Chapter 135: Game Over
Five minutes to go. A two-goal deficit. The Japan U-20 National Team was staring into the abyss.
"This is it! The final countdown!" Atsuto Tereasa's voice cut through the air, painting a grim picture for the elite. "Can this corner kick be the spark the U-20 needs to claw their way back, or is the Diamond Generation officially out of time?"
Near the corner flag, Itoshi Sae stood over the ball, a picture of cold, calculated focus.
Itoshi Rin was locked in. Every nerve in his body was screaming. 'I just have to sync my brain with his. If I can think like him, I can see exactly where he's putting this.'
Blue Lock was up 4-2, but Rin felt like he was losing. Every single goal had come from Kira. The "Supernova" was the one the crowd was chanting for. The "Supernova" was the one Sae was watching. Rin had spent the entire match in the shadows, and his ego was beginning to rot.
'I'm ending this now. I'm the one who shuts him down!'
"Brace yourselves! Lock onto your marks!" Gagamaru barked from the goal line.
Sae took a short, clinical run-up and whipped the ball into the box.
Rin's eyes flashed. 'He's looking for Aiku.'
He threw himself into the space, shoving and clawing at Oliver Aiku to deny him the header. They both leaped into the air, but as the ball whistled past them, Rin's heart skipped a beat. He'd been played.
The ball didn't dip toward Aiku; it grazed the top of their heads, continuing its trajectory toward the back post. Sae had accounted for Rin's recovery speed and used him as a screen.
'He's looking for Shidou!' Rin's teeth ground together. He'd failed to beat his brother again.
"I've got him!"
"Don't even think about it!"
Just as Shidou launched into a diving header, Kira and Isagi appeared on either side of him.
"You two are a real pain in my ass!" Shidou growled.
Kira gave Isagi a sharp look. Isagi understood instantly. He threw his weight into Shidou, disrupting the demon's balance just enough to ruin the timing. Kira didn't hesitate—he launched into a bicycle-kick clearance, booting the ball out of the danger zone with clinical power.
"LOOSE BALL!" Gagamaru roared.
"MINE!"
Shuto Sendo sprinted toward the rebound, his face a mask of pure desperation. He was still fighting.
But a blue-haired blur was faster. Yo Hiori trapped the ball with a velvet touch, killing the momentum before Sendo could even reach him.
"Nice look, Hiori!" Bachira cheered. "Give them one more for the road!"
Isagi began his sprint toward the other end. 'One more. We end them here.'
"Tch... stop it. Just stop."
Rin's voice was a low, dangerous snarl. The resentment in his chest was becoming a physical weight. This was supposed to be his destiny—his war against his brother.
So why was everyone else getting in the way?
Kira with his four goals. Sae with his cold indifference. Even Isagi with his "spatial awareness." They were all buzzing around him like flies, making it impossible to breathe.
'Blue Lock doesn't let me fight alone?'
'I'm not on my own?'
'What a load of sentimental garbage. It makes me want to puke.'
'I don't want teammates. I don't want help. I want to destroy everything. I want to crush Sae, and I want to crush all of you.'
"Unbelievable! The U-20 corner is repelled, and Blue Lock is on the move again!" Tereasa screamed. "If they score a fifth, it's a total humiliation! The National Team is sprinting back, desperate to preserve their pride!"
Hiori was driving the ball, eyes scanning for the best lane. Suddenly, a shadow tore the ball right off his foot.
"Rin? What the hell?!" Hiori gasped.
Rin didn't answer. He had completely snapped. He wasn't playing football anymore; he was hunting. He ignored his teammates and charged straight into the U-20 defense.
On the bench, Shoei Barou's eyes widened. 'There it is. The brat finally stopped playing nice.'
Kira, trailing the play, saw the change in Rin's posture. The guy was gone. He was deep in the Flow, but it wasn't the tactical Flow he usually inhabited. It was a predatory, self-destructive ego.
'Revenge? Family? None of that matters.'
Rin felt a twisted sense of freedom. He finally understood what Sae meant. 'Don't use me as your reason for playing.'
'I'm not playing for you, Sae. I'm playing to bury you.'
Rin tore through the first line of defense. Teppei Neru and Miroku Darai were left in the dust, unable to track the sheer violence of his movements.
Isagi watched from a distance, completely lost. This wasn't the Rin he knew. There was no logic to his dribbling, no "rationality" to his path. He was just a force of nature.
Kira stopped running. He looked at the clock. There were seconds left. The result was already decided—they had won. But he wanted to see how this ended.
"Tch... slowing down is an insult, Kira."
Shidou blew past the stationary captain, chasing after Rin. Kira sighed. 'Fine. Let's finish the dance.'
"Niou! Take him out!" Darai shouted.
Kazuma Niou roared, throwing his massive frame into Rin's path. "Come on then, you little prick! I'll break you!"
"I'm going to end you, you brainless gorilla," Rin hissed.
He didn't try to dodge. He kicked the ball directly into the space between them, baiting the collision. As Niou lunged to crush him, Rin dropped his center of gravity to the grass, letting Niou's own momentum upend him.
The referee kept the whistle in his pocket. It was a clean, brutal bypass.
Rin was one-on-one with the final wall.
"So this is your true self ? You look like a monster," Oliver Aiku said, standing his ground.
"One more," Rin muttered. His tongue was darting out, a manic, predatory look in his eyes.
"You're drooling, kid. It's a little gross," Aiku said, though his heart was hammering. For the first time all game, he felt a genuine fear that he couldn't stop the man in front of him.
Aiku braced himself, but Shidou appeared at his side. "I've got the back, tongue-boy!"
Shidou and Aiku converged on Rin, a double-team of the two best defenders on the pitch. Kira was standing wide open on the left, an easy pass for a fifth goal.
'He won't pass,' Aiku calculated instantly. 'In this state, he'd rather die than share the kill.'
"Rin! Here!" Isagi called out, desperate for the link-up.
"Shut up! Don't you dare try to limit me!"
Rin ignored them both. Facing the combined wall of Shidou and Aiku, he wound up for a strike. He fired a violent, curling shot toward the far post.
Kira watched the trajectory and shook his head. 'Not quite there yet, Rin.'
Gen Fukaku launched himself across the goal, parrying the shot with the tips of his fingers.
"LOOSE BALL!"
"Still half baked."
Itoshi Sae had tracked back to the box, arriving at the drop point before anyone else.
"Is that so?"
Sae's eyes narrowed. Kira had appeared above him, launching into the air for an aerial duel.
'This guy? He's going for a fifth?'
Sae leaped to meet him, his foot extending to block the volley. But as Kira's boot made contact with the ball, Sae realized his mistake.
It wasn't a shot.
It was a cushioned, mid-air pass.
In the center of the box, Yoichi Isagi was waiting, his eyes glowing with a dark, triumphant fire. He had predicted the entire sequence, ghosting into the one spot Sae hadn't covered.
Isagi didn't hesitate. He met the ball with a perfect Direct Volley.
Boom!
The ball buried itself in the back of the net.
5-2.
At that exact moment, the final whistle screamed across the stadium.
Beep! Beep! BEEEP!
Blue Lock: 5. Japan U-20: 2.
"GOAL!"
The stadium went from a roar to an absolute frenzy. The "Diamond Generation" had been decimated. The new era had arrived.
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And with that, the U-20 Arc comes to an end. I think we all know what's coming next…
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