"So it's true... you've reached that level too, Yukimura," Tezuka muttered to himself instead of responding to Yukimura directly.
Urged by the umpire, Yukimura tossed the ball high and smashed it with a sharp swing. The ball spun rapidly as it flew toward Tezuka's left baseline—exactly like the illusion he had just experienced. That made Tezuka instantly alert.
But even so, he had to return the ball. He pushed aside his unease and moved to the corner, swinging at the rising ball. In the next moment, darkness and emptiness swallowed everything. Tezuka only sighed inwardly, not all that surprised.
"Ace! 1-0!" The moment Tezuka regained his senses, the umpire's voice rang out.
Next was Tezuka's serve. Now on high alert, a blue radiance flared around him. A strange force gave his will unshakable focus, temporarily dispelling the mental pressure Yukimura had been projecting around him.
"Unleashing the Radiance of Love right away? You're not easy to deal with, huh?" Yukimura said softly as he looked at Tezuka.
Tezuka tossed the ball. His left arm twisted at an unnatural angle before he swung down sharply. The ball rocketed across the net with intense, chaotic spin. After striking the serve, Tezuka's left arm twitched involuntarily—but only Akashi on the sidelines noticed.
Yukimura didn't hesitate. He quickly moved to the drop point and watched as the ball came down. Just as it landed, he swept his racket low across the court in an attempt to lift it before it could spin.
The ball popped up, but when Yukimura tried to nullify the Zero Shiki spin, a chaotic force struck his racket. Caught off guard, he couldn't react in time, and the return slammed into the net, falling back onto his own court.
"Ace! 1-1!"
"Adding an even more complex spin on top of a standard Zero Shiki Serve... that's gotta put serious strain on your arm. Is this the resolve you've staked on winning, Tezuka?" Yukimura's tone turned serious.
Tezuka didn't reply. Standing at the baseline, he tossed up another ball. Again, his left arm twisted bizarrely, and he smashed the ball with a sharp motion.
This wasn't a new serve he developed—it was just the Ultimate Zone technique applied forcefully to add more spin. It made it nearly impossible for Yukimura to fully erase the spin in the brief time he had to return the shot. But this serve placed way more strain on the arm than a standard Zero Shiki.
'Willing to bet your pro career on this match? That kind of resolve deserves respect. Then I'll go all out too!' Yukimura thought, dashing toward the ball.
The ball landed. Yukimura once again swept low to scoop it up. He managed to lift it, but the wild spin kept hammering his racket. Though he tried to cancel it out, time was too short. The ball crashed into the net again.
"Ace! 2-1!"
Yukimura exhaled slowly. Then he noticed something—Tezuka instinctively clutching his left arm. That confirmed it—the serve's burden was heavier than he'd thought.
'This won't do. Tezuka's arm won't last many more serves... no choice. I have to end this quickly. I was saving this for the World Tournament, but...' Yukimura respected Tezuka's resolve. He didn't want to destroy his arm through attrition.
With that thought, Yukimura held nothing back. A powerful wave of spiritual energy burst from his body. Behind him appeared a massive phantom—draped in a rainbow-colored robe, with a kind and gentle face, and huge butterfly-like wings slowly flapping.
"Alternate Dimension—Morpheus!"
With the phantom behind him, Yukimura looked almost divine. His overwhelming mental force could be clearly felt even by players not skilled in spiritual techniques. A faint blue glow even radiated from his eyes.
"Oh? The god who governs dreams and illusions? That fits you well, Yukimura. And the blue glow in your eyes... a physical manifestation of condensed mental force?" Akashi mused from the coaching bench.
"Has captain turned into a god?" Kirihara muttered blankly from Rikkai's bench as he stared at Yukimura.
"What nonsense are you spouting?! I told you to stop reading so many manga! You're way too slack, Kirihara Akaya!" Sanada growled from beside him, barely holding back a scolding.
"So this is Yukimura's Alternate Dimension? Honestly, it's beyond all my data models now!" Yanagi Renji's voice even trembled with excitement.
"Alternate Dimension... Light of Pride..." Niō whispered to himself, no one quite sure what he was thinking.
"Tch! I can't believe that guy Yukimura awakened an Alternate Dimension too!" On the other side, at Fudomine's bench, Akutsu muttered in irritation.
"Heh~ If even you can awaken one, why can't Yukimura?" Tachibana Kippei teased with a smirk.
"Hah? What did you say?! You got a death wish?" Akutsu turned and glared viciously at Tachibana.
"Enough! This isn't the time to argue. Yukimura's already activated his Alternate Dimension—Tezuka's in real trouble now!" Chitose cut in to calm things down.
"So pretty! I wanna play another match with the headband guy!" Kintarō's eyes sparkled as he stared excitedly at Yukimura on the court.
Meanwhile, in the spectator stands, Mitsuya spoke in a knowing tone to Head Coach Mifune:
"That makes six players who've mastered an Alternate Dimension now, Mifune-sensei. Oh, and don't forget Tezuka-kun—he may not have an Alternate Dimension, but with two types of Radiance, his strength definitely isn't any less."
"Hahaha! I'm already getting excited. In this World Tournament, the Japan Team is gonna shock the entire world! Though once Nationals are over, the training camp's gonna get wild!" Mifune laughed heartily.
"Yeah~ Competing for a top ten spot in the First-String will be more intense than ever. The current generation with Akashi and the others—these middle schoolers aren't gonna be easy to handle," Mitsuya said, a charming smile playing on his lips.
Back on the court, Tezuka watched as Yukimura unleashed his Alternate Dimension. Though he had expected it, the shock was unavoidable. The Radiance of Love around him began to waver, but then the Radiance of Pain flared just in time, barely holding off the invasion of Yukimura's dimension.
As the two types of Radiance merged, a shadowy figure appeared behind Tezuka—it was a magnified version of Tezuka Kunimitsu himself. Though much blurrier than an Alternate Dimension, it wasn't one. It was a manifestation of Tezuka's own will.
This was the method players on the path of pure Radiance used to counter an Alternate Dimension. By fusing two or more Radiances, they could briefly externalize their willpower and avoid being swallowed by the opponent's dimension.
Echizen Nanjirō was a special case. He had completely mastered both three types of Light of Pride and the Alternate Dimension. The samurai figure behind him could be seen as either—making it both his own will and an Alternate Dimension, hence the samurai appearance.
In contrast, in the original work, Ryōma never fully pursued the path of Radiance. Maybe due to Byoudouin and Tokugawa's influence—or the difficulty of awakening all three Light of Pride —he awakened his own Alternate Dimension midway through and inherited the samurai phantom, following in his father's footsteps.
Now it was Yukimura's turn to serve. As he tossed the ball, Morpheus behind him flapped its enormous wings. A heavy, obscure wave of mental force followed the ball across the net and surged toward Tezuka.
The moment Tezuka returned the serve, hopeless visions slammed into his mind. He saw himself kneeling at the net, clutching his red, swollen left arm. Yukimura stood calmly across from him, putting away his racket. The scoreboard read: Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku 7-6 Fudomine! This was Yukimura's Alternate Dimension technique—Nightmare Descent!
"Nightmare Descent!"
Even though Tezuka's consciousness was trapped in the illusion, the shadowy Tezuka behind him still swung its racket. Tezuka's body followed, striking the ball back at incredible speed toward Yukimura's court.
They began a flurry of quick exchanges. But Tezuka hadn't fully regained awareness—his body moved only through the will manifestation's instinctive control. He couldn't bring out his full strength and eventually left an opening.
"2-2!"
After scoring the point, Yukimura didn't let up. He kept pouring out mental energy, trying to trap Tezuka in the illusion longer. But the cost was clear—his arm and thigh were going numb. His body was struggling to handle the massive short-term output.
Still, Yukimura wasn't too concerned. He knew it was temporary. As long as the match didn't drag on, his body would recover. And over the past two years, with Dr. Takahashi's regular checkups, the risk of a relapse from Guillain-Barré Syndrome had been completely eliminated.
Yukimura served again. Tezuka was still trapped in the nightmare, moving purely on instinct. Only someone like Tezuka, who had awakened two Radiances, could keep playing at all—any other player would've been frozen in place.
"3-2!"
But even Tezuka couldn't keep scoring on reflex alone. After losing another point, the light around him suddenly flared. In the next moment, clarity returned to his eyes, and he spoke to Yukimura with firm resolve:
"This match will be won by Fudomine!"