Prince of Tennis: The Emperor's Eye

"Is this really Tezuka Zone?!" Chitose, although he knew Tezuka had a move called 'Zone', was seeing it for the first time. This level of ball spin and control, he knew he couldn't match.

But Chitose got fired up, started aiming the ball at all sorts of angles, sometimes using Kamikakushi, but every shot without exception was drawn into the vortex of Tezuka Zone. Tezuka himself always stayed in the center baseline, returning every ball pulled into his zone. Facing the Zone, Chitose didn't have much of a solution; his mastery of spin shots couldn't compare to Tezuka. Soon, he started to fall behind.

"15-15"

"15-30"

"GAME! Tezuka Kunimitsu! 1-0"

Tezuka used the Zone to break Chitose's serve right away, while everyone watching outside the court was left speechless. This kind of tennis was way beyond their level.

"Why does Chitose keep hitting the ball right to Tezuka? Isn't he throwing the game?"

"That's not it. I saw Chitose aim to the left, but the ball curved after crossing the net. It's wild."

"I kinda saw a vortex around Tezuka—like the ball got pulled right in."

"This is just too much. How does this even work?!"

The club members really couldn't figure out how Tezuka was pulling this off. While they were all talking, a voice suddenly sounded behind them.

"That's Tezuka Zone. By controlling the angle and power of his spin, Tezuka forces his opponent's returns to follow a certain spin and centripetal force, so all the balls are drawn back into Tezuka's Zone!" Akashi, wearing his jacket, slowly walked to Court 1 and explained the Zone to everyone.

"Hello, Captain!" The group immediately bowed a little when they saw Akashi.

Akashi waved his hand, telling everyone to keep watching, then looked at Chitose and quietly said, "So, Chitose, how will you deal with Tezuka's Zone?"

It was Tezuka's turn to serve. The ball, loaded with special spin, flew toward Chitose's court. Chitose, just like the last game, tried every way to crack the Zone and finally found that if he used extreme reverse spin at the moment of returning, he could disrupt the pull of the Zone a little.

But Tezuka noticed and added even more spin to his shots, making his control of the Zone even stronger. Chitose didn't give up, fighting for every point with everything he had, but just couldn't break free from the Zone's grip.

"GAME! Tezuka Kunimitsu! 2-0"

"GAME! Tezuka Kunimitsu! 3-0! Change courts!"

Very quickly, Tezuka took three straight games, not giving Chitose any room to breathe. At this rate, he was definitely aiming for a 6-0.

Over on Court 2, the match had a totally different vibe. If Tezuka vs Chitose was all about spin technique, Tachibana Kippei vs Akutsu Jin was just wild.

The group watching on Court 2 looked nervous, staring at all the flying balls and Akutsu's freaky movements, scared they'd get caught in the crossfire.

Right now, the score was 3-2, Tachibana Kippei in the lead by one game. But he wasn't having an easy time—Akutsu's bizarre movement patterns kept him on edge.

"Abare Dama!"

With a loud shout, Tachibana Kippei's shot split into a dozen shadows, all blasting toward Akutsu's court. Akutsu, after getting hit by this move a few times, finally caught onto its weakness.

Akutsu completely ignored all the ball shadows, instead staring at the ground, focusing on the fast-moving black dot. Suddenly, like a hunting leopard, he dove to the right side of the court, then jumped and smashed the ball hard, his whole body twisting in midair.

"Not bad, Akutsu! Looks like I can't hold back anymore!" Tachibana Kippei laughed as he ran to the drop point, seeing Akutsu return his killer move.

As he ran, Tachibana's aura suddenly changed—dark red energy exploded from his body, and his speed shot up. He had awakened the aura of a beast.

He caught up to the ball, jumped, gripped the racket with both hands, and smashed a powerful backhand. The ball zoomed over the net toward Akutsu's left side—Jackknife!

Ever since losing to Krauser, Tachibana Kippei had worked hard, followed Akashi's training tips, and finally mastered this move.

Akutsu saw the ball coming, immediately sprinted to the right, but found he was just a bit too slow. His right leg suddenly powered down, left leg straightened, his whole body tilted crazily to the right, and his right arm stretched out just a bit more—finally, the tip of his racket blocked the ball's path.

But because Akutsu wasn't fully ready, he couldn't focus all his strength. His racket and the tennis ball clashed for a second, then the racket flew out of his hand and the ball shot out of bounds.

"GAME! Tachibana Kippei! 4-2"

After releasing his beastly aura, Tachibana Kippei managed to secure another hard-fought game. Akutsu picked up his racket and swung at the air, venting his frustration.

Meanwhile, over on Court 3, Krauser was way ahead—right now the score was 5-1.

In the first game, Kite relied on his newly-developed Big Bang Serve and held his serve against Krauser. But after Krauser got used to it, it stopped working.

With his all-direction Shukuchihō, Kite managed to grab a few points in the next games, but overall, Krauser completely dominated. Even though Kite had a lot of talent and was improving fast, he still wasn't on the same level as a national-tier player like Krauser.

Back on Court 1, Tezuka and Chitose's match was still going, but the momentum had shifted. The score was now 4-1.

Chitose had entered the Muga no Kyōchi, and compared to over a month ago when he fought Akashi, the white aura around him was much thicker. He was clearly on the verge of unlocking the secret techniques behind the door. With the power-up, Chitose managed to force Tezuka's Zone to falter and scraped out a game.

But when Tezuka saw Chitose's Muga, he activated his own—and not just any Muga, but one of the Three Doors: Hyaku Ren Jitoku no Kiwami. A rainbow magma-like glow wrapped around Tezuka's left hand, making his returns even more powerful, faster, and heavier. Chitose just couldn't keep up and kept losing points.

"GAME! Tezuka Kunimitsu! 5-1"

The match quickly came to match point for Tezuka. Chitose stood on the baseline, ready to serve, his Muga aura wild and unstable. Suddenly, the white flow of Muga energy all gathered at his head, then his whole body was covered in the same seven-colored light as Tezuka, and starlight sparkled around his hair.

"Three balls!"

Chitose suddenly blurted out these words. Everyone around was confused, not understanding what he meant. Some even wondered if Chitose had lost it after losing so badly.

But Tezuka's face turned serious, because he could sense the same kind of aura from Chitose now—no doubt about it, this was the power of the secret techniques of Muga.

As Chitose's serve crossed the net, Tezuka smashed it back with his own Hyaku Ren Jitoku no Kiwami. Chitose rushed to the net and sliced the ball at a 45-degree angle, instantly killing all its spin. The ball barely cleared the net, brushed it, bounced a few times, and stopped moving.

"15-40"

The trick was, after Chitose sliced and the net disrupted the ball, all the spin vanished. Tezuka, still waiting at the baseline, didn't react in time and lost the point.

"What?! Seriously? It really was three balls! Did Chitose just predict exactly how the game would go?"

"That's gotta be a fluke, right? But Tezuka's returns were suddenly super strong just now. Chitose missed a bunch of them."

"Are these guys even human? Is this even tennis anymore? What's happening?"

"That's Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami. Using the power of Muga, he speeds up his brain's calculations and instantly simulates the flow of the match, predicting exactly which point he can win," Akashi explained to everyone. "As for Tezuka, he used Hyaku Ren Jitoku no Kiwami, gathering all his energy in his left hand to double the power, spin, and trajectory of every return—one of the three ultimate secrets of Muga."

"This time, nine balls!"

Chitose made another perfect call, and just like he predicted, he won the point on the ninth shot.

"30-40"

"GAME! Chitose Senri! 5-2"

"GAME! Chitose Senri! 5-3"

"GAME! Tezuka Kunimitsu! 6-3! Match over!"

Chitose grabbed two more games using Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami, but he'd burned too much stamina earlier and lost to Tezuka in the end.

The other matches wrapped up too: Tachibana Kippei won 6-4, and Krauser won 6-1. That ended the first round of today's ranking matches—Tezuka, Tachibana Kippei, and Krauser each earned a point, while Chitose, Akutsu, and Kite got none. Everyone waited for the second round to begin.