When the second round began, they headed back to the stage, and the banning part began.
During the banning part, the Dominant Rooks banned Vis, Evocatrice, and Blitz, so in return, JLNC banned Dexameni, Fidens, and Luxy.
{"And that's it for the shinigami selection,"} Gino Morin said as both teams finished choosing their shinigami line-up
{"For Dominant Rooks, we have Intrepidus as off-laner, Ausu as mid-laner, Laidir as top-laner, Maesta as Forward, and Clypeus as support.}
{For JLNC, we have Fiore as off-laner, Luccicare as mid-laner, Chikara as top-laner, Bellum as Forward, and Sournoise as Support."} Gino Morin identified the members of each team's shinigami line-up
With the banning part and shinigami selection over with, they started the game.
Key stayed in the middle lane to develop her shinigami along with Rio and as soon as she developed into Level 5, she rushed to the Kitsune's Forest, her jungle.
This time, she doesn't want the monster and gold in her jungle claimed by the opponents again.
She started dealing with the kitsune and just when she was about to deal the final damage, the opponent's Ausu dealt the final damage, stealing her Kitsune.
Despite the irritation it brought her, Key used her shinigami to fight against the opposing mid-laner's Ausu but she didn't expect the opposing off-laner's Intrepidus to appear as well and drain her as first blood.
{"If you are to ask me, Gino, I think the recent accident gravely affected today's game."} Elvis said
{"I have to admit that seems quite true, Elvis. JLNC is obviously having a problem with their communication because right now, JLNC's Renin is about to be ambushed by Dominant Rooks' Ratchet and Flack after the two had finished off Kashmiri as the first blood."} Gino Morin said
In the middle lane, Rio was dealing with the opponent's defense tower and had just destroyed it when Ausu and Intrepidus arrived, killing him in three attacks after stunning him.
While Key was watching their movements by overlooking Rio's screen as her shinigami, Fiore resurrects back into the map, she suddenly felt that their movement, this tactic, and gameplay seem familiar.
The familiarity then led her to a realization that those were her very movement and game tactic during their training match against the Palomas Negras!
Looking back, even the opponent's modus operandi in the first round was similar to how she played the match during her live stream.
She pursed her lips and clenched her fist tightly that her knuckles are turning white at the realization and she only let go when her shinigami spawned back into the game.
Her heart is growing colder by the moment, and she can't believe that they've been beaten by the enemies using her gameplay and she didn't even realize it.
{"Dominant Rooks claimed the Manticore!"}
Rio's Luccicare and Opal's Chikara ambushed Dominant Rooks off-laner's Ausu and top-laner's Laidir but they were stunned and this led to them being taken out instead.
{"Ooh! A team fight has erupted in the Hydra's Lair!"}
Rasheed's Bellum, Quant's Sournoise, and Key's Fiore then headed to the Hydra's Lair to stop the opponent from having an advantage.
At first, it was a three against three battle against Dominant Rooks' forward, support, and mid-laner but soon it turned to a three against five battle.
Like how Key used assassin-type shinigami like Ausu, the opponent's Ausu stunned them and drained their blood.
{"JLNC was aced!"}
{"Dominant Rooks claimed the Hydra!"}
Of course, with no opponent to interfere with them in dealing with the Hydra, the member of Dominant Rooks claimed the Hydra and gained an advantage in the battle.
With all three monsters on the map claimed by them, the gap between Dominant Rooks and JLNC can no longer be overlooked, and even before the match reached its conclusion, the audience can already see the ending.
{"And another team fight occurred in the JLNC Base!"}
Just as the members of Dominant Rooks started hitting JLNC's defense tower, Rio's Luccicare, Opal's Chikara, Key's Fiore, Quant's Sournoise, and Rasheed's Bellum spawned back on the map.
They clashed and the members of JLNC did their best to defend their base and overpower the opponent, this is their base so they're supposed to have their blood refilled quickly within their base tower's defense circle, but because of the damage that it has attained from Dominant Rooks, their blood wasn't refilled immediately.
{"Dominant Rooks aced JLNC!"}
{"Congratulations on winning the match, Dominant Rooks!"}
The screens on JLNC's side turned grey and the blue-colored six-lettered word; 'DEFEAT', flashed on their screen.
The fans of the opponents cheered and celebrated the Dominant Rooks team's victory, while JLNC's fans lamented this one-sided match.
Key knew how to counter the opponent's game tactic, which is also her own, and this fact would have made it easy for JLNC to retaliate against the opponent, this could have been their ace.
Key knew how the off-laner and mid-laner would be moving and they could have used that for their advantage.
However, she decided to counter it alone and she didn't inform her teammates about this fact, and her Fiore against five opponents who are using her tactic against them is a losing game, she was bound to lose because of this arrogant move of hers.
Key closed her eyes in irritation as she clenched her fist in annoyance.
This turn of events left a bitter taste on her mouth, and it was like she chugged a liter of gasoline and it erupted into a large raging black fire within her.
"Let's go, Key," Opal tapped Key's shoulder and she stood up
The members of Dominant Rooks went to their side and shook their hands, while shaking their hands, Key managed to keep her calm composure, but that was only on the outside. Inside, Key is already plotting how to get even and the state within her, her emotions, is comparable to a violent winter storm in the sea; cold, destructive, and lethal.
"You should join us instead and be our muse, missy." That statement from Dominant Rooks' off-laner and captain, Flack, was another trigger.
"Maybe I will when you have originality," Key's smile was sweet as she spoke, but the meaning and her choice of words were venomous and that led the person in front of her to grip her hand tighter, but Key's been immune to all kinds of physical pain to feel something as trivial as that.
"You'll regret this," Flack said and left but Key just smiled while fighting the urge to scoff and roll her eyes at the other party's arrogance
Key didn't realize that she herself is arrogant and prideful at this moment.
"What was that?" Rio, who was standing next to Key and heard the short exchange, asked
"Arrogant pricks, that's all," he couldn't see her expression but Key felt that the person in front of him is very different from the Key they're usually with
And he wasn't wrong.
The current Keychantel is not the playful and rational person who plays and enjoys games with them, the person in front of him is a person run by pride and arrogance, and the person in front of him is the version of Keychantel with princess syndrome.
When they went inside the resting area, Dewy and Bright were watching Flack's interview as he is the game's MVP.
"I actually saw this coming," Flack said with a smug smile
"Honestly, I didn't think that a team with two inexperienced members could win. That's just the truth." He added and Key clenched her fist
"What does he mean by that?" Opal and Quant couldn't hide their anger after hearing his words
"He meant me," Rio was already down and Flack's words were like salt rubbed on his wound
"And me," Key added while clenching her fist tightly
"La putain d'audace de ce plagiaire." Key added in irritation as she took her phone from the table
(The fucking audacity of that plagiarizer.)
She contacted the troublemakers because TL is still working on an assignment she gave him after the accident, the ones online who received her orders are Veloce and Brilla.
Bright and Dewy sighed, seeing that all of them are in a gloomy mood, they decided to head back to the base and take the next day off for the whole team to breathe.
On the company bus, all the players are sad and in a foul mood. They lost a game, it shouldn't have put them in such a foul mood but the mocking they received from Dominant Rooks, and probably from the rest of the world now, made their sour mood worsen.
Rio was beating himself up for their loss, he decided to scroll his social media to distract himself but his feed was filled with criticism from the fans of Dominant Rooks or anti-fans of JLNC, they are all criticizing him and Key for bringing JLNC down.
Though because Key had been performing great and had been part of the line-up from the start of the Autumn Play-offs, some fans took it easy for her and placed all the blame for their loss on Rio.