How I Became the Strongest Sovereign

Two weeks had passed since the Anomalous Dungeon clearance and I had returned to school. The school had formed a Basketball team and our first game was with our so called rivals Hebrion Academy. They had a team of prodigies, all aged 15 and older; they were so good that most players were scouted by national teams to play for them.

I had no intention to play Basketball for Xanxus academy but the retired hunched assassin offered me a good deal. 

"If you play for the Xanxus Academy, you're allowed a 2 week leave whenever you want." 

That was the offer he proposed to me. It didn't sound so bad, so I accepted; I didn't have to play extraordinarily well. I just had to blend in with the others.

"Oi Eye patch! Why aren't you in line?!" The coach shouted at me, as I watched the team members get in 3 lines for a 3 man weave. 

"I think we should talk about team strategies more instead of doing these pointless drills. Look at the other team - Hebrion Academy. They're discussing tactics right now; our team is going to be clueless when we face off in 5 minutes." I replied.

The coach's wrinkled face went beet red as he roared in anger, "Am I the coach or are you the coach?! Get up and give me 50 Suicides."

I sighed, getting up and running from one end of the court to the other. 50 Laps? Was that meant to be a punishment? 

After 3 minutes, I finished my 50 suicides and looked at the coach's annoyed face, as he realised I was not tired one bit. In fact I looked in better shape than before I began running. 

"Okay you 5 get in a team and the rest of you go sit on the benches." He ordered strictly.

The coach was a short 5 ft 4 man with a round belly and receding hairline. I didn't know where Xanxus had found him but he was one of the worst coaches I had ever met. 

He had no management skills, no tactics, no nothing; this team was bound to fail.

Our School team consisted of a lot of taller and older kids from the 5th and 6th year. That made me one of the younger ones on the team but I was personally submitted via Xanxus's recommendation.

Also being a part of the disciplinary committee, most of them had a bad taste towards me. A lot of the older year kids were involved in gangs, so they hated me and what I represented.

"Don't get in the way. You hear me." A towering 6 ft 6 guy brushed his shoulder past mine, but failed to move me. He looked back at me in annoyance before getting to his centre position.

"I'll be Point Guard." I said, but the rest of the older kids laughed.

"I'm the point guard newbie. You can just sit there and look nice. We're going to do this without you." One of the kids with a mohawk snickered, earning some chuckles from the other guys on my team.

'I think we should kill them all and parcel their heads to each of their parents.' Voad commented.

'As appealing as that sounds, they're just kids. I'm just going to put up with them for now.'

The blow of the whistle silenced the court and the tip off occurred.

The ball went to the opposing team and the crowd around the court went wild with screams.

"You got this Zeref!" Malia and Naz also came to the game, which was being hosted at Hebrion Academy. 

The other team juggled the ball around, passing it from one player to the other until they passed through the 2 arrogant tall guys defending the net and scored. 

"Oi! Newbie! What are you doing?!" The 6 ft 6 guy yelled at me but I shoved him back away from my face. 

Our attack began and all our players spread out across the opposing team's court. 

"I'm open!" Modrik, the 6 ft 6 guy called for the pass, but as soon as the ball left the point guard's hand, the ball was intercepted by the enemy team and they scored another point. Like that the ball was overturned over 5 times.

I kissed my teeth at these idiots' stupid plays.

"Oi Newb-"

Before he could say anything to blame the poor plays on me, Modrik stopped in his tracks as his gaze met mine. I let my bloodlust leak a bit, making him sweat. Gulping, he avoided my gaze before getting his head back into the game.

"Come on Zeref!" Malia and Naz yelled from the sidelines.

"Pass me the ball." I said, but I was being ignored. They all ignored my command and began their nonsensical plays again. 

They hadn't even passed to me once. 

The point guard took a 3 pointer but the ball bounced off the rim.

"Sh*t! Get the rebound!" He yelled. 

Modrik went up for the rebound but somehow was bested by the other centre, who was more athletic than him.

'What are these idiots doing? This is embarrassing!' Voad moaned, as we had just conceived another bucket.

The ref blew the whistle and that was the end of the first quarter.

"What the f*ck are you guys doing out there. It's 20 - 0!! 20! Get your heads in the game! And you! You're not even contributing!" He snapped at me, making my blood boil. 

'I say we kill them and feed their chopped up carcasses to S rank beasts.' Voadhailis growled. His comments weren't making the situation better. 

Sitting down on the bench, I put a towel over my head and took in deep breaths.

The point guard budged past the other team mates, before slapping the towel off my head.

"We're losing because of you! You useless trash!" he yelled, about to punch down at me. Surprisingly, Modrik jumped in his way grabbing his arm, he looked at my face gulping, before taking his friend away.

"Okay break is over. Get on that Bloody court and do something. You 2 switch out for the 2 skinny, lanky two on the benches." The coach pointed with his chubby fingers. He didn't even know our names. This team was diabolical.

I stepped back onto the court, cracking my neck.

"We're starting." Modrik said calmly.

The game began again and they began passing the ball around. This time instead of getting passed to, I intercepted my own team mate's pass. 

"Hey-"

Leaping up into a jump shot, I sunk a 3 pointer with a clean swish. The crowd cheered as we had finally scored a bucket.

The point guard with the mohawk kissed his teeth, in annoyance.

"Next time pass to me." I ordered, getting back to defense.

With our first bucket I managed to change the tempo of the game. The scores were now 27-12. They still had over double our points but that could be caught up easily.

The opposing team began marking me with 2 defenders; these 2 were extremely athletic and I was struggling to shake them off. 

Luckily, my team mates weren't completely useless and managed to score buckets even without my help.

"Pass." I demanded. The kid with the mohawk reluctantly passed to me. 

Leaping up into a jump shot from our side of the court, I released the ball at the apex of my jump; the ball travelled in a perfect arc, before spinning through the centre of the rim.

The crowd cheered at the spectacular shot and I could see the coach from the side of my eye, wide eyed in shock.

The other team looked at me stunned like they still couldn't fathom what had just happened. 

**

Final quarter of the game. The scores were 89-94. We were 5 points behind, with exactly 2 minutes left before the end of the game.

I was tired from the constant running, the coach wanted to sub me off but I insisted on playing. Without me, this team would lose by a milestone. I did end up scoring 63 of our points by myself.

I dribbled the ball, momentarily looking at the rim and fake shooting; the defender on me leapt up fearing that I would make another 3 pointer. I drove past him doing an euro step before finishing with a reverse layup.

The opposing team kissed their teeth in annoyance.

"We need to intercept this one." I said and all of them nodded in understanding. They finally quieted down from the high seats of their egos and respected my skill.

The captain on Hebrion Academy's team was the second best player on the court after me. He was shifty with his dribbling and his 3 point shots rarely missed; he was a dangerous sharpshooter.

Therefore, I chose to mark him. 

He smiled at me like he was having fun. Doing a couple crossovers and behind the backs, he failed to drive past me. Instead he faked a shot before jumping into a 3 point shot.

Cr*p!

I reacted a tad bit too late and jumped up to block it. Luckily, the tip of my finger touched the ball altering its perfect route to the hoop.

It rebounded off the backboard and Modrik successfully was able to get the rebound. 

"Zeref!" He yelled, throwing the ball to me with force.

I smiled, jumping up and releasing my unlimited ranged shot…

-Swish!

The crowd roared and leaped up from their seats as the game had come to a tie. 

We could still win.

I focused every ounce of energy into this last play, revitalizing and energizing every cell in my body with mana. I could sense the opposing team also using small hints of mana to strengthen themselves.

"Here they come!" Modrik shouted, getting into a defensive position.

Erasing my presence, I swiftly skated around behind opposing players and my own players before going in for the steal from behind.

"How did yo-"

My hands gripped themselves around my hands as I drove towards the opposing basket.

"Don't let him score!!!" The hebrion Academy's Coach yelled in frustration. The remaining players rushed behind me as the time on the clock timed down.

Leaping up, I did a tomahawk dunk grabbing onto the rim. 

Crack!

The rim snapped from the backboard, as it came down with me in my hands. 

"WE ACTUALLY WON!!!" The Xanxus Academy spectators rushed onto the court in happiness in joy. 

This was the Xanxus Academy's first ever win against Hebrion Academy.

'That's our side of the deal, done. Now xanxus better give us our 2 week holiday..' Voadhailis grumbled.

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