League of Legends: League of Unknowns

Team Skycrown took down the Inhibitor and thereafter, they took the Baron.

 After a short break, Team Skycrown had taken down all of the outer turrets of Team Daemons. At this point, even if they fought with Team Daemons in their home ground, Team Skycrown had the absolute advantage.

 In a duel between masters, winning the teamfights would mean winning the game. Just like when Team Daemons had the advantage, they wouldn’t make a single mistake, thus, Team Skycrown was also the same. They systematically took down the structures on the second lane all the way and moved on steadily to the third lane.

 Without realizing it, the Super Minions were all over Team Daemons’ base.

 The high-defense high-health minions were coming endlessly, and after taking down the third turret, they moved toward the Nexus.

 Watching as the turrets were attacked, Team Skycrown disposed of the structure with haste. Hades and Asmodai who were still alive were continuously attacking around the Nexus, trying to drive them back even if just a little.

 Their skill-shots were easily blocked off by the Super Minions, but even so, Asmodai unleashed his ulti, killing off Lin Dong who was about to deliver the final blow to the Nexus.

 On the other side, Hades saw Luocheng’s Lee Sin was going to land a hit.

 He immediately unleashed all the skills he had onto Luocheng, even his ulti was used. He was determined not to let Luocheng’s Lee Sin any closer to the Nexus by even a step.

 Luocheng had seen the shadow of the bomb which was coming down from the sky, and knowing that he was going to die either way as well as seeing Hades’ low health, he made his decision and lifted up his leg to land a heavy kick, throwing Hades toward the Super Minions.

 Luocheng’s Lee Sin died from the explosion of the giant bomb, and at the same time, Hades, who had flown right into the middle of the Super Minion wave, didn’t have much health left. No matter how skilled Hades was, he was unable to wrench himself free from those damaging minions, and he could only watch as his champion was hammered to death.

 With Hades dead, the Super Minions from all three lanes seemed to become even wilder, rushing toward the Nexus with their hammers raised high.

 Finally, only Asmodai’s Ezreal was left standing.

 After Asmodai had killed Lin Dong’s Draven, he raised his head, only to come face-to-face with the Super Minions.

 ACE!

 In this wave, Team Daemons had used their all, completely destroying Team Skycrown even with the disadvantage they held.

 Only, even though the enemy champions had been slain, how could they save this situation?

 An Ezreal with only his Statikk Shiv as his AOE, how would he be able to clear these minions that were coming forth endlessly?

 It was a loss…

 Hades looked at his gray screen and lowered his head, not daring to look at Asmodai.

 All this while, whenever they faced defeat, Team Daemons would still face it upfront. But for some reason, losing this game was way, way worse than any other game they had ever lost before!

 ***

 “Dai…” Mephistopheles muttered as he sat beside Asmodai, his eyes on him.

 Asmodai’s eyes flashed unfocused for a moment, but it was quickly swept away by something bigger, as though something had snapped in him. His pupils became larger and his eyes were bloodshot.

 It wasn’t over, it wasn’t over yet!

 The Nexus was not broken yet!

 Asmodai guided Ezreal to return to the fountain and changed his boots’ enhancement from Furor to Homeguard, also changing one of his completed items to a Runaan’s Hurricane.

 Runaan’s Hurricane.

 

When you built this item, it meant that there was a vast amount of minions overrunning your base. You had to sacrifice some of the items that you would use to kill champions in exchange for items that were used to clear minions instead.

 Only, when you changed to this item, it also meant that the match was not salvageable anymore.

 From the fountain, Ezreal rushed outward and stood in front of the Nexus, attacking every minion that pushed forward.

 There was only that little bit of health left on the Nexus, it was so fragile that it wouldn’t be able to stand the impact of another hammer.

 Asmodai hit every single minion he could, the objective was to pull all the aggro toward himself. That way, the Super Minions would focus on attacking him and not the Nexus, and the match wouldn’t end this way!

 Asmodai’s fingers were flying across his keyboard and he was completely oblivious to his teammates who were watching him with bitter eyes.

 The Super Minions had been attracted by Asmodai, and five to six of them turned their attention to Ezreal.

 Don’t underestimate the damage from these Super Minions, when more than three had their eyes on you, even if you were a tank, your health would decline rapidly, what more a squishy ADC.

 Ezreal’s lifesteal was fast, and with Runaan’s hitting three targets at a time, the effect was not bad, but Ezreal’s health was still dropping.

 He managed to halt the Super Minions from attacking the Nexus, but he was unable to stop them from destroying him.

 The fountain was only 800 yards away from him, and with Asmodai having Homeguard, he just needed to step in and he would be fully regenerated in an instant.

 Only, could he really afford to step away from the Nexus?

 Behind him stood the fragile glowing crystal…

 “Dai, forget it…”

 “Dai, we’ve lost.”

 Not sure why, but looking at Asmodai who was still frantically clicking his mouse, the four members of Team Daemons took a deep breath, the air was sour!

 They had lost?

 In fact, did Asmodai really care about winning or losing this game?

 No, he had never been afraid of losing. Being in e-sports for six years, the most memorable six years in his life, he had lost countless competitions. For all the trophies that could have been, he had shed many, many tears as well.

 He wasn’t afraid of losing… he was afraid that he wouldn’t even have the chance to lose in the future!

 The Super Minions still kept pouring in, and just as Asmodai’s health was about to hit rock-bottom, a fresh wave of minions appeared from the Nexus. Asmodai hurriedly cast his E-skill to reposition himself behind them and once again tried to frantically clear the Super Minions from his position.

 At this moment, it was like having a short breath of relief.

 “This struggle, it’s almost pointless.” Bao Jun’s voice echoed gently throughout the arena.

 There was no sense in this struggle. Their minions were weak and couldn’t withstand even a few attacks from the Super Minions.

 Soon, the Super Minions had once again broken through to the Nexus.

 Asmodai had exhausted himself defending the minions coming from all three lanes, and finally, he stood in the middle, not being able to defend. He merely used his own body to take the damage from the Super Minions.

 ***

 Mephistopheles had been staring at Asmodai the whole time while Asmodai had turned a blind eye to him, attacking the Super Minions relentlessly.

 “Dai, it’s useless, we’ve lost.” Mephistopheles felt that Asmodai was acting strangely, and he placed a hand on Asmodai’s shoulder.

 Hades had also stood up, but he caught Mephistopheles’ hand before it reached, shaking his head.

 “He’s trying to fight for more time in what’s left of his professional career…” Hades said quietly.

 As the words flowed into Mephistopheles’ ears, it was like a bitter seed in his heart!

 He couldn’t bear to leave, he wasn’t willing to leave at all. Even if it was meaningless to keep attacking those Super Minions, he didn’t want his career to end like this.

 “Just give me a little bit more time…” Mephistopheles understood the meaning in Asmodai’s eyes that were full of insanity and unwillingness.

 This match, Asmodai’s performance had been flat and dull.

 He hadn’t brought out any outlandish or amazing performance even though this was the last game of his career. He had just done what an ADC would normally do, farm, develop, teamfight…

 He had indeed had the chance to solo against Fighting Hawk, but the timing was too short, and Fighting Hawk had taken the upper hand, using him as a springboard to land a kill on Hades.

 Was it really going to end like this!?

 Six years felt like a very very long time, enjoying countless victories and suffering countless defeats, experiencing countless joy and shedding many tears. But why was it so short this time, so short to the point it felt as though the Super Minions from the entrance of the base had walked to the Nexus in just a few seconds!

 Executed!

 The line jumped out on the screen.

 You have been executed!

 Asmodai didn’t die by their opponent’s hands, but under the hammer of the Super Minions.

 The Super Minions stepped over Ezreal’s corpse, lifting their hammers high in the air as they shook a little, bringing it down heavily on the crystal!

 This hammer on the crystal was no different than the hammer that was brought down onto Asmodai’s heart. He had wondered if a miracle would happen, if the Inhibitor would respawn at this moment, then he could still have a few more minutes, being able to have another chance to teamfight against Team Skycrown.

 But a miracle didn’t happen, and the Nexus crystal exploded and shattered, the whirlwind sweeping in!

 The hands that had swept across the keyboard and mouse halted, feeling like they had frozen.

 It was over.

 It was really over this time, and the giant words of ‘Defeat’ had appeared on the screen.

 The word was like a summary of his career, six years in the professional field. A sharp pain pierced Asmodai in the stomach suddenly, his fingers trembled under the pain and his eyes burned!

 The red in his eyes spread, and all the feelings in the past six years, all of it came in a rush as the tears slid downward. It slid off his face and onto his keyboard, the very same gaming keyboard that he had used his first paycheck to buy.

 The keyboard couldn’t touch water, if it did, it would most likely short-circuit, but what if it was tears?

 It didn’t matter anyway. This keyboard wouldn’t be used in the future, he’d might as well just destroy it along with himself.

 “Dai, don’t be like that…”

 Mephistopheles looked at Asmodai who looked devastated, his tears flowing freely on the stage, and he felt a prickle in his own eyes.

 The camera passed by them and caught Asmodai’s face coincidentally.

 The triumphant cheer from the audience suddenly quieted down at that moment.

 Even Bao Jun who was still halfway announcing the congratulations of Team Skycrown’s victory paused at the view of which the camera had caught.

 At that moment, next to the commentator’s desk, the Deputy Secretary General of ACE slid over a report with something written on it.

 “I hope you can read out some of it. He has made a lot of contributions to the e-sports field, and now he’s retiring. I hope that his deeds will not be left unknown.” The Deputy Secretary General said in a low voice.

 Bao Jun was startled for a moment, finally snapping back to reality.

 The tears that a player shed on the competition stage that was not due to victory nor defeat, but it was because he was leaving.