A/N: Gosh, I'll be taking my exams in four subjects today, and four more subjects tomorrow. Wish me luck, my sweets!
***
"And yes!" Key exclaimed after she claimed three more victory stars and her win rate raised to 90% from the 88% she had
"What rank are you in now?" El asked looking over to her screen and then checking her stats at the lower corner that said 'Lord of Oswiecim'
"Cool, rank up again and you might be at the same rank as the captain." Opal said pointing out their captain who is playing with his indifferent reaction
"Should I set that as a goal?" she asked in a jest
"Wanna bet, milady?" Alexei asked piquing Key's interest
"So, whoever catches up to the captain's level?" Key asked, removing her headphones and turning her chair around to face him
"Sure," Alexei said and went to face his computer
"Hey, cousin, what rank are you in right now?" Alexei called out to Rasheed who is still in the middle of his ranking match
"Lord of Dunkirk," Rasheed replied with his eyes still on the screen
[SunnyDay: Oh, you're so good my husband!]
[PinkySweet: As expected of my hubby! So cool!]
[Rasheed4Lyfe: This is how he managed to catch my family's heart!]
[Rasheed'slegalwifey: My husband is so cool, no wonder our babies are so good as well.]
"Oh," Key muttered taking Alexei's attention, he didn't expect Rasheed's rank as well because the rank they must retain is within the Demarcation II, or the Lord Division
[Ruggedman: Oh, I wonder how you'll catch up to him.]
[Lawking: Look at her expression. Hah! I knew it, scared now, missy?]
[Masterchief: I doubt they could reach his rank immediately.]
"How many beast medals do you currently have?" Alexei asked after recalling the requirements for the said rank in the game
"20…?" she wasn't sure so she pressed her account information and she saw that she has 28
[Rasheed'slegalwifey: What did this bitch say?]
[WhiteGhost: She has 28?]
[DravenPleasant: What kind of bug does your account have?]
"Just 28 beast medals, seventy-six achievements, four hundred… I only have four hundred gold medals and four hundred nine silver medals," Key answered
[Wildboyz: Dang! Are you for real, miss?]
[Pixelbender: Is this the world of the e-sports players? They can 'just' and 'only' these f**king numbers?]
"How about you?" she asked and Alexei was stupefied to know that Key has already surpassed him in numbers of achievement and beast, gold, and silver medals
"You only need to best the Dunkirk Lord of this season?" Rio asked and Key chuckled while nodding
"I can already taste defeat. I haven't even beaten the Oswiecim Beast." Alexei said
[AlexSay: Don't worry, baby, I'm here!]
[Alexeiismine: To the person upstairs, he's my hubby!]
"I'll use Chasseur in the battle, you know I haven't practiced him in a while." Key said while smiling
"So, what's the catch of your bet?" Quant asked them
"Hmm, whoever loses pays for our dinner tonight?" Key replied unsurely
"Are you thinking of eating out?" Alexei asked her
"I don't exactly have any other idea for any reward." Key answered and started her game
"What the fudge?" she exclaimed when she realized that Alexei is on the same team as her
"Oh, oh, oh," Alexei exclaimed while chuckling when he realized what had happened
"You didn't choose to rank?" Key and Alexei asked at almost the same time while looking over to see the other person, who is literally seated across the table with only their computer keyboards and screens separating them
[Honeybunches: Wow, they are in sync.]
"Nope, I was still lacking in silver medals so I thought I might just serve as support as an off-laner." Key said and chuckled but her eyes widened when their in-game teammate chose a supporting shinigami
"Oh, shoot, I think I may have just ended up as a shooter…" Key muttered under her breath
"Want to exchange? I can be the shooter instead." Alexei said and Key shook her head
"Nah, I can still practice being off-laner in the ranking game after this." Key said
"Okay, I took Intrepidus." Alexei said since he chose the shinigami first
"Hmm, I'll take Chasseur," Key said and she had her chance to choose her shinigami
When the game began, Key headed to the bottom lane as a shooter usually does head to the bottom lane to develop and defend.
She faced off against the opposing off-laner, she doesn't have a support with her, and their in-game team's support is in the middle lane with their in-game mid-laner.
"I thought the support is always with the shooter?" Key asked randomly and turned her head to look at Quant who is at the other end of the gaming table
"That depends on the strategy, remember when you served as the captain's support, I'm the support but I wasn't with the shooter?" Quant asked and Key nodded her head
"Hey, milady, I'll head there after leveling up." Alexei called out to her
"Okay, just give me a signal so I'll push forward." Key replied with her eyes back on the computer screen
She leveled up her Chasseur and when she unlocked her second skill's second level, her opposing shooter was stunned.
She took the opportunity Alexei gave her into dealing damage to the opposing shooter to take the first blood, Alexei assisted her by dealing with the support of the in-game opponent.
'FIRST BLOOD' the first blood is the opposing support; Evocatrice, which triggered the viewers into a stream of internet gossip about Kashmiri's indifference to the shinigami; Evocatrice.
[Mr.RightNow: Do you hate Evocatice?]
[NappingNymph: You can't control Evocatrice that well, do you?]
[Rio_r0ar: Quit E-sports, you weakling!]
"Evocatrice again?" Alexei asked and Key chuckled
"It's not that I hate her or something, she just always ends up as the first blood." Key replied nonchalantly
The game continued, and Alexei and Key worked together in pushing the battle lines closer to the opposing team's base.
They took out the kitsune together and then took out the manticore. They practically carried the whole game to victory, Alexei supported Key in getting Penta-kill and acing the opponent.
AT the end of the game, Key and Alexei stood up to give each other a high five after the gold-plated word 'VICTORY' flashed on the screen.
"Good game," Alexei and Key said with a smile
"This means you'll be starting your ranking games?" Quant asked while munching some nuts
"Yeah," Key said and turned her head to look at Alexei who's just smiling
"So, let's play?" Key asked and Alexei chuckled
"May the best player win," Alexei said and offered his hand, which she held and shook
"Good luck to the both of us." Key said
The battle against the Dunkirk Lord, as well as against the other beats to rank within the second Demarcation, has three requirements to proceed.
To start battling in Beast Battles to receive beast medals, one must have at least 290 gold medals, 350 silver medals, and accomplished 50/80 achievements.
As to qualify in competing against bosses such as the Ormandy Beast, or the boss to best in order to attain the lowest rank in Demarcation II, one must have at least 310 gold medals, 370 silver medals, 10 beast medals, and must have completed at least sixty out of the 80 total numbers of achievements.
Not only that, competing in a Beast Battle have its risks, although one will achieve a beast medal upon victory, at the start of the battle, one will use 10 medals from each classification of bronze, silver, and gold, then pay another set of 10 medals upon defeat.
Given that Alexei and Key will be battling against the Dunkirk Lord to get the rank 'Lord of Dunkirk' for that season, they will need to use up five beast medals, 15 gold, silver, and bronze, and should already have two boss tokens; one from the Ormandy Beast, and the other from the Oswiecim.
If they lost in the battle against the Dunkirk Lord, they will lose everything and will start over again from the Ormandy Beast, but if they win, they keep their boss tokens.
As for their gold, silver, and bronze medals, they cannot get them back again even after victory, but they'll have to pay another set should they lose.
They started their own boss battles, and the once vivacious playful exchanges between Alexei and Key lowered down as their respective matches proceeded.
Kashmiri, as she had said decided to use Chasseur in the battle against the Dunkirk Lord, while Alexei decided to use his ace shinigami; Ausu, in battling with the Oswiecim Beast.
"Those two got serious, what's going on?" Dewy couldn't help but ask when he noticed the tuning down of the playful exchanges between their team's off-laners
"They have a bet," Quant said with his eyes on the screen
"Wow, you people love betting nowadays." Dewy said in amusement before looking at all of them
"What did they bet on this time?" Bright, hearing what Dewy had said upon his arrival at the gaming area, asked with his clipboard on his hand
"Whoever reaches Captain's rank first, the loser pays tonight's meals," Opal replied still with his eyes on the screen
"How about you two, El, Rio, surely you didn't have a bet like those two, right?" Dewy asked the two mid-laners but all he received where stifled chuckles as a reply
"They did," Rasheed answered for them
"Whoever beats the Oswiecim Beast first wins." Rio said and raised his hand off from his keyboard
"Done," almost at the same time, El and Rio, spoke with their hands off their keyboards
"Rio raised his hand first," Key muttered still with her eyes on the computer screen
"How many eyes do you have, Key, you still saw that?" Alexei asked while chuckling
"Two, and yep, I still see that in my peripheral vision." She replied with her hand still pressing on her keyboard and her other hand moving and clicking on her mouse
Their respective Boss matches ended without taking nearly half an hour, and of course, given the statistics and their account conditions before the game, Key won the bet.