Troublesome Celebration

"Bravo! Congratulations!" Vincent greeted the returning champions. "It appears that, with the Eternal Peacekeeper on your side, you were successful at vanquishing the regional champions! The Threat Overthrower was successfully neutralized in Top!"

"Yes," Yuel agreed. "Ben froze Top just like wanted him to. Good job."

"T-Thanks!" Ben smiled shyly. A shiver of excitement ran through him. For the first time ever, he actually contributed to the team in a big way!

Despite his shaky start, Ben managed to calm down and execute his usual defensive game plan. Truth be told, he had many concerns about the efficiency of his playstyle when it came to the competitive stage, but it worked out just fine.

"But," Ben said. "I think a lot of it was thanks to Nia. She made Challenger retreat often."

"Indeed, indeed!" Vincent exclaimed. "The Vanishing Phantom struck terror into the Leopards' hearts! She made them look less like dominating predators and more like harmless kittens!"

"Agreed," Kai said. "Nia was the real star of the show."

"Heck yeah!" Lars tuned in. "She did real great, yo! Not that I understand what exactly she did, but she scored more kills than me, so that's hella impressive!

"Kills aren't the main point," Yuel explained. "The Leopards were incredibly conscious of Nia the entire game, they did everything in their power to keep her in check. They even went as far as ordering their most aggressive player to retreat more often. All of this threw them out of balance."

In fact, it wasn't an exaggeration to claim that Stratus only won thanks to Nia's presence. The girl herself played well enough, but it was her presence that completely dominated the flow of the game. It forced the Leopards to be even more defensive than usual, and not in a way that benefited them at all.

The Leopards essentially treated Nia as a device that could trigger their turtling mode on demand. And, their gravest mistake was giving Yuel control over such a device.

Once Yuel realized all of this, he asked Nia to do some questionable rotations at times. The goal of these rotations wasn't to actually score kills but to give the Leopards a jumpscare that'll force them into a less favorable position. And, it worked.

Every time the Leopards saw Nia walking in some lane's general direction, they immediately issued a retreat to that lane. This must have been the "solution" the Leopards came up with for Nia's elusiveness.

[It definitely sounds like something Cato would think of.] Yuel reasoned. [He's the type to "solve" problems by fortifying his defenses. And, when that doesn't work, he fortifies them some more. To me, this approach is equivalent to tightening a rope over your own neck.]

A better defense could solve some problems, but not all of them. Yuel experienced that firsthand in the previous scrim, where he was severely punished for not taking the initiative when he had the opportunity. Back then, the enemy's Triangle ran all over Stratus until Yuel finally started mounting counterattacks.

But, Cato failed to adapt. He stacked more and more layers of defense until his team crashed under all that weight.

[To be precise, we won not so much because of Nia, but more because of the Leopards' inability to adjust their game plan. But, I'll keep this thought to myself.]

There was no need to ruin the party. Everybody was celebrating Nia's "amazing performance", so Yuel decided to let them enjoy the moment.

With that said, one member of the team was noticeably absent. "Where's Luke?" Yuel asked in a small voice, to not draw too much attention to the topic.

"He departed shortly after this game ended," Vincent explained, also in a low voice. "He was watching the game on and off, but then simply vanished."

The waiting room had a monitor that streamed the game, so Vincent and Luke watched the unfolding game with great interest indeed! Or, at least, Vincent did. As for Luke, he seemed rather apathetic about the whole matter. His expression was quite sullen throughout the experience.

"It's not too surprising, I think," Vincent said. "After all, the one who subbed in for him turned out to be the star of the show. I imagine that wasn't easy to digest." 

"Yeah, I can see that." [The higher you climb, the harder you fall.] That sounded like an apt description of what happened to Luke. His surprisingly strong performance in the 2nd game must've gotten to his head.

Even though Yuel warned that the Leopards would surely adapt to the Dark Knight meme in Game 3, it seemed this warning went in one ear and out the other. Luke continued holding onto the false illusion of his "grand success", so Game 3 hit him hard.

[It's a bit ironic, honestly.] Yuel thought.[ He told me he plays memes because he doesn't want to take things "too seriously". Yet, there he is, taking that one defeat way too seriously.]

Luke never provided a full explanation regarding his decision to stick with memes. The guy only ever gave half-answers, dodging the questions.

Nonetheless, there was one intent that even his dodgy answers clearly conveyed: his desire to avoid responsibility. Luke didn't want to feel too "obligated" to the game, probably to avoid the anxiety and frustration that competitive sports naturally caused.

And yet, despite all that, the crushing defeat in Game 3 shook him this much. If that's the case, didn't that invalidate the entire point of his memeing? He was pretending to mess around, yet deep down, he was just as competitive and serious as the rest.

[Well, maybe I'm being too cynical here, but I do hope this taught him a lesson.] Yuel thought. [Maybe he'll finally reconsider his life choices after seeing how salty he gets even with memes.]

It seemed the memer first had to get a taste of success in order to understand the true impact of failure. Yuel had been wondering for a long time how to persuade Luke, but maybe Game 3 did all the work for him.

[This is a little concerning, though.] Yuel looked at the rest of the club, who were still praising Nia amidst the chatter.

"The way ya pulled that Double Kill in Mid was so sick, yo!" Lars shouted. "Like, I haven't scored a single Double Kill the entire game, can you believe!? That's how hard these dudes were to crack!"

"Yeah, it was well played," Kai agreed. "Though, let's not forget I prepared the ground for that one. Still, very clean execution from Nia."

Everybody worshipped Nia like the messiah. And, from the smug on the girl's face, it was clear she was enjoying the attention a little too much. Ironically, for somebody whose playstyle revolved around erasing her presence, Nia was quite the attention seeker.

[I'm not sure if this is fine.] Yuel frowned. [If she falls off the high horse in the middle of the game, she might start sulking just like Luke.]

Of course, there was no guarantee that any of this would happen. Nonetheless, it was best to lower the chances as much as possible.

[Except, it seems I have a natural talent for being bad at this.] Yuel grumbled. [I can already see them grilling me for what I want to say...]

Something like that had already happened in the recent game, back when Yuel warned Nia about not letting her success get to her head. And, unsurprisingly, Yuel's first idea for the current situation was to say that exact line again.

[They're celebrating her achievements right now, so it'll make me look like a wet blanket if I come in and drop my piece.]

In the first place, it seemed Yuel's communication skills weren't good enough to properly convey this subject. He failed to make his points clear back with Luke, and he was likely going to fail with Nia, too.

However, there was one person here who could potentially achieve success with this. He was loud, clownish, and yet somehow charismatic enough to sway people's hearts. Not to mention, he was the one who sparked the flames of celebration here, hyping up everybody's success.

"Vincent, we need to talk," Yuel called the guy to the side. "There's something I'd like you to help me with..."