Meanwhile, from Islamabad's pavilion, Rovan stared at Xavier in amazement, an excited grin spreading across his face. "Romeo, did you see that?" he asked, intrigued.
Romeo nodded, "Hm. He's a jewel. No wonder Head coach Nidou Rex Lorenzo never revealed him to the light."
"Realm of Divine Ingeniousness. My eyes can't believe it!" Rovan uttered.
"Realm of Divine Ingeniousness…" Elias whispered.
"Yes, all his five senses have been upgraded to their peak," Nagi added, "And once Xavier bowled the delivery, it vanished instantly. His control over his abilities has improved significantly, but the opponent is still a high schooler."
Orion tapped his feet restlessly. "Tch, I should have been in there. These middle schoolers are useless!" he ridiculed.
Kenzo shot him a grim glare.
"What?" Orion uttered indifferently. "Am I wrong?" he asked.
Senri scratched his head, speechless, while Alan and Haris shook their heads in disappointment.
Cassiel cleared his throat, shifting the conversation, "But to think Xavier would reveal it so early…?"
"There's a reason for it," Rauf interrupted, arms folded. "Keep watching." he added.
Seraph glanced at Cassiel, curious.
For the last ball of the second over, a wide delivery, Xavier grabbed the ball, pushing his hair behind his ear.
Kazuna observed him, wondering, "Is he confused?"
Asim looked at Xavier and asked, "What's wrong? With your potential, you shouldn't be struggling."
Xavier silently returned to his position. Turning from the 30-yard circle back to the popping crease, he mumbled, "You see… it's been a while since I bowled."
Stepping onto the popping crease, he whispered, "Realm of Divine Ingeniousness: Release unlimited upgrade." As the ball left his grasp, he added, "Red Revolution!" "I… won't turn around nor will I back down!" he declared, enveloped in a blazing fire.
A full toss delivery aimed at Asim's stumps. Upon impact with the ground, it instantly spun, creating six illusions of a single ball, bouncing towards him in the shape of an ascending dragon.
"That dragon!" Adam exclaimed.
Asim tried to return it, but its speed surpassed his reaction time. The ball went past him and into the stumps, taking them down. The bails flickered red, and the crowd roared in cheers as Feng jumped behind the wickets, elated. The umpire raised his finger, declaring Islamabad's very first wicket!
"Yes!" Xavier clenched his fists in triumph.
"Bowled him! An unplayable delivery that goes straight through Asim, pulling the middle stump out of the ground! Xavier Ibn Zain leaves the batsman at a loss for words!" Maaz commented, pleased.
"Haha!! We did it!" Heber, Azazel, Feng, and Ryan surrounded Xavier, clapping hands in celebration.
"That was out of the box. I thought you were troubled, vice-captain," Feng remarked.
Xavier shook his head. "Thanks to senior Aigou, I learned to act a bit." he winked.
Aigou, hearing his praise, raised his head proudly and rubbed his nose. "See?" he said.
"Not bad, genius," Aaron said, giving a thumbs up while Kazuna clapped.
Helios suddenly grasped Xavier's shoulders excitedly. "That was a 'Wow'," he praised.
"Haha, payback time," Xavier replied, bumping his fist.
Ibn Sena, however, taken aback glanced at Xavier, his heart thumping in excitement as Asim headed back to the pavilion.
"Hell yeah! I told you! Haha!" Orion stood up, snickering out loud while Haruf clapped.
The high schoolers and middle schoolers, on the contrary, stared at Orion slightly upset yet wordless.
"Hehe, Xavier's awesome. Even after bowling after a long while. He is great!" Adam grabbed Seraph's hands happily.
"He's dangerous. If I were to interpret." Damian corrected.
"Indeed." Kenzo grinned proudly.
"Asim Mahmood, heading back to the pavilion on 4/5, Seon yul enters the ground as Islamabad's third order batsman. With the second over concluding Islamabad stands on 18 runs accumulated with a loss of 1 wicket as we head over to the 3rd over of the powerplay." Wasim commented.
Seraph, Orion, and Adam coming inside the ground with sports drinks, encouraged Xavier and the rest, who were all smiles.
Ibn Sena stared at them slight anxiously from the non-striker's end.
Momentarily, a sudden click of fingers before his eyes and Seon Yul took his attention. "What is it? Too scared to move already?" he questioned, playfully.
Ibn Sean narrowed his gaze sternly.
"Alright, alright. I won't tease you anymore, Sena. So, how about we turn the tides again?" Seon yul asked, slightly pushing Sena towards the striker's end. His gaze assuring and smile looking incredibly seasoned.
Ibn Sena nodded taking his position, his anxiety immediately dissolving.
Seon Yul, in the meantime, waved at Isa who welcomed him on the pitch, his gaze scanning Karachi's pavilion next, halted at Elias.
Elias's brows narrowing, he swallowed. His expression revealing his apparent worry.
"Won't you say anything to them?" Rauf questioned him.
Elias's gave a perplexed smile, "What should I say now when I didn't had anything to say back, then?" "He will be our greatest nightmare, no matter how much I try to change the future..." he thought unpleasantly.
Rauf exhaled. "Hmph, so even Kazuna can't do it? What's the point of sending him then? Is Aaron useless as well or is Isa not fit to lead the team?" he uttered slightly upset.
Senri glanced at Lou Wang and Ren confused.
"Boss?" Noah asked, concerned.
Elias frowned at Rauf, the tension between them high.
"What?" Rauf uttered unmoved, closing in towards him until their gazes clashed. "Do you think your dream is so omnipotent and set in stone that your partner out there as well as those wearing the ranking badges can't outturn it? Therefore, what role do these Middle schoolers play? Hmph, you make me laugh. If this remains your mindset, Elias hud Armand, we are far from close going to the World Cup. I rather say we sit back down and watch this year go by as well." he glared.
Elias, looked low, jaw tightened.
"Dream…?" Seraph whispered in thought.
Alan looked at Zach who too shrugged his shoulders clueless.
"I say, this is no time to be fighting in between yourselves now…" Nidou interrupted yawning, as he raised his head upwards cautioning, "Cause' balls are flying over to you, brats."
The crowd franticly rooting. Alan stared at the huge six that was coming down before the pavilion, towards Rauf, Evan and Elias.
"Is it right to say that? Yes! Because it's only Islamabad's players who have the guts to welcome the crowd with sixes as soon as they play the first delivery and Seon Yul just goes for it on Helios Zadeh's 1st delivery of the 3rd over! Heading towards Karachi's pavilion, is it deliberate…?" the commentators went.
At that moment, Elias stood up and watched the ball descending like a meteor. Closing his eyes, he positioned himself under the ball, estimated where it would land, swiftly and single handedly with a sway of his right arm seized it in a blink.
The crowd abruptly fell silent.
"He caught it? Elias hud Armand looks as if he just caught a small cap after tossing it high," Jones gasped, taken aback.
The middle schoolers swallowed nervously while Kenzo observed intently.
Grabbing a bat from the nearby gear bag, his expression hidden, Elias aimed towards Helios, who was waiting on the pitch.
"Ah…" Seles smiled, twirling a lock of his hair, sensing what might happen next.
Tossing the ball up until it reached the sweet spot of the bat, CRACK! Elias swung the bat forcefully, the sound resonating as the ball cut through the air like fire towards Helios.
Rauf grinned and whispered, "That's more like it." while Evan smiled.
Helios soon got ready to catch the ball back.
However, a sudden call of concern took his attention. "Helios! Don't grab it with your bare hands!" Isa warned.
In a blink of the moment, Helios pulled the towel from the back of his trouser and stopped the ball, which spun haphazardly on his palm and fell on the ground lifeless. Helios looked at the towel which was hot from the impact, stunned.
"Oh my~" Seon yul chanted amused.
Elias exhaled, smiling slightly annoyed at him.
"I wonder what I did though." Seon yul thought sweating puzzled.
Romeo observed them fascinated.
"I'll never get tired of watching them." Rovan told pleased.
"Is it because they show you all, this?" Hamza pointed at them humorlessly.
"Nope, it's because they show us continuous evolution." Asim told.
"By the way, what happened to you, Senior Asim. I was surprised by your wicket." Azam asked.
Wasif glanced at Asim curiously.
Asim exhaled replying, "Let's just say I was caught off guard by that child." His gaze tracing Xavier.
Romeo smiled, wondering, "Oh~"
"Rauf…" Elias called, as he left the bat from his hand which cracked into two. Seles and Pedro glanced at each other surprised alongside the middle schoolers who stared with their mouths hanging slightly agape.
"Hm?" Rauf hummed.
"Do you think you could provoke me with just this? I think you knew me better than that." Elias warned smirking.
Rauf closed his eyes responding, "If that's what you think then so be it." "At least you're back to your usual self." he thought relived.