Chapter 330: Baby-Bloom
The Neon Pink Arena was basically boiling over.
Bright pink and blue lights were flashing across the seats and cutting through the thick clouds of vape smoke. There were these giant screens everywhere, showing the faces of the crowd in perfect detail.
You could see people screaming and waving their arms around like crazy. The whole place felt jittery and loud, like everyone was just waiting for the first big hit to happen.
Both teams walked onto the court at the same time. They stopped right in the center, staring each other down.
The difference between them was obvious right away.
The Baby-Boom looked totally relaxed and confident. You could tell just by looking at them that they were ready for this. It was clear that training with Nash had actually worked; they just carried themselves differently. Aiko and Rei had these calm looks on their faces. Hina glanced up at the crowd for a second, giving a little smile.
On the other side, the Dust Dogs looked like they had already lost. Their shoulders were slumped. Their eyes were glued to the floor, or they were just looking away. Roam tried to clap his hands together and yell some orders to his team, but his voice had no power behind it. His shouting just got swallowed up by the noise of the crowd.
The people in the stands had already picked their favorite anyway.
Huge chants were erupting for the Baby-Boom. But at the same time, people were just laughing at the Dust Dogs and throwing insults at them.
"What a trash team!"
"Community feeders!"
"Just lay down and give up already!"
Nobody in the stands actually expected a real fight. They didn’t want a game; they wanted to watch a public execution.
Far away from all that noise, things were way quieter inside Hector’s villa up in the Spires.
The same match was playing on a massive screen built into the wall. Monique was sitting on a leather sofa, slowly swirling a glass of red wine in her hand. She was staring at the screen, and you could tell she really hated what she was seeing.
"They are lame, but their opponents are even lamer than they are," she said, sounding really annoyed. She sighed and leaned back. "Just look at them. They have already given up. There is no way the girls lose tonight. At this rate, they are definitely going to make it to the playoffs."
Hector was sitting in a big, wide chair with his arms resting on the sides. His face was like stone, completely calm and hard as he watched the court.
"It doesn’t matter," he said simply.
Monique straightened up a bit, feeling curious. She set her glass down on the table with a soft clink and looked at him from the side, trying not to push too hard.
"Really? But, Sir, if they win this match, they basically secure a spot in the playoffs. I thought you wanted to see them disappear quickly. Are you just going to keep losing money on them?"
A tiny smile crept onto the corner of Hector’s mouth, but his eyes never left the screen.
"That is just fine, Monique. Let them win. My goal was never to keep these girls in some kind of cage," he explained. "I plan to destroy the King of Rats when he least expects it. The best time to break him and rip his heart out will be exactly when they play the Baby-Booms while everyone is hyped up. That is when his end will begin."
Monique did not say anything. She felt a small chill run down her back. She watched him carefully, still not quite understanding how big his plan actually was, but one thing was for sure: the trap was already set, and one man was going to fall very soon.
Right from the very first whistle, the game was basically over. The Dust Dogs were a total mess. They had no plan, no teamwork, and they were basically just a bunch of strangers on the court.
They were just waiting to be crushed by Baby-Boom. This was not even a normal Breakball game anymore; it felt more like a public execution. It was a revenge that had been coming for a long time, and it looked beautiful.
Everyone in the crowd could see it. The girls were playing with a crazy amount of chemistry, all thanks to everything Nash had taught them. Their passes were sharp, their movement without the ball was perfect, and their defense was like a stone wall that just would not let anyone through. The Dust Dogs were literally gasping for air, unable to even move.
The people in the stands had been acting stupid, mocking these women and thinking they were weak after that brutal loss against the Colossus, but now they had to shut up. The smug looks on their faces disappeared, and they just stared in total shock as the numbers on the scoreboard started spinning out of control.
For the girls, every single play and every smart move they made felt like a secret letter they were writing to Nash. Every time they did something amazing, they would instinctively look up into the crowd, searching for their king.
He was hidden somewhere in that massive ocean of people, and they could not actually pinpoint where he was, but they did not really need to. Just knowing that he was up there, watching everything they did, was enough to make them play out of their minds. They wanted to show him they could do it.
They were using a very specific lesson that Nash had hammered into their heads during those brutal training sessions: "If you control the rhythm, you control your opponent." Basically, if you decide how fast or slow the game goes, the other team is just playing your game.
Baby-Boom: 14 | Dust Dogs: 02
Aiko was playing like a calm general, controlling everything on the floor without even breaking a sweat. With one quick, sharp move to the side, she completely fooled Rin. Honestly, Rin looked like she had already given up; she seemed more interested in fixing her hair than actually playing defense.
Aiko drove straight into the paint, and the Dust Dogs’ defense panicked and all crowded around her. Instead of trying to take a bad shot, Aiko played it smart. She threw a perfect pass to Kai, who scored immediately.
Then it was Miko’s turn. As the Shooting Guard, her job was to destroy the Dust Dogs from far away. She planted her feet firmly behind the three-point line and caught a quick pass. Tylo was playing for himself, trying to get a flashy block just so he could have a cool clip for his own highlight reel, so he jumped at her wildly.
But Miko was cold as ice.
She didn’t even blink. Using the shooting form that Nash had spent so much time perfecting for her, she let the ball fly with total confidence.
Swish.
The ball ripped through the net. She quickly looked up at the stands, trying to find her king, before sprinting back to help with the defense.
[ END OF FIRST QUARTER ]
Baby-Boom: 28 | Dust Dogs: 06
On the defensive side, Hina, the Small Forward, had the job of stopping Roam. If you just looked at them, she was not strong enough to stop him by pushing him or blocking him with raw power.
Instead, she used the smart tactics Nash had taught her. Instead of trying to be a wall, Hina predicted where he was going and purposely stepped back, letting him blow right past her.
Roam thought he had a clear path to the basket and felt pretty smug about it. But he suddenly ran into a brick wall: Rei, the Center. Rei used her height and her big frame to clog up the lane, forcing Roam to slam on the brakes and hesitate for a second.
That tiny moment of hesitation was exactly what Hina was waiting for. She darted in from where he couldn’t see her and snatched the ball right out of his hands.
It was a clean, surgical steal.
Roam ended up face-down on the floor, looking completely embarrassed, while Rei grabbed the ball and made sure the paint was locked down tight.
Baby-Boom: 42 | Dust Dogs: 08
Right after that, on a fast break, Kai practically blew the roof off the arena. She sprinted down the court at full speed, caught a high pass perfectly while running, soared through the air above everyone else, and slammed the ball down with a monstrous dunk that made the entire backboard shake.
On the sidelines, the manager of the Baby-Boom was just standing there, staring at the court with a look of total confusion.
He rubbed his temples, glancing down at his tablet over and over. In his head, none of this made any sense. The Baby-Boom girls were not just winning the game; they were playing way better than ever. It was like they were a completely different team.
And what was even weirder was that they actually looked like they were having fun. The manager frowned, wondering if they were playing this well because they were terrified of something, or maybe because they were being punished in some secret way.
But as the score gap got bigger and bigger, he just shook his head and let out a long sigh. He knew it was over. In his opinion, this team was basically garbage, and they would probably be sold off by the end of the season anyway.
Meanwhile, back at the fancy luxury villa, the mood had totally changed. Hector was sitting, frowning. He watched the Dust Dogs get completely destroyed on the screen, staying silent and brooding. He had tried to act like he did not care earlier, but that calm act was starting to crack.
Next to him, Monique shifted her weight, looking really lost.
"I definitely did not expect that..."
Down in the arena seating area, the energy was crazy. Victoria looked down at her phone. The local forums and sports message boards were basically exploding with posts.
The Baby-Boom fans had completely taken over the internet, filling every single thread with happy messages, funny memes, and wild celebrations.
"I can’t believe this is happening," Victoria whispered. She leaned in closer to Nash. "The whole internet is losing its mind right now. I honestly can’t wait for the next match when we—"
Before she could even finish her sentence, Nash calmly placed one gentle finger right over Victoria’s lips, stopping her from talking. He gave her a smooth smile that said he knew exactly what she was thinking.
"No more teasing out loud, Ma’am," he murmured in a low. "Let us just keep this between us."
Victoria’s eyes sparked with a mix of amusement and something a bit dangerous. She quickly wrapped her lips around his finger for a second before pulling away.
"You’re right... but you have a lot of nerve telling me to shut up. Maybe I should punish you tonight for that."
Music to Lina’s ears, her eyes lit up instantly. Without even thinking twice, she slid her hips right onto Nash’s thighs, pressing her soft ass firmly against his lap.
"Since the match is basically over anyway," Lina whispered right into his ear, "maybe we could just skip the party after the game and start right now..."
Nash chuckled, finding her boldness pretty funny. He was just about to say something back when a sudden, sharp chime sounded inside his head.
[SPECIAL QUEST: PRIVATE AUDIENCE]
Objective: Have sex with Lina on the crowded stands until the match ends.
Success Condition: Keep her quiet and make sure nobody notices.
Reward: +10 SP.
Unlock Skill: ’PHANTOM VEIL’ (Allows engaging in sexual actions in public with strongly reduced opposition and reaction from surrounding people).
Nash stared at the glowing text floating in the air, his eyes wide. He blinked once, then twice, feeling completely shocked by how bold and crazy the request was.
"Excuse me... what?"