013 Blue Lock: System Ten Years Early

"I must show my own value. For that, at the very least, I have to keep up with Shinichi's speed."

Hiori Yo quickly swept his gaze around, leapt up, and dodged a sliding tackle charging in from the side.

"Isn't he running way too fast...?"

During the brief hang time in midair, Hiori Yo searched for that figure, only to realize that Shinichi—who had been passing from the midfield just moments ago—had already shaken off his marker and was practically charging into the opponent's goal,

"If he keeps going, he'll be offside. Also… are there two people blocking the passing lane?"

"This level of difficulty design can't really be called hardcore!"

Hiori Yo waited, and when that single opening appeared—

Bang!

A powerful long pass blasted forward, threading straight through the legs of two players and rocketing toward Shinichi.

The immense force, combined with the exaggerated arc needed to nutmeg consecutively, forced the sprinting Shinichi to slam on the brakes and leap instantly, stopping the ball with his heel.

However, he was now in an extremely awkward situation. Though he managed to trap the ball with his heel while airborne, that also meant that upon landing, the football would drop behind him to his right.

On a back line swarming with opposing players, the sudden stop had already cost him his speed and momentum—his most lethal weapons.

Worse still, the ball's landing point made things even more dire: defenders all around, yet the football was not in a position he could immediately bring under control.

The tiny bit of time wasted pulling the ball back to his feet would be enough for everyone to swarm him. Forget Shinichi—even Noel Noa couldn't guarantee keeping possession when solidly pinned by three people in the middle.

It could be said that Shinichi's remaining survival time was just these few seconds—from midair to the moment before landing!

'But you can do it, right!'

After sending out this seemingly low-quality pass, Hiori Yo stopped running, staring fixedly at that figure—the one who could change the world!

"I have to further awaken Shinichi's talent. I can't impose my own ideas—I have to let him think for himself, create with his own creativity! So—charge, Shinichi! Let me feel it, the moment when the world changes, pushed forward by my own hands!"

"If you're not a fraud!"

...

"Truly audacious—having a subject test their king?"

Shinichi murmured softly while still in midair.

"But my nation has always thirsted for talent. Since you need it, I'll show you the strength of my."

"If landing means annihilation, then I'll just keep flying."

The ankle of Shinichi's trapping foot twisted ever so slightly, giving the football an incredibly subtle angle. The ball, which should have been stopped, instead took on violent spin from its remaining momentum and suddenly lifted upward—and Shinichi was still in the air!

Under the despairing gazes of the three defenders already guarding his landing point, waiting to steal the ball the instant he touched down, Shinichi hung in midair until the football rose high enough.

Then he drove power through his core—his entire body whipping through the air like a blue whale bursting from the sea, slamming the heavens with towering waves!

Mamba Body, kid!

Gooooooooal!

The football pierced the goal with unstoppable force, aimed straight at the dead corner.Kōken Shinichi shattered the opposing defense with an unbelievably long-hang-time header!

"Ooooooh!"

Hiori Yo raised both hands and charged over, only to be pushed away by Shinichi.

"Calm down. Since you and I saw the same future, don't make such an embarrassing fuss over something at this level."

But Shinichi couldn't keep up the act for long. Laughing, he high-fived Hiori Yo.

"Welcome to naturalization, my assistant."

"So what's your deal, anyway—suddenly swearing loyalty to me?"

Only now did Shinichi finally voice his confusion. In his view, Japan's Blue Lock should be full of pure striker fanatics. Even someone like Barou could be crushed to that extent and still stand back up—yet here was someone voluntarily submitting.

"Hmm… how should I put it?"

Hiori Yo tapped his chin.

Countless words lay buried in his heart, but he had no intention of saying some things out loud. In the end, he simply smiled.

"Because your ambition shook me. I originally planned to personally forge the world's number one striker. I wanted to play with someone who could understand my world-class passing, and then…"

"I saw your ambition. I never imagined someone could excite me this much with just a single look. So I decided to hitch a ride on your tailwind, help you achieve your dream, and in the end challenge something I never even dared to imagine—the greatest duo in history!"

"Or rather, how could anyone not be excited? Your visible-to-the-naked-eye talent is like getting a god-tier opening in a roguelike or auto-chess game. If it ends up wasted (washed), it'd really break my heart."

"Fine, I'll say you pass."

Shinichi reluctantly accepted the explanation.

"But if you dare send me a pass like that again, I'll revoke your citizenship."

"Now—let's first destroy the fools ahead who dare oppose us."

"Yes, yes, tyrant dictator."

...

"Damn it! That blue-haired guy already passed it like that, and that monster still scored!"

"Someone has to mark that monster at all times, or we'll definitely be blown out—and it can't be just one person! He's way too fast!"

After Shinichi scored a goal that was practically showboating, the opposing side finally started to look like a real team.

However, in front of Shinichi, this tiny bit of progress meant absolutely nothing.

Facing an enemy player carrying the ball, Shinichi didn't hesitate—he went straight into a sliding tackle.

Such an obvious move was easy for even these original-story background characters to react to.Because Shinichi's speed was too fast, the opponent could only pass the ball out before being taken down—but at least possession wasn't lost…

"Is that really so?"

At some point, Hiori Yo had appeared directly in the only passing lane. He easily intercepted the pass and, with almost no pause, launched a long ball in one motion.

"So this is how you 'control' me."

Watching Shinichi—who had just been knocked down by the tackle—spring to his feet, sprint like mad, and chase down the football still in midair, Hiori Yo ground his teeth and muttered,

"That reckless-looking slide tackle was actually deliberate—leaving the opponent a passing route. As long as I followed his line of thinking and blocked it here, I could intercept."

"Man… I've completely become his 'chess piece,' haven't I?"

Hiori Yo revealed a fierce expression.

"He's really using me as a piece. I refuse to become a fake without free will!"

"But… my current level still isn't enough to fully bring out my trait while working with Shinichi under his brilliance."

Hiori Yo secretly steeled his resolve, while up front, Shinichi cleanly received the ball and blasted it in for another goal.

As Shinichi precisely calculated the ball's landing point, firing a first-time volley without trapping, the opponent essentially lost all ability to resist.

The Shinichi–Hiori Yo duo was nearly unstoppable.

No one could maintain possession under their combined pressing, and as the score kept climbing, Shinichi grew more and more exhilarated—

"So that's it—so this is the true way to use the 'Chess Player' trait!"

Shinichi subconsciously looked toward Hiori Yo. This guy's appearance had completely awakened his ability.

Previously, although Shinichi possessed the 'Chess Player' trait, in practice he could only use a limited foresight—placing one move and predicting the next two. The ability to truly orchestrate and control the field had barely manifested.

For example, when playing against Ichinan High where Isagi Yoichi was, his seemingly prophetic ability was actually:

I'm going to steal the ball; at your level, you can't evade my press, so you can only pass; I know this, so I can predict your pass and block it in advance—essentially reacting move by move, like a "cannon jump knight." And that was still under the premise of overwhelming physical superiority.

But with Hiori Yo—with a true 'chess piece' he could control—he transcended the board and became the Chess Player, genuinely controlling the situation from a higher dimension!

"Come to think of it, without one's own pieces, how can one be called a Chess Player?

The people at my school were loyal to me, but they couldn't fully obey my commands—because at their level, they simply couldn't keep up with my thinking."

"It's like playing chess where the pieces react one turn late, or even act opposite to the player's orders. In that case, any setup becomes meaningless.

But Hiori Yo is different—he can keep up with my thoughts and faithfully execute my commands."

"Insane… this feels amazing. This perspective—am I a god?"

Shinichi subconsciously covered his mouth to keep that rampant grin from showing, yet the excitement blazing in his eyes was impossible to hide.

"Everyone is under my control. I can truly see the future of the pitch!"

Even after only a brief period of coordination, Shinichi was certain: as long as he had Hiori Yo working with him, he already firmly held a ticket to the high-level mind games of the later god-tier battles—

Meta Vision!

Unfortunately, limited by the grade of the 'Chess Player' trait, this ability to control the pitch was still confined to Shinichi's own defensive range and the space around his piece—Hiori Yo.It could only be called "Remnant — Meta Vision."

With his current level, he still couldn't fully control the entire field. He vaguely sensed that he had already basically drawn out all the potential of the 'Chess Player' trait—this was the limit of a blue-grade trait.

But for now, it was already enough.

Moreover, since his chess piece—Hiori Yo—could serve as an extra sense, extending his control outward to some extent, then as long as he continued to acquire other usable pieces, even if the 'Chess Player' trait itself didn't improve, he could still indirectly control the whole field through their assistance.

What's more, Shinichi had a faint feeling: if his number of chess pieces kept increasing and his control over the pitch gradually strengthened—

Then the 'Chess Player' trait would be nourished in return by his own ability. It would no longer rely on system intervention, but be completely dominated by him—the autonomous evolution of the trait itself!