[You swing your sword with all your might, but the blade merely scrapes past the dragon's scales, striking sparks as it crashes into the ground.]

[Scarlet slit pupils flash with disdain, and scorching dragon breath mixed with sulfur rushes toward you.]

[A searing sensation instantly engulfs your vision, your HP plummeting like a breached dam.]

[Consciousness fades as the dragon's wings whip up a hurricane, sweeping your shattered weapons—and your hope—into the abyss.]

[System prompt: Mission failed. Would you like to use a resurrection stone?]

[——Yes or No——]

"Game over," Kozume Kenma muttered under his breath, his voice so soft it sounded as though he was afraid of waking some slumbering beast.

"Hm?" Kuroo Tetsurō turned toward him. Kenma's gaze was deep and distant, yet faint starlight shimmered at the bottom of his eyes.

"The game's over."

Kuroo: "..." That English phrase, at least, he knew.

-----

San Juan continued to serve.

BOOM!!!

Conte's serves had grown even sharper, the ball smashing off Hinata Shōyō's arm and flying out of bounds!

"I got it!"

Fernand sprinted after the ball, diving.

Smack!

He barely managed to get it back to the net.

It was Lucas again, leaping for the spike!

"The pressure is unreal…" Miya Atsumu looked at São Paulo's middle blocker with a gaze full of pity.

"Double block!" Taichi and Ramos jumped together.

"Is he going for a spike, or—"

Lucas hesitated for a second, then his eyes turned resolute. He aimed directly at Taichi's palm and swung down hard!

Whoosh!—

Taichi's arm instantly pulled back.

Lucas abruptly loosened his force as he swung.

Smack!

"Well thought out," Atsumu praised.

The ball's trajectory didn't change, but the adjustment prevented it from hitting Taichi's hands and flying out.

Smack!

Bruno, in the back corner, calmly received it and sent a perfect pass.

Oikawa jumped for a front-row set, and Taichi soared from the left side!

"Triple block!" Lucas, Fernand, and Yoandy all jumped together.

They couldn't stop him with height alone, but at least they could restrict his options.

BOOM!!!

The ball landed precisely on São Paulo's right-side three-meter line.

"Only focusing on Taichi won't work, you know."

Oikawa's surprise second attack scored directly!

[San Juan 22 - 18 São Paulo]

At this critical moment, São Paulo's problem wasn't just Kaedehara Taichi alone.

"Damn it, we're out of timeouts."

Despite calling a timeout earlier, they still couldn't change the momentum. In just a few minutes, São Paulo had completely fallen behind.

"Tweet!—" The whistle sounded.

Conte served his fifth ball!

BOOM!!!

Smack!!

Sanhos received it, but the pass was off.

Conte's serving power was finally starting to wane. Fernand quickly adjusted and set up the offence; all four São Paulo front-row hitters ran in.

San Juan's blockers were forced to spread out.

"Right wing!"

Taichi saw it coming but couldn't reach the set in time.

Yoandy leapt for the spike.

The ball slipped past Ramos's single block on the right and slammed onto San Juan's sideline, bouncing up.

So close!

Conte almost got to it.

Yoandy scored!

[San Juan 22 - 19 São Paulo]

Finally, São Paulo broke the serve and reduced the gap to three. On paper, they still had a chance to catch up.

"Conte—San Juan's former ace—his serves are something we have to pay extra attention to," Coach Suzaku said solemnly. Taichi and Oikawa could attack so comfortably during their rotations precisely because of Conte's high-quality serves.

Serve switch—São Paulo to serve.

Lucas launched a powerful jump serve!

Conte calmly received it, perfect pass.

Oikawa set it high to the left wing. Taichi jumped for the spike!

"Double block!" Yoandy and Souza jumped together.

—BOOM!!!

A clean, sharp straight-line spike smashed right by Lucas's feet and bounced away.

Kaedehara Taichi scored!

[San Juan 23 - 19 São Paulo]

Serve switch—San Juan to serve.

"Damn, San Juan's serving pressure is unreal…"

Oikawa stepped onto the service line.

All of São Paulo tensed, eyes fixed on that man at the backline with the carefree smile.

"Tweet!—"

The ball was tossed lightly and seemed to hang in the air for a moment.

Oikawa sprinted forward, leapt, and swung his arm lightning-fast—but he didn't use his full strength. Instead, he struck the ball's lower edge sharply with his palm heel.

—BOOM!!!

The ball flew toward São Paulo's court, but just as it crossed the net, it seemed to lose all momentum, wobbling and drifting down unpredictably.

"I got it!"

Originally, Yoandy had pulled back to help form a four-man reception pattern. But just from the ball's bizarre flight path alone, he could tell—Souza definitely couldn't handle this.

The ball had no spin, no stable arc, and drifted erratically side to side in midair.

Panicking at the call, Souza stepped aside. Yoandy sprinted forward, never taking his eyes off it.

Smack!

Yoandy lunged and reached out —

The ball hit his arm…

And flew out of bounds!

"How?!"

Smack!

Souza lunged and dove, twisting to save it one-handed!

The ball barely floated back into play.

Wallace jumped from the back row for a spike!

BOOM!!!—

—SMACK!!!

The ball slammed into Taichi's arm and bounced hard straight back into São Paulo's court.

"Old man, you seriously dared to swing on that?!"

Taichi's eyes narrowed, his gaze sharp and dangerous.

San Juan scored with a block!

[San Juan 24 - 19 São Paulo]

—"Even though São Paulo barely managed to receive Oikawa's mysterious float serve, they still couldn't break through Kaedehara Taichi's block!"

—"San Juan has reached 24 points first—they now hold five set points!"

The Brazilian fans' eyes filled with despair. From this vantage point, there wasn't a shred of hope left…

San Juan continued to serve.

Oikawa served again!

BOOM!!!—

Seamlessly switching to a powerful jump serve left São Paulo completely frazzled.

Smack!!!

Wallace barely managed to receive it, the pass flying off course.

Souza and Yoandy chased the ball together.

Smack!

Yoandy bumped it back into play. Hinata and Wallace both launched from the back row!

"Too obvious!"

Taichi and Ramos both jumped up, blocking right in front of Hinata.

"Double block!"

No space to swing!

Hinata's gaze swept the block and finally aimed for Taichi's fingertips.

"No change?"

The moment the ball left his fingers, Hinata put all his strength into it, trying to force it past. He believed—even if Taichi wanted to pull his hands back now, it was too late!

Smack!!!

Taichi didn't pull back. Instead, he pressed his wrists downward, palms shifting from a 45-degree upward angle to a flat, parallel position.

—Smack!

The ball seemed to crash straight into Taichi's palms. With nowhere to go, it changed direction sharply and slammed straight down onto São Paulo's court.

"Is it over?"

That suffocating difference in height…even aiming for a block-out was a luxury.

Hinata Shōyō and Wallace had both attacked from the back row, meaning there was no one covering behind them; Yoandy and Souza hadn't returned to the court yet, so it was impossible for them to save it.

"No, it's not over yet!"

"There's still a way to save this!"

"On the beach, no one covers up for my mistakes. I have to take responsibility for every single ball myself."

Smack!

As he landed, Hinata used his heel to pop the ball back up!

"It's here! Ninja Shōyō!"

"With incredible ball sense and unmatched stability, Hinata Shōyō saves the ball using his imagination!"

"There's more—he can keep going!"

Hinata glanced at Fernand, then immediately dashed left.

Maximising the court's width—a lateral run-up, then he leapt for a spike!

Thump!

Hinata planted hard with one foot behind the three-meter line, using the push-off force to fling himself to the net.

"Double block!"

Bruno's expression was one of utter shock. Block, defence, attack—this little guy was actually trying to perform all these high-intensity actions in a single rally!

He and Ramos, who had shifted over from the right to cover, both jumped.

"This is the same type of monster as Taichi!"

Whoosh!—

However, the ball flew toward the right wing—Yoandy, who had just returned to the court, jumped up!

"The strongest decoy…" Fernand muttered, "he lives up to the name!"

BOOM!!!—

—SMACK!!!

"Huh???"

The ball slammed hard into São Paulo's side of the court.

Kaedehara Taichi scored with a block!

[San Juan 25 - 19 São Paulo]

"Ah…I really shouldn't have held onto that tiny hope."

At the very moment he saw Kaedehara Taichi's arms, Yoandy realised this.

"Beeeeep—!" A long whistle echoed.

The third set ended.

Winner: CA San Juan.

-----

"Hinata doesn't only draw the opponents' attention. Even São Paulo's own players get so drawn to him they forget other threats," Miya Atsumu grumbled, resting his chin on his hand.

Ojiro Aran's jaw dropped. He couldn't say a word for a long while. Just now, his entire focus had been on Hinata; he hadn't even noticed what happened on the right side.

Even with a "god's-eye view," they still got tricked, let alone the players on court. Many players from both sides didn't understand how the match had suddenly ended. The stands were filled with fans like Aran, who all started buzzing noisily.

"Atsumu, you really underestimate Brazil's ace," a gloomy voice sounded from the row behind him.

"Huh?" Atsumu turned around irritably, glaring sideways at Sakusa Kiyoomi.

This guy—trying to pick a fight again!

"Yoandy didn't go for that spike because he ignored Taichi," Sakusa continued in a low voice, paying no mind to Atsumu's dumbfounded stare. "On the contrary, he saw Taichi move to cover the left side block and decided to spike."

"Cover the block?"

Atsumu frowned, replaying the scene in his mind. Indeed, Kaedehara Taichi had seemed to move toward the left.

"Even though that was just a decoy, in the end, Taichi stopped abruptly and turned back to block Yoandy's spike perfectly. The one who failed to notice that detail…was you, Atsumu." Sakusa's tone was calm, with a hint of mockery. "Of course, maybe you'll get lucky one day and beat Taichi using that same approach."

"Saku…sa…!"

"Sorry, Atsumu. Kiyoomi actually meant that as advice," Komori Motoya quickly stepped between them with an apologetic smile.

"Hmph. Not advice—this guy is just full of himself."

"Sakusa, shut up already!" If it weren't for Sakusa's extreme aversion to touch, Komori would have covered his mouth directly.

"Atsumu, the next set's about to start."

On the other side, Aran also hugged Atsumu to stop him from lunging.

"Calm down! Calm down!"

-----

The fourth set began.

CA San Juan's lineup:

Front row—Setter Oikawa Tōru, Middle Blocker Agustín Loser, Outside Hitter Kaedehara Taichi.

Back row—Outside Hitter Facundo Conte, Middle Blocker Martín Ramos (Libero: Santiago Danani) and Opposite Hitter Bruno Lima.

ASAS São Paulo's lineup:

Front row—Outside Hitter Luca Reilly, Opposite Hitter Wallace Souza, Middle Blocker Darlan Souza.

Back row—Middle Blocker Lucas Saatkamp (Libero: Sanhos), Setter Fernand Collin and Outside Hitter Yoandy Leal.

—"We can see São Paulo has swapped out Hinata Shōyō at the starting outside hitter position for Luca Reilly."

—"It seems that while Hinata performed well enough, they still needed a two-meter tall player to put pressure on Taichi at the net."

São Paulo served first.

Coach Rezende continued to trust Yoandy to start strong with his powerful serve—against a team like San Juan, they absolutely couldn't show any weakness in serving.

"Tweet!—"The serve whistle sounded.

Yoandy tossed the ball, ran up, leapt, and smashed it!

Even though São Paulo's last point in the previous set had been lost on his spike, his mind was clear and unshaken.

BOOM!!!

The ball hit Santiago's arm and popped high—an overpass!

"Cover it!"

The ball flew out wide to the right side, but Taichi chased it down and passed it back to the middle.

Loser leaped for a spike!

"Triple block!" Reilly, Wallace, and Souza all jumped!

São Paulo's full two-meter wall!

BOOM!!!—

—SMACK!!

Loser's spike was blocked and sent back.

Santiago dove, sliding to save the ball.

Smack!

The ball hit the tape and dropped; Taichi, who had just returned, barely managed to pop it back up with a kick.

Final attack—Bruno leapt from the back row for a spike!

BOOM!!!—

—SMACK!!!

The ball hit Wallace's hand and slammed into San Juan's court.

Two consecutive successful blocks!

São Paulo claimed the opening point of the fourth set!

[San Juan 0 - 1 São Paulo]

—"Sorry!"

Loser, Santiago, and Bruno all shouted at the same time, then looked at each other blankly. Failing to adapt at the net, failing to cover, or getting stuffed directly—each of them had something they hadn't done well.

"What the heck? A medal ceremony right from the first point?" Oikawa teased from the side.

"At least they admit their mistakes…unlike someone else," Taichi muttered under his breath.

"Taichi!!!"

"Don't worry about it. Next ball!" Conte encouraged calmly—he had gotten much better at timing his entry points now.

São Paulo continued to serve.

Yoandy served again!

BOOM!!!

Conte received it solidly—perfect pass.

Oikawa calmly positioned himself and jumped to set.

Whoosh!—

The ball flew high toward the right wing. Kaedehara Taichi soared for the spike!

"Triple block!"

"If they think a triple block can stop that guy…São Paulo is dreaming," Alexander, who had been silent for three sets, finally spoke up. "After all, neither Nizhnev nor we managed to stop this bastard."

—BOOM!!!

The ball flew high above the block and slammed hard into São Paulo's deep left corner.

A vicious high-hands cross-court missile.

Kaedehara Taichi scored!

[San Juan 1 - 1 São Paulo]

_________