A chaotic scramble in front of the goal.
Whoever gets to the ball's landing spot first will gain an absolute advantage.
Isagi habitually observed Otoya. He saw Otoya's kicking motion, and then, without waiting for his brain to classify and calculate the information collected by his eyes, his limbs had already moved first.
CRACK!
The picture Isagi had pieced together was shattered by his own charge.
At this moment, he felt incredibly strange, as if he had entered some kind of domain. His pupils had turned completely black, and verdant green flames were erupting from the corners of his eyes. He forgot about time, forgot about everything. His eyes only saw the football and the goal in front of him.
Almost at the same time, Nagi, Chigiri, Barou, and Reo were engaged in a chaotic battle in the penalty area. One side wanted to clear the ball, while the other wanted to blast the damn thing into the goal. To this end, they used every means possible. As their feet ran, their hands were not idle either, pulling and tugging.
But to the great surprise of both Chigiri and Reo, the person who ultimately broke out of the chaotic battle was not the higher-ranked, more physically outstanding Barou or Nagi.
It was Isagi Yoichi!
What?
Mikage Reo, Chigiri Hyoma, and even Barou and Nagi all wore expressions of disbelief. The first two wanted to move, to close him down with all their might, but it was already too late. Chigiri's proud speed couldn't catch up, and the abilities Reo had imitated couldn't stop him.
The city gates were breached, right before their eyes!
However.
Just as Isagi rushed in front of the ball, preparing to blast it into the goal with one kick, a pitch-black monster, without any warning, suddenly burst into his field of vision. The curve of its lips was like Whitebeard's mustache, as if it were silently mocking, mocking those self-overestimating mortals.
And then, Tendou's voice, so calm it was chilling, sounded in his ear.
"This is the first time I've seen it since my match with Itoshi Sae."
"I see. You've entered the Flow too, Isagi."
BAM!
Tendou's foot lashed out, passed through the monster's body, and cleared the ball from the penalty area.
"Why are you here?!"
Isagi's pupils quaked, and he roared wildly in his heart. He had clearly surpassed himself, abandoned thinking, and completed the final step by following his instinct.
But why...
"Ego-san?!"
In the control room, Anri, this NPC, was her usual shocked self.
"Ah, it's the Flow state. Isagi Yoichi... has entered the Flow state."
The pupils under Ego's glasses lit up.
"That's the training I had prepared for them later. I didn't expect..."
Flow.
A specialty product of Blue Lock. The English name is Flow. This is a concept proposed by the Italian psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.
"Flow?" Anri looked at Ego.
"It's a necessary method of burning one's life force to become a world-class striker."
"It's a state of mental immersion obtained based on a person's most suitable experience, regardless of scale. For example, humans will always concentrate on doing something at certain times, to the point of forgetting the passage of time."
"Because of the enjoyment, the brain enters a state of excitement. This is Flow."
Ego spoke eloquently, crazily adding settings for the audience.
"And the condition for entering Flow is challenging focus!"
"To put it simply, it's moving towards a goal of moderate difficulty for oneself and generating a state of excitement."
Alright, this explanation is still quite complicated. A simpler understanding is that Flow can draw out more of a player's potential; it's a state-based BUFF. Find a goal, go all out, and focus on completing it, and you'll get twice the result with half the effort. This kind of state, even for non-athletes, many people should have experienced.
However, this goal cannot exceed one's own ability range. If it's too difficult, or simply impossible, the brain will judge it as "unable to complete," and naturally, one cannot enter the Flow state. As for it being too simple, there's no need to enter Flow.
So, the condition for entering Flow is to find a suitable target for a "challenge."
And Isagi, the target he had unintentionally chosen, was to score this goal that was within his ability range but was also quite difficult. He had indeed achieved it, only to be thwarted by Tendou.
...
'He can't even score with that?!'
'I already took off my pants, and this is what you show me?'
'Got excited for nothing. Such a hype BGM, and it was just a dud?'
'Damn it, Tendou, let one go! He's your old teammate, after all!'
'This is just too strong. He can't even win after going berserk.'
The audience despaired for Isagi.
But Shuiping, who was watching the live stream, discovered some "clues."
"Wait, did no one notice the problem with Tendou's words?"
"He just said that since Itoshi Sae, this World XI member, he has never met anyone who has entered the Flow state again."
'I noticed. What's the problem with that?' a bullet comment master replied.
...
"What's the problem?" Shuiping smiled. "The problem is huge. You guys go back and listen to it again. Ego said that the condition for entering the Flow state is to find a 'challenge target' of moderate difficulty."
"In other words, when Tendou was playing, it was Itoshi Sae who was the challenger."
'Ah?!'
The audience, hearing him say this, were all frozen on the spot, those holding potato chips stopping mid-air.
'In other words? Tendou is even stronger than that yet-to-appear boss, Itoshi Sae?'
'This...'
'That's not necessarily the case. The condition is moderate difficulty, which means it's not impossible to win.'
'Then that can also directly prove that Tendou is a genius of the New Generation World XI level!'
The audience had speculated before that Tendou was a player of the New Generation XI level. There had been many fan discussions about it in the forums. Some thought that Tendou hadn't reached that level yet, while others thought he had. In the end, everyone unified their viewpoint, believing that Sae was stronger, but Tendou was the closest to him.
But now, this latest episode came out and overturned all such speculations.
The audience outside the field was like this. It was even more imaginable for Isagi and the others inside.
Isagi's tightly bitten lips unconsciously parted. He was so horrified that he subconsciously made this action. The others were much the same, looking at him as if they were looking at a monster.
...
Get 30+ chapters ahead on - P.a.t.r.e.o.n "RoseWhisky"