Chapter 222: The Broken Time Loop

Borg carefully observed Takahashi's gaze.

That gaze, fully immersed with heart and soul, took Borg by surprise.

Immediately, he recalled the first game; after Takahashi lost two consecutive points, he had indeed begun to get serious.

Why was there not a trace of confusion in his eyes?

Could it be that his own Spirit Power was sufficiently powerful?

Carrying his doubts, Borg continued to swing his racket.

He watched as the tennis ball, shrouded in brilliant light, came toward him with astonishing momentum.

"Light Strike again?"

Borg muttered to himself while closing his eyes, using his keen ball sense to perceive the landing position of the accelerated tennis ball.

This was because the principle of Takahashi's Secondary Acceleration was that the completely opposite rotations on the tennis ball canceled each other out at the moment they became a non-spin ball, producing an acceleration.

The moment such complex rotation vanished would inevitably cause a subtle change in the surrounding air; Borg closed his eyes precisely to properly perceive that faint airflow change, to determine the ball's roughly increased speed, and thereby determine the ball's position to return it.

However.

The degree of change in the airflow was much more intense than Borg had anticipated.

What was going on?

Borg opened his eyes.

Under that brilliant, dazzling golden light, Borg vaguely caught the rotation on the tennis ball.

An extremely violent rotation, directed toward one side.

Was it still backspin?

Due to the conditioned reflexes brought about by years of practice, Borg extended his racket and caught this ball with the Super Sweet Spot.

The instant the tennis ball made contact with the racket, Borg's eyelids twitched violently.

This tactile sensation!

This familiar rotation!

This was a Spiral Ball!

Was it a combination of a Spiral Ball and a Light Strike?

Just as Borg was still stunned, the tennis ball pierced through Borg's racket and landed heavily.

It kicked up clouds of dust all around Borg.

"40-15!"

"Point to Japan Team!"

Borg looked at the tennis racket in his hand, which had been ravaged to the point where almost all the strings were broken; his expression had turned completely gloomy.

Previously, Borg had also had several tennis rackets broken by Takahashi.

But the racket just destroyed had only been pierced through the center by the ball.

The strings on the side of the racket were almost intact.

But this combination of a Spiral Ball and a Light Strike had even greater destructive power.

With just an ordinary Light Strike, using the Super Sweet Spot of the racket to receive it could completely neutralize that golden light.

But adding the rotation of a Spiral Ball on top of a Light Strike meant that once the ball touched the racket, it began to spin, deviating from the Super Sweet Spot of the racket.

The face of Borg's racket bore the full force of the Light Strike, combined with that terrifying backspin force.

Fortunately, Borg's own physical fitness was excellent, and he had no shortcomings in areas like strength.

Otherwise, not only would his tennis racket have been destroyed, but he himself would have been injured by the impact of this ball.

While Borg went down to change his tennis racket, the entire arena fell silent.

The spectators had anticipated that this match would be intense, but they never expected that it would be Borg who had his racket pierced through by his opponent time and time again.

Borg was, after all, the newly emerged strongest tennis player who had defeated the world number one in a professional tournament a while ago!

Could Borg's number one status be ended by this match?

Even the fans supporting Takahashi were stunned by this scene.

They had originally thought that given Takahashi's age, as long as he could take one or two games from Borg in this match, it would be enough for them to continue supporting Takahashi unconditionally.

But although the current score was in Borg's favor.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that Borg could not head-on crack this Spiral Ball move of Takahashi's.

D Country Team rest area.

Watching Borg's back as he walked back onto the court, the expressions of the others on the team also turned grave.

Q. P asked, "Has Takahashi walked out of Borg's time loop?"

Bismarck said in a deep voice, "It should be. The combination of Light Strike and Spiral Ball—this move is appearing for the first time in this match."

"Although I don't know how Takahashi cracked it, he has already broken free from the vortex of time."

Returu said, "Borg's fundamental strength is very powerful, but his greatest strength is his Spirit Power. I originally thought that in this world, there shouldn't be many people whose mental strength could reach the level he has."

"I didn't expect Takahashi to actually possess such terrifying Spirit Power as well."

Bismarck asked, "Coach, do you believe Takahashi relied on Spirit Power comparable to Borg's to break free from the vortex of time?"

Returu said, "Hmm!"

"In those last two games, Takahashi didn't even use the Asura Divine Path or his Otherworldly Phantom!"

This sentence that Returu blurted out seemed to remind him of something.

He whispered: "I have heard that to enter the Asura Divine Path, one requires a powerful will and must pay a tragic price."

"Therefore, the greatest boost the Asura Divine Path provides to a person is Spirit Power."

"But ever since entering the time loop, no phantom of another dimension has appeared behind Takahashi; what exactly is going on?"

……

On the court.

"You walked out of the time loop long ago, didn't you!"

Borg's incomparably cold voice came over.

"Don't look at me with that man-eating gaze anymore."

"The Spirit Power attacks contained within your gaze are of no use to me."

Takahashi's voice, carrying a slight smile, rang out.

Hearing Takahashi's words, especially the phrase "Spirit Power attacks contained within your gaze," caused Borg's brows to knit tightly together.

Has he already discovered it?

Then how exactly did he discover it?

And when did he break free from the vortex of time?

Thinking of this, the gaze Borg directed at Takahashi became even more piercing.

Takahashi met Borg's gaze without the slightest timidity; this gaze was purely a reflection of Borg's inner emotions, purely frustration and anger, containing no Spirit Power impact at all.

……

"Bang!"

……

"Bang!"

……

The two began another intense tug-of-war.

"Bang!"

Borg seized the opportunity and hit a cross-court shot toward Takahashi's left side.

"Thud!"

Takahashi let the tennis ball land on his left side and bounce up.

"Out!"

"40-30!"

"Japan Team scores!"

……

"Bang!"

……

"Bang!"

"40-40!"

"Japan Team scores!"

……

"Bang!"

"2-2!"

"Japan Team scores!"

……

Germany Team rest area.

Bismarck asked: "Borg's error rate on these few shots is too high."

"Two balls out of bounds, and another shot where the direction of attack was clearly a gift for Takahashi."

Q. P watched this scene that seemed so familiar, his expression very poor, and said: "Borg has fallen for Takahashi's mental trick."

"This is the same as the Spirit Power attack I received during the exhibition match; they are both tricks that cause spatial perception to go haywire."

Carefully sensing the situation on the court, Q. P said in a low voice: "Takahashi's Spirit Power, just as Coach guessed, should have reached another major level."

"I haven't sensed the existence of that Spirit Power at all."