================ Fifth Match of the Season ================

It was a warm windy day, Alex kept checking the clock as it's hour and minute hands kept circling. Sweet Summer kept coming to it's end. His soldiers were preparing gears and weapons, checking how their fresh winter coats, pikes and armor were fitting on them.

Joining [N0X] a few months ago made his resources, markets and all the valuable stuff double if not tripple. Alex got much stronger thanks to being in the big alliance, and as the alliance helped him - it was time to help the alliance back as the war was coming.

The war was as a match between Noxians and TheLastTargaryens at the gates of Winterfell itself. [TLT] is a strong opponent and is a promising merge between few mid sized alliances. The merge happened a while ago which gave them enough time to learn their own team and discover the new Targaryen ways that'll work for them. Be it burning opponents with Dragon Fire, or feeding foes to Dragons alive....

Alex had no fear, only estimations. And even though their numbers = 2.5M score points weren't on the side of [N0X], he was sure of Noxians strategy and didn't think TheLastTargaryens will find a weak spot on it...

The bells rang, by the snap of the fingers Alex woke up from the train of his thoughts and fastened the preparations. The time has come, time to make Targaryens bleed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Odds --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once the gates opened, strong winds blew and almost carried away few soldiers:

-[N0X]: 90 warriors. Noxians were starting at a slight disadvantage.

-[TLT]: 93 warriors. The name spoke for itself - everyone had a mad look in their eyes.

But not rage or madness wins wars. It's always the confidence and freezing like ice coordination that wins wars.

And Dragons. Yet this time the battlefield was chosen without those...

[N0X] shot callers: Belore, Scythe, Waffles and Hotep prepared their sharp voices so they could cut through the opponent plans. Bel and Scy as the Queen and King reassured warriors and gave few reminders. Reminders are always helpful and easily repeatable - Move in groups!; Aim to target marches with Night King!; Stay in the circles!!; Keep you warrirors on toes, do not sit at one place or the cold and I personally will come for you!!; Last message was made by our Prime Shot caller Belore. If he mentions something - it is not a recommendation spill the tea. It's a command!

The horns blew. With the Winterfell winds, trees had shivered and the season’s fifth match has begun.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- The First Captures -----------------------------------------------------------------------

As per usual Alex was assigned into Scythe's Hotspring team. He always prefered the Hotsprings waters over filled with war-toys Armory.

His spear and pike armies, even though they got an upgrade, were still running slower than the Grogu's Stormborns and other warriors cavalry.

Fights were initiated all over the map yet Noxians were first to proclaim their banners under Hotspring and Armory.

Noxians were dominating in numbers on the Hotspring side over Targaryens warriors, yet everything comes with a price.

Even counting that healing costs are reduced massively by holding the Hotspring building - it wasn't cheap at all.

[N0X] were preparing the next attack, to seize all four Strongholds, but the wounded Targaryens that fled from the Hotspring waters and Armory halls were returning. They decided to take an opposition at the closest Strongholds. Smart move by [TLT] leadership as those Strongholds are close to their Base and are the most important buildings on the battlefield.

Through strong winds the sweet voice that Alex would always recognise kept calling names. Scythe led warriors ahead, pushing the Stronghold and sending teams to the furthest point on the map - TheLastTargaryens Outpost.

[TLT] warriors re-grouped and were lusting for new fights.

Slowly minute by minute Noxians kept turning the building in their favor. The distractions were working nicely, and half of the map was secured by [N0X], they only needed to buy time as it is already a winning position.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Treasure Race ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Winterfell was glowing, shining as if it reminded to both sides that the treasure was soon to be dropped.

Targaryens knew that the treasure might be their winning condition since this aspect favors the strong warriors rather than better coordination. And by now it was clear whos team got pinned to their side, slowly loosing the tempo

The moment [N0X] settled an ownership over the Stronghold and refilled the marches - [TLT] had already re-grouped at the Outpost and was on it's way back to the Stronghold, preparing to make a run for the Treasure.

The moment Targaryens swarmed the building - Noxians heard the cold voice of Prime Shot caller Belore. The order were to distract, discourage, mess with the big crowds to slow and pin them down at buildings, while a specialized team was securing the Treasure.

Bearface, the fastest and strongest cavalry of Noxians army, seized the Treasure and kept it moving to the safe Stronghold. 4.000 points entered the match, enough to establish the dominance for either team.

Treasure kept switching it's owners. [N0X] were happy as long as their warriors held it, because it prevented [TLT] moving the Treasure further away.

Noxians managed to out play Targaryens even in the Treasure race and were very close to bringing it home. To make the most value, Alex kept searching for Night King marches and targeted those every-single-damn-time.

When the Treasure was more than half way there, Shot callers noticed the disturbance in the [TLT] movements. TheLastTargaryens set an eye on the Stronghold the Treasure was coming in. As if out of the ground they kept coming and swarming the building, in an attempt to seize it away. The last attempt of TheLastTargaryens to win this Treasure.

Noxians noticed their plan, noticed the movements and were ready to counter. Beams of light started to appear as the [N0X] reifnorcements were coming in.

The race hasn't been won just yet. Last Treasure holder got down, although masterfully borned in the storms Bearface managed through such a storm to pick up the Treasure.

The Stronghold halls were filled with bodies, with blood and snow. Warmed up from everyones blood, red snow. Noxians took the defense seriously, dropping their assignments as the only assignment was to win the Treasure. It allowed [N0X] to outnumber Targaryens push and deliver the Treasure flawlesly.

The treasure covered the gap that [TLT] had over [N0X] and allowed to breath lighter.

Alex looked into a few of the Targaryen warriors directly in the eyes and noticed that the flame with which [TLT] started the match with, has become smaller, as if it got buried with snow and extinguished with winds...

[N0X] won the first race. And more importantly, they showed that none of the tactics [TLT] are using isn't working on them. Noxians came through much more and were all arms.

----------------------------------------------------------------------- The Final Moments ---------------------------------------------------------------------

The match was intense. [TLT] kept roaming from one building to another and didn't gave up their attempt on the Treasures, amking every-single-one a tough foght battle. Although the story kept repeating itself every round.

Noxians reacted just in time to overcome any push Targaryens attempted. With the last 20 minutes till the match finale, [N0X] was close to reaching 50k points, meanwhile [TLT] just grabbed 30k and didn't attempt to give up.

Targaryens kept trying to achieve their goal, and even when they realised that goal slowly switched from "to win" to "get the most out of it", their eyes filled with flame once again which gave them strenghts to get up on and on and on...

In the last minutes of the match both teams achieved their goals. The result was well deserved: 71k to 41k points where [N0X] emerged victorious!

Instead of relaxing, everyone joined the celebration and cheers. Scythe, the duchess, was incredibly proud. Belore grinned from ear to ear. Alex was simply glad their alliance had won another tough match.

--------------------------------------------- Author’s Afterword ---------------------------------------------------

Throughout the story you could've noticed that [N0X] had a higher pace, better timings and it felt as if they led the battlefield - it was not only due to the amazing shot calling Noxians has, but also huge thanks to a high marching speed that every warrior had.

The races are coin flips. What [N0X] did when defending the building is a coin with 2 sides! On one side, Noxians likely have higher numbers in one building and around the Treasure. While the other side of the coin reveals that Noxian buildings are now less immune and will likely has lesser numbers than the opponents, which will lead to losing the map control during the Treasure race.ne

Yet even though for [LTL] it was a defeat - the defeats are steps to getting better. TheLastTargaryens gave a mad fight and didn't allow Noxians to score 80k points. Perhaps their teamplay wasn't as good as [N0X] have, yet it was incredible.

Although yet again, when it comes to fair in numbers matchmaking - [N0X] will always have the upper hand.

=================================== The End ==================================

Thanks for reading and hope you fully enjoyed this SoW season!

Remember that in GoTWiC you are not only playing the game you do it with the friends around you! →_→

AlexHarret