Click, click, click—
The tightly interlocked gears whirred softly as kinetic energy flowed from the pressure valve engine to Link's legs.
With each step, he could feel the exoskeleton's leg armor pushing him forward.
Everything in front of him rapidly closed in, while the surroundings blurred into the background.
In the blink of an eye, a shimmering soldier vanished from everyone's sight.
In their place was a loud, heavy crash, like a speeding carriage hitting a pedestrian.
Caitlyn, who had just loaded her rifle, froze in place.
What just happened?
How could that mysterious figure move so fast? And the strength he displayed was beyond belief.
In the time it took to blink, a shimmering soldier had been pinned against the wall by his helmet.
Was this even humanly possible?
"Caitlyn!"
A shout snapped Caitlyn out of her daze. Realizing the urgency of the situation, she raised her rifle and fired at the shimmering soldiers.
The gunshot echoed through the venue as a bullet struck the high-strength glass visor of one of the shimmering soldiers, sending sparks flying.
The diving suits, designed to withstand deep-sea pressure, were incredibly durable. That was why the shimmering soldiers used them as armor.
"Ah—"
Guttural screams erupted from the shimmering soldiers' suits. Encased in their armor, they were submerged in high-concentration shimmer.
The shimmer caused their bodies to mutate, granting them speed and strength far beyond that of ordinary humans.
But the shimmer's corruption wasn't just physical—it also destroyed their nerves and sanity.
The constant burning of their nerves drove them into a frenzy.
The best way to release their pain was to unleash their rage and fury.
The shimmering soldiers, their arms transformed into blades, began to move. Despite their bulky diving suits, they were surprisingly fast and agile.
With roars, they charged at the enforcers, and in an instant, the two sides clashed.
Screams and shouts filled the air.
The whistling of rusty blades cutting through the air mixed with the crackling of gunfire, creating a cacophony of chaos.
But the most attention-grabbing figure was the massive shimmering mutant, twice the size of the others.
The stronger the individual, the greater the enhancement from shimmer.
This nearly three-meter-tall giant, encased in a heavy diving suit, reminded people of the legends from the Guardian's Sea.
A giant wearing a diving suit and carrying a massive anchor, said to drag greedy misers who refused to pay their tithes into the depths.
This shimmering mutant bore a striking resemblance to the legendary Deep Sea Titan.
The only difference was that it wasn't carrying an anchor.
"Disgusting!" Link shook the blood and tissue off his gloves. The shimmering soldier he had pinned to the wall now looked like a nail driven into the surface.
The hemispherical glass visor was completely shattered, the face beneath twisted and caved inward. Blood, bone, brain matter, and shimmer mixed together, splattered across the wall like a gruesome painting.
Turning away, Link ignored the unfortunate victim he had just dispatched. His calm eyes scanned the chaotic crowd.
The shimmering soldiers' superiority over ordinary people was evident. The shimmer granted them strength and speed far beyond human limits.
Even a simple swing of their arm blades was enough to overwhelm most people.
Even if someone managed to block the attack, the force would leave their hands numb and their arms weak.
Despite his warning and the enforcers' preparations, the flesh-and-blood enforcers were clearly outmatched by these alchemical monstrosities.
As the saying goes, you fight magic with magic. To deal with these alchemical monsters, you needed technology of equal caliber.
Like Hextech—or the clockwork tech he was developing.
So—
Link took a deep breath, crouching slightly as he positioned his legs for a sprint.
With his stance, the exoskeleton's pressure valve activated, and the kinetic transmission gears spun rapidly. Link felt the exoskeleton tighten around him like a coiled spring.
As the pressure built, Link took a powerful step forward. The moment his foot hit the ground, the floor tiles cracked and caved in, leaving a small crater.
The force rippled outward, creating a spiderweb of cracks.
With that single step, Link shot forward like a gust of wind, his right arm already primed for a strike. The hydraulic system tightened, ready to unleash its power.
In the blink of an eye, he crossed half the venue. A shimmering soldier appeared in front of him, and Link's fist shot out like a cannon.
"Bang—"
The hydraulic system propelled Link's arm forward, his fist smashing through the shimmering soldier's helmet and crushing the back of its skull.
Link could feel the feedback as steel met flesh—the skin like jelly, bursting on contact; the bones like thin chocolate, shattering instantly.
The force, stronger than a bull's charge, concentrated into a single point, turning the shimmering soldier's head into a pulpy mess.
With one strike, Link twisted his body and charged again.
He needed to take out the regular shimmering soldiers first before dealing with the mutant.
In an instant, a whirlwind swept through the venue.
Wherever the whirlwind passed, a spray of blood painted the ground like a firework bursting in the night sky.
Caitlyn, noticing this, lowered her rifle in disbelief.
"How is he doing this? Is it because of that armor?"
"Caitlyn, who is this guy?" Vi appeared beside Caitlyn, scanning the area warily. "Why do the shimmering soldiers look like bugs in front of him?"
"I don't know, but he seemed to know about the chem-baroness's attack in advance."
"He told me the attack was orchestrated by someone behind the scenes."
As Caitlyn spoke, she tried to keep track of the figure darting through the venue like a gust of wind.
Even when she focused, it was hard to catch more than a glimpse of him.
His strength was equally astonishing—a single punch could shatter a diving helmet and the skull inside, something even bullets couldn't penetrate.
Such incredible speed and strength were baffling. How was he doing it?
Rumors spoke of groups in distant Ionia who wielded strange powers.
Even Noxus, which had its eyes on Piltover, had secret methods to push ordinary people beyond their limits, turning them into powerful warriors.
But Caitlyn had a keen sense that this man's power came from the strange armor he wore.
Was it technology on par with Jayce's Hextech?
But why had she never heard of it? A craftsman with such technology would be a guest of honor anywhere.
Caitlyn narrowed her eyes, deep in thought.
Meanwhile, Link smashed the last regular shimmering soldier's head and turned to face the mutant, who had closed the distance without him noticing.
The three-meter-tall figure cast a large shadow, its path littered with twisted, mangled bodies.
Even with Link's help, the enforcers had struggled to contain this monster.
Link's eyes focused on the mutant's diving suit, particularly the pipes and pumps circulating the shimmer.
A body this size required a massive amount of shimmer to sustain.
If he didn't destroy its head in one strike, the shimmer's enhancements would make it even stronger in its agony.
So—
Link leaped into the air, dodging the mutant's mechanical arm as it slammed down. The arm, a simple three-pronged claw, was more than enough to crush a person to pulp.
With a loud thud, the mechanical arm hit the ground. Link, still in mid-air, curled his body to accelerate his descent.
Before the mutant could raise its arm, Link extended his body, landing on the mechanical arm and using his weight to drive it deeper into the ground.
The metal bent inward, and the mutant stumbled to the side.
The mutant swung its left arm, a butcher's cleaver, in a wide arc. The blade whistled through the air as Link charged forward instead of retreating.
He swung his right arm in a circular motion, driving his elbow forward like a spear.
The impact sent the massive mutant off balance.
As the mutant fell backward, Link grabbed a latch on its diving suit. The gears in his exoskeleton spun furiously, generating intense heat that radiated through his body.
Using the mutant's momentum, Link flipped his body in mid-air.
His waist twisted, and the metal spine of his exoskeleton shifted as he spun.
The three-meter-tall mutant was like a giant ragdoll in his hands, slammed into the ground with a deafening crash.
The helmet shattered on impact, shimmer spraying everywhere as the mutant's head was reduced to a bloody pulp.
Link released the latch and landed gracefully, his armor emitting puffs of steam.
The high-speed operation had generated immense heat, causing the steam to vent.
Breathing heavily, Link glanced at the enforcers, who looked at him with awe.
At the same time, Jayce arrived, clutching his Hextech hammer.
"Where are the attackers?" Jayce called out, only to see the mutant's body lying on the ground, crushed by Link.
"It's over already?"
Jayce felt a sense of absurdity and disbelief.
Link looked at Jayce, an inexplicable sour taste filling his mouth.
His face twitched as he snorted, "You're too late!"
With that, he turned and ran, leaping over a dozen meters in a single bound. He grabbed onto a ledge, scaled the wall, and disappeared from sight.
"Hey, wait!"
Jayce called out, but the mysterious figure was already gone.
Looking down at the hammer in his hand and the devastation around him, Jayce's arms went limp.
The hammer reverted to its cannon form and clattered to the ground as he let out a bitter laugh.
"Yeah... I really was too late."