{"As you can notice, our players are starting to get tired from the match."} Elvis Letterman commented as the screens around the arena started flashing close-up footage of the players
{"That is not questionable, Elvis, we are already almost half an hour into the game, and the most damage both teams had inflicted on one another are two destroyed towers."} Gino Morin agreed
{"The interesting part in this match is that they are playing early-game shinigamis again like in the first match, which meant no team has the upper hand."} He added
"Let's get this over with," Rasheed said, and just as he said that, he used his ultimate skill to deal damage to the Hydra but his hand slipped and he missed
"Wow, how did you know there's an enemy there?" Quant said because Monk was hit by Rasheed's ultimate skill draining his blood
"Quant," El and Key called him, almost simultaneously
In the first match, JLNC barely won, if not for the error in Monk's attack and Deck's timing in putting up a shield, they wouldn't have found an opening to take them out.
The match lasted for more than 45 minutes and the only rest they received was the 10-minute rest they were given to rehydrate in their respective resting areas.
"Let's take a long rest after this," Opal groaned and moved his head, as if stretching it
"We really are taking a rest after this, we have a three-month rest after this before the next seasonal tournament." El said
"I better use that three-month break to the most of it," Key said while her Luxy is dealing damage on IBJ's defense tower in the bottom lane with Quant
Their captain headed to defend their defense tower in the middle lane with El.
He needed support in the middle lane, which is why he called for Quant but Rasheed was closer so Rasheed headed to his lane to help, Quant headed to help Kashmiri whose shinigami is already low on blood.
"Don't look forward to it, look forward to the one month break," Rasheed said
"Huh," they all chuckled because of Rasheed's statement
Having only one month of break meant they qualified for the International Prometheus League and will be competing against the champion of other countries.
"We'll claim the trophy," Opal claimed as they continued to play their roles in the game
"Ambush…" Key muttered and shook her head while her fingers are continuously pressing the key and her other hand is moving the mouse to avoid the attacks from the opponent
"How many?" Rasheed asked
"I'll use my ult to drain these three, focus on the Hydra." Kashmiri replied
"Alright," El said and he headed to the Hydra's Lair with the captain where Fox and Wings are dealing damage to the Hydra
They were almost been stunned by the opponent's Evocatrice if El's Luxy didn't put up a shield around them with Havre at the last moment.
This gave Kashmiri an advantage against those that ambushed her as well, under the shield she used Lann's Scoilt and Cacciatore sequentially as if without effort, Lann's not a late-game shinigami but with her first and second skills upgraded with shorter cool-down period, it dealt large damage.
"Take out Lann," Monk ordered them with his eyes monitoring his resurrection cooldown
"Quant, support," Kashmiri called out to Quant
"Appear from behind, push them to the towers." She added as her eyes simultaneously looked at the life bar of all three shinigami characters on her screen
"You can pick off Vita with your second skill,"
Vita received damage from Evocatrice's Reaper while Quant's Evocatrice stunned Deck's Sournoise, making it easier for both Key and Quant to take the both of them out together.
Meanwhile, Fox and Wings are dealing damage to Rasheed, El, and Opal, as the three members of JLNC deal damage to the Hydra.
The two of them focused their attacks on the shooter, JLNC's Rasheed, and so he had the lowest remaining blood among the three of them.
"Steal the Hydra," Rasheed ordered
"Opal, let's take these two out," El called out to Opal and they started directing their attacks to Fox and Wings instead of the Hydra.
"Monk resurrected," Opal reported
"Captain already used his ultimate skill," Quant muttered
"It's alright, I still have my ult, same with El," Key said
"I'll head there to steal the Hydra then use it on the opponent," Key said
"Make it quick," Rasheed ordered
"Yes, Captain," they said and they headed to the Hydra's Lair
However, things didn't go as planned, Wings used his ult and drained both Rasheed and Kashmiri's shinigami.
Because JLNC is scattered, it became easy for Wings, Fox, and the newly resurrected Monk to pick them off one by one.
"Dang it," Opal groaned in exhaustion after their screen turned gray
{Congratulations, IBJ, for winning the second round!}
They all stood up and headed to the resting area, fatigue is evident in the movement and appearance of every player, both from JLNC and from IBJ.
JLNC could've let their substitute players play in El and Key's place but they want to be fair to the other team who didn't have any substitute players.
Inside their resting area, both teams were not motivated to talk about game strategies.
The first round lasted for more than forty-five minutes, and now the second round lasted for more than thirty minutes, they've been playing for an hour and a half now with only fifteen minutes of rest in between rounds.
"You all look exhausted," Dewy said while placing the water bottles on the table
"We're really exhausted, Dewy," Opal said
"You guys did great out there," Rio said
"Do you need someone to play as a substitute?" Alexei jested in an attempt to light up the atmosphere
"Yes, I'd like to take a rest," Quant said and raised his hand
"I can't play for you," Alexei chuckled and Quant shook his head
Their attention shifted to the door when they heard knocking, Alexei opened the door and they were greeted by a deliveryman.
"Is Chantel Desmond here?" the deliveryman asked while reading the name on the box
"That's me," Key stood up, already aware of where the parcel came from
"Please sign here," the deliveryman said and handed a pen to Key
While she was signing on the proof of delivery receipt, she noticed the name on the other parcel.
It's for someone named James Desmond, and from the looks of it, it came from the same address as her sender.
"James is in the other room just go straight to the hallway," Key said while pointing to the hallway after returning the pen and clipboard to the deliveryman
"Oh, thank you, Ma'am." The deliveryman said and left
"What's that?" El asked and Key shrugged her shoulder
"It's from Seachela, my sister," Key said and placed the parcel on the table
"How'd you know? There's no name on the sender, just an address." Quant asked
"It's Seachela's habit to just write Chantel, it's a sibling thing," Key replied subtly shaking her head at the mention of it being a habit
"Your sister also sent one for the other team?" Dewy asked in amusement after recalling that Key gave the deliveryman directions to deliver a parcel for Fox
"I'm actually the alibi," Key said and opened the parcel
There's a thick book inside the parcel and when Key took it out, a bracelet made of beads with her name and a keychain dropped on the floor.
She picked it up and noticed the glittery smudge on the back of the keychain, there's only one person in Key's memory who had the habit of using glitters.
"Oh, it's from the troublemakers…" she realized as she recognized Coin's penmanship on the bottom of the book
"What's that?" Alexei was curious about the parcel and Key just smiled
"They wished us good luck," she said and showed a page in a book where the troublemakers drew a group of people, one girl and eight guys who are in front of a trophy and the words 'good luck' beneath
Key put the parcel aside and Bright decided to let them formulate their game strategy for the next round, and they started by mentioning the strategies they used against different teams.
{"And we are back for the third round of the match between JLNC and IBJ!"} Gino Morin announced
{"Let's welcome our teams back on stage!"}
Both teams headed to their respective side of the stage and this time, the Championship trophy is displayed in the middle of the stage.
The banning and shinigami selection was a smooth process, it's as if both teams still aim for a quick victory, but this time both teams decided to let their forwards and top-laners take late-game strong shinigami types.
Key went with El in the middle lane to develop, Opal's shinigami ventured up to its top lane alone, and apart from that, there was no clear difference from their arrangements in the previous rounds.