Blue Lock: Beyond Greatness

Chapter 92: Mortals Who Desire to Slay a God

"It's been just one round, barely a week. How do you expect us to evolve in that time, you monster?" Otoya snapped, his frustration spilling out as he pushed his speed to the limit.

Yet Shinichi remained calm, effortlessly keeping pace without breaking a sweat. "If you don't have anything new, I might just take the ball now," Shinichi said casually.

"Hey, don't hog all the fun catching up with old friends! Let us join in too… TOP1!" Aiki hissed, his forked tongue flicking out like a snake, arriving to provide support.

Even Otoya had to admire the precision of Aiki's timing.

Without hesitation, he passed the ball to him.

Aiki received the pass and, with a sharp glare at Shinichi, taunted, "Let's see just how big the gap is between me and TOP1—!"

Before Aiki could even finish his sentence, Shinichi closed the gap in an instant, stealing the ball cleanly from his feet. "Sorry, I don't make a habit of wasting time on nobodies," Shinichi said nonchalantly.

How is that even possible?!

I couldn't even see his move, and the ball was already gone!

Aiki's mind raced in shock as he scrambled to chase after Shinichi.

But with just a few effortless changes in direction, Shinichi left him sprawled on the ground, defeated.

"And another thing… don't interrupt people when they're speaking. It's rude," Shinichi added coldly.

After shutting down the irritating sideshow, Shinichi turned his attention to the remaining players, who were all on high alert. "Now, it's your turn. Let's see if you've come up with a way to counter this."

With that, Shinichi charged toward Otoya, his footwork accelerating rapidly as he approached.

Otoya's balance and focus were pushed to the brink as he tried to keep up with Shinichi's movements.

Suddenly, Shinichi paused mid-step, making an exaggerated motion as if to perform a rainbow flick over Otoya's head.

Otoya knew there was no way Shinichi's move would be that straightforward, yet he had no choice but to step back, wary of the ball potentially flying over him.

As expected, when Shinichi flicked the ball upward, he subtly adjusted the angle with a light tap of his foot, causing the ball to rise much lower than a typical rainbow flick.

As the ball ascended, it gently struck Shinichi's back before sliding down his shoulder and into his control.

With no other choice, Otoya lunged forward again.

However, just as he shifted his weight to accelerate, Shinichi twisted his body slightly, crossing his legs in mid-motion.

Using the inside of his trailing left foot, he delivered a sharp push to the falling ball, executing a rabona pass that sent it slipping through Otoya's legs.

The rapid shifts in pace and direction left Otoya struggling to keep up, ultimately causing him to lose balance and collapse to the ground.

"This guy… he's stealing again!"

Otoya and Karasu immediately realized the purpose of Shinichi's fluid movements—he was trying to steal Nishioka's new weapon.

But they had no time to dwell on it. With a decisive pass, Shinichi sent the ball to Bachira and then used his incredible speed to dart into an off-ball position.

"Even Otoya's weapon…" Karasu muttered, analyzing the situation.

Otoya's new skill was centered around using his agile footwork to slip into opponents' blind spots, making them lose track of him.

But Shinichi's overwhelming presence made it nearly impossible to ignore him entirely. Yet… "He's so fast!"

Shinichi wasn't even attempting to hide in blind spots.

Instead, he relied purely on his unparalleled speed to slip out of his opponents' field of vision.

Karasu frantically twisted his head, trying to keep track of Shinichi's position.

Then, a sudden realization hit him.

"Wait! Shinichi isn't trying to hide in blind spots. He's—!"

Karasu's heart sank, but it was already too late. His focus on tracking Shinichi's movements caused him to lose sight of the immediate danger—Bachira, right in front of him. With no resistance to stop him, Bachira easily bypassed Karasu.

"Shinichi knows his presence is too overwhelming to be ignored. Instead of hiding himself, he uses his presence and lightning-fast movements to manipulate the opponent's focus. And in doing so, he creates opportunities for his teammates to slip into the real blind spots!"

Karasu felt a surge of panic but could only watch as Hiori Yo surged forward.

"Damn it, I can't afford to lose focus. If I can't even handle the opponent in front of me, there's no point thinking about beating that monster!" Nishioka moved in to cover, shifting all his attention to Bachira.

"As long as I stop you, it doesn't matter how good Shinichi's positioning is. Come at me!"

"Heh, payback for earlier. You humiliated me, so here's a taste of your own medicine!" Bachira said with a grin as he launched the ball forward.

His eyes locked onto the landing point. "Come on. I won't say it out loud, but I know it deep down—you're the monster I've been searching for. Show up, the one who can make this fun!"

A figure did indeed move toward the ball, but what Bachira saw left him stunned.

The "monster" only he could see stood timidly under the ball's trajectory, seemingly frozen, while Shinichi was still several meters away.

"I told you, this boring pursuit of yours—go play by yourself." Seeing that the pass was off-target, Shinichi sighed and adjusted his position.

The hapless "monster" blocking his path was effortlessly trampled underfoot, dissolving into a soft black mist that scattered with the wind.

Despite the imperfect pass, Shinichi still managed to gain control of the ball.

In tandem with the arriving Kurona, they executed a seamless one-two play, leaving the final defender, Kiyora, in their wake.

Boom—Whoosh!

The ball rocketed forward with unstoppable power, crashing into the net with such force that it sent ripples like a crashing wave.

Beside the diving Blue Lock goalkeeper, now sprawled on the ground, lay Bachira, wide-eyed in disbelief.

"How is this possible... Shinichi... Shinichi is..."

"He crushed my monster…"

Beep—!

Shinichi Team 1:0 Rebel Team

No one paid attention to the dazed and distraught Bachira.

The players quickly returned to their positions.

Once again, Karasu had possession of the ball, but this time, Shinichi didn't even bother to press.

He stood with his hands in his pockets, casually watching. "So? Do you have a new countermeasure this time?"

"Of course. If you're the benchmark we're up against, how could we not think of ways to deal with your broken abilities?" Karasu replied in a low voice, moving the ball forward with a slightly awkward motion.

"Karasu's weapon hasn't been stolen? How is he still able to shield the ball?!" In the viewing room, everyone stood in shock, especially those who had previously fallen victim to Shinichi's overwhelming theft ability.

They had firsthand experience of that crushing despair, yet now someone had managed to resist Shinichi's influence?

"No, it's not that his weapon hasn't been stolen. It's that it wasn't completely taken!" Analyzing the situation intently, Isagi clarified with a frown, dismissing the others' initial assumptions.

"Karasu's movements are noticeably less fluid. I'd say he's still under Shinichi's influence, but he's managed to partially resist it, keeping his weapon from being fully neutralized."

"That's right. Based on what I can see, Karasu's ball control is now only about seventy percent as effective as before," Reiji added, nodding in agreement.

The realization dawned on everyone, but as they continued to watch the screen, they could only sigh helplessly.

On the field, Karasu, Otoya, and Nishioka had all managed to avoid complete theft of their abilities.

They had pushed themselves to the limit, even preparing counters against Shinichi's signature move.

Yet, even at their peak, they were unable to truly challenge him.

And now, with their abilities diminished to seventy percent, there was no contest.

What followed was a brutal display of dominance—Shinichi's team tore through the opposition effortlessly, leaving no chance for resistance.

Beep—Beep!

Shinichi Team 5:0 Rebel Team

As Otoya and the others lay on the ground, gasping for air, the match finally came to a close.

"Not bad, little crow. You actually managed to resist the effects of my Devour," Shinichi said as he approached Karasu with a rare, genuine compliment instead of his usual taunts.

"Tch, we trained our muscle memory to the point where we'd rather die than forget it, all just to counter your godlike ability. If even that didn't work, we mere mortals might as well give up completely," Karasu replied with a wry smile.

Shinichi then turned to Otoya, who waved him off weakly, unwilling to engage.

"Hmph, I know what you're going to say—that my weapon is damn effective. After experiencing it firsthand, I already know what you were grinning about back then. Don't think you can use that to mess with me again," Nishioka said bitterly, turning his head away in frustration. "Don't get cocky, though. I'll keep evolving. One day, I'll beat you!"

"We mere mortals will band together to bring down you, the vile god," he added with defiance.

"Good. I'm looking forward to it—the day you mortals finally prepare to slay this god," Shinichi replied with a slight nod, a glimmer of excitement in his eyes. "And then, I'll do everything I can to crush that hope."

"Of course you will. If you didn't give it your all, that would piss me off even more, you damn genius," Karasu retorted with a smirk.

With that, the third adaptive experiment came to an end.

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