In one of ProCenter’s stadiums, a scrimmage was taking place. It was a rather one-sided match, one that escalated more and more the longer it went on.

『DOUBLE KILL』

『UNSTOPPABLE』

These messages popped up on Cato's screen. Unfortunately, the achievements didn’t belong to him.

"My, aren't you feisty today.” Cato smiled impishly.

"I just want to get this over with," William said. "This is getting old. They're clearly not at our level."

Even though they were on top of a stage, playing in front of a big audience, their voices didn't betray a single hint of tension. And, why would they be tense? This was already their second scrimmage this year. Not to mention, today’s match was just as one-sided as the previous one.

The score was already 16-1. Oh wait, that’s wrong. It’s already 17-1, thanks to William being such a reliable killing machine. He killed enemies faster than Cato could count up.

Of course, Classmancers wasn't so simple of a sport, so the kill count didn’t always tell the entire story. However, when the gap was this big, it painted a very clear picture.

"My, you really don't know how to chill, do you?” Cato smiled wryly. "Think about these poor guys. You've been whooping them for three games straight now. Don't you think they deserve a little breather?" 

"Hmph. It's not my fault they're so weak." William scoffed. "Honestly, I don't know what we're still doing here. Coach should've subbed us out after the second game. The result should've been decisive enough."

"Oh, I'm sure it was." Cato recalled the last two rounds. The team thoroughly crushed their opponents with scores of 26-0 and 39-1. Not only did the enemy fail to adapt for the second game, but they folded even harder than before. Calling it “one-sided” didn’t even begin to describe it.

But, that outcome was only natural. The enemy team had much weaker pieces: four players that were as good as “pawns”, and one player that could roughly qualify as a “knight”.

On the other hand, Cato's team was filled to the brim with strong pieces. Just he and William already counted as two “rooks”, though William probably saw himself more on par with a “queen”.

If there was a piece stronger than a rook and weaker than a queen, then that’d be his piece. Cato smiled to himself as he analyzed the game board as if it was chess.

With such a substantial difference in specs between the two teams, a result like 26-0 for the first game was inevitable. On top of that, the first game allowed Cato to get a better read on his opponents. So, with better-optimized shot-calling, he enforced a 39-1 for the second round.

The team played both games almost perfectly, dominating the opposition while suffering minimal losses. There was only one rush idiot who stained their perfect record twice in a row, both last game and this game...

"Dang, bro!" Ronald exclaimed. "You sure work fast! Nice kill!"

"These guys are just that easy," William said evenly. 

"Yep, they're scrubby alright." Ronald nodded. "But, don't you think you’ve won just yet! You're only two kills ahead of me, so I'mma catch up in no time!" 

"You will try." William felt no pressure from his younger brother's bold deceleration. I'll win again for sure.

"Hey Ronald," Cato spoke up. "I don't mind you competing for kills, but don't chase them too hard. You're ruining our perfect score and I don't want another lecture from the coach." 

"Sacrifices gotta be made sometimes," Ronald retorted with a nonsensical argument. "As they say: no pain, no gain!" 

"Listen, kid. Quoting idioms isn't going to excuse your mess-ups."

"Hey, who are you calling a kid!? You want them hands, dude!?"

"No, but their Lancer probably does." Cato pinged two areas on the mini-map. The enemy Lancer was probably going to rotate from one of these spots and pick off Ronald, who was grossly overextending to score his precious kills. What a brat,

The enemy Jungler was the only one who ever scored kills on Ronald today. He was the “knight” piece on the enemy team, the only one with sufficient skill to not embarrass himself on the competitive scene. So, naturally, there was some reason for concern.

"The Lancer is probably coming. So, unless you're planning to give him a free kill, you better foot it, kid."

“That dang dude again!” Ronald exclaimed. “Okay, fine." He retreated from the frontline.

No matter how badly Ronald wanted to pass his brother's score, he still had to retreat when danger approached. After all, if he dies, he won’t be able to get any more kills!

Besides, he was a part of the team. Even though they were totally stomping the enemy at the moment, his death would slow them down and make them look bad. That’d be unacceptable.

I’m glad he realizes at least this much. Cato thought. If he couldn't figure out something so basic on his own, I would've booted his butt out of the team a long time ago.

It was no empty threat. Cato would’ve really pushed for it to happen and he probably would’ve achieved it too. After all, he was the captain. His word carried the most weight in this team.

I'm the overlord here, son. Cato snickered. If you disappoint me, then off with your head!

In the first place, somebody like Ronald shouldn't normally be allowed on the first-string. Juniors should only cheer on the first-string from the sidelines. Their time to shine was next year.

But, the coach insisted. He shoved Ronald into scrimmages to let the brat gain practical experience for next year. Somehow, this absolute tool was the “best” candidate for becoming next year's captain.

I guess next year the team will finally drop its win streak. Oh well. Cato shrugged. That wasn't his concern. This was his last year of middle school and his last year on the team. All he cared about was making the best out of this year and incrementing the team’s everlasting win streak count.

After all, they were the Leopards, the undefeatable regional champions. Victory was as expected as it was inevitable. And, as the captain, Cato was in charge of delivering the team to said victory and living up to the legacy he inherited with the role.

But, it’s not like he was going to do everything with his own two hands. That’s what he had his useful chess pieces for. Yes, even flawed and unreliable pieces like Ronald played an important part in all of this.

『An enemy has been killed!』

"Goteem!" Ronald pumped a fist after smiting the Lancer, the biggest threat the enemy posed!

Even though he originally retreated from the scene to avoid getting ganked, he patiently waited nearby to see what followed. As expected, the Lancer arrived shortly after, no doubt planning to punish Ronald for the overextension. Alas, Ronald was no longer there! Or, so the Lancer thought.

After concluding that Ronald completely evacuated the area, the Lancer started casually clearing the nearby Orge Camp. Then, BAM! Ronald jumped that scrub!

"That'll teach you a lesson, fam. Don't you mess with the AbsoluteChallenger!" 

"My, you actually killed the guy," Cato said.

"Yep, mopped that scrub real good! He probably thought he’s a hotshot because he killed me once or twice, but these were just flukes, I’m telling you!"

"They were far from flukes, but alright." Cato didn't feel like wasting any more breath on this kid right now. They’ll have more than enough time to review this after the scrimmage. For now, as long as Ronald delivered results and followed Cato's orders when it counted, everything was fine.

『An enemy has been killed!』

"My, you guys have no chill, do you." Cato sighed.

"I told you, I want to get this over with," William said after claiming yet another soul. "These guys are no match for us."

"That's true, but you don't have to bully them like that. Go easy on them, give them at least a little bit of hope."

"And why should I do that?" 

"So you can later CRUSH that hope and BREAK their spirits~" Cato smiled dangerously.

"You damn sadist." William made a face. "I'm trying to give these guys a quick and merciful death, but you just want to play with your food."

"Maybe I do~" Cato admitted with an innocent smile. "After all, this is our last game for the day. I want to savor it as much as I can~" 

"Go bully people in your free time. I'm bored of this. The only thing that keeps me going is that brat over there who’s trying to compete with my score."

"And I gonna beat you, bro!" Ronald proclaimed.

"In your dreams." 

And so, the two rascals continued to compete.

『An enemy has been killed!』

『UNSTOPPABLE』

『An enemy has been killed!』

『An enemy has been killed!』

『An enemy has been killed!』

『TRIPLE KILL』

『LEGENDARY』

The kills didn't stop coming. Every time William scored a kill, Ronald soon scored one of his own. And, as if in retaliation, William swiftly found another victim to secure his lead in the race. In turn, that motivated Ronald to seek yet another kill ASAP.

What a beautiful brotherly bond between two killing machines. Cato smiled impishly.

Even as the two brothers competed with each other, they also cooperated with perfect synergy. After clearing all the threats in Top and Mid, they split Top Jungle into two halves and devoured all the farm there. The execution was fast and methodical, with minimal communication required.

Maybe they communicate telepathically? Cato entertained the idea even though he knew the truth was much simpler.

The brothers were very dedicated to the game for a long time now. As a result, after playing together for so long, they naturally developed impeccable teamwork. Perhaps they were rivals as far as scoring kills was concerned but, aside from that, they were also each other’s most trusted ally.

Surprisingly, it was Ronald, the younger brother, who came up with most of their teamplay ideas. That brat seemed like “all brawn and no brain” at first glance, but he actually had an unexpected game sense and a knack for teamplay. These were probably the qualities that made him qualify as next year’s captain in the coach’s book.

I mean, there's literally nothing else that’s good about this brat. Cato reasoned. With that said...

『An enemy has been killed!』

Ronald scored another kill. That brat and his brother were the team’s two main cannons. While the rest of the team prioritized defensive play, the two brothers were frequently on the offensive, competing for kills.

My, so uncivilized. Cato shook his head. As the herald of defense, the brothers’ barbarian aggressiveness wasn’t much to his liking. Nonetheless, they were a necessary evil for this team.

Cato’s forte laid in defensive shot-calls, so he didn’t excel nearly as much when it came to launching decisive attacks. Therefore, sometimes it was convenient to let the two brothers loose. They added a much-needed flavor of offense to the team,

Not to mention, when they cooperated - they unleashed hell on earth. Their offense was the Yang to Cato’s Yin. That’s probably why the coach decided to add Ronald to this lineup, as much as Cato disliked that decision.

Well, in the end, he’s just a replacement for our REAL fifth member. Cato shrugged. At least his offense does the work for now during these easy scrimmages, so it’s not a big deal. Once we face StormBlitz and the nationals, we’ll be playing with our real lineup anyway. Though, I can’t genuinely say I’m a huge fan of that one either...

Regardless of what Cato felt on the matter, the berserker brothers swatted the enemies like flies. The team was steadily pushing forward and cornering the enemy base.

The score was already 31-1, an irreversible situation no matter how hard the enemy tries. Even a miracle from God himself would be hard-pressed to help them here.

It was over in every sense of the word, but the enemies nevertheless fortified their defenses and fought to the bitter end. They deserved applause for their unrelenting fighting spirit, if nothing else.

I wish I could see their faces right now. Cato snickered. They must be looking rather devastated~

Unfortunately, the enemy team was positioned on the other side of the stage, and monitors covered most of their figures. As such, it was impossible to make out anything about their expressions, no matter how hard Cato squinted his eyes.

Nonetheless, he had plenty of experience watching such expressions on his chess opponents. Thanks to that, he could imagine the enemy’s frustration quite vividly.

The gritting of their teeth, the tapping of their feet, and the agony twisting their faces. Cato could clearly see all these delicious sights in his head.

Muhaha! Tremble in front of the champions! Cato terrorized the enemy team like an overlord, at least in his head. That was his only source of fun in this otherwise lackluster game. As William said, these opponents were no match for the Leopards. It wasn’t even remotely close.

We pounded them pretty bad. Cato looked at the current score of 33-1. It was going to be an overwhelming one-sided victory. Nobody would dare to question the Leopards’ strength after witnessing this convincing performance.

Alas, the result wasn’t entirely perfect. One brat’s death stained this otherwise amazing score.

We shouldn’t have conceded any kills to a team like that.

Unfortunately, it was outside of Cato’s control. It wasn’t his fault that Ronald was a reckless brat who sometimes forgot to pay attention to his surroundings.

On his end, Cato did everything he could to avoid such accidents. He warned Ronald multiple times about the possibility of a gank. And yet, Ronald still managed to get himself killed in both games. What a damn troublemaker.

This one death stained the record of the entire team. And, in turn, it also stained Cato’s personal achievements as the captain. Especially, as a shot-caller who prided himself in defensive tactics, conceding kills against a weak team was one of the greatest insults.

Of course, accidents will always happen. Cato reasoned. But, that’s not a professional mentality.

Accidents were like a force of nature. No human being was capable of developing a 100% foolproof resistance against them.

Nonetheless, a pro’s job was to strive toward that 100% by reducing the average number of such accidents to near zero. Consistency was the key to success.

That’s how Cato has always handled himself in chess, and that’s the mentality he brought into Classmancers as well. It applied to pretty much every competitive field out there, which was why this one death irked him so much.

I hope Coach chews Ronald out on this. Well, I’m 80% sure he will. And, if he doesn’t, I’ll make sure to bring that up myself.

He had no intention of tolerating such gaps in his team’s defense. If Ronald could get himself killed against such weak opponents, then how many times was he planning to die against stronger teams? It was a big concern.

Such were the thoughts that occupied Cato’s mind during the final parts of this predictable game. The enemy’s feeble resistance didn’t matter in the slightest. These fellas have already lost, it was just a matter of how to take them out.

Hmm. I say we drag out the game just a tiny little bit more~ Cato smiled impishly. Let’s let them struggle in vain some more. After all, that’s the best part about cornering the opponent and dominating the board~

However, not everybody was on the same page here.

“Let’s kill the Overlord and get this over with,” William suggested. Though, his strong tone implied it wasn’t a mere “suggestion”. It was a statement about how killing the Overlord was objectively the best move they had available.

“Yeah, I agree!” Ronald joined in. “They’re all busy fending off super minions, so that’s our chance.”

The other members also echoed similar thoughts. Nobody quite shared Cato’s interest in dragging the game out and watching his foe suffer. Oh well.

I suppose it’s time to wrap it up then. Cato decided to approve of the plan, seeing as the majority voted in favor of William’s idea. And, it was indeed a strong play, one that Cato was obviously aware of, yet chose to postpone for his own entertainment.

The team ganged on the big boss and eliminated the fellow within seconds. They were so powerful at this stage of the game that even the strongest mob on the map posed no challenge for them.

With the Overlord’s buff boosting their powers further, they relied on raw strength to bust through the enemy’s fort and claim the Colossus. So uncivilized.

『VICTORY』