"Swish!"
Haizaki made both free throws.
This made Seirin's comeback attempt seem incredibly difficult.
As always, to reverse a game, especially when trailing by a large margin, the first thing you must do is play good defense and limit the opponent's scoring—only then do you have a chance.
Clearly, Seirin couldn't limit Kirisaki Daiichi's scoring, or more precisely, they couldn't limit Tendou.
There was no way left.
Aida Riko painfully clenched her fists.
This was already everything Seirin had.
Unwilling to give up just like this, Kagami took the ball and charged forward again.
Once more, he defeated Tendou head-on, broke through Tendou's defense, and scored.
This was something 90% of players dreamed of but couldn't achieve, yet he had done it repeatedly today.
What made Kagami feel terrified, however, was that Tendou was gradually "approaching" his level.
In his normal state, he was progressively becoming able to compete with himself in the Zone domain.
Not only Kagami noticed this—Akashi and the others did too.
They all believed that Tendou had already reached another level entirely.
The Generation of Miracles could no longer describe his level—he had surpassed all current high school players by a huge margin, including the Generation of Miracles.
Kirisaki Daiichi's possession.
Tendou held the ball, facing the Black-Fire duo alone.
Kuroko couldn't even get close to Tendou now—their double-team was utterly useless.
Every time he predicted Kagami Taiga's movements and took defensive action, just as he took a step, his brain would be bombarded with endless information, causing him to forget to send commands to his body.
He couldn't break free from Infinite Void.
Instead, he became the perfect obstacle to prevent Kagami from pursuing.
Tendou moved to his side, stopped suddenly, gathered the ball, jumped, shot—no, passed.
All of this happened almost simultaneously. When he drew Kagami into jumping, Tendou's pass had already reached Haizaki.
Kirisaki Daiichi's second-in-command could only lose to Kagami in a one-on-one—besides him, no one else was his opponent.
"Swish!"
Haizaki hit a three-pointer cleanly.
The points Seirin had worked so hard to recover were being gradually eaten away.
Beep~
When halftime ended, Seirin was still trailing Kirisaki Daiichi by 16 points.
There was still time—Seirin still had a chance to reverse the situation.
But those who had watched the first half could feel that Seirin's fate was already sealed.
...
In the locker room.
All the Seirin players hung their heads, not saying a word.
Their morale in this game had been like an elevator, rising and falling repeatedly.
Every time they finally mustered courage again, they would immediately be violently suppressed by Tendou.
Once could happen, twice could happen, but four, five, or even more times?
They had ultimately been broken by Tendou.
Rookie coach Aida Riko could only mechanically encourage her players not to give up.
But no matter what she said, in the face of an absolute gap in strength, everything seemed incredibly pale.
Logic told her that in the third quarter, it would be best to substitute Kagami out for some rest.
But based on their understanding of Tendou, as soon as they dared to do that, he would seize the opportunity to completely destroy Seirin.
So she didn't dare substitute Kagami out for rest.
A deep sense of helplessness crept into her heart. The last time she had played such a despairing game seemed to be during the national tournament against Kirisaki Daiichi.
...
Halftime quickly ended.
Returning for the second half, the situation hadn't reversed because of this.
And Kagami Taiga had quietly exited the Zone domain.
"He's exited?"
"It doesn't seem like his stamina was depleted. Could it be that he's planning to save his energy for the decisive moment?"
Tendou slowly dribbled to stand in front of Kagami.
He wasn't in a hurry to attack, instead using his Six Eyes to observe. He discovered that Kagami hadn't exited the Zone domain because his stamina consumption was too great to maintain.
This guy's stamina was indeed a bug-like advantage. You had to know, Kagami had maintained the Zone domain for almost an entire quarter of play, and could still continue competing—he was truly an iron man.
"Though this was somewhat expected."
"Don't think I'll give you any chance."
Dropping these words, Tendou suddenly exploded into action.
A breakthrough at ultimate speed, like Tendou's thunder piercing through.
In the blink of an eye, Kagami found that Tendou had disappeared from in front of him and appeared behind him.
"I can sense it instinctively, but my body can't react... so fast!"
Kagami turned around and defended with all his might.
This time, Kuroko didn't appear again—his pseudo Emperor Eye was useless against Infinite Void.
Not only had he failed to become Kagami's eyes, but in the third quarter, he had repeatedly been used by Tendou as an obstacle to block pursuit.
But if he didn't come to find Tendou, Tendou would actively seek him out...
"Dismantle!"
The moment the basketball bounced, Tendou suddenly whipped the ball away.
The ball shot through Seirin's defensive line like a bullet, reaching Hanamiya Makoto.
The bad boy caught the ball and immediately attacked, getting past Kuroko in one step and scoring easily.
"Seirin is finished!" Many people could see that the situation was absolutely unfavorable for Seirin.
After exiting the Zone, Kagami had lost his super wide-range defensive ability and could no longer cover for Kuroko's mistakes.
The current Kuroko was simply a defensive black hole—Kirisaki Daiichi scored every time they targeted him.
"Why doesn't Seirin substitute Kuroko out?"
"Who knows."
This was something many people couldn't understand.
In fact, Aida Riko had indeed considered substituting Kuroko out, but her heart still held hope that Kuroko could create miracles like before.
Perhaps this chance was infinitesimal, but at least such a possibility existed—other players didn't even have that slight possibility.
Seirin's offense.
Continuing with high-speed ball movement, Izuki Shun passed the ball to Kuroko, who didn't pause, immediately passing it to Kiyoshi Teppei.
But his presence was now crystal clear.
The moment Kiyoshi Teppei received the ball, Furuhashi Kojiro and Seto Kentaro formed a double-team.
Kiyoshi Teppei had no chance to score and could only pass the ball back to his teammates.
Seirin's offense had completely stagnated.
In response, Tendou scanned Kuroko's position with a glance, deceived Kagami, and suddenly pulled up from the three-point line to score.
After exiting the Zone domain, Kagami was no match for Tendou at all.
The point differential had unknowingly reached 20 points—Seirin had one foot off the cliff.
"Damn it, at this rate, we're going to lose again!"
Kagami roared unwillingly in his heart.
Having come this far with his teammates through so many trials and tribulations, after finally reaching this point, he was unwilling to end it like this.
Past scenes flooded in like a tide—all memories with his teammates since joining Seirin.
There was the joy of giving their all against the Generation of Miracles together.
There was also the heartbreak of defeat despite their best efforts.
He also remembered how Kuroko had given up hope of defeating Touou, only asking for a chance to advance.
Too much, too many memories.
He really didn't want to see his teammates cry again.
"Come on, Kuroko, don't give up!"
Just then, a loud roar suddenly came from the stands.
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