Chapter 158: Players vs. Echizen Ryuga!
Dead silence, a stillness,
Even the existence of the self disappears, and no trace of it can be detected.
Byodoin Phoenix, self-awareness is empty,
Silently, and hidden in the sudden darkness.
I don't know how long it took, maybe it was long, maybe it was short,
I watched helplessly as the question on my lips was stuck because of this sudden situation, and I was completely speechless.
The darkness in the center of the field was overwhelming, yet it was controlled perfectly, not interfering with the world outside the edge of the field at all.
This makes it even more terrifying.
"...I remember, before...you dragged everyone in, right?"
The players who stayed behind in the U17 base murmured,
Suddenly, the U17 overseas expedition team members looked over.
'Before' means...
Onijūjiro said, "Yes."
He spoke briefly, his eyes fixed on the impenetrable darkness of the stadium.
Nothing can be seen with the naked eye, even if I keep watching now,
Once your eyes meet that deep darkness, you'll feel as if you're being sucked in.
gaze, stare, stare,
Sight, sight, sight,
Airtight, densely packed, densely packed,
On the pure black curtain, there are only black eyes.
Dark and empty, once you lock eyes, you can't look away—
All-devouring eyes.
"--ghost!"
Suddenly, Tokugawa Kazuya's voice called him.
Suddenly regaining consciousness, Gui Jujiro realized that he had been possessed by a ghost without knowing when. He realized it too late, and beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.
Tokugawa Kazuya and Yamato Yudai were looking at him;
"Ghost, you look...very ugly."
Kijujiro covered his face with his hands and shook them slowly, indicating that he was fine.
Under the palm that covered the upper half of his face, his pupils trembled unsteadily and contracted rapidly.
The darkness seems quiet and harmless, but it only exists there.
Look up, look into each other's eyes, focus your mind,
The self-will that was still being maintained in the last second,
The next second, they were completely defeated.
In less than a second, even before I realize it,
The huge black pupils have appeared in the deepest memory of the brain.
Horrible, horrible, utterly horrible—this power!
If the 'Shura Shinto' that belonged to that guy was previously activated and dragged everyone into his dark domain, it was the result of the first time this power was activated and leaked out of control.
Now, the practice of carefully guarding the boundaries of the court is no more, no less.
This undoubtedly proves that his control over this power has reached perfection!
——How long did it take?!
I dare not think deeply, dare not think too much, or even dare not think downwards.
Kijujiro gathered himself together, wiped his face deeply, and pulled himself out of his low mood.
Looking back at the court,
Not only him, but also other people who opened the "Ashura Shinto", junior high school students and high school students, all had bad expressions.
Only when I look into that impenetrable blackness where I cannot see anything inside,
Suddenly, I had the illusion that they were being watched and looking at each other.
No, is it an illusion?
In the moment of ignorance, the mind has been completely polluted,
Whether fast or slow, without anyone noticing, the black terror beneath the imprint slowly climbed up, grabbing the spiritual tentacles of everyone who seemed to have not yet entered the realm of darkness.
Infect, intertwine, infect, and devour bit by bit...
“——It’s out!!”
Something strange suddenly happened on the court!
The darkness is different from the muddy and turbid, oil-like gurgling flow when we came.
Like a sudden burst of light, it suddenly retreated like a curtain being torn apart.
"Could it be Byodoin..."
Some people speculate without expectation,
The possibility of the Byodoin Phoenix tearing through Yagi Kei's 'Shura Shinto' domain skill is infinitely close to zero!
Now it is like a foolish dream to expect Byodoin to break out through its own strength.
The first person to appear in everyone's sight was the Byodoin Phoenix, who was being watched with great attention at the moment. He was half lying on the ground...
"——Byodoin?!"
"Wait, what happened to him?!!"
The game almost didn't need to continue, Duke Watanabe, who couldn't wait any longer, directly made a pause gesture.
Leading a group of people over the stands and rushing into the stadium,
They rushed to the Phoenix of Byodoin Temple half-lying on the ground, and several people looked down at it.
Byodoin Phoenix——shockingly, it has lost all consciousness!
His face was pale and bloodless, his eyelids were turned up, and his pupils were dilated.
Duke Watanabe quickly checked,
"...and still breathing faintly!"
When these words came out, everyone felt relieved.
...As long as you are not dead, not dead, as long as you are not dead!
While performing CPR and artificial respiration, Duke Watanabe yelled, "Ambulance!" and "Stretcher!"
I quickly asked for help from the side of the field, but when I turned my head, I found that
These guys...are unexpectedly apathetic!!
No, it's already late, human lives are at stake, and the Byodoin Phoenix is definitely not in good condition right now. If we don't take emergency measures to rescue it, it will be absolutely terrible to die here—
“Pah.”
"Pah, pah."
The clear sound of palms hitting tennis balls, again and again,
In the noisy and chaotic stadium, he suddenly rushed in and no one could ignore him.
Realizing something, everyone slowly raised their heads and looked in the direction of the voice.
Across the net, a person was throwing a tennis ball back and forth.
Black hair, black pupils, looking sideways as if aware of something,
Kei Yagi.
He single-handedly caused the Byodoin Phoenix to become what it is today.
He just stood there, his eyes sweeping over.
The incomparable and enormous pressure was overwhelming, rising up from the insignificant figure in comparison and releasing with a bang.
'black',
The silence that perfectly combines with 'black', the opaque world, is so profound that even other beings cannot perceive it.
In the eyes that were wide open due to fear, the only figure was left behind like a rubbing -
"Crackle, crackle, crackle..."
An incomprehensible voice came from within me. I pondered for a while before finally remembering,
This is the sound of my teeth chattering.
How could this be?
How could there be such a terrifying and horrifying oppression? ! !
The boundary between black and white is clear, and when you look at each other, you can't see anything else except those two eyes.
The dark eyeballs turned inorganically, rolled slightly, and fell to the side.
What's next to it...
With a low smile, he closed the folder in his hand. The U17 coaching staff, led by Saito Shi, received a message from their head coach.
"Of course—at your service."
He saluted very gentlemanly, put his hands in the pockets of his white coat, and walked a few steps to the side of the Byodoin Phoenix who was half lying on the ground.
The others saw this, although they didn't know what he was going to do, but they probably sensed that he was going to rescue them, so they dispersed.
Only Duke Watanabe did not retreat, and always stayed beside the Phoenix of Byodoin.
So he watched Saito Shige pull out a can of soda from the pocket of his white coat.
...cans?
This thing seems familiar, but I can't really remember where I've seen it before. I think it's Ponta...
Saito saw Duke standing by and not retreating. Watanabe raised his eyebrows and smiled.
"Let's help! Let's open Byodoin's mouth."
Duke Watanabe has begun to doubt the reliability of the U17 training camp base.
But now, in order to save the life of the Phoenix of Byodoin, he did it even though he didn't understand.
After struggling to pry open the mouth of the Phoenix of Byodoin, Watanabe, who hadn't even caught his breath, looked up and saw Saito open the ring with one hand and went straight down.
The unknown dark green but colorful liquid in the can rushed into the mouth of the Byodoin Phoenix like a waterfall!
“…”
This familiar scene, this familiar picture,
I seem to know what this guy poured into Byodoin.
No, can this thing really be used like this?!
'Gui Juice' - a drink with zero negative reviews, everyone who has used it says it's good!
Watching the NPC use Gui Juice on the special copy BOSS, the bright red health bar was finally slowly healed back to the survival stage,
The player king has exited the special copy BOSS in combat mode, and is silently wondering whether to take advantage of the situation to kill the NPC or let the NPC go.
The system detects what the player is thinking.
It was so fast that a pop-up window popped up with a "ding!" sound.
[Battle result detected——]
Congratulations! You win!
At the same time, another coach of the U17 coaching team, Kurobe Yukio, also announced,
"Byodoin Phoenix has lost consciousness and cannot continue,"
"In this battle—Yagi wins!"
“Oooooohh ...
"Guimen! Guimen!! Guimen!!!"
The entire U17 stadium was filled with the frantic, joyful, and almost crazy cheers of the remaining team.
The player stood on the court, calmly looking at the fallen Phoenix, his eyes swept over the fans who were shouting his name.
Silently click on the reward pop-up window in front of you and go ALL IN!
I have to say, it is indeed the long-awaited special copy BOSS.
The rewards given, whether it is experience points, currency props, or other things, are simply on a whole new level.
The players here are Click.Click.Click until their hands are tired.
Over there, the old U17 TOP20, with the defeat of its No.1 Byodoin Phoenix as the final conclusion, was completely merged into the U17 that is now dominated by Jibaimao, and implemented the current battle mode in one fell swoop.
The stadium ranking battle officially begins
"etc!!!!"
Suddenly, a sudden counterattack came, and Saito looked back with a smile.
It was the U17 elimination group members who returned from the underground, dusty and in disarray,
The leader, Genichirō Sanada, his right-hand men, and even his mouthpieces all protested.
"——Our battle for revenge hasn't even begun yet!"
Suddenly, there was a ding sound.
The U17 winners who caught the key words smelled the smell of gunpowder.
During this period of time at the U17 training camp, the anger accumulated during the bombing and life-and-death struggles was suddenly aroused by this letter of challenge.
"Haha, we didn't say we wouldn't accept the challenge."
Led by the four school ministers, the U17 high school students occupied the first four courts.
The situation was tense and the king was not seen.
The newly returned U17 overseas expedition team,
I don't know why, I was attacked on the left and the right.
Caught in the middle, he was hesitant to speak, but looking at the flames and resentment that were almost materialized,
Silence, silence became the main theme today.
Looking at the lively scene before him, Saito Shi first looked towards their new head coach——
After collecting the rewards, the players have already given up and gone fishing outside the venue.
One person, one racket, one bucket,
Hurry up, hurry up, today’s daily routine hasn’t been completed yet!
Saito Shi: “…”
Well, that's not surprising at all.
But they are already very familiar with the style of their new head coach.
Only focus on the most critical strength, and let these coaches handle the rest of the time.
But it is precisely because of this that the strength increases so horribly.
In that case—
"Then let's go together."
Facing the gazes of the U17 Overseas Expedition Group, the Base Elimination Group, and the Base Winners Group, Saito, who had made the final decision, spoke gently.
"A real melee—a complete winners' and losers' bracket, vying for the limited top 20 spots."
He clapped his hands and smiled, "Only strength speaks, victory and tennis determine victory or defeat.
So, are you satisfied?"
“——”
“Beep!”
"The game begins—!"
The entire U17 training camp base has sixteen pitches lined up in a row.
All infrared cameras are highly concentrated, and every corner of the court is scanned.
All personnel are reshuffled, including the U17 overseas expedition group, the base elimination group, and the base winner group.
Starting from scratch, competing for the final twenty, no, nineteen spots!
The inorganic scarlet lens of the infrared monitoring system swept across, and the performance of all the players was honestly recorded on the central processing unit that accommodated hundreds of screens.
The speed is very fast, and the battle rhythm is also very fast. The winners and elimination groups who have undergone special training at the base and underground training with player characteristics are no longer the same.
They have faced each other and admired each other's strength, but more often they have been head-on confrontations and power struggles.
"Haha, it seems you haven't been slacking off during this time!"
"I'm sending this back to you—"
They looked at each other, sympathized with each other, but fought back and forth seven times.
This is the case for the elimination group and the winner group.
The styles of the elimination group and the overseas return group, and the winner group and the overseas return group are somewhat different.
"...No, are you sure you want to attack with all eight balls at once? And you're going to do it this big right off the bat?"
"Huh? Shouldn't we start with eight balls—"
"It's not like anyone who's good starts playing basketball from eight..."
"Hey, stop talking nonsense, hurry up and give me a move--!"
"What kind of ball is that? This is a tennis court, not a shot-catcher!"
"Why do you care so much? Any ball that can be hit is a good ball!"
"Stop wasting time and talking nonsense—take my Skeleton Slime Ghost Big Kill!!"
“—Oh my god! Someone’s going to die!!!!”
In short, it was a chaotic situation.
The overseas expedition team, who thought they had fought in the world arena and would not be surprised or surprised no matter what happened,
Now that he has just returned, his success has reached a new low.
Are there any normal people here?
Is this still a normal place?
Clearly, when they left, U17 wasn't like this ahh ...
On the screen, I watched these guys being beaten so badly that they were almost running around in panic.
Kurobe Yukifu and Saito Shigeki slowly took a sip of their coffee.
"Hmm, as expected, following the head coach's training menu and plan, everyone's strength has increased by 200%-300% compared to before."
"Only true death can force the body to release its most instinctive potential. What a good policy—"
The two looked at each other and smiled in tacit understanding.
"Ha ha……"
"Hahaha……"
Can't laugh,
I can't laugh at all,
The members of the overseas expedition team, whose worldview had been shattered and whose doubts about life had gradually begun to grow, were speechless and choked with emotion.
After only a few games, everyone was in a mess.
Not only do they have to face the randomly exploding miniature bomb balls from the winner group, but they also have to face the extremely heavy black ore balls made of unknown materials from the elimination group.
——No, can't these guys use a more normal approach?!
Sixteen courts are played simultaneously, and it doesn't even take too long.
Within one day, all the results of the games were counted.
When Saito Shi and Kurobe Yukifu announced that everyone should assemble, the already sloppy elimination group and winner group were not mentioned for the time being.
The expedition team that looked like returning overseas elites in the morning has almost lost its human form and has perfectly integrated into the current U17 team.
A group of savages.
He clapped his hands twice, attracting the attention of all the U17 members who were either tired, excited, thrilled, or inspired.
Saito Shi displayed the results of all the matches on the sixteen courts in front of all the members participating in the elimination round.
Court No. 1 to Court No. 16,
The occupant of Court No. 1, who was previously anonymous and did not officially reveal his nickname, officially appeared before everyone for the first time.
【Site 1: Kei Yagi】
[Site 2: Shuji Taneshima, Duke Watanabe, Seiichi Yukimura]
[Site 3: Tokugawa Kazuya, Onijūjirō, Irie Kanata, Kimijima Ikuto, Ochi Gekko, Mori Jusaburo, Sanada Genichirō, Tezuka Kunimitsu, Atobe Keigo, Shiraishi Kuranosuke, Toyama Kintaro, Echizen Ryoma...]
[Site 4: Kirihara Akaya, Tachibana Yoshihei, Kitade Nagashiro, Akutsu Jin, Kaji Futa, Omagari Ryuji...]
…
[Site 16: ...]
They lined up neatly, and everyone found their names on the corresponding courts.
"But isn't this the stadium... not the top 20?"
Someone raised a question,
Saito Shi smiled and replied, "That's right—this isn't the final spot for the top 20!"
He slowly unveiled the final curtain of this great melee and its true purpose.
"This is just the 'current' ranking."
Everyone was keen and caught the way he emphasized the words.
"What do you mean by 'now'?"
"What I mean is—"
Saito clapped his hands, and Kurobe was assisted by Kio to demonstrate.
The number one to sixteen courts on the screen began to change.
"Win, Lose, Draw" will be displayed after each person's name, and the number will jump according to the battles that have been played.
"Now, we are going to implement the last-place elimination system!"
Saito smiled. The smile on his face was the devil's smile that the U17 team had complained about countless times in their hearts.
"Every day there will be eliminations. The person with the most losses will automatically be placed in the loser's bracket. They will leave the U17 training camp that day and undergo penalty training for the loser's bracket!"
"And the players who were not eliminated that day will start a new last-place elimination survival battle on the next day—"
"—until the true top twenty contestants are determined!"
Looking at the complicated, confused, bewildered, and life-doubting expressions of the contestants in front of me,
The U17 coaching staff added fuel to the fire;
"To speed up the pace and make it easier for players to reach desired locations—the spontaneous challenge mode is now live!"
"Low-ranked players can challenge high-ranked players across the court, as long as they can win,"
Saito smiled and raised his finger.
"Every time you cross a court, you gain one more winning game."
He used his devilish smile to slowly bewitch the people in front of him.
"The highest... is to accumulate fifteen winning rounds in a single match!"
“…”
“…”
Meaningless sighs and deep breaths of cold air,
The devil finally took off his smiling mask,
A great melee, a great melee that covered the whole sky and lasted from beginning to end,
Completely blood-thirsty, no one can distinguish friend from foe.
It was like treating teammates who were with each other day and night as mortal enemies with deep blood feuds——
These guys are just there to watch the fun and don't mind getting into trouble.
I want to see rivers of blood!
At one time, there were too many factors.
Unlike the remaining group at the base who were surrounded by Saito and ignited with the cold and violent aura of "kill kill kill kill kill kill",
The expedition team reflected for a while, and finally understood.
The last-in-first-out system, it turns out to be this last-in-first-out system,
They also caught what Saito Shigeru called the "loser's bracket punishment exercise."
Even among the former U17 TOP 20, there are some who were in the loser group of the previous session and have experienced the loser group training of head coach Mifune Nyudo.
Hearing this, I felt relieved. I had experienced this once before. Now looking back, it was just a way to hone my body and mind and improve my strength.
Even if I get eliminated, I'll just have to go to head coach Mifune Nyudo and try again—
Thinking about it this way, the pressure is greatly relieved!
The overseas expedition team looked at each other, with a glimmer of tenacity in each other's eyes.
In order to conquer the world's arena and regain that top 20 spot, they will never give up.
"Hmm, so today's elimination spots have been announced~"
After Saito Shi finished his previous words, he began to announce the players who lost on the first day of competition.
Bear the brunt——
"Byodoin Phoenix,"
“…”
“……?”
“Eh, eh?”
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.
Was it this big at the beginning?
The person whose name was called woke up slowly a quarter of an hour ago with the help of milk.
Byodoin Phoenix heard Saito Shi's words,
He could sense that all eyes were focused on him from all directions at this moment, some were observing, some were waiting, some were watching the show, some were joking, all were waiting for his most direct reaction.
Some people expected him to rebel and fire the first shot.
Someone is waiting for his reaction, the first bird to stick its head out gets shot.
Various gazes intertwined like an impenetrable net, suppressing the Byodoin Phoenix who stood still.
But all these are no match for the scene still lingering in my brain.
A single, incomparably large, heart-pounding black pupil.
He slowly clenched his palms. Although his body's exhaustion was gradually recovering, the fear of being defeated continued to rise, climbing layer by layer.
The dense fear bound my entire heart, shrinking like a spider web, making it almost impossible to breathe.
This fear is endless and will never go away...
"……knew,"
The Phoenix of Byodoin said only this, without any other unnecessary reaction. She stood up without further words, and the moment her figure was about to join the loser camp—
A figure stepped out of the crowd!
His steps were casual, even a bit relaxed and with a strong sense of his own style.
Unable to help themselves, those who had not paid attention to him looked directly at him when he walked out——
“…Who is that?”
The U17 players who stayed behind looked at each other in confusion.
A strange face, not a local, wearing a hood, looking mysterious,
The Phoenix in Byodoin caught a glimpse of him from the corner of his eye. He was about to turn away when he suddenly remembered something. He turned his head back and looked straight at the figure who was leaving with his back turned.
"you--"
The hooded figure, with his back to him, took only a few steps to reach the black-haired figure, who was holding a racket, sitting upright on a small stool, and fishing out all kinds of strange things from a small bucket connected to the other dimension.
He didn't look down on me, but squatted down and took out an orange from his pocket that had been refreshed from nowhere.
With one hand supporting his face, he threw and caught the orange, which was in warm tones, shimmered like a ball of fire.
The outline of the side frame under the hood is faintly visible in the light, and the hair moves slightly.
He seemed to smile, with the corners of his mouth raised, looking at the black-haired figure fishing in front of him,
In fact, facing the U17 coaching staff who announced the rules, or even the entire U17——
"That is to say—"
His voice was lazy, but it carried a certain magnetism and aura, with a slightly raised ending. Although it was a question, he managed to express a definite meaning.
"——This one over here,"
"Now... we can challenge across the court, right?"
“…”
“…”
Dead silence, utterly dead silence,
Breathing is tense, except for the rising and falling of breath, there is nothing else.
In an instant, it's infinitely far away.
Everyone, everyone present, their pupils trembled, their gazes shifted—
Looking at the only figure, the only figure sitting there,
It's just a small stool, but it looks like an incomparable giant throne.
The aura spreads out, that belongs to the king of 'black',
And an unidentified character who usurps power and challenges the king.
[Ding!]
[Special NPC Echizen Ryuga has been refreshed]
[——Special NPC Echizen Ryuga is challenging you, do you accept? ]
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