With Barbatos's solitary performance on the winner's stage coming to an end, the Arima Kinen officially drew to a close.
Kitasan Black...
Kitasan didn't even know how she managed to leave the racecourse.
Her once-sparkling eyes had lost their luster, and her entire being seemed drained of life.
"Kita-chan, please, try to eat a little something," Satono Diamond urged, her voice laced with worry.
They were currently sitting in a dessert shop with two young men they had watched the race with.
It was the kind of place Kitasan usually loved, but right now, even her favorite sweets couldn't seem to pull her out of her funk.
"Teio... Teio, she..."
Kitasan's voice trembled, breaking into a sob.
After what had happened the previous night, she had caught a glimpse of Barbatos's true power—she knew what it meant to be the best in the world.
Even after the shock of the fan voting results, she thought she had prepared herself. She thought she was ready to see Teio-san lose.
But the moment the race actually began—when Special Week and Grass Wonder unleashed a record-breaking lead, and Teio-san couldn't even touch their shadows no matter how hard she gave chase—Kitasan felt something inside her snap.
Seeing Teio-san lose her speed afterward, only to be overtaken by Mejiro McQueen, Big Three, and the rest of the field... it was too much to process.
It was a crushing realization that the symbol of invincibility in her eyes could be reduced to mere collateral damage in a clash between monsters. Her entire world felt like it had shattered.
Satono Diamond's lips parted, but no words came out.
She wasn't doing much better. Even when McQueen had lost to Special Week at the Spring Tenno Sho, the gap hadn't felt this insurmountable.
This Arima Kinen wasn't just about Barbatos leaving Grass Wonder and Special Week ten lengths behind; it was about those two leaving the rest of the field ten lengths behind as well.
The sheer visual impact of that distance was staggering.
"I..."
Kitasan Black suddenly hopped down from her seat.
She looked like she was trying to pull herself together, though her voice still carried the telltale tremor of someone who had just been crying. "Dia-chan, I want to go to Tracen Academy."
"If it hurts this much just being her fan, Teio-san must be feeling a thousand times worse. I want to go to the Academy and cheer her on!"
--+--
Tears fell into the hollow of a tree.
Teio had forced a smile for her teammates in Spica as they returned to the Academy, waiting until she was finally alone to let the mask slip.
She wasn't the only one in the team who had lost today. Spe-senpai, Grass-senpai, and McQueen... they were all her dear friends, and today, they had all lost. Decisively.
The "Undefeated" had been stripped from her Triple Crown title. Now, only the "Triple Crown" remained.
Yet, she couldn't even muster any resentment.
There was only the raw, hollow ache of defeat.
Even though she knew the race would be grueling, even though she knew of Barbatos's strength and the gap between them, she never imagined it would be a literal abyss.
Every Uma Musume has her fantasies.
She had once imagined that she was the protagonist of this era—that she would overcome Barbatos-senpai at the Arima Kinen, take the crown, and become an absolute legend just like the President.
But the race had taught her a cold lesson.
The protagonist of this story was never her.
The distance between her and Barbatos—even the distance between her and Grass or Special—was a gulf she hadn't even begun to fathom.
--+--
Online, the hype surrounding Barbatos's return had reached a fever pitch.
If the news of her comeback had topped the trending charts before the Arima Kinen, it now utterly dominated the digital landscape. Every forum thread, every headline, was about her.
At the very top of the boards was a post titled:
[The Strongest of All Time vs. The Strongest of Today!]
The original poster provided a meticulous breakdown of the absolute dominance displayed by the "Emperor," Symboli Rudolf, in past Winter Dream Cups, while weighing it against the level Barbatos was currently operating at.
A wave of fresh, Level 1 accounts suddenly appeared to defend Symboli Rudolf.
These weren't bots or trolls; they were the old guard—those who had lived through Rudolf's era.
To them, Symboli Rudolf was the absolute constant of the Japanese racing world.
Her divinity was not to be questioned, and her defeat was a logical impossibility.
It was as certain as 1+1=2.
Even with Barbatos at the zenith of her power—even with the poster claiming she had surpassed legends like T.M. Opera O, Narita Brian, Maruzensky, and Oguri Cap—the "Emperor" remained a sacred, invincible figure in their eyes.
Among the older generation, this sentiment wasn't just common; it was the rule.
However, the tide was shifting.
On the forums, the wave of Barbatos supporters grew taller with every passing second.
Some comments appeared in slightly clunky Japanese, clearly run through translation software, making the old-timers feel like the world was moving on without them.
The defense for the "Emperor" was like a levee facing a flash flood; it was simply being washed away.
Occasionally, a stray user would click the thread title expecting a debate about anime power scaling, only to realize they were looking at a real clash of titans.
They usually ended up staying and joining the Barbatos camp anyway.
Time marched on, and soon, the Winter Dream Cup was at hand.
Spectators swarmed the Tokyo Racecourse to witness the annual spectacle.
Unlike previous years where the Arima Kinen usually overshadowed this event, this year's Winter Dream Cup featured a roster of faces that felt more like a dream than ever.
The lineup was a "Who's Who" of legends:
The Triple Crown winner, Seiun Sky.
The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe champion, El Condor Pasa.
The Grand Prix back-to-back winner, Grass Wonder.
The Spring and Autumn Tenno Sho winner, Special Week.
The Derby winner, King Halo.
The "Otherworldly Front-Runner," Silence Suzuka.
And the current world number one, Barbatos.
They had all been voted into the race. While Tokai Teio had the votes to qualify, a recent rule change meant she would have to wait until next year to officially participate.
In the stands, Tokai Teio had not yet fully emerged from the shadow of her crushing defeat, but she had still come to cheer for the President.
She was on great terms with the legends and Barbatos's crew, but her adoration for the President was on another level. Her yearning to be like Rudolf—to be an "Absolute" Uma Musume—was what drove her.
She had failed. She was no longer undefeated.
As the cheers for the President and the roars for Barbatos clashed in the air around her, Teio's expression hardened with resolve.
"The President is still the strongest!"
--+--
The Star-Studded Golden Generation: Winter Dream Cup Attributes
(Attributes ranked by Speed, Stamina, Power, and Intelligence/Technique)
Uma Musume Speed StaminaPower Intelligence
Special Week 1580 1400 1200 2000
Grass Wonder 1600 1500 1300 1200
Barbatos 1390 ??? 2000 2000
Seiun Sky 1660 1600 1400 1800
El Condor Pasa 1650 1500 1800 1500
Silence Suzuka 1720 1300 1500 1100
Maruzensky 1690 1400 1500 1500
T.M. Opera O 1650 1600 1600 1400
Narita Brian 1670 1400 1550 1420
Oguri Cap 1650 1700 1800 1300
Symboli Rudolf 2000 2000 2000 2000
A/N: The above data is purely fictional and intended for entertainment. Essentially, at this level, you won't know the winner until they cross the finish line.
--+--
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.