Before the race began, the Overlord felt the fighting spirit coming from Tokai Teio.
Her heart remained calm.
That fighting spirit blooming for the sake of protection seemed utterly meaningless to her. It was a distracting thought she did not need.
In racing, winning was everything.
Only power was absolute justice.
She would make Tokai Teio experience that truth personally in the race to come. The perfect genius, the ultimate Tokai Teio? Then let her feel what true ultimate meant.
And then...
The race began!
Across the wide turf course, Tokai Teio in white led the pack out.
She was the first to pass through the opening corner and enter the middle straight.
Perfect breathing. Footsteps without the slightest flaw.
An ultimate running style as gorgeous as dance steps.
The name fit perfectly:
[Shining Star]
This was the quality Tokai Teio possessed.
Strong.
Very strong.
This power...
It truly stirred the will to fight.
But...
The Overlord thought, What a waste of that power.
Crude.
Feeble.
She could not feel any [killing intent] at all.
That was why this would not do, Tokai Teio.
You cannot become the strongest.
The result had been decided from the beginning.
Struggle to your heart's content.
Do everything you can before ultimate darkness.
The Overlord's eyes remained as cold and still as dead water. Her icy golden eyes saw every small movement from the other runners, but she ignored them completely. At this moment, her position had deliberately been trapped on the inside of the track.
Tokai Teio, meanwhile, had begun a full burst.
That shining figure made countless hearts race.
The spectators even felt that the current Tokai Teio was not inferior to Mejiro McQueen, the strongest of all dimensions. The emotion she brought them in this moment was the same. Precisely because of that, they began to want to believe.
They wanted to believe Tokai Teio would absolutely win.
The commentator shouted:
"Currently in the lead is this runner, number 1, Tokai Teio! Although we do not know why Tokai Teio has chosen such an aggressive running style, we can see that she is perfectly capable of handling this rhythm!"
"She leads every runner with a rhythm full of ease! What strength! What beauty! She is already invincible!"
"Tokai Teio is ahead by two lengths!"
"That gap is still increasing!"
"The rhythm of the race is still accelerating!"
Amazing!
This is it!
Even the commentator's voice trembled.
The absolute protagonist. An umamusume truly like shining starlight. No, that was the sun. That was a true Emperor!
"What the..."
[Tokai Teio] stared in shock at the other version of herself. She had never imagined this other self had such a side.
"She really knows how to look cool."
Though her heart was excited, as a professional runner, she still gave a relatively calm analysis.
"Using a front-running tactic against someone like the Overlord is a good idea, but can she really escape ahead of that girl..."
"Hm?"
[Mejiro McQueen] was puzzled when she heard this.
"A front-running tactic?"
"So that is how it looks to you, [Teio]."
"But that is not correct. Look more carefully at the way the other you is running. She is another you, yet it seems you do not understand her at all. Or have you already grown so weak that you cannot even see this much? If so, please do not call yourself my rival anymore."
[Tokai Teio] froze.
Then she focused intently on the other version of herself in the race.
Her expression went from serious to gradually shocked.
After [McQueen]'s reminder, she finally noticed the difference.
The other Tokai Teio's running style and rhythm...
That could not possibly be a front-running tactic.
Fearless Leadership.
Those were absolute conviction, kinglike and unmatched footsteps.
It surpassed common sense. In theory, it was the most perfect running style.
This running style had no weakness.
No flaw.
Yes.
Although it was unbelievable, almost unreal, that miracle-like running style had truly appeared on the runner named Tokai Teio.
That was another herself.
The self known as the ultimate genius.
[Tokai Teio] could not help clenching her fists.
"So that's how it is..."
In the race, Tokai Teio went all out.
This was not a race fought for honor.
This was a battle she had to win in order to protect.
Overlord, I will absolutely defeat you!
Here. In this race.
Her momentum rose.
The passive effects of ZONE had all been pulled to their limits, and Flow had entered a state of complete combustion. At this moment, Tokai Teio had only one thought in her heart:
Even if these legs burn out here, even if it is only for this one race, I will absolutely win!
I have a reason I cannot lose.
So I cannot lose!
At this very moment, Tokai Teio was confident she could face any opponent.
Even if the opponent were Mejiro McQueen.
She was certain she would win.
Because...
"There is no reason for me to lose!"
"I refuse to accept even the slightest possibility of defeat!"
"The President told me that I am the sun, the Emperor of miracles. From the very beginning, I had already grasped... victory!"
Accelerate!
Faster! Stronger!
The radiance of skills and the light of Flow overlapped over Tokai Teio's body. Her figure shone brilliantly on the track.
Seamless skill activation!
That was a technique belonging solely to a genius.
And now, it even ignored the limits of running style and rules.
Every skill could display its optimal effect perfectly.
Possibility?
That was no longer right.
She herself was now the endpoint of possibility.
Demon King Gold Ship, watching the race, frowned.
She had to admit it.
The current Tokai Teio was stronger.
The will to protect was actually this powerful.
This Tokai Teio was already unbeatable.
Perhaps only the current Mejiro McQueen, who had mastered the ultimate ZONE and possessed the power of the Three Phantom Gods, could defeat her.
Kitasan Black's eyes sparkled.
"That's right. That's it."
She seemed to see what it would look like for her to truly master Flow.
Sole Sovereign. Strongest and undefeated.
Flow was absolutely a power everyone had underestimated.
Compared to ZONE, the symbol of power, Flow did not seem to bring an umamusume any boost in raw strength. But the power of the "heart" was infinite!
Will could conquer the body, and the heart could conquer the race.
In her excitement, Kitasan Black looked again toward Overlord-senpai in the race. Although she did not know why the two seniors had started fighting, the current Teio-senpai was already invincible, wasn't she?
Precisely because Kitasan Black had once felt the power of this [heart], she could make that judgment.
The race was already over.
No, it had been over from the beginning.
From the moment Teio-senpai awakened Flow, it was over.
Of course, she also knew how terrifying Overlord-senpai's power was.
Even back when Overlord-senpai was only Rice Shower-senpai's second personality, her power had been enough to rival McQueen-senpai.
That was rule-breaking talent.
Talent above genius and monster alike.
Or rather, she was the embodiment of endless darkness.
However strong they were, Overlord-senpai should be just as strong.
After all, Overlord-senpai was the dark symbol of all of them.
Strictly speaking, she was not Rice Shower-senpai's second personality.
She was the second personality of all of them.
That was why such an unreasonable [Fusion] had been born.
That cheating power, like a divine skill.
But...
No matter how strong a power was, in a race, everything depended on its user.
And the current Tokai Teio was the embodiment of perfection.
If one had to describe that pure-white figure in a single phrase, she was the [white horse] that brought victory.
"The gap is still widening!"
"This is..."
"She has already entered a solitary run!"
"The race is only halfway through, yet Tokai Teio has already entered a complete solitary run. A huge margin has appeared!"
Many runners refused to believe it.
They did not have the spectators' perspective.
They could not truly perceive Tokai Teio's current state.
However, as runners, they felt Tokai Teio's strength even more deeply than the audience did. No matter how hard they tried, they simply could not reach that back.
Just as humans could never catch the sun while standing on the ground, they could never catch Tokai Teio.
Why?
Why was her speed still rising?
"Damn it!"
"So this is the other Tokai Teio?"
"Isn't this strength against the rules?"
"Someone like this lost in that tournament?"
"Impossible. I don't believe it!"
"The Student Council President of another world? How enviable. What kind of scenery does that world have..."
Their fighting spirit was going out.
There was no longer any meaning in chasing.
Because they were no longer opponents on the same track!
Tokai Teio had now entered a new realm.
Demon King Gold Ship looked at the Overlord, who was in the middle of the pack.
"So, what will you do now?"
Before this race began, she had not thought the Overlord could take Tokai Teio down so easily. Even so, she had not expected Tokai Teio to enter this kind of realm.
This was no longer just a little troublesome.
Even she did not have absolute confidence she could win against Tokai Teio in this state. So how would the Overlord, who should theoretically be weaker than her, defeat such a Tokai Teio?
The gap between Tokai Teio and the others continued to widen. The speed she displayed was even faster, with none of the side effects that should have come from switching running styles. Instead, there was a harmony that made it feel as if this was how it should have been all along. That running style was not only powerful, but beautiful to watch.
"They're completely different levels."
"No good. I can barely breathe."
"Losing like this is completely unavoidable."
"I can't win. No matter how I think about it, I can't win!"
The difference in strength was despair itself.
It was like the difference between an adult and a child.
This had never been a race where they could compete with one another from the beginning. Wanting to compete with such a powerhouse was far too arrogant.
The other runners stared at that back in shock.
Tokai Teio's performance had completely conquered them.
"This is... the other runners have lost their fighting spirit!"
The commentator looked at the runners who had given up struggling.
"Tokai Teio has taken a complete lead!"
"Will she win like this? Tokai Teio!"
"The much-watched number 9 runner, Overlord, is still being obstructed and surrounded by the other runners in the middle of the pack!"
In the middle of the pack, several runners had deliberately blocked the Overlord's path, holding her against the inside of the track. It did not look easy for her to break through.
"Although this goes against my beliefs, there is no need to care about methods against an evil person like you. We have to stop you here, even if it means offering up the rest of my life and dreams!"
"Please end here!"
With resolve as if they were heading to their deaths, several runners chose to face the Overlord.
The Overlord's expression was cold.
She no longer had any desire to even look at people like this.
"Foolish."
"Ignorant."
"But since you do not know whether you live or die, I will satisfy you."
[Fusion]
!!!
The ultimate power of darkness descended.
In a single instant, the umamusume surrounding the Overlord felt a powerful gravity crush down on them. Not only that, their strength began draining away rapidly along with that restraint.
Their hearts were conquered in an instant.
Their wills collapsed in a heartbeat.
Absolute power.
True despair.
Before such an Overlord, weaklings could not even look up at her face, much less try to stop her.
The encirclement was crushed in the blink of an eye.
The Overlord's footsteps began to shake the track.
Her pitch-black aura opened fully.
In an instant, every runner felt a chill.
The Overlord's figure was clearly not tall.
Her footsteps, in reality, were not especially heavy or powerful either.
But at this moment, they felt as if they were seeing a gigantic black shadow, and those terrifying footsteps were like the horn of the end.
"I'm going to die!"
That thought could not be suppressed.
Fear could not be restrained at all.
This was the Overlord.
The pitch-black figure broke through wind and waves.
Under the spectators' wide-eyed stares, she crushed every runner ahead of her in an instant with an overwhelming posture.
Tokai Teio's victory had clearly been within reach.
There had clearly still been what seemed like an irreversible gap between them.
But the instant that figure moved, everyone's belief could not help wavering.
The Overlord's golden eyes shone within the black aura.
The pressure of her ZONE had already broken past materialization. That pitch-black pressure could even become a real attack.
Flow, the power of the heart, had indeed shown astonishing strength. It was potential everyone had underestimated.
But the ultimate expression of power was ZONE.
And the Overlord's ZONE was that ultimate.
It was completely different from when it had been inside Rice Shower.
No limit on uses.
No need to choose the timing of activation.
Once unfolded, it was invincible power.
It ignored immunity.
It ignored cleansing.
It made even escape impossible.
Even if one could dodge it once, what about the next time? And the time after that? What could be used to block this infinite attack, this endless darkness?
The Overlord's gaze fixed on Tokai Teio's back.
The gap between them was rapidly closing.
"That power... let me use it to my heart's content from now on."
...
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