Izan frowned, but the label wasn't going to go away because of a frown.
Before he could think any further, Pedri jogged over, placing a hand over Izan's back in his bent posture.
"You good?"
"Yeah," Izan said as he straightened, but he wasn't really looking at Pedri.
His attention stayed fixed on Araújo, and the defender hadn't taken his eyes off him.
[Reminder.]
The system's voice appeared before the rest of the message followed.
[The difficulty of elite tournament fixtures increases significantly during knockout qualification stages.]
Izan stared.
Then his expression slowly changed as everything began to make sense, at least for him.
Not every opponent arrived carrying the same version of themselves.
Some players stepped into certain matches and became more.
Faster.
Stronger.
Sharper.
