Once the racers had finished entering the gates, the staff in their work uniforms quickly gathered their equipment and withdrew. Their job involved a lot — checking the gates' condition before the race began, going up to soothe any racer who didn't want to enter the gate, even taking custody of the various small props that some of the more eccentric racers liked to bring with them onto the field. All those items were handed over to the staff for safekeeping before the race began.
Though they didn't get much attention, their work was an important part of every race. Without genuine love for the sport — and the desire to feel up close the inspiration the uma musume gave them — who would willingly take a job that paid little and exhausted them so much?
"Do your best!"
Once they'd run off the track, the staff could watch the race from what was practically a "VIP section." In an instant, you could see quite a few of them pulling out their personal cheering props.
"Thank you to the staff for their service!"
"All set, signal good. The 2000-meter Nakayama Racecourse — GI Satsuki Sho — the race begins now!"
The signal lights on the gates lit up and the gates flew open automatically. The racers burst from the starting line in a gust of wind, charging down the track. The first to surge ahead was Silence Suzuka in her white-and-green racing outfit, her face perfectly calm as she watched the track ahead. The next moment, accompanied by the explosive boom of her launch, her light footsteps shot her forward as if she'd been catapulted, opening up a gap from the racers behind her in the blink of an eye. Seiun Sky, who had also wanted to take the lead, stared in disbelief. What was that launch speed?
'So fast!'
'So this is Silence Suzuka — the racer with the fastest gate-launch record. Stealing the lead from her really is impossible, huh? What a troublesome opponent!'
Seiun Sky felt a flash of irritation.
Figuring out how to deal with King Halo had already taken up all of her mental energy. She hadn't expected Silence Suzuka to be this much of a handful too. Just from that one move Silence Suzuka had displayed, Seiun Sky knew that her reputation wasn't hot air. She was someone stronger than herself!
"All racers out of the gate cleanly!"
"The first to surge ahead is Silence Suzuka, displaying her signature skill right out of the gate. That breathtaking launch speed never stops being stunning no matter how many times you see it. Behind her is Seiun Sky, looking a little uneasy — let's hope she calms down and catches up later!"
The commentator's voice carried over the racecourse.
Special Week, near the back of the pack, watched Silence Suzuka surge ahead and pull away in an instant. Her eyes shone with admiration. 'As expected of Suzuka-san, still as fast as ever. So beautiful!'
Around Special Week, it was an absolute gathering of heroes.
King Halo was positioned closer to the outside, her eyes faintly glowing as she observed the movements within the race. Even seeing Silence Suzuka go for the breakaway, she showed no intention of accelerating early.
Because in King Halo's race prediction, Silence Suzuka was no longer a threat. That kind of breakaway from Silence Suzuka simply wasn't worth mentioning. If the one running this breakaway against her right now had been Mejiro McQueen, then King Halo would already be drenched in cold sweat. After all, McQueen's breakaway wasn't the kind that just charged blindly forward.
But everyone except King Halo had been thoroughly shaken by Silence Suzuka's performance. Sure, they'd all watched her past races, but watching as a third party and facing it firsthand in a race were two completely different things. Seeing a breakaway happen mid-race was the kind of thing that genuinely made one's heart pound with terror.
Not every uma musume could stay calm while watching an opponent rocket ahead and pull away from them. Even if you'd done your homework before the race and knew Silence Suzuka couldn't possibly maintain that breakaway lead all the way to the finish line, could you really stay calm when you saw that back disappearing into the distance? In an instant, several minor racers in the field broke into early bursts.
Even though they all knew it was the wrong thing to do, when they saw Silence Suzuka already five lengths ahead, they couldn't suppress the impulse. The pack instantly fragmented and stretched out, which was actually a good thing for Chasers like King Halo. It meant the sprint lanes opened up more, making collision accidents easier to avoid.
Royal Rose had been a little frightened too.
It was her first time encountering a Front-runner like Silence Suzuka.
Up until now, the breakaway had been the kind of running style that only appeared in lower-tier races and local circuits — a tactic with more entertainment value than practical use. So before the race began, Royal Rose hadn't really thought much of Silence Suzuka. She'd assumed this racer was a second-rate uma musume putting on a show. But the moment the race started and she watched that figure go rocketing off, she realized just how lacking her own perspective had been.
Silence Suzuka's strength was the real thing!
Her first reaction had been the same as the racers who were now bursting forward — the instinctive urge to go up there and stop Silence Suzuka. Even if she couldn't steal the lead, she had to keep the gap within a manageable range. She couldn't let Silence Suzuka pull away cleanly. But just as she was thinking that, she suddenly remembered that there was another terrifying opponent right next to her — King Halo.
She turned to look at King Halo at her side. And then she froze, because she saw that King Halo was simply watching the action ahead with calm composure, with no intention whatsoever of speeding up.
'King Halo isn't moving?'
Royal Rose's mind cleared in an instant.
Then she observed Silence Suzuka's movements again.
And then, she seemed to notice something.
'Wait — yes, Silence Suzuka really was fast at the launch, fast enough to give the impression she'd just keep flying away. But right now, although the gap isn't small, it's not continuing to widen. She hasn't actually shaken us off completely.'
This was the kind of thing anyone could figure out once they calmed down. No matter how fast Silence Suzuka's launch was, that was the result of a skill — and skill effects had a time limit.
Most skills lasted three to five seconds, so however fast the launch, after that window passed, Silence Suzuka's burst would die down. There was no way she could maintain that initial speed indefinitely.
And during the period after that, Silence Suzuka couldn't activate the skill again. Or rather, this was the breathing room Silence Suzuka had deliberately left for herself — and it was also the trap she'd left for her opponents.
If anyone had been spooked by Silence Suzuka's launch and instinctively activated their own skills, then yes, they might have closed the gap a little for a moment. But a little later, after the middle stage had passed the halfway mark, they would completely lose any chance of competing with Silence Suzuka — because by then Silence Suzuka would be able to activate her skill again, while they would be running on empty from their earlier exertion.
'That was close.'
Royal Rose was now keenly aware of just how dangerous Silence Suzuka was, and just how impressive King Halo was. If she hadn't instinctively glanced at King Halo, she'd already have been knocked out of contention.
The race passed through the first and second turns.
By now Silence Suzuka's speed had completely settled down — she wasn't anywhere near as terrifying as she'd seemed at the start. The racers behind her, gradually closing in, brightened up at the sight. They figured Silence Suzuka was already running out of steam. This was the time to catch up!
Seiun Sky watched these idiots completely failing to take her seriously, all of them only thinking about going up to stop Silence Suzuka, and was momentarily speechless. They were falling for such an obvious trap — just how naive were they? And Silence Suzuka wasn't actually out of steam right now. If anything, the moment around the second turn had been when Silence Suzuka was at her weakest. As for now...
Silence Suzuka had recovered!
Seiun Sky watched as some racers eagerly burned through their skills, and was struck dumb by how stupid these racers were.
'But, I'm not that kind of idiot. Suzuka-san, your tactic — I'm extremely familiar with it. You don't actually think this little move is going to be enough to beat me, do you?'
The race entered the middle stage.
Now the second, third, and fourth-place racers were closing in on Silence Suzuka at the front. On this stretch of track in the second turn, the lead Silence Suzuka had built up at the start seemed to have been almost completely clawed back. But just as joy began to spread across the faces of those racers, Silence Suzuka's body suddenly leaned forward, and the next moment a flash of light burst from beneath her feet. The terrifying speed she'd shown at the launch reappeared in an instant!
'Wha—'
'We fell for it!'
Feeling their own skill effects expiring, watching Silence Suzuka pull away again, their faces turned ugly as they grasped the enormous gap between themselves and Silence Suzuka.
This was the chasm of pure ability!
'So that's how it is, Suzuka-san!'
Suddenly, a gust of wind charged up alongside her. Silence Suzuka, who had been immersed in her own [Domain], instantly snapped to attention at the sound of footsteps coming from behind her.
'I... was caught up?'
Behind her, Seiun Sky was wreathed head to toe in roiling air currents, her expression more stern than it had ever been. She didn't hold out much hope of winning this race, but she had now found a goal she absolutely had to achieve in this race — to break the myth of Silence Suzuka, who was on her way to becoming Japan's number-one Front-runner. If she could do that, then even if she lost the race in the end, she'd have given the fans who supported her something worthwhile, wouldn't she?
'Genius classmate Suzuka — let's settle this!'
"This is incredible! Silence Suzuka has been in the lead from the very start of the race, you can't take your eyes off her. But now the other racers are starting to make their moves. The first to surge forward is Seiun Sky! This racer must have been holding back her real strength for this moment, and Silence Suzuka now looks like she really doesn't have a way to shake Seiun Sky off. Which of these two front-runners will have the last laugh?"
Akasaka's voice was excited as she called the race.
She was extremely satisfied right now!
It could only be said that the intensity of this race was exactly what she'd been hoping for. Racers whose ability fell even slightly short couldn't compete on the same stage with these prodigies and monsters. Watching the racers trailing behind Silence Suzuka and Seiun Sky, she couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
What a shame.
Their raw ability might not actually be that far off. But race instinct, skill mastery, tactical adaptability, plus just a touch of intangible luck — those things, layered on top of a racer's foundation, were what truly determined the outcome of a race.
They had already lost.
Akasaka turned her gaze toward King Halo, Special Week, and the others holding back at the rear. The gap might look unfavorable for these back-positioned racers right now, but having conserved their strength all this way, they were the ones to watch from here on out!
Silence Suzuka's mood was a little frantic now.
Seiun Sky was tracking her too closely. Even though she hadn't overtaken her yet, Silence Suzuka had this constant sensation of being yanked backward. She just couldn't enter that state of running alone in her own world.
'This feeling... I hate it!'
Up in the spectator stands.
When Nishizaki Ryu saw what Seiun Sky was doing, he felt sick. He'd never imagined that this girl — who'd been thoroughly trounced by King Halo in the debut race and had no answer for Spe-chan either — had actually grasped Suzuka's weakness.
"Seiun Sky — this kid really has been underestimated, hasn't she? She's a prodigy too." He'd already noticed this back at the simulated races held within the Academy. But back then, Seiun Sky hadn't been this strong. Now she'd reached the point where even Suzuka found her difficult to handle. Just how fast was this girl growing?
What Nishizaki Ryu didn't know, however, was that Seiun Sky's rapid progress had all been forced out of her by King Halo. After all, every time she ran into King Halo, she got crushed. Even the most stable-tempered person would have snapped. Today, Silence Suzuka's luck was simply terrible — she'd run smack into a Seiun Sky who'd been bottling up everything she had.
And Silence Suzuka had her own problems too in this stretch.
This was a race packed with elite competitors, yet she hadn't changed a single thing about her approach. She'd wanted to enjoy the race solo just like in her previous races. Honestly speaking, Silence Suzuka — wasn't this a little disrespectful to your opponents? If she'd trained her perception even a little, she would have sensed Seiun Sky's threat much earlier. But there were no ifs. The reality now was that Silence Suzuka was being hemmed in by Seiun Sky.
Silence Suzuka had a sense that even if she used her trump card right now, she wouldn't necessarily be able to shake off Seiun Sky.
Her instinct was correct.
Because Seiun Sky did still have moves she hadn't used yet.
She wasn't sure she could win, but there was no doubt she could stick close to Silence Suzuka. And Silence Suzuka happened to be the kind of racer who couldn't handle being tailed — it would mess with her composure.
"What's Suzuka doing? Don't tell me she can't even outrun Seiun Sky? Her real strength shouldn't only be at this level!" El Condor Pasa, who held high expectations for Silence Suzuka, said with displeasure. After all, she counted Silence Suzuka among the few opponents who could excite her. If Silence Suzuka lost to Seiun Sky, then didn't that mean she — the strongest — had misjudged her?
"Suzuka has probably never been pushed into this kind of situation before. Which means she has no experience dealing with it. And Ryu, that guy — he probably didn't prepare countermeasures either, because he can be pretty careless about exactly this sort of thing," Tojo Hana explained to El Condor Pasa. As for who was actually stronger between Silence Suzuka and Seiun Sky, there was no question — Silence Suzuka. But Silence Suzuka was now having her weakness exploited by Seiun Sky. If she couldn't overcome that weakness, things were going to get ugly for her from here on.
El Condor Pasa was puzzled.
"How can a trainer be that irresponsible?"
A character flaw like this — for a trainer, wasn't this the kind of thing you'd spot at a glance and start preparing countermeasures for from day one? From the sound of it, Silence Suzuka's trainer didn't understand any of that?
Tojo Hana: "..."
She couldn't really explain it to El Condor Pasa.
After all, that was just how Nishizaki Ryu was.
In the areas where he excelled, he could pull off astonishing results — that was why he'd become a senior trainer. But Nishizaki Ryu's weak points were also numerous. He was, after all, the guy who had nearly run an entire team into the ground shortly after becoming a senior trainer, when he'd been brimming with confidence.
That was why Nishizaki Ryu's reputation was so polarized. When he was on, he was genuinely impressive. But once a weakness was exposed, there was just no salvaging the situation.
"Damn it!"
Down on the field-side, Nishizaki Ryu was thumping the railing in frustration.
He hadn't anticipated at all that someone would seize on Suzuka's psychological weakness. And he didn't really consider it a weakness in the first place — it was because she didn't want to be tailed that Silence Suzuka could run as fast as she did. But who could have predicted that in this race, an opponent would catch onto that weakness and exploit it?
Seiun Sky — this kid had been massively underestimated!
King Halo's brilliance was so overwhelming that it had eclipsed Seiun Sky's performance. But thinking about it carefully, of course it made sense — a prodigy who kept losing to King Halo and yet still dared to face her head-on? How could she be a simple character?
This race was even harder to run than he'd imagined!
There was more than one or two opponents to worry about.
'Suzuka-san?'
Special Week, who was running in the race, sensed something was off with Silence Suzuka. That anxious running style wasn't Silence Suzuka's usual one at all. Even though Silence Suzuka still appeared to be in the lead, Special Week felt she couldn't stay at the back any longer.
'I have to help Suzuka-san!'
Special Week, in that moment, even forgot that she herself was a competitor in this race — and one of Silence Suzuka's opponents.
Special Week broke from the pack with resolve, a flash of golden light streaking from her, and then activated ZONE's [Aura]. She got it on the first try, and Special Week began to surge forward!
'Spe-chan, I won't let you pass.'
Grass Wonder had noticed Silence Suzuka's poor state ages ago, but she didn't care at all what happened to Silence Suzuka. The only "opponent" she paid attention to was Special Week. So she'd been waiting for Special Week to go up and help Silence Suzuka. Helping an opponent mid-race was a strange thing to do, but Grass Wonder believed that if it was the Special Week she knew, she'd absolutely do it!
And sure enough, Special Week launched.
This wasn't the optimal moment.
But to help break Silence Suzuka free, she'd resolutely chosen to activate her skill at this point.
Truly moving — Spe-chan—
But I won't let you pass!
A flash of red light flickered in Grass Wonder's eyes.
[Monopoly (Gold): If positioned at the rear, can reduce the speed of opponents in the front. If this effect targets only one opponent, it will significantly reduce that opponent's speed!]
A demonic restraint was activated!
Grass Wonder's mental power surged forward and wrapped around Special Week.
King Halo, off to the side, watched this unfold with mild surprise. Even with such a great enemy nearby, Grass Wonder still chose to prioritize her opponent Special Week. King Halo really couldn't understand this kind of attachment.
Could private feelings really matter more than victory?
Even though she didn't get it — fine, she respected their choices.
The next moment, King Halo instantly shifted to the outer lane. She'd been positioned close to the outside the whole time anyway, and on top of that, no one seemed to be moving to block her — everyone had been drawn in by Silence Suzuka's display. So not only did she easily seize an advantageous position, she also smoothly completed her data collection on this race. The winning formula had already been calculated.
Her probability of victory was — one hundred percent!
"What's going on?!"
Special Week was hit with an interference skill for the first time ever.
Because she'd always been a Chaser or Closer, Special Week had rarely ever been targeted with interference skills mid-race. And basic-tier interference skills had only minimal effect on her when she was in burst mode. So Special Week had next to no concept of interference skills — at most she'd just heard about them.
Until now.
Targeted by Grass Wonder, she finally understood what a disgusting thing an interference skill was. Her own skill burst was completely wasted, and what was worse, the cost of activating that burst was very real for her — even though her speed hadn't actually risen.
"There's something gross here!"
Special Week's whole body went taut, thinking she was being haunted.
But before she could regain her composure, a powerful wave of air surged past her side. Special Week immediately snapped back to her senses. When she saw King Halo beginning to launch, her expression changed dramatically.
"King Halo's about to make her move. Damn it! What's wrong with me, why can't I run? My trainer never explained what this was. Am I really going to have to watch Suzuka-san get defeated and get left behind by King Halo too?"
Something like that—
I won't accept it!
Move!
Special Week's expression turned wild, and the aura erupting from her began to shift. A pink flame flickered in her eyes. Behind her, Grass Wonder immediately sensed something was wrong.
"So this is the pressure of ZONE?"
Grass Wonder didn't know the specifics about ZONE.
Or rather, most uma musume didn't actually know what ZONE was. They just knew it was an ability stronger than Flash-tier skills. But how exactly to master ZONE, and how to deal with an opponent who'd awakened it — these were things no one taught. Because anyone who genuinely understood ZONE knew one shared truth: it was easier for an uma musume to awaken this ultimate power when they didn't know the details.
If they learned the specifics of ZONE in advance, then it became very difficult to catch hold of that catalyst mid-race. The harder you tried to awaken ZONE, the further you might drift from this power. Not everyone was like King Halo, who possessed absolute clarity about herself and unshakable certainty in her own victory.
That approach to touching ZONE — it really only worked for her and Mejiro McQueen. Even Kitasan Black and her ilk couldn't necessarily replicate it. So it had no general applicability whatsoever, which was why Mejiro McQueen, even knowing the method, hadn't volunteered it. She'd kept it in her memories, leaving it for younger generations to discover for themselves.
McQueen had seen through this point long ago.
And research like this existed in this world too.
In fact, the research here ran even deeper than Mejiro McQueen's solo work. So the higher-ups had deliberately placed an information blackout on ZONE intel. The uma musume who had awakened ZONE were either too dim to even know how to explain it — no need to worry about them spilling anything — or smart enough to grasp this rule on their own and proactively help keep it secret. That was why Grass Wonder, witnessing Special Week enter an awakened ZONE state firsthand, was so shocked.
Her skill had been canceled out just like that?
No — more accurately, her interference skill's effect had been forcibly reduced to its minimum. This was ZONE's passive ability. Regardless of the type of ZONE, all of them carried a degree of resistance to negative effects, though not complete immunity. After all, interference skills were attacks of mental power, and entering an awakened ZONE state meant a burst of mental power as well, which could naturally counter interference skills.
Combined with ZONE's burst effect, this often gave the impression that interference skills had no effect on opponents in a ZONE state. But really, it was just that ZONE's burst was so powerful it created that illusion. If the interference skill had been Flash-tier, then even ZONE's passive resistance couldn't fully counter it — only ZONE types with specific resistance traits could handle that.
It was just that Grass Wonder's interference skill tier was simply too low.
Advanced-tier interference skills had a hard time making much impact in races at this level. ZONE was already a world-class threshold.
In the moment Grass Wonder lost her focus.
Special Week had already charged out alongside King Halo. Because it wasn't a true awakening — just the protagonist's passive-style burst — every time Special Week entered ZONE, her mental state went a little off. She couldn't maintain a complete sense of self. Instead, ZONE's intense will to win took her over.
The result was that Special Week looked utterly deranged.
That contorted expression, those bloodshot eyes — no matter how you looked at her, she didn't seem like the same person as the usual Special Week.
But seeing Special Week like this, Nishizaki Ryu felt particularly relieved — because Spe-chan in this state was strong!
Suzuka had won the Yayoi Sho by the skin of her teeth. If Spe-chan hadn't entered this state so late in that race, Suzuka might well have lost. That alone showed how potent this state of Special Week's was.
But Nishizaki Ryu was relieved a little too soon.
Sensing the wild battle aura behind her, King Halo wasn't affected in the slightest. Instead, she let out a soft, dismissive laugh. This kind of incomplete domain — what do you plan to defeat with this defective product?
The two of them, one in front and one behind, charged from the back of the pack to the front in rapid succession. That burst of speed made the eyelids of the other racers twitch. Only then did many of the racers in front realize that Silence Suzuka wasn't actually the strongest racer in this contest at all.
The true strongest had only just begun her launch.
In an instant, the fighting spirit drained out of many racers.
This race — no matter how you looked at it, they couldn't win.
Not only was Silence Suzuka unexpectedly strong.
But there was also a King Halo who looked even stronger.
'How am I supposed to run?'
Royal Rose had wanted to launch alongside King Halo and Special Week, but in the blink of an eye, those two had already charged to the front. That kind of burst was something she simply couldn't produce.
'Even faster than her speed in the last race.'
Royal Rose felt powerless. Perhaps because Special Week was now tailing her, the speed King Halo unleashed this time was even faster than at the Hopeful Stakes. Although it was the same skill, the speed displayed was completely different. In other words, in the previous race, King Halo hadn't been using her full strength.
'So that's the difference between the genuine article and a defective product like me.'
Royal Rose's eyes went hollow. But this wasn't her entering some state — rather, she'd completely given up.
Only now did Grass Wonder begin her launch.
She wasn't paying attention to Royal Rose at her side — she was glaring fixedly at Special Week, whose eyes held only King Halo.
'No!'
The person Spe-chan should be looking at — should be me!
The aura around Grass Wonder shifted slightly.
In the audience, Symboli Rudolf gave a soft huh.
But she looked at Grass Wonder's display with some uncertainty. She couldn't sense in Grass Wonder that resolve to seize victory at any cost. Yet that aura she'd just felt for an instant — it really did seem like... ZONE?
How was that possible?
Where was Grass Wonder's catalyst for entering ZONE?
Symboli Rudolf couldn't make sense of it.
But it was natural that she couldn't understand. Because the "victory" Grass Wonder wanted was to defeat Special Week. Under normal circumstances, that mindset definitely couldn't awaken ZONE. But if the opponent she wanted to defeat was someone who had already awakened ZONE, then it was different.
Only ZONE could defeat ZONE.
And Grass Wonder's desire for "victory" was the genuine article, real and true. So the ultimate realm opened its gate for her. But perhaps because this resolve was a little too peculiar, and because Grass Wonder right now couldn't accept Special Week running away from her without absolutely needing to defeat her, only a hint of that aura emerged. There was no real sign of fully entering ZONE.
If it weren't for an uma musume like Symboli Rudolf, who had researched ZONE so deeply, no one would have noticed.
But there was one other person here who had also noticed Grass Wonder's anomaly — King Halo.
In the instant Grass Wonder's aura shifted, King Halo's vision had already foreseen this scene. Now that her data collection was complete, she could perceive any subtle ripple on the racetrack. She could even predict the future of this race to a certain degree.
So Grass Wonder's anomaly was likewise within her control.
"How interesting. If this were the me from the start, then by now I'd probably be feeling some pressure. But unfortunately — just as you all grow stronger mid-race, I grow stronger too. And the speed at which I evolve is a hundred times yours."
King Halo didn't turn her head. She didn't need to. Her perception covered the entire field. King Halo in this state could do everything Tokai Teio's [Second Brain] could do — and even more!
She looked at Seiun Sky and Silence Suzuka in front.
"You've both been eliminated. Step aside."
Under Seiun Sky's unsurprised gaze and Silence Suzuka's trembling one, King Halo overtook them both via the outer lane in flashing strides. The race had now entered the final turn, with only a hundred meters until the final straight.
Nakayama Racecourse's final straight was very short — less than 400 meters. It was extremely rare for someone to be caught from the lead in this final stretch, unless the leading racer's stamina ran out and she lost speed on her own.
The first to enter this stretch was King Halo!
This entire shift had happened in an instant. A race normally lasted under two minutes, and King Halo had only begun her launch in the latter half of the middle stage. Which meant this whole sequence of changes had taken less than a minute combined.
To the spectators, it had genuinely been the blink of an eye. But because it was so overwhelming, no spectator was paying any attention to whether their eyes were watering — they were all just staring wide-eyed.
Their hearts and minds had been completely conquered by King Halo's performance. Their brains had stopped thinking.
Only an intense awe and emotion remained, exploding inside them.
...This is so cool!
Is this how Chasers run?
No — Chaser uma musume can be this strong?
In this earlier era, before the future Tyrants and their kind had been born, Chasers had always been the running style of the weak. Only racers who lacked explosive power, lacked stamina, and had irreparable flaws would choose the Chaser style. So in their understanding, an uma musume who specialized in the Chaser style couldn't possibly be that strong.
But King Halo was using her actual performance to tell them — Chasers could be this strong too. So strong it made you wonder if this was actually the strongest running style. Because she, King Halo, was simply that powerful!
"...The race has entered the final straight. Nakayama Racecourse's final straight is very short. There aren't many chances left. King Halo is in the lead — can any of the other racers catch up?"
Even Special Week, who had launched alongside King Halo, while currently in second place, was watching the gap between her and King Halo grow wider and wider. ZONE's burst wasn't enough to bridge the gap in raw ability. Not to mention that her ZONE wasn't even a true awakened state — this kind of luck-dependent burst mode wasn't reliable at all.
King Halo had never expected any surprises in this race today. Otherwise she wouldn't have chosen to ignore Special Week and the others on her way in. Because Special Week and the others' progress simply wasn't enough yet. If at the Hopeful Stakes — when she hadn't quite mastered her new abilities — she'd had to bring out three-tenths of her seriousness to face Royal Rose and Blue Harmony...
Then now, having completely mastered her new strength, she could be certain of victory even without taking it seriously!
To borrow a line from Tokai Teio:
"The future has already been grasped by me!"
But King Halo felt that, in her case, the line should be: "Even the future is already under my control!"
"So strong! This is already a runaway lead!"
Akasaka, calling the race, had originally thought Special Week and the other racers might keep up. But she hadn't anticipated that once they entered the final straight, King Halo's speed would surge again. Now Special Week and the others, far from catching up, would be lucky if they could stay within the 200-meter mark and avoid being declared a Crushing Defeat — that would be the most they could do to preserve their dignity as racers.
But that sort of thing—
Are you all hoping I'll show you mercy?
A smile played across King Halo's face. It was beautiful — and also cruel. She respected anyone who wanted to improve themselves, because it reminded her that she was that kind of person too. But she would not stop. She was the kind of person who, even watching a fellow climber fall down a ravine while ascending the same cliff, would feel nothing and just keep climbing. Her eyes held only the summit, only the destination!
At least in this respect.
She was even more ruthless than Mejiro McQueen.
Because she didn't have that kind of margin to spare.
Gentleness was a privilege of the strong.
And King Halo always positioned herself as the "weak one." But she wouldn't be the weak one forever. Eventually, one day, she too would become a strong one. And she wanted to feel what it was like to sit on that throne of the strongest — not because she had any particular attachment to that throne, but simply because she wanted to.
If she was going to grow stronger, then naturally the goal had to be — to become the strongest, right? She'd never told a lie. It was just that the "strongest" she meant wasn't the Arc de Triomphe.
Silence Suzuka, soul-shaken, watched that runaway figure.
'But that was supposed to be me...'
She'd always thought she was the only one who could reach that world. Yet King Halo had entered that world while running as a Chaser — and had even reached an even higher world.
For a moment, Silence Suzuka was hit by an enormous shock.
Not only did her speed not rise in that instant — it actually dropped. Seiun Sky, who suddenly overtook Silence Suzuka, hadn't expected it to be this easy. But after noting Silence Suzuka's expression a moment ago, she understood why.
"Heh. Even a prodigy gets crushed by the King-sama, huh."
But even though she'd reached third place.
Seiun Sky couldn't bring herself to be happy.
Because she knew this was her current limit.
Special Week watched the gap with King Halo continuing to widen. Even in this state, the shock left her dazed.
"How... how can she be this strong?"
"Cross the finish line!"
King Halo crossed the finish line, expressionless.
The next moment, the giant screen began displaying times and results. King Halo's name appeared on the first-place line. Behind it, the recorded time was in the color reserved for record-breakers, making it hard to believe. King Halo, who had run the first half of the race so leisurely, had broken the race record. It was simply terrifying — because King Halo had given the impression that she hadn't even been using her full strength.
Second place, Special Week.
But two red characters trailed her result — [Crushing Defeat]!
Special Week stared at this result and was instantly engulfed by an enormous darkness. She hadn't imagined at all that she'd be eliminated by the first-place finisher — that she wouldn't even take home a runner-up's medal.
Third place, Seiun Sky.
She looked at her own result, lost in thought.
'Hmm. I lost, but I broke my personal record, and I came very close to the previous race record. That means my real ability has indeed grown a lot.'
And the reason she'd grown so much.
She turned her gaze toward the side, where, like a queen, King Halo was calmly accepting the cheers. She knew that the reason she'd progressed this much was all because she'd wanted to chase the back of this King-sama.
And really — King Halo really was just like a King.
A King on the racecourse!
That was exactly the impression King Halo had given her in this race, because she felt that everything had been brought under that one's control.
Whether it was the movements of every racer.
Or the final result of the race.
Everything seemed to follow King Halo's script.
"Strong to the point of despair. But — it's interesting. As long as I keep chasing your back, things won't be boring."
Seiun Sky accepted her defeat this time.
Or rather — she'd lost so many times she was used to it.
Grass Wonder, her result poor, stared at Special Week, who was still staring at King Halo. She murmured, "Next time, next time you'll have eyes for no one but me. Next time, I'll definitely defeat you!"
That eerie aura appeared on her again.
Silence Suzuka hung her head, miserable. But right now, even Special Week wasn't in the mood to comfort her.
Because if you asked who had been hit hardest of all.
That would unquestionably be Special Week.
Even with her burst-mode cheat activated, she'd been beaten by a Crushing Defeat margin.
If Special Week hadn't been mentally tough, by now her vision would have gone black and she'd have collapsed coughing up blood. In that state, how could Special Week possibly have any spare capacity to think about Silence Suzuka's situation?
This race, which would later be recorded in Japanese racing history, had now ended. Future generations would call this day the curtain rise of the Grand Era.
But this day had another name as well.
The first step of the Sovereign's conquest of the world!
Meanwhile, in France, Valiant Dancer, at the urgent request of her wife, had just finished watching this race. Her expression was startled, dazed. She looked at the King Halo on the television, who bore a 90% resemblance to her wife, and was momentarily confused. "This is my child? But — how can my child be this strong?"
She didn't have many memories of King Halo.
She'd met King Halo so few times she could count them on one hand. And because she paid no attention to what was going on in Japan, she had very few impressions of King Halo.
She just knew that her wife's family seemed to have high hopes for this daughter. But honestly, she didn't actually care whether this daughter could inherit her own talent — she herself had already accomplished the great feat of conquering the world. Whether her daughter was strong or not, what did it matter to her?
What's more, when King Halo was two, she'd had her own trainer examine King Halo's talent. At that time, King Halo's character card stats hadn't yet begun reverting, so it was easy to observe the same talent as her original template.
So Valiant Dancer had been told a truth back then: this daughter of hers had no potential to become an uma musume.
That was one of the reasons she'd never paid attention to whether King Halo would become an uma musume. Her trainer wouldn't lie to her about something like this — her daughter genuinely had no talent.
But now...
Valiant Dancer's expression turned grim.
She pulled out her phone and found her trainer's name.
Trainer — you've got some nerve!
...
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