Legends of Runeterra

Chapter 1043 1 punch

Just weeks after Satya's death, Akshan began to feel every trace of her fading. This was the most difficult aspect of his grief—the futile effort to hoard memories, to hold onto what remained of his beloved teacher.

He fished a charcoal sketch from his pocket. The brushstrokes were crude, roughly recognizable as her, but devoid of detail. But whenever he closed his eyes and tried to recall, he could always fill in the blanks where his brushstrokes couldn't reach. But gradually, his memory began to fail him more and more.

"Satya, why did you leave me?" he wondered. Perhaps he hoped, deep down, that the Sentinel standards he had failed to meet would fade away and never bother him again. Or perhaps he simply needed something to stimulate his memories.

He stuffed the sketch back into his pocket and walked into the open-air market in the center of Mawei, looking for something to remind him of his teacher. After walking a few blocks, he came upon a surprising scene: in an alley between two rows of stucco houses, a street child was tying a mother-of-pearl bracelet around his dirt-covered arm - a bracelet that looked familiar to him.

Akshan rushed over to the little girl, his cape snapping as he went. "Where did you get it?" he asked sharply, his tone completely devoid of his usual composure.

"I found it." The little girl said, holding the bracelet tightly. "What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? This thing originally belonged to someone very important to me," Akshan said. "And it was her favorite thing."

The little girl stared at him blankly, her eyes wide with fear. Akshan then realized that he was holding her collar tightly. He let go and forced an awkward smile.

"Why don't you tell me how you got this thing?" he said.

"Yes—I took it because someone else didn't want it."

The little girl had been hanging around on the streets for some time, and her face was filled with resentment. Akshan was familiar with this expression. He also knew one thing: there was a black market jeweler with a bad reputation in the block ahead, and Akshan knew what price he would offer for the bracelet - provided the little girl didn't run into Akshan.

"Then you'd better tell me the man's name."

"I can't say. You don't know how powerful he is."

Akshan gently removed the bracelet from the little girl's wrist. His heart skipped a beat when he saw what he had pulled from the clasp: a wisp of long, silver hair.

Is that Shatya's hair? She has silver hair... right?

Akshan's mind flashed with her image, only partially, more incomplete than before.

"Little friend," Akshan said to the girl, "my friend Satya is dead. This bracelet is one of the few things she has left. It was part of a set with four others."

The little girl's eyes were evasive, as if she was afraid that the man would read some information that shouldn't be revealed from her eyes.

Akshan exhaled and said softly, "Whoever you took it from, the other items must be in that person's hands as well. You must tell me the name of that scumbag."

The girl hesitated, her eyes rolling for a moment before finally relaxing. "They call him 'Sand Demon.' He lives in a big house on the hill to the north."

Akshan frowned. "Did you steal it from a warlord?"

"I helped him clean the stables," the girl said. "He owes me money."

"That makes sense," Akshan said. "But this bracelet isn't his at all, so it can't be considered wages. I guess I have to go meet this 'Sand Demon' myself."

"No," the girl said. "Sir, he'll kill people."

"I knew that a long time ago."

Before he finished speaking, he shot his grappling hook towards the eaves above his head, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Late at night, in the darkest hour, a group of heavily armed guards patrolled the warlord's mansion. However, no one noticed a cloaked figure in the shadows, sprinting towards the silver-inlaid door of the master bedroom.

In the bedroom, a burly, scarred bully sprawled on a large goose-down bed. Three exotic pet rats, their glossy white fur bristling, leaped from the bed in panic and scurried away when they saw Akshan emerge from the shadows.

Akshan's hand clasped the warlord's mouth. The man suddenly woke up, his eyes wide open, and he let out a muffled roar.

"Good evening, asshole." Akshan put the gun to the bully's chin. "I'm sorry to wake you up so late. Or rather, uh... I'm not particularly sorry."

The warlord flinched as the merciful man pointed his gun at him.

"All right, all right," Akshan said. "Calm down. I'll take my hand away now, and the only sound I want to hear is your confession. Is that clear?"

The anger in the warlord's eyes turned to wariness and confusion. Akshan slowly removed his hand.

"Repent?" the warlord asked blankly.

"Satya. Sentinel. Old lady. Very well-behaved and especially loves pearls..." said Akshan.

"I do not know what you're talking about."

"She was the nicest person I've ever met. At least among the untouchables, so you have to tell me why you killed her."

"I didn't kill her!" The warlord's tone revealed a hint of anger.

"Then how did you steal this from her?" Akshan slapped the bracelet against the warlord's face. "She was wearing this the day she died. I found four pieces of jewelry in your trunk that would make a perfect set with this bracelet." Akshan sighed and showed all five pieces of jewelry.

"I know who you are," the warlord said angrily. "I've heard your story and what you've done. You think killing me will bring her back to life."

"No. I think the statute of limitations has expired on that matter."

"Then what do you want to do?"

Akshan said nothing, thinking of the silver hair, the bracelets, and the woman whose face he could no longer recall. Was this the man who had killed her? Did the answer really matter? But it was clear that his death would be a good thing.

Finally, he answered the warlord's question.

"World peace, okay?"

Akshan snapped his fingers, and the Merciful One opened fire. Countless beams of light shot out from the Holy Stone, piercing the warlord's body and illuminating the bedroom.

The guards rushed in, but they were not as fast as Akshan - he had already climbed out of the window and melted into the cool breeze of the desert in the middle of the night.

When the sun climbed over the mountain, Akshan had already traveled a long way back to the city, feeling distressed.

He carefully examined the five pieces of pearl jewelry he had just retrieved, and vaguely felt that Satya had returned. However, his memory continued to fade, and only an ambiguous silhouette of her face remained.