Truth be told, Kahyasi was not especially confident either.
After all, this was Xingyun Liuge's first time running a British middle-distance race, and it was also Kahyasi's first true head-to-head against her.
Honestly, if one only looked at Xingyun Liuge's daily training at Epsom, then aside from the sheer absurd volume of work—so intense it gave people the dreadful feeling that it might literally work a horse girl to death—there was not much else to be gleaned from it.
Was she the type who only revealed her real strength in an actual race?
And if one counted her Domains, then yes—Xingyun Liuge really had never gone all out in ordinary training.
Thinking of that, Kahyasi helplessly rubbed her face, keeping her confident smile in place so her teammates would not worry. Then she went around encouraging them one by one, bolstering their morale.
The horse girls entered the gates one after another, though a few, flustered and restless, delayed getting in. In the middle of all this, Kahyasi—drawn in Stall Two—could not help glancing outward.
Xingyun Liuge had been rather unlucky. She had drawn gate eighteen, far out on the extreme outside. Kahyasi wanted to see some kind of emotion on the girl's face, something that might strengthen her own confidence. It was at that very moment that Xingyun Liuge's gaze swept over.
Kahyasi hurriedly turned her head away, pretending nothing had happened.
She was smiling?
She really was brimming with confidence.
Kahyasi felt tense. Xingyun Liuge's running style and her Domain were both far too variable, far too hard to predict. If there had been any pattern at all, Kahyasi would not have been nearly so nervous. She could only reassure herself inwardly:
Relax. Calm down. A concentrated will can pierce even stone. Trust in the companions running forward at your side.
As the music played, the starting gates shut completely. The red pre-start lamp lit up. The horse girls all settled into their stances, but almost everyone's attention was fixed on Xingyun Liuge, creating the sense that this was about to become yet another start drowned in a bombardment of gate skills.
Epsom Derby, approximately 2400 meters, turf, sunny, fast ground.
"The gates open! All eighteen horse girls break at once! No one misses the start—it's an excellent break! The girls are already fighting fiercely for the lead. Xingyun Liuge has joined that battle and is rapidly moving forward. In that case, she'll probably choose either an escape strategy or a frontrunner strategy!"
Second favorite Kahyasi melted into the pack, seemingly with no intention of contesting the lead, and no intention of dueling Xingyun Liuge head-on either.
But one could not judge only by what she said or what she appeared to do. One also had to consider what she had arranged behind the scenes.
"Xingyun Liuge comes surging in from the far outside and merges smoothly into the front group, but Iron King and Future World suddenly clamp down on her from both sides! The three horse girls are locked in a fierce struggle! Kingfisher suddenly dashes toward the far outside! Is she aiming for the lead? The uphill section at the start has only just begun, and already the horse girls are in total chaos!"
The guest commentator spoke that way because those three horse girls belonged to three separate regional Tracen schools. Under normal circumstances, they should never have been capable of coordinated action. Every faction wanted the championship for the horse girl they supported. That was the very reason they could not unite, the underlying logic at the root of it all.
Xingyun Liuge cast a glance each at Iron King and Future World, who outwardly seemed to have nothing to do with each other, and thought to herself:
So I was wrong to think this start would, for once, be free of a gate-skill barrage. This was where you were waiting for me?
Horse girls from different regions really would fight each other tooth and nail for the winner's seat. But what if their objective was not to win it themselves, but to stop someone else from winning?
Then all they had to do was sign a non-aggression pact and an alliance at the same time—agree not to hinder one another in this race, then work together to block a certain someone and create an opening for their own faction's ace.
And since Xingyun Liuge could catch up even after a delayed start, then there was no point wasting time and effort on that at all. Better to pour all their strength into draining her stamina during the race itself.
Xingyun Liuge sensed the mindset of the girls around her and let the corner of her lips curl upward.
She had originally intended to use a frontrunner strategy to observe Kahyasi and Saintly Bride, but the two of them had, without consulting one another, both chosen stalking tactics and hidden themselves inside the pack.
In that case, there was nothing worth observing.
She would set the tempo herself.
She would make every horse girl dance to her rhythm.
The silver-haired girl drew a breath, and a strange pressure began to rise within a range of half a length around her. Iron King and Future World happened to be within that radius, and they suddenly felt an inexplicable weight descend upon them.
It was like being stared down by some monstrously dangerous beast. Every hair on their bodies seemed to stand on end, even their tails threatening to stiffen into steel needles. A cold sensation crept upward along their spines, as if a living serpent were truly slithering over their backs, tongue flickering.
Their breathing instantly grew labored. Sweat burst from them in sheets. Even the motion of their running turned strange. The race had only just begun, yet it already felt hard to continue.
Iron King thought instinctively:
What is this? This is way too strange! The pressure she's giving off is insane. Is this one of the reasons she was able to become a Triple Crown winner?
She had intended to watch Xingyun Liuge closely the whole time, but after this, she did not even dare lift her eyes. She feared that if she did, the girl's image in her mind would turn into some fang-baring monster. Cold sweat flooded her forehead.
Future World, on the other hand, felt the impact even more sharply. After running alongside her for a while, she let out an involuntary cry.
"This is bad!"
Without even noticing it, she had dropped a neck behind Xingyun Liuge. If this had been an ordinary horse girl, then a neck—hell, even half a length—would not have mattered. If the other girl dared drift over, one complaint would be enough to strip away her placing.
But this was Xingyun Liuge.
Against her, a neck's difference was equivalent to a hole opening in their blockade.
Future World believed that with absolute certainty. Gritting her teeth, she fought desperately to close that small gap.
But Xingyun Liuge only gave a light laugh.
"British ladies really are warm and welcoming. But I must ask you to excuse me—I'll be taking the lead now."
Her left foot tapped the turf, and she suddenly shot forward by a full length. Then she cut inward, slipping into the inside lane as she chased after the leader, Kingfisher.
Iron King's eyes widened.
That girl!
At the uphill section, of all places, she wasn't conserving stamina at all—she accelerated without hesitation?
Kingfisher's leading pace was medium-fast, not outrageously fast. Even so, every horse girl on the track knew that if she kept this up, she would absolutely blow up later. This uphill segment would keep devouring the strength of both her and any horse girl foolish enough to chase her too hard, all so she could reveal her fangs at Tattenham Corner.
That had always been how this course worked.
Which was exactly why the others had only wanted to trap Xingyun Liuge in the middle, keep applying pressure little by little, then rotate the pressure-bearers during the turn, switch again on the downhill, and then yet again at Tattenham Corner—using a war of attrition to grind down Xingyun Liuge's stamina, focus, and endurance, all in the hope of creating a chance to beat her fair and square.
But what was Xingyun Liuge doing?
Accelerating this early?
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 165)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter220)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter125)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter250)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 220
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 185
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/20
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 248
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 230
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/40
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 125
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 145
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 120
I Can Copy Unique Skills 115
Summoning an Evil God, but the 75
Supernatural Multiverse 110
My Harem Is Indescribable 100
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 105
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 67
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 105
Still playing traditional Honk 80
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 85
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 78
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 80
Checking In in Demon Slayer 85
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 100
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 85
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 80
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 90
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 75
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 80
Why did they assign me to Uma 75
MYGO Beauties 70
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 70
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 80
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 80
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 57
The Uma Musume Who Became 55
I'm Definitely Not the King of 60
After Maxing Out Every Class 45
Naruto: I'm Konoha's Local Men 35
Honkai: World Modulation Mode 34
I, the Elden Sword Saint 27
Dio Brando Is Challenging FGO 24
No One Knows Pokémon Better 18
I, Sakazuki, Won't Go Down Tha 20
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