Xiaohu knew his mid lane was going to be hell from here on out.
The reason was simple: Viktor went top and picked up a kill. Now he had three kills in hand. Add in the CS needed to upgrade his E, and to put it nicely—Xiaohu wouldn't be able to step out of turret range at all.
He'd become a tethered spirit in mid lane.
One E "bzzt," and an entire wave was basically cleared.
And Orianna's early waveclear was too slow. If Viktor didn't want to lane, he could roam whenever he wanted.
This was going to be a suffering day for Xiaohu's teammates!
To be blunt, if TES actually wanted to play mid-lane trades, with a Viktor this fed, he could Q-E-R and Xiaohu could go soak in the fountain.
At base you can go take a shower while gaming, but this was a match. Xiaohu didn't have that kind of leisure—at least not like Xiao Zao.
Seeing Viktor return to mid, Xiaohu could only retreat cautiously.
But facing the most ferocious boss on the map right now, Orianna felt soft and powerless.
Two Es scraping him and he was already under one-third HP.
Xiaohu cursed in his head: This isn't laning—this is torture!
What he least expected was this:
TES really had the nerve to invest this hard just to enable a Viktor.
The most annoying part was—they actually enabled him.
As Xiaohu kept raging internally, he got zapped by the laser again.
He hurried to shield himself, but level-one E—paper-thin. He still lost about a hundred HP.
Xiaohu's face twisted, teeth bared.
Looking at his HP, he had a bad feeling.
"They're all scrap!"
Viktor roared in a low voice, raising his staff and shouting.
A thundercloud formed in the center of the lane.
Chaos Storm!
One full combo, and Xiaohu couldn't do anything to resist.
No Flash—he couldn't exactly take the bus and walk out.
The ult ticked twice, and Orianna's HP emptied out.
It felt awful.
But there was nothing he could do.
Item lead, level lead—what could he fight with?
The next wave came.
Viktor just zapped it once with E, then finished with two autos—clean clear.
Then he walked straight toward bot lane. His HP was healthy and he still had a bit of mana, so he could test for a bot play.
Tian didn't get to show off in the last play, so he immediately followed Lin Fan.
"TES mid-jungle synergy is coming again—gank top, then gank bot!"
"It's hard to imagine Viktor playing like Twisted Fate…"
"After this period, TES has developed a workable system."
But with Xiaohu spamming pings, both side lanes backed off immediately.
Wei originally planned to help Bin dive top, but seeing the pings—and fearing TES mid-jungle pressure—he gave it up.
Still, RNG got something: they started dragon, and also denied GALA from getting pressured.
Once it was handled, Lin Fan returned mid and cleaned the pushed wave.
Xiaohu didn't dare make any extra moves.
The dragon fight just ended—if Viego was nearby, stepping out would mean death.
Even without Viktor's ult, his small spells already hit absurdly hard. All he needed was someone to finish.
Lin Fan recalled and upgraded Amplifying Tome into Lost Chapter, then added Blasting Wand.
His damage was already at a ridiculous level.
The casters kept saying Viktor was going to start eating people—which made sense. TES's gold lead was all in mid.
After all, every TES kill was going into him.
RNG didn't sit still.
At nine minutes, Hecarim used his first ultimate to gank bot!
Yuumi hopped on. Hecarim ult plus Yuumi's Final Chapter formed a combo.
JackeyLove knew that if the ult hit him, he'd die, so the moment it charged in, he flashed away.
Mark could only counter-ult. Running wouldn't matter, so he might as well sell himself.
Nami's kill went to Zeri, giving RNG fans a little confidence.
No matter what, once Zeri scales, she can take over fights.
But then mid lane sent another wave of bad news.
RNG ganked bot—TES ganked mid.
Orianna's kill might not be worth much, but turret plates were worth plenty.
Wave crashed under turret. Viego openly walked out from behind.
Your jungler is bot—what does a collapsed Orianna do?
Even if she threw an ult, Viego's HP only dropped a bit over one bar.
Meanwhile Viktor's ult alone could basically delete people.
For tower dives, you really can't save cooldowns.
But Tian was afraid his ult would steal the kill, so he ulted out of turret range immediately.
Viktor's Dark Seal stacked two more times.
Bot lane's happiness from getting one kill instantly vanished.
A five-kill Viktor—who can deal with that?
The pressure was terrifying.
Lin Fan casually ate plates in front of them.
Tian took Rift Herald.
"Fan-ge, bot got bullied!" JackeyLove could only ask for help.
"Next wave I'll come. After I eat plates I'll have Luden's."
RNG comms were frantic.
The pressure Viktor was giving was too much.
They had to find a way—at least kill Viktor once and cut off the snowball.
"Just wait for my next ult. Ming comes with me—between our CC we can lock him down," Wei said.
"Okay. He's squishy. He's fed, but if we find a chance, we can kill him."
"But mid is a two-man lane. Viego hangs around mid all the time…" Xiaohu said, sounding a little aggrieved.
"Move fast. He won't react."
…
After Lin Fan recalled and finished items, he cleared a mid wave, then started moving bot as his ult timer came up.
JackeyLove asked for mid support—how could the 'big dad' refuse him?
So the moment ult was about to come off cooldown, he walked down.
On the way, he ran straight into Hecarim with Yuumi on him.
No words—laser time.
That positioning made it obvious they were here to catch him.
But Hecarim's ultimate cooldown is longer than Viktor's. The two of them weren't a threat.
And Viktor's ult was about to be ready. Both of them were killable.
Q speed-up, two steps forward.
After just two small spells, Hecarim's HP was already under a quarter.
Ming panicked and popped Yuumi ult to force Viktor back.
But with Viktor ult two seconds from ready, there was no way they were escaping.
Flash dodged Yuumi ult. Cooldown finished—ult pressed.
The terrifying lightning erased Hecarim.
Viktor had already taken over the game, and the walking Yuumi's fate was sealed too.
Double kill.
The crowd screamed.
With Yuumi gone, TES immediately looked for a tower dive.
GALA's Zeri ran fast—he knew if he didn't leave, he'd die…
"Viktor's damage is so terrifying right now!" Wawa yelled.
"It's a bit too perfect. Brother Infinite Borders' ult was one second from ready when he met Hecarim. Buy one get one free, plus a Yuumi fast-food combo."
"If Orianna were here, maybe they could still run. Killing him would be hard. Mainly because Hecarim's ult cooldown is too long—140 seconds. Viktor's is 120."
In pro play, a 20-second cooldown gap is the difference between heaven and earth.
Sona's kit is great, but her ult cooldown is too long. You ult once, then for the next fight it's still not ready. Add in the chance to whiff, and she disappears from pro play.
It's been a long time since anyone's seen Sona support on stage.
"I don't get it. I really don't get Brother Infinite Borders' thinking. In that situation, I'd just run. But he goes in for the kill!"
"Mostly because he's stacked. With Luden's online, he's not afraid of anything."
"I hope everyone remembers: Brother Infinite Borders didn't train… he even streamed Infinite Borders before the match."
"White Moon is blind. A mid this strong and he didn't discover him earlier? He wasted Brother Infinite Borders' peak."
"How strong was his peak? My god. S11 TES could've won it all—or at least made top four."
"Is it possible Knight already achieved his goal? Made top four, then chose to slack?"
"Holy crap, that actually fits. Knight hits top four and calls it a life goal achieved—no regrets—so he goes to chase life's pleasures."
"My little bro has nowhere to go. How does Knight always find a warm home?"
…
A near-god Viktor.
At this point RNG's brains were scrambled.
How do you even play?
They wanted to gank mid, but before they could even set up, they ran into Viktor.
And the guy was unbelievably violent.
Sees you, wants to kill you.
That damage didn't follow logic.
Worse, Viktor's voice line kept echoing in their ears:
They're all scrap…
With jungle and support dead, bot outer turret fell immediately.
JackeyLove didn't get kills, but he was stuffed to the brim.
First turret plus five plates—fully fed.
He grinned ear to ear, recalled, and instantly built Galeforce, with enough for boots too.
He still wanted to go mid and share plates, but Tian dropped Herald in time so Lin Fan got to eat it first.
Even if it was split, it was better than four people splitting it.
With Herald out and bot duo rotating mid, four people were obviously going to pressure high ground.
With lasers and Lucian–Nami ult, RNG immediately retreated.
They were too scary—spells like they were free.
With Rift Herald, mid tier two couldn't be held.
Before 14 minutes, mid's two outer towers fell.
They turned back for second dragon.
Worth noting: Viktor stood in front of RNG's inhibitor turret clearing waves. RNG had four people itching to fight—yet nobody dared move.
That scene got dubbed a "world-famous painting."
Chat scrolled like mad.
"After Xiao Gou left RNG, nobody has any blood anymore. Four people see a Viktor and have zero thoughts?"
"They've already been scared stiff by Brother Infinite Borders. Ask Tiger Big Fisher if he dares step forward—he doesn't."
"Wei looks like he wants to go, but Xiaohu is definitely yelling 'don't go!'"
"Brother Infinite Borders is truly confident."
From god's view, everyone could see Viktor had no one behind him.
But facing four people, he wasn't scared at all. He just stood there clearing.
This was different from before—Hecarim still had ult, and Viktor had no Flash.
If RNG hard-committed, it might work—kill Viktor once, give shutdown bounty to Zeri, maybe actually flip.
But that's exactly what scared RNG.
Viktor has no Flash—why is he standing here alone?
How many people are actually waiting behind him?
The more they thought, the scarier it got.
Maybe he was bait, luring them out for a slaughter.
If that happened, inhibitor turret would fall for sure.
They didn't dare gamble.
And nobody dared stand up and say: "I'll go kill Viktor, I'll take the blame if it goes wrong."
So after dragon fell, they could only watch Viktor's back and regret it.
"Damn… how do they dare?"
"I really can't understand Brother Infinite Borders' mind…" Xiaohu sighed.
If he could understand, he wouldn't be getting beaten into this pathetic state.
They completely lost that psychological game, and for RNG it was a massive blow.
A 1000-gold shutdown just vanished.
Their comeback hope vanished with it.
Bin listened to the regrets and could only shake his head.
If he'd been there, he wouldn't care—he'd just hammer in.
At 17 minutes, Jayce tried to hammer Viktor's face—
and got melted instantly.
His teammates who followed got sent back to fountain one after another.
"Nami and Viego are here?"
Xiaohu asked quietly, but no one answered.
It had become a one-sided massacre.
TES's kills were one away from breaking 20, while RNG still had nothing—aside from one support kill bot.
19–1. The gap was so huge it created helplessness.
Even without the exact gold shown, a conservative estimate put it at 9k—maybe 10k.
Viktor had a 20-stack Mejai's, Luden's, Shadowflame, and Deathcap.
So much gold—how does Xiaohu ever catch up?
Should he learn from "Han Steal"? He'd love to, but he didn't even know where to start…
TES marched in with Baron buff. RNG chose a desperate all-in.
Hecarim with Yuumi and Orianna charged in, trying to create a miracle fight.
But the moment they entered, Viktor broke Hecarim's legs.
Instant delete!
You only saw a horse tail—then a corpse.
Yuumi landed and froze, trembling among the crowd.
The fight collapsed completely.
Game over. Final score: 26–1.
Such a brutal gap made viewers wonder:
Is this really finals-level competition?
——
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup