{"Starting with the banning part,"} Gino Morin said, signaling the start of the banning part
"Geez, I haven't been able to use Foschia since my first day, why do you still ban her?" Key couldn't help but ask after the opponent's top-laner banned her favorite shinigami as the first shinigami to be banned
"Well, you made them wary of your Foschia, Key." El couldn't help but say and Key shook her head
"Quant, ban Ausu," Bright said and Quant chose Ausu
At the end of the banning part, JLNC banned Ausu, Luccicare, and Vis, while their opponent Fire Shots banned Foschia, Chikara, and Fidens.
The shinigami selection then commenced and Fire Shots is the first to choose a shinigami.
"Opal, take Coraje," Bright told Opal
"What shinigami should I take, Bright?" El asked
"You can take Fiore, El," Bright replied
"Quant, take Surnoise." Bright then told Quant
"Okay," Quant replied with his eyes on the screen
"Bright, can I take Intrepidus?" Key asked
"Okay, take Intrepidus," Bright answered
"Rasheed, you can take Blitz." Bright said and Rasheed nodded his head
After the shinigami selection, they started the game.
"Good luck," Bright told them before he headed to the middle of the stage to shake hands with the opponent's coach
"Develop, let's claim the Hydra at level six," Rasheed commanded
"Yes, captain," they said
"Quant, the bottom lane with me, go." He called out to their support and they began roaming the map
They headed to their respective lanes and preyed on the opponent's minions to level up.
Key and Opal developed in the top lane, Key felt like this won't work if they were aiming to level up immediately because there were two of them so she ventured to the bushes and went to the manticore.
"Opal, keep the opponent occupied," Key told Opal
"Kashmiri, their off-laner's here," El called her out
"Oh, I'll head there after I deal with this manticore." Key said
"Don't be too reckless." Their captain told her
"I can't say that I won't be the first blood because it might get jinxed." Key replied
"Make sure, you aren't," Rasheed said
"I'll try, Captain," Key said and began dealing damages on the manticore at level 2
The manticore's attacks deal high damage to a shinigami of her level, but Key managed to control her Intrepidus to avoid the manticore's attacks skillfully.
After several attacks, she managed to level up to level 5 and finish off the manticore.
She roamed down to the middle lane from the manticore's den and began stalking the opposing team's mid-laner and off-laner from the bushes behind their defense tower.
"El, can you lure the opponents to go out of their defense circle?" Key asked El
"Like the thing you did with Artorlder in the second round." Key added
They reviewed their game against Cyanide Wolves after
"Don't worry, I'm behind the defense tower." Key assured him
"Okay," El said and pushed forward, using his Fiore's first skill to deal damage to both opponents
Like what Key expected them to do, they charged in to get even with the attacks but Key used Intrepidus's Necto to stun them outside of their defense tower's circle.
During the 15-second stun time, Key and El attacked Fire Shots's off-laner and top-laner until they're drained of their blood.
'FIRST BLOOD' flashed on the screen along with the explosion of red color, but as to who the first blood is, they are not sure.
It can be the off-laner's Maesta, but it can also be the top-laner's Laidir.
{"That was great teamwork, both Kashmiri and El made a kill and a kill assist."} Elvis Letterman said
{"Yes, and if you noticed, Kashmiri's Intrepidus is currently the shinigami with the highest level on the map."} Gino Morin said
Because they made the first blood and both had a kill and kill assist, El's Fiore and Key's Intrepidus developed to a level higher.
"Captain, I'm level six," Key reported
"Don't charge yet," Rasheed said
"Alright," Key said and roamed up the map
"Opal, what level are you now?" Key asked Opal
"Four, and one more minion, I'll level up," Opal said
"A minion, don't you want your playmate?" Key asked
"You're like a sprite," Quant commented and Key chuckled
"Captain, can I take out another shinigami?" Key asked
"Go," Rasheed replied, not paying much attention
"Whoa! You've been here the whole time?!" Quant exclaimed when Key's Intrepidus stunned the opponent's forward and support
"Deal with them well, Quant." Key jested and roamed up the map to the top lane
As she had expected, by the time she had reached the top lane, the opposing top-laner is already aware of her modus operandi, but this didn't stop her from preying on him by attacking him from the manticore's den.
"Deal with the top-laner," Rasheed ordered
"Yes, Captain," Opal said and used his ultimate skill to take out the opponent in one hit
Opal's one shot – one kill move led to their team acing the opponent.
"Opal, Quant, to the Kitsune's Forest, Key, El, to the Hydra with me, go," Rasheed commanded them
"Yes, Captain." They replied
While Opal's Coraje and Quant's Sournoise dealt with the Kitsune, Key's Intrepidus and El's Fiore supported Rasheed's Blitz in attacking the Hydra in the Hydra's Lair.
Opal and Coraje immediately leveled up after they finished off the Kitsune and just as they did, the opponents have resurrected.
{"And a team fight occurred in the Hydra's Lair!"} Gino Morin announced
Just as Quant and Opal arrived in the Hydra's Lair to support, the members of Fire Shots arrived and they clashed.
El, Key, Quant, and Opal dealt with the opponent while Rasheed dealt with the Hydra.
Attacks after attacks, skills after skills, damage after damage, JLNC finally claimed Hydra but this came with the cost of draining Intrepidus, Coraje, and Sournoise's blood.
Rasheed and El had no choice but to head back to their base to prevent the opponent from acing them.
Their remaining opponent; composed of Fire Shots's top-laner, mid-laner, and forward, started dealing with their defense towers so they headed to the middle lane.
They finished off the opponent's mid-laner that is dealing with the tower in the middle lane first, then, they started dealing with the opposing forward dealing with the tower in the bottom lane.
Key, Quant, and Opal soon resurrected back into the map and roamed to their respective lanes to defend their half-destroyed towers.
If they were even a few seconds late, the damage to their defense towers in each respective lane would've been too high and they'll only have little blood in each defense tower.
"Finish off the towers," Rasheed ordered
"Yes, Captain," they replied and started controlling their respective shinigami
"Bottom lane cleared,"
"Top lane cleared,"
"Middle lane cleared,"
In the process of clearing the lanes by destroying the enemy's defense towers on the map, they took out the surviving members of Fire Shots and several large-scale team fights occurred.
The team fights ended badly for the members of Fire Shots because they were aced at a very critical moment, this opened up a fight-free path to their base for JLNC, which JLNC took to their advantage and immediately destroyed their in-base defense towers and base tower.
{"Congratulations on winning the first round, JLNC!"}
JLNC's fans screamed and cheered while Fire Shots's fans lamented their impending demise.
If Fire Shots loses another game, this game against JLNC, they will fall as a relegation team and will most probably disband or have its members replaced.
They went backstage for a 15-minute rest in between matches, Fire Shots's coach called the team to discuss their game plan for the next round and they spent the whole duration of their rest time running and studying the tactic over and over again.
{"And now we're back, the second round of the match between JLNC and Fire Shots is about to begin."} Elvis Letterman said
"What did Foschia ever do to you guys?" Key can't help but ask after Foschia turned grey
"You can't use Foschia, Key, it's in the handbook." Quant jested and Key just shook her head
The banning part continued, and then the shinigami selection started.
Both sides begin choosing the shinigami that counters the opponent's shinigami, and everyone could feel the tension even before their team even spawned on the map.
{"And that's it for the banning part, Fire Shots banned Foschia, Fiore, and Intrepidus, and JLNC banned Chikara, Pylae, and Maesta."} Gino Morin said
{"For Fire Shots, we have Luccicare as off-laner, Coraje as top-laner, Blitz as forward, Fidens as mid-laner, and Sournoise as support, and for JLNC, we have Luxy as off-laner, Vis as top-laner, Chasseur as Forward, Ausu as mid-laner, and Evocatrice as Support."} He added
{"If you ask me, Gino, I think the shinigami line-up that Fire Shots has made is quite interesting. Just what are they planning to achieve by doing this?"} Elvis Letterman commented
{"Yes, I agree, Elvis. And I think even the fans are bewildered by this development."} Gino Morin replied
What Gino Morin said is true, the audience is all left baffled after Fire Shots chose to play three of the five shinigamis played by JLNC in the previous round of the match.