Rise

It was 20 minutes into the second game of the Quarterfinals for the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. Though it was never really a game to begin with. Shanghai International was playing with such ferocity, with such complete domination, that no one even knew who their opponents were. This was Shanghai International’s party, and only they mattered here today. The main event of this party, the headliners, were the Midlaner and ad-carry. Yan Liang played on his Fisherman Fizz and fished up kills across the map. The unidentified opponents were helplessly speared by his magnificent harpoon, while he only found his own fishy self on the sushi mat one time, bringing his score to 6/1/3. The other life of the party was Liu Zhengjie. He had his Striker Lucian dribble his ball through the lane and nutmeg his no name opponents, killing them after the fact with his two big guns. His score was a perfect 5/0/5.

The players from Tonji Affiliated High watched the game breathlessly. Shanghai International was steamrolling over their opponents! The first game was an easy win, and now in the second they were 5,000 gold in the lead, not far from closing the series out. To those watching who also happened to read the Xianxia webnovels, they knew what was happening. Shanghai International had become the favored disciple in the best sect in a tournament for cultivation resources! They were tyrants on the rift! Everyone who appeared before them had to bow down! Their opponents had to kowtow and kiss the floor, begging to be spared from too humiliating of a defeat!

“Damn. They stronk. Like… Damn.”

“But it’s still the same playstyle. They always push and force openings out of nothing.”

“Yeah, it might be the same playstyle, but it’s also completely different. Are you watching the game? Do you see how good they are? It looks almost perfect. I haven’t seen a slip up yet…”

It wasn’t just Tonji Affiliated High who were worried. Shanghai High School, the strongest team from last year and favourites to take the trophy home again this year, was also paying careful attention to this game. Most of their players were a little worried. Shanghai International looked strong, much stronger than last year. And last year it was already a very close game. They all turned to Zeng Rui to see how their team captain was holding up. He was their pillar and their leader. His calm rubbed off on them whenever they started to worry, and it did now too. His expression was empty and his breathing was even. There wasn’t anything that betrayed his true feelings, except for his lack of blinking. He wasn’t going to miss even a millisecond of this game!

A short trip around the crowd was long enough for Shanghai International to end the game and win the series. They destroyed the Nexus and secured their spot in the Semifinals! They were only a single step away from the Finals, where they could finally fight for redemption after last year’s humiliating defeat! But though their minds were already drifting to the Finals, to scenes of defeating Shanghai High School and claiming the trophy, they’d first have to beat the dark horse. The team that was a misbegotten clusterfuck of both phenomenal and downright terrible players. High School 13.

As for the players from High School 13, the usual seven were sweating profusely and shifting around in their chairs, while one was leaning back, chilling. Su Xue sat behind this anomaly and tugged at his elbow. “Hey, Lin Feng? You have to play against those guys next, right? They look really strong…”

“Mhm, yeah. They’re strong. They played really good!” Lin Feng agreed, smiling. He enjoyed a real challenge, and beating Shanghai International looked like it might actually be a challenge. They were a strong team, though individually nowhere near his level. He was a lot better than them, but the same couldn’t be said about his teammates. Even Tang Bingyao, the next best player on the team after him, would be hard-pressed to achieve anything besides maybe going even against Liu Zhengjie. And at the end of the day, there was only so much carrying he could do. He couldn’t be everywhere all the time, and Shanghai International were the first team they’d face who could really abuse that.