"The race has entered the final corner! The uma musume are beginning to accelerate one after another!"
Shirayuki closed her eyes.
She was not a genius. She did not possess some extraordinary power of comprehension. But when she saw a movement dozens, hundreds, thousands of times, even if she did not consciously imitate it, she could learn it.
The instant she opened her eyes, the world slowed down.
As her heel touched the ground, the front of her foot slammed down. Her speed stalled for a brief instant, and Seeking the Pearl, who had been running beside her, surged ahead.
At that moment, Shirayuki twisted her ankle.
The force that had originally been moving forward suddenly changed direction, turning into lateral force. A powerful inertia surged through the sole of her foot. Shirayuki let out a low groan, and in the next instant, her body shot outward like a spring.
Kongō Yaegaki-ryū.
It was a technique Yaeno Muteki had used before. Originally, it was meant to suddenly change direction and strike an opponent with an unexpected blow. Shirayuki had been kicked flying by that move countless times, and now she had learned it and used it for a sudden lane change.
This kind of lane change placed a tremendous burden on the ankle. But her body had been born with exceptional flexibility. If another uma musume tried it, she might dislocate something. Shirayuki, however, endured it through sheer physical talent.
Any talent that was not used properly was worthless.
If she had a strength that stood above others, then she had to make proper use of it.
Seeing Shirayuki slip outside in an instant, Seeking the Pearl widened her eyes. Even Kyoei March in front of her looked utterly disbelieving.
What just happened?
Shirayuki's body… passed through Pearl?
That lateral acceleration had been too fast. Too fast for their eyes to react. It was as if Shirayuki's figure had passed straight through another person.
In the stands, Yaeno Muteki clenched her fists in excitement.
Right now, she wanted to shout:
"Look! That's my junior disciple!"
Bang!
The instant she landed on the outside, Shirayuki's foot kicked against the turf, and her body shot forward.
"It's Snow Dancer! Snow Dancer has begun to accelerate!"
The announcer's voice rang out once again, and fierce cheers erupted from the crowd.
Damn it!
To disrupt Shirayuki's rhythm, Kyoei March had even given up her own chance in this race. Originally, this was the moment when she should have accelerated. But to block Shirayuki, she had deliberately delayed her timing.
And yet Shirayuki had still escaped.
"OH, NO!"
Seeking the Pearl cried out. As the person directly involved, all she felt was that Shirayuki's body had flashed once and appeared to her right.
Was she a ninja?
Could Shirayuki be a ninja too?
What should I do? I think I'm starting to like her!
Huff!
Shirayuki took a deep breath.
She looked at the "wall" of people ahead. They had entered the final corner, and some uma musume had already begun accelerating past their opponents. That meant there were still many runners in front of Shirayuki.
To pass them, she would have to move to the far outside.
But doing that was no different from sharply cutting away her own stamina. Every meter farther out meant running over ten extra meters.
Even though she had broken through the two-thousand-four-hundred-meter barrier, defeating her opponents while running dozens of extra meters would still be extremely difficult.
This race's most important factor was stamina.
So—
Shirayuki recalled what that black figure had taught her.
Her eyes moved rapidly through the crowd.
Found it.
She found that winding, twisting line.
And yet, it was the best line.
The golden path leading to victory.
Her foot dug into the ground, and Shirayuki's body slipped between two runners. She did not stop. The moment she landed, she turned again, twisting her ankle, rotating her foot, even swinging both arms along with the movement.
It was experience she had gained after being struck countless times, beaten until she could no longer stand, exhausted to the point of collapse.
Turn every part of the body into power for changing direction.
Let the body flow.
An uma musume's body was stone.
And she was water, seeking a way through the cracks in the stone.
On the observation platform, Rudolf could not help laughing.
The first requirement to enter the Domain was understanding and control of oneself.
It seemed Shirayuki had already achieved that.
No wonder she could activate the Domain during training.
"It's Snow Dancer! She's accelerating through the crowd! Snow Dancer is accelerating through the crowd! She's broken through! It's Snow Dancer!"
Hearing the voice, Mejiro Dober's ears twitched.
She turned her head and saw Shirayuki rushing up beside her.
Even in such a tense moment, Mejiro Dober could not help smiling.
As expected.
You are my first and final opponent, Shirayuki!
It felt like fate.
The one who had helped her was Shirayuki.
And the one standing in her way was also Shirayuki.
But since you've come this far, that means I can finally race with everything I have!
Mejiro Dober's pupils instantly shrank to pinpoints.
In that instant, the surrounding sounds disappeared.
The people disappeared too.
At this moment, there was only Shirayuki in Mejiro Dober's eyes.
Shirayuki was behind her, in a position impossible to see with the naked eye. Yet Mejiro Dober could clearly feel her. Her breathing. Her movements. Everything was vivid.
This was the ability Mejiro Dober had trained for the sake of defeating Shirayuki.
But the moment Mejiro Dober's senses touched Shirayuki's eyes, that feeling returned.
A sharp gaze, like a blade, pierced through her chest.
I'm prey…
That thought rose in Mejiro Dober's heart.
But in the next instant, she bit her lip hard. Pain stimulated her brain, forcibly suppressing the fear that had begun to rise.
She would not let the tragedy repeat itself.
This time, she absolutely would not retreat.
However, just as Dober adjusted her state, her heart skipped a beat.
Mejiro Dober heard a wolf's howl.
Shirayuki's figure transformed into a wolf.
In that dark world, she ran forward, faster and faster, faster and faster…
On the real racecourse, Shirayuki's eyes were fixed firmly ahead.
She bent low. Her heels left the ground. Her soles and toes exerted force at the same time. With a surge of air, her speed continued to climb.
Spirit, energy, and body reached their peak together.
From Shirayuki's body came an aura that shook the heart.
In the name of the Empress, she would bring down the whip of utter defeat upon her opponent.
Casting off the halo of the second generation, at this moment, a new legend would cover the glory of the old.
The name of the one who stood at the summit among fillies had now become that of another white figure.
"She has overtaken Mejiro Dober! Snow Dancer is still accelerating! So fast! So fast! No one can stop her advance! Born among fillies, an emperor has appeared! Her name is—Snow Dancer!"
As the announcer's voice fell, the white figure crossed the finish line.
She slowly came to a stop and looked toward the roaring stands.
"OOOHHHHHHH!!"
Hundreds of thousands of voices shouted the name of the Empress.
Shirayuki clenched her fist and raised it high.
This was a step on her path to the summit.
And her goal was the world.