Setting the tone

"I'm counting on you; don't let me down," Miyata passed the ball back to Jude before surging forward alongside Akira.

As soon as Jude trapped the ball, an intangible weight was lifted off Team X's shoulders—Jude's [Emperor's Aura] taking effect, elevating his teammates' spirits.

A subtle smile formed itself on Jude's face at the sight of their almost blind faith, charging forward without looking back — believing that no matter what, Jude would be able to handle it on his own — though, in reality, he wasn't truly alone.

"Go for it, Mr striker." Yanagi appeared from Behind Jude, keeping a safe distance from him while still closely shadowing the young man sprinting past the halfway line. 

'This feels awesome.' Jude thought to himself, easily dribbling past Team W's towering giant, Yukio Ishiraki.

Thanks to his [Eyes of the Lord], he was able to pinpoint everyone's strengths and weaknesses, taking advantage of those he cruised through their midfield. 

Whenever he was faced with an opponent who had lower physical stats than his, he used the new dribbling style he crafted for himself thanks to the experience he accumulated against Yukimiya. 

As soon as Team W's midfielder reached him, he faked going to the left, before instantaneously switching his pace, rushing to his right and catching him off guard. 

"Pass it to me!" Akira yelled out, a lone defender guarding him from afar. He ran full tilt towards the goal, fully believing Jude's pass would eventually come. 

"Here you g-" Jude swallowed his words mid-sentence, leaping to evade a sudden razor-sharp tackle coming from his left. Reiki Hiiragi, Team W's left back materialized out of nowhere, stealing the ball from Jude's feet. 

Luckily, Yanagi was right behind him, "that's the moment I was waiting for." He trapped the ball under his foot, using his toned body to fend off Team W's player from stealing the ball a second time. 

"Good job!" Miyata cheered, advancing along the right side, swapping positions with Akira who was brainlessly running around while awaiting a pass. 

Yanagi's eyes landed on Miyata's figure, his eyes slightly lighting up, he finally realized what his teammate's weapon was, "he's indeed smart enough for it to be called a weapon." He chuckled inwardly, passing the ball to Miyata who was now left with no defender's guarding him. 

After watching the last game close to 7 times, having studied his team meticulously, Miyata learned everyone's habits and small gimmicks. Thanks to hours of analysis, he knew that Akira was going to switch from the right wing to the left after noticing that Jude's pass didn't reach him. 

He also guessed that the defender guarding him would be taken aback and instinctively follow him. It's this subtle action that created enough space for him to be left unguarded in a 1v1 against the keeper. Miyata also knew that although Yanagi might look a little rough, he had one of the highest football IQs in the team so if someone were to understand and notice him, it would certainly be him. 

It's those many hours spent analyzing his own team, learning their habits, strengths, and weaknesses, that allowed him to create such an advantageous situation. 

"I told you I'd show you my weapon," Miyata whispered to himself, trapping the ball with the outside of his left foot. The ball bounced a few centimeters in front of him — with space to spare, he prepared to unleash his shot.

"You call that a weapon?" A barely audible, chilling whisper, echoed from seemingly nowhere. Miyata's body tensed up as soon he heard the ghostly voice, accompanied by the view of the lanky, slender, young man. 

Eita Otoya—the ninja of Blue Lock—He's a player who's destined to become one of the top 4 players at the end of the second selection. Despite the fact that Miyata had planned out everything to a degree close to perfection, his planning never took into consideration that such a strong player would try to get in his way. 

Making use of Miyata's surprise, Otoya stretched out his leg, smoothly stealing the ball right in front of Miyata's face, showcasing a stark difference in skill. Unfortunately, team X's strategist couldn't do anything to make up for the difference in level between the two of them. 

"I finally understand how you earned your place in the top 4," Jude snickered, appearing in front of Otoya, and blocking his path. After using his special weapon [Eyes of the Lord] on team W's ninja, Jude noticed that even though he had the best stats in his team. They weren't as high as he expected. 

Otoya's overall stats were 52. His high speed and off-ball stats make up for his lack of shooting and dribbling abilities. His special weapons were also some of the craziest he had seen, but the sole fact that most of his stats were a lot lower than Yukimiya gave him enough confidence to face him head-on. 

"They never taught you that a ninja shouldn't stay in the spotlight for too long? Or else his strongest weapon will turn into his biggest weakness." Jude flashed a small smile, pressuring the now frowning Otoya who struggled to keep the ball. 

"That's payback," Miyata yelled out, exploiting the small opening Jude created and tackling Otoya, effectively pushing the ball far up in the air. Everyone's eyes followed the ball as it flew high up, before finally spiking down in the middle of the penalty area. 

"I have it!" Yanagi yelled out as he hastily pushed Akira away. Seizing this opportunity, he made use of his athletic body, jumping as high as he could to hit the ball which was rapidly coming down. 

"Nah, you don't have it, actually." A lazy voice sounded from behind him, Ishikari, the tallest high school football player, jumped up in front of Yanagi, intercepted the ball mid-air, and headed the ball away from the penalty area. 

The ball flew up high in the air, before finally dropping under a player's foot, barely a few meters outside of the penalty area. As soon as the player's foot touched the ball, the flow of the game shifted once again. "Thanks for the pass."

Otoya and Hiiragi both rushed to him as fast as they could but it was too late. With a wide grin plastered on his face, Jude pushed the ball forward, arming his shot, before finally shooting the ball with as much strength as he could currently muster. 

Although his long shot and shooting power were at 45 and 46 respectively, the clear line in front of him allowed him to put all his strength into shooting the ball without worrying about precision. 

The many players in the penalty area blocked the keeper's view, allowing Jude's shot to easily lodge itself in the net, marking the first goal in barely 15 minutes since the beginning of the game. 

***

(Author's note: I hope a few of you noticed, but the updating is back to being stable, although, relatively slow. I still prefer this type of pacing, I find the quality of my chapters to be a hundred times better than when I rushed myself. 

Anyway, I'm here to announce that I really appreciate the huge amount of support this story still gets, I'm always happy to see the usernames of the people who comment regularly and give their PS to this story almost daily. 

So as a thanks to all of the support I have been getting, I will try to prepare a nice little gift for Christmas, as well as a possible announcement at the end of the year.)