Everyone held their breath.
There was no doubt that those two had reached a realm most people could never arrive at in their entire lives. They had developed the talent and spirit of an umamusume to the limit.
"Overlord, you really are strong!"
Kitasan Black's emptied mind had almost fallen into a frozen state. Though she had not used Tokai Teio's skill, everything around her seemed to stand still. She was also certain that she could not become any stronger. This was the limit of what she could bring out right now. If she could win the race like this...
But the footsteps following behind her never stopped. That aura that made her hair stand on end was still closing in. The finish line was already right before her eyes. She had already resolved to win even if she had to give everything, yet in that instant, Kitasan Black heard the voice from the depths of her soul:
"I can't win."
"I'm going to be forced down."
"Give up. The difference in strength is too huge."
"That's the Overlord, the one even the seniors couldn't defeat."
"There's no way a half-baked person like me can win."
...
Kitasan Black's hair shaded her eyes. Sweat dripped from her chin to the ground. Her eyes narrowed faintly. Her legs sent warnings and screams of overload. No matter how unwilling she felt, her body, which had already reached its limit, could not break through the bottleneck blocking her path. Everything seemed to declare the conclusion of this race.
But even knowing all of that...
"I still want to win!"
A gust of wind blew past. Light erupted in Kitasan Black's eyes, and the entire track seemed to ignite in that instant. The aura beside her, which had been about to fade, burned again. The dark-purple presence turned crimson like a phoenix reborn.
I don't want to end here!
I still want to keep running!
The reason to run that I finally found. My true heart that I finally saw clearly. How could I end here before reaching that faraway end?
If there really is another soul in this body, then lend me your strength!
"Keep up with me! My soul!"
In that instant, Kitasan Black felt as if something had pushed her from behind.
She heard that roar.
Behind her, the Overlord looked at Kitasan Black, who had widened the distance in an instant, and her cold eyes suddenly froze.
What was that just now?
Why did she suddenly feel as though she had lost control of the race?
Stamina, technique, domain. Everything Kitasan Black possessed had already reached its limit. They had clearly come this far. What else could still support her running? Why could she still accelerate?
Of course there was something.
Kitasan Black's power had indeed been exhausted, but its power had not.
An umamusume's soul was not a single thing.
For you, who see yourself as the strongest, this is something you could never understand, right, Overlord?
This is not my victory alone.
This is the victory I will seize together with the soul of this name!
100 meters remaining!
Kitasan Black led by one length!
Everyone in the stands was stunned.
However-
Boom!
The Overlord's sprint was completed almost in a single instant.
Unlike Kitasan Black, the Overlord's physical strength was far too great. After devouring Tokai Teio and Gold Ship's powers, even the Overlord herself could not fully control all of her strength. Thus, when faced with Kitasan Black's explosion of conviction, she almost instinctively completed the next step of evolution.
She grew stronger again.
It was potential with no visible end.
The two crossed the line at almost the same time.
Even if their bodies were on the same parallel line, the result could still be judged by other parts of the body. Who had crossed the finish first? Yet the two who had reached the finish paid no attention to that matter. Their attention was entirely on their opponent.
They both knew clearly that although this race had ended, based on the final performance just now, their victory and defeat had not been fully decided here. They had not completely determined who stood above the other.
In the end, the Overlord spoke first.
"I'll be taking this power."
She had successfully taken Kitasan Black's domain.
From that point of view, she had indeed won the race.
But when the Overlord recalled Kitasan Black's final performance, she understood that her victory was incomplete. She had failed to completely crush Kitasan Black. Her opponent had not yet displayed the full extent of her strength.
To the Overlord, potential was also part of full power, so she would not acknowledge this as her victory. In her view, this race was not over. She had merely taken the lead for now.
Kitasan Black took a deep breath.
"...Yeah."
She had lost.
She could not help raising her head. If she did not, she would be unable to stop herself from showing an ugly expression. This feeling was truly unpleasant.
So this was the taste of defeat.
It felt different from losing to her seniors.
The Overlord turned around.
"I'll wait for you up ahead."
Leaving those words behind, the Overlord departed.
Although she was not especially satisfied with this race's victory, she had indeed obtained the result she had come for. She would continue along her plan. She also believed that this race would certainly be restarted someday, because they were that kind of people.
Kitasan Black, before I become the strongest, I will completely crush you. Until then, let us part for now.
After the Overlord left, the academy side finally analyzed the result through the recording.
Everyone then learned that the race had ended in a narrow defeat for Kitasan Black. For a time, it caused no small disturbance. As the strongest active umamusume in this world, her defeat carried enormous meaning.
But the effect was not negative.
Even the higher-ups, who had originally been worried, later became confused, because they discovered that everyone's fighting spirit had actually grown even higher because of this incident. Later, through private investigation, they learned that those young umamusume seemed to have concluded from this event that there was no absolute strongest in the world. Even Kitasan Black, the strongest world champion in history, could lose to someone else.
From that, they reached one conclusion.
If even the strongest could lose, then perhaps they too had a chance to become the next strongest.
"..."
The higher-ups, who knew very well how abnormal Kitasan Black's strength was, fell silent. Though they did not think another monster like Kitasan Black would appear within ten years, it was still a good thing for the rookies' fighting spirit to rise. Let these young people dream a little. As long as they were not discouraged by this incident, that was enough.
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
After leaving Kitasan Black's world, the Overlord did not pause for even a moment. She immediately arrived in King Halo's world.
What surprised her, however, was that King Halo had already announced a temporary break from racing. Moreover, King Halo was not at Tracen Academy right now, but at a world-class facility.
The current King Halo's air looked more mature, and also colder.
"King Halo. Duel me."
A dark duel to decide life and death.
The loser would lose her qualifications as an umamusume.
King Halo lowered her glasses and slowly rose from her chair, replying with the same coldness:
"Very well."
There was no hesitation at all.
From King Halo, the Overlord saw a side similar to herself. Both were so confident. Both were so certain of their own victory. Neither had ever considered the possibility that she might lose.
She thought about King Halo's past performance and truly could not understand where the other party's confidence came from. King Halo's strength had originally been near the bottom among them. During the Goddess Cup, she had still possessed the boost of divine power. But now King Halo no longer had that power.
Thinking this, the Overlord followed King Halo to a training ground.
"We're here."
King Halo stopped.
"Do you need to rest?"
Looking at King Halo's almost emotionless eyes, the Overlord stopped thinking and answered without hesitation:
"No."
The slight fatigue from traveling would not affect her strength.
"Mm."
And just like that, the Overlord very easily obtained a chance to race King Halo. Yet because it went too smoothly, it was also puzzling. The Overlord found it hard to believe there was anyone who felt no awe toward her power at all.
But the facts were right before her.
King Halo had not even seriously observed her.
No spectators.
No referee.
Not even the slightest trace of battle intent.
The two stood on the starting line.
King Halo took out a gold coin and tossed it into the air.
The coin shone and spun, then fell.
Both of them took their starting stances.
Tap.
The instant the coin hit the ground, two gusts of wind rushed across the starting line. Only afterward did the sound of their footsteps ring through the wind.
"What is wrong with me?"
Only after the start did the Overlord realize that her emotions had been somewhat strange just now. Since when did she care so much about her opponent? She had never once placed the current race or the current opponent in her heart. They were merely steps on the road to becoming the strongest. Her victory was inevitable. Therefore, she did not need to think about her opponents. She only needed to display her power mercilessly and crush everyone until she defeated that person and became the strongest.
But after the races against those people earlier had ended, her emotions had unknowingly become more and more shaken.
She had clearly won.
She was the one who had won.
Why did she feel this way?
Why was she wavering?
"Am I... getting weaker?"
The Overlord fell into self-doubt.
She had begun to have stray thoughts.
Aside from winning, aside from running, she had begun to develop unnecessary feelings.
This was wrong.
Yet she could not stop it.
King Halo was ahead. Although leading was not her specialty, in her view, it did not matter much for this experiment. The Overlord's condition, however, made her pay a little more attention. According to the information she understood, the Overlord should not have been like this. In that case, something must have happened.
"Overlord. A sister born from the negative energy of our souls. Though only negative, because its quality was so vast, she obtained potential surpassing all of us..."
"Fusion. If, at the beginning, we had not been linked to the system and our current bodies, but had directly transformed into an umamusume instead, then perhaps this would have been the essence we should have possessed. She should be the purest individual among us."
Although King Halo had not taken any action earlier, she was not truly indifferent to the Overlord incident. She was, in fact, quite invested in the Overlord, because the power the Overlord possessed could not be ignored. Such overwhelming strength was something King Halo, who wanted to grow stronger, could not possibly disregard.
Moreover, the subject King Halo was currently researching was the differences between them. They had clearly been born from the same origin. Why did such obvious differences exist?
Where did these differences come from?
Why were some people's talents more powerful?
Was it truly only because of the body?
No.
At least according to her and Gold Ship's research, while an umamusume's body did indeed show different developmental tendencies at each stage, it was unlike any other living creature. In a certain sense, an umamusume's potential could be called infinite. Demon King Gold Ship did not care much about such matters, but King Halo had taken this seriously. She believed this might be the true blessing the Three Goddesses had given umamusume: the blessing that gave them the ability to truly change fate and surpass the history of another world.
But while potential was infinite, growth from childhood to adulthood, along with each individual's different choices, would cause the final ceiling each umamusume could reach to differ. Furthermore, an umamusume would also be influenced by the soul of another world. This was especially unavoidable for those who inherited names shining with the history of that other world.
This was why umamusume clearly seemed to have limitless potential, yet in practice could not break past the ceiling that the "self" of another world had reached. It was because umamusume rarely developed this gift properly.
They, however, were different.
Because they had the system's training space for trial and error.
Because they had the interference of the other half of their souls.
They could always squeeze each stage of growth to its limit, raising the ceiling of their future again and again.
But if that was true...
Why did such differences still exist?
Why were domains divided into weak and strong?
King Halo turned her head and looked deeply at the Overlord.
"Let me experience that answer for myself."
...
Get 20+ chapters ahead on - P.a.t.r.e.o.n "RoseWhisky"