The battle raged on.
Under Barou's iron-fisted command, Team X launched their final, desperate counter-offensive. In the last ten minutes of the match, the entire team seemed to tap into a hidden reservoir of stamina, hurling themselves repeatedly against Team Z's defensive line.
Seeing the shifting tide, Kira had no choice but to retreat deep into his own half to bolster the defense. For the members of Team Z, the pressure was suffocating. Every second felt like an eternity. They knew this was the dying struggle of a cornered beast, a violent storm they had to weather. If they could just hold on until the whistle, the glory would be theirs.
Barou lived up to his reputation as the King. Despite the grueling physical toll of the match, he managed to weave through the chaos, nearly reaching the edge of the penalty area multiple times. But Raichi and Kunigami were finished giving him breathing room. They swarmed him, denying him even an inch of space to set up a shot. Wave after wave of attacks crashed against Team Z, only to be cleared away by a desperate, resolute defense.
Tweet!
The final whistle pierced the air, cutting through the tension.
As the players of Team X collapsed to the turf with hollow, devastated expressions, the reality set in. In the opening match of Building 5, Team Z had emerged victorious!
The defeat left Team X paralyzed. They had pushed themselves to the absolute brink, yet the result remained unchanged. Barou lay flat on the grass, staring at the sky as he replayed every moment in his mind. Kira's silhouette haunted his thoughts. It was because of him. If not for that guy, Barou knew he would be the one standing tall.
For the first time in his life, the King who had never known defeat in high school had been humbled. It was a bitter, necessary lesson.
In contrast to the somber silence of Team X, the Team Z side erupted.
"Yeah! We did it!"
"The lowest-ranked team actually won!"
"Hahaha! I told you losers the great Raichi would shine!"
The team swarmed Kira, pulling him into a flurry of high-fives and triumphant shouts. Amidst the celebration, Kira caught sight of a lone figure sitting further down the pitch: Chigiri Hyoma. Kira noticed the distant look in his eyes and knew the boy was likely dwelling on his fall while marking Barou. He didn't approach him just yet. Some walls had to be broken from the inside, and he would find a better time to draw the Red Panther out later.
For now, it was time to savor the win with his teammates.
Inside the monitoring room, Ego Jinpachi sat alone, having watched every second of the clash.
Gulp, gulp...
He drained a bottle of water, realizing he had been so engrossed in the data that he'd forgotten to hydrate. His eyes remained fixed on the image of Kira on the screen. That final goal... it felt as if Kira had reached out and plucked Barou's very essence, wearing it as his own.
Was the boy truly that adaptable, or had he been hiding his true potential all along?
"Interesting," Ego murmured, a thin smirk tugging at his lips. "I wonder who the bigger monster is... you, or Itoshi Rin?"
Back in the Team Z locker room, the celebration was in full swing. Bachira had stripped down completely, cheering wildly without a care in the world.
"Kira, you were absolutely perfect today!"
Kira immediately looked away. He really couldn't handle this guy's lack of boundaries.
"Hey, Bachira! Stop swinging that thing around!" Kunigami shouted, flexing his massive physique as he gestured threateningly at the naked dribbler.
"Got it, Mr. Discipline!" Bachira stuck his tongue out but finally relented, pulling his shorts back on.
"I still say the victory belongs to me for locking down that mohawk freak," Raichi boasted, puffing out his chest. "You small-fries only won because I carried you!"
Igarashi didn't hesitate to burst his bubble. "Is that right? Because I seem to remember him styling on you with a rainbow flick."
"What was that? You want to die, monk?"
Raichi lunged, and Igarashi scrambled behind Kira, using him as a shield while they played a frantic game of cat-and-mouse.
Kira watched them with a faint smile, but his mind was already analyzing the game. Their victory rested on two pillars: they had organized their roles faster than their opponents, and he had performed as a true ace. Without those factors, the match could have easily swung the other way.
"Kira," Isagi asked, his voice filled with a mix of hope and uncertainty. "If we keep playing like this, we can win it all, right?"
Kira thought about the monsters waiting for them in the coming matches.
"You all saw the level today," Kira said, his tone turning serious. "That was just our first opponent, and they already had a star like Barou. The teams we face next will have players just as good, maybe even more of them. We're still the lowest-ranked squad. To keep winning, we have to keep evolving our individual weapons and refine how we use them together."
The room grew quiet as the team processed his words. They realized how thin the margin of victory had been. Their foundation was still shaky, but as Kira saw it, that just meant they had the most room to grow.
"Ego talked about moving from zero to one," Kira continued. "We have our 'one' now, but our tactics are still too one-dimensional..."
Static...
"You're learning fast."
Ego's voice crackled through the intercom, and his gaunt face appeared on the locker room monitor.
"There's a screen in here too?" Igarashi squeaked, jumping back.
"Just now, the second match of Building 5 concluded," Ego announced. "Team V defeated Team Y. The final score: 8-0."
"Eight to zero?"
"You've got to be kidding... how can there be that much of a gap?"
The room went cold. Kira frowned. If he remembered correctly, Team V housed three genuine freaks: Zantetsu Tsurugi, Reo Mikage, and the genius Seishiro Nagi. They were players built to survive the long haul in Blue Lock.
Ego looked satisfied with their stunned reactions. "Your team was the quickest to grasp the concept of 'zero to one.' You assigned roles and found a rhythm faster than most. But that is nowhere near enough. If you simply sacrifice yourselves so a striker can score, how are you any different from the mediocre Japanese teams of the past?"
"Do not let your positions limit you. Think. What is your weapon?"
"The unique, singular weapon you bring to the pitch is the only thing that will allow you to survive this first selection."
As Ego's lecture continued, Kira closed his eyes. He thought about his own identity. His original body had incredible off-the-ball movement; during the game, he hadn't even needed to think—his legs just found the gaps. But as Barou had said, that talent was dependent on others. Without a provider, he was just a bird with nowhere to land.
But his System changed everything. It allowed him to temporarily absorb the attributes of his rivals, turning him into a superior version of them. It was a Trial Card for greatness. Even if it only lasted ten minutes, it was a game-changer.
Furthermore, he realized the effects weren't entirely temporary. After the Barou Trial ended, he felt a lingering familiarity with the movements. He could feel the muscle memory of the rainbow flick and the weight of Kunigami's left-footed power. Given enough time and enough trials, these stolen skills would eventually become his own permanent arsenal.
Confidence surged through him.
"That's all for now. Think deeply, you unpolished gems," Ego said before the screen went black.
The team remained in a pensive silence. They looked at Kira, remembering how he had mentioned their weapons the day before. They realized his vision was always several steps ahead of theirs. In the hierarchy of Team Z, Kira's position as the undisputed leader was final.