Facing Kagami who had entered the Zone state with his normal form, and not falling behind much—many people understood what this meant.
"Is the gap really that large?" Alex felt a pang in her heart.
First Himuro Tatsuya, now Kagami Taiga—both of her disciples had been thoroughly dominated by Tendou.
On the court.
With Kagami's offensive potential fully unleashed, Seirin's offense had finally opened up.
In the one-on-one matchup against Tendou, aside from the opening Meteor Jam, Kagami had successfully scored on all three subsequent attacks.
On the other hand, Tendou had been held to 2 out of 4 shots.
For Tendou, such performance clearly didn't match his status as the nation's strongest high school player.
Yet people didn't think he was weak because of this—instead, they were even more amazed.
After all, he was competing against the Zone domain in his normal state.
What was the Zone domain?
A true genius realm that could fully unleash a player's potential.
After experiencing the national tournament, people had reached a conclusion: only Zone could compete against Zone—this was an absolute truth.
Yet today, Tendou was contending with Kagami who had entered the Zone domain using his normal state, and his 50% shooting percentage wasn't low at all—in fact, it could be called ridiculously high.
What was the usual scenario when ordinary players faced the Zone?
Forget about scoring—they couldn't even pass the ball properly. They were completely helpless.
The fact that Tendou could still score left people's jaws dropping.
"Although Seirin is gradually closing the gap right now, at this rate, they still won't be able to catch up!"
Aida Riko saw this clearly and felt anxious inside.
The Zone was great in every way except for its massive drain on stamina.
Even if Kagami could persist through the half, or even play through the entire third quarter, Seirin still couldn't win.
Because by that time, Kagami's stamina would definitely be depleted.
And without Kagami, Seirin would be like fish on a chopping board.
On the court.
Tendou held the ball, challenging Kagami Taiga's defense.
The super wide-area defense eliminated any possibility of open shots.
"Since awakening the Six Eyes, this feeling has been so long missed!"
Tendou's lips curved slightly upward as he engaged in incomprehensible high-speed combat with Kagami.
He hadn't played such a game in a very long time—he could always dominate his opponents, including Akashi and Aomine.
"This guy doesn't take Kagami seriously at all," Hyuga Junpei gritted his teeth.
Tendou's demeanor was excessively composed, making them uneasy.
Having completely mastered the Zone domain, he showed no intention of entering it, as if he were playing with Kagami.
"Rather than playing with Kagami, he's more like testing his own limits," Kiyoshi Teppei felt that Tendou was doing this deliberately, testing his own boundaries.
He had guessed correctly.
Tendou indeed wanted to know how far he could go when confronting the Zone in his normal state.
He hadn't forgotten that in the movie version, even when facing the Jabberwock team that had entered the Zone domain, Nash from the opposing team could still wreak havoc.
That was a true genius of this world.
"If Nash can do it, so can I!"
Thunder Flash!
Five changes!
Tendou shouted internally, moving with the ball like a demon dancing wildly.
His heaven-defying speed allowed him to change positions five times in the blink of an eye, successfully breaking into Seirin's paint.
"Don't think you'll succeed, Tendou!"
Kagami roared as he charged over, pressing step by step.
Tendou didn't turn his head, but his vision overlooked the entire court like a giant god.
Then, he found Haizaki who had retreated beyond the three-point line.
"Dismantle!"
With a whisper that no one noticed, Tendou forcefully passed the ball to Haizaki.
It wasn't that no one noticed—Kagami had keenly grasped his movement, but was powerless to stop it.
A three-point shot was beyond even Kagami's reach, outside his defensive range.
"Swish!"
Haizaki hit a step-back three-pointer.
'This is too abnormal!'
'It's over, Seirin can't possibly win.'
'He's not even losing when facing Kagami's strongest state in normal mode. If he goes all out, wouldn't Kagami get completely destroyed?'
'Definitely, didn't you hear them say? Tendou is testing his own limits.'
'Are all people with the surname Tendou this arrogant? Clearly capable of winning easily, but insisting on testing their limits?'
'Are you referring to how Tendou doesn't power up before fighting monsters?'
'Exactly! Give me that cast-off already!'
The audience was shocked by Tendou's dominance.
Clashing head-on with the Zone in normal state—in the entire series, only Tendou could achieve this.
Some fans even joked about "Tendou not powering up."
Kagami clenched his fist and immediately took the pass from his teammate, sprinting toward Kirisaki Daiichi's basket.
Tendou widened his eyes, staring intently at Kagami Taiga, the monster instinct within him constantly telling him how to play.
"Right side!"
He captured information from the future and suddenly swung his hand toward the right side.
There, Kagami had just lowered his shoulder to drive.
But before Tendou could knock the ball away, Kagami suddenly dribbled again and completed another change of direction.
As if afraid of missing the opportunity, Kagami surpassed Tendou by half a body length and pulled up for a jump shot.
Tendou turned and leaped, extending his left arm with full force, but was still half a beat too slow. The ball almost grazed his fingertips as it flew into the net.
"Swish!"
Kagami's mid-range shot went in, making it 4 out of 4.
"Still a bit short," Tendou looked at his hand. "But he can't stop me from scoring either."
Clashing head-on with the Zone didn't seem to be such a simple matter.
In his current normal state, he probably wasn't Nash's opponent either.
He wasn't discouraged, because when Nash appeared, he was already a college student.
Tendou was three to four years behind in development time. He was confident that if he reached the college level, he would definitely surpass Nash's current level.
If Nash was the genius of this era with championship-level potential, then his own potential would only be higher than Nash's.
...
The game became intense.
Although Tendou's one-on-one efficiency against Kagami wasn't high, he could score through creating opportunities and assisting teammates.
The Seirin players obviously didn't want to waste Kagami's explosive period, so they all spread out to the perimeter, leaving all paint defense to Kagami.
This had a good effect, but they shouldn't forget that Seirin was still trailing by double digits.
At their current scoring pace, by the time they tied the score, Kagami's stamina would also be depleted.
What awaited Seirin was still a dead end.
Mitobe Rinnosuke on the bench made a gesture to his coach.
Koganei Shinji translated for everyone: "He says at this rate it'll be bad, we need to think of something."
"Of course I know that, but besides this, what other options do we have?" Aida Riko was so anxious she was almost in tears.
Right now, they were like racing against time.
They had to quickly tie the score and then take the lead—only then would they have hope of winning.
Kirisaki Daiichi's offense.
Tendou dribbled frantically, engaging in lightning-speed confrontation with Kagami.
Their clash was dazzling and mesmerizing, their figures constantly crossing as the pace of offense and defense accelerated.
"I can't do it, damn it!"
Seeing that the score gap couldn't be closed, Kagami began to feel anxious inside.
He had already sunk to the bottom of the lake—his condition couldn't improve any further. This was currently the best he could achieve.
Yet he still couldn't stop Tendou.
"At this rate, we'll lose again!"
"Please don't give up, Kagami-kun!" Just as Kagami was getting agitated, Kuroko suddenly emerged from behind him. "Let me become your eyes."
Huh?!
Tendou's advancing motion stopped as he suddenly created distance.
His Six Eyes had already predicted Kuroko's intervention.
"The Emperor Eye, is it?"
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