In one of Proter’s stadiums, a scrimmage was taking pce. It was a rather one-sided match, ohat escated more and more the lo went on.

  DOUBLE KILL

  UNSTOPPABLE

  These messages popped up on Cato's s. Unfortunately, the achievements didn’t belong to him.

  "My, aren't you feisty today.” iled impishly.

  "I just want to get this over with," William said. "This is getting old. They're clearly not at our level."

  Even though they were on top of a stage, pying in front of a big audieheir voices didn't betray a single hint of tension. And, why would they be tehis was already their sed scrimmage this year. Not to mention, today’s match was just as one-sided as the previous one.

  The score was already 16-1. Oh wait, that’s wrong. It’s already 17-1, thanks to William being such a reliable killing mae. He killed enemies faster than Cato could t up.

  Of course, Cssmancers wasn't so simple of a sport, so the kill t didn’t always tell the eory. However, when the gap was this big, it painted a very clear picture.

  "My, you really don't know how to chill, do you?” iled wryly. "Think about these puys. You've been whooping them for three games straight now. Don't you think they deserve a little breather?"

  "Hmph. It's not my fault they're so weak." William scoffed. "Holy, I don't know what we're still doing here. Coach should've subbed us out after the sed game. The result should've been decisive enough."

  "Oh, I'm sure it was." Cato recalled the st two rounds. The team thhly crushed their oppos with scores of 26-0 and 39-1. Not only did the enemy fail to adapt for the sed game, but they folded even harder than before. Calling it “one-sided” didn’t even begin to describe it.

  But, that oute was only natural. The eeam had much weaker pieces: four pyers that were as good as “pawns”, and one pyer that could roughly qualify as a “knight”.

  Oher hand, Cato's team was filled to the brim with strong pieces. Just he and William already ted as two “rooks”, though William probably saw himself more on par with a “queen”.

  If there iece strohan a rook and weaker than a queen, then that’d be his piece. iled to himself as he analyzed the game board as if it was chess.

  With such a substantial differen specs betweewo teams, a result like 26-0 for the first game was iable. On top of that, the first game allowed Cato to get a better read on his oppos. So, with better-optimized shot-calling, he enforced a 39-1 for the sed round.

  The team pyed both games almost perfectly, dominating the opposition while suffering minimal losses. There was only one rush idiot who staiheir perfect record twi a row, both st game and this game...

  "Dang, bro!" Ronald excimed. "You sure work fast! Nice kill!"

  "These guys are just that easy," William said evenly.

  "Yep, they're scrubby alright." Ronald nodded. "But, don't you think you’ve won just yet! You're only two kills ahead of me, so I'mma catch up in no time!"

  "You will try." William felt no pressure from his younger brother's bold deceleration. I'll win again for sure.

  "Hey Ronald," Cato spoke up. "I don't mind you peting for kills, but don't chase them too hard. You're ruining our perfect score and I don't want another lecture from the coach."

  "Sacrifices gotta be made sometimes," Ronald retorted with a nonsensical argument. "As they say: no pain, no gain!"

  "Listen, kid. Quoting idioms isn't going to excuse your mess-ups."

  "Hey, who are you calling a kid!? You want them hands, dude!?"

  "No, but their Lancer probably does." Cato piwo areas on the mini-map. The enemy Lancer robably going to rotate from one of these spots and pick off Ronald, who was grossly overextending to score his precious kills. What a brat,

  The enemy Jungler was the only one who ever scored kills on Ronald today. He was the “knight” pie the eeam, the only oh suffit skill to not embarrass himself on the petitive se. So, naturally, there was some reason for .

  "The Lancer is probably ing. So, unless you're pnning to give him a free kill, you better foot it, kid."

  “That dang dude again!” Ronald excimed. “Okay, fine." He retreated from the frontline.

  No matter how badly Ronald wao pass his brother's score, he still had to retreat when danger approached. After all, if he dies, he won’t be able to get any more kills!

  Besides, he art of the team. Even though they were totally stomping the enemy at the moment, his death would slow them down and make them look bad. That’d be uable.

  I’m gd he realizes at least this much. Cato thought. If he couldn't figure out something so basi his own, I would've booted his butt out of the team a long time ago.

  It was y threat. Cato would’ve really pushed for it to happen and he probably would’ve achieved it too. After all, he was the captain. His word carried the most weight in this team.

  I'm the overlord here, son. Cato snickered. If you disappoihen off with your head!

  In the first pce, somebody like Ronald shouldn't normally be allowed on the first-string. Juniors should only cheer on the first-string from the sideliheir time to shine was year.

  But, the coasisted. He shoved Ronald into scrimmages to let the brat gain practical experience for year. Somehow, this absolute tool was the “best” didate for bei year's captain.

  I guess year the team will finally drop its win streak. Oh well. Cated. That wasn't his . This was his st year of middle school and his st year oeam. All he cared about was making the best out of this year and iing the team’s eversting win streak t.

  After all, they were the Leopards, the uable regional champions. Victory was as expected as it was iable. And, as the captain, Cato was in charge of delivering the team to said victory and living up to the legacy he ied with the role.

  But, it’s not like he was going to do everything with his own two hands. That’s what he had his useful chess pieces for. Yes, even fwed and unreliable pieces like Ronald pyed an important part in all of this.

  An enemy has been killed!

  "Goteem!" Ronald pumped a fist after smiting the Lahe biggest threat the enemy posed!

  Even though he inally retreated from the se to avoid getting ganked, he patiently waited nearby to see what followed. As expected, the Lancer arrived shortly after, no doubt pnning to punish Ronald for the overextension. As, Ronald was no lohere! Or, so the Lahought.

  After cluding that Ronald pletely evacuated the area, the Laarted casually clearing the nearby e Camp. Then, BAM! Ronald jumped that scrub!

  "That'll teach you a lesson, fam. Don't you mess with the AbsoluteChallenger!"

  "My, you actually killed the guy," Cato said.

  "Yep, mopped that scrub real good! He probably thought he’s a hotshot because he killed me once or twice, but these were just flukes, I’m telling you!"

  "They were far from flukes, but alright." Cato didn't feel like wasting any more breath on this kid right now. They’ll have more than enough time to review this after the scrimmage. For now, as long as Ronald delivered results and followed Cato's orders when it ted, everything was fine.

  An enemy has been killed!

  "My, you guys have no chill, do you." Cato sighed.

  "I told you, I want to get this over with," William said after g yet another soul. "These guys are no match for us."

  "That's true, but you don't have to bully them like that. Go easy on them, give them at least a little bit of hope."

  "And why should I do that?"

  "So you ter CRUSH that hope and BREAK their spirits~" iled dangerously.

  "You damn sadist." William made a face. "I'm trying to give these guys a quid merciful death, but you just want to py with your food."

  "Maybe I do~" itted with an i smile. "After all, this is our st game for the day. I want to savor it as much as I ~"

  "Go bully people in your free time. I'm bored of this. The only thing that keeps me going is that brat over there who’s trying to pete with my score."

  "And I gon you, bro!" Ronald procimed.

  "In your dreams."

  And so, the two rascals tio pete.

  An enemy has been killed!

  UNSTOPPABLE

  An enemy has been killed!

  An enemy has been killed!

  An enemy has been killed!

  TRIPLE KILL

  LEGENDARY

  The kills didn't stop ing. Every time William scored a kill, Ronald soon scored one of his own. And, as if ialiation, William swiftly found another victim to secure his lead in the race. In turn, that motivated Ronald to seek yet another kill ASAP.

  What a beautiful brotherly boween two killing maes. iled impishly.

  Even as the two brothers peted with each other, they also cooperated with perfect synergy. After clearing all the threats in Top and Mid, they split Top Juo two halves and devoured all the farm there. The execution was fast ahodical, with minimal unication required.

  Maybe they unicate telepathically? Cato eaihe idea even though he khe truth was much simpler.

  The brothers were very dedicated to the game for a long time now. As a result, after pying together for so long, they naturally developed impeccable teamwork. Perhaps they were rivals as far as sg kills was ed but, aside from that, they were also each other’s most trusted ally.

  Surprisingly, it was Ronald, the younger brother, who came up with most of their teampy ideas. That brat seemed like “all brawn and no brain” at first gnce, but he actually had an ued game sense and a knack for teampy. These were probably the qualities that made him qualify as year’s captain in the coach’s book.

  I mean, there's literally nothing else that’s good about this brat. Cato reasoned. With that said...

  An enemy has been killed!

  Ronald scored another kill. That brat and his brother were the team’s two main ons. While the rest of the team prioritized defensive py, the two brothers were frequently on the offensive, peting for kills.

  My, so uncivilized. Cato shook his head. As the herald of defehe brothers’ barbarian aggressiveness wasn’t much to his liking. heless, they were a necessary evil for this team.

  Cato’s forte id in defensive shot-calls, so he didn’t exearly as much when it came to ung decisive attacks. Therefore, sometimes it was veo let the two brothers loose. They added a mueeded fvor of offeo the team,

  Not to mention, when they cooperated - they unleashed hell oh. Their offense was the Yang to Cato’s Yin. That’s probably why the coach decided to add Ronald to this lineup, as much as Cato disliked that decision.

  Well, in the end, he’s just a rept for our REAL fifth member. Cated. At least his offense does the work for now during these easy scrimmages, so it’s not a big deal. Once we face StormBlitz and the nationals, we’ll be pying with our real lineup anyway. Though, I ’t genuinely say I’m a huge fan of that oher...

  Regardless of what Cato felt oter, the berserker brothers swatted the enemies like flies. The team was steadily pushing forward and ering the enemy base.

  The score was already 31-1, an irreversible situation no matter how hard the eries. Even a miracle from God himself would be hard-pressed to help them here.

  It was over in every sense of the word, but the enemies heless fortified their defenses and fought to the bitter end. They deserved appuse for their uing fighting spirit, if nothing else.

  I wish I could see their faces right now. Cato snickered. They must be looking rather devastated~

  Unfortunately, the eeam ositioned oher side of the stage, and monitors covered most of their figures. As such, it was impossible to make out anything about their expressions, no matter how hard Cato squinted his eyes.

  heless, he had plenty of experieg such expressions on his chess oppos. Thanks to that, he could imagihe enemy’s frustration quite vividly.

  The gritting of their teeth, the tapping of their feet, and the agony twisting their faces. Cato could clearly see all these delicious sights in his head.

  Muhaha! Tremble in front of the champions! Cato terrorized the eeam like an overlord, at least in his head. That was his only source of fun in this otherwise ckluster game. As William said, these oppos were no match for the Leopards. It wasn’t eveely close.

  We pouhem pretty bad. Cato looked at the current score of 33-1. It was going to be an overwhelming one-sided victory. Nobody would dare to question the Leopards’ strength after witnessing this ving performance.

  As, the result wasirely perfect. One brat’s death staihis otherwise amazing score.

  We shouldn’t have ceded any kills to a team like that.

  Unfortunately, it was outside of Cato’s trol. It wasn’t his fault that Ronald was a reckless brat who sometimes fot to pay attention to his surroundings.

  On his end, Cato did everything he could to avoid such acts. He warned Ronald multiple times about the possibility of a gank. A, Ronald still mao get himself killed in both games. What a damn troublemaker.

  This oh staihe record of the eeam. And, in turn, it also stained Cato’s personal achievements as the captain. Especially, as a shot-caller who prided himself in defeactics, g kills against a weak team was one of the greatest insults.

  Of course, acts will always happen. Cato reasoned. But, that’s not a professional mentality.

  Acts were like a force of nature. No human being was capable of developing a 100% foolproof resistance against them.

  heless, a pro’s job was to strive toward that 100% by redug the average number of such acts to near zero. sistency was the key to success.

  That’s how Cato has always handled himself in chess, and that’s the mentality he brought into Cssmancers as well. It applied to pretty much every petitive field out there, which was why this oh irked him so much.

  I hope Coach chews Ronald out on this. Well, I’m 80% sure he will. And, if he doesn’t, I’ll make sure t that up myself.

  He had no iion of tolerating such gaps in his team’s defense. If Ronald could get himself killed against such pos, then how many times was he pnning to die against stroeams? It was a big .

  Such were the thoughts that occupied ind during the final parts of this predictable game. The enemy’s feeble resistance didn’t matter in the slightest. These fels have already lost, it was just a matter of how to take them out.

  Hmm. I say we drag out the game just a tiny little bit more~ iled impishly. Let’s let them struggle in vain some more. After all, that’s the best part about ering the oppo and dominating the board~

  However, not everybody was on the same page here.

  “Let’s kill the Overlord ahis over with,” William suggested. Though, his strong tone implied it wasn’t a mere “suggestion”. It was a statement about how killing the Overlord was objectively the best move they had avaible.

  “Yeah, I agree!” Ronald joined in. “They’re all busy fending off super minions, so that’s our ce.”

  The other members also echoed simir thoughts. Nobody quite shared Cato’s i in dragging the game out and watg his foe suffer. Oh well.

  I suppose it’s time to it up then. Cato decided to approve of the pn, seeing as the majority voted in favor of William’s idea. And, it was indeed a strong py, ohat Cato was obviously aware of, yet chose to postpone for his owertai.

  The team ganged on the big boss and elimihe fellow within seds. They were so powerful at this stage of the game that evero mob on the map posed no challenge for them.

  With the Overlord’s buff boosting their powers further, they relied on raw strength to bust through the enemy’s fort and cim the Colossus. So uncivilized.

  VICTORY

  DarkestCymore