NOVEL WEB Chapter 25: chapter 25
The Ones Who Defy Fate
Some players follow the path. Others carve new constellations across the sky.
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Morning – Recovery Room, Bayern Training Facility
The hum of soft machinery and the steady rhythm of my breathing fill the room.
I sit cross-legged on a therapy mat, the sunlight slanting through the tall windows of the Bayern recovery wing. My ankle is wrapped in heated gel; my calves rest over foam rollers. Electro-pulses tap into my thighs and back—restoring the fire inside my body.
I stare at the ceiling, mind racing while my muscles stay still.
Five days.
Five days until our next match.
My body feels like a blade—almost sharp again, almost whole. But not yet. No Meta-Vision. Not at full burn.
Not yet.
But...
At the next match...
I will...
"Even a sword in its sheath reflects the sun."
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Scene Shift – Bayern Player Lounge, 14:00
I sit with Alexis Ness and Femi in the lounge, watching the live stream on the holo-projector.
The match:
Paris x Gen (PXG) vs Roma.
The long-awaited clash.
Aloe Dybala vs Julian Loki.
All around us, players crowd in—Grim, Tanaka, even Kron, arms crossed with silent eyes. No one says a word. This isn't entertainment.
This is a glimpse of the future.
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Kickoff – 00:00
The match begins in eerie quiet—like a chess game played by two gods.
PXG lines up in an ultra-aggressive formation, their entire forward line brimming with pace and arrogance. Juilan Loki stands out even among them—his presence radiant, his speed already on edge before the ball is even passed.
Roma responds with poise. Aloe Dybala doesn't move at first. He watches. Eyes narrowed. The prince of prediction.
> Ness whispers beside me, "This is the battle of what can be seen… versus what must be felt."
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08:45 – The First Strike
The ball zips through midfield. Loki makes his move.
Flash.
Acceleration so fast it bends the camera angle. Step left.. passed.. slow down half speed 95kmh....change direction dash 170kmh.. zigzag move like wind using, forced open spaces..
He disappears between Roma's double pivot midfielders—like warped sound through cracked glass—and emerges on the wing. Cut inside. Step flick. Feint. Turn.
165kmh
Gone.
The fullback falls. A gasp rolls through the lounge.
Boom
170kmh dash
Inside the box, Loki glances once—just once.
Bang.
210kmh kinetic shot
GOAL.
1:0 for PXG.
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Commentator:
> "AND JULIAN LOKI BREAKS THROUGH! The sheer velocity is unreal. He didn't just move faster—he moved ahead of SPACE!"
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Reaction Shot – Me
I exhale. Cold sweat on my palms. I feel it—not fear, but urgency. The stakes aren't waiting. They're coming.
And I'm watching from a couch.
> "No more sidelines."
If he can do that without his flow skill.. then how far will he be.. when he does...
17:00 – Roma Responds
Aloe Dybala shifts his stance.
No panic. No speed. Just... calculation.
Roma recycles play again and again, dragging PXG's press across the pitch like a fishing net. Then, with a snap—a diagonal ball into an empty channel.
The defenders blink.
And there he is.
Aloe Dybala, gliding into the vacuum he created with his own pass seconds earlier. Time folds inward. and a flash of many out comes play in his irises, then it all returns to normal
> "It's not vision," Ness mutters.
"It's time reading."
He moves his body 3 seconds before they move , it's like his path has been written in the stars long ago then...
Dybala lifts a slow, floating cross. It seems too soft, too high. And distortions flow around it..
Then a midfielder crashes the box from nowhere, connects mid-air—
BOOM.
GOAL.
1:1
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28:00 – 44:00
The game spirals into something transcendent.
Loki runs like a divine wind—cutting past defenders as if space rejects their mass.
Dybala drifts like a god of silence—each touch a whisper toward fate.
Their playstyles are opposites.
One folds space forward.
The other folds time around his teammates.
But what I see…
What I really see…
Is the war underneath.
And what I will have to beat
Halftime – Lounge Silence
The score is tied. But every player in the lounge looks like they've aged years just watching.
Even Grim—normally unbothered—whispers, "How are we supposed to stop that?"
I stare at the screen.
> "We don't stop them."
"We surpass them."
Scene Shift – My Dorm Room, Late Night
Alone again.
The lights are off. My laptop glows softly in the darkness. A USB drive spins on my finger—Alina's father's parting gift.
I insert it.
On the screen: raw training footage. Kaka. Sae . Dybala. Bunny.
But one video stands out. Titled:
"Unknown vs Itoshi Sae – Practice Match, Underground Facility."
I click.
And I see Bunny.
Moving like he's not human.
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Flashback – Bunny vs Sae
Even with Sae at peak destruction flow—pink-black fractals painting the air around him—he looks like a blade clashing against the sea.
Bunny without using Flow.
Pass. Flick. Lift. Jump. Trap in mid-air. Spin. Stall.
Sae tries to contain him.
He can't.
Then the move.
Backflip heel.
Seven feet in the air.
Eyes closed.
Heel to ground. Bounce. Nutmeg.
Sae turns, breathing heavy.
Bunny stares back with something inhuman in his gaze.
> "I wanted you to know the feeling of wanting to die... even when you're happy. To beg for escape from joy."
Then Bunny bows.
Like a god who just spared his opponent's dignity.
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Flashback Ends
I sit still.
Hands shaking.
> There are levels beyond what even rankings can measure.
Dybala. Loki. Bunny.
All of them.
Giants.
But I am not here to worship titans.
I'm here to surpass them.
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Closing Lines – Internal Monologue
Tomorrow, I return to full training.
No restrictions. No simulations.
War begins again.
The team we face next? I don't know.
But whoever it is...
They're going to meet the version of me I've been building in silence.
> The storm that rewrites skies.