A Dangerous Trio

The whistle's loud blow signaled the start of the second half. 

With the ball in Team V's possession, both Hiori and Karasu rushed forward without wasting a single second. This time they both stood close to one another.

Unlike the first half where they both supported each other from afar, they were now advancing right almost glued together. 

Jude was the first to get in their way and try to stop them, he attempted a tackle in Hiori's way but the duo easily got past him with an extremely quick one-two pass. 

'Fuck, I forgot how well those two played together.'

Jude didn't give up and trailed after them, he knew that it might lead to him tiring himself out, but if he didn't block them now then things would get a lot more dangerous later on. 

Going all out even though the game is nowhere near its end is never a good idea, but Team X had no choice anymore.

Hiori and Karasu advanced at a frightening speed. Their teamwork was almost as great as professionals.

This time Himizu was left out of the attack. All he could do to be relevant was to try his best to follow their pace from behind and stay alert to catch any loose ball, and support them when necessary.

But that time didn't come as Karasu easily dribbled past Miyata, before passing the ball back to Hiori and giving the same treatment to Yanagi with a mocking smile.

They kept running at full speed, with both Jude and Himizu closely trailing them from behind. They were seemingly unstoppable.

"Fucking crow! I will murder him!" Jude heard Yanagi's loud voice coming from behind him. 

Yanagi was sprinting at full speed, not caring about his stamina as he began to catch up to Team V's duo. Unlike Jude who didn't want to burst into a sprint and was waiting for the best opportunity to act, Yanagi acted based on his emotions and was determined to pay them back.

Once they reached the defense line, Yanagi was already right behind them. 

"Pass it!" Hiori yelled. 

Karasu, too focused on the defender in front of him, didn't understand why Hiori would suddenly yell at him to let go of the ball, especially since Hiori wasn't in a good position to receive the ball. Jude was standing barely a few meters away from Hiori. 

'It's too risky.' Karasu thought to himself as he averted his gaze from Hiori and focused on the two players in front of him. Dribbling past two defenders was less risky than giving Jude a chance to force a one-on-one with Hiori.

The two defenders on the wings were also coming to support them. But it was already too late, his mind was set.

It might be risky to try to get past them on his own — but it wasn't impossible. 

Once he finished assessing the situation, Karasu took a step forward, stepping over the ball before making a feint to the left. Seeing as the player closest to him leaned slightly to the left, he took this small window to sprint to the right and keep the defender at a distance with his arm. 

He was about to get past him but was suddenly stopped in his tracks by a loud yell.

"I'll be having a roasted crow for dinner!!" Yanagi roared out as he launched a sliding tackle from behind Karasu. 

Karasu was able to sense the danger in time, his body instinctively reacted as he jumped up to escape the tackle. Karasu successfully evaded it, but Yanagi was able to shoot the ball away in the middle of his tackle. 

"Wait! That was clearly a dangerous tackle! How is that allowed?" Karasu yelled out as he looked up at the camera used by ego to view the match. Yet much to his dissatisfaction, he didn't receive any answer. 

"In school football, this would've surely been ruled as a foul for even attempting a sliding tackle from behind. But I guess Blue Lock really is different." Karasu sighed as he looked at the loose ball rolling farther and farther away from him. 

Jude and Hiori were also too far from the loose ball which was rolling in the opposite direction of them.

The closest one to the ball was Fujita, Team X's left back. He slowly ran towards the ball while looking up to check if he had any options for a counter attack.

He was set on following Miyata's instructions.

'Stay next to the center. if they fail to get the ball, then you jump in, don't worry about leaving your post empty. Focus on getting the ball and launching a counter, that's your only task.' With those words in mind, Fujita was frantically looking for a pathway to launch his counterattack as he advanced to get the ball.

Suddenly Miyata's last words came back to his mind, if he couldn't find any option, Miyata would move out of his position and work as a bridge. If he could find Miyata then Team X would have a chance.

With those thoughts in mind he lifted his eyes again. But instead of Miyata, he was met with the wide grin of Himizu who was running at full speed towards the ball. 

He was now barely 5 meters away from the ball. Fujita didn't have any time to think. He broke into a sprint, hoping to get to the ball before Himizu, but he was one step too late. 

Himizu stepped on the ball with his right leg before swiftly changing directions and facing Karasu. 

In a last attempt to redeem himself from his previous mistake, Fujita launched his lead leg to intercept the coming pass. Yet the pass never came, Himizu only faced Karasu as a feign.

Himizu's grin grew wider as he gently pushed the ball in between the defender's legs, which were now spread wide open, before jumping up above one of his legs and getting past him. 

"Don't open your legs so wide next time. This isn't the place for that." Himizu mocked with a wide grin on his face as launched himself in the direction of the goal. 

The closest defender to him was the one who was previously facing Karasu and was now trying to stop him. 

Unfortunately, he was too far away to do anything other than block his angle of shoot. The last wall was now Michio, Team X's goalkeeper who stood ready for any incoming shot. 

Himizu didn't even consider passing the ball, even with the angle closed he shot the ball as strongly as he could. 

Michio grunted as he jumped to stop the ball, he was able to reflexively move his left hand in time to reflect the shot away. The loose ball was now flying in the direction of the penalty area. The place where the biggest danger stood ready to steal any opportunity for a shot. 

All the strongest players were now gathered in the penalty area in hope to get their hands on the ball.