My Ultimate Gacha System

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Allianz Arena — First Half, 35’

Demien’s boot shifted beside the ball one final time.

Kimmich shouted something from the edge of the wall, one arm still raised to square it. Ulreich bent his knees and settled his weight low. Bruno’s eyes stayed on Demien instead of the goal, and the Allianz whistled so loud it felt like pressure pushing against his back.

「TECHNIQUE ACTIVATED」 「Curling Free-Kick — EPIC」

「ATTRIBUTE ACTIVE」 「Curve: 99」

「ATTRIBUTE CHECK」 「Free Kick Accuracy: 75」

He stepped in and struck it clean off the inside of his boot, and for half a second the ball looked wrong — too high, sailing over the wall on a line that should have cleared the bar by a yard.

Then the curve dragged it down late, bending it back inside the frame the way a ball shouldn’t move that close to goal.

Ulreich shifted, got a hand out, and his fingers grazed the leather as it dropped — but the ball had already kissed the inside of the post on its way past him.

THMP — TSHHHK.

BAYERN MUNICH 1 — 1 MANCHESTER UNITED Demien Walter 35’

The Allianz froze for one heartbeat before the United end erupted.

Demien didn’t stand still and take it calmly. His chest was hot, the noise hit him all at once, and the emotion came out before he could think to control it. He sprinted for the corner flag, planted, turned, and dropped into the celebration with both arms out.

"SIUUUUU!"

Bruno reached him first, laughing and shouting something that got lost in the noise, both arms wrapping around him because he’d given up the ball for that free kick and it had actually gone in. Højlund grabbed him from the side and lifted him half off his feet. Rashford pointed at him and shook his head, grinning like he still couldn’t believe what he’d just watched happen at the Allianz.

Bayern’s players didn’t look shocked. They looked insulted.

Kimmich turned away from the goal with his jaw tight, already walking back to the center circle without a word. Goretzka stared at Demien one second longer than he needed to. Ulreich pulled the ball out of the net and threw it forward harder than the restart required.

「BONUS OBJECTIVE COMPLETE」

「Direct Goal Contribution Against Bayern: 1/1」 「Bonus Reward Pending: +10 SP」

"That is extraordinary from Demien Walter!" the commentator said, his voice cracking with the volume. "To take that free kick here, in this stadium, with Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford standing over it, tells you everything about the confidence of this young man."

"And the celebration as well!" his co-commentator added. "He’s just hit the SIUUU in the Allianz Arena. That will not please Bayern one bit."

Bayern didn’t panic at the restart. They got nastier.

United were still buzzing from the equalizer, and Bruno pressed a half-second too early. Pellistri tracked Davies a beat late. Dalot checked his shoulder just after the ball had already gone past where he expected it. None of it was weakness — it was the small emotional gap that comes after a goal like that, and Bayern smelled it immediately.

They went straight back at the space around Demien.

Kane dropped off the front line. Musiala received between the lines with Casemiro a stride too far away. Sané cut inside off the right. Gnabry ghosted in from the far side, unmarked, the way he’d been threatening to arrive all half.

Demien read the first pass and stepped across to close the central lane.

「LEGENDARY SKILL ACTIVATED」 「Fabio Cannavaro — Wall」

He killed that route. Musiala shifted the ball wide before the second route could close, Sané dragged the last defender inside, and Gnabry arrived on the back post with the finish already lined up.

The ball went in clean.

BAYERN MUNICH 2 — 1 MANCHESTER UNITED Serge Gnabry 42’

Demien turned the instant he saw the far-post run develop, but he was too far away to do anything about it. He took two steps, stopped, and watched the net ripple, because the lane he’d read wasn’t the lane Bayern had actually finished through.

He hadn’t been careless. Bayern had simply beaten the shape around him.

「MISSION UPDATE」

「Pressure-Release Actions: 3/5」 「Bayern Pressing Traps Identified: 3/3」 「Clear Chances Created: 1/1」 「Midfield Collapse Prevention: Under Pressure」 「Bonus Objective: Complete」

Bayern tried to force one more attack before the whistle, and this time United held.

「TRAIT ACTIVATED」 「Press Resistant」

「LEGENDARY SKILL ACTIVATED」 「Toni Kroos — Metronome」

Demien took the ball with Goretzka closing fast and released it early into Casemiro before the challenge could land, and Casemiro shifted it wide without needing a second touch. United breathed out.

「MISSION PROGRESS」

「Pressure-Release Actions: 4/5」 「Midfield Collapse Prevention: Stabilising」

Fweeeeeeet — fweeeeeeet!

HALFTIME: BAYERN MUNICH 2 — 1 MANCHESTER UNITED

Demien didn’t walk off like a man who’d been beaten. He walked off angry, because he’d scored, dragged United level, and they’d still conceded again before the break.

Bruno slammed his hand against the tunnel wall once. Casemiro said nothing, jaw set, eyes forward. Onana looked furious with himself and with the back line both. Højlund sat down hard on the bench, breathing heavy, staring at the floor between his boots.

Ten Hag didn’t raise his voice.

"We scored, then we stopped thinking for two minutes," he said, standing in the middle of the room with his arms folded. "That’s why they scored again."

He looked around at all of them before he went on.

"They’re not only trying to beat our midfield anymore. They’re moving us until the far side opens. If the winger doesn’t recover, the fullback dies. If the midfield jumps late, the center-back gets dragged out."

He let that sit for a second.

"We’re still in this match. But only if we stop giving them the next pass for free."

Demien listened and said nothing. He already knew the second goal had come from the part of the pitch he couldn’t cover alone, and there was nothing to say to that except go back out and fix it.

Second Half

Bayern came out sprinting.

No slow return from the break, no feeling each other out — they went straight for United’s throat, trying to make it 3-1 before United had settled back into their shape. Kane blocked the return lane. Musiala pressed Casemiro. Sané curved toward the inside channel. Davies pushed high again on the overlap.

Demien read it and moved before the trap could close.

「LEGENDARY SKILL ACTIVATED」 「Andrea Pirlo — Deep-Lying Playmaker」

「TRAIT ACTIVE」 「Press Resistant」

He showed for the ball, let the pressure lean toward him the way Bayern wanted, then played the early switch before Kimmich could jump the lane.

「MISSION PROGRESS」

「Pressure-Release Actions: 5/5」

But Bayern recycled the loose ball fast, and Musiala slipped Kane through on the next wave before United could reset fully. Onana came off his line and smothered it at Kane’s feet, and Martínez arrived a half-step later to hack the rebound clear.

Demien’s action had kept the middle from collapsing. It hadn’t made Bayern any less dangerous.

United started creating instead of just surviving.

Demien received between the lines and slid Højlund through on the first real chance of the half.

「TECHNIQUE ACTIVATED」 「Through-the-Lines Drive — EPIC」

Højlund got his shot away first time, low and hard, but Ulreich got a leg to it and turned it behind.

Two minutes later Demien switched the play to the opposite flank.

「LEGENDARY SKILL ACTIVATED」 「Luka Modrić — Outside-of-Boot Laser」

「STATS ACTIVE」 「Vision: 99 | Long Passing: 99」

Rashford took the ball in stride, cut inside off his left, and drove a shot that dragged just wide of the far post.

The third chance came from a cutback into Bruno at the edge of the box, and Bruno hit it clean on the volley, but Goretzka threw himself in front of it and blocked the shot dead.

Demien’s frustration built quietly. He wasn’t shouting at anyone. He was creating openings and watching Bayern survive every one of them.

"Walter is starting to dictate United’s best moments again," the commentator said. "He’s created chances for Højlund, Rashford, and Fernandes this half, and United haven’t taken one of them."

"And against Bayern, that’s dangerous," his co-commentator added. "You don’t get unlimited chances here."

「MISSION STATE」

「Pressure-Release Actions: 5/5」 「Bayern Pressing Traps Identified: 3/3」 「Clear Chances Created: 1/1」 「Midfield Collapse Prevention: Active」 「Bonus Objective: Complete」

「Rewards Pending Until Match Completion」 「+90 MP」 「+10 SP」

Around the hour mark, Bayern’s bench started moving.

A Bayern assistant called someone off the warm-up line near the touchline, and a player pulled his bib over his head and jogged toward the fourth official. The broadcast camera found the name before Demien did.

"And Bayern are preparing a change here," the commentator said. "That’s Adriano Ventresca — the former Fiorentina academy star."

"Interesting story here," the co-commentator added. "Ventresca and Demien Walter both came through the Fiorentina academy system, and they were known to be close during those years."

"Two players shaped in the same academy, now standing on opposite sides of a Champions League night."

Demien didn’t hear it from the broadcast. He heard it from the movement.

He was jogging back after Bruno’s blocked shot when the fourth official started walking toward the halfway line with the board under his arm, and he glanced over the way any player checks a substitution.

Then he saw the Bayern shirt.

Then he saw the face.

Adriano.

Fiorentina’s training pitch, sixteen years old, Adriano laughing beside him after a rondo neither of them wanted to end.

Sarah’s name lighting up a phone screen that wasn’t his to look at.

The office at the academy, a coach’s voice telling him he wasn’t good enough, the door closing behind him.

Then he was back at the Allianz, the ball still rolling somewhere behind him, Bruno calling for the restart.

His face didn’t break. He locked it down the way he’d learned to lock everything down since that year, and if anything showed at all it was in how still he went for one second too long.

Bruno noticed something had shifted in him but didn’t know what, and didn’t ask, because the match hadn’t given either of them room to.

Adriano reached the touchline.

He crouched and kissed the grass once, then touched his forehead, his chest, his left shoulder, his right shoulder.

The cross.