"The opening phase is over."
"Kitasan Black takes the lead first!"
"Amazing... those two..."
The first straight was over in what felt like only a few breaths.
The record alone was enough to stun people.
On the track, Kitasan Black's burst was superior to the Overlord's. The brilliance of her skill activation was so dazzling that the watching umamusume could not help staring in shock, feeling as though they had learned something just from seeing it.
But as she ran, Kitasan Black's mood gradually sank.
I can feel it. The correct way to use this power!
A high-depth Flow combined with ZONE. The two powers no longer had any priority order between them. They stacked at the same time.
Two different drives operated together in that moment.
If that's the case...
I can win!
Kitasan Black's confidence surged.
She lowered her center of gravity. In the next instant, the figure of Tokai Teio appeared over her. But unlike the direct imitations she had used before, this time the phantom separated from her body, almost as though it had become another entity, sprinting forward in perfect sync with her movements.
Behind her, the Overlord looked at the scene in surprise.
What is this?
A deeper layer of her domain?
Rather than simply borrowing someone else's power through imitation, she was directly stacking those powers on top of her own foundation. The change was subtle, but it meant Kitasan Black was no longer limited to using only one stat panel when she switched styles. The question was how far she could take it right now.
How many people's powers could Kitasan Black use at once?
Once that thought crossed her mind, the Overlord's attitude grew far more serious. True, Kitasan Black's ability could not evolve comprehensively the way her [Fusion] could, nor could it fuse multiple skills into a new power. But Kitasan Black's base stats were not low to begin with, and the skills those people possessed were already strong enough.
Even if Kitasan Black could only use two people's powers at the same time, that was already enough to put the Overlord on guard. If she could use three, then even the Overlord herself would be at risk of defeat.
I might lose?
Something like that-
Impossible!
Don't get carried away!
The Overlord's originally composed expression changed in an instant.
Her cold gaze seemed to glow red. Her golden eyes flashed, gilded flames burned, and a dark aura spread outward from her body. For a moment, it felt as if that aura had become a physical pressure. The entire space seemed to tremble. As the dark aura intensified, the Overlord began to get serious.
She activated speed-boosting and acceleration skills without hesitation. More important, however, was the power she had plundered from Demon King Gold Ship: the Demon King's multiple interference skills and her domain, which was like an ultimate trial.
In that instant, the Overlord did not merely use skills similar to Kitasan Black's, the power of Tokai Teio. She also stacked Demon King Gold Ship's power on top of it. Unlike Kitasan Black's ability, her [Fusion] allowed her to freely use the powers she continued to seize. In terms of effect alone, it had already surpassed Kitasan Black's ability.
At once, terrifying gravity pressed down toward Kitasan Black.
The watching umamusume felt their hair stand on end.
They had taken Kitasan Black's advantage for granted, but after seeing the power the Overlord displayed now, they realized just how ignorant they had been. A temporary lead in the opening phase meant nothing to umamusume of this level, especially when Kitasan Black's lead was not large. The Overlord's race rhythm had not been affected at all.
This gravity!
Such powerful mental strength!
Is she an umamusume who specializes in interference skills? No, that's not right! It feels fundamentally different from mine!
Some umamusume who specialized in blocking skills were especially shocked.
This level of blocking skill had already reached the ceiling of the category, yet the Overlord also displayed terrifying speed.
Could a single umamusume truly reach that level in every area? And unlike Kitasan Black's Mimicry, the power the Overlord used showed no trace of learning or imitation whatsoever.
To anyone who did not know the full situation, the Overlord's power simply looked like her own. That made it even more horrifying.
But this was the power of [Fusion].
This was the weight of the strongest ZONE.
This is the Overlord's strength?!
Kitasan Black, whose mood had relaxed a little after her own strength sharply increased, grew tense again. The confidence that had just swollen inside her cooled in an instant. Almost the moment that terrifying gravity pressed down, cold sweat broke out across her skin and she used Teio-senpai's trump card. The instant she took the blocking skill, she decisively used time rewind to refresh her state. The only regret was that the "Teio-senpai" she could currently summon was only a past version. She could not use the Teio-senpai whose strength had updated again after the Divine Cup.
And after using time rewind, the phantom of Tokai Teio became even fainter.
The Overlord noticed.
So that's it... you haven't fully mastered this power yet. You really are half-baked, Kitasan Black. You always have been. You have this kind of talent, yet you waste it so badly!
If you can't bring out the value of that power, then hand it over to me. I'll make it display its greatest strength!
The Overlord released her malice without any attempt to hide it.
The aura of [Fusion] drew closer.
That spine-chilling sensation made Kitasan Black's tail stiffen.
Scary!
Even without the skill's effect, this pressure alone-
Isn't this way too much of a cheat?!
Kitasan Black cursed inwardly.
[Fusion] was simply too unfair.
It had a crude, straightforward beauty of strength.
She had thought her Mimicry was invincible under heaven, but the Overlord's Fusion had shown her what true strength was.
Damn it!
You're just showing off because your "weapon" is strong. Don't underestimate the results of my special training with McQueen-senpai!
McQueen-senpai!
In an instant, Kitasan Black shook off the pressure's influence and pulled away from the Overlord again. A brand-new phantom appeared at her other side, and that figure was impossible to ignore.
Mejiro McQueen!
The Overlord's eyes trembled as she looked at the phantom.
But in the end, it was only a phantom.
For one thing, Kitasan Black could not summon the power of divine skills. In other words, that phantom had, at most, Mejiro McQueen's strength from before the Divine Cup. It might not even have that much, because Mejiro McQueen's true strength had long since become a mystery. Although Kitasan Black's ability now looked like "summoning," its essence was still the same as before. The limit of what Kitasan Black could "summon" was the limit of her own understanding. She could not summon anything beyond her comprehension.
Still, while Tokai Teio's phantom had grown fainter, it was still present. If the Overlord's guess was correct, then under these circumstances, Kitasan Black should be able to use two people's powers at once.
And unlike the Overlord's [Fusion], there was a crucial difference.
The Overlord's [Fusion] could do something similar, but she was merely able to use those abilities on top of her own foundation. In other words, she could be treated as an upgraded version of the abilities' original owners. Kitasan Black's ability, however, synchronized and stacked those people's powers onto her own body. If not for Kitasan Black's own limits, the ceiling of this ability would be impossible to measure.
While Kitasan Black was internally cursing the Overlord's ability as too much of a cheat, the Overlord likewise found Kitasan Black's ability terrifying.
The difference between the two was this:
Kitasan Black was genuinely a little frightened.
The Overlord, meanwhile, felt fortunate. It was lucky that such a frightening ability had landed on someone like Kitasan Black, a slacker. If Kitasan Black had not wasted her own talent, then the Overlord might not have had full confidence in victory.
Both of them struggled inwardly.
And although the visible gap between them did not change much during the race, an unknown number of fierce exchanges had already taken place in the unseen realm. Only the true experts could tell. Kitasan Black had tried several times to shake her opponent off, but never succeeded. The Overlord had also tried several times to close the distance, only for Kitasan Black to react and evade her.
"Judging by the current situation, these two seem to be evenly matched. If it continues like this, Kitasan Black, who is currently leading, should gain a tiny advantage at the end!"
Air Groove said happily.
The clash between Kitasan Black and the Overlord was fierce, a level of contest she could not possibly interfere in, but she could still read the current situation. The two of them were trading offense and defense back and forth without any obvious gap in advantage. That meant Kitasan Black, who had taken the lead at the start, surely held the upper hand.
Symboli Rudolf fell silent.
Under normal circumstances, Air Groove's view would be correct.
But those two were not normal. This race was not normal either.
Their contest could not be judged by common sense.
The Overlord's ZONE had only been in a ready-to-release state so far. Its exact effect was still unknown. But with an aura that terrifying, its effect could not possibly be weak. Rudolf could tell that much from the way Kitasan Black would rather disrupt her own breathing rhythm than let the Overlord close to a certain range. Kitasan Black herself probably knew something about this Overlord's ZONE.
Is it a powerful effect that must be released within a certain range, but can decide victory once it is released?
Thinking that, Symboli Rudolf broke into a cold sweat on Kitasan Black's behalf. She could not imagine what kind of effect would be capable of that. But if that was true, then Kitasan Black's race rhythm would be in great difficulty. In most races, the race rhythm was usually influenced by the leading runner. This race, however, was different. The right to control the rhythm had essentially fallen into the Overlord's hands.
Under the Overlord's threat, Kitasan Black had no choice but to disrupt her rhythm repeatedly in order to avoid the attack range of the Overlord's ZONE.
Most of the spectators saw only the surface, just like Air Groove, and believed Kitasan Black currently had the advantage.
But a small number of people had already grown serious.
"This is bad."
Gold Ship muttered while standing with her team members.
Beside her, [Tokai Teio] and [Mejiro McQueen] wore similarly grave expressions. Precisely because they could understand part of what was happening, they could not watch this race with relaxed hearts.
"Kitasan Black's rhythm was completely controlled by her opponent halfway through the race. Her number of skill activations and stamina consumption are already more than twice her opponent's!"
As [Tokai Teio] said this, she felt a chill.
"That umamusume called Overlord is terrifying!"
It was not simply that she was strong.
She was also extremely good at "bullying" her opponent.
"Eh? Is that what's happening?"
Daiwa Scarlet froze.
So the one with the advantage right now was not Kitasan Black, but that Overlord? She looked to Vodka for an answer, but Vodka also wore a stunned expression after hearing [Tokai Teio]'s words. Clearly, among their group, only [Gold Ship], [Tokai Teio], and [Mejiro McQueen] had seen through it. Daiwa Scarlet and Vodka, whose understanding of ZONE was not deep, had not noticed at all.
"Trainer, please help analyze this."
[Mejiro McQueen] said.
The Trainer: "..."
He smiled wryly and shook his head.
For a race at this level, unless a Trainer possessed [Keen Eye], the vast majority of Trainers would not be able to analyze even a little of it. In truth, only after hearing [Tokai Teio]'s words had he realized that Kitasan Black's situation had already become so dangerous.
"Tch!"
An umamusume holding a computer looked at the smoking machine, then pulled out its battery with an annoyed expression.
"It actually exceeded the limits of my computer's calculations!"
She had originally been full of confidence, thinking she could collect Kitasan Black's data. Now reality had slapped her hard. Kitasan Black and the Overlord's data were absolutely not something her privately modified equipment could collect. To gather their data, one would probably need a national-level supercomputer.
However, because she had equipment assisting her, she had not been like most people, who noticed only the surface.
"Kitasan Black, will even the world's strongest you lose?"
Air Shakur murmured to herself.
Before her computer broke, she had calculated the result of the race. Kitasan Black's win rate had already fallen extremely low.
"Kita-san..."
Satono Diamond prayed for Kitasan Black from within the crowd.
She had also realized the situation was bad.
Because Kitasan Black's performance was completely different from usual.
And now Kitasan Black, who was the focus of everyone's attention, looked at the final bend ahead. Fewer than 600 meters remained before the finish. As long as she held on a little longer, she should have been able to take this race. That was how it should have been. But something was wrong. With her stamina, it should have been impossible for her to feel tired this early, yet right now she felt as though her strength would not come out properly.
I see. My breathing and rhythm were affected by my opponent a long time ago. Add in the nonstop maintenance of my ability, and my body's fatigue was triggered early, even though I still have stamina left!
It was like a marathon expert sprinting 100 meters at full power. Even after the sprint ended, they would feel drained. Through the danger of [Fusion], the Overlord had constantly forced Kitasan Black to trigger skills at key moments, keeping her body in a stimulated, overloaded state. Even though Kitasan Black still had stamina, she had been forced into a negative state where it was difficult to burst.
You look like a berserker, but your way of fighting is surprisingly calm. Overlord, you really are a dangerous opponent. It wasn't luck that Teio-senpai and Demon King-senpai lost to you. From the moment they thought they could beat you, they had already made the mistake of underestimating you. But you don't make that mistake. Just like now. Even though you have the strength to crush me head-on, you still chose the method with the highest chance of victory.
Sweat streamed down Kitasan Black's body.
Her heartbeat was abnormally fast, and her body had entered an overloaded state. Her opponent, on the other hand, was fully prepared. With 600 meters still remaining before the finish, no matter how one looked at it, she was already destined to lose this race. But faced with such a desperate situation, Kitasan Black's lips rose uncontrollably, and her fighting spirit climbed higher and higher.
It's time to decide this, Overlord!
Kitasan Black thought.
The next moment, along with the sound of heavy footsteps, a chill swept in from behind her. That black-hole-like gravity had drawn near.
Kitasan Black answered in kind, forcibly beginning a new burst.
And almost at the same time, the same aura appeared over both of them.
[Fusion] x2.
!!!
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