I want to dedicate this chapter to the wonderful LotusSword who has supported me from the start! Your reviews always motivate me to do better. Thank you so much! I have mixed feelings about this chapter because unfortunately when I wrote part of it I was in a writing stump (when you think your writing is trash) and I have half a mind to rewrite it someday, but the other part of me says that this is just part of the journey. This chapter to me is a conquering of fear, a fear of myself. This story has taken me to heights I never would have dreamed of, and helped me discover myself along the way. It will forever be considered one of my biggest achievements by myself, and by the time I finish this it will have set a milestone in my life. Even as I keep writing, even as time goes on, Life As Teikoku's Manager will forever have a place in my heart.
While everyone else was sitting down on the ground, being tended to their injuries or just overall trying to catch their breath from such an intense match, I was literally dying here, laying down on the ground, not even bothering to stop gasping for air to leave enough room for water. After all, I was playing with the same amount of energy I use in a usual game, and usually I only play for half a match at the most, not to mention the fact that my games are usually with normal people, not superhuman beings.
Eris, how was she able to, a complete beginner at soccer, train all the way up to the gods' level all in one year, while having to struggle as a cyborg? It was unimaginable. Zeus was truly made of gods, doing what humans could never do. For the first time I felt a sense of admiration towards them, even Aphrodi whom I despised with a passion so heated it made Gouenji's Fire Tornado look like child's play.
"Starting with the score of 3-2 in favor of Zeus, the second half will now commence! Can Raimon pull through and revive the Inazuma Eleven, or will the Olympians be the last ones standing?"
The whistle blew. Someoka was benched for real this time, despite the fact that he was restless and being whiny on the bench, and we were back on the field with eight players and a ninth who has no experience on playing more than one half of a game, and usually at full strength when others are tired.
As I jogged back to my place in the midfields, an action caught my eye from the Zeus bench. Although it may have just been me over stressing, Poseidon popping a mint made me hyperaware all of a sudden. Perhaps it was because this was the same action as before stirring up deja vu in my mind.
We thought we had a chance, and everybody was pumped up, even though we were all tired and beat. Gouenji charged up the field, determined to score another for sure. A big defender stopped him easily, even with Ichinose and Kidou backup. Just like flies, the three of them were flicked away, and our hope crumbled. The defender then passed the ball to Aphrodi.
Rather than taunting us, Aphrodi hit us on directly this time. In record time, he made it across the field to Endou, all while knocking down all of Raimon. I had never seen him this mad before.
"Why, why are you still so passionate even though you have no chance of winning?" Aphrodi growled. He kicked it at Endou, hitting the boy smack in the face. "Why? Why won't you just give up already?" Aphrodi's words had turned into a shout. "Why, why why?"
Eyes blazing, he looked almost like Eris. "You irritate me so much!" he screamed, another ball directed at Endou, as if trying to score a strike at bowling rather than score. Endou crawled back up, trembling.
"We will persevere...for soccer...for the ones who love…"
Aphrodi's anger took on a new level, spatting words I did not understand the deeper meaning. "You think you know about love? I'll show you the power of love...what it can drive you to do." This time Aphrodi didn't hold back. His wings grew brighter than before, his figure blinding, muscles and veins bulging. With a shoot so powerful, it made Divine Sky Dragon look like Dragon Crash next to Triangle Z, the ball flew to Endou.
Endou, unexpectedly, turned his back towards the ball speeding towards him. Has he lost his mind? The all of a sudden, everything made sense as powerful golden light enveloped him. The first breath of a hissatsu has power not of this world, a new door opened, a new wisdom gained.
That was when Raimon awakened. I felt renewed power coursing through my veins, and I was sure everyone else did too. Endou caught the ball cleanly, then tossed it out. Very soon we caught up to Zeus with another point delivered by Gouenji's Fire Tornado combined with The Phoenix.
"There is not much time yet! Will we go into overtime, or will there be a conclusion?"
That was when the atmosphere of the whole field changed. It became, the best way to describe it, more malicious. Like a monster had just caught you in his grasp.
Aphrodi, still blinded by his rage, charged again, only to realize that the ball was kicked out of his posession by his own teammate and queen. His eyes widened, the rage sucked out of him like a vacuum, replaced with a lost puppy. His face would have been priceless if it wasn't for the confusion and urgency of the moment.
"E-Eris?" he managed to whisper. The said girl only sneered. "Aphrodi I've had enough. I told you not to get in my way, and we have to win." The blonde looked like he had been slapped. She ignored him and shouted, "For Kageyama!"
It was as if the very structure of the air was changed when she came to the goal in a blink of an eye. Truth be told, it didn't scare me as much as it gave me dread. Instead I felt a wash of tranquility over me. I already knew I was a goner from the start, why should I panic now?
"We're done playing around, Endou. This is serious now!" she shouted and snapped her fingers, kicking the ball up.
"Come at me!" Endou shouted back, starting the charge up for Majin the Hand. Gold once again enveloped him. Not as magical this time, but still powerful.
Eris jumped up and the sky split open. From it, a single beam of light fell down on her, as if the very gods were choosing her themselves. She slammed her heel on the ball. "Judgement Day!"
The ball approached Endou at an alarming rate, so much faster than last time that Endou faltered. Still in that trance of peace, I saw the scene like an animation. I could anticipate every second, and time seemed to slow down for me. I knew what to do, and I knew that Endou wouldn't be able to stop this one. I was meant for this moment. I could feel the adrenaline pump blood in my ears, ringing like the voice of everything I had lost, sacrificed, hurt. I ran towards the ball.
But then I faltered too. For from my peripheral vision I could see Aphrodi's face looked like one of pure pain. Twisted so ungodly that it broke me of this moment. Too late though, and the ball charged into the net, burning the strings and forming a small crater behind Endou.
"Endou!" everyone shouted in panicked voices, but they all faded into the background. Again I was in another world by myself, and the only other person was Aphrodi. He saw me looking, but didn't harden his eyes or frown. Instead, his eyes were pleading and chaotic. Pleading of what though? That I couldn't understand. A second later, he glanced to the side and quickly morphed his face back into the haughty look that I knew only so well laughing at me in my nightmares. But before that there had been a flicker of horror in his eyes.
I look towards where his gaze had been, and I felt a cloud of Kageyama's strict glare drift over me, just like how it had always been at Teikoku Gakuen. Even after all this time, we were still being watched, just pawns playing on his board. With everything in my will, I tore myself out of this little world. We had a game to continue. A game to win, even if the chessboard we played on was controlled by a greater, darker power.
Zeus was back in the lead, for the price of a captain who had lost himself. Usually, the game would be decided easily in such a situation, but here I wasn't so sure. Could we really beat Eris? It was easy to see that even without Aphrodi Eris would still do everything in her power to score. Perhaps spiritually we would be stronger, but on the field enough physical force can still crush emotional strength. That was how it always was in life.
Endou lied on the ground unconscious. That was of course though. Everyone had a physical limit, even a brickhead. That's how so many people die in our world. Another law, just like how brute strength will beat will.
But yet, Endou defied the laws of the Earth and did the impossible. He stood back up, refusing the help from any of our teammates. The veins on Eris' temple throbbed, and for the first time she glowed so much that it couldn't have been an illusion. Her hair looked like it was rising, sending energy from her scalp to the ends.
"That was an awesome shot!" Endou shouted. He continued in a sad voice, so sincere and full of genuinity I felt my heart skip a beat, "But why do you not smile? Soccer is fun, but you treat soccer like it is a war or a way to destroy. I don't sense happiness in you."
Eris glowed even brighter. I realized that the glow was affected by her anger. And...was that steam? "Soccer," she kicked the ball up again. "...is," the sky split open once again. "...not," her face twisted inhuman. "...a game!"
It was as if I could literally feel the rage radiating off of her. Endou instinctively shielded his eyes from the brightness, and I knew we were finished.
Eris' face revealed a crazed, triumphant smile as she saw the dejected looks of defeat seep into our eyes. It was over. It was finally over. We could rest in peace, and that would be the end of the legend of Death Bringer.
But a shadow suddenly cast over us, and my whole world was flipped upside down. For the one who had jumped and stopped the ball was none other than Aphrodi himself. Sweat beaded his forehead, his teeth grinded in frustration, but finally after a last cry, he deflected the ball, which hit Eris' shocked expression bullseye.
"W-why?" I couldn't help myself but to ask. My question was too quiet, and they didn't hear. But then I understood everything. How Zeus was all just like Teikoku, souls that had been tainted forced to shine on with pure white wings. Aphrodi's feelings, those words that he said, and everything else, it all clicked into place even though I understood none of it at the same time. Some things just weren't meant to be understood, because they were someone else's. This was a puzzle that would result in a picture I could already predict. Only what happens next will be the determining piece, except no matter how, the ending will be only tragic.
"I'm sorry Eris," Aphrodi choked on his own words, as if horrified that it was he who had just kicked Eris' own shoot back at her, "But please, I beg you stop this before you…"
"Shut up!" Eris roared, and shoved Aphrodi aside. The audience winced. "I will…I will…" she growled, "I will win and avenge you, Mother, Father!"
How I found myself within the target of Eris' shoot I will never know. Maybe I subconsciously drifted towards the goal, or maybe fate was just layed out this way. Anyway I knew that this was the moment of do or die.
Only I was about to die no matter what I do.
Clouds covered the sky once again. Lightning crackled, and I heard the desperation seeping into her voice, the raw emotions of everything she felt crash into me as the ball was released from her foot. That moment, I knew Judgement Day had just evolved, I could feel it as certain as day, like primal instinct. I couldn't run, I had to fight, only this was a fight I couldn't win.
The last piece of the puzzle was set. The ending will still be the same. The details will be altered, details such as my soccer career, my pride, my everything. Of course, they didn't matter at all on this puzzle though, for it was Eris'. This placement of the puzzle piece just ruined everything I had worked up to though. Even if you beat society's harsh pressure, there are still other obstacles that will keep coming until you finally bow down and surrender. After all that was what happened to Azami. That was what happened to every girl, no, every person who tried to defy who they were supposed to be. As long as people fit their mold, they were bound for an easy life. But if you were like me, Azami, Kidou, Endou, even Aphrodi, our puzzles all had tragedies, simply because god didn't choose us. We were disfigured children who tried to live with his elite class. In the end, my final enemy was still the laws of the world.
As Eris' shot sped toward me, I didn't even bother covering my eyes. I just stood there, calmly, looking up at her. It may have looked like a brave look of defiance, but in truth I was just awaiting my fate. I felt like the world was coming to an end, and in a way, it was. It was truly impossible for me. I should never have meddled, or tried to be someone I wasn't supposed to be. Everything, all those feelings, washed over me as I understood Eris', and Zeus', story, how I had played a role in it, how all of us will be nothing but an insignificant speck against the tale of time.
There was simply no way to beat a game that was rigged.
In the end, none of us would win. Zeus would still be Kageyama's champions, Eris would still never be able to find peace, Raimon would be put back in their place, and I would be tossed away. You simply just couldn't. I wonder how many had tried before us, and how many had failed, all their stories forgotten just like mine would be soon enough. Just like mine, Raimon, Teikoku, and Azami's had once been.
Suddenly, Endou jumped out from the goal and over me, using his foot to intercept the shoot. "If there's a will there's a way!", he shouted. His sudden act of rebellion to this decision by god surprised me and shocked me out of my misery. "That's right," Gouenji joined in, "We'll keep fighting even if there is no victory!" And lastly, Kidou completed their harmony. "Even a drop of water can drill through stone if it perseveres!"
The words sprun out of my mouth before I realized what I was saying. "If there is no victory, than we'll make our own victory." I jumped up and connected my foot with the ball. That one second, the four of us in unison, no the whole team in unison, made me realize that I wasn't alone in this battle. Every single one of us were fighting an impossible battle, and together, we could make it possible.
Finally, with a grudging squelch, the soccer ball reflected off our feet. I couldn't believe it. We had did it. We stopped it.
I looked back toward Eris. Only the unthinkable happened. She started to laugh. Yes, she was laughing hysterically, then slowly her voice started cracking and she collapsed. Fear pounded in my ears, and I was grateful for Kidou taking my hand. Something had gone wrong, very wrong. By stopping that earlier shoot, we had just changed her last puzzle piece. The scariest thing though, was not that her eyes looked rabid and her body glowing without calm as if on fire, but the black tears that splattered over the field and staining her jersey. By then Aphrodi had completely lost anything left in him to try to remain "godly", and was running over to the girl on the ground, shouting her name repeatedly, followed by blames to God for being so cruel.
Kidou squeezed my hand, and I turned away from the scene. I couldn't watch it any longer. Sirens surrounded the field, as paramedics entered with a stretcher to carry Eris away. The referee blew the whistle, ending the game because Aphrodi decided to surrendered. He was so broken, I even felt pitiful for him, that he didn't even have anger left to launch into a revenge craze.
Endou was waving the cup that was handed to Raimon as the trophy for winning the Football Frontier even though it had been Zeus who gave up the game. The rest of my teammates walked toward him, a cloud over our heads at the same time shrouded with relief and happiness. I was the only one who remained on the field, unmoving, like a statue, as the world around me kept moving but I couldn't.