"Oh ho, trying to take me head-on?"
Boothill grinned.
"If you had a shooting special, I might be worried. But if you're charging straight at me? You really think you can win?"
Without hesitation, he rushed out.
If she wanted a collision, then they'd collide.
As Boothill closed in, his fist tightened, Rising Dragon Punch ready to launch.
Across from him, Raiden Ei narrowed her eyes and planted her feet.
She was prepared to meet him head-on.
"Your Excellency, over here!"
At the critical moment, Kuki Shinobu made a run and waved from the side.
She had seen the situation clearly.
The Shogun was no match for Boothill in a direct clash.
But because Shinobu had been casually strolling all game, no one had bothered marking her.
The moment she moved, she slipped into open space.
Seeing Shinobu's position, Ei's eyes lit up.
With a deft touch, she pushed the ball sideways.
"…What?"
Boothill froze.
He had already committed to charging forward.
The moment the ball changed direction, Shinobu was staring at an open net.
Bang!
Shinobu hammered a simple shot—no special move, just pure power.
The ball flew into the goal.
3–1.
"YEAHHH!"
The Belobog stands erupted.
They were cheering even louder than Inazuma.
"It's over! It's over!"
"The reward! The reward!"
"By the way… who among us has the best luck?"
Bronya Rand turned to her teammates.
With the match all but decided, wasn't it time to decide who would pull the prize?
"Obviously my precious Lynx," declared Serval. "Last time she picked the prize machine for Gepard."
Serval staunchly supported her little sister.
Everyone had seen Lynx's luck before.
She had to be the choice.
"That makes sense."
Bronya nodded.
Lynx had indeed performed admirably last time.
And what did that prove?
That Lynx might genuinely be lucky.
Natasha raised a different point.
"I think Gepard Landau is lucky too. He was the one who drew the high-point reward."
The previous reward had offered between five and ten points.
Gepard had landed nine.
That had to count for something.
"That's true."
Several people nodded in agreement.
There was no flaw in her logic.
"Bronya, I actually think my luck is quite good," said Cocolia Rand. "Why not let me try?"
Cocolia had never drawn a reward before.
She wanted to experience the thrill for herself.
"Keep dreaming."
Serval shoved her aside.
"You died once already. Don't tell me you think that makes you lucky."
"…Fair enough."
It seemed Cocolia was out of the running.
"Let me try! I've never drawn a reward before."
Stelle pouted.
"I'm one of your strongest reinforcements. Isn't it a little harsh to exclude me now?"
Bronya hesitated for only a moment.
"…If it's Miss Stelle… then all right."
Belobog owed a great debt to the Astral Express.
Since Stelle had clearly expressed interest, there was no reason to refuse.
"Hehe, excellent."
Stelle rubbed her hands together eagerly.
"Just wait. I'm definitely pulling something amazing."
At that moment, she felt extremely pleased with Belobog's people.
The neighboring factions collectively rolled their eyes.
The match wasn't even over yet, and Belobog was already popping champagne.
Back on the field, Penacony's morale had taken a heavy blow after falling two goals behind.
Their confidence visibly wavered.
In contrast, Inazuma felt no pressure at all.
They played with increasing ferocity, pressing Penacony relentlessly.
"Tweet! Tweet! TWEEET!"
At last, after Penacony managed to score one final consolation goal, Valerius blew the full-time whistle.
"What? Why is it over already?"
"Where's extra time?"
"You're not adding stoppage time?"
Penacony immediately protested.
They still believed they had a chance to equalize.
Why end the match now?
Valerius pointed at the clock.
"It's the 96th minute. I already gave you six minutes of stoppage time."
In truth, the official added time had only been four minutes.
But because Penacony was on the attack, Valerius had allowed the play to continue.
Fortunately for them, they had managed to pull one goal back.
But now possession belonged to Inazuma.
There was no reason to extend the match further.
"Come on, give us a little more time."
"Exactly! There were five goals! Accounting for celebrations, you should've added at least ten minutes!"
"Get lost."
Valerius shook his head.
"I've already been generous enough. I let you score a face-saving goal. Don't push your luck."
Sunday sighed.
"…Forget it. Let's go."
He had only tried to negotiate.
If it didn't work, then so be it.
As Valerius said, the officiating had already been favorable.
Any more complaints would make them look like sore losers.
The rest of Penacony looked disappointed as well.
They had hoped to challenge Belobog.
Instead, they were eliminated by an Inazuma team that couldn't even win the tournament.
There was no one to blame but themselves.
Penacony left the field.
The moment they did, Ei strode up to Valerius and extended her hand.
"My reward."
"You only have eight points," Valerius said. "What reward?"
Had she gone reward-crazy?
Inazuma had been out of contention for some time.
Ei blinked.
"I mean the personal reward you promised me earlier."
"Oh, that."
Valerius pulled out a large bag of candy and handed it to her.
"These don't have any special effects. They're just very sweet. Give them a try."
"Excellent."
Ei accepted the bag without hesitation and immediately popped one into her mouth.
"Mmm… so sweet."
She was completely satisfied.
With a grand wave, she led her teammates off the field.
She was already planning how many pieces to eat each day.
Valerius had given her a large bag, but even so, she intended to ration them carefully and savor every one.
Once both teams had departed, Valerius turned toward the Belobog section, where the celebration was in full swing.
"What are you all doing? Don't you want your reward?"
"Yes! Yes, yes, yes!"
This was a reward for the entire faction.
How could they not want it?
Stelle immediately marched up to Valerius.
"All right, bring it out. I'm definitely pulling something incredible."
"Whatever makes you happy."
Valerius glanced curiously at Belobog's team.
Seeing that no one objected to Stelle taking the honors, he nodded and produced the prize machine.
Then he handed her nine coins.
"Go ahead. Let's see how lucky you are."
"You got it."
Rubbing her hands together, Stelle fed all nine coins into the machine and pulled the lever.
Clunk.
A glass bottle dropped out.
Inside was a bizarre, oddly shaped object.
Stelle stared at it suspiciously.
"What is this?"
No matter how she looked at it, it did not resemble anything valuable.
"Actually, it's pretty good."
"Stop dragging it out," Stelle said impatiently. "What is it?"
The item was undeniably ugly.
And if all nine points had resulted in a piece of junk, she was certain she would never again be trusted with reward draws.
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