This game that Legend was playing against KG, it held far more significance than literally everyone realized. Literally everyone. Analysts, professionals players, shoutcasters, spectators, and even the most erudite of aquatic audiences who watched and argued on streams, all of them believed that Legend would win. Easily. It was a forgone conclusion, so much so that no one had even considered what would happen if they didn’t win. Everyone except for Phoenix. He knew, he’d been thinking about it for a while now. If Legend lost this game, then their last game against Flash suddenly became important again. Because if they lost to Flash, they would end up in a three-way tiebreaker with KG and Flash. All three of them would be at 4 wins and 2 losses. He didn’t want to see that happen. He had to win this game! But that was easier said than done. It was becoming harder and harder to do that with every passing second. He stared at his screen, indecisively considering the possibilities and his next move.

Phoenix hit the Tab key and looked at the score. The Riven had picked up a triple kill and sat at 6/0/0. She was fed. She’d snowballed. There was nothing they could realistically do to stop her, beyond stalling. Sitting in their base and hoping they could hold off long enough to mount a comeback in the super late game. But it didn’t stop there. That last teamfight, one where all of them got killed and KG had gotten an ace, that was where the Riven situation went from just plain bad to a nightmare. Uch… He sighed and rubbed his temples to soothe the pounding headache from this game.

Putting aside the Riven, there was also a fed Tristana. Tristana needed levels and items to become strong. But once she did, she was one of the best carries in the game. The last teamfight had brought her to that point. If that wasn’t enough to deal with, KG also had a Xerath, a mage champion with absurdly long range. Legend’s champions could hide all the way in their fountain and Xerath could still snipe them down with magic from outside their base! And it wasn’t like Legend could dash in and kill KG. The only immobile threat was the Xerath, and he was the weakest of the three carries! Not to mention that Rek’Sai and Thresh. All of the champions KG had picked, their team composition, were ones who scaled hard. The longer the game went on, the more difficult it would get to take them down. 

No matter how Phoenix looked at it, his team was losing and he couldn’t think of a single strategy to turn this game around. He shook his head, once, then looked down at his hands. This game was finished. His team had lost, he knew it but he just didn’t want to admit it. There’s gotta be something we can do! But there wasn’t. The only way Legend could win was if KG miraculously decided to surrender for some unknowable reason. Anything short of that, the game would end in a victory for KG. KG had beaten them.

Phoenix bit on his lips and focused back on the game. He wouldn’t give up, not until Legend’s Nexus exploded! He would fight and do everything he could to turn this game around. Not everything was lost! They were still playing the game! Anything could happen! Maybe KG would screw up like they’d done only a week ago! That would see Legend pull out an easy victory. He didn’t care how small the chance of that was, just that there was a chance. And as long as there was a chance, he would fight. He would give it everything he had and play to win!

✹

On Summoner’s Rift, Legend held on for dear life. They wouldn’t give up, even after losing the big teamfight at 15 minutes. Their towers fell and they lost control over the map and the pace of the game, but they were holding on. They stopped giving away kills and played completely on the defensive. All they had to do was drag this game out. Get to the super late game where every Champion hit the maximum level of 18 and the 6 items their inventories could hold. But they couldn’t. KG’s advantage was too big. God Roundy split pushed on his Riven and took down the inhibitor in top lane at 31 minutes. Their base was broken open. The game was lost. Phoenix knew it. All of Legend knew it. In their desperation, they went for one more teamfight. Dragon had just spawned, so they rushed over the map, through an ocean of KG’s wards, to fight for this objective and try to win something.

KG saw Legend running towards the Dragon pit. One final attempt of desperation. They wouldn’t let it happen! This game was theirs, and this Dragon would also be theirs! They rushed towards the Dragon pit and gathered in the river brush right above the alcove. Legend had it warded. KG knew this, but didn’t care. Legend didn’t seem to care either as they tried to take the Dragon down, standing practically on top of each other.

Tian Tian was the first to move. He dashed forward–Valor!–and then flashed. His Riven reappeared in the middle of Legend’s team. She raised her sword up in the air and let out a shout, a green shockwave erupting out around her–Ki Burst! She landed a perfect five man stun. A green energy wrapped around her sword and she started lashing out with a series of strikes–Broken Wings!

The Rek’Sai followed right after the Riven. She flashed into Legend’s team and Unburrowed, knocking all five Champions airborne. Another second Legend couldn’t react. And another second the damage dealers on KG could attack! Tristana put her bomb down on the Kalista–Explosive Charge!–while the Xerath activated his ultimate–Rite of the Arcane! This ultimate skill made Xerath immobile in return for several powerful electrical charges. The area of effect was just large enough to wrap around all five members from Legend. Their health bars disintegrated! Then there was the Riven again, with the second part of her ultimate–Wind Slash!

There was too much damage on the side of KG. Legend’s Yasuo, Morgana and Kalista died before they could even move. And the Fiora and Sejuani died right after, while they were trying to escape. KG didn’t turn to take the Dragon. There was no need. Super minions were making their way through top lane and were about to smash into Legend’s base. Following God Roundy’s Riven, the other four from KG walked through mid lane and into Legend’s base, then took down the two Nexus turrets and finally the Nexus. They won. KG beat Legend!

《Defeat!》

Phoenix looked at the red banner on his screen. Defeat. The Emperor of Europe had lost to the third seed from the LPL. Damn! He banged his fist on the table, letting his frustration out. I shouldn’t have… Dammit! I shouldn’t have lost focus like that! He believed that in their group, only Flash could put up any resistance against Legend. And even then, that was only out of respect for Chris who was one of the Seven Kings. Demon was a great Toplaner, and not any worse than Chris in his eyes. I should’ve done more. He’d taken the group stage for granted and had put his focus on the three Korean teams who he considered to be their only real opponents at this edition of Worlds. And because of that mistake. His mistake. They now had to beat Flash or end up in a tiebreaker. Whatever happened, they couldn’t lose this next game.

Demon tapped Phoenix on the shoulder. “Hey, dude. Come. We gotta go congratulate them.”

Phoenix looked up at his Toplaner and smiled, “Right. Let’s go.” He got up from his gaming chair and walked over towards the players from KG. Tian Tian stood at the far end. KG’s Toplaner. Phoenix was caught completely off guard by him. He’d outclassed Demon, something Phoenix never even considered possible. And then he outclassed Legend. His Riven was so good that Phoenix would even place him on the same level as the best Toplaner in the world! Heh. He shook his head and followed after his teammates to congratulate KG, all the while thinking of God Roundy.

This game reminds me of back then. Phoenix smiled towards God Roundy and made a small courtesy bow. “Well played, Roundy.” He thought back to Season 1 Worlds. That was when he’d first played against Roundy. And lost. Just that the reason he lost back then was different from now. In that game, it wasn’t Roundy who’d carried his team, but their Midlaner who had. That guy was something else. The thought alone of him sent shivers down Phoenix’s spine. A 15 year old who had shown him every corner of the Rift. Such a pity that that guy left. I would’ve loved to play against him again…

Phoenix started playing League of Legends in Season 1. He was already one of the best players in the game back then. But he was never number one. There were two other Midlaners who were simply better. One was a 15 year old Chinese talent and the other an 18 year old Korean talent. Phoenix grinned and shook his head as he thought back to Season 1 Worlds. The Finals that year was something special. A clash between the two best players the game had ever seen. Rake and Maple. It looked like Maple would take the win for the longest time, but it was Rake who made the winning play in the end. And then Maple disappeared. He just up and left. Such a shame… Phoenix sighed, deep and loud. I wonder what’s happened to that kid. It’d be great to see him compete again.

✹

The Wembley Arena was quiet. A stunned silence. The European crowd couldn’t believe what they’d just seen. Their team, the one they hoped to see take home the trophy, had lost to KG. A team without even a King. The silence persisted as even the Chinese fans didn’t know what to do. They’d hoped and cheered for KG before the game started. They were screaming until their lungs gave out when God Roundy made his big play to Ace Legend. But winning a teamfight and beating Legend were two different things. The latter was something they never even considered possible. Finally, someone started clapping. It set off a wave of applause. Everyone, European and Chinese fans alike, got up to their feet and started clapping. Only Emperor teams beat other Emperor teams. Until now. For the first time in this year’s Worlds, a regular team beat an Emperor team. KG had done the impossible. They’d beaten Legend!

The professional players watching the games in the VIP viewing area were no exception. They were all clapping for KG. Moon struck his hands together, like everyone else. But his mind wasn’t on the stage. He looked over at the legend a few seats over. The one that had arrived at the start of the game, calm and relaxed. That man was now standing and clapping, still smiling. He’d never lost that smile throughout the game. Is he why Roundy is playing so good today? That could make sense… Right? He wasn’t sure. It felt like too much of a coincidence. But why would he come for Roundy? He had questions, but didn’t want to walk up to that man and ask them. Whatever. He shook his head and looked back at the stage where KG was enjoying the applause.

It finally dawned on the few Chinese people in the crowd what’d just happened. KG had won over an Emperor team! They started laughing, uncontrollably so, and clapped so hard that their hands started going numb. It woke them up a little. Enough to open their mouths and start chanting the name of their new favourite team, “KG! KG! KG!” The few broke the dam. Others started joining in and soon the entire arena was shouting, “KG! KG! KG!”

The people watching the various broadcasts of Worlds were in as much shock as those at the Wembley Arena. They needed a moment to settle their emotions and then flooded the chats.

「WWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO」

「ITS THE GOOODDDDDDD 6666666」

「GOD ROUNDY >>> KG >>>>>>>>>>> LEGEND」

「omg dis for real? cant be right? someone wake me up before you go go」

「GOD ROUNDY HARD CARRY KKGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!1!!」

No words could describe how the KG fans felt. Only a week ago, they’d given up all hope. They’d even taken it upon themselves to go to online forums and flame their team’s players. The five who’d destroyed all their hopes and dreams! They were furious. Full of rage and disappointment. Though mostly disappointment. They wanted to see their team do well and to see them screw up so badly felt like a low blow. Yet now, on the verge of being knocked out, they turned it all around. That rage and disappointment warped into such extreme joy that the fans didn’t know what to do with it. Jumping up and down their seats. Hugging their neighbours. Kissing the girl they had a crush on. Everything they would otherwise never do. The LPL wasn’t done for! There was still hope for them! This edition of Worlds wasn’t over! They could still win it all! The trophy could be theirs!

On the caster desk, Qinghe covered his mouth with his hands and pulled down. He couldn’t believe what’d just happened, but he’d been there shoutcasting it all. He watched it happen live with his own two eyes. “Wow…” He turned to the camera and shook his head. “Wow. I don’t know what to say. Just, wow. That was. Wow. KG deserves all the applause. That was something else. Wow.” He started clapping again.

Stone nodded and clapped. He smiled and didn’t know quite what to do. “Ahh…” He looked at Lolo and then back at Qinghe. “What do I say about that? That was just so, so good. God Roundy really lived up to his name. Can you imagine the pressure he was under? Like, after last week? I don’t know how he did that. He actually carried both games! Damn!”

The MVP during the group stage of Worlds so far was undoubtedly Tian Tian. His Riven and Hecarim alone were more than enough to nominate him for that award. He carried his team on his shoulders and made it possible for them to win what was supposed to be an impossible-to-win game! 

The cameras had already panned over to the winning team. Every display in the arena, along with millions of phones, laptops, tablets, and monitors around the globe showed one scene. One moment that captured all of the glory and camaraderie and everything that League of Legends and esports represented. The players from KG jumping out of their seats and clasping each other in an enormous bear-like group hug. With a beaming Tian Tian at the very center of it. He was all smiles and laughter and sheer infectious joy! 

“Right, now that KG managed to grasp victory this game… I’m guessing Team Flash is pretty shocked right now, huh?” Lolo interjected.

Over in Team Flash’s box, standing out in stark contrast to the cheers and applause, was a dark storm cloud in the very middle of the room. Right over where the players from Team Flash were sitting. They had an interesting mixture of expressions on their faces. From shock to disgust to fear to disbelief. But schadenfreude in its purest form, that could be found by looking at Chris’ face. He looked like he’d accidentally eaten the vomit that came from one dog after it had lapped up diarrhea from another dog. His dreams, and all of Team Flash’s dreams, of making it out of the group stage had ironically disappeared in a flash. 

Two games. Two different chapters in two different lives. Two friends on the same Champion, both carrying their teams. One had millions of fans watching his game online and cheering him on and 12,500 people booing his name in the arena he was playing in. He was the one taking down the crowd’s favourite! The other one had a small audience of little more than a dozen people gathered around an isle of computers. They were talking amongst each other, never really cheering. Not like the fans watching the other game did. The stakes were too different. A world apart. But the importance in that very moment felt the same for these two young players. This was their story.

High School 13 versus Tonji Affiliated High. Bottom side river, just above the Dragon pit. Lin Feng had just jumped on the Caitlyn. No one had seen it coming. Everyone panicked. The players from High School 13 stared at their screens, forgetting they were playing the game, while the players from Tonji Affiliated High were screaming into their voice chat. They were shouting incoherently, searching for something, anything they could do to save the Caitlyn. They couldn’t. She flashed away and then she died to the second part of the Riven’s ultimate–Wind Slash! Then, at Lin Feng’s command, a full teamfight broke out.

KG versus Legend. KG’s top side jungle, Blue Buff Camp. Tian Tian had just killed the Morgana. The other four players turned away from whoever else they were chasing and all focused on him. He was the only one worth killing, because he had the bounty to his name. The Yasuo flashed on him, while the others walked into a funnel towards him. He didn’t flash away. He didn’t try to run. This was his game and this would be his play! He flashed right into the middle of the three other players from Legend and pressed down on the W key–Ki Burst! Fiora, Kalista and Sejuani were all stunned!

“…HE IS GOING FOR THE 1v4!” Stone finished shouting into the camera. He let go of the camera and turned back to Qinghe and Lolo behind the caster desk. “OH. MY. GOD! HE’S DOING IT!”

“He really is, isn’t he?” Qinghe laughed. His eyes never left the monitor. He chewed his lips, afraid to blink and miss even a fraction of this fight. This was a 1vs4! This could very well become the play of the year! “Come on, Roundy,” he mumbled.

The Chinese fans at the Wembley Arena were also shouting in support of God Roundy, but their voices were drowned out by the crashing waves of booing from the European fans. Their team was losing and they wouldn’t have any of it! But the message to KG from their fans around the world was clear. Every one of them wanted to see God Roundy pull this play off.

「YESYESYES! RIVEN 1V4 TURNAROUND!」

「GOD ROUNDY 6666666666!」

「DOOOIIIIITTTTTTTTTT ROOUUNNNDDDYYYYY!!!!!!!」

「PPLLLLZZZZZZZZZZZZZ WIINNNN!!!!!」

「BIKINI CALENDAR FOR 2K COMMENTS ON A CHAPTER!!!!!」

「HE IS MY GOD!!!!!」

✹

Tian Tian sat in his gaming chair behind the monitor. His eyes were laser focused on the screen. He felt his heart pounding in his chest and his hands were sweaty. This was it. There was no turning back. He’d gone for it. I-i… There was no time to think. The worries that came up disappeared. His mind was blank and his hands moved on instinct. They knew what to do. The timing on his skills was perfect. The movements of his mouse were perfect. He was in the zone.

A green energy wrapped around Riven’s blade. She lashed out with a strike, hitting all three players from Legend around her–Broken Wings! She followed up with an auto attack on the Kalista. Kalista couldn’t do anything. She was stunned. The Riven continued with the second strike from Broken Wings, the increased stats that her active ultimate gave her helping her shred through the three Champions around her. The Kalista, Fiora, and Sejuani broke free from the stun. They could move again, and then they couldn’t. The Riven had timed it perfectly. The third strike from Broken Wings knocked those hit airborne. All three players found themselves up in the air, for just a moment.

The Riven cut down on the Kalista with an auto attack, then used the second part of her ultimate–Wind Slash! The Kalista’s health bar went almost empty. Only a sliver remained. But that was enough. The Kalista used her Heal and then flashed away. Her team would keep the Riven busy, and she’d make it out alive. She stopped just out of reach of the Riven and hesitated. Maybe she could get some poke in, help her team get the kill and grab an assist for herself. This was the wrong move. Only the Xerath was dead on the side of KG. There were still three other Champions besides the Riven. The Tristana had Rocket Jumped away and had to walk around the Jungle to get back and the Rek’Sai was almost dead only a moment ago, but the Thresh hadn’t joined the fight yet. The ghoulish green spectral appeared.

“I’m here!” the Thresh player shouted in voice chat. “Here! Grab my lantern! Let’s kill this Kalista!” He flashed towards the Kalista and Flayed her with his chain, knocking her back enough to keep her from escaping. Then he threw his lantern towards Roundy–Dark Passage!

“Thanks!” Tian Tian replied in voice chat, clicking on the lantern and traveling towards the Thresh. It pulled him away from the Sejuani and Fiora and towards the Kalista. The Kalista had some health back after using her Heal, but it was far from enough and she had no skills left to escape. The Riven auto attacked her, then canceled the animation perfectly. Animation Cancel! She slashed down on the Kalista again and killed her.

《Double kill!》

“WWOOOOOO! That is 5/0/0! Riven is 5/0/0! She’s on a Rampage! God Roundy is on a rampage!” Stone shoutcasted. The Chinese fans at the Wembley Arena shouted similar lines as did the people watching from home. God Roundy had gone in 1vs5 and had already picked up two kills! And he was still alive!

“It’s not over yet! The fight is not over!” Qinghe said. He didn’t care anymore how he looked. His eyes were glued on the monitor. He was beating his fist on the table to the rhythm of a fight song. “Legend is still going for him! He can clean them all up! This is God Roundy! He can do this!” 

“Oh! Oh!” Lolo interjected, just as excited as the other two. “Konjac! Konjac is coming back around! He’s almost there! It’s a 3v3! It’s a real fight now! Go KG!”

All roads lead to the Blue Buff Camp. The players from KG were all world class and full of determination to win this game. So when they saw the chance presented to them, they turned around. It didn’t matter how low their health was. It didn’t matter that one or two of them might die in this fight. The only thing that mattered was that this was their chance to win the teamfight against Legend. A teamfight that would help them put themselves in a very good position to win this game!

The Rek’Sai was at the end of the jungle path leading all the way to KG’s base. It was a winding path that went up all the way to the Blue Buff Camp. She Burrowed underground and followed it. Then she created a tunnel, quickly closing the distance with the Fiora and Sejuani, and Un-burrowed. She came up from underground and knocked the two players from Legend airborne.

Konjac had also walked around the jungle and back into it with his Tristana. She was now to the left of the Wolf Camp, right below the funnel at the Blue Buff Camp. The Fiora and Sejuani were in range. She placed a bomb on the Fiora–Explosive Charge! It’d explode in a few seconds, and it could be charged up by shooting auto attacks at the target! That was exactly what Konjac did. He activated Rapid Fire and went to town on the Fiora.

Demon’s screen was flashing red. The Riven had already done a number on him. Now the Tristana was also attacking his Fiora! The Fiora’s health dropped quickly and he needed to do something about that fast! There was only one thing he could do to get health back. Grand Challenge. Fiora’s ultimate revealed all four Vitals on her enemy and gave her bonus movement speed while near them. If she could hit those four Vitals or the target died, Fiora and her allies in the area would be healed over the next few seconds. She targeted Rek’Sai and attacked her!

Phoenix also caught back up. He dashed through Rek’Sai–Sweeping Blade! Then he turned around and thrust his katana forward–Steel Tempest! He knew very well that this fight was lost if Fiora couldn’t get the heal from her ultimate. They needed that health now more than anything! He hit the Rek’Sai with another auto attack, all the while cursing that he didn’t have enough attack speed! Then his heart sank. Fuck.

Konjac hit the Fiora with the last auto attack that could strengthen the bomb. The bomb attached to Fiora was flashing red and about to burst. Her health had dropped low. Too low. The Rek’Sai still had some health left. She wasn’t fast enough. The bomb exploded. Fiora died. Konjac didn’t pause. Getting a kill reset the cooldown on Rocket Jump. He pressed down on the W key. His Tristana aimed her cannon to the ground and fired, launching herself towards the Yasuo.

Phoenix clicked towards the Thresh, frantic, while smashing down on his E key. The Tristana was too strong right now and his health was too low. He couldn’t kill her. The only way out was through the Thresh. He dashed through the Thresh–Sweeping Blade! Then he ran straight into the Riven. It almost looked as if God Roundy had been waiting for him.

Tian Tian had his Riven lash out with the first strike of Broken Wings. Then he struck out with an auto attack, cancelling it before the animation completed to hit the Yasuo with the second strike of Broken Wings! The Yasuo tried to run. He didn’t even try to fight. But That didn’t matter for Tian Tian. He pressed down on his E key–Valor! His Riven dashed after the Yasuo and then leaped up in the air and slammed down onto the Yasuo, killing him–Broken Wings!

《Triple kill!》

“WOOOOOOO! TRIPLE KILL!” Qinghe shoutcasted, throwing his arms in the air and doing a little dance. “It’s a triple, it’s a triple, it’s a triple kill!”

Stone and Lolo laughed, excited. Thy high fived and then turned to look at the monitor hanging behind Qinghe. It was where the stream chat was displayed.

「TTTRRIIIPPPLLLLEEEEEEEE KKKIIILLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!」

「TRISTANA STOLE HIS PENTA!!!!! SHE BETTER AFK AND THINK ABOUT HER ACTIONS」

「god roundy with the ssiiiccckkkkk outplay」

「SOMEONE PINCH ME! IM AFRAID IM DREAMING」

「best riven world, discuss」

「BEST TOPLANER WORLD!!!!! GOD ROUNDY IS DA BEST!!1!」

✹

One of the fans watching Worlds from home was Su Xue. She sat in her bedroom, chilling in her gaming chair, and watched the KG game. When God Roundy killed the Morgana and started the turnaround of the fight, Su Xue was one of those who sat up straight in her chair. Then, as the fight went on, she leaned in closer and closer to her monitor, until she was almost touching it with her nose. As the Emperor fell, she jumped up and pumped her fist in the air. “NICE! Awesome! Great play! KG is going to win this game!”

Su Xue let herself fall back down in her chair, almost toppling over. She reached out with her arms, searching for something to grab onto, but didn’t find anything. Nor did she fall. She grinned and then breathed out through her nose. “Ah! What a game! Hmm…” She looked at the empty chair next to her. It was the chair Lin Feng so often sat in. “I wonder how that kid is doing. Did he already qualify?” She tossed a sunflower seed in her mouth and munched down on it. “Oh well, who cares. That’s just some silly tournament. This is Worlds. He’s got nothing on God Roundy! Hmph!”

✹

A teamfight broke out between High School 13 and Tonji Affiliated High! Liu Yue’s Jarvan IV threw out his flag-toss combo and dashed into the heart of the Red team. This was the decisive moment! The game deciding fight that would see the strongest team top their qualifying group! There might not be ten thousand plus people in the crowd, or shoutcasters hyping up every play. But this game was as exciting as any other at Worlds! At least, it was to the students participating in the Shanghai 16 School Tournament.

“Back back back! Get the fuck back!” 

“Exhaust! Where’s our fucking Exhaust!!!” 

“CC the Riven! STUN HER! DO SOMETHING!” 

Tonji Affiliated High’s voice chat was in chaos mode. They’d just lost their Caitlyn and now their entire team was getting sandwiched! The Janna player had no Exhaust but he still had his ultimate. He smashed down on his R key–Monsoon! A maelstrom erupted out from his Janna and pushed the players from High School 13 away, while his allies inside the maelstrom got some health back. It was a short timeout. A few seconds to breathe and get their act back together. But a few seconds were hardly enough.

Liu Yue leaped into the air and slammed down on the Syndra. The impact transformed the terrain and formed an arena around him. Wei Dong’s Leona followed up with her ultimate–⁠Solar Flare! She used her sword to summon down a beam of supercharged sunlight right into the heart of the cluster of enemy champions! It stunned both Syndra and Elise while also slowing the Janna! Yang Fan followed up with his Orianna’s Ball, launching it into the center of the trio. He pressed down on the R key to activate his Orianna’s ultimate–Command: Shockwave! A storm of electromagnetic energy raged out from the Ball and captured Syndra and Elise with its flash. Then the invisible electromagnetic pulsations dragged both of them in towards the ball, all while damaging them. Their health plummeted. The Janna barely flashed away in time, only to be met face to face with the Riven.

“Haha! You’re not getting away! Give me my penta!” Lin Feng laughed, his fingers gliding over his keyboard. He’d found his way back into the fight after being blown away by the Monsoon. Everything went as planned. He’d ace them and then push for an easy victory! He had his Riven close in on the Janna with the first two strikes from Broken Wings! Then he pressed on the Q key again for the third strike. His Riven jumped in the air with her sword raised above her head and hacked down on the Janna! The power knocked the Janna airborne! She couldn’t do anything as the Riven hacked and slashed away at her. Her health dropped and disappeared completely. Lin Feng had killed the Janna!

《Double kill!》

While Lin Feng beat down on Tonji Affiliated High’s backline, Tang Bingyao did the same on their frontline. Wei Dong had hit the Syndra with a Solar Flare. The Syndra was stunned. Her Jungler was stunned. Only their Darius could try and stop Tang Bingyao’s Draven from Blood Rushing into the fight. But he didn’t. Or rather, he couldn’t. There was a Leona who’d slammed into him with her shield, stunning him–Shield of Daybreak! Tang Bingyao maneuvered her Draven, juggling his Spinning Axes, throwing them at the Syndra and catching them again as they ricocheted off of her. The Syndra was a squishy caster at already low health and the Draven dealt a ton of damage. It only took two axes to finish her off.

《You have slain an enemy!》

Tang Bingyao turned to the Darius. She threw two spinning axes out in a straight line, slowing the Darius and knocking him aside–⁠Stand Aside! Then she continued her deadly dance, throwing Spinning Axes and catching them again. It looked like a well rehearsed play as she manipulated her axes just enough that she could reposition herself, continuing to find the best spot to throw the next axe from. The Darius couldn’t do anything. There wasn’t just the Draven, there were also the Orianna, Jarvan IV, and Leona. All four of them focused him down. Tang Bingyao caught a Spinning Axe and activated Blood Rush again for that extra bit of attack speed, when Lin Feng cried out in voice chat, “Wait! Tang Tang! Don’t steal my kills!” But she ignored him and threw the last Spinning Axe to finish the Darius off.

《Double Kill!》

After securing the kill, Tang Bingyao tilted her head and looked over at Lin Feng a few monitors over. “Hmm? What did you say?” she asked, blinking.

“Nooo! My penta!” Lin Feng wailed. He let go of his mouse and keyboard and started pulling his ruffly hair, turning to Tang Bingyao to show her his pain. He was absolutely devastated! “That was my penta! What good Riven game doesn’t have a penta! You’re so mean!”

“Oh, was that it? I already killed the Syndra. You wouldn’t have gotten a penta anyway,” Tang Bingyao replied, honest and direct as ever.

✹

Tian Tian carried KG to win the fight. He’d killed the Emperor and picked up a double kill! Konjac had also dealt a ton of damage in the end and gotten the kills on the Fiora and Sejuani. He’d played a good fight, as had the Thresh and Rek’Sai. Everyone had forgotten how the fight started. The outcome was all that mattered. And it was precisely that outcome that a lot of Chinese fans had an issue with.

「the hell!? Where’s our penta!!!」

「what is this bullshit! konjac stole his penta…………」

「I already have my pants down! I can’t finish if I don’t see my roundy get a penta!」

「i want my money back!!!!!11!!」

「screw this im not watching anymore of this shit HOW FUCKING DARE HE GIVE GOD ROUNDY HIS PENTA NOW」

「useless team dragging GOD roundy down……」

Qinghe laughed and said, “I see how the chat feels about this last fight. How about we take another look at it and see if they’re right. Did Konjac really steal a penta away from God Roundy, or was it a good teamplay? Let’s see!”

《You have slain an enemy!》

《Double Kill!》

《You have slain an enemy!》

《Triple Kill》

《Double Kill!》

《Aced!》

“Gotta say I agree with the viewers here,” Stone laughed. “That was absolutely totally a penta steal! Haha! What a great play by God Roundy! Shame about that penta steal. Really puts a damper on the whole thing!”

“God Roundy with the beautiful plays getting screwed over! It’s like solo queue all over!” Lolo laughed. “What a play! Best play of the year! Best play of League ever! He so should’ve gotten that penta! We want to see a penta! Penta! Penta!”

“Hmmm…” Qinghe looked at the replay for a second time. He watched God Roundy pick up the first two kills, and then Konjac picked up the third kill of the fight. Then God Roundy again before Konjac killed the Sejuani and ended the fight. He took the chat seriously for just a moment, while they were just having a laugh. “If Konjac hadn’t picked up that third kill, I would’ve agreed. But this was very much great teamplay on the back of a phenomenal play by God Roundy!”

Lolo smiled and said, “Never! That was totally a steal! God Roundy should just rage quit! He deserves to after that fight! Haha!”

The chat jumped on the Lolo bandwagon. They loved her and roasted Qinghe! Qinghe shook his head. He’d been far too absorbed in the fight. It was just that exciting! And then he misread the room. Everyone was excited! Thrilled! KG was winning! They were actually beating an Emperor team! And their messages reflected that. Now, they were just having some fun, releasing all their stress into chat. This small victory just about secured the game for KG! They would move on to the next round in Worlds if nothing crazy happened!

✹

KG still had to play the game out, but Lin Feng and his team had already won against Tonji Affiliated High! They’d pushed hard after winning the teamfight and picking up the Dragon and after the game hit the 27 minute mark, Tonji Affiliated High gave up. They surrendered unanimously. The primal energy within the Red Nexus twisted and warped before erupting out in a powerful explosion. On the screens of the players from High School 13, the large “VICTORY” message appeared.

Ren Rou and Chen Ze ran up to the players behind the monitors, screaming, 
“We won! We won! You guys did it! Oh my god, you guys really did it! You beat Tonji Affiliated High!” 
“That was so beautiful! Amazing teamwork! Thanks Lin Feng! Your top lane plays were crazy!”

Ouyang didn’t join Ren Rou and Chen Ze. He stood still, staring at the monitor. His head rocked back and forth and his knees started shaking. “D-did we really beat Tonji? T-they were semifinalists…” He tried to swallow the lump in his throat down, ruffling his hair. “D-did we really…” Only two weeks ago, he thought this was something impossible. A dream he didn’t even dare dream of. But in a short two weeks, here they were. They’d defeated Tonji Affiliated High! “W-we, we won!”

Liu Yue leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling before sitting up straight again and rubbing his eyes. He looked at his screen. The letters ‘VICTORY’ still stood there. He started laughing and crying, “W-we really won?”

Yang Fan put a hand on Liu Yue’s shoulder. He adjusted his glass, quickly wiping his eyes with his sleeve. He played it calm and said, “Yeah man, we did it. We won!” Then he readjusted his glasses again, and again. He couldn’t hide the joy and happiness and most of all disbelief.

Wei Dong kept shaking his head. His hands were still on his mouse and keyboard. The game couldn’t be over yet. They hadn’t lost yet. He didn’t think any other result was possible. His eyes rested on the victory screen. He pinched his arm and muttered, “We really did it. I’m not dreaming. We won!”

High School 13, the school that had lost in the qualifying round last year and the school that other teams never even considered as contenders for the main tournament, had won their qualifying group this year! They’d won all three matches and would move on to the main tournament with a perfect record!

The members of Tonji Affiliated High stood up from their seats, one a bit faster than the other. This loss didn’t mean much to them. They’d already secured their spot in the next round. But that didn’t mean they were happy either. They were rather muffled. High School 13 had outplayed them and that was why they’d lost. They walked around the isle and congratulated them on a game well played.

Just because this qualifying round was for a tournament and everyone was in a competitive spirit, that didn’t mean that both sides couldn’t be friendly before and after the game. After shaking hands, Tonji Affiliated High’s Toplaner walked over and nodded at Lin Feng, “Your Riven is amazing, man. Those were some crazy plays. I could easily see you playing in Challenger.”

“Haha, thanks! My Riven really was pretty amazing!” Lin Feng laughed.

Ouyang had walked over after his initial shock and happened to hear Lin Feng brag. He narrowed his eyes and shook his head a little. Then he pushed through a few people and grabbed Lin Feng by the shoulder. “Hey, bro. What the fuck… Show some humility. Bragging everywhere and about everything isn’t some great trait. It’s kind of stupid is what it is.”

While Lin Feng was talking with Tonji Affiliated High’s Toplaner, Tang Bingyao got approached by their ad-carry. He scratched his hair and took several fake steps in her direction before finally walking up to her. “H-hey,” he mumbled, sticking out his hand and almost punching her in the stomach. “U-uh, your Draven was really good.”

Tang Bingyao shook his hand and nodded, “Thank you.”

The ad-carry from Tonji Affiliated High felt his face heat up. His stomach was taking a roller coaster ride and his knees were wobbling. He still mustered up the courage to talk. “U-um… D-do you want to be League friends? M-maybe we can duo together some time?”

Tang Bingyao slightly tilted her head. She didn’t answer right away, instead observing him a little. How he was wobbling on his feet. How he was playing with his hands. How his eyes wouldn’t meet hers and his face was beet red. She hesitated for a moment and then asked, “Are you trying to ask me out?”

His eyes went wide. It felt like his world came to a stop. His heart dropped to the pit of his stomach. He wobbled back and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “U-uhm… N-n… I-i d-d…” He looked around for his friends, then found the door to the internet cafe and bolted away.

“What the…” Tang Bingyao looked after Tonji Affiliated High’s ad-carry. Then she turned to Ren Rou who’d just walked up to her and asked, “Why’d he run?”

Ren Rou tried to stop herself from laughing, hiding her smile with her hand. “Tang Tang–” She couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst out laughing. She grabbed her stomach and clutched in, lunging forward and almost falling down on the ground. “Hahaha!” She felt for the table and pushed herself up against it, then took several deep breaths. She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up at Tang Bingyao. “Aww, haha! Tang Tang, guys aren’t used to us girls being so direct. Haha! You scared him off! Ha! He just ran away, did you see him run? Hahaha! You know? You know, if you keep this up… Hahaha! You’ll scare them all off!”

Yang Fan pushed into the river from mid lane. Tonji Affiliated High was trying to take control of the Dragon pit, and he wouldn’t let that happen! He had his Orianna send her Ball into their team with Command: Attack! All it had to do was hit someone and it’d deal damage. If he rinsed and repeated that a few times, he could force them back. He’d help his team push down towards the Dragon pit and take over control of the area! The Ball hit the Syndra and he pressed down on his W key–Command: Dissonance! It erupted with a pulse of energy that dealt a large amount of magic damage!

Tang Bingyao also got the message. If they gave the Dragon to Tonji Affiliated High, that would be it. The fat lady wouldn’t just be singing, she’d be belting out an entire opera. They’d fall too far behind. So she pressed forward. But she had to be careful with that, since her Draven had a short attack range. She targeted and poked and attacked only the enemy champions in the frontline with her Spinning Axe, all while hovering her finger over the D key. Just in case she needed to Flash away. As much as they needed to push for control over the Dragon Pit, she couldn’t let herself be killed. Her team had no hope of getting through the team fight at the Dragon Pit without her damage. 

Tonji Affiliated High wasn’t stupid, nor were they blind. They knew exactly what was going on. This was the fight that could decide the game. If they managed to get a kill and took the Dragon down after that, this game was in the bag. They could push through the advantage to take down towers and eventually the Nexus. So they were looking for the pick. They’d rounded up the players from High School 13 near the mid lane. The Janna threw Howling Gales their way, hoping for that one good knock up that would be the opening salvo to the melody that led to them winning this teamfight. The Caitlyn fired off Piltover Peacemakers every chance she got. Bullets that blossomed open with two blade-like wings and sliced forward through the air. And any enemy champions from High School 13 that happened to be in their path. 

This particular Caitlyn had finally hit her power-spike. The moment where she achieved terminal and deadly velocity. Two items, that’s all she needed. Then for a brief, shining, glorious interval in the game, she was unstoppable. The combination of her long range and high damage proved to be a nightmare for High School 13. They couldn’t get too close, couldn’t poke, and couldn’t engage without stepping into her kill zone. And she would always fire if they entered her attack range. A normal hit wasn’t too bad. Any champion she sniped still had a shot at surviving. But if she happened to get a critical hit off, that would hurt. Just a smidge more than the pain that comes from having your high school crush laugh at you when you finally gathered the courage to ask her to prom. It would hurt enough that any champion from High School 13’s team who took a critical hit to the face would be forced to back away. Maybe even run back to base to heal. 

The Syndra from Tonji Affiliated High’s team, she wasn’t a pushover either. Her skills and attacks also packed a punch, a serious wallop of burst damage. If she managed to get her full combo off, she could instadelete a champion. But that came with its own drawbacks. Every time she used her full combo, she had to back out and wait for her skills to cooldown. But that small handicap was mitigated with the constant damage from the Caitlyn. Essentially, what this boiled down to was that both Caitlyn and Syndra were necessary components for Tonji Affiliated High to win this team fight. They were equally important. But the Caitlyn was flush with power and going a little insane. Her team needed her for this fight, needed her to stay alive. But she started to get a little too aggressive and played a little bit too recklessly. Enough to worry her team, and they didn’t hold back when reminding her how important it was that she stay alive. 

“Stop being so aggro! You think you’re that Draven or something? Stay back!” 

“Watch out for J4 and Leona! Seriously, we’re screwed if they get to our backline!”

“Stay the fuck back! You idiot! The Riven can just flash engage on you!”

Throughout this teamfight, there was a very real threat that High School 13’s team would go in for a hard engage. If their Leona or Jarvan IV could find a moment to go in on either Caitlyn or the Syndra from Tonji Affiliated High, that would end this fight. With Command: Protect, Orianna could attach her Ball to them and then use her Command: Shockwave to deal a ton of magic damage and push back any enemy champions within reach. The champions from Tonji Affiliated High were all clustered together right now, huddled up. They’d be toast. Beyond the threat from Leona, Jarvan IV, and Orianna, there was also still the Riven to think about. A fed Riven. A Riven who could Flash into their backline and slice through their carries with a single sweep of her blade. They absolutely had to be careful.

“Okay! I got it! I got it!” exclaimed the player who controlled the Caitlyn. He was exhausted. Irritated. Everyone on his team was being too neurotic and worrying too much. He knew why they were worried and what they were worried about. He knew there was a chance that his Caitlyn would get killed if he overextended. But that was the same in every game. This is all because I lost to that Draven early in the game… He walked his Caitlyn back a little, taking cover behind his team’s tanks, the more defensively orientated champions. Look, there’s that Jarvan being an idiot again. And look at that Leona, fronting like she’s hot shit… And that Riven that everyone’s shitting themselves over, she’s probably in that bush… He decided to use his Caitlyn to throw a Yordle Snap Trap in the brush he was looking at to get some quick vision. Huh? Wait. WAIT! SHIT! His eyes rounded, “Guys! The Riven is m–”

A flash of golden light erupted out on top of the Caitlyn. The Riven appeared out of nowhere. She raised her sword and shouted, a shock wave of green energy sweeping out and stunned the Caitlyn and Janna–Ki Burst! Then the Riven followed up with a quick auto attack and then the first strike of three from the skill Broken Wings. Then came the second auto attack and also the second strike from the skill Broken Wings. It all happened so fast. The players from Tonji Affiliated High forgot to react. They only shouted in shock in their voice chat. 

“Oh shit oh shit! Riven! RIVEN!” 

“Fuck! How?” 

“Protect Caitlyn! Peel! Peel! Peel!” 

“Exhaust! Exhaust the Riven!” 

“I don’t have Exhaust! I used it already!”

The rest of the team tried to save Caitlyn. They needed her! But the Riven was too strong and none of them had the right abilities off cooldown. The only thing that could stop the Riven right now, or slow her down, was Janna’s Exhaust. But unfortunately for her and the rest of her team, she’d used that two minutes earlier in bot lane against the Draven. It was still on cooldown. And they didn’t know that. The card that the rest of the team thought they had up their sleeves, it didn’t exist.

The Caitlyn smashed down on his keyboard. 90 Caliber Net! Flash! One of them had to work! Maybe then he could still get out, somehow. But the Ki Burst’s stun didn’t break. His Caitlyn just stood there, immobile, while he smashed down on his keyboard, frantic. Then as her health dropped down below a quarter, she moved. Finally. The Flash worked. She followed it up with a 90 Caliber Net. And then a wave of runic sword energy! But that wasn’t Caitlyn’s skill. It was the Riven’s. It was the second part of her ultimate–Wind Slash! The green runic sword energy sliced through the Caitlyn and killed her.

《Rampage!》

The crowd burst into cheers. This was a beautiful play! This was exactly what they were watching the game for! But above all the excitement, three voices were louder than any other. They belonged, of course, to Ouyang, Ren Rou and Chen Ze. 

“NICE, BRO! HELL YEAH! KILL ‘EM ALL!” 

“HAHA! THAT WAS BRILLIANT! YOU’RE THE BEST LIN FENG!” 

“HE CAN REALLY DO THIS! HE REALLY CAN!”

The players from High School 13 stared at the Riven. They turned into spectators as they didn’t even chase after the players from Tonji Affiliated High as they moved to kill Lin Feng. “GO GO GO GO! What are you waiting for!” Lin Feng’s voice sounded in the voice chat. It was enough to snap them out of it. They weren’t spectating this game. They were playing in it!

“COMING IN HOT!” Liu Yue cried out. He was the first to react. He had his Jarvan IV dash into the heart of Tonji Aff. High’s team with his flag toss combo. The Syndra was right in front of him. “DEMACIA!” He jumped up in the air and then came crashing down on her, knocking her into the ground with such force that the terrain around them transformed into an arena–Cataclysm!

✹

Legend had caught out KG’s Midlaner and Jungler! The Midlaner was already dead. Right now, they were chasing the Rek’Sai through KG’s top side jungle. Sejuania led the charge, with Yasuo and Morgana right behind her. The Yasuo was the only one with real damage. If he was out of the picture, Rek’Sai might still survive! Konjac, KG’s ad-carry, knew this. He sneaked into his jungle and hid in the Wolf Camp, waiting for Rek’Sai to pass by above him. Then he had his Tristana load a massive cannonball into her weapon and fired it at the Yasuo as he passed by–Buster Shot! The magic damage didn’t threaten the Yasuo, but the knockback was enough to get him away from the Rek’Sai.

Konjac smiled. A job well done. His screen flashed red. Huh? He’d been moving his screen to follow his Rek’Sai to see if she could make it out alive. Shit! This distraction had left his Tristana undefended. He’d forgotten there were five players on Legend for a second. Demon was one of those five. Legend’s Toplaner. He Lunged onto Konjac’s Tristana with his Fiora! The Fiora then erupted forth with a tempest of slashes–Bladework! She slowed the Tristana down with the first attack and critically hit her with the second! A third and fourth and the Tristana had less than half of her health remaining.

The European fans in the Wembley Arena had forgotten all about whatever it was that’d happened before the game had started. Right now, they only wanted to see Legend win. And that was what they were seeing! Their team was about to break open a lead so big that they’d all but won the game. Just a few more kills and a Dragon. It was within reach. They stamped their feet on the ground in an even rhythm, building up the hype. This was the moment that Legend would win their hardest game in the group stage yet!

KG had to defeat Legend if they wanted to make it out of the group stage without playing a tiebreaker. But the openings to mount a comeback were quickly becoming smaller. Legend was pulling ahead, and fast. It was so bad even that if KG didn’t turn this fight around, then they could just as well surrender. That was how poorly it looked for them. Yet on the flip side, if they won this match, then they’d be as good as qualified for the next round! The Chinese fans forgot to breathe, shackled to their TVs. This was the moment. Make or break.

The Chinese casters were just as nervous as their viewers. They were fans of the game, and they wanted to see the teams from their region do well! The three of them leaned forward, their arms on the caster desk, as they watched the game as closely as they could. If anything happened, they wanted to be the first to see it. Stone did. His face started shining as he stood up straight and looked into the camera, “YES! KG still has a chance! It’s not all over! IT’S NOT OVER! RIVEN IS COMING!”

Tian Tian had his Riven run down the river and into his own top side Jungle. He walked past the Blue Buff Camp and into the brush. The Rek’Sai had already run past. The Sejuani and Yasuo were still chasing her. But the Morgana sat back. Her health was low and she was recalling back to base. She had no clue he was there, because the Rek’Sai had swept for wards a minute earlier and cleared all of them in the top half of the river. I-i can do this! I-i can! Yes! Tian Tian’s breaths became short and loud. Then he clicked on the Morgana and then pressed on the R key–Blade of the Exile!

A green energy lit up around the edges of Riven’s reforged sword. She dashed towards the Morgana–Valor! The Morgana didn’t have her Dark Binding. It was still on cooldown. She was defenseless. The Riven lashed out with a series of strikes, three of them in total–Broken Wings! She didn’t even pause in between for auto attacks. That would take more time and Morgana’s health was already so low that it wasn’t necessary. She smashed her sword down onto the Morgana for the third strike and killed her.

《Rampage!》

“GOD ROUNDY HAS DONE IT AGAIN!” Stone screamed on the caster desk. The chat was lighting up. The fans all across the world agreed. God Roundy was back! Last week was forgotten. This game and a win was all that mattered now!

「666666666666」

「GOD ROUNDY IS DA FRIGGIN BESTTTT!!!!!1!!」

「ROUNDY ROLLS OVER THEM!!!」

「GOOOOOO ROUNDY!!!!! NICE PLAY MY BROOO!!!!!!!!」

「OMGOMGOGMOGMGOMG IT WORKED!!!! WALKING TO THE FRIDGE GETS ROUNDY A KILL!!! IMA WALK TO THE FRIDGE AGAIN BRB!!!!!」

「SSIICCKKK PLLAAYYY GO GET EM TIGER!」

Tian Tian quickly fled back into the brush near Blue Buff Camp after killing the Morgana. The other four players from Legend stopped what they were doing. Their chase of the other members from KG seemed pointless. Even if they got the kills, they weren’t worth as much as Tian Tian’s Riven. And the Riven was in the middle of the jungle. There was no easy escape. They turned around and collapsed on her.

On the caster desk, Qinghe put his hand down on a sheet of paper. He crumpled it and said, “Can he escape? Can God Roundy do it again and escape?” He turned his eyes away from the monitor and looked into the camera. “God Roundy killed the Morgana in an ambush. That’s a good play. He bought his teammates some time to escape. But it’ll only be worth it if he can stay alive. Because if he dies, he’ll give away the bounty on his head as well as the Dragon. It’s now all on his shoulders! Let’s see what he does!”

Phoenix was the closest to the Blue Buff Camp. He was just left of it, towards KG’s base. He had his Yasuo turn around and flashed forward. Gimme that shutdown gold! He grinned. This would be an easy kill. There was plenty of space to chase after the Riven, and his Yasuo was great at chasing. He pressed down on his E key–Sweeping Blade! This was a gap closer from Yasuo that also dealt a little bit of magic damage. He used it to catch up to the Riven and then auto attacked with his katana.

The other three players from Legend stopped chasing whoever they were chasing and redirected their focus on the Riven. She wasn’t far away. Really close, even. They were all only a few steps away from the Blue Buff Camp. All that separated them was a funnel. They moved towards it without thinking. The Riven was running away and they wanted to catch up. It never crossed their minds that the Riven could turn around. A 1v4 sounded suicidal in a normal game, let alone at Worlds! But that was exactly what Tian Tian did on his Riven. He flashed towards the three players from Legend when they pushed through the funnel and then pressed on the W key–Ki Burst! A shockwave of green energy swept out from the Riven, stunning the three players from Legend!

Stone jumped up and down behind the caster desk. He looked at the camera, then at Qinghe. “WOOOOOO!” he yelled before running at the camera and grabbing it with both hands. He pushed his face into the camera and shouted, “A FLASH INTO THE ENEMY TEAM! GOD ROUNDY! GOD ROUNDY! HE, HE, HE…”

Everyone, from the other professional players in the VIP viewing area to the casual League of Legends fan back at home sat up in their chairs. They stopped everything else they were doing and focused their full attention on the game. Something special was happening. Something unique. Something everything would be talking about for years to come!

「HOLYSHIT! HOLYSHIT! HOLYSHIT!」

「HE’S GOING IN FOR THe 1V4 CLUTCH PLAY!」

「GOD ROUNDY IS DOING IT!!!!!」

「666666」

「AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I CANT BELIEVE THIS OMGGGGG THIS IS INSANE!!!」

「DO IT ROUNDY! I BELLIIEEEBBBBBBBBBBB!!!!!!」

“Come on, guys! You can do it!” Ren Rou shouted. She wanted to win this game! They were doing so great during the early game. What happened in the last few minutes, that was only a minor setback! Two kills and a Dragon, that’s all that happened! They could still win! There was still hope!

“YEAH! Come on, my bros! We can totally still win this!” Ouyang cheered. He punched up into the air. But it looked completely mismatched with the expression on his face. He was biting his lips and his eyes were wide open, full of worry. A trace of this worry slipped into his voice. “We can do this! Totally.”

Chen Ze didn’t say anything. He watched the players from High School 13 sitting behind their monitors. They looked lost, even from behind. He couldn’t explain why. Perhaps it was the way they were sitting in their chairs, or how they kept looking towards Lin Feng as if they were searching for his guidance. Their plays became less confident too. They hid further back. Whenever an opportunity did show up, they chose to retreat rather than engage. It looked like they’d lost the will to fight.

It made sense. This game was difficult. Tonji Affiliated High was simply better than High School 13. They were the semi finalists from last year. They had the stronger players in every role. They had everything going for them. Well, almost everything. Lin Feng was on High School 13’s team. He was the only reason the game wasn’t over yet. But how far can he carry us? Even with him, it looks like we still can’t win. We’re just not good enough. Chen Ze thought things would’ve been different if they just had more time. More time to practice. More time to learn from Lin Feng. Two weeks just wasn’t enough. It’s fine, though. Right? It’s just one game. There’s nothing on the line here. We’ve already qualified. Yeah…. It’s fine.

However, the players from High School 13 hadn’t given up. Nor was their morale running low. They were just upset, that’s all. Not even upset, really. More like mildly miffed. They were mad at themselves, more than anything else. It was their mistakes that had led to them giving up two kills and a Dragon. They were annoyed that Tonji Affiliated High was back in the game because of their mistakes. But that annoyance was not the same as giving up. If anything, it made them want to fight even harder!

The usually quiet Wei Dong was the first to give voice to these emotions. “God dammit guys! I’m not gonna stand here and take this! We’re not going to let Mikey get to us! Not after that fantastic start we had! We’re going to win this damn game! We’re going to win! This is only one match, but we can make an explosion!”

“Heck yeah! What Wei Dong says! THEY SHALL NOT PASS!” Liu Yue said. He cleared the Wolf Camp on the top side of his Jungle, then added, “I’ll come help you guys in bot and mid. Screw that Elise and her shitty ganks! I’ll show them what a real gank looks like!”

Yang Fan adjusted his glasses. “Come mid first. Syndra has no Flash. Should be an easy kill.” There was something more he wanted to say, but he hesitated. He had his Orianna walk into lane to last hit a minion, careful not to get caught out by the Syndra. He clicked his tongue and added, “Of course, this isn’t great right now. We’ve given away two kills. It’d be strange if any of us were happy. But being upset isn’t giving up. We’re not giving up. Our goal is the trophy. This is just one game towards that trophy. Let’s make sure we win it.”

Tang Bingyao bit down hard on her lips. Tonji Affiliated High had gotten a kill over her. Their ad-carry was ahead of her Draven now. But she was the better ad-carry. She knew she was the better player. It was time for her to prove that. Play time is over! Instead of making promises over voice chat or cheering with the others to fight, she just stared at her screen. She stared at Tonji Affiliated High’s ad-carry. I don’t care what it takes. Starting right now, I’m going to play on! I’m going to beat you. And I’m going to win this game.

Lin Feng looked over at his teammates and smiled. They’d made a few mistakes, and that was fine. Mistakes were a part of life. Lin Feng wasn’t upset that they’d died. They were trying their best and that was all he could ask of them. That was also why he was happy now. They were doing their best. Even after falling behind, they didn’t give up nor did they start blaming each other. Instead, they were supporting each other. Offering help and seeing what they could do to get their teammates back into the game. They came together as a unit and fought against a team they knew was much stronger than they were. For that reason alone, Lin Feng was proud of them.

Lin Feng took a deep breath, long and slow. He needed to play a perfect game with his Riven to help his team win. That was the singular point of his focus. He didn’t even join in for any of the discussions over voice chat. His teammates, his friends, could figure out their strategy on their own. He knew they could, and he trusted them. He knew they’d make the right call, and they did. They chose to fight! That was the right choice. He could feel his heart beating faster and the adrenaline pounding in his veins. There was a fire burning in his bones! He was going to win this game for them! His Riven was going to go in like a wrecking ball! He knew he needed to say something, he knew how one word could make a heart open. So he said, “You’re doing great, guys! Dontcha worry, leave the rest to me! I’ll bring this game home!”

✹

Determination was important when you decided to chase your dreams. You needed to be determined enough to constantly headbutt a brick wall until it broke down. You also needed courage to keep charging into it. Over and over again. Without the courage to recklessly charge forward against any obstacle in your path, determination meant nothing. There was a formula for it. Ten percent luck, twenty percent skill, fifteen percent concentrated power of will, five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain. That’s what you needed to conquer your dream.

It didn’t matter how big or strong the guy standing in the way of your goal was or how tall and thick that brick wall was. As long as you laughed at the immovable object in front of you and charged forward heroically with all your might. You might fall a couple of times. You might need to take a breath. But even if you couldn’t move an immovable object despite becoming an unstoppable force, you could still hold your head up with pride. The journey alone transformed you into an unstoppable force, one that could charge forward again after stepping around the immovable obstacle. There was a hundred percent reason for everyone to remember your name. 

Just like Alonso Quixono in the novel, “Don Quixote”. A laughable knight-errant who attempted to revive chivalry by tilting at windmills. His actions were considered both comical and delusional by the post-chivalric society in the novel. But the Knight Don Quixote never gave up, and never backed down. He faced countless foes, albeit fictional, and eventually triumphed. 

In the face of an overwhelmingly powerful opponent, an immovable obstacle, all you needed was courage. The courage to turn into an unstoppable force and charge forward! But in League of Legends, you didn’t need to have that courage alone. You had teammates standing at your shoulders, pushing you forward. A League of Legends team was composed of five people!

Five people who could rely on each other! Five people who could depend on each other for courage! Five people who could band together to become an unstoppable force that could overcome any obstacle!

My power’s turned on, starting right now I’ll be strong!

Like how Riven’s unwavering voice rang out through the battlefield where she continued to fight alone until her blade was smashed to pieces, “My spirit is still not lost!”

I’ll play my fight song! And I don’t really care if nobody else believes, cause I’ve still got a lot of fight left in me!

Like how Tian Tian relentlessly pursued victory despite trembling and shaking at the edge of the abyss that was his anxiety!

Like a small boat, on the ocean, sending big waves into motion. Like how a single word can make a heart open. I might only have one match, but I can make an explosion!

Like how Lin Feng charged into this game with his spirit burning brighter and brighter, pushed forward by his teammates until he turned into an unstoppable force!

This is my fight song! Take back my life song! Prove I’m alright song! My power’s turned on! Starting right now, I’ll be strong! I’ll play my fight song! And I don’t really care if nobody else believes, cause I’ve still got a lot of fight left in me!
Know I’ve still got a lot of fight left in me.

✹

At 14 minutes into the game, the second Dragon spawned. The players from High School 13 and Tonji Affiliated High gravitated towards the Dragon pit in the bottom side river. Tonji Affiliated High took control of the river above the Dragon pit. They bullied the players from High School 13 away and back towards mid lane. The players from High School 13 weren’t just going to take this. They fired back with their skillshots and tried to get vision over the area, and then maybe control. All the while, Lin Feng had slipped away and pathed from mid lane down through his Jungle and around the Dragon pit. Then he walked through the tri brush near bot lane towards the river.

A few people in the crowd noticed the Riven’s icon showing up below Tonji Affiliated High’s team. They tapped or brushed against the people around them and pointed at the monitor. 

“Dude! Look there! The Riven!” 
“The Riven backdoor!”
“Oh snap! This gonna be juicy!”

Ouyang looked around the cafe. The whispers weren’t whispered, they were more like muffled shouts. He put his finger to his lips and started shushing those who were the loudest. Ren Rou did the same, as did Chen Ze. Lin Feng was flanking Tonji Affiliated High! He tried to get into their backline and one shot the squishy carries hiding behind the tanks! This was a great plan! But it would fail the moment Tonji Affiliated High noticed him. So the three of them took it upon themselves to quiet the crowd, and make sure Tonji Affiliated High wouldn’t find out about it until it was already too late to do anything about it!

✹

The casters of the KG versus Legend game had full vision of the map. They saw where Legend was, even when KG couldn’t. Right now, KG had very few wards and had no clue where any of the players from Legend were. “NO! BACK! Don’t do that! Back! Not good! KG is going to get caught!” Stone cried out as the crowd in the Wembley Arena came to life. Everyone saw what was happening, except for the five players from KG.

KG’s Rek’Sai was trying to get some vision around their mid lane. He walked through his upper jungle until he arrived at the wall separating the jungle near mid lane and the river. On the other side of the wall was the river brush. That was where he wanted his ward. He got as close up to the wall as he could and then placed a ward over it into the brush. As he did, the dark magic of Morgana flew through the wall and locked him in place–Dark Binding!

The Xerath, KG’s Midlaner, saw the Dark Binding appear. He moved without thinking, ready to help his Jungler. Then Rek’Sai’s ward landed on the brush. It revealed all five members of KG, waiting for a pick. “Crap!” the Xerath shouted. But he was already too close to his Jungler, and too far away from his outer tower. Nor was there any time to react.

Legend’s Sejuani flashed over the wall and then charged into the Rek’Sai and Xerath, knocking both of them up into the air–Arctic Assault! This was the moment that the Yasuo was waiting for. He activated his ultimate and blinked over to the two airborne Champions! Then he knocked them back down to the ground–Last Breath! The Sejuani came in right after with her own ultimate, a bola that froze and stunned the first Champion it struck–Glacial Prison!

KG’s Midlaner died. Before the other three members from Legend could walk around the wall and arrive to the fight, he was already dead. The combination of crowd control spells meant there was nothing he could do in return. He was basically perma-stunned until he died. As for the Rek’Sai. After the Last Breath knocked her back down to the ground, she flashed away and created enough of a gap to have some hope of survival. But the players from Legend were hot on her tail!

If Legend got the kill on the Jungler, then the second Dragon was within their grasp. They would get another buff on top of two kills. This would be the nail in the coffin for KG. There was no coming back after that happened. The Chinese casters and fans at home were biting their nails. Legend was too strong. The Sejuani could tank towers, while the rest finished off the Rek’Sai. It looked hopeless. Their only hope was God Roundy and his Riven. They looked towards the minimap, where they saw Riven’s icon moving down the river from top lane and towards the action.

✹

Lin Feng walked up towards the team from Tonji Affiliated High from behind, while Tian Tian did the same in his game against Legend. 10,000 kilometers separated the two, but they kept making the same plays. They played with the same conviction and came to the same conclusion. This fight was not lost! It didn’t matter how bad it looked, both of them believed they could turn the fight around and pull out a win for their team! The two friends slammed down on their R keys, an ocean apart but still bonded by fate.

Both Rivens empowered their weapons with green energy, reforging their broken blades–Blade of the Exile! Their attack damage and range rose sharply, and they gained the powerful ability Wind Slash! Their cold voices echoed through Summoner’s Rift, and across time and space itself, in unison, “I am awakened!”

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

《You have been slain!》

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

《An ally has been slain!》

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“No more fuck ups!” 

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

“That’s the spirit! For KG!” 

“M-mhm, yeah!”

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

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

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

“KG! KG! KG! WHO’S THE BEST? KG! KG!”

“LONG LIVE GOD ROUNDY!”

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

“GOD ROUNDY! BEST PLAYER IN THE WORLD!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

「666666666!!!!!!!!!」

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

《Killing Spree!》

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

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

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

《An ally has been slain!》

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

《You have slain an enemy!》

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

《You have been slain!》

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Yeah! We can win this!” 

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

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

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

✹

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

“Careful! Back! Back!” 

“SHIT!” 

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

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

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

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

“WOOOWWWWW! That Draven is crazy good!” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

《You have slain an enemy!》

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

《A turret has been destroyed!》

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

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

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

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

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

《Killing spree!》

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

✹

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

《First blood!》

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

✹

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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