The dry sand sea stretched endlessly.
A cold voice kept whispering, scratching at your mind, driving you mad with irritation. The fog remained constant.
"Where am I?"
Duke looked at the silent, ruined, Withered World and subconsciously stepped forward; everything before his eyes rapidly receded, as if the World was pushing him.
With a blur before his eyes, Duke found himself in a dark, cold hall, with countless swirling souls above his head, howling, crying, and cursing everything they detested.
Directly in front of Duke was a shattered iron throne, forged from black iron, but now broken, with a massive, incredibly ferocious warhammer standing on one of the fragments.
"This is..." Duke took a step back, "Nightfall!!"
"Then this is..." Realizing where he was, Duke felt a surge of panic; if it truly was the place he imagined, then he could start thinking about the color of the wreaths at his funeral.
"Creak!!"
The handle of Nightfall was gripped by a ruthless iron hand, the owner of which wore black iron plate armor and stared at him eerily.
"Enlightener, do not forget your mission!"
Duke felt a pull that reached his soul, and the Black Armored Wraith stared at him, "I'm waiting for you!"
Duke's vision suddenly plunged into darkness, and he laboriously opened his eyes, seeing the familiar ceiling of his room; the warm sensation on his forehead brought a slight relief to his head, which felt like it was about to explode from pain.
"Why am I in my room? Shouldn't I be in Bandle City?"
Removing the hot towel from his forehead, Duke struggled to sit up; at that moment, the door opened, and Orianna, carrying a basin of hot Water, saw Duke awake, hurried over, put down the hot Water, and helped him lie back down.
"Professor Heimerdinger said you shouldn't move around yet; he said you released all your magic at once, making your body weak, and you need to slowly recover."
"When did I get back?"
Duke was startled by his own hoarse voice; Orianna handed him the letter from the table, "Professor Heimerdinger asked me to give this to you; he said you'd understand once you read it."
"Alright."
Duke opened the letter and read its contents without blinking.
"Oh, Duke, if you're reading this letter, it means you're awake. I apologize for bringing you into Bandle City so abruptly.
The reason you fainted was because the black magic aura attached to the broken armor, a collection in the museum, stimulated you, leading to a complete awakening.
However, your awakening also caused your magic to Rampage; you should have seen the scene, Jayce and Viktor were terrified.
But don't worry, I'll take care of them.
Thanks to you, they understand the dangers of magic and should no longer think about tinkering with dangerous magical creations; after all, no one wants to experience being forced to tap dance in place by a magic surge again!"
"Your magic talent is a miracle among miracles; it can inject life into inanimate objects. As a craftsman and a scientist, you understand the purpose of your talent, but I hope you don't abuse it. I hope you use your talent for good."
"I still have some personal matters to attend to in my hometown, so I won't be returning for a while. My new apprentice, Ziggs, has already gone to the academy; you can go see him."
"Keep it up, young man!"
Duke's eyes were filled with disbelief after reading the entire letter; what exactly happened during the magic Rampage caused by his magic awakening that directly interrupted his journey?
And that dream, why did he dream of Mordekaiser?
"Is it because of that armor?"
"Or rather, was the Master of that armor beaten to death by Mordekaiser, and his aura lingered on the armor, connecting me to him?"
With his thoughts in disarray, Duke's head began to ache intensely again; unable to think about anything, he closed his eyes and fell back into a coma. Orianna, seeing this, silently took out a new towel, soaked it in hot Water, and placed it on his forehead.
"Janna!" Orianna took out her qingniao amulet: "May you bless Duke to overcome this difficulty!"
...
Bandle City, Museum.
"Oh, my old bones!"
Heimerdinger, uncharacteristically without a wrench and screwdriver, was carrying a Water bucket and holding a rag, with a blue cat flying around him.
"Hurry up and work, don't be lazy!!"
The magical cat hovered above Heimerdinger's head: "Yuumi will be watching you!"
"I know, I know, don't rush me!"
...
Zaun, Fugen Tavern.
Underground Room.
"Hum hum hum hum..."
Powder, humming an inexplicable song, was tinkering with her small invention in the Underground Room. Wearing goggles, her blue hair was scattered behind her head, and the wrench in her hand was disassembling a broken clockwork device.
"This screw is exactly what I want!"
Powder excitedly took out a screw and threw the useless clockwork device in her hand into the trash can behind her, which was full of mechanical creations with disassembled parts, screws, or bolts.
"Powder!!"
Vi, who pushed the door open and walked in, looked at the Underground Room, which Powder had made unrecognizable. The original Underground Room was a lounge for the four of them, where they could do whatever they wanted.
But ever since the old cannery incident, Powder seemed to have been stimulated, starting to tinker with these machines, and experimental accidents became a daily occurrence.
"What's wrong, Vi?"
Powder held the wrench and sent the screw she had just obtained to its rightful place, the corner of a square box with a little monkey graffiti.
"Listen!" Vi came to Powder's workbench. It was called a workbench, but it was actually a table she had dragged from somewhere, missing one leg.
"I'm glad you're interested in these!"
"I'm about to succeed, just like that box Duke threw out, which can make those monsters go 'bang' into pieces!"
Speaking of this, Powder seemed exceptionally excited, gesticulating wildly: "After I succeed, I can protect you, I can protect everyone, no one can bully us anymore!"
"Alright, alright!"
Vi held Powder, who was excitedly gesticulating, and forced a smile: "I'm glad you think that way, but Black Alley is peaceful now. With me here, with Vander here, you don't have to think about protecting anyone. We'll protect you!"
"But...."
Powder recalled that night at the old cannery.
"Can you leave here?"
"You're the only one I have left!"
"Please, just leave, okay?"
"Yes, just like that, don't look back!"
Vi's gaze at that time kept swirling in Powder's mind.
From that moment on, she intensely disliked her own weakness, her own frailty. She wanted to use her wisdom, her talent, to protect her older sister.
"But I don't want that!" Powder lowered her head, "I don't want to always stand behind you, I don't want to see you get bruised and battered because of me!"
"I don't want what happened last time to happen again!"
After hearing Jinx's words, Vi sighed and squatted down, holding Powder's hands and looking sincerely into her sister's eyes.
"But you always do these dangerous experiments, I really can't be at ease. Do you know what everyone outside is saying now?"
"They say there's a Basilisk hidden in Fugen Tavern's Underground Room, and every time it misses feeding time, it violently smashes against the iron door."
"How could such a large place possibly hold a Basilisk!" Powder smiled slightly. Vi stood up and patted her shoulder: "Don't overthink it!"
"Some things don't need you to worry about them. You just need to be yourself!"
Touching Powder's blue hair, Vi turned and came to the door, "Want to go up and have some juice?"
"Wait until I finish this!" Powder picked up her wrench again and continued working on her replicated Joker box. Vi leaned against the door, watching the scene with a smile.
It's good that she could be persuaded!
Powder's movements were nimble, but in Duke's eyes, they were clumsy. While connecting the wires, she accidentally caused the exposed copper wire from the fuse to rub against another copper wire.
Sizzle!
A spark of electricity instantly traveled along the copper wire into the entire conduction system. The gunpowder solution in the box quickly became agitated, bubbling profusely.
"What's happening?!"
Vi noticed this, and Powder dropped the wrench in her hand, pulling her sister to run out, "The current I accidentally created got connected into the conduction system!"
"What will happen then?"
Vi, feeling a bad premonition, watched Powder close the door tightly. Powder smiled indifferently and said, "It's just going to explode, it's nothing!"
Inside the Underground Room, the gunpowder solution instantly expanded, a flash of Fire spilled outwards, and then the entire Underground Room was filled with Fire.
The next second.
The two sisters standing at the doorway were startled by the door being blown open by the air current. The air current surged outwards, pushing them against the wall. Vi felt as if her ribs had broken, her face contorted in pain.
"Janna!!"
Powder had already called for Janna's help at the first instant. Janna appeared in the void, looking at the gushing Fire, and sighed helplessly.
"You scientists always manage to mess things up so easily!"
Gales surged in, protecting everyone.
However, all the gunpowder solution Powder had prepared in the Underground Room was ignited by the Fire, making the explosion even more intense.
Boom boom boom…
Amidst the explosions, Fugen Tavern shook.
Vander, behind the bar, felt the Threads of Vibration beneath his feet and watched the raging winds around him. His expression suddenly changed. He dropped the glass in his hand and said to everyone, "Everyone, get out!"
The next second.
As the winds surged, Fire followed closely, engulfing everything!
The entire Fugen Tavern also collapsed with a roar, like building blocks being Takedown, attracting the attention of everyone on the street.
As dust rolled along the ground, Fugen Tavern was no longer visible.
Half an hour later, with the rescue efforts of others from Black Alley, everyone protected by Janna emerged completely unharmed from the ruins. Vander stood before the ruins, sighing as he looked at the tavern he had built with his own hands reduced to this state.
"Powder!!!"
Vi's furious roar pierced the haze. Powder squatted on the ground, clutching her head, her eyes filled with lingering fear. If Janna hadn't intervened at the last moment to protect everyone, she would probably have felt guilty for a lifetime.
"Alright, Vi!"
Vander grabbed Vi's hand, stopping her from slapping, and looked at Powder, who was trembling on the ground.
"Call Duke to take Powder away!"
-------------------------------
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