After the Satsuki Sho, Tokai Teio had spent countless hours wondering how she ought to face the Divine Blade.
Yet, no matter how many times she ran the scenario, she always arrived at the same conclusion.
No, it wasn't so much an answer as it was a desperate gamble.
She would have to stake everything she could imagine just to seize a possibility so microscopic it was practically invisible.
Teio had never tried anything like this before. Reality doesn't grant practice runs for such things, and she wasn't even sure if her own Zone would permit her to push that far.
But...
"If I'm supposed to be a Phoenix," Teio whispered, her resolve hardening, "I guess I have to die once for it to count."
She dropped into a crouch, her preternaturally flexible legs coiling at an almost impossible angle.
In the next heartbeat, crimson flames erupted from her toes. Phantom fire coalesced and burst from her shoulder blades, unfurling into translucent wings of heat.
To the pack of Uma Musume trailing behind her, Teio's silhouette had dropped so low she seemed to vanish, leaving only the sight of those flaming wings roaring before their eyes, as if intent on setting the very sky ablaze.
"It's like... she's taking flight," one of the girls murmured, dazed.
Inside Teio's body, however, things were far from beautiful.
Fire is a deceptive thing—gorgeous and brilliant from a distance, but brutal and savage the moment you touch it.
A violent, scorching heat surged through her.
For a fleeting second, Teio felt as though her very blood had reached a boiling point.
In the face of such searing intensity, she couldn't even feel the sting of the Divine Blade anymore; the agony of the flames themselves far outweighed any external threat.
Yet, it was this near-barbaric power that granted her unimaginable explosive force.
Her legs were soft—extraordinarily, unnaturally flexible—and that suppleness was the secret behind her reputation as a "prodigy."
Because she was flexible, she could train more aggressively without fear of snapping.
Because she was flexible, she could hold impossible lines through the turns.
And because she was flexible, she could recklessly flood her legs with pure fire, unearthing a burst of speed she had never dreamed of before.
It was a total gamble. Before this moment, Teio didn't know if her legs could even contain the flames.
There was a very real chance they would wither and die the instant the Zone's power surged in, ending her life as an Uma Musume right then and there.
But she was ready. She would rather face the end of her future than look back and see herself choosing cowardice in this moment.
So, without a hint of regret, Tokai Teio threw herself into the fire to earn the wings of the Phoenix.
She had succeeded—though for how long, she couldn't say. Perhaps the fire would burn until the finish line, or perhaps she would burn out and collapse in the next breath.
Regardless, there was one thing she had to do before she fell.
BOOM!
She accelerated again! Ignoring the screams of protest from her muscles, Teio charged toward Dream Weaver.
Ten lengths, nine lengths, eight!
The gap was vanishing at a terrifying rate. By now, it wasn't just the other racers; the crowd and the announcers were utterly spellbound.
They had never imagined Tokai Teio possessed such a monstrous closing kick.
But what about Dream Weaver? What was she doing?
Teio had already breached the territory of the Divine Blade, the heat of her charge practically singeing Weaver's back, yet Weaver hadn't reacted at all.
The truth was, Dream Weaver was stunned.
It wasn't Teio's explosive power—she had seen Zones far more potent than this.
She was simply seeing something in her opponent that was hauntingly familiar, yet something she had never witnessed from the outside.
She was watching someone else burn themselves to ash for the sake of victory.
Dream had done this herself many times, but this was the first time she saw it mirrored in another.
That savage will—the readiness to discard one's own life to seize the win—thundered into Dream's mind through the link of their Zones.
In that instant, she finally understood why those who called themselves her rivals looked at her the way they did.
Even if they rarely spoke, anyone who witnessed this would be shaken to the core.
When Icarus reappears in the world, chasing the sun and consuming himself in the process, no one can help but marvel.
Teio's courage and her defiance surged into the hearts of every onlooker like a wildfire.
"Is this... how I look to them?"
Fire brings life; it is the spark that pushed civilization forward step by step. Yet fire also brings destruction; its fury ends all things, leaving behind only pale ash.
When these two contradictory images manifest in a single person—when peak vitality and peak destruction merge—you get the Dream Weaver of the past, and the Tokai Teio of right now.
Dream Weaver watched Teio and saw her former self.
She saw the girl who would burn everything for a single moment of triumph on the turf.
Suddenly, Dream's heart gave a violent throb.
A sensation she couldn't quite name began to sprout within her.
She didn't understand it, but she knew instinctively that she wanted to stay in a place where she could keep seeing this.
For the first time, she felt a genuine desire for the race itself.
She wanted to remain here.
She wanted to see more of this.
The scorching heat drew closer, nearly licking the ends of Dream's hair. Just as she found herself craving more of that death-defying will, she caught sight of Teio's eyes.
They were hollow. Empty. Devoid of a single spark of consciousness.
This was the price Icarus paid.
By burning herself to chase the sun, she was finally being reduced to cinders.
Teio had succeeded, just as the old Dream Weaver had; even as her mind faded, her Zone continued to drive her body forward.
But she had also failed. Because even like this, she couldn't surpass Dream Weaver.
She had used the Phoenix Zone to achieve a state of nirvana, yet she still couldn't bridge the fundamental gap between them.
The moment Dream Weaver saw those vacant eyes, she snapped back to reality.
Perhaps no one in the world understood what that look meant better than she did. She could see Teio's end approaching in an instant.
But this was the real world.
Just as this was her final Japanese Derby, there would be no second chances for anyone.
Dream Weaver took a deep breath. She couldn't let Tokai Teio collapse the way she once had. She couldn't just stand by and watch.
There was no time to think. Every second Teio continued to burn risked immeasurable damage to her future.
Right now, Dream Weaver could think of only one way to make Teio stop: she had to use her blade to sever the flames and utterly extinguish the so-called Immortal Bird.
She wrapped her hand around the hilt of the Divine Blade.
To ensure there were no mistakes, she would strike this time with everything she had.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 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!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.