Lin Xiu's Declaration

On the court, the first set has ended.

Kaitou hadn't won a single point, while his opponent had already started serving.

Kaitou no longer held back, and directly hit Spinning Snake Shot in response to the opponent's serve.

However, the opponent had already anticipated the ball's trajectory. With a familiar move, after a brief moment of blurring in the man's left hand, he swung his racket and returned the tennis ball.

The outcome was the same as the previous game: when Kaitou swung her racket to return the ball, her racket paused again when it was still some distance from the tennis ball.

After successfully returning the ball, it was out of bounds again.

"It's happened again."

"What happened... why did this happen?"

Why does his racket keep pausing...?

"I see."

The recurring occurrences continued to puzzle everyone, until Gan finally discovered the problem.

"It's not that the racket stopped, but rather that it hit something else before actually hitting the ball, thus disrupting the timing of the shot."

"Something else... what is that?"

Gan's explanation only made the already confused group even more baffled. At this moment, Horio, who seemed to already know the secret, spoke up.

"It's qi. First, gather the qi, and then release it towards the opponent just before hitting the ball, so that a ball of qi will appear a short distance in front of the actual tennis ball."

This way, the opponent will hit the virtual ball made of gathered air before hitting the real ball, disrupting the timing of their shot.

Horio's explanation was hard for everyone to believe, but the one-sided situation on the field kept proving it true.

Kaitou kept hitting the ball out of bounds, and the man would always make a gripping motion before hitting the ball.

Bang!

"Gemini."

After Kaitou hit the ball out of bounds again, the man on the field announced the name of that move.

"Hateful!"

Kaitou knelt on the ground, letting out a furious roar of resentment.

"That's quite a unique skill. There are definitely many places in this world worth experiencing. Let me see your move for myself."

At that moment, Horio jumped over the fence and onto the court, standing opposite the man at the net.

He still vividly remembered Horio's performance last night, and remained cautious about Horio.

However, in order to dissuade everyone from seeking revenge, he ultimately agreed to the match against Horio.

The first ball is served by the man.

After Horio returned the ball, the man gathered energy in his left hand and unleashed the Gemini attack.

A real tennis ball, with a virtual tennis ball in front of it.

Horio swung his racket with the idea of giving it a try, and then he felt the racket being blown away by the air.

With arm muscles tensed, he pushed the racket forward to return a realistic tennis ball.

Bang!

The tennis ball landed in bounds, and Horio neutralized the force of the energy with sheer arm strength.

"That Gemini, could you give it a try? I'm very interested in that kind of power."

Horio became aware of a new technology through the use of ki.

If this technique can be used perfectly, then it will be possible to deal with some balls that are currently unmanageable.

As if sensing Horio's fighting spirit, the man continued to attack Horio with Gemini, even though Horio had countered with Gemini.

Who is that man?

"He doesn't look like a European."

While the two were playing fiercely on the court, the Captain and Vice President of the various school clubs who had gone off to deal with the attack returned.

Bang!

"What's wrong? That guy is just standing there without moving."

As the final ball fell, the man who would have continued attacking no matter what was happening was now staring blankly at Horio.

"My name is Lin Xiu. What's your name?"

"Horio Satoshi."

Only then did the man reveal his name, while looking at the crowd around him.

"Each of you is very strong, no wonder they came to attack you. Thank you, I had a lot of fun in this match."

"Wait."

After saying that, Lin Xiu was about to leave when Tezuka and the others called him back.

"You know those people from last night, right? I think we have the right to know the truth."

"The truth of the matter is pretty much what that boy named Horio said."

They were all people rejected by official competitions, and their leader was named Keith.

He was once hailed as a tennis prodigy capable of reaching the world stage. Clark frequently appeared at tennis clubs or schools in Britain, and utterly defeated them.

"So they use real tennis balls to hurt people?"

Hearing Lin Xiu's words, Horio thought of that tennis ball again.

"What exactly is that? What is real tennis?"

"It's the prototype of the tennis ball we play today, made with a core of cork or stone, wrapped with cloth."

Unlike the balls we use now, it was much more powerful, and it was banned because it had killed people in the past.

Hearing Horio's explanation of real tennis, everyone felt a chill run down their spines.

"Keith and his team's goal this time is the tournament starting tomorrow at Wimbledon..."

They wanted to first dampen the spirits of the main players, crush their opponents' confidence, and ultimately ruin the entire match.

"But you also have that ring, so you're a member of Clark Tennis Club, right? Why would you betray Clark like this?"

The cautious Atobe did not immediately believe Lin Xiu's statement.

Instead, they questioned Lin Xiu about the reasons for what happened last night and just now. Lin Xiu did not hide anything and said frankly that he had withdrawn from Clark.

However, it was clearly impossible to convince this group of people with just a few words. While questioning Lin Xiu, the group also inquired about the gathering place of the Clark members.

"King of Kingdom"

Atobe was somewhat surprised to hear Lin Xiu use this term.

But Lin Xiu simply assumed he hadn't heard of it, so he went on to explain.

"That's the name of a castle; that's their base."

"In that case, can we tell the police this information?"

"I refuse..."

At this point, Oishi, who always prioritized safety, stepped forward and asked a question with respect.

However, Lin Xiu rejected Oishi without even thinking, Oishi to mistakenly believe that Lin Xiu intended to protect the entire Clark Tennis Club.

"I promise... I'll crush Clark."

Despite the skeptical looks from Oishi and others, Lin Xiu firmly declared his determination to defeat the Clark Tennis Club.

When Lin Xiu said this, the others sensed the persistence in his words, but there was still something unclear about the meaning behind them.

Only Horio, standing to the side, stared at Lin Xiu, his eyes gleaming, lost in thought.