Ronald deactivated his Dragon form in order to have an easier time maneuvering around the jungle. Gunz and Chessmaster shouldn't be able to catch up to him anytime soon, so it was fio escape the rest of the way as a human.

  "Hey, I did it!" Ronald grinned. "I actually smacked that dang Vanishing! Pretty awesome, right?"

  As if to ahe question, a loud BAM resounded! Right as Ronald passed around the er, a shockwave knocked him high into the air!

  "W-Wha-!?" Ronald excimed. "Why is he...!?"

  It was Vanguard's Heavy Stomp and a charged-up o that! EnduringPhoenix was here, and it's as if bruh was waiting for Ronald to show up here all along!

  But, that wasn't the end of the surprises. While Ronald was in midair, a dark magical ball smacked him!

  Even she is here!? Ronald gasped. Dang, it's like they’ve been waiting for me...!

  Until now, Ronald was fident that he safely escaped from danger. But, it turned out a nasty trap was waiting for him along the way!

  "Um, guys?" Ronald smiled wryly. "I might have a problem here, haha..."

  He tried to roll away as soon as he nded, but the Sorcerer's Dimensional Colpse pulled him back toward the Vanguard. In turn, Phoenix unleashed Provoke, f the Dragonborn to stay around for a while longer.

  Just like this, in a matter of seds, that anized duo made quick work of what was left of Ronald's HP.

  You have been killed!

  "Welp, I tried." Ronald shrugged and dropped ba his chair. "At least Vanishing is finally out of the picture. I did goht?"

  "Absolutely not," Cato asserted. "That overextension was beyond foolish. you expin to me how you expected to walk out of there alive? You dove absurdly deep into eerritory."

  "Hey, I almost made it, right?” Ronald insisted. “I mean, I got in, smacked the Ninja girl, and then got out. It's not my fault they prepared such a nasty trap for me at the st moment."

  "Except, it totally IS your fault,” Catued. “You should have expected it to be hard. I thought we all agreed by now that Stratus is a petehis year and that we have to treat them as such."

  "Eh, yeah, I guess." Ronald awkwardly scratched his head. "Buy hey, it was totally worth, right? Finally, we got a kill on this Vanishing girl! It's the first time we killed her this game, so big stonks!"

  "Perhaps it would have been ‘big stonks’ if you had achieved this 10 minutes earlier," Cato said. "But, te-game is already around the er. At this point, as long as we stick together, Vanishing should barely get any opportuo assassinate anybody. In other words, she's not that big of a threat anymore."

  "You say that, but the fact is, she’s still rag up them kills."

  "... yes, she did pull a few fast ones on us, I admit." Cato frowhough, it wasn't just Vanishing, per se. I'm sure Yuel was the one whed all these ve board positions for her.

  Ever since Vanishing scored the Double Kill at the start of the mid-game, Cato had beera careful to not give that phantom any more opportunities. And, Sonya also had been aiding him greatly in keeping track of the assassin's movements.

  Therefore, as an individual pyer, Vanishing was thhly shut down. If this were a ball game, then Cato and Sonya were doing the equivalent of double-teaming Vanishing in order to stop all ining passes from reag her.

  We did our job well if I do say so myself. But...

  Somehow, Yuel still found ways to get the ball to Vanishing. He used court-wide distras, f Cato and Sonya to respond to difficult situations. And, in the heat of sutense moments, their tight mark around Vanishing slipped ever so slightly. And, that little opening was more than enough for Vanishing to exploit the opportunity.

  My, it sure infuriates me. Cato scowled. No matter how hard I try to e up with a deferategy against this nonse never quite works out. Yuel's offense is so darn uable.

  As a whole, the Leopards' defense was airtight, ade sure of that. They deflected almost every ining attack, ensuring that Stratus could not build any further momentum.

  A, Vanishing somehow slipped through the tiny cracks in that defense. In the end, ao deflect every attack Yuel anized, save for the ohat involved Vanishing.

  I'm sure Yuel realized that too. Cato thought. It feels like he’s fog more and more on attacks that make use of Vanishing. Basically, he’s putting all his eggs in one basket. It’s such a Yuel-like thing to do.

  And, so far, it had been paying off. Yuel was gambling on the dark horse and snatg the big prize every time.

  However, this wasn't the end for the Leopards, far from it. Though Cato was a little shocked at first by how things had developed, he was gradually ing to terms with this reality. He had no choice but to admit that Vanishing was a threat he couldn't fully ralize, not with Yuel bag her up.

  So, I’ll foinimizing casualties. Cato thought. That's the best I do against these uable pys. It might have sounded like a defeatist mentality, the Leopards were the kind of team Cato groomed to win with that approach.

  In addition, since William had been peting against Vanishing over who could score the most kills, the Leopards weren't gging behind Stratus by too much. Their biggest momentum loss thus far was Vanishing's Double Kill in mid, but otherwise, the two teams had been going toe-to-toe ever since.

  We’ll reach the endgame as long as we keep defending. Then, Matt's Seraph carry us to victory. At least, that was my pn, until a certain fool ruined everything...

  Cato wasn’t shing at the brat just out of spite this time. That kill Ronald scored on Vanishing was a terrible trade through and through.

  I've been w my arse off to ensure everybody's safety, but this fool just went ahead and suicided on Vanishing. Foolish, so foolish…

  "gratutions," Cato said. "You may have just ruihe entire game with that py."

  "Who? Me?" Ronald ily poi himself.

  "Yes, you,” Cato asserted. “ame pn here is to defend and stay alive until the te-game, I’ve told you that many times."

  "But, that's ‘the pn’ only because you’re scared shitless of Vanishing, right?” Ronald asked. “So, here, I took care of her. You should be grateful, not ranting."

  "Yes, you did take care of her. But, you also died in the process, whivalidates the entire point."

  "How so?"

  "Oh my, is that head of yours just for show?” Cato sighed. “Yoal was to prevent further causalities, right? And, you tried to achieve that by suig. A 10/10 master pn."

  "Heh, yeah, if you look at it that way, then it’s not the best oute.” Ronald smiled awkwardly. “Man, I still ’t believe they caught me there. That was ."

  "Oh, I'm gd you think so highly of our oppos. Do you want to switch teams, perhaps? I'll fill in the papers for your transferral."

  "Thanks but no thanks."

  "Then shut up and listen, kid,” Cato said. “Your death just ruined everything we’ve been w on. We were finally entering the point in the game where Vanishing's opportuo kill will be very limited, yet you went ahead aratus get another kill for free."

  "It wasn't free, though. It was one-for-one."

  "Oh yes, it was a ‘fair trade’, sure,” Cato said. “But, which team currently has the lead? They do. And, do you know which team usually bes more from 'fair trades'? The ohat’s in the lead. In other words, them."

  It was just like in chess. The leading pyer was more likely to offer “fair trades” because it simplified the board state for them.

  So, Ronald’s trade only seemed fair on paper, but in truth, it greatly favored the eeam. Yuel robably thanking Ronald for that exge right now. So foolish…

  “Hey,” Matthew whispered privately to Cato. “I uand that you’re mad, but we o focus on the game.”

  “Right, right.” Cato took a deep breath. For a moment there, he almost lost himself in his anger.

  After taking a couple of seds to gather his thoughts, Cato finally moved on. He was still itg to sh at Ronald some more, but doing so wasn’t going to improve the Leopards’ situation.

  Cato’s sour mood was caused by a bination of small annoyances like that - Ronald’s disobedience, Vanishing’s uable attacks, Yuel’s bizarre tactics, and so forth.

  Worst of all, there was also the Leopards’ reputation to sider. Losing this game would put the scrimmage at 2-2, tying the score. It’d make it look as if Stratus was on par with the Leopards, the regional champions. And, it’ll definitely make a certain Emperor quite mad...

  But, Matt is right. The game isn’t over yet. Cato took another deep breath. No matter how many attacks Yuel u me, I’ll keep defleg them until the very end. As long as we keep defending properly, I’m sure we’ll get our ce eventually.

  Unfortunately, optimism wasn’t enough to win games. The impact of Ronald’s death was rger than expected, it gave Stratus a burst of momentum to push Mid. They already had a decisive advantage over there, and now they were expanding it further.

  No matter how hard Cato wao deny it, things weren’t looking good for the Leopards...

  DarkestCymore