53 A sudden visit

"Hahahaha, did you see it? The new Akira special is going to dominate the first selection!" Akira proudly announced. 

"Sure, I believe in you." Miyata let out a weak smile as he patted Akira's back to praise him. He was too exhausted from the last match to deal with the endless ball of energy known as Akira. 

Akira and Jude were the only players who still had enough energy to joke around and act as if nothing happened. 

"Be careful Jude, I'll soon become the main Striker!" Akira proclaimed. 

"Can't you just shut up and let us rest for once?" Yanagi hissed. The immense joy he was feeling at the end of the game was overtaken by the burning sensation coming from his muscles. 

"Hey Akira, if you still have this much energy why not go for a small 1 on 1 in the training area? If you beat me then I'll let you be the striker for our next game." Jude proposed.

Although he was also tired from the previous game, his stamina far surpassed most players in his team except Akira. 

***

"If I win I get to be the striker for the next game, right?" Akira reiterated excitedly, his foot resting on the ball as he faced Jude. 

"Sure, whatever you want," Jude replied with a confident smirk. 

"Alright, you better not regret it then!" Akira yelled out as he launched himself forward. He dashed straight towards Jude, the ball glued on his feet as he advanced. 

"Wa-wait-" Jude was taken aback by a sudden system notification blocking his view. 

[Side quest: the king of one-on-ones

Difficulty: B

Description:

Win every single one-on-one you are challenged to and prove that you're invincible in a one-on-one confrontation. 

Reward: random upgrade of a special weapon. 10 random stat points.]

Glancing through the quest description, Jude soon dismissed it and moved to the right, successfully blocking Akira's offense. 

"Since when is a striker also good at defense?" Akira asked with a frown, he wasn't ready for Jude's defense to be as good as some of the best defenders in Japanese high schools. 

Jude simply answered with a smile before effortlessly stealing the ball from him. "You'll need a lot more than that if you want to be our striker." He teased as he started juggling with the ball in front of Akira. 

"I want a rematch!" Akira exclaimed. 

Jude was very tempted to refuse and go take a rest. He already started feeling the fatigue setting in and the soreness from his burning muscles didn't help either.

Albeit his stamina was relatively high, he still knew he pushed himself too far today. 

Right as he was about to refuse, the image of the sudden system quest notification popped up in his mind.

'The quest did specify I should win "every" one on one I'm challenged to. And the reward is too great for me to give up on. Just thinking about which special weapon is going to get upgraded is making me excited.'

"Alright, I agree. Let's just get it done with. Although, this time I'm the one who'll start with the ball." Jude announced as he went back a little before the halfway line of the training ground. 

"If I stop you, then I get another chance." Akira declared. To which Jude replied with a singular, solemn nod. 

Jude took a deep breath. He collected the last bits of his strength, before pushing the ball forward, just enough for it to be closer to Akira than to himself. 

Akira jumped up on the opportunity and sprinted towards the ball. Both Jude and Akira started sprinting at the same time, yet Jude's acceleration being way faster than Akira's allowed him to get to the ball first and place his left hand on Akira's shoulder to gauge the distance between the both of them. 

Jude's only plan was to try to win by making as little effort as he could, he knew that time was running against him. 

Akira ignored all of Jude's actions and mindlessly threw his leg on the ball in a desperate attempt to steal it.

Jude already saw through that and responded with a sudden roulette which left Akira in the dust as Jude blitzed through the field, before finally scoring in the empty net. 

"I'll take that as my win." Jude voiced out. 

"Come on that was just luck! If I reached the ball first then I would've won." Akira rebuked, making Jude clutch his head as he finally realized how hard the quest was going to be.

If Akira never stopped challenging him. It would soon turn into a fight of stamina. 

"As expected of Team X, their players aren't too shabby, I can see why they won against Team W." An unknown voice took Jude out of his thoughts. 

"Right, I never expected them to be training right after the end of their match."

Right as he turned around, Jude's eyes widened at the sight he was faced with.

Two players were standing next to each other, both of them we're comfortably leaning against the wall, next to the door of Team X's training ground. 

Both Jude and Akira were too focused on their little game to notice the presence of those two individuals.

But now that Jude regained some of his wits he immediately recognized the both of them. 

The taller one had a smirk glued on his face, he looked at both of Team X's players with a mix of amusement and interest in his eyes.

His sharp blue eyes as well as his dark blue hair with a spiky purple top made him stand out a lot. His appearance resembling a crow really did suit his name — Tabito Karasu. 

The second intruder looked a lot less intimidating, he had a small stature and soft feminine features, making him look a lot less dangerous than the player next to him.

Jude noticed his choppy cyan hair that fell down on his face. He knew immediately that this player was going to be as big of a headache as the other. Yo Hiori. 

Almost instantaneously, Jude's first instinct was to use his [Eyes of the Lord] and peek at both player's stats, which caused his eyes to widen yet again. 

Both of them had stats equal — or perhaps superior — to both Otoya and Yukimiya. Although Hiori had most of his strengths in passing, he was still one of the best players he had ever seen.

A slight look at his status was enough for him to feel disheartened. 

As for Karasu, he was nothing short of a monster. Looking at his stats made Jude wonder how far ahead were Rin and Shidou. 

Albeit, with Karasu currently being the third strongest in Blue Lock, his stats weren't that unexpected. 

"Who are you guys? What the hell do you think you're doing here?" Akira yelled from the other side of the field. 

"I was just curious about the players who won against Team W, which was supposedly the second-strongest team after us," Karasu replied with a small laugh, his eyes constantly switching between Jude and Akira. 

"So now tell me... Who's the leader of Team X?"