That same day Stratus got its first practice as a team, StormBlitz also had its first day of club activity. Some of the members were te on the news so they were shocked by Yuel and Lars's transfer.

  “Lol,” Roi smiled awkwardly. “You're kidding, right?”

  “No,” Howard said. “They left. They attend Skyline now.”

  “Wait, Skyline?” Dan raised an eyebrow. “Isn't that the school with that really weak team? What was its name, again? Status?”

  “Stratus,” Howard corrected. “Yeah, it's a team that never passed the first round of the regionals. A sad story.”

  “Ans they went to py there?” Roi's jaw dropped.

  “Yep,” Gregory tuned in. “They couldn't hold the L so they ran away, kek.”

  “I wouldn't write them off just yet,” Howard said. “Two skilled pyers make the whole differeween a strong team and a weak one. Especially, when said pyers are the Bot duo and one of them is the shot-caller.”

  “Pft, yeah, right,” Gregory waved his hand. “You tellihese two lonna pull a team of even bigger losers and actually get somewhere? Please.”

  “You never know.”

  Tch, that undying favoritism, Gregory clicked his tongue. Does he think Yuel is a superman or some shit? Man, I 't wait for these scrubs to be crushed in their first round. That'll show everybody how trash they really are.

  “Hi,” A girl's voitered the room. It was a familiar voice but it beloo an unfamiliar face.

  “July...?” Ellen jumped from the chair and cautiously approached the unknown spe.

  In truth, everybody could tell it was Julia because there was only ohing that ged about her. However, that one ge was something that almost made her unreizable.

  Julia had no hair! Okay, that's an exaggeration. She had hair but it was uncharacteristically short. Julia used to sport a loiful ponytail but it was gone. Instead, she almost looked like a tomboy.

  “My,” Ellen examihe girl from every side. “What happeo your pretty hair?”

  “What do you think? I cut it.”

  “Yeah, I see that,” Ellen's smile twitched. “But, why? It looked great on you.”

  “I got tired of it. Of everything,” Julia strode into the clubroom without exging a single gh Ellen. “I felt like having a ge of image. What do you care?”

  “Ah, well...” Ellen was dumbstruck. This was cold. The temperature in the room just dropped by five degrees.

  “About what you were just said,” Julia stopped in front of Howard and Gregory. “Lars and Yuel will do just fihey'll drag that shitty ass team out of the bottom.”

  “Huh,” Howard didn't show aion, probably because he had the same opinion. But, the uy insisted on denying this predi.

  “Yeah, right,” Gregory sneered. “These guys only gonna make it to sed round tops.”

  “No, they'll get as far as needed,” Julia's eyes glinted like a sharp bde. “Until they run into us. Then, we'll crush them like cockroaches.”

  The entire room was dead silent. Nobody knew how to react to this bizarre decration. Julia was clearly missing a screw or twht now. The girl was wilding.

  “Heh,” Howard smirked. “I like that attitude.”

  “Indeed,” Ellen smirked. “Let them crawl all the from the bottom to reach us. That'll only make crushing them that much more fun, right~?” Her angelic smile beloo Lucifer himself.

  A-Am I in a horror movie right now? Gregulped. A shiver ran through him.

  Howard, Ellen, and Julia were all smiling ily but Gregory could tell. In their heads, they were imagining how they'd rip Yuel and Lars apart, limb by limb. o self: never get on these guys’ bad side.

  “So,” Howard addressed Julia. “ you py aggressively on-demand now?”

  “Try me,” Julia shrugged. “Actually, pying aggressive is all I feel like doing right now. Lemme at some of these idiots online. I’ll reap them apart.”

  “That’s good to hear,” Howard nodded in satisfa. If she utilize her hyper offe will, then I got my hands on one heck of a beast. She might even turn out to be a key pyer on our path toward winning the nationals.

  “That’s great, July~” Ellen hugged the girl. “If you rampage at will during official matches, we’ll crush all our oppos~”

  “That’s my iion,” Julia nodded. “Lemme fight and I’ll crush all the idiots that stand in our way.”

  “Aren’t you getting carried away?” Gilbert joihe versation. “Don’t fet that Mid doesn’t belong to you.”

  “Huh? Who are you, again?” Julia scoffed. “ht. Some weak senior who ’t hold onto Mid.”

  “What was that?” Gilbert twitched.

  “Hey,” Howard stepped betweewo of them. “Py niow. I didn’t pick both of you for Mid so you fight and drag each other down. You should think of each other as partners who share the same role.”

  “Hmph,” Julia crossed her arms. “I don’t think this team needs more than one Mid. I’m more than enough to carry the team.”

  “Aren’t you fident, girl,” Gilbert’s eyes turned sharp. “I also don’t see any reason to have two Mid Laners. One reliable and sistent Mid is everything the team needs.”

  “Pft, ‘sistent’? That’s all you got going for you?” Julia cracked a cold ugh. “That’s why you ’t hold the spot for yourself. To py Mid for real, you o be strong enough to push and pressure the enemy. They’re supposed to shit their pants when they see you ing at them.”

  “I have a different philosophy about that.”

  “That’s why you suck, you-”

  “ENOUGH.” Howard’s voice cracked like a whip. Julia and Gilbert jumped and froze solid. “You two have different strengths and weaknesses. So, who I choose to utilize will depend ouation at hand.” He speared both troublemakers with his gre. “Am I clear?”

  “Y-Yeah,” Julia shifted her eyes away.

  “Yes...” Gilbert answered in a low voice.

  “Alright,” Howard nodded in satisfa. These two will be a handful, I already tell. But, having both of them as options is huge. Gilbert will be great for matches where we o be sistent aile, whereas Julia will be great when we o go on the offensive and pressure the eeam. Really, if somebody could just fuse them into one person that’d be ideal.

  “Say,” Julia started. “You miing me py oh the first today? I’ll show you what I’m capable of, to erase any shadow of a doubt about who is the better Mid.”

  This girl... Howard sighed. It’s like he was talking to a wall. Then again, this was her first day on the first-string and she robably mad about Yuel and Lars leaving her behind. So, Howard could give her a pass for now.

  “Alright, we start with that today,” Howard said. “Show us what you got.”

  “Gdly!” Julia’s eyes lit up. She was ready to wreak some havoc. It’s like she bottled anger and frustration and wao unleash it on others.

  Why didn’t she follow Yuel and Lars? Howard wohese three were inseparable, so he expected Julia to follow the guys to the ends of the earth. Even though transferring schools was a big deal, it didn’t sound like something that’d stop Julia.

  Did she stay behind because she valued her position on the first-string more than her friends? That’s sketchy, sidering how madly in love she was with Lars. And, she preteo not care about Yuel but she definitely had a sweet spot for him as well.

  So, no matter how Howard looked at it, he couldn’t find a ving reason for Julia to stay. What made her turn her ba the guys and stay behind?

  It was an important question that needed answering but now wasn’t the time. Howard wasn’t close enough to Julia and she was ag too cocky at the moment. It was better to make Ellen ask all these questions ter and forward the ao Howard.

  Per Julia’s request, Hout her on the main team for today’s practice. This will be a good opportunity to see how Julia fits into the team and what fws she’ll have to work on.

  For the practice, the team queued into a Ranked match.

  Okay, I’ll show them. Julia took a deep breath and locked iromancer. In this very first match, she’ll prove everybody she was superior to Gilbert in every way. She’ll definitely secure the Mid spot on the first string, no matter what. She didn’t stay behind in StormBlitz just to be somebody’s substitute. She’ll bee the team’s main and only Mid Laner. Gilbert will be her substitute at best.

  As the drafting phase went on, Julia’s ne oppo was decided.

  Warlock, huh. Let’s see. Julia tapped into all the knowledge she had regarding this matchup. Yuel drilled the importanatchup knowledge into her, so it became sed nature to start every game from analyzing her ne oppo.

  Warlock had Eldritightmare as a panic button, so it might be difficult to score too many kills on him. He’ll probably just mash the ult button in a pinch without thinking twio matter how good Julia was, it’ll be hard to score a kill on an oppo she couldn’t see.

  Seems like I’ll need some Stealth Wards. Julia pondered. Due to how the darkness effect of Eldritightmare worked, a Stealth Ward actually exposed the enemies i. So, by pg a Stealth Ward on the ne, Julia will be able to see the Warlock even as he tries to flee in the darkness.

  However, Stealth Wards alone weren’t good a solution. She could only carry two wards at a time and she had to ward around Mid too, so she couldn’t spend all her efforts on warding Mid against Eldritightmare. She needed somethira on top of Stealth Wards.

  “I’ll pick Lumimao ter Warlock’s ult.” A voice resounded in her head. “If you get a ce to kill him but he uses his ult, tell me and I’ll ter it.”

  That’s probably what that idiot would have said. He always went for the oppo’s weakness and made sure to support both Julia and Lars. Acc to him, the Support shouldn’t only care about the Carry; he should help out Mid to the best of his ability.

  Therefore, to ter a Warlock pick, Yuel ofte for Lumimancer. Of course, he didn’t do it for Julia or anything. It was a solid ter-pick that was going to py a role in many different sarios. heless, Yuel always stressed that Julia shouldn’t hesitate to ask for his Luimancer’s services if she ever gets a ce to kill the Warlock.

  He always said that stuff even though he knew I never go on the offensive. Julia smiled wryly. With her old defensive pystyle, she rarely ever got any ces to kill her ne oppos. Whenever got a kill, it was because the enemy itted a mistake or overextended so Julia puhem.

  heless, Yuel always dropped that piece of advice to her because he knew Julia could do more. She always refused to show her aggressive side in battles but Yuel knew she had that side to her. That’s why, every siime, Yuel made sure to remind her: “If you want to go on the offensive, I help you with that.”

  Yuel never pressured Julia about it but he clearly wao see her py mgressively. They’ve spent a lot of time training together, so he knew what she was capable of. As, Julia’s unjustified fear of Lars’s rea always held her back. If only she pulled herself together earlier and started pying aggressively from the beginning, perhaps things would have turned out differently during the seleatch.

  No, that doesn’t matter anymore. Julia shook her head. What’s done was done. In the end, Julia got a spot on the first-string while Lars and Yuel fell short. Therefore, she had to prove she was worthy of being here. She didn’t get here just because the petition for Mid was easier or anything me like that. No, she was here because she was worthy. And, she’ll prove beyond a shadow of a doubt by dominating the first match today.

  “Howard,” Julia called. “ you pick a Lumimancer? It’d really help me if you ter the Warlock’s ult when he uses it to escape.”

  “You wao help you secure kills?” Howard asked. “Not quite the main reason I’d pick Lumi for but alright. It’s a good ter pi general.”

  “Thanks,” Julia said. With that, the stage was set. She’ll get as mileage as possible out of Stealth Wards but, if it turns out that’s not enough, she’ll rely on Howard’s ult to ter Eldritightmare. She was going to score at least twenty kills this match!

  No, calm down. Julia took a deep breath. As much as she wao go on a killing spree right here and now, she had to take it easy at first. Before anything else, it was mandatory to win ne advantage and pressure the oppo into a er. Then, her onsught will begin.

  First, she hit the enemy swordsman minions with basic attacks to pce Electric Charges on them. In addition, she advao the frontlio reae of the bowmen on the bad pced aric Charge on him as well. It was a risky but extremely important move for maximizing her ne clearing speed.

  Ohe stage was set, Julia fired Lightning at one of the swordsmen. The beam of electricity struck the first swordsman, then bouoward the sed swordsman and then hit the third swordsman. For the fourth and st bouhe Lightning jumped toward the one bowman with aric Charge on him.

  Sihis was was the final bouhe spell exploded after hitting the bowman. It dealt damage to the entire pack of bowmen. It also pced aric Charge on each of the bowmen. Now, the entire enemy wave was charged with electricity. It was time to blow them up!

  Julia activated Electrical Explosion aonated all Electric Charges. The explosions elimihe entire enemy frontline and almost killed off the bae as well. This was a great opportunity to charge forth!

  Julia advanced while shooting at the bowmen, then shifted her attention toward the Warlock. The guy has already spent both of his damaging spells on the minion wave and he was still at Lv.2 so he didn’t have any other dangerous tools at his disposal yet. Julia had to push now!

  Die, dumbass! She opened a relentless attack. The Warlock had no idea what hit him. Was he gonna fight or retreat? He seemed kinda lost. What a fool!

  Hitting the Warloaturally triggered the enemy minions and made them target Julia. But, who cared? All these bowmen were on their death bed anyway. Julia’s minions will soon elimihese idiots so she only had to focus on the Warlock.

  After mulling over it for a moment, the Warlock finally cluded he was outnumbered and began his retreat. Julia couldn’t get a kill on him yet, but she chased him down all the way to his Turret and made sure to get as much damage on him as possible.

  Okay, this works. Julia o herself. She couldn’t get the kill but she deleted a nice k of the Warlock’s HP. If she repeats this routine a few more times, she’ll eventually crush that bug.

  During the minion wave, Julia repeated the same routine and outcleared the Warlock. Her wave-clearing skills were top-notch thanks to a certain nagger f her to practice them for every css she pyed. It was all a huge pain in the neck but, thanks to all that hard work, Julia was dominating the ne right now.

  With her ne advantage, she slowly but surely ground her oppo out of HP. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find a ce to kill him before he hit Lv.5 and unlocked his ult. However, he was at 30% now aill hasn’t shown any signs of retreating. Good.

  He probably really trusts his panic button. Julia smirked. Too bad because your ult ain’t gonna save you this time.

  Julia was still carrying the Stealth Ward she bought at the beginning of the game. It atiently waiting for the Warlock to press his panic button. Julia just had to pressure the guy into a deadly situation and she was going to do so with the uping minion wave!

  As before, Julia cleared the wave at maximum speed by applyiric Charges, making Lightning bounce around and blowing up the entire wave with Electrical Explosion. She didn’t out-clear the Warlock as much as before because his damage output increased siderably as he leveled up but she still gained ne advantage.

  Nht as the enemy wave was about to perish, it was the time for an all-out assault! Julia pulled out all the stops and blinked right in her oppo’s face with Thundercp!

  Die, idiot! She opened a quick assault with basic attacks. That idiot had no idea what hit him! It took him like five years to realize he was being wrecked.

  The Warlock’s HP fell below 20% and Julia was right in his face so, of course, he resorted to his panic button: Eldritightmare. Darkness erupted from the Warlod stretched around the robbed Julia of all her vision of the surroundings.

  But, that’s what she had the Stealth Ward for. She pced the ward as far ahead as possible in the dire of the eower. The Warlock was going to retreat over there for sure, so the Stealth Ward will expose all his movements.

  Found you. Julia smirked as the Warlock’s figure became visible within the darkness. The Stealth Ward did its job.

  “Take that, idiot!” Julia fired a ball of electricity at the Warlock’s back. Easy hit. The guy didn’t even try to juke because he didn’t expeybody to shoot him in the darkness. “Surprise, dumbass!”

  Zap. Another hit! The Warlock was down to 10% HP. Julia had to nd like two more hits and it’d be a sealed deal. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that easy.

  Shit, I ’t reach from here. Julia clicked her tongue. Even though she tered the stealth aspect of Eldritightmare with a Stealth Ward, that didn’t e the other effects of Eldritightmare. One such effect was the disorientation it caused to all enemies ihe darkness. Because of that crap, was Julia gging behind the Warlod couldn’t shoot the guy to death. What a pain!

  Darn, I thought I’ll get this dohout wasting my ult. Oh well. Julia sighed a for pn B. She activated Thuorm and summo as far ahead as was humanly possible in the dire of the eower.

  In the darkhat was enveloping the entire area, Julia couldn’t see the clouds she summoned or the lightning that struck at the target location. However, the loud sound of the lightning echoed throughout the area and the Warlock was visibly shaken by this line of attack. He stopped running in a straight line and rolled aside from Thuorm’s area.

  ’t you just die? Like, please. Freaki dead already. Julia made a face. She hoped the Thuorm would finish the guy off but he ersistent bastard. Only the first lightning struck him and reduced him to 2% HP. So, he was literally a few pixels away from death but he g to his life. What a stubborn fool.

  The lightning that struck the Warlock applied aric Charge on him but Julia’s Electrical Explosion was still on cooldown. So, she couldn’t blow up the guy from afar. Instead, she had to do things the hard way and close the distance despite her decreased movement speed.

  Sihe Warlock rolled to the side to avoid Thuorm, his retreat has been slowed down just enough. Julia rolled forward to close the distand fired a ball of electricity as soon as she recovered.

  You have killed an enemy!

  “Ha! Get fucked!” Julia pumped a fist. The darkness vanished and revealed the victorious se. Julia was standing tall while the enemy Warlock was lying on the floor like a helpless loser. That’s one kill! een more to go.

  “GAE-” A shout resounded from the nearby jungle.

  “Ah!” Julia jumped and turned around. Crap! The enemy Lancer was here! His nce oiraight at her and he has already started casting his ultimate. This was bad!

  Could Julia take this guy on? No way. She spent her e to get the kill so she had nothing right now. She gotta get outta here as quickly as possible!

  O-Okay! I gotta retreat. Switch gears from offeo-

  “BOLG!” The Lancer blitzed forth. His spear peed through Julia’s stomad delivered a grave injury. It reduced her HP from 70% to 20% in one fell swoop! Not only that but it debuffed her stats across the board. This was bad! Bad! Bad! BAAAAAD!!!

  Run! Run, dammit! Julia erased any thoughts about fighting the Lancer and turned her back to the enemy. She had to retreat. That was her only optiht now. Any thoughts about fighting had to perish. She fought and killed the Warlock but now it was time to scoot!

  By the time she began her retreat, the Laabbed one more time. Just great, she was already down to 13% HP. The Laneeded like two more hits to finish her off. She had to get the heck outta there!

  “Run toward the Jungle,” Howard ordered.

  “Huh?” Julia blinked. Wasn’t it safer to escape along the ne back to safety?

  “Dan will get there in time to help.”

  “O-Okay,” Julia didn’t have the time to figure out what Howard was talking about. Her brain was a mess so she didn’t trust herself to e up with a better way to survive. If Howard thought it was safer to flee toward Top Jungle, so be it.

  Whish! Aab in the back. She was down to 5% HP. It was over. She was slowed down, weakened and her HP was hanging by a thread. It was hopeless. She scored a kill but now she was going to give the enemy a kill. Damn, how pathetic...

  It was ing. She couldn’t see the Lancer behind her but she khe finishing blow was ing.

  “ing through!” Dan popped up from behind a jungle wall. He passed by Julia and activated Lionfolk’s ultimate: The King’s Dominion. Julia didn’t have the luxury to turn around to check what happened but she could tell by the r sounds of lions. Dan must have formed the ring of liht between Julia and the Lancer.

  “Phew,” Julia sighed deeply. “I’m safe. Thanks.”

  “No problem,” Dan said. “You better thank Howard. He’s the one who told me to rotate here.”

  “Ah, I see,” Julia nodded. “Thanks, Ho-”

  “Take a turn to the right there,” Howard ordered. “He might still chase you with a leap if it’s not on cooldown.”

  “ht,” Julia was still in a bit of a daze but she did as she was ordered. Howard’s suggestion made her venture even deeper into the jungle, which meant she was getting farther and farther away from her ne.

  It felt like she utting herself in more danger by deying her retreat but her defensive instincts gradually kicked in and she grasped Howard’s pn. Since Julia was slower than her pursuer, it oio take the shortest path to safety because the enemy would catch up to her anyway. Therefore, it was safer to deviate from the optimal route and fuse the pursuer.

  This should have been the 101 of esg during such teuations but Julia’s brain fudged up there for a moment. If she were properly focused on surviving from the moment the Lancer showed up, she would have grasped all of that on her own and would have picked a simir escape route by herself.

  Holy, this was kinda embarrassing. She had to work harder on her ability to transition from offeo defense and vice versa.

  Fortunately, the enemy didn’t chase. Maybe his Lunge skill was on cooldown or maybe he didn’t have the balls to dive deeper into eerritory. Either way, Julia escaped alive and recalled to base.

  Phew. Safe. Julia took a deep breath once she was back at the base. Okay, I did it! One kill and zero deaths. Easy.

  She was off to a strong start. Now, only een more kills to score! Julia will push forward in full throttle and decimate all her oppos!

  Gotta admit, though. Howard is pretty amazing. Julia o herself. While she was 100% trated on her offehe eime, Howard arranged a safety for her ahead of time. For this rescue operation to be successful, Howard had to order Dan to rotate toward Mid ahead of time.

  This is what it means to py with Aegis. Julia smiled wryly. This was pletely different from having Yuel in the lead. That greedy dumbass only focused oeam’s offense so Julia always had to be mindful about her defense and make sure she doesn’t screw up.

  But, with Howard in charge, she could attack to her heart’s tent. As long as she followed Howard’s shot-calls, she was guarao survive even after messing up. Such was the power of Aegis, the absolute defense.

  Therefore, this game, Julia could go wild and attack as much as she wahe goal was a 20/0 KDA!

  In the end, she only got 10/2/2. Still, she pretty muihe entire game and scored kills left and right. The eeam killed her twice but that didn’t stop her from attag again and again after respawning.

  Thanks to her numerous kills, the team easily pushed all the way to victory.

  “So,” Julia turo Howard. “How was it?”

  “Solid performance,” Howard said. “You sure proved you py aggressively and yressive pystyle is a force to be reed with. I wouldn’t want to be your oppo while you’re wilding like that.”

  “Thank you.”

  “But, you seem tle a bit with switg from offeo defense on the spot.”

  “Ack, well...”

  “But, aside from that, your offense is very impressive. I take it you have no problem pying like that whehe team needs you to?”

  “Of course, no problem,” Julia’s eyes fshed like a bde. “I’m ready to destroy enemies whenever you need me to.”

  “My,” Ellen ed herself around Julia. “What a cute instrument of death we got ourselves here~”

  “So,” Julia ighe snake ed around her and tinued. “You agree I’m the better Mid Laner, right?”

  “Too early to say,” Howard answered. “It was just och. I’ll have to see more of your performao tell for sure how effective you are.”

  “Okay, got it. So, if I keep sg lots of kills every match, you’ll be vinced, right?”

  “Hmm, maybe,” Howard didn’t give any promises but it was clear he was impressed by the spectacle Julia showed during the previous match. So, as long as she keeps showing him strong pys, he’ll hold her in high regard. Eventually, she’ll take the Mid Laner role all for herself.

  She absolutely had to get it, no matter what. As the one who was left behind in the club and got a ce to take a spot on the first-string, Julia definitely had to make this t. She’ll prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was superior to Gilbert in every way and will cim the Mid Laner role all for herself. That’s the least she could do to justify being here.

  Then, ohat’s dealt with, she’ll csh with Yuel and Lars in an official matd will destroy them both!