Xingyun Liuge could clearly see the way the girl's long lashes fluttered in the wind, and the way sweat ran wild across her smooth face. Awkward or not, her fighting spirit had not weakened in the slightest.
That only made Xingyun Liuge happier.
And so, the star-path abruptly contracted, and the orbiting spheres slammed into Winning Colors one after another.
Stellar Alignment (Passive): Xingyun Liuge summons three protective planets that revolve around her. Whenever those planets affect an opponent, Xingyun Liuge gains an equivalent buff.
Heavenswell Surge (Passive): Xingyun Liuge can push her protective planets outward into a wider orbit or pull them inward into a tighter one.
When the planets are shifted outward, their rotation speed increases to 200%. If they strike an opponent, they forcibly interrupt that opponent's Domain or skill activation and cause massive stamina loss that lasts until the race ends.
When the planets return to their inner orbit, their speed resets to normal. Xingyun Liuge gains an extra 10% movement speed, clears all restricting effects on herself, and restores 10% of her stamina.
Even without counting the extra speed boost from returning the planets inward, Winning Colors had no chance of overtaking Xingyun Liuge. One gained while the other lost; the difference was simply too great.1GaL2
Winning Colors could not understand it at all.
Why? I should have gone through special training to strengthen my stamina. I should have been able to make it to the end!
She was breathing hard now, her legs feeling like sea sponges soaked full of water. Every lift and fall drained a huge amount of stamina from her.
Even her ears had begun to buzz strangely, as though every part of her body were sending out warning signals.
And yet Xingyun Liuge…1GaL2
That was what made Winning Colors even less able to understand.
Her blue flames were supposed to sap an opponent's stamina and reduce their speed. So why did Xingyun Liuge seem completely unaffected?
No matter how she thought about it, it made no sense.
Had Xingyun Liuge not just dominated Brian's Time and beaten her with some absurdly powerful ability?
How could she still have so much stamina left?1GaL2
Was it because of those spheres of light?
Winning Colors felt there was something deeply wrong with them. She had only taken three hits, yet it felt as though all strength had been drained from her body, like taking three clean punches to the head. But those spheres had not brought any pain at all.
If they had brought pain, that would have been far worse. For tiny as they looked, those things were genuine planets. What horse girl could endure being hit head-on by an asteroid?
Winning Colors had no idea that what she was doing already counted as valor. She only wanted to duel Xingyun Liuge properly. And so, forcing herself through the overwhelming fatigue, she unleashed an entirely new attack.
It was as though someone had pressed pause on the world: the azure feathers drifting in midair suddenly stopped fluttering with the wind. Then, in the next instant, they transformed into blades and poured down toward Xingyun Liuge from above.1GaL2
Those feathers had never been there just for beauty. They had been hidden troops all along.
Watching those countless blades descend toward Xingyun Liuge's head, Goodbye Halo swallowed hard. The race no longer resembled running in the slightest. This had become a supernatural battle.
What kind of footrace involved directly attacking your opponent?
Of course, she understood that blows from a Domain would not leave physical wounds on a horse girl. They only suppressed the mind for a time.
Even so, the entire scene felt deeply strange to her.1GaL2
Winning Colors' offensive was overwhelming in sheer spectacle. The rain of blue-flame swords turned the track into something like a honeycomb.
But however grand the display, if it could not hit its mark, then it meant nothing.
The three protective planets linked together. The gravitational fields of the three stars stacked, resonated, and in an instant created a warped spatial field around Xingyun Liuge.
Visible ripples spread through the space around her in layers, as though even light itself had been twisted, like stones dropped one after another into still water.
At that moment, a colorless, shapeless force—one powerful enough to warp the foundations of reality—was unleashed.
The rain of azure swords came screaming down, only to meet disaster the instant it touched the boundary of those gravitational ripples. They did not explode. Instead, they were forcibly deflected.1GaL2
Those manifestations of spiritual force seemed to strike an invisible, ever-shifting concave mirror. The warped space pulled, tore, and split them apart, until in the end they became countless harmless streams of brilliant light that spilled away past Xingyun Liuge's sides and flowed over the transformed dirt track, stirring up clouds of glittering dust.
Watching that dazzling scene, Winning Colors still refused to accept defeat. She drew a deep breath and gathered every last scrap of strength she had left.
The countless sword-shadows in the sky merged into one, becoming a single gigantic blade so vast it seemed capable of spanning heaven and earth—a sword that instantly called to mind the Sword of Damocles.
Perhaps that was exactly what Winning Colors wanted it to become: Xingyun Liuge's Sword of Damocles.1GaL2
No words were exchanged. No declaration was made.
The great azure sword became a meteor and crashed straight down.
At that point, even Risen Star felt an overwhelming urge to complain.
Stop already—this isn't a running race anymore!
Then again, someone who wielded starlight herself probably had no standing to say that.
Xingyun Liuge completely ignored the giant sword falling from the sky and continued running as though nothing at all were happening.1GaL2
The announcer cried out, "Xingyun Liuge! This dirt queen who has nearly conquered middle-distance racing will not allow anyone to challenge her authority! In the blink of an eye, she has suppressed Winning Colors! Winning Colors still refuses to give up—her resolve is deeply moving! Cheer! Cheer for every single horse girl taking part in this searing duel!"
Perhaps because that space-distorting field of invisible power moved with Xingyun Liuge wherever she ran, she did not even spare the descending attack a glance. It was as though a force capable of destroying heaven and earth were no more than dust to be brushed away.1GaL2
With a thought, Xingyun Liuge pushed her three protective planets into their outer orbit. The gravitational ripples expanded outward all at once.
The giant sword had only fallen halfway when that unseen, terrifying force barred its path, completely repelling the blade, the scattered fragments of its energy, and even the light around it.
Amid the roaring chaos of the racecourse, the creator of the stars forcibly carved out for herself a sacred vacuum domain no one could violate.
Without even looking back, Xingyun Liuge spoke in a low voice:
"Scatter."1GaL2
The instant the words left her lips, clear cracks appeared across the giant sword's gleaming body.
Crack. Crack.
The fractures spread at terrifying speed.
That "azure meteor" burst into brilliant fire from the bottom upward, and a ring-shaped shockwave exploded outward.
"Winning Colors! Winning Colors!" the announcer shouted desperately, before being forced to declare, "She can't catch her! Xingyun Liuge has already opened up a gap of three lengths on Winning Colors, and that gap is widening fast! Winning Colors can't catch her!"
Then he sucked in a breath, his entire face flushed red, neck taut, and roared even louder:
"But—"
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 155)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter200)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter110)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter230)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 200
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 180
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/5
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 230
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 220
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/30
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 120
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 135
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 110
I Can Copy Unique Skills 100
Summoning an Evil God, but the 70
Supernatural Multiverse 100
My Harem Is Indescribable 90
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 95
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 68
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 105
Still playing traditional Honk 69
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 80
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 70
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 75
Checking In in Demon Slayer 80
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 85
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 70
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 65
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 70
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 70
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 65
Why did they assign me to Uma 65
MYGO Beauties 65
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 55
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 65
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 45
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 45
The Uma Musume Who Became 40
I'm Definitely Not the King of 45
After Maxing Out Every Class 45
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