Cato escaped from Fiona’s Queen Dominion. And, he did so easily. Too easily, in fact. Vampire’s ult was like a free ticket out of The Queen’s Dominion.

  I’m sure she khat as well. Cato reasoned. At best, she traded an ult for an ult. Was it worth it? Is there something so scary about my ult that warrants a trade? Hmm.

  While p on that point, Cato flew all the way back to his Turret in bat form. Once he nded, he focused on assaulting the ining minion wave while safely hugging his Turret.

  But still, the question refused to leave him. Why did Fiona ult at the time?

  From start to end, everything about that line of py seemed thhly researched. Therefore, Fiona surely knew she was going to achieve nothing more than trading ults there. And, she still went for it. Why...?

  If anything, it was better for her to wait until I spend my ult first. Cato reasoned. Once I lose my escape ticket, theing surrounded by lions will be the death of me.

  For example, if Cato ever decides to go on the offeh his ult, then he’ll ram into Fiona and stuhat’ll give him a great opportunity to deliver heavy damage on the hapless prey, but it might not be enough to kill.

  Then, once Fios herself free, she’ll have a great opportunity to turables on Cato by activating her ult. She’d imprison Cato in a cage of lions and pummel him to death. Without his ult, Cato will not have an easy way to escape that deadly violence.

  To avoid a sario like this, Cato had to be very careful about when and how he was going to spend his ult. It was his best offeool, but it was also his lifeline against The Queen’s Dominion.

  And now that lifeline was gone, but the same was true for the great threat of Fiona’s ult. The two ults celed each other out, simplifying the game board.

  Both ults got the same cooldown too. Cato recalled the numbers from the top of his head. So, they’ll e bali around the same time... or, will they?

  Catht up Fiona’s build again. It was stacked with power items, but she also snu some cooldowioly. The CDR affected all skills, including the ultimate.

  Her ult will e back a little faster. Cato frowned. She has more CDR and she used her ult first. My, what a situation.

  With these two factors bined, it was obvious Fiona’s ult will e online faster. But, by how much?

  I’d say about 10~15 seds. Cato ran rough estimates in his head. My, I really don’t like this position...

  Worst of all, Fiona had the information advantage here. She kly when her ult will e out of cooldown and she khat Cato’s ult won’t be ready in time for that. That’s all she o open aimely attack. Except, this time, Cato will not be able to escape.

  Well, it should be fine as long as I keep that piece of information in mind. Cato reasoned. I'll be on the defensive for now and make sure to stay out of her range. Shouldn't be too hard.

  All of a sudden, the momentum shifted in Fiona's favor. Between her lightning-fast clearing speed and the threat of her ultimate, Cato couldn't do anything but hug his tower.

  He was forced to farm minions uower, losing on valuable exp and gold in the process. On top of that, the invaders gradually damaged his tower.

  And, there’s not much I do about any of this. Cato frowned. Patience is key here.

  In a situation like this, inexperienced pyers would surely be tempted to mount a risky terattack. But, not Cato. He knew all too well that patience was rewarded in this game. He merely had to wait until Fiona's power buff runs out and his ult es ohen he'll be able to test the ne like before.

  The buff will run out in the wave. Cato deduced. He remembered the timestamp of when he discovered that the red buff was stolen, So, from there, he could roughly estimate how much lohe buff had.

  Our ults will also e online sometime after that. iled fidently. It’s a crafty idea you had there but looks like it’s all in vain. It appears the heroine's efforts were not enough to topple the overlord, muhahaha!

  The minion wave arrived. As always, Fio all out by leaping onto Cato's army and r in their faces, scattering them around. Then, she sliced them from behind as they fled, clearing a path for her army to advance.

  Such a solid routine. Cato nodded in approval. The tells were still faint, but he already saw the makings of a petitive pyer in Fiona. One day, she might even bee better tha duels. But, that day is not today.

  Cato patiently waited for the enemy army at his tower. He didn't dare to set a siep outside, to not give the oppo any openings. He'd gdly sacrifie farm and tower HP for the sake of guaranteeing his own safety.

  After annihiting inions, Fiona's usual routine was to lead her army into Cato's tower area. Then, she and her minions would open a relentless atta the polem.

  But, for some reason, Fiona didn't step forth this time. Instead, she abandoned her army aured into the small ju the bottom of the map.

  Is she going after the ogres again!? Cato failed to sider this line of py. My, my, my! Such smartassery. Leave it to the La Prio e up with a nasty line like that.

  Cato couldn't tell exactly how long it'll take for the Ogre Camp to respawn, but it should be happening at the same time Fiona's power buff wears out. And, when will the buff wear out? Any moment now, acc to Cato's estimation.

  She's using my own passiveness against me. Cato frowned. I thought the storm will pass if I stay on the defensive, but now she pulls this move. It's a check. She’ll keep dominating the ne if I do nothing.

  Cato's Golem was already down to 70% from all the attacks thus far. And, that pertage will go lower and lower as long as Fiona holds the power advantage.

  I won't even be able to test her at all this rate. Cato bit his lip. If I approach her, she'll try to ult me. Then, I ult out of her ult, and we're back to the current situation. As long as she has more cooldowion, her ult will always e online faster.

  What an ugly position to py from. Fiona pressed Cato between a rod a hard pce.

  I have to stop her from getting the buff. Cato cluded. But, I bet she’s anticipating that. She WANTS me to chase her to the Ogre Camp. That’s why she’s being so obvious about her pns.

  Cato's ult wasn't o but it'll e ba 15 seds. Then, how was Fiona's ult doing? It might already be out of cooldown. At worst, it'll be baline right as Cato intercepts Fiona.

  At that time, his ult won't be ready yet. So, if Fiona cages him, he'll have no means of retreating from the se. The lioness will tear him asunder inside her domain.

  At a gnce, Cato only had two options here. He could either feign blissful ignorand stay at his tower, or he could pce himself in tremendous danger and pick a fight with Fiona. her of these was a real solution to the problem.

  But, only an amateur would think there are really only two options. iled fidently. It’s a false dilemma, no doubt.

  The world wasn't bd white, there were tless shades of gray iween. Cato just had to carefully walk on the edge of the two colors without tripping in any dire.

  Looks like it's time for the "Esmeralda Strat". iled impishly. It ractically ied for situations like this. Esmeralda would be so prht now~

  Cato left his tower range, ign the invading army. Yes, he chose to take the risk, as uncharacteristic as it may have seemed.

  His goal was to stop Fiona from obtaining another power buff, which was undoubtedly a very dangerous task. However, it didn't mean he had to actually fight her upfront. Badgering would suffice~

  She probably expects me. Cato ehe juh caution, stig to the far wall. He had to make it as difficult as possible for Fiona to jump him.

  There she is. Cato caught a glimpse of the troublemaker around the er. As expected, the lioness was expeg him. She was ready to jump him the moment he came into view.

  I should be fi this distance. Cato peeked from around the er to establish his presen the se. Then, soon after he appeared, he vanished back behind the very same er and backpedaled.

  Are you going to make a move? No? Alright then. The first bait attempt fell through. Looks like she won't fall for anything too obvious.

  Cato altered his pns accly. Instead of staying as far aossible, he stuck close to the wall separating him and Fiona.

  This meant he was much closer to the danger zone, but thankfully the big wall was keeping him safe. It was too tall for Lionfolk to jump over, which meant Fiona didn’t have an easy way to aggress on Cato at the moment. Truly, this wall was such a trustworthy minion!

  Time for a little bit of whack-a-mole a~ Cato popped from around the er, fired o at Fiona, thereated behind the wall again. Rinse a every couple of seds.

  Even though he couldn’t see Fiona directly while he was hiding behind the wall, Cato had another pair of eyes on the se. Namely, the trusty ward he pced at the camp earlier. It allowed Cato to jump out of the er and nd an accurate shot without wasting any time assessing Fiona’s position.

  We're FPS now. Cato snickered. This sort of peek-shooting teique was only used in shooters, but obviously, cers had some of it as well.

  So, how are you going to deal with this~? The tables have turned. Now, Cato was the one f a dilemma on Fiona.

  Should she waste time aggressing on him even though he could easily escape from this position? Or, should she ignore his harassment and focus on Ogre Camp that'll respawn shortly?

  Looks like she chose the tter. Cato cluded.

  Fiona backpedaled to the far end of the Ogre Camp, staying as far as humanly possible from Cato. She probably cluded that dealing with Cato's polished harassment will be too much trouble. Instead, it was easier to focus on the camp and force Cato to e out of his hiding if he wao intervene.

  Sharp thinking as always. Cato nodded with a wry smile. It's scary to think she picked the game just retly. Her deaking is no joke. But, for now, I'm still superior.

  Cato stepped out of his hiding in order to further harass his oppo. Of course, he did so cautiously while stig to the wall like glue. It'd be bad news if he overextends here, so he had to approach his prey slowly and carefully-

  "Shit!" ped. It happened so fast his brain failed to process the situation in time. As soon as he took a siep out of his hideout - Fiona jumped him! It's like she was waiting for this!

  It’s as if Fiona knew he was ing before he even stepped out of the er. Perhaps she, too, ying on him with a ward. It wasly a bad spot to pce a ward, so it ossible.

  Not good! Gotta turn back! Cato's instincts took over. He turned around and rolled forth, quickly retreating behind his precious er. And, thanks to his speedy response, Fiona's Majestic Leap whiffed.

  Good thing I never skip practice. Cato sighed in relief.

  Normally, his rea speed was nothing to write home about. However, regur practice against such sarios allowed him to develop instincts that buffed his rea speed.

  Lionfolk was a on pick for Jungler and Majestic Leap was its most utilized gank opener. So, naturally, Cato practiced plenty against this move. Anybody who dared to call themselves a "petitive pyer" had to be able to react to the telegraphing roar of Majestic Leap.

  Phew, bullet dodged... or not!? ped. As he turned around, the face of a lioness was right in front of him! Did she cel her leap into Dodge Roll!? Such advanced maneuvers...!

  To make things worse, Fiona didn't attack right away. First, she made sure to unleash her ult, which came out of cooldown as Cato feared.

  The jungle hallway in front of them was too narrow for the lion cage. Therefore, it would have made sense for the game to deny Fiona’s request to summon “The Queen’s Dominion” in this tight area.

  However, the devs disagreed with that se. They cimed they worshiped "fun" above anything else, so they made "The Queen's Domain" a more “fun” skill a few years ago.

  Instead of being celed because the target area was too small, the lion cage dynamically fit itself to the terrain, like water in a bottle. The lions formed a blockage around the walls like soldiers called to duty. And, with Cato always stig so close to the walls…

  SLASH!

  Ouch! Cato grimaced. One of the lions already cwed him. And, the others were raring to do the same if Cato tiig close to the walls.

  Thank you very much for this "fun gamepy", CashSoft. Cato ranted internally. The devs' unnecessary meddling with Lionfolk’s design put Cato in an awkward spot here.

  The threat of the Lionfolk’s ult became a reality. Cato found himself imprisoned ihe Queen’s Dominion without an easy way out. What was he supposed to do about this dreadful situation!?

  DarkestCymore