Singed's laboratory echoed with wave after wave of screams.
"He still has the strength to yell at this stage, that really is rare."
Caleb stood off to the side looking almost leisurely. He had already sent Kai'Sa and Yuumi away.
"I checked. The Noxian spies have already realized they can no longer get in touch with Talon."
Vi approached Caleb slowly, wearing the Atlas Gauntlets.
This guy had come out of the same prison as her, yet she barely understood him at all.
Vi knew very well that once she put on these gauntlets, she could be counted among the strongest fighters in the twin cities.
But even so, she still had no confidence she could beat Caleb now.
And Caleb had only managed to severely wound Talon by catching him off guard with Shadow Step after combining lightning, an ice pillar, teleportation, and a little help from Janna.
Under Singed's Shimmer medicine, Talon's life could be preserved.
Unluckily for him, Caleb happened to need someone to make an example of.
The reason Caleb had spent the last two days reading files was because he had been waiting for someone from Noxus to come looking for him.
Otherwise, with Caleb's personality, there was no way he would have sat there patiently reading so many unimportant documents.
Zaun had already been able to run smoothly before it ever had a Governor.
And even during Caleb's long trip away, nothing had gone wrong in Zaun.
Basically, aside from major matters like announcing the twin cities' independence, Caleb was still more than willing to be a hands-off boss.
His recent habit of staying out of sight had been a message to Noxus's spies from the very beginning.
Put more simply, he wanted Noxus to know that Zaun's Governor had returned, and that he was sitting in that office working every day.
With two demigods backing him up, Caleb had decided the risk was worth taking.
What he had not expected was that the one who came would be Talon.
That champion's ability to assassinate targets and escape was just too outrageous. In his previous life, Caleb had suffered plenty at the hands of that nightmare.
Talon had not expected it either. On the surface, the twin cities looked like a place where everyone fought at a relatively low level, yet someone like Caleb actually existed here.
Not only did he wield all kinds of magic, he even had protection that was practically demigod-level.
In Noxus, even the lives of certain mages were not especially hard for Talon to take.
But someone like Caleb, Talon had truly never seen much of before.
Inside that lean body was both surging arcane energy and the kind of brute force that could grievously wound him.
"Got it."
Caleb gave a light wave of his hand.
"How's he doing?"
Seeing Talon, who had been screaming just moments ago, suddenly clench his teeth so tightly his jaw locked, Caleb stepped closer.
Screaming was a small trick, using the strength of the abdomen to lessen pain.
But when someone clenched their jaw like that, it meant their whole body was tensed to the limit, fighting the pain with everything they had.
Caleb knew a little about that too. His own body had once come close to being destroyed.
"How about you hear my proposal first, then decide whether you want to agree?"
Seeing Talon still stubbornly enduring it, Caleb smiled faintly.
"Help me write a letter to Swain and invite him to the twin cities as a guest."
His tone was calm, as though he were inviting an old friend.
"What do you want with the Grand General?!"
Talon's eyes were bloodshot.
The man in front of him was terrifying, someone who seemed to understand every weakness of the human body.
Even someone as strong-willed as Talon was finding it hard to hold out.
"Nothing much. I just want to talk to him about the possibility of the twin cities breaking away from Noxian subordination."
Caleb's smile remained warm, but the words he spoke made Talon's eyelid twitch.
Of course he knew what that meant.
It meant every privilege Noxus currently enjoyed would be revoked the moment independence was declared.
For Noxus, whose national strength depended on feeding war with conquest, that would be a massive blow.
The price alone would be enough to make Noxus march south.
"I'll agree."
After a moment of consideration, and after Singed drew another scream of pain out of him, Talon finally spoke with difficulty.
"Stitch him back up."
Caleb gestured to Singed beside him.
"I was planning to sear him with alchemical flame, then use Shimmer to restore him again."
There was real regret in Singed's voice. His research into pain always needed to go one step further.
Unfortunately, all Silco had sent him over the years were weaklings. One after another, they started bawling the moment the skin was cut open.
Some were even worse, they wet themselves on the floor and blurted out everything Silco wanted to know.
Then, during the "waste not" stage that followed, every last one of them fainted from the pain.
Whenever he occasionally came across someone truly tough, Singed practically thanked the heavens.
Today's test subject had such remarkable willpower, yet the Governor had no intention of crushing his spirit and turning him into an obedient servant.
Singed was disappointed.
"There'll be plenty more in the future."
Caleb patted Singed on the shoulder to comfort him.
"All right."
Singed sighed softly and began returning the stripped nerves and blood vessels to their proper places.
Then he stitched together the muscle and skin that had been cut open.
Caleb quietly slipped out of the lab. Honestly, that scene just now had been a bit much even for him.
Only someone like Singed, whose obsession with science bordered on madness, could actually enjoy something like that.
"Hah…"
Caleb gazed into the distance, feeling a little reflective.
If Piltover was a major traffic artery, then Zaun, its sister city, was no less important.
But after that canal accident, the sinking of Zaun's district had led to the rise of Piltover, a city barely three hundred years old.
Piltover owed Zaun a great deal, and under Caleb's forceful push, it was gradually beginning to repay that debt.
The reason was simple. Under Caleb's leadership, Zaun had put an end to the meaningless internal strife that should have erupted there.
Behind him came Talon's agonized scream. Under the effects of the medicine, the tissue that had been pulled from his body was returning to its original place.
"Don't give him that cloak back yet."
Caleb kept his eyes on the sky as he considered the best strategy against Noxus to the north.
If everything was aimed only at him, Caleb could still accept it.
But what if the assassins they sent started targeting the people around him instead?
Kai'Sa and Yuumi could still protect themselves.
But Jinx, Caitlyn, and even Vi when caught off guard…
Caleb had experienced life-and-death struggles, but he had never experienced war.
What war truly meant, what losses he could bear, that was something he still did not fully know.
In that respect, Caleb was exactly the same as the young Vi who had once gone to Piltover to steal.
But if he did not act now, Noxus's greed would never end.
When Shurima rose again, would the twin cities wedged between both sides not simply be destroyed?
They had to be ready to fight.
Caleb's eyes hardened.
He could not just drift along one peaceful day at a time, the way the Lanes had under Vander before.
With help from the head of the Enforcers, the people of Zaun might manage not to die.
But under Ambessa's protection, would the twin cities, a prize like this, really escape the eyes of those who coveted them?
Lean on a mountain, and the mountain may fall. Lean on a person, and the person may leave.
"There's no need for him to write the letter. I'll set out now and come in person."
A hoarse voice sounded beside Caleb.
It carried not only the ruthlessness and blood-forged ferocity unique to the battlefield, but also the confidence of someone who held the whole board in his hands.
Caleb turned his head.
On the open ground that had been empty a moment earlier, a gigantic crimson eye was staring at him viciously before dissolving away.
"The mech project has to be pushed forward as soon as possible."
Frowning, Caleb let out a quiet sigh.
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