At this moment, driven by King Halo, every runner in the race began to burst. Seiun Sky could only watch the scene with a sigh. With her scheme having failed, all she could do now was wait for luck to descend. If her luck was good, she might still obtain a decent result. As for victory, there was no longer any need to think about it.
"As expected of Halo-chan."
Although Seiun Sky was surprised, she was not shocked that King Halo had seen through her tactic. Precisely because King Halo was her opponent, Seiun Sky understood where her strength lay. She knew King Halo was no ordinary genius. King Halo possessed strategy superior even to her own.
"I lost."
Although the race had not ended, Seiun Sky had already accepted it.
Meanwhile, the race continued.
As Seiun Sky's condition fell sharply, the pack that had been lagging behind, driven by King Halo's movement, closed the distance to Seiun Sky at astonishing speed. Before the third corner, the second-place runner successfully caught up to Seiun Sky. At that point, Seiun Sky's condition had not fully recovered. She could not use a skill to enter a burst state, and could only watch helplessly as the second-place runner, and then the runners behind, caught up to her and passed her.
King Halo was still in the middle of the pack.
Although she had been the first to initiate and drive this rhythm, she had not truly rushed out of the pack. Her current performance gave the impression that she had failed to match the other runners in burst power. But those familiar with King Halo had already seen through it. She had never intended to burst at this moment. The rhythm just now had merely been to break Seiun Sky's tactic.
Some runners also realized this.
But even if they realized it now, it was already too late, because their skills had already been used. Although they could cancel the skill effects, the cost had already been paid. Even if stopping the skill effect could reduce part of the consumption, it would still be a loss.
So even if they now discovered the truth, there was nothing they could do.
Rather, precisely because they had discovered the truth, they needed to fight here. After all, they had already fallen into King Halo's rhythm. If they still wanted to win, their only option was to exceed their limits at this moment and use raw strength to break free of King Halo's control.
"So this is King Halo? How terrifying!"
"It feels like we're being dominated. Is something like this really possible? What kind of monster is she?"
"We have to go for it. There's no other choice. While she hasn't burst yet, open the gap between us and her!"
The runners each displayed their own abilities.
The radiance of skills shone over every one of them.
At this moment, the entire track was glowing.
King Halo watched their performances with cold eyes.
She had long since "foreseen" this scene.
Their reactions, the strength they could display, the possible "miracles" that might occur, and every other factor had already been answered in advance by her [Eye]. Predicting the ten, hundred, thousand actions an opponent would take after a single movement, and maintaining that calculation every second... if this were spoken aloud, no one would believe it. Only a top-of-the-line supercomputer could possibly do such a thing. A flesh-and-blood brain could not calculate that much, and the limits of the body would not allow the brain to be used to that degree.
But King Halo had achieved that impossible thing.
Her ordinary accumulation, the data she had gathered, and her innate mental power, which continued to improve day by day, all came together to allow King Halo to break through the limits of her brain. If Special Week's situation was one where instinct controlled her body and mind, then King Halo's current state was one where her will ruled over her flesh. To her in this state, no limiter existed.
Every "shackle" of the body could be released at will. The energy of the body could be freely mobilized. Complete dominion over herself. This was the result of King Halo's power. Through acquired learning, she had mastered an ability comparable to the natural talents of those monsters.
"Meaningless struggle."
Her heart was like a hollow void, with only the obsession to win surging within it. It was a state even calmer than still water. She would not be moved, would not waver, like the will of heaven high above.
The surging aura vanished again in an instant.
Her existence could clearly no longer be sensed, yet it also felt as though she was everywhere.
Every runner felt as if their legs had been marked. It was like a pair of eyes was watching them, like a thread had been tied to their limbs. Every movement seemed no longer fully their own.
This was something the spectators outside the field could not feel. This unease and fear could only be clearly experienced by the runners on the track.
This was King Halo.
This was Japan's strongest right now.
Like a ruler on the racetrack, she dominated every runner.
She was the Holy King who commanded all, and her will was fate itself.
"I can't wait anymore!"
Sweat beaded on Special Week's forehead.
She had originally wanted to wait until the most suitable distance before beginning her full burst, but the pressure from King Halo now made her feel as though she could no longer hold on. Even though she had already awakened ZONE, she still could not completely resist the psychological pressure King Halo brought.
King Halo was clearly only blending into the middle of the pack in an ordinary way. No especially powerful aura erupted from her body. Yet this feeling was that strong. Special Week could not suppress her instinctive warning at all. Although the more a situation was like this, the more she should calm down, Special Week's intuition told her that doing so would be even more dangerous. Special Week did not know the reason, but she chose to follow her intuition.
That choice was correct.
Because forcing herself to calm down at this moment would indeed make her fall under King Halo's control. The tension in her heart would be numbed in that instant. Although she would regain rationality, at this stage of the race, lacking tension meant lacking drive. It was very possible that she would miss an important burst timing because of it.
The only way to avoid the influence of King Halo's aura was to maintain absolute focus. In other words, only by entering a Flow state could one ignore this aura's interference.
Although in the story world, Flow was a very rare ability, outside the story world it was almost a standard ability everyone possessed. Even Gold Ship could use it. Gold Ship simply disliked using that ability, believing that state to be boring.
Viewed this way, King Halo's aura did not seem strong. But do not forget: this was only an aura. It could not even truly be considered an ability. It was merely a suppressive effect produced by some of King Halo's actions. It placed no consumption on King Halo herself, and could even be unfolded in her normal state. From that perspective, it was very strong, because it meant that as long as one had not mastered Flow, one could not guarantee one's mental state in a race against King Halo.
Relying on this move alone, King Halo was already enough to reach the ceiling of this world and barely squeeze into the level of White McQueen and the others. And this was only one of King Halo's minor passives.
No one yet knew King Halo's full strength.
What Special Week was doing now was trying to force out King Halo's full strength, then attempt to challenge King Halo at full power. The difficulty was very high, and she did not know whether she could do it. But Special Week had entered this race to defeat King Halo, so this was not a question of whether she could do it. It was something she had to do.
"Come on, King Halo! Let's settle this!"
Special Week adjusted the center of her stance. Her horseshoes tore into the turf, and purple flames surged from her body. That intense aura turned into a gale with her sprint and spread in every direction. The surrounding runners wavered when they felt that scorching presence.
"What is that?"
"Special Week, what did she do?"
"Could that be the legendary ZONE?!"
Special Week began charging madly from behind.
"The race has now reached the second half of the third corner. Seiun Sky, who led at the start, has now fallen to fourth. At this moment, Special Week, positioned in the rear, has begun her sprint!"
"So fast!"
"Special Week has already reached the front group!"
The commentator shouted in shock.
It felt as though in the blink of an eye, Special Week had completed her breakthrough.
At this moment, Special Week had rushed up behind Seiun Sky, and her momentum showed no sign of weakening. She soon caught up to Seiun Sky and continued advancing in that state.
"ZONE, huh? Special Week, you really are special too. But can that truly challenge the king?" Seiun Sky sighed.
In the past, if she had seen the power of ZONE, she would certainly have thought it was the strongest power. But after seeing King Halo, she was no longer certain whether the legend of ZONE was truly that strong. King Halo's strength was unfathomable.
Even ZONE felt as though it could not defeat her.
Thinking this, Seiun Sky's expression grew serious.
Her condition was about to recover.
Although her plan had already been broken, she had no intention of giving up. Even if she had admitted defeat, no umamusume would truly give up before reaching the finish line. She was an umamusume too.
"Counting the time, it should be coming soon."
Seiun Sky thought nervously.
It was almost time for King Halo's distance.
They entered the final corner.
Special Week had already drawn even with the current first place.
The commentator said excitedly, "Special Week! This girl has done it! What a splendid burst! The final corner is up ahead, and there are only 700 meters left to the finish. Can she hold on, Special Week? Will the flower of her dream bloom today?"
"No, that girl is starting to move!"
In the stands, Nishizaki Ryuya said with cold sweat all over his face.
He saw King Halo begin to overtake the runners ahead.
Silence Suzuka: "...Spe-chan."
She clenched her hands, as if praying for Special Week.
Beside them, [Gold Ship], dissatisfied with Nishizaki's timid appearance, shouted, "What are you afraid of? Special Week is already first now! With this gap, it's not like she has no chance at all!"
Vodka and Daiwa Scarlet chimed in from the side.
But Nishizaki did not feel reassured.
Indeed, if this were an ordinary race against ordinary opponents, then in the current situation, as long as Spe-chan did not make a mistake later, victory would already be assured. But this opponent was King Halo, the umamusume he still could not see through.
Spe-chan, can you really win?
Nishizaki looked around, searching for that Trainer's figure. He wanted to determine the current situation through King Halo's Trainer. But soon, his expression became quite disappointed.
Because he saw that guy P mixed in with the cheering squad, completely lacking any airs of a Trainer, waving flags and cheering for King Halo. That guy really was just a lucky brat after all.
In the race, King Halo activated her skill and began overtaking the opponents ahead. Because the gap had been one she had deliberately maintained from the start, she felt no pressure at all now that she had begun to chase. Everything was exactly as she had calculated, with no surprise and no accident.
The goddess of victory was smiling at her.
Yes. From the very beginning, the result had already been decided.
Special Week...
What a pity. You cannot reach this height.
Moving as smoothly as flowing clouds and running water, so fluid it seemed almost like cheating, King Halo advanced without the slightest resistance. As the number of "stepping stones" was gathered, the shining ideal path was smoothly laid open. With a dragon's roar and a sweep of clear wind, King Halo caught up under the crowd's gaze in an incomparably astonishing posture.
"King Halo!"
A mountain-and-sea roar came from the venue.
Everyone was shouting the king's name.
Even those who had not originally been King Halo's fans could not help being swept into this frenzy after seeing her current performance and being influenced by the atmosphere.
"An incredibly powerful roar is coming from the venue!"
"King Halo, as expected of Japan's strongest runner right now! She has caught up! With an astonishing final leg, she has caught up!"
The instant King Halo approached, Special Week reacted. Unwillingly, she looked toward King Halo at her side.
"No!"
Why do you still have that expression?
Why still can't I defeat you?
Why, why, why...
Why don't I even have the right to see your full strength?
The cry in her heart and her unwilling emotions all burned.
ZONE burned again!
Special Week's speed began to rise.
King Halo watched Special Week, who had opened a slight gap again, without expression. After adding a little more force, she easily erased that distance once more. The two of them sprinted side by side on the final straight. The scene looked incredibly spectacular, but Special Week's heart was filled with loss, because she knew she was already giving everything she had, while King Halo still had not brought out her full strength.
Final 400 meters.
King Halo passed Special Week.
Final 200 meters.
King Halo maintained a gap of three lengths over Special Week.
If King Halo wished, she had the ability to throw Special Week far behind in these 200 meters and win by a huge margin. But she still chose to hold back. Perhaps some people would think she was hiding her strength because she looked down on her opponent. In reality, it was exactly the opposite. Precisely because she treated the race seriously, she controlled her performance.
Only by keeping power in reserve would she have room to continue operating if something unexpected happened.
When she said that only an opponent with sufficient strength could force out her own strength, she meant exactly what the words said on the surface.
She was serious in every race.
Because only sincerity could reach the extreme.
King Halo maintained that speed and crossed the finish line. That gap of three lengths was something Special Week could not change even after exhausting all her strength. No matter how much more she burned, no matter how many times ZONE erupted again, she still could not reach King Halo.
It looked like only three lengths.
But the true gap between them was like a chasm between heaven and earth.
"Congratulations to King Halo for achieving the great feat of an undefeated Triple Crown at this moment!"
"Second place, Special Week."
"Third place, Seiun Sky."
...
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