"The umamusume we will now grandly introduce is this runner: Mejiro McQueen. Today's number one favorite, and the undisputed protagonist. Her record in this tournament so far is invincible. In her previous six races, she took victory by overwhelming margins."
A montage of Mejiro McQueen's races appeared on the big screen. The records of those races were terrifying. Every single one was a victory by a huge margin. And if it were only a record of sweeping every race by huge margins, that alone would not be so frightening. The most terrifying part was that Mejiro McQueen's races maintained that huge-margin lead from start to finish. There was no so-called competition or confrontation. There was only Mejiro McQueen's solitary, beautiful monologue on the track.
That brilliance, stunning enough to stand above all umamusume, had even overwhelmed every participant in this tournament. Even Demon King Gold Ship, who possessed a divine skill and was first on the points leaderboard, did not look as dazzling in races as Mejiro McQueen. If the races of other umamusume could stir one's blood, then Mejiro McQueen's races showed people what an ideal looked like.
It was an ideal that should not exist in the real world.
Any umamusume who saw Mejiro McQueen race would have the same thought:
"Perhaps that is what true strongest means."
[One Horse Takes the Lead, Ten Thousand Horses Lose Their Light]
That had originally been only an ideal.
But Mejiro McQueen had made it real.
It was something even Eclipse could no longer accomplish.
Eclipse herself was participating in this tournament. The legend's strength was indeed in a tier of its own, but she was still no match for holders of divine skills. In the current races, even she could not easily win by an enormous margin. Yet Mejiro McQueen had done it.
Although Mejiro McQueen had not yet encountered a holder of a divine skill, according to rumors, those three divine skill holders seemed to deliberately avoid registering when Mejiro McQueen did. In some interviews, the Demon King ranked first on the leaderboard had even openly stated that she would defeat Mejiro McQueen in the final. That attitude already proved Mejiro McQueen's strength more than enough. At this point, there was no one who did not know Mejiro McQueen's existence.
Mejiro McQueen appeared on the track wearing her original white race outfit. When she heard the commentator mention her, she remained unmoved. She did not look toward the audience or size up her opponents. After seriously checking the condition of her equipment, she directly chose to enter the gate. That calm, cold demeanor was the very image of confidence.
The spectators discussed her heatedly.
"As expected of the runner said to be the strongest in this tournament. Her past race record is terrifyingly powerful. What's even harder to believe is that no matter what level of opponent she faces, no matter the course or distance, she can maintain that margin and win."
"As long as you see her, it's like seeing victory itself. What reason is there not to support such a great Mejiro McQueen?"
"She's too beautiful. As expected of my favorite umamusume!"
"There are also [Mejiro McQueens] from other worlds in this tournament, but she's different after all. Even if they look identical, you can tell the difference at first glance. I wonder whether in some unknown time and space, there is another me who can be this strong."
Hearing the countless praises around them,
Kitasan Black, Tokai Teio, and the others had already gone numb.
The first few days of the tournament had been fine. But after McQueen began attracting attention, large numbers of spectators and participants instantly fell and became McQueen's fans. On top of that, who knew what the Demon King was doing. It was one thing for her to happily accept interviews and become famous herself, but she insisted on repeatedly talking about how strong McQueen was during those interviews.
As for why Demon King Gold Ship did this,
it was probably true that she sincerely admired McQueen. But it always felt as if she wanted to build up McQueen's momentum, first raise McQueen onto the altar, then steal the halo from her body in the final.
Somewhere in the stands,
[Mejiro McQueen] sighed with an excited expression. "She has this much popularity just by appearing. As expected of another me."
Although, as parallel selves from different times and spaces, she would be compared with the other her by many people and did feel a bit of pressure because of it, she was instead happier about that.
Because no matter what,
that was still another "me," wasn't it?
At the same time,
among the runners,
the currently strongest Treve individual in this tournament looked Mejiro McQueen over and could not help remembering the feelings another version of herself from another world had for this umamusume.
"So this is the person 'I' like. Although I watched her races before, seeing her from this close, I find she really is beautiful. As expected of someone 'I' like. In that case, I should definitely make her remember me in this race."
The popular runners in this race were-
First in popularity: six races, six wins, Mejiro McQueen.
Second in popularity: twelve races, five wins, Oguri Cap.
Third in popularity: nine races, four wins, Treve.
After the difficulty of gaining points in this tournament reached 50 points, it rose sharply. From that point on, the opponents one matched with were basically starting from 50 points. Participants who had used items to fight repeatedly during the first two days could break through this threshold easily, but because of the elimination system, their points mostly could not be preserved later.
Only the truly strong could stably obtain points.
In this tournament, runners who could maintain an undefeated record were extremely rare. Even a monster like Kitasan Black had lost two races, which showed how difficult an undefeated record was.
The current number one on the points leaderboard was Demon King Gold Ship: eight races, eight wins, with 80 total points. If she had not deliberately avoided registering for races recently so she could target others, she would already have reached 100 points.
Second on the leaderboard was Kitasan Black, currently at 70 points, with six wins in eight races. She had lost once to Demon King Gold Ship and once to Tokai Teio.
Third was Rice Shower, also at 70 points. However, because she reached that total a little later than Kitasan Black, she ranked third. Her current record was seven races, seven wins. The combination of divine skill and Fusion was so absurdly strong that even Demon King Gold Ship was somewhat wary of the current Rice Shower.
As for the remaining three, including McQueen, they had not entered the top ten on the points leaderboard. They merely remained within the top eighteen.
Back to the current race.
After the runners were introduced,
the gates shut tight. The race-start countdown appeared on the big screen. When the countdown reached zero, accompanied by the signal gun, all the gates opened and the umamusume rushed onto the track.
The commentator's voice rang out. "The race has begun! Everyone has completed a smooth start. We can see that quite a few runners want to compete for the leading position. This is probably a tactic aimed at Mejiro McQueen. I wonder whether Mejiro McQueen can smoothly break out-"
Before the commentator could finish, Mejiro McQueen's steps carried afterimages as she rushed out from the crowd. It was undeniable that Mejiro McQueen's start and burst did not possess that kind of transcendent speed or power. But her footwork was so elegant and gorgeous, without even the slightest flaw. In technique, she had already reached divine mastery and the peak of perfection. Combined with the various status buffs and skill effects she had stacked from the very beginning, no one could stop her from breaking out.
"Here it comes! That dreamlike footwork!"
"Only those who have raced her can understand how terrifying she is. Her start looks ordinary, but in reality, it has no openings at all!"
"They can't block her. They can't block her at all!"
One could see that the moment Mejiro McQueen emerged, many umamusume instinctively activated interference skills. Almost all of them chose exclusive effects targeting a single target. Under normal circumstances, if someone were targeted by so many runners, she would certainly find it difficult to move. But Mejiro McQueen was completely unaffected.
An absolute domain formed from absolute will.
I do not accept any of your interference!
Though her force was not powerful, she was firm as bedrock, like the sun, moon, and stars in the sky. She seemed to exist on a different plane from the other runners. Her solitary run had begun from the moment she started.
"Although I watched her race before, actually experiencing it personally is an enormous shock and pressure. There is no room to choose at all. In this situation, choosing Betweener or Chaser would be nothing but seeking death. Even if it's reckless, I can only try to keep up. This rhythm can't be influenced at all!"
Treve's face showed shock.
Mejiro McQueen's running style gave her opponents no room to choose. This was still only the opening phase. Not even 100 meters from the start, Mejiro McQueen had already led the second-place runner by nearly ten meters. That performance was truly frightening. The pressure she brought was on a completely different level from other Great Runners. It did not let one relax even slightly.
The commentator also shouted excitedly at this moment. "As expected of Mejiro McQueen! She has smoothly rushed out of the encirclement! What a pleasing running style to watch! As expected, Mejiro McQueen has begun accelerating from the starting phase! She is beginning to widen the gap with second place. Could this race end up like her previous races again?!"
What were her previous races like?
Once Mejiro McQueen broke out, she would continuously accelerate and widen the gap between herself and the other runners. By the time the race was only halfway through, she would already be in a completely solitary state. Then she would maintain that huge margin all the way to the finish.
It was precisely because of such performances
that everyone publicly acknowledged Mejiro McQueen's strength.
Flow entered its state with almost no pressure at all, and the radiance of ZONE was like an eternal torch, already lit in McQueen's left eye. She seemed to be completely unthinking, in an empty state, but in reality this was absolute suppression through strength. It was not that Mejiro McQueen was a brainless Great Runner. Rather, Mejiro McQueen's pursuit of victory and her thinking had already become an instinctive reflex.
"The gap is still increasing!"
"Incredible, too incredible! This is Mejiro McQueen!"
Watching the distance open so easily, as if there were no pressure at all, the commentator's tone became incomparably excited.
A runner this powerful was unique even in this tournament. Demon King Gold Ship and the others were powerful in instantaneous bursts. But Mejiro McQueen? Her strength was on a different dimension.
In the spectator seats, many legendary umamusume watched Mejiro McQueen's performance in a daze. Even though this was not their first time watching her race, they still felt the same thing.
"How despairing. The brilliance of one person alone is enough to illuminate the whole field. No one else's light can even show itself."
She did not steal their light.
Nor did she suppress it.
Mejiro McQueen's radiance was simply too bright.
There was no need to interfere with or affect the brilliance of other umamusume. Mejiro McQueen only needed to display herself to become the sole existence. If they had not witnessed such an umamusume with their own eyes, who could have imagined that such a thing was truly possible?
To shine on the same stage as Mejiro McQueen
was far too difficult.
At present, only a very few people in this tournament could do it. Even many people on the current points leaderboard could not.
"So that is the light that carries on our Mejiro family?"
"How beautiful."
Members of the Mejiro family from other worlds could not help yearning for it.
Then they decided that once they returned, they absolutely had to train the [Mejiro McQueen] of their own worlds properly. Although the [Mejiro McQueens] of many worlds were already first-class Japanese umamusume and were already enough to continue the former glory of the Mejiro family, after witnessing this brilliance, that level of shine was nowhere near bright enough.
They were all "Mejiro McQueen."
Even if they could not reach the same height,
there was no reason to fall so far behind.
For a time, many "Mejiro McQueens" felt chills down their backs, though they were still immersed in the race.
"I heard one 'me' was lucky enough to be possessed by her?"
"Damn it, I want to experience that state too."
"I'm really jealous!"
The race entered the middle phase.
This race was a 2,400-meter middle-distance race.
They had now passed the 1,000-meter marker.
Mejiro McQueen in first place had already opened a gap of more than ten lengths over second place. Although that distance did not continue to widen afterward, there was no chance for it to shrink either.
No matter how hard the runners behind worked,
no matter how many times the second-place umamusume changed,
Mejiro McQueen's lead remained unshakable.
No matter how astonishing a runner's past record or background might be, during the race they could only look up at that back equally.
Treve tried hard. After discovering there was no chance, she faced Oguri Cap's devouring and gave up resisting. She even took the initiative to send most of her power to Oguri Cap. Even if it meant giving up this race, she wanted to see someone get a little closer to Mejiro McQueen.
"Take my share and go with it!"
Treve's will was conveyed to Oguri Cap.
Although Oguri Cap did not understand Treve's meaning, she still began to burst decisively, chasing forward with everything she had.
But the result of challenging with all her strength
was even deeper despair.
Because-
the gap did not shrink at all.
Seeing that even Oguri Cap in this state still could not approach Mejiro McQueen, not only the participating runners, but even the spectators gasped in shock. This was simply too strong.
Until Oguri Cap's stamina was exhausted,
the gap between second and first place had not closed by even half a step.
And so, Mejiro McQueen won another race in a solitary run. At that moment, cheers throughout the entire race venue shook the heavens and earth.
...
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