Malphegor
patreon
Arcane: TTB: Ch. 66
🕑 Added 2025-03-10 18:51:29 +0000 UTC"Don't cry, Powder. If you keep crying, you won't be cute anymore."
Cipher sat down where Savika had been sitting earlier, gently ruffling her hair as he comforted her in a soft voice.
The moment Powder saw him, she leaped out of Vi's arms, squeezed past Savika, and practically threw herself into his embrace, sobbing uncontrollably. No one knew how she managed to do it.
Her fingers clutched at Cipher's clothing as if confirming he was really there, her tears soaking into his shirt.
"They said, they said you were dead," she choked out between sobs. "I saw the explosion. I thought you were gone."
Cipher's thumb gently wiped away a tear trailing down her cheek. "Takes more than a little fire to get rid of me. I'm too stubborn to die, remember?"
A weak smile formed on her tear-stained face.
Savika sipped her drink, watching Cipher soothe Powder with patience. She and the others in the room had a lot of questions for him. However, after seeing how Powder had been acting before, almost like the living dead, no one pressed him just yet.
The most anxious among them was Lester.
He had run into Cipher on the way and followed him here. In the middle of the night, the gunshots, the explosions, all of it had come from the direction of the The Last Drop.
It had scared him half to death, but not in the way one might think. He wasn't afraid of enemies or battle. What terrified him was the possibility of something happening to Cipher.
When he arrived with Noxian soldiers, the scene was littered with signs of battle, yet the only people he saw were Cipher and Vander, whose clothes had been torn apart.
There weren't even any bodies.
No matter how much he asked, Cipher refused to say anything, simply telling him to follow.
Follow? Where?
Left with no choice, Lester trailed behind all the way to Blisters and Bedrock.
"You… you can't die again, okay?"
Powder looked up, her tear-streaked face still blurred by emotion, choking on her words as she spoke.
Her voice was fragile, barely holding together.
"Of course. I won't let it happen again."
Cipher wiped away the tears from the corner of her eyes again, meeting her gaze directly.
The ambush by Camille had caught him off guard.
He had been too careless, too overconfident.
Things had gone too smoothly for him lately, securing Swain's backing had made him complacent.
This time, Janna had been there to help.
But what about next time?
I've been doing everything alone, thinking I could handle it all because I know the story. But knowledge isn't enough.
Maybe it was time to trust them with more. They were his family. Not everything but he could tell them about [Player Ready One]. If they knew about his ability, they could coordinate better, plan ahead.
It could even be explained as magic, teleportation.
He stared at Powder's tear-stained face, at Vi watching from the corner, at the others gathered in the room. These were people who cared about him, people who would fight for him. People who had skills and abilities he didn't.
He couldn't rely on others to save him all the time. He had to become stronger. Zaun's current level of technological development wasn't enough for self-preservation.
Now that the Camille incident had come to an end, he was planning another trip to Piltover to "borrow" some tech. No, exchange. With fighting breaking out across territories, resources were hard to come by.
Shimmer and chemtech prosthetics, surely someone with authority would be interested in the exchange.
"Powder, let me introduce you to a new family member."
Seeing the tears still rolling down her cheeks and the others holding back words they were clearly dying to say, Cipher shifted the mood.
"Aren't you going to introduce yourself?"
He shrugged his shoulder, causing the one who had been watching all this like a spectator to stumble down.
"Ahem… Powder, hello! My name is Janna. I'm your new family member."
The bird shot him what could only be described as an annoyed glare, and flapped a wing at Cipher in protest before clearing her throat and greeting Powder. She even extended a wing for a handshake, as formally as a bird could manage.
"You… you… why can you talk?"
Cipher's trick worked. Powder was too distracted to be sad anymore, her eyes filled with curiosity.
A bird, talking? And calling itself family? Was she going crazy, or was the world?
She hesitated for a moment. But since Cipher had accepted this bird, she cautiously reached out and shook its wing.
"Why wouldn't I be able to talk?" Janna blinked at her.
"But you're a bird! Birds can't talk!"
Powder shrank back into Cipher's arms as if afraid, but her small hands were still bravely stroking Janna's feathers. The moment she had shaken hands with the bird, she had noticed how incredibly smooth and soft its feathers were. They weresofter than silk, and warmer than sunlight.
"Correction. My name is Janna. I am not a bird, I am a person. Your family. As for why I look like this…"
Janna gave Cipher a pointed look, who suddenly became very interested in a spot on the wall.
"Let's just say someone's actions have consequences, and this form is more... diplomatic at the moment," she muttered.
She didn't particularly want to explain. Because of a certain large, non-biodegradable piece of trash, she had chosen not to reveal her human form. She'd rather avoid hearing that person apologize to her again.
"Janna… you're saying you're Janna? And that you're just in the form of a bird? Oh my god…"
"You mean the Janna? The Guardian Spirit?"
Heimerdinger suddenly leaned in, curiosity shining in his eyes as he studied the bird. His scientific curiosity had overwhelmed his usual reserved demeanor, and he was practically bouncing forward.
"Yes, Professor, that would be me. But I am no longer a guardian spirit. If I recall correctly, we met over two hundred years ago."
Janna tilted her head, a nostalgic expression crossing her face. Then, using her beak, she smoothed out the feathers that Powder had ruffled.
"When the Sun Gate Canal was opened, a disaster struck. You summoned a storm to stop the seawater from flooding in, saving thousands of lives. I even tried to greet you back then, but you ignored me. You saved the people and then vanished."
"You were so different back then. The old you wouldn't have spoken to anyone."
Heimerdinger's drooping ears perked up again. Scientifically speaking, what he was witnessing was a living guardian spirit. Something about Janna now felt different from before, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.
"Professor, it's because I used to be a a guardian spirit. Now, I am human," Janna answered seriously.
As a deity of faith, she once lacked much of what made someone truly human. Her actions followed rigid, logical patterns. But after being revived by the winds of change, she had emotions, personal ideals, and her own joys and sorrows, things that belonged only to humans. That was why she kept emphasizing that she was no longer a guardian spirit.
She even got angry when Cipher didn't trust her.
"This is truly remarkable," Heimerdinger said with genuine admiration, stroking his beard thoughtfully.
To him, Janna, now with human emotions, was far more perfect than the old Janna.
The others in the room were completely stunned.
When the blue bird first introduced herself as Janna, no one reacted much. They assumed she was just some magical creature capable of speech.
Unusual, yes, but nothing too shocking.
But when she admitted to being the Guardian Spirit, it changed everything.
Some enforcers exchanged wide-eyed glances, a few instinctively touching religious symbols worn around their necks.
Unlike Lester and Heimerdinger, the rest of the people in the room were Zaunites, born and raised in the Undercity, growing up on stories of Janna. Now, seeing the very deity they had worshipped perched on Cipher's shoulder, they couldn't help but feel an indescribable sense of excitement.
Janna had personally stepped in to defend her people. This was proof that Zaun was on the right path to rising. With a deity on their side, no one could stand in their way!
"No wonder… no wonder you survived after pulling the Glory Grenade. It was Janna who saved you!"
Savika slammed her fist on the table in excitement, downing two shots of strong liquor in celebration, then poured another.
"A goddamn miracle right in front of us. If that's not a sign Zaun is destined to rise, what is?" She raised her glass in a toast that others quickly joined.
But Lester, sitting beside her, caught onto something odd.
"What do you mean, he pulled the Glory Grenade? That doesn't sound right. Who was supposed to be the target?"
"What exactly happened?" Lester turned to Savika for an explanation. "Cipher came to find me covered in soot, Vander looked like he'd been mauled by a bear, and neither would say a word about it."
The fact that a deity had stepped in was important, sure, but it wasn't his concern. Such high-level beings were beyond his control.
"You don't know? Cipher didn't tell you?" Savika looked puzzled.
"He didn't. He just told me to come along, saying he'd explain once we got here."
Lester shook his head. Something huge had clearly happened, yet he was completely in the dark. The frustration was unbearable.
Savika exchanged glances with Cipher, who was still focused on comforting Powder. "Should I...?" she asked silently.
Cipher nodded slightly, giving his approval.
"The Upper City sent some fully-augmented old hag named Camille to assassinate Cipher. He had no choice but to pull the Glory Grenade to take her down with him."
Savika took another drink before continuing.
"Luckily, Janna saved him. Otherwise, he would already be dust."
She thought about it for a moment before deciding to tell Lester everything. This wasn't something that could be hidden, and since Cipher had survived, they might as well let him know.
What the hell?!
Lester's face turned dark.
First Mel, and now Camille? Was this never going to end? One after another, they kept coming for Cipher!
Comments
Childishdavebino
TFTC
Bryan David
Thanks for the chapter
