Chapter 24: The Desperation Pulse
The whistle for halftime blew, but it didn't sound like a relief. It sounded like a death knell for Team Y.
In the locker room of Building 5, the silence was absolute. Eshan sat apart from the group, drinking water with a slow, rhythmic control. He wasn't celebrating the brace. His eyes were fixed on a point on the wall, his mind already calculating the first five minutes of the second half.
Across the room, the rest of Team Z was buzzing with a nervous, manic energy. They were leading 2-0, a scoreline they hadn't dared to dream of, but they weren't looking at each other. They were looking at Eshan.
"He's not human," Raichi muttered, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Did you see how he walked over those two? It's like he's playing a different game."
Isagi Yoichi sat on the bench, his head down. His heart was hammering against his ribs. He was winning, but he felt like he was losing. Every time he touched the ball, he felt the overwhelming gravity of Eshan's presence. He was a playmaker who couldn't find a play that Eshan hadn't already anticipated or finished.
I'm just a spectator, Isagi thought, his fingers gripping the edge of the bench. If I don't evolve now... if I don't find my own 'smell'... I'm just a pawn in Eshan's kingdom.
The Second Half
As the teams walked back onto the pitch, the "Blue Lock goal" intensity shifted. Team Y didn't look like a team anymore; they looked like a cult.
Niko Ikki's face was deathly pale. His eyes, usually sharp and calculating, were now wide and bloodshot. He wasn't looking at the ball; he was staring at Eshan's back. As he stepped into the center circle, a dark, flickering aura—like thick, oily smoke—began to seep from his shoulders.
"I see it now," Niko whispered. His voice was cracked, devoid of its previous clinical tone. "The only way to stop a God is to burn the world he stands on."
The referee blew the whistle.
Team Y didn't pass back. They sent all ten outfield players charging forward in a wave of pure desperation. It wasn't a "One-Counter" anymore. It was a suicide mission.
Okawa slammed into Igarashi, not even looking for the ball, just clearing the path. Niko received the ball and, instead of his usual measured pass, he fired a violent, low-driven ball directly into the cluster of bodies in the box.
"Clear it!" Kuon screamed.
But the ball didn't reach the defense. Eshan intercepted it with a casual flick of his heel. But the moment he touched the ball, the "Desperation" hit him.
Niko didn't slide. He didn't shadow. He threw his entire body at Eshan's legs, a reckless, "red-card" lunge born of total ego-death.
Eshan shifted, his Absolute Awareness flashing. He saw Niko's intent. He performed a Frictionless Pivot, spinning away from the impact, but as he did, he felt a new sensation.
A spark.
To his left, Isagi Yoichi was moving. But it wasn't the Isagi from the first half. Isagi's eyes were glowing with a frantic, blue light, and for the first time, his aura—a jagged, electrical blue flame—was beginning to synchronize with the rhythm of the game.
Isagi didn't wait for a pass. He saw the "gap" that Niko's reckless charge had created—a tiny, flickering sliver of space in the midfield.
"ESHAN! DON'T HOLD IT!" Isagi roared, his voice sounding like a command.
Eshan's silver-gray eyes met Isagi's glowing blue ones. For a micro-second, the two "Eyes" of Team Z locked. Eshan saw it—the "smell of a goal" had finally reached Isagi. The boy was no longer drowning; he was beginning to breathe.
Eshan didn't smile, but his silver aura spiked, turning into a freezing mist.
"Prove you're worth the ball, Isagi," Eshan muttered.
Instead of taking the solo run for the hat-trick, Eshan fired a "No-Look" bullet pass into the space Isagi was charging toward. It was a pass with enough velocity to break a normal player's ankle, a test of Isagi's own Ball Feel.
Isagi met the ball. The impact was violent, but his desperation acted as a catalyst. He didn't trap it perfectly; he used the ball's momentum to perform a "One-Touch Flick," spinning past a dazed Okawa.
He was in the zone. The "Blue Lock goal number" was screaming in his head.
"I can see it!" Isagi screamed internally, the hexagonal patterns in his eyes snapping into place. "The path to the goal... it's not Eshan's path. It's MINE!"
Niko, seeing his "simulation" fail again as Isagi took the stage, let out a primal scream. He abandoned Eshan and turned toward Isagi, his dark, smoky aura flaring as he tried to intercept the play.
The two "Watchtowers" were about to collide, while Eshan stood back, his silver eyes watching the evolution of the pawns he had pushed to the brink.