The Syndra pushed into the Orianna. She conjured a Dark Sphere, dealing magic damage and forcing the Orianna further back. Then she grabbed a minion and lifted it up with her mind before throwing it down onto the Orianna. The Orianna was slowed. Her health was dropping. She tried to dodge and weave, anything to escape the Syndra. Then the Syndra cast Scatter the Weak. She knocked back a Dark Sphere that hit the Orianna, stunning her. The Syndra followed up with another Dark Sphere before casting her ultimate skill–Unleashed power! All the Dark Spheres on the ground and the three that floated around her bombarded the Orianna. And killed her.

《You have been slain!》

Yang Fan stared at his screen. The game was 9 minutes in. Tonji Aff. High’s Midlaner had just killed him. He’d tried to outplay her, and when that didn’t work, escape. But she’d killed him. His screen was grey. He took his glasses off and started cleaning them on his shirt, annoyed. He’d given away a solo kill. The one thing he shouldn’t have done, he did. I shouldn’t have gone that far out into lane. I should’ve backed sooner. I knew she had her ultimate. That was stupid of me. I could’ve evaded that whole situation. 

《An ally has been slain!》

Yang Fan was pulled out of his thoughts and looked to his side, where Tang Bingyao sat. She was biting on her lips and glowering at the screen. He hadn’t seen what’d happened, he’d been too busy in mid lane. “Uhh, Tang Bingyao?” he asked. She looked up at him, frustrated. He almost recoiled back in surprise, but didn’t. He continued, “What happened?”

“That stupid Elise came for a gank. I had so many Adoration stacks on my Draven. They’re all gone now. This is really annoying,” she replied, curt. Draven’s passive was called League of Draven. Whenever he caught a Spinning Axe or killed a minion, monster, or tower, he gained the Adoration of his fans. If he killed an enemy Champion, his stacks of Adoration would grant him a certain amount of bonus gold. But when he died, he would lose 75% of his stacks.

Tonji Aff. High killed High School 13’s Midlaner and ad-carry within seconds of each other. This left the Dragon uncontested. So they moved down into the river and killed the monster. It gave the team Gold and also a stack of Dragon Slayer which granted all players on the team bonus attack damage and ability power. The advantage High School 13 had built up was gone. Tonji Aff. High were right back into the game, as could be expected from last year’s semi finalists.

The players from High School 13 were all looking to Lin Feng for guidance. But he sat up in top lane, quiet. He was never quiet. He always had something to say with that big, goofy grin of his. They didn’t know what to think of it, so they did what they could and focused back on the game. As for Lin Feng, he wasn’t paying too much attention to his teammates. His focus was entirely on the game. If he wanted to solo carry on his Riven, he couldn’t make a single misplay.

Lin Feng was well aware that in normal circumstances, High School 13 was no match for Tonji Aff. High. The skill gap was just too big. Two weeks worth of bootcamping wasn’t nearly enough to do something about that. If he wanted to win this game, he had to do something special. That was why he was playing in top lane right now. However, the longer a game went on, the harder it became to make up for the lack of skill of his teammates. They could make one small mistake in late game, like getting caught out before a teamfight, and it would be game over. So it was pivotal that he got such an overwhelming advantage in the early to mid game that it never got to that.

If everything went according to plan, Lin Feng was 80% confident he could win this game with his Riven. The other 20% would be up to his teammates. They had to play to the absolute best of their abilities, and make sure they didn’t fall too far behind. Because just like he was getting fed off of Tonji Aff. High’s Toplaner, any one of their players could get fed off of one of High School 13’s players. That couldn’t happen. That would kill any hopes of winning this game. But Lin Feng didn’t worry about that. He trusted his teammates. They wouldn’t just give up. They would keep fighting and supporting him, so that he could carry them to a victory!

✹

While the crowd in the Wembley Arena came back to life, the Chinese casters looked at their monitors, worried. Legend was turning the game back around. Demon got a kill and pulled himself back into the game thanks to it, after being starved in top lane by Roundy’s Riven. More worryingly, there was Phoenix. Emperor Phoenix. Phoenix had two kills, one assist, and 15 minion kills up on KG’s Xerath. The kills and assists aside, just the CS advantage showed a worrying trend. Xerath was a Champion that relied on farming. With his long range, he could poke the opponent out of lane and even farm when pushed under his own tower. Then there was Yasuo. A melee Champion known for a lot, but not his great ability to farm.

“It’s starting to look a lot more like the game we were expecting to see,” Qinghe said. He sighed and shook his head. “KG got off to such a great start too… I really thought they had a chance.”

Lolo looked defeated, with slumped shoulders and all. “I don’t see anything of KG’s lead left. The Riven is still kinda strong. But what’s that worth when you got a Sejuani to lock her down?”

“Lolo is right,” Stone agreed. He put on his analytical glasses and continued, “Legend has Sejuani and Yasuo who are both getting the farm and kills they need to scale to become big threats. Not to mention how well the two work together. Then there’s Demon on his Fiora. If he can get another kill somewhere, he should be able to at least hold Roundy’s Riven off. That alone will kill any hope KG has of winning this game.”

“This is the make-or-break moment for KG,” Qinghe said. He looked into the camera and continued, “I want our Chinese fans at home to not worry. This game isn’t lost yet. God Roundy is up three kills on his Riven. If he can snowball harder and carry the rest of his team on his back, then KG still has a shot. They can still win this game, though they’ll have to fight really hard for it.”

Lolo perked up a little. She smiled and said, “That’s right! The game isn’t over yet! KG can still win this! We can’t give up. We must not give up just yet!”

✹

KG was losing the game to Legend. The power and determination from a few minutes ago was gone. KG’s voice chat was quiet. No one knew what to say. Tian Tian recalled back to base and looked at his teammates, worried. He wanted to say something to lift their spirits, but he couldn’t think of the words. Only a few minutes ago, they were all full of hope. Their excited mood had also helped him. He wanted that again. It’d felt good. He just didn’t know how to.

“Sorry, that was my bad. Shouldn’t have pushed the lane out that far,” Konjac said in the voice chat. In his mind, if he hadn’t pushed up the lane so far, his Thresh wouldn’t have gone for an aggressive ward high up in the river. His Support would’ve survived.

KG’s Support shook his head. “No, man. This was all on me. I was stupid. Should’ve never gone that deep without vision.”

The Midlaner from KG looked at his bot lane duo and then nodded. “I also fucked up. I should’ve seen that gank in mid lane coming from a mile away. That won’t happen again. I’ll be more careful.”

KG’s Jungler chuckled. “We done fucked up these last few minutes. How about we pretend they never happened? Roundy is still winning. Let’s take it from there!”

They were the words Tian Tian wanted to say. He just didn’t know he wanted to say them until he heard his Jungler say them. They lifted up the mood in the chat. There was no blaming each other, the de facto reaction of week 1, as the players from KG instead came together as a team. This game wasn’t lost. They knew that. Now it was time to prove that!

“You’re right. We can do this. Let’s do this!” 
“We’re still in this. Focus and no more slip ups! We got this, guys!” 
“Let’s focus more on vision. We can’t fall for any more of those Sejuani ganks.”

Tian Tian stared at his teammates, speechless. The Jungler had gotten the reaction he wanted to see, but even then he didn’t expect it to be this easy. The scenes of last week were still fresh in his mind. Everyone had it out for each other. There was zero working together. Yet, right now, they were all eager to work as a team. It didn’t make any sense. He didn’t understand it.

“Hey! Roundy! Wake up, man! Get your ass out of the fountain!” Konjac said. Then he turned to his Toplaner and smiled. “Let’s do this.”

“O-oh, right!” Tian Tian blurted out. “S-sorry.” He quickly bought items at the fountain shop and then had his Riven walk back towards top lane.

KG’s Jungler grinned. “You still got that lead. That’s our best bet. I’ll come top in a minute for a gank. Try and set it up for me. Let’s see if I can help you snowball some more!”

The Support from KG nodded. “Mhm. We just need to get Roundy fed. We can still win this.”

Konjac patted his Support on the shoulder. “That’s what I like to hear! Yes! We got this, guys! Let’s give it our all and try not to fuck up again!”

“No more fuck ups!” 

“Right! No more stupid mistakes! And we’re a team, let’s play like one!” 

“That’s the spirit! For KG!” 

“M-mhm, yeah!”

The mood in KG’s voice chat was infectious. Even Tian Tian joined the cheers of his teammates. He didn’t sit back, separating himself from the rest, but he joined in as part of the team. And the team stood up for him. They had his back. A determination that’d seemed lost was recovered. They were the pride of the LPL! The only all Chinese team! They wouldn’t give up because of a few minor setbacks! They were far too strong for that! Even against an Emperor team, they wouldn’t shy away. They would go into battle with their weapons drawn!

This was the real KG! This was the team he’d joined! Tian Tian felt a fresh new energy course through his veins. It burned away the shadows casting a darkness over his mind. He stopped worrying about the what ifs. He pushed back the negativity that had tied him down. There was a win against an Emperor team right before them! He was leading the charge! His teammates had his back! This was how it was supposed to be. The superstar of KG wasn’t alone anymore.

There was a crowd in the NetCow Cafe watching the game between High School 13 and Tonji Aff. High. They were making themselves heard by shouting and cheering. But the atmosphere they created was incomparable to the Wembley Arena, where 12,500 people were showing their support with large banners, signs, and their voices. Though, with the current display by KG, it was the few hundred Chinese fans that were louder than anyone else. They were even more present than the 10,000 Europeans in the arena!

“KG! KG! KG! WHO’S THE BEST? KG! KG!”

“LONG LIVE GOD ROUNDY!”

“WHAT EMPEROR? ALL I SEE IS GOD ROUNDY!”

“GOD ROUNDY! BEST PLAYER IN THE WORLD!”

The casters of the official Chinese broadcast were all smiling. The game was better than they’d dared to dream. They were ready to give up before it’d even started. When they saw the Riven pick, they were more worried than excited for what might come. But now, after watching God Roundy pick up the second kill of the game and then the video showing the crowd in the arena that looked very much Chinese, they couldn’t be more excited. Their hearts were beating in their throats as they forgot to breathe or blink.

The excitement sounded through in Qinghe’s voice as he live-commented, “KG is at a sizable lead with two kills to zero! They made the right call giving God Roundy the Riven! He’s playing crazy good! I want to see him carry this gam–”

Stone cut in. He’d waited long enough. “Exactly! This is something really special! You know, Riven versus Fiora should be an even matchup. But now that’s no longer the case. Demon is so far behind on his Fiora that he isn’t even fully safe under his own tower! He has to be super careful, or he’ll give away even more kills to God Roun–”

“Right!” Qinghe interrupted, chuckling. “God Roundy’s Riven is invincible right now! He can do whatever he wants!”

Lolo finally found a moment to butt in. “It isn’t just top lane either! Look at bot and mid lane! Everyone is playing really well! KG has really come together for this game!”

Qinghe looked at the scoreboard. Two kills for KG. Zero kills for Legend. KG was pulling ahead in gold in every lane. The game was going their way everywhere on the map! “If KG can keep this momentum going, they might actually beat Legend! That would be a huge upset! Just imagine! KG doesn’t even have a King on their team! A normal team beating an Emperor team. That would be a Worlds first!”

The people who couldn’t make it to the Wembley Arena and were now watching the game from home or at a viewing party couldn’t keep back their excitement. The streets in many places in China were booming with the excited voices of millions of fans. Many of them were on their phones or sitting behind their laptops and furiously typing away.

「666666666!!!!!!!!!」

「UNCROWNED EIGHTH >>>>>>>>>>> EMPEROR」

「stomp those a-holes from legend. fucking posers!!!!!」

「GOD ROUNDYYYYY!!!!!1!1! BEST PLAYA EVAHHHHHH」

「HAHAHAH MY EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURS ARE CRYING!!! WHAT A BUNCH OF BABIES HAHAHHAHA」

「IM IN THE ARENA AND THE ATMOSPHERE HERE IS CRAZYYYYYY!!! OUR BOYS CAN REALLY DO THIS!!1!!」

It was only 10 minutes ago that these same fans had already given up on the game. They didn’t give up because KG was playing poorly. The game hadn’t even started yet 10 minutes ago! These fans had given up because they thought KG didn’t stand a chance. Legend was an Emperor team. Normal teams didn’t beat Emperor teams.  That was why they’d given up. Or rather, why they never even considered KG having a chance in the first place! But looking at the game now, it didn’t look all that impossible anymore. God Roundy was obviously doing great in the top lane, but the other lanes were also doing well!

KG’s Midlaner was playing against the Emperor. But he hadn’t given anything away yet. His Xerath was holding strong against Phoenix’s Yasuo! Phoenix had tried to kill him with a gank from his Jungler, but KG’s Jungler had responded in kind and blocked the play. Legend got nothing out of it and KG preserved their advantage. They had shut down a kill attempt from an Emperor!

As for the back and forth in bot lane, KG was currently aggressively pushing into Legend’s outer tower. The Tristana and Thresh worked together perfectly to poke down Legend’s Kalista. They’d gotten her down to below half health. She was defending far behind her own outer tower, desperately trying to get some experience and gold from the minions without giving away a kill. The Tristana was building up a big advantage!

KG was winning in all three lanes! They were playing out of their minds! They made an Emperor team only look so-so! The Chinese fans couldn’t curb their enthusiasm. Fans from other regions always told them how the LPL wasn’t good enough for the world stage, how their region couldn’t compete unless they got an Emperor. Right now, KG was shutting all of those people up! They were good enough to play at the world stage, and they were good enough to challenge an Emperor team and win!

✹

“LOOK AT BOT LANE!” Stone shouted on the caster desk. He was pointing at the screen in front of him, jabbing into it. “God Roundy is making a play! He’s teleporting in! He’s teleporting in!”

Everyone switched their attention to bot lane. God Roundy was using his Teleport on a ward in the river entrance to bot lane. The Fiora couldn’t respond. She’d used her Teleport a minute ago when she teleported back to lane to catch a minion wave. If she’d walked, it would’ve died to the tower before she’d arrived.

The Thresh was prepared. He flashed forward before the Riven even arrived and swept his chain, knocking the Kalista towards him–Flay! He followed up by throwing his lantern towards the Riven–Dark Passage! The Riven clicked on the lantern and dashed to the Thresh. All the while the Tristana was letting loose on the Kalista.

Morgana was Legend’s Support. She cast a Black Shield on Kalista, granting her a protective barrier which could absorb magical damage and disable any effects until it was broken, or wore off. Then she aimed a Dark Binding for where the Riven would land after she’d grabbed the Thresh’s lantern.

God Roundy saw this coming. The Dark Binding was slow. Too slow. The Morgana hadn’t timed it correctly. It would’ve been perfect if she’d cast it before she’d put the Black Shield on Kalista. God Roundy had just enough time to dash to the side and evade it–Valor! He followed up with a series of strikes on the Kalista who was trying to run away–Broken Wings!

While the Kalista ran away, the Thresh shifted targets. He threw out his hook at the Morgana, who had no Black Shield on herself, and bound her with his chains–Death Sentence! The skill held true to its name. It was a death sentence for Morgana. The Tristana bombarded her with cannonballs, while the Riven attacked with her sword. When the bind broke, Morgana still had some health left. She flashed away. But God Roundy activated the second part of Riven’s ultimate skill–Blade of the Exile! It was a powerful ranged attack. A slash of wind infused with green energy swept over the Morgana and killed her.

《Killing Spree!》

God Roundy was on a killing spree! He was 3/0/0 on his Riven against the Emperor team Legend! The fans at home and in the Wembley Arena couldn’t believe their eyes! God Roundy was carrying today! Even against Legend! He was snowballing hard and soon no one would be able to stop him!

“This is it! KG should get the game from here!” Qinghe shoutcasted.

Stone nodded and analyzed, “Legend can’t do anything to stop KG from taking Dragon now. This should be an uncontested Dragon. It’s going from good to great for KG–”

《An ally has been slain!》

“Uhh…” Stone looked at the video that had shifted from bot lane to mid lane. It looked like the caster’s curse had struck again. Legend’s Jungler Sejuani had come mid for a gank. She ran down the river into mid lane, then flashed and charged into the Xerath, knocking him up into the air–Arctic Assault! The Yasuo followed up with his ultimate–Last breath–blinking to the Xerath and keeping him airborne for another second before slamming him down to the ground. The Xerath didn’t have enough health. He should’ve backed before the gank, but he hadn’t. The Yasuo’s ult killed the Xerath and put Phoenix on the scoreboard. One kill, zero deaths.

The Chinese fans went quiet, while the Europeans in the Wembley Arena burst into cheers. This was the Legend they knew! They had endured long enough! Phoenix took his team on his shoulders and got them right back into it! This kill didn’t just get him on the scoreboard, it also blocked KG from taking a free Dragon. It was too risky now, without their Midlaner to apply pressure.

The players from Legend were quiet. They didn’t share the emotions of the crowd. They didn’t when KG pulled ahead, and they didn’t when Phoenix picked up the kill. This game had only barely started. They had all the time in the world to win. A few kills in the early game meant very little. Phoenix grinned. He shook his head. Fun game. But they’re stupid if they think they’ve won.

This first kill started Legend’s counterattack. Phoenix used it to pull ahead in his lane and force the Xerath to passively defend behind his outer tower. But that wasn’t quite enough. Xerath was a long range Champion. Even behind his outer tower, he could still last hit minions. So, 9 minutes into the game, he called over the Fiora and Sejuani for another gank.

Legend’s Toplaner and Jungler walked through KG’s jungle, which had far too few wards. They passed through without being spotted and arrived behind KG’s outer tower in mid lane. The Sejuani charged into the lane and knocked up the Xerath–Arctic Assault! She followed up with a bola that froze and stunned the Xerath–Glacial Prison! Then she ran out of tower range to survive the energy shots. The Fiora and Yasuo had more than enough damage to quickly finish the job, with the Fiora picking up the kill. All three of them came out alive after picking up the kill.

At 10 minutes into the game, Phoenix joined his Jungler into roaming bot. KG’s Support walked up the river to place a ward. He was caught out. The Sejuani dashed into him and knocked him up into the air–Arctic Assault! After which the Yasuo blinked towards him and kept him airborne for a second longer, before slamming him back to the ground–Last Breath! The Tristana and the rest of KG were too far away. The Thresh was out of position and didn’t have enough health to make it back to safety. He died and gave Phoenix a second kill. The Yasuo was now 2/0/1 and had almost caught up to God Roundy’s Riven in terms of levels and items!

✹

In the NetCow Cafe in downtown Shanghai, High School 13 was starting to struggle. The first few minutes of the game had caught Tonji Aff. High off guard. But they’d regained their footing. They were communicating and slowly crawling their way back in the game by putting their resources in every lane that Lin Feng wasn’t in. The crowd watching the game saw this, and the three from High School 13 on the sidelines saw this. Ren Rou, Ouyang, and Chen Ze became anxious. They saw their teammates struggling and wanted to go up and help. But they weren’t allowed to do that. And even if they were, there was nothing they could do. They could only watch on and feel utterly helpless.

Lin Feng saw his team falling behind. They were struggling in their lanes and asking in voice chat for help from each other. But everyone was feeling the pressure and no one had the freedom to help another lane. Lin Feng just listened to this. He didn’t participate. His focus was on his own screen, on his Riven.

A cloud of dust hung in the air. An orange glow filled the sky. Flames ravaged the battlefield as the corpses of soldiers in red or blue littered the ground. A woman’s voice echoed out, cutting through the air and reverberating into the surroundings. “So long have I wandered… How should I proceed?”

Five minutes into the High School 13 versus Tonji Aff. High, Lin Feng had his Riven hide in the brush on the top side of the lane. After giving away first blood, the Darius had gone on the defensive. He hid under his tower and only farmed minions when Riven wasn’t anywhere near him. He was terrified to give away a second kill! But Lin Feng was patient. He knew this Toplaner was scared and that if he wanted to pick up a second kill, he had to give this Darius some confidence. So he pretended to have recalled and waited. The Darius took the bait. He overextended.

A silhouette broke through the brush, brandishing her heavy runic blade. She charged towards the Darius and unleashed a flurry of slashes. A dazzling eruption of runic energy erupted from her blade, scattering into fragments of mottled green light. Her swordplay was exquisite. Every slash, thrust, and movement of her blade flowed smoothly into the next. She didn’t give her opponent any opportunity to react. Then she came down on him with one final slash.

《You have slain an enemy!》

“NICE BRO!” Ouyang cried out from the sidelines. He wanted to jump up and hug Ren Rou. But her glare made him rethink that. So he turned to Chen Ze and hugged him instead. “Fuck yeah! Lin Feng is the best! Carry us with that Riven, bro!” 

“I know, right! It’s looking like we might actually beat Tonji!” Chen Ze grinned. He’d been feeling a little down about swapping out from top lane in this game. But all of that was forgotten when he saw Lin Feng play. Even these first two kills that looked simple were things he couldn’t pull off himself. So he took this game as another lesson from Lin Feng and patiently started taking notes.

Impossible! Tonji Aff. High’s Toplaner stared at his death screen, his eye twitching. How is he that good? He knew what’d happened in the game between High School 13 and High School 7. He knew this Riven was good at the game. But there was a massive difference between being good at the game and whatever he was supposed to call this performance from the Riven. Everything he tried got shut down and even when he played as defensively as he could, he was still giving away kills!

✹

The supersized LCD screens in the Wembley Arena panned to top lane in the match between KG and Legend. God Roundy was pushing out the minion wave into Legend’s outer tower. His Riven was ahead after picking up First Blood. But Demon was still a world class Toplaner. If he played safely under the tower, there was nothing Roundy could do to his Fiora. Not by himself, at least. That changed if his teammates came to help him. And they did. Two silhouettes were coming up top from the river. KG’s support Thresh and jungle Rek’Sai! They moved into the tri brush closest to Legend’s outer tower and waited for Roundy to push in the next minion wave.

Blue team’s minions pushed into Legend’s outer tower. Demon was farming them on his Fiora, while keeping an eye on the Riven. If she stepped closer, he would back off. A few lost minions was better than giving away a second kill. But he was so focused on the Riven that he forgot to check what happened on the rest of the map. He failed to notice that bot lane’s support was missing, and that KG’s Jungler hadn’t shown herself in quite some time. He didn’t even realize he was getting ganked when the Rek’Sai popped up on his screen. His eyes were on the Riven and Blue minions, and not on what was happening in his own Jungle.

The Rek’Sai moved quickly underground, digging a tunnel to arrive underneath the Fiora–Tunnel! Then she Unburrowed, knocking the Fiora airborne. The Thresh followed up with a Death Sentence, an easy hook on the airborne Fiora. He bound her in chains and kept her from escaping as the Riven jumped in. With a burst of green ki, the chain of crowd control continued. The Fiora wasn’t given any chance to escape. Her health dropped and she died. KG was out of tower aggro before the energy shots could kill any of them. It was a successful towerdive!

《You have been slain!》

Really…? Demon stared at his grey screen. They really went for a three man gank… Why? It was only a week ago that KG couldn’t work together as a team if their lives depended on it. Yet right now they looked like a unit. A team that understood each other perfectly and worked to help each other get ahead! He expected Roundy to play better this game, especially after seeing his last game against Flash. But he never expected the rest of his team to do the same.

KG’s Jungler had his Rek’Sai walk back towards the outer tower and started recalling back to base. He stopped moving in his gaming chair for a moment, hesitating, then said, “Sorry Roundy. Great play.”

The Support from KG bit on his lips when he heard what his Jungler said in voice chat. He felt a pang in his stomach and then added, “Yeah… Sorry.”

Tian Tian looked away from his screen and to his teammates sitting to his side. His Jungler nodded at him. “T-thanks, guys. Great gank!” Tian Tian looked back at his screen and smiled. His plan was working! Picking Riven really was the right choice! And his teammates seemed to start seeing that too now. They had the early game advantage and could push it out from here!

While Tian Tian focused back on the game. There were two more apologies that came through the voice chat. KG had come to rely too heavily on Tian Tian leading up to Worlds. He was their superstar and he would carry them through the group. That was the terrible mindset that had slipped in, and they knew that now. But hindsight was 20/20. Their apologies were a week too late. They’d lost an entire week of Worlds to it and were now desperate for a win to make up for it. Last game was the first win, which was all thanks to their ostracized Toplaner. This game, they had to apologize and hope that he could help them win again. So that’s what they did. But it left behind a heavy feeling that wasn’t very productive either. So the Jungler was the first to liven up the mood a little. 

“Alright, guys! We can’t let Roundy do all the work! Let’s win this game!” 

“Yeah! We can win this!” 

“What do you think, Roundy? Let’s do this?”

After last week’s performance, all of KG was under immense pressure. The coaches were upset with them, their fans were upset with them, they were even annoyed and mad at themselves for what’d happened in those three games. They came to Worlds to compete, and not to choke and get knocked out in the first round! But it was hard to change when all you received was criticism and abuse. The players from KG were still in that negative mindspace from a week ago when Roundy started carrying on his Hecarim last game. However, his performance helped them shake it off. For the first time in a week, they felt like part of the team. In this game, they helped Tian Tian, something they should’ve done much sooner. They were teammates, and they had to start acting like that!

Tears welled up in Tian Tian’s eyes. This was the first time in a long week that his team believed in him. They were even helping him get ahead in lane! He couldn’t remember the last time his Jungler came for a gank, let alone his Support! “Mhm,” he mumbled in voice chat. Then he focused back on the game and stared at his screen. Right! Who cares that they’re an Emperor team? I don’t… I don’t! I’ll beat them! We’ll beat them! He opened his mic again and stumbled over his words, “I, we… L-let’s win. Yes, win! We can do this!”

✹

The game between High School 13 and Tonji Aff. High was in full swing. A large crowd had gathered around the isle of computers and were cheering on both sides. They wanted to see an exciting game, and that was what they were getting. Lin Feng in top lane wasn’t the only reason for this. The Jungler of High School 13 was running down the river for a gank on bottom lane! Tonji Aff. High had no clue this was happening. They were pushing towards High School 13’s outer tower, when the Draven and Leona suddenly turned aggressive. 

“Careful! Back! Back!” 

“SHIT!” 

“Jarvan! Watch out for the Jarvan! He’s ganking in bot!”

Tang Bingyao activated Blood Rush. Her Draven got increased movement speed and attack speed! He strode forward with two sharp, spinning axes in his hand. He flung an axe at the Caitlyn, who fired her 90 Caliber Net to escape. Draven disappeared. The net flew through where he stood and hit nothing. Then he reappeared right in front of the Caitlyn. The force of firing off the net had sent her flying back a short distance. But before she landed, two axes flew at her and knocked her back to the ground–Stand Aside!

The crowd held their breath and leaned forward to get a better look at the screen as Draven engaged on the Caitlyn. Then when he flashed through her 90 Caliber Net, their eyes popped open wide. Of everything they’d expected, this certainly wasn’t it.

“OOHHHH SNAP! Did you see that? Did you see that?” 

“WOOOWWWWW! That Draven is crazy good!” 

“How in the world did she do that? What the fuck…” 

“She is so good. Look at those reflexes, jeesh. It’s crazy!”

“WAAAAA! She’s showing everyone girls can also be good!” 

Tang Bingyao threw her spinning axes at the Caitlyn. They hit the Caitlyn before bouncing back into the air. The damage was too damn high! If the Caitlyn took a few more of these attacks, she’d be dead! So she flashed away towards her outer tower, which was still a good bit away. And then she ran for dear life.

Liu Yue wouldn’t let the Caitlyn get away. He threw down his Demacian Standard on top of where the Caitlyn flashed to and then stabbed out towards it with his lance–Dragon Strike! He pulled himself towards the flag and dashed into the Caitlyn, knocking her up into the air!

“NICE! AWESOME! PERFECT PLAY, MY BROS!” Ouyang shouted from the sidelines, though only the people in the crowd could hear him. And Ren Rou, who covered her ears and gave him a kick against his leg, annoyed with his loud outburst.

Wei Dong caught up to the Draven on his Leona. He pressed down on his E key–Zenith Blade! Leona projected a solar image of her sword that pierced through everything in its path until it hit the Caitlyn. It briefly immobilized the Caitlyn as the Leona dashed forward. Then the Leona struck the Caitlyn with her shield–Shield of Daybreak! It dealt bonus magic damage and stunned the Caitlyn!

Tang Bingyao flung her spinning axes, cleaving the Caitlyn. They ricocheted off of the Caitlyn and fell back to the ground. Tang Bingyao caught them. All of them. Then threw them again. The bonus physical damage from these Spinning Axes added up and Caitlyn’s health depleted fast. The one second stun from Shield of Daybreak wore off, but Tang Bingyao didn’t care. With Blood Rush, which reset every time she caught a Spinning Axe, there was no ad-carry that could escape from Draven! He kept throwing his Spinning Axes and killed the Caitlyn before the Caitlyn could get close to the safety of her outer tower.

《You have slain an enemy!》

“Good work, guys,” Tang Bingyao said in the voice chat. League of Legends was a team game. She might’ve picked up this kill and dealt most of the damage to the Caitlyn, but it wouldn’t have been possible to do this if it weren’t for Liu Yue and Wei Dong using their crowd control skills to lock the Caitlyn down. This was a team kill! And her teammates deserved just as much praise for it as she did!

《A turret has been destroyed!》

The crowd had only shifted their attention to bottom lane for a moment, and had missed so much in top lane. Lin Feng kept pushing hard, even when the Darius was hiding underneath his own outer tower. This didn’t matter much to Lin Feng. The outer tower wouldn’t target him as long as he had minions by his side and didn’t attack the Darius. So with the Darius refusing to come out from underneath the tower, Lin Feng decided to just destroy the tower. Seven minutes into the game, he did just that. The Darius hadn’t stuck around to watch it happen. He’d retreated all the way back to his inner tower, determined to not give away another kill.

Lin Feng looked at the other lanes to see how everyone was doing, while mindlessly farming some minions. Top lane was rather boring right now. Suddenly, he noticed something in mid lane. Yang Fan was pushing into Tonji Aff. High’s outer tower, with the Syndra defensively farming underneath. “Oh, perfect!” Lin Feng laughed. He killed another wave of minions and then disappeared into Red team’s top side jungle.

At 7:40 minutes, Tonji Aff. High’s Midlaner was farming minions under his outer tower. His team was currently on the backfoot. High School 13 was pushing their advantages, so he decided to play it safely. All they had to do was farm and take back the advantage in the mid game. They were still the better team! Then a silhouette came running out of his own team’s jungle and dashed towards him. W-why the hell is he here?

Lin Feng activated his ultimate and dashed towards the Syndra–Valor! He followed up with a burst of green energy that enveloped the Syndra and stunned her–Ki Burst! Yang Fan caught up to Lin Feng and cast Command: Protect on him. His Orianna instructed her Ball to shield the Riven. Then she commanded it to unleash a shockwave that dealt magic damage and launched the Syndra towards the Ball–Command: Shockwave! All the while, the Riven attacked the Syndra with the series of strikes from Broken Wings.

Tonji Aff. High’s Midlaner tried to do something back. She conjured a Dark Sphere on top of the Riven, dealing a little bit of damage. She wanted to knock it back with Scatter the Weak and stun the Riven. But before she could, a powerful slash of wind combined with green energy washed over her. The damage of it was enough to kill her. She died while the Riven walked out of range from the outer tower, with about half of her health remaining. Lin Feng had pulled off a successful gank!

《Killing spree!》

Lin Feng was already 3/0/0 on his Riven. But this was only the start. The game wasn’t even 10 minutes in. He would use these early kills to snowball so hard that he could 1vs5 Tonji Aff. High. Anything less and he wouldn’t be satisfied! He would show everyone here tonight that High School 13 was a title contender at this year’s edition of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament!

Top Riven? What the hell… The Toplaner for Tonji Aff. High looked over his screen at the players from High School 13. He didn’t get a great look at their Toplaner’s face, but he had a hunch as to who it was. It was the guy who’d played mid lane against High School 7 and beat their Master Midlaner! From there, it was easy to guess High School 13’s plan. They were singling him out. He was the lowest rank, so they considered him the weakest link. He was the easy player to get fed on. He sneered. You think I’m that easy? We’ll see about that…

The Toplaner from Tonji Aff. High was the mechanically worst player on the team. That was true. But just because he wasn’t the best in one aspect of the game, that didn’t make him the worst player on the team. Nor did he believe he was the worst player on the team. As for this game, he could prove that by not feeding High School 13’s Toplaner. He would take a safe pick in Darius and play his lane defensively, overly so. As long as he made sure he didn’t give away any early game kills, High School 13’s plan would go up in smoke. Then once the laning phase came to an end and they started teamfighting, he would show everyone just how good he was at the game!

✹

An audible gasp sounded through the Wembley Arena when Roundy Round locked in Riven. Riven was an offensive Toplaner. Players picked her when they planned to win the lane. This was a Champion with which you’d get fed with early on in the game and carry your team. Legend was the Emperor team. They had the more skilled players. So no one expected this coming out of KG. They’d expected a safe pick, something tanky and strong in the current meta.

The Chinese casters didn’t know what to think of this pick. They wanted to be excited, but they were also worried. This was a big risk KG was taking! Stone was the first to open his mouth. He wanted to say something interesting, but failed to find the words for that. All he said was, “God Roundy pulled out the top Riven!”

Qinghe looked at the two guest commentators and asked, “What do you guys think? Is he planning to jump in and try to snowball?” Stone and Lolo looked at him, but neither said a word. They didn’t know the answer. It sure looked like Roundy Round was planning that. But this was Legend they were playing against! Qinghe turned to the camera and grinned, “A bold choice, I’ll say that! KG is risking it all! But if they can get the Riven ahead in the early game, then who knows… Maybe they can actually win the game!”

On the main stage, the players from Legend looked at Phoenix. They didn’t expect to see this pick coming out of KG and wanted to know if this would change the way they were going to play this game. Phoenix nodded at his screen, at the Riven pick. He felt the gazes of his teammates on him and could hear them asking him for his plan over voice chat, but he kept staring at his screen. Interesting… This could be fun. He then turned to Demon and said, “Alright, let’s change the plan up a little. Scrap the lane swap, we’re doing normal lanes this game. Demon, just play it safe. Don’t give him a kill and we’ll get an easy win.”

“Sure, no problem,” Demon replied. He bit on the inside of his cheek as he looked at the Riven in the loading screen. Should be easy enough. He knew how poorly Roundy Round played last week, but he’d also seen how good Roundy Round had played last game. They were like two different players. If the first one showed up, it was an easy win. And if the second one showed up, it should still be relatively easy. He trusted in his own skills. Even if he didn’t outright win the lane, he was confident he could keep the Riven from snowballing in the early game.

✹

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

Lin Feng looked at his screen. His Riven stood in the fountain in the bottom left corner of the map. He opened the fountain shop and bought his starting items before walking out of the base. Then he took a deep breath. This was an important game to him. He wanted to win it. He needed to win it. So he got in the zone. His eighth grader syndrome went on full display as he started narrating, “Smoke hovering over the battlefield, a tattered battle flag flutters in the wind.

“Soldiers dropping like flies, a wanton disregard for human life. A sight wholly unique to war.

“A silhouette wielding a heavy runic blade charges into enemy ranks. Dark, green flashes of runic light fly out, severing space itself. Then the cries ring out as jets of blood spray into the air. Heads start rolling and bodies drop limply to the ground.

“Above the scorched earth, surrounded by a mountain of corpses, a lone and heroic silhouette stands tall.”

The scene perfectly encapsulated Riven. Her combat style was to jump into the midst of battle and take over. She would slay anyone standing in her way! This was exactly what Lin Feng was looking to imitate in this game. And what better Champion to do that on than Riven! In his opinion, there was none. His Riven reached the outer tower in top lane. He felt butterflies in his stomach. Excited for what was to come. These were the moments he lived for! He started smiling, grinning, and then laughing. This game is mine!

✹

After loading into the game, Tian Tian pathed to top lane and placed a ward in the tri bush at the entrance to Red team’s Jungle. Fiora was already waiting there. It seemed like Legend planned to play a standard laning phase. With this information, Tian Tian joined his Jungler and helped him clear the first two jungle camps, getting enough experience from it to hit Level 2. Then he took a deep breath. It was time to go to lane. The knot in his stomach pulled tighter. The nerves were starting to overwhelm him again. If he screwed up. If he didn’t get ahead in the early game. If he didn’t snowball into the mid game… He could go on. There were too many ifs he could think of. His hands started shaking. Instead of walking into lane, he clicked towards his outer tower. That was the safer option, though his Champion wasn’t one you picked to play safe on.

Tian Tian didn’t have any tricks to focus his attention. He couldn’t completely immerse himself in the game like Lin Feng. He didn’t have a knack for painting grandiose scenes in his head, nor could he lose himself in these delusions anyway. A grin floated onto his face. He couldn’t help but reminisce about his friend. H-he’d probably be saying silly things to himself, like her j-jumping in and heads rolling… N-no. That doesn’t matter. I want to win. In order to win, he had to play out of his mind. There was no room for error and no room for hesitation. He either went all in, full of confidence, or he could just as well surrender and go home right now.

The Riven arrived at the outer tower in top lane. Fiora was already in lane, last hitting the minions in the first wave. Tian Tian snorted, expelling hot air out of his nose and his nerves along with it. He stopped shaking. His eyes locked onto the Fiora. I’ll beat you! The words came so easy. He knew exactly what he had to do and what he wanted to do. It was his ingame version of: I want to eat steamed buns!

✹

Ren Rou stood a little to the side from the isle of computers. The match between High School 13 versus Tonji Aff. High had kicked off. She couldn’t help but feel worried. “Chen Ze?” she asked, looking at the regular Toplaner of the team. “What do you think? Can we win?”

Chen Ze made all kinds of pensive faces and sounds with his tongue. “Ah, I don’t know. Honestly? Probably not. Tonji Aff. High is really good. We’ve gotten a lot better. But we’re not that good. Only Lin Feng is.” He bit on his lips and shook his head. “I don’t think we’re ready for this game yet.”

“Don’t be such a downer, bro!” Ouyang nudged in. “We got the two wins! We’ve qualified for the main tournament! We’re in, bro! We’re in! Who cares about this game? Let’s just have some fun. We’re in! We’re advancing to the next round! Oh yeah!”

Ouyang had the mindset most people would have. This game didn’t matter. If they lost, that was no big deal. The millions of fans watching the KG versus Legend game shared the same sentiment, just for a different game. It didn’t matter if KG lost against Legend, they could still make it through to the next round in the tiebreaker. Legend was an Emperor team. There was almost no one in the world who could beat them. As long as KG didn’t disgrace their region, the fans would be proud and show their support!

If Lin Feng had heard what Ouyang said, and seen Ren Rou and Chen Ze nodding in agreement, he would’ve thrown a tantrum. No! This wasn’t alright! This was a terrible mentality! The mentality of a loser. The mentality of someone who’d never reach their dreams, because they gave up before they even got close. This game against Tonji Aff. High was the most important game in the first qualifying round! It didn’t matter that they’d already advanced to the next round. The only thing that mattered was that if they ever wanted to amount to anything, they would have to face their struggles head-on. Losing after having given it your all was acceptable, but not even trying was unforgivable!

The fans watching the KG versus Legend game were just as pessimistic about KG’s chances as Ren Rou was about High School 13’s. They didn’t think KG had any chance of winning and were already thinking about the next game. If Tian Tian was to learn of this, he wouldn’t know how to respond. He wasn’t outgoing like Lin Feng. No. He was timid and the type to avoid conflict. But he didn’t want to walk away. Not this time. He wanted to win! Sometimes, the most timid cowards had the potential to be the bravest and most courageous of men. All they needed was the right push.

The previous game against Flash had shown Tian Tian what he already knew but didn’t dare to believe. He was really good at this game. There were very few players who could beat him when he was at his best. Last game, he beat a King in Chris. One of the Seven Kings! This was a phenomenal achievement! In this game, he was up against an Emperor. Phoenix wasn’t his lane opponent, but he was playing for the opposing team. Tian Tian was nervous, anxious, and scared. But, more than anything, he was excited. He wanted to see just how far he could get. He wanted to know if he could beat an Emperor!

“When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.” Lin Feng’s mentor had said these words many times. Just because something was difficult, or tough, that didn’t mean you’d give up. If someone better at the game challenged you, you shouldn’t decline and walk away. You should stand up to the challenge! Because at worst it’d be a valuable experience, and at best you’d be two steps closer to reaching your dreams! After all, it was a person’s dreams that gave them the desire and passion to chase the impossible. It gave them the attitude to stand back up and laugh after falling face first to the ground. It gave them the determination to press forward no matter how difficult the path was.

The players from High School 13 thought Lin Feng was crazy for wanting to go 3-0 in the first qualification round and win the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. They gave up before the journey had even begun. Their reasoning? Their poor performance last year. They lacked the vision to chase after the impossible. Instead, they were shackled by their past failures.

The millions of fans watching Worlds saw Tian Tian’s Riven pick as overconfidence. They didn’t share his confidence. All they did was think back to the games a week prior and how KG had almost lost to a wildcard team. That setback was enough for them to give up on this game. After falling flat, they didn’t get back up. They didn’t laugh. All they did was worry.

Lin Feng’s mentor had another piece of wisdom he liked to share. “When chasing your dream, falling is the start of the journey. No one begins at perfection. We begin at the bottom and fight our way up. And yes, along the way, you will get knocked down. It’ll be difficult. There’ll be times when you want to just walk away and give up. It’s only by persevering through these setbacks that we stand a chance of reaching our dreams. And when we do, everything will have been worth it!”

Riven was a Champion who lived by this wisdom. The lore explored how when she got knocked down on the battlefield, she’d grit her teeth and climb back up to her feet. Even though she walked with a broken blade, the day would come when she would see it truly reforged. She never gave up, no matter what life threw at her. She always fought onwards. Because obstacles were meant to be torn down! And opponents were meant to be defeated!

✹

Three minutes into two different games. Separated by 10,000 kilometers of land and sea. Riven played in both top lanes. Lin Feng and Tian Tian were on the same wavelength, again connected by a single string of fate. Lin Feng had his Riven slash out with a strike–Broken Wings! Then she stunned the Darius with a Ki Burst. Another auto attack and the second strike from Broken Wings. The Darius started burning from an ignite. A third auto attack and the final strike from Broken Wings. It knocked Darius airborne before he fell to the ground. Dead.

KG versus Legend. Rek’Sai came to gank the Fiora in top lane. She flashed on top of the Fiora and Unburrowed, knocking her airborne. Then Tian Tian arrived with his Riven. She slashed out in a series of strikes, releasing a burst of ki in between to keep the Fiora locked down. The Fiora was burning, just like the Darius in the other game. Her health dropped. Then with one last slash of Riven’s runic blade, she died.

《First blood!》

People watching two different games broke out into the same cheer! They couldn’t believe what they were seeing! Both lanes, both games looked impossible. Yet somehow, these two players managed to pull it off. They got the advantage. They got the early kill. And now they could snowball the game!

“WOW! NICE! LET’S GO GOD ROUNDY!” Stone shouted on the caster desk. Qinghe and Lolo were equally excited. The former clenching his fist and screaming, “WWOOOOOO!” While the latter was just jumping up and down and throwing her arms up in the air. “IT’S FIRST BLOOD FOR GOD ROUNDY!”

Lin Feng and Tian Tian sat behind their monitors, half a world apart. But they felt the same. They felt that same excitement that came from a great play, and the start of a special game. It didn’t distract them. If anything, it helped them focus more. Only the strongest opponents could push them to their limits and force them to go all out! The opening of the Blade of the Exile’s massacre slowly started to play. The heroic voice of a woman faintly rose above the surrounding sounds, “My spirit… is not lost!”

The time was finally there! The moment everyone had been waiting for! KG versus Legend! The crowd in the Wembley Arena forgot all about KG and their spectacular victory over Flash. They only chanted, “LEGEND!” Both teams walked up on stage, the European favourites waving at the screaming crowd. This was their crowd! This was their hometurf! They would show the world why they were a title contender! The 10 players sat down behind their computers, each lane opponent opposite each other. They were given a minute to adjust their mouse and keyboard settings as the arena went quiet.

There was a buzz in the arena while the fans were waiting for the game to go into Champion Select. But the seconds soon turned to minutes. They were getting antsy. They wanted to see the game, and they wanted to see it now! A few people started a wave that went around the arena, while others started cheering for Phoenix and Legend. There were even a few bored Dutch fans who started singing a poor translation of well-known children’s song:
“It takes too long,
“We’re stuck here for a while now,
“We have to move on,
“So for the final time I’m sorry,
“This takes too long!
“Boohoo!”

The Chinese fans tried to get their voices heard. But they were tiny droplets of sound lost in an ocean of voices. No one could hear them, no one noticed what they were saying, or paid any attention to the pride they felt at a team from their country winning. It was a bittersweet moment for them, joy and sadness swirling together. Until one of the Chinese girls, one who was waving around a sign that said “MARRY ME ROUNDY”, decided to do something. If there was ever a time she could make their voices heard, it was now! There were far more Europeans in the crowd than there were Asians, but the Europeans weren’t cheering together right now. She would be the beacon for all of the Chinese fans, she could and would unify their voices until they overpowered everyone. She jumped up onto her seat and pulled her sweater off. She waved the bright red sweater in the air like a flag, and then flung it out towards the crowd in front of her. Underneath the sweater, she had a crop top on. A racy, lacy one that revealed her toned midriff all the way up to just below her breasts. The sheer fabric clung to her curves and only accentuated their appeal. They were large, round, and perky. The breasts of a goddess, one that lived in every man’s fantasies. Now that she had everyone’s attention, she grabbed another fluorescent sign and held it high above her head. There was a new message on it: “GO KG!!!” Then she screamed at the top of her lungs, “DO YOUR BEST KG! I BELIEVE IN YOU! GO GOD ROUNDY!”

The spotlights just happened to pan over her during this perfect moment. Perhaps fate was a man, or an avid admirer of the feminine form. Everyone was drawn to her. Thousands of eyes fell on her body. People from all the way across the arena squinted their eyes, trying to get a better look at her. For most of them, it was part of the excitement that went with large scale events like Worlds. But for a small minority, this was something different. For that small minority, this was the first time that they’d ever seen such an attractive woman in such revealing attire in real life. They were stunned! Most people just laughed. They started catcalling her, jokingly, while keeping their eyes on her. One lucky man even got her sweater and took a big whiff. The people around him could hear a loud “Aaahhhhh!”

The girl in question cared for none of these lecherous gazes. Or the catcalls. She was the center of attention right now, and that was all that mattered. This was her goal. Whatever she said next, everyone would hear it. She dropped her sign and cupped her hands around her mouth. Then she screamed, “GO KG! GOD ROUNDY FOR THE WIN! GO KG!”

She gave small kicks to the girls sitting directly next to her. They were her friends, and they also happened to be very attractive. She needed their help right now! The two girls looked up at their friend, caught up in the mixture of shock and awe. Their friend had done something incredible. Embarrassing! But incredible! Then one of them mumbled, “Screw it!” She took off her shirt, and threw it down onto her seat. Then she cheered and started jumping up and down with just her bra on! The men in the crowd couldn’t believe their eyes. Their shouts grew louder, chanting for her to also get up on her chair. She did. Then she noticed all of the people looking at her and got shy. She wrapped her arms around her chest. Then she clenched her jaw and looked at her friend next to her, still cheering KG on. Her friend needed help! She turned around and bent over, mooning the entire crowd! There were those that just weren’t into breasts, and she would help get the attention of those people with her shapely rear! Once she was sure she managed to get everyone’s attention, she grabbed the fluorescent sign board from the ground. She lifted it up high above her head and started cheering for KG together with her friend, her breasts jumping up and down, dangerously close to popping out of her bra.

The third girl tried to hide her head behind her arms. She slid down into her chair, hoping no one would see her. But they did. Everyone did. And they were calling for her in between whistling towards her two friends. She bit on her lips and looked up at the other two. They seemed to be having fun. It was reckless. But also harmless. She thought about it, thought about how you only live once. Ah, fuck it! She grabbed her sign and stood up on the chair, then started chanting for KG together with her two friends.

However, the rest of the crowd wouldn’t have anything of it. Everyone had turned their attention to the three girls. Two were revealing more than they perhaps should. But the third was still wearing a large sweater! One person in the crowd yelled, “Take your shirt off and I’ll chant for KG!” And soon the whole arena was chanting that one sentence.

“TAKE YOUR SHIRT OFF AND WE’LL CHANT FOR KG!”
“TAKE YOUR SHIRT OFF AND WE’LL CHANT FOR KG!”
“TAKE YOUR SHIRT OFF AND WE’LL CHANT FOR KG!”
“TAKE YOUR SHIRT OFF AND WE’LL CHANT FOR KG!”

The girl with her long sweater on felt herself blushing. She was probably beet red right now from the embarrassment and attention. She wanted to jump back down, but there was something that kept her standing. And it wasn’t a creepy pervert. She shook her head in refusal, which only invoked louder screams from the crowd. Then she put her sign down and took her sweater off. She twirled her sweater on her finger and let it go. It flew through the air and landed a few rows to the front. She picked the fluorescent sign board back up and held it before her chest before finally moving it up above her head, jumping up and down and cheering for KG, as did everyone else in the Wembley Arena, if only for a little while.

✹

After their loss to KG, the players on Team Flash were in no mood to sit down with the rest of the players, the ones from other teams, in the VIP viewing area. So they walked out of the main arena, up the stairs, and into one of the private skyboxes. None of them said a word. They walked up to the window and looked down on the arena from the skybox, at the cheering crowd. Some girls had gotten the entire arena riled up, screaming, “KG!” and “God Roundy!”. They hated it. Chris smashed his fist against the double glass, while the others turned away and sat down at a table and started talking about their plan of attack.

“Man! No way in hell KG beats Legend! That’s our chance! We play Legend later! All we gotta do is play out of our minds and beat them! Sounds great, right? Great… Ah, I don’t know guys. It’s kinda unrealistic, right? They’re really fucking good. Odds are that we lose and end up in a tiebreaker against KG…”

“You’re right. I don’t see us beating Legend either. Let’s be real, Legend is the better team. They got Phoenix, we got no Emperor. Simple as that. Let’s just assume we’ll be in the tiebreaker against KG.”

“It’s cool. It’s cool. We’ll be good. Screw the Legend game. Let’s just focus on the tiebreaker. We got this. Just focus down that Roundy guy and then it’ll be an easy win. Right guys? Right? We’ll win for sure!”

“I mean, sure, we’ll win. As long as we don’t give away first blood again. Let’s not do any stupid towerdives and shut that Roundy Round down. The others on KG are all shit. This game is in the bag.”

Four players from Flash had resigned themselves to playing the tiebreaker against KG. They couldn’t be faulted for giving up. Legend was an Emperor team. It didn’t matter how good Chris played, he was only a King. Flash was only a King team. That generally wasn’t enough to come even close to beating an Emperor. All five members from Flash knew. That included Chris. He was on the same wavelength as the others. The game against Legend was a loss. They had to focus on the tiebreaker against KG. Chris looked through the window down at the center of the arena. KG was setting up for their game against Legend. Roundy Round sat behind his computer. You fat shit! You got lucky! I’ll wipe the floor with you. Chris was determined to wash away the humiliation from the last game. The possibility of KG defeating Legend didn’t even register in his mind. Let’s see you get your ass kicked by Phoenix first.

✹

Moon sat in the VIP viewing area, watching God Roundy. If anyone knew how strong an Emperor, it’d be him. The strength of an Emperor wasn’t just their individual skill. It was their ability to bring a team together and lift them up to that next level. To help every member reach their potential, and then some. And through that, they instilled a sense of fear into their opponents. It was this combination that set Emperors apart from other players. This was also the reason why Moon didn’t think KG had much of a chance against Legend. Phoenix was the third ranked Emperor. He was one of the greatest players this game had ever seen, and would probably ever see. The way he could bring up the overall strength of his team was something special. Even Moon didn’t think he was that good.

KG had played well in their game against Flash. God Roundy had put on a show with his Hecarim. He’d shown the world why he was one of the best players. But he wasn’t at the absolute top. He hadn’t made that jump that Phoenix had. Moon turned his head away from Roundy to look at a man sitting a little further in the VIP viewing area. But how does he look so calm? This was the man some called the Esports Legend. The man he knew from the game he played before League of Legends. Someone who was connected to Roundy. He was grinning, unconcerned. What does he know? How can he be this calm? Something didn’t feel right for Moon. His analysis of the teams told him Legend would win, but the way that man was acting had him doubting himself.

✹

The third and final match of the qualifiers for High School 13 was about to begin! High School 13 versus Tonji Aff. High! Both teams had already qualified for the main tournament. There were no real stakes left to play for. This was a game for prestige! At least, it was for High School 13. This was a great opportunity for them to show everyone, especially themselves, how strong they were this year. Tonji Aff. High, on the other hand, didn’t particularly care for this game. They never put High School 13 in their eyes. High School 13 was a weak team with a bad reputation and wasn’t worth their time. They would play to get a quick win this game and move on.

A large crowd gathered around the isle of computers. There were even more than during High School 13’s second game after Ouyang’s outburst. The players from both teams were sitting behind their computers, with Lin Feng sitting behind the monitor for the Toplaner. That meant that Chen Ze was sitting out this round, while Yang Fan came back in to play in the mid lane. This wasn’t a rash decision by the team. Rather, this was a carefully planned out trap by Lin Feng. His main role was mid lane and he could beat the Master Midlaner from Tonji Aff. High. But there was a big difference between beating a lane opponent and outright carrying the game. Right now, he needed to carry the entire game. The way to do that was to get fed. He couldn’t do that in mid lane against a Master player if they played defensively. But there was an easier target in top lane. Someone at a lower rank who would make the kind of mistakes he could easily capitalize on to snowball the lane into a winning game. That was why he would be playing in the top lane this game.

Lin Feng looked over his computer screen at the players from Tonji Aff. High sitting across from him. He couldn’t let Tonji Aff. High dictate the pace of the game. If that happened, High School 13 would lose. I just have to try-hard and carry this game. He took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves, then looked over at Tonji Aff. High’s Toplaner. He was a Diamond 4 player. This was a high rank, but no different from any other low ranked player to Lin Feng. He would find this player’s flaws and abuse them to snowball. Hehe. Alright. I know. Let’s go with this plan. Stomp the lane, win the game. Now I just need to pick a strong early game champion that can do that.

✹

KG and Legend were in Champion Select. The crowd was cheering in the background as KG was the first to ban a Champion. Tian Tian listened to his teammates discuss their strategy. They’d come up with a game plan and were ready to execute it. But he didn’t join in with them. His hands were shaking a little but he stared them still. Whatever plan his teammates had come up with was irrelevant, because it was a plan where they would fight Legend on even foot. He knew how impossible that was, he just didn’t know how to tell them. Legend was better. Plain and simple. They couldn’t win if they went into this game thinking they could beat Legend at their game.

Tian Tian took deep breaths, quite unlike his usual shorter breaths. He wasn’t borderline hyperventilating. He had his emotions under control, for now. More than ever, he knew what to do. His plan of attack was clear. He was never more certain about anything than this. We can’t fall behind in the early game, or we lose. We can’t give them time to react and adapt, or we lose. I need to snowball early and hit them hard and never stop until their Nexus explodes! He bit on his lips. The voices coming from the voice chat sounded as indistinct as those coming from the audience behind him. He stared at the screen, scrolling through the list of Champions. I have to do something special. It didn’t matter what his teammates were doing, so long as they didn’t start feeding Legend kills. All that mattered was that he knew what had to be done to win this game, and that he did that! I’ll win this game!

The ban phase came to an end and both sides started locking in their Champions. KG was the Blue team and got first pick. Legend reacted to it, and KG reacted to that. Both teams showed more of their strategy as they locked in their Champions, until it was the turn for fourth and fifth pick on the side of KG. Fifth pick was KG’s Support and he locked his Champion in right away. But Tian Tian in fourth pick didn’t. He scrolled through his Champions, looking, thinking. His teammates talked to him, but he wasn’t listening. He knew he had to do this. His hands started shaking a little bit again, so he squeezed his mouse and pushed down on his keyboard harder to make them stop. Two more deep breaths and then he hovered over the one Champion that could help him do what he needed to do.

✹

It was High School 13 versus Tonji Aff. High! The game went into Champion Select with Lin Feng’s team on the Blue team. They had first pick, revealing the first bit of their strategy. Tonji Aff. High didn’t respond to this, but rather went with a Champion to suit their own team composition. What followed was a back and forth of locking in Champions until it was the turn for fourth and fifth pick on the side of High School 13. Wei Dong in fifth pick locked in his Support. Lin Feng was the last on his team to lock in a Champion. He’d already made his decision. Time to show everyone how to win a game in 20 minutes. He moved his mouth to the search bar and typed in a name, then selected and locked in the Champion. Watch me Fatty. This one’s for you!

On the main stage in the Wembley Arena, Tian Tian watched the timer tick down. He only had a few seconds left to lock in his Champion. There was a trace of hesitation. A moment of weakness. But then there was no more time. He’d thought long and hard on this game. He knew what he had to do to win. He clicked on the Champion he was planning to play and locked it in. If he was to beat Legend, he had to pull something truly special out of the closet. I-i’ll win this! I will! I promise, Lin Feng! For you and f-for me.

Two different tournaments. The same Champion. Separated by 10,000 kilometers of land and sea. One playing top lane for High School 13, the other playing for KG. Lin Feng and Tian Tian were on the same wavelength, connected by a single string of fate. They both picked Riven, the Exile! A warrior wielding a broken runic blade, reforged through sheer willpower! Broken but not defeated. She overcame all odds to forge a path ahead. She was the perfect representation of an underdog, and she was here to issue a challenge!

“God Roundy is pushing down top lane. He’s already on the inhibitor tower! The rest of KG is defending mid. Flash can’t push through them. Riven will have to go top and defend.”
“WAAAAA! GOD ROUNDY KILLS RIVEN AGAIN! THIS IS THE INHIBITOR! THIS IS THE INHIBITOR!”
“Watch out, Roundy! Flash is collapsing on you! Devastating Charge out! You can do it! Run away on your horse!”
“Hahaha! Look at that wild goose chase God Roundy is leading them on! LOOK AT MID LANE! LOOK! THE INNER TOWER IS DOWN!”
“Is this the second inhibitor for KG? IT IS! KG HAS TAKEN DOWN THE SECOND INHIBITOR!”
“This is the game, right? This must be the game! KG is going to win!”
“THEY’RE STILL PUSHING! Why is Flash not recalling back to base? The need to defend!”
“OH MY GOD! GOD ROUNDY! GOD ROUNDY! He’s stopping them from recalling! He’s stopping them from recalling!”
“THE NEXUS TOWERS ARE DOWN! WAAAAAAAAAAAA! THIS IS GAME! KG WIN THE GAME!”
“KG HAVE BEATEN FLASH! GOD ROUNDY CARRIED KG TO A WIN!”

The crowd at the Wembley Arena went wild. Fans jumped out of their seats and the cheering erupted out of the arena. It was so loud that even the people out in the parking lots could feel the vibrations from the cheering through the ground. KG was declared the winner of the second match of the day. KG had just defeated Flash!

KG was a team from the LPL and not from the European LCS. There should be a strong rivalry between the two regions! But the European fans didn’t care for any of this right now. This match was a neutral fan’s wet dream! They clapped until their hands were numb and screamed until their voices gave out. God Roundy’s KG had won them over!

God Roundy had told a story of redemption today. A story of never giving up and always striving for the best. Everyone in the crowd knew what’d happened last week. Many of them were in the Wembley Arena and saw it happen! KG had played like a nervous trainwreck. They’d looked like the weakest team at Worlds. But that had all changed in this first game of week two. This looked like a new KG. A KG with God Roundy on the roster, instead of Roundy Round. God Roundy carried, even on a Champion like Hecarim who was more of a tank than a carry. He won a lane matchup he shouldn’t have won and led his team to an easy victory. But more than all of that, he had hit a brilliant five man ultimate. Just thinking of that one play gave everyone goosebumps.

There was a small number of Chinese fans in the crowd at the Wembley Arena. They were far too few to make their voices heard when the Europeans started cheering, and after last week’s performances of the Chinese teams, they didn’t mind that no one paid attention to them. But right now they stood on their chairs and held up the fluorescent sign boards they’d prepared. If they couldn’t make their voice heard, they could at least show God Roundy and KG that they did have fans cheering for them in the audience!

There was a group of three girls who held up a large, fluorescent sign board. It read: “WE LOVE YOU GOD ROUNDY! WILL YOU MARRY US?” Then there were several other groups spread out across the arena that held similar signs but with different texts.

“KG! KG! KG!”
“GO GOD ROUNDY! GO KG!”
“KG IS THE BEST!”
“KG NEW WORLD CHAMPIONS!”

The people in the VIP viewing area also stood up and applauded KG. Among them were the players from Legend. When the Chinese fans saw Phoenix clapping for KG, they froze. They stopped cheering and instead fell back on their chairs. In their excitement, they’d forgotten about KG’s situation for a moment. KG needed three wins to make it out of the group stage. One win was in the bag. They should also be able to claim a second victory against the wildcard team. But then there was a third team they’d have to play against and beat. Europe’s first seed team. Legend. Their Midlaner was Phoenix, one of the Four Emperors. The same Phoenix who stood, clapping for KG, unfazed. Though he was a little far away, from what they could see of him, he didn’t worry one bit after seeing KG’s stellar performance. They did worry now. If this performance from KG couldn’t get a reaction from Phoenix, then it wasn’t enough to worry him.

Phoenix. The best player in Europe. One of the four best players in the world. He had a strong team around him. They were a real contender for the World Title. It was always going to be an uphill battle for KG to beat them. But the Chinese fans had hoped, expected even, that after this last game, Legend would worry ever so slightly. God Roundy should’ve rocked the boat that was Legend with his godly Hecarim! They looked at Phoenix again. He’d sat back down, reclining back in his chair and laughing with the person next to him. This looked nothing like a worried person. This looked everything like a confident man.

✹

The initial excitement calmed down. The Chinese fans at home stopped spamming the stream chat and Stone concluded his post-game analysis in which he’d lacked the superlatives for God Roundy. They then continued with an early pre-game analysis. The next game for KG was versus Legend. Qinghe turned to the camera and said in earnest, “The next match will be it for KG. Do or die. If they want to move on to the next round, they have to win this game.”

“I don’t know.” Stone sighed, loudly, and shook his head. “If they’d played like this last week, they wouldn’t be in this situation. Man, they have to beat Legend. That’s going to be so difficult.”

Lolo forced a smile, worried. “This game was the God Roundy show. He played phenomenally. I wish he could’ve played like that last week. Then KG would already be through to the next round…”

Lolo said what everyone watching the stream thought. If only God Roundy had shown up in week one, Worlds would’ve looked completely different for the LPL teams. They, as the fans, would’ve had something to celebrate. But now their patience was being tested and all they could do was worry for KG. It would take something really special for them to move on to the next round.

Qinghe took a deep breath and said, “There’s no point in talking about what could’ve been. Let’s just be happy for now that God Roundy and KG seem to have found their form. And don’t forget, guys, they’re still in it. They haven’t lost yet!” He smiled, “All they have to do is beat Legend, and they’ll advance directly into the quarterfinals. But even if they lose, there’s still hope. As long as they beat the wildcard team and Legend beats Flash, then KG and Flash will have the same score. They would have to play a tiebreaker to decide who’ll make it to the next round.”

The viewers agreed with Qinghe. Legend was probably too strong for KG. God Roundy had shown everyone how good his Hecarim was, but that was just one Champion in one game. It was hardly representative for how strong KG was. Either way. If KG won, that was great, obviously. But they also had to prepare for what’d happen if they lost. Flash would most likely also lose against Legend. That meant that, assuming KG beat the wildcard team, they would play a tiebreaker. This was exactly where the minds of the players from KG were at. They felt their time was better spent preparing for the tiebreaker rather than on the Legend game. The only exception was Tian Tian.

Tian Tian had separated from his teammates and sat alone. He didn’t share their sentiment. Why do they worry so much about an Emperor? It didn’t matter who he had to play, he wanted to win! If it was before he’d spoken Lin Feng, he’d still be sitting in his bathroom stall, or maybe even be on his way back home already. However, that one call had woken up something deep inside of him. Something that’d always been there, but something he’d forgotten. Or maybe suppressed. He was terrified to face off against Legend. That hadn’t changed. He hadn’t changed as a person. But Lin Feng had reminded him that the only dreams worth pursuing were those that seemed impossible. He wanted to make the impossible possible! He wanted to beat Legend and carry his team to the next round!

This desire to beat Legend and show Phoenix that he could beat a team with an Emperor on it wouldn’t go away. Tian Tian only felt it become stronger and stronger. He clenched his fists, eager for the next game. Then his mind went woozy. His lips started quivering and he started playing with his fingers, everything he did back in his bathroom stall. I can’t do it! I-can’t do it! I ca—N-no! T-that’s not right. I have to win! I… I can’t do it! I have to win! I promised I would win… I’m going to win! Win! Win! Win! Win! He shook off every last fiber in his body that tried to resist, that tried to pull him back to that dark place he’d stepped out from. Then he took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling. “W-wait for me, Lin Feng! I-i’ll win!”

✹

In the Netcow Cafe in downtown Shanghai, the players from High School 13 were amping themselves up for their last game in the qualification round of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. They’d already qualified for the main tournament after winning the last game against High School 7, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t give it their all in this game! Their next game was against their strongest opponent yet. Tonji Aff. High! This was the perfect game to see where they stood.

Ouyang had gone off to spy on Tonji Aff. High’s team. He hid behind a row of computers and tried to listen in on them. Then he got a good look at their expressions before running through the internet cafe back to his own team. “H-hey, bros! Come here!” he exclaimed, exhausted. “I just went to sneak a peek at them…” He pointed over his shoulder towards Tonji Aff. High’s team. “…they don’t seem worried. Like, not one bit. My bro, Lin Feng. You know I love you man. And I don’t wanna be the party pooper here. But, bro, do you really think we can beat those guys?”

Ouyang’s words struck a nerve with High School 13’s team, but some things had to be said. They were all feeling the same in the back of their minds. That’s why Ren Rou didn’t get upset with Ouyang. Tonji Aff. High was a far better team than High School 7. They’d made it all the way to the semifinals in the Shanghai 16 School Tournament last year. From team synergy to individual talent, they were just really, really good. Their weakest player was their Toplaner at Diamond 4. The others were Diamond 1 or Master. And even if their Toplaner was only Diamond 4, that didn’t mean much. Team skills were the most important when it came to team competitions.

Ren Rou grabbed a little notebook she kept and opened it to a page that red Tonji Aff. High at the top. She read her notes and then said, “His laning phase is pretty mediocre compared to the others on his team. But his Teleport game is on point and the longer a game goes on, the better he gets. He’s a really good team fighter.”

Over on the other side of the internet cafe, Tonji Aff. High was also paying attention to High School 7. They’d spotted Ouyang and had watched him run back to his group. “That’s High School 13?” one of them asked.

“Seems like it. They beat High School 13 apparently.”

“Tsk tsk. Those guys at High School 7 are terrible this year. Can’t believe they lost to the never lucky crew from High School 13.”

“Ah, whatever guys. Let’s just make this a quick game. I wanna go out and get a bite to eat.”

“Sure, sounds good. We’ll have them surrendering in 20 minutes. Maybe we should try and end it before 20 minutes? Just to embarrass them a little…”

Tonji Aff. High had the status to be a little arrogant. They’d proven last year how good they were, and this year they were at least as good. Maybe even better. However, they weren’t the only ones making bold claims. Lin Feng had a knack for that too. He looked at his team and said, “Tang Tang, go your Draven. I’m also switching to top.” He paused for a moment, then added, “Let’s finish this game in 20 minutes!”

The players from Flash felt numb. They stared at their screens. Feared. The Hecarim. Roundy Round’s Hecarim had baited them into a five man ultimate. His spectral riders had feared all five of their Champions! The screams from the 12,500 fans in the arena hit their eardrums, making it all the more painful. Chris especially felt his heart drop. This was the second time this game that he’d been baited by Roundy Round. He’d fallen for it both times. “T-this can’t be…” he mumbled.

On the caster desk, Qinghe couldn’t hold his excitement back any longer. “Look! Look! It’s Orianna and Rek’Sai! They’re finally there to help God Roundy! They can with this! KG can with this! Come on, KG, get that ace! ACE FLASH! ACE FLASH!”

The players on Flash saw the health on their Champions drop. Lee Sin especially. He was the only one who could keep up with the Tristana Rocket Jumping after the Hecarim by dashing to her–Safeguard! Then, as both of them were under KG’s outer tower and he got tower aggro, Hecarim hit them with Onslaught of Shadows. The tower fired off an energy shot at him. A second one followed right after and hit him before the fear broke.

Tian Tian was in the middle of Flash’s team after using Onslaught of Shadows. He turned around. The Tristana was walking aimlessly under his outer tower. He activated Devastating Charge. Hecarim gained increased movement speed and could walk through units. He charged through the Riven and Lee Sin. Then he kicked the Tristana with his hooves, knocking her back into his outer tower.

The voice chat from KG had been quiet during the games last week. It wasn’t all that different at the start of this game, safe for when Tian Tian got the solo kill on the Riven. But right now it finally sprung back to life. Tian Tian’s teammates were showering him with compliments.

“Nice job Roundy!”
“You roll over ‘em, Roundyboy!”
“We can win this fight! Focus, guys!”
“Let’s do this!”

The Rek’Sai had burrowed underground for the increased movement speed as she rushed down to the fight in bottom lane. She arrived just as the players from Flash broke free from the fear. Three of them were closely huddled together. She flashed towards them and Unburrowed, knocking them airborne! One of them was Lee Sin. His health was almost zero. Rek’Sai sunk her teeth into him–Furious Bite!–and killed him.

《An enemy has been slain!》

The Orianna arrived in the river entrance to bot lane. The players from Flash were still disorganized, and Rek’Sai stood in the middle of them. This was Orianna’s chance to make a move. She flashed forward and used Command: Protect to attach her Ball to Rek’Sai. The Tristana tried to run out of tower range, but ran straight towards the Rek’Sai Now! Now! Now! The Orianna watched her Ball move until it attached to the Rek’Sai and activated her ultimate–Command: Shockwave!

The millions of Chinese spectators all held their breaths. Their eyes were glued onto their screens. This was it! The moment when KG could win the fight! Even the casters weren’t really casting. Only Stone was talking and he kept repeating the same words over and over again. “Come on. Come on. Come on.”

A powerful electromagnetic shockwave erupted from Orianna’s Ball. It swept out into the surroundings before sucking everything towards it! The Tristana had walked right into its range, while the other members from Flash were also in range. They were all pulled in and lost a lot of health! Then the Orianna used Command: Dissonance to release a pulse of energy that also dealt a lot of damage. The four players from Flash suddenly had only a fifth of their health remaining at most.

It was beautiful to watch, that synergy and combo by Orianna and Rek’Sai! They did exactly what the fans expected of them! The millions of people watching the Chinese stream went wild! This wasn’t just a 3,000 ELO Orianna ultimate, this was also the move that won KG the fight! It might even be the catalyst to them winning the entire game!

「Did you see that ori ult? SO SICK!!!」
「the rek-ori wombooo commboooo!!!!1!!!」
「KG GOT THIS! LEZ WIN THE GAMEEEEE」
「Orianna is the best Orianna in the world!」

Tian Tian chased after the Tristana. After she got caught by the Orianna ultimate, her health dropped into the single digits. All he had to do was attack her one last time with an auto attack. His polearm swept across her body.

《An enemy has been slain!》

Chris had a little bit more health left on his Riven than the Tristana had. But it still wasn’t anywhere near enough to stop Tian Tian. Tian Tian had his Hecarim cleave the Riven with his polearm–Rampage!–and then hit her with a last auto attack. For the second time this game, he’d killed the Riven.

《Double kill!》

Tian Tian’s screen was flashing red and his Hecarim had less than 10% of his health remaining. There were still the Alistar and Kassadin alive on Flash’s team. The Kassadin fired an orb of void energy at the Rek’Sai–Null Sphere! He followed up with a Force Pulse, swiping his blade and firing off excess energy in a cone in front of him. It hit Tian Tian’s Hecarim, slowing him and dropping his health to less than 1%. Then a purple rift appeared out of nowhere and Kassadin disappeared. This was the animation for Riftwalk! If this skill hit the Hecarim, he would die! Tian Tian smashed down on his D key to flash away. His Hecarim disappeared from the exact spot where the Kassadin arrived. He’d gotten out just in time! With another Devastating Charge, he ran down the lane all the way back to his inner tower.

The Rek’Sai used Queen’s Wrath to empower her basic attacks, then attacked the Kassadin with her claws. His health dropped to almost zero. The Orianna also threw an auto attack at the Kassadin and then commanded her Ball to attack! The Ball moved to the Kassadin and hit him. It was just enough to kill him. All the while, the Alistar tried to run away. He’d gotten halfway down the lane when Orianna and Rek’Sai caught up to him. And between the two of them, they had enough damage to kill him before he could reach his outer tower. The Orianna dealt the last attack.

《Double kill!》

《Aced!》

Millions of people were watching the Chinese live broadcast of Worlds. They watched KG turn a terrible situation around! Tian Tian had single-handedly helped his team win this teamfight! KG had a chance at winning this game! Messages flooded into the chat. Everyone had an opinion on the fight and wanted to explain just how good God Roundy was. As for the three shoutcasters, they were speechless and sat there staring at the screen. Qinghe then turned to the other two, a voice in his ear reminding him he had to cast. “WOW! KG has come out big! That play was insane, you guys!

“I can’t believe he turned that fight around! They even aced Flash!”

“I thought for sure Orianna and Rek’Sai were too far away. But they never gave up and arrived in time to clean up the fight! Props to them!”

“However, I think we need to stand still for a second and look again at what God Roundy did. That was something special, guys. A five man Hecarim ultimate. He hit a five man Hecarim ultimate! Have we ever seen this happen before at Worlds? Or even in competitive play? I don’t think so. I know I haven’t.”

“For all of you watching at home. This is one of those moments you’re going to tell your children about. I think this play will be one of the highest skill plays we’ll ever see in the game! God Roundy just made himself a legend! Oh my god, that was a five man Hecarim ultimate!”

“Are we going to start calling it a Roundy? I say we start calling it a Roundy as a sign of respect to the man! Though, I doubt we’ll ever see another one. That was just too good. God Roundy is too good.”

Qinghe hit the nail on its head. This teamfight was the God Roundy show! Roundy Round showed the entire world why his fans called him a God. He showed them why they nicknamed him the Uncrowned Eighth. Though, going solely off this play, calling him the Uncrowned Eighth would be an insult. This play alone made him deserving of the title of King, if not Emperor!

Lolo laughed and cried. Her emotions were in turmoil. She didn’t know anymore how she felt or how to act. Then she wiped her eyes clean and spoke towards the camera, “God Roundy did fantastic. He carried that teamfight on his back! That was so good.”

As for the man in question, Tian Tian slumped back into his gaming chair. His Hecarim had survived and they’d won the teamfight. He looked drained. But there was also a smile. He grabbed his chest with both hands and breathed out deeply. Then he laughed. One short laugh full of disbelief. I-it worked. It worked! I can’t believe that worked! There’d been no big plan, no grand scheme, nothing behind his play. All he did was follow his intuition. He’d used his ultimate when it felt right. I-i’m really really good. Lin Feng was right. I’m good! Then he calmed down. Whenever he thought of Lin Feng, he remembered the promise he’d made. He had to win this game! Not just one teamfight. It’s time to focus and win!

✹

In the NetCow Cafe in downtown Shanghai, the players from High School 13 had jumped up from their seats and were hugging each other and cheering. High School 7 had surrendered 25 minutes into the game! Though, the game was pretty much played after the teamfight at the Dragon pit. That fight had crushed High School 7’s motivation. They’d stopped trying as hard and got caught out of position constantly, to the point where there wasn’t another big teamfight to speak of, only solo kills all over the map. But it didn’t matter what High School 7 did or how they played. All that mattered was that High School 13 had won the game and would move on to the main tournament!

Ouyang, Yang Fan, and Ren Rou ran at their teammates and created a bigger hug-circle, as they jumped up and down. They’d done it! They were going to the Shanghai 16 School Tournament!

“Nice! You guys are the best!” Ren Rou laughed.

Ouyang ruffled Lin Feng’s hair and shouted loudly into everyone’s ears, “HAHA! I KNEW IT! You guys totally did it! The Championship trophy will be ours! Watch out everyone, HERE WE COME!”

When everyone calmed down a little and the hug-circle broke, Lin Feng rubbed his nose and said loud enough for everyone to hear, “It’s still not enough, though.” He waited for the others to look at him before continuing, “It doesn’t matter that we already qualified. We still have to win the next game. Just this isn’t enough. We have to go three for three.”

The third game in this qualification round of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament was against Tonji Aff. High. They were the strongest team in this group and had made it all the way to the semifinals of the main tournament last year. But compared to what Fatty had to face at Worlds, this was nothing. Lin Feng only had to beat some high schoolers, while Fatty had to beat Legend, whose Midlander was Phoenix and one of the Four Emperors.

“WEI DONG! LIU YUE! WATCH OUT!” Ouyang yelled. He tried to go up and help them, but Ren Rou pulled him back by his shoulder, pinching down hard. “AH!” Ouyang glared at her. “Goddamnit,” he cursed before looking back at the monitor, frantic. Liu Yue and Wei Dong had overextended. High School 7 was almost on them. “You gotta back, guys! BACK! PLEASE BACK!”

If High School 7 got the drop on Liu Yue and Wei Dong, then they could pull far ahead of High School 13 in a matter of a minute. More important than the gold from the two kills were the 30 second death timers. This was a lot of time in which High School 7 could take down the Dragon and the outer tower in mid lane. These were both important objectives that netted a lot of team-wide gold. The Yasuo would catch up to Lin Feng soon, and the rest of the team would pull far ahead of their direct opponents. High School 7 would put themselves in a very good position to win the game.

Liu Yue and Wei Dong ran into two Champions from High School 7, and suddenly spotted two more on their minimap. Lin Feng ordered them to back. But it barely registered. It was all a haze before them. There was nowhere they could really escape. They were caught out in the middle of the river. Liu Yue tried to get away by flashing towards Blue team’s side of the map, and Wei Dong used Stand behind me! His Braum leaped towards the Elise, increasing both their armour and magic resist.

The players from High School 7 spotted the two players from High School 13 out of position. They circled in on Liu Yue and Wei Dong and shouted in voice chat,

“Go go go go go!”
“Get ‘em! Don’t let them escape!”
“Quick! Kill them fast!”
“Elise first! Get the Elise first!”

The Leona raised her sword to the sky and called down a beam of solar energy–Solar Flare! She was too hasty. The Elise and Braum weren’t caught in the middle of the skill, but in its perimeter. So, instead of being stunned, they were only slowed. The Jarvan IV followed up with a flag-toss combo into a Cataclysm. He leapt into battle with such force that he terraformed the ground and created an arena around him and Elise!

Liu Yue’s screen flashed red. His Elise was almost dead! There was nowhere left to escape. He changed his Elise to Spiderform and then Rappelled up into the air. Elise could stay up here for a few seconds. Those were a few more seconds during which High School 7 couldn’t kill her. Liu Yue wasn’t sure what this was supposed to accomplish, but he figured it was better than just letting them kill him.

Lin Feng grinned when he saw Liu Yue Rappel. He’d bought them a valuable few seconds. “Come, Tang Tang!” he ordered, already running towards the Elise and Braum in the river with his Zed. Tang Bingyao had her Kalista make a beeline for the Braum. Lin Feng nodded and then continued, “Chen Ze, get ready to Teleport. We can win this fight!”

✹

In the match between KG and Flash, there were also two players caught out. But unlike in Lin Feng’s game, here it was the ad-carry and support of KG. The bot lane duos of both teams had returned to their bottom lane a few minutes earlier. Flash’s Jungler, Lee Sin, moved into the tri-brush above KG’s outer tower and swept for wards. There were none. KG had no idea he was in there. He waited a few seconds, until KG’s Thresh walked up to ward the brush. Then he placed a ward behind Thresh and dashed to it–Safeguard! He followed up with a powerful roundhouse kick, launching the Thresh further away from his outer tower–Dragon’s Rage!

The Thresh wanted to escape back to his outer tower. But Lee Sin was waiting for him. So he made the call to Flash diagonally over a large boulder. That was into lane, but from there he could run back to his outer tower without having to deal with the Lee Sin. He flashed but had no vision on the other side of the boulder, and he came to regret that. Flash had anticipated this move. Their Alistar Support was already waiting for him, Pulverizing the ground and knocking him up into the air when he appeared, as was the Tristana. When he was still knocked up in the air, the Tristana walked past him and loaded a massive cannonball into her weapon–Buster Shot! The cannonball knocked into him and sent him flying towards Red team’s side of the map, far away from his own outer tower.

Several wards in bot lane suddenly lit up. Champions were Teleporting in! Three in total! They were Flash’s Riven and Kassadin and KG’s Hecarim! This was going to be a full on teamfight! Whoever won this fight could take Dragon and maybe even an outer tower! That would be a massive gold boon!

The Chinese fans at home put their hands over their ears and closed their eyes or turned their heads away, only throwing a few glances at the screen. They were terrified of what might happen. The casters also felt their nerves getting to them, but they were hired to do a job. So they put their feelings to the side and casted the fight.

“One… THREE TELEPORTS! It’s going to be a teamfight! It’s going to be a teamfight!”
“Orianna doesn’t have Teleport! She has to walk down! Flash has the numbers advantage!”
“KG’s Jungler is also in mid lane! Way too far away to join the fight! This is going to be a 3vs5! KG is completely caught off guard! This is bad! This is really bad!”
“God Roundy has to buy his team some time! Come on God Roundy! You can do it! COME ON!”

On the stage in the Wembley Arena, Tian Tian sat hunched over in front of his computer. He was the first to Teleport in. His Hecarim would be there before the Riven and Kassadin! C-crap! T-this is bad. Bad bad bad. Every fiber in his body told him that he shouldn’t have used his Teleport, that it was better to just cut the losses and let bot lane die. But he’d still Teleported down. His intuition told him he could win this fight and he’d listened to it. There was no going back anymore. He had to win this fight, or it would cost KG the game.

✹

Back in the game between High School 13 and High School 7, Liu Yue’s Elise came down to the ground. She was in the middle of the enemy team. If they focused her down, she’d be dead in an instant. Wei Dong wouldn’t let his Jungler die just like that. His health was dropping dangerously low. But there was one more skill that he could use to buy himself and the Elise some extra time. His ultimate skill, Glacial Fissure! He activated it. His Braum slammed his shield into the ground, freezing and fissuring the ground in front of him. The immense force caused large blocks of ice to come loose and launch upwards, knocking the Champions up in the air. Three of High School 7’s Champions were airborne!

Tang Bingyao was the first to arrive. She pulled the Braum away with her ultimate–Fate’s Call. The second part of her ultimate was up to Wei Dong. He could decide in which direction Kalista would launch him. If he hit a Champion, they’d be knocked up. But his health was low. The safe play would be to launch himself away to safety.

“Knock them up with the Kalista ultimate!” Lin Feng shouted.

Wei Dong didn’t need to be told twice. He clicked on the three Champions from High School 7 that were still huddled up together after his ultimate. The Kalista launched him. He flew through the air and hit the players from High School 7 like a wrecking ball. It was another three man knock up!

Lin Feng ran straight passed the knocked up Champions and closed in on the Jinx. When he got in range, he used his ultimate skill–Death Mark! He left a shadow behind as he dashed on the Jinx, marking her. The Jinx flashed away, but he followed after her with his Living Shadow. Then he attacked her with his blade claws and shurikens. Her health dropped fast. He hit her with two more auto attacks, then jumped back to the Shadow created with his ultimate. The Jinx’s health hit zero when the mark exploded.

《You have slain an enemy!》

Chen Ze’s Teleport finished casting. He arrived in the river just behind High School 7’s team. The crowd control was perfectly linked together so far and the timing worked out. Chen Ze found the players from High School 7 lined up for him, so he had his Rumble fire off a group of rockets to create a wall of flames on the ground–The Equalizer! He followed up with his Flamespitter, setting the river ablaze.

Tang Bingyao started auto attacking the members from High School 7 after using her ultimate on Braum. Her spears were piercing the Champions and the damage was quickly ramping up. The Zed arrived back in the middle of High School 7’s team and also started auto attacking. The Yasuo died before getting his ultimate off. The Jarvan IV’s skills were on cooldown and he also died without putting up any real resistance. As for the Gragas and Leona, they tried to do something, but it was far too little. Neither was strong enough to kill the five players of High School 13. They weren’t even strong enough to make it back to safety. Their screens turned grey.

《Aced!》

“WE DID IT! WE FUCKING DID IT! DID YOU SEE THAT ROU ROU?” Ouyang jumped up and down and then hugged Ren Rou, overjoyed.

“Get off of me,” Ren Rou complained. Then she looked at the team, her team, and smiled, “Great work guys! Keep it up!”

Yang Fan adjusted his glasses and then balled his fist. “Yes! That might’ve very well just won us the game! Good job guys.”

✹

Back in the KG versus Flash game, the situation went from bad to worse for KG. Orianna and Rek’Sai were running towards the bot lane, but were still far away. Too far away to be of any influence on the teamfight. The Thresh was caught and after the Tristana sent him flying backwards, Flash killed him. The 3vs5 was now a 2vs5. But this still didn’t stop KG’s ad-carry, Kennen. He initially tried to get to his Thresh and help his Support escape. But when the Thresh died, he didn’t turn around. He committed. Konjac pressed down on his R key and activated Kennen’s ultimate–Slicing Maelstrom!

Slicing Maelstrom was a storm of lightning that spread out around Kennen and followed him wherever he went. Anyone caught within its radius would be struck by lightning. If a Champion got three stacks of lightning on themselves, they would get stunned. Konjac positioned his Kennen so that the lightning would hit the Lee Sin, Alistar, and Tristana at the same time. He dealt damage to all three of them, but not enough to kill any one of them. Then the Slicing Maelstrom wore off and Riven’s Teleport finished.

Chris teleported into the river brush right above bot lane. The Kennen was a little up river. He had his Riven flash forward and then activated her ultimate skill–Blade of the Exile! Riven lit her blade up with green energy, increasing its attack damage and range. She attacked the Kennen with the first strike from Broken Wings and then stunned him with a Ki Burst. A stunned ad-carry was a dead ad-carry. Kennen had low health to start with. The Riven, Lee Sin, and Tristana killed him before the stun broke.

Tian Tian had followed Kennen into the middle of Flash’s team. This was a terrible call. He knew it, but he still did it. The Thresh died, and then the Kennen did too. He was all alone in the middle of Flash’s team. The little damage he had done so far was not anywhere near enough to make his actions worth it. He pressed down on his E key–Devastating Charge! His Hecarim gained increased movement speed and could move through units. He charged down the river and towards KG’s outer tower.

The Tristana aimed her cannon at the ground and fired a shell into the ground, launching herself into the air and after the Hecarim–Rocket Jump! Then she hit him with an Explosive Charge, a bomb that would explode after a short duration. She attacked the bomb with her auto attacks, increasing its eventual damage. And then it exploded. Hecarim’s health dropped fast.

The Wembley Arena went silent, the crowd waiting to erupt into cheers when Flash won the fight. Or when KG pulled off the turn around by stalling long enough for Orianna and Rek’Sai to arrive. They didn’t care either way, as long as it was exciting to watch. It was completely different for the Chinese fans watching from home. They were also silent, but that was because they were afraid that one fart all the way over in China could distract God Roundy in London. The stream chat was empty, because typing on the keyboard also made a sound. Even the casters of the official Chinese broadcast started whispering, their eyes locked on the screen instead of on the camera.

Qinghe chewed on his lips and didn’t blink. He didn’t want to miss even a second of this fight. This was the fight that could very well end up deciding the game! He looked at the close up of Tian Tian’s face and then at the Hecarim. His eyes went wide. “Ultimate. Ultimate! The Hecarim still has his ultimate! God Roundy hasn’t used his ultimate yet! There is still the ultimate!”

It seemed as if Tian Tian could hear Qinghe scream. His Hecarim’s health had dropped below 25% as he reached under his outer tower. The players from Flash were chasing after him. All five of them. They ran after him in a perfect straight line. This was the moment he’d been waiting for. The sole reason why he hadn’t used his ultimate yet. He flicked his mouse to hover over Flash’s Champions and then pressed down on his R key–Onslaught of Shadows!

The sounds of a thousand hooves rang across the rift. Hecarim had summoned his spectral riders! He aimed his polearm at the Champions from Flash and commanded in his hoarse voice, “Break their ranks!

“Trample their bones!

“Crush them underfoot!”

Hecarim led the charge into Flash’s team. The cavalry of spectral riders followed behind him. They charged through the Tristana and then the Lee Sin. Riven. Alistar. Kassadin. All five Champions from Flash got caught in the skill. They were terrified by the spectral riders running through them and ran away like headless chickens!

The Wembley Arena erupted with deafening cheers! This was a five man Hecarim ultimate! God Roundy had actually hit all five members from Flash! The Chinese fans at home leaned closer towards their screens. This was their God Roundy! God Roundy was making the plays! They wanted to scream and yell, but had no one to scream or yell to. So they took their excitement to the stream chat.

「omgomgomgomgomgo did you guys see that. tell me youg uys saw that! Telll meeeeee」
「WWOOOOOOOO GOOODDD ROUNNDDDYYYYY」
「!!!!!!! FIVE MEN ULTTIIII」
「HOLLYYY DAMMNNN SOOO GOOODDDDD!!!!!!111!1!」
「im not crying im not crying im not crying」
「this is so fcking sick like holy fk dude」

Stone’s voice was already hoarse. But he didn’t care about his dry and painful throat. He screamed at the top of his lungs, “HECARIM HAS ULTED! WAAAAA! HE’S DONE IT! GOD ROUNDY HAS LANDED A FIVE MAN ULT! THIS IS THE TURN AROUND!”

Lolo couldn’t believe what she was seeing! God Roundy was giving a great performance! Her mouth fell open. She closed it with her hand, then flashed a smile towards the camera. “Oh my! This is the God Roundy we all know and love! That was such a beautiful outplay. It gets my vote for best solo kill of the tournament!”

“Sorry sorry.” Qinghe said to the people at home. He wiped the tears from his face again. “I’m just so happy. I’ve followed God Roundy for the past few years. I know how good he is. Last week was painful. Really painful. But he’s back now. The god is back! God Roundy! The Uncrowned Eighth! HE IS BACK!”

The three casters didn’t know how to approach or prepare for this game of KG. They all hoped that KG would do well and win, just like the people at home did. But KG’s performance in week 1 was so disappointing that they didn’t want to raise the hopes of the fans too high. That would only lead to even greater disappointment if KG didn’t show up. They had to walk a fine line in the pre-game analysis, where they hyped the fans up just enough that they stuck around to watch the game, but not so high that they were expecting KG to win. In their efforts to deliver this message, they spent so much time focusing on KG that they started caring more about the game than they usually did. They cared about it to such an extent that they were even more worried about the game than the players from KG were! But that all changed after God Roundy’s outplay on Hecarim. Their worries evaporated. The restrictions they put on themselves were gone. No more curbing in the excitement. They could finally cast the game!

It wasn’t just the casters who felt liberated, everyone watching the Chinese streams did! First Blood had washed away all their worries! This was the KG they knew from the LPL! They weren’t any worse than the best teams in the world! The KG and God Roundy fans who were previously too embarrassed to show themselves came out of the woodworks and flooded the stream chats and forum boards.

「God Roundy is back boyzzzzzzzz」
「WAAAAA ILY ROUNDDYYYYY」
「finally. why didnt they play like this last week?…..」
「Third seed in lpl >>>>> third seed in na」
「Chris is such a n00bbbb!!!!!1!!」
「WE”RE GOING TO WIN THE WHOLE DAMN THING!!!!!」

✹

Chris stared at his screen. It was grey. His Riven was dead. FUCK! He gnashed his teeth as his cheeks burned red. It was such an embarrassing death, and the whole world had seen it! He let go of his mouse and keyboard, put his elbows down on the table, and let his head hang down. Then he started pulling his hair. M-my Riven… How did that fatso kill me? UCH… D-did I really get outplayed by that fatso? He thought back to the play and every move he made. I couldn’t kill him. Fine. But that towerdive should’ve been fine… This shouldn’t have… No matter how he looked at it, he should’ve been able to get out. Even with the Flash, it was still Roundy playing the Hecarim. He usually wasn’t this spot on with his mechanics, reflexes, or situational awareness. Fuck. He played that well. This was a play so few people could pull off that he hadn’t even stopped to think about it. There were maybe two or three players in the entire game this good. NO! That fucking fatso isn’t that good! He just got lucky. Yes. Luck. That’s all. I’ll get him next time.

Across the stage from Chris was KG’s set-up of five computers. The mood over there was completely different. The players of KG were screaming into their microphones in excitement.

“Good job Roundy!”
“That was awesome, man!”
“This is perfect! We shut the Riven down early! That’s a massive advantage! Let’s build on it, guys!”

It was only First Blood. This usually didn’t have too much of an impact on the game. However, this First Blood was a solo kill in a difficult matchup! Tian Tian had completely outplayed Chris! This was the confidence booster the members from KG so desperately needed!

As for the person in question, Tian Tian’s heart was racing as he tightly gripped his mouse. The hand on his keyboard trembled. The thrill had taken everything out of him. He’d predicted Chris’ next move, focusing so hard that he’d forgotten to breathe while waiting for the Ki Burst. Then he’d jumped into action with incredibly fast and accurate reaction speed. And now, now he could relax. He breathed out deeply as the pressure he put on himself left his body. The shackles of nerves tying him down snapped and broke. He stopped fighting against himself. That could wait for another day. Now, he was going to win this game!

Tian Tian sat up straight in his chair and looked at the Riven. Her corpse still lay under his tower. He smiled, his heart pounding in his chest. I-i really did it! His focus turned to the minions. The large wave was dying to his outer tower. He had to get as many last hits on them as possible! Lin Feng was right. I really can do this!

Tian Tian’s analytical abilities weren’t limited to just the game itself. This was a process he would begin long before the game even started. Take his Hecarim pick in this game. In the current meta, Hecarim top lane needed the Teleport Summoner Spell to be viable. The second Summoner Spell had a little more freedom, but most Toplaners went with Ignite for the extra lane pressure it offered. Tian Tian, however, had opted to go with Flash. This wasn’t a spur of the moment decision, but rather a well thought out plan.

Tian Tian had spent a lot of time watching videos of Flash’s recent games. Specifically on how Chris played the lane. During his research, he’d picked up on one of Chris’ habits. Chris liked to build up a strong minion wave and crash it into the opposing Toplaner’s tower. Then when the opposing Toplaner tried to clear the wave, he’d take advantage of the opportunity to engage on them. When Tian Tian noticed Chris attempting to do the same thing in this game, he set his plan in motion. Instead of trying to stop Chris, Tian Tian started helping him. He purposefully didn’t clear Chris’ minion wave and let it push into his own tower, all the while preparing for the opportunity to kill Chris. Chris took the bait. He towerdove and Tian Tian outplayed him to pick up the solo kill. This was a perfect example of how much good research of the opponent was worth.

Despite his many hours of research, Tian Tian didn’t have the confidence to base his choice of Summoner Spells on an eventuality. So he looked beyond this specific scenario to choose between Flash and Ignite. The advantages of Ignite were especially clear in the early game, while Flash became more valuable the longer a game went on. Since he wanted Flash for the early game and it was also a better choice for the team fights later in the game, the choice became obvious.

Back in Season 1, when there were no analysts on a team, it was normal for players to put as much effort into researching their opponents as Tian Tian still did. Now, in Season 5, most players didn’t bother with that anymore. They had analysts to do the research for them. This also meant that they only saw what the analysts showed them. Tian Tian, on the other hand, saw a lot more. He really knew his opponents, watching their games even when he sat on the toilet. This was a valuable habit, and even more so because no one knew he did this. Since they didn’t know this, they couldn’t prepare for it. Even his own teammates and coaches didn’t know about this side of him. Lin Feng was the only exception. He knew how much time and effort Tian Tian put into researching his opponents.

✹

In the NetCow Cafe branch in downtown Shanghai, the game between High School 13 and High School 7 reached the 10 minute mark. High School 7 had worked hard the last few minutes to get back into the game, having their Jarvan IV show up top and bot to put pressure on the side lanes. It was a success. Both lanes got a slight gold and experience lead in their lanes. The complete opposite was true for mid lane. Yasuo was being toyed with by Lin Feng. It was to the extent that the audience crowding around the computers couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

“Uhh… Isn’t that guy a Master? What the fuck…”
“That’s what I heard too! How is he getting his ass kicked this hard?”
“Who is that Midlaner for High School 13? Also a Master? It must be, right?”

Despite it being obvious that the Yasuo was losing the lane, it looked a lot worse than it was. High School 7’s Midlaner kept his calm. His other lanes were doing well. As long as he could stay close enough to the minions so that he could pick up the experience and stay relatively even in level with the Zed, then everything would be fine. When the teamfights began, the rest of his team would win them and carry the game. All he had to do was show up and pick up a kill here and there to catch back up in items and become relevant again.

The Jungler of High School 7 roamed bot. High School 13’s bot lane duo was pushed under their tower and their Jungler had just revealed himself in the top half of the jungle. This was a great opportunity for a towerdive! The Jarvan IV didn’t worry about wards. There was nowhere to run for High School 13’s bot lane anyway. His team’s minion wave in bot lane was pushing into Blue team’s outer tower. He waited just outside of the outer tower’s range for the Support on his team, Leona, to engage.

Leona was a defensive support Champion with a lot of crowd control skills. The most powerful one was her ultimate–Solar Flare! She could call down a beam of solar energy and stun Champions! The Leona arrived at Blue team’s outer tower and waited for Kalista and Braum to walk close together. Then she threw down a Solar Flare!

“Wei Dong!” Tang Bingyao exclaimed, annoyed. The Leona was obviously waiting for them to stack on top of each other before engaging. Wei Dong had done the one thing he should never do in a lange against a Leona!

The Leona stunned the Kalista and Braum. Wei Dong frantically clicked his mouse and hit down on his keyboard but nothing happened. A flag-toss combo of the Jarvan IV knocked both his Braum and Tang Bingyao’s Kalista airborne before the stun broke. The Jinx was shooting them down with her rocket launcher. Kalista died in an instant, and he followed soon after. The crowd control was too strong. There was nothing he could do. It was a clean two kills for High School 7. He looked up at Tang Bingyao sitting next to him and mumbled, “Sorry.”

Lin Feng could hear the annoyance in Tang Bingyao’s voice. Bot lane was losing. Top lane was struggling again. And Liu Yue in the jungle was unable to put the same pressure on the lanes as the Jarvan IV did. They were falling behind left and right. Only mid lane was doing well. But this didn’t mean the game was lost. Anything but! The game was still even right now. However, the next big fight would be very important. If they lost that, the game would become very difficult to win. Lin Feng zoned out everything else around him. He had to focus and win for his team!

✹

On the other side of the world, the game between KG and Flashed also hit the 10 minute mark. The minutes after Tian Tian killed the Riven had been relatively quiet. Only one big play had happened. A gank in mid lane. Flash’s Jungler, Lee Sin, had ganked KG’s Midlaner and helped his Kassadin pick up the kill. This brought the score back to one kill for both teams.

The Chinese fans started to get nervous again. After watching Tian Tian pick up an early solo kill, their hopes for a KG win were reignited. KG had started playing better in the few minutes after too! Everything seemed to be going smoothly. But then the Orianna died in mid lane. The game suddenly didn’t seem all that easy anymore. KG was still playing well, they had at least that going for them, but playing well just wasn’t good enough. If KG wanted to make it out of the group stage, they had to win all three of their remaining matches! One loss and they were out!

「Come on KG! Don’t give this one away! You guys have to hold on! We believe in you!」
「STOP FEEDING ORI!!!!! just let the heca carry you!」
「we can still win! go kg go!!!!!」
「dont give up guys this is still a win for kg, just trust them」
「tell that to the ori! GO GOD ROUNDY! carry your shitmates!!!」
「Give me a K! Give me a G! KGGGGGGGGG」

✹

Prophet Stone was careful with what he said on the caster desk. He was terrified of jinxing KG. Qinghe and Lolo felt the same, as did the millions of fans in China. They were praying for a win. KG had to win! Their hearts were in the game. They started talking to the screen as though KG could hear them. Sometimes even screaming. There were some fans who put on their special t-shirt. They believed it’d bring their team luck. They’d do anything they could think of to help KG win this game!

Though there weren’t millions of fans watching, the situation in the match between High School 13 and High School 7 was very similar to the position KG found themselves in. But instead of commentators and fans worrying for them, there were only Ren Rou, Ouyang, and Yang Fan. Ouyang hid behind the other two, afraid that him looking at the game would cause his team to lose.

Both teams in both games gathered around the Dragon pit. This would be the first teamfight of the game. It was one of the most important few seconds of the entire game! One team would pull ahead, while the other would spend the rest of the game playing catch up.

Lin Feng stared at his screen. He couldn’t let anyone disturb him now. His team wasn’t good enough. He had to carry them, but he wasn’t sure if he could single-handedly win this next teamfight. And if he failed, the rest of the game would suddenly become a lot more difficult. Losing wasn’t even out of the equation then. For you, Fatty. I’ma win this fight for you!

Tian Tian was worried, just like Lin Feng was. His nerves started assaulting his mind again, and it looked for a moment as if he’d fall back in his old habit. N-no. L-lin Feng won’t forgive me. He forced himself to calm down and focused on the game again. There was no second chance after this game. This game was his second and last chance to make it out of the group stage! He had to win. He couldn’t let this game slip from his fingers! One mistake and it was over. I-i can’t screw up! I have to win!

Then, it happened. In two different games in two different tournaments, separated by over 5,000 miles of land and sea, High School 13 and KG both fell for an ambush. For KG, the bot lane duo was caught out, while for High School 13 it was the Jungler and Support. Four players from High School 7 had spotted them warding high up in the river and surrounded them.

Ren Rou and Ouyang panicked. Qinghe, Lolo, and Stone panicked. The millions of fans at home all panicked. High School 13 was trapped! KG was trapped! All their hopes and dreams came crashing down on them. It was over! After everything, this looked like the start of the end!

Lin Feng took a deep breath. The buzz in the internet cafe disappeared. High School 7’s Midlaner sitting across from him disappeared. His teammates sitting around him and talking in the voice chat disappeared. All that remained was Zed. The Master of Shadows. His eighth grader syndrome reared its head. “A shadow hidden in the darkness, a traitor to Kinkou doctrine of balance.

“Turning to the darkness and mastering the forbidden techniques, he is the leader of the Order of Shadow, the ruler of the unseen. The cold, ruthless gaze beneath his mask strikes fear into the hearts of all those who see him.

“Embrace the shadow… or die in darkness!”

Minion for minion. The Zed and Yasuo stayed on even footing. Both looked for openings, but neither were giving anything away. This lasted until the sixth minute of the game. Then it all changed. The Zed reached Level 6. Level 6 was an important level, because a Champion could then learn their ultimate skill. For Zed, this was Death Mark. He’d disappear into the shadows, after which three of his shadows would dash onto the target and mark them. This mark would trigger three seconds later and deal a portion of the damage Zed dealt while the mark was active.

Lin Feng changed his playstyle. He pushed the Yasuo away from the minions and deep underneath Red team’s outer tower. The Yasuo tried to walk back into lane to last hit a minion, but there was Zed. The Zed was stalking around the minion wave, using it as bait. High School 7’s Midlaner felt the pressure. He knew he couldn’t get close to the minions. He’d just get abused if he did. But the minions were also right there, almost begging to be last hit. It took him all his restraint to stay back. He was almost Level 6. When he had his ultimate, he could be a little more aggressive again.

Damnit! What is this? The Yasuo could only watch Blue team’s minions die in the middle of the lane. He couldn’t get to them. I need to do something… He looked down at his experience bar. It was almost full. A few more minions, that was all. Then he could learn Last Breath. This skill let him blink to an airborne Champion, keeping them in the air before slamming them down to the ground. If he hit the Zed with it, he could at least get his footing in the lane back. One more minion should do it.

High School 7’s Midlaner hit Level 6. He learned his ultimate skill and pushed forward into lane. But the Zed was waiting for him. Yasuo’s ultimate wasn’t enough of a deterrent. Or not at all, it felt like. He got two minions before he ran back to his tower, having lost a good bit of health. “Dammit… Who the heck is this guy?” he cursed under his breath. Then he looked at his minimap. The Jarvan IV was at the Wraith Camp, right next to mid lane. I need a gank! Then I’ll win.

The Jarvan IV moved to mid lane, sweeping the area for wards. He didn’t find any, not even in the river brush right above the lane. The Zed was still pushing over the halfway line. The Jarvan IV had played so many games together with his Midlaner that they didn’t need to talk. They both knew the plan. He pinged on the Zed and jumped in with a flag-toss combo. If he could hit it and knock the Zed up, they would get the kill. Yasuo’s Last Breath would take care of that.

The Yasuo ran forward, dashing through the minions–Sweeping Blade!–while charging up Steel Tempest. If this Zed dodged Jarvan IV’s knock up, he would be ready to use his whirlwind. It didn’t matter that his health was low, or that Jarvan IV’s health was low. This Zed would be dead before he knew what hit him! Time to say goodnight! He grinned.

Lin Feng knew the Jarvan IV was coming. High School 7’s Jungler had missed a ward. It was placed just a little further up river, but close enough to reveal him as he walked into the brush above mid lane. Hehe. Let’s do this. Lin Feng smiled. The Yasuo suddenly got a little more aggressive. It wasn’t a lot, but enough to warn Lin Feng something was up. He knew what would happen next. His finger hovered over his R key. Death Mark would make Zed untargetable while dashing to the target. That also meant he couldn’t be knocked up. Hehe, watch this.

High School 7’s Midlaner timed his whirlwind from Steel Tempest perfectly with Jarvan IV’s flag-toss combo. The Zed would be toast! Got you! And then the Zed was gone. His eyes went wide. It felt as if time came to a stop as he mumbled, “Crap.” Both knock up skills had missed. Three blood red shadows jumped on him and put a mark above his head.

The Zed appeared behind the Yasuo. His claw blades swept in a circle, cutting through the Yasuo–Shadow Slash! He followed up with Razor Shuriken. Then the Yasuo finally reacted. He dashed to a nearby minion, and then another. But Lin Feng wasn’t about to let him get away. His Shadow dashed forward and he directly switched positions with it–Living Shadow! He was on top of the Yasuo again and hit him with an auto attack. That should do it. Lin Feng pressed on his R key again, and his Zed switched positions with the Shadow he’d placed when activating his ultimate skill.

The Jarvan IV ran after the Yasuo and Zed, but couldn’t keep up. By the time he caught up, Zed had disappeared and the red mark above the Yasuo was about to explode. There was nothing he could do about it. His Midlaner would die. He turned around to chase the Zed, but he was too late for that too. The Zed was already halfway to his own outer tower. Then the sound of the red mark exploding rang out beside him. This gank was a complete and utter failure.

《You have slain an enemy!》

Lin Feng breathed out. He’d held his breath during the fight, and only now relaxed. The kill was his. His KDA went up to 2/0/0. The sound of the crowd around him entered his ears again. He could hear them gasp, while his teammates were cheering. He grinned and pumped his fist in the air, “Let’s go!” Then he looked back at the screen, a little nervous. Fatty’s game should’ve started. I hope he’s doing ok.

✹

In the Wembley Arena, KG and Flash were in the middle of Champion Select. Below the stage, the players from Fate had found their places in the VIP viewing area. They’d just won their game and were now going to unwind by watching the next game at Worlds. Moon leaned back in his chair and looked at the picks, especially those in top lane. Flash had chosen Riven. She was a really strong laner who had a lot of potential to outplay her lane opponent and get solo kills in the early game. On KG’s side, God Roundy picked Hecarim. What is he thinking…?

Hecarim was a decent pick in the current meta. This spectral fusion of man and beast could single-handedly win teamfights with his ultimate skill. But he was a relatively weak laner, and he needed a little extra to get rolling. When taking KG’s recent form in consideration, this pick seemed downright suicidal. What are they doing? Did they give up already? But why… This is Worl–

“Excuse me, passing through! Excuse me!”

Moon needed an extra second. The man trying to walk by was speaking in English, and he wasn’t great at the language. “Sorry, sorry,” he mumbled. He moved his legs to let the man through and looked up at him. Late twenties to early thirties. Casual expression. Nor did he spare Moon a glance. This last part was strange. Most people would take a minute to greet him or even ask for an autograph. He was an Emperor, after all. But it didn’t bother Moon that this man didn’t stop to say a word or two. He didn’t even really notice it, because that man looked really familiar for some reason. He looked at the man and mumbled, “Where do I know him from?”

“Wait!” His eyes went wide. He knew who that was! This was a legend of the scene! He looked towards the man, who’d found a seat and reclined back, his feet up on the balustrade in front of him. It really is you! Before making the switch to League of Legends, Moon had played a different esport. That was where he knew this man from. This man was one of the biggest names in that esport. A true legend! A real OG!

Moon kept looking at the man, fighting back the urge to go up to him and ask for an autograph. Then he scrunched his nose. Why is he here? He retired from the scene years ago… Has he ever even played League? Before he could think more of it, the crowd in the Wembley Arena started cheering and singing. The game had started. It was KG versus Flash!

✹

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

Flash was on the Red team. They decided to start the game with an odd set-up. Their bottom lane duo went up to top lane. They took the Golem Camp on the way there for some early experience, and then started pushing out the lane from the first moment that the minions arrived in lane. Down in bottom lane, KG mirrored this tactic. They also first took Golem Camp before pushing out the lane.

As for the Toplaners of both teams, they didn’t go to a lane. They wouldn’t get any last hits on the minions in lane against the bottom lane duos and the constant pressure they would be under could easily see them slip up and give away an early First Blood. So they went into the jungle and helped their Jungler clear their camps faster.

KG’s bot lane duo was a Kennen ad-carry and Thresh support. After pushing out the first two waves into Flash’s outer tower, they recalled back to base. They wanted a standard laning match-up, so they rushed up to top lane. Their Jungler had started on the Blue camp in the top half of the Jungle and had made his way down to the bottom half of the jungle together with Tian Tian’s Hecarim. When the Kennen and Thresh recalled, Tian Tian split from his Jungler and had his Hecarim charge down the jungle towards bot lane. The minions were fighting in the middle of the lane when he arrived. He quickly pushed them back into Red team’s outer tower.

Flash didn’t push for another laneswap. They were confident that Chris’ Riven would beat the Hecarim in lane. That was an advantage they had to abuse. So they left their bottom lane duo up in top lane, while Chris recalled back to base to buy a few potions. Then he teleported to the outer tower in bot lane.

The Chinese fans watching streams, and the odd few in the Wembley Arena, let out a shared breath of relief. They’d been worrying all week that KG would give away an early advantage to Flash and lose from there. But right now, the game was still even. And KG had even made a good play! Instead of recalling back to base and buying an extra health potion, Roundy Round had rushed to bot lane and pushed out the wave. If he hadn’t done this, Flash’s Chris would’ve arrived in time in lane to freeze the minion wave halfway down the lane and force Roundy Round to sit under his outer tower and miss gold and experience. That would’ve lost KG the game then and there. This was a great play by God Roundy!

The Riven arrived at the outer tower in bot lane. Chris versus Roundy Round. The real fight between the two Toplaners was finally beginning! Chris looked at the Hecarim trying to get some last hits in. Hehe! Just you wait, fatso. I’ma make you wish you were never born!

✹

The second round of games in the first qualification round of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament was in full swing. After Lin Feng’s second kill on High School 7’s Midlaner, his team started to pull ahead. Liu Yue began to show that the weeks of training weren’t for nothing. He finally started putting pressure on the lanes, even helping Rumble pick up a kill on Gragas in the top lane.

Tang Bingyao and Wei Dong also found an opening in bot lane. Jinx pushed out a little too far and they jumped on her. The Kalista dashed forward, throwing a spear with every jump. Tang Bingyao chased after the Jinx until the Jinx flashed away to tower safety, then shifted targets to the Leona. Caught out in the middle of the lane, the Leona was also forced to flash away, while the Jinx used her Heal to keep them both alive. High School 7’s bot lane survived this fight, but they paid a high price. They were forced back to base and lost a full wave and a half of minions.

Top lane came back after giving away an early kill, bot lane seized a small advantage, and the Jungler was applying pressure all over the map. Lin Feng’s teammates seemed to have shaken off their nerves. They weren’t worrying about making misplays, but rather focusing on making plays! Lin Feng smiled. He was proud of his teammates. They’d finally fought back their fears and were really performing now! Fatty, do you see me? I’m trying my best here! I hope you are too!

✹

It was quiet in the Wembley Arena. The crowd had forgotten about their phones. All eyes were on the giant LCD screens above the stage, which showed the battle of the Toplaners down in bot lane. Unlike everyone had expected, this game wasn’t a stomp. Chris was playing hyper-aggressively on his Riven, pushing out the minions and harassing the Hecarim. But Tian Tian wasn’t taking the abuse lying down. He fought back, blow for blow, and was even coming out on top! His Hecarim that should be losing to a Riven in lane was actually pulling ahead!

No one had any expectations for KG going in this game. Not the fans in the crowd. Not the fans at home. Not even the coaches of KG. But what they were seeing right now was a strong team that was going toe-to-toe with Flash! Most impressive of all was Roundy. The fans felt that spark of excitement again as they watched him play. Maybe he would live up to his reputation today! Hopefully, he would show the world why his fans called him the Uncrowned Eighth!

The cameras in the arena got no good shot of Tian Tian’s face, it was hidden behind his monitor. But they got a great shot of Chris’. His casual expression from before the game was gone. In its place was anger and frustration. He squinted his eyes and leaned closer to the monitor. His Riven and the Hecarim both had about a third of their health remaining. The lane was pretty much dead even. Fucking fatso… I don’t care how good you are. Let me show you how good a real professional Toplaner is!

Tian Tian looked like he was going even with Chris. Hecarim and Riven were both at the same health and the lane was stuck in the middle. But appearances were deceptive. Chris made sure to leave KG’s minions alive for a little longer. The wave pushed slightly to his side, but not so far that it got near his tower. A second minion wave arrived in lane while the first was still mostly alive. Hehe. Finally. He started killing Blue minions again, timing it so that the next blue minion wave would stop his minion wave outside the reach of the outer tower.

Hehehe. He’s got no clue what’s coming for him. Chris killed this minion wave fast. There was a short window here until the next minion wave would arrive. The Blue minions quickly died to the large Red minion wave and Riven. The Hecarim was forced underneath his tower. Hehe. Now. Gotcha, idiot. The minion wave reached under KG’s outer tower. He had to act fast. If he got the kill on the Hecarim, he would win the game right there and then. As he saw it, this was a win-win situation for him! Force Hecarim back to base or kill him. Either way, he’d get the experience and gold lead. He chuckled and then dashed towards the Hecarim–Valor!

The Riven lashed out with her large sword–Broken Wings!–and linked that up with an auto attack. She was in range of the outer tower. An energy shot charged up and shot at her. It did far more damage than Chris expected. So much so that he started to worry. Fuck. Too much damage. He’d gotten greedy. The tower would kill him before he could kill the Hecarim. But he’d already gotten so far. He didn’t want to turn back now. Screw it. One combo and I’m out. He pressed down on the W key–Ki Burst!

Tian Tian had shaken off his worries and was playing with confidence. When the Riven dashed at him, he spotted the mistake right away. His finger moved over the D key. The only thing Riven could do was try and stun him with her Ki Burst. That was her only possible play here! Or she could walk away, but that just wasn’t Chris’ style. So he let her hit him with the first charge of her Broken Wings and waited for the animation of Ki Burst. It came a moment later. The green Ki bursted out around the Riven and he pressed down on his D key. His Hecarim flashed past the Riven, dodging the stun. He followed up by activating Devastating Charge and charged into the Riven, knocking her backwards.

FUCK! Chris cursed. He never expected Roundy to flash, or that he’d make a play like that at all. This was nothing like the Roundy from last week! He smashed down on his F key and flashed away, but not before taking another energy shot from the tower. His health was already down to 10%!

Tian Tian knew what was in front of him. First Blood. He wouldn’t let this chance go to waste. When Riven flashed, he was ready for it. He charged after the Riven and hit her with an auto attack. Then he cleaved the Riven with his polearm–Rampage!–and finished her off with one last auto attack.

《First blood!》

The Wembley Arena that was predominantly European erupted into cheers! What a phenomenal outplay! This was a true solo kill at the World stage! They almost never got to see this! They forgot that it wasn’t a European team who’d got the kill as they jumped up and down and screamed as loudly as they could, “GOD ROUNDY! GOD ROUNDY!”

The online platforms, where most Chinese fans were following the game from, went even wilder. This was exactly what they’d been dreaming of! A comeback from KG! The turn around in week two of Worlds! And God Roundy!

「AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!1!!!! OMG DID YOU SEE THATTTTT」
「fiiiiiiiiiiirst bloooooooooood!!!!!!!!」
「GOD ROUNDY!!!! DAMN THAT WAS SOOOOO GOOD!!!」
「Lez fucking goooooooo we got thizz boys ez win gg」
「FUCK THE HATERS!!! GOD ROUNDY IS THE BEST」
「I’m not Chinese, but that was such an impressive play! Roundy Round is really deserving of the title God Roundy. I think he should be one of the Seven Kings. He really deserves it. What do you guys think?」
「LOL ^ Who’s that idiot? ALSO GOD ROUNDYY WOOOO!!!!!!! WAAAA!!!!!!」

On the caster desk of the Chinese official broadcast of Worlds, Qinghe lost control over his emotions. His eyes were wet and he had to wipe the tears away. He couldn’t find the words, much like Lolo who was just staring at the screen, shocked. Only Stone didn’t forget how to talk. His voice was hoarse as he shouted, “OH MY GOD THAT WAS BEAUTIFUL! THAT WAS GOD ROUNDY! EVERYONE! THAT WAS GOD ROUNDY! HE’S COME TO PLAY AND GETS FIRST BLOOD!”