Chapter 213: Joint Tryout (9)
"One annoying guy after another just keeps popping up… it's seriously pissing me off!"
Kaiser muttered irritably as he wiped the sweat from his temple.
Watching Rin spin on the sideline, most of his body practically hanging outside the line, then unleashing a zero-angle shot from the baseline—it was frustrating beyond belief.
Everything had been fine before the New Hero Battle started, but ever since this damned project began, more and more guys appeared who could one day threaten the title of "World's No. 1." And worst of all? Every single one of them was his peer.
Kaiser, Isagi, and Rin's eyes briefly locked in a tense triangle before all three quickly looked away in mutual disdain.
Rin clenched his fist subtly to celebrate, but just as his emotions began to settle, a voice struck his nerves like lightning.
"That shot made you satisfied?"
The voice was cool, calm, and cutting.
"Sure, a sharper curveball can be deadly in extreme scenarios. But its usability is limited. When you're shooting from the side, the goalkeeper's field of view is more restricted, making it harder to predict the ball's drop point. But if it's a frontal attack, the wider curve actually gives the keeper more time to react."
From the midfield, Sae had just stepped onto the field and casually brushed past Rin, who was jogging back on defense. His cold eyes drifted toward Rin's clenched fist.
"It looked flashy, sure, but in my eyes, it still doesn't compare to Isagi's Two Gun Volley shot."
"Sae Itoshi!"
Rin practically growled his brother's name, overwhelmed by a surge of irritation. He swore he wouldn't let hatred control him anymore—but damn, this guy really knew how to push every single button!
"Lost your composure on the pitch?"
Sae's flat voice snapped Rin out of his boiling thoughts—just in time to realize that the ball had been passed behind him without him even noticing.
Sae had already received it. With a casual flick of his toe, the ball floated into the air, spinning slowly. And just as it peaked—Shinichi leapt upward like a dragon breaking through the clouds, twisting his body midair, and slammed a header with powerful torque.
The slow-rising ball suddenly crashed down with immense speed, targeting the bottom right corner of the goal. Before the diving keeper could reach it, it had already slipped past his fingertips and slammed into the back of the net.
GOOOOAL!
Sae calmly backpedaled from the scene, his gaze landing disdainfully on Rin.
"Alright. Get off the pitch."
His tone was cold and dismissive.
"If you want to let your pointless emotions control you and act like an idiot, I won't stop you. After all, it's exactly that childishness that keeps you from ever truly growing."
Rin's desire to follow Sae onto the field and score one in front of him was snuffed out immediately.
His steps faltered, and rationality eventually forced him—reluctantly—to walk off the pitch.
After several intense back-and-forth plays, it was his time to be subbed out.
As he reached the sidelines, Rin cast one last frustrated glance at the field, where Sae had just intercepted a pass meant for Kaiser. Scowling, he ripped off his training bib and threw it onto the bench.
"Damn you, big bro... In the second phase of New Hero Battle, I'll crush your pride head-on."
...
"I had mentally prepared myself watching from the sideline, but the tempo is insane... I barely stepped on the field and already lost possession."
Just subbed in, Reo kept a sharp eye on Shinichi's every move—even when the ball wasn't at Shinichi's feet, Reo couldn't afford to relax.
Suddenly, the ball zipped past Reo's left side, and as he instinctively turned his head, Shinichi shot past him on the right, perfectly syncing with Ness to pull off a magical no-touch one-two play.
"That combo should be illegal!"
As the stadium roared, Chris lunged across the box, blocking Shinichi's thunderous shot with his sturdy chest.
"But come on—no flair this time. I saw it coming."
"Then let's see if you saw this coming."
The rebounded ball floated gently toward Isagi, who had already set up for a shot. He fired instantly.
"Don't joke with me, damn you, Isagi!"
Thorns of a blue rose burst out and tangled around the ball mid-flight—Kaiser had read the play and managed to block the shot just in time.
But the moment Kaiser's leg deflected the ball, a figure came crashing in without hesitation.
Shinichi, black cleats hooking the ball away, launched himself forward like a sprinter over hurdles. With powerful abdominal control, he twisted in midair and—despite losing some power—slammed a still-pinpoint accurate shot into the goal, scoring past the just-subbed-in keeper.
"A triple-twist magic act," Shinichi muttered coolly as he got up, face to face with a grimacing Chris.
"You really don't appreciate good art, huh?"
Meanwhile, Ness turned his head away, murmuring under his breath so no one could hear:
"Honestly... that third twist? I didn't plan it. That was just him improvising on the fly."
"Right now, I'm still just a magician pulling off tricks to amuse the crowd. But to cast real magic—magic that excites the world—I need to become stronger. I want to evolve these tricks into something no one can read… something that defies all logic."
...
"This game's nothing but traps," Reo muttered, slapping his cheeks to refocus after being outplayed.
His eyes swept across the pitch with new intensity. Chris came up beside him.
"Reo. That move just now… when Shinichi did the no-touch dribble past you—did you intentionally shift your weight and make contact with him?"
"Huh?"
"When he slipped past your right side, you forced him to squeeze through with contact. That slowed him just enough for me to block the shot. Did you do that on purpose?"
"…I guess?" Reo said, unsure.
"When I realized no one was behind me, I figured I might get fooled, so I copied Shinichi's defensive footwork and tried to slow him a little. Still didn't make it in time, though…"
Hearing Reos answer, Chris nodded thoughtfully. After all, Reo had been under his command during the first phase, so he had a decent understanding of Reo's abilities—especially the limitations of his copying skill.
Reo's ability to replicate others was, in essence, quite similar to Shinichi's Devour.
But like Devour, it struggled against players whose strengths hinged on singular, dominant physical traits.
Chris had already noticed during the first phase: even when Reo tried to mimic Chigiri Hyoma's style, it came off clunky and ineffective. His own physical stats hadn't changed, so even if he copied Chigiri's techniques, without the corresponding speed, the results were lackluster.
Looking at the types of players Reo could copy successfully—Sae Itoshi, Rin Itoshi, Yoichi Isagi, Seishiro Nagi, and Shinichi—it became clear they all shared a common trait: their styles weren't dependent on a single overpowering physical stat.
Instead, they were balanced types, with skills distributed across the board. That made them ideal targets for Reo's replication, since he could actually use those techniques effectively.
More than that, being able to replicate them in the first place meant Reo already possessed the fundamentals.
For example, mimicking Nagi's fluid movements proved Reo had excellent coordination—otherwise, he'd just trip over himself. His solid football IQ and long stint as a midfielder during phase one gave him the base to copy Isagi's passing.
The same went for the Itoshi brothers' refined techniques.
"So that means… while you can't copy Shinichi's dribbling that doesn't lose speed, or his sudden stop-and-go moves," Chris concluded, "you can copy his powerful shooting and defensive positioning. Which means—you've got talent in those areas that matches Shinichi's."
"Reo. Next, you'll keep marking Shinichi."
"Looks like I've finally found a way to make that bastard eat his words."
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A/N: I'll continue uploading Blue Lock: Beyond The Greatness from now on. I've just caught up to the latest manga chapter.
If you want to read 20 advance chapters ahead.
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