"All runners have cleared the second turn and are on the backstretch!"
The commentator shouted hard between rolls of thunder.
"Oh—?! There's movement mid-pack! Super Creek and Oguri Cap! The two of them are accelerating together, shifting up from the middle toward the front! Some special tactic?!"
"Da-da-da—!"
Hooves hammered the ground like thunder.
Rain or sweat streaked down Creek's face. She ran in sleek, powerful strides, giving everything she had on the course.
Even so, all she could do was barely hold her place—she could not close the gap to the three Chasing Light runners ahead.
"So it still won't work…?"
Her blue eyes peered through layer upon layer of bodies, toward the silver-white streak out in front, leading like a shaft of light.
Fujimasa March.
Right now, the entire field, under the invisible sway of that figure, had unconsciously begun to quicken.
If this were just an ordinary race—
By her usual book, Creek would have two choices:
Either rely on her famed stamina to float with the tempo, ignore the small drain, and grind the others down in the last phase to take advantage—
Or surge up to the forward pace-chasing line, forcibly control the tempo, actively press the speed back, and keep the pack from getting wrecked by the leader's rhythm—smothering the逃げ's plan and wasting her stamina and focus.
But—
This time was not an ordinary race!
Her pupils flicked, taking in Sakura Chiyono O and Ardan up ahead,
Obey Your Master lurking in mid-pack,
and Inari One coiled and ready at the rear.
"Fuu—"
Creek exhaled long.
A cold bead slid along her cheek.
There were five "Chasing Light" runners in this race—and none of them were the type to let anyone else dictate their decisions.
Her attempt to move early and test a tempo clamp?
They didn't even look at it.
They were choosing to adapt to Fujimasa's pace!
In other words, this was simply the "normal" race tempo they recognized!
Damn it… a bunch of monsters!
Creek tilted her head a touch. Beside her, Oguri had surged up as well.
The Grey Monster ran in silence.
But something about Oguri felt off today, and Creek's brow knit tighter.
"The race is nearing halfway! Fujimasa March still leads! She's maintaining a high-speed front!"
"Right behind, Sakura Chiyono O! Ardan guards the rail! Those three have formed an ironclad leading group!"
"Super Creek and Oguri Cap have arrived, too! They're at the head of the pace-chasing pack!"
Sixteen figures knifed through the rain, their speed whipping water into veils of white mist across the track.
Different from the fierce battle at the point—
Mid-pack, Obey Your Master's brows drew faintly together.
Behind her, last-running Inari looked anything but relaxed.
Around them, several other runners kept tight eyes, bodies subtly adjusting—deliberately or not—blocking the two.
"In a normal race, we'd ignore the front and just hold our own rhythm…"
A mare with a white forelock set her jaw, catching the far-ahead silver leader in her eye's edge.
"But this time is different…"
More eyes turned toward Inari.
"This opponent… a 'Chasing Light.'"
"A back-to-back Japan Cup… Spring–Autumn Tenno Sho double… a sovereign…"
A single thought sparked in many hearts at once:
We have to pin them down—no matter what!
The instant that focused "hostility" took shape—
A starlit flicker slid through Obey Your Master's eyes.
In a heartbeat, she had sensed the shift.
"Oh? All united now?"
She breathed out a faint white plume into the rain.
"Good. Even if it's hard to make you do it…"
"…keep Inari off me."
"Even if it lasts less than a second—that's enough for me!"
…
The race hammered on at a terrifying, steady speed.
Time burned away; the pack devoured the mid-phase and was about to enter the course where victory is decided!
"We're in the final stages! They're passing from the third into the fourth turn! Is it time to test the very last reserves?!"
The commentator's voice had gone a little hoarse.
"Fujimasa still leads! No fade! She's holding this suffocating tempo!"
"But—oh! Someone can't keep it up! Dyna Scribe! Dyna Scribe looks like she's out of gas!"
…
Camera cut—
Behind Oguri, who had been sixth, Dyna Scribe was heaving, lungs burning.
Her eyes slitted; sweat and rain had soaked her to the bone.
"S-so strange…"
"I should… be sprinting now… I should… why? Why won't my body… move…"
She pumped her arms, trying to go—but her body wouldn't obey.
And she wasn't alone.
Even stamina-queen Creek was breathing hard now—
Let alone the rest of the field whose endurance wasn't at that monstrous tier.
…
…
In this race that had never slackened even once, most of the entrants had been wrung dry.
Only a scant few still held a thread of closing kick.
"I can't just watch anymore!"
Out in the outside lanes, a mare snapped from the agony; resolve flashed in her eyes.
"I'm going to win!!!"
Veins jumped on her right leg as she slammed the turf and launched!
"She moves! Someone moves!"
The commentator caught it at once. "Somei Polaris on the outside opens her sprint—she's attacking even before the final turn!"
"Yaeno Muteki goes with her! The few who kept some strength are all starting their last charge!"
And just as they burst—
Ahead of them, Super Creek—and Oguri beside her—both slowly vented a thick white breath.
If their closing speed couldn't match…
Then before the homestretch—
Bank enough advantage to crash through!!
BOOM—!
BOOM—!
Two utterly different, equally suffocating auras detonated at once!
The pressure alone made Somei Polaris, Muteki, and the others who had just launched waver on their feet!
Endless grey currents swept the course again; the phantom of a vast ocean rose to swallow everything!
On the last corner before the final straight, twin streams of searing light poured across the sky!
Domain — Grey Monster!!
Domain — Clear Creek!!
"HraaAAAH—!!"
With a thunderous roar, the might of their Domains flooded every limb and bone—
And they seized back the confidence to surpass everything!
(End of Chapter)
[Get +20 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Zaelum"]
[Every 500 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]