Emerging from the tunnel, Dream Weaver didn't reveal her sharp edge. Under Narita Brian's overwhelming presence, she seemed inconspicuous, just another ordinary Uma Musume destined to become a backdrop for the Triple Crown.
In the past, she had often unconsciously revealed her edge, anticipating a powerful rival. But today was different. Today, Dream Weaver didn't want to confront anyone, nor was she searching for anything on the track.
All she wanted was victory in the Kikuka Sho.
All she wanted was the completion of the main scenario task.
To finish this scripted world, and then, carrying the ribbon her mother gave her, return to that hospital room—that was everything in Dream Weaver's heart right now.
She was just silently polishing the demon blade named 'Murasame' in her heart, waiting for the moment it would be drawn.
Her indifference to her surroundings, however, was misunderstood by Star Man. She stared dumbfounded at the silent Dream Weaver, nearly hidden in the rain, her eyes full of disbelief.
Why had the terrifying Dream Weaver from the Kobe Shimbun Hai become like this? Had she too been cowed by Narita Brian's pressure, choosing to retreat?!
Star Man's mouth opened and closed. The step she meant to take was withdrawn before her foot even landed.
She wanted to say something, but what right did she have to encourage Dream Weaver? She herself had just been scared sweat-drenched by Narita Brian's beast-like aura.
Looking at Dream Weaver's blurred form in the rain, Star Man could only shake her head silently.
Perhaps no one in this generation could ultimately challenge Narita Brian.
Fujino Makken O couldn't, Merci Stage couldn't, she herself couldn't, and even Dream Weaver... couldn't do it either.
In the suffocating silence of the track, Kentaro Sugimoto and the other commentator finally finished announcing the names of all the participating Uma Musume one by one. They exchanged a glance and spoke in unison.
"The final leg of the Classic Triple Crown, the Kikuka Sho, is about to begin!"
"All contestants, please take your positions!"
Hearing the commentators' voices, the Uma Musume finally dragged their stiffened bodies, step by step, as if marching to their execution, towards their respective starting gates.
For them, who already believed they knew the outcome, this race held no suspense whatsoever.
The winner could only be Narita Brian.
The spectators thought the same, but they weren't enduring Narita Brian's immense pressure. So, even knowing the presumed outcome, they still watched the track with anticipation, wanting to witness the birth of the Triple Crown winner with their own eyes.
"Will she win?"
Among the increasingly restless crowd, Fujino Makken O and Merci Stage also watched the track nervously, unconsciously gripping each other's hands.
"Will she win?"
Though his mouth was taking over the topic from his colleague, Kentaro Sugimoto's heart had long since flown to the track. Through a pane of glass, he gazed at the vague red figure in the rain, praying silently in his heart.
"Will she win?"
Inside the starting gate, Star Man breathed heavily. The wait for the race to start felt both endless and suffocating. To steady her mind, she could only ask herself the question over and over in her heart.
"She will win."
Narita Brian stared sharply at the turf beyond the gate. The path to victory had already opened before her.
In this Kikuka Sho, she would hold back no longer. She would use an absolute margin to declare war on the Uma Musume of the previous generation.
Whether people were excited or bewildered, distracted or confident of victory, time flowed on unchanged.
The moment the gates flew open, everything would be decided in the dust churned up by the running Uma Musume.
And what Dream Weaver waited for was a single instant.
The moment the gates opened, time seemed to freeze. Raindrops hung suspended in mid-air, refracting the Uma Musume's sharply contracted pupils and bewildered faces.
Their bodies, sensing danger, instinctively sent warnings to their brains, yet many Uma Musume still couldn't comprehend what was happening. Why, the instant the gates opened, did the world seem to transform?
From within the gray curtain of rain, a streak of red, bright as blood, suddenly flashed.
Before they could process it, a sound like a sword being drawn—a sharp shiiing—echoed across the track. Accompanied by a wave of scorching air and boiling rainwater, the demon blade 'Murasame' was unleashed.
The Uma Musume, already shaken by Narita Brian's aura, saw an illusion of the world being split in two. A glaring red streak of light, sharp as a blade, tore through the rain curtain.
The raindrops, sliced in two, drifted slowly past their eyes, their reason severed along with that lethal blade's edge.
"A... a Great Escape?!"
Kentaro Sugimoto stared, dumbstruck, at the red streak of light tearing through the rain like a meteor, his voice full of disbelief as he spoke into the microphone.
He wasn't the only one shocked into stupefaction. At this moment, every person in the stands was captivated by that crimson streak of light.
They watched, mouths agape, as Dream Weaver shot past the other Uma Musume at an incredible speed, leaving even Narita Brian, their previous favorite, far behind.
Some spectators, new to Uma Musume races, asked those around them in confusion, "This... this is a Great Escape, right? Can you even use that tactic in the three-thousand-meter Kikuka Sho?"
For those with more knowledge, the scene before them was even more unbelievable. Hearing the novice's question, a bespectacled middle-aged man replied instinctively, "Impossible! I've watched races for years and never seen a Great Escape in the Kikuka Sho!"
In fact, it wasn't just the Kikuka Sho. On turf, which favored late speed, Uma Musume who employed a Great Escape in middle to long-distance races were already rare.
As everyone was bewildered, an old man wearing a trainer's cap narrowed his eyes at the red streak of light that had left almost everyone behind and recalled in a deep voice, "I remember one record of a Great Escapee winning the Kikuka Sho."
His words immediately drew everyone's attention. They turned and looked at the old man with expectant eyes.
The old man pondered for a moment before speaking. "But that was from my youth, decades ago. The memory is fuzzy. I never thought I'd see an Uma Musume choose a front-running strategy in the Kikuka Sho after all these years."
Just as people were feeling disappointed, suddenly an idea seemed to strike one spectator in the crowd, who said hesitantly, "I think during her introduction, they said this Uma Musume comes from some fallen noble family?"
"So, is it possible..."
"...that her elder from that family back then won the Kikuka Sho championship in exactly this way? And now she's using this method from the past to reclaim glory for her family?"
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T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
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