She was defeated.
And it was a crushing defeat.
When the race result came out, many viewers in front of their televisions still had not recovered their emotions.
Before the race began, no one could have imagined that Montjeu, the world champion, would lose. Even less could they have imagined King Halo running a huge-margin victory in this race.
At this moment, everyone understood one thing. King Halo's strength was absolutely not something the locals had exaggerated.
She was a truly powerful umamusume.
At the race venue, Special Week and Montjeu, who had finished the race, were both panting heavily at the finish line. Looking at the results on the large screen, they were somewhat dazed.
A huge margin.
They had never imagined such a result. The strength King Halo displayed dealt both of them a deep blow.
They had originally thought that even if King Halo had hidden her strength, at most, she had only hidden one or two skills.
But who could have imagined that the strength King Halo had hidden was not merely that little, but was as deep and bottomless as the sea?
"I lost."
Montjeu came before King Halo and said it openly.
There was no dispute about the result of this race.
She also did not think she had lost to King Halo because of an accident. King Halo's strength was indeed superior to hers in every aspect.
"The race record is out!"
"Let us congratulate King Halo on conquering the Japan Cup!"
"A new legend has been born. She is King Halo!"
Breaking the race record.
Defeating the world champion.
Dominating the race by a huge margin.
King Halo's performance in this race was perfect.
Faultless, incomparable strength.
From this day on, King Halo's name would surely be recorded in the history of this world, becoming an umamusume countless later generations would admire.
In the spectator seats, the Trainer shed excited tears.
Although he was only a tool-like Trainer, he felt honored to follow behind the king and witness this legend all the way.
And just as P planned to head backstage to welcome King Halo, an umamusume suddenly appeared before him.
She was a genius among the new students.
The young lady of the Mejiro family.
"Please. I want to join Senior King's team."
P widened his eyes in shock.
However, after careful consideration, P decided to temporarily keep this umamusume and ask King Halo's opinion later.
When King Halo later saw P bring that familiar figure before her, her entire body froze for a moment. Then, after hearing that this world's Mejiro McQueen wanted to join her team, she finally reacted.
"Mm. That's fine."
For McQueen's sake, it was not that she could not look after this world's little gourmand. And the little gourmand's potential truly was decent. She could just happen to awaken P's hidden talent as a Trainer.
In King Halo's eyes, P had completely fallen into being a tool for serving tea and pouring water. His top-tier Trainer talent had been buried.
However, afterward, when King Halo looked at this world's Mejiro McQueen, who had become her fan, and watched that familiar face react to her like that, her little heart still felt that it was a bit too stimulating.
After dancing a solo Winner's Stage, King Halo returned to Tracen Academy. Next, she had to prepare for this year's Arima Kinen.
And now, her mission progress was almost complete.
The original body's obsession was truly too narrow. At the beginning, it had still clamored about winning back every race she had once lost. Then when King Halo claimed the undefeated Triple Crown, it seemed to freeze up, and the progress bar jumped to ninety-nine percent all at once.
After she defeated Montjeu in this race, the progress bar rose to ninety-nine percent again. The remaining sliver was probably only because the original body's obsession was too proud.
Originally, King Halo had thought this progress bar could last until the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, but now it looked like it might not even last until the Arima Kinen. She had overestimated the original body's ambition.
But even if she cleared the scenario, it did not matter. After all, this was her story world, her second homeland. When next year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe began, she could still go and take a trophy.
Though by that time, she probably would not have much interest in this world's races anymore. But helping the family's development would not be bad.
After that, King Halo also met her cheap father. What surprised her a little was that Dancing Brave looked almost the same as Rigg Antona. Although there were slight differences in temperament, when the two stood together, they looked like twins.
King Halo had also never heard of an umamusume named Rigg Antona in this world, so she guessed the two were probably parallel counterparts from different worlds, existences who could be regarded as the same person.
However, Rigg Antona should be Dancing Brave in her younger period, while Dancing Brave was the world champion after achieving fame and success.
King Halo and Dancing Brave did not speak much. Their personalities were similarly silent. If the original body's personality was more like her mother, Goodbye Halo, then King Halo's personality was closer to the past Dancing Brave. Both were quiet and reserved.
Because Dancing Brave felt guilty toward King Halo, she put on no airs at all before her daughter. And King Halo had not taken that matter to heart in the first place, so the two of them got along fairly well.
Afterward, Dancing Brave even said that if King Halo intended to participate in next year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, she could come find her.
King Halo did not refuse.
Although Dancing Brave seemed to have thoughts of coaching her as well, King Halo felt that after the scenario cleared and the world's time synchronized, by next year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, even she did not know how much she would have grown. Besides, at her current progress, she already had the confidence to defeat this world's cheap father.
After the Japan Cup ended, Montjeu, Dancing Brave, and the others would remain in Japan for the time being. They planned to watch this year's Arima Kinen.
Montjeu even transferred temporarily into Tracen Academy.
During that period, the academy also held a race event.
Runners of the Golden Generation, King Halo, Montjeu, and even seniors such as the Emperor and Oguri Cap appeared in this event. King Halo unsurprisingly claimed victory, but because this was an entertainment event, she did not win by an overwhelming huge margin like in the Japan Cup. Before the finish line, she was almost caught up to.
Afterward, in this year's Arima Kinen, King Halo also unsurprisingly took the victory. At the end of the year, when the World Umamusume Association released this year's ratings, King Halo's rating shot straight to first place.
Although originally, even if she won no matter how many races in Japan, it would absolutely have been impossible for her to rush onto this ranking, Japan really was strong this year. After the World Umamusume Association tallied her race record, it still gave this rating very fairly in the end.
And Montjeu, the world champion, also made history. In the very year she became world number one, she lost the top position in the year-end ratings. However, Montjeu appeared very magnanimous about this and did not care at all.
In fact, because she had witnessed the vastness of the world, Montjeu gained even more motivation to become stronger. She embarked on a different path from other worlds and prepared to begin traveling around the world next year for a racing tour.
Moreover, King Halo was already the uncrowned king of this world. Everyone knew she was the strongest in the modern world. Even Montjeu, the world number one, was not her opponent.
And while King Halo watched, her scenario-clear progress bar moved little by little toward the finish.
Clearly, no matter how proud and contrary the original body's obsession was, it could no longer hold on to its initial idea. King Halo's performance had already completely surpassed her expectations.
In fact, including King Halo, none of them knew one thing: the race objectives for clearing a scenario did not necessarily require winning first place to count as completed. For some races, placing in the top three was enough.
It was just that the mission objective prompts were unclear. Added to that, beginning from Mejiro McQueen, the first generation, no one had ever thought about giving up victory, so every one of them always completed the mission objectives far beyond the requirement.
King Halo's mission objectives had originally been very long, but because her performance was far too outstanding, the mission score directly burst through the charts. Therefore, no matter how unwilling the scenario-clear progress bar was, it could only let her clear.
However, just as the progress bar was about to reach one hundred percent, King Halo suddenly felt a wave of mental dizziness. The next moment, the progress bar disappeared without a trace. Even the place where she had originally been changed.
Facing this unexpected development, King Halo remained very calm.
"What is going on? Why have I become like this?"
A familiar voice came from beside her ear.
King Halo reacted. Wasn't that her own voice? It was only that the tone was almost exactly the same as her mother's.
She turned around and saw the original body floating in the air like a ghost. She still had that same face, the appearance of the original King Halo whose body had first been taken over. So this was what she looked like from the outside?
"You, you..."
King Halo of this world looked at her own body studying her like a stranger, and immediately panicked.
"All right. I'll explain briefly. Listen carefully. I am King Halo from another world. Tell me what time it is now. Do you have a race coming up next?"
King Halo chose to get straight to the point.
"...Do you think I would believe something like that?"
"What if you don't believe it? Do you have any solution? Don't forget, right now, I am the one controlling this body."
"Ngh!"
King Halo of this world was clearly flustered, but her reason was still online. She did not scream and shout like a fool.
After all, she was originally someone with delicate thoughts.
"Can you give my body back to me? My next race is very important. It is a race I absolutely cannot lose. Please!"
King Halo of this world did not face the stranger before her with the posture of a young lady, because right now, she had to beg for her body back.
Looking at this original body, King Halo understood one thing. This was definitely not right after the original body's debut. At that time, the original body still could not let herself ask someone else for help. She had truly believed she had inherited her parents' talents and virtues, and that she would win good results because of it.
The original body from that period would absolutely not show this attitude.
The current original body looked as if she had been forced into a corner.
Although she still refused to give up, she already knew the cruel truth. She knew that perhaps she truly did not have that kind of talent.
In other words, the original body at this time should already have lost quite a bit.
"What is the next race?"
"...The Kikka Sho."
After a moment of silence, King Halo of this world still answered the question.
As expected.
King Halo was not surprised.
She asked calmly, "Do you think you can win?"
"..."
King Halo of this world bit her lip and stayed silent for a long time.
But in the end, with her eyes trembling slightly, she still said, "I have to win. Only by winning can I prove myself!"
The current her still refused to give up.
She refused to admit that she was a failed successor.
She refused to admit that she had failed to inherit KING's glory.
King Halo had no intention of mocking her.
Because there was no meaning in it.
Because the original body had known this from the beginning. Despite how her mother looked, she actually cared very much about her daughter. She must have told the original body the truth long ago. It was only that the original body had refused to accept it.
And after coming to Japan, this barren land, she had been praised by reporters, which was why she drifted so far as to dare challenge the Classic Triple Crown.
Even though she clearly did not have the quality or strength for it.
"Sorry, I don't know how to give the body back to you either. So I will run the next race in your place."
"What kind of joke is that?!"
King Halo of this world became angry.
She had humbled herself to this extent, and the other party was actually playing with her? Saying that she would run the race for her? What kind of international joke was that?
She had no way out anymore.
King Halo did not care about the original body's roar.
She merely stated a cruel fact calmly.
"So what? Even if I give the body back to you, you cannot win. Even if you pretend to be strong, you should know by now that you fundamentally do not have the talent to be a first-rate umamusume."
"!"
King Halo of this world had not expected the stranger before her to understand her so well. Could she truly be herself from another world?
"Something like that, how would I know without trying..."
"You have already tried many times. Did you win?"
"..."
King Halo of this world fell silent.
She had taken a critical hit.
Even now, she was only stubbornly holding on with her words.
"Let me run this race. Your opinion is not important."
King Halo forcefully made the decision.
Even though King Halo of this world wanted to refute her, facing King Halo's terrifying aura, she felt shocked. Wait, didn't you say you were me from another world?
With an aura this enormous, is this really something I could possess?
After making the decision, King Halo asked the original King Halo again, "When does the race start? Answer me. Even if you don't answer, it doesn't matter. I will investigate it myself."
"...Tomorrow."
"I understand."
King Halo began walking toward the dormitory.
She still needed to change clothes, then go to the training grounds and adapt to this body. Although she had similar experience, she had to say that the original body's body was truly unreliable. Even outside of races, in daily life, she could feel the weakness.
The average stat level was around A to B, and the running styles were about the same as in the game. It seemed that daily training had raised them somewhat, but not by much. Aside from short-distance aptitude reaching A, the other distance aptitudes were only B. As for running-style aptitude, it was Leader and Betweener. Runner and Chaser aptitude could be regarded as nonexistent.
This strength was indeed enough to enter Central.
But at Central's level, it truly could not be counted as first-rate. Even the bottom of second-rate was barely possible. In other words, she was at about a second-rate level.
And that was only the stat panel.
As for skills, there was even less to say. She had already reached the Kikka Sho, yet she had not mastered a single Flash Skill. What exactly was going on?
Unless this world was a low-level world, this panel was absolutely weak in a high-level world. However, since the original body's talent could not possibly let her master advanced skills or raise her stats to this level alone, and since the stats of students passing by were not low either, King Halo judged that this world's level was not low.
Although she had not yet actively gathered information, the ability to gather information had long since become King Halo's passive skill. Therefore, it was not hard for her to reach these conclusions.
Her preliminary judgment was that the ceiling of this world's level was about that, and there was a high possibility that it was equal to her own world's level.
In other words, the next race would be quite challenging for her. After all, the original body's foundation was too weak. Estimating according to the level of her own world, even if Special Week and Sirius Symboli had not grown stronger because of her own catalyst effect, they would basically be close to world-class level.
Using a third-rate body to challenge first-rate umamusume. This mission's difficulty was absolutely at hard level.
She did not want to be careless either.
She had to master this body within today.
...
Get 20+ chapters ahead on - P.a.t.r.e.o.n "RoseWhisky"