Rise

After the past couple of minutes dueling against Lin Feng’s Lux, Qi Ming knew one thing for certain: This kid wasn’t half bad. So, when he saw Lin Feng calm as ever, rather than growing angry at being looked down on, he raised his vigilance. His opponent seemed well aware that if he were to be hit by Fizz’s Trickster, the damage over time from Ignite and Seastone Trident would undoubtedly kill him. However, he had only one method to escape. Wanna Flash away? Already got your finger hovering over your keyboard? Qi Ming’s eyes narrowed with a devious light when he realized what Lin Feng was up to. Ok, kid. I’ll play your game of chicken!

Fizz hung in mid-air on his trident for close to a second. Any moment he would be falling back to the ground with a loud splash. Qi Ming stared intently at Lux’s movements. His hands were in position on his keyboard. Fizz started falling back to the ground. He pressed D for Flash. Fizz lit up with a mottled flash of light, and almost at the same instant, so did Lux. Ha! Gotcha! Qi Ming erupted with glee. His guess was right!

Qi Ming’s heart was racing with adrenaline. From his point of view, even pro players couldn’t have played this any better! Zuo You would finally see why he was a Master! Any lower rank player would’ve failed to get the kill, but his expert-like game sense gave him that little extra that would secure the kill!

Fizz splashed to the ground as a shockwave of magic energy swept out. Qi Ming flicked his mouse forward, preparing to deal a last auto attack for good measure and end this 1v1. Huh? Where’d she go? His eyes widened in disbelief. Shit! Lux was behind him. She hadn’t flashed to tower safety, but away from it!

Lux turned around from behind him. She brandished her staff and tossed out a Light Binding followed by Lucent Singularity!

Light Binding squarely struck Fizz, rooting him under the tower. Lucent Singularity then detonated with a dazzling radiance. Paired with the considerable damage from the tower’s energy shots, Fizz’s health instantly fell to zero. What a turn around!

Qi Ming’s screen went grey as the announcer’s voice rang out.

《First blood!》 

He stared dumbly at his screen. His head was completely empty, unable to accept reality.

“Nice!” Zuo You shot out of her seat and cheered. All tension disappeared from her face and was replaced with joy and celebration. “Hahaha! First blood! You really did! You won! Amazing!”

Lin Feng patted his chest. “See, I told you I was really good at Lux!”

Even a pro wouldn’t have escaped death here. This had nothing to do with someone being good at a champion or not. Rather, it had everything to do with frightening game sense and even faster reaction speed! Fizz had predicted Lux’s Flash. So, Qi Ming flashed. But Lux predicted Fizz’s prediction and flashed in the opposite direction, catching him off-guard and picking up a beautiful kill. Even amongst the pros there weren’t many with such insane game awareness, or such ability to adapt on the spot.

Lin Feng had shown something few ever would. However, this was still far from reaching his previous prime. Back then, he stood at the very top of the ladder. The number of players who had the right to compete with him were no more than 10. The top 10 in the world!

“H-how is that possible?” Qi Ming muttered to himself, staring at his greyed-out screen with a pale face. He raised his head and looked at Lin Feng. “H-how did you do it? Tell me how you did it!” His voice was filled with unwillingness and disbelief. He refused to accept this outcome, nor could he accept it!

“Oh, I just predicted your prediction.” Lin Feng scratched his head. “It’s pretty simple, honestly.”

Qi Ming almost vomited blood. But he quickly settled his mind and glared at Lin Feng. “Rematch! This one doesn’t count! I demand a rematch!” He refused to believe Lin Feng had that kind of frightening ability. This win could only be purely dumb luck!

Zuo You raised her eyebrows. “What, sore loser, are we?”

“Of course not! I’m no sore loser! It’s just that he got lucky! If he was really that good, I’d obviously recognize it!” Qi Ming stubbornly insisted. A Master like him losing to a high schooler and in such an out of the blue way, he refused to accept this outcome!

“Tsk tsk. I know a sore loser when I see one,” Zuo You grinned. Still, she turned to Lin Feng. “How about it. Accept the rematch?”

“Yeah, we can go for another round,” Lin Feng answered.

✹

The blind pick lobby was quickly made and both players picked their champion. Lin Feng went with Fizz this time, while Qi Ming switched to Syndra.

Three minutes into the game came the only play of relevance. Fizz jumped through Syndra with Urchin Strike, dodging her stun, and attacked her with his Seastone Trident. She panic-flashed away, and Lin Feng perfectly predicted this, following right behind her. He Ignited her and then jumped on top of his trident. It was a moment of deja vu. If Fizz managed to land on top of the enemy with Trickster, it would be his win.

Fizz splashed down on the ground. A shock wave of magic energy swept out, bursting away Syndra’s health. Then, the ice-cold blade of the Seastone Trident stabbed into her, reaping away her last remaining bit of health before Ignite could.

Qi Ming’s screen went grey. He stared at it blankly, mouth agape.

“Oh, I’m pretty good at Fizz too!” Lin Feng remarked in high spirits from the next row over.

If it were possible, Qi Ming would’ve fainted from anger right there and then.