Top of the seventh inning.
Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team was on offense.
Standing in the batter's box, the mixed-race teenager Carlos Toshiki completely unleashed the wild instincts flowing through his veins.
His sharp eyes locked onto Zhou Hao like a predator staring at its prey.
The moment the baseball appeared—
He would attack without hesitation.
On the mound, Zhou Hao silently calculated the remaining innings before giving Miyuki Kazuya a firm nod.
Seido currently held a one-run lead.
It wasn't much.
But it was enough.
As long as they prevented the opponent from scoring for the rest of the game, victory would belong to Seido.
"I can still use Fastballs…"
Zhou Hao thought to himself.
"I can hold on."
"It's only twenty-seven more pitches."
Seeing Zhou Hao's response, Miyuki's lips curled upward slightly.
From his perspective, if Zhou Hao said he could do it—
Then they should be able to finish the game cleanly.
"First pitch," Miyuki signaled.
"Throw it here."
Without the slightest hesitation, Zhou Hao set his stance and fired the baseball.
BOOM!!
The instant the ball left his fingertips, Zhou Hao felt something strange.
It was as though his arm had stopped responding properly.
What's going on?
Although startled inwardly, Zhou Hao forcefully suppressed the discomfort and completed the pitch.
From the audience's perspective, nothing looked different.
The baseball still appeared before the batter almost instantly.
Fast.
Terrifyingly fast.
Carlos's dark eyes gleamed sharply.
At that moment, every cell in his body seemed to awaken.
Without hesitation, he swung directly at the incoming pitch.
BUZZ!!
The bat collided with the baseball.
CLANG!!
The instant contact was made, Carlos felt as though his arms no longer belonged to him.
Heavy!
The impact was unbelievably heavy.
For a brief moment, he even felt like letting go of the bat entirely.
But he couldn't.
As Inashiro Industrial's leadoff batter this inning, if he backed down now, the entire team would fall into danger.
Even if he had to grit his teeth—
Even if he had to squeeze out every last ounce of strength—
He had to swing.
CLANG!!
Carlos roared inwardly as he finally managed to knock the baseball away.
The ball sliced foul.
For a moment, the entire stadium froze.
"He hit it?!"
"He actually hit Zhou Hao's pitch?!"
"How is that possible?!"
Even though it wasn't a clean Hit…
Even though the ball hadn't even landed fair…
The mere fact that Carlos managed to make contact with Zhou Hao's pitch shocked everyone.
Especially the players and supporters of Inashiro Industrial.
Until now, Zhou Hao had felt like an invincible god standing before them.
Even now, his pitching remained overwhelmingly powerful.
But the feeling was different.
At this moment, Zhou Hao resembled the final boss of a game—
A boss whose health bar had finally become visible.
He was still terrifying.
Still monstrously strong.
But no longer completely untouchable.
Among everyone present, Miyuki Kazuya felt this change most clearly.
As the catcher closest to the batter, he immediately sensed that something was wrong.
Even if Carlos had exceeded his limits, logically speaking, he should never have been able to foul off Zhou Hao's Fastball on the very first pitch.
Combined with the strange feeling in his own hands, Miyuki instinctively glanced toward the giant electronic scoreboard.
154 km/h.
For a high school pitcher, this was still an astonishing speed.
Very few pitchers in the nation could reach that level.
But compared to Zhou Hao's previous 168 km/h—
It was fourteen kilometers slower.
Even compared to his earlier 163 km/h Fastballs, it was still nine kilometers slower.
Such a massive drop…
What did it mean?
Miyuki narrowed his eyes sharply.
No one understood the answer better than he did.
Zhou Hao's velocity had fallen.
The terrifying 168 km/h speed from earlier now seemed riddled with hidden problems.
It was as if Zhou Hao had burned himself out.
Ever since becoming Seido's Ace, Zhou Hao had always represented absolute reliability.
As long as he stood on the mound, everyone naturally believed there was nothing to worry about.
But now—
Perhaps because Seido had experienced too few setbacks…
Or perhaps because Zhou Hao had always been too overwhelming…
No one had ever seriously considered this question before:
What would happen if Zhou Hao himself encountered problems?
Now, they had no choice but to think about it.
While Miyuki was still trying to process the situation, Zhou Hao stood on the mound with cold, sharp eyes.
At this moment, he finally realized something clearly.
The system had tricked him.
And tricked him badly.
Back when he unleashed those 168 km/h pitches, he had been completely intoxicated by the overwhelming power.
In his excitement, he forgot something crucial.
The enhancement only increased his power—
Not his physical durability.
That meant his body still had to bear the terrifying backlash from those extreme-speed pitches.
Previously, the problem hadn't surfaced because he hadn't pushed himself this far.
But now—
The consequences had arrived all at once.
Zhou Hao could clearly feel pain screaming from his shoulder and bones.
It wasn't that he could no longer throw high-speed pitches.
But the velocity would never again match the terrifying level from earlier.
And more importantly—
Zhou Hao could already tell that throwing twenty-seven more Fastballs like this was impossible.
Continuing to challenge the opponent head-on with pure speed now would basically be suicide.
The old Zhou Hao would never make such a reckless decision.
And the current Zhou Hao certainly wouldn't either.
The players of Inashiro Industrial had probably already sensed something.
That meant—
He absolutely could not hesitate now.
He had to finish them cleanly before they fully reacted.
The moment he made his decision, Zhou Hao acted immediately.
After exchanging signals with Miyuki, he set his stance once again and decisively released the pitch.
WHOOSH!!
The instant Carlos saw the ball, his eyes lit up.
So it wasn't an illusion!
Earlier, his greatest fear had been that Zhou Hao had merely slipped or made a minor mistake.
If the previous 168 km/h Fastballs truly carried no side effects, then Inashiro would have no chance at all.
A monster who could endlessly throw pitches like that…
How could anyone defeat such a player?
Fortunately—
That worst-case scenario had not happened.
Which meant they still had hope.
No matter how small the possibility was, as long as a chance remained, they had to fight for it.
Even though this pitch no longer looked overwhelmingly fast, Carlos still didn't dare relax for even a second.
Because he understood something very clearly.
Even Zhou Hao's "ordinary" Fastball was anything but ordinary.
He had to focus with everything he had.
One hundred percent wasn't enough.
He needed one hundred and twenty percent concentration to hit this pitch away.
Carlos abandoned all unnecessary thoughts.
He entrusted everything entirely to instinct.
This was the experience he had developed through countless battles.
Sometimes, abandoning conscious thought and relying purely on instinct produced the best possible swing.
Maybe—
Just maybe—
He could truly hit Zhou Hao's pitch.
WHOOSH!!
The baseball screamed toward the plate.
The moment Carlos Toshiki saw its trajectory, his eyes sharpened.
A Breaking Ball?
No—
This was the legendary disappearing pitch!
Realizing that, Carlos tightened his grip on the bat.
The muscles in both arms bulged violently.
No matter what—
He had to hit this ball away.
Here it comes!
The instant that thought crossed his mind, the baseball flashed toward home plate.
Carlos exploded into motion without hesitation.
"Fly for me!!"
He had tracked the pitch perfectly.
Even if it was a Breaking Ball, he still believed he could drive it away.
Maybe this victory would be somewhat unfair.
Carlos understood clearly that Zhou Hao was no longer in peak condition.
Under normal circumstances, he would never have had a chance to touch this pitch.
But so what?
An opportunity was still an opportunity.
As long as a crack appeared, no batter in high school baseball would willingly let it slip away.
"Sorry…"
"If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for showing off too much earlier."
Carlos swung with absolute confidence.
He was determined to blast the ball away.
But the bat that cut through the air with full force struck nothing.
The baseball changed.
Violently.
It suddenly shifted several ball-widths horizontally toward the inside.
By the time it reached the front edge of home plate, it had completely escaped the strike zone.
The ball nearly brushed against Carlos's body as it passed.
If Miyuki Kazuya hadn't reacted instantly—
If it had been any other catcher—
That pitch would almost certainly have gone wild.
POP!
Miyuki secured the baseball cleanly in his mitt.
"Strike!"
Because Carlos had swung, the pitch was ruled a strike despite breaking out of the zone.
The moment Miyuki caught it, every cell in his body seemed to tremble with excitement.
Too incredible!
Just when he thought Zhou Hao had reached his limit—
Zhou Hao revealed yet another terrifying weapon.
Fastballs were no longer reliable.
And if he relied only on standard Breaking Balls, the batters from Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team would eventually adapt.
Miyuki had genuinely been worried about that.
But he never expected Zhou Hao to evolve his Breaking Balls even further.
A pitch that started inside the strike zone—
Then violently broke outside of it.
Even the Inashiro players were stunned.
They had thought this was finally their chance.
Instead—
Zhou Hao had once again dragged himself back from the brink.
Even if he only used Breaking Balls now, the sheer variation in spin and horizontal movement was enough to overwhelm them completely.
On the mound, Zhou Hao quietly exhaled in relief.
To outsiders, it looked as though he had calmly predicted everything once again.
But only Zhou Hao himself knew the truth.
This was simply another hidden trump card.
A weapon he had never once used in an actual game.
The second stage of the Uchiha pitching technique.
By relying on extremely high-speed rotation combined with a special release method, he could forcibly alter the baseball's trajectory mid-flight.
This was its first appearance in real combat.
And the fact that he had successfully used it without any backlash already exceeded Zhou Hao's expectations.
More importantly—
It gave him a way to continue pitching.
If he had been forced to hand the mound over to Seido's relief pitchers right now, Zhou Hao honestly felt he would regret it deeply.
It wasn't that he didn't trust his teammates.
But he understood too clearly just how terrifying Inashiro Industrial's offense truly was.
Against this lineup, even Seido's substitute pitchers might not survive unscathed.
So—
It was better for the final boss to finish the battle personally.
With that thought, Zhou Hao immediately set himself again and fired another pitch.
WHOOSH!!
The baseball tore through the air.
Cold sweat dripped uncontrollably down Carlos's forehead.
To defeat Zhou Hao, he had already imagined countless possibilities.
And until now, he believed he still had a chance.
But once again—
Zhou Hao slapped reality directly into his face.
Zhou Hao was telling him through sheer performance:
"You're still nowhere near capable of hitting my pitches."
"No…"
"It can't be like this."
"It shouldn't be like this!"
Carlos gritted his teeth fiercely.
Even if the pitch broke sharply—
As long as it wasn't the Spiral Ball or that monster-level super-fast Fastball, then theoretically, it should still be hittable.
As long as he could touch the ball—
He still had a chance.
With that belief, Carlos swung with everything he had.
The bat roared through the strike zone.
But this time—
The baseball arrived later than expected.
POP!
"Strike!"
"Strikeout!!"
The second-stage Uchiha pitch was incredibly effective.
But that didn't mean Zhou Hao intended to rely on it exclusively.
As long as a method increased his chances of winning, he would use it without hesitation.
And since Carlos had fully committed himself to attacking the Breaking Ball—
Zhou Hao naturally had no intention of letting him succeed.
"Sorry, Carlos."
A cold smile appeared at the corner of Zhou Hao's lips.
Meanwhile, the players of Inashiro Industrial felt chills spread throughout their bodies.
Could it be…
That they still couldn't overcome Zhou Hao even in his weakened state?
No matter what, they couldn't accept that reality.
"Hit it!"
"Go all out!"
"We can definitely blast his pitches away!"
"He's already exhausted!"
"The opportunity is right in front of us!"
"We absolutely can't let it slip away!"