Protect the King

The four contracted professional gamers on Team Apex were foaming at the mouth.

The promise of splitting forty million dollars in liquid cash had altered their brain chemistry. 

"Ten million a piece..." the star Top-Laner muttered, his hands actually shaking as he gripped his mouse. "Boss, I will literally die for you in this match!" 

"If anyone on their squad even looks at your character model, I'm disconnecting their router," the Support player laughed manically. "This is the greatest buyout in the history of e-sports!" 

Across the aisle, the rival athletes of Team Vanguard watched this ecstatic celebration with burning envy.

They were salaried professionals too, but their boss had never offered them anything close to a life-changing payout for a simple afternoon exhibition...

Sensing the morale of his own squad actively fracturing, Preston Vanguard gritted his teeth.