Chapter 281: Witnessing a Legend

It seems the company has decided to mold Liang Yan into another flagship on par with Faker, giving him plenty of screen time in various promotional videos.

And in the final scene of the finals promotional video, Liang Yan appears again.

He stands on a spacious, flat, lush green lawn, his right hand supporting a soccer ball, he lightly taps it, then suddenly throws the ball up and launches into a powerful kick.

The scene shifts, and halfway through the kick, his foot transforms into Mang Seng's foot.

Then the ball gets special effects, turning into Mang Seng's Q skill light wave, shooting straight upward.

Below is a bird's-eye view of Los Angeles; the light wave pierces the clouds, enters the starry sky, and flies toward a majestic temple deep in the cosmos.

The light wave passes through the door and, inside the temple, flickers and transforms into Liang Yan's likeness.

Liang Yan sits casually on the steps, behind him a throne carved with the Summoner's Cup; he looks down at the camera, smiling with a hint of mischief:

"Winning or not winning the championship isn't important; I hope ROX can give me a chance to play Mang Seng, mainly to try out Kuro's feel."

The venue's big screen suddenly went black, and the arena lights all went out.

Over twenty thousand people screamed, earth-shaking.

When light returned, the stands on all sides were divided by red and blue lighting into two clearly distinct seas.

Both teams' players also appeared on the stage.

"Hello——!!!"

Host Riv, microphone in hand, stood at center stage and kicked off the year-end finals with a loud, drawn-out voice.

When the host introduced Liang Yan, the entire audience shouted:

"Fire!!!"

"Fire!!!"

"Fire!!!"

When it was AP's turn, the audience also gave a big response, cheering throughout the venue, largely out of respect for his wind-up play in the third game against SKT.

After the player entrance segment ended, the stage returned to darkness.

The host left the stage.

Both teams' players took their seats.

In G2's internal voice channel, everyone chattered excitedly, each so hyped they forgot Ka Lao Si's pre-match advice to stay calm and composed.

At this moment, unless one is mentally ill, no one can stay calm in such a scene—Liang Yan included—so he sat in his seat with eyes closed, regulating his breathing to steady his emotions.

Before the big battle, being too excited or too calm is wrong; maintaining a slight hype is most appropriate.

But that's hard to do.

Although wearing noise-canceling headphones, the crowd's roar is so loud it penetrates the white noise inside, faintly seeping into the ears.

Other teammates, lacking Liang Yan's composure, can only relieve themselves by talking nonstop.

Liang Yan isn't worried.

Because he knows the opponents are the same, and even under greater pressure.

……

While the players prepared on stage, the regional broadcast feeds switched to the commentator desk. Aside from a few guest commentators who are former players, most there lack real expertise; their role is merely to warm up the crowd and hold the broadcast's atmosphere.

After some chatter, the feed finally switched to the commentator desk.

The audience then realized the ban/pick phase was about to begin, and they cheered loudly again.

In the LPL stream, commentator Wawa appeared on camera and immediately started hyping the atmosphere:

"Three years ago!

"Also here, in this arena, we witnessed the rise of LCK and the birth of the Demon King!

"Three years later!

"At the same venue, we may yet witness another historic turning point, and regardless, we will surely see the birth of a new legend!

"G2!

"A team that only emerged this year in the European league, after importing two mid lane players in the summer split, dominated Europe with near-invincible form and arrived at the world stage as the first seed.

"Despite heavy skepticism, they grew bolder with each battle!

"First, they swept our LPL second seed RNG 3-0 in the quarterfinals, then followed up by overturning championship favorite SKT in the semifinals!

"And the core figure that turned G2 into such a dark horse is precisely the mid lane player they signed for the summer split, Firrrrrre! His performance in the semifinals was obvious to all, but can you believe this is actually his debut season? What is genius? This—this is true genius!

"Without a doubt, if G2 wins today, Firrrrrre will surely become a true legend!

"But!

"Today G2's opponent, ROX!

"They too are a team steeped in legendary color!

"Although there are rumors they will disband after this year's matches, we can equally confirm that if ROX lifts the trophy today, they too will become a legendary team!

"Welcome to the live broadcast of the 2016 League of Legends World Championship, here at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, USA. Hello everyone, I'm Wawa!

"A year of cultivation, a year of effort, a year of sweat—all will bear fruit today, the truth will surface; as a commentator and a viewer, I have long awaited this day, even to the point of longing; I also feel honored to stand here today to commentate this Bo5 for everyone. Hello everyone, I'm Miller!

"No, you actually hid the script from me behind my back? Good grief, this makes me embarrassed. Hello everyone, I'm Ze Yuan!

"Hahaha."

Wawa laughed a few times, then said:

"Professor Ze Yuan was just joking with everyone; this guy really didn't bring a script, but he memorized all night the players' resumes and stats—his expertise is unquestionable—so if anyone has questions, just fire a barrage at him.

"Alright, enough chatter, the ban/pick for game one has already begun!

"As you can see, the blue side on the left is G2, and the red side on the right is ROX, as Firrrrrre mentioned in his semifinal interview; the two teams had faced each other twice in the group stage, and now they meet again—but on this ultimate stage. I believe that, whether it's teammates' synergy or their understanding of the current meta, both teams have changed significantly since then.

During the group stage, Liang Yan only played in the first round against ROX; in the second round he sat in the lounge watching the stream. In the game he played, G2 was the red side, but today's side choice was decided by a coin toss—Ka Lao Si guessed correctly heads, giving G2 the first pick.

G2's first ban: Ashe.