Vander's two daughters were Vi and Jinx.
The memories sealed inside Vander had also been awakened. He gradually remembered everything from his past and slowly opened his eyes, which were filled with exhaustion.
Perhaps the greatest blessing for him was that the moment he opened his eyes, he saw the two people he cared about most.
Looking at Vi and Jinx as they sobbed uncontrollably, he raised one hand, wanting to stroke their faces as he had in the past.
However, when he saw the clawed hand he now possessed, he lowered it again.
Vi embraced him without the slightest hesitation, her tears falling onto his body.
"Vander, I missed you so much."
"Me too."
Jinx wrapped her arms around them from the other side, her glistening tears expressing how deeply she had missed him.
"I missed both of you too," Vander said in a hoarse voice.
Several times, he raised his arms to embrace his daughters, only to stop himself and lower them again.
He could not imagine how he was supposed to hold them while looking like this.
"I'm sorry, Vander. I..." Jinx sobbed, trying to say something.
At that moment, she was consumed by guilt.
She had not known that Vander was still alive. Everyone had told her that he died that night, swallowed by the flames.
She had never imagined that Vander had spent all these years enduring inhuman torment while she remained completely unaware.
Had she discovered the truth sooner, perhaps things would not have ended this way.
"The little girl I remember has grown so much."
Vander looked at Jinx, his eyes filled with the same tenderness they had held all those years ago.
"Don't cry. I never blamed you. Seeing that both of you are safe is the happiest and most fortunate moment of my life."
Jinx repeatedly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, but new ones always replaced them.
"Vi, all these years must have exhausted you."
Vander turned toward Vi and spoke with heartache in his voice.
The tears Vi had only just managed to stop immediately burst from her eyes again. She wiped them away.
"I'm not tired. Not even a little. We survived all the pain and hardship, Vander. Let's go back to Zaun and start over."
"Go back to Zaun..."
Vander's vision became unfocused.
Singed's face suddenly flashed through his mind, accompanied by the familiar agony returning once more.
The pumps attached to his body began uncontrollably injecting rage and hatred into him. He released a pained roar as he approached the verge of losing control.
Vi and Jinx immediately looked at him in alarm.
Watching from nearby, Seraphine analyzed the situation.
"Although we helped him recover his memories, both his body and his brain have been modified. In a sense, he's no longer the person he used to be."
Vi could not accept that.
"Isn't there any other way?"
"I don't know."
Seraphine's abilities were limited. At that moment, she heard Sona's thoughts and continued, "The key problem is that these modifications have taken control of his emotions. Unless we solve that problem, I'm afraid he can't return to the way he was."
"His heart is filled with hatred for the person who turned him into this. Unless that person dies, he may remain this way forever."
After hearing Seraphine's explanation, Jinx suddenly remembered something.
"Singed..."
"You know him?" Vi immediately asked anxiously.
"Not much." Jinx shook her head. "I only know that he was Silco's alchemist. He was the one who created Shimmer."
"Damn it."
Vi clenched her fists.
"I'm fine..."
Vander spoke again between ragged breaths.
Relying on his extraordinary willpower, he suppressed the signs of losing control.
At that moment, Luke, who had been observing for a long while, suddenly felt a strange restlessness inside his body.
His expression shifted slightly. He carefully examined the sensation, and even his eyebrows furrowed when he realized what was happening.
The World Rune fragment that had remained dormant inside him all this time now seemed to be awakening, emitting an inexplicable fluctuation.
Luke had accidentally absorbed the fragment after killing Eldred.
He had never found a way to remove it. Since it had never displayed any unusual behavior, it had simply remained asleep inside his body.
Yet now it was suddenly waking up.
What was happening?
Luke was confused. It was not as though he could sing it a lullaby and coax it back to sleep.
Even if it was only a fragment, this was still a World Rune. Luke knew that his mortal body probably would not survive if it suddenly exploded.
Just as he considered calling upon the all-purpose spirit goddess, another faint fluctuation came from a different direction.
Understanding suddenly dawned on him, and his gaze sharpened.
This was most likely a reaction between World Runes. In that case, there was probably another World Rune in the direction from which the fluctuation had come.
He glanced toward it.
That direction led to Zaun.
"Something has happened in Zaun. We need to go back."
Having sensed the situation, Luke immediately spoke.
"What is it?" Lux asked. "Your expression changed just now. What happened?"
She had noticed Luke's reaction immediately, but she had learned to be patient and had waited until now to ask.
"I'm really angry!"
The spirit goddess's furious voice suddenly rang inside Luke's mind.
"That bastard went after my most faithful believers, two of them! Hurry over there and teach him a lesson! I can't tolerate this at all! It's the man you're discussing right now, Singed. He also has a World Rune fragment, so be careful."
Inside the resting space, winds whipped wildly around Janna. She was so angry that even her hair floated around her.
Were she not forbidden from interfering too heavily in the mortal world, she would have personally dealt with that man long ago.
Every one of her believers was extraordinarily precious and difficult to gain. Forget two, even one was incredibly important.
After hearing her explanation, Luke immediately understood the situation.
He looked at the others.
"I've calculated Singed's location."
At the same time, inside a laboratory somewhere in Zaun, Viktor pushed open a door and walked farther inside.
This place truly was remote and frighteningly quiet.
He had not expected his former mentor to have moved here, although it admittedly looked much better than the cave he had previously occupied.
A humming sound came from ahead.
It seemed to be the sound of an experiment, so Viktor quickened his pace, wanting to see what was happening.
More than that, he wanted to know why the mentor who had not contacted him in so long had suddenly summoned him.
When Viktor opened the laboratory door, an arc of green electricity flashed past his face.
He froze in the doorway.
Inside the enormous laboratory, green arcs of electricity drifted through the air, forming a strange field like bolts of lightning.
The field contained profound and mysterious energy. Magical power permeated every corner of the room, all of it originating from a pillar standing in the center of the laboratory.
A peculiar crystal mounted atop it was releasing the brilliant energy.
Before long, everything returned to normal. The crystal drew the arcs of electricity back into itself and stabilized.
Viktor then saw the ecstatic expression on Singed's face. Wild joy overflowed from his sunken eyes, and even his breathing had quickened.
"Viktor, your timing is perfect."
Singed noticed Viktor standing in the doorway.
"I had no one with whom I could share the joy of this moment, so I called you here. I know that you are the only person capable of understanding me."
"What are you talking about?"
Confused, Viktor stepped into the laboratory. His gaze remained fixed on the crystal.
"What is that?"
Singed smiled.
"A World Rune fragment, a marvelous power filled with limitless possibilities."
"I saw what it could do. It is indeed extraordinary."
Viktor nodded slightly, then asked curiously, "Is that why you asked me to come here?"
"One of the reasons."
Singed quickly brought his emotions under control. His face returned to its usual unreadable calm.
"As you can see, my experiment has essentially succeeded. I invited you here because I want you to become my assistant. We still have a long road ahead of us."
"You are exceptional, Viktor. I knew it from the moment I first saw you. Our later conversations also provided me with a great deal of inspiration."
"That is why I thought of you. With this, we will create a legacy no one can surpass. We will rewrite the history of Runeterra."
As Singed spoke, his emotions once again began to rise.
It was rare for him to lose control of himself as he had today, but he could not help it. His discovery was simply too exhilarating.
Viktor listened in confusion.
"An experiment? What experiment?"
His mind was filled with questions. He wanted to know what Singed was talking about.
However, he had a vague feeling that Singed was attempting something monumental.
Viktor looked around the room and suddenly froze.
He saw numerous experimental chambers, containers large enough to hold a person that resembled alchemical tanks.
There were no people inside them, but when he saw the gray powder scattered throughout the chambers, a possibility entered his mind.
"I forgot to tell you."
Singed calmed himself once more. He did not notice Viktor's discovery and continued speaking slowly.
"But I believe you will understand. We discussed this before."
"Could an ordinary person, or someone with a disability, gain greater power or restore their body to a normal state through magical means?"
"Now I can tell you that it is possible."
After Singed finished speaking, Viktor glanced at his right leg.
He still needed a cane to walk.
Although his overall condition had improved, the right leg that had been disabled since childhood had never been healed.
Singed continued, "Because we overlooked one particular issue."
"What issue?" Viktor asked.
"Equivalent exchange."
Singed walked toward an experimental table and used two beakers to demonstrate. He poured half a cup of water into each of them.
"There is a law within Runeterra, the law of conservation."
"Nothing can appear from nothing, and nothing can disappear without reason."
As he spoke, he poured the water from one beaker into the other.
"This is equivalent exchange, or more precisely, false equivalent exchange, because even within equivalent exchange, unequal exchanges exist."
"In other words, if one cup wishes to obtain more water, it must take an equal quantity from another cup. Under certain circumstances, the second cup may even need to surrender a greater amount."
"For a mage to use magic, they must pay with magical energy. Without magical energy, it is impossible for them to cast a spell."
"By the same principle, if a person with a disability wants to restore their body to normal, or if someone without a hand wants to grow a new one, they must find something of equal value to exchange."
"During my research, I discovered another law."
Singed turned to Viktor.
Viktor could not help asking, "What law?"
"Human priority."
Singed enunciated each word clearly.
"Within Runeterra's evolutionary hierarchy, humans occupy one of the highest positions. The human body possesses a higher priority than many other forms of life. That is precisely why we are constrained by genetic shackles from birth."
"This is also why many people become significantly stronger after breaking those genetic shackles. Some call these shackles the limitations of the body, and breaking them is known as surpassing one's limits."
"Humans are naturally weaker than many other creatures, but our potential for growth exceeds theirs."
"Therefore, during an equivalent exchange, humans must also provide a greater price."
"If someone who was born weak wishes to obtain greater strength, then they must acquire even more material to pay that price. That is false equivalent exchange."
Singed's lengthy explanation echoed throughout the silent laboratory.
After listening, Viktor could not help saying, "Your theories are somewhat too..."
"Dangerous?"
Singed smiled faintly. He knew what Viktor intended to say.
"Exploring such matters is the duty of inventors like us. We were born to carry burdens ordinary people could never understand."
"For humanity's ultimate ideal, no matter how difficult or twisted the path may become, someone must walk it."
"The result is what matters."
As Singed spoke, excitement once again appeared in his eyes.
Viktor realized that Singed's emotions were truly abnormal today.
Whenever they had spoken in the past, Singed had usually remained calm. It had seemed as though nothing in the world could cause his emotions to fluctuate.
Viktor suddenly remembered the disagreement that had once arisen between them.
To Singed, as long as the result was satisfactory, the process did not matter.
In Viktor's eyes, that belief was terrifying, especially when held by a capable inventor.
It meant that the inventor could resort to any method, no matter how cruel, in pursuit of the desired result.
Now, Viktor realized that Singed's words had already become extremely dangerous.
Equivalent exchange.
Human priority.
To gain greater power, a human needed to pay a greater price.
Viktor naturally understood what those words meant, and the realization sent a chill across his scalp.
The fact that Singed could speak of it like this meant that the corresponding horrific consequences might have already occurred.
When it came to Singed, Viktor had no doubt.
To achieve the result he envisioned, Singed might already have begun experimenting on human beings.
//Check out my P@tre0n for 30 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810