At that moment, even Sona and Poppy were utterly astonished.
Seeing this from across the battlefield, Singed's eyes sharpened. He was greatly surprised. Although his expression did not change, disbelief arose within him.
He sensed the agitation of the Rune inside his body and confirmed that another Rune had appeared before him.
"How is this possible?"
"Yes, yes, beat him up!"
Compared with everyone else's astonishment, Janna was beside herself with excitement inside the resting space. She clenched her small fists and cheered enthusiastically.
"Good. Very good. I never expected a ready-made Rune to appear right before me. This truly is a surprise."
Singed stared at Luke and launched the first attack.
With his body empowered by the Rune, he had already surpassed his physical limits. A ripple appeared in the air, and Singed instantly materialized before Luke.
A devastating attack descended like a thunderbolt, carrying such terrifying force that it seemed capable of destroying everything.
Luke calmly raised one hand and took the blow head-on.
He did not retreat even half a step.
Although the Runic energy devastated the area surrounding him, it caused him no harm whatsoever.
Singed's expression changed. He decisively withdrew and opened the distance between them, his eyes growing solemn.
He had used nearly all his strength in that attack, yet Luke had blocked it with ridiculous ease.
The Rune inside the prince was clearly no weaker than his own.
According to Singed's knowledge, five systems of World Runes existed, each possessing a different form of power.
His Rune, for example, supplied his body with a continuous stream of life force.
"My turn!"
By then, Luke had adapted to the new power within his body. He tightened his grip on Snowglance and instantly flashed to Singed's side.
The Runic energy raging around his body made the air itself sound as though it were boiling.
Luke swung his sword.
Runic energy merged with the wind-wielding sword aura, creating a tremendous current unlike anything he had ever produced before. Orange-gold tornadoes resembling bolts of lightning erupted around him.
They howled as they destroyed everything in their path.
The slash was so fast that the naked eye could not follow it.
Singed released Runic energy to form a protective barrier, but he was still sent flying like a cannonball. He slammed violently into a wall, causing rubble to collapse with a thunderous roar and instantly reducing the area to ruins.
The next second, he shot out of the debris and unleashed all his Runic energy without reservation, flying directly toward Luke.
Naturally, Luke refused to retreat. He released all the power within his body and charged forward to meet him.
Boom!
A deafening explosion erupted instantly.
The resulting blast of wind nearly knocked Lux and the others off their feet.
The two streams of Runic energy collided. Orange-gold and green power flooded the entire area, and the resulting violent tremors expanded outward like an enormous energy field.
Sections of the ground were torn apart, and cracks appeared everywhere. Seeing this, Lux and the others continued fleeing outside.
The laboratory walls began to fracture as though an earthquake had struck. The ceiling repeatedly collapsed, and in the blink of an eye, the enormous laboratory was reduced to ruins.
At the center of the battlefield, the two terrifying streams of Runic energy continued colliding without either yielding. They seemed evenly matched, while arcs of electricity carrying astonishing destructive power appeared around them.
Outside, Vi, Seraphine, Viktor, and the others watched the scene in profound shock.
Their vision was filled by the yellow and green battlefield.
Everyone realized that they were witnessing a level of power far beyond anything they understood.
Any mortal weapon would appear laughably insignificant before such force.
Viktor collapsed onto the ground, his entire body trembling uncontrollably.
He felt certain he would remember this sight for the rest of his life.
He lacked even the strength to stand. Breathing itself felt suffocating.
For the first time, he truly understood humanity's insignificance.
Before power capable of destroying heaven and earth, humans were little more than ants that could be annihilated in an instant.
At the center of the clash, Luke noticed that the power of the Runes had begun spreading into the surrounding area.
He understood how terrifying World Runes were. As forces that had once nearly destroyed all of Runeterra, they were fully capable of erasing both Piltover and Zaun.
And this was only the beginning of the World Runes' displayed power.
Unless the battle ended quickly, the entire twin cities would eventually be caught in it.
Luke exerted more strength.
The power surging from his body began to gain the advantage, and the yellow Rune started suppressing the green one.
Singed struggled desperately, but he was still blasted backward.
Luke immediately slashed.
Runic energy formed an enormous, howling tornado that swallowed Singed.
"Disperse!"
Singed roared and used the green Rune to shatter the tornado.
Luke flashed toward him and brought down his sword again.
He began swinging rapidly. Every slash carried powerful Runic energy and tremendous destructive force.
Singed was driven back repeatedly and could only defend himself without pause.
He was merely a mortal who had acquired the power of a Rune.
Luke was different. He had already possessed formidable strength before awakening his fragment.
"I will not fall here!"
Singed released a resentful growl.
This time, he poured out every trace of Runic energy without reservation.
In an instant, the air filled with flashes and thunderous explosions. Everything touched by the Runic energy was destroyed.
Green energy spread through the cracks in the ground.
Then, like an erupting volcano, an enormous quantity of Runic flame burst upward.
Everything along the streets of Zaun was mercilessly destroyed. Countless clouds of gray poison began spraying from pipes throughout the area.
Luke had no time to concern himself with them. He dodged the green Runic power coming from every direction, knowing that he had to end everything as quickly as possible.
He gathered all his strength and poured a vast quantity of Runic energy into Snowglance while simultaneously releasing several forms of Sword Intent.
His aura rose continuously.
The surrounding ground and walls were destroyed merely by coming into contact with it.
The Runic power inside his body had also reached an entirely new height through the accumulated momentum of the battle.
The terrifying aura he released alarmed nearly everyone in Zaun.
Many Zaunites saw the scene from far away. As they watched Runic power churning between heaven and earth like a vision of the apocalypse, they collapsed onto the ground in terror.
Luke held his breath and focused.
Then he unleashed a full-strength slash.
The blade cut through the air with a piercing hiss.
The attack seemed to tear through space itself. A fissure appeared in the air like the trail left by a bolt of lightning.
Everyone was stunned by the slash.
Snowglance appeared before the Runic barrier surrounding Singed.
The barrier formed from Runic energy was incomparably sturdy, but the sword tip, which contained all of Luke's Sword Intent, created an opening the instant it struck.
"No!"
More cracks spread across the barrier.
Singed watched helplessly as the sword broke through his defenses and released an anguished, unwilling roar.
In the next instant, the blade pierced Singed's body.
The tremendous Runic energy inside the sword began raging through him.
Even his Rune-enhanced body and the endless life force flowing through it collapsed instantly, annihilated by the boundless energy.
The rampaging green Runic power began to weaken until it nearly disappeared.
With that, the battle between the two Rune fragments finally came to an end.
However, the crisis was not over.
The battle between the Runes had still affected Zaun, and Singed had prepared another measure in advance.
Large quantities of gray poison gas began pouring from pipes throughout Zaun's middle levels. In the blink of an eye, it threatened to spread across every street before continuing through the rest of the city.
Lux and the others had already been surrounded by the poisonous fog.
They remained unharmed for the moment because magic protected them.
Ordinary Zaunites without magical protection were not so fortunate.
The people who had been drawn toward the area by the battle were soon lost inside the poisonous fog. After inhaling only a single breath, they found themselves unable to breathe.
Their throats burned with stabbing pain. They fell to their knees and coughed violently without pause.
Blood filled their eyes, and more began flowing from their ears.
Seeing this, Lux and the others grew anxious.
"What are we supposed to do?"
"That bastard prepared all this poison gas too?"
"This isn't the time to complain about it. At this rate, the poisonous fog will spread throughout all of Zaun in less than an hour."
"By then, even Piltover may not escape."
They had no way to stop the fog from spreading everywhere.
The poison was not emerging from only one pipe. Every pipeline throughout the entire district was spraying it.
Zaun itself was a city of interconnected pipelines, with pipes of every kind visible everywhere.
Under the present circumstances, sealing a handful of openings would accomplish nothing.
All of Zaun entered a state of mass evacuation. People desperately fled from the spreading poison, but an increasing number were still swallowed by the fog.
Singed's contingency plan was about to become a catastrophe.
Luke had not expected this either.
Although Runic power protected him, even he could not dispel all the poison gas.
"Forget it, I'll do it!"
At that moment, a figure appeared in the sky.
She wore a sacred white dress and held an elegant staff of pure white, resembling a celestial spirit.
Her long silver hair flowed freely, and her face was beautiful and pure. Her expression was solemn.
Countless people saw her at that moment and stared upward in a daze.
She had once saved Zaun before.
The ground had collapsed, and most of the city had nearly sunk into the sea. Countless people would have died.
That time, she had exhausted her power by interfering in the mortal world and had nearly faded from existence.
Afterward, fewer and fewer people remembered her.
Humanity had almost forgotten her completely.
Now a similar disaster had appeared once more.
And once again, she stepped forward without hesitation.
"Come, wind!"
Janna's beautiful, ethereal voice echoed between heaven and earth.
It resembled a gentle breeze that soothed the heart and refreshed the spirit.
Yet her voice was also unwaveringly resolute.
She lowered her staff into the air as though planting it firmly against solid ground.
In an instant, the winds of the world answered her call.
They gathered over the city from every direction beneath the vast sky.
Powerful winds swept through every street in Zaun, as though washing the entire city clean. At the same time, they carried away all the haze that had blanketed it.
The poisonous fog was helplessly seized by the wind and began receding like the tide.
Even escaping into the pipelines could not save it.
The wind overlooked no corner.
It surged into Zaun's pipes, and the sound passing through them was as beautiful as the voice of the Wind Goddess herself.
The poisonous fog had nowhere to escape.
In the blink of an eye, it was completely purified and vanished without a trace.
The steadfast figure standing in the sky disappeared with it.
People could not help rubbing their eyes, wondering whether they had imagined what they saw.
However, their hearts soon stopped wavering.
There was no possibility that they had been mistaken.
A divine being had unquestionably revealed herself at that moment.
Her name was Janna.
Janna, the Wind Goddess.
The poisonous fog disappeared from the streets, which returned to normal and appeared even cleaner than before.
Luke's battlefield, however, remained utterly devastated.
Everyone stood amid the ruins of the former laboratory, silent for a time.
The Runic energy inside Luke remained under control.
He seemed perfectly capable of managing it.
He attempted to contact the spirit goddess, but received no response.
Interfering excessively in the mortal world required her to expend even more power. As a divine being born from the natural world, doing so meant breaking the restrictions that heaven and earth had placed upon her.
She had struggled to accumulate what little power she possessed, constantly lamenting how difficult it was to obtain. She treasured it like a secret stash of savings.
Now she had spent all of it at once.
Exhausting her strength could even cause her to disappear from existence, yet she had not hesitated for a single moment.
Luke repeatedly called out to the spirit goddess without tiring, but received no answer.
Just as his heart began to sink, a weak voice suddenly sounded inside his mind.
"This goddess is exhausted. I'm going to sleep, so stop bothering me."
After saying that, she fell silent again.
Only then did Luke's anxiety ease.
Had she truly disappeared, he would have needed to find a way to bring her back.
At that moment, Luke suddenly furrowed his brow and looked in a particular direction.
The next second, he flashed away without hesitation and raced toward it at extreme speed.
Within only a few breaths, he appeared atop a concealed rooftop and looked at the Veiled Lady, who was attempting to escape.
"It's awfully late. Shouldn't you be asleep?"
The Veiled Lady looked at him and suddenly laughed.
"As expected of the renowned Prince of Demacia. You truly are formidable."
Luke examined her.
"So you're the one using the symbol C?"
"C is merely one of my many aliases. I possess so many identities that even I occasionally forget which role I am supposed to be playing."
C spoke in a remarkably calm tone.
She did not seem particularly afraid of Luke, despite the Runic power within him.
"Enough with the mysterious act."
Luke raised one hand and directly tore the mask from C's face.
Beneath it was the ordinary face of an unremarkable man who looked no different from a random passerby.
However, in Luke's eyes, this was merely another layer of her disguise.
Before True Sight, every illusion, dreamscape, and false appearance was meaningless.
In Luke's eyes, no disguise could truly be called a disguise.
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