Even though his brother perished, William was safely inside Cryo-Freeze. But...

  This doesn't actually save me. William thought. Now that they're doh Ron, they'll turn on me .

  He had only one ake a break for it. That was when the enemy reoccupied with killing Ronald. In those couple of seds, William could've busted out of the icicle areated to the back of the Golem area.

  But, I wouldn't have gotten far anyways. They were monit me, waiting for the moment I e out.

  He sensed as much from the enemies' movements and gazes. Every so often, they threw gnces in his dire to make sure he wasn't trying to slip away. So, if William were to bust out of the Cryo-Freeze, the enemy would have struck him down on the spot.

  At the same time, waiting for so long ihis ice coffin didly improve his situatioher. Ohe enemy eliminated Ronald, they focused all their attention on William . So really, this Cryo-Freeze was only deying the iable.

  Well, at least buying time is also important for us, so this isn't a total waste. William thought. Sonya will get here very soon, and I also have my roll now.

  As terproductive as it might have seemed, staying ihe ice of invincibility instead running actually had its advahough, in the end, without time-traveling abilities, it was impossible to know for sure whether this was the correct decision or not.

  Well, that’s enough overthinking. William decided. I made a decision, so now I have to work with the sequences.

  In the end, William chose to remain ihe Cryo-Freeze in order to buy time and heal up, so this was the only timelihat mattered. Perhaps in a different timeline, a different William would’ve picked a different option and achieved a different ending, but that was irrelevant. Only this timelitered for this Wilim, after all.

  I o roll as soon as the ice melts. William thought. The biggest threat here is the Elf's ult. I have to dodge it if I want to get away. But, knowing Gunz's skills, this won't be easy. He might predict where I move and- ah!

  His brain short-circuited. Branches emerged from the ground below him and covered his bottom half even though he was still ihe Cryo-Freeze.

  Ah yes, of course. William sighed. There’s o worry about what I’ll do if you just preemptively root me. Just great...

  Unlike regur CC effects, Elf’s Nature’s Embrace first summoned “physical objects” onto the field that ied their target with the actual CC. As such, even though William was teically immuo side Cryo-Freeze, it was legal to pce the branches around him ahead of time, and they’ll successfully root him ihe moment the Cryo-Freeze ends.

  The eook no breaks. They smoothly ed one py into another during this offehe moment they finished with Ronald, they immediately set their sights on William. They didn't give him a moment to rest.

  Hmph. I suppose I made the wrong call, after all. William thought. I should’ve retreated earlier to plicate the situation a little for them. I made it too easy by staying here like a sitting duck. Then again, I’m sure they were ready for either sario.

  From start to end, Stratus exhibited fwless execution in this attack. It was an impressive performano doubt born from a bination of skill and experience. William wasn't expeg any of this, therefore he responded poorly to this entire assault.

  This is the end. William sighed, resigning himself to his fate.

  The ice melted, exposing him bare for all attackers te. While rooted in pce, he couldn't protect himself in any way from ining attacks.

  heless, even as his life was about to expire, William struggled to the bitter end. He activated Self-Nullification, boosting his Attack Power and Attack Speed.

  The skill also sed soft CC, but unfortunately, the branches rooting him in pce didn't t as such. Therefore, he had to stay in pce as he fired back at his attackers.

  WHISH! ZAP! A multitude of undodgeable attacks darted at him all at once!

  But, William ignored all that noise and aimed his fi the Dark Knight. Then, white magical arrows barraged Memer oer another.

  The high frequency of the arrows, bined with William's fwless aim, made it difficult for Memer to dodge anything.

  "I'm l the DK's HP," William informed. "Focus on him first if you get a ce to attack."

  "Noted," Sonya responded.

  Alright then, looks like this is as far as I go... William sighed in resignation as the final ser beam pierced through his skull.

  You have been killed!

  Out of the multitude of attacks directed at him, these ser beams hurt the most. Not just physically, but also mentally.

  The shots were stantly aimed at William’s head for some reason. Elf was no Gunslinger so it didn't be from headshots in any way, yet Gunz insisted to nd ead every shot on William's head.

  It was as baffling as it was vexing. It felt as if Gunz was exhibiting his total dominance here, so much so that he was fih taking unnecessary risks with these headshots just to drive the point home.

  And, that tied to the other reason why this was frustrating: William hadn’t gotten a ce to defeat Gunz this game. This was supposed to be the game where he'd prove his superiority and recim his spot as the 2nd stro pyer in the region, but the game denied him that opportunity.

  I know that Gunz doesn't actually deserve much credit for how this game has turned out as a whole, but…

  Being executed by his nemesis just felt bad. It was as if Gunz was ridig him, g that a defeat at William’s hand was never an option for him.

  And so, the only fate left for William was to colpse and crumble away, without achieving much of anything against Gunz. He could only hope that the shots he nded on the Dark Knight were going to help Sonya at least a little bit. As...

  An allied Golem has beeroyed!

  It was hopeless from the start. As a lone defender against five attackers, Sonya couldn't properly fight the enemy gang even ihe Golem area.

  She transformed into a dragon just to get some pressure going, but the enemy pushed through her regardless.

  "Looks like this is the best I do here," Sonya said as she retested. Just like William, she felt pletely powerless against this unstoppable raid.

  Even though the enemy was exeg such a reckless all-in attack, they heless pushed the attack through and the Leopards couldn’t do a sihing to stop it. Holy, it was mind-boggling.

  How does that even work for them? Sonya bit her lip. There are so many factors that should be w against their success here, yet they're pushing through. And, they’re doing it against our team, to boot.

  If this unlikely situation was happening to some other team from the region, then it would have been easy to write it off as a simple mistake. But no, this was happening to THIS team, to the Leopards, the regional champions.

  Yes, this unbelievable strategy was currently w on the highest level of petitive py for their league. How….?

  Is it our fault? Did we mess up somewhere in a big way? Sonya couldn't help but ask herself that over and over.

  Of course, she uood that this overwhelming attack started all the way back when the enemy first scored a kill on her in Top. That was undeniably the start of it all and Sonya admitted that she messed up there.

  However, that oh wasn't supposed to escate so much. It wasn't supposed to result in Cato and Matthew dying, nor in this unstoppable push on Mid.

  We'll have to review everything iail after the game. Sonya took a mental note as she watched an apocalypse unfold in front of her very eyes.

  The enemies peed all the way into the base along with empowered minions and assaulted the Colossus. Even now, Sonya was still the only one who could do anything about the situation.

  It will take some more time for Cato and Matthew to revive, as they were killed a long time after Sonya was. As such, Sonya remaihe sole defender in this critical moment.

  Her Draic Fever had already expired, so she reverted baan form. In this state, she couldn't do anything at all to stop the onsught.

  She had no choice but to watch the base burn down as mounted feeble resistance. Frankly, it felt depressing.

  Soon enough, the Colossus also crumbled uhe pressure. Its gigantic body cracked, with rocks falli and right from its big frame. In a matter of seds, the tall titan turned into a pile of lifeless rocks, which then crumbled further and turo dust.

  DEFEAT

  The sed game was over.

  DarkestCymore