The Sanctuary remained frozen.
Kai lowered his foot.
The silver glow around his eyes slowly faded.
The icy wind disappeared.
The golden grass returned to normal.
Arthur raised one hand.
“Resume the match.”
PHEEEET!
The whistle echoed once more.
The scoreboard floated above the field.
Kai Volkov – 1
McCall Johnson – 0
Kai restarted play.
This time…
He attacked immediately.
His movements had changed.
They were faster.
Sharper.
McCall noticed it instantly.
“He’s serious now.”
The System flashed.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Opponent Status:
Respect Confirmed
Danger Level:
Very High
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
McCall smiled.
“So now he sees me.”
Kai dribbled toward him.
Left.
Right.
Outside.
Inside.
His feet barely touched the ball.
McCall remembered Arthur’s lesson.
“Don’t chase the player…”
“Read the football.”
Instead of watching Kai…
He watched the ball.
Its rhythm.
Its movement.
Its tiny changes in speed.
Kai suddenly accelerated.
McCall moved exactly when the ball left Kai’s foot.
TACK!
A perfect tackle.
The football rolled free.
For the first time in the match…
Kai lost possession.
The Eleven Kings rose to their feet.
Leo shouted,
“He stole it!”
Arthur smiled proudly.
“Excellent.”
McCall sprinted.
The entire pitch opened before him.
His breathing remained calm.
One defender.
Shadow Turn.
Kai reacted.
But this time…
McCall didn’t complete the move.
Halfway through the turn…
He changed again.
A second feint.
Kai’s eyes widened.
McCall burst past him.
The crowd inside the Sanctuary erupted.
Even Rowan smiled.
“He’s adapting.”
“During the same match.”
Only the goal remained.
McCall planted his left foot.
He struck.
BOOM!!
The football screamed toward the top corner.
Kai dived.
Too late.
GOAL!!
Golden light exploded across the stadium.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Qualification Match
Kai Volkov – 1
McCall Johnson – 1
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
McCall raised one fist.
Not in arrogance.
In determination.
“I can do this.”
Kai retrieved the ball.
A smile slowly spread across his face.
“I haven’t enjoyed a match like this…”
“…in years.”
He tossed the football into the air.
“Let’s stop holding back.”
Arthur’s expression changed.
“Kai…”
The young Wolf ignored him.
Silver light erupted around his body.
At the same time…
Something inside McCall answered.
The symbol on his chest burned.
Golden light burst from within him.
The Heart of Football reacted.
The entire Sanctuary shook violently.
Every throne began glowing.
The spirits of the Eleven Kings stood simultaneously.
Arthur whispered,
“It can’t be…”
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
WARNING
Legacy Resonance Detected.
Heart of Football Synchronization:
1.3%
…
2.1%
…
3.8%
…
5.0%
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
McCall gasped.
Power surged through every muscle.
He could hear everything.
The wind.
The heartbeat of Kai.
Even the football spinning through the air.
Then…
A familiar voice echoed.
Not Arthur.
Not Leo.
The First King.
“Remember…”
“Football isn’t about defeating your opponent.”
McCall opened his eyes.
They glowed with golden light.
Kai froze.
“So…”
“It awakened.”
Without thinking…
The two boys rushed forward.
Both reached the football at exactly the same moment.
BOOM!!
Golden and silver energy collided.
A shockwave exploded across the Sanctuary.
The sky cracked.
Clouds swirled overhead.
Deep beneath the stadium…
Something ancient opened its eyes.
A voice echoed from below.
“The Twelfth King…”
“Has finally begun to awaken…”
Far away…
Inside Raven Headquarters…
Every crystal in the chamber shattered.
Victor stumbled backward.
“My Lord!”
The Crown Mask slowly stood.
His hands trembled.
Not from fear.
From excitement.
“So…”
“The Heart has resonated.”
He looked toward Africa on the glowing world map.
“Excellent.”
He raised one hand.
Dark portals opened throughout the chamber.
From each portal stepped powerful figures wearing different masks.
A serpent.
A tiger.
A dragon.
A jackal.
A raven with a golden crown.
Victor’s breathing became heavy.
“The Seven Generals…”
The Crown Mask smiled beneath his broken mask.
“The game has changed.”
He pointed toward McCall’s glowing image.
“Bring him to me.”
“Alive.”
“If anyone stands in your way…”
His crimson eyes blazed like fire.
“Erase them.”
Back in the Sanctuary…
The shockwave finally faded.
Dust filled the air.
Nobody could see the center of the pitch.
Arthur narrowed his eyes.
“McCall…”
“Kai…”
As the dust slowly cleared…
Everyone gasped.
The football…
Was floating in midair between them.
Neither McCall nor Kai was touching it.
Yet it refused to fall.
And from deep inside the glowing ball…
A mysterious golden key slowly emerged.
The Legacy Archive…
Had begun to unlock.