Kitasan Black's debut race made her famous overnight.
Normally, no matter how well you performed in a debut race, you couldn't gain much attention.
But Kitasan Black's performance in this debut race couldn't be described as merely "excellent."
She was like a beast unleashed from its cage!
How long had it been since such a powerful front-runner had appeared?
With the spread of skills, plus the emergence of domains and Flow, front-runners no longer held the dominant position they once had.
When everyone's abilities were comparable, the limitations of a front-runner's explosive power were already an old topic.
Some people had entertained wild fantasies about using a breakaway strategy to conquer everything, but the demands on stamina and power were simply inhuman.
And breakaways could also be targeted by other competitors—you might get locked down by interference skills right at the gate.
But now Kitasan Black had emerged, directly announcing to the world with her strongest form:
What became outdated was never the running style.
It was that modern front-runners were too weak.
Everyone who had watched the replay of this debut race had only one thought—she was invincible!
What was there that such a front-runner couldn't defeat?
Just look at the other competitors.
They simply couldn't keep up during the race.
They couldn't even catch her slipstream, and they wanted to bump the front-runner off course?
Dream on!
The fans who hadn't seen such a breakaway in ages were instantly fired up.
This was it!
Front-runners and closers were always the two running styles fans loved watching most.
Not to mention the breakaway Kitasan Black had displayed was a steel-solid lead that even surpassed Silence Suzuka!
So solid!
They had never seen such a solid lead!
It didn't feel like a supercar—it felt like a dump truck equipped with rocket boosters.
And it wasn't just fast!
"Next year's Classic races—the strongest competitor is basically already decided, right? If anyone disagrees, that person definitely didn't watch this race. Go watch it first before discussing!"
"Damn! This is the first time I've seen such a dominating race. The other competitors looked like babies!"
"I heard Kitasan Black came from a grassroots background too. That's terrifying. Her bloodline must have mutated or something!"
"My biggest regret right now is that I didn't go watch in person!"
"Same!"
"+1!"
"Does anyone know what Kitasan Black's next race is? Even if I have to skip work, I absolutely have to go watch live!"
As more people saw the replay of Kitasan Black's debut race, online discussion about her grew louder and louder.
Industry trainers couldn't understand why a single debut race could generate this much buzz.
But the fans had their reasons.
Sure, it was a debut race, but could an ordinary person run like that?
She wasn't just a little bit stronger.
That was overwhelming strength!
Even fiercer than when those champions debuted!
Now people were already itching to compare Kitasan Black against the Tyrant, the Lady, and other still-active champions.
Meanwhile, at Tracen Academy, Kitasan Black's trainer watched her account followers skyrocket like a rocket and felt joy mixed with a bit of fear.
She had never imagined she could sign an uma musume of this caliber.
What if Kitasan Black suddenly terminated their contract?
Should she change the prize money split?
She didn't need twenty percent anymore.
Ten percent! No, 0.1 percent would be enough!
For an uma musume of this level, she'd be willing to pay out of pocket even if she didn't get a single yen.
Although a trainer's job combined teacher, nanny, and agent...
Twenty percent was a conservative number.
But for a competitor of Kitasan Black's level, still wanting prize money would make her an ungrateful trainer.
Besides, she hadn't fulfilled any trainer responsibilities anyway.
Kitasan Black's strength had nothing to do with her as a trainer.
Thinking this, the trainer took out her phone and messaged Kitasan Black her thoughts through chat.
Meanwhile, Kitasan Black, who had been caught by a teacher and dragged to class, looked at the message on her phone with an exasperated expression.
She did want to find an obedient accessory, but wasn't this trainer being way too servile?
After replying with just "No need," Kitasan Black ignored her.
At that moment, the classmates around her had no heart for class. They couldn't help but keep glancing at Kitasan Black, who was openly using her phone in class. As classmates, they had naturally been curious and followed her debut race—at least they'd watched the livestream. So they had all witnessed Kitasan Black's invincible front-running.
Originally, they had thought Kitasan Black was some bad-tempered jerk for skipping class on the first day of school and being too stuck-up to talk to anyone.
But now they didn't think that way anymore.
Instead, they were starting to think Kitasan Black was actually really cool.
The girl in the small white cap sitting behind Kitasan Black looked irritably at the back of her classmate's head.
(Damn it, why does this person have to be in my year?)
The already confidence-lacking Takao Shuneichi felt she must be having bad luck.
How was she supposed to win even a single race against a monster like this in her year?
She couldn't think of an answer.
No matter how she thought about it, she couldn't possibly be this kind of monster's opponent, right?
This person was just like the Tyrant who had been in her sister's year—simply not someone she could beat.
But even so, flames still burned in Takao Shuneichi's eyes.
The frustration in her heart wouldn't let her just accept reality like this.
Even knowing she couldn't win, she still had to try!
Since she'd been given the name meaning "Noble," she absolutely couldn't shrink back!
(Kitasan Black—even if it's just once, I will defeat you!)
Kitasan Black naturally sensed the unconcealed hostility from the seat behind her, but she didn't take it to heart.
She knew that Takao Shuneichi was fated to be connected with "herself," but so what?
As long as someone appeared on the track, all she needed to do was crush them alongside everyone else. From the moment she decided to become an uma musume, she was destined to become this era's greatest villain. What she was thinking about now was which races to run next.
She definitely couldn't participate in the Classic races this year, because her debut race had already been in April.
She had already missed the registration deadline for the Satsuki Sho.
So regrettably, she would have to wait until next year to run the Classic races.
For now, she could only continue participating in newcomer-level races.
Wait.
If she could accumulate enough popularity points, she could skip straight to challenging senior-level races.
The rules didn't say that wasn't allowed.
It was just that normally, newcomer-level competitors couldn't possibly gain such high popularity.
And no one had ever done this before.
After all, a newcomer-level competitor running a senior-level race couldn't possibly win.
But she wasn't an ordinary newcomer.
Thinking this, Kitasan Black suddenly became interested.
She sent her idea to her trainer.
Though she thought it was feasible herself...
This wasn't something she needed to find the answer to personally anyway, because trainers were responsible for this kind of thing.
Even if the trainer she found was just an accessory, surely she had to be useful for something?
After the trainer saw the question Kitasan Black had sent, her brain processor nearly crashed on the spot.
She rubbed her eyes and looked again, confirming she hadn't misread.
Kitasan Black actually wanted to skip two levels while still a newcomer and directly challenge senior-level races.
She knew Kitasan Black was strong, but this...
The trainer didn't give an immediate answer.
After hesitating for a while, she found a senior who often looked after her and asked about the feasibility of this idea.
That senior trainer was stumped by the question for a moment.
Then after thinking for quite a while, she finally gave an answer with a complicated expression: "According to the rules, it does seem to be allowed."
But setting aside the difficulty of accumulating enough popularity points, wouldn't a newcomer-level competitor challenging seniors just be asking for trouble?
And this year, the Tyrant and the Lady still had races scheduled.
If this were the [Player]'s original world, those senpais should have retired by now.
But in the uma musume world, even Tokai Teio and Mejiro McQueen still occasionally participated in races.
So this senior trainer really wasn't optimistic about newcomers entertaining such unrealistic ideas.
Senior-level races occasionally featured powerful veteran senpais. Newcomers running senior races had absolutely no chance of winning.
She knew her junior had been lucky enough to sign a newcomer with the qualities of a champion.
But this idea was really too ahead of its time.
After being talked through it by her senior, the trainer felt helpless.
Of course she understood all this, but it wasn't her call to make.
Because when she signed with Kitasan Black, they had already agreed that decisions on these matters would follow Kitasan Black's lead.
Her job as a trainer was just to handle miscellaneous tasks. Racing and training didn't require her input—she just needed to agree.
After getting her answer, the trainer bid her senior farewell and immediately replied to Kitasan Black.
Kitasan Black then promptly gave the trainer a new task.
"Register me for the Hakodate Nisai Stakes in July."
The trainer hesitated when she saw this.
Was Kitasan Black really going to do this?
And the Hakodate Nisai Stakes was a short-distance race. She didn't even know Kitasan Black's aptitude yet.
"Um, this is a short-distance race. Do you really want to register?"
"Trust me."
Kitasan Black's reply was as brief and forceful as ever.
It wasn't that she wasn't interested in dirt races—she could even run dirt if she wanted to.
After all, this was the aptitude that had been forcibly developed through the Demon King-senpai's countless battles.
Although the aptitude rating was only A, in the real world that was already the standard of a first-rate uma musume.
The trainer didn't dare object further and obediently registered Kitasan Black for the race.
The prize money from the debut race wasn't much, but it had improved her income.
At least she could pay the race registration fee without scrounging around.
Yes—though no one had mentioned it.
Registering for races cost money, and the fees weren't cheap.
Of course, compared to the prize money for winning, these fees were barely a drizzle.
But what trainer could guarantee their uma musume would definitely win?
And these costs were the trainer's responsibility—that was the default understanding.
Even now, Kitasan Black's trainer didn't have that kind of certainty.
After all, this was already a GIII-level Graded Stakes race.
Though it was a newcomer-level event, the difficulty was different from a debut race.
Before signing Kitasan Black, she had never imagined that the first uma musume she signed could win a Graded Stakes race.
Originally, she had thought that if her first uma musume could make it to OP-level races—in other words, just winning the debut race—that would be victory.
But now Kitasan Black was dragging her along, charging toward top-level races in the most dominating manner possible.
Looking at her rising account followers every day, the trainer constantly felt like she must be dreaming.
July arrived.
At the Hakodate Racecourse, the number of spectators far exceeded the organizers' expectations.
When they learned that Kitasan Black had registered, they had anticipated a large turnout.
But the actual crowd was still far beyond what they had imagined.
A full 40,000 people had come to the venue—and this was just a newcomer-level GIII Graded Stakes.
The organizers looked at this lively scene and felt like they were dreaming.
Wasn't this comparable to some GI Graded Stakes races?
Satono Crown, who had just returned to Japan, had missed Kitasan Black's debut race but had made it to this one.
When Satono Crown arrived at the viewing stands, she saw a familiar figure.
It was Satono Diamond.
She had been quietly following Kitasan Black's situation all along. It was just that right now, she simply couldn't enter Kitasan Black's field of vision, so she'd been ignored.
Meanwhile, on another side, the Empress Air Groove entered the venue with a long-black-haired girl.
"Duramente, watch this race carefully. I think this child called Kitasan Black might become your greatest rival."
The black-haired girl's expression was blank.
"Whatever. No matter who the opponent is, I only have one goal!"
Though Kitasan Black's fame had already grown frighteningly large, she hadn't paid any attention to such things.
Because popularity and all that was meaningless.
Only victory and defeat in races could prove one's worth!
She really couldn't understand why Air Groove-neesan wanted to drag her to watch someone else's race. She only needed to focus on her own training and races.
Even if this person called Kitasan Black really was strong, so what?
She just needed to believe she would become the strongest—that was enough!
Air Groove heard the girl's answer and immediately felt a headache coming on.
"Fine, you don't need to say anything. Just watch!"
Seeing Air Groove-neesan being so insistent, Duramente stopped being contrary.
She wanted to see just what kind of person this Kitasan Black was, to make Air Groove-neesan take her so seriously.
As the music signaling the race's start played, the competitors walked from the competitor tunnel onto the track.
The commentator said: "The Hakodate Nisai Stakes—this is a rare GIII event among newcomer-level races. The fourteen competitors gathered here are all promising newcomers who debuted this year. Let's take a look at the participating competitors..."
By the time you reached G-series races, grassroots uma musume were rarely seen—almost everyone was a Central Tracen Academy student.
However, Kitasan Black didn't see any familiar faces here.
After all, the [Player] didn't know much about real horses and only knew characters who had appeared in Uma Musume.
As for the senpais' experiences?
But these were all newcomers who had just appeared in this era—the senpais' worlds hadn't even reached this time period yet.
While Kitasan Black was sizing up the other competitors, they were all watching her too.
(So that's Kitasan Black.)
(Just won one debut race and got hyped up online as the strongest of this generation.)
(Hmph, I don't believe there's really a monster that strong. Her opponents last race must have just been too weak!)
Whether in awe or with competitive spirit ignited, none of the other competitors could ignore Kitasan Black's existence.
Because no matter what they thought...
Kitasan Black's performance in her last race was the real deal.
"Finally, the first-favorite is, as expected, this competitor—Kitasan Black, who won her debut race with an overwhelming thirty-length margin. Will she show us that same powerful running style from her last race? Let's look forward to the upcoming race."
Duramente, who had been indifferent until now, froze when she heard the commentator.
Wait, did the commentator just misspeak?
A thirty-length margin?
Not three lengths, not ten lengths, but thirty?!
She looked at Air Groove-neesan.
Air Groove nodded with a serious expression.
"That's right. You can watch the race replay yourself when you get back."
If she hadn't achieved such terrifying results, that child couldn't possibly have gained such frightening popularity from just one debut race.
While popularity didn't necessarily equal strength, how could you gain such high popularity without being exceptional?
After all, people online were already comparing Kitasan Black to the Tyrant.
Though Duramente had touched the threshold of ZONE and was her mother's proudest student...
If they thought Duramente had a chance of becoming this generation's strongest...
Then with Kitasan Black's sudden emergence, they no longer dared say such things.
Because they knew very well that Kitasan Black's debut race results were something Duramente couldn't achieve.
Even assuming Duramente had already entered ZONE, achieving those results would be extremely difficult.
And this was all under the assumption that Kitasan Black's opponents had been the weakest possible.
But in reality, among Kitasan Black's debut race opponents were competitors with decent results in local races.
"Alright, the race has started! Kitasan Black drew the outermost position this time. You can see the other competitors are all intentionally trying to block her breakaway!"
Drawing the #14 position, Kitasan Black would inevitably fall behind a bit at the start, giving the other competitors a chance to target her.
All the competitors unanimously wanted to block Kitasan Black from escaping.
Though they wouldn't admit Kitasan Black's strength verbally, their bodies were honest enough when the race started.
Damn it, how could they just let a monster like this run free?!
Several competitors' eyes were already glowing red at the start.
In this race, if they wanted to win, they had to work together to crush Kitasan Black first. Otherwise, they wouldn't have any chance at all!
But just as they formed their wall and used interference skills to throw dirt...
A terrifying aura suddenly erupted from Kitasan Black's body.
A crimson shadow like a demon king flickered across Kitasan Black for an instant.
[Demon King Aura (Flash)]
—Activated!
In that moment, all the other competitors seemed to hear the Demon King Ship's wild laughter.
...
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