25 Inevitable

The storm had come. 

The sky was tar-black and the large clouds spat out beads of water. First, it was small drops, then it began pouring heavily. The rain began pattering loudly against the ground. Puddles began forming, and then the roaring sound of thunder came after.

It was just as Silco said, Vander and the gang were still in the area. Vander and Violet were heavily injured and since they were on the second level of the cannery building, it took some time for them to climb down with the rest of the gang.

However, this wasn't the only reason why they were still here when they could have escaped by now.

In the alleyway next to the cannery building, Vander and the gang were looking around their surroundings. This was because they had immediately recognised that the smoke bomb from earlier was one of Powder's inventions and was looking for her in the area.

They couldn't just leave Powder alone although they were aware of the risk. They were worried that she might get captured and would need to be rescued as they had done with Vander, or in the worst-case scenario, Silco would kill her.

"Powder!" Violet shouted in a whisper, holding her injured arm. 

"Powder!" Claggor joined in.

A moment later, Powder came around the corner holding the dirty bunny toy her big sister gave her. "Vi. It worked," she said excitedly. "Did you see? My bomb finally worked." 

Violet opened her mouth. She wanted to reprimand her for not doing what she was told, but in the end, she sighed and patted her head. "Good job, Powder," she said with a smile.

"You saved our asses back there," added Claggor.

Naturally, being the asshole he was, Mylo didn't miss this chance to add a snarky remark to try and whittle down the little bit of self-esteem Powder just gained. "You know we could've gotten away without your help."

Powder scowled at Mylo, and Mylo did the same.

"Alright you two, stop fighting, we don't have that much time," said Vander. "They'll be here soon--"

However, it was already too late.

Pitter-patter, pitter-patter, pitter-patter!

The sound got louder… It was the sound of footsteps in the rain.

Turning their heads towards where the sound had come from, Vander and the gang's faces paled. They saw Deckard coming around the corner with Silco goons behind him and some more on the other side of the alleyway behind them.

"I'll try to make an opportunity and you guys try to escape," Vander stood in front of the gang.

"No," Mylo shook his head. "We'll fight with you."

"That's right, family sticks together," Claggor was also reluctant. "We can't just leave you behind, we can't lose our family again."

"I'm sorry kids, this is the only way," Vander said, his voice heavy with determination. He then turned to Violet. "Vi give me the gauntlets, I'll try to create a path." 

"I-is there r-really no other way?" Violet stuttered.

Vander shook his head and said nothing. He gestured for Violet to hand him the metal gauntlets and she did so with tears streaming down her cheeks.

***

-Half an hour earlier-

Art licked his dried lips the moment woke up, a salty taste in his mouth then the excruciating pain from his nose came. "Ou, ouch, couldn't she have held back a little? She broke my fucking nose," he said while wiping the blood off his face. 

Art then sat up and carefully touched the bridge of his nose. "Ah fuck!" he hissed in pain, his face grimacing and with a crack, he straightened his nose back into place. He didn't hesitate at all considering this wasn't the first time he has broken his nose. When learning martial arts, it was inevitable for him to break a bone or two, especially from a brute like Lambert.

And so using [Body Enhancement Magic] as usual, Art started healing his broken nose, albeit slowly. He then looked around his surroundings, only to discover no one was around. "Now what do I do? Should I try to talk to Vi again?"

Despite being sucker-punched by Violet, he was mad, sure, but he was no arrogant young master who would lose their mind at every little thing. He knew he had it coming. He had lied about his identity and thinking back to the words he said before losing consciousness, he too wanted to hit himself.

Fancy? I can't believe I said that. When did I become such a snob? He shook his head, and with a sigh, he got back on his feet. "I've got to try one more time and convince Vi and the others to stay at my place."

This was what Art had decided. He was determined and wanted to see what the others thought of his proposition. If they were to react like Violet or worse, well, then so be it.

"If they aren't willing to forgive me despite giving it my all, then I guess that is all our friendship will amount to," Art said to himself with a sigh.

He was saddened at the thought but there was not much he could do now with the cat out of the bag. He could only hope the gang wouldn't react harshly. He then started heading towards the Undercity, parkouring atop its buildings with ease. 

He arrived at the Last Drop half an hour later, however, when he got there, the yellow neon lights at the entrance of the bar were turned off and the door was slightly open. 

He had a bad feeling.

It's strange for Vander to close this early, much less leave the door open, Art thought to himself, surprised. Did he go out? If so, why close for the day? That's bad for business. Shouldn't he have someone fill in for him while he's gone like always?

Art knocked on the door but got no response as expected. "Anyone in there?! Hello!" he called out this time.

"..." 

There was no response again.

Art looked to his right and left to see no one was looking. Then, he entered the bar and made his way across the dark room to the basement entrance and it was there, he saw dim light shining through the slightly opened door.

"Hello, anyone in here?' Art called out quietly while peeking inside and saw no one inside. He cautiously entered the room and saw Powder's belongings scattered on the ground.

"A robbery?" was Art's initial thought, but changed his mind when his inner Sherlock Holmes manifested. "No, it can't be, place too clean for a robbery. It's only Powder's side of the room that is messy."

Art walked over to Powder's bed and saw the blanket was a little wet… Did she spill a drink here? But there are no bottles or cups around the area. Considering the door was left open, they must've been in a hurry. They couldn't have had the time to clean up, then what is it?

He directed his gaze at the objects on the floor and then back to the bed… Powder's drawings? From the looks of it, the papers were thrown to the ground but why? Could it be she was so devastated to find out that I'm a Pilty that she broke down and these are her tears?

Art shook his head. "Maybe I could completely be wrong and it's something else entirely," he said, then sighed. "Whatever is the case, I guess I'll go find out for myself." 

After making up his mind, Art left the Last Drop and went to go find the gang in a hurry. He made the necessary preparation and flew straight into the sky, fast enough that no one in the area could see him.

However, as the gang weren't in the range of his senses, similar to a phone losing connection to the internet when it is too far away, he had to fly around for a while.

It was only when the weather got worse he was finally close enough to the gang and found their magical signature. He looked far into the distance, towards the abandoned dock, southeast of Piltover, visibly confused then it quickly turned to shock. "Huh? Why are they there? And where are the rest? I can only sense three. Wait, why did one of the signals suddenly disappear?!"

Art had never encountered this situation before where a magical signature would disappear all of a sudden. Nevertheless, it did not take long for him to narrow down the reasons and guess what this meant.

It was obvious what had happened and he was praying silently that he was wrong.

"No way. Please be alright," Art was trembling, terrified at the thought of what was happening at the docks. 

He didn't waste any more time and flew towards the port as fast as he could. He got there fairly quickly and what he saw as hovered in the sky was just as he expected. 

It was a bloodbath. 

Mylo and Claggor were gone, one had his head split open and the other had a hole in the chest. Violet was barely holding on for dear life. She and Powder were surrounded by several men and a humanoid monster who was holding Vander's dead body.

Art's mind went blank for a second, his breathing unsteady and erratic, and then anger took over him.

Using [Creation Magic], Art conjured dozens of magical spears behind him, each of them hazy and looking like a candle in the wind. This represented his state of mind at this moment. His concentration and the image in his mind were being distorted due to his emotion running amok, but even these spears were still enough to pierce metal, much less an ordinary man.

With a wave of his hand, the spears travelled faster than any bullet, faster than anything that anyone present had ever seen. Under the onslaught of the spears, the men who threatened to kill Violet and Powder were impaled like a kebab.

None of them could react nor would they have a chance to if they were aware of the attack.

Their guts and entrails were all over the ground, blood dripped from the magical spears but was quickly washed away by the heavy rain and into the puddles on the ground.

Despite it being his first time taking a life... well, lives, Art merely felt sick, his stomach-churning but that was all.

Art did not feel any guilt and why should he?

The people he had just killed in his eyes deserved to die for killing his friends. It may have not seemed like it, but he did care and was good friends with Mylo and Claggor. 

However, for Violet and Powder, it was different. Vander, Mylo and Claggor were family, the ones with who they went through thick and thin.

Art could care less that he had exposed he could use magic. Of course, he could leave now and there was a chance no one would find out it was him who helped, but how could he? 

Art felt responsible for all of this, blaming himself for lying to his friends and family... If they had known I could use magic maybe none of this wouldn't have happened.

This thought pained him, his chest burning, but for now, he could only put this thought in the back of his mind. What Violet and Powder were going through right now was something he could only imagine and he needed to be there with them.

He slowly descended from the sky and stood next to Violet and Powder. Seeing them break down in tears, he didn't know what to do but try and comfort the two girls with a hug.

"I-m, I'm sorry," Art said as his voice shook. "I- I should've come sooner."

Violet tried to push him away but she couldn't muster the strength to do so. "No, I-I should h-have listened to you. I could have..." she didn't know what to say, wiping her tears but she couldn't stop crying.

She was too overwhelmed with what had happened. She wanted to apologize for hitting him as she had so many questions she wanted to ask but she could not find the words to speak.

"It's okay, Vi," Art whispered, trying to comfort her while Powder sobbed quietly in his embrace. "I swear I'll never let this happen again."