『You have been killed!』

『FIRST BLOOD!』

"I'm sorry..." Sonya hung her head. For her, this blunder hit much harder than any normal death. She died at the hands of Vanishing, the very phantom she was supposed to supervise. Vanishing was the one player Sonya wanted to reject with all her might, yet this same player was the one who claimed Sonya’s life at this critical moment.

"It's not your fault, at least not entirely," Cato said. "They played us. I admit, I also didn't consider Vanishing showing up here, not after we saw her deep in Bot Jungle."

When the ward showed that Vanishing was heading toward Bot, it put their minds at ease. They were so glad to catch a glimpse of the highly evasive enemy that they didn’t even question the data they were fed.

"My, it was such a nasty bait," Cato said with his usual playfulness, but his expression was stern. "Using a clone to throw us off is like the oldest trick in the book, yet we still fell for it."

Basically, Yuel exploited the fact that the Leopards were paying such close attention to Vanishing's movements. He masterfully threw them off with that one simple trick.

On top of that, Yuel also took advantage of the fact that William was an independent Jungler who believed that he was starving to death. Under these circumstances, it was almost guaranteed that a player like William would assault Mid.

In addition, Yuel’s plan probably even took Cato's nature into account. As a defensive player, Cato had some trouble believing that Yuel would seriously rotate to Mid with 0 MP.

It's such a barbarian play, totally unthinkable. Cato thought. Even though I knew that Yuel could be a gambler sometimes, a part of me still strongly rejected this possibility.

As a result, Cato failed to prepare his teammates for Yuel’s ploy. Of course, he at least did the bare minimum of warning the team about the possibility of an incoming rotation, but that's as far as he went. In the end, he failed to exercise the necessary caution. If only he had given the idea a little bit more thought, then he might’ve been able to see through this ruse…

Well, I just have to admit it, don't I? Cato sighed. Good job, Yuel, you’ve outplayed me there. Yeah, good job, good job...

Honestly, Cato had mixed feelings about all of this. Should he feel salty about the fact his nemesis outplayed him? Or, should he feel honored by the fact that Yuel was using his ability to exploit weaknesses to the fullest? After all, this was the very same skill that defeated Fiona at the chess regionals.

“Chessmaster”, huh. Cato cracked a laugh. A pompous name, no doubt. But, it feels irritatingly fitting at times like this.

Every now and then, it definitely felt like Yuel had the makings of a real evil mastermind. He thoroughly deconstructed his opponents and exposed their greatest flaws. Then, he found creative tactics to exploit all these weak spots in the most disgustingly beautiful ways possible.

Yuel showcased the epitome of this technique when he faced the Landberth Princess. Even after the match was over, everybody in the audience must’ve felt like Fiona was the stronger player overall. That’s because at no point during these games did it ever seem as if Yuel was “better” than Fiona at chess.

Nonetheless, Yuel won. Despite all odds, Yuel stole victory that day by using some absurd tactics that only worked on that particular day and only in that particular matchup. This mad lad adjusted his playstyle and tactics on the fly in order to mess with Fiona, and he somehow cracked the formidable princess that Cato had been trying to break for years now.

In fact, this very same princess was present in the audience here today. Though she would definitely deny it, she definitely came here to watch Yuel’s performance.

It’s cute how she tries to lie about things like that~ Cato entertained himself with such idle thoughts to distract himself from the gravity of the situation in Mid.

So, how do you like this play, Fiona? Are you entertained by the little show Yuel cooked up for us? Is this what you were hoping to see?

As he speculated, Fiona did, in fact, have a few comments on the development in Mid.

“How inelegant...” Fiona muttered.

“Hm? What was that, sis?” Karen asked.

“Nothing,” Fiona said. “I just felt like criticizing that little scheme Stratus pulled, that is all.”

“You mean that double counter-gank? That was so slick!” Karen’s eyes lit up. “That whole overextension in Mid was totally bait, right?”

“Indeed, it was.”

“Aha, I knew it! They totally lured in that cocky Jungler and then they hit the Mid-Laner, too! That’s one hell of a ballsy script.”

“Language, Karen.”

“Whoopsie~” The mischievous sister rolled her eyes. “Anyway, Cato was totally caught with his pants down, haha! Serves him right. Though, gotta say, it’s impressive how smoothly it worked out for Stratus.”

"It was a calculated scheme," Fiona said. "It took advantage of multiple specific weak spots."

"Huh. So, you think it was all super planned out and stuff? That’s really impressive."

"I am not sure if I would call it 'impressive', but it was most certainly shrewd." Fiona knotted her brows. Seeing that scheme play out made her recall some bitter memories.

It seemed that even after switching from chess to Classmancers, Yuel Fermond continued employing the same inelegant tactics. He prioritized offense over defense at any opportunity that allowed it, and he constantly sought ways to exploit the enemy’s weaknesses, no matter how small or insignificant they might have seemed. That playstyle was both praiseworthy and unsightly at the same time.

Exposing enemy weaknesses was inherently the 101 of strategy, but Yuel Fermond pushed this concept to the extreme. Instead of exploiting weaknesses as a part of a bigger game plan that was backed up by game theory, Yuel sometimes made “exploiting weaknesses” into the ENTIRE game plan. He formed some bizarre tactics that strayed from game theory conventions; he based those solely on the specific attributes of his current opponent.

For better or worse, this aspect of Yuel Fermond's strategy remained intact even after he abandoned chess. At the very least, it was reassuring to know that the man did not abandon serious competition in general, he merely switched professions.

"It appears I can still get my rematch."

"Hm?" Karen titled her head. "Did you say something, sis?"

"Nothing of importance." Fiona caressed her younger sister's head with a satisfied smile. This was probably the first time she smiled during today's show, as it was otherwise an embarrassing showcase in far too many ways.

This one little scheme from Yuel Fermond was more than enough to prove that Stratus was going to be a force to be reckoned with, not just a lucky meme team.

With that said, the curtain had not yet fallen on this play. Though Vanishing successfully slayed Theorist, a Stealth Ward was nonetheless placed on the lane. With its help, a ray of light shone upon Winner amidst the darkness he was locked in.

Now, that he had vision, what did Winner see in front of him? Two injured prey, right within arm's reach. And, considering the nature of this hungry beast, he was definitely planning to turn both of them into a meal.