Chapter 93: Pressure
In the Wembley Arena, multicoloured lights danced in the air! Loud beats drummed through the venue. Everyone could feel the excitement the DJ tried to build! But it failed miserably. The 12,500 fans in the crowd didn’t really go wild. They watched the Nexus explode. Gold hadn’t stood a chance against Fate. The Koreans, led by their Midlaner Moon, methodically dismantled the European team. It was one of those games where there was no excitement. Everyone knew from minute one who would win. Not that it wasn’t impressive. It was, incredibly so. But it was also a boring match for the neutral fan.
If it was just losing one game to a stronger Korean team, the crowd in the Wembley Arena wouldn’t have been this quiet. But Fate didn’t just beat Gold, Moon also used this game to send a message to Legend’s Midlaner Phoenix! That he was the better Midlaner! Moon had played Anivia, Phoenix’s signature Champion, and ended the game with a score of 7/0/3. He was just one kill away from being Legendary!
In the VIP viewing area, Phoenix leaned forward on the balustrade. He’d watched the entire game and was now staring at the large picture of Anivia on the big screen. Well played. His eyes fell on Moon, smiling. He felt the itch to play, to show Moon who the better Anivia was. A fight between Emperors, now that was something to look forward to! But the tournament had barely started. There was still plenty of time for that.
The second game of the day would be in Group A. It was North America’s Flash versus China’s KG. If last week’s performances were anything to go by, this game wouldn’t hold any suspense either. The crowd felt the same. Those who had to take a bathroom break left the hall, while those who stayed were more focused on talking with their friends or looking at their phones than they were with waiting in anticipation for the game to start. KG was such a big disappointment this year, even the wildcard team in Group A looked better. Many fans even thought that if KG kept going like they were, they would end up at the bottom of their group.
Chinese fans all around the world turned silent. They stopped flaming KG on the forums, and they stopped judging them in the various streams. No matter how low their opinion was of the current KG, they still held that last trace of hope. KG still had a chance! They could still make it through to the next round! If they’d dealt with whatever problem they were dealing with last week, then maybe they could finally show the world how good of a team they really were! It wasn’t much to hold on to. But the Chinese fans desperately clung onto this hope. KG had to perform! They just had to!
The players from Flash walked up on stage, waving at the cheering crowd. They were loving all the attention. Their Toplaner Chris sat down on the gaming chair in front of his computer and leaned back, smiling. This was what he lived for. Thousands of people cheering for him! He cracked his knuckles. I’ll show them how good I am! This game was the perfect moment for that. They wouldn’t just qualify for the next round by winning this game, or as good as, but he would also show the entire world how much better of a player he was than God Roundy! Though, he did hope KG would perform better today than they did last week. Last week was just pathetic. If that was the level of KG and the LPL, then that was really disappointing.
Chris looked across the stage at KG. He looked at Tian Tian. God Roundy, ha. God... Roundy Round looked like a nervous wreck, much like how he’d looked a week ago. Chris sneered. This’ll be easy. Uncrowned Eighth my ass… Just a nervous, fat scrub. Can’t believe he beat me four years ago. Well, he didn’t really. The other guy did… The thought of what happened four years ago still stung Chris. This terrible Toplaner had somehow beat him. It was humiliating! He’d been looking for a chance to get revenge for four whole years, and now that chance had finally come! Last week was fun, yeah, but there were no consequences. This time though. Hahaha! I’ll kick that sad excuse for a player off the World stage! I want to see him cry and wobble away! He laughed. Just the thought of watching Roundy Round walk away in defeat had him crazy with joy!
The mood on KG’s side was completely different from Flash. No one was talking. They walked up on stage with their heads hanging down in defeat. They hoped the crowd wouldn’t look at them. Worlds was already as good as over for them after last week. It would take something really special to save this sinking ship. But it wasn’t over yet. Not everything was lost. They realized at least that much. There were still three more games to play, and if they won all three of them, they would make it to the next round! So they forced smiles on their faces and mumbled motivational quotes to themselves. They did whatever worked to hype themselves up for this next game.
However, they were only motivating themselves. They didn’t even look at their teammates. This game was for personal redemption. To show everyone how good they were, and not to come together as a team and win. They’d thrown that plan out the window during their off time last week, when instead of planning and preparing for these three games, they’d spent their time sulking in their rooms and reading all the terrible things their fans had to say about them online. They couldn’t be considered to be anywhere near their optimal state of mind.