"What an insane last few rallies, it seems both the Emperor of the Court, Kurai Vlast, and the Chameleon setter, Luca Menendez are pulling no punches against each other!"
"This is a battle of warriors and a battle of manipulators!"
Luca's eyes quickly narrowed on the court. The cool AC. the bright lights above. The referee blows the whistle. The crowd cheered. The flags waving above. Footsteps echoing around him. His heart raced in his chest. His eyes burned as the information filtered through his mind.
"I can see everything…" Strategies flowed through his mind. Images of teammates pulling off C-quicks and pipes. Kurai pulls off setter dumps and power serves. Sweat pours down his face like a waterfall. His breaths came in quickly.
"So this is what you see… Kurai Vlast…?" He watches as Kurai returns to the USA's bench. Suddenly, his head felt light as he stumbled a bit, almost hitting the floor. 'What the…?' He lifts his hand as it shakes slightly. 'When did I become so exhausted…?' Luca exhales and wipes the sweat from his eyes with the back of his hand.
"Luca!" Luca jumped a bit as Diego slapped him on the back.
"Come on man, it's a technical timeout, let's get back to the bench" Luca nods and wipes some sweat again.
"Okay" Luca follows Diego towards the bench as he deeply exhales. 'Is it really that physically taxing to even manipulate and predict the court to such a degree… I've only been doing it for a few minutes and I'm this messed up… Kurai does this the entire game?' Luca looks over at Kurai and takes a big deep breath to try and calm his heart.
"You're a monster, Kurai Vlast" Diego smacks Luca with a towel.
"He's a member of the Monster Generation for a reason, now dry yourself off already" Luca exhales.
"Yeah, sure"
A whistle blows as everyone walks back onto the court. Luca still breaths heavily as he stands at his spot on court. 'What's this…? Something feels… off' Luca takes a deep breath and looks up as Kurai walks onto the court, something about the way he walked was different. A powerful aura poured off his shoulders as he stepped up to serve. Luca gulps.
"Is he… in a state of flow…?"
Kurai's eyes flicker ominously, his irises were completely white as he caught the ball.
"Good serve" A whistle blows as Kurai catches the ball and running forward. 'No one at the back left of the court, that's where i'll hit it to then' Kurai slammed the ball over the net, placing it in the very far back left corner of the court as the crowd went wild. USA 9-6 Arg.
The whistle blew again as Kurai tossed the ball. 'Just as I thought, Luca can't read the game anymore like I can, so then I'll throw him off his balance' Kurai slams the ball over the net. Luca looks up as it comes right to him.
"I got it-" Diego suddenly appears and jumps in the way, receiving the ball. The ball loses momentum and hits the court right off Diego's arms as the crowd erupts in cheers, shaking the arena. USA 10-6 Arg.
Kurai takes a deep breath. Closing his eyes and lifting the ball over his face. A chill fills the air as Kurai opens his eyes. An overwhelming presence shakes the court with an eerie calm. Luca gulps as Kurai exhales. His pupils were pure white as an aura glowed off his blue eyes.
"Good serve" Luca's legs stiffened as he stepped back slightly. 'Calculate it! Calculate everything!' Kurai's feet were pointed left. His arms were low. Kurai's eyes followed the ball. The ball had a strong spin to the right straight from the serve toss. Kurai's runup was different. Wait… His runup is different, he started his runup with his left foot instead of his right foot!? What the- Suddenly, the ball was in front of his face. 'Fast-' Luca barely blanked as the ball suddenly curved sharply to the left. Luca stumbles back slightly. USA 16-11 Arg. Diego rushes over.
"Luca, are you okay??" Luca exhales as his eyes glow. A smirk spreads across his cheeks.
"Southpaw spin on top of the already fast monster serve of his… did he just serve…" Kurai rises to his feet, walking back to the service line, an aura of sheer power rising off him.
"With his non-dominant left hand!?" The arena shakes. Spectators jumping to their feet as a roar encircles the entire arena.