The stadium buzzed with anticipation as the referee's whistle pierced the air. Westbridge Academy faced off against Braxton Hill, a team known for its rigid structure but sluggish transition play. On paper, it was even. On the pitch, it would be anything but.
Leon Vale stood near the center circle, his pulse steady but focused. The light blue HUD of his minimap pulsed gently in the corner of his vision, scanning a 10-meter radius. No overlays, no predictive lines. Just him, the pitch, and the flow.
His foot tapped the turf.
Match Start.
The opening minutes were sharp. Kael played aggressively, Theo made darting runs, and Leon orchestrated from midfield. His Agile Step had refined into something smooth, like a feather gliding across the pitch, impossible to pin down.
By the 12th minute, Leon intercepted a loose ball and immediately glanced at the minimap. A flicker of space opened behind the Braxton midfield. He pushed forward with a rapid Agile Step, the defenders converging.
Then, split pass.
He sliced the ball diagonally between two defenders. Theo, already sprinting, met it at full speed and calmly slotted it past the keeper.
1-0.
Cheers erupted.
Kael patted Leon's back briefly. "Nice eyes, Vale."
Leon simply nodded. But the system whispered something else.
ZANE-003 SYNC DRIFT: 10%
Style Similarity Increasing.
He blinked the notification away.
By the 28th minute, Leon controlled the midfield tempo. The minimap pulsed, showing an incoming defender on his left. Without looking, he curved his run right and lofted a precise ball over the backline.
Kael was already there.
Chest, bounce, volley. Net.
2-0.
Coach Davor gave a rare clap from the sidelines.
Aria Laurent, watching from the dugout, frowned slightly. Her tablet buzzed with logs.
"Drift accelerating," she muttered. "He's syncing faster than I expected."
Just before halftime, Leon initiated a give-and-go with Theo near the halfway line. Agile Step shimmered under his feet, boosting his acceleration. He skipped past two midfielders, cut past a defender, and let the ball glide across to his left foot.
One glance at the keeper's position.
He slotted it low and clinical.
3-0.
The Westbridge bench exploded. Even Kael offered a rare smirk.
But inside Leon's HUD:
Agile Step Lv.1: 38% Mastery
ZANE-003 Sync Drift: 13%
Neural pattern overlap detected.
Leon wiped sweat from his forehead. Something buzzed in his skull, a flicker of static, but it passed.
In the second half, Leon dialed it down. He focused more on holding possession, drawing fouls, and maintaining shape. Still, his awareness allowed him to tee up another attack, this time a perfectly weighted diagonal that let Westbridge's right winger assist the fourth goal.
4-0.
The crowd chanted his name now.
"Vale! Vale! Vale!"
He smiled faintly.
Then everything...shivered.
In the 85th minute, the ground began to feel unstable beneath his feet. Not literally, but his vision blurred. A double image flickered for a second. The minimap became erratic, pulsing too fast, then freezing.
Warning: Data loop detected.
ZANE ECHO OVERLAP EXCEEDING SAFE LIMIT.
He grabbed at his head instinctively. The pitch swirled around him. Kael turned, saw him stumble, and jogged over, but it was too late.
Everything went white.
. . .
He heard a beeping sound.
Slow and rhythmic.
Leon opened his eyes to a white ceiling and antiseptic lights. The hum of machines and the faint murmur of voices seeped into his ears.
"—stable vitals now."
"Shouldn't push that hard again."
Coach Davor's voice. Low. Worried.
Leon turned his head. Aria sat in the corner, her legs crossed, watching him carefully. Her tablet was now dimmed, but her gaze wasn't.
Davor leaned in. "Leon, you blacked out. Do you know where you are?"
Leon nodded slowly.
"The medical room."
"You scared us," Davor said, more softly than expected. "You'll need scans. We'll suspend training for—"
"I need to talk to you," Leon interrupted, voice hoarse.
Both Aria and Davor looked at him.
Leon clenched the bedsheets in his fists.
"I have to tell you the truth… about PlaySight."