CHAPTER 506: 1

Alex sat at his workbench. He was building a stadium out of balsa wood.

"Balance," Alex whispered. "Strong foundations. Flexible heights."

Mark sat next to him. Mark was not building a bridge. He was building a tower of Jenga blocks. It was very tall. It was wobbling dangerously.

"I AM THE ARCHITECT!" Mark shouted. "LOOK AT MY SKYSCRAPER! IT REACHES THE MOON!"

"Mark," Mr. Lloyd said. "That is a game, not a project. And it is about to fall."

"It will never fall!" Mark insisted. "It has the spirit of a champion holding it up!"

Mark pulled one block from the bottom.

The tower swayed. It leaned left. It leaned right.

Crash.

The wooden blocks fell all over the desk. They made a sound like a tackle.

"TIMBER!" Mark yelled. "THE SKY IS FALLING!"

Maya was at the next desk. She was soldering a circuit board.

"Structural failure," Maya said without looking up. "The center of gravity shifted beyond the base of support. Inevitable collapse."

"It was sabotage!" Mark whispered to Alex. "The wind blew it over! Someone opened a window!"

"The windows are closed, Mark," Alex said.

The bell rang.

Alex packed his bag.

Structure. Balance. Tension.

It was the perfect lesson for tonight.

Champions League. Semi Final. First Leg.

Arsenal vs Manchester City.

The Emirates Stadium.

It was the English Civil War played on the European stage. Guardiola vs The Dynasty. The Machine vs The Artists.

Alex walked out to the car park.

Milo was waiting.

Milo was dressed as... a Bricklayer.

He was wearing orange overalls covered in white dust. He had a trowel in one hand and a bucket of cement in the other.

"BUILDING THE FUTURE!" Milo shouted. "ALEX! I AM THE CONTRACTOR! I AM SELLING BRICKS! NOT JUST ANY BRICKS! THESE ARE LUCKY BRICKS! PUT ONE UNDER YOUR PILLOW AND YOU DREAM OF TROPHIES!"

"Milo, that is a normal red brick," Alex said. "It will break my bed."

"IT IS A FOUNDATION STONE!" Milo yelled. "ONLY TWENTY POUNDS! DELIVERY INCLUDED!"

They drove to the stadium.

Steve, the manager, was waiting in the dressing room. He looked intense.

"Manchester City," Steve said. "They are the ultimate structure. They pass in triangles. They move in shapes. They want to dismantle us brick by brick."

He looked at the team.

"They have Haaland. The Wrecking Ball. If he hits our wall, we must not crumble."

He looked at Alex.

"Professor. You are the Keystone. The piece that holds the arch together. If you break, the whole thing falls."

"I will hold," Alex said.

The Emirates Stadium.

The atmosphere was heavy. It was not a party. It was serious.

Alex stood in the tunnel.

Kevin De Bruyne stood next to him. The City captain. The Architect of Manchester.

De Bruyne looked calm. He looked like he had already played the game in his head three times.

"Hello Alex," De Bruyne said.

"Hello Kevin," Alex replied.

"I saw your goal against Newcastle," De Bruyne said. "The scoop. Very creative."

"Creativity breaks structure," Alex said.

"And structure contains creativity," De Bruyne smiled. "Let us see which one wins."

The whistle blew.

The game started.

City played like a machine.

Pass. Move. Pass. Move.

Rodri to Stones. Stones to Foden. Foden to De Bruyne.

They built attacks like they were building a house. Layer by layer.

Arsenal chased them.

In the fifteenth minute, De Bruyne got the ball.

He did not look up. He knew where Haaland was.

De Bruyne hit a cross. It was a perfect curve.

Haaland was running. Saliba was holding him.

Haaland was too strong. The Wrecking Ball.

He smashed Saliba aside. He volleyed the ball.

Goal.

Zero one. Manchester City.

The away fans cheered. Blue Moon.

"They are too strong!" Rico yelled. "They are made of steel!"

Alex stood in the center circle.

He looked at the City formation. It was rigid. It was perfect.

"Mr Lloyd was right," Alex thought. "If the tension is too high, the bridge snaps."

City were tense. They were holding their shape too tightly.

"Mark!" Alex shouted. "Be the wind!"

"I AM A HURRICANE!" Mark screamed.

Arsenal restarted.

Alex stopped playing safely. He started taking risks.

He invited the City press.

Rodri came to tackle him.

Alex waited. He felt the pressure.

He spun.

He played a pass through the legs of Rodri.

The structure cracked.

Alex ran into the gap.

He saw Mark making a run. But Walker was tracking him.

Alex saw Rico.

Rico was standing still.

Alex passed to Rico.

Rico flicked the ball into the air.

He did a bicycle kick pass.

It was madness. It was art.

The ball flew over the City defense.

Mark ran onto it.

He was one on one with Ederson.

Mark did not shoot. He panicked.

He tried to stop. He stood on the ball.

He fell over.

But as he fell, his foot pushed the ball.

The ball rolled slowly past Ederson.

It hit the post.

And stopped on the line.

"NO!" Mark yelled from the floor. "PHYSICS WHY!"

Ruben Dias cleared it.

Halftime. Zero one.

"We are close," Steve said in the dressing room. "Their structure is shaking. They do not like the chaos. Bring more chaos."

He looked at Alex.

"Professor. De Bruyne is the Architect. You must demolish his plans."

"I will steal his blueprints," Alex said.

Second half.

The game became faster.

Arsenal attacked. City countered.

Sixtieth minute.

De Bruyne had the ball. He was looking for Haaland.

Alex read the eyes.

Alex intercepted the pass.

He stole the blueprint.

Alex drove forward.

He ran past Rodri. He ran past Bernardo Silva.

He was the Wrecking Ball now.

He saw a gap in the City defense.

It was small. A tiny window.

Alex hit a pass.

It was not to Mark. It was not to Rico.

It was to Declan Rice.

Rice was running like a train.

He collected the pass. He smashed it from thirty yards.

BOOM.

Top corner.

Goal.

One one.

The Emirates exploded.

Rice slid on his knees. The noise was incredible.

"Foundation!" Alex shouted. "Power!"

The game was tied.

But City were champions for a reason. They did not panic.

They rebuilt.

Seventy fifth minute.

Foden dribbled through the box. He shot.

Ramsdale saved.

The ball bounced to Haaland.

Haaland shot.

Gabriel blocked it on the line.

"Hold the wall!" Gabriel screamed. "Do not let it fall!"

Eighty fifth minute.

Five minutes left.

Alex had the ball deep in his own half.

He looked up.

He saw the City high line. They were pushing for the win.

He saw Mark.

Mark was on the halfway line. He was jumping up and down.

"LAUNCH ME!" Mark yelled. "I AM A ROCKET!"

Alex calculated the trajectory.

Distance. Wind. Drag.

He hit the ball.

It was a long, lofted pass. It went into the night sky.

Mark turned.

Walker turned.

It was the race of the century.

Mark engaged the thrusters.

He ran.

He got to the ball first.

He touched it with his head. He pushed it forward.

He was free.

Ederson came out. He was far out of his goal.

Mark looked at the goal.

He looked at Ederson.

Mark remembered the Jenga tower.

Balance.

Mark stopped running.

He chipped the ball.

It went high. It went slow.

Ederson jumped. He stretched his fingers.

He missed it by an inch.

The ball floated. It seemed to hang in the air for an hour.

It dropped.

It bounced once.

It bounced twice.

It settled in the net.

GOAL.

Two one. Arsenal.

Mark ran to the crowd. He stood still. He put his arms out like a statue.

"I AM THE MONUMENT!" Mark screamed. "LOOK AT ME!"

Alex ran the length of the pitch. He hugged Mark.

"The tower stands!" Alex laughed. "You built it!"

"I am a genius builder!" Mark shouted. "I used cement shoes to kick it!"

The final whistle blew.

Arsenal 2. Manchester City 1.

They had beaten the Machine.

Alex fell to the grass.

De Bruyne walked over. He looked tired.

"You broke the design," De Bruyne said. "You play with chaos."

"Life is chaos," Alex said. "We just organize it."

Milo ran onto the pitch. He was wearing a hard hat that was too big for him.

"THE FOREMAN!" Milo screamed. "WE BUILT THE VICTORY! ALEX! THE LONG BALL! I AM SELLING BLUEPRINTS TO THE STADIUM! OWN A PIECE OF HISTORY! I DREW THEM MYSELF ON A NAPKIN!"

"Milo, get off the site," Alex laughed.

"SAFETY INSPECTION PASSED!" Milo yelled, tapping his helmet.

They walked into the dressing room.

The team was singing.

Alex sat down. He checked his phone.

A text from Maya.

"Structural integrity analysis: 100 percent. You withstood maximum pressure. The counter attack velocity was optimal. Also, Mr. Lloyd says your balsa wood stadium collapsed in the cupboard. You used too much glue."

Alex smiled.

"Too much glue," he whispered.

He looked at the team.

They were stuck together. Like glue.

Rico was dancing with Saliba. Mark was trying to balance a water bottle on his head.

They were a strange structure. A weird building.

But they were strong.

They were the Dynasty.

"Class dismissed," Alex said to the empty locker next to him.