"Yeah~ I admit your strength is far beyond what I expected, but even so, I'm not going to give up! Before I defeat that man, I absolutely cannot lose!!!" Tokugawa struggled to stand, his tone firm as he spoke to Akashi.
"Hmph! Hopeless. Focusing all your goals on Byoudouin alone… your vision is far too small!" Akashi shot Tokugawa a cold glance, then turned away without another word—he had no patience left to talk to him.
Originally, Akashi had intended to give Tokugawa a chance to break through his limits, partly out of consideration for Oni and Irie, and also because in the original story Tokugawa's character wasn't bad—willing to get injured to protect his juniors. Unfortunately, Tokugawa's obsession with Byoudouin ran too deep.
And in the original story, when Tokugawa faced a serious Byoudouin, he was almost completely powerless. Only after using Black Hole could he barely resist, and even then, because of injuries from the day before, he couldn't maintain it for even ten minutes. In the end, it was only thanks to Ryōma that he survived; if Byoudouin's destructive shot had hit him in the face, he'd be crippled if not dead. Even with Oni and Irie's guidance and his own hard work, the gap between him and Byoudouin was still far too great.
Standing at the baseline, Akashi's mental energy surged higher and higher, his aura climbing relentlessly, making others feel an unconscious urge to submit. Strands of divine radiance shimmered faintly over his body—the divine nature and all-seeing trait from his Dimensional Space, Gilgamesh.
Tokugawa, looking at Akashi across the court, seemed to make up his mind. His aura of the Asura Path suddenly spiked, and a faint layer of otherworldly energy leaked from his body.
"This is… looks like Tokugawa's planning to use that move," Irie narrowed his eyes and said slowly.
"But for Akashi, it probably won't do a thing," Oni replied, still frowning.
As they spoke, Akashi tossed the tennis ball into the air. This was the sixth game, his serve. Without hesitation, he swung, smashing the ball at incredible speed straight toward Tokugawa's baseline.
"If I can't even defeat you or Byoudouin, how can I talk about a broader vision? Watch closely—this is my resolve, Akashi Seijurō!!!" Tokugawa flashed behind the ball, his right hand flaring with blinding golden light as he shouted.
With a massive crack, the ball turned into a giant sphere of light, hurtling toward Akashi like a cannon shell. Akashi merely lifted his racket with a cold expression and easily intercepted the shot.
"Still not giving up? Resolve? You think you can use that to beat Byoudouin? Foolish!" After completely neutralizing Tokugawa's light shot, Akashi swung again. For a moment, a huge phantom flickered behind him.
The next second, an even larger light ball wrapped in blue plasma shot back along the same path. Tokugawa's expression didn't change; he had already expected this. His aura exploded again, and gripping his racket in his left hand, he swung hard at the air before him.
A pitch-black rift instantly appeared in front of him, swallowing Akashi's magic cannon midair. The glow faded away, leaving only a tennis ball locked inside a curved black hole before Tokugawa.
Black Hole—Tokugawa's
"Black Hole! Now any ball you hit at me will stop! Akashi!" Tokugawa's face regained some composure as he spoke calmly.
Right after, he swung. The absorbed power of the magic cannon returned partially with the ball, which shot like a blink to Akashi's left, cracked the ground, and bounced out of bounds.
"0-15!"
"Black Hole, huh? Definitely an impressive defensive move. But to me, it has one fatal flaw." Akashi's face didn't change despite losing the point, his voice still cold.
"A flaw!? Stop bluffing. Black Hole has no weakness!" Tokugawa clearly didn't believe him.
Akashi didn't bother explaining. He simply grabbed another ball, tossed it high, and fired off an ultra-fast serve toward Tokugawa's court. Tokugawa was ready, stepping quickly to the landing point and swinging to return.
As the ball was returned, the two red rings in Akashi's pupils shone brightly, seeing through every reaction and movement Tokugawa was about to make. This was the flawless Emperor Eye, able to see much farther into the future than the normal Emperor Eye.
"No matter what kind of shot you hit, it will stop before my Black Hole!" Tokugawa said coldly when he saw Akashi ready to swing.
But in the next instant, a yellow afterimage flashed past Tokugawa's eyes. The ball avoided all three Black Hole zones he had set up in advance, landed right on the baseline, and bounced out of bounds.
"15-15!"
"Black Hole's defense is indeed strong, but as long as I avoid the right zones, no matter how strong the defense is, it's useless." The Emperor Eye in Akashi's gaze glowed faintly red as he spoke.
"Impossible… you actually saw through my Black Hole setup just by observation!" Tokugawa stared in disbelief.
"In front of these eyes, nothing is impossible!" Akashi tossed the ball again without further words and fired another serve.
Tokugawa still refused to believe him. Unwilling to give up, he set up five Black Holes in advance around the court, but Akashi, who could see the future, read every move with ease.
"30-15!"
Seeing his Black Hole zones avoided again so easily, a creeping sense of despair began to rise in Tokugawa's heart. But Akashi gave him no time to breathe—the fourth ultra-fast serve was already coming at him.
This time, like a cornered beast, Tokugawa gathered golden light in his right hand, swung his left hard, and blasted a massive light sphere toward Akashi. Right after hitting the light shot, he swung his racket quickly across a wide area of space around him.
"So what if you can see through me? I'll set up Black Holes all around my body so you have nowhere to run!" This was Tokugawa's last gamble.
"Stop it, Tokugawa! Doing this will shorten your career!" Irie shouted from the sideline.
But Tokugawa no longer heard him. Right now, all he could think about was defeating Akashi, and then Byoudouin, even if it cost him his life.
"I underestimated your resolve. In that case, I'll show you the real gap between us! ZONE!" At Akashi's words, faint red lightning burst from his eyes.
At the same time, behind Akashi, a massive phantom slowly appeared. Its upper body was clad in a golden mantle, its lower body in a red armored skirt, arms spread wide to reveal a perfect muscular frame. It was Akashi's Dimensional Space—Gilgamesh.
At the instant Akashi's racket touched the ball, a rift opened, swallowing it whole. A huge, strange stone blade then shot from the void, flying straight toward Tokugawa's Black Holes. Countless strikes were caught and bound by the Black Holes, but in the end, a single beam of light pierced through, smashing into the backcourt.
"Gate of Babylon—Hundred Heads Shot!"
"40-15!"
"Every time I see Akashi-chan's Dimensional Space, I can't help but be amazed!" Tanegashima said in admiration, staring at the golden radiance behind Akashi.
"My god~~~ has Akashi really reached this level now? Is it too late for me to quit the training camp?" Mōri said blankly as he looked at the golden figure.
"I thought you had contact with Akashi back in junior high? You mean you didn't know about his Dimensional Space?" Ochi asked, puzzled.
"You think a junior high tournament needed me to activate it, Ochi-senpai?" Mōri replied helplessly.
"Have you noticed, Yukimura? Akashi's Dimensional Space looks different every time it appears," Sanada said seriously.
"Indeed~ I get the feeling Akashi-kun's Dimensional Space is different from mine," Yukimura responded thoughtfully.
On court, Tokugawa stared blankly at Akashi and the figure behind him, his heart tangled in emotions even he couldn't sort out. The Multiple Black Hole was his final trump card, yet Akashi had broken through it head-on.
At that moment, Akashi tossed the ball high again. Behind him, Gilgamesh moved—drawing a pair of swords from his back and joining them into the form of a bow, a devilish smile on his face.
"It's time to put an end to your endless dream, Tokugawa. I'll personally show you the vastness of the world! Gate of Babylon—Sword of the End, Enki!" Whether it was because of the Dimensional Space or not, Akashi unconsciously spoke Gilgamesh's iconic words.