Blue lock: the true egoist

[3rd POV]

"Do you also have a monster inside of you?" Bachira asked. 

 Rather than answer, Jude sent the ball back to Hiori and immediately used his [Shadow Walk] to mess with Bachira's senses. 

The sudden disappearance of his [Emperor's Aura] coupled with [Shadow Walk] was the closest you'd find to a real life magical illusion. 

Jude went from someone with the most oppressive presence on the field, to someone whose presence and footsteps couldn't even be felt or heard.

Anyone would start mistrusting their own senses after experiencing something like that.

The slight hesitation this caused in Bachira allowed Jude to take him by surprise once more with a sudden burst of speed. 

Timing was key.

Hiori then immediately sent the ball back, as he knew instinctively that he wouldn't be able to keep the ball from Rin. 

Hiori was smart enough to know his own limits.

This left Jude and Bachira in a final one vs one. 

Bachira was quick to react and turned around to follow Jude. He attempted to steal the ball from Jude while he was busy trapping Hiori's pass.

While in the flow, Judes' thought speed was one step ahead and instead of simply trapping the ball, he lifted it up past Bachira's head before switching the pace once more and moving around him. 

It was a pass…

…A pass to himself. 

Bachira quickly understood the situation and tried to stop him once again. Rin was even faster in his reaction as he left Hiori alone and sprinted in the way of the ball. 

Jude was the first to reach the point of impact, followed by Rin and Bachira. But even while stuck between those two players, he didn't show the slightest hint of emotion on his face. 

The only thing you could discern from his expression was how focused he was.

His mind was already in another dimension — the flow. 

After quickly assessing the situation, he used his body to block the two boys, before jumping up for the ball. 

Bachira knew he wouldn't be able to reach it, Jude being much taller than him and clearly very athletic.

But Rin didn't give up.

He didn't have the best angle to steal the ball midair, and so he chose to stand in front of Jude instead, blocking his path and along with it his chances to score with a header. 

Jude immediately took that into account and readjusted his plans. Instead of shooting it, Jude sent the ball to the left. 

An empty space. 

"Score it!!" Jude yelled out. His voice reverberated in the small training room. 

In that instant, Hiori's body moved as if possessed by a ghost. He didn't even realize his body was already right in front of the ball. 

With one precise shot, he sent the ball flying into the goal. 

2-1.

 "It seems that your monster is still a Juvenile monster." Jude spoke while looking down at Bachira who didn't make a single move to stop him.

"You know about the monster?" Bachira's eyes widened, but before he could ask any further Jude was already back to his half of the mini field. 

.. 

.. 

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[Jude's POV]

One hour and a half later, Rin's teammate — Aryu, the tall and stylish player who currently ranked 2nd — came to him and asked for his help. Apparently he needed him for something personal. 

Simultaneously, my special quests came to an end. The two hours timeframe was over. 

"What a lukewarm match. It might as well have been a one on one." Rin left with those few words. 

15-31.

That was the score at the end of the match.

…I lost. 

I lost terribly as well. Not just by one or two points.

Everyone could understand the hidden meaning behind Rin's words. 

For the duration of my special weapon —10 minutes — I was able to trade blow to blow with Rin, and Hiori followed up with me quite nicely.

But then the longer the game went on, the more they adapted to us. 

Once out of the flow, I failed to catch up to Rin, even failing to stop Bachira.

I felt like I was once again one step behind everyone.

I did enter the flow, a few times, even without my special weapon. But that wasn't enough.

With no goalkeeper it was way easier to score. In the end it was mainly me playing against Rin whilst Bachira and Hiori were seemingly lost in thoughts on the side. 

None of them took it too seriously. 

Or at least nowhere near as seriously as me and Rin did. 

Surprisingly, even when I started falling behind and the gap between our scores grew, Rin didn't let out any snappy remarks. 

He was still playing at his best, and so was I. 

It's probably what allowed me to reach the flow again.

But it wasn't enough. 

Of those 15 goals, I scored 13 and Hiori scored 2.

As for them, Rin scored 30 and Bachira only scored once. There was undoubtedly a big gap, and it wasn't a gap of skills.

As a matter of fact, Hiori and Bachira had many stats surpassing those of Jude. In terms of skills they were capable of equaling him, or maybe surpassing him.

Especially Bachira.

The problem lay elsewhere. 

It was their ego. Or more accurately, their lack of a proper ego. 

Bachira was like a confused and lost child without Isagi by his side, and Rin barely even acknowledged him.

Hiori was yet another matter, it was the reason why I was initially against choosing him. He didn't lose his ego like Bachira, but rather never had it to begin with.

If Karasu was with me, I would've scored more.

I have no doubt about that. Maybe Hiori also understood where he was lacking.

He was only able to play at his best when I pushed him to.

Hiori was great, but without a proper ego he was just an empty shell, never pushing himself too far and barely keeping up the pace. 

So if I wasn't able to set a high enough pace, he was content with jogging behind.

When I was in the flow, he followed up almost unconsciously and was able to keep up with me. But once I fell down, so did he.

He fell even faster than I did.

For now, he's a player who's only as good as the ones playing with him. 

This was a big problem. 

Hopefully he'll wake up sooner rather than later. I don't need someone with a half baked ego. 

'Lukewarm,' that was the perfect way to describe it. 

Though, Rin was wrong on one point.

It was way better for it to be a 2vs2 rather than a one on one. 

I'd even go as far as to say it was necessary.

I smiled to myself in satisfaction as I looked at the reward of both of my quests. One of them was quite unique. But nonetheless very satisfying, especially for such a short and random quest.

"That's pretty sweet."

.. 

.. 

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Author: Everyone probably noticed, but I wasn't able to write at all lately. I was extremely sick and caught quite the nasty virus. 

I'm getting slightly better since yesterday, so hopefully more chapters will come very soon. 

(Doctor said power stones is a nice way to recover, I count on y'all!)