"Oh no…" Hafiz chanted while Uzair shook his head in disbelief. Naeem who seemed quiet cool over the result smiled.
"OH MY FREAKING GOODNESS! That scared the wits out of me!" Noah shrieked, relieved.
"I thought my heart was getting run over by a train." Aigou gulped as Elias ruffled his hairs.
The middleschoolers who too went for the frenzy ride took a huge breath. "That caught me off guard for a moment." Helios said as the rest agreed.
"He is safe, right?" Kenzo questioned, his eyes still closed and brows furrowed.
"Yeah, he is." Ezekiel replied patting his shoulder.
"The ball…?" Humayun picked it up and threw it back, flummoxed. Seraph safely coming to the non-striker's end smirked. "As if I'll go before we win this." he spoke past Nile, who shot a nasty glare back.
Seraph shrugged indifferent.
The third last ball of the over, Feng tapped his bat on the crease his expression hidden. Nile furious over the drop catch, ran to the popping crease and delivered a high bouncer.
Feng tracing the ball with his apathetic purple gaze rather than defending himself from the aggressive delivery, moved aside and swung his bat around aiming behind towards the Fine Third man, where no fielder was present securing a four.
"Tch!" Nile clicked his tongue heading back.
"Once more! Feng hit a boundary once more!" Mikael shook Xavier joyfully.
"Good for you." Poseidon beamed as Xavier acknowledged.
"Come on, it's time we get ready as well." Gabriel stood up, exercising his neck.
"Yeah." Azazel agreed.
Alan standing up turned towards Senri and the boys who had started preparing for the 2nd innings. "Another one!!" the commentary bellowed from Orion's phone. His attention once more turned towards the ground to find another 4 struck straight towards the cover.
"One more! One more!" Adam pointed embracing Ryan.
"Looks like all your practice was worth it. If we are seeing this." Kazuna turned to Senri.
Senri chuckled, "Haha…"
"Didn't all you realize?" Ezekiel asked.
"What?" the middleschoolers asked while the highschoolers glanced curious.
"Feng's strategy." Ezekiel added.
"Look at his eyes." Rauf told.
"Huh? Eyes? Wait a minute, he's too far! We can barely see him standing and you want us to look at his eyes?!" Haris asked stupefied.
Adam squinting his eyes gasped, "Ah, I can see…!" After a short pause he added, "… but seems fine to me though…"
The middleschoolers smacked their foreheads speechless.
"It's illusion." Elias informed. "Feng is trapped in a spider's web and right now he's playing with an illusion of himself that he has created to rival his 'Resolve of steel'."
"You mean he is not inside his own body?!" Ryan asked baffled.
"Not, not inside his body. What I mean is that he's unconscious." Elias cleared up the confusion.
"Then, has he fainted?" Cassiel added flummoxed.
"He has been trapped in there for too long. He is awfully tired." Aaron told.
The middleschoolers clueless looked at each other unable to grasp a single word. "What do you all mean? You better spout it out clearly!" Gabriel glared.
Isa exhaled while Orion twitched his brow, "Who the hell are you…!"
"Nile's ability is a 'Phase'" Alan spoke turning around, "Never heard about it right? It's an ability that works once the player has played a quite full of his share against the ability user. The opponent is trapped in a Phase ability since the very first ball he plays of his."
"You mean I was trapped in it too?" Xavier questioned.
"Of course, Senri, you and Ren including Feng and Seraph all of you who have played against him has been under his ability." Evan told.
"But… I didn't even feel anything." Xavier said.
"That's because it engulfs those whom the user wants it to. Nile's Phase is 'Arachnid Trap' An ability that binds a player by inducing a fear of hitting shots by trapping their strength. It binds them in a spider web and crushes their power and strength to hit hard." Alan told.
"Is that why Feng suffered this long?" Ryan asked stunned.
"Exactly, because he is reminded of the same ability once pace deliveries start to become aggressive, be it they are delivered by any bowler." Nagi continued.
"I see…" Xavier's eyelashes dropped, "For so long… I didn't knew he was fighting something invisible for so long."
Gabriel clenching his fist frowned at the pitch.
"But, how did you know?" Poseidon asked Alan.
Alan evading his question responded, "That shouldn't matter. What I really want to know is that to make an illusion to defend himself...? How did Feng make an illusion of himself on his own? He never had any ability to do so, so how?" his gaze instantly landed on Ezekiel who grinned, "Bingo~"
"Ezekiel…?" Poseidon repeated clueless.
Nidou, Musa and Mir too turned to him.
"I created it, an illusion in his consciousness." Ezekiel told.
"You what?!" Kenzo asked stunned.
"It's a new ability I was working on while playing against Heber. Inside his joker cage he can restrict any player's movement, right. Hence, I thought if I make an illusion of myself and that plays against Heber instead of me Heber might not be able to contradict his moves since illusion is empty, a void." Ezekiel continued.
"You mean Feng's illusion of his past self is playing now?" Heber asked astonished.
"Yup, and the one controlling that is the Feng of now." Ezekiel told, "I wanted to check this theory of mine for so long, so I tested it on him. Turns out it's a great success."
"Unbelievable…" Damian gulped.
Ryan's brows drewing nearer he thought, "He… has mastered this level of illusionism despite progressing in the last?"
Seeing the middleschoolers and highschoolers all silent, Ezekiel blinked, "What's wrong? Was I wrong? Captain, Vice-captain?"
Helios however smiled, "Well done, looks like I don't have to drown you in the Pacific Ocean anytime soon."
Even his praise horrifying, Ezekiel shrugged, "That's not funny at all!"
"Hehe…" Poseidon and Adam chuckled.
Alan exhaled pleased.
"Say Nidou… whatever I heard, was it coming from a first year middleschoolers?" Musa doubted.
"Pfft! Haha!!" Nidou suddenly laughed.
"Yup, it came from a first year because the ones who taught them to this point are also those who you aren't call children with intelligence of highschoolers." Seles told.
Musa pondering over his words glanced at the highschoolers, who sat with proud smiles on their faces as if they were expecting Ezekiel to something otherworldly.
Musa blinked, "Forget our time… these boys are like aliens from mars."
"SMACK!!" came the crunching sound the bat made on the last ball of the over as a brilliantly struck six went inside the leg side audience's stand, ending the first innings of the night.
The middleschoolers gasped, "A six!!"
"Huh? Who struck it?" Kenzo inquired.
"Feng! Feng did!" Azazel pointed stunned.
"Tch, darn these eyes…" Kenzo muttered annoyed.
Alan chuckling stood before him, "There's no need to worry this much, you can open your eyes now."
"Yeah, you can." Seles assured, "Just don't directly look at the floodlights."
Kenzo gently opening his eyes that twitched from the lights around, blinked opening them up ever so lightly to find Alan standing before him with a light caring beam. Staring at him for a moment, he suddenly smacked his eyes with his hand. "Augh…" a dreadful grunt left his mouth.
And with this Alan twitched his brow, for he knew that nothing good would come out of his mouth next.
"What's wrong, Kenzo? Does it sill hurt?" Helios asked as Gabriel looked at him puzzled.
"Honestly, does he have to be the first face I have to see once I open my eyes? Awful! Just awful!" Kenzo complained standing up.
Helios and Gabriel speechless, clasped their nose bridges as Ryan patted Alan's shoulder, "Don't worry, he's crazy. Don't mind him."
"Yeah, Yeah." Adam assured with a thumbs up.
"You little…!" Kenzo turned to them annoyed.
"No way… how?" Nile asked himself dumbfounded, "He shouldn't have even been able to lift his bat up?"
Feng panting hard finally removed his helmet as the trap he felt he was in ever since he stepped on the pitch, slowly began to dissipate. His dull eyes regaining their color back, he regained his consciousness however, too tired to move even a single step further he whispered, "Ah… I might fall…" however, pulling him up by his shoulder Seraph assured, "You won't fall Feng. No until we are all here to support you." "Well done. I am proud of you." he patted his back.
Feng with his eyes closed breathed in and out, relived and happy. "After so long… I felt free after so long… after so long I played so fearlessly. Thank you all so much." he thought, returning back to the pavilion.
"What a thrilling innings this was! Karachi's runs accumulated to 173 at the loss of 5 wickets with Nile taking 2 wickets the highest. Feng departs with 38/45 (Not Out) alongside Seraph Awan 1/1 (Not Out). Now for the run chase, Peshawar Zalmi needs 174 runs in 120 balls. Will Zalmi's chase this target or will Kings show their dominance as we enter to the second innings…" Maaz commented.