Blue lock: the true egoist

[3rd POV] 

In one of Blue Lock's 4th stage training fields, two players were currently facing one another.

One was fairly tall and stood out not only by his tan, but also by his relatively imposing physique. 

And yet, the boy in front of him was even taller. He didn't seem imposing, but something about him grabbed people's attention.

White hair, grey eyes. It was hard to believe that he was even Japanese. But as expected, this place wasn't one where common sense reigned. 

One of them suddenly broke the silence.

"I think it's fairly simple. If I win, you have to play against us in the next game." Jude demanded, failing to conceal his excitement. 

"That sounds tiring. Why do you want to play against me?" A lazy voice responded.

It was none other than Nagi Seishiro. 

"To be honest, you're my second choice. I wanted to play against Rin, but since he already moved to the next stage, I thought I might as well play against the ones who previously lost to him."

Seeing that Nagi still wasn't convinced, Jude added:

"After all, if Rin beat you and didn't choose you, then you're probably not that good." 

This time he received a more honest reaction. 

"Let's play." With those few curt words, the lazy genius' towering figure stood between Jude and the goal. 

'My instigation skills should be considered a Z rank special weapon at that point.' Jude thought to himself. 

..

It was time for him to test out his new stats. 

Jude stood still, the ball cradled at his feet, his eyes locked into the opponent. 

[Flaw State] × [Emperor's Aura]

Nagi immediately felt the change of pressure emanating from the young man in front of him. His instincts screamed at him that something was off. 

"My name is Jude Sanchez, nice to meet you."

Jude wasn't going to go easy on him. 

The reason was simple. Even if this small interaction wasn't able to trigger a quest, he knew that playing against so many geniuses would certainly do. 

Nagi's team was undoubtedly the best he could hope to go against. 

And so, Jude began his play.

He shifted his weight ever so slightly, a subtle feint that hinted at a movement to the right. Nagi responded immediately, ready to match the expected direction, his eyes locked onto Jude's legs. 

But in a flash, Jude flicked the ball to the right with the outside of his right foot, effortlessly moving past Nagi's outstretched leg. 

Rather than trying to overtake him with a speedy acceleration, Jude calmly brought the ball back under his right foot as if to taunt Nagi. 

"What kind of tyrant are you?" Nagi was exacerbated after attempting to steal the ball, only to be left with the same result once again. 

"Come on, I'm sure you can do better than that." 

For the next 5 minutes, the ball didn't leave Jude's feet. 

Nagi's weaknesses and strengths were clear. 

Whenever the ball is in the air, he's in his domain, but when the ball is stuck to the ground like Jude purposefully did, he struggled to keep up.

After all, Nagi was still a beginner when it comes to football.

Jude executed a series of rapid touches, each time keeping the ball inches away from Nagi's desperate reach. 

Only when the timer of his special weapon ran out did he finally move past Nagi a final time, with a simple yet perfectly timed flick. 

Nagi lunged again, trying to reclaim both his dignity and the ball, but this wasn't enough to stop someone in the flow. 

Jude anticipated his desperate attempt and dragged the ball back with his sole before spinning around, leaving Nagi down on the ground, gasping for air. 

"I'll consider this my win."

With those last words, Jude sent the ball flying past the diving keeper. 

.. 

.. 

/////////////////

Six hours later. The time designated for the match arrived. 

The king spoke loudly as soon as he entered the field:

"So he's the so called tyrant you told me about? He don't look like much." 

Barou Shoei was currently facing off with Jude. Both of them standing at similar heights. 

If someone paid attention to their body language, they would immediately notice that the King was trying to intimidate his opponent. 

As a show of dominance, he stood tall, his back straight and chest out as he looked down on everyone and everything. 

"So that's the king? Heh, what's a king to an emperor, an insignificant bug." Yukimiya stepped in with a teasing smile. 

Soon followed by Otoya. 

"They all look pretty weak, are you sure they're the strongest available?" 

Otoya was simply speaking his mind, and yet his instigation skills were on par with Jude and Karasu. 

...I guess that's what people call talent. 

"Huh, who looks weak?" The princess, Chigiri Hyoma rebuked.

"You wanna go? Huh? Huuh!?" The wise owl, Zantetsu Tsurigi chimed in as well. Although comparatively way later. 

Being this slow was in itself impressive. 

Jude nodded in silent acknowledgement. He made the right choice.

What a fun team. 

Looking at them you'd just think they came straight out of some special needs class.

An insanely lazy man whose life goals are pretty much the same as a plant. 

A delusional, narcissistic, self-proclaimed king. 

A pretty looking princess who loves acting tough. 

And finally, the wise owl, with the same IQ as an actual owl. 

...Yet they all shared a common point. They are geniuses beyond anything Japanese football has ever seen so far. 

A real team of geniuses. 

This in itself was the perfect environment for a quest to trigger itself. 

And it certainly did. 

Another special quest. 

[Special quest: Genius Gauntlet. 

Difficulty: ?? 

Beat each genius individually to add them to your gauntlet. The fuller your gauntlet is, the better the reward. 

Reward: ??]

.. 

.. 

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Author: I wanted to post both chapters at the same time, so I postponed the release of this one. 

Give your predictions on how the match will go.