At this point, the Evil Dragons team had played all their cards. Team leader Nash had already been going all-out against Tendou for several minutes.

The result? Dragon Slayer Sword collectively exploded in these final ten-plus minutes.

This back and forth dealt a heavy blow to the Evil Dragons' morale. Nash no longer even had passing options.

Pass to whom? They would all face fierce defense from Dragon Slayer Sword anyway.

From the moment these kids entered the Zone domain, the balance of power between both sides had been shattered.

Nash could only steel himself and attempt to defeat Tendou head-on. But the level Tendou displayed after entering Zone was far beyond what he had shown before.

His 10% improvement wasn't just a simple 10%! His gaze was like a torch, his Six Eyes emitting azure light like whirlpools that seemed capable of drawing people in.

Nash was forced to throw the ball out again. Because he simply couldn't get past, couldn't tear through Tendou's defense - this wasn't an opponent he could defeat.

Just like those teams and players he'd encountered during UC's scrimmages. He couldn't defeat them, couldn't dominate the court like he had in high school.

"Smack!" Tendou turned sideways and extended his arm, knocking down Nash's pass.

At this moment, he didn't even have the mind to look directly at Nash. He violently pushed past Nash, picked up the ball, and threw it out.

The basketball quickly crossed the center line to Aomine's hands in the frontcourt. The Touou ace jumped directly near the free-throw line, caught the pass in mid-air, and slammed the ball into the net.

There was no chance left. The game had almost become Dragon Slayer Sword's showtime.

"Beep~"

Amid the boiling cheers of the on-site audience, the referee blew the whistle ending the third quarter.

At this point, the score had become 86-67, with the Evil Dragons trailing by a full 19 points.

Nash returned to the bench and kicked a chair flying with one foot. The Dragon Slayer Sword players were dealing with them in their specialty way, continuously shattering their pride through one-on-ones.

"Little Tendou, here you go~!" As Tendou came off court, Momoi immediately handed him a towel.

The little girl's love for Tendou in her eyes couldn't be hidden at all.

"Thanks, Momoi." Tendou sat down to wipe his sweat.

At this time, Aida Kagetora came over and told him to rest for the fourth quarter.

With a 19-point lead, even Aida Kagetora dared to be confident.

"Alright, I'm tired too." He had played the entire first three quarters, logging 30 minutes and scoring a game-high 37 points.

And at the most crucial moment, he had withstood Nash's counterattack, never letting the Evil Dragons see hope of winning.

Those millions spent were so worth it! Especially after witnessing Nash's terror - without Tendou, Aida Kagetora really didn't know where he could find someone to go head-to-head with Nash.

...

The intermission quickly passed, and the fourth quarter began immediately. Right from the start, Akashi assisted Murasakibara for an alley-oop score.

Perhaps because the score gap was too large, even Jason Silver had no mind for dirty play, just wanting the game to end quickly so he could leave this cursed place.

Nash did take advantage of Tendou's absence to chase back some points.

"If you weren't here, the game should have been quite exciting." Takao actively struck up conversation with Tendou, even making a joke.

For the first three quarters, with Tendou constantly containing Nash, Takao couldn't tell the difference.

Now suddenly without Tendou's containment, the gap was too obvious - Nash was like a dragon entering the sea.

Facing Dragon Slayer Sword with almost all members in Zone domain, Nash could still fight them evenly, even chase points.

This monster's strength was terrifyingly powerful. He couldn't imagine what this game would have become without Tendou.

"This is why you guys can only compete for runner-up." Tendou smugly put on sunglasses.

Hearing this, Wakamatsu Kousuke, Hyuga Junpei and others all looked like they'd been struck by lightning.

These two years, Kirisaki Daichi and Tendou had really brought them too many bad memories, extinguishing their championship dreams.

Momoi watched their embarrassment and secretly giggled. She even added insult to injury: "Should be that they can't even get runner-up - it's all been taken by Akashi-kun and Rakuzan."

Damn! What a plant!

Speaking of this, Takao and the others felt even more helpless. This year's national tournament bracket was also very disgusting - Kirisaki Daichi and Rakuzan were placed in different halves.

This led to two consecutive years where the national championship game was between Kirisaki Daichi and Rakuzan.

And according to previous years' rules, they would still be placed in different halves for the Winter Cup - if you couldn't beat them, others could only compete for third place.

It was too much bullying!

While chatting and laughing, the game had progressed to the final 5 minutes. At this point, the Evil Dragons still trailed by 15 points, meaning Nash had chased back 4 points during this period.

Seeing this situation, even the Evil Dragons had given up. Because they saw that comedian was about to enter the game to finish it.

Tendou substituted for Midorima, finally assembling five different colored lightning bolts.

Seeing this, the Evil Dragons felt their heads grow a size bigger.

"Beep~~~"

As the referee blew the whistle again, this highly anticipated revenge battle finally came to an end.

Dragon Slayer Sword lived up to expectations, defeating the Evil Dragons by 22 points.

"We won, we won!"

"We beat the Evil Dragons, Uncle Aida's life is saved!"

Hyuga Junpei was as happy as if he'd saved his own father's life. This made Aida Kagetora, the daughter-obsessed father, instantly look extremely sharp.

This hateful four-eyes wouldn't have some ulterior motive toward his daughter, would he! He'd definitely have to watch him carefully in the future!

"Roar!" Thunderous applause erupted from the venue.

Fans who had been holding back for a week released all their emotions at the moment the game ended.

Tendou stood in the center of the court, surrounded by his old Teiko teammates. The young men looked at each other and all smiled, welcoming teammates rushing out from the bench to celebrate this "hard-won" victory.

Nash's face was ashen as he led his players directly off court - he didn't want to stay here for another minute.

Aida Kagetora keenly caught his movement and quickly walked over, making him apologize in front of the entire arena and national audience.

The Evil Dragons captain looked at the TV reporters pulled over by Aida Kagetora and the microphone thrust in his face, gave an extremely perfunctory apology, then left the arena with a wave of his hand.

The venue erupted in enthusiastic cheers once again.

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