Arcane: Thicker Than Blood

"Camille? It's actually you! What have you done? You've destroyed peace!"

Heimerdinger frowned as he stared at the emerging figure. His voice cracked with fury, rising uncharacteristically for the usually composed Yordle.

"Professor, peace is merely the illusion of the weak. Whether it's Piltover, Zaun, or this world, peace has never truly existed. I only uphold Piltover's… order. And order exists because of me. For the problems of Piltover, I am the solution."

Camille coldly glance at Heimerdinger. She then tilted her head slightly. "I've always respected your intellect, if not your naivety."

The plan had gone awry. Now, her only choice was to eliminate all errors.

Aside from Heimerdinger, everyone here was a target.

"These people were never going to stop at equality. You've seen Cipher's weapons, his rhetoric. This was inevitable," she stated, her voice maintaining its mechanical precision.

"You're nothing but a butcher!" Heimerdinger trembled with rage, shaking his fists as he shouted.

"History is written by survivors. Not idealists."

"And you are a purebred Yordle. So, you should not meddle in human conflicts. You belong in Piltover Academy, advancing science and technology should be your only goal."

"Please wait. I will correct this mistake and then take you back to the Academy."

Heimerdinger was too valuable. He was worth more than the entire Piltover Academy. Even Camille had to exercise patience.

"Dream on! I'm staying here, in the Undercity, and I'm not going anywhere!"

"You don't have a choice." Camille shook her head. She no longer wasted words.

Her gaze locked onto Silco.

Among the Zaunites, aside from Cipher, he was the most dangerous.

---

A little earlier, when Camille had just arrived, Silco unbuttoned his coat, pulling out several vials of shimmer and handing them to Vander and Sevika. 

"Some for you, Sevika, and—" Silco began.

But Vander snatched all of them away, leaving just one vial for each of them.

"You're insane. That much shimmer will kill you," Silco muttered. They were still preparing, and Heimerdinger had bought them some time.

"If it kills her first, it's worth it," Vander replied grimly.

"And if Cipher was forced to pull the Glory Grenade, then without a desperate fight, we're all dead anyway."

His eyes burned with the sharpness, and courage of the leader he once was.

"Silco, Sevika, if things go south, take everyone and leave. We must pass on the flame."

"The flame? You mean—" Sevika started, eyes widening.

"Cipher's vision. His plans. His revolution. It can't die here tonight," Vander cut her off.

Silco gripped Vander's arm. "And neither should you."

"Some debts can only be paid one way," Vander said, pulling away.

Clutching a vial of shimmer, he stepped forward alone. He would take on Camille himself, buying time for the others to escape.

"Vander!"

Sevika reached out to stop him, but Silco held her back.

"This time… he's right."

Silco watched Vader's figure fade into the distance with a grim expression.

"He's not going to his death. He's going to his redemption," he said quietly.

This might be the day Vander never returned.

"We can't all die here."

Suppressing his grief, he silently drew the revolver Cipher had given him for protection.

Every high-ranking officer had one. It was loaded with explosive rounds.

"Reload." Sevika gritted her teeths, then pulled out her own revolver and gave orders to the enforcers behind her.

---

Vander, now standing alone, glared at the approaching Camille. His eyes burned with fury.

Without hesitation, he uncorked each vial with his teeth, swallowing the contents in desperate gulps. He downed all the shimmer in his hand. The empty glass containers shattered as they hit the ground.

"AAAHH—!"

A beast-like roar of agony tore through the air. His body swelled at an alarming rate, muscles expanding until his clothes ripped apart. His frame doubled in size, skin splitting as muscle fibers expanded beneath.

Glowing purple veins pulsed across his face and body. And lastly, his eyes were completely consumed by violet light, filled with nothing but brutal, murderous instinct.

Kill that woman. Break her. Tear her apart.

With a wild howl, he charged straight at Camille.

"Commendable courage." Her voice was indifferent, making it impossible to tell if it was praise or mockery.

She had no intention of engaging Vander directly. Eliminating the greater threat came first.

Her eyes tracked Vander's charge, timing the precise moment to act.

A hook shot out from her leg, latching onto a nearby building. In an instant, she was on the rooftop, pulling her body upward just as Vander's fist passed through the space she occupied a fraction of a second earlier while closing in on Silco.

Her eyes locked onto her target, who was organizing his men.

Without hesitation, she dived down, energy surging through her legs as her body twisted mid-air, legs separating into their scissor configuration before swinging a sweep kick straight at him.

"Damn! Shoot! Shoot!"

Sevika's revolver spat fire, emptying its rounds in an instant. She had seen Camille's power firsthand.

"Don't hold back!" she screamed, quickly ejecting spent casings.

When Cipher pulled the Glory Grenade, Camille had been right next to him, and yet, she emerged completely unscathed.

"Fire! Kill her and avenge Cipher!"

"Kill! Kill her!"

The enforcers formed a half-circle, weapons raised.

"The rounds aren't penetrating! What is she made of?!" one enforcer shouted.

The enforcers quickly pulled out their Flatlines, unleashing a hail of bullets. Each of them carried only one explosive round, so overheating wasn't a concern. 

"Sevika, you have to get everyone out of here."

Silco's expression darkened. He hadn't expected Camille to bypass Vander entirely and come straight for them.

"What about you?" Sevika asked, already knowing the answer.

"I'll join you shortly. Or I won't. Either way, the revolution continues," Silco replied.

Without hesitation, he grabbed the only vial of shimmer he had left and gulped it down, then turned and ran in the opposite direction.

If Cipher's Glory Grenade couldn't even scratch her, there was no need to look... he already knew Sevika and the enforcers wouldn't be able to land a decisive blow.

This enemy was terrifyingly strong.

If he was her target, then the least he could do was buy Sevika time to escape with the others.

Silco's veins bulged purple as the shimmer entered his bloodstream. His movements became unnaturally quick, reflexes sharpened beyond human capability. Every stride covered twice the normal distance as he weaved between buildings.

Camille, still mid-air, deployed an energy shield, completely ignoring the attacks.

The burning effect of the explosive rounds did nothing to her, though the raging flames briefly obstructed her vision.

Her sweeping kick missed its mark.

Landing silently, she frowned as she saw Silco sprinting away at full speed. Another grappling hook shot from her leg.

Just as she reached her destination and prepared to unleash her move to cut off Silco's escape, a sudden flash of violet entered her peripheral vision.

Vander appeared seemingly from nowhere. His hands, now closer to paws with curved claws, closed around Camille's waist mid-grapple.

"Give him back! Return him to me!"

His massive fist, as large as a cooking pot, slammed into her face. 

The attack came too suddenly. She hadn't anticipated it and took the full force of the punch.

The impact sent shockwaves through the air, windows shattering in nearby buildings from the force alone.

Unfortunately, it did no damage to Camille. Without breaking through her energy shield, it was meaningless. 

"Meaningless," Camille stated coldly.

But that brief moment of delay was enough. Silco had disappeared, weaving through alleys, vanishing from sight.

With her primary target gone, her gaze tracked the alleyways where Silco had vanished, calculating pursuit probability, too many possible routes.

Target acquisition failed.

So, she instantly switched to the next threat.

"Perhaps I've underestimated shimmer. It's more valuable than the reports suggested." A flicker of surprise flashed in her eyes.

As the former leader of Zaun and the instigator of the Day of Ashes, she knew Vander's true strength well. He shouldn't have been able to withstand even a single strike from her.

Yet the shimmer had greatly enhanced his physique and regeneration. His strength and speed had skyrocketed.

"Interesting. Let's see your limits."

With a swift motion, she activated her ultimate ability.

Energy barriers formed around Vander like a cage, cutting off all escape routes. The only option left was a direct confrontation.

Vander charged again and again, each time meeting precision cuts from her bladed legs. His regeneration initially kept pace, closing wounds almost as fast as they opened. Then, gradually, it slowed. Blood pooled beneath him as his healing factor depleted.

His movements became sluggish, and more desperate.

A final charge met a perfect counterattack, Camille's blade piercing his shoulder, pinning him momentarily before she withdrew.

He held on for barely a minute.

The shimmer-fueled rage that had turned him into a monster had now left him a broken mess.

The injuries were too severe. Even his enhanced regeneration had reached its limit.

He collapsed, unable to rise again.

"A decent serum. Worth further research," Camille said as she stood over the barely-breathing Vander, calculating the most efficient kill stroke.

"I have no interest in torture. The test is over. You may rest now."

Her scissor legs gleamed as they sliced toward Vander's neck.

A piercing cry echoed through the battlefield.

From the dwindling firelight in the distance, a beautiful blue bird soared into the sky, its wings spreading wide.

It let out a melodic chirp, stirring the air with a faint green breeze. A sound, not quite birdsong and not quite speech, echoed across the ruined landscape.

Just as Camille's scissor legs slashed downward, a seemingly harmless breeze swept her off her feet, sending her flying backward toward Piltover.

The sky darkened with green-tinted raindrops, falling gently upon Vander. His wounds rapidly closed, and even the shimmer-induced haze clouding his mind cleared.

Struggling to his feet, he looked up, and he froze.

From the now-extinguished fire, a figure stepped forward, completely unharmed.

Perched on his shoulder was the same bird, pecking at him impatiently.

"Cipher!"

---

Some of Camille's lines are actual quotes from her. Did you notice?