The High Schoolers' Level

"Drink it!"

Akutsu tossed the ball, then lightly leaped up with a quick tap of his toes, and with a powerful swing of his arm, his racket slammed into the high point of the tennis ball.

Akutsu's serve surprised the high school students watching, who hadn't expected this seemingly fierce guy to have some skill.

Unfortunately, his opponent is Oni Jūjirō!

"Oh? It's an American serve? Too bad it's too soft!"

With a quick glance, Oni Jūjirō roughly judged Akutsu's quality; indeed, as Saeki Muneyoshi said, he was no worse than many high school students.

Since that's the case, he can now act a little more freely.

With a wide grin, Oni Jūjirō's taut and resolute face revealed a serious expression. He stomped his right foot forward, twisted his body, and swung his racket with a backhand.

Boom!

With a swift right thrust, a loud explosion rang out from beside Oni Jūjirō's hand.

There were no fancy tricks, just a very simple flat backhand smash.

But even just hearing the enormous sound, the middle school students knew that the force of this ball was extraordinary.

Moreover, Oni Jūjirō's shots are not only powerful, but also incredibly fast.

Akutsu, as his opponent, also felt this strongly.

If the previous Oni Jūjirō only made him feel slightly oppressed, like the sculpture at the entrance of a temple, it had a certain fortitude and majesty.

But when Oni Jūjirō took action, the sculpture seemed to come alive, and an extremely terrifying aura instantly enveloped Akutsu.

For Akutsu, who has embarked on the Aura Path and discovered his wild side, Oni Jūjirō is now like a natural enemy.

Akutsu's expression froze, and an aura of deathly pallor involuntarily emanated from his body—a clear stress response.

However, having experience playing against Saeki Muneyoshi, he has developed his own techniques for dealing with such powerful shots.

Akutsu took a small step back, his eyes fixed on the incoming tennis ball.

The tennis ball landed, instantly creating fine cracks in the hard surface.

Seeing this, Akutsu became even more wary. As the tennis ball bounced up quickly, Akutsu slashed it with his backhand.

"What! Damn it, how could I possibly be driven back by a single, easy shot from you!"

The moment the tennis ball collided with the racket, a powerful force surged through the racket and into Akutsu's wrist, the immense force nearly causing him to break the racket.

The powerful force and impact startled him, but in an instant, anger surged within him, and he switched to a two-handed racket-wielding motion to strike the ball.

The strength of his hands allowed him to steadily suppress this fierce force.

Akutsu then pivoted on his right foot, mustered all his strength, and slashed the ball back heavily onto Oni Jūjirō's court.

However, the time spent here was enough for Oni Jūjirō to sprint online.

"Kid, not bad, but still too weak!"

"Jack Knife!!"

A black and red aura surged from Oni Jūjirō's body, and a move that was very familiar to the middle school students was recreated before their eyes once again.

A black and red beam of light flew past Akutsu, smashing his racket high into the air, while Akutsu crashed heavily to the ground.

Thump!

The hushed conversation that had been going on suddenly fell silent, and an eerie stillness descended upon the entire stadium!

Several breaths later, a great deal of discussion finally broke out from the mouths of the middle school students.

"That move, that technique!"

"Isn't this Saeki Muneyoshi's signature move?"

"Damn it, so this guy was the originator of this move!"

"And it seems that this man named Oni Jūjirō is even more powerful than Saeki Muneyoshi when he uses it!"

"Akutsu..."

"Jin..."

The junior high school students were buzzing with discussion; they were quite familiar with one of the techniques that Saeki Muneyoshi used most often in junior high school competitions.

But seeing Oni Jūjirō use it now, with its smooth, perfect movements and just the right amount of force, how could they not understand that Oni was the true user of this move?

Ignoring the surrounding chatter, Oni Jūjirō stood in front of the net, coldly watching Akutsu fall to the ground.

"What's wrong, kid? Is this all you've got? If so, that's really disappointing. I've seen way too many guys like you..."

If I were you, I'd leave the training camp as soon as possible to avoid suffering more!

Hearing Oni Jūjirō's cold words, Akutsu, who struggled to her feet, was furious.

"Don't... order me around!!"

Arriving at the sidelines, Akutsu took a brand new racket from Tezuka and returned to the court.

Seeing Oni Jūjirō standing expressionlessly in the receiving area, Akutsu swung his racket, his expression somewhat serious.

His initial disdain for this training camp vanished completely at this moment!

That guy from just Stadium Number Five is actually this good!

Looking at Oni Jūjirō's mature yet resolute face, Akutsu hardened his heart. "I will definitely crush you!"

The tennis ball was thrown forward, and Akutsu leaped into the air, his body arched like a drawn bow.

Bang!

By leveraging their physical advantages and squeezing their muscles, they can unleash tremendous power.

Akutsu's physical gifts were on full display at this moment.

Akutsu's smash-like tennis ball landed in Oni Jūjirō's half of the court like a cannonball, extremely fast and with astonishing force!

Akutsu, who had received systematic basic tennis training in advance, was displaying extremely high qualities at this moment.

Knowing that strength was Oni Jūjirō's forte, he immediately thought of using his speed to counter it.

Akutsu's attempt caught the attention of the middle school students around him, and Oni Jūjirō across from him naturally understood his idea as well.

"Hmph! Naive, that's only at the junior high level!"

Oni Jūjirō snorted coldly, his stride was extremely long, and he quickly chased after the landing point of the tennis ball.

Using the momentum of running, Oni Jūjirō lifted his racket from below upwards.

Bang!

The tennis ball traced a huge arc through the air.

"Such precise ball control and hand technique!"

On the sidelines, Shiraishi Kuranosuke's eyes lit up. He hadn't expected that this seemingly fierce senior, who appeared to be a power-type player, would actually possess such refined technique.

This is also one of the biggest misconceptions about Oni Jūjirō; his fierce appearance and burly physique do indeed give people the impression of a brute.

The dull whistling sound of air being torn apart came again, Akutsu quickly turned around and leaped into the air, his whole body resembling a cheetah in motion.

His body was completely parallel to the ground, with both feet off the ground, and his right hand, holding the racket, was brought back behind his head to strike.

Only Akutsu's supple body could pull off such a counterattack!

With all his strength erupting, his pale aura was concentrated into this tennis ball, and Akutsu once again fought back with all his might.

He then fell heavily onto the court.

Without any hesitation, Akutsu quickly stood up, knowing that this attack would be no challenge for his opponent.

However, in the instant he turned around, he saw a massive shadow obscuring the sky above him.

The black and red aura annihilated his demonic aura.

Boom!

A beam of light flew toward him again, and as the tennis ball approached, a huge blast of air stung his cheek.

"Aaaaah, watch me hit you back!"

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