McQueen...
Mejiro Palmer came to McQueen's side, seeing the purple flames blazing in her eyes. She understood exactly what McQueen was feeling right now.
In terms of pure individual ability, McQueen was undoubtedly the strongest competitor in this race. Yet now she found herself cornered due to the rules of the team competition.
The tactics aren't exactly honorable, but that's just how this kind of race works.
Mejiro Palmer's expression was full of pride.
Even if these tactics targeting McQueen seemed underhanded, they were well within the rules of a team race. Besides, if anyone deserved blame for McQueen's predicament, it wasn't her opponents—it was McQueen's two useless teammates.
Hahaha! What a magnificent Great Escape, but a race isn't your solo performance! Let this Overlord add some color to your little tune!
"They've caught up! Mejiro Palmer and Opera O have successfully pulled alongside Mejiro McQueen!"
Commentator Kojiro's voice rang out.
Mejiro McQueen, despite facing relentless targeting from the other competitors, ultimately couldn't escape.
A shame, but it seemed this competitor's Great Escape had reached its end.
"We're past the halfway point, and currently leading are these three competitors: Mejiro McQueen, Opera O, and Mejiro Palmer—"
"Following closely are Kitasan Black and Mejiro Goodwill—"
A wave of disappointed sighs rippled through the spectator stands the moment they saw Mejiro McQueen get caught.
They'd thought she might actually pull off a wire-to-wire escape.
But of course it wouldn't be that easy.
After all, every competitor in this race was a powerhouse from different worlds.
Gaps in ability might exist, but they certainly weren't overwhelming. And with McQueen being targeted by every other team, perhaps the Great Escape strategy had some inherent weakness in team races.
After all, the competitors' conditions and mindsets were completely different from classic tournament rules.
But no one noticed that McQueen's eyes hadn't given up yet.
Neither Mejiro Palmer nor Opera O allowed their expressions to relax.
They might have caught up, but Palmer and Opera O realized they couldn't actually pass Mejiro McQueen.
This girl was holding her position like her life depended on it!
You still haven't given up? Why, McQueen?
Mejiro Palmer couldn't understand.
McQueen should be running on fumes by now. Why was she so determined to hold this position?
She was even burning through her stamina via the ZONE mechanism just to maintain this speed.
No—more importantly, Palmer had a feeling McQueen was hiding some skills she hadn't used yet.
In this situation, even to protect her position, there should be no need for such self-destructive measures.
What are you thinking?
Palmer couldn't read McQueen's strategy anymore.
McQueen's eyes didn't look like someone who'd given up on first place, yet by any common sense, her approach was foolish.
Even if she'd saved some skills, what was the point if she burned through all her stamina before reaching the finish line?
Opera O's brow furrowed deeply. "Even with my leg speed, I can't break through?"
And more than that—
She's not even looking at me!
Mejiro McQueen wasn't going all out yet.
She didn't know why she felt this way, but Opera O was absolutely certain of this intuition.
Because McQueen's running style right now was just too strange.
"Tokai Teio!"
"Tokai Teio is making her move!"
The commentator Musashi's voice boomed from the broadcast tower.
Both Mejiro Palmer and Opera O startled!
Were the other members of Team [ ] finally making their move?
Wait a moment.
Palmer and Opera O suddenly looked at McQueen's cold, composed profile.
Could it be...?
Halfway through the race, Tokai Teio—who had been conserving her strength—suddenly shifted her stance and launched herself forward with incredible strides, challenging the competitors ahead.
Narita Road had been keeping an eye on Tokai Teio the whole time.
But the instant Teio lowered her body and surged forward, her reaction was half a beat too slow.
This is bad.
By the time Narita Road registered what was happening, Tokai Teio had already left her in the dust.
Narita Road scrambled to follow.
But Tokai Teio's ability exceeded everyone's expectations. Even with Narita Road's explosive power, she couldn't keep up with Teio's speed at all.
This was only natural.
Because Tokai Teio was a genius.
Just as Gold Ship had said, she had perfectly mastered the other two's skills through sheer talent.
Even with the system's skill-sharing feature, both Mejiro McQueen and Gold Ship weren't entirely comfortable with skills inherited from others.
But Tokai Teio had no such problem. She was a flawless genius who could make any skill her own through practice.
Apart from inherent skills like Shining Star—abilities with personal spiritual imprints that couldn't be perfectly replicated—Tokai Teio had completely mastered every other skill from her two teammates.
Combined with her SS-rank physical attributes across the board, even without ZONE enhancement, her explosive power and speed ceiling were leagues beyond what other competitors at her level could hope to reach.
When she saw that Mejiro Palmer and Opera O couldn't fully overtake McQueen, Tokai Teio knew she couldn't wait any longer.
Well, I suppose things were always going to end up this way.
Though she said this to herself, the smile on Tokai Teio's face was utterly radiant.
Come to think of it, this was her first time showing her full strength in a race.
So this is what it feels like to run free?
But she wouldn't let herself get drunk on this feeling.
To perfectly balance instinct and reason—
That is what makes the ultimate Uma Musume!
That is who she, Tokai Teio, truly is!
Skill after skill flashed beneath her feet with nearly every stride.
The terrifying rapid-fire activation left Narita Road behind her utterly stunned.
That's impossible!
Narita Road wore an expression like she'd witnessed a divine miracle.
She'd prepared herself for the possibility that Tokai Teio was hiding something.
But she never imagined Teio was hiding this much!
"Tokai Teio is on a rampage! What incredible explosive power!"
"Skill after skill in rapid succession—does this competitor have no limits?!"
Even commentators Kojiro and Musashi were shaken.
They'd called enough major races to think they'd seen their share of monsters. But this was a new breed entirely.
Tokai Teio's skill chaining looked similar to simultaneously activating multiple skills, but there was a subtle difference.
Instead of entering a state with multiple skill effects at once, she would activate one skill, adapt to its state in an incredibly short window, then immediately trigger the next.
This way, while there was still strain on her body, she minimized the burden of stacking multiple skill effects.
But pulling this off was nothing short of miraculous.
It required terrifying mental fortitude and reaction speed.
And even that wasn't enough—it also demanded a body with perfect adaptability.
In other words, this was a technique Tokai Teio had developed using her own genius. A technique that belonged to her alone.
Though much of Teio's inspiration for this technique actually came from observing Mejiro McQueen's ZONE effect.
She had originally tried to use her intellect to replicate the same power as McQueen's ZONE.
The result didn't quite match her expectations, but there was no question this technique was formidable.
Still, in terms of versatility and ceiling, it couldn't compare to McQueen's ZONE.
The strain was heavier than McQueen's ZONE, and it couldn't achieve that exponential burst from stacking skill effects.
At the end of the day, it only expanded the limits on how many skill buffs she could maintain—it could never rival McQueen's trump card.
Tokai Teio knew perfectly well that tricks like this couldn't beat McQueen or the Overlord.
She needed greater power. She needed Overdrive—or something beyond it!
Can I do it?
No.
The possibility is in my hands!
Let me try!
No aura of ZONE. No flashy visual effects.
Just Tokai Teio, parting the air currents around her, closing in on the frontrunners with astonishing strides.
That girl...!
Gold Ship had been about to make her own move.
Teio had just beaten her to the punch by a hair.
Watching Teio's explosion, thick anger spread across Gold Ship's face.
The fury of watching someone steal your prey.
The only one who gets to beat McQueen is ME! Get lost, you second-rate bit player!
The Overlord's Domain that had blanketed the venue—which had faded when the skill duration ended—trembled back to life in this instant.
Daiwa Scarlet and Admire Vega both sensed mortal danger.
Without hesitation, they both activated their inherent skills and bolted forward.
They didn't know exactly what was happening, but their Uma Musume instincts were screaming: Run from the Overlord. Now.
Mejiro Ryan and Satono Diamond hadn't expected the rear competitors to suddenly erupt.
In that moment of surprise, Daiwa Scarlet and Admire Vega blew past them.
Ryan and Satono Diamond quickly activated their own skills to give chase.
And then—a terrifying presence swept forward from the very back of the pack, making both their tails stand on end.
Heavy footsteps, like a horror movie monster making its entrance, drawing closer and closer.
What is happening?!
Did Gold Ship-san do something? But what did she do?!
The four of them were running for their lives.
They'd planned to save their ZONE burst for the final curve, but hearing those footsteps closing in, they couldn't hold back any longer.
They triggered ZONE to steel themselves against the encroaching dread.
[Overlord's Domain: Can interrupt opponents' skill activation (USED), lowers opponents' morale causing anxiety and fear (USED), seals all of opponents' abilities (CURRENTLY ACTIVE)]
The skill interruption effect had been used at the race's start.
The morale debuff had just been deployed.
The final effect—sealing opponents' abilities—had a chance to trigger when Gold Ship was gaining on someone.
But this trigger rate depended on both parties' conditions and the distance between them.
However, this ability had a hidden effect.
Once Gold Ship completed an overtake, the seal became 100% guaranteed!
This was why the four ahead felt unprecedented danger—their instincts as elite Uma Musume had understood the Overlord's terror before their minds caught up.
But Gold Ship's target wasn't them at all.
Her target was that second-rate nobody—Tokai Teio!
Scary stuff, Overlord-sama. But you're a loser, aren't you? Someone who's already failed once should stop being so persistent.
Tokai Teio felt the Overlord's gaze on her but didn't give it a second thought.
The Overlord might not take her seriously, but had she ever truly feared the Overlord?
Sure, the Overlord's gate was a genuine threat to her.
But she didn't believe the Overlord could defeat her.
She acknowledged that McQueen was currently the strongest among their trio.
But the Overlord wasn't second place.
Besides, so what if the Overlord was angry?
Given the current situation—why don't you worry about catching up from back there first, Overlord-sama?
"All competitors are sprinting!"
Kojiro felt something strange about the situation.
But nothing seemed technically wrong—for elite Uma Musume, mid-race sprinting wasn't unusual.
Mejiro Palmer and Opera O turned to look at Mejiro McQueen, their expressions grim.
Feeling the Overlord's terrifying presence behind them, hearing the commentator announce Tokai Teio's movements—
How could they not understand McQueen's strange behavior now?
So the people you were watching out for were your own teammates?!
Interesting! You dare treat this Overlord as merely the appetizer?!
Both were furious.
So we're running a team race against you, but you're treating us as extras in your internal competition?
Gold Ship, I can understand. But you too, Teio?
Mejiro McQueen paid no attention to Palmer and Opera O's emotions.
After mentally noting Tokai Teio's actions, she shifted into serious mode without hesitation.
The purple flames in her left eye exploded outward. With a surge of wind, she instantly left Palmer and Opera O behind, charging alone into the final curve.
Palmer and Opera O's expressions shifted.
So McQueen had saved her ZONE specifically to deal with her own teammates?
Just as they gritted their teeth, ready to push their bodies to their limits and teach the arrogant McQueen a lesson—footsteps suddenly sounded behind them.
A figure sliced between them like a bolt of lightning!
Tokai Teio!
When did she get here?!
Palmer and Opera O couldn't believe it. They were in ZONE. Even if the effect was starting to fade, competitors from behind shouldn't be able to catch up this easily.
And how long had it been since Teio started her sprint?
That explosive power—what was that?!
As expected of Teio-san! So cool!
Behind them, Kitasan Black watched Tokai Teio's back with eyes full of admiration.
She'd been passed too, but she didn't feel particularly frustrated.
Because she'd realized just how much distance still separated her from the seniors.
...
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