Team X's strength
A proud smile appeared on Jude's face — looking at everyone doing their best he realized that Team X was finally looking like a real team.
He controlled the long ball with the outside of his right foot, taking one last knowing glance at the siblings and Yanagi, before turning around and sprinting forward.
With most of Team W going for a counterattack, the path was clear in front of Jude, with only three defenders remaining, making up the last defensive line.
On his right, Akira was following him from behind, his usual energy nowhere to be seen. While on his left, Miyata had preserved his strength for this moment and sprinted in between two of the defenders.
He knew that his speed wouldn't allow him to get past those defenders and score, but in reality, all he needed was to get the attention of the defender positioned in the middle of their line.
Miyata's goal wasn't to put himself in a favorable position to receive a pass, but it was instead to destroy their formation and allow Jude to find himself in a one-on-one situation with the defender on the right.
Understanding his new friend's intention, Jude upped his pace, leaning to the right side of the field to instigate the one-on-one duel.
As soon as he reached the defender, he feigned a sharp cut to the left. Thanks to Miyata's play the middle of the field was left half empty, the defender guarding it having overcommitted to prevent Miyata from getting in a favorable shooting position.
Knowing that this was currently the weakest spot in the field, as well as the best shooting window for a striker, Team W's defender knew what he had to do, he extended his right leg to block Jude's path.
Unfortunately for the naive defender, Jude flashed a wide grin and pushed the ball between the defender's legs, successfully nutmegging him before jumping past his extended leg and easily getting past him with a sudden burst of speed.
Realizing his mistake, Team W's player grabbed Jude's arm in a last attempt to draw a foul but Jude's shot was already armed, putting all his strength on his leg.
Jude shot the ball as he was being pulled downward by the player grabbing his arm. He fell on his back — the ball flying up to the left side of the net, taking the goalkeeper by surprise and lodging itself in the net.
Team W's player earned himself a yellow card, yet was unable to stop Jude from scoring and giving the advantage to his team.
2-1. The mechanical screen announced alongside the long whistle hinting at the end of the first half.
"I knew I could count on you!"
"Good job, Mr striker."
"As always, a true monster."
Everyone cheered, gathering around Jude. Jude put his hand on Miyata's shoulder, he praised him for his smart move as they all went back to the dressing rooms.
From the corner of his eye, Jude noticed that Team W was unusually quiet. They all headed to their own dressing room, they walked side by side but an invisible distance could be felt between each of them.
'That's their first game together after all,' Jude thought to himself, memories of his first game with Team X flooding his mind.
Back then, insults were thrown out left and right. Everyone played to survive and score their own goal, trust being a nonexistent concept at the time.
Compared to that, Team W could be said to be extremely well organized, it's their first time playing together, yet they knew how to utilize each other's weapons. Albeit that didn't make up for their lack of closeness.
When faced with adversity, they were no more than strangers, each fighting for their survival, it's in such times that the true nature of people is put to the test.
Losing at half-time against team X, the supposedly third strongest team, made them realize that nothing assured that their team was going to be in the top two just because on paper they're the second strongest team.
And if the worst situation were to come true, the only way to survive would be by scoring the most goals than their teammates, they all knew that.
In the blink of an eye, the half-time break came to an end, Team X's spirit soaring higher than ever, a newfound hope being found in the presence of Jude as the striker.
The only worrying factor was that, unlike his usual cheerful demeanor, Akira looked very absent-minded. Ever since the beginning of the half-time break. He didn't yell a single time. Heck, he didn't even utter a single word.
His silence hinted at the incoming storm that was about to occur in the second half. The only ones who had a slight idea of what was going on were Miyata and Jude.
Miyata noticed the abnormal change in Akira's attitude, he immediately understood that something was wrong, after spending most of his time learning his teammates' habits, likes, and dislikes, he could tell that something was very wrong. Albeit he had no way to tell what outcome this would lead to, all he could do was try to take this new variable into account in his next plays.
As for Jude, it was something else that led him to believe a big change was currently happening to Akira, after receiving two new system notifications his eyes kept darting around relentlessly as if searching for the source of an imminent danger.
[Eyes of the Lord detects very extreme and intense fluctuations in a player's emotions and ego.]
[Eyes of the Lord detects very extreme and intense fluctuations in a player's emotions and ego.]
He never expected to see such a system notification so soon, let alone twice in a row. The lack of shine in Akira's eyes and the absence of his usual aura were enough for him to believe that one of those notifications was due to him.
As for the second one, it was still a mystery for him. He tried studying all the players' facial expressions, aura, and behavior, yet time was running against him.
He didn't have enough time to study all of the 21 players on the field. He sighed in defeat before ultimately getting ready for the kick-off.
His only experience with this new type of system notifications was Yukimiya, and he for sure didn't want to go through that time again. He was going to do anything in his power to stop it this time.