The Opera Stage

Bang!

Bang!

On the court, the two players continued to attack each other.

However, unlike before, this time it was Irie who gained the upper hand.

With his powerful Insight, he clearly understood all of Muneyoshi's actions and thoughts.

At this moment, Irie seemed to have completely changed, becoming a leader, a director of a stage play, and in control of the entire competition.

Inside the base, in a small, dark monitoring room.

Coaches Kurobe, Saitō, Takuya were also shocked by Irie's powerful Insight and bizarre mental world.

They never expected that this seemingly unremarkable baby-faced man could unleash such terrifying power.

After a long silence, Saito Itaru, who was most sensitive to the spiritual realm, spoke:

"Such insight is a bit frightening! No matter what Muneyoshi does, Irie can anticipate it all and react to any of his special moves in advance."

"That's really scary!"

Standing to the side, Takuetsue Ryuji nodded in astonishment.

"I never expected Irie's Insight to be so strong, and it's not just about seeing through things. You see, Muneyoshi did consider fighting back, but his Darkness Shot will probably be difficult to hit again, and its power has been greatly weakened."

"Indeed, from the very beginning, Muneyoshi wanted to use darkness to break through all of this, but he could only condense a very weak aura, which posed no threat to Irie at all."

"Irie must have understood the characteristics of darkness and exerted some kind of mental influence upon it..."

"A clash in the realm of the mind is truly terrifying..."

Tap tap tap...

With his heels turned and one hand braced against the ground, Muneyoshi forced his body to twist and run towards the landing point of the tennis ball. His whole body was soaked in sweat, and he was exhausted.

However, he felt an indescribable surge of excitement, as if he were thoroughly enjoying the match.

Enjoy the thrill of defeating powerful enemies step by step and finally reaching the summit.

This kind of competition made him very happy.

Even with his strong will, Muneyoshi was not immune to this innate pursuit of pleasure, and was dragged into this joyful mood, sinking into it for two whole rounds.

Muneyoshi was only awakened when he subconsciously tried to unleash another stage of Falling Light.

His Darkness power had been weakened to the extreme without his knowledge, and the condensed Glowing Flame were truly like flickering flames.

He seems to have temporarily lost his ability to hit Darkness Shot.

Even if it were unleashed, such power would pose no threat to Irie Kanata.

This finally jolted Muneyoshi awake from his blissful descent.

Only then did he realize with horror that...

His usual playing style has now dealt him a devastating blow.

He had become accustomed to spreading the tentacles of darkness through his mental power before matches.

Because in previous matches, this tactic allowed them to absorb more negative emotions, enabling the underworld to continue to grow.

Furthermore, it can exert strong mental pressure on the opponent and allow Muneyoshi to anticipate the ball's trajectory.

However, thanks to Irie's powerful Insight and mental strength, Muneyoshi's move was turned against him.

These dark tendrils were grasped by Irie's spirit, and after Irie noticed Muneyoshi's dark nature, she actively instilled all positive and joyful emotions in him.

Irie used his mental strength, which was far stronger than Muneyoshi's, to shield Saeki Muneyoshi's own mental senses.

This made him believe that everything was moving in a positive direction.

Muneyoshi had always known that Irie's spiritual power was strange.

Therefore, he has always avoided using mental confrontation with her. He did not want to forcefully use the Ice World Atobe Kingdom on Irie like Atobe did, and end up being countered.

The moment he subconsciously and habitually extended his mental tentacles, his weakness was already revealed.

Because Irie's ability isn't something that can only be triggered passively, this time it was actually him who took the initiative.

Having rarely encountered experts in the Mental Power Path, Muneyoshi had no idea his opponent possessed such a method, and was immediately caught off guard.

At this moment, those mental tentacles that originally belonged to Muneyoshi himself have instead become threads controlled by Irie.

He was like a director of a play, a puppeteer, and Muneyoshi was completely in his hands.

Muneyoshi felt extremely angry at being controlled and manipulated.

He was not only angry at Irie, but even more angry at himself.

Having never encountered an opponent with superior mental strength for a long time, he had developed very bad competitive habits, which now caused him to suffer a great loss.

But by this time, he had already fallen into the Irie.

Even if he fully opened his mind, he couldn't find any clues. The tentacles of darkness formed by combining with darkness also became threads that Irie Kanata could use against him.

This made Muneyoshi a little dramatic. After Muneyoshi a deep breath, he forced himself to calm down.

At this moment, he had lost the opportunity to strike first and was being controlled by Irie. It would be inappropriate for him to make a rash move now.

The best course of action is to remain calm and composed, and to stabilize the situation first.

No matter what the other party is planning to do, once they take action, their weaknesses and vulnerabilities will inevitably be exposed.

He can't rush things!

After calming down, Muneyoshi immediately formulated a strategy to deal with the situation.

After all, he played so many matches for nothing; his on-the-spot reaction and decision-making are also his strengths.

However, at this point, the pace of the game was completely controlled by Irie Kanata...

Across the court, Irie watched as Muneyoshi passed by, his initial joy, panic, and anger quickly turning into calm.

A hint of admiration flashed in his eyes.

Muneyoshi was surprised that he noticed so quickly.

"Trying to use stillness to control movement? Not a bad idea... but I won't give you the chance to be still."

Irie's baby face looked harmless, but at this moment, in Muneyoshi's eyes, it was more terrifying than anyone else.

Swish!

As he threw the ball, the streamlined muscles on his arm tightened continuously. After undergoing scientific training, Muneyoshi's muscles weren't as explosive as those of pure power athletes.

Instead, it was full of beauty, but even so, when he used all his strength, his sleeves were still stretched into a distinct outline!

"Gunfire Negotiation!"

With a loud shout, Muneyoshi leaped up and slammed down, using a technique he had learned from Katsumura Yota.

Although this move wasn't particularly sophisticated, his darkness had subsided, and with the added power and speed, this newly learned technique could unleash considerable power.

Muneyoshi also wanted to find other ways to break Irie's confinement.

However.

"It hit the net! Saeki -kun, your serve went wrong!"

Boom!

The tennis ball slammed into the net with unstoppable force, instantly pulling the net backward in an arc.

"What!!"

Muneyoshi was shocked when his first serve hit the net. Was there some other trick to this move that he didn't know about?

Then, Muneyoshi tried it again.

"Gunfire Negotiation!"

Boom!

"Oh dear, it still hit the net! I didn't expect Saeki- kun to double-fail! Well then, I score, 15:0."

The Kurobe and others in the monitoring room also glanced at Muneyoshi in surprise; they hadn't expected Saeki Muneyoshi to make such a mistake.

"It's probably not a mistake, but rather Irie's method!"

Saito Itaru, acting as Mental Coach, was very certain at this point, a view that was echoed by the other coaches.

Having witnessed Irie's mental abilities, they have once again raised their Irie.

Moreover, in previous matches and training sessions, Muneyoshi's ball control has been impeccable.

While such a powerful and fast serve has a high error rate, it's unacceptable for Saeki Muneyoshi to be using it.

Meanwhile, on the stadium...

Muneyoshi's pupils constricted as he noticed the problem again.

Before his eyes, the net in the middle shrank little by little until it disappeared completely!

The net and the court had disappeared from his sight!

"What... is this? Deprivation of the five senses? No, no, I can still see!"

Muneyoshi muttered to himself, cold sweat beginning to drip from his forehead.

"Saeki- kun! Are you alright?"

At this moment, Irie Kanata, who was standing opposite Muneyoshi, had completely changed his appearance. He was dressed in medieval performance robes and looked exactly like a stage actor.

"Saeki -kun, it's our turn to perform..."

Muneyoshi heard the voice of Irie Kanata, along with the music of an opera performance.

"Oh no!"

Saeki Muneyoshi's heart sank; he had actually fallen completely into the Irie Kanata!

When did the other party begin their next move?

He still didn't notice anything amiss.

P. S.: Four chapters updated today. Back to work, please vote with monthly tickets!