{"JLNC dominated the first round!"} The loud upbeat music once again played
{"Does JLNC have a schedule after this? The match didn't even last for more than half an hour."} Elvis Letterman said and chuckled
They left the stage and went to the resting area.
Opal, El, Quant, and Key were chitchatting on their way to their designated resting room, while Rasheed is following them behind with his earphones plugged in.
They were about to enter their designated area when Key excused herself to go to the bathroom, and on her way back to JLNC's resting area, she accidentally bumped into Cyanide Wolves' team captain, Veganca.
"Sorry," Veganca apologized and Key chuckled
"I should be the one apologizing, sorry, I wasn't looking where I'm going." Key said with a smile
"I guess old habit die hard, huh?" she added making Veganca stare at her for a moment before his eyes widened and recognition flashed in his face
"Keychain?!" Key's smile disappeared and a frown appeared on her lips as she pulled Veganca's collar and covered his mouth
"Damn, keep it down, will you?" Key hissed and removed her hand from his mouth
"I didn't think you're Kashmiri… I thought you're…" Veganca stared and Key sighed
"I'm not her and she's not here, I'm Chantel," Key said and Veganca could no longer contain himself and laughed after tapping Key's head gently
"You now look more like her keychain version with that height of yours, but damn, that Amazon-like nature of yours never changed." Veganca commented while stifling his laugh
"Cut it out already, will you?" Key frowned and leaned on the wall when Veganca once again laughed aloud while holding his stomach
"But I seriously didn't expect that you'd join this field… I mean, you're the top scorer, always receiving full marks, the top student who's always levels above her peers… It never occurred to me that you'll enter a field like this." Veganca said while looking at her
"Neither did I expect you to join this field, Vincent," Key said and smiled
"Ah, that's true, but law school didn't fit me that well," Veganca said and smiled
"It didn't? But I passed the boards with just your notes as a reviewer." Key said and Veganca looked at her before shaking his head
"You're born a genius, Chants, I'm just making up for not being born a genius with efforts. But, that's good to know, I'm happy to help an underclassman." Veganca said and tapped Key's shoulder
"I'm happy to see you here, enjoy the field," Veganca said and Key nodded
"I hope to play with you again, big brother?" Key said and Veganca chuckled before nodding his head
They went back to their respective designated area, and when she got back to their resting area, she sent a message to Kitten about her encounter with Veganca, and she immediately replied with a voicemail.
[Not surprising, but damn, he really didn't recognize you?] There was a hint of laughter in Kitten's voice
"Yeah, but the nickname stuck when he did," Key replied and released her hold to send the message
Within a few minutes, a reply came back.
'She's not busy, huh?' Key thought to herself
[Now that I recall our middle school days, you were your current version's total opposite, Key, so I guess that makes sense.] Kitten said and Key couldn't help but chuckle at the memory
Indeed, she was the current Keychantel's total opposite, she was unapproachable and aloof during middle school, perhaps to differentiate herself from Kitten, who was her upperclassman at the time. But it was mainly because she was still getting over the strong but impulsive and aloof persona that she used during her military days.
Kitten had already modified her appearance to fit her middle school age but she needed a bit more time to get rid of that character.
"Who are you talking to, Key?" Dewy asked and Key looked up to him
"Ah, I'm talking to my best friend," Key said and smiled
"She's not watching you play?" Rio asked and Key shook her head
"Nah, not her cup of tea," Key said and smiled then her phone vibrated, a message from Kitten arrived
She opened it and pressed play; [I'm going shopping, any gift you want me to buy as a reward, Key?]
"Don't you plan on resting, Kit? You've just arrived there, don't you feel any jetlag?" Key asked and sent the voice message to Kitten
[Nope, Vincent just sent a message. I'll be catching up with him for a bit.] That was Kitten's reply a few minutes after her voice message was sent
"Don't take his time too much, Kitten, 15 minutes is almost up." Key said and removed her hold on the voice message icon
Key just shook her head and sighed after sending the voice message to Kitten, it looks like Veganca has once again piqued Kitten's interest after their middle school days.
Key and Kitten are very similar in that aspect, if something piques their interest, as long as they're interested, they'll pay attention.
"You're done talking?" Key looked at Rasheed and nodded
"Hmm, yeah, are we going to discuss our plan for the next game?" Key asked and Bright nodded
"Yes, here's the plan for the next game," Bright said
According to their plan, Opal will take Coraje, Rasheed will use Luccicare, Quant will take Sournoise, Key will use Fiore, and El will use Chasseur. This line-up needed some revising when Cyanide Wolves banned Fiore and Chasseur alongside Fortiz.
"I'll use Pylae," Key said and Bright nodded
"I'll use Luxy," El then said
"Alright," Bright said
After the banning and the choosing part, the game began.
Kashmiri's shinigami headed to the top lane like she usually does, she leveled up alongside Opal in the top lane by killing the opposing team's minions, which is what the opposing top-laner and off-laner are doing as well.
She wanted to attack the opponent after she leveled up to level four, but first, she headed to the kitsune to diminish the chances of the opponent baiting and trapping her again in her own jungle.
While dealing with the kitsune, her shinigami attained an upgrade orb, which she used to upgrade her ultimate skill, then she finished off her kitsune with a combo of her first and second skill.
Meanwhile, in the middle lane, El's Luxy and Artorlder's Blitz clashed the moment Blitz leveled up to Level 5.
Both shinigami retreat to their defense tower after dealing and receiving damage, but this pattern ended when Artorlder used Blitz's second and first skill simultaneously, using his first skill as bait to drain Luxy's blood, leading to the explosion of red smoke and flashing red announcement on the screen; 'FIRST BLOOD'.
{"And we have our first blood, JLNC's mid-laner, El, is the first blood."} Gino Morin announced
"Should I avenge you, El?" Key asked in a playful manner
"I'll do it myself," El replied
"Key, it's about time you come up here," Opal said
"Oh, are they ganging up on you, now?" Key asked and began controlling her shinigami to head back up to the top lane
Upon her arrival, she used her first skill but Empirst and Scancell knew she's planning on pushing them inside their defense tower so they jumped out of the attack's way.
"I guess they saw through it," Key chuckled while taking it lightly
Opal's Coraje and Key's Pylae dealt against Empirst's Evocatrice and Scancell's Vis, the battle was quite messy because both sides are giving almost equal damage to each other.
In the bottom lane, Veganca and Dancent managed to contain Rasheed and Quant, the second round of their match seems to be going in favor of the Cyanide Wolves.
{"By the way the things are turning out, it seems that this round will end up in favor of Cyanide Wolves."} Gino Morin commented
{"How will JLNC overturn this in their favor now?"} Gael Darrow asked
{"That we will find out,"} Gino Morin replied 1,332
The match proceeded with the members of JLNC picked off one by one, although the interval between each execution was long enough to help the members of JLNC avoid getting aced.
Soon enough, the Cyanide Wolves claimed the manticore and the only beast left on the map was the Hydra, and the only JLNC members left on the field are Rasheed and Quant, who are close to losing most of their blood, and the newly resurrected Kashmiri.
"Kashmiri has just resurrected, Dancent, let's go," Empirst called out to their support
Dancent and Empirst worked together against Kashmiri while Veganca, Artorlder, and Scancell dealt against Rasheed and Quant.
Kashmiri did her best to survive but in face of five members hunting her on the map, she could barely make it back to their base to refill her blood before Veganca's attack drained her blood.
{"Congratulation on winning the second round, Cyanide Wolves!"}