You Call This 'Steady'?

Hard to say.

But with the pressure from that mid-lane Super Minion, if they could use the wave to seize the initiative for Baron Nashor, it would be a huge profit!

TES charged forward.

They absolutely could not just let V5 leave like that. Letting Jayce return had already cost them a mid-lane wave, and now, because they had fallen back to defend the tower, they had even missed the Elemental Dragon they should have taken. If they let V5 get away now, V5 could easily repeat the same trick and force them into another impossible choice. That would be a complete disaster.

Brother Zhuo started the fight.

Relying on his durability, Alistar crossed V5's rotation path alone and arrived behind V5's formation. Even though Azir's Solar Disk had already risen amid the ruins of TES's second tower.

But he had no choice. He had to go in this time.

He activated his ultimate and unleashed the WQ Combo. Tanking the damage from Azir's tower, Alistar slammed hard into V5's frontline Xin Zhao.

The knock-up landed!

Seeing that, V5 simply stopped running. With the Solar Disk beside them, this was practically a six-versus-four. The enemy had clearly been thrown into a panic by V5's tempo. Since TES had lost their minds, V5 would gladly take them on.

R: Moonlight Guardian

W: Threaded Arrow

R: Riptide

The Double Circle System and counterattack setup showed its power again. As V5's mobile frontliners, Karsa and Rich stood at the very front of the battlefield, blocking Jayce's shots as they tangled fiercely with Alistar and Viego.

With both sides sitting around a Three Item Set, the outcome of this team fight now largely depended on how well each side's Double C performed.

JKL understood that very well.

He also knew that in a direct frontal fight, his skills would most likely be blocked by the enemy's Double Circle System.

So this time, he used an entry-and-damage approach that no proper AD would ever use.

He chose to flank from behind.

Alistar would go out first and draw fire, then his teammates would engage and shift their attention. Finally, he would enter from behind the enemy backline. As long as he could cripple either one of their Double C, then use his ultimate to shove the other into the center of the fight, they would still have a chance to turn things around.

So JKL went in. He went in without hesitation.

V5 clearly had not expected TES to pull out a single-core AD flank at this moment. Ever since Uzi in S8, such a scene had rarely appeared on the professional stage.

By the time Rookie saw it, it was already too late.

He had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to dive in with his ultimate, but when he saw Tristana appear behind him with a W, alarm bells immediately blared in his mind. Before he could even raise his hand—

R: Calamity Shot

Tristana used her ultimate to shove him straight into the center of the battlefield. Rookie had no choice but to activate Zhonya's Hourglass to save himself.

Okay.

One Carry Position had been dealt with. Now all he had to do was handle Lucian. Even if he traded with him or gave his life to cripple him, JKL was certain this fight would still be worth it, because his own side still had Viktor as a Carry Position.

So he turned his attention back to the battlefield.

Then he froze.

Because within the range of his attacks, there was not just no Lucian—he could not even see a trace of Nami.

Where had the enemy bot lane gone!?

Somewhere JKL could not see, the commentators outside the game had already gone completely wild.

Ah Shui's idea had certainly been bold. If he flanked around the front line and instantly killed one enemy Carry Position, this team fight would have room for a comeback. But by sheer coincidence, Luo Zhen had been thinking the exact same thing.

So, from God's perspective, the commentators and viewers saw both ADs choosing to use a Vision Block and flank from behind at almost the exact same time.

And their targets... were both aimed directly at the enemy backline!

Everyone died eventually. Some people just needed a little help.

When Lucian charged down from TES's own Mid High Ground and appeared in front of Knight, Knight was completely dumbfounded. Just as V5 could not imagine JKL flanking alone as a single core, TES could not understand why this AD would abandon his comfortable position and show up here.

From Game 1 through Game 4, the evaluation Knight had heard from his teammates about the enemy bot lane had almost always included the word "steady."

But looking at the enemy Lucian standing before him now.

Seriously.

You called this steady!?

If this counted as steady, he would cut off his own head and let the AD use it as a football!

Lucian, massively ahead in farm and items, immediately opened with E-auto-auto plus Q-auto-auto, combined with Nami's E, then threw out his ultimate right in Knight's face.

"Dada dada dada da~"

By the time Knight reacted and activated Zhonya's Hourglass, his HP had already been whittled down near the Kill Threshold.

And worse still, he had activated it after Rookie had used his.

TES had exploded.

We Are Champions!

???

Was I watching a deciding game or a sci-fi film? Both ADs flanked each other from behind?

An epic scene. A future no one had ever imagined.

Fuck, I genuinely could not figure out what V5's New AD was made of anymore. How the hell did he dare!?

In truth, from the moment the enemy Alistar flanked and decided to start the team fight, Luo Zhen's eyes had been roaming around the edge of the battlefield, searching for Tristana.

There was no particular reason. He simply felt that, with JKL's personality, he would never sit still in such a Disadvantageous Situation.

So how did he predict it?

Simple. Put himself in JKL's shoes.

If I were Tristana, how would I play this game? Set aside the conventional AD options, then set aside the options that would get me killed instantly. Of the remaining choices, whichever had the highest payoff would be JKL's choice.

Because JKL had once been the person he wanted to replace, Luo Zhen understood the enemy bot lane better than anyone.

He had guessed right!

The moment Rookie emerged from Zhonya's Hourglass and successfully cast his ultimate, [Wall of the Imperial Guard].

The game had already entered its final moments!

JKL stared at his gray screen with a hint of surprise. As opponents for five straight games, the enemy AD's decision this time had truly exceeded his expectations.

To him, a small Demacia Cup had never been something worth taking seriously.

Of course, the other players were the same. Otherwise, so many teams would not have declined to field their main rosters. Whether it was JKL, Knight, or Xiao Tian, they were all players who had already won more fame and trophies than they could count.

But when he saw Brother Zhuo sitting beside him in low spirits, the corner of his mouth still twitched uncontrollably.

If he called Zhuo a liability, Zhuo was a rookie and deserved understanding. But if he understood Zhuo, the enemy AD was also a rookie, and the enemy AD had not suddenly lost his mind. Considering that Zhuo was a newly arrived support, and perhaps had merely performed poorly for the moment, JKL could only comfort him.

As for this BO5, he accepted the loss wholeheartedly.

In a normal game, a two-for-five trade might still leave room to fight on. But they were currently at TES's high ground, V5's Double C were still alive, and before them stood TES's undefended Nexus.

At that moment, everyone knew.

The Dark Horse was about to be crowned!

"One push, one push, one push, one push!~"

"Xiao Zhen, you played so well, Xiao Zhen! Tonight's late-night meal is on me, on me!!!"

"Don't rush, don't rush. We have to stay calm. Don't panic. Most importantly, we need to be fast. I fucking want to see their High Ground Crystal explode right now!"

"Hahahaha, okay! Push!"

The instant Rookie, Luo Zhen, and PPGOD chipped away the final sliver of TES's Nexus HP, Luo Zhen watched the fragments of the Nexus fly across the screen, his eyes brimming with excitement.

They won?

It seemed like they had won!

They had really beaten TES!

The thought made uncontrollable joy surge through him. He straightened up and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"We are champions!!!"

The Demacia Cup was not a particularly serious tournament.

It did not affect World Championship qualification through points like the Spring Split or Summer Finals, nor did it concern Fourth Seed qualification like MSI. It was merely an ordinary warm-up tournament for rookies, with such low prestige that many teams were unwilling to send their main rosters at all.

But did that matter?

As golden rain fell from above the stage, the Demacia Cup trophy stood at its center, and the audience below waved their flags and cheered with all their strength, Luo Zhen felt completely satisfied.

Truly, he was satisfied with everything.

Coach Homme slowly walked onto the stage from the lounge behind them. Faced with the roaring cheers of the entire venue during the award ceremony, he did not hurry toward the trophy. Instead, he walked straight to Luo Zhen, smiling as he placed a large hand on his head and thoroughly messed up his hair.

"Coach?"

"Take in this moment properly." Hong Mi guided him to look toward every corner above and below the stage. Like an old father speaking to his child, he said, "From the moment you stepped onto the professional stage, remember this: all the hard work, sweat, and tears you put in are for these few short minutes on the award stage."

"Remember this feeling. Feel this joy. Then... continue forward with determination."

"Your path goes far beyond this."

Winning was certainly delightful, but for a rookie, helping him form the right outlook toward competition was what a coach ought to do even more. The LPL had countless rookies who made an explosive debut, only to slowly lose their way due to outside praise and a lack of conviction in themselves, eventually fading into obscurity.

And among them, AD players stood out especially.

"I'll remember it, Coach."

Luo Zhen took Hong Mi's words to heart. Of course he knew just how opportunistic and hard-won this victory had been. Once Hong Mi saw the same purity from before the match return to his eyes, he smiled and patted Luo Zhen on the shoulder, then quietly moved him into the middle of the six players.

The interview order was determined by seniority.

Karsa and Rookie naturally stood at the front. That was partly because of their fame, and partly because the interviewer was Xiao Yu. At that moment, Rookie and Xiao Yu were already smiling so much they could barely close their mouths, making Luo Zhen worry that they might be carried offstage for laughing too hard later.

But after the mid-jungle duo came his position.

Even from that simple arrangement, it was clear that Hong Mi's expectations for Luo Zhen were enormous.

But interviews... were obviously not the sort where he could show off his antics. When the entire team went up together, aside from couples so obvious that even the audience tacitly understood them, like Rookie and Xiao Yu, everyone else generally gave official answers. Even Luo Zhen, known for his trash talk, only said things like how well his teammates had played, how quickly they had killed people, how unbelievably amazing they were, while claiming that he himself had simply been carried.

The tallest tree in the forest caught the strongest wind.

The momentum from winning tonight was already huge. There was no need to stir up more trouble.

There was only one priority now—lifting the trophy!

The Demacia Cup ended on December 26, while the earliest opening date for the next Spring Split was January 10, 2022. There were roughly two weeks in between. One week was reserved for everyone to return early and regain their form and match rhythm, while the club planned to give everyone a simple one-week break.

After all, they had won a championship. They had to give people some time to rest.

Luo Zhen hugged the trophy with a dazed, infatuated expression and refused to let go. Once it returned to the club, it would be displayed on the club's wall of honor, so he wanted to hold it as long as he could. Of course, it absolutely was not because he had seen the two Big Brothers from mid and jungle finish their matches and have girlfriends to hug, making him jealous.

Women?

Hmph. They would only affect the speed at which he moved his mouse.

"We'll head off first, Xiao Zhen. See you in a week." After wrapping up the celebration banquet, interviews, and all the other follow-up matters, Karsa and Rookie were ready to properly enjoy the final week of their break.

"Hehehe, but... are you really leaving just like that? How about taking these with you?"

Luo Zhen carefully examined both of their hands, then rummaged through his backpack and handed each of the two Big Brothers a pair of nail clippers.

"What are these?"

"Out of respect for our sisters-in-law, you should trim your nails before going out. At least trim your middle and ring fingers or something."

"???"

New Concept BP