In Jinx's secret base, she was tossing a string of explosives down into the abyss.
The explosions booming up from below filled her with pure satisfaction.
Another rush of air blasted up from the depths, making the ground under her feet tremble.
She hummed a tune too quiet even for herself to hear, swaying her body to the rhythm of the blasts.
"Time to go."
Ekko stepped out from the side and said it flatly.
"Quit rushing me!" Jinx snapped, then put away the rest of the explosives.
When she stood up, there was no trace of her earlier gloom. In its place was a bright, energized grin.
"Let's go!"
...
When Caleb arrived at the Promenade with Yuumi and Kai'Sa, the crowd outside the music hall was even denser than Piltover's night market had been the day before.
"Huh? Why are there this many people today?"
Caleb stared at the sea of bodies packed together like sardines, momentarily stunned.
"What's going on here?"
He could not help but wonder whether Seraphine's popularity had really skyrocketed that fast.
He had heard her sing before.
She really did have talent. With Hextech speakers amplifying her voice, she could reach into the deepest part of people's emotions.
But Caleb was not from the twin cities. Even if he had been moved by her singing, it had not been enough to make him go out of his way to come all the way to the Promenade for a concert.
So what were all these people here for?
"Hey, Caleb, you made it too."
"Hm?"
Caleb looked around but could not tell who had spoken.
"Ahem..."
The awkward cough came from below, and only then did Caleb notice Heimerdinger.
"Professor, you came too?"
He was genuinely surprised. After all, in the Upper City, Heimerdinger had no shortage of excellent concerts he could attend.
Seeing Kai'Sa standing beside him, a wild thought suddenly flashed through Caleb's mind. Maybe he should put together a full K/DA lineup in Piltover...
Then he remembered Evelynn was a demon, and not one he could deal with anytime soon, so he let that fantasy go.
"You didn't know? The Fishbones Band has always been popular."
Heimerdinger stretched up on his toes, but in the end, Caleb had to bend down to hear him over the noise of the crowd.
"Fishbones?" Caleb froze for a second.
Wasn't that the name of one of Jinx's guns?
The band was called that too?
"Governor."
A boy's voice sounded from nearby.
"Our boss told me to bring this to you."
The kid, who had grown a little taller, handed him a hoverboard, and Caleb immediately understood what was going on.
"Hop on."
He slid an arm around Kai'Sa's waist, while Yuumi lightly leaped up beside them.
The hoverboard spat out an unusual plume of white flame, and Caleb shot over the heads of the crowd.
"Damn... they really gave me a full entrance."
As Caleb streaked overhead on white fire, the entire Promenade lit up.
The somewhat shabby music hall opened from the inside like a music box.
"This is a little too much..."
At this point, Caleb already felt like dying of embarrassment.
Making a grand entrance with a girl in his arms and a yordle cat along for the ride...
It was cool, sure, but it also had a streak of over-the-top teenage drama.
By the time Caleb descended into the hall and landed smoothly, front-row seats had already been prepared for him.
"You get used to it."
The moment he sat down, Heimerdinger, who had somehow already gotten there, murmured the words beside him.
"If I had the choice, I'd love to never do that a second time."
Caleb looked absolutely miserable. By now, he had already guessed who was behind all this.
Then a huge metallic shriek rang out, the sound of the Rising Howl, the lift unique to the twin cities.
The crowd instantly erupted into even louder cheers and applause.
At this point, Caleb seriously wanted to Shadow Step and then Arcane Shift his way right out of there.
But he had already accepted the tickets and come to the venue, and with Kai'Sa beside him looking so openly excited, he could not bring himself to ruin the mood.
The lift slowly rose.
The most eye-catching figure, of course, was Seraphine with her pink hair.
But looking to either side of her...
There was Ekko, wearing white dreadlocks and carrying an electric guitar.
There was Orianna, sitting motionless at the piano like an expressionless doll.
And there was Jinx, gripping two drumsticks in front of a drum kit, bouncing around like she had enough energy to leap out of her own skin.
"Dear God..."
This lineup might not have been totally unprecedented, but it was definitely one of a kind.
Then again, Zaun really did not have much in the way of entertainment.
Other than The Last Drop and a few street stalls, most people there had never really even heard of bands.
Back then, they had been flat broke. Who had the spare time to listen to music?
But things were different now. Among the audience that came tonight, the home crowd from Zaun actually outnumbered everyone else.
"Friends of Zaun!" Seraphine called out, only for an even louder wave of cheers to swallow her voice whole.
"I hope everyone has an amazing night!"
The instant her words fell, the entire venue plunged into darkness.
Boom boom boom boom...
The first voice to cut through the pounding beat was not Seraphine's, as Caleb had expected, but Ekko's.
Unlike the Upper City, which idolized beautiful harmony and soaring high notes, music from the Undercity cared more about rhythm and rhyme. The vocal style itself mattered less than the lyrics.
In short, Zaun rap.
"Z-Drive resonance, gearing up to hit the fast lane"
"Full speed, all in, you know we're way too cool, man"
"Climbed up to the top, and it didn't even get risky"
"We're ahead of you by way more than a decimal point, man"
As a true son of Zaun, Ekko naturally knew one of Zaun's favorite ways to say hello, rap.
So from the very first two lines, he had already won over every single Zaun listener in the crowd.
Even the Piltover audience, while not quite used to it, found themselves swept up by the atmosphere and loving it.
As the rhythm drove forward, Ekko's flow got faster and faster.
And just when the audience was still lingering in the echo of his lyrics, Seraphine took over the stage.
"Ay, the whole world holds its breath right now"
"Ay, we prove our choice through victory somehow"
Seraphine's voice was far more polished and beautiful than Ekko's.
So the moment she opened her mouth, the crowd basically melted.
"This is actually pretty good..."
Even Caleb had to admit he was impressed. Seraphine alone would not have been enough to completely move him, but seeing the four of them work together so seamlessly onstage, he was suddenly glad he had not slipped away earlier.
Maybe later, drawing on memories from his old life, he could put together a DJ booth.
"I'm awake now! I refuse to wait!"
After singing a couple softer lines, Seraphine decisively launched into a high note.
That powerful force really did seem to pass through Caleb's skin and strike straight at his heart.
"Good grief, is this a party-wide buff?"
Even Caleb was surprised by what he felt happening to his body.
Judging by pure instinct, he was obviously in much better fighting shape than before.
No wonder she was the woman people compared to Sona. In-game, without that floating platform under her, she would practically be the perfect girlfriend.
...
As people headed home, there was a little more spring in their step.
Caleb felt as though the entire day's exhaustion had been washed clean away. Whether he stayed up working or went straight to sleep, either one would feel great.
"Nice drumming."
Caleb rubbed Jinx's head and helped her move two drums aside.
The concert had been great. The cleanup, though, was a pain.
Still, that was not Caleb's problem to worry about.
Perfect timing. Since he was feeling energized tonight, he could start preparing the "surprise" he had promised the councilors.
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