On the eve of the WGP Grand Final, the main press conference hall of the WMA was completely packed.
The world's best journalists had gathered there, coming from every sports media outlet.
The flashes of the bulbs were like an infinite white sea of stars.
Catherine Underwood, wearing a mysterious and oppressive high-fashion black evening gown, like a queen of the night, walked slowly toward the long-awaited podium.
"Ladies and gentlemen"
She smiled, scanning the audience.
The serenity and confidence befitting the highest authority in the world of Umas racing were fully on display.
"I know that lately everyone has been talking excitedly about the 'Hand of God' from the East and his 'Tracen Legion,' which is full of 'miracles'"
"Undoubtedly, they are excellent and quite... interesting"
Her tone suddenly changed, and her voice filled with the unquestionable majesty of a deity.
"But —"
"When all the games are over"
"When the true 'God' descends to the stage..."
"All the so-called 'magic' will return to eternal silence"
She paused and, with a tone full of a creator's pride, even a touch of fanaticism, presented her last and most powerful card up her sleeve to the world.
"Now, let me introduce to you all..."
"My daughter"
"The ultimate masterpiece of WMA technology"
"And the WGP competition..."
"Just 'Finish line'"
"Dawn!"
When her passionate voice faded out, the lights in the entire conference hall dimmed instantly!
Only a single, sacred golden spotlight, like the first ray of light at dawn, illuminated the center of the stage.
The background music shifted from an exciting symphony to an ethereal and sacred aria, like that of a church choir.
In the center of the stage, a massive elevator platform rose slowly.
Dawn stood there in silence, appearing before the entire world.
She wore a pure white victory uniform adorned with countless glimmers of golden light, like the sunrise; a garment so magnificent it seemed from another world.
Her long and soft platinum hair, like moonlight, fell gently over her back.
Her face was flawless, exquisitely perfect, like the most beautiful porcelain doll sculpted by the hand of God.
Her eyes were orbs of pure sapphire, like a frozen polar ocean.
She looked like a true angel who had descended to the mortal world.
But —
Everyone present felt a strange and inexplicable chill.
Because her eyes... were hollow.
Facing the deafening cheers of the audience and the blinding, frantic camera flashes.
Her face showed no expression.
There was no joy, no nervousness, not even the slightest breath.
She simply stood there in silence.
Like a soul-less doll of dazzling beauty...
In the front row of the audience.
All the students of Tracen Academy felt an unprecedented, suffocating pressure.
Symboli Rudolf, whose face always radiated confidence and serenity, showed a extremely solemn expression for the first time.
"What a powerful presence... No, this can't even be called a 'presence' anymore..."
"It's a kind of..."
"Absolute and pure nothingness"
Following the press conference, Dawn's individual time trial exhibition race took place.
Its purpose was to generate the final and most impactful momentum for the following day's Grand Final!
The race has begun!
She dashed out.
There was no strategy.
No changes in pace.
No emotional fluctuations of any kind.
From the first second of the race to the last, she maintained a constant, theoretically "optimal" speed, as if it had been calculated by a supercomputer.
Every one of her movements was of millimetric precision, as if they could be measured exactly with a protractor and a compass!
Her stamina seemed limitless!
She wasn't running.
She was executing a cold program... entered with the final command: "Absolute victory"
Finally —
She crossed the finish line.
The time displayed on the gigantic scoreboard next to the finish line —
It was two seconds faster than the new track record that Justify had set just a few days ago with Kaito's help, a record that had already amazed the world!
In the most elite competition in the world, this was an abysmal skill gap, like a chasm!
After finishing the race, her heart rate remained extremely stable.
Her breathing was alarmingly regular.
Not a single drop of sweat had appeared on her perfectly angelic, doll-like face.
She remained expressionless and empty.
It was as if she had simply taken a quiet walk through the park.
Then, at the signal from her "mother," Catherine, she turned toward the audience, which had fallen into a deathly silence.
She made a deep bow, forming a perfectly measured 90-degree angle, as if she had calculated it with a protractor.
Under Catherine's malicious and deliberate plan.
After the race, Kaito was "invited" to the stage.
He was to shake hands in a symbolic and friendly gesture with the newly crowned "World Record Holder"
As he squeezed the small, cold, temperature-less hand.
Kaito, without changing his expression, instantly turned his damned [Fatal Pheromone] to the MAX, potent enough to drive any Uma wild!
That dominant aura, full of pure masculine charm, instantly enveloped Dawn's small body!
However... she showed no reaction.
Her gaze remained empty.
Her expression remained placid.
On the real-time heart rate data graph that Agnes Tachyon was monitoring backstage... not even the slightest fluctuation appeared.
It was like a doll whose sense of smell had completely failed.
Kaito's heart sank.
Taking her hand, he activated his [Vision] ability, attempting to peer into her mysterious inner world.
But what he "saw" —
It wasn't an "inner theater" packed with various emotions and colorful thoughts, as he saw in others.
But an expanse... an expanse of pure, limitless, completely empty, despair-inducing... "White Nothingness"
Kaito was deeply shocked!
This was the first time he faced a target that rendered all his proud skills completely useless.
Just at that moment...
The system in his mind issued a maximum-level alert sound, shrill and of unprecedented gravity!
[ "— Warning! Warning! —" ]
[ "An ultra-high density 'Emotional Suppression Protocol' and a 'Mental Information Black Hole' have been detected within the target 'Dawn'!" ]
[ "Her 'heart' has been forcibly ripped out by a powerful external system! And it is being used as a device to absorb and purify the negative emotional data generated by all Umas within the 'Skynet' system..." ]
[ "A 'container'!!!" ]
[ "Final analysis conclusion: She does not lack emotion! Rather, her body and soul have become a vessel carrying the countless amount of pain, despair, jealousy, and rage of the entire WMA; all those negative emotions that she can never express..." ]
[ "A 'living hell'!!!" ]
Listening to the cold, yet infinitely painful analysis of the System.
Kaito understood everything in an instant.
He looked at the hollow, beautiful, and pitiful doll before him.
His gaze was no longer one of curiosity.
Instead, it was filled with an unprecedented compassion, as deep as the ocean, and a massive rage!
He slowly raised his head.
He looked toward Catherine, who was standing nearby, smiling at him with a victor's posture.
He finally understood completely.
How cruel and inhuman that woman, apparently noble and elegant, had been to her so-called "daughter"!
"She had done it to maintain the stability of her so-called 'scientific' and 'perfect' 'Skynet' system!"
"To eliminate the human emotions she considered 'impurities' and 'viruses'!"
She had maniacally poured all the filthiest and most painful "emotional trash" onto her innocent and pitiful adopted daughter!
Kaito slowly let go of her hand.
But at the final moment of letting go.
He spoke to Dawn with a voice only the two of them could hear, a voice full of infinite tenderness and iron determination.
He made his first and most important promise to Dawn
"Wait for me"
"I will get you out... of that damned hell"
Hearing these words.
Dawn's sapphire eyes, which had always been completely expressionless... seemed to flicker, very slightly, almost imperceptibly.
But they immediately returned to that eternal stillness, like a void.
Catherine stepped forward with elegance, shielding Dawn behind her.
She gave Kaito a superior smile, the smile of the absolute victor.
"Do you see, Mr. Kaito?"
"This is the power of 'Order'"
"This is absolute 'perfection'"
"In front of her, your ridiculous theories about the 'heart'..."
"…are so extremely fragile"
Kaito did not argue with her further.
He simply stared at her.
Then, he turned around and left.
He knew any words he said now were meaningless.
The only way was in the WGP Grand Final tomorrow!
Using his own methods!
In front of the whole world!
Completely destroy Catherine's cruel, cold, and inhuman "Order"!
...
Back in the lounge.
Kaito, for the first and last time.
Gathered all the members of his Harem Legion.
Holding a final tactical meeting, no longer oriented toward "Victory," but toward "Saving" a poor, captive soul.
The WGP Grand Final was about to begin.
This would no longer be a simple race.
But a grand and sacred ritual: "Awakening the Doll's Heart"
How would Kaito and his Harem Legion transmit the power of human "Emotion" through the race to that soul imprisoned in the depths of hell?
And what ruthless and cold methods would Catherine employ to prevent all this?
"The final and decisive battle is about to begin!"