The lohe game went on, the clearer it became that Stratus would win if nothing ged. And, unfortunately, Cato was uo e up with anything smart.

  This kind of thing is SO not my forte. itted. A big part of why I like pying defense is that it helps me avoid helpless situations like this. But, once I’m forced into one...

  He had no idea what to do. Sure, there were a few general tactics he was familiar with, but her he nor his teammates excelled at utilizing any of them.

  I see that Will is still trying things, but it's not going well. Cato pced some of his hope on William, the one pyer oeam who was both a strong warrior and a good tacti. If there was somebody here who could e up with a game-winning move, it'd be him.

  And, indeed, Wilim unched a few strong attacks on the enemy. He was the only one oeam sg a det amount of kills, and it should be hat he usually didn’t die in the process, unlike his younger brother.

  Hmph. The brat doesn't even deserve to be mentioned. ade a face as he g Ronald, aiting on his respawn timer once again. I mean, he's getting some kills, but they almost always e at a cost. If anything, this only makes defending harder.

  Cato cursed every time Ronald pulled something stupid and got himself killed in the process. But, at the same time, at least the kid was trying to ge something about the situation.

  Meanwhile, Cato only knew how to stick to defense and wait for the endgame. He g all his hopes on Matthew, the Messiah who'll surely rescue them all!

  On his end, Mattheying it safe. He uood the importance of his role in the endgame, so he didn't let the enemy get any kills on him until then. The only time he died was the result of a sneaky gank from Vanishing, which was something that caught every pyer of the Leopards off-guard at least once by now.

  Matthew himself scored 1 kill and 2 assists, which made up for his 1 death. So, overall, his position was rather ral as the fight was entering the endgame.

  But, that's not good enough. Cato frowned. Even though we're practically at the endgame now, he still 't do anything too fshy because the momentum is on their side.

  Cato's persistent defense safely delivered the Leopards into the endgame, but that's all it achieved. He failed to break the enemy's momentum and equalize the situation. And so, the curtain fell on this helpless game.

  DEFEAT

  It was aable result, yet the Leopards still found themselves in disbelief as they stared at the red letters on the s.

  So, we lost... Cato bit his lip. His fists were shaking, but he hid them underh the table.

  Formation A, in which Cato and Matthew pyed Bot, was supposed to be their best formation for bating Stratus. A, Stratus still bested them.

  To make things worse, the booing from the audieuck again. CLAP! CLAP! g resounded across the stadium as if mog the Leopards.

  Thankfully, this time, it didn't develop into thundering appuse. heless, the stadium was quiet enough for the g to echo loudly.

  It's not just one person g, that's for sure. Cato sed the audieo find the culprits responsible for the mental attack. It was very much possible that the same hooligans were responsible for sparking the fire during the st round of appuse too.

  I see it’s mostly that group over there. Cato had a hard time making out their faces from this distanbsp; but most of the g echoed from a group of kids, probably middle schoolers. Is that StormBlitz...?

  Cato couldn’t tell for sure since he only ever saw StormBlitz’s members from afar, but he was almost vihat they were the masterminds behind this g fiasco. It just made too much sense.

  Yuel used to py oeam, so it’s not toe for them to help him out a little. Cato reasoned. Besides, we're their biggest rivals, so of course, they want t us through the mud. My, so uncultured...

  It was reassuring to know that aeam manufactured this mental attad that the booing didn’t e from a ral audience. Basically, it was just their biggest rivals throwing some dirt at them.

  Then again, are they really our “biggest” rivals this year? Cato instinctively g the other side of the stage. It seems StormBlitz isn't the only team we have to worry about...

  With two wins to its record today, Stratus was on its way to establishing itself as a fellow “powerhouse” that could rival the Leopards. Yuel’s team was every bit as dangerous as StormBlitz.

  Nah, I’m exaggerating here. Cato reassured himself. StormBlitz has solid fuals, but Stratus’ pystyle is a bit fragile. I’m sure that reviewing today’s games will expose many holes that we could’ve exploited in Yuel’s shenanigans. Once we learn how to capitalize on all these opportunities, Stratus won’t be a threat anymore.

  Same as his tacti chess, Yuel had a wonky shot-calling style. It looked strong and sophisticated, but underh all the smokes, there were many holes and openings. Cato just had to bee better at exploiting these weakhat's all there was to it.

  Alrighty, that's enough of me pep-talking myself. Cato took a deep breath and stood up. Now that he pumped up his own spirits, it was time to do the same for the rest of the team. After all, he was the captain, so he had to pretend that everything was fine.

  "My, my, how ued," Cato started.

  "What do you mean 'ued'?" Wilim retorted. "They had the lead ever since mid-game started. It's all because of that Double Kill."

  "Yes, that was the game-ger for sure," Cato agreed. "It was quite the eborate scheme, I'll give them that. To be ho, I still 't figure out art of it nned and what was improvised."

  "You say that again." Sonya pushed her gsses. "The whole thing in Mid was too much. I 't believe somebody would actually it to a ky pn like that. It's not effit."

  "I agree.” Cato nodded. “It only worked out by ce." Though, I'm sure Yuel had it pnned down to the details. Questionable and fragile strategies like that are his bread and butter. But, I'll keep that to myself.

  Even in the unlikely sario that Yuel orchestrated the entire py from start to end, it didn't ge the fact the strategy had many holes in it. There were at least a hundred different things that could’ve gone horribly wrong. So, it ractically a fluke.

  "They got us good with that lucky, little ploy," Cato said. "And, after that, I couldn't e up with a way to turables around. I apologize for that."

  "Damn straight," Ronald said. "You pretty much told us to defend all day, as if that was going to ge anything."

  "Perhaps it would have if a certain somebody cared enough to protect his life instead of throwing it away at every opportunity."

  "Meh, all of us have died a few times, right?" Ronald shrugged. "Besides, if not for me and bro getting some kills, we would’ve had no ce of catg up."

  "In theory," Sonya interjected. "Prioritizing stable defense should’ve ed us a better result than your reckless aggression did."

  "My, as expected from my secretary~" Cato rejoiced. "I knew you'd support me on anything~”

  “Only when you actually make sound arguments, which isn’t often. And, I’m not your secretary.”

  “My, how brutal. But, that’s what I love about you~”

  “Oh, put a so it.” Sonya spat a sigh, but she also cracked a faint smile at this dumb exge. It was silly, but having this regur exge was almost reassuring as if everything was alright right now. It certainly helped lessen the blow of losing a sed game to Stratus.

  “So, both of you gonna gang up on me?” Ronald asked. “You say whatever you want about defense being ‘better in theory’, but defending all day long ’t win us the game.”

  “Yes,” Sonya admitted. “Coasting on defense alone would have been tough, borderline impossible.”

  “You see? That’s what I’m saying!”

  “That’s why I said that your reckless attacks were uncalled for. Oher hand, William did a great job.”

  “My, my.” iled impishly. “Praising your love i as usual~”

  “H-He’s not!” Sonya scowled. “I just give credit where credit is due, that’s all. Do you have to be su ass about everything? I don’t think this is the appropriate time for stupid jokes like that.”

  “Hmm. Maybe you’re right.” iled meaningfully. “Then again, it did make you fet about your troubles for a moment there, didn’t it?”

  “Yes, because it created a whole new problem for me to react to.” Sonya fixed her gsses, then sighed i. She knew she shouldertain this line of dialogue, it was a recipe fetting a headache.

  But, admittedly, this banter helped Sonya rex a little. And, it seemed to have a simir effe the test of the team as well. Perhaps this was Cato's pn all along, but Sonya didn't feel like giving the guy any credit for this.

  After a few more exges, the team came down from the stage. The atmosphere around them was still a bit heavy, but they had mostly e to terms with this result.

  pared to suffering an embarrassi in the 2nd game and dealing with the oppressive appuse, losing this game didn't feel like the end of the world. It was frustrating for sure, but the team didn't have as much trouble ing to terms with it. At this point, they just had to admit that Stratus was a petehis year, possibly on par with StormBlitz.

  We'll just have to make a eba the game, simple as that. Cato thought. Though, I suppose it won't feel quite as satisfying to win that game, not with HIM pying oeam...

  And so, the team headed back to their room. They prepared themselves to get lectured by the coach, and possibly be grilled by the Emperor...

  DarkestCymore