Red Flower of the Night
She’s an immortal who had lived for more than 1000 years, and within that long time of living, she had experienced everything that a human could experience. One of which that had made her heart close under the sweet younger sister façade she always have, the biggest regret she swore that she shouldn’t have done but she never had considered a mistake; falling in love. To be alive for more than a millennium would sound cool and exciting, but not until you find yourself losing the people whom you love one by one, as you continue to exist through time. She had stepped foot and lived in every single city and town that exists in every country and continent of the world, with an unparalleled knowledge developed and improved through time, she could easily pass any type of exam to have any profession she’d like. Her immortality had granted her the privilege she had used to dream of before waking up and finding everyone she love to grow old and die while she’s still standing through the passing of time. The pain had taught her distance, to get close and to get detached as easy as she could count in each existing language, but this doesn’t mean she no longer cared about other people, it’s just that she had developed a defense mechanism to detach as soon as she knew they‘d be dying. Stepping into a world where ability and experience matter, with light focused on their every move and the prying eyes of the viewers, how long could she last after turning her back from the privileges she’s been used to having? In face of the unfamiliar struggles and the recurring emotion where a certain regret of hers has rooted, how far can her defense mechanism protect her? Can she step forward or will she resort to burning bridges once again? “To love is to learn to accept that you can’t run away forever. To love is to be free and brave enough to fight your fears.”
Palomas Negras
"Good game," Key and Rio said and gave each other a high five after standing up
Key sat down again and read some of the pop-up comments on the screen, she noticed that the viewers are commenting about their teamwork, one statement, in particular, took her attention not only because the username seem familiar to her but also because of the comment it left.
Praevalens: It's nice to see two supposed substitutes playing a game.
Key doesn't feel good about it so she pressed some keys on the keyboard to capture a shot of her screen.
"I'm going to end the live here," Key said while smiling
"Have a good day, everyone," she added and ended the live then turned off the camera
"Did something happen?" El immediately asked
What Key did was rather out of her character, usually, when she goes on live, it lasts for hours, but now, she just went on live for less than half an hour.
"I just remembered that we're going to have a training match later, it would be against the agreement to stream it, right?" She replied and El nodded but he caught a glimpse of the tab she opened
He was confused when Key opened a social media site after closing her live and sent the screenshot of her screen to someone named 'TL', but he didn't ask anything thinking that it's just one of Key's friends.
Meanwhile, Key messaged TL to investigate the said username using her phone after closing the tab on the computer browser.
She checked her inbox and saw that the Troublemakers had sent her a file, it's a complete report about the owner of the account that messaged Key, they traced the person's IP address and hacked in to find out the person behind the account and his personal information.
"Are you guys ready for the training match?" Bright asked them
"We already contacted the other party's manager, we'll start the game in five." Dewy said while tapping on his phone's screen
They logged into the game and waited for the game invite from Palomas Negras.
When it arrived, they immediately accepted the invite and started the game with the banning part.
"Oh, they're not aware of how important banning Foschia is." Quant kidded
"Who is Foschia for them to be wary of?" Rasheed said
"That's true, Captain! Foschia didn't do anything wrong." Key agreed
"Someone's eager to play her Foschia." Alexei teased and Key chuckled
"Don't jinx it," Key said and they proceeded with the banning part then the shinigami selection
After the banning part and shinigami selection, they started the game.
Key stayed in the middle lane to develop her shinigami along with El and as soon as she developed into Level 5, she rushed to the Kitsune's Forest, her jungle because the opposing off-laner is currently dealing with her Kitsune.
"El, can you come here?" She asked El
"Wait, I'll level up soon," El replied and started finishing off some minions
"Alright, I'm on my way," El said and navigated his shinigami to their jungle just in time for his Ausu to deal the finishing damage on the Kitsune, stealing it from the opponent
El and Key headed to the middle lane after dealing with the off-laner, the first blood of this match, then saw that the other team's mid-laner is already dealing damage to their tower.
Using Foschia's Extasia, Key stunned the mid-laner and she worked with El's Ausu to drain the opponent's Blitz.
After that, they started destroying the defense towers that belong to the Palomas Negras, while El is working on the defense tower, Key ventured to the top lane and joined the fight between Opal's Chikara and the opponent's Coraje.
Her presence made the battle one-sided and Chikara immediately won. After their victory in the top lane, Key then ventured to the Manticore's Den.
"Middle lane cleared," El declared
"El, let's go to the Manticore's Den." Key called out to El
"Okay," El said and went to the Manticore's Den
Kashmiri's Foschia stayed hidden in the bush and when El's Ausu was within her vision, she charged in and stunned the Manticore.
"Go to the Hydra after that," Rasheed ordered them
"Yes, Captain," they said while doing their own business
Rasheed's Bellum and Quant's Sournoise are dealing against Paloma Negras Forward's Maesta and the opposing Support's Evocatrice.
They are all equal in terms of damage dealt and current shinigami level therefore no one seems to have the upper hand or the sure dominance.
"Key, go to the bottom lane," El said and Key turned to him for a moment before doing what he asked
As soon as she arrived, she used her shinigami's Extasia to stun the two opponents. As they are now stunned, together with Sournoise and Bellum, Foschia attacked the immobilized opponents.
After dealing with the Forward and Support from Palomas Negras, they headed to the Hydra's Lair.
"Stay in the bushes when you arrive," Rasheed commanded as he navigated his shinigami
"We can't, Captain," Opal said while avoiding the attacks coming from the opposing top-laner
"We're cornered," El said but then a familiar username appeared and stunned all the opponents in the Hydra's Lair
"Just in time," Key said and they started dealing with the stunned opponents
When Rasheed, Opal, and Quant arrived at the monster pit, the three of them had already wiped out the three resurrected opponents from Palomas Negras.
"Destroy the towers," Rasheed said while he and Quant dealt with claiming the half-blooded Hydra
"Yes, Captain," they replied
Opal headed to the top lane while El headed to the bottom lane, as for Key, she had set her eyes on the final defense tower in front of the opponent's Base.
Thinking that they had aced the opponent after killing the three newly resurrected members in the Hydra's Lair, Key wasn't worried that the opponents will sneak and attack her from behind.
"Guys, back up," Key called out when her blood was close to zero after she received an attack from the newly resurrected shinigami
"I miscounted, I didn't realize that they had already resurrected." Key admitted and did her best to run to safety but she received the finishing blow from the opponent, draining her blood
"Ah, I'm dead," Key said and sighed
"Follow us to the base as soon as you resurrect," Rasheed said and they headed to the Base
They started dealing with the final outer defense tower, it only had half of its health left, and with a combination of Ausu, Chikara, and Sournoise's fist skills, the outer defense tower was destroyed.
El, Opal, Rasheed, and Quant faced off with the five players of Palomas Negras.
They all only have half of their blood remaining, so against these five full-blooded opponents, it's obvious that they are at a disadvantage.
The large-scale team fight continued and JLNC was given a chance at getting even when Foschia arrived at the opponent's base and stunned all the opponents.
The 15-second stun time provided them was more than enough for the four members who only have less than half of their blood remaining, Foschia continued the fight as her teammates died behind her one by one.
And when it was down to her against two opponents, she used her ultimate skill directed at the base tower.
Seachmall destroyed the tower completely just as Kashmiri's blood was drained by the remaining opponents.
"Victory," Key declared and placed her headphones on the table
"Congratulations," Dewy greeted them
"We should eat out!" Quant announced
"What's the occasion?" Rasheed asked while removing his headphones
"It's been a while since we last ate outside," Quant said
"I'm in," Alexei said
"Make that four," El said and turned to face Rasheed
"I'll join too," Opal said
"Add me in," Rio said while raising his hand
"That's seven, including me and Dewy." Bright supported making Dewy look at him in amusement
"How about you, Key?" Quant asked Key who's now using her phone
"I'll go with the majority," Key replied then she looked up with a smile for a bit before going back to tapping her phone again
"Fine," Rasheed said and stood up
"Yes!" They cheered and Key smiled as well after looking up from her phone
"Did you have a misunderstanding with a friend?" Rio asked and stopped in front of Key making her look at him
"Huh?" Key asked him quite confused at the hypothesis
"Ah, it's nothing, you're just making the same expression as Kami." Rio added and walked past her
Key's lips formed a small smile and she closed the messaging app before she stood up and followed them out of the gaming base.
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