Chapter Thirty-Three: The Top Scorer? Nothing Special!

"Anyone who pays close attention can tell, Anri."

Ego Jinpachi replied, his gaze never leaving the screen,

"When a monster is about to hunt, it naturally bares its fangs."

Niko Ikki sent a powerful pass, landing it precisely at Oogawa Hibiki's feet.

"It's finally here, Niko!"

A smile appeared on Oogawa Hibiki's face as he received the ball, and he sprinted toward the opposing goal at top speed.

Oogawa Hibiki possessed outstanding individual attacking ability. In the original story, he had easily broken into Team Z's penalty area and scored!

At that moment, Team Z's half was extremely weakly defended. Several defenders who had stayed behind watched Oogawa Hibiki charge toward them with grim expressions, their hearts tense. Even their goalkeeper, Iemon, already had sweat beading on his forehead.

Their opponent was the top scorer in his region. His strength could not be underestimated, and stopping him would not be easy.

Just as Oogawa Hibiki charged forward, a figure appeared before him like a fortress.

Kira Ryosuke.

At that moment, Kira Ryosuke was guarding the rear of Team Z.

"Come on. Try to get past me."

"What an arrogant bastard!"

Looking at Kira Ryosuke in front of him, Oogawa Hibiki felt a surge of irritation.

Kira Ryosuke was Team Z's ace, yet he had appeared in the defensive line. Oogawa Hibiki felt that Team Y was being looked down on.

"Watch me get past you! I'll score the first goal of this match!"

Oogawa Hibiki shouted loudly.

His delicate attacking technique was no worse than Barou Shoei's. That was why Oogawa Hibiki had been chosen as Team Y's sole attacker.

Kira Ryosuke is a forward. His ability as a defender must be mediocre at best!

Oogawa Hibiki reached that conclusion and prepared to accelerate straight past Kira Ryosuke.

If they could score first, they would not only establish an advantage but also gain a tremendous boost in morale.

At that moment, Kira Ryosuke adjusted his breathing and entered a state of Total Concentration. A powerful sense of oppression swept from his body and crashed down upon Oogawa Hibiki.

What's with this guy...?

Oogawa Hibiki had been preparing to accelerate past him, but he sensed the change in Kira Ryosuke's presence and grew nervous. Yet his arrow was already on the string, and he had no choice but to force himself to use his speed to break past Kira Ryosuke!

But Kira Ryosuke was even faster than Oogawa Hibiki had imagined. No matter how much Oogawa accelerated, he still could not get past him. His opponent was like a towering wall, blocking his path completely.

Oogawa Hibiki could only move to the side, unable to get close to the penalty area.

"He hasn't lost his position at all! What defense! As expected of Kira!"

Kuon Shosei praised him with a grin.

"Oogawa is already extremely fast... but Kira Ryosuke is even faster..."

On the other side of the field, Niko Ikki could not help sighing in amazement. Kira Ryosuke had displayed an absurd speed in the footage, but that had been straight-line movement during a sprinting attack. It was somewhat different from the lateral movement that mattered more in defense.

Yet Kira Ryosuke's lateral movement had also reached a level beyond ordinary players.

This guy... is a complete monster. He's truly capable of both offense and defense...

"Still, Oogawa isn't ordinary either!"

Niko Ikki still had confidence in Oogawa Hibiki, because speed was not his most impressive quality. His greatest strength was his incredibly refined attacking technique!

"Damn... is this guy really that good at defense? Even making body contact isn't giving me an advantage..."

Oogawa Hibiki knew that continuing like this would not work. Although he had only been entangled with Kira Ryosuke for a few seconds, that was already enough time for the other defenders to close in.

Niko Ikki's counterattacking strategy weakened Team Z's defense in their own half. The entire team relied on Oogawa Hibiki's powerful attacking ability.

But that also meant Oogawa Hibiki had no teammates available to combine with him. All the others could do was remain in their own half.

Oogawa Hibiki had no option to pass. He could only attack on his own.

But if the strongest attacker on the team was shut down one-on-one by Kira Ryosuke, who had only just appeared on the defensive line...

"No! I can't let that happen!"

Oogawa Hibiki roared,

"If I can't beat you with speed, then I'll beat you with technique!"

Oogawa Hibiki changed his footwork. His feet kept stepping around both sides of the ball—

A stepover!

It was one of the most dazzling moves used to beat a defender in football, using both legs to circle the ball and disrupt the defender.

"A stepover! And his rhythm is excellent..."

Kuon Shosei, who was also a defender, watched Oogawa Hibiki's movements and could not help praising him.

The most important part of a stepover was a good sense of rhythm, along with excellent control of one's body rhythm. The movement confused the defender through the repeated circling motion.

On one hand, the move disrupted the defender's shifting center of gravity through rhythmic body movement. At the same time, it allowed the attacker to burst past the defender the instant his balance was disturbed.

Oogawa Hibiki possessed outstanding technique. If it had been any other defender on Team Z, he would very likely have gone straight past them.

At that moment, Oogawa Hibiki stared fixedly at Kira Ryosuke, searching for an opening—

The instant Kira Ryosuke's center of gravity shifted, Oogawa Hibiki would be able to get past him!

In front of him, Kira Ryosuke was also watching Oogawa Hibiki with complete focus.

Oogawa Hibiki's stepovers were indeed highly convincing and extremely easy to use to shake off a defender.

But Kira Ryosuke had also made a tremendous leap forward compared with the first match.

He had unlocked Rice Spirit and gained outstanding dribbling ability. The stepover had also undergone a qualitative transformation under his feet.

Rice Spirit's ability had likewise deepened Kira Ryosuke's understanding of dribbling techniques.

In other words, Kira Ryosuke had not merely gained a new technique. He also knew how to deal with such techniques.

That was why he could appear on the defensive line.

The feints with his feet, the changes in his center of gravity, and even the misdirection of his gaze—Oogawa Hibiki had reached perfection in all these areas. And so had Kira Ryosuke.

Chapter Thirty-Three: The Top Scorer? Nothing Special!

While in a state of Total Concentration Breathing, Kira Ryosuke's focus and observation skills had also improved tremendously.

In that instant, he noticed the shift in Oogawa Hibiki's center of gravity.

A stepover was essentially a psychological battle between attacker and defender, and Oogawa Hibiki had already begun to panic.

He knew he had no time to keep dragging things out with Kira Ryosuke. If this continued, the other defenders would return and his attack would fail.

He could not allow that to happen!

Oogawa Hibiki changed the movement of his feet, preparing to get past Kira Ryosuke in that instant—

But Kira Ryosuke had already reacted!

The instant his movement changed was the instant his opening was revealed!

Thunderclap and Flash!

Kira Ryosuke suddenly thrust out his foot and stole the ball away just as Oogawa Hibiki prepared to dribble past him!

Thunderclap and Flash could be used not only for shooting and breaking through. It could also increase his explosive power while defending. The sudden burst of speed and change in rhythm caught attackers completely off guard.

"How is that possible?!"

Oogawa Hibiki stood there dumbfounded. He had never expected his proud dribbling technique to be seen through and destroyed so directly.

The other members of Team Y were equally shocked by the scene. Niko Ikki was no exception:

"Kira Ryosuke actually stole the ball from Oogawa?"

Everyone in Team Y had witnessed Oogawa Hibiki's one-on-one ability. No one on their team could stop Oogawa in a one-on-one situation.

Yet in their first confrontation, Kira Ryosuke had not merely disrupted him. He had actually stolen the ball.

"Great steal, Kira!"

Kuon Shosei shouted excitedly. If he had been the one marking Oogawa Hibiki just now, he very likely would have been thrown off by the feint.

"Oogawa Hibiki was actually robbed by Kira Ryosuke?! I remember Oogawa Hibiki was a very famous player too!"

In the monitoring room, Teieri Anri exclaimed,

"And Kira Ryosuke is a forward, right? He has no experience as a defender, yet he was still able to completely suppress someone of Oogawa's caliber in a one-on-one defense... Incredible."

"He has excellent judgment. He saw through Oogawa's feint."

Ego Jinpachi watched the footage of the match and could not help praising him.

He rarely showed admiration for any player, but Kira Ryosuke had just made Ego Jinpachi praise him instinctively.

Oogawa Hibiki's stepover was of extremely high quality. An ordinary defender's center of gravity would likely have been dragged around by it long ago. Yet Kira Ryosuke had successfully seen through the feint, found the instant Oogawa changed his rhythm, and completed the steal.

Moreover, Kira Ryosuke had applied his speed to the steal. The sudden burst of power caused Oogawa Hibiki to misjudge the distance between them, leaving him no time to protect the ball.

At the beginning of the match, Ego Jinpachi had not understood why Kira Ryosuke had appeared on the defensive line. But now, he had finally realized something.

Kira Ryosuke's talent was probably not limited to the forward position.

"You said you were going to get past me?"

At that moment, the two brushed past each other in Team Z's half. Oogawa Hibiki's face was still frozen in utter shock, and he seemed almost dazed. The only thing he heard was Kira Ryosuke's calm voice:

"Sorry, but that's absolutely impossible. As long as I'm guarding our half, you'll never get past me."

Kira Ryosuke launched a powerful pass, sending the ball straight into the front court. The ball flew through the air like an anti-aircraft missile.

"Quick, defend!"

The sudden turn of events caught Team Y off guard. They had never expected Oogawa Hibiki to lose the one-on-one battle, but now they had no time to react. All they could do was retreat and tighten their formation. They absolutely could not give Team Z a chance to counterattack.

"Did I pass it too far?"

Niko Ikki carefully observed every position on the field. Kira Ryosuke had completed the steal, but this pass seemed to have too much power behind it. No one from Team Z was anywhere near the point where it would land.

At that very moment, he noticed a red cheetah sprinting through his field of vision.

"What?!"

Niko Ikki's eyes widened beneath his bangs, his face filled with disbelief.

That figure was Chigiri Hyoma!

The unknown player from the previous match was chasing after the ball at a speed no one else could match.

"What kind of speed is that?! Besides Kira Ryosuke, does Team Z have another player with this kind of speed?"

Niko Ikki cried out while desperately sprinting toward the ball's landing point.

Although Niko Ikki was closer, his physical ability was limited. On top of that, his momentary hesitation caused by not understanding Kira Ryosuke's powerful pass meant he had failed to start immediately—

Chigiri Hyoma had already reached the ball!

Even though Team Y retreated quickly, Chigiri Hyoma had already charged deep into their territory at an even greater speed!

"That was a great pass, Kira!"

Chigiri Hyoma shouted loudly.

He had originally lost his passion for football. But after coming to Blue Lock and seeing Kira Ryosuke's back, the flame in his heart had instinctively begun burning again.

When he saw Kira Ryosuke's pass, his body had moved almost unconsciously, charging at full speed toward the point where the ball would land.

It was exactly the place he could reach only by running with all his strength.

Only Kira Ryosuke could deliver a long pass of this level.