Tezuka Phantom

Tezuka returned Horio's serve, Tezuka eyes fixed on Horio.

When Horio faced Tezuka's counterattack again, his Radiant Talent, now fused with the Eye of Shattering Delusions, directly pinpointed the ball's landing point.

The next second, he moved in Inch Step, arriving on the trajectory of the tennis ball, and Horio swung his arm.

With 80% of his power, enhanced by his sweet spot technique, he returned the ball. Seeing this, Tezuka increased his power as well, forcing Horio to use 90% of his strength.

This was a power that Horio had never used since joining Seigaku, or even since he started playing baseball, so Horio himself became excited.

The two players continued their back-and-forth battle, and the tennis ball disappeared from sight.

Only the sound of the racket hitting the tennis ball and the swaying net prove that the tennis ball is real.

As the fight continued, the number of rounds increased.

After Tezuka's return swing, the number of shots finally reached seventy.

Throughout their thirty-five-round exchange, Horio maintained consistent power in his shots.

In contrast, Tezuka's Heavenly Clothes Seamless aura still shone through.

However, compared to his radiant appearance at the beginning, his breathing was now somewhat rapid.

"The third-to-last goal."

Horio kept counting in his mouth, and his racket kept swinging.

Tezuka, who was on the other side, had been keeping track of the numbers in his mind. As he saw that they were getting closer and closer to the number Horio had mentioned, he became even more vigilant.

However, no matter how vigilant he was, he couldn't escape Horio's absolute prediction. After Tezuka managed to return Horio's ball with some difficulty, Horio's footwork changed.

He had been just arguing with Tezuka in the midcourt, but suddenly ran towards the net and swung his racket just as Tezuka's return shot crossed the net.

Bang!

The already fast ball was intercepted at the net by Horio, and even Tezuka, who had activated his Heavenly Clothes Seamless, didn't have time to return it.

"Am I right? Seventy-three goals."

Horio smiled and spoke to Tezuka, whose entire body radiated a dazzling light.

After this point decided the game, Horio had already won the fourth game.

Tezuka only managed to take two points from Horio in the fourth game, and ultimately Horio won the fourth game as well.

Tezuka was surprised that even after opening the third gate of the legendary art of selflessness, he still couldn't gain the upper hand, and he gripped his racket tightly.

The serve came to Tezuka again. Tezuka couldn't afford to lose this game. If he lost this one, he would be powerless against Horio's serve in the sixth game.

So, with the belief that he could not afford to lose again, a glint flashed in Tezuka's eyes.

So, standing at the baseline, he tossed the tennis ball up and swung his racket while simultaneously shifting his body forward slightly.

The tennis ball sped up, spinning intensely as it flew towards the opposite half of the court.

"You can't afford to lose anymore. What would you do in this situation?"

Horio's eyes had returned to normal by this time, and Horio Radiant Talent was now suppressed.

I moved my feet to the spot where the ball would land and waited for it to bounce. But when the ball landed, a surprising thing happened.

The tennis ball, which should have bounced off the ground, didn't move at all after contact with the ground; instead, the strong spin of the ball kept it firmly attached to the ground.

Then the ball's rotation further propelled its movement, causing the tennis ball, which was spinning close to the ground, to slide towards the net.

"Zero-style Serve? That really startled me. Looks like you're going all out to hold your serve."

Tezuka actually hit the Zero-style Serve, which is more damaging to the arm than the Zero-style Drop Shot.

Horio knew very well that while this serve was unstoppable, it could also cause significant damage.

This is an unsolvable serve, but it cannot be used consistently unless Tezuka's arm wants to repeat the same mistake.

Tezuka, who was serving the Zero-style Serve, remained expressionless. It was clear that he had learned this move a long time ago, but Horio had forced him to use it.

Bang...

Bang...

Bang...

After three consecutive points, Tezuka finally held the game with his Zero-style Serve after being broken twice.

Even Horio was somewhat helpless against the unstoppable Zero-style Serve, and could only watch Tezuka score.

"That's quite surprising, Captain. You actually have a trump card like the Zero-style Serve."

But it's a bit too late to use it now. After winning this game, I'll be at match point. You can't beat me with just the Zero-style Serve.

The score was 4-1 at this point, and the score would be 5-1 at the end of the game.

Even if Tezuka can win the next game with his Zero-style Serve and bring the score to 5-2, it won't change the fact that Horio match point.

Upon hearing Horio's words, Tezuka's expression remained unchanged, clearly indicating that he was also aware of his current predicament.

He gripped the racket with both hands, knees slightly bent, waiting for Horio to serve.

Seeing that Tezuka was unmoved by his words, Horio became interested again and abandoned his idea of ending the match with the Limitless Scattered Flowers technique.

Toss the ball up and simply use force to hit it.

Tezuka was somewhat surprised by this, clearly not expecting Horio to use a regular serve.

After a moment of surprise, Tezuka immediately moved his feet and swung his racket at the tennis ball.

"The muscle dynamics are off; there's something fishy about this shot."

Horio, watching Tezuka's arm as he swung his racket, noticed the change in Tezuka's arm as his racket made contact with the tennis ball.

So I paid special attention to the ball, and after observing the ball he hit, I noticed that apart from the ball spinning faster, there were no other significant changes in its shape.

Unable to figure it out at first, Horio swung his racket and returned the ball in the most ordinary way. When Horio hit the tennis ball, he didn't feel that there was anything special about it.

"Strange, apart from the increased spin, there's nothing else wrong with it."

Even after returning the ball, Horio's eyes remained fixed on the tennis ball.

In his view, there was definitely something strange about that shot; it couldn't have been just a mistake by Tezuka.

Sure enough, after the tennis ball was returned and flew over the net, a large vortex was formed centered on Tezuka.

"Tezuka Zone? No, Tezuka Zone is no longer useful, and the diameter and direction of the cyclone are different from those in Tezuka Zone."

Seeing the vortex that formed beneath Tezuka's feet and covered both sides of the court, Horio knew that the strange thing was happening there.

As seen from the effect of the cyclone, the tennis ball was not pulled back to Tezuka's side as it had been in the Tezuka Zone, but was instead pushed off the court by the cyclone.

Bang...

"Tezuka Phantom... I completely forgot you had this move."

The tennis ball was pushed out of bounds by the cyclone, and only then did Horio remember the move that was completely different from the one Tezuka Zone.

"No wonder the ball's spin was much stronger than when you used Tezuka Zone; it turns out you used Tezuka Phantom."

Tezuka Phantom, unlike the Tezuka Zone, requires adding more spin to the ball, causing the opponent's return shot to go out of bounds.