Thinking about Mejiro McQueen agreeing to race her, Demon King Ship was so excited she wanted to start immediately. However, her reason barely managed to rein in her desire. She wasn't a match for Mejiro McQueen yet. To defeat McQueen, she had to discard the power of her "gating" skills. After all, her gating combo contained no formula for guaranteed victory. If her Domain possessed an attribute like "plunder" or "devour," similar to the Emperor or Oguri Cap, she could challenge Mejiro McQueen by "gathering the strength of the masses." Unfortunately, her Zone wasn't like that; it was a very rare, pure "Gate Horse" domain. It was too late for regrets now, and besides, she didn't regret it. She firmly believed she could do it—even without relying on the power of the Zone, she could defeat Mejiro McQueen!
Demon King Ship impatiently bid farewell to Team Spica.
The moment she thought about returning to her own world, her body instantly obeyed a gravitational pull and returned.
On the other side, although Mejiro McQueen had agreed to race Gold Ship, she put the matter out of her mind after returning. She didn't feel Gold Ship's challenge gave her any motivation. With her Zone countering Gold Ship's and her stats crushing her, she really couldn't understand where Gold Ship's confidence came from.
Compared to Gold Ship's challenge, she was more interested in the [Grand Masters/Team Stadium] feature the system would unlock later.
Back in her own world, Demon King Ship continued to train hard and race. This time, she was visibly more diligent than before. Later, in the Kikka Sho and the Arima Kinen, she thrillingly secured victories without using skills or her Zone. Having opened a new era by revealing skills, she suddenly went back to learning old running styles, which puzzled many people. However, after this period of racing, Demon King Ship indeed found her own winning formula. Now, she needed stronger opponents to verify her ideas. Upon hearing that former world dominators like Montjeu had also mastered the power of skills, she unhesitatingly chose to embark on an overseas expedition in her second year.
With Demon King Ship's rating, stepping onto the track of the Arc de Triomphe was effortless; her battle record was simply shocking. Normally, this should have been the era for Montjeu's disciple, Trêve, to set out. But hearing news of the Demon King's arrival, former champions like Montjeu and Rigantona (Dancing Brave) also chose to come out of retirement. The restrictions of the Twinkle Series were ultimately just a Japanese thing; overseas countries had their own different race series. The qualification for the Arc de Triomphe depended only on rating, not origin or age. This was why many runners from the Twinkle Series would head for the Arc de Triomphe after graduation.
As for whether older runners participating in the Arc de Triomphe was bullying? Not really. Reality is different from games; a long service time doesn't necessarily make a runner stronger than before their debut. No matter how much one trains, the real body has a threshold. Breaking through this upper limit is extremely difficult. Generally, a horse girl's physical stats are developed to their peak in the first year of their debut; subsequent training and races are just accumulating experience. Some runners might even have worse physical stats than when they debuted due to injuries sustained in races. So, races like the Arc de Triomphe, which look at rating rather than origin, don't have situations where the big bully the small, because any runner who can participate represents one of the strongest runners of the era.
On the track of the Arc de Triomphe, Demon King Ship stepped on the turf, which felt completely different from Japanese tracks. Compared to the shallow layer of turf in Japan, the turf at the Arc de Triomphe was closer to wild grass and dirt. This track demanded more strength; if one's strength wasn't up to par, it would be difficult to exert force. Demon King Ship could finally understand why Japanese horse girls couldn't win the Arc de Triomphe. Because Japanese turf tracks are relatively hard, pursuing enough speed is enough to win; sometimes one even has to control the exertion of force to avoid losing a horseshoe. Runners accustomed to this style come to this softer turf track, and their past experience is completely useless; they lose to other runners right at the starting line. However, this didn't matter to her. After all, she had even run Dirt races; she wasn't afraid of this at all.
However, the horseshoes needed to be changed. Demon King Ship made the request to Trainer Okino.
Before participating in the race, they had prepared different models of horseshoes to deal with various tracks. After changing into a new pair of shoes and horseshoes, Demon King Ship re-entered the race venue.
She didn't recognize any of the surrounding runners, but judging by their aura, none were weaklings. At the very least, she could be certain these guys had all entered the Zone; that unique aura couldn't be hidden. She saw Montjeu, Trêve, and the former "world's strongest" from Mejiro McQueen's memories in the crowd. Although she hadn't paid much attention to the timeline of her own world, she roughly knew that in her world, Montjeu and Rigantona were veterans who had already conquered the Arc de Triomphe, while Trêve was the local supernova. As for the other runners, she really was flying blind; she couldn't even name them.
In the stands, Trainer Okino nervously greeted the trainers of the other participants, sitting in his seat feeling like he was dreaming. He never expected that one day he would come to the world's strongest stage in this capacity. The contempt and ridicule he expected never came. Okino found that when other trainers looked at him, it was like observing a powerful opponent. Some trainers even wanted to invite him for a gathering after the race, wanting to ask him about the training methods in the Skill Manual. He could only smile and gloss over such requests. Because he didn't understand it well himself, he wasn't qualified to instruct these world-class trainers.
In the eyes of outsiders, he was the Demon King's trainer, but he knew clearly that he hadn't taught Demon King Ship much at all. That child was already this strong before her debut. At most, he had taught her some very common things recently. As for deeper knowledge, like Special Techniques, Demon King Ship didn't really need them. That girl was simply too strong, so strong that she sometimes overlooked simpler things. But as soon as he pointed out these flaws, the child would immediately realize. It could be said that he, the trainer, really had no presence; he was purely a servant responsible for driving and registering for races.
While Okino was letting his thoughts wander due to nervousness, the time for the race to officially start arrived. The runners began entering the gate, and the commentators and live broadcast shifted to the track. At this moment, almost everyone at Japan's Central Tracen Academy was watching the live broadcast. In the Student Council room, Symboli Rudolf watched the TV with a serious expression, as if she were at the race herself. The race was also playing on the large TV in the cafeteria hall, where many students were watching. Compared to phones and small TVs, the large TV in the hall could better display the excitement of the race. [Mejiro McQueen], Tokai Teio, and other debuted runners were in their team's activity room, gathered around the TV with their teammates.
As the countdown ended, the commentator began calling the race.
"Alright, the race has started! The runners have completed the start! The front group is competing for advantageous positions. Will any runner successfully escape? Let's look at the highly anticipated runners. Rigantona is in the rear. This former king, returning after two years, still looks full of vigor. But the participants this time also include Montjeu, who consecutively dominated races two years ago, and her disciple. We don't know if Rigantona can keep her status as the former world's strongest, or if Montjeu can challenge successfully..."
Rigantona and Montjeu both chose the "Betweener" (Chaser/Closer) running style this time. However, although they were running from behind, their speed wasn't slow. Demon King Ship, lagging behind due to a late start, was momentarily maladjusted. Because the opponents were fast and due to track adaptation issues, she fell significantly behind in the early stages of the race. Or rather, she hadn't expected the opponents' starting speed to be so fast and made a slight error. Otherwise, with her current control over late starts, she wouldn't have been left behind at the start like before. Trêve uncharacteristically chose to compete for the lead position. Honestly, Demon King Ship was beginning to lose grasp of what these guys' suitabilities actually were. When running in Japan, the differences in running styles were obvious, but in this race, the running styles seemed very casual from the start. She seriously suspected these guys all had at least C-rank suitability across the board.
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