Daiki Aomine stood frozen on the court, as if someone had pressed pause, staring blankly at Miyamoto Tokima.
More precisely, he was staring at the dragon behind Miyamoto Tokima. The one standing silently in the air, its blood-red eyes watching everyone without the slightest trace of emotion.
That black dragon!!!
As Daiki Aomine looked at the black dragon radiating cold and terrifying pressure, he felt like a tiny sailboat caught in a raging storm, about to be swallowed by a monstrous wave at any moment.
In that instant, Daiki Aomine truly understood how weak he was.
He also understood the gap in strength between himself and Miyamoto Tokima!
Before seeing the black dragon, looking at Miyamoto Tokima had felt like an ant looking up at a towering tree. But after seeing the black dragon, looking at Miyamoto Tokima felt like a mayfly gazing up at the endless sky.
"Monster..."
In the end, that was all Daiki Aomine could say. He had no idea how else to describe Miyamoto Tokima's strength.
It felt like only the word monster could fit him.
Daiki Aomine's entire body trembled uncontrollably. He knew very well that this was his body's instinctive reaction.
Or rather, it was his Animal Instinct trembling.
When faced with Miyamoto Tokima's Animal Instinct, his own Animal Instinct couldn't even maintain basic control over his body!
Daiki Aomine looked at the black dragon with a bitter smile and murmured,
"Can I really... beat a monster like that?"
The moment he said that, the lightning in Daiki Aomine's eyes vanished, and all the energy drained out of him.
His fighting spirit was completely gone.
He had left Zone!
Ever since his first year of middle school, Daiki Aomine had worked toward one goal: defeating Miyamoto Tokima.
Because of that goal, he had kept going and never given up.
He had once thought that after reaching high school, he would finally be able to face Miyamoto Tokima properly.
But after the Summer Cup, he realized the gap between them.
Even so, he had always believed he still had a chance to catch up to Miyamoto Tokima!
Until this match.
Until Miyamoto Tokima's black dragon appeared, and the drive Daiki Aomine had clung to all this time completely collapsed.
He was afraid. He genuinely couldn't think of any way to defeat Miyamoto Tokima!
And so, he became lost.
Just like in the original story.
Only, in the original story, Daiki Aomine became lost because he couldn't find an opponent.
Now, Daiki Aomine was lost because his goal was too powerful. So powerful that he couldn't see even the slightest hope of winning.
The game was still going.
The rest of Tōō was still desperately trying to resist Miyamoto Tokima's offense.
With his Animal Instinct unleashed, Miyamoto Tokima was like a war god.
It was as if a god were wearing the number four jersey and playing on the court!
Drives, shots, slam dunks.
He did it all.
Miyamoto Tokima alone nearly tore the entire Tōō team apart.
The Tōō players struggled to withstand Miyamoto Tokima's attacks, while Daiki Aomine stood blankly on the court, as if his soul had left him.
The others from Tōō only saw the black mist behind Miyamoto Tokima. They didn't see that terrifying black dragon, so the pressure they endured wasn't too overwhelming.
The shock they felt wasn't too severe either.
But Daiki Aomine had truly seen it!
And precisely because he had seen that black dragon, Daiki Aomine had fallen into confusion!
Katsunori Harasawa waited through several possessions. He still didn't know what exactly was wrong with Daiki Aomine.
His original plan was to let Daiki Aomine adjust on his own, because he trusted Daiki Aomine's ability to recover.
But after waiting through several possessions, Daiki Aomine was like a frozen machine, showing no sign of rebooting at all!
With no other choice, Katsunori Harasawa called another timeout and had Daiki Aomine and the others come off first.
After both teams left the court.
Kosuke Wakamatsu roared angrily,
"Aomine! What the hell is wrong with you?!"
After saying that, he shoved Daiki Aomine.
Daiki Aomine didn't react. He simply stood there blankly and let Kosuke Wakamatsu push him.
Kosuke Wakamatsu had a fiery temper too. Unable to hold himself back, he raised his fist and swung it straight at Daiki Aomine.
Daiki Aomine stayed where he was and took Kosuke Wakamatsu's punch head-on, then collapsed onto the bench.
Seeing that, everyone hurriedly grabbed Kosuke Wakamatsu.
Shoichi Imayoshi shouted,
"Wakamatsu, what are you doing?!"
Kosuke Wakamatsu was held back by the others and still wanted to say something, but Katsunori Harasawa cut him off.
"Wakamatsu! Enough."
Since Katsunori Harasawa had spoken, Kosuke Wakamatsu could only let out an angry snort and sit down on the bench, sulking and ignoring Daiki Aomine.
Katsunori Harasawa sighed helplessly, then walked over to Daiki Aomine. Just as he was about to say something, he saw Daiki Aomine pull a towel over his head, looking as if he refused to talk at all.
Seeing that, Katsunori Harasawa had no choice. He knew Daiki Aomine wouldn't hear anything right now, so he decided to let him calm down first.
Off the court, Tetsuya Kuroko looked at Daiki Aomine thoughtfully.
...
On Kirisaki Daiichi's side.
Miyamoto Tokima took a small sip of water and glanced toward Tōō.
When he saw Kosuke Wakamatsu angrily punch Daiki Aomine, only for Daiki Aomine to show no reaction at all, Miyamoto Tokima was a little stunned too.
In his memory, Daiki Aomine wasn't like this.
Why had Daiki Aomine seemed to lose his mind the moment Miyamoto Tokima got serious?
Makoto Hanamiya laughed and said,
"Tokima-san, your Animal Instinct is seriously strong! When that black mist appeared, my whole body started shaking!"
"By the way, Tokima-san, what exactly is your Animal Instinct? Is it really just a cloud of black mist?"
Makoto Hanamiya's words drew everyone else's attention, and they all looked toward Miyamoto Tokima.
After hearing Makoto Hanamiya, Miyamoto Tokima suddenly realized it!
'Did I just activate my Animal Instinct?!'
'Then does Daiki's dazed reaction mean he saw the true form of my Animal Instinct?!'
'That makes sense. After all, Daiki just opened the second [Gate], so it's reasonable that he could see the true form of my Animal Instinct.'
Miyamoto Tokima couldn't be blamed for thinking that, because Daiki Aomine's reaction just now was the same as Nash Gold and Jason Silver's first reactions when they saw his Animal Instinct back in the Beautiful Country.
The only difference was that Jason Silver and Nash Gold quickly recovered.
They didn't stay dazed like Daiki Aomine, as if their souls had been taken.
That was the one thing Miyamoto Tokima still couldn't figure out.
'They all saw my Animal Instinct. So why is Daiki reacting this badly?'
'Wait. Could it be...'
...