After the Japan Cup.
Tokai Teio stared at the prize distribution notification on her phone, her expression far from pleasant.
Horse girl races differed from real horse racing. Real horses could only earn money through racing with no other means, so even poor performances qualified the top five for prize money. But horse girls were different.
Since horse girls weren't much different from ordinary humans—even far exceeding them in physical strength—even manual labor jobs put ordinary humans to shame. Thus race winnings weren't their only income source.
Therefore race rules were more competitive, more cruel!
In horse girl racing, finishing with a "large gap" meant being consumed—even second place counted as not placing. The entire race's prize money would belong to first place. In other words, if second place onward all finished with large gaps, first place would claim all five positions' prize money.
And losing horse girls would not have "X place in this race" on their career records—instead, two stark red characters: Crushing Defeat! This humiliating brand would follow a horse girl for life!
Only one way existed to cleanse this shame.
Defeat the one who had given you that crushing defeat!
Even this couldn't change the stain on career records, but at least the psychological stain could be cleansed.
Within these rules existed one inconspicuous provision.
The victorious first place could, even in overwhelming victory, choose to share prize money with the losers. This should have been a friendly rule—after all, who would refuse money? But horse girls would! For horse girls who valued honor as equal to life, they'd rather refuse the money than accept this shame and pity from the victor.
This was why Tokai Teio now wore such an expression.
"Rice Shower—are you pitying me? Taking pity on me—Tokai Teio?!"
If the earlier crushing defeat had brought disbelief and dazed confusion at overwhelming strength—
What she felt now was pain and humiliation beyond that!
After defeating her, the victor hadn't taken what victors should take, but returned it instead?
Whatever Rice's intentions when making this decision, Tokai Teio now felt only fury!
Beyond Tokai Teio, the other defeated competitors felt similarly.
But the one difference was—
When they thought of that pitch-black Overlord from the race, they couldn't help trembling.
Even feeling tremendous humiliation, they could only reluctantly swallow this bitter pain.
"That monster..."
"Unbeatable."
"That wasn't even the monster's full strength—how can we win?"
Yes—even though The Overlord had easily crushed them, they could still sense that The Overlord hadn't used full strength. She hadn't even gotten serious.
Unlike the confident Tokai Teio, they who'd witnessed the world's vastness and been defeated overseas had deeply understood how large the world was, clearly recognizing the overwhelming gap between themselves and The Overlord.
So they chose to accept this humiliation.
And transform it into motivation for further advancement.
Only Tokai Teio was different. Having experienced no setbacks from birth until now, smoothly becoming the Strongest—even after suffering this crushing defeat, she remained full of pride.
She believed her loss to Rice was largely due to her own carelessness.
Before the race, she hadn't considered Rice an opponent at all, believing her victory was guaranteed.
This arrogance was why she'd lost so badly. Had she not been so arrogant, had she noticed Rice earlier, then even if she'd still lost, she absolutely wouldn't have suffered such a crushing defeat!
So this race's result—
—wasn't just because the opponent was too strong. Her own fault was also involved.
If she could do it over, she would never repeat such a result!
Therefore, she absolutely could not accept Rice's pity and humiliation.
"Arima Kinen—you'll compete, won't you, Rice Shower!"
Tokai Teio's eyes grew sharp, powerful fighting spirit nearly overflowing from her body.
In that race, I'll cleanse my shame!
She had no time now to regret her winning streak being broken.
Compared to that, she was far more unable to accept an opponent's pity!
"Trainer, let's begin special training. Even with little time, it doesn't matter—I want to become stronger during this period!"
Tokai Teio sought out Okino.
"Even if the improvement is small, it will be key to the next race. Help me, Trainer!"
Okino had expected Tokai Teio to be heavily impacted, perhaps even skipping training. But unexpectedly, she wasn't mired in defeat's pain—instead brimming with fighting spirit for revenge, proactively requesting special training.
"If that's your wish, Teio, then I'll fully support you!"
Okino was pleased with Teio's condition, and proud to have such a team member. How much virtue had he accumulated in past lives to meet everyone in Spica this lifetime? Having someone like Tokai Teio on his team, he felt his trainer's life was without regret. So he would do everything to support everyone on the team!
Bring it on! No matter how strong the opponent!
The undaunted Tokai Teio was here for revenge!
While Tokai Teio prepared for the Arima Kinen—
Elsewhere, Rice Shower, who'd won the Japan Cup, was in low spirits. After completing the prize distribution paperwork with her trainer at the committee, Rice remained silent all the way back to campus. During daily training afterward, she kept spacing out. P assumed Rice's condition was a lingering aftereffect from her Japan Cup burst.
After all, the high-level trainer handbook mentioned such matters.
It stated that while ZONE's power was immense, it activated by burning the horse girl's body and spirit.
So he hadn't noticed anything unusual, simply assuming Rice's current slump related to using ZONE in the previous race. As for why other competitors didn't have such severe aftereffects—perhaps because ZONE intensity differed? After all, Rice's ZONE was extraordinarily powerful.
Because P lacked the key information, he missed the opportunity to counsel Rice's psychology.
Rice's low spirits had nothing to do with ZONE aftereffects.
Strictly speaking, The Overlord hadn't fully utilized ZONE's power back then, so the physical impact was minimal—essentially zero consumption. Rice's physical condition had long since recovered.
Her low spirits stemmed from feeling she'd defiled a sacred race.
Not claiming all the prize money was also because of this. If the first-place trophy and prize couldn't be returned, Rice wouldn't even want those—because they weren't things she deserved.
In that race, Rice should have been the loser.
Unable to catch up.
Lacking the resolve to defeat opponents to achieve victory.
Such a person perhaps should have simply accepted defeat.
Yet she'd cheated. Though not by intention, she had still cheated!
The Overlord's power wasn't Rice's power.
Deep in her heart, Rice still rejected this profound darkness.
Unwilling to accept the recognition that The Overlord was herself.
Even though The Overlord hadn't fused the opponents this time, Rice still felt her sin.
Having defiled the sacred race—did she still have the qualification to become a "hero"?
And now the voices online no longer called for the Black Assassin, but the Overlord. But that wasn't Rice at all. Facing this situation, Rice had no idea what to do.
Confide in someone and seek solutions?
But who?
And it was useless anyway.
Because in outsiders' eyes, The Overlord was Rice herself.
Even if she spoke out, would people forget The Overlord and reclaim the Black Assassin?
They wouldn't.
Perhaps in the end... people would want to see The Overlord rather than Rice.
Rice looked at her personal account's new title certification and the fan discussions below.
She felt tremendous fear.
Fear of dreams shattering, of her own existence being questioned.
"McQueen-neesan, Rice failed. Rice accomplished nothing..."
She'd entered Story Mode precisely to overcome all this, yet now she'd ruined everything. Perhaps she shouldn't have competed in this race. Perhaps she should have quietly accepted that she couldn't become a "hero"?
That way, perhaps she could at least preserve her value as the Black Assassin.
But now...
Nothing remained.
No one was watching Rice anymore.
By the next blink, Rice's personality had switched.
The Overlord watched Rice hiding in the depths of her heart, her sharp eyes growing even more terrifying.
She looked at the phone screen praising The Overlord—
Her mood didn't improve at all. Dark presence surged.
The next moment, the phone was crushed to fragments.
"Foolish. Ignorant. Laughable."
Ignoring that vivid color to worship such absolute darkness as herself.
If this is the world's choice, then let this world feel the weight of this darkness.
The sin of hurting Rice was unforgivable!
The Overlord, who originally hadn't planned to interfere much with this world and was merely watching as a flower-viewing guest, saw this world make a foolish choice. Even if these people were merely ignorant, the fact that Rice was hurt remained true. This sin could not escape. The endless darkness would now dye everything black, destroy everything!
The hero is dead.
This is what you chose!
The fans, unaware they'd released something terrible, continued running rampant online. They fervently praised The Overlord's power, believing this to be a history-making moment. A transcendent powerhouse had been born.
The Overlord would become The Emperor's successor—or even a new legend surpassing The Emperor's!
Because The Overlord possessed such power.
Those who'd felt The Overlord's presence up close in person had mysterious confidence in this.
As for these online evaluations—
Symboli Rudolf and others had seen them too, but none dismissed them as jokes. Because if Rice had truly mastered the ultimate power behind the second gate, surpassing them wasn't impossible.
But the only uncertainty was whether Rice had truly grasped that power.
If the second gate had truly been opened, the scenery within ZONE's depths shouldn't look like this.
It should bear traces of having been opened, like the first gate once did.
Yet no such traces existed here.
But during that race, the presence emanating from inside the gate had indeed matched Rice's aura fluctuations.
Though curious for answers—
Such matters weren't easily asked about.
And they weren't sure if knowing the answer prematurely would affect future gate-opening difficulty, so none took action.
But they'd be disappointed if they knew the answer.
Because The Overlord truly hadn't opened the second gate—even though she had indeed touched that realm's threshold.
But don't forget—no matter how powerful The Overlord was, she wasn't this body's primary personality.
This power's owner had never been The Overlord, but Rice herself.
Only because Rice rejected this power had The Overlord been born.
And ZONE's power needed Rice herself to unlock. So The Overlord had only touched the threshold.
Yet even just this fragment of ultimate power—
For this world, it was already unbearably overwhelming.
After all, that was never a realm humans should touch.
If this world contained someone as powerful as McQueen and the others, perhaps they could contend with The Overlord, even forcefully awaken Rice. But this world had no such person.
And until Story Mode was cleared, McQueen and the others couldn't enter this world.
What was Rice's clearing condition?
Looking at the original's career—if Rice's clearing condition was also some achievement, current achievements should be sufficient. But not clearing meant this clearing condition differed slightly from before.
Because Rice's clearing condition was: Gain recognition and achieve true happiness.
In other words—the moment everyone chose The Overlord, the clearing condition had failed!
...
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