Chapter 26: The Result of Two People's Cooperation

Outside the court, Shiba Saori rubbed her eyes, unable to believe the scene before her.

The tennis ball that had been smashed actually changed direction in mid-air.

Completely ignoring the laws of physics!

As a tennis reporter—no, to be precise, in all her years, she had never seen such a bizarre event.

Inoue Mamoru was so shocked he forgot to blink, staring straight at the court.

A memory surfaced in his mind.

Back then, there was also someone who could control the trajectory of a tennis ball!

And that person was.

The legendary king, the Samurai Echizen Nanjiro!

Once standing at the pinnacle of professional world tennis!

Inoue muttered to himself, "What is this? Is it a Domain?"

Then, growing excited, he said, "Yes, this is a Domain, it must be!"

Something he had once seen in Echizen Nanjiro, whom he regarded as his idol.

A signature move that draws all tennis balls toward oneself.

At this moment, it was being reproduced by another young man!

This made him incredibly excited!

……

On the court.

The look in Tachibana Kippei's eyes as he watched Takahashi had completely changed.

The situation of this match was beginning to exceed his expectations.

The situation was starting to spiral out of control!

He never expected that he would be this formidable!

The previous shot could demonstrate that his fundamentals were excellent.

But it was still possible to return that previous shot!

Yet for this shot, he must have utilized an exquisite and peerless technique!

However, even as one of the Kyushu Twin Heroes, he could not see through the principle of this shot!

Seigaku's Captain Tezuka Kunimitsu also possessed a similar technique.

It is called the "Tezuka Zone!"

By applying spin, Tezuka can make all tennis balls automatically return to a position within one step of himself, without him needing to move.

But he had never heard of this kind of Domain being able to make an incredibly powerful Smash change direction in mid-air.

It was simply inconceivable!

He thought his assessment of Takahashi was already high enough!

Yet he never expected that Takahashi would refresh his understanding again and again!

……

Takahashi, opposite him, curled his lips into a deep arc.

The person most responsible for being able to hit such a counter-intuitive shot was still Tachibana Kippei.

Takahashi could deeply feel that every time Tachibana Kippei returned the ball, he would add a corresponding amount of power.

Takahashi did not choose to neutralize the power, but instead kept applying spin to the tennis ball, while keeping the power of his own shots as consistent as possible with the power Tachibana hit back with.

Thus, with every rally, Tachibana Kippei added power to the ball, and Takahashi added spin, making the ball full of explosive force.

When Takahashi finished applying the spin to the ball, the ball also adapted to the constantly increasing force.

A Short Ball and a lob suddenly reduced the power on the ball.

But this increased the spin on the ball, while also making the ball unable to adapt.

And during the final Smash, the suddenly increased power pushed the ball's lack of adaptation to its peak, while the ball itself was full of explosive force.

At the same time, the spin on the ball was entirely controlled by Takahashi.

This suddenly added power made the ball itself verge on an explosion, which is why it traced such a trajectory in the air.

It could be said that the power brought by the Smash all became the motive force for the ball to change direction in the air.

This incredible shot was completed entirely through the joint effort of Takahashi and Tachibana.

Takahashi had originally only thought about constantly increasing the spin to control the ball's direction.

This was also the same principle as the Tezuka Zone.

But he never expected that the constantly increasing power combined with the spin would actually cause the ball's trajectory to change so drastically.

In an instant, something slowly took shape in his mind.

……

Returning to the match, Tachibana Kippei had already lost two consecutive points.

The situation was becoming increasingly tense.

"If you continue to hide your strength, you will undoubtedly lose."

Takahashi said calmly.

"Bang!"

Another serve with extreme speed.

"Bang!"

Tachibana Kippei kept up with the speed, timing his move perfectly, and successfully returned the ball.

At this moment, the aura on his body also underwent a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering change.

It was like a wild beast that had just been released from its cage!

Incomparably tyrannical, incomparably powerful!

……

Beside the Court.

"Is... is this the Captain's true strength?"

"His entire aura has completely changed!"

"It's just like a ferocious wild beast!"

"It makes one shudder with fear!"

The team members of Fudomine were stunned by this aura.

Tachibana An's eyes were filled with pride.

This was her older brother's true strength!

Under the beastly aura, her brother's power and speed would both increase, and his Spirit Power would be highly concentrated.

No matter what kind of Serve it was, he could successfully return it.

Takahashi wouldn't be able to hop around for many more minutes.

Her brother had previously sealed away part of his strength because of an incident that once occurred.

However, now, under Takahashi's pressure, her brother had decided to unleash his true power.

That was not something Takahashi could withstand!

Those little tricks were nothing in the face of true strength!

But to be able to force her brother to this point, Takahashi should also feel proud.

……

"Bang!"

A rally appeared on the Court once again.

It was like this again.

Could it be that the situation of the previous ball would repeat itself?

Tachibana Kippei felt a bit uneasy in his heart.

He continuously increased the power on the tennis ball.

……

Spotting an opportunity, Tachibana Kippei leaped upward with force and swung his racket violently at the tennis ball.

His posture was different from usual, extremely strange!

"Bang!"

Just by listening to the friction between the racket and the tennis ball, one could feel how heavy this ball was.

Then, an incredible scene appeared again.

The tennis ball moved violently in the air, suddenly turning into dozens.

They headed toward Takahashi simultaneously.

"If you can't catch it, just give up; forcing it will only get you hurt!"

After successfully hitting this ball, Tachibana Kippei warned.

"Are my eyes playing tricks on me?"

"How did I suddenly see so many tennis balls?"

Shiba, on the sidelines, rubbed her eyes again, unable to believe it.

Strange things happen every year, but today there were especially many!

She was just watching two middle school students play tennis.

Yet Shiba not only doubted physics, she even doubted her own eyes.

"This... this... how is one supposed to return this?"

Just as Shiba was puzzled, she saw Takahashi inside the tennis court move his body slightly.

After standing firm, he gripped the racket with both hands and swung it while rushing forward.

"Bang!"

The dozens of tennis balls instantly lost their magic and turned back into one.

It was successfully returned by Takahashi.

It landed behind Tachibana Kippei.

It smashed a not-so-small pit.

"This... what... what just happened?"

Shiba rubbed her eyes again.

Many tennis balls instantly turned back into one and were successfully returned.

At this moment, she completely stopped trusting her own eyes.

It must be that her eyes had deceived her.

"So strong!"

Inoue also exclaimed involuntarily.

Those dozens of tennis balls did not truly exist; they were phantoms formed by the tennis ball moving rapidly in the air after being subjected to immense power.

The speed of the tennis ball was fast enough that the phantoms looked real.

The strength of these two is stronger than the other.

One can hit a tennis ball so that it creates phantoms!

The other actually managed to return it!

It is truly incredible!

The brilliance of this match far exceeds today's Regional Preliminaries.

Even in the Kanto Tournament, no, even in the National Tournament, it is very difficult to see a match of such quality as today's.