The spawn barrier dropped and the game had begun. Weapons at the ready, we all scrambled to get to our optimal positions. Meguru at the back where she has the most line of sight, me and Lawrence-san posted in the middle lane to get a read on the enemy’s offense, and Mai and the solo queuer taking to the flanks in the hopes of an offense.

“Comms check, everyone” I said

Everyone responded to it except, of course.

“Can you shut the hell up?” the tilted random’s words of aggression were capped off by the subtle ringing that followed in my earpiece, indicating that he just turned his comms off.

…..What was I even expecting from him?

And it didn’t even take long for my doubts to cement themselves

“Enemy….First blood” the P.A rang in our ears as our plus one fell even before the artifact had spawned

He was back in spawn queue and he couldn’t contribute or hear our comms for the next ten seconds, in which I made a prediction

“If he comes out of spawn blaming others, please mute that idiot”

Before he did respawn however, we managed to set up. Lawrence-san’s light axe strike opened up a crater in the middle to serve as cover in case I had to cross the middle to get to the other side and possibly to slow down artifact carriers without any advanced movement capabilities from running down the middle. I found a low stone wall to take cover, with a clear line of sight on anyone trying to brute force themselves down the middle lane.

And our ten seconds of silence suddenly ended

“Kid, how bad are you…. that guy was 1 HP, he would’ve died even if you spat at him.” And here he came out, blaming Mai for not following up.

I held down the button on my earpiece and navigated the menu that popped up on my UI to mute all comms from him, as I didn’t want him bringing me down with him. However it was clear everyone else did the same as no one replied to his comment

But during that time, the sound of gunfire rang in the left lane.

“All of them are on the left, I can’t get out of this” Mai made the call out

“Respawn and reset, we’ll keep the pressure on” I replied to her

“Going to go for a risky one here, Nii-chan. If you guys could drag their attention elsewhere, I’ll hit them in the back”

The Artifact spawn timer had not begun and it was still the battle for map control, so we had a bit of leeway to take a couple of risks as the one Mai was proposing.

“Alright, push left and draw their aggro towards us, Megu….”

But as I was relaying the plan to everyone, Meguru’s perch above us exploded, with debris threatening to send me and Lawrence-san back to spawn.

“Look out!” Lawrence-san was quick to reach, creating a half-dome of rock around us to protect us from the falling debris. But in the next instance, another explosion happened, punching a hole through the dome.

“What the hell was that?” I asked

“Grenade launcher on mid, Nii-chan…. Meguru is out for 10 and I’m pinned down on the flank. You two are on your own”

“We need a plan fast, Jun-kun…. There is only so much I can do against a GL”

The pressure was on and it was upto me to decide the next move. While I would have the answer almost immediately from my wealth of experience, my mind was going blank as I was facing my weaknesses one after another.

One, I couldn’t see anything outside since peeking my head out of the hole the explosion made in the dome is a guaranteed way to get my head blown off…. Two, I still had no idea how I am going to be playing with a hard-cover tank…. And the worst of it all, we were down two people. Meguru in spawn and the other being more of a burden than helpful.

How the hell does Akio do this?

While I was stuck in my head, Mai was exploding in my ear and Lawrence-san called out to me beside me, looking for guidance. But I wasn’t able to put anything together.

“Maybe we should all respawn and reset…” But while I didn’t have a plan myself, I was quick to see the error in Mai’s line of thinking

“No! If we all respawned, they’ll just spawn-trap us with the pressure from that Grenade Launcher. We’ll just be handing them the game. We have to hold here”

Exposing my flawed in-game leading, Lawrence-san did not wait till I made up my mind.

“I got an idea ... .Jun-kun, can I count your gun for this?” But he didn’t even let me answer as every second counted “Mai-chan, the moment the pressure is off you, I want you to jump onto that GL user. Jun-kun…..Shoot anything that moves…….We go on three”

“1….2…..3!” And he brought his axe down on the exposed part of the rock dome, and a tremor went down the left lane along with a rock wall that trapped them in. Their tank remained exposed as he wasn’t able to get his shield up as the tremor was messing with their footing and he and their two mid-rangers were caught in the open with nowhere to run.

Now, I had to be quick as the strike from the axe shattered the cover we had and now both of us were exposed and facing the enemy. Effectively a 3 on 2.

But the odds were in my favor, I was able to aim and fire faster as the enemy riflers could stabilize their footing and were unable to hit me. I, on the other hand, made full use of the chance, one burst to the head of one of them, sending him back to spawn and the other managed to hit me in the chest but I managed to end him as well, getting away with nothing but a dent in my body armor.

The tank was now alone and Lawrence-san rushed at him, forcing the two tank players into a test of perseverance. However, the enemy player’s shield had some sort of suppression ability on it, as our tank managed to drop onto his feet as a deafening barrage of sound was thrown our way. I was out of range enough to not get stunned by that, but I couldn’t do anything from where I was as all my shots just ended up getting absorbed by his shield.

However, he didn’t last very long, as two arrows pierced the back of his knees, forcing him to drop the shield, only to be finished off by a sniper shot from the distance shattering his head into fragments of white like a marble vase. Guess our long-range support was back in the game.

“Quick thinking, Lawren-chi” Mai complimented him

“Artifact spawns now active, obtain and deposit the artifact” The P.A announced

We had no time to take it easy, we had to press our advantage now.

The first artifact spawn happened to be deep in the right lane. We managed to wipe the enemy team before the artifact spawned, meaning if we hurry, we can get on free bank in before they set up their defense.

“Everyone, we play offense. We set up on their side before they respawn. Cut off as much map control from them as possible.”

“Understood” multiple voices on the team comms interlapped.

We all pushed towards the left, with Mai ahead of all of us due to her higher agility. We all entered the cavern where the artifact remained floating….. However we made a fatal mistake….

Mai hurried to grab the artifact but it had been rigged with a claymore under it which she didn’t notice. The explosive went off and triggered a chain reaction of explosions, cutting off our escape back to our base zone.

Mai was immediately sent back to spawn after getting caught in the initial blast, while the resulting explosions disarmed and grounded me…..peppered me with shrapnel and rock, demolishing my armor and half my HP bar.

While the indoors of the cavern were free of the vision-limiting haze outside, it is now worse here since the explosions kicked up a cloud of dust, making it harder to breath, nevermind keeping my eyes open. I forced myself onto my feet to figure out what the hell happened….

How did they set this up when we were fighting just now….no one even went to the right to set all these up, and were those C4?.... No, can’t be, considering how many explosions just happened, there is no way that teams can afford that much C4…..

“Nii….. What just happened in there?” asked Meguru from her perch back at the base zone

“The Artifact was rigged, the cavern collapsed…. Aborting the offense” I replied

“I can’t see you guys from here with that cave in….Lawren-chi, can you clear it”

“On it….” But as he replied to that, Lawrence-san found two long blades plunged into him from above and a bullet put into his head, shattering it into many pieces, forcing his body to dematerialize back to spawn.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Well that would just ruin the fun now wouldn’t it” said the enemy assailant

I reached for my secondary and fired at his general direction but he was fast, he took cover behind a pile of debris before disappearing out of my line of sight completely….

It’s only then I realized that I miscounted… we killed 4 out of their 5 players, leaving their scout player unattended. I backed off, not training my aim away from the enemy’s direction, moving towards the artifact in the hopes of at least getting my hands on it.

“Looking for this?” I wasn’t too slow, it’s just that he was that fast…. He was good, and by the fact that he was using all chat to taunt us also proved how confident he was in his skills.

I didn’t let off the pressure or give into his mind games. I readjusted my aim and fired at him while trying to get myself into cover, however he mirrored my movements, applying pressure onto me with his dual pistols and pushing to the left of the room as I did. On the way, I slid towards my rifle and picked it up from the ground and ended up behind a low wall that I was safe behind for the time being.

I didn’t want to peek my head out and risk losing it in case he was pre-aiming out of cover, instead I took out a mirror from my inventory and put my hand out towards the side to see if I could spot him, but my intuition proved right as a single bullet breaks my mirror before I could even see anything properly.

“Nii-chan, respawn….it’s not worth taking the fight” said Meguru on the team comms

“I can’t…. I’m above 25% HP. And I’m pretty sure that’s his intention”

“We just spawned in Jun-kun, we’ll be there to back you up shortly….”

“No! Don’t!.... They got artifact control…. If you try to bail me out, they take control of our base zone and snowball us out. This guy knows what he is doing…. He singled me out to take pressure off his team” While I was piecing together what was going on, I had my eyes and ears trained on where he could be.

The fact that he just shot out my mirror means that he was still in the same cover I saw him push towards, and I don’t hear any footsteps just so he is holding ground….. He is stalling me.

“Unlike the usual idiots I come up against in matchmaking, you seem to have a bit more brains under that skull. If it was anyone else, they would just push me blindly in the hopes of retrieving the artifact or getting a quick respawn…. But considering you are holding your ground alone, I’m guessing you are the brains of that group”

Another solo-queuer?

But as we were in a stalemate of sorts, a loud explosion went off between us. Looks like our random ran into one of the traps the guy across from me had set. This was not good, with me out of commission and our rando running into the trap, the stage outside has become a 3v4…..But wait a minute…..

Our random ran through the trap at an exit, that is the escape I’m looking for. I have to let go of artifact control for now…. If I fight this and lose, the situation will turn into a 3v5… But I need to figure out how to break this stalemate….. Wish I had some sort of utility.

And that just gave me an idea.

I might not have any smokes or flashes with me ... .but he doesn’t know that. Time to pull my version of an old classic. I took out my secondary and unloaded the bullets…. And I threw it blind at where he was. All I needed was for him to think I just threw a flash at him… to take his aim off me even for a moment. I had to move quickly as soon as I heard the gun hit the ground. And a moment later, there the clunk was.

I turned the corner from my place of safety in the hopes of making a run for the exit.

“You really think a fake nade play will work against me?” In a moment, he was above me, standing on my cover, forcing me to abort my escape attempt….. I found myself in a disadvantageous situation….. I had thrown away my close-quarters weapon, and he was right in my face and I had no time to holster and ready to defend myself. The panic started to kick in at the moment and I started to run away, to which he punished me by shooting me in the ankle, slowing me to a crawl.

I had no choice but to point my rifle at him, but he overpowered me with his speed and put one of his two kodachi’s into my arm, and used that to throw me onto the ground where his second blade was at my neck.

He let out a subtle laugh “You don’t get it do you? All of you are far inferior to me….. I could just kill you right now and force this game into a one-sided snowball, but where’s the fun in that?”

A skilled solo griefer….. The polar opposite of who we are matched with.

“Come on, let’s hear how mad you are behind that comm filter.” He pressed into my earpiece and it forced itself into all chat…. Wait, you can do that now?

“To think you fell for a simple trap made by a claymore and a few of these” He flaunts a grenade in his free hand.

I had no chance of escape anymore, however one thing he failed to realize is that his overconfidence might’ve just given me the next best solution. I tried to lift my arm up towards him, but he responds by applying more pressure onto my neck with his blade.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Struggling aimlessly wouldn’t help you, you know…. But don’t worry, after my deadweight team softens up your allies a bit more, I’ll send you back to your team…. In spawn where you will be until the game ends. It will be just another steamroll you’ll just have to get used to” he leaned in to flaunt more as he was talking, not knowing he just came into the perfect range.

I pulled the pin on the grenade in his hand and held it tight, using my other arm to reinforce my grip, not letting him drop or throw it away

“What are you?” he was completely caught completely off guard, and started to struggle himself, to loosen my grip so he can get the grenade out of his hand. He pulled with all his might but I didn’t let him break free…In the process, I might’ve even got him to shut up

“You think we are an easy win for you? That you alone can beat us?....” I pulled him even closer to me “I invite you to try”

A second later, and the grenade exploded, taking both of us out in the process.

There I was in the spawn queue… I couldn’t hear anything, I couldn’t see anything, I didn’t even feel my body…. Just me and my thoughts for 10 agonizing seconds.

Playing against that griefer reminded me of the days back in the pro scene. Even before we made it to the league, the best players backed all their playing behind their individual personality. In the early ranks of the game, it was all about mastering the game…. At the highest of competition, it was all about mastering yourself against others.

While it wasn’t the ideal outcome, the fact that we both took each other out was the best outcome at the moment. Forcing a 3v4 with the only threat on the enemy team spawning at the same time as me. While they still would have the advantage since he is faster than me to walk back and set up, it’s one that we can recover from.

The spawn timer ended and a white light followed as my vision and senses came back to me, finding myself in the spawn room. I viewed the scoreboard on my off hand while I was rushing back to the fight to get an idea of where we were standing

12-5 with us in the lead for the time being, but I wouldn’t count that as an advantage as one artifact bank on their side is all that will take to flip the game in their favor.

“Almost back in the fight…Brief me in” I said over the comms

“Mid-lane seeing a lot of pressure, I can’t find a position to play with that GL”

“GL’s down” Mai assured, taking off the explosive pressure off her sister for around twenty seconds… which in a place where split seconds is all it takes for everything to change, is a lot.

“Great…. Artifact is buried in the cave in, so neither side can get to it, it all comes down to where it spawns next” Meguru brought me up to speed.

“We might be able to handle most of them, but keep focus on their flank players. He is much more skilled than the rest of them and he is using them as bait. Meguru is going to be completely defenseless against him so we need to secure our backline…. Mai, you are the best against him one on one. He loves to play the trap game as much as you do

“Understood!” I could tell Mai was taking this very relaxed as her tone was cheery as always. Hope that confidence will not be her downfall.

“Lawrence-san… I hate to put you in the spot but. He is most likely to target me and Meguru, can I count on you to keep him at bay?” I asked

“You don’t have to tell me twice. Also, I might have a solution for Meguru-chan’s problem against the noob tuber.”

“The what and who?” I inquired

Lawrence-san looked at me from behind the safety of his rock wall cover “Seriously?... Kids these days.....” He reverted his attention to the battle ahead “Anyways, Meguru-chan….. How do you feel about bursting some ankles?”

I was curious about what he had in mind as he brought his axe down, turning the wall in front of us into a dome once again. I, in the meantime, aimed down the lanes putting down lead towards any enemy who was trying to push forward through the haze

“Meguru-chan… Mind setting up on my position?”

“But that’s low ground…. I won’t be able to….”

“Just trust me on this.” Lawrence-san assured

Meguru obeyed and jumped down from her perch with her massive sniper rifle, placing it on the floor, setting up her bipod and laying down. Lawrence-san swung his axe like an oversized golf club, puncturing a hole big enough for her sights and barrel to see out into the lanes. It’s only then I understood his thinking

“Noob tubes pressuring our height advantage, then might as well reinforce our low-ground game.” He said

While in many maps, giving up high ground is the easiest way to throw a game, Dhesirah Wastelands is mostly a flat map with the two lanes dipping downwards into mini structures. Since it lacks a lot of, if any, high-ground power positions, it’s a very viable option to strengthen our low ground position, as the enemy can only approach us from our level or from below. Guess he’s got skills to back up all his bravado.

“Artifact uncontested, position shift in 20 seconds.” The announcement blared in our heads.

“Time for the make it or break it” I said

While the haze limited visibility both ways, it was more against us as it was a big advantage for their MVP. He likes to play up close and personal, and we had no way of knowing where he would strike from until it was too late. But right now, I had to focus on the game plan in front of me.

I pushed to the right and cleared the flank, but it seems that the enemy had the same idea. But I found myself winning the aim duel as I was able to spot their exact location earlier. I was able to get a couple bursts of fire out at them, although the sight of one of the silhouettes flinching was a sign I managed to get a few hits in, I was unsure on how hurt they were exactly.

“Jun-kun, you are up” Lawrence-san approached from behind, planting his axe into the ground and for the first time all game, brought out his whirring machine of death and suppression.

His minigun spun up and put down relentless pressure onto the entire lane, destroying the little amount of cover they had on their sides, causing them to be exposed to the sight of my scope.

Their tank tried to shield his team but the axe plant moments prior put up a wall that cut off the enemy tank player as well as the escape of the other two. They had nowhere to hide and were forced to engage me in an open field, resulting in the easiest double kill I’ve had since we’ve been here.

“Nice assist” I gave Lawrence-san a small confidence boost

There were no explosives to zone us out which meant the GL user was either in the spawn queue or busy being harassed by Mai or our random…if he was actually doing anything. But learning from the last fight, I didn’t let my confidence get the better of me.

Driven by gut instinct, I turned my left palm over to quickly check on our statuses. And Meguru’s HP bar was empty with 8s indicated on her grayed-out health bar….. As I expected

“Our support’s in spawn, watch our back.” I warned the others

Not willing to have a primary with a used mag for the next fight, I attempted to swap out for a fresh mag. But the moment I hit the mag release on my gun and put the used mag into my inventory, a hail of gunfire came my way, managing to clip my side and putting a noticeable absence in a portion of my health bar

I backpedaled into cover and ducked down, not knowing which way I got shot from. I threw my used mag into my inventory and attempted to go for a quick heal, only to find out that his target was not me, but Lawrence-san.

“Shit….On me” I called out

“Artifact on field” the P.A informed us in the moment, which made it clear that respawning and resetting was not an option

He waited till I reloaded to make his move, but now our tank is left defenseless. He rushed down the middle, putting round after round into Lawrence-san’s armor, forcing him to cover his head with his axe. Making him unable to free his arm to lift up his heavy minigun.

I couldn’t risk a peek as I was low enough HP to be sent back to spawn with one well placed headshot…. I downed a healing salve and holstered my mag-less rifle, arming myself with my secondary, I lied on my side, peeked from low and took aim at the man burying his Kodachi blades into Lawrence-san’s gut, and opened fire.

However, his awareness was sharp enough to notice me trying to go for the save, and immediately aborted his attack and broke line of sight, disappearing into the cover of the thick haze. However, for the first time all game, I was able to get a few shots into him, putting his health into the critical.

I stood back up and approached our anchor, I didn’t help him off his feet as that would be just inviting the enemy scout to shoot me in the back.

“You still with us?”

“I will be in a second” Lawrence-san replied as he popped a quick heal

In the corner of my field of vision, I saw a figure moving towards the artifact spawn which was in the open area beside us. I shifted my aim towards that only to find out that it was our random.

“Mai, random is going to possession… How is it on your end?”

“Returning the favor, most of them are semi-spawn trapped…. Don’t think they have an answer to me yet” Mai replied

“Keep that pressure up. We still got our own griefer to deal with”

My initial plan was to have Mai face him in a duel, and since she is having the enemy team suppressed around their spawn room, it would be a bad call to make to pull her out from that…. Guess I have to deal with this bastard myself.

The moment Lawrence-san gave me the okay, I switched to my rifle and loaded up a fresh mag, and we still didn’t get attacked. I couldn’t help but feel that I’ve seen the enemy’s kind of play before….

I kept my eye on the scoreboard as we slowly moved our way towards the artifact. Apart from the fact that Mai is racking up the kills and putting the score at 36-18, the point that confirmed my suspicion was when our random’s health bar suddenly depleted in a blink of an eye and put a 10s label on it.

I chuckled in that instance “Got you now, you little shit”

“What’s going on?” Lawrence-san questioned

“I knew that he was a copycat. And lucky for us, I know just how to beat him”

“You might want to let us all in on it instead of talking to yourself, Nii” Meguru said over the comms

Luckily, I knew exactly how to bring my sisters up to speed almost instantly “Paris Major strat…. Against the original Zero” I then turned to our individual of assessment “Lawrence-san….time to prove yourself”.

Last time, we had a whole team to pull this off, but we couldn’t count on our tilted filler to follow through, so we had to do this one man down. The enemy scout got artifact possession and immediately worked his way around us. And banked the artifact at our base, putting the score up to 38-29.

One more bank and the advantage turns, and we’ll have to play defensive….. at least that is what he thinks right now.

“Hard reset”

By saying that, I forced a neutral. Taking off the spawn pressure away from the enemy team ... .the random however, was doing a great job as cannon fodder, being the contribution to most of the points the enemy team has gained.

The stage was set and it was time to bag us the shark among the salmon. I wasn’t able to get a clear read on his moves since we didn’t have the budget to invest into thermal sights for each of us, however, since I was sure that he was replicating his playstyle, I knew how his thought processes worked,

“Time to Artifact spawn?”

“Spawns in 25” Meguru replied

“He will take the bait in 10…. Once we bag him, we switch to quick offense”

“Understood” my sisters said in tandem

“Uh…okay?” looks like Lawrence-san is a bit slower on the intake….no harm in this case though

“Waiting on your signal, Meguru” Mai was ready for the first step

Considering how much we used to study each other’s playstyles, my eyes instinctively shifted towards where I thought he might be… and the silhouette finely cut through the haze in the distance

“Big fish, incoming” I gave the heads up, and I took a wide stance, checking my rifle and attachments…waiting for step 2

“You got to do better than that, little one” I heard the voice from above and behind me, with that snarky bastard still using all chat

“Onee…. Now”

I couldn’t see what was going on above me, but I knew they had engaged as I heard the sound of Meguru’s pocket shotgun going off. And I was eagerly awaiting the kill confirm

“He’s down…. Step 2 is a go” That is what I wanted to hear.

I rushed ahead, laying down suppressing fire as I moved from cover to cover. Our heavily armored tank comes from behind and does an upward slash with his axe, causing a dome of stone to form around the outsides of the other 4 of the enemy team who had pushed close to our base, leaving them with only their shield tank for cover. Their backline turned around and punched a hole in the stone wall with his GL where they were slowly funneling back towards the middle of the map where the artifact will spawn, and Lawrence-san comes in with his 1-2. Axe plant on the ground causing an incline of rock to form, and unleashes his minigun on the retreating enemy team.

I rushed up the incline and over the tall rock wall…..as I landed from height, I was not in cover and found myself staring down the barrel of two assault rifles and their support’s battle rifle. However it’s only because of Mai’s follow-up from the opposite side that I avoided being caught in the middle of a firing squad. One of their mid-range riflers found an arrow to his back, causing all of them to divert their attention away from me for a split second…… All the time I needed to take aim and fire at the wounded player. However, I couldn’t adjust my aim to my next target in time, and ended up taking damage to my left torso. While it made me drop my rifle, I rebounded by quick drawing my secondary and retaliating with a few rounds to my attacker’s lower body.

I hit the floor but kept firing till my clip ran out, but I wasn’t able to confirm another kill. I was about to get a one way trip back to spawn but our random jumped in and secured the kill, making himself useful for once.

Their backliner was indeed tilted to high heaven as he responded to Mai’s relentless focus on him by blind firing his grenade launcher in her direction. While I couldn’t hear him, his wide open mouth was indicative that he was screaming in panic…. However, even if he was cratering every flat surface within a few meters of him, it couldn’t save him from a high caliber sniper bullet to the skull as he stepped into Meguru’s sightline.

Their tank was the only one left but he had no chance of fighting back as he had his shield up to block Lawrence-san’s axe from cleaving him, and was surrounded by all 5 of us.

“Artifact on field” right on time as well

As predicted, the artifact spawned in the mid lane, which the massive brawl just took place, and it was just in front of us

“Step 3…Go!” I commanded Mai

She rushed to the floating item and slid to grab it before our random did and throw our advantage out the window. The random followed her to the enemy base where she had to deposit, and I was crawling to my rifle that I dropped and using it to prop me back up to my feet slowly.

I still had cracks in my body and I was winded, making me to first pop both a healing and a stamina potion. I checked my gear and reloaded my empty sidearm while keeping my ear to the comms….. and there seemed to be no problems till Mai banked the artifact

“You alright?” asked Lawrence-san

“I will be….. Still not used to doing this in person….even after all this time.” I placed my hand on my communicator “How is the forecast looking from there Meguru?”

“Nothing on thermals…. Big fish is either staying off my scope or is cooped up in spawn.”

“Artifact deposit detected…. Score…. 53:29. Team Blue Advantage” said the P.A

I looked at Lawrence-san “And now we have an advantage” and I went back on the comms “Hard reset…let's wrap this up guys” and I started walking back

“Jun-kun”

I looked over my shoulder at Lawrence-san while keeping my pace

“How did you figure him out?.... If you don’t mind me asking”

“Because we knew the original master of that playstyle all to well….. And when you play in the big leagues, it’s vital you know how to counter every person in the lobby…. friend, foe or yourself”

“You sure your plan will hold, he might change up his approach?”

“I’ve seen enough to know that he is an overconfident copycat. And people with no confidence in their own playstyle never break away from the mold….. And we are going to punish him for it?”

“Mind if I ask how?”

“We force him into the mindset of our own random…. Force him to make mistakes, and tilt him to high heaven.”

We reset back at base and took our positions… The enemy was fresh out of spawn and it was time for the next team fight. With the advantage heavily in our favor, our random was a bit in the zone. Even without even a word spoken, he had upped to a more cautious playstyle. However it was not him I was more worried about

Meguru came up on the comms in that moment “They are repeating last push, but they are peeling for their backline player”

“Sounds like you have been quite a thorn in his side, Mai”

“Ehehe” She was certainly enjoying it, that was a relief

But it was still working at the back of my head. He was still playing split from the rest of his team….. but this time he’s aware that we are onto him. Come on Junichi, observe….put yourself in his mind….you’ve seen this countless times before.

Alright, what do we know….. he is less likely to go for solo plays since he got countered so what’s the alternative…. That’s right, enabling the rest of the team. Their team is playing a deathball, shield in front and their heaviest hitter protected from all sides behind the shield….. Who among us is threatening their approach, stopping them from getting map control…… He won’t go for Meguru again, he wouldn’t be certain anymore if Mai is peeling for her…. Our rando? Nah can’t be…. He’s playing in the flank, drawing their fire away from us….. He jumps on Lawrence-san, I take him out instantly, and I’m sure he knows that…. Which leaves…..

I had fallen back into my weakness of being stuck in my own world, and I was able to snap out of it in time, as the enemy flanker was pouncing on me with his dual blades. I immediately hit the deck, letting go of my rifle and reaching for my sidearm. He missed me, and instead went over me but recovered his footing as he rolled on landing. He too dropped his blades and drew his dual pistols, but his fate was sealed in part to Lawrence-san’s quick thinking.

My opponent tried to retreat back into the flank and into the cover of the haze, only to collide with a rock wall in front of him. By the time he recoiled and recovered from running shoulder first into the wall, he was at the mercy of my sidearm. I put two rounds in his knees, stopping him from moving, walked towards him, and put my gun to his head.

I pushed on my communicator to switch it to all comms so he could hear me “Better luck next time” and I put a round into his head, sending him back to 10 seconds of emptiness, and I saw from his face that he was close to going over the edge.

While I was playing mind games, the rest of my team had got themselves in the zone…. As if they all knew what needed to be done with barely a word spoken. The random was letting Mai do all the heavy lifting and was following up on her engagements. Lawrence-san's skill in reading the field shone through, walling off and singling out enemies who were making mistakes to be picked off from across the map or from in front of their face….. Might as well join in on the action.

This is when the match truly showed itself to be a low rank game. Enemies were dying quickly, and they had no answer to any of our strengths. A few moments later, we had total map control and the enemy players were trickling in right into my and Meguru’s crosshairs, and turning into easy kill points…. However, none of those points came from our main target.

I didn’t pay it too much mind, this game was more or less done and dusted. All we had to do was ride this wave.

“Score 90- 28, Team Blue…. Match Point” the P.A blared “Artifact on field” it followed up

I looked around to see where the spawn was, and it had appeared very close to me

“Nii, finish this off will you?” Meguru said from her perch.

“On it” I said as my rifle discharged its heat sinks and started clicking as I had emptied my mag

I left my power position to gain artifact possession ... .I hit the mag release and swapped out my empty mag for the last remaining mag I had in my inventory, slotted it into the bottom and pulled the charging handle to load a round into the chamber.

I was taken indoors for the second time this game with the difference being me going for possession this time. However as I approached the floating item, something didn’t feel right.

I know we were dominating them, but my gut instinct didn’t let me tell myself all was fine at the moment. Just like how it told me to duck out of the way the moment I reached my arm out to grab it.

I was right to trust my instincts, as a hail of bullets would’ve shredded most of my health bar if I didn’t act. I didn’t have the artifact in my hand, yet I had to duck behind the closest bit of cover I had

“I never lose, I can’t lose…. I’ve invested too much time into this to start falling off now” he was in all chat, but none of his previous bravado seemed to be there

“Running low on ammo, Nii-chan… Waiting on the artifact” Mai informed me on comms

“How did you do it? No, it can’t be me… it has to be my worthless team. Yeah, it’s not my fault…. I am always expected to carry the randoms I get. They just weighed me down.” And just like everyone else, his true self was starting to show in the midst of defeat

I switched to all comms as well “You actually had a shot at beating us. But you lack confidence in your play…. That’s why you lose”

He vented out his anger at me by firing both his guns at my direction for a couple of seconds, suppressing me behind my low wall

“You copy Tada…. Darkstar’s playstyle…. However unlike him, you never adapt when you are being countered….Because you don’t believe in your own decisions”

He fired at me again “SHUT UP! Who are you to tell me how I play, huh? You think you are better than me?”

“Down to my last dozen arrows, Nii-chan. We need you to end this” Mai informs yet again

“From how you people were coordinating, you are most definitely a group, one and the same….. You think you people have any chance of making it to Immortal and to Morpheus better than me? I may base my play around one of the greats, and even if he became an enemy of everyone in here, he was still one of the best once and he is a survivor….. WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOUR WORDS MEAN ANYTHING AGAINST THE BEST?” He kept firing at me enraged, and that is when I heard one of his guns click

If only he knew

“Simple….. Because I’m just about to beat you” I holstered my rifle and left my position, rushing to grab the artifact.

He fired the last shot he had in one of his handguns and it found its way into the back of my shoulder. However I had the artifact in my hand. He had no ammo left in his guns and the only option he had was to run at me with his dual kodachis….. Eventhough he did as I just predicted, I didn’t allow him to get any value out of that move. I forced my legs to move outside as I was chased by a faster opponent.

I kept him at bay, firing my sidearm at him to slow his approach but it wasn’t as effective as I hoped as while slower, he was still gaining ground on me, even while bobbing and weaving between cover

“I’m out of ammo, Nii”

“Same here”

“Here too…. We need to finish this now, Jun-kun!”

The end goal was in sight, but it wasn’t as easy as running straight in. The enemy team was running to form a defense, and the scout on my tail got desperate. He was absorbing bullets, sacrificing chunks of his health bar to catch up to me sooner. I couldn’t stop and I had to think fast…. A way to get the last bank in the bag….. and then I saw it

“LAWRENCE-SAN!” At that moment I remembered that I was still on all chat as all the enemies nearby heard my callout, and rushed to the middle to cut off our tank’s sightline. However, they misread my plan.

I didn’t have time to tell him, but his adaptability and quick wits helped him see through my eyes, as Lawrence-san dropped his hammer to create an incline of rock that went above the enemy defense and into their deposit zone.

The climb made me a bit slower, but it was enough to get me into the scout’s striking range

“YOU ARE NOT GOING TO WIN!... I WON’T LET YOU!” Still in all chat and more desperate than ever, he was slashing at me, in the hopes of stopping my forward momentum. However he was just wailing, allowing me to easily predict his first few slashes and move and jump out of the way and higher up the incline. My last leap left me at the edge of the incline and at the bottom lies the deposit zone.

“If you studied Tadashi this much, you should know what comes next” I threw out one last taunt

“NO! NOOO!” he did one last dash of desperation in the attempts to stop me

And I launched myself backwards, and off the cliff falling directly into my objective with the barrel of my gun pointed at the head of my opponent who leaped after me

“Check…. mate”

I pulled the trigger, putting a bullet through his head, causing his head to shatter and his body to disappear before we hit the ground. The landing was rough but it was finally over

“Match Concluded. Score…..101-28. Winner. Team Blue” the P.A announced

I remained lying on the floor, still recovering from the impact of that hard landing while the environment around me changed, despawning map assets and the players who cross matched from other cities

“Well, guess that puts an end to our long losing streak” I said as I slowly moved my way up to my feet, and guess flashy moves like that don’t exactly agree with my back, even with all the pain dampening.

I took a look around and the map had reverted back to its usual dusty colosseum-like default state, and neither the enemy players nor our random were present as all of them seemed to have matched from outside Helios. Kind of a shame since I wanted to see the look on that guy’s face.

With the first victory in weeks in the bag, I moved slowly towards the rest of my team who were having their own conversation at the entrance. Hopefully next time we won’t have to do this with one man down.