Belno's vision dulled slightly, but her eyes continued to glow like burning magma.
She could feel it—her consciousness was becoming a little blurry. It was the telltale sign that she was activating her Domain. Reaching this state of enlightenment, even if incomplete, meant letting the boundaries that separated herself from the outside world melt away.
But she didn't let it. She forced herself to remain conscious, to resist the instincts urging her to reach back and take hold of the spear she'd created previously. She could not. Because that meant surrendering herself, and in doing so she would give up the chance to open another hole in that monolithic wall.
So she bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, and using the pain to keep her awake, she instead roared as she brought her hand forward.
"Oh~? It seems Belno-chan has a different plan this time!"
She clenched her fist, and with all her might, she slammed her fist into the center of the swirling mass that was gathering behind her.
Space fractured. The world bent to the side, seemingly incapable of processing what was happening. The mass of swirling energies trembled, creating this awful screeching sound that caused every runner behind her to wince in pain.
And then something shattered, and the loose energy went flying back, washing across every other runner on the track.
Partial Domain Awakening—
{Trumpet of the Divine General}!
A wave of weakness struck everyone struck by the wave. The runners behind Belno visibly slowed down, and they gasped as they felt their stamina suddenly draining away. The shift wasn't as dramatic as the loss experienced by those struck by Belno's divine spear, but on the other hand, the runners behind Belno suddenly found their visions narrowed, as if the shattering of Belno's Domain had sent their vision into disarray.
Fleetstreet Dancer felt this most keenly, with her sight becoming practically unusable for the first few seconds, and remaining blurry after that. She glassy eyes went wide as she gasped, all the tension and preparation she'd done throughout the race having been rendered useless by Belno's drastic action.
"Wow~! I'm not sure what exactly Belno-chan did, but she created this wave of energy that shocked everyone!"
"And-, hmm~. It seems everyone's slowing down too~"
Belno herself wasn't in great shape. This wasn't the first time she'd 'shattered' her incomplete Domain, but even then it felt like her head was about to explode. But despite that, she forced herself to focus as she began accelerating just as she entered the third corner.
"B-Belno Light enters the third corner!"
"The rest of the pack is still slowed down by Belno Light's Domain! Is no one else going to accelerate!?"
The announcer's frantic words finally awoke some of the other runners, and realizing just how far behind they'd fallen, they immediately accelerated as quickly as they could to try and catch up to Belno's shrinking figure.
But by then it was too late. By the time some of the other runners finally reached the third corner, Belno herself was already about to enter the final straight. And from there, Belno's victory was inevitable.
She continued to race forward as fast she could, her powerful steps carving gouges into the dirt below her. She ran unimpeded, and before long, she crossed the finish line.
"And she's did it-!"
"Belno Light crosses the finish line first!"
Belno took a shaky breath as she slowed down, and turning to the scoreboard, her eyes shined as a bright smile grew across her lips.
DST. The gap between her and the rest of the pack was so large that the scoreboard's simplified recordings could only record her lead as 'Distance'. A laugh bubbled past her lips, and her smile only grew as she heard the cheers from the audience.
But then--
Drip.
"...eh?" She whispered, and looking down, she suddenly saw splodges of red staining the front of her G1 outfit. Immediately, the cheers turned quiet. Even the other runners who'd just crossed the finish line turned towards her in shock, stunned into complete silence.
Drip. Drip.
"B-Belno-chan! There's-, you're-, nosebleed!" Maruzensky's panicked voice echoed throughout the stadium.
"I-I'm fine!" She quickly shouted back, though she winced as she felt more blood dripping from her chin. She quickly tilted her head back and placed her thumb under her nose to try and stop her nosebleed, but she could feel more and more blood seeping past her thumb.
"B-Belno!" She heard Kitahara shout, before wincing when she heard a loud bang. When she looked back down, she could see Kitahara rushing towards her, some blood falling from his own nose, likely due to bumping his face against the railing. "O-Oi, are you okay!? Light-headed? Feeling sick anywhere!?"
"I'm fine, Kitahara-san." She smiled shyly. "It's probably the cold."
She was certain that it wasn't. Her nosebleed was probably because she'd 'shattered' her Domain, and combined with the high intensity of the race, she likely popped a blood vessel deep in her nasal cavity. She'd heard that the blood vessels there were particularly fragile, so that was probably the cause.
It was clear that Kitahara didn't believe her words either, but seeing that she wasn't overly pale or anything, he sighed in relief. "That's good. That's…good." He took a few breaths to calm down, and once he'd calmed down enough, he smiled wryly. "Geez, don't scare me like that."
"S-Sorry…" She glanced at the small trail of blood falling from Kitahara's nose, and she couldn't help but smile slightly. "At least we match?"
Kitahara stared at her, before he sighed. "Well, at least you can still joke around." He then turned towards the announcer's room and flashed a thumbs up. "We're good, Maruzensky-san! Thank you for the concern!"
"So she's fine? That's good~"
"But make sure Belno-chan gets some rest, okay? Or else I'll get really angry~"
Kitahara chuckled. "Of course, of course." He then turned back to Belno. "Well, looks like we have permission to skip out on the Winning Concert now."
Belno blinked. "Eh? Are you sure?"
"I think everyone would be even more concerned if you did perform." He turned back towards the audience. "Don't you all think so as well?" He asked loudly.
"Yeah! Belno did amazing!"
"She should rest now."
"Uwa, racing's kinda scary…"
"But she was so cool! Get some sleep, Belno-senpai!"
Belno watched in silent amazement, before she smiled. "Thank you, everyone." She said, before she gave an amused smirk to Kitahara. "And when did you get so good within the crowd?"
Kitahara grinned as he began wiping the blood from his nose. "Roppei-san's taught me a few tricks here and there."
"It's Musaka, you fool!" A familiar voice shouted from the crowd.
Belno giggled, smiling fondly as the crowd resumed their cheering. It still amazed her that so many people had come specifically to watch her win her third G1 Dirt race, and she wished she could thank them all personally. But alas, she couldn't do that, especially with her nose still bleeding.
But she could at least bid them all farewell for tonight.
So, with her eyes shadowed by her general's cap, she turned towards the crowd and raised her fist into the air.
She smiled softly as the crowd cheered for her once more.