8mi Chapter 276: Broken Stage(2)
Chapter 276: Broken Stage(2)
The second quarter became a nightmare. Colossus did not slow down at all. They played Breakball in a simple way, but with so much speed and power it was crazy. The girls kept looking surprised. They could not keep up with how fast everything was happening.Cross grabbed the ball and passed it hard to Seth. Seth touched it just enough to send it flying to Kael. The ball moved around the court faster than anyone could run to stop it. The Baby-Boom team was always a little too late, like they were half a second behind.
Kael shot an easy three-pointer. Then, on the next play, Hall drove and dropped it to Vex for a simple layup. Then Seth cut straight through the lane, scored, and even drew the foul.
Rei called for a timeout. The girls sat on the bench, breathing hard. Their jerseys were completely wet with sweat. Some subs came in to give Aiko and Hina a break, but it did not help. It actually got worse.
The subs could not deal with Cross’s full-court press. They lost the ball two times before they could even get past the middle line.
Nash crossed his arms, frowning is as he watched Seth move around the court. Seth was not doing anything flashy, nothing like Nash did in his own games. But the way he played was scary because it was so efficient.
Nash felt something heavy settle in his chest. He had been acting too proud lately, too confident. Improving, beating teams, thinking he could become the best.
But now, watching Seth, Nash understood something. There were real monsters out there who had spent years mastering every little part of the game. If Nash’s own team, Blacklist, were on the court instead of Baby-Boom, the result would not be much different.
Jaz, Alicia and Nia were strong, but this kind of perfect teamwork would break them apart. They were just not ready yet.
Victoria leaned forward slightly.
"This is really bad. They’re getting destroyed. This is the opposite of what we wanted. How are we supposed to use them if they look worthless after this?"
Nash raised an eyebrow, thinking for a bit.
"In a way... this actually helps us."
Victoria fowned.
"Helps us? Are you serious? We need them to look like stars so sponsors get excited when we sign them. Right now, they look like jokes. This wasn’t the plan."
Nash exhaled.
"It wasn’t the plan... but the plan has changed. Remember what I told Hector at dinner? I said Baby-Boom was a joke. That they were useless. If they won tonight, they would think the girls had value. He’d make any attempt to buy them worthless and Monique would hold onto them."
He paused, watching Seth make another smooth pass.
"But getting crushed like this proves exactly what I said. It shows Apex that these girls are worthless. That makes it way easier for us to buy them. And of course, no one will know it’s us."
Victoria didn’t move at first. She stared at the court, thinking. The annoyed look on her face faded, replaced by something more thoughtful, then, more calculating. She adjusted her sunglasses and leaned back.
"I get it," she said, crossing her arms. "Good idea. I didn’t see it that way, but it makes sense. It’s actually smart. If we let them fail completely, they... Yeah. I don’t care if they score another point. I even hope it gets even worse. Their total destruction is exactly what we need."
Nash forced a small smile.
"Come on... those are your future players you’re talking about."
While Nash and Victoria were rooting for Baby-Boom’s annihilation, a few rows behind them, Jinzo sat perfectly still. He had moved just close enough to hear everything.
His breath caught, his eyes widened as he realized what he was hearing.
The first half wrapped up on that heavy note. On the scoreboard, the horror of a total execution: Colossus 64 – Baby-Boom 12.
And it was only half-time.
The locker room door closed behind them, and just like that, the crazy loud noise from the court, screams, whistles, shoes squeaking, all of it got cut off. Inside, it was dead silent. Like, seriously quiet. For a long time, nobody moved.
The girls were spread out on the wooden benches, their eyes empty as they stared at the dirty floor tiles. They were all in shock. Fifty-two points down by halftime? Even Blacklist hadn’t wrecked them this badly.
Aiko was curled up in the far corner, her face buried in her arms. Her usual bouncy twintails looked flat now, sticking to her sweaty jersey. Her fingers kept clenching and unclenching on her knees, like she was trying to grab something that wasn’t there. Next to her, Kai leaned against the lockers, pressing an ice pack hard against her ribs. Her breathing was shallow, and her face was way too pale.
Rei stood in the middle of the room, her jersey soaked, her skin marked with bruises from all the brutal screens Vex had thrown at her. As the captain, she knew she had to say something. But when she opened her mouth, nothing came out. She was just... empty. Totally wiped. How do you fix an offense when everything you practiced for months gets crushed like it was nothing?
"Wow..." Hina whispered, her voice small and shaky, nothing like her usual bubbly self. She stared at her sneakers, her chest rising and falling with every breath. "That was... I don’t even know what that was."
Miko pulled off her glasses with trembling fingers, wiping them with her towel even though they weren’t dirty. Her sharp eyes, usually so focused behind the lenses, looked blurry now, like she was holding back tears.
"We can’t get past them," she muttered. "We can’t... we can’t win. It’s impossible. They’re always one step ahead. We’re just... we’re screwed."
"So what do we do now?" Kai croaked, shifting the ice pack with a wince. "Go back out there and let them drop another sixty on us? Is it gonna get even worse?"
"We just... gotta lock down the paint," Rei said, but even her didn’t believe in her words.
Inside, Rei’s mind was spinning. This game was wrecking everything. Nash’s whole plan, their big strategy, was to put on a show tonight, like every night. To make the crowd fall in love with them. That was supposed to be their power move, their ticket to make Apex powerless when they’d join Blacklist.
But right now? The crowd wasn’t watching a game. They were watching a massacre. If this kept up, people would just see them as pretty faces who couldn’t handle real Breakball. They were ruining everything.
"Lock down what, Rei?" Aiko snapped, finally lifting her head. Her face was red, her eyes burning. "Vex doesn’t move from the rim! If I try to pass inside, Cross steals it! If I try to shoot, Seth blocks my view! There’s no plan! We’ve got nothing!"
Silence fell again, heavier than before. They all looked at each other, searching for an answer, a trick, anything... but nothing came.
Then the warning horn blared through the walls. Slowly, the girls stood up, their legs feeling like lead as they shuffled toward the tunnel. It felt like walking to their own execution.
And it sure was.
The second half started with this weird, heavy feeling in the air, like everyone in the arena suddenly realized they were watching something kinda sad. All those loud betters who’d been shouting earlier? They shut up real quick, shifting in their seats like they didn’t know where to look. Up in the stands, Nash just crossed his arms, and Victoria didn’t say a word either, both of them staring down at the mess happening below.
Down on the court, things were bad, really bad. The Baby-Boom girls moved like their bodies were made of wood, stiff and slow, like they’d just figured out they were never getting out from under Apex’s thumb. They were trapped, and you could see it in the way their shoulders slumped.
Mistakes kept piling up, Miko totally whiffed an easy pass, Hina forgot to guard her opponent during a switch, Kai just stood there like a statue, and Rei? Poor Rei got shoved right off the block by Vex without even lifting a foot. The crowd winced. It was obvious, they’d given up.
Except for Aiko.
She was everywhere, teeth gritted, breathing like she’d just sprinted a mile, refusing to back down even a little as she stuck to Seth like glue.
The Colossus captain stopped dribbling, palming the ball lazily as he looked down at the tiny point guard panting in front of him. He tilted his head, almost amused.
"Why are you trying so hard?" Seth asked, like it was a genuine question. "You’re just making us work for no reason. Shouldn’t you just let the clock run out like your teammates?"
"Shut up!" Aiko snapped, her eyes wet and furious, voice cracking from how tired she was. "I’m not quitting! Never!"
Seth didn’t say anything for a second. Then—bam!—he moved so fast it was almost unfair. A quick crossover, a sharp step, and Aiko’s ankles just... gave up. She went down hard, the court smacking against her knees before she face-planted onto the wood.
From the floor, gasping for air, she looked up just in time to see Seth glance down at her, completely calm.
"Determination doesn’t mean anything here," he said, stepping over her like she was nothing. "Stick to singing for idiots who care. Leave Breakball to people who actually know how to play."
And just like that, he was gone, dodging Hina with a shrug, slipping past Rei like she wasn’t even there, and scoring like it was the easiest thing in the world.
After that? Seth took over completely. It was like Aiko’s stubbornness pissed him off, and now he wanted to make her regret it. He stole a pass, sprinted the whole court, and slammed the ball so hard the backboard shook. Then he tossed two perfect passes to Kael, who sank them from way, way downtown. The score kept climbing, 84-14, then 102-18, like some kind of sick joke.
Through all of it, Aiko was the only one still fighting. Every play, even when her legs burned and tears ran down her face, she kept thinking about Nash. About how much she wanted him to see her, and since he had promised, he would always watch her games.
Her dream was fulfilled, he would see her... but not like this, not losing like some pathetic loser. She couldn’t let it end like this. She had to be better.
So she tried one last stupid, desperate move, faking left before driving right, but Seth wasn’t fooled. He slapped the ball away, leaving her stumbling as he took off toward the basket. The last thing Aiko saw before she hit the floor again was the big white number on his back, getting smaller and smaller as he flew toward the hoop.
On the bench, Monique just fanned herself slowly with that stupid gold fan of hers, watching the disaster with cold eyes.
"Stupides... quelles bonnes à rien.1" She muttered.
Then the buzzer screamed, finally ending the slaughter. The girls stayed frozen, sitting on the floor or slumped over the benches, staring at the bright red numbers shining on the ceiling.
Colossus 114 – 22 Baby-Boom.
TL: "Idiots... what a bunch of good-for-nothings."