Everyone was talking about the G2. The race where Marzensky, no, the other one, the international Marzensky, completely dominated. Videos, gifs, breakdowns, comparisons to old legends, theorycrafting. Fans debated which skill triggered at what moment, how her pace matched the curves, how she seemed to anticipate every other runner's move.
But it did not last long.
Marzenskii retired soon after, winning another uncontested G2. Fans cheered, congratulated her, and then the flame slowly died down. The world moved on. The legend was set. Her name was etched in history, but no one expected a rematch.
Meanwhile, I was still here.
Kaiya Sora, inhabiting Marzensky, had just crossed the finish line of the JRA mile run. The track blurred behind me. The wind tore at my hair, my lungs burned, every muscle screamed, but everything I had trained for triggered perfectly.
Burst start pushed me forward at the very beginning. Corner Recovery saved my rhythm through the tight first turn. Endurance and Guts layered over each other, letting me maintain a pace that should have felt impossible. Acceleration stacked mid-straight, power kicked in on every step.
Gold Swinging Mastro and Professor of Arc synchronized at each corner. Beeline triggered on the straights. Straight Way Recovery corrected tiny stumbles I did not even notice I made. Rushing Gale and Concentrate let me hold the perfect line. Take the Lead and Unrestricted worked in tandem to push me into first place. And the final corner Red Shift LP 1211-M, the ultimate burst I had inherited, unleashed every ounce of energy into a flawless launch onto the home stretch.
Every skill triggered without delay. Every stat responded exactly as expected. Mile, turf, dirt, medium, front runner, all S. Long, A. The system had stacked me to perfection. Every calculation, every repetition from the last two years, every tiny four and a half point gain had built this moment.
As I crossed the finish line, the cheers of the NPCs and the empty stands alike blurred into a single hum. This was the culmination of months of planning, experimenting, failing, adjusting, and training. Months of pushing my body and mind beyond anything I had experienced before.
I slowed down gradually, letting my legs catch up, chest heaving, muscles trembling. I felt the wind settle around me, the track calm beneath my feet, the hum of the system quieting after the final burst.
I sat down slowly, hands on my knees, staring at the empty track. A quiet thrill ran through me. Months, turns, repetitions, failed gains, skill experiments, NPCs behaving like they might actually think, it all led here.