𝓑𝐑𝐀𝐙𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝓟𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐊 𐬹 𝓫𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝓵𝐨𝐜𝐤

𝓒𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝓣𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 ★ 𝓯𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝓽𝐨 𝓪 𝓱𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝

True to his word Ego's stamina training was gruelling without a doubt, ten days full of non-stop high-intensity workouts, that even left Akira slightly breathless. But he appreciated it for what it was, a chance to improve.

"The first selection is now complete in all buildings, those who have passed put on your training gear, and come to the central basement areas of your building. We will begin the second selection."

The wake-up call was unexpected as the Team V players rushed to get ready, with Akira heading to the bathroom to freshen up. He then drys himself off after a quick shower, putting on his bodysuit, before doing his skincare, haircare, and eyeliner.

The walk down with his team was interesting, to say the least, most looked nervous while the Team V quartet looked to be the only ones assured in themselves. 'eles não podem mais andar na nossa cola' the curly-haired teen thought.

Walking out into a pentagon-shaped room, they were met with teams from other buildings. Akira noticed instantly, that they too had low-ranking numbers and teams. "what the porro is going on?" He asked, to which no one replied as the rest of his team were just as confused as him. As most of these players weren't in the teams that they had played, what the hell is going on?

"Hello there! My lumps of unrealised talent, my compliments on your physical conditioning. If you're clever you've already noticed, look around. Funny how there's no one from building one, two, three, or four, know why? Because only building five exists here at Blue Lock"

Ego's words were met with a slew of whispers of disbelief, "Yes, I fooled you. But because you were convinced you were at the very bottom of the pile, you fought through the first selection filled with fervour and desperation. Yeah, that's right" The slightly crazed-looking man said as cries of outrage filled the hall.

"It was a ruse I invented to destroy your half-baked confidence, a necessity to instil each of you with the hunger to become the best in the world. There was no other way"

While Akira could understand where he was coming from, as sometimes you need to break something down to build it back up again. Even he couldn't deny how crazy this whole turn of events was, it had him questioning everything he had done so far. What was real? What was fake? Only god knows at this point. The angry screams only seemed to intensify, which led to Akira covering his ears with his hands flinching at the noise, Reo putting on top of them, as he pulled the bronzed teen closer.

"Idiots! Those remarks are exactly what I'm talking about, for example, let's take Noel Noa. He's currently considered the best striker in the world, but he grew up in a slum in France. Surrounded by crime and poverty, the only way to change his fate was with football. Football was literally the only chance he had to escape his predicament, there are countless strikers with similar stories all around the world. It's impossible to measure the hunger, they have for making goals. Since you were all born and raised in Japan, excluding one of you. Losing doesn't affect your life. The need to score and survive is not intertwined in your minds but luckily with have Blue Lock to help reeducate you, in fact, you all came here wanting to kick the asses of those who ranked above you. Convinced you could win, right? That hunger becomes an ego, with the power to change the world."