Shako Rindou's sudden acceleration was like hurling a massive stone into a lake that had only just barely maintained its fragile balance, instantly kicking up a thousand waves.
"Someone's made a move!!!"
The commentator's voice shot upward at once, ringing across the entire venue along with the swelling noise from the stands.
"Second-place Shako Rindou is the first to break the deadlock! She's making her move!"
Tak-tak-tak-tak--!
Urgent, heavy hoofbeats began exploding one after another through the third turn.
With the runner in second forcefully pushing forward, the Umamusume in the leading group behind her, including Blizzard, instantly felt that pressure stabbing at their backs.
"Hah... hah... should I really go with her?"
Watching Shako Rindou suddenly burst forward, a flicker of hesitation crossed Blizzard's face.
But she had not even realized that by now, she was already breathing like a bellows, drenched in sweat.
"I should be fine... probably!"
In that split second, she made her choice. Gritting her teeth, she drove her horseshoes deep into the turf, and with a booming thud, the two Umamusume at the front of the Pace Chaser group erupted almost at the same time.
Left with no other choice, the other girls in the leading pack also clenched their teeth and were forced to raise their cadence, entering an acceleration phase by force.
Yet amid that undercurrent of turmoil, that accelerating frenzy where one movement pulled everything else along with it, Tokai Teio in fifth place remained like a reef standing firm in the middle of a storm-tossed sea.
"Not yet..."
The petite girl lowered her posture slightly. In her deep blue eyes, that crimson lightning flickered on and off like breathing.
She had been complaining in her heart just moments ago about how much she hated calculations.
But now, the racecourse instinct unique to a peerless genius was taking over her body at a frantic pace.
The direction of the wind, the moisture in the turf, the gradually disordered sounds of the girls ahead breathing harder and harder because they had accelerated too early...
All of it was telling her what the correct choice was at this exact moment.
"And their stamina's in even worse shape than I expected... is that you, Nature~?"
As her gaze shifted, Teio seemed to catch sight out of the corner of her eye of a reddish-brown figure several lengths behind her, still running with determination.
The corner of her mouth curled upward.
"So this is the strongest support-type Umamusume in this generation Trainer was talking about?"
"Nature's really working hard too..."
Further back, in the middle of the pack.
"Guh..."
A low swallowing sound escaped Nice Nature's throat, and fine beads of sweat had already formed on her brow.
The overall acceleration of the leading group had thrown the entire field's rhythm into even greater confusion, making it far harder to predict.
That undoubtedly increased the mental cost of maintaining her demonic power.
But there was not the slightest trace of retreat in her eyes. That murky, sinister force still lay hidden stubbornly in the shadows.
"Wait a little longer... just a little longer..."
The red-haired girl kept shouting to herself in her heart.
The true killing phase had not begun yet. Neither the white-clad shrine maiden running away at the front, nor the undefeated emperor still gathering power, had shown a real opening.
She had to be like the most patient hunter, saving this power until the very last moment.
...
As the remaining race distance steadily shrank, the Umamusume in the forward group pushed under enormous mental pressure, little by little eating away at the gap between themselves and Ibuki Mai Kagura.
"Huff... huff..."
The sound of rough, hurried breathing stood out sharply in the rushing wind.
Kagura's figure, which had originally been as light as white lightning, now seemed to carry a touch of heaviness.
Yet the pure white shrine maiden merely turned her head slightly and cast a detached glance at the pursuers baring their teeth behind her.
And after seeing their expressions and condition, a flicker of surprise flashed through Kagura's eyes.
Then she turned her head forward again, expressionless, with absolutely no intention of responding by accelerating further or even guarding against them.
Thump!
Shako Rindou locked onto that white figure ahead of her, furiously squeezing every bit of strength out of the powerful muscles in her thighs.
Closer! Even closer!
At last, just before they entered the decisive fourth turn...
Four lengths!
Shako Rindou had finally reached a distance where she could properly grasp Ibuki Mai Kagura's shadow.
"Got you!"
A surge of wild joy rose in Shako Rindou's heart.
As long as she could recover enough of the gap before entering the final straight, then with the finishing burst she was so proud of, she definitely could--
But just as she adjusted her center of gravity, full of hope as she prepared to attack the fourth turn...
Click.
Without any warning, her footing went chaotic for an instant, and Shako Rindou's body lurched violently.
"...Wh-?!"
Her face changed in shock. She bit down as hard as she could and forcefully stabilized herself again through sheer core strength and ingrained muscle memory.
After wrestling control of her body back, Shako Rindou felt the state she was now in, and her face filled with disbelief.
Why... does my body feel... so heavy?!
The centrifugal force of the fourth turn, something that should have been utterly familiar to her, now felt as though she were carrying a mountain on her back.
Her once-steady steps were starting to drift uncontrollably toward the outside lane.
That should have been impossible just moments ago.
Only now, after her desire to win had clouded her judgment, did Shako Rindou suddenly realize:
At some point, her heart had started pounding like a war drum, and the overwhelming fatigue spreading through every limb was mercilessly draining the strength from her body.
And it was not just her.
As the main pack cut one after another into the fourth turn, the abnormality spread like a plague, and the girls in the forward group began noticing the strange changes in their bodies one after another.
"What is going on...?"
Blizzard's face darkened as she felt her limbs growing heavier and heavier, even starting to go weak. Her sweat-soaked face was full of disbelief, exhaustion, and alarm.
That shouldn't be possible.
How could I already be hitting the wall before we've even entered the final straight?!
She could not make sense of it.
In normal training, she had run this kind of distance countless times. It should have been easy for her.
And yet now, they had only run a little over a thousand meters. She had not even begun her true final-phase sprint, so how could her stamina and endurance already have been drained to this extent?
As if she had sensed something, her heart suddenly gave a violent shudder for no reason at all.
(End of Chapter)
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