Two weeks after Blue Lock's triumph over the U-20, they returned to the facility, where both new and familiar people were there. The blue lockers, along with the old U-20 team, are now facing the world stage. With the formation of the Neo Egoist Lea...
The ten days that led up to the first match of the Neo-Egoist League, for Seth at least, were uneventful. Maria and he had spent their time in their shared room, with her dealing with Seth and Seth watching movies. He did watch a few clips of Blue Lock's previous games and got a brief summary of all the Blue Lockers. Their play style, weaknesses, and strengths. Just so he wouldn't go into the games completely clueless.
When it was finally time for the first match, Seth sat in the middle of the masters of the two clubs. He wore very loose clothes since he would have to change out of them soon. The rules were broadcast over the speakers for all to hear, even the onlookers at home.
The first team to score three goals has unlimited subs, and the masters can sub in for three minutes.
While that was being said, Maria leaned down on Seth's ear.
"Any bets."
"We both know we're just going to bet on the same club." He took the earbuds from her. While he could easily switch the odds in his favor, that would be very sporty of him.
"Seth Sidorov." The VAR called out, catching his attention. "Please proceed."
"Sure sure." The boy was handed a coin, which was promptly flipped into the air. As the coin neared its release point, Seth pointed at Lavinho. "Heads or tails?"
"Tails." Lavinho stated it rather confidently. "I'm feelin' lucky."
Once the coin was in the boy's palm, he smashed it onto the back of his other hand. Removing it, he stretched out his hand for both masters to see.
"Oh wow, I guess you are lucky."
Grinning, Lavinho called off one of the players. While Seth changed, he told the boy what formation they were using and where he would be standing. He didn't give Seth any real introductions; he just told him to do what he saw fit.
Maria sat in his set when he was finished; the clothes he had changed out of and the Bastard Munchen uniform were all set on her lap.
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Stepping onto the pitch, Seth stretched his arms over his head. With him being right in the heart of the formation, it would be best for him to just support whoever had the highest chance of scoring. He had no plans on scoring a goal for the first game unless either the team was useless or he had the ball and was right in front of the goal, and if that happened, the opposing team deserved to be scored on.
"We meet again, Seth-chan!" Bachira practically skipped his way over to the boy, who stared at him, not knowing how to respond. "Let's have a good game, yeah. Let's see what monster is tucked away beneath all those layers."
"Okay."
'Monster?' He decided not to question it and got into his position, standing a bit behind Gomez and Picaso, with Bachira all the way in front.
The formation made sense. Bachira's dribbling was already a pain to deal with in a one-on-one scenario; adding players to support him and take the heat off of him would make it easier for him.
Lavinho had decided to move the rest of the formation down a bit because Seth would be able to move between the lines and make plays accordingly. In this match, his role was not that of a striker or defender; he was simply a support to allow the team to move more freely.
"Match one of the Neo-Egoist Leagues: Germany vs. Spain!"
The match began with Kaiser in possession of the ball, which was quickly passed to Ness. No words were spoken as Ness received the ball and passed it between two players from Spain.
Seeing the quick exchanges, Seth decided that running up the field was a waste of time. It wouldn't be long before they broke through Spain's defense and made a shot for an early goal. Thus, it was better to hang back, observe, and for a teammate to gain position on the ball. Or he would have to do it himself.
And with Grim's sloppy pass to Eric, it wouldn't be long.
"Nobody else could have possibly caught that pass, Octopus Head."
As his movements continued, dribbling around the enemy's plays, they all moved towards Barcha's goal. However, once pressed by two players, Eric could no longer play with confidence in keeping the ball.
So taking the chance and throwing in a few insults, the ball was passed, and so began it's decent to Kunigami's grasp.
'There we go.' Seth cut his own thoughts off and began slowly moving towards the front of the goal, not pissing Kaiser into slipping by another defender.
The positioning was great. Kaiser was in the perfect place to receive the pass and shoot, and Kunigami wasn't being pressed that badly. With his body, breaking away would be a simple task.
But of course, this was Blue Lock, and not everyone makes sensible decisions. That was shown when the orange head trapped the ball with his shoulder, keeping it to himself, and suddenly burst forward.
Despite his shoulders being held behind him, it did little to slow his speed, and once within range, the shot was made. Smashing his foot into the ball, the powerful kick sent it hoodling towards the goal.
As the ball neared the keeper, who could obviously deflect the ball, Seth moved. His body left the ground and trapped the ball with the outer of his feet. The force of the shot died the moment it reached him, and small bits of blue crystal covered the ball.
"It seems I need my glasses." As he spoke, he fell. Standing right in front of the goal with the ball at his feet. "Because I can't see how this ball was meant to reach the back of that net."
He suddenly moved, swapping the ball from his right to his left foot in order to dodge one of Germany's players. The boy passed him without difficulty.
"Tch." Kunigami, not caring for Ness' rant, started making his way up the field. Him and every player on Seth's currently team did.
"Ness." Kaiser caught his attention. "Try not to blink. You'll lose sight of the ball."
Before Ness could heed his words, Kaiser had already started running up the field. Confused, Ness looked toward Seth. As the boy planted his foot next to the ball, he swung his right foot down, sending the ball flying up the field, leaving a trail of crystal petals behind it.
Kaiser's words rang in his head. Whenever he handled the ball, it was always silent. In the middle of a game, if your eyes aren't on him, then you wouldn't know the ball was in his position.
From the bench, Isagi seemed to have come to the same conclusion.
'If Seth can be that quiet while handling the ball all the time, then the only real way to know if he has the ball is by staring right at him. And if he knows how to get within someone's blindspot, then both him and the ball could essentially disappear. However, it's usually only in one-on-one scenarios or extremely crowded ones.'
Football, after all, was a game with multiple people on the field. Each one of them keeps track of the ball at all times. Seth's silence when handling the ball wasn't even intentional most of the time. He just didn't like how loud it was.
When making shots, even he couldn't keep it quiet, but he could when passing mid- to short-range distances. Doing that long range made no sense.
The pass he had made had a very small curve, passing by a few players until it was at Bachira's feet.
'So light.' The boy marveled while moving. 'It hit my feet spot on, yet it just fell asleep right away. So cool!'
"It's about time!" Grinning, he flicked the ball between both feet. "Time to boost the tempo!"
The first player, Ali. Nutmegged, Bachira appeared behind him, receiving the ball that had passed through Ali's legs moments ago.
Second player, Sachs. Who stood helpless in front of Bachira's dribbling. The ball, while not moving far, moved very quickly under the boy's feet. Dozens of figures moved around and passed Ali before fading away, each one being a path for Bachira to take.
Sachs moved rashly, allowing the boy to pass him easily. Even his outstretched hand was met with nothing. Same for the third, who tried and failed with the tackle.
Seeing all of his, Seth quickened his pace, passing all of Germany's players who failed to lock him down. He was running very close to the edge of the field. However, with Bachira going right down the middle, they were divided.
Bachira was only brought to a halt when he was met with the orange head from before. The one that Seth couldn't remember the name of, or maybe he did, just didn't care enough to recall.
"Let's see what you've got, wild hero."
The exchange between the two wasn't like the one before; with Kunigami's reflexes, he was able to react to Bachira despite his large build.
'His reflexes are better than I remember.' Bachira took two steps back, dragging the ball from Kunigami's reach. Not far from him, he had seen it. I felt it even. It was small, silent, and quite pretty. Another monster.
One that he wanted to see in action.
"Guess I'll cut this little dance short, former hero." Finally, the ball came to a halt. Grinning, Bachira sent quite a wild pass across the field, causing much confusion. "Good luck facing off against that monster!"
As the ball neared the line, it met Seth's feet, falling to the grass pitch.
'I was hoping to reach a bit further up, but I guess this'll work.' Kicking it forward, the boy stayed in line.
"Now, let's see how this goes." Running with the ball, Seth's eyes took periodic glancing around the field until he was met with Grim. However, by that time, he had already made some space in the line.
"I wouldn't let you pass this point."
"Is that right?" The boy tilted his head, paying no mind to what Grim said. Passing the ball, Seth used his right foot to brag it right into Grim's range. Once the German player reached for it, the ball was brought only a few inches back.
Taking another stop, Grim stared right at the ball as his foot neared it. Unfortunately, for him, that is, the very thing he was reaching for shifted onto Seth's foot and was flicked to his left.
It was low, but Grim couldn't reach it without compromising his balance, and he would go crashing into Seth. However, then the boy would easily slip away. He had very few options.
Seth's arm flew up, right in front of Grim's chest, but not touching him. Unable to block his path with his body, Grim was forced to watch the boy raise his leg in preparation to shoot.
A hum lit Seth's mouth, and his eyes narrowed. Nevertheless, his left foot made contact with the ball, but it didn't leave the top of his foot.
Baffled, Isagi watched as Ness and Ali appeared in the path where Seth intended to pass the ball through.
'He saw that?! And such ball control to switch from shooting to taking the ball back under his control is insane!'
'Well, they got here sooner than I expected.' Seth mentally groaned, and his eyes shifted to the right. 'No matter.'
Bending his foot, he took the ball back and dropped it behind him. Smashing the tip of his cleats into the ball, he forced it up a few feet higher than his height.
Suprised, Grim watched as he jumped back, reading to take a shot once more. Seeing his new support, he widened his stance. To his utter shock, Seth wasn't even looking at him now.
'He wouldn't go for that shot!' Grim, Ali, and Ness all thought confidently. No normal player would go for that pass; however, Seth wasn't normal.
"By the way." Seth spoke to the German. His lips formed a very small smirk. "I made it pass you."
To everyone's surprise, Seth drove his foot into the ball, sending it through Grim's legs. When Seth spoke, he wasn't speaking about himself but about the ball.
'He went for it!?' Isagi stared in awe as it passed between Ness and Ali and then passed Kunigami, who was one step behind.
At Bastard Munchen's goal, light pink in color, a crystal lotus formed. Its petals bloomed, and it was only slightly smaller than a soccer ball.
The flawless pass had a very small curve to it, and because of where Seth was facing, it allowed the ball to move quickly towards the post.
Seth's pass was coughed by Otoya, who took one touch and rose the ball in front of the post, where it was driven into the goal by Bachira. Smashing the lotus on its way to the back of the net.
As the celebrations went on, Maria was already standing in front of Seth.
"Nice." She spoke, handing him the pants. "Was that planned?"
"Nope." Seth watched as the celebrations died down. "This club's way of playing soccer doesn't really have plans. They just play. I knew someone would be able to get to the ball; it was up to them who got to it. Be it Germany or Spain."
With that, the boy switched sides to Bastard Munchen.
