The countdown ended.
The gates sprang open.
The participating umamusume surged onto the track.
[Mejiro McQueen] wore a look of intense focus as she synchronized herself with the figure she remembered. She could not perfectly copy that person's running style, but she had not gone through this tournament without growing at all. Sacred rainbow light flickered beneath the soles of her shoes.
[Runner's Tricks: When running as a Runner, your start becomes smoother, and it becomes easier to control the race's rhythm.]
[Great Runner: Starting speed greatly increases.]
[Focus: Mental concentration increases, making the start smoother.]
[Taking the Lead: Speed greatly increases!]
[Firm as a Rock: Based on initial skills, gain multiplied acceleration and speed.]
"My body feels light."
"The turf is in good condition."
"No problem. Everything is unfolding perfectly. If I keep running at this rhythm, I can win!"
[Mejiro McQueen]'s gaze sharpened with conviction. In the next instant, a wave of air erupted in front of her, and the echo of surging waves, like the sea and blood rolling together, rang out as well. She had nearly reached the current limit of what she could do. The opening of this race was that perfect.
"The race has begun! The runners are out of the gate!"
The commentator watched the race unfold.
"No one has fallen behind!"
"As expected, [Mejiro McQueen] has charged straight out! She's fast, incredibly fast! As expected of a rare Great Runner, her starting speed is on a completely different level from ordinary runners. But Mihono Bourbon is right behind her. This is a double Great Runner race!"
Mihono Bourbon, who had also completed a series of skill activations, followed behind [Mejiro McQueen]. Unlike [Mejiro McQueen]'s sacred, angelic bearing, Mihono Bourbon looked like a robot with some kind of burst system activated, red light flashing all over her body.
"Program verified!"
"All routes cleared!"
"Objective: victory!"
The two contenders vying for the lead showed a beautiful contest from the very start of the race. [Mejiro McQueen] was currently ahead, but Mihono Bourbon's momentum looked even stronger.
"Great Runner really is a popular running style," Tokai Teio said with a laugh.
The most orthodox running style was Leader, and Leaders also had the highest win rate. But if one were to ask which style was the most popular, it had to be Great Runner. After all, that kind of unrestrained running was exhilarating for both the audience watching the race and the umamusume running it.
It just was not easy to win with.
Yes, Great Runner had a very low win rate.
After all, even ordinary Runners did not have a high win rate, let alone Great Runners.
"True." King Halo nodded in agreement.
After all, that running style did not require a brain.
Thinking that, she glanced at Kitasan Black beside her, who also did not have much of a brain. This girl ran Great Runner for precisely that reason.
No need to think. Just charge forward all the way.
"Why are you looking at me? I'm not a Great Runner in the true sense. And McQueen-senpai, what do you think?"
Kitasan Black found King Halo's contemptuous look baffling. She was an all-rounder, okay?
If they were talking about Great Runners, shouldn't McQueen-senpai be the one they pointed at?
"I think with my eyes."
"And running styles only have meaning if they lead to victory."
In truth, Mejiro McQueen did not really approve of that [McQueen] abandoning her original running style to come imitate McQueen's. There was no meaning in that. She believed every umamusume should have her own running style. That [McQueen]'s rigid copying was practically a dead end.
But words like that were useless coming from others.
One had to realize it for oneself.
"Exactly. I feel like both of them have gone astray," Tokai Teio commented.
"Neither of their Great Runner styles has learned the essence."
"How so?" Kitasan Black did not quite understand.
Their strength might indeed be average, but within the same level, that [McQueen] and Mihono Bourbon were already decent. Why did McQueen-senpai and Teio-senpai both look so pessimistic about them?
"Let's put it this way. That [McQueen] is purely imitating McQueen. Her current thinking is a little naive. She seems to believe that as long as she can get closer to McQueen, she can become invincible in races like McQueen. But setting aside whether the McQueen in her mind is even the whole of McQueen, the first problem is that she can't perfectly imitate McQueen's skills the way you can, Kita."
"To put it more harshly, she's chasing an idol right now. She isn't truly racing. Her desire to win isn't strong enough."
Tokai Teio saw through that [McQueen]'s state at a glance.
Of course, she was not saying that [McQueen]'s current approach was bad.
After all, it really could rapidly improve her strength.
But when she faced an opponent at the same level, that mindset meant that [McQueen] would be three points weaker than her opponent from the very start.
"What about Bourbon?" Rice Shower asked curiously, looking toward Teio.
Tokai Teio satisfied her curiosity. "Mihono Bourbon's situation is relatively better. At least her will is pure enough, and her hunger for victory is worthy of praise. But I can see that her running style lacks confidence. She's afraid she won't be able to compete with her opponents in the final phase, so she chose to run in the forceful form of a Great Runner. But doing so is the inferior choice. The goddess of victory does not favor those who only yearn for victory."
Rice Shower fell into thought.
So Bourbon had that kind of problem too?
If Teio had not pointed it out, Rice Shower really would not have known. In her mind, Bourbon was a very strong umamusume.
Beside her, King Halo watched Tokai Teio solemnly.
Unlike King Halo's own analysis, Teio had a near-instinctive ability to read people.
As expected of a perfect genius.
"In our previous race, I did successfully scheme against Teio once. But that was only because Teio was not serious, our information was unequal, and I specifically targeted her. If I meet Teio in my next race, it will probably be difficult to control the board."
King Halo remained wary.
Tokai Teio was the opponent most likely to see through her tactics and leap out of her arrangements. As for McQueen... it was not that King Halo thought McQueen could not do it. Rather, McQueen had no need to do it at all. A race against McQueen was destined to prove one thing: King Halo had to treat McQueen as her final opponent. Once the race reached that stage, either King Halo's plan would already be complete and McQueen would be doomed to lose, or King Halo's plan would have failed and she would be the one to lose.
Therefore-
Tokai Teio.
You are the first person I must pay attention to!
A dim gleam flickered silently in King Halo's eyes.
In the next instant, Tokai Teio turned back and smiled at King Halo, as if she had already noticed what King Halo was thinking.
"That's right, Halo. Before you challenge McQueen, you still need to beat me head-on. I won't fall for the same trick twice. Besides, that Demon King won't voluntarily give up victory to become your piece now. You have to face me yourself."
Both of them understood.
Before challenging the throne of the strongest,
they were destined to settle the score first.
Rice Shower looked at the two of them with concern.
Kitasan Black leaned back in her chair with helplessness written all over her face.
The corners of McQueen's mouth lifted slightly.
Meanwhile, the race below was still underway.
"They've passed the 1,000-meter marker!"
"The race is now halfway through."
"We can see that [Mejiro McQueen] is still in the lead, but the gap between her and Mihono Bourbon is now extremely small. This position is beginning to look a little dangerous. Mihono Bourbon seems to be waiting for her chance. The runners in the back are also starting to move, but under Agnes Tachyon's interference, the pace is much slower than before. Duramente is currently positioned toward the rear!"
The commentator did not need to remind her. [Mejiro McQueen] herself knew that Mihono Bourbon behind her was dangerous. Even so, her mood remained calm, because she knew that no matter how closely she imitated that person, she was not that person. She also did not possess Kitasan Black's cheat-like ability. So she calmly calculated the current distance.
"She's waiting for my burst state to enter its fatigue period? It seems that just as I paid attention to your races, you investigated mine beforehand. But what you may not know is that my advantage lies in these legs that can keep going for a long time. My stamina is among the best of everyone in this race!"
[Mejiro McQueen]'s gaze focused. Her pupils first blurred, then little flames emerged within them. She activated Flow and ZONE at the same time. Instead of immediately using her ZONE's effect, she chose to layer the ZONE's normal burst onto herself.
With that, plus the support of several skills,
she had confidence that she would not lose the coming battle of speed against Mihono Bourbon, whose specialty was speed.
As for her ZONE's effect, of course she would save it for the moment that decided victory. Strictly speaking, her ZONE was better suited for a single-use burst. It was a different type from that person's ZONE.
"Hm? Looks like that [McQueen] isn't only chasing an idol. She does have some of her own thoughts mixed in," Tokai Teio said, noticing the change in the race.
When they were well into the second straight, Mihono Bourbon finally could not hold back and began her burst. Not only did she activate two Flash Skills at once, she even opened her ZONE's effect directly.
Bright red particles erupted around her body in an instant, as if she had entered some kind of triple-red mode. In the blink of an eye, she overtook [Mejiro McQueen] and raced toward the entrance of the third turn.
"Mihono Bourbon successfully breaks through!"
[Mejiro McQueen] clenched her teeth.
She had anticipated Mihono Bourbon's move,
but she could not stop it.
Even though she had paid the utmost attention, she could not prevent Mihono Bourbon from widening the gap. Mihono Bourbon's decisiveness and explosive power were somewhat beyond her expectations.
"She's going all in here without hesitation?"
"No. I can't panic!"
"I have to wait. I have to endure right now!"
Sweat beaded on [Mejiro McQueen]'s forehead as she stared at Mihono Bourbon's back, silently calculating the gap between them.
By contrast,
Mihono Bourbon had already stopped thinking.
She put all her mind into her focused burst.
She wanted to charge all the way to the finish line just like this.
"This is kind of bad. It's exactly like Teio-senpai said. Mihono Bourbon is basically gambling on her luck," Kitasan Black said.
Leaving no way out sounded nice if one called it decisiveness.
But in reality, it meant she had no other method. It meant she lacked the confidence to guarantee victory, so she gave up thinking.
Even Kitasan Black felt this running style was dangerous.
However...
"Rice Shower-senpai, she chose this running style because she's trying to catch up to you, right? That's why she doesn't have confidence in certain victory."
"Huh?"
Tokai Teio and King Halo both looked at her in surprise.
Kitasan Black noticed their gazes.
Her face darkened.
She might be lazy, but she was not stupid, okay?
How could she fail to see something this obvious?
Rice Shower was silent.
She only watched Mihono Bourbon's figure in the race, not knowing what to say.
McQueen did not join their conversation.
She watched Agnes Tachyon in the race with interest.
Judging from her current performance, Agnes Tachyon seemed to be a pure blocker. In this race, ninety percent of the skills Agnes Tachyon had released were blocking skills. She had used very few speed-boosting skills.
But McQueen's intuition told her
that Agnes Tachyon's performance was off.
After the race entered the third turn,
Agnes Tachyon once again released all kinds of blocking skills.
Quite a few runners nearby glanced at her with ugly expressions, as if they had seen something filthy.
No, how could someone's skill setup be pure blocking?
Even Nice Nature would not do this!
Besides, in their impression, Agnes Tachyon was supposed to be a genius umamusume good at running as a Leader, with tremendous speed.
How had this Agnes Tachyon turned into such a dirty thing?!
In the stands,
a certain Demon King saw this and let out a cruel sneer.
"Hmph, how foolish. You can't even see that one's true face!"
At this moment, Duramente finally began to accelerate from the back. Her pitch-black spirit was indeed powerful, enough to make people think of [Conqueror] Rice Shower, second on the tournament leaderboard. But compared with the Conqueror's terrifying ability, Duramente was simply a pure powerhouse. Her ZONE was also a pure burst effect.
But purity also meant there were no weaknesses.
As long as the power was strong enough, it was simply strong.
Duramente's running style was truly shocking.
Like a charging warhorse, she broke through wind and waves.
She quickly surged from the very back into the front ranks.
By the final turn,
Duramente had reached fourth.
At this point, the advantage held by the two Great Runners had almost vanished. [Mejiro McQueen] had entered the fatigue period after her burst. If this were her original world, because of the gap in strength between her and her opponents, she could have maintained a great advantage thanks to her stamina.
But in this tournament,
skill books had become widespread.
The skill setups of each participant were not weak. There were plenty of short-term burst methods. Even if a Great Runner could gain a large advantage in the early race, without a means to keep bursting through the entire race and enough power left over, those early advantages would be caught up to in the late race. The only tactical effect of Great Runner was that it also raised the stamina consumption of the other runners.
But that was not enough.
[Mejiro McQueen] watched Mihono Bourbon.
Mihono Bourbon currently held a large advantage, but [Mejiro McQueen] did not believe that Mihono Bourbon could maintain this state all the way to the finish. Or rather, she felt that once they exited the turn, Mihono Bourbon would enter her fatigue period.
At that moment, [Mejiro McQueen] also burst out decisively.
Every runner was fighting for the front.
And behind them, Agnes Tachyon looked at how simple they were, still charging straight on despite the effect of her blocking skills, and could not help but smile.
"Then it's about time for the closing act."
ZONE, activate.
Flash Skill, burst.
Her appearance changed completely.
What Agnes Tachyon displayed now was pure speed.
Like a beam of light, she caught up to the front in an instant.
By now, many runners still had not realized that not only was their stamina heavily depleted, even their burst speed was less than half of normal. They simply had not noticed because they were too focused on the race. The accumulated effects of those blocking skills had begun to show themselves. The Demon King's retainer revealed her fangs.
...
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