"So fast! Unbelievably fast! T.M. Opera O and Celestial Weave have completely surpassed all the other racers and are still accelerating! Are they turning the Satsuki Sho into their personal dueling stage!"
Commentator Akasaka's excited voice was a bit garbled. It seemed she had gotten too close to the microphone in her excitement. Her usually calm partner, Mr. Sugimoto, couldn't control the situation either. He even stood up, pressing his face against the window. "I've been watching races for so many years, but this is the first time I've ever seen anything like this! It's insane! Are they fighting for the title of the king of this era!"
The crowd had already been in an uproar when T.M. Opera O had started accelerating. Seeing Celestial Weave chase after her without backing down, their burning passion was about to set the entire Nakayama Racecourse on fire.
"Ooooooooooooh! So strong! Unbelievably strong! To see this earth-shattering battle, I can die without regrets!"
"Amazing! This is the kind of stage I wanted to see!"
The cheering crowd was like a raging fire, the hot air circulating between each excited person until the temperature rose higher and higher.
Saint-King Halo's fingertips dug deep into the fabric of her shirt. The beating of her heart was like a violent thunderstorm, almost shattering her ribs. A primal, almost savage impulse surged through her veins. Every step on the track was awakening her instincts as a horse girl. Even though it was a gloomy, rainy day, the world in her eyes seemed incredibly dazzling. She wished she could be on the track herself, racing alongside those two figures on the turf.
"So brilliant—" The same exclamation came from Isami Mai's mouth. She had already stood up from her seat. The retired horse girl's pupils had contracted into thin lines. Her well-manicured nails, a product of her post-retirement life, had dug into the armrest of her chair and cracked.
The shock of the duel between her daughter and T.M. Opera O was even stronger for her than for her other daughter. The memories of the racetrack, sealed by time, came alive in this moment. The pounding of hooves on turf, the burning lungs during a sprint against the wind—all her sensory memories were reawakened with the surge of adrenaline.
"This is..." Isami Mai's voice was hoarse, unlike her own. "A true horse girl."
On the track, Narita Top Road gritted her teeth, desperately trying to push her body forward. But the heavy pressure on her shoulders and her instinct to flee from danger prevented her from increasing her speed. No matter how much her heart cried out for victory, her legs would not obey.
"Just... run—" Her cries were in vain. She could only watch as the two figures grew smaller and smaller in the distance. Her predicament was shared by all the other horse girls on the track. Under the suppression of the two, they couldn't even maintain their original speed, let alone accelerate. No matter how much they willed their bodies to move, they could only watch as the two figures disappeared from their sight.
Her heart was pounding wildly. Every part of her body was screaming in pain. Celestial Weave could even hear the groaning of her own bones. They had reached the final straight of Nakayama Racecourse. The throne of glory was only 310 meters away. For her usual self, that was a distance that barely even counted as a warm-up. But now, it seemed as far as the other side of the sky.
Her pace was slowing, her speed was dropping. The burning sensation in her lungs made it almost impossible to breathe. She didn't even have the energy to open her eyes, only able to watch as the purple and gold figure beside her slowly pulled ahead.
Disadvantaged in all stats, an immature Domain, a premature burst of power—all these unfavorable factors seemed to have already sealed her fate.
Is this my limit? Is this as far as the horse girl named Celestial Weave can go?
She suddenly lowered her head, the frustration in her heart roaring like a torrent.
I don't want to lose. I can't lose. I want to win. I absolutely have to win!
Even if I have to burn this broken body to ashes, I will obtain the final victory!
She screamed in her heart, driving her body forward with all her might. The cheers from the stands were stretched into a distorted hum. She heard the creaking of her own bones, the snapping of her muscle fibers one by one. But even the pain would become fuel for her advance. She would trade everything she had for one final, transcendent burst of power.
In a daze, a cold, mechanical voice sounded in her ear.
"[Guts]Limit Break successful."
"[Domain]Awakening initiated."
All the colors in her vision faded in an instant. The raindrops froze into suspended silver needles. All the horse girls on the track instinctively felt this moment, a moment as if time had stood still.
ZING—
A sharp sound, like the drawing of a sword, pierced the stagnant space-time. On the black and white track, a scorching red meteor suddenly tore through the curtain of rain.
Is it an illusion? A hallucination caused by the pressure? the horse girls wondered in unison. But if that red light was an illusion, then why could they feel a real wave of scorching heat coming from ahead?
It should be spring, right? It should be raining, right? But why did they feel as if they were in a furnace? Their stamina was rapidly draining with the evaporating sweat. Forget maintaining their original speed; the fact that they could still move at all was a testament to their training.
"What happened? All the horse girls have lost speed?!" a cry of surprise came from the commentator's box. The people outside the track couldn't understand what had just happened. All they could see was that the horse girls had suddenly lost their momentum as if they had all given up at once.
"Two hundred meters! One hundred and fifty meters! Celestial Weave is in the lead! She's in the lead! Celestial Weave is in the lead!!"
While the commentator was hoarsely shouting, T.M. Opera O, who was right behind her, felt the scorching heat wave wash over her body and the gradual draining of her stamina. She suddenly broke into a grin.
"This is more like it!"
A golden light, like a thunderbolt, exploded in her eyes. Another moment, as if time had stood still, descended on the track. The body of Celestial Weave, who had just pulled ahead, suddenly sank.
Under the pressure given by her rival, the Domain of the Hegemon King had also awakened at this moment.
-------
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