Uma Musume: To The Top!!

The race continued.

"Tap, tap, tap—!"

Inside the arena, the thunderous footfalls of the fifteen Umamusume drowned out every other sound.

The ground trembled. Dust flew.

"The Umamusume pack has now passed the 800-meter long straight and reached the third corner!"

The commentator loudly reported the situation on the track.

"The first group, made up of Mejiro McQueen and Triptych, has already opened up nearly five lengths on the second group! What an absurd gap!"

"In the lead position, it is still Mejiro McQueen!"

"This gray monster from the Far East is always so stable. She has led at such an aggressive pace for so long, yet it is as if she never feels fatigue at all!"

"One length behind her is Triptych, still following close. Her leg strength and stamina are equally outrageous, and she shows no sign of hesitation!"

"In third place, five lengths away, is Elmaamul. It seems the second group is having a very hard time keeping up with the two Umamusume ahead!"

The storm on the track had not calmed after entering the middle leg. Instead, it had brewed into an even more suffocating pressure.

Under the commentator's voice and the audience's eyes, McQueen and Triptych, running at the very front, seemed to exist in a completely different dimension from the pack behind them.

That enormous gap was like an invisible chasm, blocking every weaker runner at the edge of the abyss.

Impassable!

"Hah… haah…"

At the head of the second group, Elmaamul gritted her teeth hard, sweat dripping from her chin in heavy drops and splashing onto the ground.

As one of the twelve strongest runners in Europe today, she was putting everything she had into closing the distance.

But every time she raised her head, the two backs in her vision did not grow larger. Instead, they continued to shrink at a speed that made it hard to breathe.

"I can't catch them… I can't catch them at all! What kind of pace are those two monsters running at?!"

Her teeth clenched tight.

As a battle-hardened veteran Umamusume, Elmaamul naturally knew what it meant to be five lengths behind when the race was only halfway through, especially when this was not even a Great Escape tempo.

But right now, there was nothing she could do.

At this point, simply doing everything she could to keep from being left even farther behind was already her limit.

If she tried to catch up, she would have to use the power of her [Domain] early.

But if she used her [Domain] here, she would probably lose speed on the final straight and become prey for the others.

"…Damn it!"

After a long silence, Elmaamul finally lowered her head.

And it was not only her.

That deep sense of powerlessness crawled into the hearts of every Umamusume behind her like a sickness clinging to the bone.

…

Meanwhile, in the "clash of gods" at the very front, Triptych's situation was just as agonizing.

This won't work. I have to find an opening for the sprint afterward!

Entering the third corner, Triptych took a deep breath. Her eyes flashed as she began probing.

First, the girl used the centrifugal force to make a slight lateral shift outward.

She was preparing to search for an ideal route with a wider field of vision, one that would not be affected by the figure in front of her.

However, just as there were barely more than a dozen centimeters between them—

McQueen, ahead of her, moved as if she had eyes on her back.

Her figure swayed slightly with almost casual ease, then cut into the front side of Triptych's predicted line with terrifying precision.

It made Triptych extremely uncomfortable.

She could neither accelerate properly nor keep looking for a position without difficulty.

The position McQueen occupied did not completely block her route.

But it prevented her from comfortably accelerating forward at full power.

She would need to move a bit farther outside before she could find a clear path.

"…In your dreams! You only need to shift your steps a little, and with the smallest possible stamina cost, you want to force me to waste far more stamina searching for a breakthrough route? You even want to make me run the outside lane through these two corners?"

Triptych clenched her teeth hard and forcibly stabilized her mindset, refusing to fall into McQueen's trap.

Damn it.

So this is the price of failing my opening plan… It feels like I've been completely trapped in an airtight net!

Triptych drew in a deep breath, her gaze growing even firmer.

Then I can only bet everything on the next corner!

…

"They've passed the 1,200-meter marker! Fourth corner! Ladies and gentlemen, this race is about to enter its final decisive phase!"

"The first group, made up of Mejiro McQueen and Triptych, has stepped into the final corner!"

Along with the commentator's passionate roar, the atmosphere on the track erupted like a volcano.

Now!

"Boom—!"

Almost at the exact same instant, strange light exploded in the pupils of the two runners at the very front.

[Domain]—! ×2

Ordinary eyes could not perceive it.

But in the vision of the elite Umamusume on the track, countless streams of four-colored light, almost solid in form, surged madly across the track ahead!

McQueen's body was wrapped in a pure white radiance, like the endless high heavens.

Around Triptych's body, murky black and white first intertwined, before that muddled color was wrapped and entwined by another dazzling brilliance.

Like boiling magma, a violent red-gold light rose around her!

Domain—Sky's End!

Domain—End of Light and Shadow!

The Umamusume behind them only felt a flood, like a burst dam, roaring toward them from ahead.

Dragged and torn by that terrifying momentum, they immediately felt as if they were suffocating.

That horrifying pressure, as though it was about to fling them off the track, forced these veterans to stop conserving their strength.

"These two bastards' [Domains] aren't even on the same level as Oguri Cap's or mine!"

Elmaamul was shocked, but under the pressure of that external force, light burst from her entire body. In an instant, she charged forward.

And it was not only Elmaamul.

Among the remaining twelve participating Umamusume, seven had faint sparks of lightning suddenly flicker in their pupils.

They were forced to begin their sprint before entering the final straight, simply so they would not be completely abandoned by that flood.

Of course, no matter how hard the Umamusume behind them struggled, it had nothing to do with the two rulers at the front.

Right now, they only had eyes for each other!

Ahead of them, the two figures wrapped in the brilliance of their Domains were like giant beasts locked in a contest of strength. The air around the entire corner was stirred into a mad spiral by their brute force.

"Boom—!"

Using the long stride of the outside lane, Triptych unleashed her full power. The red-gold radiance nearly illuminated the sky.

Every time her foot struck the ground, she squeezed every ounce of strength from her body. Enormous propulsion shoved her forward, forcing her inch by inch up alongside McQueen!

Even if she had to cover a longer distance and pass from the outside, Triptych had to do it!

Before the final straight, she had to reduce the gap between them as much as possible.

"Hoo…"

Then, the gray-haired girl ahead of her breathed out a faint stream of white air.

Her steps shifted slightly, and her cornering motion remained standard and light.

She held the inside-lane advantage. Merely by relying on cornering technique that was stronger and more refined than Triptych's, she steadily defended the lead position.

If this were a game, anyone could clearly see that more than a dozen cornering skills would have popped up above McQueen's head at the same time.

"They're out!"

"The two Umamusume are about to charge out of the fourth corner! Final straight—! The last 400 meters will decide everything!"

(End of Chapter)

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