You Call This 'Steady'?

But even among geniuses, there were differences.

No matter the profession, there were always some geniuses ordinary people found impossible to understand. Looking back, Genshin Bro, the former DK support from the LCK, was one such incomprehensible genius. He did not need intense training or guidance from famous coaches. He only needed to watch recordings by himself to become a Genius admired by the entire world.

But besides that kind of genius, there was another type: the stronger the opponent, the stronger they became.

Some players were born with nerves of steel; some only grew when they encountered powerful enemies; some remained unknown simply because they had never stood on the battlefield that truly belonged to them.

Take LWX on the other side, for example.

When he debuted, no one believed he could win a championship.

But when he truly entered the LPL, it was S8.

That year, RNG stood unrivaled. The Old God had not fallen, and the New God had yet to rise. It was not until RNG stumbled in S8 that IG's trident gradually appeared before the world, while JKL's Flash Forward changed how ADCs played in the LPL Region in one stroke.

By S9, LWX, who had made little noise the year before, began to show his strength. In the end, he and his teammates claimed the S9 championship through flawless team operations, and he even set an undefeated record in a match.

Then there was EDG's Viper in S11. Within a single year after arriving in the LPL, he rapidly grew from an ADC discarded by the LCK into the S11 champion ADC.

They had all undergone terrifying growth in their respective years.

And now, the seed called "talent" buried within Luo Zhen's body had finally begun to quietly sprout.

[My feel seems to be getting better...]

[Is it that state from last time? No, this time the improvement isn't nearly as huge, but I can feel myself getting stronger bit by bit.]

[It seems like I don't need to click so many times in a row here, but that doesn't work there. This adjustment feels much more comfortable. Could this... be rhythm?]

[My heart's beating so fast, but why does it feel like the enemy isn't putting that much pressure on me anymore? Try clicking once... then again... then again... I think I've figured out something.]

The offensive tempo remained firmly under control, and the pressure in lane continued to rise.

Strictly speaking, Caitlyn was an ADC that tested a player's fundamentals. She was genuinely simple: positioning, range, trap placement, skill prediction. That was all.

There were no messy mechanics, only airtight details.

With a massive equipment lead from the economic advantage plus Lulu, FPX had no choice but to avoid fights and wait for their Double C to complete their Three Item Set before attempting a Miracle Teamfight. Once the game entered the stalling phase, it meant both sides would formally hand their Output Core duties to their Double C.

"Xiao Zhen."

"Huh?"

Luo Zhen looked over at Rookie in confusion. Rookie was smiling as he spoke into the team comms.

"Let's win this game together, everyone. Just this one."

"Yeah!"

With Me, Who Bears V5's Will as Your Enemy, You Have No Chance of Winning

"FPX backing off like this... are they planning to wait for their Double C to hit three items before fighting over Dragon Soul?"

"But V5 isn't afraid to take this into the late game either. They have Azir and Caitlyn, plus Ornn upgrading their items. Isn't this a bit too much of a gamble?"

"Both ADCs are rapidly upgrading their equipment, but V5's ADC seems to be getting there faster."

"Is it possible that V5 will just force a Baron Nashor fight?"

The casters' shouts undoubtedly confirmed the players' intentions.

The LPL was competition, and competition had always been cruel. If you had the advantage, why wait for the enemy carries to finish their items before fighting? Thanks to their early lead, V5's Double C would complete their Three Item Set over a minute earlier than FPX's Double C. At that timing, they could absolutely force Baron Nashor and pressure FPX into a fight.

You didn't want to fight me?

Then I'd force you to come fight me!

"I've got my items."

"I'm almost there too. We can force a fight."

Kraken Slayer, Infinity Edge, Serylda's Grudge, plus Ornn's upgrades and Lulu's buffs—Caitlyn could practically be considered to have four items at this point. In theory, continuing to farm for a Little Stopwatch would definitely be better, but by then Jinx might also have finished her third item.

So they could not stop.

With their items ready, they immediately started Baron Nashor to apply pressure!

Once V5 forced a Baron Nashor fight, FPX absolutely could not refuse. In Luo Zhen's eyes, LWX was the only real threat on FPX right now. But precisely because they could only place their hopes on LWX, he had to play a hypercarry ADC like Jinx.

And a hypercarry ADC was destined to be constrained everywhere before she was fully scaled.

This fight had FPX completely trapped by Hong Mi's drafting.

Without any hesitation, V5 cleared the vision around the Baron pit with their support, then immediately began Baron Nashor as a group. They were not afraid of being seen. Or rather, even if FPX did not see them, they could certainly guess what V5 was doing when no one appeared on the map.

But they had no choice but to approach.

And while approaching, they had to stay alert for whether V5 was truly doing Baron Nashor. If it was a fake Baron attempt and a real ambush, they would be finished.

But soon, they saw what was happening inside the Dragon pit.

"They're doing Baron, they're doing Baron!"

"Get ready to fight, get ready to fight."

After confirming that Baron's HP had fallen to half, Viego and Renekton charged in without hesitation. Renekton activated his ultimate, Viego used E Dash, and Beichuan, hidden in the fog, tried to contest Smite with the opposing side during this Baron Nashor play.

In the current patch, everyone's Smite damage was fixed at 900. He refused to believe that even if his awareness was inferior, his reactions and hand speed would be too.

But...

R—Call of the Forge God

The moment Renekton charged in, the V5 group almost simultaneously stopped attacking. Baron Nashor sat at 3,000 HP in an awkward state inside the Dragon pit. At that HP, committing was wrong, but not committing was wrong too. Yet the ram's ultimate had already begun, leaving FPX no room to react.

Fight!

They could only fight now!

Trundle and Ornn almost simultaneously turned their Firepower Cover on FPX's Renekton. Facing V5's engage, Karma activated AoE Haste, Renekton used Flash, and LWX began his Cannon Form Firepower Cover.

This kind of situation was dangerous, but for LWX, it was also an opportunity.

The enemy had engaged while FPX held formation. That allowed them to deal with the enemy Frontline faster than the enemy Backline could, indirectly making up for some of the damage deficit caused by mechanics. But at the same time, this was gameplay on a knife's edge.

Viktor's ultimate carved up the terrain and divided the battlefield. Jinx's Cannon Form Firepower Cover dealt damage. Renekton fled while waiting for Trundle's ultimate on him to expire. FPX's Kiting was unexpectedly orderly.

At this point, both sides were racing to see who could deal with the Frontline faster.

But LWX also kept his eyes on Rookie's Azir. At this point, Azir was the only Hero who could possibly Create Miracles.

However...

Just as he focused completely, preparing to receive Azir's "fatal shove," another striking figure appeared at the very front of the battlefield—Caitlyn.

The mythic item Shurelya's Battlesong gave Caitlyn a 25% Movement Speed boost.

Lulu's W, Whimsy, also gave Caitlyn an additional (30 + 5% AP) Movement Speed boost.

Luo Zhen naturally knew that following behind his teammates was the safest choice. But it was also the choice that gave the enemy the greatest opportunity. Just like FPX, V5 had concentrated their economic advantage on Azir and Caitlyn. As for Ornn and Trundle, their Frontline was not actually as tanky as it looked.

Once Trundle's ultimate ended, the Lethality Build Jinx had in hand could potentially allow FPX to Create Miracles.

Rather than wait for the Emperor to play a telegraphed Shuffle, he would stand on the very front line of the battlefield himself!

Then, Body Bait!

"Crazy. He actually dared to charge in?"

An ADC charging forward was equivalent to forcing FPX to make a choice.

Either gamble on turning around and getting a Counter Kill on Caitlyn, or be chased down and Auto Attacked to death.

And so...

The instant he saw Caitlyn raise her hand as though she were about to cast Q, Renekton, who had been acting like a fleeing Soldier all this time, suddenly launched a Backhand Strike. He used two E Dashes, stepping on a Soldier as a springboard, and targeted the skill-locked Caitlyn. Once Caitlyn was pinned down by Renekton's Red Fury W, FPX only needed to add a little more damage, and V5 would face the awkward situation of losing a Carry Position first.

But... how could Luo Zhen possibly not have anticipated it?

"Whoosh—"

Flash.

The Renekton who had looked so ferocious a second earlier immediately pounced into empty air after the flash of light. Before he could even process what had happened, the Q skill originally fired from Caitlyn's old position still flew along its original path.

A Q Flash combo perfectly dodged Renekton's ambush. A trap landed, and Caitlyn began attacking the giant monster before her.

Seeing this, Beichuan immediately used Flash and W as well, trying to help Renekton fulfill his unfulfilled wish of locking Caitlyn down.

But...

Another milky-white glow flashed. The instant Cleanse was used, the entire offline Demacia Cup venue erupted with earth-shaking cheers.

From the Demacia Cup until now, this was already Luo Zhen's third crucial Purify Instant Cleanse.

"Diao Shen!"

"Big Nose Dew Pearl is here!"

"E, help me, Pix!"

"Q—Shining Spear!"

With the buffs applied and the slow landed, once Lulu finally caught up to her ADC while the enemy turned around to fight, Caitlyn's status bar immediately underwent a drastic transformation.

It instantly changed from a MOBA game into a DNF status bar.

"You're finished. Now that I've completed my monkey tricks, I'm invincible!"

Auto Attack, reposition, another Auto Attack. E skill on the Renekton who had finally reached her, widening the distance again.

The damage poured down.

At this point, the battlefield had clearly been split into two zones.

On the left, Ornn, Trundle, and Azir tightly watched the enemy bot lane, jungle, and support. Azir especially kept his eyes locked on Jinx's position, squeezing her Damage Environment. On the right, V5 Bot Lane directly faced the low-HP top laner and full-HP jungler, continuously dealing damage to the enemy Frontline.

Karsa and Rookie's experience was simply too refined.

Of course, they knew that with their clumsy combination, killing the enemy ADC was nearly impossible without an Azir god-tier shove.

But they had a third option!

Spread out their positions and leave the stage to their own hypercarry. Once Caitlyn and Lulu killed the enemy top and jungle, wouldn't they be able to crush them five versus three?

In fact, Rookie and Karsa were extremely familiar with this kind of tempo.

Killing Intent.

This was the true Killing Intent method specifically designed against LWX.

Before the Transfer Period, he had also had teammates like Luo Zhen's, teammates who could create a Damage Environment for him. Yet in merely two months, his club had been disgraced at the World Championship, and the championship roster had scattered in every direction. Even though he was called Blackened Xiang Zhangmen as he cleaned house, by this point he had only successfully gotten revenge on his own support once.

Looking at Luo Zhen ahead, protected by the Block Position of two veteran players, LWX's eyes unexpectedly revealed a trace of envy and nostalgia.

His damage never stopped, but a bleak sense of defeat inexplicably surfaced in his heart. Before he could fully emerge from that state, a red marker in the distance had already locked onto Jinx's neck.

At this point, how could Renekton and Viego possibly be a match for a Caitlyn who had four items at twenty-four minutes, with Lulu counting as one? Every bullet that struck FPX's Frontline visibly tore away a huge chunk of their HP bars.

FPX had underestimated Caitlyn's damage.

But now, it was already too late.

"Though as a Blackened World Champion, I should have shown you respect, becoming the enemy of me, who bears V5's will, means you were destined to have no chance of winning!"

He bent his knees, lowering into a half-crouch as he took aim.

"Target distance: 1,500 meters. Vertical Movement Speed differential: 100 kilometers per hour. Air temperature: 30 degrees Celsius. Crosswind speed: 15. Set firing parameters."

"Coordinates: 0-9-8."

"Fire!"

A Declaration of War to the LPL's ADCs!

"FPX is here, FPX is here! They're moving toward the Dragon pit!"

"But V5 isn't truly doing Baron! They've stopped attacking, Ornn uses his ultimate! V5 wants to force a fight!"

"Can they catch anyone? Renekton has backed out. What will V5 do? Go back to Baron or chase?"

"Wait, why is Caitlyn charging in too?"

When Luo Zhen's Caitlyn charged at the very front of the formation with a speed boost, the Live Room Bullet Comments across the LPL filled with question marks. But soon, as he dodged skills with prediction and fired Auto Attacks, everyone finally realized just how terrifying this thing's damage had become.