After the grueling summer training camp and a relentless second half of the year, Special Week—having finally mastered her Zone—was no longer holding anything back.
"Hmm?"
Positioned toward the front of the pack, Titas felt the oppressive pressure of the Zone radiating through the air.
At the same moment, the rapid, rhythmic thud-thud-thud of boots striking the turf reached her ears.
The frequency was incredibly high; had Barbatos not already deployed her own Zone from the start, Titas might have mistaken that blurring footwork for the champion herself.
Is it one of the other international queens? she wondered. Or perhaps Japan's Special Week?
As the most cautious member of the "Triple Threat" team, Titas kept extensive tabs on her rivals.
To her knowledge, none of the other international champions possessed this level of raw output. That left only Special Week.
Most spectators had overlooked her in the lead-up to this race, but Titas had watched the Classic Triple Crown. She knew better than anyone: Special Week was no slouch.
Is she a hidden dark horse?
No, something was off. The girl's cadence was lightning-fast, yet she wasn't closing the gap as quickly as Titas expected. It was rapid, yes, but lacked that soul-crushing acceleration.
Is that a modified straight-line sprint based on a hill-climbing pitch? Titas analyzed.
If it was just a high-pitch sprint, it wasn't a threat yet.
The reality remained: there was only one person behind her truly worth watching.
Back home in the States, Titas would have already bullied her way to the front, using her superior strength to suppress a "Fuma" sprint with raw physical contact.
But today, she felt she had to mark Barbatos.
As long as she kept that girl in her sights, victory felt guaranteed.
Unlike the overseas girls, Japanese Uma Musume focused on speed and tactics.
While they weren't strangers to physical jostling, they rarely engaged in the brutal, bone-on-bone collisions common in international circuits.
The most telling example was El Condor Pasa at the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
She had chosen to lead from the front, perhaps to neutralize Montjeu's late-stage kick, but likely because she feared she lacked the raw power to break free if she were boxed in by the pack.
With Titas here—the strongest powerhouse among the American champions—she could personally shut down Japan's finest.
"Barbatos, move up already! Gah! This is so stressful to watch!"
In the stands, Twin Turbo was practically tearing her hair out.
Beside her, Nice Nature looked pensive. "Barbatos is probably waiting for the final stretch to make her move."
"But why?! She used to lead from the front in so many of her old races!" Turbo complained, baffled.
"Well, it's because..."
Nice Nature started to explain but found herself stumbling over the words.
Ikuno Dictus, usually the resident intellectual, adjusted her glasses, but even she found herself momentarily short on the right phrasing.
"It's a matter of cruising speed versus explosive speed," Minamizaka interjected, his eyes never leaving the track.
"Think about it. In the history of Japanese racing, no one before Barbatos ever tried to maintain a Zone for the entire duration of a race."
He continued, "The legends who could use a Zone always saved it for the very end as a secret weapon. It was only after Barbatos started her 'Full-Coverage' style that we began seeing others in Japan try it. But there's a fundamental difference between them and her."
"Huh?" Twin Turbo tilted her head, looking completely lost.
Nice Nature caught on. "Whether it's Seiun Sky, El Condor Pasa, or Silence Suzuka—whenever they trigger their Zone, they're already at the front. The international champions do the same."
"Exactly," Minamizaka nodded. "For most girls, entering the Zone means pushing their speed to the absolute limit, leaving just a tiny bit of fuel left for the final kick."
"Barbatos is different."
"For her, maintaining the Zone is actually less taxing than running at a full-out sprint. Her mastery is unprecedented; she's tuned it to minimize stamina drain and physical wear. It's likely her way of avoiding the injuries that plagued her before."
Minamizaka hadn't forgotten the days when Barbatos would end up in the infirmary after pushing her body to the breaking point.
"She's being smart. She saves her true 'Full Power' for the final straight. In the early phases, she just uses the Zone to keep her rivals within striking distance. If she combined the Zone with a 100% physical sprint too early, the load on her body would be catastrophic."
He added a final thought: "In those past races where she led from the start? Her opponents simply couldn't keep up with her 'cruising' Zone speed, even when she wasn't giving it her all."
Minamizaka turned to see if Turbo followed his logic, only to find she wasn't even listening anymore.
"Sky! Why is Sky falling back?!" Turbo wailed. "Go, Sky, goooo!"
On the track, Silence Suzuka was holding the lead, but Fuma had closed the gap to less than half a length as they neared the Great Zelkova Tree at the third turn.
Seiun Sky, who had been leading the second pack right behind the frontrunners, began to decelerate, slipping further back.
Taking her place in the second pack were Taiga from the US, Montjeu from France, and Japan's El Condor Pasa.
The three were running shoulder-to-shoulder, slamming into one another in a violent bid for the optimal line.
Further back, Seiun Sky's expression was deadly serious as she processed the chaos.
Even though she had accounted for the "physicality" of the Japan Cup in her pre-race simulations, facing it in person was a different beast.
She couldn't match the raw power of girls who specialized in this rough-and-tumble style.
Only El Condor Pasa, with her love for sumo wrestling, had the strength to trade blows with Montjeu and Taiga for a better position.
Had Sky tried to force the issue instead of backing off, the energy cost of being the "weaker" side of that collision would have been immense.
It wasn't just about strength; it was about maintaining balance while sprinting at Zone speeds—the very area where Japanese runners were most disadvantaged.
In Japan, while there is some bumping, intentional displays of raw force are rare and often penalized. But in an international event like the Japan Cup, where other nations permit it, those restrictions disappear.
Without a favorable position, Sky knew her late-stretch kick wouldn't match El Condor Pasa's, let alone Barbatos'.
The path ahead was grim. If she tried to force her way back in now, she risked exhausting herself or, worse, losing her balance and causing a pile-up.
In the event of an accident, other racers are forbidden from stopping to help.
To do so would disrupt the race; anyone who assists is disqualified and faces a lifetime ban. Even those who merely slow down to watch can face a one-year suspension.
As Seiun Sky took a deep breath to pivot her strategy, her pupils suddenly contracted in shock.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 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.