CRACK!
The instant the gates swung wide, the sheer explosive power of eighteen Uma Musume tore through the air, sending white shockwaves rippling beneath the leaden sky.
A thunderous cacophony of hoofbeats shook the earth like a localized tremor. In that split second, whether a runner had found her rhythm or not, the world outside the track ceased to exist.
The roar of the race, a sound that seemed ready to pulverize the very turf, drowned out everything else.
Clumps of grass and dirt kicked up into a chaotic frenzy, blurring their vision, but with rivals flanking them and enemies on all sides, no one spared a thought for the flying debris. A soldier on a battlefield doesn't stop to worry about the shrapnel whistling past.
At this moment, only two things existed in their world.
The track and the opponent.
The track lay ahead, demanding every ounce of strength they could squeeze from their bodies to surge forward.
But the "opponent"—not everyone held the right to be called one.
Because this was a stadium, but it was also a war zone. Aside from the debris flying past, a battlefield requires one more thing to be complete.
The remains of the defeated.
The nine G1-ranked Uma Musume, armed with power and tactical positioning that existed on an entirely different plane, needed only a few seconds after the start to leave the rest of the pack in their dust.
"Taking the early lead is Panthalassa! She's going for a massive Great Escape, just as expected!"
"Trailing her in order are Titleholder, Equinox, Liberty Island, Stars on Earth, Do Deuce, Iresine, Symboli Kris S, and Danon Beluga!"
The announcer, who had been rattling off positions with practiced ease, suddenly faltered. A beat later, his voice cracked with a frantic energy as he screamed into the microphone.
"Nine! Nine G1 Uma Musume have completely seized the front! Behind Danon Beluga, there isn't a single G1 runner in sight! Is this the threshold of geniuses?! Have the 'mortals' been reduced to nothing but casualties within seconds of stepping onto this field?!"
Danon Beluga sat at the very tail of the G1 pack, acting like a literal severance line.
She marked the boundary between the G1 elites and everyone else, as if every girl behind her had been summarily disqualified from the race the moment it began.
Usually, a race doesn't fracture so cleanly. However, since exactly half of the entrants in this Japan Cup were G1-ranked, the stage was perfectly set for this stark divide.
Of course, there was a more critical reason: none of the G1 runners had chosen a back-of-the-pack strategy.
Aside from Panthalassa's desperate Great Escape lead and the front-running styles of Titleholder and Equinox, the remaining G1 elites had all opted for a mid-pack "Pace Chasing" strategy.
Theoretically, they were using the same tactic as the girls behind them, but the gap in raw physical talent and tactical experience was simply too vast.
The same strategy manifested as an entirely different beast depending on who was wielding it.
And so, even while running in the middle of the pack, the G1 elites were simply faster.
So fast, in fact, that they had nearly detached themselves from the rest of the field, violently snapping the eighteen-runner formation into two distinct halves.
Seconds after the gates opened, half the field had already been eliminated, left behind as the "corpses" of the defeated on this battlefield. They were still running, but for them, the race was already over.
Liberty Island adjusted her positioning. Unlike the Triple Tiara races she had dominated, the girls surrounding her now were all G1 veterans. The pressure they radiated was incomparable.
She had to ensure every single footfall was flawless; even a minor stumble would allow these predatory elites to snatch the advantage. Previously, she could rely on raw speed alone, but in a race like this, she had to scrape together an advantage inch by inch through meticulous positioning.
She was strong, certainly—but were the girls surrounding her any weaker? In a cluster where everyone was a G1 champion, Liberty Island had to be perfect just to stay in the conversation.
Furthermore, most G1 Uma Musume had already awakened their "Zone." For Liberty Island, who had yet to fully manifest hers, the disadvantage was glaring.
She knew she had to build up enough of a lead before the others started activating their Zones, or she would be swallowed up when the real magic started.
But just as she was calculating how to expand her positioning to counter the coming storm, the world seemed to stutter for a heartbeat.
Having run countless simulations against Dream Weaver to train her own Zone, Liberty Island felt a sensation that was hauntingly familiar.
It was a Zone!
Liberty Island gritted her teeth. The source was up ahead. Having memorized the layout of the pack, she knew exactly who was unleashing it.
It was Panthalassa, currently screaming ahead in the lead.
But she's already three lengths ahead of Titleholder! Why open your Zone now?
The stamina drain of a Zone is notoriously brutal for Great Escape runners. Isn't she afraid of running dry before the final straight?!
Even setting strategy aside, the timing was bizarre.
They had just cleared the first straight and were entering the second curve. If she wanted to widen the gap, shouldn't she wait for the next straight to accelerate?
It defied logic. Liberty Island had never seen an Uma Musume run like this. She fought to steady her racing heart, forcing herself not to let the shock ruin her form.
Fortunately, given her current distance from Panthalassa, the influence of the opponent's Zone was negligible. As long as she kept her head, she wouldn't be dragged into the wake.
But just as she managed to settle her roiling emotions, a boisterous, arrogant laugh echoed directly in her mind.
"THIS is what you call a real Great Escape! GYAH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"
Liberty Island's eyes widened in shock. She snapped her head toward the front.
Impossible. Has Panthalassa lost her mind?!
Running a Great Escape Zone is draining enough, but shouting loud enough for her to hear from back here? She'd ruin her breathing rhythm!
Yet, when Liberty Island looked toward Panthalassa, the girl showed no signs of strain. She was simply grinning, her sharp teeth bared in a silent, ecstatic laugh. There was no sign she had uttered a word.
A hallucination? The thought had barely formed when another voice drifted through her soul.
"Such a vulgar tactic. In the end, it is nothing more than a reckless dash with no regard for the consequences."
She recognized that voice. It was the French Uma Musume, Iresine, currently positioned just behind Liberty Island's left shoulder.
Liberty Island turned toward Iresine the moment she heard the first few syllables, but even as the sentence finished, she saw that Iresine's lips hadn't moved an inch.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.