Chapter 38: As if that was the end of trouble.
The world had ground to a stand still while the events of Yamanoryu poured in through any media they could find.
The radio, one of the upcoming forms of media for Mainland Valoran, churned out reports after reports of every single press-talk, spreading everywhere from the Institute outposts in the very harshest conditions of the Freljord to the blazing heat of the Shuriman desert.
This was far from the norm, a terrorist organization assaulting a city with no sane goal or objective. Yet, they had somehow killed an Elder Dragon and another was in critical condition with no clear outcome in sight.
The information was slight at first as the situation in Yamanoryu was stabilized, but it gradually rose to a flurry of raw and base facts that few knew how to make sense of.
Over the last two days, as information had slowed down and settled, spokesmen for each of the nations had risen up and offered their support and concern for Ionia's situation. Ionia had accepted the support gracefully in a usual publically broadcast welcoming.
And then there was Jericho Swain.
Xerath had some experience with Swain on the Rift, but his most powerful of talents were on the political scene.
He was inconsiderate of feeling at first glance, but it was much more that his patience grew thin with public concern and ceremony. He enjoyed motion, no matter how slow it may seem. That was not to be considered the same as action, as he had declared constantly against 'simpletons', as that was far too close to conflict as his predecessor had focused on.
'Vox populi, Vox insanaie' was often a quote he mumbled to himself when faced off against troubled masses, showing even further lack of interest to the masses of protesters that hated his weird and inconsistent behavior.
Of course his speech would be the most 'entertaining' of all.
"My humble friends in Ionia, I am fully aware and sorry of the distraught that you have faced in the past 48 hours. As a nation who has to constantly face off against the enemy within, we know the horror that comes with the realization that perhaps your neighbor is not as friendly as he supposedly was. The High Command of Noxus and I both offer our support and concern for your struggle and hardships. There are many things left to resolve, but I would also wish to briefly talk about something that you have lost in this bizarre conflict." Swain cleared his throat.
"Dragons, are creatures that appear in all mythologies of Runeterra. Whether they are solitary and quiet creatures or guardians of sacred places to dangerous beasts that lash out at seeming random, they are all respected in the highest of regards. Their backgrounds and nature are things that scholars have studied for centuries, and they all have some strange sense of grace behind their massive frames that human and anthropomorphs cannot truly comprehend. Specifically in Yamanoryu, a city known for its dedication to dragons even so far as to derive its name from the creatures, they are the lifeblood of ceremony and to serve under the name of those great dragons is indeed a truly great and noble honor. And yet, these terrorists had the gall to care not for their grandeur and might to such an extent that they unleashed a weapon that killed and heavily wounded another in but a single projectile to each from their monstrously destructive cannon that they brought. For these noble creatures to be brought so low by such technology would be considered truly inhumane by such a country as yours. And, it is for that reason, that I would like to publically announce my proposition to the Institute of War for this weapon, and all of its derivations, to be considered under the same category as tactical Runic warheads specified under article 53 of the Institute conflict conduct."
"Holy sh*t. There's Swain's punch line." Xerath exclaimed.
"Punch line? I don't get it." Syndra asked.
"Swain doesn't usually like this sort of ceremony of concern and stuff, but if he can politically enforce a policy like he's just done, then it is in his best interest."
"Enforce a policy? How so?"
"Huh…" Xerath sighed. "It's fairly difficult to explain, but he's effectively made this public information that the Institute will be suggested to add another weapon to the tactical weapon ban, Article 53 if you will. If any nation or party were to reject to this proposal then they would immediately draw suspicion and likewise could be considered responsible for the terrorists. Especially since this is Noxus who will be starting the proposal, it makes their political standing better compared to older times." Xerath finished.
"To make things even better, Swain most likely knows that Zaun's primary combat tactics revolve around smaller scale weapons and medium armor. The only other nation with the technological expertise to field a weapon like that would be Piltover, who are notorious for a 'bigger is better' approach to warfare with their big-*ss mechs and super-heavy tanks. Also considering that you two faced off and destroyed that Piltoverian PR-870S Centurion with an otherwise banned heavy arcane disruptor system, Swain'll be able to have a real go at Piltover for this." Nat added.
The two glanced over at Natalie in surprise.
"… What? I just like to watch military documentaries sometimes is all…"
"You really do know what you're doing sometimes." Xerath praised.
"Look, I had a whole bunch of time on my hand, okay." Nat moaned.
It was just the three of them now after they had arrived on Institute grounds, Ahri already having gone off to find the rest of her friends. Yamoto was confirmed to be stable, and would be arriving within the next 48 hours.
The first real priority for them was to return Natalie back to Viktor.
Despite all that Xerath had said before, he really didn't know Viktor would react, especially if the killer of his personal guards strode up to him and apologized with her usual ignorant manner.
It was going to be difficult at least.
"NATALY! Slava bogujatak volnovalish!" Viktor embraced Natalie in open arms.
This… was definitely surprising…
He had never seen Viktor this happy ever, especially to another, despite otherwise stating that he had long passed such terminology, human.
"Ah, thank the Lords that you have returned healthy. Vhat happened? I vas too deep in study to realiz' that Grigovic had dragged you off to Lords know vhere."
"Ionia, apparently to seek out an individual with information on Tipulko." Xerath interjected.
"DAMNABLE FOOL!" Viktor snapped, "If Ionian forces had spotted him the political backlash vould have been ridiculous! Vhere is he now?"
"He-he's dead along with everyone else." Syndra said shyly, just managing to peak out from behind Xerath's cloak, frightened from Viktor's sudden and blaring roar from his metallic voicebox.
"Gyeh, Grigovic had it coming to him. Our, disagreements, were growing expontially. I believed that our paths vould split sooner or later." Viktor said, before suddenly stopping in question as to who said that.
"Ehm, might that speaker be you, girl?"
"Y-yeah, the guy kinda went into my castle and I kinda… responded with violence." Syndra said, her voice turning into something like a whisper.
"Vhell, that vas unexpected. Who are you, anyvay?"
"Her name is Syndra Henkokonau, someone who might actually have the highest arcane potential on the planet. She was the reason why I had to make a sudden trip to Ionia, and I have been tasked with to keep an eye on." Xerath interjected.
"Oh… so this vas vhy that Jun lady vanted you. I vould never have imagined that this girl vas vhat concerned her back then. Know this then, my dear, you have done a disservice against my assets, and that I cannot forgive. But, you have managed to return at least vun of them back, and for that, I am grateful."
It would probably not be a good thing to say that I had stopped Syndra from completely obliterating Nat back then.
"In any case, Natalie is back safe with you now. But, I would like to know a couple more things from you though, as some sort of goodwill on your part."
"Has that fox made you crave so hungrily for things, my friend? I vould normally not think you having such a determination to dig into something that barely affects you."
"Hm, well Natalie does impact me to some extent considering our short adventure together, so that argument falls apart to some extent."
"Heh, perhaps that fox has taught you a couple things that few others would dare touch on, but I will stop vith bashing on Ahri now, considering those eyes you stare at me vith."
Despite Xerath lacking them, Viktor had no eyes of his own so he knew the same stares he gave people. Body language was something that Zaunics had a knack to.
"Honestly, I digress. We have known each other for a vhile now, so some sense of personal trust vould be preferable to counter-act this unsettlement. Let us move to somevhere less crowded, shall ve?"
The small terminal hall was already packed as summoners from all nations flocked into the Institute, in preparation of the incoming Yamanoryu inquiry, and the sight of Viktor embracing this twenty-ish looking girl had already drawn some attention.
Xerath knew of Viktor's paranoia about crowds, sprouting from his old research days when Zaun was rife with plagiarism.
"Alright, let's head somewhere else."
After a short walk out of the transportation complex, Viktor started to talk.
"I got Nataly as a gift from a 'friend', although after that I vould never consider calling him vun again. You must realize that this all started years ago, coming up to ten now, back when the Institute did not have such powers as to impose significant societal changes."
Although Viktor's phrasing was weird at times, Xerath got the gist of most of them.
"Anyvay… In the higher and more 'sovisticated' houses and companies of Zaun, a new trend started to appear vhere rich families would buy the 'rights' to children and others, claiming it vas the same as other families marrying into richer families or for political reasons, and that the money was just a 'donation' to reward families who contributed. This viltered down into the middle-class poorly, vith all sorts of horror stories from miss-use of those involved, called 'biorites'. Vhere I fit in vas at this particular dinner party rewarding those who took part in a research project. I vas never vun for parties, but this was sovisticated enough to be considered manageable. And so, after all of the drinks and partying vas over, our host made an announcement that ve vould all be getting a present sent to our doors late this evening. That already sent alarm bells ringing in my head. Delivered bombs vere not completely uncommon for Zaun, so vhen the package arrived I had gun in hand and even made the delivery man stay around for five minutes vhile I opened the package. It turned out to be a small girl, Nataly, caged up in a steel cage."
Viktor's voice suddenly flooded itself in anger and hatred, something that could very well strike fear into even the most feral of beasts.
"To think, that some deluded F**K would dare cage up an innocent child like that sets my blood aflame! That vas something I vill never forget in my entire life, a disgusting display of unchecked human cruelty and perversity!"
After his screeching mechanical roar had echoed out across the large and vacant plain, Viktor took a short break to regain his solid composure before continuing.
"Vorgive me, my friends. I understand how scary my anger can be, but I digress. Back then, I looked immediately for Nataly's parents and found them. But, it was far vorse than I had imagined. The mother… had died at childbirth and the lone factory vorker father was a methyl abuser. I knew that there vould be no vay in this god-forsaken state to raise Nataly, having heard news of these biological right buyers having strong svay vith orphanages. Now, vhere vould a social reject like myself even manage to attain a carer for this new child I had gotten in the f**king mail? Gyeh, I am just thankful she was mostly independent at such a young age. I did my best vhen I could, asking for help from my guard unit, captained by Grigovic's predecessor, Alyxandr, some of whom had experience raising children. Years passed, and the Institute vinally managed to gain the evidence required to outright ban this tradition, and they cracked down hard upon Zaun. Every household vith a biorite was thoroughly searched and responded any sort of abuse vith immediate incarceration, and subsequently granted to all abused biorites refuge. It vas a massive operation that shook the very vorld to its core at the time. A few biorites though managed to remain vith their masters, Nataly included. 'Sir, I intend to remain by your side until the end.' Vas the answer she gave me at the time, although she probably would hate herself talking like that now." Viktor finished, gazing down towards Natalie.
She had been incredibly uncomfortable while Viktor had been talking, not surprising considering her uncovered background. But a small hint of rose-colored cheeks were still present, trying to forget those embarrassing words she had said back then.
It was quite cute actually.
"That, that was something I would not have expected." Xerath replied, his tone denoting that he wanted slightly more from Viktor. "But I have to ask of one more thing. Back in Ionia, Natalie had divulged a small amount of information about herself to Ahri, including information to suggest that you saved Natalie from being raped by Grigovic." Xerath saw Viktor's back stiffen sharply at those words. He didn't want to press any further that this, but he wanted to know about this.
Viktor sighed. "Yes… It's true. I have no idea vhat sort of meetings or gatherings Grigovic had gone to implant those sorts of ideas in his mind, but he had seemed off after Tipulko had claimed Alyxandr's life, but I could not know vhat svam through him in those long days following. I managed to catch him in the act, but it was still too late for me to consider stopping him successful." Viktor finished once more, his final tone suggesting that was all Xerath was going to get out of him this time.
Xerath wanted to ask about Alexei Munitov, Jinx, but that would have to wait for a while. Although it would be better to ask about it now before the inquiry, it may raise to many questions about Zaun's political issues and hurt Viktor's profile significantly.
"I'll leave Natalie in your care then, that's all I wanted to know."
"Heh, of course. You have my thanks Xerath, you too Syndra."
"Y-You're welcome." Syndra replied, flustered by the sudden sense of gratitude from the machine-man.
"Vell… I have other things to do now. If you vould excuse us then." Viktor concluded, walking off along a separate pathway, Natalie swiftly following suit.
Natalie stopped for an instant once she had caught up to Viktor, turning back around to Xerath and Syndra.
With a swift smile and an affirming nod of gratitude, she once again ran to catch up to Viktor.
"So… what now?" Syndra asked.
A slightly awkward question compared to the context, but the four had already spent around thirty minutes walking and conversing.
It was probably time for a change on tone, hopefully a slightly brighter one for the moment compared to the gloom that Yama had left on the world.
Yeah, that was probably the best thing to look for.
"We'll need to get you accommodation and entry into the Institute. I would like to think that Karma has taken care of part of it, but that's not exactly concrete."
"I thought I was going to stay with you for a little bit while that happened."
It wouldn't be too bad for Syndra to stay for a while, since Azel could probably take care of her for a while, despite the fact that she was around six years younger. But then again, having another female in his dormitory could definitely complicate things, and her sleeping habits would very easily piss Azel off.
"That could very well be a possibility, although I would need to prepare a few things first. Either way, I should introduce you to my secretary and your fellow student."
Despite the fact that her actual talent is far beneath you, so much so that it barely shows up on your radar.
Although Xerath knew that Azel would be the one more annoyed.
"Xerath! Haha! You're back!" Azel cried from the far region of his surprisingly vast dormitory, running towards him as soon as she had heard the large door open.
A strong natural tan and those piercing blue eyes, something that Xerath had actually never really noticed. She was significantly smaller than Syndra, primarily due to the poverty-ridden nature of Nalepsis (despite all that had been done to hide that fact away by certain officials).
Azel, seeing the fairly beautiful newcomer innocently follow Xerath's footsteps and proceed to scan the room wide-eyed, instantly grew suspicious.
"So… who's the new girl?" Azel inquired, her left eyebrow perking up slightly in objection to this seemingly clingy woman.
Syndra snapped to frantically, but Xerath interjected to appease Azel's obvious discontent that another woman had made it into her master's life.
Damnable Fates, does Azel think I'm going to start a harem or something?
"Her name is Syndra Henkokonau, and due to circumstances she is now your fellow student." Xerath replied, a moderate level of authority in his voice to imply that Azel could do nothing about this.
To be honest, he could do nothing about this either, having already promised Karma, Hahouya and Ahri that he would take care of Syndra to the best of his ability.
"That reminds me Azel, I asked of you while I was away to produce the Hornet Shards. Would you mind showing us your complete and utter mastery of it?"
"Oh- Uhm, y-yes… As you say my Lord." Azel frantically replied, rushing off down to the spell range to prepare herself.
"Syndra," Xerath whispered to her as they walked together to view Azel's obviously meager attempt at the spell.
"Hm?"
"You remember those times when I got annoyed at Yamoto for calling me 'my Lord'?"
"Not really… but I can kinda see why you dislike it."
"So you're not as air-headed as I would believe." Xerath mocked.
"Hmm…" Syndra grumbled in that innocently cute manner of hers.
"Ah- Um, yeah. Just give me a minute. I just need to clear some things out of the way…" Azel's voice mumbled as her concentration was focused on clearing the fairly cluttered spell range.
It was quite obvious how hard she had been at work trying to get something to work from the amount of romance novels lying around the area.
Syndra innocently bent down to retrieve one of them, reading the title out.
"Twin Souls, a moving Demacian tale of love and bravery. By Andrea Quiver."
Then, in a move unbefitting of her previous innocent demeanor, tossed the novel over her should dismissively, saying "Read it before. It's sh*t."
"But that was my favorite one!" Azel replied defensively, as if that somehow would justify the weak and obvious story.
"Then your tastes are sh*t." Syndra stated.
"B-Bu-"
"It's sh*t." Syndra's voice rang out with a surprising tang of authority.
"I believe we should stop there," Xerath concluded the one-sided argument, "Azel, have or have you not made any progress with Hornet Shards?"
"Ye-Yeah, I just haven't managed to get to the level you wanted from me."
"Not surprising. That degree required a significant amount of energy that could very well be better spent on actually having a finishing move."
"Finishing move?" Azel questioned.
"I was going to continue when I came back to look at Hornet Shards and ask 'Is it actually useful?' Hornet Shards are actually very weak combat wise from how inefficient the spell actually is."
"Huh? How so? It's pretty cool and it can't really be evaded easily."
"There are many things that I could talk about, but you'd prefer a visual example most likely."
Xerath turned to Syndra and pointed down the range at one of the targets.
It was a couple meters down-range, not especially far, but it was far enough that any mage would have to take a second to aim.
"Syndra, take that one out. I don't want something pretty or explosive. Just enough to kill a man."
"Alright… Just give me a second." Syndra brushed the remaining 'trash' aside with an immaterial wind.
Sizing up the target, she motioned into a martial pose, her movements slow and ceremonial.
Damn it Syndra, I just wanted enough power, not this Ionian battle pose sh*t.
In a sharp exertion, Syndra twirled her body, sending a barrage of aether down the range.
The wooden target splintered instantly, the shards scattering dozens of meters further.
Syndra twirled innocently around, a ray of hope beaming from her face as she expected Xerath's praise.
Xerath had his face covered by his hand, his fingers touching his temple as he shook it in disapproval.
Azel, on the other hand, was completely awestruck at what had just happened, her jaw just about to hit the floor.
"HOW THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT!" Azel cried out in disbelief.
"She's perhaps the greatest mage that will ever be born on this world, purely out of potential though. Something that was greatly wasted by her Ionian teacher." Xerath trailed off, irritated at that old tutor's attempt at stopping an eventual avalanche, as well as something else.
"Wait WHAT! This innocent sh*t? The most powerful mage ever?"
"Uhuh," Xerath agreed, unconcerned for Azel's comment. "Or did you think being my student wouldn't mean you would be exposed to weird sh*t at all?"
That had shut up Azel rather nicely, her mind failing to find a comeback.
"That aside, Syndra, I wanted just enough to kill a man, nothing more."
"Well, he'd be dead right about now anyway, so what's the problem?"
Xerath sighed.
In a moment, his hand waved out to another target on the range, a lash of cerulean light blazing out to meet the target nigh-instantly.
As the crackling boom of the spell died down, the three all looked down range towards the target.
Rather unremarkably, it was still standing, a several centimeter crater burned into it.
"Would you also consider that to be a dead man?" Xerath asked.
"Err…" both Azel and Syndra answered, not knowing what Xerath was getting at.
"He could still be alive," Syndra replied, waiting for Xerath's face to show something before continuing.
Xerath's face told her otherwise.
"Or he could very well be dead." Syndra continued.
"Azel, what do you think?"
"I think he would be dead by now."
Xerath sighed briefly before answering them.
"You both were right, but Syndra had the better answer. He could still very well be alive, but I doubt that most men would be getting up so easily from taking that hit. Incapacitating your opponent is a very useful ability even if they will recover shortly, as it can give you a momentary edge that could very well turn the tides."
"But wouldn't you simply be able to smash them all aside? I mean, Xerath-Sens-" Syndra started, but immediately blushed and screamed internally in embarrassment.
That was probably due to the teacher honorific, if that was the word, that Syndra was going to use for him. It carried a certain weight to it that was unlike most West Valoran words such as 'Mister' or 'Miss', often being saved for admiration of a teacher or superior.
Thankfully Azel hadn't caught on, or this would only continue into further embarrassment, something that was guaranteed to get on Azel's nerves.
"Xerath should be able to completely wipe out anyone that stands against him, right?" Syndra continued, provoking an explanation from Xerath.
"It still took quite some time to defeat opponents back in Yama. Since mage warfare is heavily known, most security profiles should have their own mage combat protocols and such. You have to take risks if you want to succeed, including leaving an enemy alive to take out another."
"Err… I don't really get it that much, but I guess you would say something about it being efficient or something, right?" Syndra finalized, knowing how puzzled she looked to him.
"Pretty much. Either way we have a bunch of time on our hands. So Azel, would you mind showing us your Hornet Shards now?"
"There's kinda a problem with that…" Azel shifted her eyes down the range.
"What is it?"
"That target was the last one in stock."
…
Oh.
It was a fairly dull and wet night in Highland, one of the many leisure districts in the heart of Bilgewater.
Bilgewater had always been a haven for outcasts and criminals, it's laissez faire approach promoting it almost. But there was always time for tourists and visitors who simply wanted a good time.
Ever since Fate 'n Graves had went on their frontier justice campaign several years ago, it had become a slightly more inviting place.
However, conflict is always going to be a part of human nature.
Not to say that conflict is always bad though.
Far from it in fact.
Silence and compliance can often make things just as worse off as conflict would.
It just depends on where the conflict is directed.
But Alexei Munitov, or Seniorita Bubblegum, or whatever her new self-pronounced name was, didn't really think that was a useful tangent to go on.
Especially when her favorite song had just come up on the karaoke machine.
Not that she knew the words especially well.
"Da dadada something fun right now! Dadadadada ANARCHY!"
It was a rather pathetic and laughable attempt at singing to say the least.
"Hey, umm… Jinx, maybe we could go on to a different song perhaps? This one has a bit too much violence in the lyrics for my liking…" Fishbones usual mopey voice asked.
"HAHAHAHA FISHBONES YOU WHINY TWERP! SHUT UP ABOUT IT BEFORE I RIP YOUR JAW OFF!" Pow-pow roared at the annoying rocket launcher.
"Ugh… Mon dieu. Pow-pow, must you always be so loud? And surely could we not consider a different and more… beautiful song?"
"Beauty? HA, what does 'beauty' have 'ta do with anything? That sh*t's not in my dictionary, fancypants!"
"As you have just said, plebian, it is not in your dictionary, but it is in mine, and that it what counts. So, if we please mademoiselle, could you consider a different song?"
It was at this point that a rather strange knock came on the door of the karaoke room.
Well, to be honest it wouldn't be that strange if someone was knocking about her horrible singing.
In her usual swift and fluid movement, Jinx swung the door open and peeked outside.
There were two rather large hulks of meat in tuxedos hanging outside.
"Hello Miss Alexei, my name's… Uhm…" The first hulk looked down at a little nameplate on his suit.
"Gareth. And this is my brother," The hulk once again needed to look at a nameplate to remember.
"Mark." The first one concluded after much examination.
"Our Boss would like a word with you." The second hulk searched into his back pocket for a large and unwieldy telephone.
"Who's 'yer Boss? Is his 'lil nickname Stan or somethin'?"
"Oh yes, that's his name." The first one answered as if he had once again remembered an old friend.
"Hey Bro, Boss told us not to say anything if she asked us anything."
"Oh yeah."
"As I just said to my bro, our Boss is the Boss. He has no name for you."
"Yeah that's right, we won't say anything."
Pff.
Idiots.
"So Stanny wants to talk to me? Give it here then!" Jinx rhymed.
"His name's not Stan!"
"Yeah, I know, that's why I said Stannis."
"The Boss has no name."
"Ah, so he's called Nemo."
That had just shut the two up nicely.
Jinx tapped on the phone pad and raised it up to her ear.
"Y'eeello?"
Stan's audible groans could easily be heard.
"Alexei, where's the money that you took from me?"
"Well, it's kinda my fee right? Can't really blame me from taking it."
"Where is it."
"God'it right beside me."
"Would you mind handing it over to Gork and Mork over there?"
"Yeaaaa… I kinda would."
"Your job is not over."
"I thought and found differently. I checked the fine print."
"There was nothing in the fine print."
"Exactly."
"Then I have a new job for you. That fee will be taken as collateral for your insubordination."
"It's not insubordwhatever. More like I didn't think this would get me good enough money."
"And what would be good enough money? A f**king dayjob?"
"You know that I wouldn't fit into that sorta thing."
"I need you to get to Pilt right now. I'll get some goons to rendezvous with you to escort you to the place."
"You know, I'd rather not."
"What would you rather do?"
"Not following your sh*t."
"Bold statement, b*tch."
"So? What sh*t do you have up your sleeve to stop me?"
"Your vigilante sister."
For once, Jinx had actually shut up.
"Yeah, I know, we have a sibling of yours. Well, we know just where she is. Made a f**king sh*t ton of news in Pilt about how she'll show all of the 'no gooders' the good of getting their faces beaten in. Well, how 'bout we show her what it really means to be a 'no-gooder'." Behind that phone line, Stan's menacingly unnerving smile smirked.
There was a rather long silence, uncharacteristic for any conversation involving Jinx.
"So, are you stunned or has the line just died."
"Nah sorry, was just examining the craters that I just left it Gork and Mork's heads."
A brief 'what' could be heard in the background, shortly followed by two crack-thrums of that Accelerator pistol she had 'acquired' from his old and naïve friend.
"So, how's it going to be like being hunted for the rest of your life?"
"I'd like to say the same thing to you, f**kface." Jinx spat before the line crackled and died.
A/N: Hey guys, Ethereal311 here. This chapter is slightly longer than 36 because I just wanted to add in a bit about Jinx (she's pretty fun to write about). Won't be going into her background explicitly, but I'll be dropping things here and again about champions and characters (I'm trying to do that quite a bit to really flesh the currently weak lore out) as my own thoughts about what they get up to, or their own emotions and stuff.
Anyway, Viktor. Viktor has a stupidly strong Russian accent in this (DAE cyka blyat) so I kind of wanted to emphasize that by the Vs replacing Fs. He's generally seen a ton of stuff in his time, so I wanted a slightly haughtier personality to him like when he talks about Xerath's relationship with Ahri (he doesn't know anything, but like I said, Zaunites are good with body language). Hopefully you enjoyed Natalie's background somewhat since it's not the nicest of topics (child anything is pretty low), but Zaun isn't a nice place and I wanted to suggest in a (hopefully) mature way that some things go beyond slaughtering kittens and plagiarism. It might work out in the end for Nat, but it's probably left you with a bad taste in your mouth like Viktor has (his case is kind of different though with the machine parts).
This signals the end of the Ionian arc, and Xerath'll be taking a trip to the Freljord with two Silver haired beauties and get shouted at by Azel for trying to make a Harem (seriously, he isn't).