Twelve minutes into the second set.
The score stood at 14–12.
Aoba Johsai was in the lead.
Akashi Asuka stepped up to serve.
Boom!
Backed by a staggering 84 points in both [Core Strength] and [Arm Strength], Akashi unleashed a serve like a cannon blast.
The sound alone was enough to strike fear into anyone's heart. And for someone like Komori Motoya, a libero with elite dynamic vision, it was even more terrifying, he could clearly see the distortion of the volleyball the moment it left Akashi's hand.
Komori could track the ball's trajectory, but unfortunately, he was positioned on the left side of the court. The serve was aimed sharply to the right. As powerful as it was, Komori had no chance of catching up.
On the right side of Itachiyama's back row, Tsukasa Iizuna barely reacted. He had just begun his passing motion when the ball smacked into the court.
Thud!
The sheer force of the impact produced a sound that made one's teeth ache. Upon hitting the floor, the volleyball visibly warped, nearly folding into a bowl-like shape from the pressure.
15–12.
Aoba Johsai added another point.
"Tch... damn."
The explosive power of that serve sent shivers down the spines of the Shiratorizawa players watching from the sidelines.
"That's insane. What's up with that first-year kid's serve?" Eita Semi muttered, clearly irritated
"That kind of power... is he a monster or something?"
As one of Shiratorizawa's main servers, Semi couldn't hide his frustration at being outclassed by a freshman.
Tweet!
The referee's whistle blew.
Akashi's second serve.
Boom!
Once again, it rang out like a cannon blast. The ball visibly deformed the instant it left his hand, followed by a wave of invisible force bursting outward as the volleyball shot forward like a missile.
At first glance, it looked identical to the previous serve.
But just as it passed over the net, Komori noticed something different, it was spinning. Hard.
This wasn't a banana serve, but it was a rotating jump serve.
The powerful spin caused the ball to drift erratically mid-flight. Combined with its incredible speed, even Komori struggled to predict its landing point in time.
Thud!
The ball crashed into the middle of Itachiyama's backcourt with a deep, muffled thump.
Another point for Aoba Johsai.
16–12.
In an instant, the pressure on Itachiyama skyrocketed.
Even Shiratorizawa's players, watching from below, were stunned into silence.
For Itachiyama, this might just be a tough match, but for Shiratorizawa, the pressure was far greater. After all, Itachiyama and Aoba Johsai weren't in the same regional bracket. Even if they met again, it would be at Nationals.
But for Shiratorizawa, Aoba Johsai was an opponent they had to defeat if they wanted to reach Nationals at all.
"I'm starting to regret coming to Miyagi..." Komori gasped, hands on his knees, breathing shallow in Itachiyama's backcourt.
"What, getting scared?" Iizaka replied from beside him.
"Honestly? Yeah, a little–" Komori said with a wry smile. "Not because of their strength, but because of his growth. Nationals ended not that long ago, and someone's already improved this much? It's like he's not even human."
"If I'd known it'd turn out like this, maybe I wouldn't have come."
Iizaka stayed calm. "Really? I feel the opposite. I'm glad our coach agreed to Shiratorizawa's invitation and brought us to Miyagi."
"Since we won Nationals, maybe because of the title, a lot of our guys have still been practicing seriously, but... something's been missing. That tension, that urgency, it wasn't there anymore."
"Winning a championship should carry weight... but no one really seemed to feel it. Still, after this match? I think they'll remember it now."
Komori paused.
"Yeah... maybe you're right."
He turned back to the court.
Itachiyama's players no longer wore the relaxed expressions they had at the start. The arrogance had been scrubbed away. Now, the team radiated the same focused intensity they had back at Nationals.
Sensing the shift in atmosphere, Aoba Johsai's players also grew more serious.
Akashi Asuka stepped up for his third serve.
Boom!
The sound thundered through the gym again, and the hearts of Itachiyama's back-row players skipped a beat.
The truth was, Akashi's spinning serve wasn't much of a threat in itself, not for Sakusa Kiyoomi, who was currently the best high schooler in the country when it came to handling spin.
His jump serves and spikes carried spins even more brutal than Ushijima Wakatoshi's infamous left-handed twist.
If Wakatsu Kiryu was the ultimate embodiment of raw power among the "Big Three Aces–" then Sakusa Kiyoomi was the pinnacle of technique.
But what made Akashi Asuka's serves so dangerous wasn't just the spin, it was the combination of spin, speed, and force.
That was what truly instilled fear.
Komori pushed his focus to the limit, eyes locked onto the ball.
Now that Akashi had mastered two different serve types, Komori had to:
Instantly identify which serve Akashi was using, within tenths of a second
Predict its trajectory
Move into position
Choose the correct posture to receive it...
In short, even though Akashi had only added one new serve since Nationals, the difficulty of receiving his serves had multiplied.
The ball screamed through the air.
To most onlookers, it seemed to blur from one end of the court to the other in a blink. From serve to landing zone, it was just a flash.
Komori tracked the ball, he had it locked in.
But at the last second, he suddenly twisted his body and stepped aside.
"OUT!!"
He shouted the moment he moved.
And as if to answer his call, the ball thudded to the floor just beyond the back line.
16–13.
Komori's judgment and composure stunned everyone watching.
The match resumed.
And now, Itachiyama began to show why they were the reigning National Champions.
Their movements sharpened, teamwork clicked, and they fought back fiercely.
Yet, despite all that, the gap in the score did not shrink.
The reason? Akashi Asuka was simply too good.
On the system's data panel:
All skills started at 70. From there, every +5 points was a massive leap. A score of 70 meant a technique was just barely usable in a match, with a lot of inconsistency.
But Akashi's form in this game was exceptional.
He was in the zone.
Every offensive skill he used landed perfectly. And combined with his ferocious power, he became a literal scoring machine.
In less than ten minutes, Akashi alone scored six straight points.
In the end, Aoba Johsai took the second set with a score of 25–22.
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Completed version available on Patreon.com/Veltoria