How About We Try This?
“How about we try this?”
“Round 2 has concluded. The winners are—once again—Team Lily!”
“Wow… honestly, Team Leo's strategy this time showed remarkable boldness. Team Lily and Team Chukachip, facing off once more—and they attacked both teams at the same time.”
Commentator Rakl said this as he watched the players return to the field.
His gaze lingered especially on Lily.
Impossible.
This makes no sense.
“It may have seemed somewhat reckless, but in reality they came within a hair's breadth of pulling it off. If they'd been just a little faster, Team Leo would have won.”
“It's certainly clear that Team Lily's depth of strength puts them a cut above the other teams.”
Leo carved through Black Cloud and Vlack alike, pressing straight toward the Core.
Black Cloud had proven powerful enough to snatch up a fully-grown Iron and Fracion in one swift strike—but Leo was no ordinary player either.
She cut down Black Cloud, parried Vlack's greatsword, and drove a blade of light straight into his heart.
Truly, an insurmountable wall.
And yet.
“Do you think it was intentional? Or mere coincidence?”
Just before Leo touched the Core, Team Chukachip was eliminated.
The reason: Core destruction by the Unicorn.
Though its summoner, Dinosaurs Are Alive, had fallen, the elimination wasn't complete—so the Unicorn remained on the field, out of anyone's control.
Truck Shield did his best to block it, but stopping the Unicorn's advance was simply impossible.
Around the same moment, Team Leo's Core was destroyed as well.
It looked like coincidence—yet didn't feel like one.
As if every piece had been accounted for from the start.
“The way I see it, it was deliberate. After all, Lily and Yena entered Team Leo's castle at nearly the same moment. Lily came in ignoring Dino and his summons entirely, while Yena came in hunting them down.”
To Yena, who arrived that way, Lily offered a friendly greeting.
After that brief exchange, Team Choco was eliminated in short order, and Lily smashed Team Leo's Core to seal the Round 2 victory.
[How does she time everything this perfectly lmaooo]
[Wait, did she stall on purpose until the Unicorn took out Yena's team?]
[Pretty sure it was on purpose]
[That TIMING lmao]
[Empress Lily is unreal]
[lololololololol]
[Lily is literally a god…]
[Leo went absolutely crazy and she STILL loses to this]
[whoa whoa whoa]
[WE LOST AGAIN!!!]
[Alright, time to dogpile her~ time to dogpile her~ time to dogpile her~]
Luna smiled.
“After eliminating Chukachip, Lily took stock of the battlefield and made her way slowly toward Team Leo's castle. Not by rushing back to defend her own base, nor by going all-in to shatter the Core in one strike.”
She moved slowly, in a situation where every second counted.
For someone whose home was under attack, it was a rather puzzling way to behave.
But there was a plan behind all of it.
To turn Leo's own board against her.
“Perhaps Team Lily's goal was never to beat Team Leo head-on—it was to use them. That's what I believe.”
“Then… would it be fair to say, Luna, that Team Lily deserves credit not just for raw skill but for their tactics as well?”
“Exactly.”
[Isn't this just connecting dots after the fact lmaooo]
[Luna is a certified Lily stan lol]
[???]
[Certified Lily stan, whoa]
[Didn't she just wing it?]
[Leo losing to THIS, man]
[Please stop with the favoritism ;;]
[Is that not favoritism?]
[Nope, wrong~ Lily is craaaazy strong~]
[OUR LILY! OUR LILY! OUR LILY! OUR LILY!]
[Luna knows what's up haha]
[To be fair, Lily does have a big brain lololol]
[Lily winning is a “FACT,” though?]
Kim Yong-woo nodded with a laugh.
The screen transitioned, and the third round—the one that might finally be the last—approached.
“And now only the fateful Round 3 remains. Commentator Rakl, how do you see it playing out?”
“Honestly, everything up to this point has been a solo performance by Team Lily. Their skill is one thing, but their tactics have been genuinely impressive too.”
However.
“From here on, Team Leo and Team Chukachip will team up—even as an alliance—if only to stop Team Lily. Can Lily's team hold them off? I'm genuinely curious to find out.”
“It's certainly true that a two-pronged attack would make life very difficult for Team Lily. How they choose to play it is something we'll just have to watch and see. All right, everyone—we'll take a short break and be right back for Round 3, which may well be the final round!”
[Lily wins anyway, save your breath]
[C'mon Leo, just win ONE round]
[lololololololol]
[Empress Lily]
[Wait, what were Lily and Yena talking about?]
“Haah…”
Yena sat in the waiting room, staring blankly up at the ceiling.
“Why did we lose?”
“…Good question.”
Raguel sat slumped in dejection, Truck Shield was idly wiping down his shield, and over in the corner, Choco was muttering to herself in a way that was very unlike her.
She storms off doing whatever she wants, and now she's the one having a meltdown.
“Ugh… I'm losing my mind!!”
Yena stretched her arms toward the ceiling, then leaned back into the plush sofa and replayed what had just happened.
Lily, standing in front of the Core.
She'd wondered why Lily was there, but she hadn't asked—she'd just charged straight for the Core herself.
Only by destroying it could they stop the Unicorn and eliminate Team Leo.
She had no idea why Lily wasn't breaking it herself, but it had to be destroyed right now, so—
“Round 3 will end quickly. Much faster than this.”
The mana-muffled voice brushed past Yena's ear.
Before she could even ask what it meant, a blue message filled the edge of her vision.
Team Purple's Core has been destroyed!
Destroyer — Dinosaurs Are Alive.
Her dagger had been inches from the Core, but her body was already dissolving into motes of blue light.
At the same instant, Team Leo's Core was destroyed as well.
It felt like coincidence—yet it couldn't have been.
As if every single thing had been factored in from the very beginning.
“Ugh, seriously—how are we supposed to beat her?”
“Well… we should probably form an alliance first. With Team Leo.”
“Lily isn't someone you beat just because you've got numbers on her.”
Peel back one layer and she's got another, like some infinite onion of new abilities.
Since when did she even know stealth arts?
Still, an alliance was unavoidable—so the plan was to peel Lily away and…
“Let's charge.”
“Hm?”
Choco lifted her head.
Between strands of golden hair, eyes bleary with fatigue flashed.
“All of us, together. Full charge.”
“A… charge?”
“Yes.”
Leo, who had met Yena before the match began, tilted her head.
In a standard Mock Siege Battle—a three-way free-for-all—there wouldn't normally be room for the enemy teams to chat cozy as old friends. But this third round was different.
Team Lily had already secured two wins.
Under the rules, once one team held two or more victories, the alliance penalty would remain inactive for the other teams until one of them matched that two-win mark.
Leo looked up at Yena and crossed her arms into an X.
“Nope! Lily isn't someone you beat by ganging up on her. If anything, we need to lure her out somehow.”
“That's what I thought too. But is that actually the right answer?”
Team Lily already had three Grand General–tier players: Lily, Vlack, and Black Cloud.
With buffs barely landing on them these days, it was getting harder and harder to call Team Lily a one-trick ‘Lily-only' team.
“You've been through it yourself. Even with Lily gone, you can buy quite a lot of time.”
Leo had already fought every ounce of Team Lily's strength except Lily herself.
The odds weren't bad—but against Black Cloud and Vlack wielding Mythic-grade items, she'd burn a fair chunk of time.
Roughly five minutes, give or take.
And five minutes was more than enough for Lily to punch through every defender and flatten both teams.
“To flush Lily out, you need bait worthy of her. Someone like you or Choco. But take you two off the board, and nobody's left who can actually crack Team Lily's defenses.”
The Unicorn was a glorified pet in front of Lily anyway, so—pass.
Leo gave a small nod.
“That tracks.”
“So then…”
“But a head-on brawl is still off the table.”
Instead—
“How about we try this?”
The fateful third round.
The particles of blue light swallowed us whole, and my teammates and I were transported to our castle.
“So this is the last round?”
“Looks like it—as long as nothing goes wrong.”
“But… are you really sure you should use that thing?”
“Yes. It might hurt a little, but nothing serious will come of it.”
I answered Devil's question while surveying the field.
Our team was ‘Red' this round.
Being Round 3, the other two teams would surely set aside their rivalry and come for us, and only us.
They wouldn't form a true alliance, of course—they both had to think past this round—but after two rounds of watching us, they'd have learned their lesson.
With that mindset, they will never win. Not in a thousand years.
“Shall we proceed as discussed? I've sent out the soldiers.”
Vlack approached and said this to me.
I looked at him for a moment.
His skill is comparable, but… the talent just isn't there.
Vlack and Chukachip are similar. Depending on the circumstances, either could take the other on any given day.
But having taught them both, however briefly, I'd found Chukachip far superior in raw talent.
Leo was in a league of her own to begin with, so she doesn't count.
“…Lady Lily?”
“Ah—right. Everyone's going to swarm us as one allied force this time, so we can't play it like before.”
Which is why—
“Vlack, you lead the attack.”
“…Me?”
Question marks practically floated above Vlack's head.
I had played offense-first this entire tournament—hunting down enemies rather than defending, smashing castles one by one.
And now, of all times, defense?
“The moment I step out, they'll all come flooding toward me. Oh—and take Devil with you.”
“Me?!”
“Lessons aren't free, you know.”
From this point on, I was uncorking everything I'd been holding back.
I turned my head.
Target locked.