Chapter 18: Breakthrough to the Goal Within One Minute!
"Every team's top scorer will advance."
That one, deliberate clause — it was no coincidence.
Ego had designed it exactly to ignite selfishness and hunger within every forward trapped inside Blue Lock.
Not teamwork. Not balance.
He wanted chaos.
Each of these eleven "strikers" had been thrown together barely three days ago. No chemistry, no system, not even the faintest understanding of how to function as a team. Ego knew perfectly well what would happen when you tell eleven egotistical forwards that only the highest scorer could survive — a battlefield of greed.
They'd claw for the ball, trip their own teammates, and turn every match into a childish brawl.
That was the true nature of Blue Lock's first selection.
Ego's intention was simple — from within that chaos, one player would emerge who could dominate, who could make the rest revolve around him, forming a team not by cooperation, but by subjugation.
And in his mind, the perfect candidate for that first display of absolute dominance… was Barou.
But to his surprise, someone had already done it before the match even began.
Kira.
Now, inside the holographic surveillance room, Ego leaned forward, watching the monitor closely.
Every movement in Blue Lock was recorded. Even before kickoff, he had already seen how Team Z's captain had handled internal discord.
Without a single argument, every member of Team Z had fallen in line — each man in position, no one fighting for the ball.
Through sheer strength and quiet authority, Kira had solved a conflict that hadn't even happened yet.
No one else in Blue Lock had that kind of foresight.
And more than foresight — he had the power to make it reality.
"Interesting…" Ego murmured, eyes narrowing. "Was he always this sharp?"
He'd heard of Kira's early fame in youth leagues, but the boy had faded from relevance long before Blue Lock began. Ego had pegged him as one of the early eliminations — talented, but unremarkable.
He was beginning to realize that might've been a grave miscalculation.
"Still," he smirked faintly, "let's see how long you can keep it up. Blue Lock isn't a normal field, Ryosuke Kira. You'll find that out soon enough."
---
On the field, Kira charged forward, cutting through the pitch like lightning, flanked by Isagi and Bachira providing cover.
His eyes locked on the enemy's penalty area — his plan was simple and ruthless.
Score before the first minute passes.
In a full 45-minute match, he could use the First Form only four times with its full power before his stamina started breaking down.
That meant every use had to count.
The optimal time for the first strike — the opening minutes.
If he scored now, it would shatter Team X's morale and boost his own squad's confidence exponentially.
It would also buy him precious time to recover his breathing and re-center his body before the next burst.
He had no intention of letting the match drag on.
In the original timeline, Barou had crushed Team Z, scoring five goals singlehandedly.
This time, Kira would destroy him.
Crush the king, and the entire kingdom would fall.
"Too fast!"
The defenders' panicked voices echoed across the pitch.
Even though they had heard about Kira's speed from the practice duels, witnessing it in real match conditions was another matter entirely.
Every element — body control, balance, positioning — usually dulled a player's natural explosiveness once the whistle blew.
But for Kira, none of that mattered.
He played like physics itself bent to his will.
"Wha— what the hell is that speed?!"
Team X's defenders scrambled to close ranks, but in the blink of an eye, Kira had already sliced past the first two.
"Close in on him! Don't let him shoot!"
"Double-team him! NOW!"
"I know! Shut up and move!"
Three defenders rushed in at once, converging from all angles — cutting off every visible path toward the goal.
A perfect trap.
"Even you can't break through this, right?" one of them shouted, confidence flickering for a second.
Behind Kira, Isagi yelled out, "We should pull back! Their formation's tightening too fast! Reset the play!"
It was logical advice. Against a compressed defense, brute-forcing through would only burn stamina and invite counterattacks.
For a moment, Kira's steps slowed, his head turning slightly toward Isagi —
"He's gonna pass!"
One of the players, seeing Kira's move, instantly made a judgment, shifted his center of gravity, and rushed towards the possible passing route, intending to intercept the moment Kira passed the ball.
And that — was exactly what Kira wanted. At that very moment, he moved again.
The head-turning motion was just a misdirection, intended to shift the defender's center of gravity and cause them to misjudge the next offensive route.
In high-quality competitive matches, even a momentary lapse in positioning can be seized upon by a skilled striker.
Thunderclap and Flash!
Electric force rippled through his legs, muscles coiling and releasing like compressed thunder.
His body blurred, slicing between the three defenders before they even processed what had happened.
To them, it looked impossible — like he'd teleported through solid bodies.
"Wha— he's even faster than before?!"
"Did he just— vanish?!"
"Monster! He's an absolute monster!"
The roar of disbelief echoed from the sidelines as Kira tore through the gap and broke free, the ball still perfectly under his control.
Behind him, Team X's defenders turned in chaos, shouting, stumbling to chase after him — but they were already too late.
On Team Z's side, Chigiri stood frozen, eyes wide.
For a brief moment, he saw his past self reflected in Kira's sprint — the blur of red hair that once embodied pure, untouchable speed.
Back before the injury that shattered his confidence. Before he'd started running with hesitation instead of instinct.
That speed…
His pupils trembled.
Kira … just now… was even faster than him at his peak.
The fire long extinguished in his chest flickered, just faintly, back to life.
Maybe… just maybe… he could run like that again.
At the far end of the pitch, Kira broke through the final defensive line, closing in on the goal.
The goalkeeper's breath caught in his throat, panic twisting his gut. He never expected that the opposing team would pose such a terrifying threat to his goal in less than a minute of the game.
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〔TL〕
Every 100 powerstones = 1 bonus ch.
Every 2 review after 100 ps = 1 bonus ch.