[189] Germany vs. France — The Final Match of Phase One (4)
[Brilliant! This goal comes from the young king—Michael Kaiser! After his defeat at the hands of Shinichi, he briefly fell into despair. But now, he rises again! Reforged and reignited, he shows the world once more his unparalleled talent!]
[The fallen emperor rises from the mud, charging once more toward the throne of World No.1!]
[Now, the two teams are back on equal footing! 2–2! The match has officially reached match point. Whichever team scores next will immediately claim victory! This final goal will determine the ultimate ranking of the New Hero Battle's first phase—and it will be the last chance for these heroes to showcase their brilliance!]
[Bastard München and P-X-G are both double-core teams, and now, each of the four cores has scored one goal. So the question is... who will surpass the others to become the true hero of this match? Or perhaps, will an unexpected new hero rise from the shadows?! Let's wait and see!]
...
"P-X-G is in a tough spot now," Sae said calmly, analyzing the field with sharp precision. "Hiori might have great vision and reading of the game, but he's not among the strongest physically. The others don't have much of a chance either. Only Zantetsu, with his speed, might find an opening. But his finishing is too weak. Against that monster of a Blue Lock goalkeeper, it's unlikely he can end the game in one strike. So Charles probably won't consider passing to him."
Sae's composed breakdown of the situation made it clear—he could easily pinpoint P-X-G's weakness. The others could only watch, impressed, as Shinichi and Sae continued their casual, yet razor-sharp, discussion.
"Still," Shinichi added thoughtfully, "Isagi's last run was almost completely read by Rin, which is why Hiori passed the ball to Kaiser instead. But now that Charles and Shidou are adapting, Kaiser won't be able to rely purely on his shot to pull off another goal. Their adaptability is even better than I expected. At this point, it's all about who gets into the zone first."
"Right," Sae nodded. "The same goes for Isagi. While Rin is dangerous, without combining his rationality with his destructive instincts, he's just a beast—and beasts can't keep climbing forever."
Their conversation naturally arrived at the same conclusion:
"If Bastard München can survive this next attack, they'll win."
...
Of course, the players on the field had no idea about Shinichi and Sae's analysis. On the pitch, as P-X-G prepared to restart, Rin glared at Charles with murderous intent:
"Next attack. Give me the ball. I'll end this damn circus."
"Tch. Like hell I will just because you said so," Charles replied with a mocking face, completely unfazed by Rin's threatening tone. "Actually, now that you're ordering me around, I'm tempted to pass it to Shidou instead—let him score more than you today!"
"Haha, not bad, kid! Alright! I'm feeling it! I have a premonition—this is going to be absolutely insane!"
"Ugh—gross. Now I don't feel like passing to you anymore."
"How could you?!"
...
Though their mouths didn't stop bickering, once the whistle blew, Rin still obediently passed the ball to Charles.
After being influenced by Shinichi, Rin had developed his own strong obsession with winning.
It was just that he and Shidou were practically oil and water.
Their personalities clashed terribly, and because they had kept winning so far, Rin had simply chosen not to blend his play with Shidou's.
But now, at this critical moment of the match, he knew he had to make the right play for the sake of victory—even if it meant enduring that idiotic pink-haired cockroach!
'Rin's movement... it's changing. He's starting to adapt to Shidou's behavior!'
Isagi immediately noticed the subtle shift in Rin's positioning. His instincts flared with alarm, and he stopped focusing entirely on Shidou alone.
"Hey, stupid glasses—take care of that muscle-head for me," Charles barked upfield, still using Zantetsu to play quick one-twos to push the offense.
But this time, just as Zantetsu used his speed to sprint past Raichi, Yukimiya appeared from the other side to cut him off.
"You might be fast," Yukimiya smirked, "but after you burn through your initial burst, your speed drops significantly. Once I force you to use it up, you're no threat anymore!"
"Is that so...? Looks like your eyes are covered by leaves," Zantetsu said with an unexpected calmness, despite being double-teamed.
At the moment he nudged the ball with his foot, he suddenly lowered his center of gravity and, once again, exploded forward, slipping right between Yukimiya and Raichi.
"A second burst and change of direction—I'm evolving too, you dumb glasses!"
"That's called 'not seeing the forest for the trees,' you know! Why do you know even less than I do?!" Charles grumbled instinctively as he received the ball from Zantetsu.
Mid-sprint, without hesitation, Charles passed the ball—not to Shidou as expected—but to Rin, the very person he'd just been arguing with.
However, the moment the ball left his foot, Charles immediately pouted in frustration.
Isagi was already there, anticipating the pass before it even arrived.
Though he didn't intercept it, he was able to cut into the lane perfectly, reading Charles's intent.
"Knew it, Rin!"
Puzzle pieces burst around Isagi as he fixated sharply on Rin's hips—the true indicator of movement.
Isagi didn't aim for the steal; he was purely focused on blocking Rin's momentum, holding him up just long enough for the torn defensive line to recover.
All he needed was to stall—but then...?!
While Isagi focused on reading Rin's movement, Rin simply lifted his right foot, bringing it down sharply onto the ball.
Bang!
The ball smashed into the ground, bounced up, and shot cleanly through Isagi's legs!
Still braced to guard against Rin's possible drive, Isagi had no time to react to this unexpected bounce-pass nutmeg.
Frozen, he could only watch helplessly as the ball zipped behind him—straight toward Shidou, who had somehow already slipped into position!
"You're not scoring, you damn pink-haired cockroach!" ×2
As Shidou wound up to shoot, two defenders lunged from either side, kicking at the ball simultaneously.
Under the fierce clash of forces, the ball shot upwards into the air—where the quick-reacting goalkeeper Gagamaru leapt up and caught it firmly.
Not giving anyone a moment to breathe, Gagamaru immediately launched a counterattack by hurling the ball downfield.
In an instant, all of Bastard München snapped into counterattacking mode.
Isagi, reacting fastest, led the charge, but Zantetsu quickly caught up.
Yet right when Zantetsu was about to overtake him, Isagi slammed on the brakes, using Yukimiya as a human shield to shake Zantetsu off.
Breaking free, Isagi surged straight toward the penalty area!
"Not a chance, you damn Isagi!"
But… P-X-G still had one final line of defense!
Rin, who had also sprinted back immediately after the turnover, didn't chase after Isagi directly—instead, he rushed to guard the goalmouth, cutting off Isagi's shooting angle entirely.
He even preemptively blocked the option for a left-footed shot.
However—at the moment Rin's pupils contracted sharply—
Isagi faked with his left foot, sending Rin off balance, and without hesitation, unleashed a powerful shot with his right foot—
GOOOOOOOAL!!!
Germany's Bastard München 3 : 2 France's P-X-G!
The first stage of the New Hero Battle
has officially ended!
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