She was charging up!
Demon King Gold Ship's speed could by no means be called slow.
On top of that, there had been the attack from that earlier set of blocking skills.
Behind the fourth corner, the Overlord had smoothly taken first place, while Demon King Gold Ship had reached second. The gap between them was now less than three lengths.
The conditions had been met.
Without question, Demon King Gold Ship had entered the Overlord's range.
"It's coming!"
Many in the audience were instantly energized.
Everyone knew that the ultimate darkness, the ultimate ZONE, was about to be released. At this point, they no longer had time to think about what Demon King Gold Ship's tactic was, because they would witness it next.
The Overlord heard Demon King Gold Ship's footsteps and felt that powerful fighting spirit. Yet there was not the slightest hesitation or doubt in her movements.
If an ordinary person saw Demon King Gold Ship acting like this, they would instinctively suspect that she had prepared a countermeasure against [Fusion]. But the Overlord would not doubt her own power. She was certain her power was invincible.
This ultimate power could not be resisted by anyone.
[Fusion!!!]
Terrifying darkness began to release.
Demon King Gold Ship and the Overlord both felt it at the same time.
The changes in their own bodies.
The former could clearly feel her power draining away, while the latter could feel herself becoming stronger. This ultimate darkness also grew more and more complete.
"The first one to charge out of the fourth corner is Overlord, but Demon King is giving fierce chase behind her! There is not much of the race left!"
The two rushed into the final straight together.
Both had already used their strongest methods.
At this moment, the supporting characters could no longer keep up with this race.
Victory would be decided between the two of them alone.
After completing Fusion, the Overlord decisively used the Demon King's powerful control domain. The instant that dark-red ZONE was released, it transformed into the Overlord's extreme black color.
But the effect did not weaken in the slightest.
The condition of every participant was forcibly lowered.
It even carried the terrifying effect of sealing all skills.
This was the Demon King's Domain possessed by Demon King Gold Ship.
But now, it had become the Overlord's Domain!
Even Demon King Gold Ship herself could not avoid taking its effect.
"This is bad!"
Kitasan Black shouted.
She clearly saw Demon King-senpai get hit.
That was the reaction after an ability successfully landed.
What are you doing, senpai!
I thought you charged up with that arrogant momentum because you really had some way to oppose Overlord-senpai. I didn't expect you to actually deliver yourself straight to her door. Aren't you just giving Overlord-senpai a free power-up? Overlord-senpai, after obtaining Teio-senpai's power, was already so strong that no one could imagine how to deal with her. Demon King-senpai, why did you get carried away and feed yourself to her? How are we supposed to face her next?
Tokai Teio's originally serious expression immediately collapsed.
Wait.
Gold Ship, what kind of joke are you playing?
This is your tactic?
I didn't see any wisdom. I only saw you handing yourself over!
It made her vision go dark.
If even they thought so, then the spectators of this world had even less need to be mentioned. Symboli Rudolf felt as if she might suffer a heart attack despite being young. [Mejiro McQueen]'s group was so shocked their minds went blank for a moment. They had no idea how to evaluate this runner, Demon King Gold Ship, because they truly could not understand what she was doing.
But no matter what they thought, the race continued.
The final straight.
After a steep slope, there was a flat stretch of straight track.
Less than 400 meters remained.
The gap between the two runners was now only two lengths.
Everyone was still shocked by Demon King Gold Ship's move.
No one reacted immediately.
Although Demon King Gold Ship's power had indeed been plundered by the Overlord, her speed had not dropped because of it. Even while being hit by what had once been the Demon King's Domain and was now the Overlord's Domain, she still displayed faster and stronger power, clinging tightly to the slipstream.
The Overlord's previously undisturbed heart now surged.
"What is going on?"
This girl...
"Why can she still catch up?"
[Fusion] had indeed activated.
She had successfully taken the Demon King's power.
Then why?
Why did Demon King Gold Ship still have such power?
[Fusion] was not copying.
It was taking.
Opponents devoured by her should lose that power. In other words, Demon King Gold Ship should no longer be able to keep up with her.
But the fact was that Demon King Gold Ship was keeping up.
Not only that, she was even closing the gap.
From the Overlord's perspective, this was already a horror story.
Even with the Overlord's mentality, she lost focus for a moment.
"So this is Fusion?"
Demon King Gold Ship was covered in sweat, yet she smiled wildly at the Overlord's back. This power was indeed as powerful and unreasonable as expected. Her skill panel, even including her base stats, had been devoured by this ultimate power. At this moment, she finally understood why a genius like Tokai Teio had ended up severely injured and defeated at the end of the previous race.
This power was truly cheating.
It felt completely different from Rice Shower's Fusion.
The Overlord's Fusion was like something that wanted to seize your entire existence. It was a merciless move filled with killing intent.
This power could only be described as strong. Truly strong.
But...
"I am still a little stronger!"
Demon King Gold Ship's eyes were incomparably serious.
An empty vessel with power alone could not make her lose.
Overlord, you understand nothing!
Wanting victory, wanting to become the strongest, was the highest wish. But if that was all you could think, then you were far too timid.
You still do not know the taste of defeat. That hollow invincibility you wear as decoration, I will shatter it here as your senior.
Let me show you what true victory is!
"Prepare yourself. This is the final trial!"
Even though her power had been taken, Demon King Gold Ship's power had not completely disappeared.
[Overload mode]
No.
Perhaps it could be called [Limit Break].
This not-quite-skill, an incomplete power that could only barely be called a skill, allowed Demon King Gold Ship to withstand the powerful effect of Fusion.
And her current state also proved Demon King Gold Ship's earlier hypothesis.
Do not forget.
She, Demon King Gold Ship, was not merely an ordinary umamusume now.
She was also the president of the largest conglomerate in an entire world.
She had the dual identities of researcher and test subject.
In the end, what exactly was a skill?
It was nothing more than a method of releasing one of one's own limits for a certain period of time and thereby obtaining greater, faster power.
But that power did not appear from nothing.
It was potential that had originally existed within the umamusume's body. ZONE, the symbol of power, worked on the same principle.
Then what was the ultimate expression of that power?
What was [Fusion]'s specific effect?
Did magic that could truly steal another person's power exist? Demon King Gold Ship did not believe so. Although in the worldview of umamusume, magic was not a nonexistent fantasy power, when it came to research on skills and ZONE, she dared call herself a doctor.
In her view, Fusion was nothing more than a higher-level blocking skill. The principle behind the ability was still a use of mental power.
It was simply no longer on the same dimension as ordinary skills and had reached the level of divine power.
That would explain it.
Why could [Fusion] not completely take an opponent's base stats? And why could opponents hit by it return their base stats to their peak through training in a very short time afterward?
Because from the beginning, Fusion could not truly devour stats. That was only an illusion that looked as if it had such an effect. The actual effect should be that, during a race, the holder of Fusion could make faster progress. That was why, after the Overlord or Rice Shower used Fusion, it seemed as if they had truly stolen the opponent's attributes and grown stronger.
In reality, Fusion should only interfere on the mental level, forcibly plundering the opponent's memories related to abilities, while being unable to damage the body itself.
The reason it seemed to have that effect was simply that the person hit would subconsciously believe so.
On top of that, the loss of some memories would also make them feel as if they had become weaker, and so they truly would become weaker.
That was Demon King Gold Ship's hypothesis regarding [Fusion]!
To verify this hypothesis, she had even boldly conducted such an experiment in this race. Without question, it was reckless and dangerous. But in the end, the reason she did so came from confidence in herself. She had absolute confidence in her research.
From the very beginning, she did not think she would be wrong.
That was the kind of person she was.
The Overlord did not know Demon King Gold Ship's thoughts right now. If she had, she would definitely have been unable to stop herself from retorting that this woman was insane. How could anyone be this self-confident? Besides, her Fusion was not that kind of thing at all. Rather, Demon King Gold Ship's own situation was the truly strange one. The Overlord clearly had taken as much of this person's power as possible, yet that person's power seemed endless.
Yes.
Demon King Gold Ship's theory was actually completely wrong.
The true situation was this:
After the Overlord used Fusion to take Demon King Gold Ship's power, this girl had protected herself through that strange willpower-driven skill.
At this moment, the Overlord felt deep wariness. She finally understood why, although this Demon King Gold Ship was like a gag character, White McQueen always held expectations for her. So it was because of this power?
"A power that will never truly lose as long as you refuse to acknowledge defeat? I never expected you, a Demon King, to possess a power like this."
With the Overlord's personality, she would never have had so many thoughts unless forced into a desperate situation. The problem was that this power, with attributes like a heroic savior, truly made her, a great villain, feel disgusted. This could already be considered a power outside the rules.
She had not expected such a power to appear in a ridiculous Demon King like this. The Overlord truly could not understand it.
But after confirming the essence of this power, she looked down on Demon King Gold Ship even more.
This girl clearly possessed such a high-grade power. Why had she lost battle after battle? What a waste of such a powerful ability. If her Fusion could currently take a power of this grade, she truly would want to steal it.
Sensing the Demon King's seemingly limitless fighting spirit, the Overlord understood that she could no longer continue holding back.
Her victory was clearly still unshakable.
But she had to admit it.
Demon King Gold Ship had now become a real threat to her.
This was different from her battle against Tokai Teio.
That battle had remained under the Overlord's control from beginning to end.
But this race was different.
She could no longer predict Demon King Gold Ship's next action.
That was an extremely dangerous signal.
Because it meant Demon King Gold Ship truly might catch her.
That possibility, she would not allow.
After all, even Tokai Teio, who had mastered the powers of miracle and possibility, had already been defeated by her.
And now that power was in her hands.
[Overspeed!!!]
In the still world, the black sovereign could conquer even time.
In this race, possibility and miracles no longer existed.
Victory had been decided from the beginning.
"I will not lose, because I am the strongest!"
Her invincible conviction shone brilliantly, even as darkness.
The Overlord had never doubted that she would become the strongest.
Rather, if she, who held this power, could not become the strongest, then who could?
Mejiro McQueen was merely walking ahead for the moment.
Her golden eyes stared at the finish line.
There was more than enough [time].
Victory had been decided.
The Overlord's brow relaxed. Although using this move felt as if she were escaping the Demon King's challenge, she did not care. She would not be troubled by such meaningless hesitation. She would only think that the Demon King was not qualified and had failed to break even one of her moves, because that was what should be normal.
She had merely used the correct countermeasure.
There was no reason that, because she was strong, she had to abandon her own methods and face an opponent who had opened their own power head-on.
"Don't underestimate me!"
A roar erupted through that silent space.
The Overlord heard it.
The footsteps from behind.
Impossible!
She instinctively turned back. For the first time, disbelief appeared on the Overlord's face. Even she had no way to break this move and could only oppose it with the same power.
What right did Demon King Gold Ship have to enter this realm?
Demon King Gold Ship's entire body was red. In this relatively still world, she had recovered vivid color and movement.
In truth, she did not know how she had done it either.
When she saw the Overlord use that move just now, she had indeed panicked a little. After all, in her original expectations, this little sister would be as arrogant as she was. Seeing an opponent perform like this, the Overlord should have wanted to conquer that opponent head-on.
She had not expected the Overlord to be so calm and not get carried away at all.
She even used super-acceleration.
You are too despicable!
At that moment, Demon King Gold Ship felt her brain tremble.
Then, relying on sheer conviction, she followed her in.
Even she could no longer explain the reason. Her level in scientific research could not be called terrible, but in the eyes of her retainers, she was indeed only half-baked.
So asking her to explain her current state would be too hard on her. Besides, she had no leisure for that now.
Because she could clearly feel that tearing pain.
Her entire body felt as if it were about to burn, and that tearing sensation was like she was about to explode. Most terrifying of all was the heavy pressure that seemed to come from the malice of the world itself. She felt she might lose consciousness at any time, but she could not fall here yet.
The finish line!
Those crazed eyes stared at that line.
Before she crossed it, she absolutely would not fall.
The Overlord's shocked expression recovered its calm in an instant.
Unexpected.
So this was the Demon King?
She truly was troublesome.
However...
This was as far as it went.
"That power truly exceeded my imagination. But you did not exceed my imagination, Demon King. You cannot defeat me."
Looking at Demon King Gold Ship, who had already heavily injured herself, the Overlord felt deep regret.
That power was such a pity.
But after looking at Demon King Gold Ship's state and thinking carefully, it seemed that this power's nature did not suit her either.
And so she had no further thoughts about it.
Although the Demon King's power was very strong, such a willpower-driven burst state was too uncontrollable. Even if she could take it, the Overlord would have to consider whether this power would affect her overall condition.
...
The race ended.
The spectators looked at the Overlord, who had entered the finish line.
And at Demon King Gold Ship, collapsed on the ground.
They already knew the result of this race.
In the end, Demon King Gold Ship still failed to cross the finish line. Her body had collapsed first because it could not withstand the pressure.
An umamusume's body was strong.
But with Demon King Gold Ship acting this recklessly, it was fortunate they still had the system. Otherwise, even several lives would not be enough for her to squander.
...
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