Once the declarations were over, Caleb hurried over to stand behind Mel.
Everyone: ?
By the light of the red moon overhead, Caleb saw no missile streaking toward them with a blue contrail.
He quietly let out a breath of relief.
At least he had managed to talk that lunatic Jinx down. She had not fired a Super Mega Death Rocket! at the Council after all.
Only then did he finally lower the button he had been gripping the entire time.
It was a Hextech shield he had built himself.
Maybe it was not as precise or flashy, but stopping a missile was more than easy enough for it.
That was what it had been designed for, after all.
If Caleb had his way, things would have been much easier if he could have brought in that wind-chasing man, or that one man you could trust completely.
Too bad one of them was off in Ionia chasing the wind, while the other was out in the Freljord riding a sled.
So the responsibility had fallen to him instead.
He had substituted Silco for Jinx, ensured the gemstone would be used in Zaun, and even brought in Heimerdinger.
Even so, he still could not fully trust the mindset of a warlord like Silco.
If the man had simply said, "Then to hell with them all," the whole place might have been wiped out in one go, and war between the twin cities would have become inevitable.
All the work Caleb had put in would have been for nothing.
That absolutely could not happen.
So once the timeline had passed the point where the original story should have played out, Caleb had hurried to the window to stand guard.
Only now did the heaviest stone in his heart finally drop.
Watching the others continue discussing the next steps, Caleb murmured inwardly, "System, does this count as completed?"
The answer came in the familiar cold voice.
[The equal balance between the twin cities has not yet been fully achieved. Please claim the reward later.]
Caleb was not especially annoyed by that response.
He had only been testing his progress. From the look of it, the overall trend was already set.
The last stretch was always the hardest, and he still could not afford to relax.
At this point, every bit of future knowledge he had gained from the original plot had effectively become useless. Until he received his reward, he would have to be twice as careful.
Zaun had a habit of producing lunatics, after all. Taking over in Silco's place was likely to bring him no shortage of trouble.
Even if he planned to hand things over to Ekko and Heimerdinger later, he still could not let his guard down during this interim period just because the reward had not arrived yet.
Caution was his best weapon in a world he only half understood.
And speaking of weapons, Caleb thought of the Atlas Gauntlets he had brought back to Piltover.
That had not just been a way of removing Vi as an unstable variable. It had also been a test.
Caleb had discovered something: no matter how far heroes fell, in the end, they still seemed destined to become "heroes."
Ekko. Heimerdinger. Caitlyn. Vi. Jayce. Viktor...
It was as though some invisible hand behind the scenes kept pushing them toward their appointed places.
And Caleb knew that perhaps this was exactly what the ultimate will of this universe wanted to see.
He had made one very simple test—he told Vi not to come to Piltover, and let Jinx get her hands on Hextech ahead of time.
But Vi still came back, supporting Caitlyn as she returned to House Kiramman's manor.
Jinx had escaped a Shimmer operation, but judging by her current state, there was still no sign at all that she would ever become Powder again.
Caleb understood that perfectly clearly.
Jinx and Powder had always been the same person.
Back then, Caleb had already had a feeling—Vi would become that "Piltover Enforcer," while Jinx would become that "Loose Cannon."
What paths their lives would take afterward remained unknown, but for now, it was easy to see the two of them drifting farther and farther apart.
Jinx had no goodwill toward Piltover whatsoever, while Vi had found herself a good friend in Cupcake.
And with that thought, Caleb found himself wondering...
What would Vi do in Zaun?
...
It was still the same stall, and still the same fish-man.
Vi was once again stuffing fish dipped in sticky sauce into her mouth.
But unlike last time, when she had wolfed it down, this time she chewed much more slowly.
"Boss, one of the same for me."
A figure dropped into the seat beside her with casual ease.
Without even turning around, the owner tossed over a bowl of fish.
The bowl spun a few circles across the table before stopping neatly in place.
Jinx also started shoving fish into her mouth.
This was a street stall they had both loved a long time ago.
Back then, there had been two more figures sitting here with the sisters.
Mylo would complain about Powder from time to time, while Claggor would silently order another bowl.
Now only the two of them remained.
"I thought about everything Caleb said."
This time, Vi spoke first.
"When I look back on everything that happened so long ago... after all those years in prison, I still didn't learn a damn thing."
As she spoke, she looked down at her own hands.
Long ago, when Vander had been treating her wounds, he had asked her, "What do you solve your problems with? This?"
At the time, the bandages wrapped around her fists had been soaked red with blood.
The other side had not gotten off lightly, but she had paid a heavy price too.
That had never been Powder's fault. Powder's strength had never been in her fists.
Vi should have understood that.
"Actually, Caleb told me a few other things too," Jinx mumbled through a mouthful of fish and sauce.
"He said he tried to stop you. He wanted you to stay in Zaun with me instead of going topside."
"He also said you and that Caitlyn are close, but that your heart will always have a place for me."
As Jinx spoke, tears ran down her face too. Maybe the sauce was just too sharp.
"I always understood, really. You could never stand Silco."
"But he really did make Zaun stronger. At least people here don't have to live at the mercy of the enforcers anymore."
Jinx folded her arms and muttered to herself, "Sis, your hands are still clean. Unlike mine... there's no going back for me."
She gave her a sweet smile.
In that moment, she was Powder.
"Are we... still sisters?"
Vi took Jinx's hand.
From the frail little thing she used to be to the strength now in that grip, Vi realized she truly knew nothing about what Powder had gone through all these years.
"Nothing can change what we are to each other," Jinx said softly.
"Go, Sis. Go to Piltover. Put on those gauntlets, and protect the peace there with your friend."
"I'm meant to stay here."
"Powder!" Before Vi could stop her, Jinx dissolved into a flash of blue light and vanished from where she stood.
All she left behind was a pair of goggles.
They were Claggor's.
...
Yazde stormed up to the hospital entrance in a rage.
"Damn that Silco! I should've killed him on the spot last time!"
Silco's order had come down—Shimmer production was to stop across the entire city.
So how was Yazde supposed to do business now?
A few of the chem-barons had put their heads together. Finn was already dead.
Killed by Sevika's blade.
They had to unite.
Even if they lost fighting that bastard, would their fate really be much better than Finn's otherwise?
His top enforcer had originally needed one more day of modifications, but things had become too urgent.
As long as the man could still fight, then even if he stomped on him again, so what?
With that thought, Yazde pushed open the doors of Oswald Asylum.
What he saw made him freeze.
No one was there in the front lobby to receive him. The hallways were empty and deathly silent.
It was nothing like the "lively" madhouse it usually was.
What the hell had happened?
Only one room at the end of the corridor gave off any sound at all—something like the rambling nonsense of a patient.
Yazde and his men forced themselves forward and entered the room.
Bodies were scattered all over the floor—doctors and patients alike, all torn to pieces so badly that it was impossible to tell who had been who.
The only one still standing was a towering, broad-shouldered monster with purple skin, clutching a bonesaw tightly in one hand.
Yazde went pale.
He could already tell—
this was the enforcer he had sent in.
He snatched up his chemtech pistol and fired several shots at the monster as it turned to look at him.
The bullets ripped open the flesh in its chest, making it pause.
A moment later, fresh muscle rapidly spread over the wounds, sealing them shut.
"You sick. Need treatment."
That was the first thing the monster said after carefully studying the man in front of him.