Season had put a stop to SSK’s unbeaten streak! SSK’s perfect run ended in the Finals! The entire world of League of Legends, with the sole exception of South-Korea, took to the internet to share the joy. They crashed forums and message boards! And they flooded the stream chats of the various official broadcasts.

「SSK ISNT INRINSIBLE!!!!!」
「korean killleeerrrrrssssssssssssss」
「SUCK ON THAT! stupid koreans and their “eternal” reign… NOOOBBBBSSSSSS」
「lololololol ssk sucks!!!!! NA BEST REGION IN DA HOLE WITE WORLLDDDD!!!11」
「were gonna winnnn woorrllddddssssssss SEASON <33333」
「ROFLMAO!!! HARHARHAR!!!! ssk nubs. Confirmed.」

Lee Dojae sat in a skybox high up in the Mercedes Benz Arena, scrolling through the stream chats from various regions. Why are these people so stupid? Can’t they see that SSK is going to win this? He looked out the window at the venue down below, annoyed. 17,000 people here to watch SSK become World Champions… And tens of millions fans all across the world to witness Rake step up to the top of the esports scene again! But Season wasn’t giving him the show he wanted. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at Autumn. He really is talented. They only won the previous game because of his Thresh hooks. Three in one teamfight… That was fucking ridiculous! He pursed his lips, but then shrugged. Eh, whatever. It was just one good game from them. That won’t be enough. I personally trained Han Seho. Rake will carry this. SSK will become world champion and the name Rake will be synonymous for best in the world again!

Season wasn’t planning to give Lee Dojae what he wanted. The players sat behind their computers, completely focused. Their coach was talking them through the strategy for the next game, and telling them what to watch out for. His message was clear. If they wanted to win the Finals, and they did, then they had to win Game 3 and Game 4. They absolutely couldn’t let SSK gather any momentum!

Autumn tried to keep a calm expression and listen to his coach. But he couldn’t get himself to. He looked over the edge of his monitor at SSK. At Rake. They haven’t shown everything yet. We’re going at it with all we’ve got, but they’re still holding back. His eyebrows twitched and he frowned. How do we win this? It’s only going to get harder from here. We already threw everything we had at the first two games… And we only won the second one. How are we supposed to win two more? Can we even win two more…? He bit down on his tongue and shook his head. It’s going to be really difficult. But we can do it!

Rake sat up straight in his chair with his eyes closed. Their coach had already informed them of the strategy for the next game, and now his teammates were chatting together about bratwurst, beer, and the Oktoberfest. He didn’t participate. We’ve had our fun. I won’t let this go on. He took a deep, calming breath. Then his eyes shot open. Focused. He put his right hand on his mouse, feeling its weight in his grasp, and placed his left hand on the keyboard. It’s time to end this.

✹

High School 13’s esports team was watching the World Finals in a private room at the NetCow Cafe. SSK and Season had entered Champion Select. After a quick ban phase, which was again focused on banning Rake and Autumn’s favourite champions, they started locking in champions. Season’s first pick was Jarvan IV. Then SSK locked in Ahri and Lee Sin.

Ouyang’s eyes went wide. He threw his chair around and shouted, “Ahri and Lee Sin! SSK is copying BunBun’s strategy! THEY’RE STEALING OUR COMP!” He then turned back to look at the screen and continued, “Bros… They’re playing our team comp! Rake and Mafa are going to play our team comp!”

Liu Yue completely forgot about wanting to see Season win Worlds. He nodded fervently and said, “It’s awesome! We’re drafting the same champions as top, world class pro teams! Lin Feng and BunBun are our very own Rake and Mafa! Woo!”

Yang Fan adjusted his glasses and said, “The Ahri-Lee Sin combo is really strong in the current meta. But it’s also really hard to pull off. Then again, Rake and Mafa are arguably the best Mid-Jungle combo in the world. And Rake is the best player in the world. I really want to see how they’re going to play this game.” He then turned to An Xin and asked, “What do you think?”

An Xin smiled and replied, “Yep, you’re right. Those two are two of the best players in the world. Rake the Emperor and Mafa the King. And it was to be expected that the best teams in the world would notice how strong the Ahri-Lee Sin combo is right now. I’m kind of surprised we haven’t seen it earlier.” She paused for a moment and then added, “Rake and Mafa have been practicing this combo for weeks now, so they’re going to be a lot better at it than Lin Feng and me. I’m also curious to see how they do. And how much better they are.”

Lin Feng sat up straight in his chair, staring intently at the screen. “Better for now,” he said to An Xin. He didn’t smile, but he didn’t look worried either. There was only the strong determination that radiated from his eyes. “We’re going to beat them.”

✹

The first two games had given Season fans all the hope they needed. They even started whispering about winning the world title. And Korean Killers became the most searched term on the internet. Then Game 3 happened. Rake’s Ahri and Mafa’s Lee Sin worked together flawlessly. It was as if they were of one mind and body. They decimated Season in the mid lane, then went on to roam around the map, picking up kills everywhere.

SSK had complete control over Summoner’s Rift after only 10 minutes. The players from Season were afraid to even walk out of their base, terrified to get caught out by Ahri and Lee Sin. One Charm from Ahri was all it took to give yet another kill to SSK. This went on until the 26th minute, when SSK steamrolled Season’s base and destroyed their Nexus.

Back in the NetCow Cafe, Ouyang and Liu Yue sat next to each other with their mouths hanging wide open. They glanced at each other and mumbled in unison, “Wow!”

“What was that?” Ren Rou said, dazed. Game 3 of the World Finals had looked like a typical solo queue game. As if two Challenger players had created smurf accounts to toy around in Silver. It was an absolute slaughter and simply painful to watch.

“Mhm. SSK is really good,” Tang Bingyao noted.

An Xin nodded and then turned around to look at Lin Feng, who sat in the far back of the room. Are you ok? You haven’t said a word… She watched him sit there in silence, lost in his thoughts. He hadn’t said a single word all game. An Xin bit on her lip, then shook her head and looked back at the stream. You’ll get your revenge.

✹

The North American fans saw their hopes of an American World Champion evaporate in Game 3. Season had nothing to bring in from start to finish. Rake and Mafa demonstrated to the world what perfect synergy was! They tore Season apart with an absolutely stunning Ahri-Lee Sin display! And they helped SSK steamroll to a 26 minute victory.

「Come on, Season! You guys can do this! You have it in you! Just dig deep!」
「WERE THE KOREAN KILLERS! PLLSSSSSSS」
「ONE TIME! JUST ONE TIME! Please, God, I’m begging you! Let Season win this!」
「we can do this! Just gotta belliieeeevvveeeeeeeeee!!!!」
「Don’t give those Koreans another win! COME ON SEASON! I”M ROOTING FOR YOU!!!!」
「I’ll get a tattoo of Autumn on my ass if Season win this!」

But all the support in the world wasn’t going to carry Season to a win. SSK was just too good. Game 4 was almost an exact copy of Game 3. Rake and Mafa slaughtered Season’s Midlaner and then started terrorizing the rest of the map. Season had nowhere to go and soon found themselves pushed back into their base. But that didn’t save them either. In the 26th minute, SSK destroyed Season’s Nexus and crowned themselves World Champion!

The League of Legends Season 5 World Championship Finals ended in a 3-1 victory for SSK. They became the first team in League of Legends history to win the World Championships two times in a row, with their starplayer Rake achieving a record third world title!

The Mercedes Benz Arena shook, but it wasn’t an earthquake. The people in the stadium were just losing it! They were stamping their feet on the ground. They were jumping, dancing, and screaming their lungs out! There was a new world champion!

“SSK BEST IN THE WORLD!”
“RAKE MVP! BEST PLAYER IN THE WORLD!”
“MAFA FOR EMPEROR!”
“WE’RE THE BEST REGION IN THE WORLD!”
“WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
“WORLD CHAMPIONS! WE’RE THE WORLD CHAMPIONS!”

SSK’s members shot up from their gaming chairs, throwing their arms in the air to celebrate. They had defended their world title! Then Rake led them across the stage to shake hands with Season, before walking over to the middle of the stage and bowing towards each section of the audience. A show of gratitude to everyone who’d come out to support them. And the final bow was toward the camera, to thank the tens of millions of people who’d turned on the stream and were watching them.

From his skybox, Lee Dojae finally let out a long held breath. There wasn’t any real suspension at the end of Game 4, but he still got nervous. Now he smiled. I made the right choice. Han Seho is the perfect new Rake. Then he got up from his seat and mumbled, “Good. Now there’s only one more thing left to do.”

✹

The League of Legends World Championships host stood on the stage with a microphone in his hand. The audience had quieted down when he started talking, “Riot Games has invited a special guest this year for the award ceremony! You may know him for his achievements that have landed him a spot in the Esports Hall of Fame. He was the old team captain of SSK and also played with the online handle Rake! Give a warm welcome to Lee Dojae!”

Lee Dojae smiled as he heard the audience cheer at the mention of his name. He looked at the Summoner’s Cup in his hands. This is my moment. I’m starting a new era of esports. From one Rake to the next! From legend to legend! My name will live on forever! He nodded at himself, then slowly walked up on stage, waving at the audience.

The five main players on SSK’s roster stood in the middle of the stage, with the two coaches and substitutes behind them. All of them turned to look at Lee Dojae as he walked up on stage. They bowed towards him in respect and kept their heads down until he stood in front of them.

Lee Dojae smiled a little brighter. Then he walked up to Han Seho and said,  “Good. You didn’t disappoint me.”

Han Seho bowed again and replied, “I’m glad I met your expectations, sir.”

Lee Dojae nodded and said, “Then I’m handing this, and everything that comes with it, over to you.” He offered the Summoner’s Cup to Han Seho. To Rake. I’m giving it to myself.

Han Seho took the Summoner’s Cup and assured, “I accept it. You can entrust everything to me.”He then turned away from Lee Dojae and looked at the audience. There was a brief pause, just long enough for the camera to focus on him. Then he raised the Summoner’s Cup high above his head.

The Summoner’s Cup represented the passing of the torch from Rake Sr. to Rake Jr.. It was a moment that every Korean talk show had been hyping up towards! That every Korean esports fan had been waiting for! It was a reaffirmation that they were the best esports region in the world! No one could compete against them! And the world had to know that! This entire award ceremony was orchestrated to give a single message to every other region and every other professional player in the world: “Korea is number one! The rest of you noobs have fun fighting for second best!”

The camera focused on Han Seho and the large cup in his hands. Then it zoomed out and showed how the other members of the team gathered around their starplayer and celebrated the victory. One by one, they took the trophy and lifted it up above their heads. They were World Champions! Again!

Lee Dojae watched Han Seho celebrate the victory in the Finals of the League of Legends Season 5 World Championships with the rest of SSK. He nodded at himself and smiled. I made the name. And I won with that name. Now you have it. Take good care of it! And remember, Rake will always stand at the top! I will always stand at the top! Don’t ever let that change.

✹

Lin Feng watched every minute and every second of the League of Legends World Finals. How Rake destroyed Season’s Midlaner. How Rake annihilated Season. How Rake lifted up the Summoner’s Cup! I’m taking you down! Lin Feng clenched his fist and he started smiling. You’re good. Really good. But I have time. And I have the talent to beat you! His smile grew into a wide grin. I lost. Yes. You beat me! But that was four years ago. Now I’m back. A blazing fire of determination ignited in Lin Feng’s eyes! I’m coming for you!

High School 13 finally had a reason to install a trophy cabinet in the school lobby. For the first time in the school’s history, they had won an important tournament! Their esports club was the best in Shanghai! High School 13’s students were jumping around, hugging their friends and strangers alike, and screaming their lungs out! They only grew louder when Chu Fang walked up on stage with a large cheque worth ¥80,000 in his hands.

Chu Fang tried to silence the audience, so he could congratulate High School 13. But no one was interested in what he had to say. He finally gave up and handed the cheque to Ren Rou. Then he nodded at Lin Feng and said, “You’ve got a very talented team with you here. I’m looking forward to what you guys are going to achieve.”

Lin Feng grinned and replied, “I know, right? This is a great team! We’re going to win everyt—”

“Enough talking already! Hurry up! Hurry!” Ouyang interrupted. He shoved his smartphone in Lin Feng’s face and shouted, “Look at the man on the wall, bro! The clock, the clock. He’s got a tiny half moustache! You know what that means? THE TIME IS NOW 9:47 P.M.! Worlds is starting in an hour! Let’s make like a fox and skeeeeedaddle already! I don’t wanna miss it!” Then he grabbed Lin Feng and started pulling him away.

Ren Rou appeared behind Ouyang like the grim reaper. She flicked his ears and yelled, “Manners, Ouyang! Manners!” Then she turned to look at Chu Fang and bowed apologetically. “I’m sorry, sir. He’s just super excited. And…”

Chu Fang laughed and said, “Your friend is right, Worlds is starting soon. Alright, you kids go and have fun.” Then he looked at Lin Feng and added, “We’ll talk another time. Congratulations on winning the tournament!”

Ren Rou and An Xin made several more apologies as they watched Ouyang run for the exit of the electronics mall together with Lin Feng and Yang Fan. Then they nodded to the rest of the team and they all hurried out after Ouyang. They pushed past their fellow students who were trying to congratulate them, shouting apologies over their shoulders, and rushed out into the square outside. Where they saw Ouyang, Yang Fan, and Lin Feng hailing a taxi. They started running over to the boys, hoping to stop them before they could get in the cab.

Ren Rou took a moment to catch her breath and then shouted, “Ouyang! Don’t go yet! I…” She ran up to him, panting and puffing, then continued, “Don’t go! I thought it might be fun to watch the Worlds Finals together! Maybe we can go to the NetCow Cafe…”

Ouyang looked at her, surprised. Then he said, “Of course we’re going to watch Worlds together! Why else do you think I’m trying to get three cabs? And check this, cheesewhiz, I even thought ahead and  reserved a room for us at the NetCow Cafe two weeks ago! We can watch Worlds and celebrate our VICTORIIIIIIII! DEMMMACCCIIIAAAAA!”

Ren Rou looked at Ouyang. Did he really use his brain…? She scrunched her eyebrows, trying to register what he’d just said, before asking, “Really now? You actually did something right? This is new. You usually mess everything up.” She clicked her tongue and added, “This is a nice change of pace. Good job, Ouyang!”

“What? I mess what up?” Ouyang asked, confused. Then he grinned and said, “Rou Rou, why you gotta be so rude? Don’t you know I’m human too? When have I ever let you down? I’d never let a fair damsel like yourself down! The Order of the ChivalBros forbids it! And I’m the Sword-Saint BroKnight! The kinde—”

Ren Rou glared at Ouyang and cut him off, “Enough, you! Don’t make me take back my words.”

Ouyang was about to reply when Yang Fan interrupted him, “Hello? If you two are finished, I found a third taxi! We should get going before they start running the meter up for standing and waiting. We’ll meet up at the NetCow Cafe, ok?”

There was a fast round of approval. All nine team members wanted to watch the World Finals together. There was just something special about watching sporting events together with friends. An atmosphere that made good plays great and great games perfect. They split up in groups of three and shoved themselves onto the backseats of the cabs. Then the three taxis drove off into the night.

✹

There was a long line of people in front of the NetCow Cafe. Every League of Legends fan in the world wanted to see the Finals of the League of Legends Season 5 World Championships. It was the most watched esports event in the world! And although there was no Chinese representative in this Finals, the Chinese fans had gathered in large numbers, rivaling the record set during the Semifinals match between KG and SSK! Internet cafes were at maximum capacity and those who didn’t get in had gathered in small groups on the street, watching the official broadcast on their smartphones.

Ouyang pushed through the crowd, shouting, “Coming through! Coming through!” People turned around, annoyed, and by doing so left enough room for Ouyang to maneuver through. The rest of High School 13’s team followed his example. They pushed and shoved their way to the entrance of the NetCow Cafe, where they were stopped by two bouncers. Ouyang smiled proudly at them and said, “We have reserved a private room! It’s under the name: Ouyang and his bros!”

Ouyang leaned over towards the bouncers to scan the list they were holding. He spotted his name before they did and pointed it out. “There! Right there! See? I told you I reserved a room!” Then he turned around to the others and said, “We’re in our usual room!”

High School 13’s esports team entered the NetCow Cafe. Their first stop was the bar. They ordered drinks, most of them alcoholic, and some snacks. Then they pushed through the jam-packed hall to the private rooms in the back. There were still a couple of minutes left until the World Finals were starting. Ouyang rushed to boot up the computers and get the stream going, while the others got comfortable and waited for the game to start.

The official broadcast was brought up on the screen. Ouyang let himself fall down in his chair and relaxed for a brief moment. Then he swirled around and asked, “Yo. Who do you guys think is going to win?”

Yang Fan adjusted his glasses and said, “I think SSK has shown throughout the year that they’re the better team. The probability is that they’ll win it.”

Chen Ze nodded and agreed, “I think so too. Those Korean madmen are going to be really hard to beat.”

Liu Yue raised an eyebrow and said, “Koreans are going to beat the Korean Killers? As if! I think Autumn is going to carry North America to a win!”

Wei Dong shook his head helplessly. “Yeah Liu Yue, I kinda want to see Season win too. I think we all want to see them win again. No one’s rooting for those cocky Koreans. They’re so smug and walk around like they already know they’ll be winning it again. But they are really good. It’s hard to see anyone beating them.”

“Wei Dong has a point,” Yang Fan added, adjusting his glasses. “Korea has been dominating the scene for years now. As nice as it would be to see someone else winning the title for a change. I do think that if anyone can beat them, it is Season.” He hesitated for a moment. Then he turned to An Xin and asked, “You’re the coach. What do you think? Who’s going to Worlds?”

“Me?” An Xin asked. She looked at the stream that was showing highlights of SSK’s game versus KG in the Semifinals. The camera zoomed in on Rake’s LeBlanc. An Xin looked at Yang Fan and said, “I think SSK is going to win this one. Either 3-2 or 3-1.”

Liu Yue interjected, “Don’t forget that Season is also really good! You are all way too hard on them! They stand a good chance of winning tonight! I think they’re going to win!”

An Xin laughed and said, “That’s true. Season is a strong team… But SSK is stronger. Plus, Rake is at the top of his game right now. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him play better. Now that I mention it, I don’t think I’ve seen a single Midlaner win against him in lane this year.”

No one had a response to that. An Xin was right. Rake was in the best shape of his life. There wasn’t a single team that knew how to deal with him. He never had an off-day, and he always performed at a level that everyone else could only dream about achieving. The only sound in the room came from the official broadcast. The host was hyping up Rake. Everyone watched this in silence, until Ouyang eventually broke it. He’d turned to Lin Feng and asked, “Yo, bro, you think Season can stop Rake?”

Lin Feng was staring intensely at the image of Rake on the screen. But he didn’t look scared or lost or anxious. His jaw was set and his eyes radiated determination, maybe even a little hope. But then he noticed that Ouyang was looking at him and dropped back to his normal affable self. Lin Feng scratched the back of his head and said, “Oh, uh, I don’t know… Hm…. Uh, let’s watch and see.” He looked at the stream and added, “It’s starting! We should pay attention!”

✹

It was Game 1 of the League of Legends Season 5 World Championship Finals! The fireworks started in Champion Select, where all six bans were targeted at Rake and Autumn. But these two were Emperors! If they couldn’t play their favourite champion, they’d just excel at another and make the opponent regret not banning that one!

The game itself was even more exciting than the Champion Select! Everyone was sitting at the edge of their seats. For the first time this year, SSK was forced on the backfoot! Season came out with a strong plan and grabbed an early advantage in the bot lane!

But SSK wasn’t going to take that lying down. They responded with a devastating Mid-Jungle combo. Rake got several crucial kills in the mid lane thanks to ganks by his Jungler. And then the two of them started roaming around the map. They picked up kills in the top lane and bot lane. They even caught Season’s Jungler off guard in his own Jungle!

Season put up a bigger resistance against SSK than any other team in the LCK 2015 Spring or Summer splits. It even looked like they might win at one point! But SSK got the important kills and managed to play around the objectives better. In the end, it was a lost teamfight around the Baron pit that gave SSK the opening to end the game. Season’s Nexus exploded in the 32nd minute of the game.

“WOOT WOOT! SEE!” Liu Yue exclaimed. “I told you guys! Season is really good! See how hard SSK had to try? I’m telling you, Season really stands a chance!”

“YEAH!” Ouyang shouted. “Season almost won that! That teamfight at the end was so close! They could’ve beaten SSK! BROS! SEASON COULD’VE BEATEN SSK! You know what that means!”

“That Season actually stands a chance of winning the Finals,” Yang Fan replied, adjusting his glasses. “I think so too.”

“Shhh!” Ren Rou shushed. “The second game is going to start in a moment!”

Game 2 of the League of Legends Season 5 World Championship Finals was far more exciting for the neutral fans than Game 1. This wasn’t because of the champions who were banned and selected in Champion Select. Nor had it anything to do with the actual gameplay. It was because this game was a 29 minute methodical masterclass. Autumn showcased to the world just why he was the best Support in all of League of Legends. He led Season to a victory over SSK. The two teams were even again.

“TANG TANG GANG! WOOOOOOO!”
“WE WOOOOOOOOON!”
“Didn’t I tell you guys? Didn’t I? Didn’t I? Tang Tang is the best!”
“AWESOMESAUCE! EASY WIN!”
“AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! WIN! WIN! WIN!”
“TANG TANG IS THE BEST! GOOOOOOO TANG TANG!”

The audience couldn’t get enough of Tang Bingyao after her quadra kill! They screamed her name at the top of their lungs! They begged and vowed to name their first born after her! And they pleaded for her to host a League seminar! Even some of the Shanghai High School students in the audience stood up and clapped for her. Tang Bingyao had won their respect by persevering and coming through for her team despite how badly the other games in the Finals went for her. They quietly complimented her for being tilt-proof.

Tang Bingyao’s teammates were just as hyped. Liu Yue unleashed a stream of verbal diarrhea complimenting and congratulating here. Chen Ze gushed about how awesome she was for getting a quadra kill in a major tournament. And as Tang Bingyao looked over at Lin Feng, she noticed that his serious expression had evaporated. He was grinning again and gave her a double thumbs up! She started beaming. W-we won the teamfight… I didn’t let them down. I got a Quadra! She nodded at Lin Feng and said, “Mhm!” Then she pumped her fist up in the air and screamed, “I’m a really good ad-carry!”

An Xin looked at Tang Bingyao and smiled. Then she winked and said, “You are! That was so good!” I knew you had it in you! You’re so talented at this game! You just needed a little confidence booster! I’m so happy that you got this quadra kill! Now we can focus on ending this game.

The happiness on High School 13’s side of the stage was completely different from the heavy silence shrouding Shanghai High School’s team. After Zeng Rui’s Leona died, all five team members had slumped back into their seats and were now just staring at their grey screens. The Jungler was the first to open his mouth. He said, almost in disbelief, “We lost… to them.”

Zeng Rui closed his eyes and took a deep, long breath. We’ve lost. They had an answer for every strategy I came up with. Almost as if they knew what I was going to do before even I knew… They outplayed me, and now they just have to finish it. There’s no way they’re going to give this away. We lost… I lost. But— He opened his eyes and sat up straight in his gaming chair. We’re not going to give up. We’re never going to give up! He took another deep, long breath and then said over the team’s voice chat, “That was it, guys. We lost. They’d have to make a bunch of poor plays and mistakes in a row for us to have any chance of turning this around. And I highly doubt that’ll happen. We’ve played three games against them, I know you’ve got their measure now too. They’re going to win. But! Let me be very clear here! That doesn’t mean that we’re going to give up. I don’t care how you feel right now. We came here to fight and that’s exactly what we’re going to do! If they want to win, they’re going to have to earn it! We’re going to make it as hard as we possibly can for them! And even if we lose, we’ll lose with our heads held high! We’ll take pride in knowing that we played our hardest out there and kept fighting until the absolute end!”

✹

High School 13’s esports club members didn’t stop screaming and cheering after Tang Bingyao’s quadra kill, even when everyone else did. Their fellow students gave them odd looks and a few tried to shush them. But the club members had no intention of sitting around quietly, not when their school and their club was about to win its first real trophy! They tried to explain that the game had already ended. That High School 13 had won! They tried telling the other students that the Esports Team just had to play the game out for the official victory. But no one was listening. So they started shouting again, their voices so full of confidence that the other students started believing them.

“CHAMPIONS! WE’VE WON! WOOOOOO!”
“HIGH SCHOOL 13, CHAMPIONS! HAHAHA!”
“THEY DID IT! THEY DID IT! OH MY GOD, THEY DID IT!”
“ARE WE REALLY DOING IT? YES WE ARE! YES WE ARE!”
“AHHHHHHH I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS! WE’RE GETTING OUR FIRST EVER TROPHY!”
“BRING THAT TROPHY HOME, TANG TANG!”

Mr. Zhou, the club director at High School 13, sat at the front of the venue next to Ren Rou. He looked over his shoulder at the students screaming that they’d won the Finals already. Then he turned back and looked at the large screen above the stage. We won? Why are they still playing then? I should’ve really looked into what this game is… He looked over at Ren Rou. She’s going to fall off her seat if she leans any further forward. And… is she crying? “Uhh, Miss Ren Rou, excuse me? Can you tell me what’s going on? Did we win already? Why are they still playing then?”

“HELL YEAH WE’RE WINNING!” Ouyang shouted out before Ren Rou could say anything. He was lost in euphoria and had completely forgotten that he was talking to a teacher. “Bro, bro, don’t you see? Tang Tang has 10 kills! 10! And they also got the third Dragon! Shanghai High School has lost! Hahaha! They lost! We really won! We’re getting the trophy!”

Mr. Zhou’s eyes went wide in surprise. Then he smiled and asked, “So they’ve won? But they still have to play? How does that work?”

Yang Fan threw one arm around Ouyang and pushed his glasses back with the other. “Basically. Yes, sir. In short, Tang Bingyao’s Vayne deals an intensely large amount of damage. Then you got Chen Ze, Liu Yue, and Lin Feng. They’ve gotten enough gold to buy all the defensive items they need for their champions. They’re unkillable. So all they have to do now is stand in front of Tang Bingyao’s Vayne to protect her while she quickly kills every enemy champion. There’s nothing Shanghai High School can do to stop them. We just have to push forward as a team and destroy the Nexus. Then the game will be officially over and we’ll have won! Officially!”

“AND THE FINALS! WE ALSO WIN THE FINALS!” Ouyang shouted, mad with joy.

“That’s great!” Mr. Zhou exclaimed. Then he started grinning uncontrollably and said, “I can’t believe this. We’re actually going to win something! I knew our school had to have some talented students! Ha! Maybe you guys can teach me how to play this game one of these days. I’d like to learn it.”

Ouyang laughed and shouted, “OF COURSE! US BROS WILL GET YOU TO DIAMOND! NO PROBLEM!”

Mr. Zhou shook his head, smiling. This is what we’ve been missing. A big win. Just look at these students. They’re so happy! I didn’t realize how much they needed this until now. I can’t even be mad at him for not calling me sir. He nodded at Ouyang and said, “That sounds good. Thank you, Ouyang. Let’s watch them win first.” Then he looked back up at the screen, where High School 13 was pushing down the mid lane.

✹

An Xin knew exactly what the team needed to do to bring this game home. I just have to make sure we don’t put ourselves in positions where we can blunder. We have to group up and keep Tang Tang alive! She looked at her four teammates sitting next to her and said over the team’s voice chat, “Alright, guys. We haven’t won just yet. Our biggest mistake right now would be to lose focus.” She waited a minute to let that information settle in, then continued, “But we’re not going to make that mistake. I won’t let you! We’re going to team up and push down for objectives as a team. Protect Tang Tang and let her carry us!”

At 26 minutes: High School 13’s team composition became unstoppable. Shanghai High School tried to put up a defense, but was pushed back even when hiding beneath their own towers. High School 13 destroyed the outer and inner tower in the mid lane, the bot lane, and finally also in the top lane.

At 28 minutes: High School 13 escorted a large minion wave down each lane and unleashed them en masse on Shanghai High School’s base. This forced Shanghai High School to choose between defending their base by killing the minions or giving up the base to try and stop High School 13 from taking Baron Nashor. Neither option was desirable. Zeng Rui attempted to do both. He sent his Jungler to try and steal the Baron, since whoever dealt the killing blow got the buff. Then he had the rest of the team defend their base from the minion onslaught. It was a hail mary that failed. High School 13 secured Baron Nashor and then killed Lee Sin.

At 29 minutes: Shanghai High School had a difficult choice to make. Their Jungler was dead, High School 13 had the Baron Buff. Zeng Rui eventually decided that there was no scenario in which they could win a 4vs5 against High School 13 without Lee Sin. So he told his teammates to give up on defending the inhibitors. They were going to buy at the shop and prepare for a final stand at the Nexus.

High School 13 remained careful. They stuck together as a group and took down the inhibitor towers and then the inhibitors methodically. An Xin led them from the top lane to the mid lane and finally the bot lane. The towers fell and the inhibitors exploded, which allowed the Blue Base to start spawning Super minions.

At 30 minutes: Lee Sin respawned and Shanghai High School’s team was back to full strength. All five champions gathered around the two nexus towers and were busy killing the first Blue minion waves that had barreled into their base.

High School 13 stopped out of range from Shanghai High School’s Nexus towers. They were waiting for more minions to arrive. All five of them still had Baron Nashor’s Buff. This didn’t just grant stat bonuses to champions, but also to nearby minions. Melee minions, Caster minions, and Super minions all received a massive boost in strength as they arrived in Shanghai High School’s base.

Zeng Rui realized his team wasn’t strong enough to repel the minions while also defending against High School 13. So he made the final decision to force an engage. He knew that this was exactly what An Xin wanted him to do. But he had no other choice. Shanghai High School engaged High School 13. And was slaughtered.

High School 13 killed all five Champions from Shanghai High School, an Ace. Tang Bingyao added a triple kill to her already phenomenal performance this game. Then they destroyed the Nexus towers and finally the Nexus itself. The red energy contained within exploded outwards and morphed into the victory emblem.

VICTORY!

“WE WOOOOOON!”
“CHAMPIONS! YAAAAAAH YEAH AHHHHHHHHH!”
“WE’RE THE CHAMPIONS!”
“HAHAHA! FUCK YEAH! WE’RE THE BEST!”
“WE DID IT! WE DID IT! HOLY SHIT, WE DID IT!”
“OUR FIRST TROPHY EVER! WOOOOOOOOOOO!”
“VIIICCCTOOOORRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!”

The host of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament stepped onto the stage. He looked out over the cheering crowd and shouted, “High School 13 are the Champions of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament! They have defeated Shanghai High School 3-1 in the Finals!” He paused as a new wave of cheers rocked the venue. Then he continued, “It’s been an incredible journey for High School 13! They started this tournament at the bottom, with last year’s disappointing performance weighing them down. We counted them out, but they came in looking for redemption! And THEY FOUND IT! They beat everyone in their path, all the big names along the way! They toppled Tonji Affiliated High in the qualifiers! They shredded Shanghai International in the seat-of-your-pants semifinals! But this underdog of a team wasn’t satisfied with that! Nope! They didn’t stop until they’d beaten Shanghai High School in what I can only describe as the highest quality Finals matchup we’ve ever seen here in the history of the tournament! Hate it or love it, the underdog’s on top! They’re going to shine until their hearts stop!  Let’s hear it for them! TO THE CHAMPIONS OF THE SHANGHAI 16 SCHOOL TOURNAMENT—HIGH SCHOOL 13!”

✹

Lin Feng shot up from his chair, threw his fist up in the air, and screamed, “WE’VE WON!”

Liu Yue followed Lin Feng’s example. He jumped to his feet and threw his hand in the air, shouting, “WOOT WOOT!” Then he tried to give Lin Feng a high five, which ended in an awkward fist bump that sent An Xin into a fit of giggling. He dropped his hand back down and mumbled, “Thanks for carrying me.”

An Xin walked up to him and raised her hand. “HIT ME, I want a high five too! Slap it as hard as you can!”

Liu Yue hesitated briefly, but then grinned again. He raised his hand and high-fived An Xin’s hand as hard as he could.

“We won. We actually won…” Chen Ze muttered, staring at the victory crest on his screen. He then looked over at Lin Feng, An Xin, and Liu Yue and repeated, “We actually won. It’s mad!” He got up, laughing incredulously, and gave Liu Yue a high five.

Lin Feng suddenly pointed at the stairs up the stage. Ouyang was running up, followed by Yang Fan, Ren Rou, and finally Wei Dong. “Hey! We won!” he shouted at them, throwing his balled fist up in the air again. Yang Fan jumped on Lin Feng and hugged him, a move he’d seen footballers do on television, while Ren Rou and Wei Dong ran straight past Lin Feng to congratulate Tang Bingyao.

Ouyang didn’t see his teammates anymore. Nor could he hear them. The moment that the victory emblem appeared on the large screen, all he could see was the trophy. WE’VE WON! THE TROPHY IS OURS! He stopped in front of the large cup and wrapped his hands around the base. He then looked out over the audience and raised it up over his head, screaming, “WE WOOOOOOOOOON!” He dropped to his knees, still holding the trophy above his head, and started weeping in joy.

The other eight team members chased after Ouyang. Ren Rou was the first to arrive. She flicked his forehead and took the trophy from him. She then clutched it in her embrace before handing it over to Tang Bingyao. “Here. You carried us. We got this trophy thanks to you!”

Tang Bingyao stared at the trophy that was pushed into her hands. How did I get here? I was just sitting behind the computer and playing… She saw her reflection in the large cup, and her friends celebrating around her. The game is over. We won. It was taking a while to process. She hadn’t really noticed anything that’d happened in the last few minutes. Ren Rou was suddenly hugging me. And then Wei Dong started saying all those things… She looked up from the trophy at the friends around her and the audience further away.

“TANG TANG! TANG TANG!”
“TANG TANG! TANG TANG!”
“TANG TANG! TANG TANG!”
“TANG TANG! TANG TANG!”
“TANG TANG! TANG TANG!”
“TANG TANG! TANG TANG!”

Tang Bingyao didn’t really know what to do. Then she heard Liu Yue and Lin Feng telling her to raise the trophy above her head. Above my head? She looked at the large cup in her hands. It’s so heavy. I didn’t think it would weigh this much… The chanting cheer of her name from the audience slammed into her, and snapped her out of her head. Mhm! We won! She smiled and lifted up the trophy as high as she could. We won!

Shanghai High School’s team watched everything happen in absolute silence. No one was in the mood to say anything. They’d lost the Finals and the last 10 minutes were excruciating because High School 13 hadn’t made a single mistake. They looked in the direction of the exit, but didn’t get up. They were waiting for Zeng Rui to tell them when they could leave.

Zeng Rui was staring at his screen. I should’ve done more. Maybe we could’ve won if I hadn’t underestimated them… Then he shook his head and turned to look at his teammates. “Sorry. I failed. Let’s go and congratulate the winners.” Then he stood up and walked to the center of the stage where High School 13 was celebrating their victory.

Zeng Rui stopped a few meters away from High School 13’s team and waited. I’d also want to celebrate. They won. I can’t be a good winner if I’m a sore loser. He took a couple of deep breaths and waited, until he caught Lin Feng’s attention. He nodded and Lin Feng walked over. He then extended his hand to Lin Feng and said, “Congratulations! You were the better team today.”

Lin Feng grinned and replied, “Thanks! Yeah, we were pretty good today! But you guys were great too!”

Zeng Rui nodded and said, “I didn’t expect this outcome. Fair win to you guys. But next time, I’ll be ready. And I won’t lose again!”

“Is that a challenge? Are you challenging us? I love challenges!” Lin Feng exclaimed happily. Then he added, “But you’re going to need to be ready, it won’t be easy to win against us! We’re going to keep getting better!”

Zeng Rui shook his head. Thundering dumbass. Then he looked over at An Xin who’d walked over with the rest of High School 13’s team. He nodded at her and said, “You have my respect.” This time, you really do. You’re so much better than I could’ve ever expected. If I knew that yesterday…

An Xin smiled and replied, “You flatter me. But I didn’t win this game. Our ad-carry here did. She carried us.”

Zeng Rui nodded and then turned to look at Tang Bingyao. I was even wrong about her. What happened last game? She was suddenly so much better. He finally said, “My apologies. I underestimated you. You played an amazing ad-carry that game.”

Tang Bingyao scratched her ear as her face turned red. She mumbled, “T-thank you.”

Lin Feng patted Tang Bingyao on the shoulder and grinned. “I know, right? My Tang Tang is the best ad-carry ever! I keep telling her!”

An Xin glared at Lin Feng and asked, “Your Tang Tang?”

Ouyang forgot about winning the trophy, Yang Fan discarded the idea of adjusting his glasses, Liu Yue held back a “Woot woot!”, and Chen Ze instinctively took several steps back. Even Shanghai High School’s players found themselves backing away from An Xin, Tang Bingyao, and Lin Feng. There was a shared trepidation. No one wanted to be in Lin Feng’s shoes right now. Or anywhere near him. So they slowly backed away.

Tang Bingyao shook Lin Feng’s hand off her shoulder, the tips of her ears turning red. Then she abruptly turned around and said to him, “I’m not yours!”

Lin Feng grinned and replied, “It’s fine, it’s fine! We’re master and disciple, remember?”

Shanghai High School’s players stared at Lin Feng with wide open eyes. Then they took another step back, one of them mumbling, “Is he crazy?”

Liu Yue heard the question and nodded, glancing over at An Xin to make sure she didn’t see him. Then he mouthed to the Shanghai High School players, “He is an idiot!”

A thundering dumbass. Zeng Rui shook his head. Crazy. And crazy good.

✹

Chu Fang, vice president of the Shanghai Esports Association, had watched the Finals of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament backstage. And now he watched the two teams giving each other hands and talking with each other. He smiled. They’re getting along. This is what I love to see. They’re the ones who’re going to represent the LPL in the years to come. Let them get to know each other now. Become friends. And Lin Feng is with them. BunBun. Zeng Rui. Even Tang Bingyao looks like she might make it! Here I was, a few weeks ago, worried that we only had Zeng Rui and that arrogant kid from Shanghai Internation—

RING-RING-RING! RING-RING-RING!

Chu Fang got spooked by the sudden ringing of his phone. He took it out from his pocket and looked at the caller ID: Fang Hao. The boss? I wonder why he’s calling? He accepted the call and placed the phone to his ear. “Hello, sir. I thought you were off on the weekend?”

“Evening, Chu Fang, Well, you know how it is. I always bring my work home with me!” Fang Hao chuckled. He was Chu Fang’s superior, the President of the Shanghai Esports Association. “I noticed that it was close to the end of the scheduled time for the tournament, thought I’d check in with you. How’s the tournament? Everything fine?”

“Yeah, we’re all good here. It just finished, actually,” Chu Fang replied. “High School 13 beat Shanghai High School 3-1. It was a good series. Strong performance by both teams.”

“Oh? That’s a surprise.” Fang Hao remarked. He was silent for a moment and then said, “I’d like to know a bit more about High School 13. Can you send me everything you have on them? And also add in what you have on Shanghai High School while you’re at it.”“Huh? Uh…” Chu Fang hesitated. Sending everything I have on High School 13 also means sending the information on Lin Feng. I made a promise to the kid… He smiled wryly. Can’t really go and hide this. “Alright, sir. I’ll send you an email first thing when I’m back at the office.”

… Flash! Tang Bingyao pressed the button. Vayne disappeared from the Rift just as Gragas’ Explosive Cask fell down on the ground. An explosion of pink liquid and foam splashed out in every direction, blasting away the enemy champions caught within its radius! Then Vayne reappeared on the Rift with a mottled flash of light. Dodged it!

“She dodged it! SHE DODGED IT!”
“The Graggy ult missed! Hahaha!”
“Tang Tang flashed it! Oh my god! How!”
“Woooooo! Now win this fight!”
“PENTA! PENTA! PENTA!”
“Tang The Carry Bingyao!”

Tang Bingyao was laser focused on her screen. Evading the Explosive Cask with Flash was only the start. She activated her Vayne’s ultimate–Final Hour! A shroud of darkness wrapped around the Vayne, boosting her stats. She Tumbled towards the Gragas, who was suddenly completely out of position, and fired an empowered silver bolt at him! A second one followed soon after. And then came the third. Three silver rings appeared around the Gragas. They lit up and exploded, dealing significant damage to his health!

Zeng Rui gritted his teeth. He wanted to curse. The fight wasn’t going as planned. Gragas was below half health after only a few attacks and they’d failed to knock up the Vayne! But there was no time to get angry or distracted right now. We can’t get split up or Vayne will eat us alive! We need to get that knock up on her! He swallowed hard and then shouted over Shanghai High School’s voice chat, “Lee, jump and ult the Vayne!”

Shanghai High School’s Lee Sin was already moving towards the tri-brush connecting Blue team’s Jungle with the river and bot lane. He dropped down a ward at the Jungle entrance and hopped towards it with Safeguard! Just as he landed, he used his Sonic Wave! A blast of vibrating air from his fist raced towards Vayne, ready to mark her. 

Tang Bingyao knew the Sonic Wave was coming. And she also knew that she absolutely had to dodge it. This fight revolved entirely around her not getting knocked up into the air. I’m doing it! Gragas’ ultie is down. Now I have to stay away from Lee Sin. I can’t let him get to me. I can’t let the team down like that! He’s going to try and dash at me. Be ready. Be ready! She spotted Lee Sin’s skill animation and tapped down on her Q key. Her Vayne Tumbled to the side, dodging the Sonic Wave, and turned invisible.

Shanghai High School’s Jungler cursed. His Sonic Wave had missed and the Vayne was now invisible! I need to see her for my ultie! He placed a vision ward down in the tri-brush. The wooden base lodged itself into the ground. Two wings spread out from the sides. Then the gem at the top started radiating a pink light, revealing Vayne. Lee Sin’s eyes went wide as he screamed out, “Fuck!”

There were large boulders and walls of stones and trees everywhere in the Jungle. After Tumbling away from the Lee Sin, Tang Bingyao walked around him and lined up for the Condemn. She pulled out her heavy crossbow and fired! A large, thick bolt collided into Lee Sin and pinned him to the jungle wall! Then she ignored him and turned back to the Gragas. I can’t let him get his skills back off cooldown! I have to kill him now. Mhm!

Lee Sin’s interference had given Gragas just enough time to run away from the Vayne. But he was still in the middle of High School 13’s team. Skillshots were being flung at him and he was trying to dodge them as best he could. He zigzagged past a flag-toss combo from Jarvan IV. And ran straight into Nami’s Aqua Prison. The bubble wrapped around him and lifted him up into the air. He was helpless, because skills and auto attacks could hit him while he was trapped inside the bubble. But he couldn’t walk. Or walk out of it. Then the silver bolts came again. Three of them to be exact. Then he watched his health disappear.

《You have been slain!》

Ren Rou jumped up and balled her fists, screaming, “YES!” Then the tsunami of cheers from the audience slammed into her from behind. She shook her head and looked back over her shoulder. The audience was louder than ever before! And they were all screaming Tang Bingyao’s name! “Good job, Tang Tang,” Ren Rou mumbled, smiling.

Ouyang had also jumped to his feet. He threw one arm around Ren Rou’s shoulder and the other around Yang Fan’s, forcing both of them to jump with him. Tears were streaming down his face as he yelled as loudly as he could, “WE’RE WINNING! WINNING! We’re going to win the whole damn thing!”

Yang Fan laughed and also put his arm around Ouyang. “Yeah, we are! Tang Tang is playing fantastically! She’s going to bring the trophy home for us!”

Wei Dong didn’t jump up, but he was just as happy as the rest. If not happier. I knew I wasn’t good enough for you, Tang Tang. Just look at you! You get a good Support and you’re carrying so hard! You’re so good at this game. It’s a damn pleasure every game I get to play with you! He took a deep breath. Then he stood up, cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “YOU GO GIRL!”

Back on stage, Tang Bingyao was more focused than she’d ever been. One down, four to go. She flicked her mouse, repositioning her Vayne, and started attacking the Lee Sin. He was still stunned, so he couldn’t get to her. Why aren’t his teammates helping him? Am I missing something? She glanced over at the river to see what was happening over there and then smiled. He always has my back. I need to have his back too! Mhm! I have to kill Lee Sin fast!

✹

Lulu and Irelia hadn’t dodged Gragas’ Explosive Cask. They were knocked back in the direction of Shanghai High School’s team. Yasuo ran at them and then dashed through them, sweeping his katana out around him. This was a combination of the skills Sweeping Blade and Steel Tempest. Then he struck out with his katana in a straight line–Steel Tempest! The third consecutive use of this skill was different. Winds howled around the Yasuo, screaming to be unleashed. Steel Tempest! He slashed out with his katana and kicked up a whirlwind! It swept through Lulu and Irelia, knocking them up into the air! Then he activated his ultimate–Last Breath! He blinked toward the two airborne champions and kept them suspended in midair with a flurry of slashes. Then he slammed them back down to the ground with one final blow!

Lulu fell back to the ground. “This is for you, Tang Tang,” Lin Feng mumbled. Then he flashed into Shanghai High School’s backline and cast Wild Growth on himself. Lulu’s body exploded in size! She gained an additional pool of health while also knocking the Yasuo and Kalista Airborne! “Kalista! Focus the Kalista!” Lin Feng shouted over the team’s voice chat.

Chen Ze had started attacking Yasuo but quickly stopped. The Kalista was right in front of him. He dashed at her with Bladesurge while simultaneously activating his ultimate–Transcendent Blades! Four spirit blades appeared from beyond the veil and hovered above Irelia’s shoulders. Then, at her command, they all flew towards Kalista.

Kalista started the game with an exclusive item. The Black Spear. She could use this on an allied champion to soul-bind them to her for the rest of the game. There were several perks that came with this connection. The most important one being Fate’s Call. Kalista could pull her soulbound ally to her side, after which the soulbound ally could choose any direction to throw themselves in. Leona was the soulbound champion in this game.

Leona morphed into spirit form as she was pulled in by Kalista. She waited half a second for Lulu and Irelia to be just where she wanted them to be, and then threw herself at them! Leona regained her body as she barreled into Lulu and Irelia, knocking them both up in the air! Then she Exhausted Irelia and slammed her large shield against Lulu. The Shield of Daybreak left its target stunned!

✹

There was so much going on in the game that it was hard for the people watching to follow everything that was happening. They were practically watching two team fights happen at the same time! Lee Sin was fighting against Vayne, Nami, and Jarvan IV in the Blue team’s Jungle. Then there was another fight happening in the river. Yasuo, Leona, and Kalista were trying to kill Lulu and Irelia, so that they could help their Lee Sin. Multiple health pools were dropping fast. And it looked like either team could get aced at any second now. The audience fell silent in response to this, students from both schools afraid that the slightest distraction could see their team losing.

Westwind and Silent Reed were doing their best to play-by-play cast the fight, but their commentary became a jumbled mess. They were finding it difficult to focus on both fights at the same time and even caught themselves mentioning a Champion or skill that wasn’t even in the game. This only added to the confusion for the people in the venue and those at home. But there were some more experienced players who knew exactly what was going on. Nightsong was one of them.

Nightsong was still watching the Finals of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. More specifically, he was paying close attention to Lulu. I’m losing it! Look at that fucking bush midget go! I should call Hermes… Nah. Don’t do that, Nightsong. You’re better than that. “SHANGHAI HIGH SCHOOL IS ABSOLUTE TRASH! THEY JUST GOT TENTACLE-COCK-WHIPPED BY THAT LULU! High School 13’s won this. I can’t believe they let trash like Shanghai High School get all the way to the Finals.” He slammed his fist on his desk and said, “I could’ve done that too! Easy! Flash in to block three champions and make sure Vayne only ever has to fight against one enemy… Nah, I couldn’t have. Fuck me hard.”

✹

Back in the game, Zeng Rui had to make quick decisions. Lulu and Irelia were blocking them from getting to Vayne. We need to get that knock up. I don’t know how else we’re going to win this… He shook his head. Every fiber in his body was telling him that they had to take the Vayne out as soon as possible. But he didn’t see how they were going to get to the Vayne with Lulu and Irelia interfering. So he made the call. “Kill the Lulu first!”

Leona attacked Lulu with her sword, and Yasuo did the same with his katana. But most of the damage came from Kalista. She hurled her spirit spears at Lulu, impaling her. Lulu’s health dropped fast as the number of spears lodged into her body increased from one to two to five! Lulu only had a small bar of health remaining. Kalista suddenly pulled back with her entire body, ripping out the spears! They dealt an escalating amount of damage!

《You have slain an enemy!》

“Irelia next! Irelia! Irelia!” Zeng Rui shouted over Shanghai High School’s voice chat.

“Get Kalista! Get Kalista!” Lin Feng shouted over High School 13’s voice chat.

Chen Ze ignored his red-flashing screen. He knew he wasn’t going to make it out alive, but he was determined to take Kalista down with him! Leona tried to slow him, Yasuo’s katana was cutting away at his health, and Kalista’s spirit spears impaled him! But he kept hacking away at Kalista with his Blades. All the while, Vayne, Nami and Jarvan IV were killing Lee Sin in the tri-brush.

《Double Kill!》

《Red team’s Kalista has been slain!》

《Blue team’s Irelia has been slain!》

Yasuo ran straight for the tri-brush after killing Irelia. There, he flashed past the Nami and Jarvan IV and dashed into Vayne with the Sweeping Blade-Steel Tempest combo! His katana cut through the Vayne, decimating her health!

Westwind finally found his bearings again. “WOOOO! For all the kills! WOOOO! Haha!” He quickly wiped away the sweat from his forehead and then shouted, “Yasuo’s damage is too damn high! He just killed Irelia and is still at almost full health! Can he get a very late knock up on Vayne? He can still turn this fight around!”

Tang Bingyao didn’t let the high damage values from Yasuo get to her. Her hand-speed ramped up to over 300 actions per minute! There were far too many variables for her to calculate, so she let instinct take over. She dodged Yasuo’s katana and fired back a silver bolt. Then she ran away before repeating this process again.

One of Vayne’s main items was Blade of the Ruined King. This item had an active skill linked to it that could drain health from a target and slow them. It’d been on cooldown when the fight started, but there were now only a couple seconds left before she could use it again. Tang Bingyao glanced at the item. 3, 2, 1… She used the Blade of the Ruined King on Yasuo, draining his health and more importantly slowing him. Mhm! She started smiling, clicking even faster! I’m winning! He can’t catch up to me anymore! He can’t catch me! I’m going to win!

Shanghai High School’s Midlaner knew he was in trouble. He’d been closing in on the Vayne, but just getting near her wasn’t enough. He had to get on top of her and kill her, or she was going to kill him. Then he was hit by the slow. No! This can’t be happening! I have to do something! ANYTHING! My next Steel Tempest is a knock up. Maybe if I kill vision and catch her off guard? No time to think. I have to try. He dove into the nearest brush, killing High School 13’s vision of him, and then unleashed the whirlwind at Vayne. “Eat this!”

The audience cried out in surprise and Westwind shouted that Shanghai High School was finally going to get the knock up! But Tang Bingyao was far too good to be fooled by this kind of trick. She knew that the only reason that Yasuo had broken vision was to catch her off guard with a whirlwind. Before she could even see the attack, she Tumbled away from it.

The whirlwind blew past Tang Bingyao, completely missing her. She then focused back on Yasuo. He tried to get away, but there was no one like Vayne when it came to chasing down a target. She had multiple skills that granted her movement speed for running towards an enemy champion. One silver bolt hit the Yasuo. Then came a second. And finally a third. The three silver rings that appeared around the Yasuo detonated!

《Triple kill!》

Zeng Rui had tried to save his Midlaner until the very last moment. But Jarvan IV and Nami were too good at keeping him at bay. He finally started retreating after Yasuo died, but it was already far too late for that. He was deep in High School 13’s Jungle and surrounded by three enemy champions. His teammates were shouting over the voice chat, telling him to please make it out alive. He just shook his head. We fucking lost it. That was our fight. How did she flash that Gragas ultie? Everything went wrong from there. We should’ve never taken so long to kill Irelia and Lulu. But we couldn’t just ignore them either… 

An Xin locked Leona up in an Aqua Prison. Then came Jarvan IV with his flag-toss combo, knocking Leona up in the air. All the while, Vayne was shooting silver bolts. One, two, three… Boom! The attacks kept connecting and despite Leona’s large healthpool, she died in a matter of seconds.

《Quadra kill!》

《Aced!》

Tang Bingyao stared at her screen in disbelief. The audience was so loud that no noise-canceling headphones could block it. Her teammates were cheering her on over the voice chat. But it was all a distant background noise to her. She just stared at her screen. At her 10/1/2 Vayne KDA. Then realization set in. “I-I did it. Mhm!” She smiled and balled her fist. I did it! I carried! Mhm! We won because of me!

Only a minute to go until the third Dragon spawned, but the wheels in An Xin’s head were already spinning as she considered what would happen two minutes into the future. One minute after the Dragon spawned. She knew this was going to be an important teamfight. This could be the fight that decides this game! That was the single overriding thought in her mind, and the motivation for all the decisions she’d be making right now. 

An Xin told everyone on High School 13’s team exactly where they needed to be on the Rift. And then told them to wait until she gave them the greenlight to drop their wards. Timing is everything here! She wanted to make sure that the timing of the warding was as precise as possible, so the entire team could know where Shanghai High School was at all times before this fight and what they were planning. This is it! I think we’ve got it. But I still need to keep an eye out, can’t let them flank us again. Not this time. She glanced at Tang Bingyao sitting next to her and took a deep breath to calm down and still her nerves. Then she spoke to the entire team over voice chat, “You guys ready? We cannot lose here! We can’t afford to lose this Dragon or this teamfight! But we’re not going to, right? They can’t beat us here as long as we stay frosty and play smart! We’re at the peak of our team comp right now! We’re going to win!” 

An Xin stopped talking right after that, easing into a long, lingering pause. She wanted to make it clear to everyone that this was their best shot at winning this game. And the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. Their team composition gave them the advantage and Tang Bingyao’s Vayne already had 6 kills. “But,” she finally continued. “If we lose this one, that’s all Shanghai High School needs to catch up. Their Yasuo and Gragas will only become harder to deal with. It won’t be long before we can’t beat them anymore. This is a race against the clock. So let’s win this fight and then the game!”

Chen Ze nodded and said, “You’re right. They’ve already been getting stronger. It’s getting harder and harder for me to go against the Gragas…”

An Xin smiled and reassured her teammates, “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying we can’t do this. I know we can! I’m just reminding you that it doesn’t matter how well we did in the previous team fights. We have to win this one!”

Liu Yue gripped his mouse hard and said, “Gotcha! Focus, focus! Focus! Let’s win!”

Lin Feng had been laughing and carefree for most of the night. He’d even brushed off the kills he gave away with lighthearted jokes. But his trademark grin was nowhere to be found right now. He had his Lulu stick close to Tang Bingyao’s Vayne, panning his camera across the Rift to look for Shanghai High School’s movements. The next play was going to be it. Months of hard work were coming to a head. But there was so much more hanging on this game than winning the tournament. He glanced over at Tang Bingyao, worried. She’d played two bad games and truly tilted in the third one. But she got off to a good start in this game. And she really is good at League! She can do this! Lin Feng nodded at himself but then frowned. Her being good and him being his cheerful self hadn’t done her any good in the previous three games. That was when he realized something. He looked forlorn as memories of his own struggles surfaced. Just being nice didn’t help me back then either. What would’ve helped?

Lin Feng chewed on his lips, thinking about what his teammates could’ve done to help him back when he was struggling in the Season 1 World Finals. What could they’ve done to help me? He shook his head. He didn’t know the answer to that question. But he did know that his friend needed help right now. His help. He looked up at Tang Bingyao and said, “Hey, Tang Tang?” He waited for her to look at him. Then he looked her in the eyes and continued, “Pay attention to your positioning. Don’t jump in right away. Stand back, wait for the right moment. Then you jump in and kill all of ‘em. Everyone on Shanghai High School’s team! Ace ‘em! That’s how we win this.”

Tang Bingyao met Lin Feng’s gaze, surprised. She found herself nodding at his words and saying, “Got it,” before she even realized it. There was something different in the way he talked. He isn’t grinning or joking. He looks so… so serious. Right then she knew it. Their entire team composition was built up around her. She had to do the carrying. And he trusted that she could and would carry the team. He’s even playing a Support champion in the mid lane for me! She bit on her tongue and then repeated, “I got this. Mhm!” Then she focused back on her screen. The Dragon was spawning in a couple of seconds. She had her Vayne stand behind Lin Feng’s Lulu and waited for the teamfight to start.

✹

The Headquarters for the Hand of God organization was in Shanghai. In the heart of the esports capital of the world. Their League of Legends team had returned home two weeks earlier after getting knocked out of Worlds. That was also their last competition of the year. The players were given some time off to enjoy a holiday before they started their pre-season preparations. But not everyone could just take a break from League of Legends and go to Hawaii for a month.

The Hand of God headquarters had several gaming rooms for their players to practice in. Nightsong sat behind a computer in one of them. He relaxed in his gaming chair after having just won a solo queue game, though his head wasn’t in it at all. The Finals… No. The finals for the World Championship are going to happen tonight… Season vs SSK. North America and Korea. And you’re sitting here in Shanghai playing Solo Queue. Great work there, Nightsong! He rubbed his eyes, and then he looked at his own reflection in the monitor. “TRASH!” Could I have played better? Maybe, yeah. I’m Nightsong! I fuck harder than anyone else out there! But… would that have been enough? Nightsong leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. I’m good. Hermes is good. Those two Koreans we brought in were pretty good. But are we really good enough? Are we as good as SSK? Am I as good as Rake? He sat up, opened his eyes and looked at his reflection in the monitor again. “TRASH! YOU’RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO BEAT RAKE! AND HE’LL FUCK YOUR MOTHER AND MAKE YOU CALL HIM DADDY!” We shouldn’t have been knocked out so early. Dammit! Why weren’t we better?

Nightsong shook his head and tried to focus on something else. He hovered his mouse over the play button on the League of Legends client and mumbled to himself, “Should I play another game?” But he quickly discarded that idea. There’s only one game I wanna be playing in. And I’m not! He shook his head again and opened his web browser. Let’s see if there’s anything interesting happening on Huya. That’s better than sitting here and sulking like a little bitch! Nightsong, get your head outta your ass! Stop being sad like a little girl who couldn’t convince her big daddy to get her a lollipop! Do something else! DON’T BE TRASH! DON’T BECOME TRASH!

The webpage loaded and showed two prominently featured broadcasts. The top one was for the League of Legends Season 5 World Championships. It was showing highlight reels and analysis for SSK and Season, and hyping up the crowd for the upcoming game. Nightsong clicked away from that and onto the other stream. The official broadcast of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. He shrugged and waited for the stream to load. Alright Nightsong, you want to be a baby? Fine. Let’s watch children play League. Maybe you’ll feel better about yourself because you’re better than them. Won’t that be nice? “When did I turn into the trash that I hate? I swear, look at me. I lost one game at Worlds and I’m on the verge of sticking my dick into a wood chipper!” 

Nightsong stretched his back and glanced at the game playing on his screen. Shanghai High School versus High School 13. Shanghai High School, I remember them. They had that Support who got offered a pro contract. He’s probably better than I am now! “Shit. That’s pathetic, Nightsong!” He scratched his nose and thought about where he was last year. There was no Worlds for him then. He was invited by the Shanghai Esports Association to make an appearance at the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. I’m way too good for those little kids. Of course I turned it down! Some of his friends had gone and told him how impressive Shanghai High School was. Promising and good one year and trash the next. Where have I heard that before? “TRASH!”

The spectator view turned away from Shanghai High School’s team and focused on High School 13. More specifically, it zoomed in on the Vayne with Nami and Lulu hugging her. “Huh,” Nightsong blurted out. Vayne was his favourite Champion. He knew more about her than anyone else, and he knew almost everyone who was good at her. There was really only one Vayne player that came to mind that he didn’t know. Could this be him? He thought back to a solo queue game he’d played more than a month ago. That Vayne from that random game… he wasn’t bad at all. He knew how to play. I never did find out who that was. Maybe it was a high schooler? That’d explain why I don’t know him. And if he is, he’d definitely make it to the Finals of this tournament…

Nightsong shook his head a few seconds later. He didn’t need more than that to know that this Vayne wasn’t that Vayne. “She’s good, but not that good…” He was about to click away when something else caught his attention. Are these supports on steroids? Their vision is actually good! Nightsong, stop. Have you really sunk this deep? Are you really impressed with how a bunch of kids are warding now? What’s next? You’re going to think that this Lulu is the best fucking player in the world or something? Jesus! Stop being this little bitch! No one likes little bitches! You fuck them fast and you fuck them hard! That’s the Nightsong wa—

Nightsong’s eyes went wide and he sat up straight in his gaming chair. “WHAT!” The stream was following Lulu. The way she moves… That is… He rubbed his eyes and leaned a little closer to his monitor. Am I losing it? Is that it? How does this Lulu remind me of Hermes? She hasn’t been hit by anything and she’s just where she needs to be every time. There’s always that little extra space. Is this really someone in high school? He fell back in his chair, amazed. “I could’ve played that… maybe. Nah, I’d get outplayed. I hate my life.”

✹

The third Dragon spawned. But neither Shanghai High School nor High School 13 had found the opening they were looking for. Some Champions ended up getting poked down more than others. Among them, Gragas was the first to recall back to base and recover his health. High School 13 used this window to exert more pressure on Shanghai High School’s team, and attempted to force a teamfight before the Gragas could return.

Zeng Rui smiled. He asked over the team’s voice chat, “Ready?” To which the Gragas gave a quick, “Yes.” Then Zeng Rui focused on the opposing team. High School 13 were going in for the engage. They fell for it. Good. He waited a couple seconds, letting High School 13 push them a little further back then, said over his team’s voice chat, “Now.”

Shanghai High School’s Gragas had bought the Homeguard upgrade for his boots. This granted him 200% bonus movement speed that decayed over the next 8 seconds after leaving the base fountain. Most players used this to run back to lane faster, but there was another way to use this speed boost. Champions could combine it with the Summoner Spell Teleport. The Gragas did just that. He teleported to a ward in High School 13’s bottom side Jungle, right behind the Dragon pit.

An Xin spotted the Gragas Teleport the moment that the red pillar of light descended on the ward. She pinged the yellow retreat signal and yelled over High School 13’s voice chat, “Back! Back! The Gragas! BACK!” But she was already too late. She saw a mottled flash of light followed by a pure beam of sunlight slamming down on her team. Leona had engaged with a Flash-ultimate combo skill!

Westwind was up on his feet, leaning on the caster desk with one hand and clutching the microphone with the other. “ENGAGE! ENGAGE! IT’S THE ENGAGE!” he shouted out, failing to find any other words.

Silent Reed leaned closer to her microphone and helped Westwind out. “Shanghai High School found the engage! Leona got a triple stun! They—”

“THEY STUNNED THE VAYNE!” Westwind cried out. “THEY GOT THE VAYNE! SHE’S LOCKED DOWN! THE GRAGAS IS RIGHT THERE AND THE YASUO IS IN RANGE FOR HIS ULTIMATE SKILL!”

Tang Bingyao bit on the inside of her lips, trying not to curse at herself. She knew very well that she shouldn’t have been caught by that Solar Flare. Focus! She activated Quicksilver Sash. This was an item with an active skill that removed all crowd control effects on her. A cleansing light washed over her, freeing her from the stun. Then she ran away into Blue team’s bottom side jungle.

An Xin activated her Nami’s ultimate–Tidal Wave! The Nami called forth a wave that crashed through the river and washed over Shanghai High School’s team. All four champions were knocked up and unable to do anything for a good second. But there were five champions on a team and she had no way to block the Gragas that was coming at them from behind.

The Gragas arrived in High School 13’s Jungle. He charged after the Vayne at 200% movement speed, trying to catch her before she could reach the bot lane. The rest of High School 13 reacted and moved to intercept him. He Body Slammed forward and Flashed. His momentum was carried over, and he collided right into Jarvan IV. He missed the Vayne by a hair’s breadth. But he hadn’t given up yet. He hurled his Explosive Cask over the Jarvan IV’s head toward the Vayne.

Tang Bingyao watched the Explosive Cask coming at her in slow motion. This was it. She had one shot, one opportunity. To seize what she wanted in one moment. She would capture it. I won’t let it slip! Everything ground to a halt, except for the large cask. It was flying at her, her fingers refusing to press the buttons she needed to press. I have to get away! I can do this! I have to! The Yasuo will ult me if I get knocked up! I have to…

“Oh, you’re fighting!” Lin Feng shouted over High School 13’s voice chat. “Awesome! I’m coming in hot!” His Lulu was in the mid lane, which wasn’t all that far from the Dragon pit where Vayne and Kalista were fighting. He sped down the river towards the fight, cheering Tang Bingyao on for the engage she found on the Kalista.

Shanghai High School and High School 13’s Toplaners both retreated back to their outer towers. They had Teleport precisely for these kinds of situations. The Gragas teleported to a ward at the Red team’s Blue Buff Camp. He started channeling half a second earlier than Irelia, who teleported to a ward at the river entrance in the bot lane.

Lin Feng’s Lulu caught up to Vayne. The Leona had just missed two of her skillshots, while Kalista was still pinned against the wall. He sent Pix  over to aid the Vayne in her attacks–Help, Pix! Then he threw a Glitterlance at Kalista!

Tang Bingyao had her Vayne continue auto attacking the Kalista. Two silver rings appeared around Kalista. She was one auto attack away from dying when the Gragas appeared from the Red team’s Jungle. He Body Slammed towards Vayne in a desperate attempt to save Kalista. But Tang Bingyao had kept Tumble just for this. Her Vayne dodged the Body Slam and fired an empowered silver bolt at Kalista.

《You have slain an enemy!》

Tang Bingyao smiled. I got the kill! Then she focused back on the fight. Shanghai High School had four champions left alive, two of whom were trying to attack her. Well, one. She’d seen Lin Feng cast Whimsy on the Gragas, polymorphing him into a useless critter. Why is Leona sticking to the Gragas? Hmm, probably waiting for Yasuo and Lee Sin to arrive. Where are they?

Chen Ze’s Irelia had arrived at the Dragon pit right around the same time the Gragas had. He’d first ran towards Kalista, but she died too quickly. So he turned towards the little critter Gragas and dashed at him with Bladesurge. Then she struck out hard with her blades and stunned him–Equilibrium Strike!

Zeng Rui’s Leona had little in terms of damage and he’d already used most of his crowd control skills. He looked at his minimap and cursed. The Lee Sin and Yasuo were both running over from the base, where they’d gone to buy some wards in preparation for the Dragon. His two teammates were too far away from the fight, he needed to buy them more time. His Leona only had one more crowd control skill available, which was her ultimate skill. I need to at least hit the Vayne.

Zeng Rui shouted over his team’s voice chat, “Get ready to pull back when I stun that Vayne!” Then he pushed down on the R key–Solar Flare! He pointed his sword up into the sky and called down a beam of solar energy. The incredibly powerful force came quickly, smashing down onto the Vayne and Lulu. Stunned!

An Xin’s Nami was also late to the fight because she’d returned to the base to buy wards. But unlike the Lee Sin and Yasuo, she was already on her way back towards the bot lane when the fight broke out. She arrived right as Leona’s Solar Flare came down. Then she watched Leona and Gragas running away. Trying to escape? Watch this. She activated her Nami’s ultimate, calling forth a Tidal Wave that came surging after the Leona and Gragas!

The two champions from Shanghai High School were caught in the Jungle entrance. There was nowhere to escape to. The water towered over them and then came crashing down, knocking them down and then up into the air!

Vayne and Lulu broke free from the stun. They joined Chen Ze’s Irelia in chasing after the Gragas and focusing their firepower on him. Leona was a Support who’d used all her skills. They could ignore her for now. Blades cut the Gragas, silver bolts struck him, and magical glitter stuck to him. His health disappeared.

《Double kill!》

Tang Bingyao was so focused that she didn’t even hear the voice announcer. Her last attack on the Gragas was a silver bolt empowered by Tumble. She had done this not only for the extra damage, but also to get an angle on the Leona. She took the large crossbow from her back and fired. A large, heavy bolt struck the Leona and pinned her to the Jungle wall behind her.

Shanghai High School’s Lee Sin and Yasuo finally arrived at the fight. They were about to jump in and help Zeng Rui’s Leona escape, when their team captain’s voice sounded out over the team’s voice chat, “Back, you idiots! They’re with five! Don’t give them any more kills!”

Zeng Rui stared at his screen, frustrated. All my skills are on cooldown. If they go in, it’s no different from a 2vs5. We’d just be feeding Vayne even more kills! Dammit! He gritted his teeth as he watched one last silver bolt fly at his Leona.

《Triple kill!》

High School 13’s students in the audience were stamping their feet on the ground and waving their arms over their heads. They were screaming about how Tang Bingyao had picked up a triple kill, and they were shouting about how they were only half a step away from winning the tournament! The students who’d been given the large posters at the start of the series proudly held them up again.

HIGH SCHOOL 13, CHAMPIONS!

Westwind had been play-by-play shoutcasting the entire fight. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and screamed into his microphone, “HIGH SCHOOL 13! WOOOOO! Look at their students! They’re certain of it! They’re going to be the Champions of Shanghai! And man, I can’t blame them. Just look at that Vayne! She’s 6/1/2! I don’t know how Shanghai High School plans on killing her. Impossible if you ask me!”

“Not impossible,” Silent Reed disagreed. She looked at the large screen, which showed High School 13 taking the second Dragon of the game. Then a graph appeared at the bottom of the screen showing the stats of the two teams. High School 13 was 4,000 gold ahead. “You see that gold difference, West? That’s all on the Vayne. High School 13 is pumping all their resources into her. Shanghai High School can win this. They just have to shut her down.”

“You say that like it’s an easy thing to do!” Westwind argued. “Did we just watch the same fight? Or the one before that? Shanghai High School has been trying to shut the Vayne down all game! But look at her score! 6/1/2! She’s unstoppable!”

Silent Reed smiled. Awesome work, girls! Then she said, “The Vayne is doing really well. And I really want to see the two girls from High School 13 winning. But let’s be real here, West. If. And this is a very big if, Shanghai High School can instagib the Vayne, they’ll win this game. It’s doable. High School 13 can’t get complacent.”

“Fair enough, fair enough,” Westwind agreed. “This game is still wide open! Shanghai High School has some incredible potential to pick off a target and burst them down. They just need to have their Gragas or Lee Sin working together with Yasuo. Maybe have Leona help with her crowd control for full effect. And then they also can’t take too much damage from the rest of High School 13’s team. And, and… There’s a lot of things that have to fall perfectly in place for them.”

Zeng Rui looked over the edge of his screen at the audience. He could feel the vibrations from their jumping, which was incredibly distracting. Then he glanced sideways at his teammates. They looked lost. Can’t blame them. We’re falling pretty far behind. But it’s not over yet. We still have a chance. Just have to kill that Vayne. He nodded and said over the team’s voice chat, “Keep your focus. We’re one good fight from winning this.”

✹

Lin Feng grinned and said over the team’s voice chat, “That was awesome! But we gotta play safe now! Tang Tang doesn’t have her Flash!” He looked over at Tang Bingyao sitting next to him and nodded at her. Then he continued, “Me and BunBun will protect you. Chen Ze and Liu Yue, you two dive Shanghai High School’s backline. Time to win this!”

Tang Bingyao nodded and said, “Ok.”

An Xin smiled and suggested over the team’s voice chat, “Tang Tang still has a few minutes before her Flash is up again. We’ll wait for it to come off cooldown before we start another teamfight. Sounds good, guys?”

An Xin had made it sound like a suggestion, but the others all took it as an order. They held back on the aggression and slowed down the pace of the game. Shanghai High School was more than happy with this arrangement. They would use every extra second to help their Gragas and Yasuo scale.

There wasn’t a whole lot that happened over the next several minutes. Both teams focused on farming minions and jungle camps, and staying far away from each other. But that didn’t mean they were blind to good gank opportunities. Shanghai High School found two of them. The first happened in the top lane, where Chen Ze’s Irelia got a little too comfortable farming under her tower. Lee Sin suddenly appeared behind her and roundhouse kicked her towards the Gragas, who followed up with his own ultimate. The Explosive Cask knocked Irelia halfway across the lane toward the Red team’s outer tower.

《You have slain an enemy!》

The second kill happened in the bot lane. Shanghai High School’s Yasuo roamed down from mid, evading the wards High School 13 had dropped down, and burst into the lane. Tang Bingyao and An Xin were warned by Lin Feng only seconds before. But the Leona was already engaging. She tried to hit Tang Bingyao with a solar projection of her sword–Zenith Blade! But An Xin had her Nami body block for the Vayne. Tang Bingyao managed to escape on the back of that, but An Xin wasn’t so lucky.

《You have slain an enemy!》

Two kills went to Shanghai High School, but that didn’t change much for the overall game. Tang Bingyao was still strong and continuing to get stronger. But that didn’t mean High School 13 could keep giving away kills. They started playing more carefully, waiting for the third Dragon to spawn. “We’re going to force the next teamfight,” An Xin said over the team’s voice chat.

✹

At 23 minutes, the third Dragon was about to spawn. Shanghai High School arrived at the Dragon pit far in advance to set up a wall of vision. They couldn’t back down from this teamfight. High School 13 absolutely couldn’t be allowed to get a third dragon. Plus, they finally felt strong enough to challenge High School 13 in a teamfight. Yasuo and Gragas had both picked up kills in the last couple of minutes and upgraded their items with the extra gold. If they got the pick on Vayne, they could burst her down.

“It’s about to go down!” Westwind shouted into his microphone. “Shanghai High School has been clawing their way back into this game! Gragas and Yasuo have the damage to one-shot Vayne!”

Silent Reed giggled and said, “What you’re saying is that Shanghai High School is looking for the engage, right West? They need to get the pick on Vayne and win the teamfight on the back of that.”

Westwind nodded and replied, “Exactly! And this is going to be it as well! Whoever wins this teamfight will probably go on to win the game! It’s do or die! Can High School 13 protect their Vayne for long enough? Or will Shanghai High School get the pick they need to finally turn this game around? They could force a potential Game 5! How exciting would that be!”

The High School 13 students in the audience were shifting around on their seats, unable to contain their worries, nerves, and excitement. They talked amongst each other about everything the casters were saying, including remarks about their school winning the tournament.

“Just imagine,” one High School 13 student said to his friends sitting next to him. “If they win this, we’re the Champions! We might actually win!”

“Might? We’re going to win!” one of his friends responded.
“But what if they catch Tang Tang? Didn’t the casters just say how—”
“No! Don’t say it! Positive thoughts only! We’re going to win this! Our team can do this! Mark my words, we’re going to become the best esports school in Shanghai!”
“I hope so, I really do…”
“Oh, shut up with your stupid pessimism! GO HIGH SCHOOL 13! YOU CAN DO IT, TANG TANG!”
“Right! GO TANG TANG! WOOOOO!”
“HIGH SCHOOL 13, CHAMPIONS OF SHANGHAI!”

Lin Feng died in the mid lane while Tang Bingyao picked up a kill in the bot lane. But he didn’t really care all that much that he’d lost focus and given away a kill. He was playing Lulu, a supportive control mage. She didn’t need gold to do her job; she just needed to be at the right place at the right time to buff her allies. It was up to Tang Bingyao to do the carrying. A stark contrast from the first three games, where he’d been the one carrying.

There was a brief respite in the game. Westwind used the time to talk the audience through what had just happened. He leaned into the microphone and said, “It’s starting to look like High School 13’s protect-the-ad-carry composition is slowly coming together. The Lulu is scaling pretty well in mid, despite giving away a kill. She’s going to become a real nuisance for Shanghai High School. All she’s gotta do is to use her ultimate on the Vayne and the Fat Lady’s is going to sing. GAME OVER FOR SHANGHAI HIGH SCHOOL! Killing the Vayne before that happens is going to be a real challenge for Shanghai High School.”

“Talking about the Vayne,” Silent Reed interjected. “She’s playing really well this game! Look at her score! We’re only 10 minutes into the game and she’s already on a killing spree! She’s ahead of Kalista and Leona is struggling to stay relevant. Shanghai High School needs to chain their crowd control skills together perfectly if they want to keep any hope of killing that Vayne alive!”

✹

“What I’m saying,” Lin Feng argued over High School 13’s voice chat, “Is that I actually helped the team by giving away that kill! Tang Tang wouldn’t have gotten the solo kill on Kalista if it hadn’t been for me forcing Leona to come to mid! So, you see, you guys should really be thanking me!”

An Xin rolled her eyes and said, “Thanking you? Are you stupid? You could’ve forced that Leona to come mid and survived, if you’d just put up a damn ward! Why didn’t you ward your lane?” She glared at Lin Feng and continued, “And am I hearing this right? Are you really trying to take credit for something Tang Tang did? You screwed up and she made up for it by getting a solo kill! Solo. Kill. She did it all by herself! You didn’t have any part in it. Yeesh, what a glory hog.”

“Mhm!” Tang Bingyao agreed. “He’s shameless.”

“Ah, you two are teaming up! That’s so unfair! Guys, help me out here!” Lin Feng whined. But neither Chen Ze nor Liu Yue replied. Lin Feng looked over at them but they ignored him. Liu Yue even went so far as to look away from him. He shook his head in disbelief and said, “I can’t believe you guys! Oh well, whatever. Tang Tang’s Vayne is fed now. We can all play around her!”

Across the stage, Zeng Rui had a similar thought to Lin Feng. Shanghai High School’s focus was also going to be on the Vayne. “Focus the Vayne first. She has to die before she can kill us,” Zeng Rui said over the team’s voice chat. She’s 3/0/0 and actually playing really well. Now that she’s got her first big item, we can’t stop her in the bot lane. And we can’t take any risks either. If she gets anymore fed, we’ll lose this game before the 20 minute mark! We can’t lose this game! They’re on match point. We have to shut her down!

✹

At 12 minutes, Shanghai High School and High School 13 were hovering around the Dragon pit. Shanghai High School was closer to the bot lane, and High School 13 was closer to the mid lane. They fired skillshots at each other right in front of the Dragon and tried to find an angle for an engage.

Shanghai High School’s Gragas was the first to find an opening. He retreated out of the opponent’s vision  and then Teleported to a ward that was hidden in a brush behind High School 13’s team. He came running out of the bush and charged toward Lulu with Body Slam. Then he linked it together with Flash. His momentum was carried over as he blinked forward. His fat belly collided into Lulu and knocked her up. Then he hurled an Explosive Cask into the middle of High School 13’s team. The cask exploded, and all five champions were sent flying in different directions. But the real purpose of the Explosive Cask was to blast Tang Bingyao’s Vayne back towards Shanghai High School’s team, which is what it did. 

“GO IN, NOW!!” Zeng Rui ordered over the team’s voice chat.

Shanghai High School’s Yauso saw the airborne Vayne flying towards him. Sort of. What he actually saw were the blinking arrows that connected him to whatever Champion happened to be airborne. His instincts as a Yasuo player responded automatically. He saw the arrows and hit R for his Ultimate with zero concern about where he was headed or where the airborne was. The mark of a true Yasuo. He blinked towards the Vayne with Last Breath and sliced her rapidly with his katana, which kept her suspended in the air. Then he unleashed a mighty slash that slammed her back down to the ground!

The Explosive Cask had also knocked Lin Feng’s Lulu in the general direction of Shanghai High School’s team. The moment she landed on the ground, she sped herself up with Whimsy and caught up to the Vayne. Then she cast Wild Growth on the Vayne! Vayne’s body instantly doubled in size  and knocked up the Lee Sin and Yasuo beside her. She also gained bonus health, which she desperately needed after all the damage she took from the initial engage.

Tang Bingyao activated Vayne’s ultimate skill–Final Hour! A dark aura wrapped around the Vayne as she Tumbled away from the Yasuo, turning invisible. Then she circled around to the Yasuo’s flank, getting the perfect angle for a Condemn! She took the large crossbow from her back and squeezed the trigger. A large, heavy bolt flew out and struck the Yasuo. It lifted him off his feet and pinned him to the stone wall of the Dragon pit. Stunned!

✹

Chen Ze’s Irelia and Liu Yue’s Jarvan IV were knocked away from Tang Bingyao’s Vayne by the Explosive Cask. But they did find themselves close to Kalista. The Irelia dashed at her with Bladesurge! Jarvan IV followed with a flag-toss combo and knocked her airborne. Then he came down on her with Cataclysm. He leaped at the Kalista and smashed down on the ground with such force that he terraformed the ground around him into an arena! The impact devastated her health.

There was no follow-up crowd control after the knock-up, so Kalista could use her skills again as soon as she landed back on the ground. She activated her ultimate, Fate’s Call. This skill pulled an Oathsworn ally to her side. Then the ally could launch themselves forward in any targeted direction. 

Zeng Rui’s Leona was called to the Kalista’s side. He chose to throw himself at the Irelia and Jarvan IV, knocking both of them up into the air. Then he raised his sword and called down a Solar Flare on the two champions, stunning them!

✹

Tang Bingyao followed up on the Condemn on Yasuo with an empowered auto attack from Tumble. Then she shot another silver bolt. Three silver rings appeared around the Yasuo. They lit up and exploded, dealing true damage! She fired several more auto attacks and finished the Yasuo off. All the while, she was dealing with Gragas and Lee Sin attacking her.

An Xin’s Nami called forth a Tidal Wave and threw out an Aqua Prison. She healed the Vayne and tried to body block the skillshots. But Shanghai High School ignored her and focused down the Vayne.

《Red team’s Yasuo has been slain!》

《Blue team’s Vayne has been slain!》

Shanghai High School shifted their attention to the other four players from High School 13. Lin Feng’s Lulu and An Xin’s Nami dodged and weaved the attacks from the Lee Sin and Gragas. The two focused their own attacks on the Lee Sin. It wasn’t much, but the damage from their skillshots added up. They ran past the Irelia and Lin Feng shield the Irelia by commanding Pix the purple butterfly to her side–Help, Pix! Then he buffed the Irelia’s stats with Whimsy. 

Chen Ze’s Irelia broke free from the Leona’s stun and jumped on Kalista again. He stuck close to the Kalista and ignored the Gragas and Leona that were trying to kill him.

《Red team’s Kalista has been slain!》

《Blue team’s Irelia has been slain!》

Lin Feng’s Lulu and An Xin’s Nami were chasing after the Lee Sin, who’d turned from hunter to hunted. His health bar was dropping fast, and the Lulu kept him slowed with Glitterlance. He only had to dodge it once to escape, but the Lulu never missed. He tried to get away with a ward-hop–Safeguard! But the Lulu was too accurate with her use of skills. The Lulu and Nami continued attacking him until the last of his health was depleted.

《Red team’s Lee Sin has been slain!》

High School 13 had three champions surviving the teamfight; Lulu, Nami, and Jarvan IV. This is where the more strategic aspect of the game came into play. Jarvan IV was High School 13’s Jungler, and he’d survived the teamfight. And they had managed to kill Lee Sin, who was Shanghai High School’s Jungler. Whenever teamfights for the Dragon rolled around, the Jungler was the King and Queen. Junglers used the summoner skill Smite. A high damage skill that could only be used on minions and monsters. It was incredibly difficult to kill the Dragon or steal a Dragon kill without this skill. High School 13 had a living Jungler, and Shanghai High School did not. That decided the whole thing. High School 13’s team moved on to the Dragon and started attacking it. Shanghai High School didn’t bother attempting to contest, and pulled back. 

“WHAT A FIGHT! WOOOOOO!” Westwind cried out. He raised his fist and shouted, “That went back and forth and back again! But… HIGH SCHOOL 13 CAME OUT ON TOOOOP. Let’s give them a MASSIVE round of applause! WOOOOOOOOO!”

Silent reed clapped her hands and shouted, “The way High School 13 kept their Vayne alive for so long was really special! The Nami and Lulu were phenomenal! That’s how High School 13 won that fight! So, yeah, WOOOOOOO!”

Zeng Rui looked up over his screen at the audience cheering for High School 13. And then he looked over at the two casters who sat on their raised platform. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he could guess. “They left the Vayne alive too long, that’s why they lost…” Yes. They’re right. We did lose because we couldn’t burst that Vayne down. They’re running a ‘protect-the-ad-carry’ comp. If we can’t kill the Vayne, we lose. If we kill her, we win. 

Zeng Rui frowned. But how are we going to kill her? That’s the real question here. Our burst damage right now clearly isn’t enough. Yasuo needs another item and Gragas has to get some more ability power. Then we should have enough damage to kill her, I think… His frown deepened. But this fight was already completely in our favour. The Vayne didn’t have Flash or Heal and we got the drop on her! That was the best chance we had! In the next fight, she’ll have her Flash and Heal up. It’s going to be really hard to kill her again. We need to come up with something before then.

✹

At 17 minutes, Shanghai High School and High School 13 were getting ready for the second Dragon, which was spawning soon. They started moving towards the Dragon pit and were looking to drop some wards down around the area. Shanghai High School’s Kalista was the first to arrive. She walked through her own Jungle into the river below the Dragon pit. There, she walked right into Tang Bingyao’s Vayne who was walking up from the bot lane.

Tang Bingyao tilted her head, surprised. What’s she doing here? Half a second later, she smirked. I can kill her! She pressed down on her R key. Final Hour! A shroud of darkness wrapped around the Vayne! She gained bonus movement speed from her ultimate skill and also from her passive skill when moving towards an enemy champion. Come on! Get in range! She fired the first silver bolt before Kalista could start retreating into her own Jungle. She followed up with a second auto attack. Two silver rings appeared around Kalista. Then Tang Bingyao used the active skill from the Blade of the Ruined King to slow the Kalista. Next was a third auto attack and a third silver ring that appeared around the Kalista. All three rings exploded, dealing true damage.

Zeng Rui’s Leona and An Xin’s Nami were too far away from the fight when it happened. They both shouted instructions over their teams’ voice chats while rushing over to help their ad-carries. Zeng Rui’s Leona was the first to arrive at the scene thanks to Kalista’s ultimate skill–Fate’s Call! His Leona was pulled to her side, and then he launched himself toward the Vayne!

Tang Bingyao knew this was coming, her finger already hovering over the D key. I can do this! Flash! The Vayne blinked forward, straight through the Leona, causing the latter to overshoot and miss. Tang Bingyao then moved her finger over the Q key. Leona had another skill that could close the gap, Zenith Blade! The solar image of the sword projected out towards her Vayne. Tang Bingyao activated Tumble! She dodged the skill while also perfectly positioning herself for a Condemn on the Kalista. She pulled the heavy crossbow from her back and fired. A large bolt flew out and struck the Kalista, sending her colliding into the jungle wall behind her!

“HOOOLY!! ARE YOU SEEING THIS? ARE YOU SEEING THIS?” Westwind shouted into his microphone.

“OH MY GOD! WOOOO! GO VAYNE!” Silent Reed cried out.

The audience was also losing it. Tang Bingyao was doing what she did last game. A 1vs2. But this time around, there was something completely different about it. It wasn’t a move of desperation; it was a well calculated attack. She knew her skills. She knew what Shanghai High School had available. And she was prepared to dodge everything she needed to dodge to get the kill!

“TANG TANG GANG BEST GANG!”
“GG TANG TANG!”
“OH MY GOD! TANG TAAAAAANG! WOOOOOOOOO!”
“SAVE MR. BARBIE! SATANBARBIE’S HOLDING HIM HOSTAGE!”
“ANOTHER SOLO KILL! TANG TANG IS THE BEST!”
“WE’RE WINNING! WE’RE GOING TO WIN!”
“TANG TANG FOR MVP!”

《Red team’s Lee Sin has been slain!》

“WOOOOOOO! HIGH SCHOOL 13!” Westwind clutched his microphone, his knuckles white, and shoutcasted the play in the bot lane, “What a kill! Condemn into Aqua Prison into a breathtaking kill by Vayne! Amazing! AMAZING!”

“AMAZING! AMAZING! AMAZING!”
“GOOOOOOOOO TANG TANG! AN XIN! SWEEEEET!”
“DAYUM! That Condemn was sexier than my sex doll!”
“Girls are better at League than guys! CONFIRMED!”
“OOH OOH OOH! AH AH!”
“WAAAAAAAA! I want your autograph, Tang Tang!”

High School 13’s students and the neutral fans were being treated to an outstanding display of skill by Tang Bingyao. Their cheers rocked the venue, despite the large part of the audience that was completely silent. Shanghai High School’s students sat back in their seats, staring at the large screen above the stage. Some of them mumbled their disbelief, while others argued that this simply wasn’t possible. They spoke of how they were the team to beat and that they were supposed to win this tournament. There were a couple of students who started shouting that High School 13 was cheating! They made loud demands for an explanation as to why a Bronzie like Tang Bingyao suddenly got good enough to beat their Challenger-ranked bot lane!

“OH MY GOD!” Silent Reed exclaimed. “Amazing! You’re right, Westie. The girls are doing amazing! I’m giving them full style points for that play! Lee Sin had no idea what hit him!”

Westwind nodded, smiling, and said, “Them chicas are on FIRE! I gotta admit, I was a little worried about them during Champion select. But what do I know, right? They knew exactly what they were doing when they moved their coach from the Jungle to the Support role. She’s doing great! Kind of like their Midlaner! Haha, she’s the female Lin Feng!”

Silent Reed shook her head and wagged her finger at Westwind. “No, you can’t say that,” she said. “She’s a really good player-coach! Her jungling was great, and now she’s showing the same finesse as a Support! And she’s probably telling the team how to play the whole time! That’s her skill, and that’s what we should commend her for! But enough about her. Look at Tang Bingyao! She was struggling in the last three games! But it looks like she’s finally pulled herself out of that slump! That play just now, the one where she Condemned the Lee Sin and picked up a kill on him, that’s what makes people come to the stadium. I want to see more of that!” She looked at the stage and shouted a little louder than usual, “YOU GO, GIRLFRIENDS!”

✹

Tang Bingyao was still laser focused on her screen and holding her breath. She’d gotten the kill on Lee Sin, but she wasn’t out of danger yet. Shanghai High School’s Leona and Kalista were both at near full health, while her health was running low. An Xin’s Nami had already started backing away with only a sliver of health remaining. Can’t let them get the kill. I can’t! She watched every tiny movement made by Leona and Kalista as her Vayne ran back towards the Blue team’s outer tower. 

The Kalista threw a fast moving spear–Pierce! She Tumbled away from it, opening up a little bit more distance. The outer tower was right in front of her. And then she was under it. Safe! Tang Bingyao finally exhaled and took a rewarding deep breath in. Safe! I made it! I got away. The tension in her body disappeared and was replaced by pure joy. I did it! Mhm! I won a 2vs3! I’m winning! I’m finally winning a game!

High School 13 was up 2-1 in the Finals of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. Tang Bingyao was part of the team that had won those two games. But they didn’t feel like victories to her. There was a distinct difference between winning a game and getting carried to a victory. And she knew that she’d been carried to those two wins rather than contributing to them. Lin Feng and An Xin had done all the carrying in those games. She’d only been around for the ride and to fill out the numbers. Mhm! This time I’ll carry and win!

Tang Bingyao thought back to before the game started. She’d felt so reluctant when An Xin placed all that trust in her. She’d tried to argue that she wasn’t good enough and that it really was a bad idea. BunBun was right. I can carry! Mhm! This feels great! She looked over at An Xin who was sitting next to her and smiled. I’ll repay your trust with my best Vayne ever! She then turned back to look at her screen and took a long, deep breath. Mhm! Let’s do this!

✹

Game 4 of the Finals for the Shanghai 16 School Tournament had only just begun. The kill score was 3-1 for High School 13 right now. Both their Mid and Bot lanes had a small advantage. But their Top lane had unfortunately fallen behind. Chen Ze’s Irelia was really struggling against Shanghai High School’s Gragas. At first, she could still walk into the lane and last hit minions. But as the Gragas grew stronger in terms of levels and items, he started pressuring her away from the minions. She found herself hiding under her own outer tower, afraid to get too close to him and falling even further behind.

Silent Reed analyzed the Irelia’s predicament and how it could devolve into a High School 13 predicament. “The Gragas is throwing his large beer belly around the lane after he got that early kill on the Irelia. He’s at a point right now where he can crush Irelia the moment she tries to do anything! This is a perfect example of how to turn a small advantage into a large one.” Silent Reed shook her head, pausing for a moment, and then continued, “The Irelia must be so frustrated! She can’t do anything. But she also knows that if she doesn’t do anything, she’s going to become a non-factor in this game while the Gragas will basically count for two champions! That can really screw this game over for High School 13. One well placed Explosive Cask…”

Westwind nodded and said, “Yeah, you’re right. Totally right! Top lane is a hard win for Shanghai High School. But what about the other lanes? Come, travel down to the mid lane with me. Look at what that Lulu is doing. She’s wrecking the Yasuo! It’s fucking painful to watch! She can just Polymorph the Gragas into a useless critter and take him out of commission for an entire teamfight! I don’t think High School 13 has anything to worry about! If anything, Shanghai High School should be worried…” He shook his head while looking at the large screen. The camera moved to the bot lane. His eyes widened and he shouted, “And it looks like they are worried! Look at Zeng Rui’s Leona!”

Zeng Rui had slipped away from the bot lane by faking a recall. He canceled the animation right before it finished channeling and then disappeared into the Jungle, where he met up with his Jungler. “We’re ganking mid, come,” he said over the team’s voice chat. Then he had his Leona run down a carefully planned route. I spent the last few minutes destroying their wards here. That thundering dumbass won’t know what hit him! “Stick close to me!” he reminded his Jungler.

Meanwhile in the mid lane, Lin Feng was having fun. He didn’t care that An Xin had forced him to play Lulu, who was a supportive control mage rather than the assassins he usually played. I can play every champion. I don’t care, I love it! He thought back to his old teammates in Season 1. Those guys liked to joke about my unfathomably deep champion pool. Haha, they’re right! I’m really good at every champion… too! He smiled ruefully and mumbled to himself, “I wonder how Tian Tian is doing. I should give him a call…”

A new minion wave arrived in the mid lane. Lin Feng shook his head and focused on last hitting them, extending his lead over the Yasuo one minion at a time. Maybe I can force him to recall. He pushed a little harder, killing the minions as quickly as he could. Then he targeted Yasuo and hit him with a Glitterlance. “That’s right! Go and run behind your tower!” Lin Feng said, laughing. Then he patted himself on the shoulder and added, “Guess I’m really good at Lulu too!”

Shanghai High School was almost done setting up the gank in the mid lane. Zeng Rui asked over the team’s voice chat, “Ready?” He was double and triple checking everything, making sure nothing could go wrong. When his Jungler and Midlaner replied that they were ready, he clicked in the middle of the lane and then pressed down on the R key–Solar Flare! His Leona called down a beam of solar energy on Lin Feng’s Lulu, stunning her before she could do anything! Then she cast Zenith Blade to dash towards Lulu.

The Lee Sin hopped towards the Leona–Safeguard! Then he struck Lin Feng’s Lulu with a Sonic Wave before dashing towards her with Resonating Strike. There, he waited for a moment, allowing the Yasuo to get in range for his ultimate skill. The stun on the Lulu was about to wear off. The Lee Sin couldn’t wait any longer. He delivered a powerful roundhouse kick, sending the Lulu flying towards the Yasuo–Dragon’s Rage!

The Yasuo activated his ultimate skill–Last Breath! He blinked towards the airborne Lulu and suspended her in midair, hitting her with a flurry of slashes before slamming her back down to the ground. There, the Leona was already waiting with another stun to keep the Lulu immobilized. The three champions from Shanghai High School linked their crowd control skills seamlessly while also dealing damage.

《You have been slain!》

“Uh, where did that Leona come from?” Lin Feng mumbled as he stared at his grey screen. “Hey! BunBun! Tang Tang! Where was the missing in action ping?”

An Xin looked over at Lin Feng and said over the team’s voice chat, “We did ping. Repeatedly. You probably didn’t hear it over the compliments you were giving yourself. You’re really good at Lulu too, right? Well, if you really were, you wouldn’t have died that. That was a noob move. I expected better from you.”

Lin Feng scratched the back of his head and laughed the insults off. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. My bad! Anyway, Leona is here. Go make a play in bot already!”

✹

High School 13’s Botlaners had recalled back to base when Zeng Rui’s Leona started pathing towards the mid lane. This left Shanghai High School’s Kalista alone in the bot lane. She farmed the minions without having to worry about a thing. A new minion wave arrived and she started clearing it, trying to kill it as quickly as possible. “One more minion, almost there,” Shanghai High School’s ad-carry mumbled to himself. The Vayne should be back soon. He had his Kalista retreat just as the Vayne’s summoner icon appeared on the minimap. She was back in the lane. Time to back out. GoGoGo!

Tang Bingyao was smiling when she saw the Kalista getting greedy for one more last hit. Players often forgot the bonus movement speed Vayne received when running towards an enemy champion. This bonus could be increased even further with the Vayne’s ultimate skill–Final Hour! Tang Bingyao activated it. An aura of darkness erupted out from the Vayne! She Tumbled forward for even more speed and chased after the Kalista.

The entire audience was cheering, some for the kill in the mid lane and others for Tang Bingyao chasing after the Kalista. Tonji Affiliated High’s ad-carry belonged to the second group. He had his fists clenched and his eyes locked onto the large screen above the stage. “Come on, come on, come on!” He watched Tang Bingyao catching up to the Kalista and started grinning. “She’s got this! This is a kill!”

Tang Bingyao’s Vayne caught up to the Kalista. She fired an empowered silver bolt at the Kalista and quickly followed up with another silver bolt. Two silver rings appeared around the Kalista. Tang Bingyao had just upgraded her items in the fountain shop. One of these items was the Bilgewater Cutlass, which had an active skill connected to it. A slow. Tang Bingyao used it on the Kalista, making the difference in movement speed even larger. She shot a third silver bolt. The three silver rings around the Kalista detonated and dealt true damage!

Shanghai High School’s Kalista saw her health bar plummet. That stupid Vayne is too fast! Come on. Why does the outer tower look so far away? Do I try and Flash? Can I get out then? The Kalista was hit by another silver bolt, her health dipping below half. Shit yes! Flash Flash! She blinked forward with a mottled flash of light. For a moment it looked like she’d gotten away. Then the Vayne also flashed.

The Red team’s outer tower was getting closer and closer. Shanghai High School’s Kalista just needed a couple more seconds! I’m going to make it! I have to make it! A third silver ring appeared around her, causing all three of them to explode. HealHeal! She used her second Summoner Spell to get some extra health. There was a slight delay between the explosion of the three silver rings and the dealing of damage. The Heal registered between these two moments, giving the Kalista just enough health to survive. Come on! I can make it! I’m almost there!

Tang Bingyao smiled as she watched the Kalista run straight towards her outer tower. She pressed down on her E key and mumbled, “Condemn!” Her Vayne pulled the large crossbow from her back and squeezed the trigger. A large bolt shot through the air and pierced the Kalista, lifting her off the ground and pinning her to the tower! Vayne Tumbled forward and fired off an empowered silver bolt.

《Killing spree!》

Tang Bingyao hit down on her TAB key. It showed the scoreboard, including her K/D/A. 3/0/0! BunBun was right! I can do this! I’m really good! Lin Feng was telling the truth! Mhm! I’m going to beat that Kalista! Mhm! She clenched her fist and grinned. I can do this! I’ll show them!

Zeng Rui carefully watched every move of An Xin’s Nami and Tang Bingyao’s Vayne. He spotted it right away when Tang Bingyao went a little more aggressive on a caster minion than normal. Preparing for an engage or just trying to level up? Doesn’t matter which. He said over Shanghai High School’s voice chat, “Kill that minion!” Then he had his Leona auto attack the one he’d pinged, bringing its health down low enough so that Shanghai High School’s Kalista could kill it. “Too late now,” he mumbled to himself as he watched Tang Bingyao’s Vayne and An Xin’s Nami reach Level 3. They were already running at him. He moved his mouse over the Vayne and activated Zenith Blade. His Leona aimed a solar image of her sword at the Vayne. It pierced its target and the Leona dashed towards the Vayne.

An Xin had been waiting for the Leona to activate Zenith Blade. It was a brief moment in time where she knew exactly where the Leona was going to be; in mid-dash flying towards Vayne. The exact moment that the Leona’s animation of Zenith Blade started, An Xin’s Nami tossed a bubble of water right in front of the Vayne. It landed on top of the Leona, breaking her dash and suspending her in midair.

Zeng Rui’s Leona couldn’t move nor cast a skill. She was helpless as Tang Bingyao moved past her, ignoring her. She was powerless as the Vayne fired a silver bolt at Kalista. Zeng Rui frantically pushed down on his mouse. Come on! Come on! Break! Shit! He didn’t understand how the Nami had immobilized him mid-dash, but he didn’t have time to think about that. I need to save my ad-carry!

Tang Bingyao waited for a brief moment after shooting the first silver bolt. Where is the Pierce? Show me your move. She’d played Kalista a lot and knew how Shanghai High School’s ad-carry was going to respond. Hmm! The Kalista formed a large spear in her hand and leaned back, drawing extra power before hurling a fast moving spear–Pierce! Tang Bingyao was ready for it. She Tumbled to the side before the spear could hit her and then fired off an empowered silver bolt. I’ll win this! BunBun took care of the Leona, I’m going to take care of Kalista! She’s mine!

Along the bottom side of the bot lane were three brushes. An Xin had placed a ward in the one closest to Red team’s outer tower a minute before. Right now, a blue pillar of light descended on it, signaling a champion teleporting in. Lin Feng announced his arrival over High School 13’s voice chat, “Guuuys! I’m teleporting in for the gank!”

The fight had broken out in the middle of the bot lane near the river entrance. Shanghai High School and High School 13’s Botlaners had run at each other and away from the safety that their outer towers presented. They were now so far away from those outer towers that it became incredibly difficult to get back to them if something went wrong. An Xin knew all of this. It was partly why she’d chosen to engage. Lin Feng will come bot. This is gonna be a 3vs2 where Shanghai High School can’t get away. We got them.

Shanghai High School’s Kalista realized the fight was turning against them. She turned around and started running away. This inadvertently had her walking past the wall of stone and trees that separated the river, jungle, and lane.

Tang Bingyao’s Vayne Flashed forward with a mottled flash of light and then took the large crossbow from her back. She aimed it at the Kalista and pulled the trigger–Condemn! A large bolt flew out and pierced the Kalista, lifting her off the ground and pinning her to the wall. It was also the third bolt laced in silver. The three silver rings below the Kalista exploded and dealt true damage!

“WHAT A CONDEMN!” Westwind shouted, his voice booming through the speakers in the venue. “The Vayne stunned Kalista to the wall! The Vayne is good! Give it up for her! Wooooooooo!”

“That was awesome!” Silent Reed agreed, smiling. “The timing was so good! She waited for Lin Feng to teleport and only then flashed for the angle! She’s going to get the double! She’s getting the double! Come on, girl! You can do it!”

Lin Feng’s Lulu teleported into the brush closest to the Red team’s outer tower. Tang Bingyao was right in front of him. He had his Lulu cast Help, Pix! on her. The purple butterfly called Pix flew over to Vayne’s side, giving her a shield and aiding her attacks. Lulu followed up with Glitterglance, a bolt of magical energy that heavily slowed the still stunned Kalista.

Tang Bingyao smiled. Lin Feng’s Lulu and An Xin’s Nami were Supporting her. Now she had to do her part. This is my kill! She had her Vayne auto attack the Kalista two more times before the stun broke. Then she Tumbled forward and shot the third silver bolt. The three silver rings below the Kalista exploded, dealing true damage, and depleted what little remained of her health.

《First blood!》

Tang Bingyao, An Xin, and Lin Feng wanted to chase after Zeng Rui’s Leona next. But Zeng Rui was already too far away. He’d given up on Kalista the moment that she got stunned. He’d Flashed towards his outer tower and ran until he was under it. Then he had his Leona keep on running until she reached their inner tower. “Shit!” he cursed, grinding his teeth. How did that happen? I knew the ward was there. I saw her place it! But she hit me with her Aqua Prison. That’s where it went wrong. I should’ve been more careful. I knew she was good. I should’ve seen this coming! Ok, reset. Breathe. Calm down. Focus on the game and stick to the plan. “Stick to the plan, guys,” Zeng Rui said over the team’s voice chat. He nodded at his screen and forced himself to take long, deep breaths until he was calm again.

The High School 13 students in the audience shot up to their feet and threw their arms high in the air! Their team was winning the game, so they expressed their joy and bliss in the loudest roars they could muster.

“TANG TANNGGGGGG!”
“VVAYYYNNNNEEEEEEEEE!”
“CCCHHAAMMPPPIIOONNNNSSS!”
“TTAAANNNGGGG TANNGGGGG!”
“WWOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
“OH MY GOD WE’RE WINNING!”

Back on stage, Lin Feng was patting himself on the shoulder and said over the team’s voice chat, “That was a great teleport gank by me! I timed that perfectly!”

An Xin rolled her eyes and replied, “Right. Because this was all you, and not at all Tang Tang who made the engage and got the angle for the Condemn. Also, don’t think I didn’t see you trying to steal Tang Tang’s kill!”

“Oh, uh…” Lin Feng scratched the back of his head and grinned foolishly. Then he said, “Right! Shall we take the tower as well?”

An Xin shook her head and said, “Let’s not. No need to rush this. Tang Tang and I are going to farm Shanghai High School’s bot lane for a couple more kills. Isn’t that right, Tang Tang?”

I got the kill! I got the kill! Tang Bingyao was still cheering herself on when An Xin called out to her. She almost didn’t hear it. But then she looked away from her screen and noticed the audience standing up on their feet and cheering for her. Her heart started racing, her chest was heaving up and down. I did it! I really did it! A wave of euphoria washed over her. I am good! This is how I’m supposed to play! She heard An Xin calling out her name again and looked over at her friend. “Uhh, right,” she said. “The tower, right? Mhm. Let’s leave it up.” Just one kill isn’t enough. I need to carry this game! I want to carry this game! I’ll show them how good I am!

✹

At 6 minutes, three different things happened in the fourth game of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament Finals. Shanghai High School’s Lee Sin was ganking the top lane, Liu Yue’s Jarvan IV was ganking the mid lane, and Tang Bingyao was finally getting into the series in the bot lane. She stopped tilting and started showing just how good of a player she really was.

In the top lane, Chen Ze’s Irelia was pushing the minion wave towards Shanghai High School’s tower. He was trying very hard to make the Gragas miss out on minions and fall behind in terms of creep score. But this also left him vulnerable to ganks, and more importantly, to the Gragas’ ultimate skill. Right as Chen Ze’s Irelia pushed the minions into Shanghai High School’s tower range, Gragas hurled his cask at her. The Explosive Cask exploded behind her, the resulting force knocking her underneath the Red team’s outer tower while also dealing a lot of magic damage.

Shanghai High School’s Lee Sin ran out of the Jungle and into the top lane. He placed a ward next to the Irelia and hopped towards it–Safeguard! Then he combined his skills to deal as much damage to the Irelia. He first used Tempest, slamming his fists down on the ground and slowing the Irelia with Cripple. He followed up with Sonic Wave, locating the Irelia so that he could dash after her if she chose to Flash away. But it never got that far. The Gragas Body Slammed into the Irelia and the outer tower fired an energy shot which killed the Irelia.

《You have been slain!》

In the mid lane, Lin Feng was having a great time on his Lulu. Shanghai High School’s Yasuo was finding it increasingly difficult to even get out into the lane. He only got to farm minions when Lin Feng was somewhere else entirely. So Lin Feng walked towards the river, pretending to go and help Chen Ze’s Irelia in the top lane. But when he was sure that the Yasuo didn’t have vision on him anymore, he turned back around and hid in the brush next to the lane, waiting for the Yasuo to push forward. Oh! This Yasuo is so greedy.

Lin Feng waited a little longer until the Yasuo walked out into the middle of the lane. Then Lin Feng’s Lulu ran back into lane. She flashed towards the Yasuo, arriving next to him, and used her ultimate skill on herself. She rapidly grew several times in size, knocking the Yasuo Airborne–Wild Growth!

Liu Yue’s Jarvan IV came running out of the brush below the mid lane. He flag-tossed onto the Yasuo, effectively extending the knock up. Then he auto-attacked the Yasuo with Lulu’s Pixie hovering over his shoulder, aiding his attacks. The Yasuo landed back on the ground and tried to get away. But Lin Feng’s Lulu and Liu Yue’s Jarvan IV dealt too much damage. Lulu finished the Yasuo off with her magical Glitterlance.

《You have slain an enemy!》

In the bot lane, after picking up first blood, Tang Bingyao was finding her old, aggressive self again. She saw an opening and exploited it, landing an auto attack on Zeng Rui’s Leona. She followed up with another auto attack, two silver rings appearing underneath the Leona. Then she Tumbled to the side, dodging Leona’s Zenith Blade, and fired a third auto attack. The three rings around the Leona exploded and dealt true damage.

In this entire exchange, Shanghai High School’s Kalista didn’t do anything. She’d been too far away, which was the opening that Tang Bingyao had spotted. But the Kalista had arrived and threw a fast moving spear at the Vayne–Pierce! Tang Bingyao, however, had seen this attack coming from a mile away. She evaded it with great ease. All the while, never missing a single last hit on the minions.

Zeng Rui gritted his teeth, seething. What the fuck is going on? Were they just toying with us? Why is she playing so much better than before? This isn’t just a difference of Support! What’s going on? He looked across the stage at Tang Bingyao, who was completely focused on the screen in front of her. She isn’t laughing like the thundering dumbass and that coach-Jungler-Support-whatever… Could this really be how good she was the whole time? Was she just really tilted? “Shit,” he mumbled under his breath. It can’t go on like this. We’re losing the mid lane again. If we also lose bot, then that’s game. We’ll lose the finals…

✹

At 7:30 minutes, Tang Bingyao’s Vayne was the first Champion in the bot lane to reach Level 6. Zeng Rui knew they had to do something to keep her down, like they’d done last game. “We’re going in!” he said over his team’s voice chat while pressing the E key–Zenith Blade! His Leona projected a solar image of her sword towards the Nami. When the image faded, the Nami was briefly immobilized and the Leona dashed towards her.

Shanghai High School’s Lee Sin ran into the bot lane from High School 13’s side of the Jungle. He threw out a Sonic Wave that connected with the Vayne. Then he used the second half of this skill, called Resonating Strike, to dash towards her. But right as he hit her, she disappeared.

A dark aura wrapped around the Vayne as she activated her ultimate. Then she Tumbled and disappeared! The Lee Sin slammed his fists on the ground, revealing all that couldn’t be seen by the eye–Tempest! The Vayne reappeared right in front of him, with her large crossbow aimed squarely at his face. Behind him was a large boulder. Before Lee Sin could even start contemplating his next move, a large bolt pierced him and pinned him to said boulder. Another auto attack hit him, a second silver ring appearing around him.

An Xin’s Nami broke free from Zeng Rui’s Leona. She rushed over towards the Vayne and threw an Aqua Prison at the Lee Sin. The bubble arced through the air and landed right on top of the Lee Sin at the exact moment that the stun from Condemn wore off. He was lifted off the ground again, this time suspended within a bubble! Another silver bolt hit him. A third silver ring appeared around him and set off an explosion of true damage!

The audience couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Conversations, discussions and arguments broke out between all of the High School 13 students in the audience! Some of them didn’t understand why this change was even necessary. They argued and yelled at the stage about how perfectly in-sync An Xin and Lin Feng were during Game 3 of the Finals. Others yelled about how the two of them made Shanghai High School, who were the favourites for the title, look like beginners. But most of them were just upset by the change and nervous. They looked at each other and talked about how High School 13 only needed one more game to win the whole tournament! They wanted someone to explain what was happening, and none of them could. They moaned about how they thought they were going to be the Champions of Shanghai at the end of the last game! 

The change agitated High School 13’s students because they were already picturing the trophy sitting in their school’s trophy cabinet! But right as they started to taste victory, the esports team threw a curveball at them. The magical Mid-Jungle duo had been broken up! An Xin left the Jungle to Liu Yue and decided to hook up with Tang Bingyao as a Support in the bot lane.

“Crazy? Or crazy GOOD? Maybe she’s an even better Support!”
“Calling it right now! Best Support China! Go Nami, gooooooo!”
“Show us that girl prowess! Guys have nothing on us! GIRLS WILL RULE THE WORLD!”
“Oh my sweet lord, this is sooooooo exciting!”

Shanghai High School was just as surprised as High School 13’s students. The team members had watched Zeng Rui struggle for the last half of the previous game and also during the subsequent break. Zeng Rui had looked lost, as if for the first time ever he didn’t have the answer. He couldn’t come up with a strategy to beat the Mid-Jungle pair of Lin Feng and An Xin. And they’d worried with him. They came to him with suggestions, which he wouldn’t even listen to. But they still tried to help him. They wanted to do anything they could to help their team captain. But now they didn’t need to worry about that anymore. High School 13 brought them the solution by changing strategy. They leaned back in their chairs, smiling, relaxed.

Zeng Rui, on the other hand, didn’t share the optimism of his teammates. Something’s wrong. What is she doing? He looked across the stage at High School 13’s team. And at An Xin. Why do I have this feeling again? Last game was the same and then… He shook his head and tried to rid that thought from his mind. Last game is played. I need to focus on this game. If she wants to compete with me for Support, I’ll… I’ll just… He grinned and said over the team’s voice chat, “We’re going to win this one. I’ll show her exactly how good of a Support I am.” I’m going to beat her!

Westwind sat at the caster desk, dead silent. It looked like he’d left his tongue in the breakroom as he was staring at the large screen above the stage. They didn’t just change their lineup, they also changed their strategy. He finally looked over at Silent Reed who was sitting next to him and nodded. Then he grabbed his microphone and said, “Looks like High School 13 has a different plan in mind for this game. What do you make of this, Reed?”

“It’s interesting. Very interesting,” Silent Reed replied. “Honestly? I don’t get it. They were so good last game. They looked unbeatable! And now they change everything. Lin Feng, who is by far their best player, even picked Lulu! Lulu is a Support Champion! She is the defensive choice in mid lane when you’re afraid your team is going to lose! He’s so much better than Shanghai High School’s Midlaner. Why is High School 13 doing this?

Silent Reed knew the answer to her question perfectly well. She was merely creating a dialogue, something for the audience to latch onto. She winked at Westwind, who grinned and answered, “I think it’s pretty obvious what they’re going for! They’re building a team around the Vayne! She basically has two Supports now! You know what we call this? The ‘Protect-the-ad-carry’!”

Silent Reed shook her head and said, “I believe you, but… Ok, listen up here. Don’t get me wrong. I really want the girl playing Vayne to do well. I really do. But if today’s games are anything to go by… I mean, it’s just… It looks like a bad choice by High School 13. Maybe they got a little overconfident after the ease with which they won the previous game.”

Westwind nodded and said, “Yeah! Totally agree with you! I hope for High School 13’s sake that this decision isn’t going to bite them in the ass. Don’t forget, this is the Finals of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament! You wanna use your best lineup right now! If you wanna try something new, you do it in a practice game!” He shook his head a couple of times before continuing, “Anyway, the Champions are locked in. Let’s give it up for both teams one final time before we get into the game. Wooooo! High School 13!” He waited a moment to let the High School 13 fans cheer before shouting, “Wooooo! Shanghai High School!”

✹

Tang Bingyao, the girl at the center of all the upheaval, was not at all convinced of An Xin’s gameplan. I lost us the second game. And if it wasn’t for Lin Feng and An Xin, we would’ve also lost the first and third game. I’m feeding! I’m playing terribly! They shouldn’t trust me. We can win this. They can carry us to a win! Why don’t they just do that? I just… I don’t want to feed! They were on the loading screen. There was no going back and reassessing their strategy. Tang Bingyao knew this, but she still couldn’t keep herself from asking over the team’s voice chat, “B-BunBun, are you really sure about this? Y-you’ve seen the last three games. I… I…” She  lowered her head and sulked. I don’t want to play Vayne and I don’t want to keep feeding and I just want this Finals to end. I want to go home, mhm. I just want to… I don’t know. I don’t know. Just let this end and let me forget it! I—

Tang Bingyao jerked her head up in surprise as she felt a hand touch her shoulder. She looked up at An Xin, who was sitting next to her, and found the girl smiling at her. Tang Bingyao bit on her lips and wanted to say that she couldn’t do it, but there was something in An Xin’s eyes that kept her from doing that. She looks so confident. How can she be confident after everything that’s happened? She knows how I’ve been playing. Zeng Rui is just too good. I still need to practice more. Just let me practice some mor—

“Don’t worry. You have me! You saw it last night, right? I’m a pretty good Support,” An Xin said. Then she leaned in closer and whispered in Tang Bingyao’s ears, “Plus, we can’t have you embarrass yourself in front of Lin Feng, now can we?”

“N-no! You—” Tang Bingyao’s eyes went wide. She felt a stone drop to the pit of her stomach. Her heart nearly leaped out of her chest. She knows! S-she knows! H-how? She looked over to her side, where Lin Feng sat. He was staring at his screen, mouthing something. H-he didn’t hear her… Please, please! Tell me you didn’t hear her! She swallowed and turned back to look at An Xin. “P-please, don’t say…”

An Xin placed a finger over her lips and shook her head, as if saying, “I won’t tell a soul.” Then she winked at Tang Bingyao and said, “Try your best! I know how good you are, and I know I’m not asking too much of you. Now carry us to that trophy!”

✹

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

High School 13 and Shanghai High School loaded onto the Rift. They bought their starter items at the fountain shop and moved down the lanes. Both teams were happy to open with a normal start to the game; there were no lane swaps nor any jungle invades. The minion waves spawned from the Blue and Red nexuses and marched down the lanes.

Zeng Rui was playing Leona, a strong defensive Champion. She used her large healthpool to apply pressure on Tang Bingyao’s Vayne and An Xin’s Nami, allowing Shanghai High School’s Kalista an easier time last hitting minions. This is going well. That girl is a good support. But not that good. I can handle her. He glanced at the Vayne, but then quickly looked back at the Nami. The Vayne is still the same. She won’t be much to worry about. I need to focus on the Nami.

The new match up in the bot lane led to both teams playing defensively. The Botlaners focused on farming minions and were very carefully feeling the other side out, searching for openings to land some poke damage. The mid and top lane, on the other hand, saw a lot more action.

In the mid lane, Lin Feng’s Lulu was dominating the Yasuo. Lin Feng was a far better player and Yasuo generally had a difficult early laning phase against casters. Lin Feng’s Lulu waved her wand around, firing off magic bolts of energy at the Yasuo. She didn’t have much in terms of burst damage, but the constant damage from her ranged auto attacks stacked up. Yasuo was forced away from the minions and missed out on last hitting them. Then he was forced back to hide underneath his tower. And finally Lin Feng’s Lulu forced him to recall back to base.

In the top lane, the Junglers of both teams were looking to make a gank happen. This evolved into a 2vs2 skirmish. Liu Yue’s Jarvan IV and Chen Ze’s Irelia were fighting against Shanghai High School’s Lee Sin and Gragas. Shanghai High School was the more experienced side, while Liu Yue and Chen Ze couldn’t seem to agree on which Champion to attack, Shanghai High School focused down Chen Ze’s Irelia. He was forced to Flash away. Liu Yue flashed right behind him, but not before forcing Shanghai High School’s Lee Sin to also Flash away. In the end, Chen Ze’s Irelia had to recall back to base, while the Gragas could stay in lane. He got to free farm a full wave of minions, picking up the gold and experience, while the Irelia missed out on it.

Back in the bot lane, everything was still even. The minion wave was frozen in the middle of the lane, right below the river entrance. Both ad-carries, Tang Bingyao’s Vayne and Shanghai High School’s Kalista, were almost even in creep score and there also wasn’t much of a difference in terms of health. But even though she was doing well right now, Tang Bingyao wasn’t feeling good. H-how much does An Xin know? Will she really not tell Lin Feng? Did she already tell him? She glanced at Lin Feng, who was laser-focused on his screen. He doesn’t know… Does he? She pulled her eyes away from him and focused back on her screen. I can’t worry about this now. Mhm! I have to focus on the game. Like Lin Feng! But… What if he knows? W-what will he think? She shook her head and tightly clutched her mouse. Stop this! Stop this! Focus on the game! The game!

Tang Bingyao’s Vayne last hit another minion. She was lining up for the next one, finding a better frame of mind. And then it was all gone again. She remembered what An Xin had said to her. “We can’t have you embarrass yourself in front of Lin Feng, now can we?” Her breathing became flustered. H-how does she know? Did Ren Rou tell her… She looked over the edge of her screen at Ren Rou sitting in the audience. She wouldn’t do that, would she? No. No. Stop this! Stop this, Tang Bingyao! She breathed out sharply and focused back on her screen. Mhm. BunBun is right. I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of Lin Feng. Lin Feng… She thought back to everything he’d told her since they first met. She remembered his kind words full of passion and energy. He’s always believed in me. He keeps saying how good I am… She started smiling, finding it suddenly very easy to focus on the game. His words rang out in her mind.

“You’re an amazing ad-carry!” 

“Join my team! If we’re teammates, I’ll always have time for you!” 

“Since you don’t have a dream, I’ll lend you mine! You can keep it for as long as you want! No need to thank me!”

Tang Bingyao felt all tension escape from her body. Her grip on her mouse loosened and she started breathing in long, calm breaths. She looked over at Lin Feng and felt her smile grow a little wider. I… I’m going to impress you! I won’t ever disappoint you again! I’ll show you I can be the best ad-carry in the world! For you, I want to become the best ad-carry in the world! That’s my dream. Mhm!

Tang Bingyao’s Vayne was almost Level 3. She attacked a caster minion. Shanghai High School was still Level 2. Every small advantage was one. She landed a third auto attack on the caster minion. The three silver rings underneath it detonated and killed it. Almost immediately, she heard An Xin’s voice over the team’s voice chat, “Tang Tang, go in!” She nodded. “Mhm!”