"I need to understand Tendou's world! That's the only way I'll have a chance to catch up to him!"
Isagi Yoichi bit his teeth hard and cut off Team Y's horizontal pass with a slide tackle. The feeling was exhilarating. For a split second, he felt as if the entire field was under his control. He had predicted Team Y's line of attack in advance. Because he knew, he was able to perfectly intercept their pass and break up their offense.
"Is this the world of a genius?"
Isagi quickly got up. When he looked up again, he found that Tendou had already started sprinting, as if mocking him: Your movements are too slow.
Because if he had been even a little slower in releasing the ball, Tendou, with his immense speed, would have been too far ahead. At that point, even if he passed the ball, Tendou probably wouldn't dare to receive it. He would be in an offside position.
Thinking of this, Isagi didn't dare to delay for a second. Like Niko Ikki, he launched a long ball, aiming for Tendou's position.
"Catch this, Tendou!"
BAM!
The ball whistled as it flew towards the front field, straight to Tendou's position. He and Niko Ikki were really quite similar, both possessing an extremely strong sense of spatial awareness and a knack for using their brains. It was just that later on, Niko found joy in being a defender and, in the later stages of the manga, showed an intention to switch positions, while Isagi always remained active in the attack.
Tendou rapidly pumped his legs, sprinting. The camera switched to his first-person perspective, giving the audience a more direct view of just how fast he was when he sprinted. The viewers in front of the screen only saw the objects on both sides of Tendou's vision rapidly receding, blurring to the point where they couldn't see specifics, only rough outlines.
His white hair flew, his eyes remained bright. He was like a sharp arrow cutting through the air, constantly advancing, and advancing again.
He caught up to the ball, extended a foot to control it forward, and charged at Team Y's defensive line. At this moment, Team Y's defense had even bigger holes than at the start. Tendou charged forward with long strides.
His frantic sprint made Niko's eyelids twitch; he was completely exposed. He hysterically shouted for his teammates to set up the defensive line, while at the same time bravely charging forward himself, trying to buy time for his teammates to track back.
Just as the two were about to make contact, Tendou's body suddenly flashed to the right. Before Niko could understand what was happening, Tendou flashed again to the left. Two flashes, one right and one left, like a crossover in basketball.
In a single face-off, Tendou had left Niko completely in the dust.
At this moment, a level-twelve alarm was blaring in Team Y's backline. But they couldn't just recklessly pounce on Tendou. Because on Tendou's left and right, the guys from Team Z had already swarmed forward. The fastest ones were Bachira Meguru, who had a "monster bond" with Tendou, and the ultimate egoist, Kira Ryosuke. These two ran faster than anyone else; it was as if the moment they saw Tendou move, they started moving too.
In an instant, Tendou had reached the edge of the penalty area. Team Y's two central defenders had no choice but to make a decision and rush forward to stop Tendou.
"Big Data Statistics..."
"Shut up! I can make this kind of play with my eyes closed!"
Tendou directly cut off the system. He had already seen a certain monster wagging its tail at him.
"Over here, Tendou!"
Kira Ryosuke raised his right hand, calling for the ball. Tendou's line of sight shifted over.
Not good!
In that instant, Team Y's goalkeeper had already sensed Tendou's intention; he was planning to thread the ball directly to the right wing. Without thinking, he dove to Tendou's right!
But to his despair, this monster from Team Z, the moment his eyes looked to the right, passed the ball... to the left.
This ball!!
A look-away pass? (Lit: Point East, Strike West)
This despicable guy is already so fierce, yet he's still playing dirty tricks on me! It's insane! Isn't he afraid of getting struck by lightning?
"BOOM!"
There was no one in front of Bachira when he received the ball. He wound up and blasted it with his left foot.
The ball slammed into Team Y's goal for the third time.
3:0!
There were no miracles. Tendou single-handedly created three goals, an assist hat-trick.
The new Sixth Stage ability had given Tendou even more possibilities. No one could treat him as just an attacker anymore. He had become more all-around, more difficult to deal with.
Niko watched everything from behind, his fists already clenched. Just as he had deduced, going on an all-out attack would only cause them to concede more goals. But he didn't blame anyone, because if they didn't attack, Team Y's chances of winning were indeed slim.
"An assist hat-trick!"
Anri Teieri didn't cover her mouth this time. Compared to the two heaven-defying passes from before, while this look-away assist from Tendou was also cool, it seemed more like... basic ops, nothing to be amazed about?
"He is rapidly adapting to the sport of football." Ego Jinpachi stared intently at the screen. This high school student in front of him had only come into contact with football a short while ago and was still very new to its world.
A goal hat-trick in the first match, an assist hat-trick in the second. It seemed more like he was adapting to football, fusing his own abilities with the sport. When he had fully adapted, that Tendou Kageyoshi would be the real Tendou Kageyoshi.
Watching the ball fly into the net, the players of Team Y were in despair. This match was a certain loss. The match time had already passed the 35-minute mark. How could they possibly score three consecutive goals in the remaining ten-plus minutes?
Niko had no solutions at this point either. No matter how his flexible brain turned, he couldn't think of any possibility of winning. Pushing up was too dangerous. One pass from the opponent, one run from Tendou, and they could easily tear their backline apart. But if they didn't push up and commit a large number of players, it was impossible for just a few people to score three goals in just over ten minutes.
Bachira, having scored again, once more pounced towards Tendou's position.
And Tendou?
The familiar half-step back, which sent Bachira face-planting onto the grass. This scene made the audience roar with laughter.
Kira Ryosuke was indignant. If Tendou had just passed the ball to him, he was very confident he could have scored, and then he would have gotten his first brace. But Bachira had scored, so he couldn't say anything. He just felt like he had been used as a pawn by Tendou, which made him very unhappy.
"...My team still needs to be stronger."
He planned to rally more people. Only then could he have more firing rights. Just like Tendou and Isagi. Yes, in Kira Ryosuke's mind, Tendou and Isagi, the two from Ichinan High, were also a small team. Hadn't he seen that after Isagi made the tackle, he only had eyes for Tendou?
The palace scheming had to continue!
...
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