The match continued. This time, it was Team A's kickoff.
This time, Itoshi Rin's expression was a few degrees more solemn. After Isagi, another annoying guy had walked ahead of him, stepping into the realm of Flow.
"Don't let extraneous thoughts affect your thinking."
"What belongs to you, no one can take away."
Tendou told him to maintain his composure. Rin also understood in his heart, nodded, and focused on the match.
Tap!
Rin kicked the ball out, giving it to Tendou.
The players of Team C, seeing this, immediately braced themselves. The pressure from this No. 1 was too immense. With the slightest mistake, they would be given no chance by Tendou to even make a tackle.
Even though he had already stepped into the realm of Flow, the sense of oppression Karasu felt from Tendou had not diminished in the slightest. In fact...
"After getting stronger, I can feel Tendou's terror even more keenly."
"How is he like a thousand-layer cake? You open one layer, and the next is even more suffocating."
Though he thought this in his heart, Karasu's actions did not stop. He wanted to see to what extent the current him could push Tendou. This was a first-to-five-goals match. They had only scored one goal so far, while Team A had two. The situation was still unfavorable for Team C.
And Tendou.
Facing Karasu's challenge, after taking one step, his entire person transformed into a streak of light and shot out. His expression was so calm it was frightening. Karasu, on the other hand, was at full focus.
Of course, Tendou could be calm, because he was the strongest and also had a pair of eyes that could see through the future.
And himself? He could only honestly stare at Tendou's shoulders, legs, and the trajectory of the ball, defending with the methods of a mortal.
But.
"Cleave."
With a whisper, the frequency of Tendou's feet began to become monstrous. Under Karasu's watch, Tendou swayed rapidly like the second hand of a large clock. One to the left. One to the right. After repeating this cycle twice, Tendou, along with the ball, disappeared from in front of him. The entire process lasted only a second.
"He disappeared?!"
Karasu's eyes suddenly snapped open. He looked back and, sure enough, found that Tendou had already rushed behind him.
Too heaven-defying! This was not the Pendulum Dribble, but purely a time-lag illusion caused by an excessively fast step frequency.
"It's not over yet!"
"Don't even think about getting past!"
Yukimiya Kenyu immediately moved to cover. He was the strongest one-on-one player among Japanese high school students. To be defeated so easily like that... he had to get his face back.
Like Karasu, his eyes were solely locked on Tendou's entire body.
In a one-on-one in football, especially for the defender, there are several things that need to be done well. The first is controlling the distance. Without absolute certainty, you need to maintain a certain distance from your opponent to ensure you can advance and retreat freely. The second thing is the timing of the tackle.
Football is different from basketball. No matter how fast your feet are, they can't be faster than your hands. No matter how secretive the move, there are always traces. As long as you can grasp this point, you have a chance to complete a tackle.
It seems simple, but in reality, it's not easy. Because to accomplish these two things, you need to have extremely strong perception, a calm mentality, excellent positioning, defensive skills, and so on.
And Yukimiya Kenyu. He had a wealth of one-on-one experience. Because he had been playing street football since he was a child, he had long since developed an excellent body and footwork.
But Tendou didn't even have him in his eyes.
He suddenly burst to his left. Yukimiya was forced to move, opening his legs. At this moment, Tendou's brilliant pupils rotated for a moment, and his right foot suddenly pushed the ball through his opponent's legs, completing a nutmeg. Then his figure followed, rotating, circling from left to right around Yukimiya.
And so, a classic "man and ball go past separately" was completed. All of this happened almost at the same time.
A second time.
Yukimiya couldn't believe it. In the area he was best at, he had been defeated so easily, and it was a complete defeat on both offense and defense.
"Nagi!"
"Yeah!"
Seeing their team's two great generals being passed one after another, Reo, left with no other choice, could only join forces and go forward. He wouldn't be foolish enough to go one-on-one with Tendou like Yukimiya. What was the difference between that and sending himself to his death?
"Tendou, use me! I'm a useful monk!"
Igarashi, who had had little presence so far, came charging in from the flank. The monk had good self-awareness. He knew that with his ability, he couldn't become the protagonist on the field. Creeping forward by the protagonist's side was his way of survival.
"Damn it!" Reo saw the monk, his brows furrowed.
The players who could pass two rounds of selection to get here were already elite players at the national level. Even Igarashi had made extreme progress here.
Should I defend against him? But if he did that, Nagi alone couldn't stop Tendou. But if he didn't... Tendou's passes were just so sharp.
Having been his opponent these past few days, Reo had already experienced how troublesome Tendou was. He had the strongest impact in all of Blue Lock, and at the same time, his organizational ability was also undoubtedly No. 1.
To put it bluntly, the skill gap was too big. When Tendou faced them, he could do whatever he wanted.
Tap!
Damn it! Reo cursed inwardly. Tendou hadn't given him enough time to think. While he was still hesitating, the pass had already been made.
Igarashi's face lit up, and he accelerated forward.
But then.
Just as his dominant foot was about to touch the ball, the ball strangely curved away and rolled past his feet.
"This ball isn't for you, you idiot."
Itoshi Rin came up from behind and, meeting the rolling ball, sent out a direct through-ball.
BAM!
BZZT!
Almost at the same time, Tendou, wreathed in lightning, accelerated a third time, charging past Reo and Nagi in one breath.
At this time, all the members of Team C had been left behind by Tendou. Facing a goal with only a goalkeeper, Tendou caught up to the ball and shot. Rin's pass was excellent; the ball's landing spot was Tendou's optimal shooting range.
BAM!
No complex curve. The ball was struck by Tendou's right foot and shot straight into the corner of the goal.
SWISH!
The ball went in. The goalkeeper had made a save attempt and had even judged the direction correctly. Unfortunately, this was a shot into the corner. Even if you judge the direction correctly, the success rate of a save is no more than 10%!
"Oh?"
"Did you secretly upgrade the goalkeeper?"
Tendou glanced at the camera in the corner of the wall and showed a "Long Aotian"-style smile, a silent mockery emanating from him. Before anyone could react, he had already kicked the ball back out.
"Ego-san, I think Tendou found out," Anri said from the control room.
In the control room, Anri looked at the handsome face of Tendou on the screen and turned her head away a little guiltily. The goalkeeper in this match could be said to be Tendou's exclusive goalkeeper. They felt that there was no need for Tendou to continue testing and hoped to give other players more opportunities to show themselves. Of course, if Tendou could still score easily even after the goalkeeper had been upgraded, they wouldn't be at a loss either.
Just like today.
They had seen the sharpness of Tendou's left foot. Perhaps in the near future, their Blue Lock would produce a two-footed monster like the world's number one forward, Noel Noa.
...
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