He could cheat.
That thought came easily.
Too easily.
He was a Master stage powerhouse. Void-Ice had become himself, cold and sovereign, obedient to his will.
He could thread it through the Utopia's tires, reinforce traction, harden the road contact, chill the air resistance and explode the car forward with a burst of impossible control.
It was not a complicated application.
Not for him and one small whisper of power, a hidden blessing from him beneath the machine, and the Utopia would become something more than engineering.
It would become a weapon dressed as a car.
He could win.
Not fairly.
But he could.
His thumb tightened on the wheel.
Maddie's taillights reached the last corner.
Phei exhaled.
Then laughed, loud enough for the open comm to catch it.
"Haaah! I will take the L," he said, grinning despite the loss burning beautifully in his chest. "She's good!"
Brian's voice exploded through the channel from somewhere behind him. "You're only realizing that now?"
