Chapter 39: Blade Drawn! End the Match!
Bachira kicked with force, sending the ball powerfully forward.
"Who is that pass even for? Was it a mistake?"
Ikki Niko, who had already fallen back into his team's half, felt confused. In his field of vision, there was no one who could possibly receive that ball.
Wait. If it were any ordinary person, they absolutely wouldn't be able to reach that pass…
But Ryosuke Kira could!
By the time he snapped out of it, Kira had already received the pass and appeared right in front of him.
"Nice pass!"
Kira opened his stride, sprinting quickly toward the goal.
He had spent the entire first half playing as a defender, but now, he fully returned to the striker position.
Just as he promised before the match—
he would finish the game in the second half.
"That speed… this is absurd. What kind of stamina does this guy even have?!"
Niko's voice trembled. Throughout the whole match, Ryosuke Kira had maintained a ridiculously high level of movement speed. Niko couldn't help but wonder—did Kira truly feel no fatigue at all?
But he had no time left to think. No matter what, Team Y had to stop this attack.
"Stop him!"
Reacting faster than anyone, Niko shouted, immediately directing teammates to block Kira's path.
"Close in on him!"
More defenders moved up quickly. Niko lowered his center of gravity, preparing to completely seal Kira's route.
Their numbers were incomplete, but this was the strongest defensive formation Team Y could assemble in such a short moment—a chain defense walling off Ryosuke Kira.
"Kira, try breaking through this."
Niko shouted loudly.
"You already spouted one big line earlier—what, now you want a second?"
Before he even finished speaking, Kira was already upon them.
He dribbled fast, pushing the ball through one defender's legs, then suddenly accelerating again, circling behind him to retrieve it.
One defender beaten, effortlessly.
"Cover!"
The second defender stepped forward—
But Kira shifted his weight deliberately, then sharply switched directions. Using his heel, he altered the ball's path, leaning his body into the defender as he spun past. In the blink of an eye, he was behind the second defender as well.
Second man beaten!
"I won't let you through! I will shut you down myself!"
Niko couldn't restrain himself anymore. He accelerated and charged forward, intending to stop Kira personally.
But Kira had already read his posture.
He sprinted toward Niko—then suddenly halted. He pinned the ball under one foot, spun his body, nudging the ball to his other foot mid-turn, slipping it out toward Niko's side.
The Marseilles Turn.
This was the powerful dribbling ability granted by Second Form: Rice Spirit!
Even without using Thunderclap and Flash, he could break through defenders with pure technique.
"Beautiful!"
From afar, Bachira couldn't stop praising it. As a dribbling master himself, he could perform such techniques, but he never expected the speed-focused Kira to display such refined skill. In fluidity and execution, Kira had nearly perfected the move.
"What?!"
Niko was stunned. He never expected Kira to possess such technique.
In the previous match recordings, Kira had mostly relied on physical ability and sheer speed to force goals. He had never shown dribbling techniques like this.
The ball moved as if it were Kira's loyal pet, following his commands precisely.
"Did this guy… hide his true strength in the first match?!"
A terrifying thought rose in Niko's mind.
These matches determined their future as football players. If Kira truly held back before, then just how frightening was he?
After their loss to Team V, Ego had announced over the speakers that each team needed to find their own "weapon."
Niko's weapon was vision.
Okawa's weapon was attacking technique.
And everyone in Team Y assumed Kira's weapon was speed.
Even earlier in the first half, when Kira played defense, he mainly relied on speed.
Only now did they finally realize—
Kira had dribbling talent equal to, or surpassing, Bachira and Okawa.
And after beating Niko, the remaining defenders posed no threat to him at all. The ball clung to his feet like it was magnetized; no one could take it from him.
In the blink of an eye, Kira was at the goal again. He raised his foot—
He struck.
Team Y's keeper had no time to react. He could only watch as the ball flew into the net.
"No!"
Niko howled, then collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
3–0.
This goal completely destroyed Y Team's last sliver of hope—nothing remained, not even fragments.
"This guy… how do you even beat something like this…"
Despair filled him.
Kira Ryosuke's domination in this match was overwhelming.
Speed, technique, football IQ, game-reading—
Kira excelled at everything.
Offense or defense, Team Y was nothing before him.
Ryosuke Kira alone controlled the entire match.
"No wonder it's Kira!"
"That Marseille Turn was insane! You never used that before!"
"MVP! MVP!"
Team Z swarmed Kira, celebrating wildly.
Team Y was the complete opposite.
Their will had been shattered by Kira's flawless offense-to-defense transition.
Only despair remained in their hearts.
...
"So this is… the 'monster' Ego-san mentioned?"
Anri Teieri swallowed hard.
"Ryosuke Kira really is a monster."
She couldn't believe that Kira had completely locked down Team Y with his defense, then used exquisite dribbling to tear them apart on offense.
Did this guy… have infinite stamina?
"Correct."
Ego said sternly,
"He's not just a powerful striker. I suspect he could dominate the pitch from any position."
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〔TL〕
Every 100 powerstones = 2 bonus ch.
Every 2 review after 100 ps = 1 bonus ch.