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"Lance stands over the free kick with flames burning in his eyes."
"Although this Champions League Final has already entered stoppage time, with barely one minute remaining before the final whistle..."
"There is not the slightest hesitation in Lance's gaze."
"Only absolute determination."
The commentator's emotional voice, already thick with tears, caused countless fans in front of their televisions to completely lose control of their emotions.
Not just sentimental female fans.
Even many hardened male supporters felt their noses sting.
Why?
Lance had already delivered a god-tier performance.
So why was he still unable to win the championship?
Atlético Madrid had suffered injuries.
Lost players.
Even gone down to ten men.
Was fate really trying to forge Lance into a tragic hero?
Among the tens of millions of viewers around the world, aside from some diehard Real Madrid supporters, trolls, and people simply rooting for chaos, nearly everyone else felt heartbroken for Lance.
Sometimes, having no chance at all wasn't the painful part.
If Atlético Madrid had truly been hopeless against Real Madrid from the beginning, fans would've accepted it much more easily.
At worst, they could simply enjoy the match itself.
Maybe cheer if Lance scored a goal.
After all, merely reaching the Champions League Final was already a kind of victory.
But the cruelest thing in football...
Was having hope.
Giving everything.
And still failing to achieve the desired result.
At this moment, supporters around the world unconsciously placed themselves in Lance's shoes.
An unbearable suffocating feeling settled inside their chests as they watched time slowly slip away.
The commentator's words only made everything more emotional.
No one truly expected Lance to score this free kick.
A free kick wasn't a penalty.
Even if you replaced him with legendary specialists like David Beckham, Andrea Pirlo, Juninho Pernambucano, or Roberto Carlos, nobody could guarantee a goal.
The fact that Lance dared shoulder the responsibility already made him extraordinary.
And then...
The instant Lance's [Crescent Blade] sliced through the night sky and buried itself perfectly into the top corner...
The entire world exploded.
Forget the championship.
Forget victory and defeat.
Just look at how unbelievable that goal was!
The emotions of fans worldwide instantly resembled the feeling when Beckham's free kick sent England to the 2002 World Cup.
This was the purest and most primal charm of football itself!
"LANCE!!!"
"HE SCORED!!!"
"HE SCORED!!!"
"4-3!!!"
"With only one minute of stoppage time remaining, Atlético Madrid can still theoretically equalize the match!!"
"Atlético Madrid is not dead yet!!"
"Lance has personally dragged the team back from hell!!"
Madness.
Absolute madness.
The most emotionally shattered person in the world at this moment wasn't Cristiano Ronaldo.
It wasn't the Real Madrid supporters.
Nor even Florentino Pérez.
It was Zinedine Zidane.
At this moment, Zidane genuinely didn't know what expression he should wear anymore.
The tall figure in red and white across from him had become his nightmare incarnate.
Zidane had spent decades dominating the football world.
A Ballon d'Or winner.
A World Cup champion.
A legendary icon respectfully called "Zizou" by fans everywhere.
Yet the person he feared most in football history wasn't Marco Materazzi.
It was Lance.
"Damn it..."
The good news?
The match was almost over.
Real Madrid still led 4-3.
They were still moments away from winning the Champions League.
Sure, conceding three goals in twenty minutes looked ugly.
But history only remembered winners.
Years later, who would remember the defeated Atlético Madrid side?
Everyone would only remember that Real Madrid's dynasty began tonight.
That Zidane was the architect of glory.
Unless...
The thing he feared most actually happened.
...
The moment the ball entered the net, Lance transformed into a demon.
He sprinted into the goal, grabbed the ball, and immediately ran back toward midfield.
Every Atlético Madrid player followed behind him like bodyguards in a rugby scrum, shielding him from interference by the Real Madrid players.
They placed the ball at the center spot almost instantly.
In football history, perhaps for the first time ever...
The team that scored assembled faster than the team that conceded.
Meanwhile, the Real Madrid players dragged themselves slowly back into position.
Antoine Griezmann nearly exploded in anger.
"What are you doing?! Move faster, you bunch of pendejos!"
Cristiano Ronaldo heard Griezmann's furious Spanish shouting but couldn't even respond.
Lance's hat-trick had completely shattered his pride.
Beep!!
The referee's whistle rang out.
Instantly, every Atlético Madrid player froze in panic, thinking the match had ended.
Even some Real Madrid fans had already begun celebrating.
But the game continued.
Less than thirty seconds remained!
Real Madrid immediately retreated, passing all the way back toward goalkeeper Keylor Navas in an attempt to waste time.
But the thirty-something Fernando Torres suddenly became a madman.
A demon.
Burning away every final ounce of energy inside his body.
He sprinted desperately to press Navas, forcing the goalkeeper into a panicked clearance that flew out of bounds!
The ball boys at the Meazza were completely swept up by Atlético Madrid's fighting spirit.
The moment the ball left the field, one instantly tossed it toward Juanfran.
Juanfran immediately threw it to Lance.
And in that instant...
Lance was surrounded by four players.
Marcelo.
Toni Kroos.
Lucas Vázquez.
Casemiro.
Completely insane.
Casemiro already launched himself into a sliding tackle!
Fans all around the world gasped simultaneously, convinced Lance was about to be wiped out.
"This is dangerous!!"
Jian Jun nearly wanted to scream through the television screen itself.
If Lance got tackled down here, even a few seconds of delay would kill Atlético Madrid's final opportunity.
This was their last attack.
Carrying the hopes of hundreds of millions of people...
Lance suddenly became incomparably calm.
At this moment, the muscle memory of [Isagi Yoichi], [Bachira Meguru], [Nagi Seishiro], and the other templates activated simultaneously!
Every template ability exploded to its limit!
Under this extreme pressure, Lance's potential erupted completely!
"I need to find the puzzle piece that leads to the goal."
In an instant...
Time froze.
The entire stadium transformed into a giant puzzle board.
[Spatial Perception] activated!
The seemingly ordinary skill suddenly displayed completely unreasonable, almost game-breaking effects.
Lance didn't even have time to feel shocked.
That so-called Isagi Yoichi definitely had to be the protagonist of his anime.
Only a protagonist's cheat-like aura could possibly be this absurd.
Because four defenders focused entirely on Lance, unavoidable gaps appeared in Real Madrid's defensive structure.
Griezmann's movement dragged away the attention of Modrić and Sergio Ramos.
And Torres, despite barely being able to run anymore, suddenly appeared in an incredibly dangerous position.
The puzzle piece leading to the goal.
"Now!!"
The defensive instincts of [Fabio Cannavaro] combined with the physicality of [Mareto Shouei] allowed Lance to resist Kroos's collision head-on.
At the same time, tiny adjustments in his footwork avoided Casemiro's tackle.
Turning sideways.
Right foot angled outward slightly.
Using a shuttlecock-style juggling touch.
[Nagi Seishiro] Full-Level Ball Control activated!
Control and pass became one seamless motion.
The ball floated around Marcelo!
Before it even landed, Lance cushioned it again with his right ankle before flicking it leftward to evade Vázquez's interception!
One versus four!!
Lance forcibly extracted the ball from a death trap, burst into open space, and immediately whipped out another [Crescent Blade] cross!
The juggling-like dribble instantly triggered thunderous applause throughout the stadium.
The entire world was dumbfounded.
Lance looked less like a footballer and more like a god.
"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Every defender's attention had been dragged toward Lance.
As a result, Pepe completely failed to notice Torres's late run into the box.
The former Golden Boy was still fighting!
Even now!
Torres had already become desperate enough to burn away everything.
Ignoring the risk of tearing muscles apart, he launched himself forward recklessly and met the ball with an awkward airborne finish!
Bang!!
The shot rocketed into the top corner!
At point-blank range, Navas didn't even react.
"TORRES!!!"
"HE SCORED!!!"
"UNBELIEVABLE!!!"
"This is a miracle!!!"
"Atlético Madrid has somehow equalized from 0-4 in the dying moments of the Champions League Final!!!"
"4-4!!!"
"Lance delivers a god-like assist to help Torres score the equalizer!!"
"Atlético Madrid is invincible!"
"Lance is invincible!!"
The commentator screamed with the most hoarse voice imaginable.
He had witnessed countless miracles throughout football history.
People always said finals rarely produced great football.
But no match in football history could compare to tonight.
0-4 becoming 4-4.
Ten men battling eleven.
Dragging the mighty Galácticos into the abyss alongside them!
And Lance wasn't fighting alone.
Torres.
Griezmann.
Saúl.
Jan Oblak.
Juanfran.
Every single Atlético Madrid player had exhausted every final drop of life inside themselves.
Together, they finally helped Lance complete the assist of the century.
Atlético Madrid's current Golden Boy and former Golden Boy embraced each other tightly amid the chaos.
The entire world erupted.
Simeone sprinted thirty meters down the sideline before dropping to his knees in a wild slide across the grass.
Wearing a black dress shirt and slacks, the iron-blooded Argentine knelt on the turf with tears streaming down his face as he prayed toward the heavens.
At this point, even if the match entered extra time or penalties, momentum had already completely shifted toward Atlético Madrid.
But while Torres and Griezmann celebrated wildly...
Lance quietly said the calmest words imaginable.
"Brothers."
"We still have one more attack left."
Wait...
Torres froze.
Griezmann froze.
Every Atlético Madrid player froze.
Wasn't dragging the match into extra time already miraculous enough?
Wasn't coming back from 0-4 already historic enough?
Lance still wanted more?!
At that moment, even his own teammates looked at him with both awe...
And fear.
Years later, Griezmann would write in his memoir:
"At that time, I was genuinely afraid of Lance. He was the kind of devil who would pursue victory at any cost. In this world, I don't think anyone wants to become his enemy."