On Tsumuro East's bench, the coach's brows were tightly furrowed.
Right now, Kaijō was running their "Ace + Bench" lineup—Tsumuro East's biggest chance.
The coach racked his brain for countermeasures, but no matter how he turned it over…
He found nothing.
There was only one reason
Shigure Akihito was absurdly, overwhelmingly strong.
Worse still, aside from taking a few shots at the start, Shigure had gone quiet—retreating into the paint to defend, acting as the team's "supporting cast."
But this supporting cast…
Was way too monstrous.
He was not a small, humble leaf—he was a towering ancient tree, sheltering Kaijō's four "fresh little fruits" on the court.
His defense alone was already torturing Tsumuro East.
And
The coach felt something very clearly:
This "storm's-coming" pressure would not last long.
Shigure Akihito would soon unleash himself completely
and wipe out Tsumuro East in a single wave.
As he hesitated
A sudden wave of gasps erupted from the audience stands.
The Tsumuro East coach instinctively looked up—and his expression instantly changed.
On the court,
The game had entered the latter half of the second quarter.
Shigure Akihito waved his hand.
And then
He exploded.
This possession
Shigure Akihito attacked with the ball.
In that instant
The terrifying pressure radiating from him made everyone—Tsumuro East, Kaijō, and every spectator—see blood-red light flickering around his body.
Even the audience, who couldn't see it as vividly as the players, felt the shift:
Shigure's offense now carried the same explosive aura he showed on defense earlier
But unlike before, when it was momentary…
This time, it was continuous.
Pa!
Pa!
Pa!
Shigure advanced
[Glorious Moment: Savior Mode — Activated]
Instantly
The passive effects of [Glorious Moment] surged forth:
• Genius State → Faster acceleration
• Savior State → Faster dribbling
His ball-handling speed spiked.
His hands blurred, leaving afterimages in the air.
In a flash, he dribbled past two Tsumuro East defenders with an outrageously sharp sequence.
From the players' perspective, the blood-red aura on his body stretched into several streaking blood-lines midair
and only after he blew past them did the two defenders finally turn around stiffly.
They weren't unwilling to move
They were hard-CC'd on the spot.
The burst from [Glorious Moment] was too sudden, giving defenders no time to react and drastically increasing the chance of breaking their balance.
Even though they hadn't been shaken to the floor
their centers of gravity were completely destroyed.
All this even though
Shigure had only used a single high-speed step-through.
BOOM!
He shifted into full Genius State.
With his explosive steps, Shigure jumped straight into the paint against Tsumuro East's double-team.
They jumped to block
but Shigure, accelerating like a rocket's second-stage booster, slipped between them as if his speed alone blew them away.
In reality
They simply couldn't form proper contact in time.
The horrifying situation now unfolding
came purely from the passive breakthrough boost of [Glorious Moment].
When paired with a flying dunk, the collision power was monstrous.
BANG!
[Glorious Moment — Lightning Double-Arm Dunk!]
A dunk that could be performed directly out of a forward-leaning breakthrough
rapid, thunderous, and brutally explosive.
The legendary Sakuragi dunk talent
its enhanced leap now erupted fully.
A raw, overwhelming jump boost
letting Shigure dunk from distances no normal player could reach.
Thus
Even though he posterized two players
The crowd wasn't even looking at them.
They were staring at Shigure
Then at the impossible spot on the floor where he had taken off.
"W–wait?"
"He jumped from outside the free-throw line?!"
"No way…"
"He's so fast—and jumps so high!"
"How?! After a whole year he's still gotten stronger?! What kind of body is that?!"
On the court
Even the referees stared blankly for a moment before blowing the whistle.
"Beep!"
"Defensive foul—Tsumuro East!"
"Basket counts!"
"One free throw!"
Shigure Akihito had just 1-vs-4'd them
Freezing two with his dribble, dunking over two, and delivering a dunk so explosive that the entire gym went silent…
Then erupted into deafening cheers.
No one had ever seen a dunk like this in person.
Not even last year's Shigure Akihito could do this.
Up in the stands, the Teiko players—including their new captain and Coach Sanada Naoto—were all stunned.
Especially Sanada
He no longer understood what he was seeing.
Completely unprecedented.
And…
When you look at Shigure
you can see Himuro.
Two players who could enter Zone in their final year of junior high
now as high schoolers, even in "ordinary" states, were far beyond their past selves.
If…
this even counted as ordinary.
Sanada glanced at Shigure again
bathed in blood-red light, his aura swelling more violently by the second.
Swish.
Shigure hit the free throw.
Tsumuro East's possession.
As their point guard tried to advance
Shigure suddenly lunged in!
The PG felt like a crimson world came crashing toward him
and no matter how fast he dribbled or how much he changed direction, Shigure would casually slide sideways and cut him off.
His best skill—breaking through
felt like it had been erased.
[Glorious Moment — Lateral Chase Stop]
In Genius State, Shigure could instantly slide across huge distances to block breakthroughs, forcing steals.
PA!
Shigure ripped the ball straight from him.
And because the PG was still far from the three-point line
The entire frontcourt was empty.
Fast-break.
Easy score.
Next play
Tsumuro East carefully passed the ball to avoid Shigure at the free-throw line.
Their power forward caught it and rose for a dunk
Whoosh!
Shigure's extreme chase-down was triggered again
two quick steps, then a vertical leap, blood-red aura exploding like a wave.
At the opponent's midair adjustment
[Glorious Moment — Savior Block Passive] activated:
Shigure altered his block motion instantly in midair, extending the opponent's vulnerability frames.
And
SNAP!
He grabbed the ball clean out of the air!
Time itself seemed to freeze
his reaction was too fast, too precise, too terrifying.
The crowd stopped breathing.
From the rocket-like takeoff, to the perfect midair read, to the one-handed snatch
it all felt impossible.
Pa! Pa!
The dribbling resumed, pulling everyone's attention back.
Then
Whoosh.
Shigure passed the ball.
Sanada Naoto's pupils shrank.
That aura
it was similar to Shigure's junior-high "Green Light"…
but far more complete.
Speed, jumping, offense, defense—
everything was a full-tier above his old Green Light.
Perhaps…
an improved, Zone-based state?
Truly worthy of the name "Technician."
On court
Moriyama Yoshitaka wasn't shocked to receive the pass.
Shigure had played point guard before.
But when he looked at Shigure's movement next
His whole body tightened.
So fast.
So high.
[Glorious Moment]'s Genius and Savior states altered every legendary Sakuragi skill with different passives.
The block earlier
and now, the dunk talent:
Aerial Wrath.
In Savior State, [Aerial Flyer Passive] boosted his hang-time and action speed, expanding the dunk's usable range.
Thus
Shigure soared
catching the alley-oop with explosive elevation.
Moriyama's pass wasn't perfect, but Shigure, boosted by the passive, adjusted midair—
And then
His body hovered.
Both hands pulled the ball behind his head, his waist bending like a drawn bow
And
BOOM!!!
Aerial Wrath — Hang-Time Power Dunk!
A blood-red shockwave blasted forward, and the defender flying in to stop him was sent tumbling again.
The surrounding air felt frozen.
Tsumuro East's center muttered, wide-eyed:
"…You've gotta be kidding me."
Even the reporters were stunned speechless
one wiping his eyes, convinced he saw a massive wave of blood-red pressure roaring past him as Shigure sprinted by.
It wasn't the dunk action that shocked him
[Glorious Moment] didn't add special dunk animations.
It was simply
Higher. Faster. Stronger.
The pureness of it left him breathless.
"Talent…" he whispered.
He felt he understood
Shigure must have created this ability to overcome the drawbacks of the Zone.
Compared to last year's "Flaming Man — Burn,"
this ability was far closer to the Zone.
And judging from his sweat
Shigure could use it with ease.
While everyone tried to analyze this new power
On court
In just a few minutes
Tsumuro East's players were already numb.
In this numbness
They launched their final attack of the first half.
And Shigure
Using [Glorious Moment] once more
Shot forward like a rocket and chased down the shot attempt at its apex.
The next second
A violent downward smash struck the ball.
BOOM!
WHOOSH!
The ball flew
in a straight line
toward the audience.
Teiko's third-year captain Aioi Keishi stared blankly as the ball landed in his hands
still carrying residual force.
"…"
Senpai… are you sure this level isn't illegal?
END OF CHAPTER
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