The guest commentator had practically started thinking the rest of the race would be nothing but garbage time, so the sudden shift in momentum nearly made his eyes pop out.
"Oh, gosh! Kahyasi—it's Kahyasi and Saintly Bride! In the final six hundred meters, the two horse girls who had been lying low the entire race suddenly burst to the front of the pack, like two heroes standing before the Demon King's castle, raising their rebellious blades against the tyrant seated on high!"
The commentator leapt to his feet, so fired up he looked ready to cheer for them himself. From the bottom of his heart, he prayed this would not be a mere flash in the pan. At the very least, they had to catch that tyrant, even if only for a moment.
If the two of them still got blown out by more than thirty lengths after going all out, British horse racing might as well be finished.
Meanwhile, in the VIP box at the highest point of the racecourse, a petite blonde girl was peering through binoculars at Xingyun Liuge in the lead. As she watched, she ate fruit cut by her maid, occasionally asking, "Well? Did you get a proper recording of Big Sister's performance?"
The moment she heard the guest commentator calling Xingyun Liuge a Demon King, her face soured immediately.
"Calling Big Sister a demon king? What terrible taste."
Then, as if struck by another thought, she added in complaint, "And those Americans too—calling her Secretariat reborn? By the principle that older means stronger, they should've called her Eclipse reborn at the very least."
She puffed out her flat little chest proudly, clearly quite pleased with her own superior taste. In her mind, the rightful comparison for Xingyun Liuge was Eclipse.
Though Xingyun Liuge had not yet produced the sort of performance where she casually put a hundred lengths between herself and the field without the slightest ripple in her expression, the girl firmly believed she would one day become a second Eclipse.
To satisfy one tiny selfish wish of her own, she had even had a vice president from Central Tracen make a few little alterations to Xingyun Liuge's training outfit. She had been dying to see Xingyun Liuge's perfect figure properly displayed, paired with the words I love England. That, in her mind, would have been the perfect combination.
And yet it had only worked once.
Which really annoyed her.
Still, her expression changed at once. The moment she thought it was probably Xingyun Liuge who had done something behind the scenes to nullify the outfit's effect, she pressed her palms together and sighed dreamily.
"Ahh… just as expected of Big Sister… I adore Big Sister the most…"
Fortunately, the maid had undergone professional training and managed to keep a straight face, holding the line.
Elsewhere, Daiwa Scarlet—who had already begun to think the outcome was decided—suddenly tensed up again. Sure, those two probably could not catch Xingyun Liuge, but Liuge had maintained that pace all this time. That could just as easily mean she was about to run out of steam. And there was still one more uphill stretch at the end. What if something went wrong?
Noticing her reaction, Agnes Tachyon casually hooked an arm around the girl's neck, her wide sleeves hanging naturally before Scarlet's chest.
"Relax, relax. Xingyun only ever pulls something outrageous on other people. She won't be the one to mess up. Daiwa, think about it—hasn't Xingyun been a little different today?"
"Different how… Ah!"
It was not just Daiwa Scarlet. Most of the horse girls had noticed it too.
Today, Xingyun Liuge had not used one of her brilliantly colored domains at all. She had simply been running the entire race the old-fashioned way.
On the track, Kahyasi still wore a confident smile, but cold sweat had already begun to run down from her temples.
Running this fast without even opening her domain?
That really was the mark of a pure stats monster.
The Epsom Derby was one of the hardest middle-distance turf races in the world. Did she really have to be this absurd?
But just because Xingyun Liuge was not using her domain did not mean others were forbidden from doing so.
To win, it was only natural to throw in everything one had.
A sharp gleam flashed in Kahyasi's eyes. With one long, steady breath, a scene utterly unlike the racecourse spread before the horse girls' eyes.
For a moment some of them thought Xingyun Liuge had finally activated her domain, but then they realized the truth.
No, it was not Xingyun Liuge.
It was Kahyasi.
What unfolded before them was no natural scenery at all, but a majestic and sacred White Chalk Castle.
Every brick carried the weight of history and an air of reassuring solidity. Nearly every horse girl who saw it felt a profound peace settle over them, so soothing it drew a smile to their lips before they even realized it. Without meaning to, they eased off their pace, basking in that atmosphere of calm and tranquility.
Perhaps this was what people meant when they said human beings lived for peace of mind.
Saintly Bride was closest to Kahyasi, and in an instant she was dropped by a full length. It took her a beat to realize what had happened.
She had been set up.
Kahyasi's domain did not impose any direct pressure at all. Instead, it lulled others into a sense of peace so deep it slowed them down. It was practically an open scheme rather than a trick.
Gritting her teeth, Saintly Bride tried to wrench herself free from that feeling of serenity that had no business appearing on a racecourse. At the same time, she looked anxiously toward Xingyun Liuge, worried that Liuge too had been caught by the effect.
The domain covered the entire racecourse. Naturally, Xingyun Liuge was no exception. The distance between her and Kahyasi quickly shrank to twenty lengths, and it was still narrowing bit by bit. If this trend continued, the two of them might well enter the final uphill side by side and clash there for the finish.
The guest commentator was thrilled.
"This—this is a tidal-wave finishing kick! So fast, unbelievably fast! Kahyasi, who has held herself back for nearly the entire race, has finally bared the fangs that belong to her alone! The gap between her and Xingyun Liuge is shrinking! About fifteen lengths now—perhaps even less! Will these two horse girls enter the final uphill locked in a duel? This has all the makings of a fierce clash between the first and second favorites!"
In an instant, cheers broke out across the stands. Though more of the crowd still supported Xingyun Liuge, if they could witness a truly magnificent battle, it would satisfy them to the marrow and stay with them for life.
It was not that a one-sided victory was bad. It was just that a fierce struggle lit the heart on fire in a way a blowout never could.
Almost everyone felt the same way. For horse girls, an all-out duel surely made their blood race all the harder, letting them enjoy the race more completely, more fully. Winning again and again was wonderful, yes, but if a race ended with the favorite casually crushing the entire field, then even she would surely feel lonely, would she not?
The smile on Kahyasi's face grew brighter and brighter. She longed to catch Xingyun Liuge, to make the crowd cheer for her instead. More than that, she wanted to defeat Xingyun Liuge—to make that girl understand the strength of British horse girls.
And yet, beneath that growing excitement, a hidden unease was swelling.
She refused to believe Xingyun Liuge would simply allow her to close the distance so easily. And yet that was exactly what seemed to be happening. Xingyun Liuge was doing nothing at all. She had not even deployed her domain. The whole thing felt so strange, so unnatural, that Kahyasi's own pounding heartbeat nearly drowned out all other sound.
The wind, the breathing, the impact of horseshoes against turf, the crowd's cheers and shouts—everything seemed to fade away.
All she could hear was her own heart, hammering in her chest with almost unbearable intensity.
Inside her mind, Kahyasi screamed:
What the hell is going on?
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 165)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter220)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter125)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter250)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 220
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 185
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/20
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 248
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 230
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/40
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 125
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 145
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 120
I Can Copy Unique Skills 115
Summoning an Evil God, but the 75
Supernatural Multiverse 110
My Harem Is Indescribable 100
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 105
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 67
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 105
Still playing traditional Honk 80
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 85
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 78
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 80
Checking In in Demon Slayer 85
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 100
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 85
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 80
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 90
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 75
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 80
Why did they assign me to Uma 75
MYGO Beauties 70
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 70
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 80
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 80
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 57
The Uma Musume Who Became 55
I'm Definitely Not the King of 60
After Maxing Out Every Class 45
Naruto: I'm Konoha's Local Men 35
Honkai: World Modulation Mode 34
I, the Elden Sword Saint 27
Dio Brando Is Challenging FGO 24
No One Knows Pokémon Better 18
I, Sakazuki, Won't Go Down Tha 20
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