The one-hour break felt like both an eternity and a heartbeat. Ethan sat with his team in a corner booth of the ramen shop next door, but none of them were really eating. Marcus pushed noodles around his bowl. Jake stared at his phone, scrolling through Starfire Academy statistics for the hundredth time. Sophie had her earbuds in, blocking out the world. Riley kept checking the time every thirty seconds.
"Fifteen minutes," she said quietly.
The weight of those words settled over the table like a physical presence.
Ethan's phone buzzed constantly—messages from people he didn't know, social media notifications, news outlets requesting interviews. He'd turned off most notifications, but they kept coming. The underground tournament had exploded beyond anyone's expectations.
One message stood out, from Vicky: *"Little brother, I underestimated you. Whatever happens in finals, I'm proud. But don't you dare lose. -V"*
He smiled despite the pressure. That was pure Vicky—support wrapped in competitive challenge.
"We should head back," Marcus said, though he made no move to stand. "Get warmed up."
"Five more minutes," Riley said. "Let them breathe."
The door to the ramen shop opened, and a group of Starfire Academy members walked in—the same five women they'd seen at check-in, now in full team jackets. They noticed Mixed Bag immediately.
The two teams locked eyes across the restaurant.
Starfire's mid laner—a woman with striking silver hair styled in an asymmetric cut—walked over. Her name tag read "Seraphine Kim - Mid/Captain." Up close, she radiated confidence that bordered on arrogance.
"Mixed Bag," she said, her voice carrying a slight accent. "Impressive run tonight. Really. You've exceeded everyone's expectations."
"Thanks," Riley said carefully.
"But expectations have limits," Seraphine continued. "We've been playing together for three years. We have a coach, analysts, a training facility. This is our livelihood." She looked directly at Ethan. "You're good. Surprisingly good. But good isn't enough against perfection."
Marcus bristled. "That's—"
"The truth," Seraphine interrupted smoothly. "No disrespect. Just reality. We'll see you on stage." She walked away, her team following, leaving a wake of tension.
"I hate her," Marcus said immediately.
"Don't," Riley said. "She's trying to get in our heads. Don't let her."
But Ethan could feel it—the doubt creeping in. Starfire Academy wasn't just confident. They were *right*. They had every advantage: experience, resources, synergy built over years. Mixed Bag had heart and a few good games. Was that enough?
His phone buzzed again. Claire: *"Don't listen to her. Confidence is just fear wearing a mask. Beat them. -C"*
Ethan stood. "Let's go. Time to finish this."
---
The Axiom Netcafe had transformed. The spectator area was packed beyond capacity—over 200 people crammed into every available space, standing room only. Three additional projection screens had been set up to handle the crowd. Camera crews from regional esports channels were setting up equipment. Diana Rivers was coordinating with what looked like a professional production team.
"This is insane," Sophie whispered as they made their way through the crowd.
People reached out to touch them, to wish them luck, to be part of the moment. The energy was electric, almost suffocating.
"MIXED BAG! MIXED BAG! MIXED BAG!" a chant started from one corner, spreading through the crowd.
Station twelve had been upgraded. Professional-grade equipment now—high-end monitors, top-tier mechanical keyboards, gaming mice used in championships. Diana had spared no expense for the finals.
"We're streaming this on three regional platforms," Diana said as they set up. "Current viewership is at 67,000 and climbing. We have pro players watching, scouts from major teams, even some media outlets. This is the biggest underground tournament in Silvercrest history."
"No pressure," Marcus said, his voice cracking slightly.
Starfire Academy was already at their station on the opposite side—calm, professional, going through warm-up routines with practiced efficiency. They looked like they'd done this a thousand times.
Because they had.
The crowd noise reached a crescendo as Diana took the microphone.
"Ladies and gentlemen," her voice boomed through the cafe, "welcome to the Silvercrest Open Circuit Championship Finals! On my left, the underdogs who shocked the tournament—Mixed Bag!"
The crowd erupted. Cheers, screams, applause. Ethan felt his heart hammering.
"And on my right, the three-time regional champions and tournament favorites—Starfire Academy!"
Equally loud applause, but different—respectful, expectant. These were established champions.
"This will be a best-of-three series. First team to two wins takes the championship and 5,000 credits. Players—load in."
The lobby appeared. Ten names. The center projection screen showed both teams in split-screen, their faces visible to the crowd.
Ethan could see Seraphine's calm expression, the slight smile playing at her lips. She looked relaxed. He probably looked terrified.
"Red side," Riley noted. "We get last pick but they get first selection."
The ban phase began immediately, and Starfire Academy's strategy was brutal:
**Kaelen the Shadow Assassin** - banned.
**Jarvan IV the Exemplar of Demacia** - banned.
**Kindred the Eternal Hunters** - banned.
Every champion Ethan had played successfully tonight, gone.
The crowd murmured: "They're target-banning Ethan."
"Smart. Take away his comfort."
"What's he going to play now?"
Mixed Bag banned in response—high-priority meta picks that would enable Starfire's aggressive style.
Starfire's first pick locked in immediately: **Orianna the Lady of Clockwork** for Seraphine. A safe, versatile mid laner that could control team fights.
Mixed Bag countered with **Thresh the Chain Warden** for Riley and **Ezreal the Prodigal Explorer** for Jake—their most comfortable bot lane duo.
The draft continued, each pick more calculated than the last:
**Starfire Academy:** Orianna (mid), **Lee Sin the Blind Monk** (jungle), **Gnar the Missing Link** (top), **Kai'Sa the Daughter of the Void** (ADC)
**Mixed Bag:** Thresh (support), Ezreal (ADC), **Shen the Eye of Twilight** (Marcus, top), **Syndra the Dark Sovereign** (Sophie, mid)
Four picks each. One slot left on each side. Starfire Academy locked in their support: **Leona the Radiant Dawn**.
Their composition was complete—engage-heavy, dive-focused, designed to collapse on targets and delete them before they could react.
Now it was Mixed Bag's turn. Last pick. Ethan's champion. The entire cafe held its breath.
Riley pulled up the champion selection screen. "What do you need?"
Ethan scanned the available options. Every aggressive jungler was banned or picked. The safe options were there—**Sejuani the Winter's Wrath** for tankiness, **Nunu the Boy and His Yeti** for objective control, **Rammus the Armordillo** for simplicity.
But safe wouldn't win this. Safe would let Starfire Academy dictate the pace, control the game, slowly strangle them with superior macro play.
He needed something that could match their aggression. Something that could carry. Something that could turn fights in an instant.
His cursor moved to a champion that made his teammates go silent.
**Sylas the Unshackled**.
"No," Jake said immediately. "Ethan, no. That champion is—"
"Terrible in the jungle meta right now," Riley finished. "His clear is slow, his sustain is awful, he's too squishy, and—"
"And he can steal enemy ultimates," Ethan interrupted. "Including Orianna's. Including Lee Sin's. Including Leona's engage."
"But his passive," Sophie said quietly. Everyone knew Sylas's passive: **Petricite Burst**. After casting an ability, his next auto-attack dealt bonus magic damage based on his missing health. The lower his HP, the harder he hit. Combined with his naturally low health pool and lack of defensive stats, it was a high-risk, high-reward mechanic that punished mistakes brutally.
"He's a glass cannon with a death wish," Marcus said. "One mistake and you're dead. No second chances."
"I know," Ethan said. "But if I play it perfect..."
The crowd was going wild with speculation:
"Is he hovering Sylas?"
"That's a troll pick in jungle. That's throwing!"
"He can't be serious. Not in finals!"
"This is either genius or the biggest throw in tournament history."
Riley looked at him, really looked at him. "Are you sure? We can't afford a game one loss. Starfire won't give us room to come back."
Ethan thought about his old world. About all the times he'd played it safe and still lost. About all the opportunities he'd missed because he was too afraid to take risks.
"Lock it in," he said.
Riley hesitated for one more second, then clicked.
**Sylas the Unshackled - LOCKED**
The Axiom Netcafe exploded in noise—shock, disbelief, excitement, confusion all mixed together.
"HE PICKED SYLAS?!"
"IN JUNGLE?! IN FINALS?!"
"IS HE INSANE?!"
"This is the ballsiest pick I've ever seen!"
"He's either about to become a legend or a meme!"
Starfire Academy's camera feed showed them reacting—Seraphine's confident smile widened, her jungler was laughing, their coach looked confused.
Diana's voice cut through: "An... unconventional pick from Mixed Bag. Sylas jungle in a championship finals. We're either about to witness brilliance or disaster."
The loading screen appeared. Ethan's Sylas—chains broken, defiant expression—stood across from Starfire Academy's polished, meta-perfect composition.
The countdown began. Thirty seconds.
"Ethan," Riley's voice came through comms, steady despite everything. "If you picked this, you have a plan. What do you need from us?"
"Vision," Ethan said. "I need to see everything. I can't afford to get caught blind."
"You'll have it," Riley promised.
"I'll play aggressive early," Marcus added. "Draw pressure top so you can farm."
"I'll match Seraphine's roams," Sophie said. "Keep her from helping their jungle."
"Just don't die," Jake said simply. "We can't 4v5."
"I won't," Ethan replied, though his hands were shaking now.
Twenty seconds.
Fifteen.
The crowd was a living entity—breathing, pulsing, waiting.
Ten seconds.
Ethan took a deep breath. In his old world, he'd been mediocre because he played scared. Here, he'd been exceptional because he played with nothing to lose.
Time to prove it wasn't a fluke.
Five seconds.
The gates opened.
**Game One: Starfire Academy vs. Mixed Bag**
---
The first three minutes were surgical precision from Starfire Academy. Their jungler, a player called "Azure," piloted Lee Sin with masterful efficiency—full clearing their jungle, then immediately invading Ethan's red side.
Ethan saw it coming through Riley's vision, avoided the confrontation, but it cost him camps. His clear speed on Sylas was painfully slow compared to meta junglers. By four minutes, he was down 400 gold and a full level.
"They're choking him out," the commentators—Diana had gotten actual casters for the finals—observed. "Azure is playing this perfectly. Denying Ethan farm, denying vision, making Sylas's weak early game even worse."
At 5:30, Azure appeared bot lane with Lee Sin, landing a perfect **Resonating Strike** kick on Jake. Leona followed up with her engage. First blood to Starfire Academy.
The crowd's energy dipped noticeably.
"Rough start for Mixed Bag."
"Sylas pick looking questionable."
"They're getting outplayed."
At 7:15, Seraphine roamed top with Orianna, her ball positioned perfectly to zone Marcus. Azure's Lee Sin arrived seconds later, and despite Marcus's best efforts, he died under tower.
Two kills, zero deaths for Starfire. The gold difference: 1,800.
"This is what experience looks like," the casters said. "Starfire Academy is systematically dismantling Mixed Bag's game plan."
But Ethan wasn't panicking. He was watching. Learning. Seeing patterns.
Starfire Academy played with textbook precision, but precision had patterns. Azure's Lee Sin pathed the same way every game—he'd watched the VODs during break. Seraphine roamed at specific timing windows. Leona engaged with predictable telegraphing.
They were perfect because they were practiced. But practiced meant predictable.
At 9:00, Ethan made his first real move.
He'd been farming defensively, slowly building items, staying alive. Now he had his first core item—**Everfrost**, the ability to root enemies in place. And more importantly, he'd been managing his health, keeping it low enough that his passive damage was amplified but not so low he'd die to a stiff breeze.
Azure appeared mid to gank Sophie. But Ethan had predicted it, arriving two seconds earlier from the jungle, hiding in brush.
When Lee Sin committed to his **Sonic Wave** on Sophie, Ethan emerged.
**Abscond/Abduct** - his E ability. Sylas dashed to Azure with his chains, stunning him and dragging him back. Before Azure could react, Ethan activated his stolen ultimate—Lee Sin's own **Dragon's Rage**. Sylas kicked Azure backward with devastating force, knocking him into Sophie's Syndra stun.
The damage calculation was beautiful—Sylas's passive procced on every auto-attack between abilities, amplified because Ethan was at 60% HP. Combined with Sophie's burst, Azure died in three seconds.
"FIRST KILL FOR MIXED BAG!" the casters shouted. "Ethan with the perfect counter-gank!"
The crowd erupted. "HE USED LEE SIN'S ULT AGAINST HIM!"
"That damage was INSANE!"
"Sylas passive chunks for 30% of his HP at that health threshold!"
The gold deficit closed: 1,200 difference now.
At 11:30, Ethan did it again. Starfire tried to dive bot, but Ethan arrived, stole Leona's **Solar Flare**, and stunned three members. The resulting counterplay got Mixed Bag two kills.
The gold was even now.
The crowd was going wild: "THIS IS THE SYLAS POTENTIAL!"
"When Ethan procs passive at low HP, he's one-shotting squishies!"
"But one mistake and he's dead!"
The game became a razor's edge. Every team fight, Ethan danced at the boundary of life and death—keeping his HP low enough to maximize damage but high enough to survive burst. His chains found perfect angles. His stolen ultimates turned Starfire's strengths against them.
At 17:00, the first major team fight exploded around dragon. Starfire engaged perfectly—Leona ultimate, Lee Sin kick, Orianna shockwave. It should have been an ace.
But Ethan's positioning was immaculate. He waited for Orianna's ultimate, then stole it with his own ultimate-stealing ability—**Hijack**. When Starfire grouped to finish the fight, Ethan unleashed the stolen **Command: Shockwave**, pulling all five members together.
The crowd's roar was deafening as Mixed Bag collapsed on the grouped enemies. Marcus's Shen taunt locked them down. Sophie's Syndra deleted their ADC. Jake's Ezreal cleaned up with perfect kiting.
Quadra kill for Mixed Bag. Dragon secured. Gold advantage: 2,500.
"MIXED BAG IS AHEAD!" the casters screamed over the noise. "ETHAN'S SYLAS IS WORKING!"
At 22:00, they secured Baron. At 24:30, they destroyed the mid inhibitor. The momentum was completely in their favor.
Starfire Academy looked rattled for the first time all tournament. Their perfect coordination showed cracks. Azure made a desperate play at 26:00, trying to assassinate Jake, but Ethan peeled perfectly with stolen Leona engage on Azure himself.
The final push came at 28:15. Mixed Bag moved as one unit, vision control preventing flanks. Starfire tried to defend, but every ultimate they threw, Ethan stole and used better. Lee Sin's kick sent Kai'Sa into Mixed Bag's team instead of away. Orianna's shockwave hit Starfire's own members. Leona's engage was stolen and used to lock down Seraphine.
It was poetic justice.
The final team fight lasted thirty seconds. When it ended, four members of Starfire Academy were dead, and Mixed Bag marched to the Nexus.
"THEY'RE GOING TO TAKE GAME ONE!"
"MIXED BAG IS ONE GAME AWAY FROM CHAMPIONSHIP!"
"THE SYLAS PICK IS WORKING!"
The Nexus exploded at 29:47.
**VICTORY - Mixed Bag**
The Axiom Netcafe erupted in absolute pandemonium. Two hundred people screaming as one, the noise so loud it was physically painful. Online viewership had hit 95,000 people.
Ethan pulled off his headset, his hands shaking from adrenaline. His team was celebrating—Marcus screaming, Riley crying again, Jake laughing in disbelief, Sophie just staring at the VICTORY screen.
The post-game stats appeared:
**Ethan (Sylas): 9/3/12 - 24,567 damage to champions**
**8 ultimates stolen and successfully used**
**Average HP during fights: 42%**
"That's insane," the casters said. "He was playing at 42% health on average to maximize passive damage. That's living on the edge."
Starfire Academy sat in silence at their station. Seraphine's confident smile was gone. They looked shaken.
"One more game," Marcus said, breathless. "One more and we win it all."
But Diana's voice cut through the celebration: "Fifteen-minute break, then game two."
---
The break was shorter, more intense. Mixed Bag huddled at their station while Starfire Academy talked animatedly with their coach—a tall woman gesturing emphatically.
"They're going to adjust," Jake said. "They'll ban Sylas for sure."
"Good," Riley said. "That means they're scared. That means we have psychological advantage."
But Ethan could feel it—the pressure multiplying. Game one was amazing, but game two would be different. Starfire wouldn't make the same mistakes twice.
Game two started, and Jake was right—Sylas was instantly banned, along with Kindred and Kaelen. Starfire Academy had target-banned Ethan's entire champion pool.
The draft became conservative. Ethan ended up on **Graves the Outlaw**—solid, safe, meta. The game started.
And Starfire Academy was different.
They weren't playing with textbook precision anymore. They were playing with desperation and fury. Azure's pathing became unpredictable. Seraphine roamed at irregular timings. Their ADC played hyper-aggressive, forcing fights.
At 8:00, Starfire caught Sophie out of position mid. At 11:30, they caught Marcus split-pushing top. At 14:00, they won a team fight around dragon despite being slightly behind in gold.
The momentum shifted like a landslide. Starfire's experience showed—they knew how to play from behind, how to find opportunities, how to punish mistakes that Mixed Bag didn't even know they were making.
At 21:00, despite Ethan's best efforts, Starfire Academy secured Baron after a perfect team fight. At 24:30, they pushed down mid and destroyed Mixed Bag's Nexus.
**DEFEAT**
Game two wasn't even close. Starfire had adapted, evolved, shown why they were champions.
The crowd's energy was different now—still excited, but nervous.
"Game three," Diana announced. "Winner takes all. Both teams, five minutes."
---
The final game. Everything on the line.
The crowd was silent with tension—200 people barely breathing. Online viewership had hit 127,000.
Champion select. Last draft. Last chance.
Starfire banned Sylas again. And Kindred. And Kaelen. Taking away every champion Ethan had succeeded with.
"They're scared," Riley said. "They're still scared of you."
"What do I pick?" Ethan asked, looking at the available champions. Everything felt wrong. Too safe, too slow, too different from his playstyle.
"Whatever you're comfortable with," Riley said. "Trust yourself."
Ethan's cursor hovered over champions, searching, thinking. Then he saw it.
**Yasuo the Unforgiven**.
A champion even more punishing than Sylas. A melee carry with a unique passive—his shield would grant him a temporary barrier after moving, and his critical strikes were twice as effective but did less damage per hit. But most importantly, his entire kit required perfect execution. One mistake meant death.
"Yasuo jungle?" Marcus said. "That's even crazier than Sylas."
"They won't expect it," Ethan said.
"Because it's bad," Jake countered. "His jungle clear is terrible. He has no sustain. He requires items to function."
"Lock it in," Ethan said.
Riley looked at him. "You sure?"
Ethan thought about his old world one more time. About playing scared. About failing because he never took risks.
"Lock it in."
The crowd saw the pick and lost their minds.
"YASUO JUNGLE?!"
"IN GAME THREE OF FINALS?!"
"IS HE THROWING?!"
The game loaded.
And hell broke loose