SWNOVELXO Chapter 7: Chapter 7: A Storm of Rivals
Chapter 7: A Storm of Rivals
The wind screamed across the rooftops of the Ego Training Tower as Rudou stood beneath the flickering lights of the rooftop helipad. His breath misted in the cold Tokyo night, and his mind echoed with one phrase over and over:
> "Only one of you will ascend. The other… will be erased."
He gripped the edges of his training gloves tighter. The Ego System had stopped pretending this was just football. This was evolution. This was extinction.
Below him, a new challenge was already preparing to begin.
---
6:30 AM – Command Deck, Ego Central
All players were summoned early to a briefing none of them expected. A full match wasn't the next stage. Instead, it was something called The Rival Trials—a gauntlet of individual duels, each one designed to test their identity, adaptability, and ego.
The digital display rotated slowly in the room's center, showing 11 groupings of two players each.
Rudou's name blinked next to a name he didn't recognize:
> [RUDOU KAGEMORI vs. SHIRO YAMATO]
Takumi raised his eyebrows. "They're pairing us with outsiders?"
"No," Rudou said. "I've heard that name before. He was Rank 1 in the Osaka Ego Lab."
That changed everything.
---
Match 1 – Rudou vs. Shiro Yamato
Shiro stood across the indoor pitch in silence. His short white hair swayed slightly with each movement, and his black eyes never blinked. No greetings. No words. Only football.
The whistle blew.
Shiro charged first—fast, but clean. No wasted motion. Rudou mirrored him, but Shiro seemed to read every move like a book.
In three minutes, Shiro scored.
> [System Alert: YOUR EGO IS BEING OUTMATCHED]
[Instinct Drop Detected – Countermeasures Required]
Rudou didn't panic. He activated Savage Mode.
Now the style changed. Rudou stopped dodging and started colliding. He pressed high. He risked losing the ball to scare the opponent.
Shiro faltered.
On the seventh minute, Rudou feinted wide, then cut inside brutally and slammed a knuckleball into the upper net.
> [Mirror Goal Scored – Savage Mode Bonus Active]
1–1.
The last five minutes were chaos. Shiro adapted. Rudou adapted harder. In the final seconds, Rudou intercepted a low pass, turned on instinct, and volleyed a strike without aiming.
It went in.
Victory.
> [Result: WIN]
[Ego Points +14]
[Trait Awakening 12% → 15%]
[Status: Savage Control Unlocked – Boost Without Mental Penalty]
Rudou exited the pitch, sweat pouring, and looked at Shiro for the first time.
Shiro nodded. Just once.
Respect.
---
Match 2 – Takumi vs. Hoshio Kenta
Takumi's rival had a different flavor—Kenta was loud, fast, and unpredictable. But Takumi was more than that now. He was chaos incarnate.
The game was a dance. Tricks, flicks, misdirection, feints into feints. Takumi used nutmegs as weapons and tempo shifts like daggers.
But when Kenta pulled off a rainbow flick into a diving volley, Takumi felt the heat.
He smiled.
> "Nice," Takumi whispered. "Time to turn up the volume."
He started using the field like a chessboard. Off-the-ball movement. Angles. Triangulation.
He made Kenta chase shadows.
> [Result: WIN]
[Ego Points +11]
[Trait Fusion Detected: Chaotic Maestro Lv.2]
---
Midnight – Private Room 44
Later that night, Rudou and Takumi stood side by side in the simulation room.
They had both won.
But the Ego System had sent another hidden message—only to them:
> [TOP TWO WINNERS WILL ENTER THE "PHANTOM ROUND"]
[NO CAMERAS. NO OBSERVERS. ONE-ON-ONE MATCH IN FULL FIELD]
[PHANTOM ROUND BEGINS IN 5 MINUTES]
Rudou looked at Takumi. Neither spoke.
They entered the private dome.
---
Phantom Round – Rudou vs. Takumi
There were no lines. No audience. Only silence. The ball lay at the center.
> [Timer: 15 Minutes. No Referee. First to 3 Goals or Highest Score Wins.]
Takumi grinned. "You ready to go full out?"
Rudou's expression was steel.
"I've been waiting."
The game exploded instantly. Both players dropped their filters. Every move was lethal. Every sprint, every shot, every challenge was with full intent.
They weren't friends in that moment.
They were monsters clawing toward a single throne.
Takumi scored first—a backheel flick after baiting Rudou into overcommitting. Rudou equalized with raw power—a shoulder barge to steal and a brutal shot from outside the box.
They clashed again and again.
2–2.
Time ticking down.
Final minute.
Takumi went for a curve shot—but Rudou predicted it. He didn't block it.
He stole it mid-swing.
He ran.
Takumi chased. Fast. Desperate.
But Rudou had changed. He didn't look back.
With two defenders in his path, he launched himself through a diagonal sprint, then chip-shot the ball over an invisible keeper.
3–2.
Game over.
---
Post-Phantom Room
They lay flat on the ground, backs to the synthetic grass, barely breathing.
"That was…" Takumi gasped.
"…perfect," Rudou finished.
> [Phantom Round Complete]
[New Ego Mode Registered: Phantom Instinct (Locked)]
[You Two Are the Only Survivors of Phantom Phase]
[Ascension Trial Approaching – 8 Matches Left]
---
Elsewhere – Ego Research Tower, Level -7
In a room of monitors and glowing data streams, Kaguro Rin watched the playback.
Behind him stood two unfamiliar figures. One tall and thin with a fox-like face. The other broad-shouldered with eyes like a hawk.
"Those two…" the fox-faced one muttered.
Kaguro smirked.
"They're the closest we've ever come. But only one can wear the crown of Ego."
He tapped the screen.
"Start preparing the Ascension Gate."