Building The Strongest Family-Chapter 88: Famous

Then... disaster struck.*

Hecarim ganked.

"Yes! Finally! A Team!" Kai whooped as

Hecarim charged in, sending Darius flying through the air. Kai spun like a beyblade (E – Judgment, baby), and together they shredded Darius’s health bar.

But then... flash.

Darius vanished, escaping with a sliver of health.

Kai screamed, "Nooooo!"

FrostByte: lol

PixelQueen: Classic

But wait what was that? A golden snare wrapped around Darius!

Lux had unleashed her ultimate from mid lane.

"Lux, you beautiful sunshine child!" Kai roared as the Final Spark obliterated Darius.

First Blood!

And for once... it wasn’t Kai’s death.

By the 15-minute mark, Kai was sitting pretty at 3/0/2, a monstrous Garen stomping around with a Stridebreaker and the confidence of someone who finally learned how to press W at just the right moment.

Then came the play.

The enemy Zed had been terrorizing his team, assassinating poor Lux every time she stepped out of base.

But this time? This time, Kai was ready.

Zed shadow-dashed onto Lux and unleashed his deadly combo, she was dead... until Kai’s Garen sprinted in like a freight train (Q – Decisive Strike), silencing Zed mid-ult!

"Spin to win, baby!" Kai cackled as he pressed E, transforming into the Demacian blender that shredded Zed’s health bar to pieces.

Zed flashed away in desperation.

Kai flashed after him with righteous fury, "JUSTICE!"

R – Demacian Justice!

The giant sword came crashing down...

Zed exploded!

Teammate1: holy shit Garen!

Teammate2: wait NovaStrike is actually good now???

Kai’s chat erupted into chaos:

FrostByte: Did he just outplay a Zed?!

PixelQueen: What timeline is this!?

----------------

By 30 minutes in, Kai had transformed into an unkillable monster, decked out with Dead Man’s Plate, Force of Nature, and Sterak’s Gage; he was basically a walking brick wall wielding a sword.

The enemy team desperately tried to stop him: Vayne tumbled and shot, only for Kai to press Q and silence her before spinning her into oblivion!

Vayne has been slain!

Teemo attempted to blind him next, but not today!

With a laugh and W-Courage activated, he ran Teemo down without breaking a sweat.

Teemo has been slain!

ToxicOrFeed: Teemo death makes my heart happy.

Finally, with the enemy team wiped, Kai’s squad marched down mid.

The Nexus exploded in a dazzling shower of blue light.

Victory!

Kai leaped out of his chair, arms raised high. "Let’s gooooooo!"

His chat erupted into a wall of celebration:

FrostByte: Poggers!

PixelQueen: I can’t believe I just witnessed this!

ShadowDragon: Garen main, btw!

Kai collapsed back into his seat, grinning like a madman. "That’s right! I did that! Me, the guy who once died to jungle camps, the one who got flamed for missing Smite, "

AetherGlide chimed in: "Bro, it’s just one game."

Kai paused for dramatic effect.

"...I’m playing again tomorrow!"

FrostByte: sigh! Here we go again...

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Three days ago, Kai "NovaStrike" Ryker was just another struggling streamer with around ten thousand viewers, most tuning in to laugh at his misplays.

But suddenly? His face was everywhere!

Clips of his Garen rampage went viral across forums and social media, even making headlines in mainstream gaming news.

It all started with a single highlight reel. Someone clipped the moment he silenced Zed mid-ult, spun like a top, and executed him with thunderous demacian justice.

The clip was titled:

"When the 0/10 Yasuo Main Switches to Garen and Suddenly Becomes Faker."*

Naturally, the internet latched onto it like hungry piranhas.

Subowls exploded first. A post on /u/LeagueOfLegends titled

"This is what happens when a hardstuck player finally touches a braindead champ" shot to the top within hours.

Comments flooded in, a mix of awe and toxic humor endemic to the community:

"Bro went from ’Why can’t I move?!’ to ’Justice demands retribution ’ real quick."

"Garen mains rise up! Our prophet has arrived!"

"This is beautiful, like watching a baby bird leave the nest... only to start dunking on people!"

StaticPulse wasn’t far behind either; highlight channels spliced his gameplay with dramatic music and slow-motion effects featuring captions like:

"The redemption arc we didn’t know we needed."

One dedicated editor even created a montage titled "NovaStrike’s Journey from Iron to... Well, Slightly Less Iron," juxtaposing his old Yasuo misplays with newfound Garen dominance.

The video ended with text that read: *"Sometimes, the outplay is admitting you suck and pressing Q."*

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As Kai’s CritGlitch chat transformed from a small gathering of regulars into an absolute warzone filled with new faces...

Kai’s CritGlitch chat, once a cozy gathering of familiar faces, had transformed into an electrifying battlefield filled with newcomers.*

FirstTimeViewer: Is this the Garden guy from Subowls?

LeagueFanatic: Streamer diff!

RandomTroll: Fake. He paid Zed to throw!

Caught off guard by the sudden influx of messages, Kai could only blink in disbelief. "Uh... hey, chat. Yeah, it’s me. The Garen guy, I guess?"

FrostByte: bro you’re famous!

PixelQueen: We’re witnessing history !

With virality came the inevitable debates.

NebulaChirps threads erupted, dissecting whether Kai’s newfound fame stemmed from skill (unlikely), luck (possible), or simply the fact that Garen was, as one user put it, "a walking stat-check with a sword taped to him."

"Garen takes negative skill. This proves nothing!"

"Oh, so when NovaStrike does it, it’s cool, but when I do it, I’m ’abusing low elo’?"

"I mean... he’s not wrong. Garen is literally designed so your cat could play him."

Even well-known streamer ProjektShadow weighed in during his own broadcast: "Look, I’m not saying Garen’s broken... but if a guy who used to die to minions can suddenly 1v9, maybe we need to have a talk."

The League subowls devolved into a full-blown Garen debate, players passionately arguing over whether the champion was fair, overtuned, or just a product of Aurora’s design laziness.

Meanwhile, Kai kept playing... and winning.

Then came the stream that changed everything.

Fully embracing his Demacian overlord persona, Kai queued up for ranked with newfound confidence as his viewer count skyrocketed into the hundreds of thousands, nearly reaching a million, all eager to see if his Garen streak was merely a fluke.

Game after game, he dominated. He silenced assassins with ease, spun circles around ADCs like they were nothing and dunked on anyone foolish enough to challenge him in the side lane.

His builds were optimized; his macro gameplay surprisingly decent; and his W timing? A thing of beauty!

But it was Game 5 that truly showcased his prowess.

The enemy team featured a Smurfing Riven, a player named "BladeMaster69" whose win rate screamed "I should not be in this elo."

From minute one, Riven attempted to style on Kai with wave manipulation and flashy combos.

And what did Kai do? He pressed Q.Then E.

Then R.

Riven has been slain!

Riven has been slain.

And just like that, chaos erupted in the chat.

FrostByte: "Bro just gapped a Riven main!"

PixelQueen: "Skill issue????"

ToxicOrFeed: "Riven players in shambles!"

In the midst of this digital frenzy, the Riven player, clearly tilted, couldn’t help but type:

BladeMaster69: "Wow, Garen so skilled! "

But Kai? For once, he had the perfect response.

NovaStrike: ":)"

The clip of this epic moment spread like wildfire, faster than any meme before it!

CritGlitch Chat Reactions: "HE’S HIM!"

Subowls Title: "Local Garen Enjoyer Destroys Smurf’s Mental in 3 Buttons."

NebulaChirps Hot Take: "This is why top lane is a failed role."

By the end of his stream, Kai’s viewer count had tripled!

The next few days felt like a whirlwind.

He received an invitation from a League podcast to discuss his so-called "transformation from inter to terror."

But he politely declined; who wants to sound like a fool on air?

Even Aurora Games chimed in on his clip with a caption that read: "When the villain arc becomes the hero arc."

Merch companies began sliding into his DMs, eager to know if he wanted to sell "JUSTICE"-themed mousepads.

Old rivals from his Yasuo-main days popped up in chat, some there to mock him, others begrudgingly admitting he’d improved.

YasuoOrAFK: "Okay but can you do it on a real champ?"

NovaStrike:"No <3"

But here’s the wildest part: he was actually having fun! No more screaming at missed dashes or tilting over failed outplays.

Just Q, E, R, and that sweet sound of victory ringing in his ears.

Then, as quickly as it all began... the hype plateaued.

New memes emerged and fresh dramas unfolded; the internet moved on without him. But Kai didn’t mind one bit.

For the first time in his gaming career, he wasn’t the punchline anymore.

He was proof that even the biggest clown could win by keeping things simple and straightforward.

As he queued up for another game, his chat, a lively mix of old regulars and new fans,buzzed with anticipation for what would come next in the NovaStrike Saga.

FrostByte: "So... Malphite next?"

PixelQueen: "Do it you coward!"

Kai smirked and replied with a teasing glint in his eye: "Maybe."

And just like that, the stream rolled on.

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The neon glow of Skye City’s skyscrapers bathed the streets in an electric haze, their towering forms stretching so high they seemed to scrape the moon of Panterra. Holographic billboards flickered with advertisements

"RANKED GRINDING? TRY NEW ZEALIX ENERGY DRINK!"

While the distant hum of hover-vehicles filled the air.

The sidewalks were packed with people, their faces illuminated by the soft glow of city’s neon lights.

And there, amidst the sea of bustling bodies, walked Darien Moon.