Saitō Itaru's eyes lit up sharply from the sideline. With his mental sense, he could clearly feel the huge change in Kite's strength on the court.
"To actually make a teammate's strength temporarily break through to national level… this is truly unbelievable! Looks like I'll have to get Mitsuya-kun to update his intel when I get back!" Saitō Itaru muttered to himself.
"Kite seems to have broken through. That last shot was clearly not an ordinary Habu!" Krauser said at the sideline.
As Kite's usual partner, he knew Kite's strength very well. Even Tachibana Kippei and the others nodded; they also noticed Kite's transformation—except Tezuka Kunimitsu, who had already gone to warm up.
The ordinary spectators were extremely excited too. That last shot clearly defied their common sense, but they didn't look overly shocked. As the saying goes, after enough surprises, one just gets used to it.
At this moment, Kite himself also felt an obvious difference. He couldn't help but look at Akashi, who was smiling at him and nodded slightly before saying, "Remember this feeling. Your breakthrough is only temporary. Strengthen your training after this, and I believe you'll officially reach national level soon."
"I understand. Thank you, Akashi-kun!" Kite replied solemnly.
Akashi waved his hand, signaling Kite not to worry about it. But now that Kite's strength had broken through, Akashi had no intention of dragging the match any longer—time to finish it quickly.
Akashi tossed the ball high into the air and swung his racket down fiercely. Yamato and Inui could only see a blur before hearing two consecutive sounds: the sharp crack of the hit and the ball landing.
"ACE! 15-0!"
"That serve just now had to be over 215 kilometers per hour! This is your true strength, Akashi!" Inui shouted in disbelief.
Akashi didn't pay any attention to Inui's shock. He casually tested the ball's bounce, his jacket lightly swaying behind him, then tossed the ball again.
"ACE! 30-0!"
"ACE! 40-0!"
As expected, Inui and Yamato couldn't react at all to Akashi's serves. They couldn't even move, standing like statues and listening to the umpire call the score.
Just as Akashi prepared for the final serve, he suddenly remembered something and called to Kite in front of him, "Kite, watch this last ball carefully! This will be the direction for your future training!"
Kite didn't reply but his eyes grew much more serious. Akashi then served, but this time the ball was only around 170 kilometers per hour—he had clearly held back most of his power.
Even though Yamato had heard Akashi's words, he didn't hesitate at all and rushed to the ball's landing spot, quickly hitting it back with Gen'u Yume Utsutsu.
But it was useless before Akashi's Emperor Eye. Akashi moved instantly to the opposite side of the court, glancing at Kite as he did so. Kite focused all his attention on Akashi's movements.
When Akashi reached the right side of the court, the ball suddenly appeared in front of him. He swung his racket at it, and the moment it touched the racket, a dark aura enveloped the ball—and it vanished.
Inui and Yamato were both stunned. Inui quickly tried to recover, thinking it was a technique like Chitose Senri's Kamikakushi, and retreated to the backcourt, ready for the return.
But then both Yamato and Inui suddenly felt the entire court plunge into darkness. Not a trace of light remained. An enormous tennis ball glowing with a dark light appeared before them.
"Dark Strike!"
"This… this… what is this! I can't calculate it… it's completely beyond my data!" Inui stammered.
Yamato stood frozen. The pitch-black surroundings overwhelmed his mind, making it impossible to think—the return had far surpassed what he could comprehend.
In an instant, they heard a thunderous crash, and all the darkness disappeared. Cracks spread across the ground before them, and the ball was now embedded in the fence behind them.
Dark Strike didn't have as much destructive power as Light Strike. Its true strength was in exposing weaknesses in darkness, utterly crushing an opponent's will. Of course, though its direct power wasn't as overwhelming, it was still far beyond what ordinary players could return.
Actually, to unleash Dark Strike's full potential required combining it with other techniques—just like Amadeus' Ballena. But Akashi's goal wasn't to crush Inui and Yamato; it was simply to show Kite what Dark Strike looked like.
"GAME! 6-0! Match over! Winner, Fudomine Middle School!" The umpire finally announced, though his voice clearly trembled.
The court's sudden plunge into darkness had startled the umpire as well. Luckily, he regained his composure quickly, but he was visibly shaken.
"A world-class technique! This far surpasses what I expected! Are today's middle schoolers really this terrifying?" Even Saitō Itaru was stunned this time.
At the sideline, Fuji and the others were deeply shocked. They couldn't imagine how Akashi had hit that shot, even though they'd seen Akutsu Jin's half-complete Light Strike during training.
Forget Fuji and the others—even Fudomine's regulars were amazed, including Tezuka, who had just returned from warming up. Of course, they weren't surprised by Akashi's strength, but by this Dark Strike they had never seen before.
So this was the other move Akashi had hinted was derived from the Super Sweetspot, but somehow, everyone felt that this technique strangely suited Kite's aura perfectly.
As Akashi walked off the court, Tachibana was the first to ask, "Akashi, what was that last shot?"
Akashi noticed everyone watching him with eager eyes—even Akutsu—and he smiled faintly as he answered, "Oh, that? It's called Dark Strike. It's another technique derived from the Super Sweetspot, on the same level as Light Strike, but with a different focus."
"Dark Strike…" Akutsu Jin muttered the name softly. For some reason, he felt a natural resistance to this move deep in his bones.
Very quickly, Fudomine's team snapped out of their daze. They were already used to it—miraculous things always happened around Akashi, so they weren't surprised anymore.
In fact, Dark Strike was something Akashi developed himself by combining his memories from his past life with his mastery of the Super Sweetspot technique. Back when he first obtained Light Strike, he had already considered Dark Strike, but since he hadn't completely integrated the Sweetspot technique into instinct back then, he had shelved it temporarily.
During the training camp, while thinking of ways to help his team improve, he remembered Dark Strike again and felt it was perfect for Kite, so he resumed developing it.
Meanwhile, Yamato and Inui were slowly helped off the court by the Seigaku players. Although Dark Strike hadn't caused them any physical injuries, the psychological impact was unavoidable.
Fuji, who had just finished warming up, looked at the two with concern and called out, "Captain Yamato, Inui! Are you both okay?"
Yamato shook his head, indicating he was fine. For him, the match brought both bad and good news: the bad was their crushing defeat, but the good was that although his arm hurt, it hadn't reached its limit and his old injury hadn't flared up.
Inui was silent for a moment before regaining his composure, but his eyes were filled with a hunger for knowledge. Akashi's shot had opened the door to a whole new world for him.
"The next match will be Singles 3. Players, please enter the court!"
Soon after, the umpire announced the start of Singles 3. Fuji and Tezuka Kunimitsu stepped onto the court together. When they met at the net, Fuji smiled and said, "Tezuka, it's been a long time since we've played a match, hasn't it? Let's go all out today!"
"Yes. Give it everything you've got, Fuji!" Tezuka replied seriously.
Fuji won the coin toss, giving Seigaku the serve once again. Akashi watched from the sidelines, feeling a bit speechless—Tezuka never seemed to win serve rights in these tosses.
"One game match! Seishun Academy to serve first!"
Fuji stood at the baseline, holding the tennis ball up in front of him. As he released it, he added a counterclockwise spin with his left hand, and his racket swung up from below, delivering an underhand serve.
"Disappearing Serve!"
The ball flew over the net, bounced, and started darting back and forth rapidly before vanishing right in front of Tezuka's eyes. But Tezuka didn't panic at all. He made a quick turn and swung his racket, connecting perfectly with the ball and sending it back.
"As expected, it's useless… you're still so strong, Tezuka!" Fuji said as he sprinted toward the return point.
Reaching the ball, Fuji hit a sharp cross-court shot, but just as it crossed the net, a white spiral of air rose around Tezuka, pulling the ball straight toward him.
"So you're already using Tezuka Zone?" Fuji said seriously, eyes wide open.
Tezuka stood in the center of the baseline, calmly waiting. He took the incoming ball with a forehand drive. Fuji chased it down and returned it. The two began an intense rally.
The difference was clear: Fuji had to keep running side to side, while Tezuka barely moved, adjusting his posture as the ball came to him. Against ordinary opponents, Zone made him almost unbeatable.
"Zone, huh? Really… each of them is so talented, not inferior to Byoudouin Houou or the others…" Saitō Itaru said excitedly from the sidelines. But when he remembered Akashi and the others were still just first-years, his expression darkened with worry.
After several rallies, Fuji realized he couldn't break through Tezuka's Zone with ordinary shots. He smiled wryly and said, "Looks like normal shots really won't beat you… then I'll just have to use this!"
With that, Fuji rushed to the net with both hands gripping his racket. As the ball approached, he twisted his wrists rapidly, causing the ball to spin wildly on his racket until all its spin disappeared completely.
"Fourth Counter! Kagerō Zutsumi!"
With all rotation and speed lost, Fuji lightly pushed the ball over the net, where it dropped gently.
"15-0!"
Tezuka's expression changed for the first time. He looked deeply at Fuji—he hadn't expected his Zone to be broken so easily. Fuji's improvement was clearly remarkable.
Fuji returned to the baseline to serve again, this time skipping the Disappearing Serve, knowing it wouldn't work on Tezuka. He launched a high-speed serve instead, and the two began another fierce rally.
Seeing Tezuka activate Zone again, Fuji smiled faintly and used Kagerō Zutsumi once more. But this time, Tezuka didn't give him the chance to drop the ball. He rushed the net swiftly.
Fuji, seeing Tezuka's move, abandoned the drop shot idea. He unleashed a powerful two-handed drive, forcing Tezuka back. Tezuka intercepted and returned the ball quickly without adding Zone's spin.
They began a battle of pure, fundamental tennis. Sharp-angled shots flew back and forth, exciting the surrounding spectators. Eventually, Fuji seized a brief opening in Tezuka's stance and unleashed a perfectly executed Tsubame Gaeshi, scoring again.
"30-0!"
Akashi nodded slightly from the sidelines. He was now certain Fuji's Tsubame Gaeshi had already evolved into Hoo Gaeshi, though Fuji was still hiding it.
Tezuka didn't seem fazed by the second lost point. His expression stayed stern as he retreated to the baseline, ready for Fuji's next serve. Fuji didn't hesitate and served another powerful shot.
As the two continued their aggressive exchanges, the ball's speed kept climbing. But oddly, Tezuka refrained from using any special techniques, perhaps wanting to see just how far Fuji's strength had come.
"40-0!"
"GAME! Seishun Academy! 1-0!"
In the end, Fuji held his serve, surprising Fudomine's players. They all admitted Fuji was strong, but to win a game directly off Tezuka—that was hard to accept.