Chapter 24: Charging Headlong into the Wall of People! Tempered Through a Thousand Trials, the Synthesis of Mechanism and Function! [Two-in-One 4.5K]

After respawning, the Emperor of the Sands had clearly missed the golden window to suppress Yone.

Especially once Yone acquired his "core item," the Berserker's Greaves, the lane dynamic shifted rapidly.

Beyond the fact that Yone’s Q ability, much like his brother Yasuo's, scales its cooldown with attack speed, his W ability—which governs both cooldown and casting speed—is equally dependent on attack speed. In truth, Yone’s ability to trade in the laning phase relies entirely on that W. At level one, it already boasts an 11% max health damage—a prestigious blend of physical and magic damage—alongside an instant shield upon hitting an enemy, all with a short wind-up and a wide area of effect. Whether for skirmishing or poking, it is the key to winning trades. With the Berserker’s Greaves, the most cost-effective early-game attack speed item, Yone gains a 30% cooldown reduction on his W alone.

This design allowed Yone to quickly push past his weakest laning phase and begin demonstrating his mastery of the matchup.

In a solo lane, judging whether someone is a true specialist is simple: you need only observe whether they understand the specific nuances of every single matchup. This is why "specialists" are so highly regarded—they possess unique strategies for every mid-lane opponent. It is also the reason why professional players are often mocked for having limited hero pools. Is it a lack of mechanical skill? Hardly. Ye Bo’s Akali is renowned across the national server, yet the mechanics themselves are not difficult to learn from a video. Therefore, raw mechanical skill cannot define "proficiency."

True proficiency is born from hundreds of matches against other specialists, accumulating real-world experience to grasp the interplay between champion kits and laning logic. Different archetypes—assassins, mages, bruisers, battle-mages, ranged vs. melee—all demand distinct responses. Ye Bo had practiced this exact matchup against the Emperor of the Sands hundreds of times, often against high-ranking specialists. While they might not be professional-tier, their laning details were often impeccable.

Doinb, by comparison, lacked Ye Bo’s depth of experience in this specific duel. The Emperor of the Sands prides himself on long-range poke via his sand soldiers. To win, Yone must survive the early weakness and leverage his powerful "instant three-stage dash" capability.

At the six-minute mark, Ye Bo seized his moment. As the Emperor used his Q to poke and slow him, Yone suddenly countered with an aggressive "Wind-Q into E" initiation, a move that masked his intent better than the traditional E-into-wind-Q sequence. The dash allowed him to close the distance instantly, rendering the Emperor’s range advantage useless. In close-quarters combat, the stat discrepancy was clear.

"The pressure is mounting on Doinb!" Jiejie remarked, watching the mid-lane. "Oh! Yone just pulled off a wind-step E; it looks like a double-dash!"

"Ye Bo is sticking to the Emperor, body-blocking him to prevent his escape, and detonating his spirit form—the Emperor just lost half his health!"

"My word, Ye Bo’s proficiency with Yone is terrifying, and his experience against the Emperor is incredibly deep."

Miller chimed in jokingly, "Netizens called this rookie a 'one-trick pony,' but that doesn't seem accurate. He’s more like a three-wheeled motorcycle!"

Because the mid-lane was the epicenter of the action, the cameras stayed focused there. The dramatic history between these two players had made this confrontation a highlight for the audience.

Doinb, however, was not amused. The streaming incident from a month ago hadn't affected him much, but it was humiliating. At the time, when a viewer asked if he was afraid the guy would hunt him down in the LPL, he had arrogantly replied, "Let him come! First, he has to make it to the LPL!"

Now, the man was here. Doinb could already imagine the merciless mockery he would face if he lost today.

"Tarzan, come catch him!" Doinb called out. "His Flash is down, it’s synced with mine."

Tarzan, who had been heading to the top lane, diverted his path through the jungle. Since the Emperor had no Flash, he hadn't dared to place deep vision, unaware of the warding setup Ye Bo had orchestrated. Poppy reached the wall of the F6 camp, looking for an opening. However, just as Poppy reached the path to the top jungle, he passed a ward that had been placed earlier under the mid-laner's direction.

"Poppy is in the top jungle. He didn't enter my bottom jungle!" Jiejie pinged the map, his voice bright with surprise.

"Exactly as I thought," Ye Bo laughed. "This jungler is formulaic. I watched his replays—unless his bot lane is snowballing, he always clears and invades by the book. Easy to read!" He continued, "Jiejie, go help the top lane; I’ll pretend I'm vulnerable to lure him in."

"Understood. Saint, I'm rotating!"

"Okay, I'm setting up the wave."

Ye Bo had been proving the accuracy of his pre-game analysis from the very start. Jiejie, who had grown close to Ye Bo fastest among the teammates, trusted his calls implicitly.

Ye Bo didn't know Poppy was already closing in, but he began his performance. Yone, having gained the health lead, pushed the wave aggressively, projecting "killing intent." The half-health Emperor, chugging a potion, huddled under his tower. Yone held his Q to stack his whirlwind, then entered the tower range just as the minions arrived.

"He might try to poke under the tower. Don't rush, wait for me to find an oppo—what the hell!"

Doinb was coordinating with Tarzan when Yone ignored all decorum and lunged with his E. He dashed in with a wind-charged Q, leaving his spirit form outside the tower. The Emperor was at 60% health; Yone needed to land every skill and follow up with several strikes to secure the kill. Without Flash on either side, it seemed impossible. The Emperor held his E dash and R knockback ready. If Yone used his Q-knockup into R, the Emperor would simply push him away, forcing him to tank the tower without finishing the kill.

Of course, Yone didn't intend to kill him yet—he just wanted to bait him. But there was a ghost behind the wall.

This was where Doinb’s professional instincts kicked in. "Tarzan, go!"

The Emperor commanded Poppy to strike, simultaneously placing a sand soldier to his left and dashing toward it. In a flash, he performed a "drift" maneuver, sweeping behind the tower to safety. Poppy flashed over the wall, activating his W to block the dash, and charged with his E.

But Ye Bo had sensed something was off. He didn't know Poppy had been lurking, but seeing the Emperor dash away rather than retreat, his experience warned him of an ambush. If they wanted his life, that was his opportunity.

As Poppy’s dash connected with the air, Yone’s spirit form snapped back to its origin. Because Yone is "Unstoppable" while returning to his body, he ignored Poppy’s W displacement.

Doinb was shocked by the reaction, but this was what he had been waiting for. He used Poppy to stall Yone, allowing him to pull off a counter-drift to wait for Yone’s body to return. As Yone materialized, the Emperor unleashed his "Emperor's Divide."

Yone was hoisted into the air by the golden soldiers. But, in a bizarre display, he crouched mid-air, red and white blades held back, as a crimson square of sword energy manifested around him.

"Fate Sealed!"

"He cast his ultimate mid-air! He canceled the crowd control! Twice!"

The sword's edge swept the Emperor out from under his tower. Yone followed up with an AQAWAQA combo, perfectly utilizing the auto-attack resets from his Q and W. Combined with the damage from his initial wind-up and the full ultimate, the Emperor fell, defeated right in front of Poppy.

[EDG YE has slain LNG Doinb!]

"My heavens! A tower-dive solo kill! How is it another one?" Jiejie exclaimed.

"LNG’s mid and jungle just got outplayed! He reacted to Poppy’s Flash-E—or was it a prediction?"

"He used the 'Unstoppable' frame of his E to negate Poppy’s charge, then used the R to cancel the CC from the Emperor’s wall. That Yone play was brilliant!"

Miller added, "To be fair, Doinb’s play was also top-tier. His counter-drift and defensive wall were perfectly timed!"

In reality, Doinb hadn't made a mistake; he was off by only a fraction of a second. But Ye Bo had utilized a hidden synergy between the game’s mechanics and the hero's kit. Yone’s E-return is "Unstoppable," and his R has an implicit "Unstoppable" state during its 0.75-second cast time. By setting his game configuration to "auto-cast previous skill upon ending," the system perfectly chained the E-return into the R-cast without a single frame of delay. The Emperor’s ultimate pushed Yone, but because Yone was in his "Unstoppable" R-animation, the crowd control failed.

Doinb, watching the replay, wore a look of self-doubt. He knew the mechanics, but he hadn't realized such a "linkage" was possible.

The kill was undeniable—a 1v2 tower dive. Doinb’s face burned. He had been outplayed by a rookie in his debut.

The chat exploded.

[God!]
[Auntie Ye is mighty! Who said solo kills in ranked don't matter?]
[Haters, speak up!]
[I'm dying at Doinb trying to pull off a play only to deliver a takeout order.]
[Yone is returning to his body, but the Emperor is returning to the grave!]

The broadcast showed LNG’s top laner also falling to a gank, allowing EDG to secure the dragon. EDG’s early game was taking flight, and it all began in the mid-lane.