After agreeing to participate, the original King Halo opened her eyes. In the next instant, she appeared on a street that was both familiar and unfamiliar.
This city was undoubtedly Tokyo, but there were also many differences. For example, an enormous television screen had been installed on Tokyo Tower and was currently broadcasting a race live.
Aside from that, virtual icons similar to VR appeared in her field of vision. After trying to touch one, the original King Halo discovered that she could indeed summon a menu. To her surprise, this menu could show her own condition in detail.
It was just like a character stat panel in a computer game.
She opened the map.
On the map were labels for special buildings.
Training Grounds
Race Venue
Dance Hall
Leisure Area
Hotel
Shop
"In any case... I should go to the race venue first."
Opening the map navigation, the original King Halo walked toward her destination.
She had no intention of immediately taking part in a race. Although the tournament would immediately enter the final stage once the top eighteen appeared, according to the points-elimination system, she did not think the top eighteen runners would appear in a short time. Besides, she already knew that those legendary umamusume would appear in this tournament, so racing required even greater caution.
Because every participant began with zero points, the first race was extremely important. Once she lost, she would have no chance.
This race was equivalent to an entry qualification.
"So big!"
After arriving at the race venue, the original King Halo discovered that the building exceeded her imagination. It was more than ten times larger than the Tokyo Racecourse in her memory. At a glance, she could not see its full shape at all.
After entering the race venue, the original King Halo saw many familiar figures. She even saw herself. However, that was not the King Halo she knew, but more like herself from the period after she ran away, leading a support squad while letting out arrogant laughter.
Before seeing King Halo's experiences, the original King Halo had always felt that this version of herself must have looked very cool. But now that she saw it, she felt so embarrassed that her toes involuntarily clenched inside her shoes.
"Damn it, don't be so ridiculous!"
"Hmhmhm! This young lady will certainly win this race with ease, because this young lady is none other than KING!"
That young lady, laughing like a noblewoman, ignored the gazes around her and held her head high as she basked in the encouragement of her support squad.
"As expected of Miss KING, so cool!"
"Miss KING will definitely win!"
"So elegant, Miss KING!"
So that was the old me?
The original King Halo's shame was about to explode.
If that girl were truly very strong, then that posture could indeed be called beautiful. But that girl was her.
How could the original King Halo not know her own measure?
Stop talking. Please shut up.
The original King Halo covered her face and did not dare look over at all.
Because she had a premonition that if she looked, she would die.
She would die!
She quickly walked into the spectator seats of the racecourse. Although the number of spectators was beyond imagination, surprisingly, it did not feel crowded at all. She could also see the runners in the race very clearly. This strange sensory experience once again made the original King Halo feel amazed.
This world was truly too wondrous.
As expected of a city created by the gods for this tournament.
And just as she saw the situation of the race, her expression instantly froze.
"What is that?"
At this moment, the race had already completed half its distance.
And the runner who had now begun to make her move was...
Gold Ship?
The original King Halo could not believe it.
"No, that can't be the Gold Ship I know."
She wore a black trench coat, her long hair draped over her shoulders. She had not a single feature associated with the Gold Ship the original King Halo knew, yet in her field of vision, the other party's name had indeed appeared.
That name was Gold Ship.
However, above the name was a title glowing red, something no other runner had.
Demon King
What shocked the original King Halo was not only that.
What shocked her was the strength the other party displayed.
This race was a 2000-meter middle-distance race, left-handed, on turf. The more detailed information, such as track condition and weather, was slightly heavy and cloudy. There were sixteen participants in total, and the Demon King's number was the eye-catching number nine.
The original King Halo had not seen the early phase of the race. She had only arrived when the race had reached its midpoint. When she first looked over, the Demon King's position was still eighth. Yet in only an instant, the Demon King seemed to teleport, rushing directly to fourth position. And that placement was still rising.
That explosive power was even stronger than King Halo's.
The original King Halo thought in shock.
At this moment, the runners in the race were also frightened. Especially those who had just been overtaken in an instant, and those who were about to be caught now. Their faces were full of disbelief.
"Damn it, so this is the Demon King who is currently ranked first on the points leaderboard? Was that just now a divine skill? Or her original strength? Impossible. We can't possibly defeat this kind of monster!"
The Demon King's face was expressionless.
This is it?
Hahaha!
You so-called world legends are only this much.
Even without using a divine skill, without using divine power, she could easily win this race. But that would not be interesting enough. A malicious smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
"Then let me show you!"
"The power of a god!"
Sea Power (Divine)
Although the turf resistance effect had already expired, it did not matter.
Because she did not need it at all.
Abundant power filled her entire body. The Demon King's eyes also turned blue like the sea. Even her footsteps seemed to become the sound of waves from a gloomy ocean. The other runners all felt as if they had seen a boundless blue sea. The aura belonging to a god made their entire bodies tremble. They were being suppressed at the level of life itself.
Condensed skills flashed beneath the Demon King's feet at the same time. That terrifying radiance flashed by, and in the next moment, Demon King Gold Ship's figure surpassed first place.
That was an eruption that exceeded the physical limits of an umamusume. It was not as simple as overload. In the truest sense, it surpassed common sense. It was a power that could ignore the laws of physics.
This was divine power.
It ignored the restrictions on ultra-compressed bursts and could release multiple skills at the same time. The feeling this skill gave could be summed up in only two words: invincible.
This was also why, although the sun god's divine power was more suited to Demon King Gold Ship, she had still chosen the sea god in the end. Because in her view, this divine skill was the strongest.
"Be crushed, weaklings!"
That terrifying burst made the blood of every spectator boil.
If the races of umamusume before had only been superhuman sports, then the divine skill Demon King Gold Ship now displayed had raised the level of supernatural power into a world-destroying fantasy realm.
"Demon King!"
"Demon King!"
"Demon King!"
The spectators were all conquered by this overwhelming strength.
And Demon King Gold Ship in the race was still madly widening the gap.
Even while holding something back, Demon King Gold Ship's final margin was forty-four lengths. Such strength was indeed worthy of first place on the points leaderboard.
At this moment, Demon King Gold Ship's total points also rose from 40 to 50. In only two days since the tournament had begun, this person had already won five races, and every one of them had been a victory.
As for the consumption of each race, she would use PT points to purchase carrots and small cakes from the shop to recover.
"The race result has been announced!"
"First place in this race is Gold Ship, currently first on the points leaderboard. Her current record is five races and five victories!"
"What terrifying strength. As expected of a divine skill holder. Her performance proves that she did not obtain a divine skill through luck. Just now, she once again showed us the might of a divine skill. Is there really anyone who can steal this divine skill from her hands? Could she become the champion of this tournament?!"
Hearing the commentator's words, Demon King Gold Ship coolly folded her arms, the corner of her mouth rising. Her domineering aura leaked out as her gaze swept toward the stands, toward King Halo, who was about to take part in the next race.
"Your luck is pretty good."
She had clearly already run five races, yet had not successfully matched with Rice Shower or King Halo. In the third race, she had instead matched with Kitasan Black, who had only been running her second race at that time.
Facing Demon King Gold Ship, who possessed divine power, Kitasan Black lost.
Kitasan Black could not mimic this skill. Or rather, this skill was impossible to mimic. It was a secret technique that could only be used because of the divine power granted by the Three Goddesses. Even if one could mimic its form, without the inner power, it was useless.
For example, it was like Kamen Rider Decade using a Den-O card. Because he lacked the Imagin as a power source, the card turned into nothing more than a sound-effect card.
Added to that, Kitasan Black still could not freely mimic the domains of multiple seniors in one race. In the end, she narrowly lost with a second-place finish. Although she did not lose points, Kitasan Black was also disgusted by Demon King Gold Ship's divine skill.
It was cheating. This kind of skill was completely cheating.
But toward Kitasan Black's complaint, Demon King Gold Ship merely smiled disdainfully.
Hmph. This was the power of the strong.
At this moment, Demon King Gold Ship looked fixedly at King Halo.
King Halo ignored the Demon King's provocation. She clearly knew that right now, her odds of victory against Demon King Gold Ship, who possessed the blue goddess's power, were still very low. She needed to earn more points and use the shop to raise her panel first.
Once she raised her panel, as someone who also possessed divine power, she absolutely would not lose to the other party.
Because Demon King Gold Ship's current state was very wrong.
She was too immersed in the might of divine power.
One had to know that a divine skill was ultimately only a skill, a puzzle piece that led umamusume to victory.
It was not the symbol of the strongest.
Otherwise, why would this tournament be held?
How laughable that Demon King Gold Ship could not understand this point.
"Next, we will rest for thirty minutes before beginning the next race. The participant list for the next race will now be announced. Interested viewers may check the notice board yourselves."
On the race venue's large screen, information on the next round's participants began to appear. As each name appeared, race footage clips of the participant appeared as well. Even runners appearing for the first time received this treatment, with footage from their original worlds edited directly.
The original King Halo was at the uppermost entrance of the spectator seats.
She had not noticed King Halo among the crowd.
At this moment, she had still not recovered from her fear.
"So this is the current first place of the Divine Cup?"
"So this is a divine skill?"
Too strong.
This strength was so great that it reached a level she could not even understand.
In her very first race viewing, she had seen the terrifying strength of first place. The original King Halo's confidence suffered a severe blow.
Did she really have hope of entering this tournament's top eighteen?
As for the championship?
The original King Halo knew herself well.
That was something that currently had nothing to do with her.
Forget challenging the first place on the points leaderboard in that form. She was not even very confident that she could defeat some of the first-rate umamusume from her own world. She had never considered the possibility of challenging for the championship of a tournament on this scale before signing up.
And just as she was distracted, the large screen showed a figure wearing a pure-white empress dress. At that moment, the original King Halo hurriedly reacted.
"That's!"
She had seen that outfit in the dream.
Therefore, she knew very clearly that it was King Halo.
Another world's perfect, ideal self.
"She really did participate in this tournament!"
The original King Halo thought in delight.
She walked toward the front of the spectator seats.
As mentioned before, although the place looked full of people, it was unexpectedly not crowded at all. It seemed that she could also freely choose whatever seat she liked. Some wondrous power seemed to have been applied to this place, expanding its space.
The original King Halo smoothly reached the viewing area at the very front of the spectator seats and quietly waited for the next race to begin.
At this time, she also paid attention to the participant list.
Through the menu everyone had, one could find information on the next race and detailed information on the participants through the race venue notice. The first thing the original King Halo looked at was King Halo's information.
King Halo (Title: KING)
Current Record: 3 races, 3 wins
Leaderboard: 4th place (30 points)
Speed SS, Stamina S+, Power S+, Guts SS, Wit SS
Holder of Divine Skill (Earth)
First in popularity for this race
The tournament system only displayed stat ranks. It did not display specific values, and the skill panel could not be seen. If one wanted to know what skills each runner possessed, one could only remember skill names while watching races, then check them through the skill encyclopedia sold in the shop.
In fact, quite a few clever participants had already thought of earning points by selling information.
Points and ranking points were different. Points could be traded.
And points had far too many uses. Purchasing carrots and small cakes, as mentioned earlier, was one use. There were even panaceas that could cure all injuries and illnesses, clocks that accelerated training time, and so on. But the heaviest item was probably the sale of skill books.
At first, participants thought skill books merely gave learning techniques for that skill. But after experiencing them in practice, they discovered that a skill book was a secret training space. It ignored real-world time. Once used, the user would automatically enter another wondrous training space until she learned that skill inside. To the outside world, all of this appeared to happen in an instant.
Precisely because skill books and training time appeared, participants from lower-level worlds gained the opportunity to change their fates. As long as they were not eliminated, they could obtain quite a few points in every race. Even losing a race would grant points, as if the organizers were encouraging them to become stronger through this method.
If not for the fact that those powerful runners did not care about such things, Symboli Rudolfs from different worlds, along with some Trainers and similar people, would all have wanted them not to begin decisive battles too early, so this tournament could last longer and more participants could become stronger.
But such a thing was obviously impossible, because every powerful participant longed for stronger races.
For example, Demon King Gold Ship had raised her points to 50 in only two days, giving the weak no chance to survive.
And although White McQueen and the others were not as impatient as Demon King Gold Ship, they also had no intention of waiting for the other runners to grow.
Because in their eyes, this tournament was their stage. It was a stage built so they could decide victory and defeat.
Very soon, thirty minutes passed.
The next race began.
The participants entered the track through the entrance passage.
The race conditions were also revealed.
A 1600-meter mile race.
Tokyo, dirt, heavy going, left-handed.
Weather: rain.
After all the runners took the field, the cloudy weather left from the previous race began to change instantly. First, a fine drizzle appeared, but very quickly, the rain grew heavier and heavier. Although it had not reached the level of a downpour, it was not light rain either. All the runners were soon drenched.
The race venue's conditions also became even harsher.
Seeing this, the original King Halo's pupils contracted.
Dirt?
And heavy going in the rain?
This!
If it were her, she would not dare run on this kind of track at all.
Could that other self really endure running on such a field?
...
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