Chapter 227: The Beginning of Stage Two
Finally, two players still had not found a team — Rin Itoshi and Nagi Seishiro.
Not because they lacked skill — quite the opposite.
Their price tags were too high, and after the teams finished their initial roster cores, nobody wanted to lock their entire salary cap on a single player.
So among the players with valuations over 100 million, these two were ironically the last ones remaining.
Their appeal was simply overshadowed by the national-team-level players:
Nagi Seishiro — slightly weaker than the very top.
Rin Itoshi — nearly equal to them, but his "destroyer mode" made him extremely hard to work with.
Even when Rin would pass the ball, his style was still overwhelmingly dominant.
Club owners would love that — it screams "future franchise star."
But for the mentors?
They weren't about to let a non-striker monopolize possession.
That was a joke.
Because of all these reasons, the two remained unpicked until the very end.
Nagi's contract was smaller, so under Agi's recommendation, Loki signed him at just over 100 million.
Only one stubborn figure remained—
Rin Itoshi.
He looked coldly at the remaining mentors.
....
Shinichi shrugged helplessly.
"Hey, I tried. He rejected my offer."
The other mentors looked troubled as well.
Then Rin turned to Chris.
"I don't need a price. Let me join your team, World No. 2."
"…Huh?"
Chris froze.
Rin continued calmly:
"No matter what team I join, my presence will distort the balance of power. That kind of victory doesn't interest me."
"But your team is… structurally flawed. So I'm joining yours."
Rin pointed toward Shinichi's throne.
"You want to beat the world's number one. And I want to beat Shinichi… and Sae Itoshi."
"Isn't that convenient?"
After a brief silence, Chris extended his hand.
"Alright. You convinced me. Breaking the rules like this is embarrassing, but losing miserably on the field is even worse."
He grinned.
"Don't worry, kid. No matter your rank, I'll give you my share of the mentor bonus. Consider it compensation."
....
And so, the selection phase of Blue Lock Stage Two ended.
By sheer luck (or fate), Chris's team became even stronger.
And at long last — the long-awaited collaboration between Isagi Yoichi and Rin Itoshi returned, delayed for so long by Shinichi's existence.
....
"Moshi moshi~ Looks like our mentors have finally assembled their dream teams."
Suddenly, the lights across the dim hall flashed on.
The entire arena brightened as Ego Jinpachi's projection appeared at the center.
"Well then, get warmed up. The matches start now."
....
Total shock.
Raichi Jingo's jaw dropped.
"Wait—we're starting now? Right after picking teams?!"
"Yeah! Shouldn't we get like… a few days to learn about our teammates? I don't even know what half of them specialize in!"
"Exactly!"
Ego snapped:
"Shut up."
The stadium fell silent.
Ego continued slowly, as if explaining something obvious to complete idiots:
"Who the hell wants to watch you train for days,
only to play safe, boring, tactical football?"
"If people wanted to watch that, they'd just watch the top five leagues. They're much better than you."
"Face reality. Stage Two of Blue Lock is a super-entertainment project. Viewers want to watch you stumble onto the field immediately after drafting,
without even knowing who your teammates are."
"And what do you think the trial period was for? You've all interacted with almost everyone here."
"If you're clueless now, that's just your rusted brain failing to work."
Cold. Brutal. Classic Ego.
....
He continued:
"Stage Two uses a special double-elimination format.
So don't worry — you won't be eliminated immediately."
"In the first round, three losing teams go to the Loser's Bracket."
"Then both brackets switch to a point system: Win = 3 points Goal = 1 point."
"The team with the highest points in each bracket advances to the final."
....
Isagi's eyes widened.
"Meaning… the first match doesn't matter as much. What matters is the bracket stage."
He continued analyzing:
"And with this scoring system…sometimes scoring goals will be more valuable than winning."
"If one team wins all its matches in a bracket,
the other two can just play a no-defense goal-fest…
and the one with more goals can qualify even with only one victory."
He understood immediately:
This was a loophole —or rather, something Ego intentionally created.
To force:
Maximum offense
Chaos
Entertainment
High scoring matches
And to test what they'd learn from the world's top forwards
To build the world's number one striker.
Exactly as Ego declared at the beginning of Blue Lock.
....
But whether Isagi understood or not, Ego didn't care.
"You have one hour to regroup and warm up."
"All teams will compete."
"Three matches, pairs decided by mentor lottery."
He spread his arms wide.
...
"Now—let the long-awaited visual feast begin!"
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