A sense of dread, an uncontrollable terror, spread through Sakura Chitose O's heart.
If Dream Weaver hadn't even drawn her blade yet, then what was that chilling pressure she had felt earlier?
Just a sliver of cold light leaking from the scabbard—was that all it took to push her and the other Uma Musume to such desperation?!
This strike… this one strike!
Sakura Chitose O could no longer think clearly. She was utterly consumed by fear of that cursed sword still sheathed at Dream Weaver's waist.
She didn't dare imagine what would happen the moment Dream Weaver finally unsheathed it. Under such overwhelming sharpness, what in the world could possibly stand in her way?!
At that moment, Narita Brian, leading Dream Weaver by two horse-lengths, suddenly broke into an excited grin.
In the past, it had always been her chasing Dream Weaver's shadow—but this time, the roles were reversed.
That razor-sharp aura, so intense it felt like it could pierce bone, didn't intimidate Narita Brian. Instead, it set her blood boiling with excitement.
Instantly, she unleashed the full power of her Zone, holding nothing back.
The world in the eyes of every Uma Musume on the track darkened abruptly. Before anyone could react, the overwhelming, ferocious shadow of Narita Brian's presence threatened to swallow the entire racetrack.
Shadows wrapped around her like a cloak.
Beneath the pitch-black mantle, flickers of purple light pierced the eyes of anyone brave enough to look directly at the Wolf King, sharp and dazzling as lightning.
Empowered by this, Narita Brian's already immense strength surged even higher.
The moment her hooves struck the ground, the very stadium seemed to tremble under the force. In an instant, she burst forward, widening her lead over Dream Weaver to three horse-lengths!
"Only 200 meters left! Narita Brian is now five lengths ahead of Northern Dreams! Is she going to win? Will she defeat Northern Dreams by the same margin as in that year's Kikuka-shō?!"
The passionate shouts of Akasaka Rin over the Tokyo Racecourse's speakers set the spectators' hearts ablaze. But Dream Weaver seemed not to hear any of it—her eyes still held not a trace of doubt.
She had already poured all her strength into the cursed blade, yet facing Narita Brian in this state, Dream Weaver felt it still wasn't enough.
To defeat Narita Brian at her peak, she would have to give even more.
At that thought, Dream Weaver closed her eyes mid-race.
In that brief moment, countless thoughts rushed through her mind—the long-standing feud between the Northern and Mejiro families, the curse running through their bloodline, her own mother… and Mejiro Ardan.
The Tenno Sho—a race that had bound three generations—was finally reaching its climax.
"What a long journey this has been."
With a soft sigh, Dream Weaver's "Pilgrimage of Pain" reached its absolute limit. An agony that felt like it was stabbing through every nerve in her body made her clench her jaw in suffering.
Her muscles trembled; even her heart seemed to cry out in her chest. Restricted by the curse, the mere act of pushing her stamina beyond its limits brought Dream Weaver unbearable pain.
Amid this torment—unendurable for any ordinary person—the skill "Phoenix" activated.
But perhaps because of the curse, Dream Weaver could feel that the time "Phoenix" granted her at her peak condition was drastically shortened.
If she had three seconds of full power against Orfevre back then, now she likely had less than one.
Still, even that fraction of a second was enough.
Because the "peak" that Phoenix referred to wasn't her current cursed state—it was the form she possessed during the Tenno Sho in spring, her true prime.
In an instant, power equivalent to an S-rank in nearly every attribute flooded her body. Without a moment's hesitation, Dream Weaver channeled all of it into the cursed blade.
The sword hummed violently, and a crimson wave erupted like a volcano, sweeping down the track.
Across the field already swallowed by Narita Brian's shadows, a blazing red light tore through the darkness like divine punishment.
The cursed blade Zone, "Murasame," was fully unleashed. The sound, like thousands of phantom swords being drawn at once, became a tangible shockwave.
Every Uma Musume on the track shut their eyes in pain; their hearts seemed to skip a beat under the terrifying gleam of the blade. For a moment, they even felt as if they had been cleanly cut in two.
Even Sakura Chitose O, who had awakened her own Zone, was forced to a halt, instinctively wanting to flee from Dream Weaver's presence.
Faced with a slash so sharp it felt material, there was no question of seizing an opening while Dream Weaver and Narita Brian weakened each other—she couldn't even get close.
This was something willpower could not overcome.
It was a gap Sakura Chitose O could never bridge, no matter what.
This was the ultimate strike Dream Weaver had accumulated across multiple lifetimes.
Sakura Chitose O could not withstand it.
And even Narita Brian couldn't either.
Feeling the suffocating sharpness closing in from behind, Narita Brian felt every nerve in her body tremble.
It was a fear engraved in her soul's instincts—even as the Wolf King, merged with the shadows, she couldn't possibly resist.
The shadow cloak covering her body was sliced clean in two. The enhanced power granted by her Zone vanished as if annihilated by that glorious slash.
Narita Brian felt as though she had truly been cut down by the cursed blade, thrown into a state of weakness she had never experienced before.
"It's still Narita Brian in the lead—Wait, what?!"
Akasaka Rin's commentary cut off abruptly, as if severed mid-sentence by Dream Weaver's blade.
"Northern Dreams! Northern Dreams is charging forward! In the final 100 meters of the Tenno Sho Autumn, she's pulling off a miraculous comeback!"
As an outsider to the race, Sugimoto Kentaro couldn't feel the shifting tides on the track, but he could clearly see that red streak of light overtake Narita Brian with an unstoppable force right before his eyes.
The five-length lead that had seemed like an insurmountable gap meant nothing to Dream Weaver's explosive final sprint. All the advantage Narita Brian had built up vanished in an instant under her charge.
"Incredible! So this is your full power?!"
Narita Brian squinted in pain. Having felt the cursed blade's edge, every muscle in her body was trembling. No matter how much she willed herself to reignite her Zone, it was useless.
Under that single slash, she had lost all power to accelerate. No matter how unwilling she was, her Zone—cut in two—would not recover.
By now, even the world in her eyes had grown blurry.
She could no longer make out Dream Weaver's form clearly—only that red streak of light, now forever carved into her soul, once again slipping through her grasp.
"In the end… I still couldn't catch her?"
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
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If you guys wanna check it out.