"Shooting, dribbling... all actions are intercepted in an instant. Even the Generation of Miracles' Shintaro Midorima can't move."
"It's almost like facing Akashi..."
Kyoto, Rakuzan High School.
Akashi and his team members were watching the live broadcast of this match on TV.
Seeing Midorima defended by Yuuto to the point where he couldn't even dribble, their faces became exceptionally solemn.
"It's not the Emperor Eye, but it's close," Akashi said in his usual tone, as if nothing could ever ruffle him.
He wasn't yet aware that Yuuto's eyes could see real-time changes in players' data.
He only knew that Yuuto read the opponent's next move through monster-like basketball IQ.
But simple defensive reading couldn't go this far without absolute confidence in his judgment.
"There are factors involved that even the Emperor Eye cannot see."
Akashi wasn't sure of the specifics yet; if possible, he planned to call Momoi Satsuki to ask.
This was the primary personality, Akashi.
If it were the secondary personality Akashi, he would probably be saying that the Emperor Eye is absolute or something similar.
Whatever your eyes can do, my Emperor Eye is number one in the world.
In fact.
The secondary personality Akashi hiding inside the body did snort coldly.
"Regardless of how he does it, what the Emperor Eye sees is definitely further and deeper than him!"
He was just short of saying the Emperor Eye was invincible.
The primary personality Akashi smiled slightly and didn't respond.
"Even that Shintaro Midorima is being beaten like this."
"This is Seiho, this is the strength of the Lion King..."
The Seirin members found it hard to calm down.
They thought they had already witnessed Yuuto's strength, but in the end, they discovered that the Yuuto who crushed them back then still wasn't going all out.
This blow was immense.
Of course.
Compared to them, Midorima felt even more dejected right now.
He sat expressionlessly on the floor, gasping for large mouthfuls of air.
Thoughts like "Even with those guys at Teiko we couldn't win; now that it's just me, losing is only natural" even appeared in his mind.
But such thoughts were immediately dispelled.
Physically dispelled!
"Stand up, Shin-chan." Kazunari Takao approached carefully, his voice incredibly soft.
He had faced Teiko in junior high, and they lost that match miserably.
Takao's pride and confidence were ruthlessly destroyed, and the feeling remained unforgettable.
So...
He reached out his hand to Midorima as if treating a precious, fragile item.
But.
Smack!
Kiyoshi Miyaji passed by and mercilessly slapped the back of Midorima's head.
He said viciously, "How long do you plan to sit there? I'll smash your glasses!"
"....."
Midorima's pupils instantly dilated. No one had ever dared to treat him like this. Even the strict Nakatani would give him special privileges.
This was the genius privilege that the rest of Shutoku didn't possess.
Yet such a self was slapped on the head in front of fans nationwide, messing up even his hairstyle.
"Hey, can't you read those words? Pull yourself together!" Shinsuke Kimura also shouted, gesturing for them to look at the East stand.
There, besides Shutoku fans, hung a banner: Shutoku's Basketball Club doesn't need geniuses!
"There's still time. It's not time to give up yet, Midorima, Takao." Taisuke Otsubo passed the ball to Takao.
Their encouragement wasn't inspiring; one could even say it was a bit cliché.
But this was Shutoku.
Rather than speaking with their mouths, they preferred to practice with actions.
Even facing such a situation, their expressions never wavered.
"It seems it won't end this simply."
Iwamura knew this old rival too well.
"If it ended this simply, they wouldn't be Shutoku."
Ryuhei Kasuga wasn't surprised at all. Matches against Shutoku were always this difficult.
Just like the fans on both sides—from the start of the match until now, they hadn't stopped cheering for a second, both trying to drown out the other's voice.
Midorima had stood up, the dejection in his eyes completely gone.
Yuuto watched everything silently.
If this continued, maybe some accident would happen again.
He knew these people too well.
When these geniuses were in desperate situations, they could always explode with greater power.
Kise's Perfect Copy against Tōō, Murasakibara's Zone in the final moments against Seirin, and Akashi's personality regression against Seirin...
Including Shutoku, who pulled out a high-difficulty alley-oop three-pointer against Rakuzan and almost turned the tables.
Of course.
Such a play likely wouldn't appear now; it would probably wait until the Winter Cup to be perfected.
But who knew if it would happen early?
"I won't let accidents happen to me again."
Fwoosh~
When Midorima arrived at the three-point line, a burst of white steam suddenly emerged from Yuuto's body, and his black hair turned snow-white visibly.
His tone was calm to the point of coldness as he said, "Like I said before the match, I won't give you any chance, Midorima."
At this moment.
The faces of everyone in the arena changed.
"Demon Mode!"
Coincidentally, Aomine, Kise, Kuroko, Momoi, and Midorima all uttered these words simultaneously.
"Demon Mode? What Demon Mode?" Kagami listened as if it were a foreign language.
"Different from the Zone, it's another state that can activate all of a player's own abilities, and it's an ability unique to Yuuto."
Kagami still didn't understand, so Kuroko could only tell him about the Zone, and how players normally can only utilize 80% of their physical potential.
"Unlike the Zone, Yuuto activates his full potential by accelerating blood circulation and transporting more energy to every cell to achieve this goal."
"That white steam is the phenomenon of sweat evaporation after blood circulation speed reaches the extreme."
Sweat evaporation phenomenon?
Taiga Kagami knew this term. In sports and high-temperature environments, the human body dissipates heat through sweating. If the sweat evaporates fast enough, it indeed produces water vapor.
But those are usually very subtle phenomena.
But Yuuto?
It was as if his whole person was draped in a layer of white gauze, shrouded in steam from head to toe, like a demon from hell.
No wonder Kuroko said this was a state unique to Yuuto; a normal person couldn't withstand such blood flow speed at all.
"Do everything you can, Midorima."
Yuuto stepped onto the three-point line. In a trance, people seemed to see an invisible domain centered on Yuuto, enveloping the entire three-point line.
Gulp~
...
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