"Our girls are charging down the incline now, rounding the mountain path on their descent to the finish line," Hazama cried into the microphone as it boomed across the mine. "The air is damp, the dirt is soft, the gravel is loose, and this mountain, ladies and gentlemen, is showing no mercy tonight, which means you are in no shortage of excitement!"
The crowd erupted, voices rising as fists punched into the air, while the screen continued streaming drone footage from above, every angle locked onto the racers tearing down the course. Dahlia's eyes remained fixed on Queen as she came into another turn, her movement tight and precise, her body cutting so low toward the ground that it seemed almost unnatural, black gloves scraping across the dirt and loose gravel in a spray of sparks before she rose again in a single seamless motion, cleats striking earth with speed and control that made the whole thing feel less like a run and more like a dance. Every time Queen slid into a curve, carrying that impossible momentum forward, Dahlia felt her breath catch, her heart stopping for the briefest moment before it kicked hard again.
Rekka and Yamino were nothing like her.
Rekka moved by slipping through spaces others barely noticed, ducking and weaving with her smaller frame, using her flexible knees and low center of gravity to spring from squat to sprint as if the track itself were a puzzle she intended to cheat. Yamino, on the other hand, ran like a bulldozer given flesh, her steps heavy, her breathing hard, her cleats biting deep into the dirt as she barreled through every turn and straightaway with the kind of brutal certainty that made it seem as if nothing, and no one, was going to stop her.
Dahlia's ears twitched, her tail flicking once behind her as her grip tightened against her arms, the footage pulling her deeper with every passing second. Her gaze shifted briefly to Logan, who watched in silence, his expression hard, though she had no doubt he was breaking down every inch of their technique in his head, carving it apart, measuring it, already shaping whatever lessons might give her a chance when the Stakes arrived.
Between the cheers, the groans, and the occasional distant wail swallowed by the crowd, one truth became impossible to ignore. The MRA carried every bit as much charge as the URA and the Twinkle Series, perhaps even more, though the energy here was rawer, darker, hungry in a way that made Dahlia's stomach tighten. A part of her wondered whether frilly dresses, bright stages, and polished dance routines would one day become too tame for the people watching, whether spectacle would always demand more until applause alone was no longer enough.
Perhaps that was the appeal.
People wanted blood, pain, and carnage, and Daichi's words returned to her with uncomfortable clarity, that violence could be washed clean, dressed up, and sold as sport until people gladly paid for the right to indulge in it. Yet the longer Dahlia watched Queen, the harder it became to dismiss the pull in her own chest, because it wasn't only competition, nor simply the instinct of an uma born to run. It was the thrill, the kind no manicured turf or controlled track could ever truly offer, the knowledge that every step carried risk, that every run demanded something real, and that the next one might be the last.
She had tasted it once, during her race with Lady, from the moment she burst through that window to the slide down the pole and the instant the hose came loose, that fleeting second where danger and freedom became the same thing beneath the rush of adrenaline.
A sharp breath slipped from her.
Perhaps that was what Queen felt too.
****
Cleats hammered against the dirt in a relentless rhythm, the thunder of footfalls rolling through the mountain pass and rebounding off stone and steel like the growl of some great beast awakened from its slumber, while Queen maintained her lead with strides that were long, efficient, and controlled, every movement turning momentum into speed as dirt and gravel exploded beneath her boots and clouds of dust rose behind her, only to be torn apart by the runners charging through them.
The wind screamed past her ears hard enough to drown out the whine of the drones overhead, their propellers cutting through the night as their cameras tracked her every movement, but none of it mattered because her breathing remained steady, her focus never wavered, and every inch of the mountain spoke to her through the soles of her boots, from the shifting grains of dirt to the loose patches of gravel and the uneven grooves carved by those who had run the course before her.
A brief glance over her shoulder was enough to tell her Rekka was still there, the smaller racer wearing that same confident smirk as she stayed barely a stride behind, riding Queen's wake, conserving her strength, waiting for the perfect moment to slip past, while further back Yamino thundered after them with the weight and force of a charging bull, her larger frame dominating the track and keeping the remaining racers at bay, because no one with any sense wanted to drift too close to the uma called Breaker and risk becoming another body left behind on the mountain.
Then Queen saw the next section ahead, an enormous S-shaped descent that was less a path than a giant half-pipe carved into the mountainside, its steep walls rising on both sides as the dirt curved upward in a shape that looked almost impossible to run, and as the balls of her feet shifted against the ground, testing the surface in the span of a single breath, she felt enough firmness beneath the lingering slickness to know exactly what she could do.
"Look out, Queen!" Rekka called over the howl of the wind as she pushed closer. "This is where I get ya!"
A faint smile tugged at Queen's lips as her cleats bit deep, the earth cracking beneath the sudden force as she launched into a burst of speed that caught both Rekka and Yamino off guard, opening the gap just enough for Rekka's grin to falter into something far less certain.
"The hell is she thinking?" Rekka muttered, but the answer came the moment Queen hit the turn and instead of following the curve like everyone else, she ran straight up the side of the pipe, her body angling almost ninety degrees as momentum carried her across the wall, her cleats sliding with the smoothness of skates while one gloved hand scraped along the surface and threw sparks into the air.
Rekka's eyes widened as Queen rode the wall through the curve, descended through the center, and carried herself up the opposite side without losing speed, her body turning with such seamless control that it no longer looked like a race at all, but a performance shaped from instinct, training, and absolute confidence. Queen's gaze found Rekka mid-motion, and with a small smirk, she raised her hand in a slow, mocking salute while sliding backward along the wall, the gesture so calm and insulting that Rekka's confidence shattered before the turn had even ended.
Then Queen planted one hand against the curved surface and lifted herself into a one-handed handstand, her boots still gliding along the pipe as sparks trailed from her glove, before she flipped cleanly back onto her feet, landed without losing a fraction of speed, and launched herself out of the turn with the gap nearly doubled by the time Rekka and Yamino cleared the same section behind her.
"No freaking way!" Rekka screamed, her teeth bared as disbelief and frustration twisted across her face, while Yamino said nothing, her expression darkening as she stared at the figure already pulling away down the mountain.
****
"Oh, Queen, that was magnificent!" Hazama exclaimed into the microphone as he stretched an arm toward the display. "What a move, ladies and gentlemen, what a move!"
The crowd erupted around them, fists pumping, boots thundering against the ground hard enough to make the floor tremble beneath their feet, voices screaming Queen's name in a roaring chorus that seemed to roll through the abandoned factory and up the mountainside, but Dahlia stood in the middle of it all with absolute stillness settling over her. Her blood felt cold, her eyes wide beneath the mask as the image on the screen replayed inside her mind frame by frame, and before she could stop it, she was back in the rain, standing on the wet pavement as she watched an uma with jet-black hair glide across the asphalt with a precision so beautiful it bordered on impossible.
She remembered that feeling with painful clarity, the ache that had bloomed in her chest and refused to let go, the deep, quiet longing to possess even a fraction of that beauty, that grace, that strength and power, to become the kind of racer she had once imagined herself being, the kind who thundered down the final straight while the grandstands rose in worship, the kind who stood beneath the lights with a trophy raised high as people chanted her name. It was the life she had dreamed of, the future she had reached for, the desire that had been denied to her by failure, circumstance, and the cruel mathematics of a world that only made room for those who could keep winning.
Like so many umas before her, she had once dreamed of walking in the boots of the Emperor, of chasing the shadow of Symboli Rudolf and standing at the pinnacle of all racers, yet right now, despite everything she had survived, despite the confidence she had fought so hard to build, Dahlia couldn't stop the feeling that opened beneath her like a widening rift, stretching between herself and Queen with a distance she feared she would never be able to cross.
"I know what you're thinking," Logan said, cutting into her thoughts and drawing her gaze toward him. "Believe me, I've seen that look on every girl I've ever trained. They see someone better than them, someone further along, someone who makes the impossible look easy, and suddenly they start convincing themselves they'll never measure up."
Dahlia opened her mouth, but whatever answer she had tried to form never made it past her throat.
"You're not Queen, kid, not yet," Logan continued. "And that ain't a bad thing, because if I'd spent my whole life staring up at trainers better than me, more experienced than me, more famous than me, I never would've gotten anywhere."
His gaze hardened slightly as he held hers. "You set a goal, you make that person the finish line, you let them push you to become better, but you never measure yourself against them on their terms, because nothing good comes from that. All it does is make every weakness feel bigger than it is and kill the drive before it has a chance to grow."
He shifted his attention briefly back to the screen, where Queen's run continued to hold the crowd in awe. "Queen's standing near the peak," he said, his tone quieter now, though no less firm. "You're still at the start of the climb, and right now, the climb is the only thing that matters."
Dahlia swallowed, her ears dipping slightly as she looked back toward the display. "You really think someone like me could ever be half the racer Queen is?"
Logan scoffed, and this time the grin that tugged at his lips carried no doubt at all. "Half?" he said, tilting his head as if the question itself offended him. "Kid, you put your boots to the ground and give this everything you've got, and one day they won't be able to say Queen's name without yours coming right after it."
He tapped a finger lightly against his arm, his eyes still fixed on her. "Question is how far you're willing to go to make that happen."
"The runners are halfway down the mountain now," the moss-haired young man said, drawing both Logan and Dahlia's attention without him seeming to notice. "Five racers left, Queen holding the lead with Rekka and Yamino still close behind, though the other two won't last much longer."
The taller one glanced toward him, his expression tightening slightly as the drone feed shifted across the screen. "What makes you so sure?"
"Because that's how it always goes whenever those three are in the same race," the young man replied, his gaze never leaving the footage. "Sooner or later, everything turns into a showdown between them. Queen cleared the S-turn and opened the gap by two lengths, but they'll be reaching Ryū no Ha soon enough."
The taller man's eyes widened a fraction as he turned toward him. "You don't mean…"
The young man nodded, his tone growing heavier. "The Dragon's Fangs," he said. "That stretch narrows until there's barely enough room for two umas side by side, and even then, only if one of them is reckless enough to force the opening."
His gaze sharpened as the camera continued following the racers through the mountain path. "It's full of obstacles too, mostly fallen rocks, sharp edges, loose footing, the kind of terrain that punishes even the smallest mistake. Plenty of umas have left that section seriously injured, and some worse than that."
A brief silence passed between them before he added, almost as if the thought had only just caught up to him, "And that's not even counting The Shaft."
Dahlia's ears twitched as she turned slightly toward him. "The Shaft?"
Both young men looked at her then, as if only now realizing she had been listening.
The moss-haired one nodded once more. "It's the final obstacle before the last stretch, part of the abandoned mine network," he explained. "Lots of tunnels, lots of dead ends, and a whole mess of old support structures holding paths that probably should've collapsed years ago." His eyes shifted briefly toward the screen. "One wrong move in there and you're not just losing position, you might end up buried under half the mountain."
Dahlia looked back toward Logan, but his dark eyes remained fixed on the drone footage, his expression stoic as the light from the screen moved across his face.
He said nothing. Somehow, that told her more than enough.
Her gaze returned to the screen as the race pushed deeper into the mountain, the glow of the cameras following Queen, Rekka, and Yamino toward whatever waited next.
****
Rufus stood at the far edge of the crowd, removed from the sea of cheers, and hollering spectators that surged through the abandoned warehouse like waves crashing against a shoreline, his back resting against the cold concrete wall as the rough surface pressed through the canvas of his camouflaged jacket while he watched the race unfold upon the enormous display suspended above the crowd.
The shifting light from the screen painted fleeting colors across the darkness beneath his hood, leaving most of his features concealed save for the faint glimmer of greenish-gold eyes fixed upon the footage, though his attention remained divided between the live feed and the digital course map beside it, where glowing markers traced the racers' progress in real time.
"Shit, I had good money on Yamino taking Queen out."
The comment drew Rufus' attention toward the warehouse entrance where two men lingered near the threshold, both watching the race while nursing drinks, one broad-shouldered and heavily built in a black tank top that exposed sun-darkened skin and arms thickened by years of hard labor, while the other stood thinner and more rigid in an untucked white shirt and faded jeans, his gaze never leaving the screen though the constant twitch of his fingers suggested he had far more riding on the outcome than he cared to admit.
"Unbelievable," the larger man slurred before taking another swallow. "Who does she think she is, showing up whenever she feels like it and wrecking the odds for everybody else? Can't get a decent payout when Queen's running."
"The race is still far from over," his companion replied, his eyes narrowing slightly as the footage followed the runners deeper into the mountain. "Rekka's probably waiting for Ryū no Ha. Queen's fast, sure, but even she isn't immune to someone getting clever, and Rekka's never exactly been known for fighting fair."
Rufus closed his eyes as the noise of the crowd faded from his awareness, the cheers and pounding bass receding into a distant murmur while memory pulled him back to a dimly lit room where the glow of a large television illuminated the walls and footage from previous Kagetōge Kudari races played across the screen.
****
Queen stood near the desk with her arms folded, her posture relaxed yet attentive as she watched racer after racer meet violent ends upon the screen, girls slamming into stone walls hard enough to leave cracks spiderwebbing through the rock, tumbling helplessly across dirt and gravel, or vanishing into clouds of debris as blood painted the footage in brief crimson bursts and screams crackled through the speakers, yet none of it seemed capable of drawing even the slightest reaction from her.
The scent of tobacco lingered heavily throughout the room as Rufus took one final draw from his cigarette and crushed it into the ashtray, his gaze settling on her when she finally spoke. "Sensei, you know I've never questioned your decisions, but this will be my third run through Kagetōge Kudari, and I've already won it twice, so what exactly is there to gain from running it again?"
"If reasons are what you seek, then let us begin with the obvious," Rufus said, leaning back slightly against the desk. "The Kagetōge Kudari remains the only dirt course in Tokyo worthy of your attention, with terrain unpredictable enough to force adaptation, elevations unforgiving enough to punish arrogance, and obstacles demanding a racer reassess, improvise, and refine their approach in real time."
His fingers tapped lightly against the desk's surface as his eyes returned to the footage. "Secondly, both Rekka and Yamino will be participating, and since you've never raced either of them on dirt before, I would very much like to know how capable they truly are once the terrain beneath their feet ceases to favor familiarity and begins rewarding adaptability instead."
Queen nodded, her expression hardening with understanding as Rufus tilted his head slightly. "And thirdly, I suspect you already know the answer to that one, don't you?"
"I do."
"Quite," Rufus replied, folding his hands behind his back as he lifted off the desk and moved slowly before the screen. "You and I have spent enough time away from home that we've inevitably adopted the customs and traditions of others, myself by choice and you by circumstance, yet there remain certain aspects of our heritage that I continue to find fascinating, one of which is the Hatashijō, a formal letter of challenge once issued amongst the samurai to settle disputes, restore honor, or demand satisfaction under a strict code of conduct."
Queen listened in silence as the glow of the footage sharpened the edges of her face.
"Not entirely unlike the duels once favored by gentlemen in the West," Rufus continued, "though I have always found the notion somewhat lacking, because anyone with a sheet of paper and enough literacy to write their name can issue a challenge, and there is nothing particularly intimidating about ink drying upon parchment."
A faint smile touched his lips. "No, I came to realize long ago that a true challenge should be written in something far more enduring than ink, something that cannot simply be folded away and forgotten in a drawer, something written in blood, and darkness."
His gaze settled fully upon her. "That is why I have always insisted that every second matters, because victories are fleeting, trophies gather dust, and even championships fade into memory, while records linger long after the applause has died."
"You may have won Kagetōge Kudari twice, but you have yet to carve your name permanently into its history, and if you desire a Hatashijō worthy of the Sovereigns' attention, one that might cause even those atop the Blacklist to pause, then you must leave your mark upon every course in Tokyo, every course across Japan, every terrain, every discipline, every style of race, until people cannot speak of records without speaking of Midnight Queen."
Queen folded her arms a little tighter as the light from the monitor flickered over her eyes.
"And when all of Japan knows your name," Rufus said, "then and only then will it be time for you to climb the Blacklist in earnest, because winning alone will no longer be enough when true victory is not measured by the number of opponents defeated, but by the absence of anyone capable of challenging your claim."
Queen lowered her gaze briefly, then looked back at him with a warmth that softened the severity of her words. "Absolute dominion, just like you have, Sensei."
"Precisely," Rufus said, inclining his head. "Legacies endure only when there is nobody left capable of dismantling them, because history has an unfortunate habit of eroding even the greatest achievements until once-mighty figures become stories, myths, and eventually little more than names recited by those who never truly understood them."
His eyes narrowed slightly as the footage continued to play behind him. "Even the Emperor herself was not immune to that truth, for Symboli Rudolf was extraordinary, unquestionably so, yet her legacy survives largely because generations continue to elevate her as the embodiment of greatness through admiration and nostalgia, whereas the Godly Fifteen reshaped the very standards by which greatness is judged, and that distinction is precisely why their names continue to cast such long shadows."
Rufus then reached for the remote and paused the footage on a section of track littered with jagged stone formations. "The difference between a champion and a legend, my dear, is that champions win races, while legends alter the expectations of everyone who comes after them, and if that is what we are building, then we cannot afford to leave even a single record unclaimed."
He gestured toward the frozen image on the screen. "Under normal circumstances I'd have little concern about Dragon's Fangs, but unfortunately Rekka Blaze does not qualify as normal circumstances, because if she sees an opportunity, she'll try to use those rocks against you, perhaps swing your momentum into them and hope you end up skewered like dango on a stick, while Yamino, true to form, will attempt to solve the problem by running straight through it, and I doubt she'd notice a boulder unless it were large enough to stop a freight train."
"What would you recommend?" Queen asked.
Rufus set the remote down upon the desk and regarded her thoughtfully, his eyes lingering on the frozen image displayed across the screen before returning to her. "Rekka is, without question, a maestro when it comes to manipulating the field around her. The girl possesses a remarkable talent for turning obstacles into weapons, transforming the terrain itself into an accomplice, and using other racers as pieces upon the board whenever it suits her purposes. Much of her success comes from chaos, unpredictability, and the element of surprise, because she thrives in situations where nobody quite knows what she intends to do next."
He paused, a knowing smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.
"However, that same confidence which allows her to be so dangerous is also her greatest weakness. Her little tricks work wonderfully against the unsuspecting, against racers who panic, hesitate, or fail to recognize what she is attempting, but you already know her game. You understand how she thinks, how she operates, and perhaps most importantly, how much she enjoys believing herself to be the cleverest person in the room." His smile widened slightly. "Use that against her, and she'll walk into her own trap before she ever realizes she's standing in it."
Queen nodded quietly.
"As for Yamino," Rufus continued, "the girl has the temperament of a rabid animal and approximately the same capacity for strategic thought. She relies almost entirely upon intimidation, brute force, and the assumption that eventually somebody will be foolish enough to stand directly in front of her." He folded his arms across his chest and shook his head faintly. "Stay out of her grasp, avoid becoming entangled in her rampages, and you'll have very little to worry about."
His gaze sharpened slightly.
"That being said, I would advise against provoking the bull more than necessary. Teasing her may be amusing, and admittedly I can understand the temptation, but there is always the possibility that one day she decides to stop charging blindly and starts thinking. Admittedly, I consider that outcome unlikely, though I prefer not to build strategies around miracles."
A faint smile touched Queen's lips as she looked toward him. "Alright," she said. "Do you happen to know the current record, Sensei?"
"According to the app, the standing record is six minutes and twenty-five seconds," Rufus replied, tapping his fingers lightly against the desk as if the number itself offended him. "It was set by an uma whose name escapes me, which is rather telling in itself considering that it was the only notable accomplishment of her career before her unfortunate demise, though for somebody of your caliber, beating a record by a handful of seconds would be disappointingly modest, because records are not merely meant to be broken, they are meant to be humiliated."
Queen raised an eyebrow as Rufus lifted a single finger. "One minute," he said. "Beat the existing record by one full minute, and I shall personally ensure that both you and the team receive your reward."
The change in Queen's expression was immediate, the hard, calculating focus softening just enough for genuine excitement to show through as she pushed herself away from the desk. "Really?" she asked, her eyes brightening. "You promise?"
Rufus looked almost offended by the question. "My dear, when have I ever gone back on my word?"
A smile spread across Queen's face, though the warmth of it lasted only a moment before determination sharpened her expression once more. "Alright," she said, her gaze drifting back toward the frozen footage displayed upon the monitor, where the course remained suspended in time beneath the glow of the screen. "You're on, but one minute isn't what I'll be aiming for."
"Oh?" Rufus asked, folding his arms as curiosity flickered across his face.
"No," Queen said quietly, the smile returning. "I'll do it in two."
Rufus regarded her for a long moment, and when the silence finally broke, it did so with the slow spread of a grin across his face. "There she is," he murmured. "Now that is the answer I was hoping for."
****
Rufus opened his eyes, slowly and without haste, the noise of the crowd bleeding back into the present as a grin began to pull at the edge of his lips, his gaze narrowing ever so slightly while it lifted toward the screen and fixed upon Queen in the middle of her run.
"By the pricking of my thumbs," he murmured, the words slipping out with quiet amusement as the glow of the display flickered across the shadow beneath his hood, "something wicked this way comes."
****
"Hold on to your seats, ladies and gentlemen!" Hazama's voice boomed from the loudspeakers, echoing across the mountainside and through the abandoned quarry as the crowd answered with a roar. "The dragon awaits, and now we shall see whether our racers prevail, or whether they are torn apart and devoured, because I can feel your anticipation from here, so let us find out together, shall we?"
Queen burst out of the final turn and adjusted immediately for the sudden drop in elevation, her body compensating as the incline steepened beneath her feet, her strides shortening and quickening while her arms drew closer to her sides and the wind tore through her hair, whipping the long black strands behind her as sweat glistened along her forehead and temples. The path ahead narrowed rapidly, shifting from a track into a funnel of stone and dirt squeezed between towering walls, and scattered throughout that constricted passage were the jagged formations that had given Ryū no Ha its name, rocks protruding from the earth like the fangs of some buried beast, some blunt and weathered, some sharp enough to impale, some nearly as tall as an uma and others barely rising above the dirt, though at this speed even the smallest mistake could end a race, a career, or worse.
Queen lowered her center of gravity as her boots hammered against the earth, each step throwing dust and loose gravel behind her while the pull of the downhill slope urged her to surrender fully to momentum, yet she held herself in check, refusing to let the mountain dictate her pace as she entered the field of stone. The moment the rocks closed around her, her movement changed into something far more refined than a sprint, her body ducking, weaving, twisting, and shifting through the gaps without surrendering speed, her cleats carving through dirt as her arms spread for balance and her fingertips passed within inches of jagged stone.
Then, she felt it, not merely the presence behind her, but the intent that came with it, hungry, predatory, and malicious, and when her gaze shifted slightly to the edge of her vision, she caught Rekka closing in with wide, manic eyes and a grin stretched across her face, riding the incline for every ounce of momentum it could give her.
"Here… we… go," Rekka muttered before her hand shot forward and seized Queen's sleeve, the pull coming hard and aggressive, meant to break balance and throw her into the rocks.
Yet Queen leaned into it instead, allowing their bodies to spin together as their cleats tore trenches through the dirt and they slid side by side through the course, narrowly avoiding one stone formation before cutting around another while dust exploded around them and jagged rock flashed past within inches of their faces.
"Got you!" Rekka shouted, her grin widening as their eyes locked. "Now get ready for the ride of your life!"
What she found on Queen's face was not fear, panic, or even the slightest concern, but a slow smile that made Rekka's confidence falter for the briefest instant.
"Alright then," Queen said calmly. "Let's dance."
Before Rekka could react, Queen's free hand locked around her wrist, binding them together as they hurtled down the mountain through Dragon's Fangs at terrifying speed, and what had begun as Rekka's attack became Queen's rhythm as she stepped, shifted, and pivoted, redirecting them both with every movement.
Rekka dug her cleats into the dirt and tried to wrestle control back, but each attempt only fed into another turn, another pull, another adjustment that carried them around one rock and flung them toward the next, the world blurring into stone, dust, and impossible angles as they moved through the field like a pinball trapped inside a machine, escaping collision after collision by margins so narrow they scarcely seemed real.
"What're you, nuts?! Let go!" Rekka screamed, panic finally breaking through as her free hand clawed at Queen's grip. "Let me go, you crazy bitch, we're gonna crash!"
"What's the matter, Rekka?" Queen asked, the pale curve of her mask seeming to stare straight through Rekka's gaze as a faint smirk settled on her lips. "Too intense for you?"
Another formation rushed toward them, and Queen's smile only widened as she pulled Rekka closer, close enough that they missed the stone by less than an inch, close enough that the girl's tail scraped against the jagged surface and tore loose several strands as they passed. With their fingers still interlocked and their joined arms spread wide, their chests brushed for one fleeting moment and their faces came within inches of one another, close enough for Queen to lean in and whisper into her ear.
"When you wake up, I want you to remember that this could have been so much worse."
"The hell are you—"
Queen moved before Rekka could finish, twisting through a reversal that crossed Rekka's arms and stole the last of her balance, then ducking beneath her grip and turning her hips with enough force to convert every ounce of their shared momentum into a throw. Rekka was launched off her feet with a scream, her body spinning through the air before slamming back-first into one of the towering stone formations, the impact shattering it in a violent burst that sent fragments scattering across the course as she hit the ground and tumbled through the dirt until she came to rest face-first on the track.
Queen never looked back as she continued through Dragon's Fangs as though nothing had happened, her stride already settling back into its controlled rhythm while Yamino surged past the fallen racer behind her and claimed second place.
****
Yamino was still bearing down on Queen's tail, her heavy strides tearing through the dirt as her gaze narrowed ahead, though she allowed herself one brief glance back toward Rekka before scoffing under her breath. It was then that one of the two remaining girls behind her tried to cut through the opening at her side, hoping to use the chaos of Dragon's Fangs to slip past before the path narrowed again, but the instant she met Yamino's stare, her confidence died on the spot.
The look in the larger uma's eyes was vicious, pupils drawn tight, irises burning, eyes wide with the kind of brutal warning that needed no words, and even with the lower half of Yamino's face hidden behind her mask, the girl knew beyond doubt that her teeth were bared beneath it.
"And where the hell do you think you're going?" Yamino growled.
Before the girl could pull away, Yamino's arm shot out and seized her by the front of her jacket, dragging her forward with one brutal motion as she extended her arm and lifted her clean off her feet as though she weighed no more than a sack of grain. The girl cried out, legs kicking uselessly as she clawed at Yamino's wrist and hammered her fists against her forearm, but the grip around her jacket held like iron.
Yamino leaned forward and drove harder into the descent, her speed climbing as the trapped uma's eyes widened in horror, her head twisting just enough to see what waited behind her. A strangled cry tore from her throat the instant before Yamino slammed her back-first into one of the towering rock formations, the impact exploding through the stone with a violent crack that sent fragments scattering across the track.
Yamino didn't slow.
She kept charging, using the girl's body like a battering ram as she smashed through rock after rock, pillar after pillar, each collision sending fresh bursts of dust and debris into the air while the sound of impact rolled through the narrow passage like thunder. The girl's struggles weakened with every hit, her cries breaking apart into breathless gasps as blood ran down her forehead and into her eyes, until by the fifth collision her body had gone limp in Yamino's grip, consciousness leaving her entirely.
Only then did Yamino cast her aside.
The girl's body flew into the stone wall, struck hard enough to twist mid-fall, then dropped face-first into the dirt where she remained motionless among the scattered fragments.
Yamino let out a roar that tore through Dragon's Fangs, her eyes locked on Queen's figure ahead as her cleats dug deeper into the earth and drove her forward with renewed violence. "You're next, princess!" she shouted, the threat carrying down the course with every pounding step. "I'm not stoppin' till I bury you under this damn mountain!"
****
"Ough!" Hazama cried, feigning a sharp flinch as the footage of Rekka's crash and the other uma's brutal wipeout replayed across the screen from several angles, some slowed down just enough to let the crowd savor the worst of it while both portraits were stamped with red Xs. "It seems Ryū no Ha has claimed its newest victims," he said, clicking his tongue with exaggerated sorrow as he shook his head. "How sad… how very, very sad."
The crowd answered with a chaotic mixture of cheers, groans, whistles, and curses, the winners roaring with delight while the losers swore at the screen, and even the men by the warehouse entrance let out a collective groan that made Rufus' simper.
Hazama removed his fedora and pressed it to his chest, his expression settling into something almost solemn as he bowed his head. "Now, now. A moment of silence for those poor girls, if you please."
For a few uneasy seconds, the crowd actually quieted, the noise fading into confused murmurs as people looked from one another to the stage, unsure whether he meant it, and only when the silence had stretched long enough to become uncomfortable did that familiar grin return to his face.
"Well," he said, spreading his arms wide as the lights caught the gleam in his eyes, "they aren't getting any deader!"
He slipped the fedora back onto his head as the crowd erupted again, louder this time, feeding on the cruelty of the joke as he turned toward the display. "Anyway, we are down to our final three umas threading their way through the course, and now comes the part you have all been waiting for."
For the briefest moment, his emerald eyes opened enough to catch the light.
"Out of the pan and into the fire," he cried, sweeping one gloved hand toward the screen, "and out of the fangs… into the Shaft!"
The crowd thundered in response, voices rising into a single feverish roar as every gaze fixed on the display.
****
Dahlia went still, though it wasn't merely from the shock of what she had witnessed, but from the way the entire sequence replayed across the massive display in crystal-clear detail, every impact, every collision, every brutal moment stretched out for the crowd's enjoyment while thousands cheered as though they had just seen the highlight of the night.
Beside her, Logan's grip tightened around his arm and the muscles in his jaw flexed, but Dahlia barely noticed, because she had thought she was past this part of the MRA, past the bloodshed and violence that trailed behind every race and every story she heard, yet the sight of it unfolding before her still twisted her stomach into knots.
It wasn't the crowd that disturbed her, nor was it the hunger in their cries whenever someone crashed, fell, or failed, but the casual ease with which the racers themselves treated it, how girls were broken against stone, slammed into rock formations, and tossed aside like rag dolls without anyone hesitating, flinching, or looking back. To them, the racers around them weren't rivals striving toward the same finish line, nor were they fellow umas chasing victory, but obstacles to be surpassed, barriers to be removed, and problems to be solved by whatever means the race allowed.
Dahlia's gaze settled on Queen as the black-clad racer continued down the mountain without once looking behind her, and a cold thought crept into her mind as she wondered how many girls Midnight Queen had left behind, how many dreams had ended beneath her boots, and how many racers had suffered injuries, defeats, or worse simply because they had stood between her and the finish line. What disturbed Dahlia most was not only the violence itself, but how effortless it had seemed, because Queen hadn't acted from rage, panic, desperation, or some momentary loss of control. She had simply made a choice and carried it out with the same certainty someone might use to brush dust from a sleeve, without hesitation, guilt, or remorse.
Only when Dahlia lowered her gaze toward her hands did she realize they were trembling, and the sight of it made the question inside her sharpen until it became impossible to ignore. Was that what it took to win, was that what waited for her at the Stakes, and would she eventually have to make the same choices if she wanted to stand at the top.
"Looks like you'd be dealing with two completely different flavors," Logan said, pulling her from the spiral before it could drag her any deeper, his eyes still fixed on the screen as footage of the race continued to stream overhead. "Rekka's the opportunist, by all definitions a late runner who hangs back, studies the terrain, watches for blind spots, and strikes the second she sees an opening." A faint laugh escaped him as he shook his head. "Too bad Queen saw it coming from a mile away, because the girl walked right into her trap. I've no doubt she planned this in advance."
His gaze shifted slightly as the footage followed Yamino charging through Dragon's Fangs, and the humor faded from his face. "Yamino's a whole different animal, because that girl lives for the fight and uses fear like a weapon, taking out everybody behind her in the nastiest way she can think of before chasing down the lead."
"Girls in front hear the screaming, see the bodies piling up behind them, start panicking, start making mistakes, and burn through their stamina trying to get away, and that's when she closes in and finishes the job."
He scoffed quietly. "Completely insane, but effective, since she saves her energy for the brawl and burns whatever's left in the final sprint, which makes her an Ender in every sense of the word."
A crooked grin tugged briefly at the corner of his mouth as he added, "So, you've got the psycho in front and the bruiser in the back, which means we've got our work cut out fo—" only for the rest of the sentence to die before it fully left his mouth when he turned toward her, his eyes first catching her expression before drifting lower to her hands, where the shaking still hadn't stopped.
"You okay, kid?" he asked.
Dahlia's ears twitched toward him, and the moment she realized where he was looking, she pulled her hands closer and curled her fingers into her palms as though that would somehow hide it. "Y-yeah," she said quickly. "I'm fine."
Logan looked at her long enough for her to know he didn't believe a word of it, long enough for her to understand that he had already figured out exactly where her thoughts had gone, yet he didn't press her, didn't call her out, and didn't force the truth from her. Instead, he turned his attention back toward the screen and continued watching the race while the cheers of the crowd rolled around them once more, leaving Dahlia alone with the uncomfortable realization that the path to the top of the Blacklist might demand far more from her than speed alone.
****
The stench hit Queen the moment she entered the Shaft, a foul mixture of stale air, mold, damp earth, and stagnant water that had lingered within the abandoned mine for decades, clinging to the stone walls and seeping into every breath she took as the narrow tunnel closed around her with an oppressive weight. The walls bore the rough scars of picks, drills, and blasting charges from a bygone era, their chipped and uneven surfaces flashing past beneath the amber glow of the hanging lamps that swayed overhead whenever the rush of air from her speed tore through them. Every strike of her cleats sent clouds of dust spiraling across the confined passage, while the relentless rhythm of her footfalls echoed ahead through the mine, scattering into the dark as though the Shaft itself were carrying the sound for miles.
At the edge of her vision, she caught Yamino breaking to the right with the remaining racer still struggling behind her, disappearing down one of the branching tunnels while Queen kept her own line and let her gaze flick from passage to passage, mapping the routes by instinct as the lamps rocked on their chains and threw restless shadows over the stone. The rhythm of the footsteps behind her continued for several seconds, steady enough that she counted them without thinking, four steps, two sets of feet, until a different sound cut through the pattern from her right, fast and violent, followed by the splintering crack of wood as a boarded-up entrance exploded inward.
Yamino crashed through in a shower of broken planks and dust, her shoulder lowered for a tackle that would have driven Queen straight into the wall, but Queen drove one foot into the ground and stopped with impossible precision, letting the larger uma thunder past close enough for the displaced air to brush against her before Yamino snarled, kicked off the stone wall, and launched herself back into the tunnel with her fist sweeping toward Queen's head. By the time the blow arrived, Queen had already slipped beneath it, sidestepped the follow-up, and resumed her sprint down the shaft without losing momentum.
"Slippery little bitch!" Yamino roared as she gave chase. "Get back here!"
The gap between them remained dangerously tight as Yamino lunged again and again, her arms reaching to seize Queen by whatever she could catch, yet every grab met empty air as Queen glided around her with infuriating ease, her cleats scraping, sliding, and spinning across the dirt in controlled arcs that should have stolen speed but somehow only carried her faster. With every miss, Yamino's anger sharpened, her tail lashing behind her, her nostrils flaring so hard that the fabric of her mask indented with each breath, her eyes narrowing until the race seemed to vanish from her mind and only Queen remained.
Queen glanced back over her shoulder, a smile tugging at her lips as she read the fury behind her. "And here I was thinking I should be concerned," she said, calm despite the thunder of their steps. "Unfortunately for you, it's rather difficult to break what you can't catch."
"Grah, when I get my hands on you!" Yamino growled, "I'm going to tear you apart piece by freakin' piece!"
The tunnel soon widened into a broad chamber large enough to swallow a roadway, wooden pillars running down the center in a long uneven row while amber lamps cast their glow across the dirt, and Queen immediately turned the supports into her own maze, weaving between them with a serpentine rhythm that forced Yamino to keep adjusting her angle before she could build any real momentum. Every glance Queen spared over her shoulder seemed to twist the knife further, because Yamino knew she was being toyed with, knew the smaller movements were not panic but control, and the realization made the larger uma look as though she might tear the mine apart with her bare hands if that was what it took to reach her.
Then Queen caught movement at the edge of the chamber, a figure bursting from the shadows with blood streaking down the side of her face and staining her split lip, wild eyes locked on Queen with nothing left in them but spite.
"Queen!" Rekka snarled as she launched herself forward.
There was no room to evade before Rekka slammed into her side and seized the front of her collar, both of them skidding across the dirt as their cleats screeched beneath them. Rekka pulled her head back, preparing to drive a headbutt straight into Queen's face, but Queen's gaze had already shifted past her and toward Yamino, who was charging in with her fist cocked, her momentum fully committed and far too heavy to stop.
For the briefest instant, Queen let the timing settle.
Then her hand shot upward and struck Rekka clean in the throat, cutting off the headbutt before it could land as Rekka choked and grabbed instinctively at her neck. Queen seized her wrist, twisted under the arm, rotated around her body, and shoved her directly into Yamino's path before either of them could recover.
Yamino's fist came through with terrifying force, and though both girls realized what was happening in the same instant, there was no stopping it as the blow smashed into Rekka's cheek, snapping her head aside and lifting her off her feet before she crashed into the stone wall and collapsed into the dirt, rolling across the ground in a broken sprawl.
Yamino barely had time to turn back before Queen flipped backward into a handstand, using the motion to drive both feet up into the larger uma's chin with enough force to snap her head back and launch her into an uncontrolled backward flip. Yamino slammed face-first into the dirt and rolled to a stop, while Queen turned the handstand into a seamless backward somersault, twisted midair, landed in a sprint, and disappeared deeper into the Shaft without once breaking rhythm.
A moment passed before Yamino coughed hard, blood splattering behind her mask and trailing down her chin as she pushed herself up from the dirt with a snarl that barely sounded human, dust and grit sliding from her suit while her fingers dug into the ground hard enough to carve grooves through it. Her chest heaved with ragged breaths, fury burning bright in her eyes as she fixed her stare on Queen's retreating figure.
The remaining uma tore past her, sparing a single glance in Yamino's direction, but whatever she saw there made her face drain of color, because the larger uma looked back with pure murder burning in her eyes, and the girl shrieked before forcing herself to run faster.
Yamino's breathing grew heavier as she rose, her irises shrunk to pinpricks and threaded with bloodshot veins, her temple throbbing with every pulse while her entire body trembled beneath the pressure of barely restrained violence. Beside her, Rekka staggered toward her, one hand clamped around her jaw before she snapped it back into place with an audible crack, flexing it once as pain twisted briefly across her face. She shot Yamino a filthy glare, and for a moment the two locked eyes, neither of them speaking, before their gazes shifted forward in the same direction.
The agreement didn't need words.
****
Queen tore along the edge of the Shaft with her memory counting the distance before her eyes did, two hundred meters to the exit, then the final descent down the mountain and into the warehouse where the finish line waited beneath the lights, she had crossed that same line to the roar of her name, the celebration, the applause, and the live performance that followed, none of that mattered now, not Rekka, not Yamino, not even the crowd watching from below, because winning the race would mean nothing if she failed to beat the version of herself that had run it before.
With that thought fixed firmly in place, her breathing sharpened, her boots hammered the dirt in a steady rhythm, and she used the brief stretch of open tunnel to recover whatever stamina she could without surrendering speed.
Another set of footsteps entered the rhythm beside her, and when Queen glanced over, she found the last remaining uma closing in with wide eyes and a crazed grin tugging at her face, clearly intoxicated by the fantasy taking root in her head, the thought that she might pass the one and only Midnight Queen and seize the kind of glory rookies dreamed of before victory was even within reach.
Queen knew that look too well, the arrogance born in the seconds before reality tore it apart, the belief that one daring move could turn someone from a name in the margins into a legend, and as the girl pushed harder, her laughter cracked through the tunnel.
"I'm going to win," the girl muttered, her grin trembling at the edges as she forced herself forward. "I'm going to win!"
Queen's ears twitched before the laugh could fade, catching something far heavier than footsteps, something large tearing through the air, followed by the violent crack of wood splintering apart behind them. She looked back just in time to see darkness break open through the pillars behind them, and without a second to spare, she drove her foot into the other uma's side, knocking the wind from her lungs and sending her crashing back-first into the wall as Queen threw herself out of the path.
A mine cart smashed through the wooden supports where they had been a heartbeat earlier, its solid steel frame tearing through beams in a thunderous burst of splinters before slamming into the dirt with a deafening clang, bouncing once, rolling hard, and carving through the ground in a spray of dust and gravel until it finally skidded to a halt as a mangled heap of warped metal. Queen stared at it for only a moment, just long enough for the narrow distance between survival and death to settle in the dust-thick air, before her gaze snapped back down the tunnel.
Rekka and Yamino were coming.
Both of them charged through the Shaft at full speed, faces twisted with rage, cries tearing from their throats as they barrelled toward her like they intended to bring the entire mine down around them, while the girl Queen had kicked aside remained slumped against the wall, eyes locked on the wrecked cart with pure terror as her legs trembled beneath her. Her knees buckled, her body sliding down the stone until she hit the dirt, hands flying to her face as tears streamed between her fingers, sobs shaking through her while a dark, spreading puddle formed beneath her and soaked into the ground as the realization settled that she had nearly died.
Queen exhaled once, her expression hardening as her eyes returned to two approaching umas, and then she turned toward the exit and launched herself into a full sprint.
****
"Ooo, so close!" Hazama cried out as the footage replayed the instant the mine cart missed Queen and the other uma by a hair's breadth, the near collision captured from several angles before the feed slowed just enough to let the crowd savor how close death had come. "And yet, no cigar." He shook his head with theatrical disappointment. "That, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call a near-death experience."
The camera then pushed in on the other uma, curled against the wall with terror carved across her face, tears streaming freely as her body shook and the puddle beneath her slowly spread into the dirt, the lens lingering there with such sadistic intent that laughter and cackles began rippling through parts of the crowd. Others stayed quiet, their faces pale as the reality of what had almost happened settled in far more heavily than the spectacle around them allowed, while Logan's eyes narrowed at the screen and a sharp breath escaped through his nose.
"Unfortunately, you can't place bets on trauma," Hazama continued with a chuckle, "but if you could, I'd wager that poor girl will be having nightmares for weeks." His grin widened as he turned slightly toward the crowd. "Ah, the beauty of the game. You either walk away a champion, leave in a box, or, if fortune has a particularly cruel sense of humor, carry home a little emotional damage that never quite leaves you."
His attention drifted back to the footage, where the girl remained frozen in the aftermath. "Best give thanks to whatever god still tolerates your prayers, little girl, because tonight you breathe another day."
The crowd surged again with whoops, cheers, and screams, feeding off the commentary as if horror itself had become part of the entertainment, but Dahlia barely heard them anymore because another thought had taken hold of her and refused to let go.
Queen had saved her.
In that instant, with the mine cart tearing through the supports and death rushing toward them in steel and splintered wood, Queen could have chosen only herself and no one would have questioned it, because the race demanded survival and the MRA rewarded those ruthless enough to keep moving. Yet she had not done that. She had kicked the girl out of danger, pushed her clear of the path, and risked losing her own rhythm in the process. It had been quick, almost easy to miss beneath the chaos, but now that Dahlia had seen it, truly seen it, something inside her shifted.
Her lips tightened as her hand rose to her chest, fingers curling slowly into a fist against the fabric of her silks while the realization settled deeper. Perhaps she had been wrong about Queen, or at least too quick to decide what kind of racer she was. Perhaps ambition did not always mean cruelty, and perhaps chasing the top did not require surrendering every part of yourself to the violence around you.
For the first time since the race began, Dahlia allowed herself to believe that there might be another way through this world, a way to run among monsters without becoming one, a way to win without letting the sport carve her into something she could no longer recognize. She gave the faintest nod to herself, as though accepting the thought before fear or doubt could take it away.
Logan glanced toward her, and though his expression softened slightly, it was not because he failed to understand what she had found in that moment, but because he understood all too well how fragile ideals could be when forced to survive contact with reality.
"And now, we enter the final stretch!" Hazama exclaimed, sweeping his arm toward the enormous display behind him as the footage shifted to the last section of the course. "A straight descent from the mountain, from dirt to steel," he continued, tracing the route with an exaggerated flourish as the highlighted path descended from the ridge above the stage toward the second warehouse standing beside the main structure. "From the mouth of the Shaft, down the final run, and straight to the finish line!"
The crowd erupted immediately, thousands of voices crashing together into a wall of noise that rolled through the quarry like thunder.
"Will Midnight Queen claim her third victory at the Kagetōge Kudari?" Hazama cried, pointing dramatically toward the running clock displayed in the corner of the screen. "Will she shatter the record while she's at it?" His grin sharpened as he turned back toward the footage. "Or will Yamino Breaker and Rekka Blaze finally clip the wings of our reigning raven before she reaches the end?"
The roar that answered him was deafening, echoing off the surrounding cliffs and shaking loose dust and grit from the ancient stone overlooking the course.
"Keep your eyes locked on the screen, keep your hands on your tickets, and perhaps whisper a little prayer into the wind," Hazama continued, pacing across the stage with theatrical energy. "Because by the end of the night, some of you will be walking away very happy indeed, while others will be crying into their drinks and wondering where it all went wrong."
He jerked a thumb over his shoulder toward the image of the terrified racer still displayed in the corner of the screen. "After all, as they say, misery loves company."
A wave of laughter rolled through the crowd, though it mixed uneasily with whistles, cheers, and shouted wagers as the race entered its final moments. Neither Logan nor Dahlia joined in. Their attention remained fixed on the footage as Queen tore down the final straight with relentless precision while Yamino and Rekka thundered behind her, the distance between them narrow enough to keep the outcome uncertain despite everything that had happened.
"I don't know about you, kid," Logan said, his eyes never leaving the screen, "but those two don't look like they're trying to win anymore."
Dahlia remained silent for a moment before giving a single nod.
"I've seen that look before," Logan continued, folding his arms as his expression tightened. "You see it in umas who stop caring about the finish line because they've had their prefect vision of themselves shattered. Winning stops being the goal. Pride takes over. Anger takes over. Sometimes hatred takes over. Once that happens, rational thought goes right out the damn window."
His gaze followed Yamino as the larger uma barreled down the course with reckless determination.
"Rose had them. Hongdie had them. Lightning had them. Hell, even Bee had to face them, and she had every kind of crazy chasing her during that Triple Crown run." A humorless smile touched the corner of his mouth before fading just as quickly. "Once somebody reaches that point, they stop caring who wins. They stop caring about records, trophies, and payouts. The only thing that matters is making sure the person they're fixated on loses."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"And from what I'm seeing right now, the gloves are well and truly off."
Dahlia swallowed as her throat went dry without her noticing, the realization settling heavily in her chest while the seconds continued to vanish from the clock, because this was the final stretch, the endgame, not merely the last moments of the race, but the point where everything hidden beneath the spectacle would finally reveal itself, and whatever happened next would tell her far more about Midnight Queen, Yamino, and Rekka than anything she had seen throughout the rest of the night.
****
At the edge of the crowd, Rufus' gaze drifted toward the clock as the digits continued their relentless descent, each passing second drawing Queen closer to the target she had set for herself, and though the margin had begun to tighten, it remained within reach so long as she maintained her pace, preserved what control she had left, and kept the two furious shadows chasing her from dragging her off course before the finish line.
"Well then," Rufus murmured, the faintest trace of a smile touching his lips as his eyes returned to the screen. "Impress me."