The signal lights vanished—
The race has begun!!
Leon slammed into gear and stepped on the accelerator.
The Tyrant roared forward with a violent burst.
He shot straight to the front, like the leader of a pack, clearing a path for everyone behind him.
Right behind, Bleed Kaga's "Phoenix" refused to fall behind.
He chased hard, biting at Leon's rear wing like he was ready to overtake at any moment.
"Faster… faster!!"
Kaga roared internally, eyes glued to the digital display.
Even though his speed was climbing wildly, and he had already opened a gap from the cars behind—
It was still useless. He couldn't catch Leon.
Leon remained firmly ahead of even Kaga's peak performance.
Unreachable.
And now—
The corner was approaching.
"I must overtake him at this turn!!"
Kaga had made up his mind.
He was going to use his ultimate technique.
Leon stayed focused at the front, seeing a clear path ahead as he entered the corner.
The rain earlier this morning had stopped, the sun came out, and with the heated tires, the track had mostly dried.
Grip was acceptable, and they were on slick tires.
This wasn't a corner where drifting could be used.
Leon downshifted and reduced speed, dropping to just over 170.
Even that was already extremely fast.
Just as he maintained stable control—
A sudden engine scream erupted from behind.
Someone was accelerating into the turn!
Who?
Leon frowned and checked his left mirror.
A pure-white Formula machine barreled toward him.
The narrowed chassis minimized drag, and the massive rear wing pushed down enormous downforce.
Its overall design resembled the Asurada—
Like a white scorpion crouched low, ready to strike.
It was fast.
It was Kaga's Phoenix.
He's going for it?
Leon narrowed his eyes—
But then both side mirrors displayed the Phoenix at the same time.
As if it had duplicated itself—
Two identical cars appeared on both mirrors!
"What…?"
Before he could react—
A flash streaked past on his right!
Kaga blasted ahead, overtaking Leon in the blink of an eye.
"PHANTOM DRIFT!!"
Kaga roared with excitement!
He had unleashed his trump card, slicing past Leon with style.
This technique had never been used in any previous race.
Leon had been caught off guard.
This guy hid it really well.
Phantom Drift—
By diving into a corner with near-loss-of-control super-high-speed drifting,
then executing mechanical transformation at the latest possible moment,
the car maintains minimum speed loss and enters the exit line at a sharp angle—
Achieving explosive corner exit speed.
Inner lane or outer lane—
The overtake is absolute.
And because of the narrow mirror field of view and radar blind spots,
the overtaken driver would see the Phoenix in both side mirrors at the same time—
Creating the illusion of a "phantom."
Just like Mid-Air Drift, this was one of the corner-domination secret techniques.
Only someone with perfect synergy with the Phoenix's bio-computer could pull it off.
Leon had never seen it before, so he took the hit.
"Interesting…"
Leon smirked.
So this guy held it back during qualifying just to surprise him now.
And he succeeded.
With that move, Kaga seized the lead.
No wonder he was considered one of Cyber Formula's strongest drivers.
The first corner alone made Leon suffer a heavy setback.
The audience erupted into a thunderous roar as Kaga overtook Leon.
"Nice!! You're giving our Japan a great show!"
"Take him to the finish, Kaga!!"
"Let America see our strength!"
"I came here to watch the American get crushed, hahaha!"
"U.S. car god? My ass!"
The Japanese spectators shrieked wildly.
They had never seen Leon race.
To them, his legendary speed was just exaggeration.
Seeing him now, they thought:
This is it? That's all?
They cheered Kaga and mocked Leon without hesitation.
To them, Kaga was one of their own.
Their man now held the advantage.
Their pride soared.
And since Leon wasn't chasing immediately,
they mocked him even harder.
But Leon truly had no intention of chasing.
This race was forty laps.
They had just begun.
Let them perform.
Let them show all their little tricks.
If he acted rashly and took another hit—
Then the title of "Car God" meant nothing.
He knew that if Kaga had a trump card,
the others definitely had theirs too.
Sure enough—
Kazami Hayato surged forward next!
His fan unit activated, unleashing a violent downward gale.
A hurricane-level blast pushed the car upward.
And unbelievably—
The Asurada turned in mid-air.
The sky dimmed above Leon.
He looked up—
The underside of the Asurada loomed overhead,
its complex machinery exposed.
It spread its mechanical wings in mid-air,
swooping past Leon's Tyrant,
landing ahead of Kaga.
"Damn—this is taking the fan system to the absolute limit."
Leon even had the mood to joke.
Kazami's technique was truly stunning.
An unprecedented airborne turning maneuver.
When the Asurada landed, the impact was brutal—
the steel frame scraped the track,
throwing out a shower of sparks.
Dangerous.
The crowd screamed in shock.
Luckily, the Asurada recovered and stabilized.
Only then did everyone exhale in relief.
Another trump card.
If he didn't push them, Leon wouldn't know they were all hiding monsters.
Leon snorted.
Tricks like these certainly wouldn't be many.
He glanced behind.
Next in line was Shinjou Naoki.
That guy didn't seem to be doing anything fancy.
Just sticking close.
"Well, too late for him now."
Leon shifted gears—
the moment he exited the corner, he blasted forward on the straight.
But the straight was short.
He had just climbed past 450–470
when the next corner appeared.
He was forced to brutally downshift—
a violent deceleration that almost tore the chassis apart.
The combined deceleration and lateral G-forces hit hard,
making Leon's brow twitch slightly.
But just that—
a slight frown.
Not even a grunt.
His physical endurance was monstrous.
"Maintain a straight line and punch through!"
Momo instructed.
On the HUD, she displayed the predicted path.
And yes—
it was a perfect straight line.
"Then we punch it."
"Thrusters—ignite!!"
Leon roared—
And the Tyrant's rear thrusters lit up again!
The spectators were dumbfounded—
He was using the thrusters…
IN A CORNER?!
Was he trying to die?!
~~----------------------
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