Xingyun Liuge was pressuring Brian's Time on purpose.
The moment she thought about Brian's Time's juniors watching from in front of their television screens, she felt a thrill run through her.
She told herself she had clearly seen Brian's Time's hunger for victory in those eyes, her stubborn devotion to leading by example, and that was why she had decided to give her a push.
After all, what could be more exhilarating than drawing out a horse girl's full strength and letting her display her most powerful self in front of all her juniors?
…All right, that was only half true.
To be honest, I just wanted to crush her completely, body and soul. That's why I did it.
Xingyun Liuge was perfectly honest with herself.
She could not help it. The thought of Brian's Time chasing after a fleeting moment of strength, throwing herself into it again and again, only to taste defeat again and again until she finally came to her in desperation—it made her heart pound.
So yes, she had done it on purpose.
What she had not expected was an even greater surprise.
Brian's Time actually burst into tears on the spot.
There she was, in front of tens of thousands of spectators, in front of the juniors who were waiting for her to bring home a good result, and she had started crying.
How delightfully interesting.
Xingyun Liuge felt no pity whatsoever.
If anything, she wanted to laugh.
But on camera, her expression was colder than ice, as if she were saying:
Let me see your resolve.
Would Brian's Time quit in disgrace right here and now?
Or would she squeeze every last drop from her body and keep fighting to the bitter end?
That was the choice before her.
And in truth, it was a very simple one.
Under Xingyun Liuge's merciless stare, Brian's Time's legs had already gone weak. She felt certain that if she kept running, nothing good would come of it. And yet, with her teeth clenched, she forced out another step.
When the spectators saw Brian's Time advance again under Xingyun Liuge's crushing pressure, her fans and even ordinary viewers were moved by her courage and unyielding spirit. Before long, cheers were rising everywhere.
Though sweat streamed off her in sheets, though her limbs felt so heavy she did not want to move them at all, though even her consciousness seemed ready to blur, Brian's Time still kept going forward.
And then, in the midst of it all, she felt a strange power.
It was as if she were slamming into the suffocating heaviness shackling her body, breaking it piece by piece.
There came a sharp crack, like something invisible snapping apart.
The restraints holding her back seemed to shatter, and before her lay an entirely new world.
At that moment, only one thought remained in Brian's Time's mind:
My body… feels so light…
As if there were nothing left to fear.
As if every hardship and obstacle had drifted far away.
And more than that—
A burning light flashed across Brian's Time's eyes.
She felt she could keep going. She felt she could even fight for victory in this race.
Because amid despair deep enough to crush anyone, she had awakened a new power.
She wanted to throw her head back and shout to the track, to the distance waiting just beyond her reach.
For her, today was a day worth remembering.
And then, in the very next instant, the world changed.
There was no warning. No omen.
The sky was suddenly swallowed whole by a darkness no one could predict, no one could observe.
No—that was not darkness.
Nor was it despair.
It was something deeper, gentler, vaster.
Watching that abrupt transformation in the heavens, Secretariat's eyes sharpened with thought. Then astonishment slowly surfaced on her face.
She recognized what it was.
And because she recognized it, she was even more astonished—more captivated by Xingyun Liuge than before.
The idea already taking shape in her mind, bold from the very start, suddenly became bolder still.
Risen Star, meanwhile, had no time for such thoughts.
She assumed Xingyun Liuge had simply decided to erupt again in mid-race and was about to give them all another taste of what "Xingyun Liuge shock" felt like.
To be honest, she was already used to Xingyun's sudden bursts by now. If the girl ever stayed behind quietly and refused to make a move, that would have felt strange.
So she failed to realize what she was really looking at.
"What… is this?"
Brian's Time's voice shook, astonishment and fear mingling together.
Under Xingyun Liuge's relentless pressure—and her so-called "encouragement"—Brian's Time had finally broken past her own limits and awakened a Domain. She had just been about to gather herself and challenge Xingyun Liuge again.
And now the entire world had changed.
Though it was the first time she had ever seen such a sight, she did not need to think hard to know who had caused it.
Who else but Xingyun Liuge would suddenly unleash something like this in the middle of a race and then carry it all the way to the finish?
Very soon, Brian's Time realized the true nature of that "darkness."
It was a sky higher than the sky.
The raw face of the universe stripped of the atmosphere's protection.
In other words—
It was outer space.
The tiny points of light trembling in that immeasurable void, visible only if one focused with one's whole being, proved it beyond doubt.
"Another… entirely new power?"
Brian's Time's heart began to hammer wildly.
Only moments ago, she had believed she had finally earned the right to challenge Xingyun Liuge. She had been ready to throw everything she had into one more clash.
But now…
Standing before a world so vast, how could she possibly still believe she had the courage to challenge Xingyun Liuge?
She had only obtained a power she had not even fully mastered.
How could she possibly fight an entire universe?
Staring up at that ink-dark firmament, Brian's Time broke into a cold sweat. She could scarcely breathe.
This time, Xingyun Liuge did not share any of her "kindness" with Brian's Time.
She simply brought her hoof down.
Far above, the faint scattered stars suddenly blazed with dazzling brilliance.
One.
Then two.
Then four.
Then eight.
And soon there were too many to count.
The shining points linked together, tracing the outline of a mysterious being vast and elegant beyond words.
In the claw of that colossal figure, a stellar core appeared in silence.
It burned tirelessly.
From it extended countless luminous strands, threading deep into the vacuum itself, exerting an unseen force that gathered and pulled drifting dust into spiraling veils so delicate and immense they seemed capable of unfurling for billions of miles.
It looked as though some great existence had exhaled a magnificent, glittering soap bubble.
But that beautiful "bubble" was unspeakably dangerous.
The dense dust-clouds inside it painted layer upon layer of shifting light and shadow, while amber radiance flashed at its nodes, refracting and scattering until the whole thing was haloed in dreamlike splendor.
This was a miracle called a nebula—
A wonder suspended between birth and annihilation.
Faced with something so breathtakingly beautiful and so terrifyingly lethal, Brian's Time forgot even to call upon the new power she had just awakened.
But whether she remembered or not made little difference.
Because at that moment—
She could barely move at all.In a daze, she thought she heard that colossal being let out a profound, mysterious sigh:
"To cower, to worship, to stand in awe—such is the nature of humankind. None are exempt."
"—!"
An amber light bloomed in silence, then dissolved into countless golden motes that drifted softly down from the sky.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 155)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter200)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter110)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter230)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 200
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 180
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/5
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 230
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 220
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/30
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 120
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 135
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 110
I Can Copy Unique Skills 100
Summoning an Evil God, but the 70
Supernatural Multiverse 100
My Harem Is Indescribable 90
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 95
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 68
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 105
Still playing traditional Honk 69
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 80
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 70
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 75
Checking In in Demon Slayer 80
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 85
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 70
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 65
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 70
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 70
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 65
Why did they assign me to Uma 65
MYGO Beauties 65
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 55
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 65
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 45
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 45
The Uma Musume Who Became 40
I'm Definitely Not the King of 45
After Maxing Out Every Class 45
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