Waltz Towards Destruction!

The feeling made his hair stand on end.

"What? Fuji's serve was returned! As expected of Hyotei's former captain." Seeing Fuji's serve returned, Ryuzaki Sumire exclaimed inwardly.

When Fuji saw the tennis ball coming back, he ran again. Before it could land, he was already in position!

Then he struck a pose.

What a familiar sight!

"That pose—is it the Swallow Return Flash?" Oshitari was surprised.

"Turns out this Seigaku player knows that move too. Looks like Atobe's in trouble!"

"Not necessarily!" Gakuto said, looking at Atobe.

"Oshitari, does Atobe have a way to deal with that move?"

"I've played against Atobe. He returned every one of my serves!"

Oshitari's grave words rang in Shishido's ears!

"What!"

Fuji raised his racket high, then brought it down hard, slicing downward.

Whoosh!

The tennis ball shot toward the left side of Atobe's court like a swift swallow!

As it flew, it spun in circles, dazzling the spectators.

"That shot again!"

"The Seigaku player knows that shot too!"

"The ball's going out!"

Rustle, rustle, rustle!

After landing, the tennis ball skimmed along the ground toward the back boundary line on Atobe's side!

In the blink of an eye, it had flown out of the court!

Atobe was still holding his follow-through.

"So that's the kind of shot it is?"

Atobe could only watch as the tennis ball slid beyond his boundary!

"Seigaku scores. The score is 15–0."

"Yeah! Awesome! Go, Fuji-senpai!" Momoshiro shouted. "Show him what you've got! Let him see the price of looking down on Seigaku!"

"Not bad. You've got some skill. You've made me take you seriously."

Atobe lowered into a slight crouch, holding his racket in front of him with both hands. His gaze grew serious.

Hearing Atobe say that, Fuji served another disappearing serve!

"That move won't work on me! Try this!"

Atobe hit the tennis ball straight toward the crystal on Fuji's right!

He was aiming for Fuji's blind spot.

But the ball seemed to veer slightly as it shattered the crystal, breaking off only a small corner.

But was that all Atobe was after?

As the tennis ball came toward him, Fuji had the uncanny feeling that he couldn't return it!

Even so, he swung back!

After a quick dash—

He finally made it in time!

The tennis ball drifted toward the front half of Atobe's court. It was a lob.

"Oh no!"

Fuji quickly ran toward the middle of the court, then stopped, tense and alert, his gaze grave!

He didn't know whether Atobe would smash the ball.

"Don't get too caught up in my dazzling skills!"

Atobe leaped into the air, then slammed his racket toward the tennis ball.

Thwack!

The tennis ball shot toward Fuji with tremendous force. In the blink of an eye, it landed on the court and bounced right back up.

Fuji stepped back and swung his racket hard with his right hand, ready to return the ball.

"What?"

To Fuji's shock, the tennis ball flew toward the bottom of his racket and struck it.

A tremendous force hit him, and Fuji involuntarily let go of his racket.

As he stared in shock, his racket flew away!

Then the tennis ball rebounded!

A lob!

"Bow before my dazzling skills!" Atobe had already run up to the net!

He leaped high into the air! Just as the tennis ball reached its apex—

He swung his racket with his right hand and smashed the ball!

"Dance in the face of destruction!"

"Waltz Towards Destruction!"

Atobe's original net smash!

This was a two-stage smash he had devised. With his superb ball control, he first struck the tennis ball toward the bottom of his opponent's racket, knocking it away. Then the ball rebounded at tremendous speed, allowing him to smash it a second time. Without a racket, his opponent could only watch as Atobe scored!

But this move required everything to fall into place.

Atobe exploited Fuji's weakness, making it easy to force him into a lob. Then he could smash the ball.

For Fuji, this was a vicious cycle. If he couldn't overcome his weakness, Atobe could use Waltz Towards Destruction whenever he pleased.

But overcoming his blind spot and weakness was easier said than done!

Thwack!

The loud crack of the racket rang out.

The tennis ball turned into a streak of golden light and flew toward the front of Fuji's court!

After a soft thud, the ball flew straight out of the court.

"Hyotei scores. The score is 15–15!"

The referee's voice rang out slowly.

"He knocked the racket away!"

"He actually managed to hit the ball against the racket!"

"That's amazing. Atobe really is something!"

"Atobe's so cool!!~~~"

Atobe's point sent the girls watching from the sidelines into shrieks.

"Atobe's ball control has improved again. He's been practicing this move for quite a while. Looks like he's perfected it," Chiba Yun Chuan thought to himself.

Over on the Hyotei team, Akutsu had stood up.

"He sure talks a lot. Just don't let me play him, or I'll make sure he shuts his big mouth!" Akutsu said viciously after seeing Atobe show off following his point.

"Did Atobe make him return the ball with the bottom of his racket? Is that even possible?" Chotaro had just returned with Shishido Ryo, and they had happened to see Atobe's shot!

Shishido's right arm was in a sling across his chest.

"Yeah. But it wasn't powerful enough! If it were me, he wouldn't have knocked my racket away!"

Hearing Akutsu say that, Shishido and the others couldn't help thinking:

And that wasn't powerful? How strong did it have to be?

Watching Atobe's move, Seigaku's Kawamura Takashi could hardly believe it.

"How can that be? Isn't it a foul to return the ball with the racket like that?" Kawamura asked.

"In theory, returning the tennis ball with the racket isn't a foul. But this is the first time I've seen someone return it with the bottom of the racket! This isn't Fuji's style, so I think his opponent deliberately forced that return.

"In other words, Fuji was forced to hit the ball with the bottom of his racket!

"And Fuji's racket was knocked away. I think this must be a two-stage move, with a smash in each stage!

"Atobe's strong."

Inui's words made everyone from Seigaku look even more serious!

As they watched Atobe standing on the court, they felt just how terrifying he was.

"To pull that off, he needs incredible ball control. Atobe's ability far exceeds what I expected."

Inui wrote more information in his notebook.

After hearing Inui's words, Tezuka kept his gaze fixed on Fuji.