"Finally found you guys."
Just as Faen was still in a daze, a slightly exhausted voice came from the side.
Turning around, it was none other than Sevika, drenched in sweat.
She glanced at Faen, then at Zeri beside him. After confirming they looked similar to what Jinx had drawn—at least having the same features—she breathed a sigh of relief, then said seriously:
"That guy is a thug sent by Spindlaw. Ignore them. This sudden attack is the Chem-Barons wanting to disrupt your plan, forcing Piltover to exert pressure and make Silco come out to deal with you!"
"Wait, who are you?" Zeri asked blankly, "We don't seem to have met you, right?"
"Her name is Sevika. She is Silco's capable subordinate, and also a native Zaunite from the bottom of the Sump who hopes Zaun gets better and better." Hearing this, Faen introduced unhurriedly, "Just like our mom, except she is still working for Silco."
"Oh oh! So that's it!"
Hearing Faen's introduction, Sevika raised her eyebrows—although unsure if Faen heard it from rumors, or if Jinx told him, or if he saw it in a prophecy. At least Faen recognizing her so quickly gave Sevika a bit more trust in him. But now wasn't the time to consider this.
"Now is not the time to discuss this. The important thing is to leave here quickly; Silco will handle the rest..."
"No need, we'll handle it ourselves." Hearing Sevika's words, Faen shook his head, "Do you think I wanted to contact Silco for his strength?"
Hearing this, Sevika froze slightly—wasn't it?
As Silco's confidant, Sevika knew very well that although Silco seemed weak and had fewer helpers than other Chem-Barons. But in fact, under Silco's management, his subordinates occupied an absolute advantage among Chem-Barons in both quantity and strength, approaching two-thirds of the entire Zaun.
The reason he was now restricted and sidelined by other Chem-Barons was more because the merchant families of Piltover could use Zaun's trading channels to threaten Zaun's operation. But even so, Zaun still maintained corresponding independence.
In Sevika's view, Faen's group was weak. Although their thoughts and philosophy fit the current situation of Zaun and the future envisioned by Sevika and Silco. But to be honest, without sufficient strength as support, just this level of philosophy... leaving aside other things, it would take at least decades to develop into something significant.
Silco could overthrow Vander's rule and seize power within a few years after breaking with Vander, apart from Vander's own 'weakness' causing dissatisfaction among Zaun risers, also because of Silco's performance in the previous bridge war, which gave Silco enough prestige. Otherwise, just fighting for who was the boss of the Zaun Rising Alliance would be enough for many Chem-Barons to beat each other's brains out.
Feeling the incomprehension in Sevika's eyes, Faen didn't say anything, just said, "Zeri, it's showtime."
"Oh oh! Coming!" Hearing this, Zeri grinned, then quickly activated the emotion resonance motor on her back.
Accompanied by the activation of the motor, the magic power in the girl's body also began to activate gradually. Clearly visible electric arcs shot out from her hair tips, and then with a whoosh, she turned into an afterimage and flew out.
On the other side, on the stage.
Seeing the suddenly descending strong man, Seraphine's face was full of confusion.
Having many kind, beautiful, but overly naive fantasies about the future of the two cities, although Seraphine knew what Chem-Barons were, she didn't know the conflict between the so-called Azure Demon and Chem-Barons. Besides, what did their conflict have to do with her?
Located above, Vi also nervously put on simple combat armor and shouted: "Damn it! Caitlyn! Prepare to cover me!"
"Wait!" Before Vi, who hadn't put on her knuckle dusters yet, could rush out, Caitlyn narrowed her eyes and said, "Someone has already gone over!"
Similarly, on the high platform, Seraphine clearly felt two auras completely different from the current environment approaching rapidly.
"Actually disguising as us?! Faen isn't as ugly as you!"
While speaking, electric energy surged around her body. Zeri raised the spark gun in her hand and stimulated the magic power in her body. The next moment, under the enhancement of the Hextech Crystal, the seemingly weak electric light was greatly amplified. A neon-green light trail bombarded the strong man's body like a cannonball.
The strong man obviously wore corresponding defensive devices. The chem-tech piston on his shoulder operated for a while, and accompanied by spewing black smoke, he turned back and punched in the direction of the incoming light cannon.
Bang!!!
Without any surprise, the strong man was blasted away directly. But even though embedded forcefully, the strong man still didn't look damaged—
Seeing this, Zeri couldn't help but be surprised: "So hard!"
Although Chem-tech was inferior to Hextech Crystal technology in high-precision fields, born in Zaun's chemical compounds, this thing's main feature was durability. Even disregarding the outer armor, just the physical activation brought by large doses of Shimmer potion could make him immune to ordinary bullets and magic.
Seeing Zeri's appearance, a ferocious smile appeared at the corner of the strong man's mouth.
"Really dare to come?! Just right! Taking your bonus too!"
While speaking, the strong man didn't attack Zeri. Instead, with a fierce look, he pointed his arm at Seraphine who was still stunned on the spot. His thick arm folded backward from the wrist, revealing a dark cannon barrel inside.
"I won't let go of your money either!"
Feeling the death close at hand, Seraphine's pupils shrank. But just as she opened her mouth, even before her magic power surged, Faen, tall and fit, treading on flowing water, arrived on the stage with an extremely graceful posture from the side.
Located on the back of his hand, the Grasp of Flowing Water like a gauntlet emitted a faint glimmer, mixing with Faen's water control to quickly form a thin water curtain.
The high-speed flowing water curtain mixed with the high-purity magic power of the Hextech Crystal, leaving an azure blue light trail in the air the moment it swept past.
In the vision of the chem-tech giant and Seraphine, they only saw a handsome figure treading on flowing water, leaping onto the stage accompanied by a leisurely arc of light.
Measuring the pressure leg to unload the remaining force into the ground, his right arm stood up as a sword finger and swept. The thin water curtain broke through the air, turning into a clear light passing through the front of the chem-tech giant. When the force of the flowing water entered his massive body, the tall figure split into two smooth halves from the middle and was washed into the crowd.
Because a series of events happened too fast, even Seraphine herself didn't see clearly what happened, only hearing two afterimages flying out and a lot of frightened screams.
But immediately after, a surprised roar came from the high platforms around.
"Haha! This fool actually jumped out!! This is a walking hundred thousand gold coins and a ton of Shimmer!"
Hearing the voice from the high platform, everyone who was still stunned on the spot not knowing what happened quickly recovered. Then, looking at Faen, their eyes were filled with excitement like discovering prey.
Seraphine's singing might be able to soothe people's hearts, but this spiritual soothing massage had no effect in front of real problems. People live to eat; listening to songs can't solve the problem of eating. And now, in their view, Faen was obviously an opportunity to reach the sky in one step!!
Seeing this, a smile appeared at the corner of Faen's mouth. Then with a face full of carelessness, he smiled and said: "Haha, looks like I'm very popular!"
"Uh? What happen—"
Just as she was speaking, before Seraphine could recover, Vi and Caitlyn had descended from the sky, pulling Seraphine's arm behind them to block her, then quickly said: "The concert ends here. The rest is Zaun's internal affair, don't get involved!"
Growing up in a prestigious family, Caitlyn knew very well that the current situation far exceeded the scope they could handle.
Being pulled away from the stage by Caitlyn, Seraphine's pair of eyes stared curiously at Faen.
In the past, Seraphine once hid her talent, even regarding this talent of hearing the voices of all things as a curse. Because in Piltover's environment, Seraphine could clearly hear voices completely different from what appeared on the surface.
Those secret, private songs were inaudible to ordinary people. Even those streets she once loved were filled with overwhelming dissonant notes, as if telling Seraphine in various ways that Piltover wasn't heaven, but a chaotic ensemble of desires and disputes.
For this, her father—an acoustician—built a sound-dampening device for Seraphine using expensive Hextech Crystals.
In this Hextech Crystal, Seraphine heard many things. Among them, included painful wails and weeping.
As Seraphine gradually learned to endure, gradually learned to distinguish, learned how to get along with people, and how to sing together with people, she gradually got rid of the help of the sound-dampening device. And with her father's help, she ran the device in reverse, turning it into a portable sound hoverboard that enhanced Seraphine's magical ability.
Under the effect of this Hextech amplifier, apart from making her singing more powerful and letting more people feel the beauty and hope contained in this singing, it also endowed Seraphine with the ability to perceive others' voices more clearly.
And now, on Faen...
This should be a very cold and decisive person, right? He sent that strong man flying viciously in one go, without even half a change in expression between his brows. But why... why was his melody full of joy?
Everyone's melody was different in Seraphine's eyes. On the two Enforcer ladies protecting her, Seraphine felt the pink-haired Enforcer full of confusion, and the long-haired Enforcer full of solemnity.
The surrounding environment changed from harmony and beauty originally soaked by singing to fanaticism, radicalism, and greed infected by some unknown medium.
But on this tall figure, Seraphine felt intense joy, infinite vitality, and...
Hope?
Seraphine didn't know how to describe this feeling, but feeling such a special feeling for the first time, Seraphine almost subconsciously memorized Faen's back and his side face full of leisure.
She was suddenly a bit curious—she wanted to know what kind of Zaun bred such a melody.
Feeling the malice surging from all directions, Faen could clearly feel and see that the crowd attending the concert now was falling into severe chaos.
But obviously, the person who designed this concert had made a lot of preparations in advance. Before a large-scale stampede accident could happen, Caitlyn in the back shouted through a loudspeaker: "Silence! Let Piltover citizens leave!"
Hearing this, the people of Zaun looked at Caitlyn in the back, the disdain and ferocity in their eyes almost solidifying in an instant.
Caitlyn raised the emblem in her hand and said: "I am the chief heir of House Kiramman of Bluewind Court in Piltover! And also the captain of Enforcers of the Piltover Police Department. In the name of progress, I will immediately issue shooting orders against anyone attempting to harm Piltover residents!"
Accompanied by Caitlyn's words, the Zaun thugs who were about to rush into the crowd fell into hesitation.
Seeing this, Caitlyn's eyes didn't show any emotion, just continued to say coldly: "Don't think I don't know who your master is! But no matter who it is, don't even think about shaking House Kiramman's determination to protect Piltover residents!!"
Caitlyn's words undoubtedly aroused the goodwill and pride of many Piltovians, but from her repeated reiteration of 'House Kiramman', it could be seen that Caitlyn's behavior itself was also putting pressure on the Chem-Barons behind these chemical thugs through the family's power—as the largest shareholder of the Piltover Police Department, if targeted by Kiramman, any Chem-Baron's income would plummet accordingly.
Smuggling also depended on the Upper City's mood.
Just then, Faen said unhurriedly, "And Zaun civilians."
Hearing this, Caitlyn frowned, looked at Faen and said coldly, "This is your Zaun—"
Before Caitlyn could finish, she saw Faen look at Vi on the side and say, "She is also a Zaunite, right?"
Hearing Faen's words, the corner of Vi's eye twitched, but she didn't speak. Realizing Faen seemed to know part of the inside story, Caitlyn reiterated after a moment of silence: "Let all civilians evacuate."
Nodding with satisfaction, Faen waved to Vi.
"I send regards to you on behalf of Jinx... or rather Powder."
As the words fell, Faen turned his head to look at the gradually clearing venue, an undisguised smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.
"Nasty things are all dead, naturally only joy remains."