"…You've reached your limit, haven't you?"
"Don't joke with me. There's no way I'm going to lose, this match isn't over yet."
"Just give up. You no longer have any chance of winning."
"Silence! The victor is me. It has always been, and it will continue to be…"
"Honestly, I'm surprised. I originally thought you'd lose to Aomine and the others. I never expected you'd be defeated by some nobody."
"I… haven't lost yet…"
============
Deep within a certain dark consciousness, two voices, identical, yet different, continued to clash.
Only when the voices from the outside world reached him did the confrontation break. Akashi's awareness slowly returned.
"Hey ~ Akashi, did you hear what coach said just now?"
"Save your breath. The final winner of this match will be me. I do not lose."
Perhaps the inner conflict just now had stirred something, because Akashi's mood had turned far more violent. But for Rakuzan, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing, anger and rage were still better than that lifeless state from earlier.
============
The match resumed.
As Akashi stepped back onto the court, Akashi Asuka immediately sensed the return of his overwhelming pressure, but this time, it was fiercer and far more explosive.
"Huh? The first personality didn't wake up?"
The raging aura around Akashi Seijuro told Asuka that he hadn't reverted to his original junior high personality like in the original timeline.
This result surprised Asuka slightly, yet at the same time, felt completely reasonable.
Normally, Akashi's first personalityshould have awakened by now, ready to reclaim the body.
After all, the second personality represented victory, and being defeated meant its existence should no longer be necessary.
But awakening and taking control were two completely different matters.
In essence, Akashi's second personality was something he created himself, to escape his childhood trauma.
So even if the first personality reawakens, it doesn't necessarily want to appear immediately.
In the original story, the first personality returned largely because Kuroko Tetsuya, his former teammate and close friend, was the one standing against him.
But here, Asuka and Akashi's first personality shared no connection, so it made perfect sense that it didn't show itself.
"Well… it doesn't matter either way. Whether he wakes up or not changes nothing for me."
BZZT,
A flash of black lightning crackled.
Asuka dribbled forward in an instant. Akashi's ZONE had already vanished, and because he still couldn't open the gate of ZONE at will, he had no way of reentering it.
So Asuka stepped into the perimeter, lifted the ball and shot a three.
Akashi activated the Emperor Eye, predicting his motion. But even though he read the move, his body couldn't keep up.
Swish!
68 : 65
============
Akashi led the counterattack. With only minutes left, Hayama Kotaro returned to the court.
The Three Uncrowned Kings united, and Rakuzan returned to form, yet even so, their offense felt painfully heavy.
Because Asuka, standing at Seiho's core, was an overwhelming pressure unlike any other just like the final boss of a game.
Mibuchi Reo received Akashi's pass, but before he even reached the three-point line, a chilling pressure swept over him.
"Damn… does his defensive zone already reach this far?"
He still had nearly two meters before the three-point line, but for the first time, Mibuchi experienced just how terrifying Asuka was in ZONE.
"I can't enter that monster's range. If so… I'll shoot from here."
He raised the ball to shoot but in that instant, a figure appeared before him, smacking the ball away.
PAH!
"Don't forget, we're still here too!"
It wasn't Asuka who blocked him, but Kasuga Ryuhei.
But Asuka reacted first.
Even with Akashi marking him, all Akashi saw was a faint shadow streak by. By the time he processed it, Asuka was already across mid-court.
A solo fast break.
Swish!
Three-pointer, again.
71 : 65
============
The back-and-forth raged on.
Asuka's ZONE defense covered a massive area, but it couldn't shut down every possession, especially with Akashi's Emperor Eye directing Rakuzan.
So over the next two minutes, Rakuzan managed to score three times, reaching 71.
But the gap only widened,
Because every time Rakuzan scored two…
Asuka answered with three.
And with 1 minute 10 seconds left,
80 : 71
BEEEEEEP,
Rakuzan used their final timeout.
============
"Looks like little Akashi is slowly climbing out of that 'shadow of defeat' just now," Kise rubbed his chin and commented.
"Doesn't matter. The match is already decided."
Aomine said flatly, watching Akashi's twisted expression of anger and unwillingness.
"Even if he somehow reenters the ZONE, the outcome won't change."
His eyes shifted toward Asuka on Seiho's bench.
"Because that guy won't give him any chance."
"Yeah… absolutely." Murasakibara nodded, expression serious. "We always believed victory is everything. But when I played against him last time… I realized that guy… might go even further than us for victory."
=============
Completed version available on Patreon.com/Veltoria