"About our strategy for the game," Yuel started. "I was thinking about going with early-game aggression."

  "Oh! We gonna rush them down!?" Lars jumped iement.

  "Yes, I'd like to try rushing them down," Yuel already prepared some arguments for this seemingly random decision. "Acc to my analysis, the pyers from Taurus aren't that high level. Vi's brief report about their abilities only further reinforces that notion. So, I say we should go all out and finish them quickly."

  "But, won't that be incredibly risky?" Vi asked. "I’m not sure how aggressive we’re talking about here. But, if it’s the kind of rushdown that requires an astronomical early-game lead, we might get severely punished for it. We get away with things like that in Ranked, but do you believe we stand a a petitive match?"

  "I also didn't think it'd be viable against a petitive team," Yuel admitted. "But, after pying Taurus, I ged my mind. Against a team of this level, ull it off. And, since we , we better do it. The faster we finish this, the less information spies gather on us. And, it might even spread some misinformation."

  "Misinformation?" Vi was instantly intrigued. "Oh, I see! This is the Pystyle Misinformation strategy, isn't it!? We will fool spies into thinking that our preferred pystyle is aggressive, even though it's not!"

  "Heh, that’s smart," Luke grinned. "We’ll make them study the wrong stuff about us. Them scrubs gonna e at us unprepared. Ez wins. I like that."

  "Indeed, it's brilliant!" Vi excimed. "I'm i us unleash the most devastating rushdown strategy the world has ever seen!"

  "Yeah, let's go!" Luke pumped a fist. "They tried to rush us down st game, so now's our tur's knock their socks off!"

  "An eye for an eye, huh," Kai smiled dangerously. There was a sharp glint in her eyes. "Sure, let's teach them a lesson for uimating us. Nia, are you okay with that... huh."

  "Zzz..." Nia was curled up on the sofa chair like a cat. She knocked herself out as soon as they returo the room. The pressure of the first game must have drained her out.

  "Her game pn won't ge muyway," Yuel said. "So, it seems we're all in agreement. Here's what I got." He id out the aggressive game pns he came up with after Julia’s visit.

  No, that wasn't quite true. Yuel didn’t e up with those ideas on the spot just now. All these options were sitting at the back of his head for a while now, but he didn’t dare to let them out.

  In truth, he prepared various aggressive team positions ahead of time. Even though he khe team will stick with a more banced game pill wao have some rushdown options at the ready, just in case. What kind of case? He couldn’t even tell.

  I guess a part of me still wao py rushdown today. Yuel smiled wryly. It was exactly as Julia said. His favorite pystyle was rushdown, the early-game aggression that took advantage of the enemy’s weaknesses and struck at them swiftly to deliver maximum damage. In his mind, it was the ultimate strategy. It was simple but effective, just the way all strategies should strive to be.

  "No much time left," Vi interrupted.

  "Okay, we'll discuss the rest on stage," Yuel nodded. "Let's go."

  "Watcha gonna do about Sleepiy over there?" Luke poi Nia, who was still fast asleep. Her breathing was so faint that one could mistake her for a corpse.

  "I always sub in, just so you know," Luke winked.

  "Hey, Nia," Kai shook Nia's shoulder, but there was no respohat was some high-level sleeping tech right there.

  "She must have slipped into another dimension, no doubt!" Vi o himself, as if the nonsense he just blurted made perfect sense. "From this day forth, she shall be known as Vanishing Sleeper!"

  Unfortunately, even Vi's loudness didn't make a dent in Nia's uninterruptable slumber. It really felt like she was in another dimension.

  "Should I carry her to the stage?" Lars suggested. He already showed he had no trouble carrying Nia, so he could easily do that again.

  "No need," Yuel opened a very specific pocket in Nia's backpad searched through it. "There we go." He took out a bar of chocote and uned it. Then, he brought it close to Nia’s nose.

  "Um? Hm..." Nia's witched. She was like a hungry puppy reag to the smell of food.

  "Am!" Nia bit the chocote, with her eyes still closed. Nom nom nom. She drilled the chocote with her teeth like a hamster. In a matter of seds, the entire bar was gone.

  "Hm..." Nia's eyes remained shut. The girl just ate aire bar of chocote. In her sleep. Without blinking.

  So, one isn’t enough today. Yuel wasn't ed. He has withis peculiar phenomenon before. Nia was very much capable of eating two bars of chocote in a row without waking up. Eating snacks was as natural as breathing for her.

  "Here's another one," Yuel brought a sed chocote bar toward Nia's lips. She sidered the fn object for a moment, then gave a bite. Then another. And another. Soon, the entire bar was gone.

  However, there was still no sign of Nia waking up. Even two bars weren’t enough! This was he girl must have wao escape reality that badly.

  But, there was no reason for . Nia roperly reag to the chocote, same as always. There was still hope. Yuel just had to improve his tactic.

  Very well. I accept the challenge. Yuel was determio destroy this curse of sleepiness. The better he bees at this, the easier it'll be to train Nia iure. Therefore, he’ll absolutely overe this ordeal!

  This is a little cruel, but let's give it a shot. Yuel pressed another bar of chocote against Nia's lips. Naturally, the girl wao bite it. But, here came the twist! The moment Nia was about to take her bite, Yuel pulled the chocote away from her.

  "Ah?" Nia cocked her head. There should have been more chocote there, she uood that even in her sleep. heless, her teeth hit nothing. How e? Maybe she already ate the whole thing and simply fot? In that case, it was time to go back to sleep...

  So, that’s how yoing to py. Yuel nodded. It was a strong move by his oppo. As expected, this match won’t be easy.

  However! He no iion of giving up. He repared to repeat this process as many times as it takes.

  Here you go. Yuel brought the chocote clain a Nia take a bite, but only ohen, he pulled the chocote away again.

  "Hrm...!" Nia was visibly unpleased by this. She grumped for a moment, then her facial expression rexed and she returo sleep.

  But, Yuel refused to give up. He was fident in his newly devised strategy. He just had to push until his oppo folds.

  Here it is again. Now it's gone. Now it's there. Now it's not. Yuel kept moving the chocote bad forth. The sleepyhead won't get to eat in peace at this rate.

  Nia could give up on this obnoxious snack, but she didn't. She kept trying to bite it and got frustrated every time anew. Eventually, she got fed up with it.

  "Gimme!" Nia grabbed Yuel's arm and held it still. Now, she could enjoy the chocote in peace. But, it only took her a few moments to realize her fatal mistake...

  I won. Yuel smirked. In order to grab Yuel, Nia had no choice but to wake up. Finally, the sleeping princess !

  "What was that?” Kai made a face. “Is she your pet or something?" Everybody was curiously watg the entire exge. They had no idea how to ent on it.

  "I-I just did what I had to do," Yuel coughed. "Anyway, wake up, Nia. The game is about to start."

  "Game...?" Nia tilted her head, still half-asleep. "Where are we? Ah, right. petitive match..." she mumbled, about to drift bato slumber.

  ", let's go," Yuel pulled her up from the sofa.

  "Ok..." Nia nodded vaguely and slowly stood on her feet. It seemed like she hasn't retrieved all her brain funs from the Slumber Dimensio. But, she’ll be fine. Probably.

  Finally, everybody and ready. And so, Stratus headed into the sed game. They were about to unleash some rushdown finesse on Taurus!

  DarkestCymore