"Next up—lane eight, competitor number eight: Eternal Meteor!"
When the announcer called her name, Eternal Meteor stepped onto the presentation platform at an unhurried pace. She flicked her coat straight up into the air with perfect precision, turned, and walked off—
and at that exact moment, the coat drifted down like a pair of wings and settled neatly over her shoulders again.
Only one word—Victory—seemed to ride the wind into the stands.
"So cool… I have to ask her how she did that later!" Tokai Teio stared at Eternal Meteor's retreating back with sparkling eyes.
Behind the glass wall of the VIP room, Symboli Rudolf was already worrying whether Eternal Meteor—who'd been running to the bathroom nonstop the night before—had gotten enough rest.
You don't often see Rudolf care about someone this much…
Leaning against the wall nearby, Maruzensky watched Rudolf's expression and found her curiosity about Eternal Meteor rising fast.
As for Eternal Meteor, she ignored all the chatter behind her. She marched toward the entrance tunnel with a murderous look in her eyes. Any horse girls who tried to greet her, the moment they caught that gaze, froze—ears shooting upright—then hurried away without daring to linger.
"Why so much killing intent?" X teased. "Bad stomach or something?"
"Get lost," Eternal Meteor snapped.
Last night she'd been scrubbing the sink until one in the morning—making excuses to fool Rudolf, all while constantly worrying someone might come into the bathroom. The whole thing had left her half delirious from stress and sleep deprivation.
"The fan favorite in first place, Leonard has entered! Next is the third favorite, Excellent Quality!"
The cheers ahead surged like waves. Eternal Meteor stepped into the stadium, and the shadow behind her stretched long under the floodlights.
"I hate this bright glare after the tunnel," she muttered, squinting hard against the sting in her eyes.
"And the final horse girl, Eternal Meteor, has entered the field! We're looking forward to her performance today!"
As the crowd roared, Eternal Meteor swept her gaze across the runners.
Thirteen in total—and out of all of them, she only recognized one: Nice Nature-sensei.
"Huh? Meteor?" Excellent Quality heard the broadcast and looked toward the tunnel—
and immediately got spooked by Eternal Meteor's expression.
Eternal Meteor didn't respond. She headed straight for the starting gate and closed her eyes, conserving her focus.
"The race is about to begin," X said quietly. "Once you step onto this road, there's no turning back."
"I set out a long time ago."
Eternal Meteor opened her eyes—
and it looked as if countless stars were glittering inside them.
"She's like a different person once she's on the track…" Excellent Quality murmured, and entered her own gate.
"All runners are in the stalls! The moment everyone has been waiting for is here—this race is about to begin! On your marks!"
Cheers detonated across the stands. Every horse girl settled into her starting stance, eyes locked on the finish line.
The indicator light flipped from red to green—
BANG!
The gates snapped open, and the pack exploded forward.
"Everyone except Eternal Meteor gets a clean start—did Eternal Meteor hesitate from nerves?"
"…What the hell? Aren't there supposed to be a few red-light beats before green?" Eternal Meteor cursed under her breath.
"You think this is a car race?" X mocked, barely holding back laughter. "Want a Plan B? Or Plan C?"
In the stands, two young men started discussing the situation. One of them, wearing glasses, pushed them up with a finger and spoke with a serious frown.
"That kid's already out of the running for first. The uphill stretch at the end demands a full tank."
"Yeah," the other agreed. "With a start that bad, even if she catches up, she won't have the stamina to handle that near two-meter elevation change."
Up in the higher seating, Rudolf sighed as well.
"Take this lesson to heart, Meteor."
Down by the rail, the entire Spica team—dragged here by Teio—was cheering for her. Eternal Meteor saw them and bared her teeth in a grin.
"What Plan? It's simple—one through thirteen. I'll show you."
Her stride lengthened. Her heartbeat thrashed with each step, her breathing scorching her lungs.
She bent sharply at the waist—
and accelerated again.
No hesitation. No fear of twisting an ankle. She hammered the turf with relentless, violent footwork, leaving behind a streak on the grass like a meteor's burning trail.
Ahead of her, two runners sitting in eleventh and twelfth—lane nine Trip Along the Wind and lane four Gold City—suddenly heard it:
A deep, continuous drumbeat at their backs.
Not music.
Footsteps.
Heavy, rising, unbroken—like a storm rolling in.
The sound tightened their nerves. As it grew closer, both of them turned—
and their faces went pale.
"Are you kidding… that's her… footsteps?"
It was almost like the storm was an illusion.
Behind them stood only one figure: Eternal Meteor.
And the instant their eyes met hers—
that murderous gaze swallowed them.
For one heartbeat, it felt like falling into a bottomless black pit: voice crushed, heart iced over, even the will to breathe snapping.
Their ears shot upright. Their tails bristled.
They fled forward with everything they had.
"This is insane—this is still a race?! She's trying to kill us!"
The announcer, oblivious to the true terror unfolding, continued in the same cheerful tone:
"Something's changing in the back! Trip Along the Wind and Gold City are accelerating—isn't it too early? Eternal Meteor is also closing in… but does she have the stamina to survive what's still ahead?!"
Every time another horse girl got passed by Trip Along the Wind and Gold City, she'd wonder why they were speeding up—
until she heard it too.
That dull, pounding drumbeat.
She would glance back—
and instantly join the stampede escaping Eternal Meteor.
But they were only mantises in front of a war chariot.
Eternal Meteor crushed through them with unstoppable force, rolling past without mercy.
"M—monster… what is that speed?!"
The horse girls she passed watched in disbelief as she kept accelerating—any remaining competitive spirit ground to dust under the treads of that oncoming "chariot." The gulf between them felt like a canyon you could never cross.
"Eternal Meteor is still accelerating—she's still passing! We're only at the second turn, and she's already reached sixth! Can she actually create a miracle?!"
The announcer's voice broke into genuine excitement, and the whole racecourse rose with a roar.
Even Rudolf couldn't deny it anymore—
she was shaken.
And she couldn't stop herself from imagining what Eternal Meteor would become after real training.
Then Maruzensky suddenly shouted and started cheering loudly, snapping Rudolf's attention fully back to the track—
and only then did Rudolf realize:
Eternal Meteor had already climbed to fourth.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 50)
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