"I io push this time!" elia decred loudly. "This peasant has been trying my ience long enough! It's time to show him his pce!"

  "Fine, you may push a little," Fiona said. "But, do NOT under ANY circumstances approach the tower area. Retreat as soon as your soldiers make it into the zone."

  "Nonsense. I shall push in full throttle this time!" elia insisted. "This oner shall know my wrath!"

  "elia von Galen. Please." It was not a request. It was an order.

  "B-But why!?" elia demanded. "Every siime there is a great opportunity to teach this peasant a lesson, you tell me to retreat! I demand to know why!"

  "Because it is extremely dangerous," Fiona said matter-of-factly. "You are pnning to veo the territory of a skilled petitive pyer, who is no doubt prepared for the situation. Not to mention, StormBlitz’s pyers seem to be trai luring eo turables on them."

  "So, this means what?” elia asked. “Are we never going to attack them uhey e at us first? Excuse me, but that is absolute lunacy!"

  "I did not say we have to be that cautious," Fiona expined. "All I am saying is that we need better opportuo initiate proper attacks. Optimally, it is better for two pyers to push a tether. As it stands, it is too dangerous for you to vehat far alone."

  "Then, how about you join me on this noble endeavor? With our joint noble powers, we destroy the eower in one fell swoop!”

  “Thank you for the offer, but now is not a good time for this.” Fiona was already on her way to Bot Jungle, so it was too te for that invitation.

  “You keep saying it’s not a ‘good time’,” elia ranted. “So, just when WILL it be a ‘good time’? Is that something that’s going to occur in our lifetime?”

  “I assure you it will, eventually,” Fiona promised. “We just have to atiently for it.”

  "Is it really something that's going to happen if we just 'wait' for it?" elia doubted. "I say we must take the initiative to make it happen!"

  "That is correct, we will do it eventually," Fiona promised. "However, we need a better opportunity than this."

  "Is su opportunity really going to ever present itself? We're almost in the mid-game already!"

  "True, it is sure taking a while..." Fiona did not have a good terargument here. She had yet to find any good opportuo strike ien mihat had already passed.

  I failed to gain an early lead this time around, so it’s been very difficult to get anything going. We do not have a proper queeo domihe board.

  Having just one pyer with a lead could make all the differe allowed them to pensate for any ck of skill or experiehey had pared to their oppos. That was how Fiona was able to overe StormBlitz in the previous game despite her humble pytime, retively speaking.

  In this game as well, there were many situations where Fiona could have gone for a better py if only she had more strength. As, she had to let these opportunities slide. As a result, the team was uo get anything going.

  The lohis game drags out, the better the enemy's position bees. Fiona frowned. Once we reach the endgame, their Seraph will most definitely domihe game. It will be checkmate.

  For StormBlitz, reag the te-game was effectively their win dition. They took a risk by pig a Hyper Carry, but so far, it had been paying off.

  This is a difficult puzzle. Fiona frowned. I do not believe I have learned any strategies that overturn a situation like this. It appears more studying is required.

  Surely, there had to be some established tactiploy in situations like these. As, Fiona was not familiar with any that would be practical enough right here and now.

  With that said, one unventional idea sprang to mind. There was one pyer in this petitive se who often had to deal with simir situations: Yuel Fermond.

  Just as in chess, his "solutions" tend to be rough and i. Fiona criticized. heless, he often delivers surprisis.

  The chess games in which Yuel Fermoed Fiona were good examples of instances where the man's questioactics worked out for him. The irregur moves he made tradicted standard chess theory, yet they were effective at throwing Fiona off her game.

  And, it appears he brought over a simir line of thinking to Cssmancers as well. Truly, su irksome man.

  At times, Yuel Fermond looked like a genius. Other times, he came across as a fool chasing the impossible. Thus, it was difficult to use his tactics as examples of practical problem-solving. After all, utilizing peculiar pys required a peculiar mind.

  At the very least, I myself to stray as far as he does from optimal game theory. It is simply unreasonable.

  For the most part, Yuel Fermond seemed to share the same se. With all said and dohe vast majority of his pys followed game theory to a T. If he did not need any fancy tricks to beat his oppos, then he generally obeyed the meta.

  However, against truly strong oppos, Yuel Fermond sometimes deviated from the formu. He did that against Fiona in chess, and he did the same thing against the Leopards just retly. That was his “solution” for how to get wins when the odds were against him.

  Generally speaking, Fiona did not like abandoning the meta to resort to shaky experimental ideas. heless, given how victory was drifting farther and farther away with every passing moment, she could not help but ask herself: “What would have Yuel Fermond done in Fiona's shoes?”

  As, she did not possess the same deviant mind that Yuel Fermond did. Thus, no brilliant idea struck her.

  Is this as far as we go at our current level...? Fiona wondered. Frankly, that would not surprise me sidering the individual skill level of each member. But, giving up without a fight is not in my nature.

  Besides, this ractice match. The main goal of today was to throw everything the Valkyries had at the enemy in order to learn what worked and what needed polish. As such, giving up the fight just because it seemed “hopeless” was a terrible idea.

  "For now, let us ti the same pace," Fiona told everybody. "As long as we do not fall behind, the enemy will have to show us an opening at some point."

  "Um, sis," Karen started. "I gotta say, they’re sure taking their sweet time with that whole ‘showing an opening’ thing, haha...."

  "Indeed, I agree with the peasant for once," elia said. "We've been pying it safe for far too long! When will we finally strike!?"

  "Iime, I assure you," Fioed. "Even if you look at professional teams, there is hat py a truly fwless game. As such, there will surely be openings, no matter how ‘perfect’ the enemy’s defense loht now."

  "I just hope it's not gonoo te, sis," Karen said. "I mean, they have Seraph and stuff. That's like a tig bomb for us, you know?"

  "Yes, I am aware,” Fiona responded. “Ideally, we o strike down the Seraph at least once before the te-game to stall her progression."

  "Heh, alrighty!" Karen grinned. "So, you're saying I should start attag the Seraph right away, right? Right?"

  "I said nothing of the sort." Fiona shot down the suggestion on the spot. "With that said, I have been looking hard fank opportunities in your area, but..."

  It was like a cruel irony. Seraph was the highest priority target and it was supposed to be more vulnerable than others in the earlier parts of the game, yet it yed by the most notoriously defensive pyer of StormBlitz.

  Not only is her defense airtight, but her baits are top-tier as well. Fiona thought. I ot fidently go for every little opportunity that looks attractive. There is always the possibility it is bait.

  Even in the previous game, Athena was the one and only oppo Fiona failed to kill. Even Aegis fail at her hand once, but not Athena, not even once.

  To make things worse, there was just oime when Fiona came very close to sg a kill... only for it to be revealed as bait. That one mistake almost led to Fiona’s death. It left a bitter taste in her mouth.

  Even I nearly itted such a grave mistake against her, so I dread to think what would happen if I ever let Karen or elia fight Athena aloruly, she is su irksome oppo now that I got to fight her in person.

  In the repys, Athena did not e across as a particurly impressive pyer. Her achievements generally did not stand out much when analyzing her matches.

  However, after Fiona fought the woman face-to-face, she realized just how tricky of a fox Athena was. Everything about her pystyle was desigo frustrate her oppos while fooling them into a false sense of security.

  Athena underpyed on purpose to make her oppos feel like they were much strohan her. And, at the same time, she also pyed very defeo prevent her foe from actually winning the fight. Together, these two factors built up a lot of frustration that ultimately baited the enemy into overextending.

  Frankly, even I started feeling agitated. Fiona admitted. I felt so sure I would get that kill, so it irked me to hat the woma stallihat almost lured me into itting a grave overextension.

  Fortunately, right before that happened, Fiona came back to her senses. She reevaluated the board situation to check whether any shot-calls had to be made, and that was wheiced odd positions of other enemies around the map. Or rather, the ck of visibility regarding their positions.

  Instead of defending nes as they should have been doing, many oppos abaheir posts a elsewhere. But, where could they possibly have gone? Surely not to kill the Dragon or Overlord, that would be lunacy when they were so much behind.

  That was when Fiona realized that the enemy’s target was likely her than Fiona herself. This allowed her to see through Athena's bait at the very st moment and dodge the enemy’s gank.

  If her trickery worked so well against me, it would certainly be effective against Karen and elia, too. Fiona thought. I ot let them fight that trickster alone.

  "I will repeat this again," Fiona said. "Do not ehe Seraph by yourself, Karen. Athena is well aware she is an attractive target and she uses that fact to her advantage."

  "But sis, we gotta kill her eventually, right? So, when is it gonna happen?"

  "I will arrange a gaually, do not worry about it." That empty promise was the best Fiona could give her sister right now.

  When will the gank happen? How will Fiona prepare it? These questions were left up in the air. There was only uainty.

  The only thing I know is that it must eventually happen. The Seraph must be killed at least once. Fiona asserted. Besides, their Jungler is very cautious this time around, and their new Mid has a solid defense. So, we do not have any good alternatives to pursue.

  StormBlitz successfully enforced a status quo on the board state, ohat was more beneficial for them. Could Fiona break through this stalemate in any way...?

  DarkestCymore