Gray Castle's special ability was to impose a force field.
The closer anyone got to her, the stronger the repulsion became.
In a sense, it was an ability with extremely strong self-protection, a bit like Magneto.
At least, ever since she'd started racing, through all those matches, she had never seen a single Mecha Girl get within ten meters of her while her special skill was active.
But now, the one exception had appeared.
After three consecutive corners, Gray Castle realized that not only had her force field failed to shake off Imperial Scale, but Imperial Scale was actually drawing closer with every turn thanks to her superior cornering.
She admitted that Richard Cheng's driving wasn't as good as Derek Su's, and she had been prepared for that from the start.
After all, Derek Su was the man honored as The Magician, the founder of drifting and launch control techniques.
Her thinking had been simple. If Richard Cheng's skills weren't enough, then she would make up the difference with her special ability.
But now it seemed even that wasn't enough.
Because Imperial Scale was completely unaffected by the force field.
"Master, do you know what Imperial Scale's special ability is?" Gray Castle asked, remembering that Richard Cheng had attended Imperial Scale's exhibition auction before. Maybe he knew something.
"No idea," Richard Cheng said gloomily. "They wouldn't reveal a Mecha Girl's special ability at an exhibition auction, and Imperial Scale is a brand-new model. There's no earlier model to use as a reference, so there's no way to predict what kind of ability she has."
Gray Castle sighed, feeling a little helpless.
But as she watched Imperial Scale getting closer and closer in the rearview mirror, her gaze sharpened.
It wasn't over yet.
She could do more than just project a force field.
So what if Imperial Scale's special ability boosted collision resistance or stability? No matter how strong those were, they still wouldn't withstand a Force Field Burst.
Her mind moved, and she activated Force Field Burst at once.
It was an active skill that lasted ten seconds.
Once activated, it doubled the repulsive force and gravity she imposed on her surroundings for ten seconds. It didn't affect her, but when those ten seconds ended, all her attributes would drop by 10% for a full minute.
At that point, she would still be able to keep applying a force field around her, but she wouldn't last much longer.
Maintaining the skill consumed endurance, and if she misjudged it, she might not even finish the race.
"I refuse to believe you can still move around freely in my domain when both the force field and repulsion are doubled!"
Gray Castle muttered.
The moment the words left her mouth.
Buzz!
A sharp ringing filled both Richard Cheng's and Derek Su's ears.
Their eardrums trembled, and immediately after that, the invisible force field around them seemed to become visible.
The most obvious change was that the scenery around them began to distort.
The grass and trees were crushed flat against the ground. Stones sank into the sand.
The dust kicked up by the tires dropped back down in an instant, no longer able to hang over the track.
That sensation of bearing a heavy burden returned, but it vanished completely in less than a second.
"Master, it's now four times gravity outside," Imperial Scale reminded him. "Do not open the window, and do not drink water."
Derek Su nodded.
Even without Imperial Scale's warning, he wouldn't have done anything that foolish.
Still, hearing that the outside world was now under four times gravity made him click his tongue inwardly.
After all, inside Imperial Scale's cockpit, he couldn't feel at all what four times gravity even meant.
But just thinking about it was enough. Under four times gravity, a human probably wouldn't even be able to take a step.
After all, someone who normally weighed 50 kilograms would suddenly have to drag around the equivalent of 200 kilograms. Just thinking about it was terrifying.
The blood-red scales flashed into view again for a brief instant.
[Judgment Successful]
Derek Su knew Gray Castle's skill had gone to waste again.
At the next corner, he drove Imperial Scale even closer to Gray Castle.
When they had been hunting the other Mecha Girls earlier, Imperial Scale had been like a savage great white shark.
Now Gray Castle looked like an aging whale, fleeing in panic yet unable to shake the shark locked onto her.
The protective rock walls gradually disappeared, and the track shifted once more from a concave section into a convex one lined with gullies.
There were still 20 kilometers left before the end of the second section, with around 17 difficult corners ahead.
...
Inside the cockpit, Gray Castle's face had turned pale, and her teeth were clenched tight.
"Why? How is this possible?!"
She had already used her strongest ability.
Force Field Burst. Four times the repulsion, four times the gravity.
And yet it hadn't affected Imperial Scale in the slightest.
With every corner, Imperial Scale crept a little closer, like something that clung to the bone.
Those bright headlights flickered in her rearview mirror through the rolling sand and dust, like silent mockery.
[Your ability is useless against me!]
It was as if she could hear Imperial Scale passing judgment on her.
[Time to get off the throne...]
[You old thing!]
Old thing. Old thing. Old thing!
Those words seared through Gray Castle's heart again and again like branding irons, leaving behind burning pain.
Was the honor of the HB-model Mecha Girl really going to be ruined by her?
"Gray Castle, calm down. We haven't lost yet." Seeing how awful Gray Castle looked, Richard Cheng felt terrible too and quickly tried to comfort her. "At least we're faster than they are, right? There won't be that many corners in the third stage. As long as we hold on until then, then use your incredible collision resistance and stability to force Imperial Scale into the water, won't that make this an easy win?"
Hearing that, Gray Castle gradually calmed down.
That was true.
No matter how fast Imperial Scale and Derek Su were in the second stage, once they reached the third stage, all the Mecha Girls would still start at the same time, and the final result would be based on the overall time.
Which meant she still had a chance.
Even if she was overtaken in the second stage...
Another corner was right in front of them.
Under Richard Cheng's control, Gray Castle took it in a steady, conventional way.
As a semi-trailer Mecha Girl, she couldn't drift without restraint.
Richard Cheng wasn't completely comfortable with choosing braking points either, so he always chose a relatively safe spot.
Screech!
She heard the sharp howl of tires grinding against sand.
Those glaring headlights were no longer flashing in the rearview mirror.
That menacing black shadow had appeared right beside her.
"So fast!" Gray Castle's eyes went wide.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Imperial Scale brake at an extremely aggressive point, then swing her rear out and drift through the corner.
What made Gray Castle even angrier was that Imperial Scale's tail swing was aimed straight at her front end.
Richard Cheng saw it and immediately wanted to evade.
But Gray Castle growled through gritted teeth, "Hit her! Crash straight into her! I want to see what she's really made of!"
Richard Cheng pressed his lips together. "...Fine."
He gave up on dodging.
He actually didn't want to go head-to-head with Imperial Scale. He had been to the exhibition auction, and he knew how frenzied the bidding for Imperial Scale had been. He also knew just how terrifying the Maratela tornado had been. But Gray Castle didn't understand how violent that tornado had really been that day. She had just treated it as an ordinary tornado.
Maybe letting Gray Castle suffer a little wasn't such a bad thing.
The thought had only just crossed his mind.
Bang!
A thunderous impact exploded ahead, mixed with Gray Castle's pained whimper.
Richard Cheng felt the entire cockpit jolt violently.
Fortunately, Gray Castle's collision resistance and stability were there to keep her from being knocked off the track.
By the time everything stabilized again, the only thing left in his sight was Imperial Scale's taillights.
...
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