Rise

“WEI DONG! LIU YUE! WATCH OUT!” Ouyang yelled. He tried to go up and help them, but Ren Rou pulled him back by his shoulder, pinching down hard. “AH!” Ouyang glared at her. “Goddamnit,” he cursed before looking back at the monitor, frantic. Liu Yue and Wei Dong had overextended. High School 7 was almost on them. “You gotta back, guys! BACK! PLEASE BACK!”

If High School 7 got the drop on Liu Yue and Wei Dong, then they could pull far ahead of High School 13 in a matter of a minute. More important than the gold from the two kills were the 30 second death timers. This was a lot of time in which High School 7 could take down the Dragon and the outer tower in mid lane. These were both important objectives that netted a lot of team-wide gold. The Yasuo would catch up to Lin Feng soon, and the rest of the team would pull far ahead of their direct opponents. High School 7 would put themselves in a very good position to win the game.

Liu Yue and Wei Dong ran into two Champions from High School 7, and suddenly spotted two more on their minimap. Lin Feng ordered them to back. But it barely registered. It was all a haze before them. There was nowhere they could really escape. They were caught out in the middle of the river. Liu Yue tried to get away by flashing towards Blue team’s side of the map, and Wei Dong used Stand behind me! His Braum leaped towards the Elise, increasing both their armour and magic resist.

The players from High School 7 spotted the two players from High School 13 out of position. They circled in on Liu Yue and Wei Dong and shouted in voice chat,“Go go go go go!”“Get ‘em! Don’t let them escape!”“Quick! Kill them fast!”“Elise first! Get the Elise first!” 

The Leona raised her sword to the sky and called down a beam of solar energy–Solar Flare! She was too hasty. The Elise and Braum weren’t caught in the middle of the skill, but in its perimeter. So, instead of being stunned, they were only slowed. The Jarvan IV followed up with a flag-toss combo into a Cataclysm. He leapt into battle with such force that he terraformed the ground and created an arena around him and Elise!

Liu Yue’s screen flashed red. His Elise was almost dead! There was nowhere left to escape. He changed his Elise to Spiderform and then Rappelled up into the air. Elise could stay up here for a few seconds. Those were a few more seconds during which High School 7 couldn’t kill her. Liu Yue wasn’t sure what this was supposed to accomplish, but he figured it was better than just letting them kill him.

Lin Feng grinned when he saw Liu Yue Rappel. He’d bought them a valuable few seconds. “Come, Tang Tang!” he ordered, already running towards the Elise and Braum in the river with his Zed. Tang Bingyao had her Kalista make a beeline for the Braum. Lin Feng nodded and then continued, “Chen Ze, get ready to Teleport. We can win this fight!”

✹

In the match between KG and Flash, there were also two players caught out. But unlike in Lin Feng’s game, here it was the ad-carry and support of KG. The bot lane duos of both teams had returned to their bottom lane a few minutes earlier. Flash’s Jungler, Lee Sin, moved into the tri-brush above KG’s outer tower and swept for wards. There were none. KG had no idea he was in there. He waited a few seconds, until KG’s Thresh walked up to ward the brush. Then he placed a ward behind Thresh and dashed to it–Safeguard! He followed up with a powerful roundhouse kick, launching the Thresh further away from his outer tower–Dragon’s Rage!

The Thresh wanted to escape back to his outer tower. But Lee Sin was waiting for him. So he made the call to Flash diagonally over a large boulder. That was into lane, but from there he could run back to his outer tower without having to deal with the Lee Sin. He flashed but had no vision on the other side of the boulder, and he came to regret that. Flash had anticipated this move. Their Alistar Support was already waiting for him, Pulverizing the ground and knocking him up into the air when he appeared, as was the Tristana. When he was still knocked up in the air, the Tristana walked past him and loaded a massive cannonball into her weapon–Buster Shot! The cannonball knocked into him and sent him flying towards Red team’s side of the map, far away from his own outer tower.

Several wards in bot lane suddenly lit up. Champions were Teleporting in! Three in total! They were Flash’s Riven and Kassadin and KG’s Hecarim! This was going to be a full on teamfight! Whoever won this fight could take Dragon and maybe even an outer tower! That would be a massive gold boon!

The Chinese fans at home put their hands over their ears and closed their eyes or turned their heads away, only throwing a few glances at the screen. They were terrified of what might happen. The casters also felt their nerves getting to them, but they were hired to do a job. So they put their feelings to the side and casted the fight.

“One… THREE TELEPORTS! It’s going to be a teamfight! It’s going to be a teamfight!”

“Orianna doesn’t have Teleport! She has to walk down! Flash has the numbers advantage!”

“KG’s Jungler is also in mid lane! Way too far away to join the fight! This is going to be a 3vs5! KG is completely caught off guard! This is bad! This is really bad!”

“God Roundy has to buy his team some time! Come on God Roundy! You can do it! COME ON!”

On the stage in the Wembley Arena, Tian Tian sat hunched over in front of his computer. He was the first to Teleport in. His Hecarim would be there before the Riven and Kassadin! C-crap! T-this is bad. Bad bad bad. Every fiber in his body told him that he shouldn’t have used his Teleport, that it was better to just cut the losses and let bot lane die. But he’d still Teleported down. His intuition told him he could win this fight and he’d listened to it. There was no going back anymore. He had to win this fight, or it would cost KG the game.

✹

Back in the game between High School 13 and High School 7, Liu Yue’s Elise came down to the ground. She was in the middle of the enemy team. If they focused her down, she’d be dead in an instant. Wei Dong wouldn’t let his Jungler die just like that. His health was dropping dangerously low. But there was one more skill that he could use to buy himself and the Elise some extra time. His ultimate skill, Glacial Fissure! He activated it. His Braum slammed his shield into the ground, freezing and fissuring the ground in front of him. The immense force caused large blocks of ice to come loose and launch upwards, knocking the Champions up in the air. Three of High School 7’s Champions were airborne!

Tang Bingyao was the first to arrive. She pulled the Braum away with her ultimate–Fate’s Call. The second part of her ultimate was up to Wei Dong. He could decide in which direction Kalista would launch him. If he hit a Champion, they’d be knocked up. But his health was low. The safe play would be to launch himself away to safety.

“Knock them up with the Kalista ultimate!” Lin Feng shouted.

Wei Dong didn’t need to be told twice. He clicked on the three Champions from High School 7 that were still huddled up together after his ultimate. The Kalista launched him. He flew through the air and hit the players from High School 7 like a wrecking ball. It was another three man knock up!

Lin Feng ran straight past the knocked up Champions and closed in on the Jinx. When he got in range, he used his ultimate skill–Death Mark! He left a shadow behind as he dashed on the Jinx, marking her. The Jinx flashed away, but he followed after her with his Living Shadow. Then he attacked her with his blade claws and shurikens. Her health dropped fast. He hit her with two more auto attacks, then jumped back to the Shadow created with his ultimate. The Jinx’s health hit zero when the mark exploded.

《You have slain an enemy!》

Chen Ze’s Teleport finished casting. He arrived in the river just behind High School 7’s team. The crowd control was perfectly linked together so far and the timing worked out. Chen Ze found the players from High School 7 lined up for him, so he had his Rumble fire off a group of rockets to create a wall of flames on the ground–The Equalizer! He followed up with his Flamespitter, setting the river ablaze.

Tang Bingyao started auto attacking the members from High School 7 after using her ultimate on Braum. Her spears were piercing the Champions and the damage was quickly ramping up. The Zed arrived back in the middle of High School 7’s team and also started auto attacking. The Yasuo died before getting his ultimate off. The Jarvan IV’s skills were on cooldown and he also died without putting up any real resistance. As for the Gragas and Leona, they tried to do something, but it was far too little. Neither was strong enough to kill the five players of High School 13. They weren’t even strong enough to make it back to safety. Their screens turned grey.

《Aced!》

“WE DID IT! WE FUCKING DID IT! DID YOU SEE THAT ROU ROU?” Ouyang jumped up and down and then hugged Ren Rou, overjoyed.

“Get off of me,” Ren Rou complained. Then she looked at the team, her team, and smiled, “Great work guys! Keep it up!”

Yang Fan adjusted his glasses and then balled his fist. “Yes! That might’ve very well just won us the game! Good job guys.”

✹

Back in the KG versus Flash game, the situation went from bad to worse for KG. Orianna and Rek’Sai were running towards the bot lane, but were still far away. Too far away to be of any influence on the teamfight. The Thresh was caught and after the Tristana sent him flying backwards, Flash killed him. The 3vs5 was now a 2vs5. But this still didn’t stop KG’s ad-carry, Kennen. He initially tried to get to his Thresh and help his Support escape. But when the Thresh died, he didn’t turn around. He committed. Konjac pressed down on his R key and activated Kennen’s ultimate–Slicing Maelstrom!

Slicing Maelstrom was a storm of lightning that spread out around Kennen and followed him wherever he went. Anyone caught within its radius would be struck by lightning. If a Champion got three stacks of lightning on themselves, they would get stunned. Konjac positioned his Kennen so that the lightning would hit the Lee Sin, Alistar, and Tristana at the same time. He dealt damage to all three of them, but not enough to kill any one of them. Then the Slicing Maelstrom wore off and Riven’s Teleport finished.

Chris teleported into the river brush right above bot lane. The Kennen was a little up river. He had his Riven flash forward and then activated her ultimate skill–Blade of the Exile! Riven lit her blade up with green energy, increasing its attack damage and range. She attacked the Kennen with the first strike from Broken Wings and then stunned him with a Ki Burst. A stunned ad-carry was a dead ad-carry. Kennen had low health to start with. The Riven, Lee Sin, and Tristana killed him before the stun broke.

Tian Tian had followed Kennen into the middle of Flash’s team. This was a terrible call. He knew it, but he still did it. The Thresh died, and then the Kennen did too. He was all alone in the middle of Flash’s team. The little damage he had done so far was not anywhere near enough to make his actions worth it. He pressed down on his E key–Devastating Charge! His Hecarim gained increased movement speed and could move through units. He charged down the river and towards KG’s outer tower.

The Tristana aimed her cannon at the ground and fired a shell into the ground, launching herself into the air and after the Hecarim–Rocket Jump! Then she hit him with an Explosive Charge, a bomb that would explode after a short duration. She attacked the bomb with her auto attacks, increasing its eventual damage. And then it exploded. Hecarim’s health dropped fast.

The Wembley Arena went silent, the crowd waiting to erupt into cheers when Flash won the fight. Or when KG pulled off the turn around by stalling long enough for Orianna and Rek’Sai to arrive. They didn’t care either way, as long as it was exciting to watch. It was completely different for the Chinese fans watching from home. They were also silent, but that was because they were afraid that one fart all the way over in China could distract God Roundy in London. The stream chat was empty, because typing on the keyboard also made a sound. Even the casters of the official Chinese broadcast started whispering, their eyes locked on the screen instead of on the camera.

Qinghe chewed on his lips and didn’t blink. He didn’t want to miss even a second of this fight. This was the fight that could very well end up deciding the game! He looked at the close up of Tian Tian’s face and then at the Hecarim. His eyes went wide. “Ultimate. Ultimate! The Hecarim still has his ultimate! God Roundy hasn’t used his ultimate yet! There is still the ultimate!”

It seemed as if Tian Tian could hear Qinghe scream. His Hecarim’s health had dropped below 25% as he reached under his outer tower. The players from Flash were chasing after him. All five of them. They ran after him in a perfect straight line. This was the moment he’d been waiting for. The sole reason why he hadn’t used his ultimate yet. He flicked his mouse to hover over Flash’s Champions and then pressed down on his R key–Onslaught of Shadows!

The sounds of a thousand hooves rang across the rift. Hecarim had summoned his spectral riders! He aimed his polearm at the Champions from Flash and commanded in his hoarse voice, “Break their ranks!

“Trample their bones!

“Crush them underfoot!”

Hecarim led the charge into Flash’s team. The cavalry of spectral riders followed behind him. They charged through the Tristana and then the Lee Sin. Riven. Alistar. Kassadin. All five Champions from Flash got caught in the skill. They were terrified by the spectral riders running through them and ran away like headless chickens!

The Wembley Arena erupted with deafening cheers! This was a five man Hecarim ultimate! God Roundy had actually hit all five members from Flash! The Chinese fans at home leaned closer towards their screens. This was their God Roundy! God Roundy was making the plays! They wanted to scream and yell, but had no one to scream or yell to. So they took their excitement to the stream chat.

「omgomgomgomgomgo did you guys see that. tell me youg uys saw that! Telll meeeeee」

「WWOOOOOOOO GOOODDD ROUNNDDDYYYYY」

「!!!!!!! FIVE MEN ULTTIIII」

「HOLLYYY DAMMNNN SOOO GOOODDDDD!!!!!!111!1!」

「im not crying im not crying im not crying」

「this is so fcking sick like holy fk dude」

Stone’s voice was already hoarse. But he didn’t care about his dry and painful throat. He screamed at the top of his lungs, “HECARIM HAS ULTED! WAAAAA! HE’S DONE IT! GOD ROUNDY HAS LANDED A FIVE MAN ULT! THIS IS THE TURN AROUND!”