"Tamamo Cross is picking up speed! As they hit the incline, she's moved into the middle of the pack! Is she changing tactics on the fly, trying to get to the front—!?"
Finally, a shift in the deadlocked race, and the commentator's voice soared with excitement.
After overtaking the backmarkers, Tamamo Cross slowed her pace again. She'd simply been waiting for the right moment to pass them with minimal effort.
Once she reached a suitable position, she settled back into her usual rhythm, conserving her strength.
Her time hadn't come yet.
"Wait a moment—!"the commentator continued. "It's the 'Black Phantom'! Following Tamamo Cross, the 'Black Phantom' has also moved to the middle of the pack! But look at her form—is she really holding up?"
Seeing her stumbling, heavy footsteps, the commentator couldn't help but voice her concern.
"Is she still forcing herself?"
"This one... if she can't keep up, she shouldn't embarrass herself further up front."
"And here I thought the one who issued the challenge was something special..."
She probably never imagined so many monstrous competitors would join when she sent that letter.
And now? She'd bitten off more than she could chew.
Seventeen thousand spectators watched her wretched state, their mocking laughter never ceasing.
Maybe she had a bit more talent than your average Uma Musume.
But to challenge so many top-tier powerhouses all at once? She was far out of her league.
One needs to know their limits.
The undisguised scorn reached the commentator's booth.
Was she truly too exhausted to run?
She didn't think so.
Having watched the race unfold from the start, she knew better than anyone.
The moment Tamamo Cross made her move, the 'Black Phantom' did too. They accelerated almost simultaneously, seizing the moment the others slowed on the slope to surge forward.
Her movements were swift and decisive, nothing like someone who'd lost the will to fight, beaten down by the noise around her.
Not only that, the Uma Musume she'd passed tried to reclaim their positions, but they simply couldn't match her speed, never closing the gap.
The audience only saw the black Uma Musume's fatigue, but they missed this: even in that state, she was sticking close to the accelerated Tamamo Cross, clinging to her like a persistent shadow.
With years of commentary experience, she was certain this runner still had something left in the tank.
Even in this field, her strength was not to be underestimated!
--+--
Meanwhile, on the other side of the stands, spectators with less track experience, like Vodka and the others, wore grim expressions.
Their brows were furrowed, teeth unconsciously biting their lips.
Unable to see the deeper strategies playing out on the track, they could only judge by surface appearances. They clenched their fists.
"Senpai..."
Vodka gritted her teeth.
Back then, a single phrase from that runner had been a wake-up call for her.
'Move forward unwaveringly, toward what you seek, treading the path you aspire to.'
In that race, the far-ahead black figure was the perfect embodiment of those words.
And now, this same Uma Musume, whom Vodka admired so deeply, was being treated so unfairly.
Why...?
Isn't the racetrack a place to compete? Everyone stands on the same ground with two feet, so why should status create hierarchies here?
She couldn't accept it.
Senpai...
You, who chase perfection, you can do it, right?
Even in such an unfavorable situation, you can still run your own race.
Go on.
Go on!
Just like when you first appeared! Use your own feet to trample all their delusions!
"Senpai, show them all! Show them what you can do—!!"
With all her might, Vodka screamed.
But her voice, in that vast stadium, vanished like a stone dropped into the sea.
"Senpai—!!"
"No matter how much you shout, she still can't hear you," Daiwa Scarlet said, one hand partly covering an ear.
"So what if she can't hear me?"
"So—"
"So what if she can't hear me!" Vodka cut her off, shoulders trembling.
"I just want her to show everyone that incredible form! What's wrong with that? That's all I want!"
Seeing the tears welling in Vodka's eyes, Daiwa Scarlet pursed her lips.
"Fine, have it your way..."
"Do your best, Senpai—!!"
Listening to Vodka's incessant shouts, Daiwa Scarlet also couldn't hold back anymore, yelling out, "This is so frustrating! You can definitely still run, can't you?! Stop dawdling and hiding in the back, just show us what you've got already—!!!"
That one they called 'Senpai'!
Thump—
A heartbeat sounded.
But not from just one person.
At that moment, the hearts of every Uma Musume on the track throbbed in unison.
For an instant, Maruzensky, running at the front, suddenly felt something dark and immense blotting out the space behind her, a vague, oppressive shadow.
No—it wasn't just Maruzensky.Every Uma Musume running at the front felt it.
Giant, fiend, calamity—words carrying negative impressions surged into their minds simultaneously.
In a split second, an intense chill swept across the venue. Every Uma Musume turned back as one, looking toward the source of this curse-like aura.
Golden eyes blazed with a fiery light. A pale white face revealed a smile that made hearts tremble.
It was as if she knew exactly what curve, what expression, could hook the deepest fears within a person. That smile, which seemed to disregard everything, made every competitor swallow hard.
She tore away her disguised skin, revealing her true form.
Boom!
Her hoof slammed heavily onto the ground, and the entire Tokyo Racecourse seemed to sink a little. Watching that hoof land, every spectator simultaneously felt a fleeting sensation of weightlessness.
Shedding all prior semblance of frailty, under those amber-gold eyes, people's ears collectively rang with the long, drawn-out cry of some primal beast.
An invisible claw had utterly shattered the stalemate on the track!
Her thighs coiled, her calves tightened. After a brief moment of gathering power, the Black Phantom's body shot forward like a bullet from a gun, arriving instantly beside Tamamo Cross.
Tamamo's sky-blue eyes were still wide with shock, the source of that oppressive pressure already right beside her.
This guy—!
Her heart skipped a beat. Tamamo Cross's eyes widened, a cold sweat instantly drenching her back.
"She's accelerating!? The Black Phantom is accelerating!! Com reversing her earlier decline, the Black Phantom, with astonishing power, has caught up to Tamamo Cross! They're running side-by-side—!!"
Without any warning, a black thunderbolt had exploded on the track.
After the long-suppressed silence, what returned was a momentum several times more terrifying than before.
Before Tamamo Cross's eyes, an endless darkness seemed to spread out, covering the entire track. And that snow-white face, within this boundless dark, flashed her a wildly arrogant smile.
'Remember one more thing, junior, when you're racing.'
On the track, you must never... ever... reveal your true intentions.
The time wasn't ripe yet. The target still lay ahead.
But for now, to answer that call, she would use this form to shut the mouths of those thousands!
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, 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!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.