Rise

ng Bingyao’s Corki appeared on his screen.
The brief moment of clarity was gone.
Hatred was all that was left.
He threw down a ward in the brush as was habit and then clicked on Tang Bingyao’s Corki. I’ma force her to back, then farm up a bit and then I’ma stomp her! I’ma stomp her and kill her and make her– His eyes went wide in shock. WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY DOING THERE!?

Lin Feng grinned, beating imaginary drums, and shouted, “GoGoGooo!”

Seo still had Flash available, never having been able to use it in the previous fight.
He slammed down on his keyboard.
A veil of light wrapped around his Draven and carried him back towards his inner tower.

An Xin waited briefly, just long enough to see where Seo’s Draven flashed to.
Then she activated Body Slam and Flash! Gragas recklessly charged forward with immense momentum as a mottled flash of light wrapped around him.
It carried him and his momentum a short distance, dropping him down right in front of Seo’s Draven.
His big frame then slammed into Draven and knocked him up! Gragas followed up with his ultimate skill! He threw an Explosive Cask behind Draven.
The force unleashed by the explosion sent Draven flying straight towards Lin Feng’s Talon!

Lin Feng laughed and commended, “Nice one, BunBun! Thanks for giving me the kill!” His fingers were already gliding across his keyboard, perfectly linking together his skills to deal as much damage as quickly as possible.
From Cutthroat into Rake into Noxian Diplomacy and finally Shadow Assault! Daggers cut into Draven and sliced through his back and his chest! They drained his health bar until there was nothing left of it!

《You have slain an enemy!》

Seo stared at the different shades of dull grey on his screen.
Dead.
Again.
Corki stood on top of his body farming minions, almost as if teasing him.
His hand started trembling so violently that he kept knocking against the table, but he didn’t feel or hear it.
His mind was overcome with rage.
There were no more coherent thoughts.
Only hatred.
Hatred for the girl who’d turned him down.
Hatred for the girl who’d pushed him away.
Hatred for the guy who claimed no one would remember him after this series.
“I’ll fucking kill all of you!” he growled.

Su Xue fell back in her chair and laughed, incredulous.
She pointed at the screen and wanted to ask something, only to realize Lin Feng wasn’t there sitting next to her. Right, I’m not streaming.
I’m casting! She reached to the caster desk and grabbed the microphone.
She moved it to her lips and shouted, “WOOOOOOO! Just like I predicted! The dirty play by Team Shanghai worked perfectly! They’ve got another kill on Draven!”

Zephyr sat in his chair, stunned.
It wasn’t until he heard Su Xue talk that he remembered he was also casting.
Going into this series, he’d been informed that Team Guangzhou was the better team.
That this was going to be the Team Guangzhou show and that it was up to him to hype that up.
But this wasn’t the Team Guangzhou show.
This was the Team Shanghai show! He shook his head, incredulous, and said, “Draven has spent so much time on the fountain that even if Corki wasn’t like a million kills ahead, he’d still be levels ahead of Draven! This is crazy! Team Shanghai is manhandling Team Guangzhou!”

“WOOOOOOO! GET CAMPED, BITCH!”

“When a movable object meets an unstoppable force!”

“How does that feel? Knowing you can’t buy yourself a win!”

“They’re soooo camping that Seo for what he did.
Did you guys see that video!?”

“TEAM SHANGHAI! WOOOOOO!”

✹

Team Guangzhou’s Nexus was still in one piece.
Technically, they were still in the game.
But it was becoming increasingly obvious that they’d lost.
Team Shanghai had such a commanding lead that they could force objectives.
Dragons were theirs and they also took down the mid and top outer towers.
Team Guangzhou didn’t even try to contest.
None of them had the health to tank an unstoppable Corki!

“Team Shanghai is ahead and now that we’re getting to teamfights, we can see that Team Shanghai’s team composition is also far better,” Zephyr analysed from the casters desk.
“They’ve got Braum and Gragas in the frontline.
And Lissandra is basically a third frontline unit with how tanky she is right now.
Then consider Talon and Corki’s damage and it’s hard to see Team Guangzhou achieving anything.”

Su Xue leaned towards her microphone and continued, “Team Guangzhou put all their eggs in the ‘win the lane, win the game’ tactic.
But they lost their lanes.
Take Draven.
He’s useless at this point! And then there’s Goalie’s LeBlanc.
What she needs to do at this stage of the game is find ways to pick off Corki or Talon! And she can probably nuke them down if she gets on top of them.
But how is she going to get on top of them? Team Shanghai has Braum and Gragas who can both knock her away, and then there’s also Lissandra who can lock LeBlanc down in a Frozen Tomb!”

Zephyr nodded and took over, “You’ve hit the nail on its head, EveningSnowfall! This game is as good as over! The Nexus might still be standing, but Team Guangzhou isn’t going to magically turn this around.
They needed to win this in the early game.
Even if they drag this game out, their team composition is so much worse for teamfights that it really doesn’t even need to be mentioned.”

✹

The game passed the 20 minute mark.
Team Shanghai methodically took down towers and secured the Dragon for a third time.
Zeng Rui left nothing to chance.
He made everyone buy wards, told them where to place those wards, and called when and where to engage enemy Champions.
They took a couple of small fights, picking up a couple of kills.
But Team Guangzhou rarely fought back, instead choosing to retreat all the way back to their Nexus towers.

At 27 minutes, all three inhibitor towers and inhibitors were destroyed.
Super minions were marching into Team Guangzhou’s base.
Zeng Rui watched that, then glanced at the health bars of his teammates.
They weren’t topped off.
He briefly hesitated before saying, “We’re going to take the Baron, recall back to base and then push to finish.”

“Can’t we just finish it here?” Lin Feng asked, confused.
“We’ve been dragging it for so long already…”

An Xin looked at Lin Feng who said directly to her left and then past him at Zeng Rui.
She smiled and said, “It’s good to take it slow and push for a certain win.” She briefly paused, waiting for Lin Feng’s shoulders to droop, and then continued, “But let’s end this one.
There’s nothing they can do.”

Lin Feng looked at An Xin, surprised.
He then grinned and shouted, “Let’s do this!”

Zeng Rui pursed his lips but relented.
He said over the team’s voice chat, “Alright.
We’ll wait for the next wave of super minions and then finish this game.” He leaned forward and looked across the line of computers at Zhang Hao and said, “You ult LeBlanc.
Lin Feng and Tang Tang will just deal damage.
I’ll have my ultie ready …” he nodded at An Xin, “…
and if anything goes wrong, you ult them all away and we escape.”

An Xin winked and replied, “Will do.”

“The wave is coming! Let’s finish this!” Lin Feng exclaimed, excited.

Zhang Hao’s Lissandra carved a Glacial Path and blinked towards the icy claw when it was on top of Goalie’s LeBlanc.
He locked her up within the Frozen Tomb.
Lin Feng followed right behind him, blinking behind Seo’s Draven and then activating Shadow Assault! Talon threw blades out in a circle around him, slicing through all five Champions from Team Shanghai! Tang Bingyao’s Corki stayed at a distance and fired a Missile Barrage!

Health bars dropped fast and Team Shanghai scored an ace before the super minions did any damage.
They then turned their attention towards the Nexus towers and finally the Nexus itself.
Cracks spread on the Nexus as steel and magic slammed into it.
The crystal broke and the energy within exploded up into the sky, where it morphed into a Victory emblem for Team Shanghai.

VICTORY

“TEAM SHANGHAI TAKES THE LEAD!” Su Xue cried out into her microphone.
“They’re up 1-0 against the favourites from Guangzhou!”

“WOOOOOOO!” Zephyr screamed.
“WHAT A GAME! WHAT.
A.
GAME!”

“TEAM SHANGHAI FOR THE WIIIIIIIIN!”

“WOOOOOOO!”

“SICK GAME! SIIIIIIIICK!”

“GIMME MORE! GIMME MORE! I WANNA SEE MORE OF THIS!”

“Those kids are so good, DAYUM!”

“Korean imports are worth only this little!”

“TEAM GUANGZHOU GOT WRECKED BY GIRLS! HAHAHA!”

The players from Team Beijing sat in the player seating area, stunned.
The cheers from the audience slammed against their backs, forcing them up on their feet.
Their hands moved as if on their own volition, clapping and applauding Team Shanghai.

Sun Lei was the substitute Midlaner for Team Beijing.
He rubbed his eyes and muttered, “D-did that really just happen? Why didn’t Goalie carry? Is he sick or something?”

Team Beijing’s ad-carry stared at the large LCD screen above the stage and mumbled, “What about Seo… What was he doing…?”

“But Seo is just a Korean Challenger, Goalie is a Top 10 Korean Challenger!” Team Beijing’s Support exclaimed.
He shook his head and continued, “He got a lead at the very start.
I’ve never seen him fail to push that advantage into a win! How did he not win this game…?”

“Team comp,” Yu Ping replied.
He looked around at his teammates and explained, “Like the caster girl said.
Team Shanghai countered Team Guangzhou’s team comp.
That’s all there is to it.” He then turned his head to look at Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth and added, “But it does look like I underestimated their Midlaner.
He did better than I expected.”