The finish line buzzer sounded with a sharp beep, and the digits on the display froze at a jaw-dropping time.
Rin Kazuki stood in the finish area without even breathing hard.
He casually wiped away a nonexistent bead of sweat from his forehead, let out a bored yawn, and turned back to look at the test track behind him, which was still flashing red alarms.
“This is way too childish.
It barely counts as a warm-up.”
Roughly a few seconds passed—a gap that felt like an eternity in a sprint—before a second figure broke through the finish line accompanied by a gust of fierce wind.
That head of blonde hair had striking blue highlights at the tips, and the blooming blue rose tattoo on his neck looked enchantingly dangerous through the sweat.
Michael Kaiser, the absolute core of Bastard München U-20, a man known as one of the World’s Eleven for the new generation.
Kaiser stopped in his tracks, his chest heaving violently.
His narrow eyes held no anger over losing; instead, they were filled with surprise and scrutiny, as if he were looking at some rare animal.
He stared at Rin Kazuki, scanning him up and down, seemingly wanting to see what kind of engine was packed inside this body.
*Where the hell did this guy spring up from?*
Kaiser calculated silently in his mind.
In his intelligence network, the only ones in Blue Lock worth noting were Isagi Yoichi, or that guy named Itoshi Rin.
But this physical condition…
this pure explosive power and coordination was something that, in his mind, only France’s hyper-speed prodigy Julian Loki could match among their peers.
What’s more, this guy didn’t even look like he had gone all out.
Kazuki noticed Kaiser’s completely unhidden, probing gaze.
In Kazuki’s memories of his past life, this guy was a total thorn in the side—arrogant, full of himself, treating everyone like side characters.
*Why so quiet?
Scared silly by yours truly?* Kazuki muttered in his mind, deciding to launch a preemptive strike and give this “Emperor” a little shock.
He crossed his arms over his chest, chin tilted slightly up, and said nonchalantly to Kaiser:
“Yo, so you’re the so-called ‘Emperor Kaiser’?
Pretty slow on your feet, aren’t you?
Since you lost, why don’t you kneel right here before me, Your Imperial Majesty?”
However—
The air suddenly went dead quiet.
Kaiser blinked, his expression one of pure, innocent confusion.
He tilted his head slightly, his eyes conveying a universally understood meaning: *Huh?*
The two stared at each other for three seconds, big eyes glaring at small eyes.
The smile on Kazuki’s face froze.
“…”
Fuck.
Careless mistake.
Kazuki suddenly remembered that this was the real world, not an anime with built-in subtitles.
He had just spoken Japanese, and the guy in front of him was German.
That feeling was like winding up a heavy punch you’d been charging for a long time, only to hit cotton, and then having the cotton ask you, “Does your hand hurt?”
“Tch, suffered from a lack of education,” Kazuki twitched the corner of his mouth in embarrassment, silently shifting his gaze away, pretending nothing had happened just now.
Right at that moment, heavy footsteps and rough panting sounded from the track behind them.
The 12th person to cross the finish line was Rensuke Kunigami.
Like a raging rhinoceros, he radiated a black aura all over, glaring fixatedly at the German players ahead.
Right behind him were the rest of Bastard München’s regular starters.
Though they had been crushed by Kazuki, they still maintained an extremely high level of athletic performance.
Only after them came the main group from Blue Lock, including Isagi Yoichi and Raichi Jingo.
Every single one of them was so exhausted they looked like they had just been fished out of water, with some even collapsing directly on the floor and dry-heaving.
“Haah…
haah…
Are these German guys…
monsters…” Raichi Jingo propped himself up on his knees, staring unwillingly at those Germans who were only panting slightly.
This stark, naked gap cast a heavy shadow over everyone’s hearts.
“Good work, everyone~”
A lighthearted voice shattered the heavy atmosphere. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
A handsome youth with reddish-purple highlighted hair walked over with a bright smile.
He was Kaiser’s personal follower, known as the “Magician”—Alexis Ness.
Ness carried a box in his hands, walking up to everyone as if handing out candy.
“Ah, you can’t communicate directly like that, Kaiser.” Ness walked to the confused Kaiser’s side, smiling harmlessly.
“Although body language is fun, if you want to convey your words, you still have to rely on this.”
He took an exquisitely crafted single-ear earpiece from the box, handed it to Kaiser, and then turned to the Blue Lock group.
“Mr.
Ego specifically instructed me to hand these out to you.
High-performance simultaneous interpretation earpieces, capable of millisecond-level multilingual translation.” Ness explained as he distributed them, not forgetting to point at the logo on the side of the earpiece.
“It seems to be the latest product sponsored by something called ‘Mikage Corp’.”
“Reo’s family’s stuff?” Isagi took the earpiece and put it on, a clear translated voice immediately sounding inside.
With this “cheat,” the Tower of Babel built by language collapsed in an instant.
The moment Kaiser put on the earpiece, his aura shifted abruptly.
He walked straight through the crowd, ignoring Kunigami, who was casting hostile glances at him from the side, and stopped right in front of Isagi, who was still adjusting his breathing.
Kaiser leaned down slightly, a hunter’s glint flashing in those blue eyes, the corners of his lips curving into an elegant arc.
“Finally met you, Isagi Yoichi.”
Kaiser’s magnetic voice came through the earpiece, still carrying a condescending tone even after translation.
“I came here specifically to see you.
The ‘Blue Lock Ace’ who made a huge splash in the U-20 match.
Even though right now you look weak as a newborn fawn, still…” Kaiser reached out his hand, pointing loosely at Isagi’s heart area.
“Don’t disappoint me, supernova.
Become an obstacle capable of pleasing me.”
Isagi was stunned by this sudden “confession.” Just as he was about to talk back, Kaiser had already lost interest and turned around.
His target had switched to Rin Kazuki, who was leaning against the wall watching the show with a face full of drama.
Kaiser took elegant strides up to Kazuki, raising an eyebrow slightly: “Hey, I wasn’t wearing an earpiece just now.
You seemed to have said something to me?”
Kazuki looked at Kaiser, who had leaned in, then looked at Isagi, who hadn’t snapped out of it yet, and couldn’t help rolling his eyes hard.
“I said…”
Kazuki pointed at Isagi, then pointed at Kaiser, roasting him:
“Flirting with that one and then coming over to flirt with me—where did a fickle, two-timing turnip like you come from?
That head of blonde hair of yours just screams shady.
My orphanage director mom taught me since I was little that I have to stay far away from scumbags, especially perverts who have flowers tattooed on them and speak all sarcastically.”
This time, with the high-tech backing of Mikage Corp, every single word was accurately translated into German and drilled straight into Kaiser’s ears.
“…”
Kaiser froze.
Kaiser understood every single word.
“Fickle,” “turnip,” “scumbag,” “pervert”…
but put together, Kaiser was a bit confused again.
“Turnip…
pervert?” Kaiser’s lip twitched slightly.
“You barbaric monkey, do you know who you’re talking to?”
“Talking to you, can’t you understand?
Looks like this translation earpiece can’t fix brains either.” Kazuki shrugged, just about to dish out a few more ruthless lines.
“Enough.”
Noa stood on the high platform of the control console at some unknown point.
He merely opened his mouth casually, yet the absolute pressure belonging to the world’s number one made everyone shut up.
“Small talk ends here.”
“In short, the initial test has concluded.
I assume you’ve noticed that this room itself is a massive data collector.”
Noa snapped his fingers.
The huge holographic screen behind him instantly shifted, displaying a detailed ranking table.
“There is only one philosophy Bastard München believes in—Hyper-Rationality.”
“I do not care about fame, I do not care about the past, and I don’t even care about your so-called ‘bonds.’ I only care about numbers.
Whoever can create higher values, whoever can bring the optimal solution for victory to the team—that person is justice.”
Noa’s fingers tapped rhythmically against the edge of the control console, making a steady sound.
“Based on the results of the training just now, as well as the various physical performance data in my possession, out of the 21 people present, I will only use the players ranked in the top 11 overall as starters.
Anyone below that…
will be regarded entirely as trash, with zero chance of stepping onto the pitch.”
“Now, look up.
This is your ‘reality’.”
Everyone’s eyes glued onto the massive screen.
When they clearly saw that list, the Blue Lock members all gasped, their faces turning deathly pale.
No.
1 Rin Kazuki – Overall Evaluation: S
No.
2 Michael Kaiser – Overall Evaluation: S
No.
3 Erik Gesner – Bastard München
…
No.
11 Benedict Grim – Bastard München
In the top 11, aside from Rin Kazuki, who dominated the top spot, every single one was an original German player from Bastard München!
As for the Blue Lock group, even Rensuke Kunigami, who had given his absolute all, was only ranked 12th.
Isagi Yoichi dropped straight to 18th due to the bottleneck in his physical condition.
“Do you see it now?” Noa said coldly.
“Except for Rin Kazuki, every single one of you has been excluded from the starting lineup.
This is the world-class standard.
Here, there are no sympathy points.”
Isagi clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging into his palms.
18th place…
not even on the edge of the bench.
Is this the current gap?
“Of course, this is only temporary,” Noa added.
“Data is fluid.
As long as you can demonstrate a ‘rationality’ that surpasses the current starters during the upcoming training, this ranking can shift at any time.
But I advise you to hurry up, because the Neo Egoist League waits for no one.”
Having said that, Noa glanced at his watch—a signal dismissing them.
“Today’s assembly ends here.
Dismissed.
Go back, look at the data, and reflect on your own incompetence.”
With heavy hearts, the crowd turned to leave.
When Kaiser passed by Kazuki, he let out a cold snort: “That top spot—I will take it back, turnip head.”
“Welcomed anytime,” Kazuki shot back without caring in the slightest.
Just as Kazuki was also preparing to turn and leave, Noa’s voice rang out once more.
“Rin Kazuki.
You stay.”