章 33: [33] Devour
"He's laughing? What's wrong with this guy?" Karasu muttered in disgust as he watched Shinichi laugh uncontrollably. "Still, this time you're really cornered, Shinichi!"
"Cornered? Don't overestimate yourself," Shinichi replied, his eyes gleaming with excitement as he raised his hand again.
"Again? Haven't I already told you, that's useless! This kind of meaningless struggle is pathetic!"
Karasu once again tried to knock Shinichi's arm away, but to his shock, Shinichi's arm felt immovable, as if welded to him.
A sudden surge of strength shifted Karasu's center of gravity, tearing open the supposedly sealed space with sheer force.
"He can still evolve? That's ridiculous!" Karasu shouted, trying to pull Shinichi back. But what happened next sent chills down his spine.
As he placed his hand on Shinichi's chest, Shinichi simply turned his body slightly.
Karasu's hand slipped off effortlessly, leaving him stumbling forward, completely out of defensive position.
"Despair," Shinichi said coldly, looking down at Karasu on the ground. "Everything you have… I've taken it completely."
With a smooth turn, Shinichi dodged Eita's interception. "Now… it's your turn."
'What's going on? Karasu's moves suddenly stopped working, and Shinichi's turning ability is back?'
Sweat dripped down Eita's forehead as he fixated on Shinichi's feet.
'I just need to stall him—stall until Karasu can get back up, and we'll still have a chance!'
"Have you seen enough? I'm starting now."
'Shut up! Don't try to distract me! He moved… a flick? Is he going for an aerial move? Wait… his heel? No… where is he?!'
For a brief moment, Eita realized Shinichi had completely vanished from his field of vision.
By the time he reacted, Shinichi was already behind him, taking possession of the ball and sprinting away.
Eita instinctively tried to turn and chase, but a sharp pain in his waist stopped him in his tracks, causing him to fall to the ground.
Helplessly, he watched Shinichi's figure surge forward, lifting his leg for a powerful strike.
Boom!
The resounding collision echoed across the field, announcing the sheer force behind the shot and sealing its fate.
Beep!
2:4 → 2:5
...
"That was incredible! First, he subtly lifted the ball, twisted his body while keeping it low, and used his heel to flick the ball past the opponent. Then, despite that awkward posture, he accelerated forward, recovered the ball, and immediately took a shot. That was nearly 30 meters, wasn't it?"
Anri couldn't help rewinding the footage, watching the play over and over. "Mr. Ego, wasn't that a world-class goal? But… his opponents seemed to underperform. Were they just too exhausted?"
"Completely wrong," Ego interrupted, pinching the bridge of his nose as if trying to soothe a headache. "I can't believe how thoroughly you misunderstood every part of what happened. For a moment, I even doubted if we were speaking the same language."
He sighed and continued, "That wasn't a case of unforced errors caused by fatigue. It was empathy."
"Empathy?" Anri blinked, confused.
"Exactly. Humans are empathetic creatures," Ego explained, adjusting his glasses.
"When playing a racing game, people instinctively tilt their bodies along with the car's movements. In movies, when the protagonist gets knocked down, viewers reflexively lean back in their seats. That's empathy."
"At the same time, humans are creatures that constantly seek progress. When they encounter a superior being, they instinctively yearn to improve themselves. Like seeing birds and wishing to fly, or watching fish and longing to swim freely in the ocean."
"And when these two traits combine, it results in what Kanzaki Shinichi is demonstrating now... Devour."
"De… devour?"
"Exactly. First, Shinichi uses his extraordinary talent to rapidly absorb the strengths of his opponents, effectively utilizing their weapons. That's the first step: copying."
"After copying their abilities, he takes it even further. By leveraging his superior physical attributes, he refines and enhances these skills, fully internalizing them. That's devouring, turning them entirely into his own."
"But… what does that have to do with devouring?"
"Sigh…" Ego let out a long, exasperated sigh, his patience clearly wearing thin, as if this single gesture was enough to convey his disdain for Anri's question.
"If it were just copying and internalizing skills, it wouldn't be that significant. After all, the entire purpose of Blue Lock is for these players to devour each other. We've seen several examples of this over the past few days."
"But Shinichi is different. His attributes surpass those of his opponents on every level. As a result, his internalization process isn't a case of peers learning from each other and adapting skills based on their own physicality, sometimes even degrading them. Instead, Shinichi—being superior in every way—optimizes those skills to a whole new level."
"Ah, so that's why you said humans are creatures that yearn for progress," Anri said, finally starting to understand. Ego nodded.
"Exactly. Their empathy allows them to mentally project themselves into Shinichi's movements, while their innate desire for improvement drives them to instinctively mimic what he does. But…"
"Shinichi's physical superiority makes such mimicry impossible. Instead of improving, they end up losing even their original stability."
"It's like a master playing a song on your instrument. When you try to mimic it, you realize your technique completely falls apart. That's Shinichi's Devour. He presents his opponents with the cruel reality: 'I can effortlessly become a better version of you, while you can't even imitate me.' That glaring disparity destroys them."
"What's even more tragic," Ego continued, "is that Shinichi doesn't even alter their techniques significantly. His optimization is purely a result of his physical superiority—he can turn faster, take more actions in the same amount of time, and execute every move more precisely."
"His enhancement doesn't leave his opponents with any insight to evolve themselves. If you lack Shinichi's physicality, you simply can't replicate his actions. There's no alternative solution. It's like a math problem: if you can't solve it, you can't solve it. Period."
"Ah, so that makes him… invincible?" Anri asked, her tone a mix of awe and concern.
"Don't be naive. There's no such thing as an invincible ability in this world. If it seems invincible, it's simply because the person using it is overwhelmingly strong," Ego replied bluntly.
"Take Shinichi's ability, for example—it has its limitations. If the opponent's corresponding attribute surpasses his, Shinichi can't optimize it, and the ability fails to work."
"For instance, look at this match's opponent, Eita. Shinichi mimicked his movements almost identically, particularly his continuous turns to evade defenders."
"However, Shinichi's core strength far surpasses Eita's, allowing for deeper bends and sharper twists. Eita, influenced by Shinichi, tried to exaggerate his own movements and ended up pulling a muscle."
"But if Eita's core strength were on par with Shinichi's, he'd be able to replicate those movements without issue. Then there's someone like Aryu, whose abilities rely entirely on static physical traits—such as his unique reach. Those traits can't even be copied, let alone optimized."
Ego adjusted his glasses, his tone growing colder. "Still, as long as someone is weaker, Shinichi's Devour will consume and destroy them completely…"
"Such a… relentlessly egoistic weapon," Ego muttered, rubbing his temples. "What a shame. I'd almost prefer he hadn't realized it. Just now, he was right on the verge… only one step away from breaking through completely."
"That level of focus… such a pity. It was shattered by the joy of achieving his immediate goal. And Karasu couldn't hold out just a little longer."
"The method of burning one's life to become the world's greatest striker… Kanzaki Shinichi, I'm growing more and more eager to see the day you enter FLOW."
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