The stadium was silent, save for the rhythmic bouncing of the ball and the ragged, desperate gasping of a fallen King.
The match had barely begun, but the hierarchy had already been shattered. Barou Shoei, the physical specimen who believed himself to be the absolute ruler of the pitch, was on his hands and knees.
Renzo Takamine stood over him, looking down with eyes that held no pity, only a cold, scientific curiosity. He flicked the ball up with his toe, sending it arcing toward the penalty area where Nagi Seishiro was waiting.
"Nagi," Renzo's voice cut through the silence. "The bug is squashed. Finish it."
Nagi simply extended his leg, trapping the ball with a cushion touch that killed its momentum instantly. The Team X goalkeeper rushed out screaming, trying to make himself big.
"Hassle," Nagi muttered.
He didn't even wind up for a shot. He just poked the ball with the tip of his boot.
The ball trickled into the net.
GOAL.Team V: 1 - Team X: 0Scorer: Nagi Seishiro (Assisted by Renzo Takamine)
Nagi didn't celebrate. He just turned around and walked back to the center circle, passing the still-kneeling Barou.
"Hey, King," Nagi said lazily. "Get up. You're blocking the view."
Barou's hands clawed into the artificial turf. His knuckles turned white.
"Don't... mock me..." Barou hissed, spit flying from his lips. He pushed himself up, his eyes bloodshot and filled with a murderous rage. "I'll kill you all!"
Renzo watched him rise. A dark, twisted amusement danced in his teal eyes.
"That's it," Renzo whispered. "Get angry. Get desperate. It makes breaking you so much more fun."
Kickoff.
Team X restarted the game. Barou screamed at his teammate, Burai, demanding the ball.
"GIVE IT TO ME!"
Daido passed it fearfully. Barou took the ball and charged straight at Renzo again. He wasn't thinking anymore. His "King" persona demanded immediate retribution. He had to crush Renzo. He had to run him over.
He lowered his shoulder, preparing for a collision.
Renzo stood still. He waited until Barou was a meter away.
Then, Renzo stepped aside. Like a matador dodging a bull.
As Barou stumbled past, Renzo stuck a foot in and tapped the ball away. It was effortless.
"Too slow," Renzo said.
Renzo took the ball. He could have countered. He could have passed to Zantetsu on the wing. The path was open.
But he didn't.
Renzo stopped. He put his foot on the ball and turned around to face Barou, who was scrambling to recover.
Then, Renzo rolled the ball gently across the grass and stopped at the feet of the confused Team X striker.
"Huh?" Barou blinked, his brain short-circuiting.
"Try again," Renzo said, his voice echoing in the silent stadium. "You said you were the King. Surely a King can get past one extra, right? Come on. I'm giving you a handicap."
Barou's face went from red to purple. The disrespect was palpable. It was suffocating. Renzo wasn't playing a match; he was running a training drill, and Barou was the cone.
"BASTARD!"
Barou charged again. He tried a Lightning Chop. He cut hard to the right, his boots tearing up the turf.
Renzo mirrored him perfectly. He utilized the core strength he had honed, keeping his upper body still while his legs moved like pistons. He blocked the path.
Barou chopped left. Renzo was there. Barou tried to spin. Renzo poked the ball.
It was a cage. No matter where Barou moved, Renzo was standing in his way, smiling that terrifying, serene smile.
"Is that all?" Renzo taunted. "Where is the tyranny? Where is the villainy?"
Renzo stepped in, using his shoulder to bump Barou off balance. The King stumbled. Renzo took the ball.
This time, he didn't give it back.
Renzo exploded forward. He dribbled straight through the heart of Team X. Rian tried to tackle him; Renzo did a roulette. Kosei Otsuka tried to block him; Renzo performed a rainbow flick over his head.
He reached the edge of the box and smashed a shot into the top corner.
GOAL.Team V: 2 - Team X: 0Scorer: Renzo Takamine
"Two," Renzo counted, looking back at Barou.
The Massacre Continued.
The match became a horror show.
Every time Team X got the ball, Renzo would hunt Barou down. And if Renzo got the ball, he would sometimes wait for Barou to catch up, just to beat him again.
15th Minute.
Renzo intercepted a pass intended for Barou.
"Here, Your Highness," Renzo said, rolling the ball toward Barou's feet.
Barou, panting heavily, stared at the ball. He hesitated. For the first time in his life, Barou Shoei hesitated to touch a football.
"What's wrong?" Renzo asked, tilting his head. "Scared?"
Barou roared and lunged for the ball.
Renzo pulled it back — a Cruyff turn — leaving Barou sliding on the grass.
Renzo looked upfield. "Zantetsu!"
He launched a long ball to the right wing. Zantetsu Tsurugi engaged his acceleration, blowing past the demoralized Team X defenders.
"I am the speed of sound!" Zantetsu announced. He cut inside and curled a shot into the far post.
GOAL.Team V: 3 - Team X: 0Scorer: Zantetsu Tsurugi (Assisted by Renzo Takamine)
Barou pounded the ground with his fist. "Damn it! DAMN IT!"
25th Minute.
The pattern repeated. Renzo passed to Barou. Barou tried to dribble. Renzo stole it.
This time, Barou tried to use his strength. He backed into Renzo, trying to post him up.
"I'm stronger than you!" Barou grunted, pushing back.
"Are you?" Renzo whispered.
Renzo didn't push back. He pulled.
He stepped back at the exact moment Barou leaned in. Without the resistance, Barou lost his balance, falling backward. Renzo deftly lifted the ball over the falling giant.
Renzo drove forward. He saw Nagi making a run.
"Gift for you, Genius," Renzo said, chipping the ball.
Nagi trapped it with his chest, turned, and volleyed it home.
GOAL.Team V: 4 - Team X: 0Scorer: Nagi Seishiro (Assisted by Renzo Takamine)
35th Minute.
Reo Mikage decided he wanted in on the action. Renzo had stolen the ball from Barou yet again — this time with a sliding tackle that was clean as a whistle.
Renzo passed to Reo.
Reo dribbled through the midfield, feeling the freedom Renzo had created. The entire Team X defense had collapsed, staring at Renzo in fear, leaving massive gaps.
Reo took a shot from distance.
GOAL.Team V: 5 - Team X: 0Scorer: Reo Mikage
By the second half, Team X had stopped passing to Barou.
"Don't give it to him!" Yuzu Dokomo yelled at his teammates. "He loses it every time! He just charges at that blue-haired freak and gets stripped!"
"He's useless!"
Barou stood isolated in the attack. His own subjects had revolted. The King was naked.
Renzo noticed this. He walked up to Barou during a break in play. Barou was staring at the ground, sweat dripping from his nose, his chest heaving with exhaustion and shame.
"They stopped trusting you," Renzo noted calmly. "The King has no subjects left."
Barou didn't answer. He couldn't. His pride was shattered into a million pieces.
"But I haven't given up on you," Renzo smiled cruelly. "I'll keep playing with you."
50th Minute.
Renzo took the ball from the kickoff. He dribbled past the entire Team X midfield. He arrived at the penalty box.
Barou had tracked back. He was desperate. He was playing defense — something the King never did.
"I won't let you score!" Barou screamed, throwing his body in front of Renzo.
Renzo performed a scissor feint. Left. Right. Left.
Barou's legs tangled. He fell onto his backside.
Renzo stood over him, paused for a full second to let the humiliation sink in, and then chipped the ball over Barou's head and into the goal.
GOAL.Team V: 6 - Team X: 0Scorer: Renzo Takamine (Hat-trick)
65th Minute.
Renzo scored a volley from outside the box. Barou didn't even chase him.
GOAL.Team V: 7 - Team X: 0Scorer: Renzo Takamine
80th Minute.
Renzo danced through the defense, nutmegged the keeper, and walked the ball into the net.
GOAL.Team V: 8 - Team X: 0Scorer: Renzo Takamine
The clock ticked toward the 90th minute.
The score was 8-0.
Barou Shoei was a shell. He was standing in the center circle, his head hanging low. He looked smaller. The aura of the King was gone, replaced by the stench of defeat.
Team V had the ball. Reo passed to Renzo.
Renzo stopped the ball. He looked at Barou.
"One more," Renzo said.
He dribbled toward Barou. Slowly.
Barou looked up. His eyes were dull. "Just... end it."
"Not yet," Renzo said. "Defend me. Try to stop me. If you don't, you're not even a striker. You're just a pedestrian."
Something in Barou snapped. A final, desperate spark of ego.
"RAAAHHHH!"
Barou lunged. It was a clumsy, reckless tackle. He didn't care about the ball. He wanted to hurt Renzo. He wanted to erase the source of his pain.
Renzo saw it coming.
Balance.
Renzo hopped. A simple, vertical jump.
Barou slid underneath him, tearing up the grass, finding nothing but air.
Renzo landed gracefully on the other side. Barou lay on the ground, face down in the dirt, completely spent. He couldn't get up. His legs refused to move.
Renzo didn't sprint away. He walked.
He walked past the weeping Team X defenders. He walked past the terrified goalkeeper who stepped aside rather than face him.
Renzo stopped on the goal line. He turned around to look at the field one last time. He saw Barou lifting his head from the dirt, watching with tear-filled, hateful eyes.
Renzo tapped the ball with his heel.
It rolled over the line.
GOAL.Team V: 9 - Team X: 0Scorer: Renzo Takamine (5 Goals)
Full Time.
The final whistle blew. It was a mercy killing.
The scoreboard lit up the dark stadium, the numbers burning into the retinas of everyone present.
TEAM V: 9TEAM X: 0
The Team X players collapsed. Some were vomiting from exhaustion. Others were crying.
Barou Shoei was still on the ground near the center circle. He was on his hands and knees, staring at the grass. His sweat formed a puddle beneath him.
I lost... Barou thought. I didn't just lose. I was nothing. I was a toy.
He heard footsteps approaching.
He saw a pair of cleats stop in front of his face.
Barou slowly looked up.
Renzo Takamine towered over him. Renzo wasn't sweating. His breathing was calm. He looked like he had just finished a light jog in the park.
Renzo crouched down, bringing his face level with Barou's.
"Look at the scoreboard, Barou," Renzo commanded softly.
Barou didn't want to look. But he couldn't look away. The 9-0 stared back at him.
"You called yourself the King," Renzo said, his voice devoid of anger, filled only with a cold, piercing truth. "You thought that because you could bully weaklings in your high school, you were special. You thought the world revolved around you."
Renzo reached out and patted Barou on the head. It was a gesture of ultimate condescension. Like petting a dog.
"But you've never seen the ocean, have you?" Renzo smiled. "You've spent your whole life sitting at the bottom of a dark, little well, croaking about how big you are."
Barou trembled. Tears of frustration streamed down his face, mixing with the dirt on his cheeks.
"You're not a King," Renzo whispered, standing up and turning his back. "You're just a frog."
Renzo began to walk away, his silhouette long under the stadium lights.
"Goodbye, King of the Well. Enjoy the mud."
Reo, Nagi, and Zantetsu fell into formation behind Renzo.
"That was brutal," Reo murmured, glancing back at the broken figure of Barou. "Nine-zero... we really did it."
"He's crying," Nagi noted, looking back. "Renzo made the King cry."
"He was annoying," Renzo shrugged, pulling his phone out of his pocket as he walked. "I wonder if I have enough points for a steak now. Or maybe a day out."
He didn't look back.
Behind them, Barou Shoei slammed his forehead into the ground, a guttural scream of despair ripping from his throat.
"RENZOOOOO TAKAMINEEEEE!!!!"
The scream echoed through the facility, a vow of vengeance from a shattered soul. But the Demon of Team V was already gone, his mind already drifting to a redheaded girl and the promise of freedom.