A biting sub-zero wind swept across the Frankenstadion in Nuremberg, whipping plumes of icy breath from forty-seven thousand hostile spectators.
The pitch was hard, slick, and treacherous.
Patches of frost clung to the touchlines, and the thermometer hovered at minus three degrees Celsius.
In German football, the Bavarian Derby between 1.
FC Nürnberg and FC Bayern München was never a friendly affair, but today the hostility had reached a fever pitch.
The local media had spent the entire week framing the fixture around one central narrative: testing the hype of Bayern’s fifteen-year-old prodigy against the rugged, bone-crunching veterans of Franconia.
“Give the boy a proper Franconian welcome, Marek!”
That had been the explicit instruction from Nürnberg manager Wolfgang Wolf to his veteran Czech center-back, Marek Nikl, before kickoff.
From the opening whistle, Nürnberg executed their physical blueprint with ruthless intent.
Whenever the ball moved toward the Bayern forward line, Nikl and his defensive partner Mario Cantaluppi clamped down hard on Leonhard Weiss, leaving elbows in the ribs and scraping studs down his calves during aerial duels.
In the twenty-second minute, Bastian Schweinsteiger drilled a sharp pass into Leonhard’s feet thirty yards out.
Nikl charged in from behind with all eighty-five kilograms of his frame, aiming to flatten the teenager into the frozen turf.
A week ago, that collision might have sent Leonhard off balance.
Instead, the newly upgraded Kinetic Core Stability (79) kicked in.
Leonhard lowered his hips by two inches, absorbed the impact with his rigid glutes and back muscles, and held his ground like an oak tree rooted in stone.
Nikl bounced off him with a startled grunt, stumbling back two paces.
Leonhard didn’t even look back at the defender.
He simply laid the ball off cleanly to Michael Ballack before spinning into open space.
“The kid is made of iron,” Cantaluppi muttered under his breath, exchanging an uneasy glance with Nikl.
As the clock ticked toward the thirty-eighth minute, the deadlock remained unbroken at 0–0.
Nürnberg’s midfield had turned the center circle into a muddy trench war, denying Bayern any rhythm.
But on an icy pitch where defenders struggled with lateral traction, Leonhard’s God’s Eye (2026 Vision) identified the exact flaw in Nürnberg’s defensive line.
Nikl was over-committing to his front foot, terrified of Leonhard turning on him.
Zé Roberto collected a loose clearance on the left flank.
As the Brazilian winger shaped to cross, Leonhard made a sharp darting run toward the near post, dragging Nikl with him at full tilt.
Then came the activation.
[Ghost Burst Lv.
1 — Triggered]
Without planting his lead foot heavily, he redirected his kinetic momentum with zero inertia, cutting back across Nikl’s blind side toward the penalty spot.
Nikl tried to brake on the frost, but his cleats slipped.
The veteran defender lost his footing completely, crashing awkwardly to his knees!
Zé Roberto’s low cross arrived perfectly at the edge of the six-yard box.
Leonhard met the ball on the half-volley with his weaker left foot, sweeping a crisp, low drive across the turf that zipped past the outstretched glove of Raphael Schäfer and nestled inside the bottom right corner!
Goal.
0–1 Bayern!
Leonhard turned toward the corner flag, pointing directly at Zé Roberto as the Brazilian rushed over with a huge grin to embrace him.
From the away end, three thousand traveling Munich fans roared into the freezing air, their red flares cutting through the winter gloom.
Nürnberg, however, refused to roll over easily on their home turf.
In the fifty-fourth minute, a chaotic goalmouth scramble following a corner allowed Slovakian striker Róbert Vittek to poke home an equalizer from close range.
The Frankenstadion erupted into a wall of sound as the score became 1–1.
Felix Magath paced furiously along the touchline, barking orders.
The game grew increasingly combative.
Flying tackles sent sprays of ice flying into the air, and referee Florian Meyer handed out yellow cards to Cantaluppi and Lúcio in quick succession.
Nürnberg smelled blood.
They pressed higher up the pitch, sensing that Bayern might drop points ahead of their crucial Champions League clash with AC Milan.
In the seventy-sixth minute, Michael Ballack won a bruising header in midfield, nodding the ball forward toward the edge of the Nürnberg penalty area.
The ball bounced high off the hard turf.
Cantaluppi and Nikl converged on Leonhard from both sides like a closing pincer.
Both defenders went up with raised shoulders, intending to sandwich the teenager mid-air.
Leonhard didn’t contest the aerial duel blindly.
Using his Gerd Müller Box Dominance, he backed slightly into Cantaluppi’s hip to create a six-inch pocket of breathing room.
As the ball dropped, Leonhard cushioned it softly on his upper chest, letting it roll down to his right thigh.
In a split-second 180-degree pivot, Leonhard spun away from both defenders while the ball was still airborne.
Before the ball could touch the frozen grass, Leonhard unleashed the full kinetic thunder of the Batistuta Artillery trait.
His right foot whipped through the air like a scythe.
The strike struck the sweet spot of the ball with a deafening thud that echoed off the stadium roof.
The ball transformed into a blur of pure kinetic violence.
It rose with terrifying velocity, ripping through the frigid air and slamming into the roof of the net before Raphael Schäfer could even complete half of his diving motion!
Goal.
The Frankenstadion went dead silent.
Leonhard landed lightly on both feet, his posture utterly sovereign.
He stood near the penalty spot, his red jersey steaming in the icy air, chest rising and falling rhythmically as he stared calmly at the stunned Nürnberg defenders lying on the turf.
Three matches.
Three consecutive braces.
Six senior goals.
[SOVEREIGN QUEST COMPLETE: DERBY CONQUEST]
– Match Result: 1.
FC Nürnberg 1 – 2 FC Bayern München
– Performance: 90 Minutes | 2 Goals (Brace) | 4 Key Passes
– Historical Record: First Player in Bundesliga History to Score Consecutive Braces in First 3 Appearances
– Rewards Acquired: [1x Sovereign Essence Node]
– Physical Condition: Zero Injury | Kinetic Fatigue Restored to 100%
When the final whistle blew twelve minutes later, Bayern sealed a gritty 2–1 victory, cementing their position at the summit of the Bundesliga table with fifty-three points.
In the post-match handshake, Marek Nikl approached Leonhard, offering his hand with a grim, respectful shake of the head.
“I tried to break you twice, Weiss,” the veteran defender said in broken German.
“You’re not a boy.
You’re a monster.”
Leonhard shook the defender’s hand firmly.
“Thank you for the test, Marek.”
As the squad boarded the team bus back to Munich, Felix Magath sat in the front row with his arms crossed.
He turned around, catching Leonhard’s eye across the aisle.
“Good shift today, Weiss,” Magath said, his voice unusually restrained.
“Rest tonight.
Tomorrow morning, we begin tactical drills for Milan.”
Leonhard leaned back against his seat, looking out through the frost-covered window at the Bavarian highway cutting through the dark.
The domestic tests were complete.
Next stop: The San Siro and the legendary Rossoneri.