At that moment, the air over Nakayama Racecourse seemed to be completely drawn away.
When deep-red light erupted beneath Grass Wonder's feet and spread outward like ripples, the entire racecourse fell silent for an instant. Sound had not vanished. Rather, every living being instinctively held its breath as it awaited the coming storm.
It was the radiance of a rainbow-colored skill, a newly unleashed legendary power—
[Pure White Whisper]!
At that moment, Grass Wonder's formidable mental strength became invisible shackles that clamped down upon the hearts of every umamusume ahead. The power seemed to manipulate gravity itself, pressing the other runners toward the ground and making every subsequent step incomparably difficult.
"Ugh!"
Seiun Sky, still running at the very front and already close to her limit, was nearly paralyzed by the sudden weight. She was like a car racing down a highway only to crash into an invisible wall of air. Her stride abruptly faltered, and her previously smooth breathing instantly fell apart. Not a trace of ease remained on her face. Her eyes trembled, her complexion turned pale, and sweat poured down her skin.
"Wh-what?!"
Emerald Wind, directly behind her, cried out in even greater shock. Her face was filled with disbelief and despair. She had only just broken out from the rear pack and charged all the way into second. She had been on the verge of taking first place from Seiun Sky, her momentum at its peak. Yet beneath that invisible pressure, her legs felt filled with lead, and the very impulse to sprint was forcibly restrained.
"Damn it! My legs are so heavy!"
"It's... it's a blocking skill!"
"Impossible! A blocking skill at this level?!"
Iron Will, Royal Glory, Sea of Blue Skies, and the other members of the Leader group—as well as the exhausted Crimson Blaze and Gale Wings—showed fear and despair upon their faces.
It was a tremor rising from the depths of their souls.
Grass Wonder, the gentle and dignified *Yamato nadeshiko*, had transformed into a "witch" who ruled the entire course. At last, she displayed her true power and revealed why Rigil's Trainer had noticed her talent before her debut. She was a prodigy in no way inferior to Silence Suzuka or Special Week. The "power" once sealed away by injury had finally been released: a rainbow-colored legendary skill combined with the legendary realm of [ZONE]!
Skill—
[The Winning Chance Has Arrived (Red)] activated!
The radiance around Grass Wonder had not yet faded when her racing shoes burst into dazzling light.
If [Pure White Whisper] was the chain that bound her opponents, then [The Winning Chance Has Arrived] was the pair of wings bestowed upon herself. With both skills active, she seized control of the entire race's rhythm in an instant. Her previously restless gaze became hollow and profound, replaced by ultimate concentration and fervor. A deep, dark-red aura erupted around her. It belonged to a realm that only the rarest prodigies could enter—
[ZONE]!
"That is..."
In the stands, Symboli Rudolf shot to her feet.
"I see. So she really has mastered it!"
As Grass Wonder's senior and teammate, Symboli Rudolf naturally knew why she had been injured. Grass Wonder had entered ZONE even before her debut, but her physical condition could not keep pace with its power. The resulting injury temporarily forced her away from the course.
Now that she had recovered and returned, Grass Wonder had indeed gained control of that power.
The woman beside Rudolf widened her eyes. Ordinarily composed, she could not conceal her shock, though worry accompanied it. "That state is..."
On the course, Grass Wonder's speed soared the instant she entered ZONE.
Like a furious blood-red flame, she wove through the chaotic pack. The umamusume who had lost speed under the blocking skill could only watch her flash past. They did not even have the strength to lift a finger.
Grass Wonder's gaze pierced layer after layer of runners and locked firmly onto the figure ahead.
That was her only prey!
...
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the stands, where Team Spica had gathered...
"That's frightening..."
Silence Suzuka folded her arms, brows tightly furrowed.
For a runner like her, this situation was an exceptionally dangerous counter. In the past, she had always used her pace and speed to leave everyone behind, denying opponents the chance to lock onto her and activate their skills. But seeing a blocker of Grass Wonder's caliber and imagining herself in the race sent a chill through her heart. Grass Wonder's present state also reminded her of the realm she had nearly entered at the end of the Hopeful Stakes.
Nishino Flower, standing beside her, looked equally stunned. "She was hiding a trump card like that?"
Just how many monsters did Rigil have?
Silence Suzuka had begun in that team, and although Special Week had since left, she too had once been a member. Now Grass Wonder had displayed equally astonishing power. Rigil truly deserved its reputation as Central Tracen Academy's premier team.
Gold Ship said, "That monster is in danger now."
Back in the race,
Special Week, running on the outside, had indeed shown a trace of surprise when Grass Wonder activated her power. The invisible pressure caused a tiny pause in her otherwise smooth acceleration, while that aura pulled like a black hole. But she recovered in a single instant. The dark aura around her immediately grew denser, and golden light blazed in her eyes like burning flames. Her body broke free of the restraint at once.
[Wildness] could consume stamina to ignore the effects of any blocking skill!
Watching from the stands, Silence Suzuka smiled faintly.
There was no fear in Special Week's eyes now—only a hint of excitement.
"ZONE..."
Special Week murmured inwardly.
"...Interesting!"
"Special Week is accelerating!"
The commentator cried out. "She's accelerating on the outside! What astonishing explosive force! She's like a heavy tank, effortlessly crushing every obstacle!"
"She's too fast! Far too fast!"
In a single instant, Special Week passed every runner ahead.
Seiun Sky gritted her teeth as that figure roared past on the outside.
"How can she still run that fast under these conditions? She really is a monster!"
Emerald Wind looked even more despairing, unable to believe what she was seeing.
"So this is... a monster..."
The race entered the fourth turn—the final corner.
The situation on the course had become completely clear.
The once-chaotic field had been torn into two distinct sections.
Behind were the "ordinary runners," suffering under the blocking skill and struggling desperately.
Ahead, only two figures remained in pursuit of each other.
Special Week and Grass Wonder!
"You won't escape..."
Grass Wonder stared at the girl's back ahead, the flames in her eyes burning even more fiercely.
Special Week was extraordinarily fast, but Grass Wonder's astonishing persistence was more frightening still.
No matter how Special Week activated skills to accelerate, she seemed unable to shake Grass Wonder.
Gradually, the gap between them narrowed until they could almost hear each other's breathing.
Only one length remained!
The overwhelming pressure left the spectators in the stands nearly unable to breathe.
"What the hell?! What kind of clash of titans is this?!"
"Special Week and Grass Wonder! They've left everyone else behind!"
"Is this what genius looks like?"
In one corner of the stands,
Rice Shower gripped the wooden railing with both hands.
"They're incredible... Special Week-senpai... and Grass Wonder-senpai..."
Light glittered in Rice Shower's eyes—awe mingled with yearning.
"Is this... the highest level of competition?"
As she watched the two figures racing across the course, the seed of her own desire to run began growing wildly within her heart.
"I want to... I want to stand on a stage like that too..."
At the same time,
White McQueen and the others, concealed among the spectators, seemed to feel an inexplicable chill.
...
"The race is entering the final straight!"
With the commentator's roar, Nakayama Racecourse reached the height of its excitement.
The fourth turn ended, and the final straight opened before them.
Seiun Sky, Emerald Wind, Iron Will... The runners who had still been struggling were now completely left behind. The gap between them and the two "monsters" ahead had grown to an astonishing ten lengths.
The race had become a stage belonging entirely to those two!
Special Week and Grass Wonder emerged from the turn one behind the other, like two top-class racing machines.
Their strides were astonishingly synchronized, every footfall seeming to have been precisely designed.
Grass Wonder remained almost directly behind Special Week. Even now, her fervor had not overcome her composure. Though she could have drawn alongside, she calmly chose to use Special Week as a windbreak and conserve her own stamina.
Only when they entered the final straight
did she decisively move out from behind and draw level.
Her expression twisted into a terrifying smile.
"She's through! She's through! The new leader is—Grass Wonder!"
the commentator shouted passionately.
In the stands, Symboli Rudolf stared fixedly at the course, fervent light flashing in her eyes.
"This is... evolution."
"Special Week, Grass Wonder... the two of you are taking this race to an entirely new level!"
On the opposite side, where Team Spica had gathered, even Silence Suzuka's breathing grew rapid.
...
The final 600 meters.
The gap between Special Week and Grass Wonder still had not opened.
Grass Wonder's face was utterly expressionless, but the light in her eyes grew brighter and brighter.
The dark-red aura around her also became increasingly terrifying.
She drew even more deeply upon ZONE, forcing her body into a still more extreme state.
"I've won, Spe-chan!"
"Have you?"
As though she had heard Grass Wonder's thoughts, Special Week's lips curved into a faint smile.
She glanced back at Grass Wonder, her eyes calm and utterly unperturbed.
"We haven't reached the finish line yet."
Special Week's voice was soft, yet it struck like a hammer.
Carried by the wind over the course, it entered Grass Wonder's ears.
Light erupted beneath Special Week's feet once more.
It was not a rainbow-colored legendary skill.
Golden radiance covered her racing shoes. In the next instant, her figure flickered amid scattering fragments of light and appeared alongside Grass Wonder.
Compared with a legendary skill or the legendary realm of ZONE, this advanced skill seemed almost plain. Yet that unadorned strike carried force like an overturning sea.
"What?!"
Grass Wonder's pupils contracted.
She felt as though a wall had slammed into her.
Then she understood in an instant: Special Week had caught her!
"It's not over!"
Grass Wonder gritted her teeth and forcibly drew out ZONE's power, trying to catch her once again.
Their figures cast afterimage after afterimage across the course.
The final 400 meters.
The final 300 meters.
The final 200 meters.
Special Week still led by half a length.
Grass Wonder clung desperately behind. The distance narrowed bit by bit, yet she could never pass.
"Spe-chan!!!"
A heartrending cry erupted within Grass Wonder. All her frustration, obsession, love, and hatred intertwined at the peak of her run.
She surged forward!
But only for an instant before the gap opened once more.
The light beneath Special Week's feet never faded.
It came from skills layered together in an unbroken sequence, their bonuses multiplying again and again.
Not only Grass Wonder—even Symboli Rudolf in the stands stared in shock.
No one had imagined that Special Week could go this far.
Was her body truly made of iron?
She was a monster in every sense of the word!
Special Week's race outfit snapped violently in the wind.
The final 100 meters.
The finish line lay directly ahead.
"Special Week!"
"Still in the lead!"
The commentator's voice had become a scream. "Who will reach the finish line first?!"
Tens of thousands of spectators rose simultaneously.
"Special Week! Special Week!"
"Grass Wonder! Grass Wonder!"
Their shouts merged into an enormous wave of sound that seemed ready to shatter the sky.
Rice Shower covered her mouth as tears spilled from her eyes.
"Keep going... Please, keep going..."
She did not know whom she was cheering for. Perhaps Special Week, perhaps Grass Wonder—or perhaps the part of herself that still refused to give up despite its despair.
The final 50 meters.
Special Week remained in front!
Grass Wonder still clung desperately behind her.
But the monster's lead stood as immovable as an iron tower!
That half-length gap was true despair!
...
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