Yuel summarized his clusions to Vi, that Luke's depression was likely caused by him being drunk on his success from Game 2, and that Nia was about to go down the same road.

  "Dios mio!" Vi excimed. "And, to think it was her than me who loudly celebrated their great achievements! I’m the one responsible for all of this!"

  "I wouldn't go that far,” Yuel said. “You didn't have any ill iions, right?"

  "Of course not! The pn was to ihe team with motivation! The strong performance of a nakama should be celebrated, or so I believed...!"

  "True, these sorts of things do lift the team’s spirits,” Yuel said. “You shouldn't beat yourself over it."

  "As they say, the road to hell is paved with good iions."

  "Regardless, as far as you were ed, you were just trying to help the team, and I'm sure there were many bes to what you did,” Yuel reassured. “The team's morale definitely increased thanks to your overhyped speeches."

  "That's what I believe, too," Vi said. "However! Who could’ve known that my tribution will e at such a dire cost!?"

  "It's unavoidable, really. The higher morale is, the more crushi will feel. It's an unfortunate psychological thing."

  "Indeed, indeed.” Vi nodded but his shoulders heless slumped. “Still, to think that I didn’t realize my sins until it was too te...!"

  "That makes two of us," Yuel said. "I let you hype things up without properly sidering the sequences."

  "But, didn’t you warn us about not getting carried away? Multiples times, in fact."

  "Yes, I tried, but I think I didn't drive the point home well enough,” Yuel said. “When I saw everybody celebrating so enthusiastically, even I was led to believe that it was good for the team. After all, we're fag the Leopards here, yet the team was celebrating. It felt like morale was at an all-time high, so I didn't want to get in the way."

  "I see, I see.” Vi nodded. “But, to think that high morale was such a double-edged sword this eime...!"

  "So, bay request," Yuel said. "I'd like to make sure they don't go into the game on the 'high horse', so to speak. It's good to be motivated, but they shouldn't be blinded by that momentary hype."

  "Indeed. It turned out this hype is both a great on and a recipe for disaster."

  "Right,” Yuel agreed. “Normally, I'd try to talk seo everybody myself. But, retly I’ve e to realize that I'm not very good at this..."

  "It’s not just you. This is, in fact, a Herculean task," Vi said. "When people are in the middle of celebrating, they don't want to hear any bad news. Thus, they dismiss your words of wisdom by instinct."

  "Right. So, I'd like YOU to talk seo them."

  "Moi?” Vi blinked. “Are you askio kill the hype I gave birth to? With my own two hands!?"

  “Yes.”

  “Well, it's uandable, I suppose.” Vi lowered his head. "I am the one who created this mess, therefore I should be the oo it up."

  "Don’t get me wrong, I’m not bming you per se,” Yuel said. “It's just that your words carry a lot of weight. I don't really uand why, but yood at emotionally swaying the others with your words." Even though most of what you say is pure nonsense. But, that's beside the point.

  "I see," Vi said. "So, you want to use that ability to thwart the team's hype."

  "That's the gist of it, yes.” Yuel nodded. “I need you to say something that'll help baheir exaggerated morale so they won't get carried away. Something that'll bring them down to earth and make them uand that they are not uable. "

  "Hmmmmmmmm." Vi crossed his arms. "I'm afraid my skills aren’t suitable for pulling off such a tactic."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I'm one who celebrates the achievements of pyers, not their failures. Therefore, I ot deliver demotivating speeches, not in a ving manner."

  "Really? How so?"

  "Recall, I'm the one and only Arbiter of Talents!” Vi stretched his arms dramatically. “My biggest talent is to find what makes pyers amazing, not what makes them stumble. Finding weaknesses and fws is the Chessmaster’s job."

  "I see." Yuel ended up agreeing with what seemed like a dubious cim at first, but it robably the truth. Vi was all about hyping up pyers’ skills, he had very little i in exposing weaknesses and presenting anybody in a ive light.

  Even back when Yuel and Vi were preparing notes about the Leopards, Vi only ever showered their members with praise. It was Yuel who had to search for their weaknesses.

  Sometimes, Vi's observations about a pyer’s strengths helped Yuel discover a weakness, but that was never Vi’s inal iion. All that guy ever cared about was ing up with bombastic skill names for pyers’ talents, nothing more and nothing less. As such, it was uandable why Vi cimed he didn’t have the power to destroy the hype he created.

  Of course, he could force himself to tackle it regardless, but then his words won't be ing from the heart. They won't sound as genuinely overhyped as in his usual speeches.

  So, he only “hype up” pyers. Hmm. An idea crossed Yuel's mind.

  Perhaps, it was really impossible for Vio tackle the hype directly. Then, how about fighting fire with fire? In order to ter the existing hype, Vi could gee an even rger hype about something else.

  "How about you hype up our oppos?" Yuel asked. "Remind everybody how strong the Leopards are, how good they are at adaptic."

  "Oh! I see what you're scheming!" Vi grinned. “As I’m uo pour cold water on their hype, I shall simply fight fire with fire! Indeed, so simple, yet so brilliant!”

  “Yes, exactly. And, as it happens, I have a piece of information that really help with this idea.” Yuel gave Vi a teaser of the opic he nning to discuss with the team: the Leopards’ secret Korean pyer.

  “.......” Vi found himself uncharacteristically speechless in front of the reveal. “... may I ask whether this information is credible?”

  “I believe it’s true,” Yuel said. “At least, the ces are high enough that this warrants a proper discussion with the team. They have to be mentally prepared for this.”

  “Ihey must know what fearsome antagonist awaits them down the road.”

  “Right,” Yuel said. “But, it feels awkward to drop this topi them while they’re celebrating. I’m afraid this euphoric atmosphere will make them dismiss anything I say.”

  “That is indeed a valid .” Vi nodded. “Very well, then I shall be the oo open this act! I shall set up the stage for yrand reveal!”

  And so, Vi set out. He approached the celebrating mob with full io strike down their joyous moment. This was no doubt an act befitting a vilin. Chessmaster had taken this role upon himself tless times, withstanding the pints as he forced his allies to wake them up from their daydreaming.

  And now, it was Vi's turn to py this vicious role!

  DarkestCymore