9 Chapter 9

<Katsu>

A small grin formed on my face as I realized what had happened with Isagi, he was using Metavision, or at least a downgraded version.

If he tried using Metavision this early he would be burned out in just a few minutes, what he's doing right now is trying to keep the information to a minimum while maximizing the best option.

He has no reason for having bettered his eyes yet since I haven't said anything about his eyes in Rin's place, so what is Isagi doing exactly? What he did against his match with Naruhaya and Barou, he just copied what I'm doing to a lesser extent.

While he was using his peripheral vision like me in Metavision, there was no way for him to contain and continuously put in data into his brain that he could keep up with.

So, even though what he is doing feels great to him now, it is nothing compared to the real deal.

"As fun as it may seem to you…" I had placed myself in front of Isagi who had the ball. "It truly means nothing when compared to me."

"Shut up genius, I'm getting to the good part!" He had linked up with Bachira, using his eyes to pass as best he could while receiving the ball perfectly when Bachira passed back, making my grin widen.

'Is this what being a protagonist means? He starts to evolve in the right way to try and beat me?' It was an entertaining thought that he could evolve just because I gave a small show but even so.

"Thanks for the ball monkey." I can beat you either way.

While they had passed the midfield and somehow gotten past Reo and Nagi, I had easily caught up and taken the pass from Bachira instead, seeing Isagi's frustration as I ran slightly, letting him catch up.

"Out of everyone on this field I truly think you are the one who could be an obstacle for me later on, however as you are now, there is no way for you to win against us."

"We'll see about that ace." His reply was calm yet I could hear the anger in his tone at having his moment cut down, he kept up as much as I let him before his movements turned sluggish and he almost collapsed.

"Shit… What's going on?" He asked no one in particular, only for me to shoot the ball into the top right of the goal, a shot easily faster than the GK could keep up with.

Score: 4-0

"You're trying to play in a level far above you idiot." I said, pointing at my head. "You burnt yourself out, even with a lesser version of what I was showing you."

"Y-You.."

"Yeah I showed you it. You think I need to use something like that against your team? I did it cause I wanted someone to try and be an obstacle to me, guess you couldn't keep up."

PIIIP!!

The whistle for the 45 minute mark sounded out as Bachira ran to Isagi's side, wrapping his arm around his shoulder to help him up as we went for a small break, my words making Isagi grit his teeth in frustration.

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<Isagi>

"What was all that Isagi?" I looked up at Bachira as I panted, trying to catch my breath. It felt like I was gonna pass out any second now.

"You heard his words too didn't you? I thought I knew what his trick was to destroy us so easily but I was wrong, I'm playing at a level so far below it's infuriating."

The rest of my team focused on my words as I sighed and broke the news.

"I'm sorry everyone but… It's our loss here, we can't win against them." At my words Raichi immediately grabbed my collar and shouted at me.

"You think this team revolves around you or something? Huh!?"

"That's not it!" I yelled back, slumping over as I held my head in slight pain. "Using his peripheral vision he can take in everything that goes on the field, a 4th dimensional vision that would make you a god looking down on the field. Can any of you even think of trying to do that?" Everyone shook their heads, some reluctant.

"Katsu Nanami is playing at a level far above any of us, even if we all evolved during this match we wouldn't have any chance of winning against him, and even if we somehow got past him and kept him behind then what? The other core players are all monsters in their own rights and we've all seen the replays for them."

It pained me to say this, I came here to Blue Lock to get better, I knew I would face players better than me but…

"We just can't win against them. We're gonna have to just accept the loss and move on, we can make it through anyway thanks to our previous win."

They hated it, I could tell, I hated it too but really, what chance did we have against someone like him?

This match truly is hopeless.