21. Friend Request?
The supercharged evolution of the Batting Ball combo—what I'd tentatively dubbed the Home Run Ball combo.
I came up with the name myself. It just felt right, pounding away like cracking home runs, boom boom.
My words made the suspicious Masked Man flinch for a split second, his body tensing—then he nodded, like he'd suddenly gotten the picture.
"Home Run Ball—you mean that mutant Batting Ball combo, right? Yeah, that sounds better. Their lineup's got no color-pick or vision-check heroes anyway."
"...Yeah. That's the Home Run Ball combo for you."
Perfect. Satisfaction levels: maxed.
Our Masked Man had even adopted my placeholder name.
One more quest down from Vice Manager Cha's list.
I mentally ticked off the "Create a buzzword" box on her checklist. From here on out, folks would probably call that setup the Home Run Ball combo.
Nice. Real nice.
"I'll pull aggro once. Make 'em second-guess if it's the C or just a path cross—handle the explosion or Professor takedown in the meantime."
I kicked off the ground right then, firing up Cognitive Acceleration. Coated my body in telekinesis—thick as I could manage—then cut it.
My body rocketed upward like an explosion. I soared high, then hit the glide with another acceleration burst.
Suddenly, the full sweep of Soul Frame's Neo City battlefield unfolded below. Not many heroes could pull off this vista on their own merits.
I took a beat to soak in the view.
Off in the distance, a massive ult unfurled—a colossal skeletal serpent thrashing the ground wild.
I reported it via team chat as I watched.
"Hmm, Overlord's a pain... Let's pray another team handles it. Got it for now."
"Roger... Wait, what? Hold up. I'm pulling aggro first—you're supposed to assassinate! Why the sudden solo dive...?"
I typed that, shook my head.
Asking me to assassinate some squishy mage bodies? That was an insult—to me, and to Minder. Minder wasn't some errand girl.
And I've got the angle locked already.
I halted my glide dead over the Home Run Ball squad, telekinesis freezing me midair. Then, telekinetic acceleration straight down.
—FWOOM!
This time, maxing the accel meant a louder boom—sonic burst and all. Whatever.
Near-sonic speed on the plunge.
Ground rushed up in a blink. The Professor—fellow telekinetic—tilted her head slow-mo style, sensing something.
Too late.
Cognitive Acceleration froze time.
I slammed skills home, rapid-fire.
Telekinetic Burst
Telekinetic Burst
Telekinetic Burst
Telekinetic Burst
Singularity
And one more.
Telekinetic Burst
As I twisted for the follow-up homer, the Batter's limbs crumpled like wet paper—twisted, crumpled, smashed.
Out cold, retired.
Nailed it.
A standard-grown Batter would've needed at least six bursts plus Singularity to drop—but this one, pure damage build 24/7? Four-plus-one did the trick.
Range told me as much. Knew it.
Professor reacted to the Batter's insta-death, but my pre-cast Telekinetic Burst detonated right at her flank.
—KABOOM!
The blast rocked me too, warping my crash trajectory—but my angle math was spot-on. I hurtled left, slamming into the dirt.
Tch. Self-damage on skills is real. HP took a real hit.
Minder's too fragile for this.
Should've Barrier-ed? Nah—timing would've blown, and I'd have pancaked hot into the ground. At this velocity, even Soul Frame's fall damage wouldn't save me.
"This guy's actually insane."
I was clutching my side, hauling myself up, when a voice drifted from afar.
"But..."
Then, like a movie shot, Masked Man strolled forward—stepping on thin air.
"You did perfect."
No pitching machine feeding balls to a dazed Batter like the Professor in that Home Run squad. This was a hero worthy of "Professor"—noble, refined.
Fellow telekinetic, similar code? Or just the concept that telekinetics sense each other? Either way, her telekinesis play was crystal clear to me.
She conjured a telekinetic spear in midair. A telekinetic arm sprouted from her back, hurling it spear-throw style.
Her main body? Pure gentleman—grace incarnate.
Aristocracy in motion.
That's the real Professor.
The one who doesn't get her hands dirty.
The chat exploded into chaos.
But there was a misunderstanding brewing. Time to set the record straight for the viewers.
The viewers bantered back and forth for a bit—then latched onto my chat, spamming it like parrots.
I scratched the back of my head watching the spamfest.
Hmm. Flooding's a 30-min ban. Why aren't these kids timed out?
Home Run Ball combo, the Ion crew, assorted bruisers.
We mulched them all.
Dozens more squads shredded too. For a duo? We drove a monster truck through that lobby.
But.
We didn't win.
"And we lose this one."
Couldn't stop the infinite-stack grower, Overlord. Everyone in the game probably thought, "Overlord? Eh, someone else'll handle it."
Overlord even packs "Life Force Vessel," an anti-assassination passive. No ganks from me.
In the end, endless skeleton hordes swept us. GG.
Staring at the defeat screen, my teeth ground together.
If I'd played sharper, we could've taken it.
Should've rushed Overlord on sight—disrupt stacks, stunt growth, or delete him outright!
Sighs came heavy.
But no sighing aloud—voice gives me away.
Chat sigh instead.
"Uh, you could sigh out loud at least..."
Tch.
But I shook it off quick.
Losses happen—you can't win 'em all. Even pro #1s get cheesed by C picks and burst down. Games gonna game.
As I typed that to the viewers, Masked Man beside me nodded like a lightbulb had gone off.
"Oh right, you're streaming. Got so tunnel-visioned on the game I forgot. Haha."
Game over, but Masked Man lingered in the results room, eyeing me. Something on his mind, but the stream made him hesitate.
He startled, then hesitated.
Swept his hand through the air, mashed something. Nothing changed.
Friend request, looks like. Notifications muted 'cause they're loud, but... hmm.
Accept or nah?
Let's see.
He played solid. Once I drop the voice reveal, I'll branch beyond Minder—could use backup then.
Guy's skilled anyway.
Tips might flow easy.
I pulled up the friend requests. Whoa, stacked to the max—100/100.
Top one's probably it, by timestamp.
Accepted.
Instant message pinged.
Hmm. Chat reaction's better than expected.
Some grumblers, but most sick of Minder-hater trolls.
Makes sense—duo drops troll odds from 4/4 to 1/3.
But if it's just duo talk, why hide chat?
Curious, but I flipped private chat on.
Then fired off in friends.
Huh? Pro?