"Steal my future? Don't joke with me, Yukimura-kun!" Oni shouted, even though he already knew he might have fallen into the trap. His aura still refused to yield.
But while Oni said this, the visions in his head kept throwing him off. Without realizing it, the Oni God's Alternate Dimension had already begun to shrink under the pressure of Morpheus's domain.
With Yukimura's constant offense, the images of losing points in Oni's mind grew clearer. He saw himself failing to reach Yukimura's drop shot, the ball falling just over the net.
'Could this really be the future? Then all I need to do is avoid letting that happen, and Yukimura's move will fail…' Oni thought as he hit the ball back.
"Oni-senpai, are you thinking about how to avoid my drop shot? Too bad. The future is set in stone—you can't escape it!" Yukimura said, as if reading Oni's thoughts, unsettling his mind.
Oni didn't let Yukimura's words shake him, but after several more rallies, he hit a Black Jack Knife. Suddenly he realized Yukimura's movement matched the vision in his head, but it was already too late.
Yukimura stepped to the net, blocked with both hands, and instead of smashing, he gently pushed the ball. It slipped just over the net at a sharp angle, landed, and bounced weakly before stopping.
"30-0!"
"It really was exactly the same as the vision!" Oni muttered, shaken despite himself.
But Yukimura's Future Steal didn't stop there. The next two points played out exactly as in Oni's visions. Even though he stayed sharp, the results still unfolded as if predetermined.
"40-0!"
"Game! Second String Selection! 4-1!"
"Future Steal? No way such a technique exists!" Toono finally lost it. He had thought Byoudouin's tennis was already insane, and Alternate Dimensions were barely acceptable, but Yukimura's ability was beyond his comprehension.
"There's nothing impossible, Toono-senpai. Data Tennis can achieve similar effects, though not as strong as Yukimura-kun's. Data relies on probabilities," Mitsuya explained calmly.
"Data, huh? If I'm right, Yukimura calculated all of Oni's possible returns, found the most likely opening, and turned it into reality?" Kimijima narrowed his eyes, giving his own analysis.
"Tch. To be pushed around by a middle school brat like this… Oni really has fallen," Byoudouin snorted, glaring at him coldly.
"Oni's strength is far greater than this! He's even stronger than before!" A voice suddenly cut in from behind, surprising everyone.
They turned to see Kaji Kazena walking toward them, patches of bandages still on his face—likely from last night's match against Oni.
"What are you doing here, Kaji? Shouldn't you be in the infirmary?" Toono asked bluntly.
"Heh~ who knows? The coaches called me out. Besides, Oni didn't go all out on me. My injuries aren't serious, I just couldn't catch my breath at the time," Kaji shrugged with a helpless tone.
"I see. So the coaches want you to fill Echizen Ryōga's vacant spot~" Tanegashima teased knowingly.
"Hmph. Boring. Just watch the match," Byoudouin said coldly, glancing at Kaji.
"Yes, boss!" Kaji answered quickly. He knew better than to argue, especially when his strength was still below Oni's.
On the coach's bench, Akashi also noticed Kaji. After thinking for a moment, he understood the coaches' reasoning. After all, this was still a shuffle match that determined members of the Japan Team. They couldn't just leave a blank.
Right now, Kaji was the only one left in the camp capable of stepping up. He was the same type of player as the former Japan No.1, Itō Hikaru. Although Akashi believed Kaji had no chance against Tezuka, for the coaches it was better than having no one.
Meanwhile, the match had become dire for Oni. Against Yukimura's Future Steal, he had almost no resistance. Each rally stretched into more than 20 shots, but Oni always ended up the one losing points.
"0-15!"
"0-30!"
"0-40!"
"Game! Second String Selection! 5-1!"
Yukimura quickly took the sixth game. One more and he'd win the first set, but he showed no signs of relaxing. He knew Oni couldn't possibly be limited to just this level.
"It's been a long time since I felt this kind of pressure. You're the third opponent to give me this experience! I acknowledge your strength, Yukimura Seiichi!" Oni said firmly.
"The third? Then that means Oni-senpai has already played against Akashi-kun, right?" Yukimura immediately caught the key point in his words.
"Hmph! Now's not the time for you to worry about that. Your so-called Future Steal is troublesome, but breaking it is actually simple. Be careful not to get hurt next, Yukimura-kun!" Oni didn't answer directly but gave him a warning instead.
Yukimura's expression hardened. He knew Oni was about to go all out. But with Zone at his back, he believed he could handle it.
Without hesitation, Yukimura tossed the ball and fired off another ultra-fast serve. Oni instantly reached the landing point and swung back.
The rally heated up again. In the mental world, the Oni God ignored its injuries and launched a savage attack on Morpheus, its long blade wreathed in ghostly blue hellfire striking down again and again.
Once more, Oni's mind flashed with an image of himself losing a point. This time he ignored it, locking onto Yukimura's return. After five or six rallies, he found his chance.
Gripping the racquet with both hands, Oni leapt high into the air and smashed the ball. Behind him, the Oni God raised its long blade above its head and brought it down with full force.
"Golden Jack Knife!"
A massive golden pillar of light, carrying a destructive force, crashed toward Yukimura's court. In that instant, the visions in Oni's mind shattered, while Yukimura's face stiffened in surprise. The next second, he charged forward to meet it head-on.
When the pillar struck his racquet, Yukimura felt his hands go numb. Even gritting his teeth and holding on, the weight pressing through the strings was far beyond his limit. Not even Zone could stop it. His racquet was blasted out of his hands.
Behind him, Morpheus was cleaved by the Oni God's blade, sent flying as streaks of white light scattered like blood.
"0-15!"
"Yes! That's the move! That's the technique that defeated me!" Kaji suddenly shouted from the stands.
"Oh? That's quite a surprise. Even I didn't know when Oni mastered such a powerful move," Irie said with a look of astonishment—though whether it was genuine or not, no one knew.
Yukimura looked deeply at Oni, then turned to pick up his racquet. He realized many strings had snapped, the face torn and ragged.
"So much power? He even used the Super Sweet Spot technique. No wonder he wasn't fighting at full strength earlier, Oni-senpai," Yukimura muttered as he walked to the sideline to switch racquets.
Oni's Golden Jack Knife was essentially a variation of the Glowing Shot, executed with Jack Knife technique and powered by his natural monster strength. Its force far surpassed a normal Glowing Shot, nearing Byoudouin's Destruction.
But unlike Destruction, the Golden Jack Knife wasn't meant for sheer damage. It emphasized impact, aiming to knock the racquet out of the opponent's hands. So even though Yukimura also mastered Super Sweet Spot and Glowing Shot, his racquet still flew away.
Once Yukimura replaced his racquet, the match continued. Oni mercilessly unleashed Golden Jack Knife again and again. It was the most direct way to nullify Future Steal—if the ball couldn't even be returned, there was nothing to steal.
"0-30!"
"0-40!"
"Game! Japan Team! 5-2!"
"Game! Japan Team! 5-3!"
With his overwhelming Golden Jack Knife, Oni took two games in a row. Yukimura's racquet didn't break again, but he still couldn't withstand the crushing force. The racquet kept flying from his hands—the gap in power between them was simply too great.