"Oh, right—! I completely forgot, I got too caught up studying your carapace!"
Duke's hand paused mid-air as he spooned out another bite of canned food. He blinked twice before realizing what he'd neglected in his obsessive research.
Ever since meeting Kai'Sa, Duke's focus had been entirely consumed by her Void symbiosis. In the process, he had completely thrown Sivir and Taliyah out of his mind.
But for someone who'd once nearly locked himself in a lab until he passed out from exhaustion, that wasn't exactly out of character.
Back then, Dakor had even brought out a wall-breaking hammer just to bust down Duke's workshop door and drag him outside.
"No more eating," Duke muttered. "If I don't get moving, Sivir's probably halfway eaten by a burrower already."
He wasn't too worried about Taliyah—the "Little Sparrow" who could command earth and weave stone itself. As long as her feet touched the ground, anywhere was her domain.
As for Sivir… he could only hope she held out a little longer.
With that, Duke tossed away his can, stood up, and deployed a drone. As it shot into the canyon skies to search for Sivir's trail, he turned toward Kai'Sa.
"You done eating?"
Kai'Sa glanced at her half-finished can. Though reluctant, she knew when to prioritize.
"I'm done. Let's move."
"Good." Duke donned Edith and synced with the drone's vision. At the same time, he extended his magical senses outward.
The two methods combined quickly pinpointed Sivir's location. Duke summoned one of his hovering platforms, gestured for Kai'Sa to step on, and the pair soared off toward where Sivir had fallen.
Deep within the canyon, before a crumbling ancient temple—
Once majestic and sacred, the temple now lay in ruin. Time and sand had swallowed its glory, leaving only broken walls and fractured pillars. The yawning entrance looked like the gaping maw of some slumbering beast, ready to swallow the unwary whole.
A goddess statue built into the cliffside loomed nearby—its once-beautiful features long eroded by wind and grit, webbed with cracks like veins of sorrow.
"Damn it… why do I always end up in these messes?"
Cursing under her breath, Sivir sat atop a boulder, gnawing on a strip of dried meat. Around her lay the supplies she'd bought not long ago.
After purchasing her provisions, she'd gone to the livestock market in Vekora to buy a mount—but that was when Xerath's army invaded.
Her plan had been simple: snatch a camel beast amid the chaos and make a run for it.
But an arcane comet came crashing down into the market before she could escape. If not for the moon-white shield her crossblade had triggered in that instant, she'd have been vaporized like the rest.
She barely had time to breathe a sigh of relief before another wave of chaos erupted—Xerath himself raging in fury, followed by random mass teleportations.
Many in the city were caught in his spatial magic—unlucky ones swept away in a blink.
Sivir was among them.
If Xerath knew he'd accidentally teleported away the very Ascended-blooded descendant he was looking for, he'd probably explode in rage.
At the final moment before teleportation, the dragon-beast accompanying Duke appeared out of nowhere, ramming the portal in a futile attempt to reach her.
But its power couldn't breach the magic's pull.
And so, Sivir was hurled across the world, landing in this gods-forsaken canyon.
"That bastard Duke—no wonder he was so eager to send me on a 'recon mission.' He had that dragon tailing me the whole time!"
Every time she recalled that moment before the teleport, resentment welled up inside her. Still, at least she'd escaped Vekora.
As for what came next… she'd figure that out later.
Chewing her jerky with an irritable scowl, Sivir washed it down with a gulp of water and belched with satisfaction. Since escaping Azir's grasp, she hadn't eaten properly even once—except for that single ice cream Duke had given her.
Now, stranded in an unknown canyon, she could only be grateful that her supplies had survived the teleport intact.
"So… where to next?"
She gathered up her gear, holding up a piece of blackened bread and frowning. She rapped it against a rock.
"Damn merchant, slipped in the stale ones again!"
The thunk-thunk of bread meeting stone echoed across the ravine—and something stirred beneath the sand.
The vibrations drew the attention of unseen creatures below, creeping closer and closer.
Completely unaware, Sivir scowled at the rock that hadn't so much as chipped under her bread's assault. She sighed, stuffed the hard loaf into her pack, and muttered, "Whatever. Food's food."
Even if her supplies looked plentiful, she knew she'd need every scrap if she wanted to survive the desert on foot.
Luck permitting, she might find people out here. Luck failing… this rock-hard bread could end up saving her life.
"Time to move."
Just as she hopped off the boulder, the moment her boots hit the sand, the weapon sheath at her waist trembled.
Clang!
Sivir's instincts flared. Her precious weapon, the crossblade Chalicar, was vibrating—its metallic hum like a warning whisper.
Her expression darkened. Without hesitation, she dropped her pack and drew the blade. The moment it left its sheath, the circular blades unfolded with a crisp metallic snap.
Then—crack!—the ground split open beneath her.
From the fissure, dorsal fins burst forth, slicing toward her position.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Four burrowers, each the size of a wild hound, erupted from below and lunged at her with snapping jaws.
Sivir didn't know what they were—but anything that tried to kill her wouldn't live to regret it.
Her body moved before thought—twisting, spinning. Chalicar flew from her hand, tracing a deadly arc through the air.
The holy weapon sliced through the beasts like butter, cleaving hide, muscle, and bone alike. One after another, the burrowers dropped lifelessly to the sand, blood soaking the dust.
Without even glancing, Sivir raised her hand and caught the returning blade mid-spin.
"What the hell are these things?" she muttered.
Before she could think further, the ground shuddered again. Her hair stood on end.
Dozens more fins erupted from the sand—an entire swarm of burrowers.
"Great. I must've stumbled into their nest!"
Sivir spun on her heel and bolted, the sound of countless screeches echoing behind her. She couldn't take them all head-on—she needed space.
Timing her steps carefully, she reached a tall stone pillar, stopped abruptly, and flung Chalicar once more.
The spinning crossblade carved through the swarm, ricocheting between the creatures with blinding speed. Each flash of steel dropped another burrower.
When the weapon finally returned to her hand, every last one lay dead—its blade slick with dark, void-tainted blood, trembling faintly as if alive.
Chalicar's first master, the Ascended Queen Setaka, had died battling the Void. As a divine weapon, the blade held a deep, instinctive hatred for those creatures.
"You're feistier than usual today," Sivir said, feeling the weapon's pulse. She didn't think too hard about it—just grinned and hurled it again.
Shing!
The crossblade tore through the air, leaving an afterimage in its wake before cutting down the leading burrower and ricocheting through the rest.
When it returned, the battlefield was silent.
"Heh. Nothing I can't handle."
Sivir flicked the blood from her blade with a smirk
—when the ground behind her collapsed.
A massive pit yawned open, swallowing rocks by the ton. From it surged a choking cloud of purple mist—poisonous and vile.
Then came the real monster.
A burrower the size of a bus hauled itself from the pit, maw wide enough to swallow her whole, twin tongues flickering like serpents.
Sivir froze. Her cocky grin vanished.
"...Oh, crap."
"Down!"
The shout cracked through the air—Duke's voice.
Sivir didn't think. She dove forward just as a searing electromagnetic beam scorched over her head.
ZZZZT!
The blinding flash punched straight through the monster's open jaws, burning through flesh and bone alike.
The scent of charred meat filled the canyon as the creature's body convulsed, then collapsed, smoking.
Sivir lifted her gaze
and there was Duke, standing on a floating platform, a weapon in hand unlike anything she'd ever seen.
A railgun.
Its still-glowing barrel hummed faintly, the residual charge crackling in the air.
On another platform hovered Kai'Sa, watching the weapon warily. The energy it emitted made her carapace twitch uneasily.
Just what kind of power was this man hiding?
Maybe, just maybe… he could find a way to defeat the Void.
As that thought crossed her mind, Duke released the trigger and lowered the weapon. The fight was over—no need to waste more energy.
But instead of putting it away, he called to Kai'Sa: "Come on. Let's go check on her."
"Right."
As Duke guided the platform down, Sivir slowly pushed herself up, heart still hammering in her chest.
"Sivir!"
She turned toward the sound—just in time to see Duke land before her, the muzzle of that terrifying weapon now aimed squarely at her.
Her scalp prickled.
"W-What are you doing?!"
Duke's voice was calm. "Where's the intel I asked you to find?"
Sivir broke into a cold sweat.
Intel? What intel? She'd only used that as an excuse to ditch him!
"I… uh…"
Her words faltered as the barrel of the railgun began to glow faintly.
Duke smiled, voice soft as silk.
"I'd be very careful with that answer. Lie to me, and you'll turn into vapor."
End of chapter....
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