Arcane: TTB: Ch. 163

Early morning the next day, Cipher picked a random conference room in The Last Drop's upper levels.

"Here's fine," he said, gesturing for Camille to make contact.

With Janna perched on his shoulder in bird form, he wasn't worried about security. If LeBlanc tried anything hostile, a literal goddess would be responding within arm's reach.

Camille pulled out the amulet from inside her coat.

The room's lighting dimmed immediately, shadows pooling in the corners and spreading across the floor. Then black roses began blooming from the floorboards themselves, pushing up through the wood like fast-forwarded footage of plant growth. In the center of the largest rose sat LeBlanc, one leg crossed over the other, perfectly composed as if she'd been sitting there the whole time.

Spatial teleportation, Janna's voice whispered directly into Cipher's mind. The amulet provides anchor coordinates.

Cipher didn't react outwardly to the explanation. He'd learned early on that showing surprise made you look inexperienced, and inexperience got you killed in negotiations with people like LeBlanc.

The two women standing behind him weren't quite as composed. Their eyes had gone wide, hands instinctively moving toward weapons before training kicked in and they forced themselves to stillness. They'd been briefed that a major figure would be arriving today, someone whose importance supposedly exceeded even Emystan or Emperor Darkwill himself. Both of them had been skeptical. Their former status in Noxus had been too low to know about the Black Rose's existence, and the idea that anyone outranked the Emperor seemed ridiculous.

But watching LeBlanc materialize out of thin air through teleportation magic made the claims suddenly very credible.

"Lady LeBlanc," Cipher said, standing to greet her with a smile. "Welcome to Zaun."

"Mr. Cipher." LeBlanc rose from her rose throne, accepting his offered handshake. "A pleasure to finally meet you in person."

Her eyes shifted almost immediately to the blue bird on his shoulder. To her magical senses, the creature registered as completely mundane, just an ordinary bird with no special properties whatsoever. Which was, of course, impossible. She had lived over a thousand years, and she knew an illusion when she saw one. Or more accurately, when she didn't see one. The bird's very ordinariness was the tell. It was either a manifestation of Janna's divine power or some kind of avatar construct.

Either way, a god was in the room.

"So," Cipher said once they'd settled into chairs across from each other. He was already preparing tea. "What brings the leader of the Black Rose all the way to Zaun? I'm guessing this isn't a social call."

The polite small talk portion of the meeting had lasted maybe thirty seconds. Both of them were practical people who didn't see the point in wasting time on ceremony.

"I'm here to extend an invitation," LeBlanc said, watching him pour tea. "I want you to join the Black Rose. In exchange, I'm offering you shared control of Noxus and eternal life."

She didn't build up to it. She just laid out the biggest card she could play, right there on the table. Whether this was genuine or just a test, nobody in the room could say for certain.

Everyone except Cipher looked shocked. Even Camille, who'd seen a lot in her century of life, raised an eyebrow at the sheer magnitude of what LeBlanc was offering.

If Cipher accepted, he would instantly become the third most important person in the Black Rose's hierarchy. The military strength of the Wind of Change was already formidable, and while Zaun's magical capabilities were basically non-existent, that gap would be filled by the Black Rose's resources.

And immortality... that was something Zaun couldn't provide. The human augmentation surgeries that Camille had undergone were incomplete, and Viktor's mechanical ascension program hadn't finished testing yet. Even if it had, that process stripped away your humanity along with your mortality, not exactly an appealing trade.

Magic-based immortality, on the other hand, preserved who you were while eliminating the expiration date. It was objectively the superior option.

She's not lying, Janna's voice whispered in his mind. The offer is genuine. I can sense no deception in her intent.

Cipher leaned back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other. His expression was contemplative, though there was no joy on his face despite what he was about to say.

"That's quite the tempting proposal. But I'd rather spend one mortal lifetime working alongside people I believe in than watch the world rise and fall alone for eternity."

The phrasing was grandiose, almost poetic. He was performing for the surveillance camera in the corner of the room as much as for the people present.

Riven, bless her heart, looked confused by the statement. Everyone else understood immediately what he was saying.

"Joining the Black Rose doesn't conflict with your goals," LeBlanc said, showing no sign of surprise at his refusal. A thousand years of life had taught her to expect resistance. "The Wind of Change and the Black Rose can coexist quite comfortably."

She gestured at the blue bird with one hand. "The radiance of Lady Janna has long been admired within our organization. We would welcome the Wind of Change expanding into Noxus. In fact, we'd support it."

That got everyone's attention. Cipher sat up straighter. Now that was surprising. Way more shocking than the offer of immortality. And it forced him to reevaluate everything he thought he knew about LeBlanc's motivations.

The woman was supposedly the shadow ruler of Noxus. Blaming everything wrong with the empire on her wasn't unfair, she'd been instrumental in most of it. But when you looked at what she'd done over those centuries, two patterns emerged.

First: preventing Mordekaiser's return from the death realm.

Second: preparing countermeasures in case he came back anyway, so she'd have the power to kill him again.

Everything else... those were just means to those ends. LeBlanc wasn't interested in power for its own sake. She was interested in survival.

Because she'd betrayed Mordekaiser during his first reign. She was on his kill list. And if he ever returned to the mortal realm, the first thing he'd do would be hunt her down and drag her back to the death realm with him.

She was terrified of him. Had been for a thousand years. Which meant her seemingly insane behavior today suddenly made perfect sense.

She wanted to recruit a god as insurance against an undead tyrant.

For that, she was willing to pay almost any price, because from her perspective, it was worth it. She had completely different values than normal people. The only thing she truly cared about was her own existence.

"Hold on," Cipher said, raising one hand. "Let me make sure I understand this correctly."

He looked at LeBlanc. "Noxus is on the verge of civil war. Your organization has been destabilizing the empire for months. And now you're... what, surrendering? Offering to cooperate?"

It was like watching a chess player realize they were in checkmate and immediately offering to join the other side. Tactically sound, maybe, but it took a special kind of shamelessness to pull off.

He'd never underestimated LeBlanc, but this was unexpected. She must have discovered something that made her certain Janna could protect her from Mordekaiser's wrath. Otherwise, she wouldn't be making such an offer.

"Joining the Black Rose has advantages," Cipher said slowly, thinking out loud. "But I'm not convinced it's better than the deal I've already got with Swain. The Trifarix Council's terms are pretty competitive."

It was an exaggeration. The Trifarix Council was nowhere near the Black Rose's level of power or resources. A secret society that had existed for a millennium, led by an immortal sorceress, had foundations that Swain's coalition couldn't hope to match. But LeBlanc didn't call him on the bluff. Instead, she accepted the tea he poured for her and took a sip.

The quality was noticeably inferior to what Camille had served her the previous night, but considering Zaun was a newly risen power rather than an ancient clan, it was acceptable.

"Power, status, wealth, beauty," LeBlanc said, setting down her cup. "The things mortals spend their entire lives pursuing. Swain can certainly provide those with relative ease. But there are many things he cannot give you. Things only the Black Rose can offer."

She leaned forward slightly. "I can conduct a magical ritual that would grant you eternal life and vast magical power. You would be freed from the constraints of a weak mortal body. You would have centuries, millennia even, to pursue your goals. The Wind of Change could sweep across not just Runeterra, but across ages."

It was a good pitch. She'd correctly identified that Cipher was ideologically driven rather than motivated by personal gain, so she'd framed immortality as a tool to achieve his vision rather than as an end in itself.

"Sounds interesting," Cipher said.

His tone, expression, and body language all said the same thing: not really, though.

LeBlanc's eyes narrowed slightly. "May I ask why you're refusing? I'm curious."

From her perspective, the offer was objectively superior to anything Swain could provide. And it didn't conflict with Cipher's stated goals, if anything, it would make achieving them easier.

With Janna's current divine power backing him, if Cipher joined the Black Rose, he could ascend to Noxus's throne within months. The entire empire would bend to his will. Everything he wanted, everything he was working toward, would be within immediate reach.

That had to be better than the slow, grinding work of revolution alongside Swain, right?

"Before I answer that, let's have a broader discussion first."

Cipher started pulling out additional teacups, gesturing for everyone in the room to sit down. "Join us. Camille, you too."

Camille didn't hesitate. She sat down directly across from LeBlanc and crossed her legs.

Riven looked more hesitant, uncertain whether guards were supposed to participate in high-level negotiations. Marit solved the problem by grabbing her arm and pulling her into a chair.

"What do you all think of the Wind of Change?" Cipher asked once everyone had tea. "Don't hold back. Debate is how we sharpen ideas. The heavier the criticism, the better."

LeBlanc's expression flickered with confusion. Was this some kind of insult? A way of rubbing their noses in their status as defenders of the old order?

It didn't seem like it. According to her intelligence reports, he didn't have that kind of petty vindictiveness in his personality.

Camille, on the other hand, knew exactly what he was doing. Her eyes flicked to the corner of the room where a surveillance camera's small red light blinked steadily.

"I'll repeat what I told you before," she said, deciding to play along. "The world is not black or white, but a delicious shade of grey."

She took a sip of tea before continuing. "The Wind of Change has successfully created massive waves of change. It looks unstoppable right now. But waves are temporary by nature. They crash and dissipate. No matter how much you reform society, the darkness in human nature will remain. The hunger for power and the impulse toward oppression will always exist. Ultimately, you won't change anything fundamental."

Cipher didn't interrupt or argue. Instead, he turned to LeBlanc.

"And you? What's your honest assessment?"

That made her even more suspicious. She studied him carefully. Was he trying to get her to say something incriminating? Create evidence he could use against her later?

Even though this was just an avatar, losing it would still hurt. The magical energy investment was considerable.

"Don't worry about Janna," Cipher said, apparently reading her hesitation. "She's not going to strike you down for having a different opinion."

"He's right," Janna said, her voice coming from the bird's beak. She'd dropped the pretense of being an ordinary animal. "I'm interested in hearing criticism. The Wind of Change is walking a path no one has traveled before. We need to understand how it looks from different perspectives."

The bird's eyes focused on LeBlanc. "Your viewpoint essentially represents the entire privileged class across Runeterra. I'd like to hear what you have to say."

LeBlanc was silent for several long seconds, weighing her options. Then she made a decision.

"From my experience, Camille is correct. Unless you, as the founder, are willing to accept eternal life."

She looked at Cipher directly. "Today, you've successfully led Zaun to prosperity. You've helped tens of thousands of impoverished people rise toward wealth and stability. So Zaun fanatically follows you. They support you. And they would march into fire at your command. But people change. How long will this gratitude last? Ten years? Twenty? Fifty? Eventually, it will end."

She set down her teacup. "A hundred years from now, Zaunites will have forgotten their past suffering. They'll have forgotten the tragic experiences of their ancestors. They may even forget that it was you who led Zaun's rise. Will they still support the Wind of Change the way today's generation does? Will they be able to resist their own greed? Will they choose not to exploit and oppress others when given the opportunity? Over a thousand years, I've witnessed countless city-states rise and fall. I've seen innumerable brilliant leaders, many of whom carried hope in their hearts just like you. Without exception, every single one of them failed. Human history is an endless cycle. Tomorrow's Zaun will become today's Piltover, the very thing you despise. If you want the storm raised by the Wind of Change to blow forever, you must possess eternity. You must transcend mortality."

Her gaze was intense now, almost hypnotic. "Without you personally standing guard, Zaun will eventually stand in opposition to everything the Wind of Change represents. Joining the Black Rose is your only real option."

Cipher listened to the entire speech without interruption. When LeBlanc finished, he was quiet for a moment. Then he smiled.

"I think you've all misunderstood something fundamental about the Wind of Change."

He refilled his teacup. "I'm not trying to build something eternal. I'm not trying to create a perfect society that will last forever. I just want to leave behind a spark. A demonstration that another way is possible. I'm fully aware how difficult it is to build a truly egalitarian society. Even the current Zaun isn't one, not really. We still harvest wealth from other regions through technological advantage. We just redistribute that wealth more evenly among our own population. Internally, we're relatively equal. Externally, we extract resources."

He gestured vaguely toward the window. "Piltover and Zaun are walking the same basic path. We've just executed it better. Zaun's prosperity is built on the backs of people in Shurima, Ionia, and a dozen other regions who trade their labor and resources for our manufactured goods. They just don't realize it because the exploitation passes through enough intermediaries that it's invisible. Even Swain's Trifarix Council operates on the same principle. Let other nations suffer so Noxus can prosper. It's the same basic philosophy Piltover used for centuries. But the true Wind of Change is meant to sweep across the entire world. It can't be satisfied ruling one corner of it. The Wind of Change won't accept that. Janna won't accept that. And The Last Drop won't accept that."

He drained his cup and set it down. "We haven't taken major action yet because the timing and conditions aren't right. But they will be. Whether I live forever doesn't matter. Whether Zaun always supports the Wind of Change doesn't matter. Even how long the movement lasts doesn't matter."

His smile widened. "What matters is that people know the Wind of Change existed. That we were here. That we tried. And that alone is enough."

LeBlanc studied him for a long moment. Then she shook her head slightly.

"That's a beautiful sentiment. But it's not the real reason you're refusing to join the Black Rose, is it?"

She leaned back in her chair. "I'm very curious. What's the reason you keep turning me down?"

She no longer wished to debate the philosophy of the Wind of Change. Such discussions were ultimately meaningless. They were both people of firm conviction. Neither of them was going to change their fundamental beliefs because of a conversation. Instead, it would be better to discuss how they might cooperate.