Chapter 24 : The Child of Soccer

Holy Road Block A Preliminaries, Zeus vs Outei Tsukinomiya. Zeus Chuu Stadium.

Hearing the cheers of the crowd, a girl of average height sucked in her breath while pushing some strands of orange-brown hair away from the front of her face. With even features, clear eyes that rounded at the ends and fair lips that were tinged a light pink, while not overwhelmingly beautiful, she gave off a pleasant and sincere aura to those watching her gaze around the stadium. Though the girl had played many matches already in the Zeus stadium she still felt her fingers tingle with bursts of electricity as she looked up at the scoreboard...

[0-0]

Despite Zeus's efforts in the first half and the debut of their new hissatsu tactic 'Hell and Heaven' that they had worked so hard to master after their defeat to Outei Tsukinomiya in the semifinals of last year's Holy Road, it was all for naught.

All of their strategies and hissatsu techniques had been rendered useless by Outei's newest ace, Tamaki Takashima. The so-called 'Child of Soccer' had weaved his way beautifully through their midfield, like a fish in water, and it had taken all of their strength just to make sure he didn't score. However, this also meant their offensive line was forced to back off and thus the score remained at a flat 0-0.

They knew Outei was strong, but they were leagues above where they were last year. This was going to be a real problem...

"Noa!"

"Nee-chan!"[1]

Khronoa Yoshizawa turned her head to look in the direction of the two voices who had called out to her and was greeted by the sight of a girl slightly taller than her with short, spiky purple hair dashing up to her. With sharp features, she had a slightly androgynous and cool appearance that evoked the image of an ancient Greek hunter of Artemis. Meanwhile, jogging beside her was a boy, slightly shorter than the two girls with orange hair slightly darker than Khronoa's but eyes that reflected a familiar orange-yellow light as hers. There was no doubt the two were related standing side by side though the boy had a slightly more playful look in his eyes that emphasised his youth.

Khronoa gave a serene smile to the energetic duo that had run up to her and asked curiously,

"What are you two up to? You should be getting ready for the second half now."

"Rhea-san said you looked nervous so I thought I should remind you that those bastards have got nothing on us, Noa-chan! Let's not hold back and show them everything we've been working to prepare, let's gooooooo!"

Pumping her fist in the air, the purple-haired girl grinned with a touch of frenzy in her eyes while the orange-haired boy crossed his arms and nodded approvingly.

"Selene-neesan is right, Nee-chan. I haven't even used half of my power yet!"

Then flexing his scrawny arms, the boy attempted to show off his arm muscles to his older sister to reassure her but the slightly sad sight of the noodle-like arm made Khronoa desperately struggle to hold back a laugh knowing that would hurt her little brother's self-esteem making her stomach begin to tremble.

"Oh please, Prometheus. Those noodle arms aren't going to do shit this match. You just sit back in the goal and let nee-san handle this."

Then, giving a toothy grin, Selene flipped her head to the side and casually flexed her arm which showed off her toned biceps that clearly indicated the hours she had put in at the gym and on the field, putting Prometheus's to shame. Seeing the difference between their muscles, Prometheus sulked and whined,

"Ah, that's not fair. We all know Selene-nee is half-Neanderthal anyway, so she has a head start on—"[2]

"Wahh!"

Seeing Selene's fist rapidly descending from above, Prometheus rolled out of the way and stuck his tongue out after successfully dodging. Rolling her eyes at the boy, Selene turned her attention back to Khronoa who was watching the two with no surprise evident on her face, clearly used to the two fighting in front of her.

Knowing they were running out of time, Selene scanned the field until her eyes settled on a boy with an idiotic panda pillow wrapped around his neck while he languidly got into his position on the opposite side of the field. If it wasn't for him and that creepy blue-haired goalkeeper, Zeus would have already called it a day and wrapped up with Outei long ago. Even with all her big talk earlier, she had no choice but to acknowledge his skills.

Just from what she had seen today, Selene could already tell that Tamaki was on the same level as Seiryuu from Eisei Gakuen.

Still!

That didn't mean they were going to just roll over and let him walk all over them!

Biting her lip, Selene faced Khronoa who was similarly staring at the silver-haired midfielder with unwavering eyes that had a flash of unease enter them before being replaced by her normal serenity.

"Let's do it, Noa."

Khronoa gazed into Selene's multicoloured eyes that resembled the night sky and nodded silently understanding what the Zeus midfielder was getting at.

Outei had been even stronger than they had predicted, there was no chance of victory unless they went all out now. Truth betold however, both teams had already secured their passage to the Holy Road finals so there was no reason to reveal all of the cards up their sleeves, but their pride was on the line and Zeus wasn't going to lose twice to Outei Tsukinomiya if they could help it.

Khronoa then gave a worried look at Prometheus who was still brushing his uniform off after getting up from the ground. Despite only being a year younger than her, he was still her baby brother and so she couldn't help but feel concerned about leaving him to protect the goal by himself. Though he still lacked maturity in her eyes, he had already made a name for himself as the No.2 goalkeeper in the nation and Zeus couldn't afford to not take risks if they wanted to win.

So, swallowing her fears, Khronoa instead grabbed Prometheus's gloved hand and patted his head gently to cheer him on.

"Nee-chan is cheering for you okay, Pro-chan?"

Groaning as she messed up his hair that he had meticulously gelled in the morning, Prometheus grumbled as he attempted to fix his hair and waved behind him in an embarrassed manner as he went back to the goal. Khronoa-nee was always so sappy it made him cringe...but he couldn't help but feel warmth spread out encouragingly from his head and got ready for the second half to start.

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Tamaki watched lazily as the temporary deadweights on his team that Nosaka had assigned to him, battled for possession of the ball with the Zeus members. Not moving from his spot on the field, he could hear a girl from the opposite team with short, purple hair bellowed,

"I'll show you how strong I am mwahahaha!"

Then, crossing her arms in front of her she began to run forward while releasing her arms behind her leading to a huge gust being generated that threw the Outei midfielders out of her way.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

DASH STORM!

Sigh

Seeing the useless deadweights being throw backwards by the girl's hissatsu, Tamaki couldn't help but wonder why they were always yelling about 'strength' and arguing about who was stronger than who.

Whether it was an ant, beetle or even praying mantis...

An insect was still an insect.

What was the point of all their useless comparisons about which was better than the other?

They were all the same to him in his eyes at least.

Rubbing his eyes that were slightly droopier than usual due to only getting 9 hours of sleep, Tamaki banished the annoying thoughts that had drifted into his brain and cleared his head before moving to stop the Zeus midfielder. If he let any goals in today he knew Nosaka would chew him out later which would be more of a pain than having to move now.

Hup.

Despite a smooth feint, Selene growled as Tamaki easily read her movements and stole the ball from her before she even realised what happened. Quickly flipping around to steal the ball back, Tamaki's back already had begun to rotate as he perfectly executed a clean Marseille turn, successfully evading the Zeus midfielder and began to dribble quickly towards the Zeus goal.[3]

[SUGOI! Takashima-san is again showing a masterclass today as Zeus midfielder,Selene Otsuki, is unable to take the ball back after losing possession to the 'Child of Soccer' It seems every match that Takashima-san plays, we get to see why he's truly on another level of soccer! It's incredible that such a player has only begun this year and is only in Jr.High!]

Ignoring the commenter as usual, Tamaki felt his hair fly back as he speedily made his way across the field. Playing in Zeus's outdoor stadium meant he could feel the warmth as the strong sunshine reached the top of his head and spread from his head to his toes.

This wasn't too bad.

It looked like the weather would be nice enough to go cloud watching after this match was over. He hadn't gone in a while because of Nosaka and Haizaki who kept bothering him to train with them and the other newbies, despite his groans in response that were supposed to indicate his disapproval.

Distracted by his own thoughts of what clouds he could expect to see today,

'Perhaps he could see some rare Lenticular clouds since Zeus was in a rather mountainous region?'

Tamaki didn't notice a girl with braided, dark orange hair rush from behind him and stand in front of the goal while he tapped the ball lightly with the side of his foot,

SLEEPY KICK...

"Don't...look down on us!"

Sensing a chance, Khronoa had rushed to the back of the field when she had seen Tamaki steal the ball from Selene earlier in the match and right at the moment he had shot the ball, she knew it was time.

Standing in front of the ball that was breaking the sound barrier and burning up as it raged towards her, Khronoa faced it head on with a steady expression and tightened her hands into fists.

Then, swinging her right hand to the side, the ball began to spin in front of her with destructive power that she could barely believe. Tamaki had barely touched the ball and yet the ball still contained this much power?! It was unbelievable, but Khronoa gritted her teeth as sweat dripped down from her forehead...Her teammates were counting on her as their ace striker and so she knew her resolution couldn't waver. Digging her fingernails into her palms until they bled, she bit her lip to repress a scream until finally she felt the power settle under her control and she let out a powerful roar.

Dark cumulonimbus clouds gathered above the stadium, blocking the sunlight that had just seconds ago been illuminating the stadium, and soon golden rays began to circulate around the stadium and gather around the ball until, finally, she jumped straight into the centre of the storm. Blinded by the illumination of the ball, Khronoa closed her eyes while feeling the pulsations of golden energy fill her body with profound power that she had never felt before. Then, giving the ball a kick with the front of her foot, the ball, soaked in golden rays, struggled a bit against her foot due to the force from her body, until finally upon release, it stormed forwards with a vicious hurricane trailing behind it.

WHITE HURRICANE!!!

Holding his hand in front his face, as the violent winds almost blew his body away, Tamaki muttered under his breath as he followed the path of the ball with his eyes,

"Oh...that's not good"

ROYAL SHIELD, BLECH!

"Ooof!"

Unable to stop the counter shoot from Khronoa, Umika gave a frustrated pout as she kneeled in the goal where the golden shoot had just powered past her.

So annoying Nosaka-chan!!!

Seeing the awe-inspiring storm surge towards her, Umika had almost been tempted to unleash her dark keshin right then and there, but Nosaka had promised her a much more tantalising meal if she waited so she had no choice but to let this delicious, free meal of a shoot pass her by and as expected, a normal hissatsu wasn't enough to stop the forward ranked No.2 by the JYSA and Zeus's newest ace striker.

Stamping her foot angrily, she threw the ball to Tamaki and yelled out warningly,

"Hey!! Nosaka-chan is going to be really mad at us Aki-chan!!! Hurry up and score already!"

"Mmm"

Umika was right.

What a headache, but at least he had gotten to see something interesting. The desperation of an ant doomed to die was entertaining in its own way, so it wasn't a complete loss.

[ANDDDD ZEUS TAKES THE FIRST POINT OF THE MATCH!!! AND EVEN MORE IMPRESSIVE THEY ARE THE FIRST TEAM TO TAKE A POINT FROM OUTEI TSUKINOMIYA THIS SEASON!!! A BRILLIANT PLAY BY A BRILLIANT PLAYER! ZEUS REALLY LUCKED OUT WITH THEIR NEW ACE STRIKER, 'THE SAINT OF ZEUS ACADEMY' KHRONOA YOSHIZAWA!!!!]

Panting heavily, drained by the hissatsu that she had secretly began to train ever since their loss against Outei last year, Khronoa felt the arms of her teammates wrap around her excitedly, being the first team to score against them, and once she saw the joy on their faces she knew it had been worth all of the effort to copy the legendary hissatsu of the 'Shining Dragon' and upcoming pro player, Hakuryuu.

However, no sooner had they celebrated and the match resumed, did Tamaki flawlessly glide effortlessly past the offensive and midfielder line where he was greeted by Zeus's Captain, Rhea Kikuchi.

Finally, moving with some urgency for once, Tamaki opened both of his eyes for the first time this tournament and with his lifeless, white eyes, gazed at the girl who was standing before him with a renewed vigour, as if a second life had been blown into her by Khronoa's goal. With bright, lapis lazuli hair and pink highlights, it sortof reminded him of cotton candy...

Hmm... a cotton candy machine would be nice to have in the club room...

Tamaki made a quick mental note to himself to make Nosaka order one after the match...

"AKIIII-CHANNNN~~~"

Looking around at the sound of Umika's voice, Tamaki refocused as he saw the Zeus captain and defender holding her arms together in a triangle while summoning a mystical, brown door with strange engravings that opened suddenly. With a black void inside, nothing could be seen and Tamaki felt a strong suction from the door that began to pull him in.

DOOR OF ORIGIN!

Hmph.

Letting out a quick breath from his nostrils, Tamaki secured the ball with his right foot that released a shockwave the completely disintegrated the door leaving no traces of it behind then smashed the ball on the ground again that made it bounce up and shake unsteadily in front of him at the same level as his chest. Giving two swift kicks to the ball in the shape of an X, Tamaki thought about it for a brief second.

These ants seemed a bit stronger than the rest of them, maybe they could survive for a few seconds in...

MY WORLD...

Prometheus rubbed his hands together in anticipation, expecting an amazing shoot from the most anticipated rookie of the year from Outei, but as he tried to focus on the ball that was surprisingly slowly floating towards him, the world instead began to distort, with the audience twisting and elongating until they were no longer visible. Then, the colour slowly started to blend together, dyeing the world in a deep shade of ugly brown before drying up completely until the world was left in a static, lifeless black and white. Next, to go was Prometheus's entire sense of being.

Left and right.

Up and down.

Sound. Smell. Sight...

Prometheus lost all feeling in his body and he thought he was breathing heavily, but he couldn't feel his chest so he didn't even know if he was alive anymore...

Then...

Everything faded to black...

"Nee-chan!!"

"Selene-Nee!"

"Captain!"

Prometheus tried to shout out but no one responded, and for the first time in his life...Prometheus felt true terror in every fibre of his being.

[GOAAAAAAAAAALLL!]

Released from the hissatsu, Prometheus held his throat as his bloodshot eyes began to release bloody tears.

"PROMETHEUS!!!"

Seeing the terrible state her brother was in, Khronoa ran as fast as her legs could carry her to the goal where Prometheus was flailing helplessly like a fish that had been taken out of water for too long.

"PROMETHEUS!!! SOMEONE!!! PLEASE HELP!!!"

"OVER HERE TOO!"

Selene was checking Rhea's pulse who seemed to be in a slightly better state, having not taken the full brunt of the hissatsu but was still gasping for air while her curly hair was messily laid around her with her signature key-shaped hairclips lying beside her.

Watching Prometheus, and the other defenders who had all been taken out of commission, Khronoa gave a horrified look at Tamaki who was looking at them expressionlessly. However, for a brief moment...she thought...she saw the smallest flicker of...regret? in his eyes which didn't make any sense so she shook her head quickly and the Outei midfielder's eyes were back to normal.

"Noa!"

Awoken from her thoughts, by Selene who was beckoning her over, Khronoa turned her back to the Outei players and made her way to the team gathering where they were discussing what to do and soon enough...

[Zeus has agreed to forfeit the match due to player injuries meaning Outei will proceed as the Block A 1st seed while Zeus will proceed as the 2nd seed! Congrats to both teams! Let's hope to see some good matches in the Finals!! Signing off!]