The crimson numbers glowing on the electronic scoreboard were painfully bright.
So bright they looked as though they were bleeding.
44:29.
A fifteen-point gap.
An insurmountable chasm.
Over the past few minutes—
Kainan High.
The dynasty that had ruled Kanagawa for sixteen straight years...
had scored zero points.
The entire gymnasium was silent except for the heavy bang, bang of a basketball striking the hardwood.
Every bounce sounded like a war hammer smashing into the hearts of Kainan's supporters.
"Too weak."
Makino Juro stood at center court, palming the ball with one hand.
Within those red-gold heterochromatic eyes reflected the staggering figures across from him.
They weren't opponents anymore.
They were empty puppets with their souls drained away.
Kiyota Nobunaga hung his head low, both arms dangling weakly at his sides.
Jin Soichiro gasped for breath, his eyes unfocused, too exhausted to even wipe away his sweat.
Even Maki Shinichi...
the man known as the "Emperor"—
was now bent over with both hands on his knees, sweat dripping from his chin into a puddle of despair beneath him.
"That's all it takes for you to collapse?"
Makino Juro casually tossed the ball upward before catching it again, his tone relaxed, as if he were making idle conversation.
"If you can't even stand anymore, why not just lie down?"
"As long as you give up, you won't suffer."
That condescending pity was more humiliating than any insult.
"Sh-Shut... up..."
A low growl squeezed out from Maki Shinichi's throat, rough as sandpaper.
Makino Juro raised a brow slightly.
"Oh? You still have the strength to talk?"
Maki slowly straightened his back.
His vision blurred.
His lungs felt as though he had swallowed burning charcoal, every breath carrying the metallic taste of blood.
But deep within that darkened consciousness—
he saw the door again.
The gate leading to the Zone.
The divine realm that had once been within reach had been brutally crushed apart by Makino Juro's overwhelming force.
The crack in the gate was closing.
The light was fading.
A terror unlike anything before seized his heart.
The fear of becoming... ordinary.
If he fell here—
Kainan's era would end.
And he, Maki Shinichi, would become the sinner who buried it.
"I won't allow it..."
"I absolutely won't!!"
Maki suddenly raised his head, eyes bloodshot.
Inside his spiritual world....
his body was drenched in blood as he desperately forced half his body through the stone gate that was slowly closing shut.
His fingernails shattered.
Blood poured freely.
Yet he still clung to the gateframe with all his strength.
"Give me... power!!"
In reality—
BOOM!
An invisible shockwave exploded outward from Maki's body.
The extinguished purple lightning in his eyes reignited once more.
No longer unstable.
No longer faint.
It transformed into a crushing pressure as heavy as a mountain.
"Everyone, wake up!!"
Maki Shinichi's roar made Kiyota Nobunaga's entire body tremble.
"There is no such thing as defeat for Kainan!"
"As long as I, Maki Shinichi, am still standing—this game isn't over yet!!"
The red-gold glow in Makino Juro's eyes flickered faintly.
On the system panel, a line of data surged wildly past its limit.
[Warning: Opponent's mental force has surpassed the critical threshold]
[Pseudo-Zone activating...]
[Maki Shinichi Exclusive Skill: Emperor's Resonance (Pseudo-Zone · Team Amplification)]
"Oh?"
Makino Juro's lips curled into an amused smile.
"Prey struggling at death's door always tastes the best."
Maki moved.
No flashy dribbling.
He charged forward like a heavily armored tank, forcing his way through Makino Juro's defense.
BANG!
The collision of muscle against muscle made teeth ache.
He got heavier?
Makino Juro frowned slightly.
Even with his stamina already pushed beyond its limits, Maki's physicality had actually increased?
"Give me the ball!!"
While forcing out a sliver of space during the collision, Maki fired the ball like a cannon toward the corner.
"Jin! Sink it!!"
That roar carried a strange power.
The moment Jin Soichiro caught the pass, it felt as though a stimulant had been injected directly into his veins.
That was his captain's will.
Absolute trust.
Muscle memory took over.
Jump.
Release.
A textbook shooting form.
"Swish!"
The three-pointer dropped cleanly through the net.
44:32.
Kainan had finally broken their scoring drought.
"Get back on defense!!"
"Protect the paint with your lives!!"
Maki slapped his hands together after landing, his voice booming like thunder.
Kiyota.
Takasago.
Mutō.
Jin.
Every Kainan player's eyes ignited with flickering purple flames.
This...
was Emperor's Resonance.
Maki Shinichi was burning himself like a beacon, forcibly amplifying the entire team's abilities.
A mortal army—
challenging a god for the sake of its pride.
Makino Juro advanced with the ball.
The air turned viscous.
Kainan's defense tightened like a steel net.
"This fake bond means nothing."
The Heavenly Emperor Eye activated instantly, analyzing every weakness.
"Kneel."
A lightning-fast crossover blew past Kiyota.
But at the moment of penetration—
Maki Shinichi and Takasago Kazuma closed in simultaneously, trapping him in perfect sync.
As though they shared a single brain.
My prediction got disrupted?
"Don't underestimate our bond!!"
Maki roared as his massive hand slammed toward the basketball.
SMACK!
The rhythm broke.
The ball rolled toward the sideline.
"Out of bounds! Shohoku ball!"
The entire crowd erupted in shock.
"They stopped him?!"
"Kainan actually stopped that monster?!"
Makino Juro looked at Maki Shinichi, who was panting heavily like a beast yet still glaring viciously at him.
The red-gold light in his eyes didn't dim in the slightest.
Instead—
it became even more dangerous.
Even more...
excited.
"Very good."
"You've managed to spark a little interest in me now."
"If you want to play a team game..."
Makino Juro turned his head.
His gaze landed on the figure who had remained detached from the system the entire time.
Rukawa Kaede.
The proud lone red fox stared coldly at everything unfolding before him.
His eyes were filled with irritation toward Makino Juro's earlier "lone wolf" playstyle—
and a burning desire for the state Maki Shinichi had reached.
"Hey, Fox."
"How long are you planning to stand there watching?"
Makino Juro's voice was cold, like a ruler assigning orders to a subordinate.
Rukawa glanced at him and replied icily with three words:
"What's it to you?"
His mouth insulted him—
but his body instantly tightened.
A demonic blade named Rukawa Kaede had finally been unsheathed.
The game resumed.
Makino Juro received the ball, and Kainan's iron-barrel defense swarmed him once again.
Maki Shinichi locked onto his shoulders.
"Left side!"
Maki roared as he and Kiyota moved in together to seal him off.
Just before the three collided—
the ball vanished from Juro's hands.
No look.
No wrist flick.
The basketball shot out from behind him like a magic trick.
At a bizarre angle, it pierced through the gap between Maki and Kiyota—
straight into the heart of Kainan's defense.
"What?!"
Maki whipped his head around.
A crimson lightning bolt had already sliced into Kainan's empty interior.
Rukawa Kaede!
Like an assassin hidden in the shadows, he revealed his fangs the instant Makino Juro drew all the attention.
Catch.
Step.
Takeoff.
Takasago Kazuma scrambled desperately to contest.
"Move."
A cold gleam flashed in Rukawa's eyes as he twisted midair, avoiding the block with a powerful double-clutch.
"BOOM!!"
A one-handed slam dunk.
The rim cried out in agony.
46:32.
After landing, Rukawa didn't celebrate.
He merely glanced coldly at Juro.
"That pass was too slow."
Makino Juro remained expressionless.
"You ran too slow."
The two brushed past one another without a high-five.
Even their gazes carried the smell of gunpowder.
One was a tyrannical dictator.
The other, a solitary beast.
But before the absolute objective of victory—
these two monsters blessed with supreme talent...
had reached a terrifying kind of understanding.
END OF CHAPTER
The King Of Slacking Off - MrBehringer's Secret
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