"People of Piltover, witness the strength of Noxus!"
"Those marked for execution have nowhere to run!"
Urgot proudly declared it to the city around him. Even though the street was empty, his voice was destined to echo across all of Piltover.
"No!" Mel rushed forward, the clothes she wore flashing with a golden glow.
"You'll get yourself killed too," Jayce said, moving even faster than she did as he charged ahead.
He was prepared to slam Urgot's arm aside, even if it meant getting executed along with Ambessa.
As for how he planned to get out of the city afterward, that was another matter entirely.
At that moment, Jayce also realized something. Piltover's defensive strength might not even be better than Zaun's right now.
Hextech weapons still hadn't been mass-produced, and he obviously didn't carry his hammer everywhere he went.
Zaun, at the very least, still had a few people who would chug a bottle of shimmer and go berserk.
"Relax."
Caleb's voice rang out as he leaned out through the hole blasted in the wall.
A laser tore straight down the entire street.
Urgot stared at his severed arm after it hit the ground, stunned for a second.
The cut had been unbelievably fast. The distance had been far enough that the laser only needed the briefest upward sweep to catch his arm.
His prized right arm, the one he had used for so many executions, fell to the ground together with the gleaming execution blade it had carried, both hitting the street with a crisp metallic clang.
"Whew..."
Caleb wiped away sweat that wasn't actually there.
"Huh. My aim's pretty damn good."
The third "arm" that had extended from behind Caleb slowly withdrew back under his clothes.
If that shot had been even a little off, it might have clipped Ambessa on the ground too.
Then both sides would have ended up losing, and this favor would have been a lot harder to cash in.
Because the laser had cauterized the wound in an instant with extreme heat, no blood sprayed from the cut.
Instead, the severed surface was blackened. If you paid close enough attention, underneath the burnt smell you could even catch the scent of roasted meat.
Badly wounded in an instant, Urgot immediately realized the situation had turned against him.
The attack had come from behind, and pinning Ambessa down was already everything one hand could manage.
He had no room left to finish the execution. With Ambessa pinned under him and his own strength draining away by the second, a drawn-out fight would not favor him at all.
And there was still that bastard behind him who could strike again at any moment.
If he remembered correctly, it was that calm, unhurried one from before.
Almost instantly, Urgot made his decision.
He put force into his left arm and hurled Ambessa backward, then burst forward at full speed.
"Damn, your battle instincts really are sharp!"
Caleb came rushing in from behind, and the third arm rose over his shoulder once more.
"Move!"
At Caleb's shout, Ambessa understood immediately.
She forced her battered body aside at once, throwing her massive frame out of the way and clearing a path for him.
Another laser shot out.
This time the aim was slightly off. Caleb had clearly been going for the heart, but instead the beam sliced off both of Urgot's legs.
Using the last bit of strength he had left, Urgot ripped open a manhole cover and dropped through it.
"Move!"
The Enforcers arrived at last, rifles in hand, flooding the area and sealing off the whole street.
Urgot used his final reserves to wrench open a nearby pipeline and slide deeper into it.
"He still got away."
Caleb walked to the center of the street and stopped beside Ambessa with a sigh.
"That bastard's luck is incredible."
Ambessa lifted her head from the dusty ground and looked at the utterly unremarkable man standing beside her.
That same fear came surging back.
It was just like when Swain raised that demonic left arm of his, the kind of suffocating pressure that made it hard to breathe.
One second, the man had been laughing and talking with a king. The next, he had crushed him into blood and pulp.
Even for someone like her, who had seen death more times than she could count, her legs felt a little weak at the memory.
She had claimed she came to visit Piltover, but in truth it wasn't much different from fleeing here in disgrace.
If she hadn't known this city might be able to create Hextech weapons and turn the situation around, and if her daughter Mel hadn't happened to be a councilor here, she probably would have kept moving south.
She would have spent a year or two on the road before ever thinking of coming back.
And now that she had arrived in Piltover, this plain-looking young man had taught her another lesson.
"Tch."
Caleb clicked his tongue in annoyance and looked over at Jayce and Mel as they helped Ambessa to her feet.
He thought for a moment, then asked, "So... are we still eating?"
"You swiped that from the lab?" Jayce asked, eyes wide.
That was right. The thing that had extended from behind Caleb was one of the Hextech devices Jayce and Viktor had been researching together.
Its name was the Hex Claw.
It could grip objects and fire precise laser beams.
Compared to the Atlas Gauntlets Jayce had developed, it was more streamlined and more intelligent.
Though if it was used the way Caleb had just used it, a single Hextech gemstone probably wouldn't even last a few months.
"When you're having dinner with Noxians, of course you bring something for self-defense."
As Caleb spoke, he removed the Hex Claw and handed it back to Jayce.
"Otherwise if she suddenly decided to grab me by the neck and snap it, was I supposed to count on you two to stop her?"
Jayce fell silent for a moment, then only said, "We need to discuss city security tonight."
...
Urgot swore he would make that bastard pay for this.
At least the bleeding had stopped, thanks to that same bastard.
The downside was that he had lost his right forearm, both lower legs, and the armor covering those parts.
"There are actually people down here?"
He discovered it with surprise.
Right, Piltover was known as the upper city, and neighboring Zaun was known as the undercity.
So he had ended up in Zaun?
The filthy air made him cough violently several times.
As long as there were people here, he could still hide, recover, and make a comeback.
And then he would kill his way back into the upper city...
But what exactly had that man used today? What kind of weapon could sever his arm from that far away?
Some kind of secret weapon? Or was he a mage?
Urgot didn't dwell on it for long. The moment he heard footsteps, he reached out and seized the ankle in front of him.
Before the person who had stumbled could even react, Urgot clamped a hand around their throat and growled, "Take me somewhere safe."
"O... okay," the other person answered with difficulty.
"What's your name?"
Seeing that the person wasn't resisting much, Urgot relaxed a little.
"Alina. My name is Alina," the trembling voice answered.
"Good, Alina. If you do exactly as I say, nobody has to get hurt. Understand?"
Urgot gripped her shoulder and forced himself onward, hobbling along on the stumps of his severed legs through the pain.
She seemed to be trembling all over. For Urgot, ordinary people like this were easy to control.
He had seen what fear did to people. Naturally, that meant he could use fear to control them with ease.
Given enough time... he could kill his way back into the upper city...
But by then, he would need more equipment, and a more precise plan...
Only then could he carry out a perfect execution...
Thinking that, his consciousness began to blur, and he immediately realized something was wrong.
A fragrance.
A faint sweet scent slipped into his nose and churned through his head.
"You!"
In fury, he tore off one of her arms, only to discover that beneath the clothing was a mess of mechanical parts.
"You can be slick as the devil, but you still got played by me!"
A wild grin spread across her lips as she snatched the arm back from Urgot's hand and reattached it to herself.
"Welcome to Zaun, you idiot!"
"Now get down there!"