"The final straight is right ahead! Silence Suzuka has broken through! But El Condor Pasa's speed still hasn't dropped!"
Silence Suzuka, her entire body seeming to glow, raced lightly across the turf. She looked like a spirit of the wind. Her speed was visibly, unmistakably fast. Behind her, El Condor Pasa, who had been robbed of first place, gritted her teeth and gave chase. Her terrifying aura blazed like fire, making her seem like the ruler of the sky beginning the hunt.
Special Week and Seiun Sky had caught up from behind as well, but the strength and aura they displayed at this moment could not compare with El Condor Pasa and Silence Suzuka. It was as if they were no longer in the same class.
"What is that?"
Seiun Sky was baffled.
Coming from an ordinary background, she knew very little about ZONE. Even though Silence Suzuka was displaying ZONE's power right in front of her, Seiun Sky could not immediately recognize it as the legendary ZONE. But even without knowing what had happened to Silence Suzuka, she understood one thing clearly: the Silence Suzuka of now possessed some decisive difference from herself.
The current Seiun Sky could not beat Silence Suzuka in that state. She could not even hope to threaten her the way she had in the Satsuki Sho. The Silence Suzuka in that state felt unbeatable. That aura was even more abnormal than King Halo's or El Condor Pasa's.
Special Week's eyes trembled. "That's... that's ZONE. Of course Suzuka-san couldn't fall behind El Condor Pasa and King Halo. But can the current me really compete with them?"
At this moment, she could not even trigger her explosive awakening. Her protagonist halo had not activated once in this race.
Behind Special Week, Grass Wonder stared coldly at her. The fighting spirit rising in Grass Wonder's eyes was undoubtedly ZONE, and it was a ZONE with the effect of an interference skill. In this race, Special Week had not only been suppressed by El Condor Pasa and Silence Suzuka, she had also been targeted by Grass Wonder. Under those circumstances, it would have been stranger if she had managed to show anything impressive.
"To think the first to enter this realm would be Silence Suzuka and Grass Wonder," Symboli Rudolf said, somewhat surprised. She had originally thought Special Week would be the first to complete her ZONE awakening. Regardless of the reason, Special Week had already awakened several times, and in truth she had lacked only a little more. Silence Suzuka, meanwhile, had previously shown no qualification to awaken ZONE at all. In Symboli Rudolf's eyes, Grass Wonder's strength had also not been enough. She had not expected events to unfold so far beyond prediction.
The two who should have been unable to awaken ZONE had completed their awakenings first, while Special Week, El Condor Pasa, and even King Halo, all of whom Symboli Rudolf had favored, had yet to awaken that ultimate power.
"The final straight! The outcome is about to be decided! Is there anyone else who can break through? Silence Suzuka still leads! She's so fast, almost as though she's running in zero gravity! Can El Condor Pasa catch her? Special Week and Seiun Sky are behind them! Grass Wonder? No, wait, King Halo is coming out!"
The commentator cried out in shock.
At that moment, Silence Suzuka, El Condor Pasa, and the others all looked on in astonishment as a path of light came chasing from behind, rushing straight toward the finish line. That strange aura appeared behind them. Seiun Sky reacted first, watching helplessly as the figure on the outside lane flashed past her in the blink of an eye. Then Special Week and Grass Wonder noticed King Halo as well.
"How is she so fast?!"
Special Week stared at the figure that passed her as if it required no effort at all, her eyes widening. What she found hardest to believe was that King Halo's speed seemed to keep rising even after overtaking her. That speed filled her with despair.
Grass Wonder had originally intended to focus only on Special Week, but when she saw King Halo's performance now, even her eyes shook.
With 200 meters left, King Halo arrived behind El Condor Pasa and Silence Suzuka. The gap among the three of them was less than one length.
El Condor Pasa was on the inside. King Halo was on the outside. Silence Suzuka was in the center. But both El Condor Pasa and Silence Suzuka felt something was wrong. They were already at full speed, while King Halo had only just caught up from behind.
In other words, King Halo was faster than they were at this moment.
King Halo wore a smile. This was the first time she had drawn out the effect of her Flash Skill to its maximum. To be honest, it felt good. Catching up was only natural. Otherwise, the restriction on her skill would have been pure trash. Why had she not cared about El Condor Pasa's tactics? Because from the very beginning, she had been completely confident that she could win.
Without the slightest pressure, the instant King Halo caught up to Silence Suzuka and El Condor Pasa, she completed the overtake. The difference in speed was too large. King Halo had held the advantage in stats from the start, and she had been allowed to fully release a heavily restricted skill. Once the race developed to this point, King Halo could no longer lose.
"Impossible!"
El Condor Pasa stared at that back, unable to accept it.
Just a mere Flash Skill?
If Silence Suzuka had awakened ZONE and suppressed her that way, El Condor Pasa could have accepted it. But King Halo had suppressed them with only a skill. Did that not mean King Halo could crush them through basic strength alone?
El Condor Pasa refused to believe such a thing.
She gritted her teeth.
She did not want to believe it, but reality lay before her eyes.
That girl's strength truly was above hers.
Silence Suzuka also looked at the scene in a daze.
She could clearly feel that her current "realm" was higher. And yet King Halo had run ahead of her. In front of King Halo, she could not capture her opponent's aura the way she had suppressed El Condor Pasa.
Silence Suzuka's ZONE possessed the effect of aura perception. Originally, she had possessed almost no perception at all, but after awakening ZONE, that had reversed. Now she had quite powerful sensing ability. More than simply opening her perception, her ZONE also strengthened her when she sensed someone chasing from behind. That was why El Condor Pasa could not catch Silence Suzuka no matter how desperately she tried.
But that ability failed against King Halo. No, perhaps it was more accurate to say that the moment Silence Suzuka sensed King Halo's aura, King Halo had already broken through her perception and completed the overtake before her ability could even activate.
That was the true reason Silence Suzuka was shocked.
While El Condor Pasa and Silence Suzuka were still stunned, King Halo crossed the finish line soon after passing them.
The commentator roared with excitement. "Across the line!"
"At the very end of the race, King Halo crosses first by the narrowest of margins, fulfilling her long-cherished wish of taking the second crown!"
"Second place is Silence Suzuka!"
"Third place is El Condor Pasa!"
The result surpassed everyone's expectations.
In that brief moment earlier, everyone had thought the final victory would be decided between El Condor Pasa and Silence Suzuka. No one had expected King Halo, who had shown little presence throughout the race, to suddenly burst out at the end and successfully seize the win.
Before the race began, most people had bet on King Halo to win. But the way she won at the end was simply too surprising. If one discussed eye-catching performances, then El Condor Pasa and Silence Suzuka had unquestionably been the most dazzling. They had felt like the only two protagonists of the race, with everyone else paling beside them. King Halo's performance had seemed more like that of a forgotten extra runner.
And yet that very King Halo had successfully caught up at the end, taking first place lightly and effortlessly beneath everyone's disbelieving gazes. It was far too unexpected.
Perhaps, however, this was King Halo's true signature running style.
Those astonishing performances in her previous races had, in reality, been nothing more than King Halo controlling her strength in order to stimulate her opponents. Did King Halo truly possess the presence to become the protagonist of a race? Perhaps outsiders thought she did. But King Halo herself believed she did not, because the ones she compared herself to were Mejiro McQueen and the others.
King Halo looked at the recorded result without surprise.
She had already been able to predict the outcome before the race began, and during the race she had calculated the time in advance as well. For the spectators, this might have been a race full of surprises. For her, everything had remained within the "script."
Not a single opponent had escaped her control.
Even Silence Suzuka's awakening had remained within her plan.
El Condor Pasa knelt on the ground and slammed her fist into the turf.
"Damn it!!!"
She had lost.
And she had lost in a way that left her with no excuse.
Against Silence Suzuka, who had awakened ZONE, El Condor Pasa could still confidently say she had not lost to Suzuka. But King Halo's performance at the end robbed her of all words.
That girl!
That girl had been playing with her the entire time!
El Condor Pasa felt the crushing difference in strength.
King Halo had allowed her to use targeted tactics and had still defeated her with the running style most disadvantageous to herself.
At least, that was how it looked from El Condor Pasa's perspective.
King Halo had walked directly into her trap. But in the end, King Halo had still won. Did that not mean her strength had been completely overwhelmed?
In truth, however, whether El Condor Pasa's tactic had actually targeted King Halo was debatable. After all, what King Halo feared were Great Runners like Mejiro McQueen, who could stack speed, or terrifying explosive Great Runners like Kitasan Black. Runner tactics like El Condor Pasa's and Silence Suzuka's, which could neither raise the speed ceiling nor break past the limit in an explosive burst, were not something King Halo truly took seriously.
For running styles like El Condor Pasa's and Silence Suzuka's, no matter how they ran away, their speed had a fixed upper limit. And because they had to maintain their speed, their skill bursts could not be stacked multiple times. As long as King Halo could surpass that ceiling, victory was essentially guaranteed.
"So strong..."
Special Week looked at Grass Wonder in surprise. At the very end of the race, she had been passed by Grass Wonder. Grass Wonder had taken fourth, Seiun Sky fifth, and Special Week herself had ended up sixth. That left Special Week feeling strangely out of place.
She had barely shown anything in this race.
In the early stage, she had hesitated, waiting the whole time for King Halo's decision. But King Halo could wait because she possessed a comeback skill. Special Week, lacking that kind of ability, had essentially chosen a path to self-destruction by using King Halo's rhythm as her reference. By the time she realized it and tried to burst forward, it was already too late. She could not catch El Condor Pasa or Silence Suzuka at all. She could only trail behind them.
Then Grass Wonder had shut her down.
Faced with a ZONE-level blocking skill, Special Week had no way to activate her own protagonist-burst cheat. She was defeated outright.
The race came to an end.
The top three, as the main performers, took part in the Winner's Stage.
Although El Condor Pasa had lost her composure during the race, at this moment she could only show a professional smile, serving as backup dancer to the winner.
"Damn it. I'll definitely win it back!"
El Condor Pasa could only think that, filled with frustration.
King Halo paid no attention to El Condor Pasa's little thoughts. After all, she believed El Condor Pasa would suffer another beating in France later, so El Condor Pasa's hatred could never stay fixed on her. Meanwhile, far away in France, Dancing Brave and Montjeu were also somewhat surprised.
"This... she actually won?"
It was not only Montjeu. Even Dancing Brave found it hard to believe, because King Halo's win had been far too plain and unremarkable. She had ignored the tactics her opponents had prepared specifically for her, and during the race she had not displayed any power beyond her comfort zone. Yet under those circumstances, King Halo had still taken the race in the end.
Montjeu fell silent for a long moment before saying, "I misjudged her. I didn't expect her strength to have already reached this level."
She admitted that she had underestimated King Halo before.
This was no longer a matter of ability versus running style. It was the gap in basic strength and experience. King Halo's fundamental ability and racing experience had crushed her opponents. Under those circumstances, no tactic would work. Winning was only natural.
"I was surprised too."
Dancing Brave shook her head.
Her prediction had also been completely overturned.
"Congratulations, Teacher."
"Oh?"
Montjeu took a deep breath.
"King Halo may already have grasped a weapon of [certain victory]."
This so-called "certain victory" did not mean she would definitely win. It meant that if nothing unexpected happened, she would not lose.
Montjeu possessed such a weapon as well.
Montjeu was known as the "King of Heavy Going."
In heavy track conditions, such as a rainy day, Montjeu was even confident she could compete on equal terms with Dancing Brave.
"Perhaps."
Dancing Brave still felt that she could not quite see through it.
It sounded unbelievable, but as the world champion, she truly could not fully see through this daughter of hers.
"Still, how interesting."
Montjeu smiled.
"I originally thought the races in Japan were only at that level. But now I have to admit one thing: Japan's umamusume cannot be underestimated. It seems that after I challenge the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, I'll have to go experience King Halo and the others for myself."
At that moment, Montjeu decided she would enter the Japan Cup.
...
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