Dynasty Awakening: Building My Own Football Empire-Chapter 265: Samurai

Everyone couldn’t help but follow the ball as it curled into the net with terrible beauty.

"Fuck!" Vladimir Petrovic cursed, kicking the Anfield turf in frustration.

’How could I let him cut inside onto his left foot... the one thing the Boss warned me about...’ he admonished himself, his massive shoulders slumping into a depressed state.

The Liverpool players waltzed around the corner flag celebrating as the Anfield crowd roared like a jet engine.

One of the assistant coaches, a nervous man named Gary, spoke up to Michael Sterling, "Kaito has already run 11 kilometers. His hamstring is gone. Should we replace him?"

Michael Sterling didn’t answer right away, watching on as the Japanese winger’s body language told him all he needed to know. Just as he was about to signal to the fourth official, he saw Diego Nunez and Mateo Vega both head up to Kaito and talk to him.

Despite being Misfits, both Diego and Mateo seemed to be more mature than the others for some reason in this moment. Diego seemed as if he was channeling a gladiator with his intense stare, while Mateo felt steady as an artist looking at a blank canvas. It was as if they had already weathered terrible storms and understood that pain was just a color.

Seeing Kaito perk up a little after being talked to, slapping his own thigh, Michael shook his head. "We can’t abandon our Samurai. We’re only at the 70th minute."

"B-But Liverpool has just taken the lead. If we concede anymore goals we might lose the game and the momentum." Gary rebutted, his face filling with worry and clutching a clipboard.

The Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk stepped up to the halfway line next, his face filled with a smile. He’d just seen the Barnsley winger limping, filling him with confidence that the right side was now a dead zone.

"Come on Kaito! You’ve got this."

"Run like the wind!"

"Let’s go! One sprint at a time."

The Barnsley squad called out words of encouragement one by one from the pitch and the bench, causing a smile to tug on the corner of Michael Sterling’s lips. He turned to Arthur Milton and pointed to the team on the field.

"Not even our players are giving up on the Samurai. How do you expect me to replace him now?"

"Ah..." Arthur couldn’t respond, nearly choking on a green jelly baby. Perhaps he had been too hasty to agree with Gary about the substitution at this time when even the players had faith in him.

Kaito’s eyes flashed with determination, the voices of his peers filling him with strength that defied medical science. He adjusted his purple socks and faced down the wing towards Andy Robertson. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"I just need to be a zigzag... Just like Boss said." He murmured.

ZOOM

"Foul!"

"Whoa that one had some speed on it." Jean-Pierre commented from the VIP box, glancing at the stats monitor. His gaze was focused on the top right corner which had the word "velocity" written with two flashing numbers.

The other two scouts with him were also staring at the same thing as if they were waiting for the machine to break.

"36 kilometers per hour? That’s almost Mbappe speed!" Jean-Pierre called out in shock, almost not believing his eyes.

Yet when he looked again, he could still see the red numbers which clearly read 36.2.

"How many sprints has that boy made so far?" Jean-Pierre asked one of his colleagues.

One of the men tapped a few keys on his tablet and responded a moment later, "That should be his 24th high-intensity sprint this game."

"Let’s put a bid in now. Before the price goes up to 100 million." Jean-Pierre said, making a few frantic notes in his phone.

"Nice run!" Kenji was the first to call out from the Directors’ Box, spilling a little more champagne. He was insanely impressed by the speed at which his investment had just moved.

"Play on!"

"Block!"

"Clear!"

"Pass!"

With his renewed determination, Kaito seemed to have risen to a level in which he had never reached before. Spurned on by Diego and his other teammates, his runs were like literal lightning bolts as they burst their way past the Liverpool press.

Michael Sterling turned to Arthur and let out a smile. "Just remember, we’re here to guide the chaos in the right direction. As long as someone still has fighting spirit and is capable, we should do our best to support them."

"Yes Boss." Arthur nodded, feeling as if he had learned a valuable lesson about management. This was also Anfield, substituting the fastest player at such a juncture would also likely have an effect on the team’s morale.

"Nice work Kaito. Don’t worry about the hamstring, we’ll get new legs for you next week." Michael shouted to Kaito during a throw-in.

"Mmm. I’m counting on the physio." Kaito said, leaning over to catch his breath. Since it was the Premier League, players burned through their stamina quickly. This was especially true for the winger who was the one doing the most running against Robertson.

Kaito took a few swigs of water and calmed down his breathing. His gaze was on Mateo Vega who was preparing to take the throw-in and restart the attack for Barnsley.

Mateo was all fired up, spinning the ball in his hands like a magician and scanning the field. Once the signal was given, he calmed down significantly and looked for an option.

In truth, he was upset with his performance thus far in the biggest game of the season. His first two attempts at a killer pass were intercepted by Van Dijk and Fabinho, something unfitting of the ’Painter’ of Barnsley.

He stared at the pitch with determination, nothing else in his mind except for painting a masterpiece and getting the ball to the striker.

THUD

The moment he threw the ball, Mateo kicked off the turf and bolted towards the return pass. The ball flew towards the midfield in the space between the center-backs and the defensive midfielder.

Since he had been thinking as fast as possible, Mateo decided to flick the ball first time and sprint towards the box, much to the surprise of everyone on the field.

"THROUGH BALL!"

The Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson called out towards his defense, calling for them to step up as soon as possible.

Mateo locked eyes with Victor Osimhen and could see the hunger in his eyes as he made the run to beat the offside trap.

"ARGH!"

Victor threw himself forwards and slid along the wet grass on his stomach as fast as he possibly could, getting his toe on the ball a fraction of a second before Alisson arrived.

"Goal!"

But the flag went up.

"Offside!"

The stadium groaned. The away fans held their heads.

But Michael Sterling didn’t sit down. He saw something. He saw fear in the eyes of the Liverpool defense.

"They are scared," Michael whispered. "The robots are scared of the chaos."

He looked at the clock. 82 minutes.

"Time for the kitchen sink," Michael said, unbuttoning his suit jacket. "Arthur, tell Diego to go upfront."

"What? But Boss, who will defend?"

"Nobody," Michael grinned. "We don’t defend anymore. We attack."