บท 447: Dark Majority Vote

"It appears this bizarre turn of events is stumping our Chessmaster to no end," Vincent said. "In that case, may I propose a suggestion that'll possibly liberate you from this unsolvable dilemma?"

"Shoot," Yuel said.

"If you're unable to come to a decision by yourself, then how about we employ a majority vote?"

"You want everybody to vote on whether they agree with a DK rerun?" Yuel asked.

"Indeed." Vincent nodded. "We all shall cast our votes to decide the fate of the Meme Jedi! Will we grant him the rank of a master and allow him to use his dark meme once again? Or, will he have to switch to a different meme? The Senate will decide his fate."

"Hmm. I suppose that's an option." Yuel nodded. Once again, he had to be reminded that he wasn't carrying the entire team on his shoulders.

Everybody participated in that game, so they had their own opinions and conclusions about it. Therefore, for difficult dilemmas like this, where Yuel couldn't decide on his own, it made sense to rely on his teammates' opinions.

"Then, let us cast our votes!" Vincent raised his hand. "First, everybody who wishes to see the Meme Jedi unleash his Dark Force once again - raise your hands!"

"I can vote too, right?" Luke thrust both hands into the air and waved them around.

"Hrm. This decision revolves around your Meme Force so that surely makes you biased, but I believe your vote should count as much as anybody's in this case. Do you agree, o great Chessmaster?"

"It's questionable but I'm fine with that." Yuel didn't want to waste any more time mulling over random dilemmas. The whole point of this majority vote was to finally reach a decision, so Yuel didn't have time to create any more difficult questions for himself.

"So, we have two votes thus far," Vincent announced. He counted himself and Luke in favor of the Dark Knight strategy.

"Just to make sure," Yuel said. "You're not voting in favor just because it sounds more 'entertaining' or something, are you?"

"I confess, entertainment value indeed plays a big role in this decision," Vincent admitted. "Using this Dark Knight strategy on a competitive stage makes for a far more engaging esports story!"

"Figured…"

"However, that's not all!" Vincent added. "There are numerous benefits to using this strategy once more."

"Oh? I'm listening."

"For one, there's psychological warfare," Vincent explained. "The enemy had already suffered one crushing defeat from this strategy, so I'm certain this experience burned itself into their minds. They will not be able to recover easily from this, so a rerun of this strategy should shake them up mentally once more."

"Hmm. I only partially agree," Yuel said. "I'm sure their mental fortitude is strong enough to overcome that kind of trauma, but it's true that this pick will likely ruffle their feathers."

"Indeed it shall! And, then there's also the matter of the enemy's strengths. They are the very epitome of a hyper-defensive team, therefore fighting them with a defensive lineup of our own is a recipe for defeat."

"That's an oversimplification," Yuel said. "But, overall I agree."

"Therefore!" Vincent stretched his arms dramatically. "We must clash against them with the most powerful offense we can muster! We must bust through their shields and thoroughly destroy them! And, as it stands right now, the only class the Meme Jedi can employ for the job is the infamous Dark Knight."

"Hmm. Another oversimplification, but it's largely true." Yuel didn't have any strong objections to any of these arguments.

In fact, Vincent was echoing some of the arguments that Yuel already considered. However, the hyperbole phrasing of these arguments made them sound that much more appealing than when Yuel considered them.

There was no denying that Vincent made a solid case for himself. Even if 90% of his decision was probably fueled by the desire to see a more "entertaining" game, he nonetheless had some solid arguments to support his decision. And, it seemed like his strong conviction also spread around the team and affected others.

"Yo, that sounds sick!" Lars raised his hand. "I'mma join in, too!"

"Why?" Yuel demanded.

"Because we should be pushing offense, dude. You saw how we smoked these dudes in the previous game, right? It's all thanks to that sweet offense. We couldn't do anything cool like that in the first game."

"I suppose that's true." Yuel knotted his brows. "But, do you really believe this tactic will work twice in a row?"

"We'll never know until we try it, yo! I say we go all in and bust through their defenses!" Lars thrust a fist to illustrate his point. "Like, real talk. Their team kinda reminds me of Howard's annoying defense, so I totally wanna tear these dudes apart!"

"I see." Yuel had nothing else to say because a part of him felt that was as well.

Even though there were definitely differences between Cato and Howard's shot-calling tactics, their essence felt very similar. It's almost as if they were molded from the same base, coached by the same mentor.

Both were hardcore defensive shot-callers who built their teams like an iron wall that could withstand any attack. The only striking difference between them was that Howard's defense was adaptive in the sense that it mainly covered the team's weak spots on demand, whereas Cato fortified his team up to eleven from the get-go in order to minimize any potential risks.

In that sense, Cato's team was far more annoying to deal with. It almost felt like bashing your head against a wall. The guy had an absolute dedication to defense, to a fanatic level.

[Can a balanced lineup ever hope to bust through that wall…?] Yuel was doubtful. [Maybe if our team had more people with high mechanical skills, then we could've tried to brute force our way through that angle. But, as it stands, there's only Lars and Kai to carry us in that department. So, we're not "intimidating" enough for the Leopards unless we use a very aggressive lineup.]

In truth, Yuel was aware of this for a while now. He understood that the most surefire way to bust through the enemy's thick wall of defense was by ramming a hyper-aggressive lineup into it. Nonetheless...

"I still think it's a bad idea," Yuel said. "I agree that we need to focus on offense, but this meme lineup won't work a second time. We're not playing against amateurs here."

"Yeah, I know, dude." Lars nodded. "But, this is like the best thing we've got right now, right? Like, other than DK, what other strong attackers do ya play, Luke?"

"Hehe, I'm glad you asked!" Luke smiled meaningfully. "I've just remembered I can play Orc, too! Though it's still a work-in-progress, so it's not on par with my DK yet."

"Sick, haha! That's also one heck of an aggressive meme, right?

"Yes, it sure is," Yuel answered. "I suspect it's probably more stable than a Dark Knight as Jungler, but if Luke calls it 'work-in-progress' then I doubt we can expect much."

"Nah, man, it totally works," Luke insisted. "It's a savage Jungler class."

"If it's so savage, then why I've barely seen you play it in the club?"

"Weeeeelp, I can't play the same class all the time, ya know?" Luke shifted his eyes. "Besides, I was pushing my DK and all that. Can't be chasing too many new classes at the same time."

"In other words, you concluded your Orc isn't ready or at least isn't as good as your Dark Knight."

"Haha. Yeah, guess that about sums it up. Dang, I was trying to make it sound like a promising idea but ya had to shoot it down like it's a bad idea."

"Because it clearly is," Yuel said. "With the Dark Knight, at least you radiated a lot of confidence. You've clearly put a lot of hours into the class, which is why I was willing to give it a shot in the first place. But, considering how much you've been working on it, I doubt you had any spare time to work on Orc as well."

"Yeah, true dat." Luke nodded. "Orc was my other candidate for a spicy offensive Jungler meme, but I settled on DK after playing both of them for a while. Still feel kinda bad about how I left my homie Orc in the dust smh."

"Welp, sounds like it's settled then," Lars said. "This makes it clear that DK is our only way forward if we wanna go hard on the offense."

"So it seems." Yuel sighed. "Nevertheless, I'm not voting for it. I still think our chances to win like that again are so low that using a balanced lineup instead would be better."

"I think so too," Kai said. "These guys aren't dumb, they'll adapt. So, if we try hitting them with this meme again, then we'll have a very bad time."

"You two are party poopers for real, huh." Luke shook his head. "Just believe in the power of memes!"

"Yeah!" Lars pumped a fist. "His DK rekt them once, so he can destroy them again!"

"Believe in the Meme Force!" Vincent joined the propaganda.

Nonetheless, Yuel and Kai didn't budge. Even if Dark Knight was currently the team's only option for forming an overwhelming offensive team, they knew it just wouldn't work again.

In fact, the three goofs probably realized that as well. They probably just thought that using Dark Knight again will be more interesting than having Luke pick one of his Setup Junglers.

"So, the vote is currently 3-2," Yuel summarized. "Ben, what is your vote?"

"M-Me?" Ben jumped. He quietly stayed on the sideline while the heated debate was in session, but suddenly he found himself at the center of the attention. "Um, I don't think I have the right to vote..."

"Yeah, WTF?" Luke complained. "Only the actual team members should have the right to vote here. Ben wasn't on the stage with us back there, so he doesn't know jack shit about the situation.

"Nonetheless," Yuel objected and turned to Ben. "You watched the two games, right?"

"Yes, of course." Ben nodded. "I watched everything."

"So, I'm sure you have an opinion about that Dark Knight, too," Yuel said. "In fact, your input may even be even more valuable than ours because, as Luke said, you weren't on stage with us. You're almost a neutral observer here, so your opinion should be more impartial than ours."

"I really don't think that I..."

"Just tell us what you think," Kai pressed. "There's no 'right' or 'wrong' answer here. Nobody is going to judge you."

"Okay..." Ben's weak response left much to be desired, but at least it seemed he was ready to speak. "But honestly, I don't know what to say. From the side, it looked like your teamplay with the DK was very good."

"Hehe, you heard that, chumps?" Luke grinned. "That's it, time to pack up, guys. We've won!"

"Um, but, with that said..."

"Oh shit, here it comes." Luke facepalmed.

"In the end, it was still a Dark Knight," Ben continued. "The entire time, I was scared that everything will fall apart from a single mistake. So, in that sense, I understand why it's very dangerous to do this again."

"Nah, it's all good, man. I'll mop them ezpz the second time, too."

"Maybe you will. It's hard to tell," Ben said. "I'm more of a defensive player, so it's hard for me to analyze offensive lineups like this. But, I think it looked like a very convincing lineup in that game."

"Heck yeah, bro!" Luke gave a thumbs up. "I knew you were on my side all along!"

"Be, you're being a little wishy-washy" Yuel argued. "It sounds to me like you're trying to avoid forming a full opinion because you're not an offensive player."

"Um, it's not quite like that," Ben explained. "As I said, I only play defense, so the only thing I understood very well from these games was that the Leopards' defense is amazing. Nothing can get past them!"

"Is that so."

"Um, yeah, that's how it looked to me. Their defense was without any openings! So, I can't even imagine the Leopards losing to anything but an extreme offense like the one you used."

"Whoa..." Everybody was stunned. It was extremely rare for Ben to lay bare his emotions so openly. He sounded like a total fanboy.

"A-Ah, I'm sorry." Ben clammed up after seeing everybody's stunned faces. "I said too much."

"Nah, dude." Luke flashed a smile. "It was cool. You should share your opinion like this more often.

"Yes," Kai agreed. "You're a part of the club like the rest of us. If you're still hung up on how you were forced to skip so much club practice, then forget about that shit. You have just as much right to voice your opinions as any of us does."

"Okay, thanks." Ben smiled softly. The fact he thanked Kai for something so obvious showed that he still had a long way to go before he truly overcomes his mental block. But for now, it was good enough.

"So," Luke started with a cocky smirk on his face. "What I'm hearing is that Ben is gonna vote for DK, right?"

"Um, I'm not sure..."

"Say whaaat?" Luke's jaw dropped. "Bruh, you've just raved about how these guys got some insane defense and that DK is our only lord and savior! C'mon!"

"Um, I only said that their defense is so strong that I don't see it losing to any offense that's not overwhelming."

"Exactly! That pretty much translated to 'Pick DK already, you dumbasses!'"

"Ah, I didn't quite mean it that way..."

"Please, Meme Jedi," Vincent interjected. "Would you mind not putting words in the poor fellow's mouth? You've clearly made a giant logical leap from what he said."

"But, that's pretty much what it boils down to, right? DK is our only true aggressive option right now."

"Correction, it's YOUR only aggressive option," Yuel said. "We can try picking a heavily aggressive even without your DK."

"You seriously wanna play an aggressive comp without an aggressive Jungler? Bruh."

"True, it'll be rough but it's doable. Anyway, it sounds like Ben can't quite make up his mind on this matter."

"I-I'm sorry..." Ben hung his head. "Is it possible to abstain? I don't feel confident voting for either option."

"Of course, my guy!" Luke answered. "Abstain all you want, free of charge! No need to vote for something you're not sure about, am I right?"

"Unfortunately, I'm inclined to agree with Luke this time." Yuel sighed. "It's not mandatory to vote. You've made your position clear enough."

In short, there was no clear consensus on the topic at present. Nonetheless, Ben's perspective provided important insight.

As a fellow defensive player, Ben saw the Leopards' defense as unbreakable. In his mind, only a very powerful aggressive force could possibly break through that blockage. Anything weaker than that simply won't cut it.

[Will Nia be able to achieve that when she wakes up?] Yuel wondered. [Either way, we'll worry about that later. For now, unfortunately, Dark Knight is the only real option on the table.]

"Weeeeelp!" Luke snickered. "If Ben abstains, then it means Team DK won!"

"I guess so." Yuel nodded. He still wasn't convinced but he accepted the outcome.

In the end, nobody knew for sure what was going to be best for the team in this particular situation. Everybody was speculating based on their own combination of logic and gut.

And so, it was decided. The next game will be a rerun of Luke's Dark Knight.

Will this questionable meme crash and burn as expected? Or, will it defy all expectations once again and deliver the team to victory!? Find out next time on Dark Knight Meme Z!