4 Team V vs Team W

"The first selection will be round-robin involving all five teams inside this stratum. Only the top two highest positioned teams at the end of all 10 matches will qualify. And the worst three will be eliminated. Meaning, the members of those teams will immediately expelled from Blue Lock. And they will lose the right to play for Japan's National Team."

"However! For those three teams, there is a way to avoid elimination. That is, to be the player who has scored the most goals for their team by the selection's end. This is a system with the purpose... Of saving only the best scorer from each eliminated team."

"Players within a team will ranked according to their number of goals scored, but 'Fair Play' will accounted for in the system. Those with fewer penalties will have greater chances of winning. Whether by pursuing 'their own goals', or 'the team's victory'... The fate of every striker will be decided by this first selection we are holding!"

"This fight will have you all play football from scratch to work on your foundations. The first game will be held two hours from now... Between Team V... And Team W!"

...

"Alright, you shitty servants! This is our lineup for the first game that I made with my royal knights! While I am better than all of you it doesn't mean you can just fuck around and if you do good I'll give you a chance."

"So, here we go our formation will be a...

4-4-2

GK: Shitty Servant #1

DF: Shitty Servant #2-#5

MF: Shitty Servant #6 & #7

WF: Hiori & Kurona

FW: Ishikari & Keisuke"

"Also the formation will change to a 4-2-4 when attacking and the rest of you just stay back and defend." Keisuke finished as he walked out onto the pitch.

...

Fifth Stratum, Center Field

"To assist us with determining fouls, a VAR system will be used for the game."

"Keisuke, Team W is here." Hiori notified Keisuke.

"Now, it's time for the first 45 minutes of the Fifth Stratum's... Very first game! Team V vs Team W! Kickoff!!" Announced Ego.

"Feeling nervous, Hiori? Don't worry as long as everything goes according to plan we'll win!" Keisuke said as him and Hiori lined up at the center spot.

"A bit... but like you said... it'll probably be fine..."

"Yeah... Ready, Let's GO!" Keisuke yelled as he quickly flicked the ball to Hiori and charged forward.

Start of 1st Half

Immediately Hiori took control of the ball and passed it back to Kurona who then gave it Ishikari. Once they took control of the ball in the backcourt they started charging forward with Keisuke.

Team W started to press and cornered Ishikari. Then once Ishikari turned back to pass it off to Hiori somebody came from behind him and stole the ball.

"Done analyzing you, Mr. Giant." Said a boy with raven colored hair.

"Fall BACK!!" Yelled out Hiori as both he and Keisuke ran back

"Keisuke, that's Karasu I used to play with him... He's good."

"Don't worry, I'll get the ball back... Just be ready." Keisuke said as he immediately chased Karasu at an amazing speed.

"Oi, Raven that ball is mine." Keisuke said as he pressed Karasu

"Piss off, Mr. Genius." Karasu replied as both of them were stuck in a stalemate.

Before any of them could say anything further, Kurona rushed in stealing the ball.

"I got this Keisuke, just counterattack!" Kurona exclaimed as he quickly stalled and gave the ball to Hiori.

"Tch..."

"Thanks, Kurona!" Keisuke said as he ran towards Hiori.

"Hiori, follow my lead!"

"Let's Go!"

Both immediately started trading passes between the players as if none of them were there. As soon as both of them reached the half line, Keisuke took off with the ball sweeping past the rest of the midfielders with blinding speed.

Then encountered the first defender.

"Oi, get out of my way!" Keisuke yelled as he did an elastico nutmeg easily getting rid of him.

"One down, two to go."

Quickly the next defender came in sliding but Keisuke lifted the ball and skipped past him with the last defender right on him quickly doing a roulette leaving him and the keeper alone.

Keisuke quickly pulled back his leg as the keeper came running out at him... And did a fake shot and ran past the keeper then softly kicked the ball into the net.

Team V 1-0 Team W

"GOOOOOOL!!!" Yelled Keisuke as he ran into the corner and slid.

At that time everybody was still confused as to how he scored, but they immediately ran towards him crushing.

"LET'S GO!!!"

"WE SCORED!!!"

"HELL YEAH!!!

"Keisuke, you did it!" Exclaimed Hiori as he helped Keisuke up.

"Of course I did after all like I said 'I'm the Strongest'." Keisuke smugly said.

"But... How?" Asked Kurona

"Don't think about the 'How?'. Think about how to celebrate our next goal!" Keisuke said smirking.

Soon enough the match resumed with Team W in possession and quickly attacked with Karasu leading in the front.

"Oi, what the fuck was that?" Asked Karasu as he charged right at Keisuke.

"Well, that was what the Strongest here can do, now if you don't mind I'll take this." Replied Keisuke as he tried steal the ball before Karasu swept the ball away.

"You're not the only one who's strong dumbass." Said Karasu as he feinted and eventually got past Keisuke.

"Woah... That was awesome... Shitty Raven..."

The play kept going as Karasu kept going past everyone easily and eventually scored.

Team V 1-1 Team W

"Oi, Kurona can you keep up with this time?" Asked Keisuke he placed the ball at the center.

"Tch... Of course, I can." Replied Kurona.

"Then... Let's go!" Said Keisuke as he passed the ball to Hiori.

Immediately he took off charging with Hiori trading passes between each other then Hiori sent a high pass towards Ishikari.

"Use your head, you giant." Said Keisuke as he ran up to Ishizaki

Quickly Ishikari headed the ball down to Keisuke. Keisuke dribbled straight into the box before he get any further Karasu got in front of him blocking his path.

"Tch..."

"You won't get past this time, Mr. Genius, I already finished analyzing you, you like to dribble past everybody to a score a goal for yourself." Said Karasu as stalled against Keisuke.

"Out of my way... Is what I would say, but I can shoot just fine from this far." Said Keisuke suddenly as he pulled back his leg.

Immediately Karasu went to block is shot, but then Keisuke did a fake shot before doing a backheel pass to Kurona.

"Bleh.. Idiot..." Mocked Keisuke with his tongue out.

"Thanks, Keisuke!" Said Kurona as he shot the ball from 20 meters out scoring his first goal

Team V 2-1 Team W

"HELL YEAH!" Yelled out Kurona as he jumped in the air.

"YEAH!!" Yelled everybody else as they hugged Kurona.

"Ghh..." Groaned out Karasu as he stood up and stared at Keisuke.

"Oi, don't be too surprised Raven-kun, this place is supposed to be filled with the best players, I'm not the only one who can score on my team." Keisuke said as he put an arm around Karasu.

"Tch... Don't get me wrong I'm not surprised about your teammates... I'm surprised you would pass the ball... The genius ball hog."

"Maa, maa, this time I have actual teammates." Said Keisuke as he walked back to his half.

"Good Job! Kurona!" Congratulated Keisuke as he slapped Kurona on the back.

"Agh...! Don't hit me!... But if it wasn't for you I probably wouldn't have scored that goal..."

"Don't worry about that... This place is supposed to make you better." Said Keisuke as he held out his fist.

"Yeah... You're right I can already feel myself getting better." Said Kurona said smirking bumping his fist against Keisuke's.

"Tch... Let's go Team W!" Yelled out Karasu.

The game progressed slowly as nobody could come up with any dangerous chances. Towards the end of the first half Team V got a free kick.

"Oi Hiori, could you try sending it high towards Ishikari." Asked Keisuke

"Yeah, sure." Replied Hiori as he set up the ball on the spot.

"Ishizaki, just watch out for where I am." Said Keisuke as he walked towards the edge of the box.

"Tch... Mr. Genius don't think you can escape my eyes." Said Karasu as he got close to Keisuke.

Beep!

Hiori sent a high curved pass straight to Ishikari. At that point everybody expected Ishikari to score a header even Karasu as he ran back.

But then Ishikari headed the ball into the air to the edge of the box, right where Keisuke was running to.

"Thanks... For the assist." Said Keisuke as he ran towards the ball with his back towards the goal jumped up did a bicycle kick and scored shocking everybody.

Team V 3-1 Team W

Once Keisuke fell onto the floor everybody ran towards him. While Karasu stared at him in shock at what he had just witnessed.

"Good job! Ishizaki and Hiori everything went according to plan." Keisuke said standing smirking.

"That was Amazing!"

"So cool!"

"Hell Yeah!"

"How did you do that?"

"Did you plan that?"

"Well, sort of, I wanted to score a really cool goal this time, plus isn't this place made for us to surpass our limits."

"And this was the first time I've ever tried it."

"Keisuke... You're a genius." Said Hiori amazed and shocked.

"I know that, otherwise I wouldn't have done that." Said Keisuke as he walked back.

Beep!

End of 1st Half

...

Start of 2nd Half

"Um, K-karasu... can I try to score please...? Ah! I'm so sorry I didn't mean to be so s-selfish...!" Said a really anxious voice.

"Sure... Have a try at it... Tokimitsu" Said Karasu smirking as he left the ball to Tokimitsu.

"T-thanks, Karasu..." Said Tokimitsu as he took off towards the goal as soon as the game restarted.

"I got it." Said Ishikari as he tried to tackle Tokimitsu but ended up getting falling onto the ground shocked.

"STOP HIM!" Yelled Kurona as he tried to chase but found it useless as Tokimitsu got farther away pushing past everybody eventually scoring a goal.

Team V 3-2 Team W

"Huh..?"

"What was that...?"

"Just how strong is he...?"

"Ah that hurt..."

"That was amazing...!" Said Keisuke smiling crazily.

"Oi, Karasu I didn't know you had a hidden card like that up your sleeve." Said Keisuke walking up to Karasu.

"Like you said 'I have actual teammates', and my teammates are also good, after all I'm not only one trying to become the best striker in the world." Said Karasu as he walked towards Keisuke.

"I see." Said Keisuke as he walked back to center.

"Hey, Hiori I'm gonna go ahead be selfish."

"Ah... ok." Replied Hiori

For a while the game slowed down towards the end as everybody got tired until there was a throw in the 85th minute.

As soon as the game restarted Keisuke took off with ball towards Karasu.

"Hey, Karasu how about we have fight, and see who's the better player?" Said Keisuke smiling maniacally as he started doing step overs.

"Tch... Let's go at it then, Genius." Said Karasu as he started pressing Keisuke.

Slowly everybody stopped moving and just watched Keisuke and Karasu started fighting 1 on 1 both getting stuck in a stale mate.

Then suddenly Keisuke pulled the ball back as he turned his back towards Karasu then flicked the ball up, turned around again and flicked the ball over Karasu with his backheel.

"Got you." Said Keisuke as he took off running.

"Tch..."

Keisuke then got past the whole defense that were frozen in place and shot from 20 meters out into the top left corner.

Team V 4-2 Team W

"Pip! Pip! Piiiiip!"

End of Match

Fifth Stratum Game 1

Winner: Team V