"Viktor!"
Jayce would never forget that voice. He focused, raising his hammer defensively, and his gaze involuntarily turned toward the direction the lasers had come from. His eyes widened.
"So many? Viktor, are these all your creations?"
Not far from them stood several towering mechanical monsters, scattered about. Each had a Hex Claw mounted on its shoulder and a pair of massive iron fists for hands.
"They were meant to be Zaun's mining robots, but now they are being used to fight for Zaun's independence."
On a tall building ahead, Viktor and Silco stood side by side, watching them expressionlessly.
Viktor was the one who had spoken.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out. Silco tilted his head without expression, and the bullet grazed past his ear.
"If that were enough to kill me, I would have died many times already. Go hold off Piltover's new councilor."
As his words fell, five armored warriors behind him leaped down, intercepting Camille as she tried to use her grappling hook to ascend.
"Discarded Noxian military equipment, and reserves from the Eastern Legion at that. Medarda's doing, or Meredith's?"
Camille's razor-sharp legs danced nimbly, like she was performing a waltz of blades. Her edges sliced across the iron armor, leaving streak after streak of white marks.
Though she was the strongest among them, neither Silco nor Viktor paid her any attention. Viktor kept his eyes on Jayce, while Silco stared fixedly at Vi.
"Silco, where is Powder?"
Vi traded a vicious punch with a robot and was forced back several steps by the recoil. Just as she looked up and saw Silco watching her, she could not help but shout.
"Her name is Jinx now. You were the one who abandoned her."
"To hell with Jinx! Powder is Powder!"
Vi's face twisted with fury. The Hex Gemstone glowed as she swung her fist, its tremendous thrust amplifying her blow as it slammed hard into the robot's iron fist.
Boom!
At the collision of iron fists, a dent was punched into the robot's metal hand, and its heavy body was shoved backward several meters.
But Vi did not fare much better from that exchange. Her gauntlets were powerful, sure, but she was still flesh and blood. A few more blows like that, and she felt as though her organs would be shaken apart.
Caitlyn's situation was even more perilous. She realized that she was more of a burden than anything else.
Her bullets could not penetrate the robots' steel bodies, while the armored warriors were locked in combat with Camille. Caitlyn had found several openings and tried firing, but all she got from their iron armor were a few sparks.
The only targets she could attack were Viktor and Silco above.
Not only did they evade several bullets, but Viktor eventually grew annoyed and activated a small gravity field. Her bullets could not even reach them.
Now, a robot had latched onto her as well, leaving her no choice but to keep dodging with her gun in hand.
Her gaze shifted toward Jayce nearby. He held his hammer and fired energy blasts one after another, deadlocked against the robots' laser beams. But before long, another robot's ray sent him scrambling for cover.
No, if this kept up, they would all die here.
Worry filled Caitlyn's face as her eyes scanned the area, as though searching for a way out.
From his position above, Silco watched the one-sided battle below and instead found something amiss.
"The three young ones are behaving normally, but Camille is too abnormal. She should not be this weak."
"She is a cold and ruthless person," Viktor said flatly.
"What are you trying to say?" Silco asked with a frown.
"Jayce and the others are her bait. She is waiting for an opportunity, or perhaps testing us to see what other cards we—or Lord Meredith—still have." Viktor stood straight, his expression complicated as he looked at Jayce, who was being crushed by the robots.
Perhaps Jayce really should have stayed in that ivory tower and conducted research. Combat truly was not what he excelled at.
"We made quite a few preparations. We know nearly every secret in Camille's body. Hopefully, we can keep her here this time."
Silco clenched a document tightly in his right hand. It was something the Ferros Clan had sent over not long ago.
He had grown up hearing terrifying stories about Camille. He had never expected that she, too, would be betrayed by her own family.
Piltover truly was full of rotten people.
Sizzle!
Seeing that she could not break through after so long, Camille extended the grappling cable from her leg and caught the building where Silco and Viktor stood at its maximum range, sending herself flying toward it.
But when she was pulled to the wall, her Hextech eyes suddenly froze.
Boom!
Before she could leap down, a violent explosion erupted where her grappling cable had latched on. Fire and smoke engulfed her.
A sharp whistling sound cut through the air. Camille broke free from the smoke and fell to the ground, her body inevitably damaged. Her clothes were torn, exposing the mechanical structure beneath.
"Precise calculations generally have to be based on complete intelligence."
Her gaze was like lightning as her sharp eyes fixed on the two standing on the high ground.
Seeing her in that state, Silco spoke with mockery in his eyes.
"You have acted too many times, and Piltover's technology advances too slowly. As long as it is a machine, there is always a way to obtain its specifications."
Camille did not reply. Instead, she turned her gaze toward the five armored warriors rushing over.
She knew they were products of Shimmer, their lives continuously overdrawn to enhance them. They were essentially disposable tools.
She had originally intended to stall until they collapsed on their own, but because of certain concerns, she no longer wanted to drag this out.
Her blade-like legs kicked off, launching her high into the air. The blue glow in her eyes flared brightly as powerful Primal Crystal energy waves radiated from her legs.
Clang!
At that moment, one of the robots fighting Jayce abruptly disengaged under the cover of its companion's rays. It turned and aimed its iron fist at Camille. Its fist, dragged by a cable, shot straight toward her.
Crack!
The powerful energy wave not only swept aside the four armored warriors, but also bound Camille's target. Just as her sharp blade was about to pierce the gap at the eye section of his helmet—
The iron fist opened and seized Camille's airborne body, forcibly dragging her back.
During that process, a powerful electrical current erupted from within the robot's body. The instant Camille was pulled into its range, she felt as though her body had been restrained. Other than the portions of her upper body that remained flesh and blood, the rest of her body could not move at all. Even her heart felt as though it had stopped.
Seeing her plight, the others all looked grim.
Camille, on the other hand, remained expressionless, though a trace of human sorrow appeared in her eyes.
Sizzle!
The powerful current relentlessly coursed through Camille's body, leaving her utterly unable to move.
She had to admit that Viktor was a genius. In such a short time, he had developed a device capable of countering the Augmentation Technology within her body.
By using the more stable Hex Gemstone to generate an electric field, he disrupted her Primal Crystal's supply of energy to her body, nearly paralyzing everything except her flesh.
But unfortunately—
She was a precision machine. Every part of her body had been designed for battle.
The useless flesh had been removed, but the useful parts remained potent means to fight her enemies.
Her flesh-and-blood hands were still there, which could only mean—
They were—
A weapon!
Thanks to Omegalisk for the 2,000 reward!