They're currently walking to the resting area, the first match, the match between IBJ and Cyber Paw, of the day had just finished and the audience is now preparing for the next match, the match between JLNC and Phantom.
Meanwhile, in the resting area, JLNC had just arrived, and coincidentally, the resting area they'll be using was also used by IBJ.
"Everyone," Bright took their attention so they all looked at him
"The result of this match will decide whether we enter the National Championship competition or not," Bright said and they all gave him their full attention
"Let's have a final rerun of our strategy," Bright said
After rerunning their strategy, it was almost time for the match to begin.
The players for the match; Rasheed, Quant, El, Opal, and Key, as she is no longer banned, are prepared to head out to the stage.
"Good luck, milady," Alexei said and Key smiled
"Thanks," she replied while keeping the sweet smile on her lips
Key feels edgy and her steps, every step she takes to follow her teammates feels a bit heavy, and she's keeping everything under the wraps of her sweet smile.
She's sure no one can notice her internal turmoil, and she wouldn't be under this much pressure if she wasn't overthinking and pressuring herself too much with the concept of teamwork.
She wants to show everyone that she can work with a team, she wanted to prove that she learned her lesson, and that is what's pressuring her even when there's no need to be pressured at all.
"Calm down," she jolted a bit when she felt their captain's hand on her shoulder
"If we lose because you're distracted, you're out," Rasheed said seriously and walked past her
"We can do this, Key," Opal said and raised his closed fist so Key smiled
"Good luck to us," Key mimicked the action with a soft smile on her lips
{"Give it up for JLNC!"}
As that echoed, they made their way to the center of the stage.
They waved their hands, smiled, and expressed their gratitude for their fans before making their way to their gaming seats.
"Nervous, Key?" El asked as he sat on the gaming chair next to her
"I'm good," she replied with a sweet smile
Before their match began, they started with the banning of the shinigami and the shinigami selection.
"Oh," Quant said after Sournoise was marked with a red circled and turned gray
"Just choose someone else," Rasheed said
"Can I get Evocatrice?" Quant asked Bright
"Alright, you can get Evocatrice," Bright replied
Their match continued until both sides have chosen their respective shinigami.
For Phantom, their forward chose Luccicare, their off-laner used Pylae, their top-laner used Fortiz, their mid-laner used Fiore, and their support chose Clypeus during the shinigami selection.
For JLNC, Rasheed used Blitz, El chose Chasseur, Opal used Laidir, Key chose Luxy, and Quant used Evocatrice, according to their plan, Quant is supposed to choose Sournoise but as the opposing team, Phantom, banned the said shinigami, he had to choose the shinigami that has a relatively similar skills as Sournoise and that is Evocatrice.
"Focus, everyone," Rasheed ordered after wearing his headphones
"Alright, are you guys ready?" Bright asked them
"Yes, coach," they replied in a playful manner
"Good luck," Bright said and headed to shake hands with the opponent's coach
"Let's do this! Nationals, here we come!" Opal cheered
"Yes!" they cheered back, even Rasheed joined although he didn't smile
"Key, follow me," Rasheed called her out as soon as they spawned in the map
"Yes, Captain,"
Key was more obedient because of the unneeded pressure that she pressed on herself, and that reflected on her voice, which made Rasheed glance at her for a moment before continuing in leveling up his shinigami.
"Quant, serve as support for El," Rasheed informed Quant
"Yes, Captain," Quant said and his Evocatrice went to the middle lane
"How about me, Captain?" Opal asked
"Don't attack yet, develop," Rasheed said
"Yes, Captain," Opal replied
"El, get Hemlock as first blood," Rasheed then told El
"Yes, Captain," El replied and controlled his Chasseur to attack the opponent's Fiore
With Chasseur's surculus, Fiore's blood was reduced to more than half, El was able to reduce that until his opponent's blood was less than half even though this came at the cost of losing some of his blood.
"Key, level up, we'll push the battle lines after El's kill." Rasheed said
"Yes, Captain," Key replied, her eyes on the screen and refusing to spare him a glance
"Quant, Opal, develop and attack after level five," Rasheed told the top lane inhabitants from their team
"Yes, Captain," Quant and Opal replied to their Captain's orders
Quant's Evocatrice summoned a few ogres to serve as a diversion to deal damage to the opponent's minions and to serve as their shield against the opponent's attacks, a tank in other words.
The reason for this is that Evocatrice is still a level lower than what their captain has ordered, he needed a diversion and to send support as Opal attacks the opponent.
Lucky for them, neither the off-laner nor the support is in the top lane, but the problem is that it's not the same for El.
Phantom's off-laner is currently in the middle lane, supporting their mid-laner whom El is tasked to execute as the round's first blood.
El is currently having a hard time dealing with the two because the mid-laner was already less than half-blooded by the time the opponent's off-laner arrived.
"Their off-laner's here," El reported when his shinigami's blood is only less than half
"Quant, support El," Rasheed called out to their support
"Don't let either of them run back to base," he added
"Yes, Captain," the two replied
Quant's shinigami is in the top lane and the distance between the two lanes is only the jungle containing the Kitsune's Forest.
{"Oh, that was an error on Quant's part!"} Elvis exclaimed
Evocatrice received damage after entering the attack range of the Kitsune, although the damage his shinigami received wasn't large, it still reduced his blood by nearly half.
"FIRST BLOOD"
Opal was able to make up for that error, although it didn't go according to their plan where they were going to take out Phantom's mid-laner and captain as first blood, as long as they still took the first blood, it was fine.
{"And it was a two-kill-to-zero-death ratio for JLNC!"} Gino Morin announced
{"But Elvis, have you noticed Kashmiri's movements in the bottom lane? It's very unusual of her that she's serving as a support."} Elvis Letterman commented
{"Indeed, Elvis, it's not Kashmiri's usual gameplay but with how this round is starting, perhaps they are cooking up something."} Gino Morin replied
{"That's very possible and is something usual with Kashmiri. She does take people by surprise every time."} Elvis Letterman agreed
As it was damaging for both teams, both Dominant Rooks and JLNC, their respective managements agreed not to disclose the matter in any media or E-Sport-related news outlet.
Of course, Dominant Rooks will gain more from that agreement with JLNC as disclosing the fact that Kashmiri worked behind her management's back in defeating them one by one would be more than a slap on their face, it would stamp on their pride and ego as both men and players, and would put a mark on their reputation.
They would receive more damage than Kashmiri and even if their fans defend them and focus on the fact that Kashmiri worked without JLNC knowing, they won't be able to refute the fact that she beat them all on her own and it may push her up.
There's also the fact that their coach warned them not to mess with Kashmiri anymore after they saw just how different she really is from how she appears to be.
They're now wary of Kashmiri because of how cunning she is, they felt played and manipulated and so they decided to just let it go.
Either way, they're at a disadvantage if they decide to.
"Thanks," El muttered as soon as they executed the mid-laner
Quant used his Evocatrice to summon a Cyclops and with it, they dealt with the mid-laner and the off-laner.
Although Quant and El both only have less than half of their blood left, they managed to push the battle line to their opponent's side until they're contained within their defense tower.
After several more exchanges in attacks and skills, El and Quant came out victorious after killing the opponent's Pylae and destroying their tower in the middle lane.
"We'll refill our blood back at the base, Captain," Quant reported
"I'll take care of the Manticore, Captain, I'm at level eight," Opal said after leveling his Laidir to level 8 and earning additional vitality from the level up
"Go on," Rasheed replied
"Let's take these two out," Rasheed told Key who did as she was told but didn't reply
Rasheed saw the Luxy pave the way for his Blitz, but he still didn't hear a single sound from Key.
He looked in her direction through his peripheral vision and noticed how her face looked blank, it's not the blank as if she's reining in her anger or irritation, it's the kind of blank where Key is serious about what she's doing.
"Any response from Kashmiri, are you still here?" Rasheed asked and Key looked at him for a moment before looking back at her screen