Chapter 32
The Arcane War proceeded swiftly, drawing great interest.
The Round of 32, which required 16 matches, spanned four days in total.
From the Round of 16 onward, the number of matches began to decrease rapidly.
“No, it can’t be…”
“Hahaha! You’ve been beneath us since ancient times!”
“I can’t accept this… Let’s settle this again with magic!”
There was a small incident during the last match of the Round of 16 between the Fire Tower and the Water Tower.
Thankfully, the interference of other Tower Masters prevented the Water Tower Master from going on a rampage.
It was only natural that the Water Tower lost.
The underqualified Water Tower Master had been forced into representing her tower.
Even so, she blamed her disciples who accompanied her.
“T-This can’t be happening… Defeated by such evil darkness…”
“Heh heh…”
Then, a rivalry match between two adversarial towers took place.
The match that drew the most attention was between the Light Tower and the Dark Tower.
When the Dark Tower, perceived as the villains by the public, emerged victorious, the audience was left in shock.
Though darkness is merely another magical attribute, the perception of it as evil has persisted since ancient times.
Light is holy, and darkness is wicked.
Curiously, dark magicians seemed to enjoy such perceptions.
This time, too, the Dark Tower appeared like villains, defeating the Light Tower.
Some spectators even cheered for the dark mages.
“Heh… heh heh… Hehhh…”
And then, the finals arrived.
In the end, the two towers that made it to the finals were the Illusion Tower and the Electric Tower.
“Tower Master, relax. You’re about to pass out.”
“H-H-H-But… this is the first time…”
“First time the Illusion Tower has made it this far in the Arcane War?”
“I-I’ve always just been watching…”
Before the finals, Hina trembled nervously.
It was the first time the Illusion Tower had garnered so much attention, so she was extremely anxious.
“You’ve come this far; you should try to win.”
“Y-Yes…!”
With clenched fists, Hina and the other members stepped onto the stage.
Despite the initial worries, the mages were thoroughly enjoying COL.
There were concerns that some might be dissatisfied since they weren’t competing with magic.
But, more than that, everyone seemed to enjoy the competition itself.
They were also completely immersed in COL.
Of course, even if the Illusion Tower were to win, it wouldn’t necessarily elevate the standing of illusion magic.
However, at the very least, the usefulness of the Illusion Game Artifact and their skill in COL would be acknowledged.
It was the kind of response one would expect from mages who understood the essence of things.
“Oh, Tower Master.”
Soon, the Electric Tower made their entrance.
Electra approached and spoke to me.
“So, the Illusion Tower finally made it to the finals.”
“Our Tower Master is obsessed with the game. You did really well too.”
I was already aware of Hina’s gaming talent.
But Electra’s skill was also impressive.
In particular, the Electric Tower had been so dedicated to COL that they set aside their usual work to focus on the game before the Arcane War.
“The more I played, the more my skills improved. Facing various opponents allowed me to see the game from different angles.”
“You’re really talented. It’s not easy to improve this much in such a short time.”
Even after 10 years, I’m still stuck in gold.
The skill level of Electra and the Electric Mages improved dramatically as the Arcane War progressed.
What was even more impressive was their teamwork.
Led by Electra’s calls, the Electric Tower had the best team synergy among all the towers.
Electra played mid lane sometimes, and at other times, she went bot lane as the ADC.
Usually, a person specializes in just one role.
But since her teammates’ skills were lacking, she seemed to change roles as needed.
“…Thanks for creating this.”
“Pardon?”
“Thanks to you, I’ve felt joy for the first time in a long while.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
Electra flashed a gentle smile and ascended the stage.
Unconsciously, I found myself smiling along with her.
“…Hmph!”
Lea, who was standing behind me, glared at me disapprovingly before following Electra onto the stage.
Some things never change, whether in the past or present.
“Hoo… I’m really looking forward to this. I can’t believe it’s already the finals.”
As I headed to the commentary desk, I saw Galliard sitting there.
Galliard, now fully engrossed in COL, had even begun watching the matches on his own recently.
I was about to say something to him, but I decided to keep quiet.
Instead, I activated the voice amplification artifact.
“Now!”
My voice, amplified by the artifact, spread across the entire city of Trinity.
In response, the previously restless audience’s attention shifted to the stage in an instant.
Woooooo—!
Simultaneously, the stage lights illuminated.
As the final battlefield was revealed, the audience began to cheer.
Matching the rising cheers, I raised my voice to the sky.
“With the roar of everyone gathered here at Trinity, the centre of all magic and the source of all knowledge and wisdom in this world! Let the finals of the Arcane War begiiiiiiin—!!”
—Now!!!
Waaaaaah—!
With explosive cheers, the final match of the Arcane War began.
***
“Argh! We could’ve won if we just took that last team fight…!”
After the first set ended, the Electric Mages exited the game, shouting in frustration.
Back in reality, the audience erupted in applause for Hina’s final play.
“It’s all my fault.”
“No, Tower Master! Their mid lane was just too…”
The cause of their defeat was the Illusion Tower’s mid-laner, Tower Master Hina.
Electra had given it her all.
But she couldn’t keep up with Hina’s mechanical skill.
Hina didn’t miss a single opportunity.
That one kill they conceded by mistake snowballed into a victory for her.
“It would have been better to lock down bot lane and focus on the other lanes. I made the mistake of thinking I could beat the Illusion Tower Master.”
“It’s okay. If it had been us instead of you, we would have lost even more miserably.”
Electra was blaming herself, but her disciples tried to comfort her.
But rather than wallowing in regret, they needed to focus on winning the next set.
“Tower Master, this time, I’ll take mid.”
“Will you be okay?”
“Yes. I’ll hold the lane without giving up a single kill, and it’ll be better for you to grow and carry the game.”
Lea said to Electra.
She was right.
As long as Hina and Electra were in the same lane, Electra couldn’t carry.
It would be more effective for her to grow stronger by taking another lane and increasing her carry potential.
“…That sounds like a good plan. Let’s win this.”
“Yes!”
With that, the next set began.
“Huh? Something’s off with the Electric Tower’s picks.”
“Malphite and Kennen… who’s going top?”
As soon as the Electric Tower’s picks appeared, the audience began murmuring.
Even the commentators, Rai and Galliard, were surprised.
“Ah, it looks like the Electric Tower Master has gone bot as the ADC. This is a pattern we’ve seen from the Electric Tower before.”
“But what’s going on with Malphite and Kennen? Is it a mid Kennen?”
“Hmm, considering that Mage Lea has taken mid for the Electric Tower Master in the past, it’s likely that Malphite is going mid.”
As the game began, just as Rai predicted, Malphite appeared in the mid lane.
“Mid Malphite?”
“Is that even viable? I’ve never seen that pick before.”
The audience’s questions were answered by Rai’s commentary.
“Given the matchup, Zed will have a hard time dealing with Malphite. It seems the Electric Tower is banking on this. Malphite will hold mid while the other lanes carry. Of course, mid Malphite isn’t a standard pick.”
True to his words, Zed couldn’t secure a kill against Malphite.
Malphite, meanwhile, used his abilities freely to push the lane and hinder Zed’s roaming.
As a result, Zed’s growth slowed significantly.
Double kill!
And meanwhile, in the bot lane, the Electric Tower was dominating.
Within the first 10 minutes, they secured two double kills against the enemy bot duo.
“Oh! The Electric Tower’s ADC, Vayne, already has 4 kills! Zed has abandoned his lane to gank bot, but he can’t secure any kills!”
Zed’s failed roam.
Because of it, Zed fell further behind.
Desperate, Zed entered the enemy jungle to find a kill.
But by that point, the Electric Tower’s ADC, Vayne, had grown too strong to stop.
“Oh my! The Electric Tower’s Vayne is on a rampage! She’s wiping out the enemy team on her own!”
Quadra kill!
“The Nexus is destroyed!”
“GG!”
Thanks to Vayne’s carry performance, the Electric Tower won the second set.
They had secured the victory by picking mid Malphite and support Leona, fiercely protecting their ADC.
“Waaaah!”
“Nooo…”
“We’re sorry. It’s our fault for letting Vayne get so fed.”
“I’m sorry…”
After the second set, Rain and Gos looked defeated.
It was true that they lost because of bot lane.
“We can’t underestimate the Electric Tower Master’s skill either. As long as they keep protecting Vayne, we’re helpless.”
“I should have grown stronger… I didn’t expect the Malphite pick…”
The jungle player, Cerys, complained in frustration, while Hina looked dejected.
They were upset that they hadn’t anticipated the Electric Tower’s unexpected strategy.
“You’ve done well so far, Tower Master. It’s us who should apologize.”
“At this point, we should focus on locking down bot lane too, right? It seems like it’s a battle of who can carry between our Tower Master and the Electric Tower Master.”
Medeia, who seemed to be in a relatively good mood, chimed in.
She was in a better mood because she had won her top lane matchup.
Of course, her teammates were frustrated that she hadn’t left top lane to help.
“Then I’ll focus on ganking mid. I’ll camp mid for you, Tower Master.”
“Ugh… even if you do that, if they pull another pick like Malphite, we’ll be out of position.”
The key for both teams was to prevent the opposing Tower Master from growing.
At the same time, their own Tower Master had to grow strong enough to carry.
“Bot lane should hold out as much as possible… let’s focus on top.”
“Huh?”
“Me? You’re finally coming top to help me?”
“So we’re going to feed the top lane maniac… I mean, the top lane god? No matter how much we help top, they’ll just end up feeding anyway.”
“Hey! The enemy jungle was top more often!”
“What are you talking about? The enemy jungle camped bot!”
What kind of place is top lane anyway?
Top laners were so focused on their own battles that they’d earned the nickname “top lane crazies.”
Medeia and other top laners were no different.
As a result, very few games in the Arcane War had been focused around top lane.
“Well, anyway, the enemy jungle is going to focus on mid and bot. Cerys, stay on the bottom side and keep Electra in check.”
“Isn’t that the same strategy as last game?”
“It’s hard for me to get kills in mid anyway… I’ll roam to top and break through there.”
Hina flapped her arms as she explained her strategy.
It was a strategy that hadn’t been tried yet, but it made sense.
“Hmm… I’m not sure, but I’ll hold out in bot!”
“We should follow the Tower Master’s plan.”
“Just trust me!”
Thus, the final set of the Arcane War began.
It was the moment the first-ever backdoor play in COL history would be executed.
—
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