It was four in the morning when Key received a message from the official account of Dominant Rooks' off-laner and captain, Flack, she didn't think that it was suspicious because this was all part of her retaliation plan.
Kashmiri: What do you want?
After typing that reply, she headed to the bathroom and did her morning rituals, she heard her phone vibrating a couple of times but she prioritized finishing her morning rituals, and only after getting dressed did she check on her phone.
When she checked her phone, she received three messages from Flack, the first one is inviting, no, he's actually challenging her in a solo, and the other messages that followed were considered 'nonsense' by Key as they were questions of whether Key felt scared, if she's asking for help now, and other condescension which she couldn't bother to read.
She typed; 'Send me the exact time, and use your official account, I'll use mine too', before heading out of her room and eating breakfast with the team downstairs.
"Good morning, everyone," Key greeted everyone as she walked down the stairs
"Good morning, Key," Quant, Bright, Alexei, and Rio greeted back
"Oh, Key, a package arrived for you," Opal said after entering the gaming area
"A package from where?" Key asked him and accepted the package
"From Madoriddo," Opal answered and Key nodded
It's from Veloce, although that is not the name written as the sender, Key immediately saw through the cover name he had used. Venice Le Orville
"Someone who migrated from your hometown in Itaria?" Rio asked and Key smiled
"Nope, a long-distant relative," Key replied and headed to the dining room with the package
It has the 'fragile' logo stamped on the box so Key figured that it might be that 'thing' she asked the two troublemakers to send to her from Madoriddo.
"Who's that from?" Dewy asked when he saw the package that Key placed on the chair
"From a long distant relative," Key replied as she took her breakfast from the counter
She sat down and opened the paper bag containing her breakfast for that morning, then she began scrolling her phone and read messages from Veloce and Brilla asking if the package has arrived.
She typed her reply to inform them that the package has arrived and some congratulatory messages for their job well done.
In almost a split second after her message to the two was marked as read, her screen turned black, and she received a call from Brilla, making her shake her head and answer it.
[Primogenitrice-mere,] Brilla called her out, her voice brimming with excitement and joy
"Yes, yes, Brilla," Key said while chuckling
"Syncharitíria, Brilla, kai Veloce. Kánate polý kalí douleiá." Key said in her Greek accent and chuckled when she heard a girl squeal from the other line
[Call us up again when you need us to do something, Primogenitrice-mere.] Veloce said in Greek and the squealing didn't end until Key heard a bang echoing from the other line and Veloce scolding his cousin
"Be nice to Brilla, Veloce. Until then," Key said in Greek and ended the call
She smiled at El and Dewy who are looking at her as she put her phone down. She started eating and then brought the parcel she received up to her room.
She carefully opened the box and took out the cotton zipped bag that contained a grey and blue laptop with its charger and an adapter, black Bluetooth earphones, and a black hard drive.
She opened the laptop and inserted the hard drive through the USB port, she started scrolling through the files until she find the one she's looking for.
A report, an overly detailed to be considered complete one, about some people who need dealing with.
She started reading the file, she was so absorbed in reading that she didn't notice that more than a couple of hours have passed and she has finished reading the files.
She only stopped reading, when someone knocked on her door and took her attention.
"Key, aren't you going to train?" El asked from the outside and Key immediately opened the door
"Oh, right, sorry, I got too preoccupied." Key said after opening the door
"With the package?" El asked and Key nodded
"Yeah, but I'll be cleaning up," Key said and left the door open as she went back to eject the hard drive from the laptop and shut it down
"So, that's what you received." El commented when he noticed the bag on the box
"Hmm, I left this there so they sent it back to me." Key said while cleaning up
"I'll go ahead then, I'll tell them that you're just cleaning up." El said
"Yeah, thanks," Key said and continued cleaning up
After cleaning up, she hid the hard drive in the bag again then she left it on the bed before she went out.
She headed down with her phone, and she saw that it's almost just in time for her match against the Dominant Rooks' off-laner, Flack.
"Sorry about that, I got preoccupied," Key apologized as she sat down in front of her computer
She opened the game and while it's loading she sent a non-disclosure agreement to Flack's official account then added that unless he sent back a signed softcopy of the agreement, she's not playing with him.
After he sent the signed version of the softcopy, Key sent the signed contract to TL in an email and asked him to send a hardcopy to their base and Dominant Rooks' base, but she instructed him to not send the hardcopy to the other party until she's done.
When she received the match invite from Flack's official account, she accepted it immediately and they played with a group of unverified accounts, but Key can see through those unverified accounts, her best guess, is they are either substitutes from Dominant Rooks or players part of the starting lineup.
Not letting the opponent get an advantage over her, she has come prepared for this match and sent the invite link to two online members of the troublemakers who played computer games.
Although they have never played together, Key feels more assured to have two out of her four in-game teammates her allies than to have all four of her in-game teammate complete strangers whom Dominant Rooks might have bribed to throw the game.
When the game began, there was no communication between Key and her teammate on who to ban, but it still went in her favor, as the ones banned are Chasseur, Ausu, Coraje, Maesta, Blitz, and Fortiz.
She needed these shinigamis banned because they are the strongest ones in this game's version.
After the shinigami selection, Key's team is composed of Intrepidus, Pylae, Chikara, Luccicare, and Luxy, meanwhile, Flack's team is composed of Foschia, Fiore, Laidir, Fidens, and Clypeus.
Dominant Rooks Flack used Foschia against her, her favorite shinigami against her, so she used his best shinigami, Intrepidus, against him as an off-laner.
When the game began, Key's Intrepidus stayed to develop in the top lane while Flack's Foschia developed in the middle lane, after reaching level five, she headed to the Manticore's Den and as if things are going in Key's favor, Flack isn't there.
She typed in the in-game chat; "Team, let's go to the Kitsune's Forest."
This may seem like a stupid move had she really been in the Kitsune's Forest because she gave away where she is, but she's in the Manticore's Den, and she anticipated that the opponent will use this opportunity to head to the Manticore's Den and take out the Manticore.
"Gotcha," Key said and grinned when Foschia appeared on the Manticore's Den
Before Flack's Foschia could stun the manticore, Key, used Intrepidus to stun the opponent's Foschia, combined with the attacks that the stunned shinigami is receiving from the manticore and the damage her Intrepidus is dealing, the opponent's blood rapidly decreased. Flack's Foschia became the first blood after Pylae arrived and helped Key's Intrepidus take him out.
After taking out Flack's Foschia, Key had no more reason to stay in the Manticore's Den and left Pylae to deal with the Manticore while she headed to the middle lane, the one that Pylae had vacated and stunned Fiore.
After stunning Fiore, she drained his blood before chatting in the chat box; "Two opponents down."
Although only two of the four in-game teammates were sure to be Key's allies, announcements after the announcement of Flack's team members getting executed graced Key's screen after her chat, followed by some in-game teammates announcing their victory over the opponents.
Key's Intrepidus headed to the Kitsune's Forest and stunned the Kitsune, partnered with Chikara, they claimed the Kitsune for their team.
As if to tease the opponent, Key chatted; "Should we only have one round to determine the winner of this match?", after she called her in-game teammates to the Hydra's Lair.
The order to gather her in-game teammates in the Hydra's Lair is a mere feign to lure the opponents.
Key realized from watching Flack's games that he usually avoids clashing with opponents but instead destroys towers and claims monsters while the opponent is preoccupied with something else.
Only two of Key's in-game teammates; Luccicare and Luxy, headed to the Hydra's Lair, while Key, Pylae, and Chikara destroyed the opponent's defense towers.
Their in-game teammates who headed to the Hydra's Lair then chatted about how the opponent is already beating the Hydra, and Key bit her lip in realizing that the opponent either knew that the call was a mere feign, or they thought of clashing with them for the Hydra.