Inside the starting gate, all Celestial Weave could hear was the sound of her own heartbeat. The commentators' analysis, the crowd's cheers—everything outside the track was irrelevant to her now.
A horse girl on the track only needs to think about how to win.
BANG!
The starting pistol fired. Seventeen horse girls burst from the gates simultaneously. The rain was instantly split into several white streams. The moment they heard the shot, all the horse girls had already covered several meters.
And that was just the beginning. They were all seasoned racers. Within seconds of leaving the gates, they had already found their positions according to their planned strategies.
"Oh? Celestial Weave has fallen to the back of the pack! Was it a bad start?!" commentator Akasaka exclaimed, surprised, looking at the red figure that was still eye-catching even in the gloomy rain.
"No, it should be a deliberate Stalker strategy. But this is the first time we've seen her use this style. Was it specially trained for this race?" The other commentator, Mr. Sugimoto, was also surprised. They had never seen her use this strategy before. Based on her previous races, she should have been an Escaper or a Pacesetter, leading the pack. Who would have thought she would be a chaser this time?
In the stands, Saint-King Halo, her eyes glued to the track, was also a little worried. Like most of the audience, she was concerned about this last-minute change in racing style.
Only Isami Mai raised an eyebrow slightly and muttered to herself, "Her running form and positioning are much more skilled than in her previous races. Is this the style she's truly good at?" As expected of a world-class horse girl, her familiarity with the track allowed her to see the truth in an instant.
In her previous races where she had a clear advantage in ability, Celestial Weave could use the unfamiliar Pacesetter and Great Escape tactics to pressure her opponents and make them lose speed, thus magnifying her advantage. But this time was different. In the Satsuki Sho, never mind having an advantage, her stats were only in the lower-middle range among the seventeen horse girls. She had to conserve her strength.
Celestial Weave squinted, her vision blurred by the high-speed rain, but that purple and gold figure was still so clear. T.M. Opera O was using a Chaser strategy this time, very close to her. All she had to do was stay behind her. She gritted her teeth, deciding to bet everything on the final sprint.
Suddenly, as if she had read her thoughts, T.M. Opera O turned her head. A wild light erupted from her amethyst-like eyes, and the corners of her mouth stretched into an almost ferocious grin. "This... is not exciting enough!"
Before the words had even faded, her pace suddenly exploded. The purple and gold cape billowed like a fierce wind, cutting a sharp trajectory through the rain. In an instant, her figure had torn through the group of horse girls ahead like lightning.
"What?!" Celestial Weave stared in shock at the accelerating T.M. Opera O. The race was only halfway through! This was only the third turn! Who accelerates now?! What kind of Chaser strategy is this!
In the gloomy rain, the golden pendants on T.M. Opera O's back, wet with rain, reflected her shocked eyes. She turned her head again, her gaze fixed on her, as if to say, "Aren't you going to follow?"
If you don't accelerate now, you will never have a chance to win.
A suffocating pressure pressed down on Celestial Weave, from her shoulders to her ankles. The ground trembled, and the steps of all the horse girls became heavy and slow. Grass and dirt flew in the rain, like their silent screams.
"A Domain!" Celestial Weave felt the terrifying presence and bit her lower lip so hard that blood flowed, leaving a faint red streak in the air as it was washed away by the rain.
"She's accelerating?! T.M. Opera O is accelerating! It's only the middle of the race!"
"So fast! Is she going to sprint from here to the finish line!"
Commentator Akasaka's voice echoed over Nakayama Racecourse, but Celestial Weave couldn't hear anything anymore. The sound of rain and cheers faded away, leaving only the pounding of her own heart vibrating against her eardrums. Her vision distorted under the heavy pressure, but she could clearly see the searing mark left by the billowing cape as that purple and gold figure tore through the rain. T.M. Opera O's whisper, like a tempered blade, pierced her nerve endings. It wasn't a sound; it was the physical manifestation of her fighting spirit, crushing every inch of her resistance.
"You want everyone to submit—" she roared, forging the pain into fuel. The moment her foot pushed off the ground, turf and muddy water exploded into a shower of reverse shooting stars. "—Hegemon King!"
The black and red figure suddenly transformed into a drawn demon blade. Where the blade passed, even the lines of rain were cut into sparkling fragments. Her pace also suddenly accelerated. The perception granted by her Concentration skill allowed her to sense the subtle changes in the nearby horse girls. Following her body's instincts, she took a step and shot past them.
"What! Celestial Weave is accelerating too! This is crazy! What are they doing?!" Mr. Sugimoto was also shocked. Even with his years of experience, he had never seen such a scene. A Chaser and a Stalker, accelerating in the middle of a race as if in a duel.
The rain washed over Celestial Weave's face, but it couldn't cool her body in the slightest. The power she had reserved for the final phase was unleashed in this moment. All the horse girls in front of her simultaneously felt a terrifyingly dangerous presence from behind, a sharp sound like the drawing of a sword drowning out the rain and the wind. Their instincts drove them to look back.
In the dark rain, a scorching red light, like a meteor, tore through the curtain of rain ahead, smashing through the air with an unstoppable force.
"What—" Before she could recover from T.M. Opera O's sudden acceleration, Admire Vega, who was also at the back of the pack, felt an extremely dangerous presence from behind, as if a sword were coming at her. She subconsciously swerved from her original path to avoid the danger.
SWOOSH—
Without hesitation, Celestial Weave shot past Admire Vega and the horse girls in front of her with lightning speed. The purple and gold figure appeared in her sight once more.
"This is more like it!" T.M. Opera O didn't turn back, but Celestial Weave could almost hear her thoughts. "How could a boring race like that push us to our limits?"
"Only this extreme pressure can make us stronger!"
"Don't fall too far behind, my rival!"
The exchange of thoughts was instantaneous. T.M. Opera O increased her speed again, as if deliberately trying to prove something to her, and shot past the horse girls ahead.
"Surpass me? How arrogant—" Provoked, Celestial Weave laughed in anger. Ignoring her body's warnings, she increased her speed again and immediately caught up to her side.
"Don't underestimate me!"
"T.M. Opera O!"
-------
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