Blue Lock: Beyond Greatness

Beep——Beep!

4:0 → 5:0

"How could this happen… Nagi, he was… he was the treasure I finally found… unique, irreplaceable… but now…"

"Nagi's ability… was devoured?"

The referee's whistle signaling the end of the match echoed across the field.

Reo collapsed onto the grass, his eyes empty as they fixated on the cold, detached gaze of a figure towering above.

Those pitch-black eyes, like a consuming black hole, annihilated everything daring enough to stand in their way.

This guy… he's the real genius… no, he's a monster! A monster capable of effortlessly devouring and destroying even Nagi!

A monster of this caliber… there's no way to defeat him. Then, what about our dream, Nagi and I…

What should we do?

...

"What a crushing defeat. I really thought Seishiro Nagi, the so-called genius, might give Shinichi a little trouble," Anri remarked, her attention firmly fixed on the monitoring room's screen.

The match, a rare 4-on-4, had naturally drawn her close scrutiny, but the outcome was far from what she had imagined.

"That result was obvious, wasn't it?" Ego replied indifferently. "If someone can't even make such basic assessments of ability after watching so many matches, they're just brainless amateurs."

"What matters is learning from failure—especially from a humiliating loss like this one."

"On the pitch, those who lose are rejected. For those fighting on the field, that's the ultimate despair. And the majority of ordinary people don't know how to properly confront despair."

"They fear admitting their lack of talent, their weakness, their mistakes, their lack of direction. It's terrifying, so they unconsciously search for excuses."

"'We've only just begun our lives.' 'We still have so much time.' 'We can't let all our effort so far go to waste.' These thoughts create the illusion that persistence alone is enough. I call it the poison of dreams."

"These self-deceptions masquerade as determination to chase dreams. In reality, they're nothing more than ghostly remnants of people who don't even understand the meaning of their own persistence—recyclable trash, slightly better than garbage. I'm not interested in them at all."

"What's even scarier is that when faced with an outlier like Shinichi, people begin to deny themselves. They lose even the reason to keep trying, eventually becoming true, irredeemable trash."

"Dreams must exist to be realized, and only achievable dreams hold meaning. Unattainable dreams are nothing more than the foolish fantasies of those hoping for miracles to fall from the sky."

"Failure, therefore, is the most critical crossroads for dreams. The defeated must possess the strength to acknowledge their incompetence—this is the true gift of facing despair."

"After confronting despair, some will resolutely continue to pursue their original dreams, growing stronger on their existing foundation. Others, upon abandoning their initial dreams, will discover new paths, transforming them into entirely new possibilities."

"People must continuously fight within despair. Only then will the power to realize their dreams descend upon them."

Ego glanced briefly at Nagi and Reo on the monitor before losing interest.

Under normal circumstances, he might have been willing to invest more effort into polishing these unrefined gems.

But now, his focus was entirely on Shinichi.

"And that," Ego continued, "is the test I have prepared for Shinichi in the next stage."

"Shinichi, do you possess this gift?"

...

"What… just happened?" Nagi, standing beside Reo, asked softly, his pupils slightly dilated as he repeatedly ran his hand over his calf.

The sensation he experienced when he touched the ball moments ago lingered—a feeling he had never encountered before.

For the genius Seishiro Nagi, this was an entirely new experience—the helplessness of lacking ability.

The concept of "I can't do it," something he had never truly felt before, was now etched vividly into his mind.

"Wow, football can actually do something like this?" Nagi's face lit up with curiosity.

Even though it was such a troublesome situation, even though his brain had clearly recognized the gap between him and his opponent, and he should have simply given up… this overwhelming feeling inside him—what was it?

At that moment, Nagi seemed to grasp the emotions Isagi had felt while relentlessly running on the pitch.

Perhaps this foolish endeavor wasn't entirely meaningless after all.

"It's just like a game… Reo…" Nagi's voice echoed softly beside him.

Reo, his mind a tangled mess, instinctively turned to look.

What he saw was Nagi gazing back at him, his eyes brimming with unconcealed excitement.

"Football is really so much fun."

There were no complicated thoughts—only a pure interest in and enthusiasm for football.

That unclouded expression pierced deeply into Reo's heart.

Clearly, it should have been Nagi, whose weapon had just been taken and imitated, who felt the most frustrated.

Yet in the end, it was only Reo who was so shaken.

Perhaps it was the first time in his life that Reo had encountered a goal he couldn't easily achieve, triggering a rebellious reaction.

Or maybe he just wanted to defy his parents' expectations.

Either way, Reo had to admit that he might not be as passionate about football as he thought.

His purpose for entering Blue Lock wasn't as pure as he wanted to believe.

At this moment, comparing his despair and shaken resolve to Nagi's determination in the face of failure, Reo couldn't help but feel ashamed.

'I don't want this anymore. I don't want to exist solely as Nagi's support, relying on him to wake me up while offering him nothing in return...'

'Most importantly… I don't want to keep aimlessly persisting. What do I really want?'

Unless he clarified this for himself, there was no way he could survive in Blue Lock.

"So, what does Nagi mean to me?" Reo kept asking himself, even as Nagi stood up and walked toward the man who had brought them this nightmare.

"Shinichi, will you choose me?"

"What? Nagi!" Reo shot up instantly, unable to sit still.

Although he had just realized that one of them was bound to be chosen, with Nagi being the likeliest candidate, Nagi actively offering himself up was an entirely different matter.

"Nagi… are you… abandoning me?" Even Reo himself could hear the trembling in his voice.

He wanted to rush up and grab Nagi by the collar, demanding an answer.

But the thought of what that answer might be drained him of all strength.

In the end, Reo could only collapse to his knees, looking up at Nagi helplessly. "Is it… because I'm too weak… that you don't need me anymore?"

"Reo… you're so annoying."

!

"I hate repeating meaningless things, but since it's you, I'll say it again." Nagi's expression turned cold once more as he looked down at Reo from above.

"I want to become the best in the world. Maybe, in the beginning, that dream came from you. But now, it's my own desire. It's something I absolutely must achieve."

"That's why I kept running. Even when I realized there were people far stronger than me, even when I knew that no matter how hard I tried, I might never become the best in the world—I never gave up. But what about you, Reo?"

"In this match, how many times did you give up running? I've told you before—I don't want anything to do with someone who's abandoned their dream. I only teamed up with you again because you started trying again midway."

A sinister aura began to emanate from Nagi, manifesting as the head of a demonic entity, his selfish desires now fully revealed to Reo.

"Do you think staying on the same team as me gives you some sense of security? That we can just keep dreaming together about some unattainable fantasy, playing make-believe games? And then what? Never improve?"

"Do you think becoming the best in the world is something so easily achieved? Reo, what exactly do you take football for?"

"If I stay with you, I see no hope of ever becoming the best in the world. That's why I want to play with him. I want to see what the higher levels look like."

"The one who truly betrayed our promise, Reo, is you—the one who gave up on the dream of becoming the best in the world." Nagi cast one last cold glance at Reo, who couldn't bring himself to meet Nagi's gaze anymore.

Then, without hesitation, Nagi turned and walked toward Shinichi.

"Take me with you."

"But—I refuse!"

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