Fortunately, Black Fortress was already airborne.
Although the cold had slowed her engine and reduced the speed of her wheels, they were already in the air. What difference did slower wheels make now?
Meister sat firmly in the cockpit and glanced at the rearview mirror, wanting to see which sneaky bastard had attacked him from behind.
The moment he looked, he heard the rapid crackling of ice forming.
An ice bridge was taking shape behind them at incredible speed.
At the same time, a cerulean-blue off-road Mecha Girl was racing along it, charging straight toward them together with the advancing bridge.
Crap!
Meister's scalp went numb.
What the hell kind of Mecha Girl could build a bridge in midair?
Building a bridge was one thing.
But using the damn bridge to ram people?!
Who could deal with that?!
He finally remembered who this contestant was. A young rookie from the Demon King Club who looked like a middle-aged man.
His name was Trien, if Meister remembered correctly. Since he had no notable achievements and there was no data on his Mecha Girl, Meister had never paid much attention to him. On top of that, Trien and his mysterious Mecha Girl had been trailing behind throughout the race, giving Meister even less reason to care.
Yet at the crucial moment of the Flying Dragon Cliff jump, this supposed minor player he had completely overlooked suddenly unleashed something huge!
"Black Fortress! Dodge!" Meister shouted, his eyes bulging.
Black Fortress gritted her teeth, her face pale.
She was already airborne. How was she supposed to dodge?!
Besides, she was a combat-type Mecha Girl. She was heavy.
But since Meister had given the order, she still did everything she could, twisting with all her strength and forcibly shifting herself two centimeters to the side.
BANG—!
The ice bridge still slammed into them.
It swept directly over Meister and Black Fortress.
Black Fortress completely lost her balance and plunged toward the river beneath Flying Dragon Cliff.
Meanwhile, Ice Soul sped smoothly across the ice bridge.
"Hehe."
Inside Ice Soul's cockpit, Trien's lips curled into a sleazy grin.
Defeating an opponent fair and square was certainly satisfying.
But Trien found playing dirty even more satisfying.
Especially when it meant making a name for himself at the expense of the ISC Club's ace.
...
ISC Club Operations Department
Everyone stared in stunned silence as Meister and Black Fortress plunged off the cliff.
The ISC head coach's face turned livid. He punched straight through the monitor in front of him, then spun around and roared at everyone nearby.
"What are you standing around for?! Notify the rescue team and logistics department! Get those two idiots out of the river right now!"
ISC had completely blown this provincial competition.
Even if Meister and Black Fortress were rescued and could still continue racing, there would be no point.
The rescue alone would cost them far too much time. Rather than return to the track, finish outside the top fifty, and embarrass themselves even further, they might as well go lie in a hospital bed for six months and recover.
By the time they came back, everyone would have mostly forgotten the humiliation.
...
The battle on the Flying Dragon Cliff section was still raging.
Ice Soul's skill created a blizzard within a certain radius.
At the same time, she could create an exclusive acceleration track of her own, the Frost Path.
Driving on the Frost Path granted her a 20% speed boost and allowed her to cross certain types of terrain.
Once the skill was activated, a layer of cold air also surrounded her, affecting other Mecha Girls within fifty meters.
Her ability seemed somewhat similar to Eternity's, but unlike Eternity's, it had a time limit.
The Frost Path would melt after only one minute. The cold aura around Ice Soul would last for five minutes, while the blizzard would completely dissipate within ten.
As Trien and Ice Soul raced along the Frost Path, they kept watch on the other contestants around them.
Ghost, the fastest of them all, had already disappeared into the distance and hadn't been affected by the blizzard at all.
Next was Dawnbreak. She and Laiya An had already completed the jump across Flying Dragon Cliff. Although Dawnbreak was still caught within the blizzard and suffering from its speed reduction debuff, she had activated her special skill ahead of time and was moving incredibly fast. She was already on the verge of escaping the blizzard's range.
There was no catching Ghost or Dawnbreak.
Trien was somewhat disappointed by that.
He had originally planned to hold his skill in reserve and trap all these powerful opponents inside the blizzard at once.
But Purple Lightning and Snowpeak were still around.
He turned to search for Snowpeak.
He remembered how Snowpeak had used Spatial Leap to reach the waterfall and avoid Black Fortress's shockwaves, then launched herself from another cliff.
Even Trien had been stunned when he saw Snowpeak pull off that maneuver.
In a situation that urgent, there was no way he could have reacted as brilliantly as Leon Li had.
But when he looked toward the waterfall, Snowpeak was nowhere to be seen.
"Strange. Where did that Mecha Girl go?"
Ice Soul's eyes flickered. She suddenly sensed psychic energy fluctuations behind them.
"Behind us!" she warned.
In the rearview mirror, a black Mecha Girl burst from a spatial tunnel and landed on the ice bridge, racing along the Frost Path together with Ice Soul.
With the explosive acceleration from her skill, Snowpeak was faster than Ice Soul.
In the blink of an eye, she closed the distance and slammed into Ice Soul's rear with a loud clang.
"Ahh!" Ice Soul clutched her backside, veins bulging on her forehead from the pain.
She was a combat-type Mecha Girl.
Yet a speed-type Mecha Girl had actually managed to hurt her.
That alone proved Snowpeak's Impact Resistance and stability were anything but low.
The collision jolted Ice Soul forward and nearly sent her flying off the Frost Path.
Fortunately, Trien managed to pull the out-of-control vehicle back in time. Both pilot and Mecha Girl breathed a sigh of relief.
When they looked for Snowpeak again, ready to get even, she had already disappeared into another spatial tunnel.
By the time she reappeared, she was already on the cliff ahead of them.
BOOM—!
Scarlet flames erupted from Snowpeak's rear exhaust pipes.
Using the explosive acceleration from her skill, she shot toward the edge of the blizzard at full speed.
Clearly, they weren't going to catch her either.
"Damn it! Those cunning Hu District people!" Trien's expression darkened as he clenched his fist.
Leon Li and Snowpeak could have simply teleported ahead of them.
Instead, they had deliberately come onto the ice bridge just to ram them first.
How was that any different from deliberately humiliating him and Ice Soul?
"All right, all right. Snowpeak got through too. We can't possibly fail to stop every single one of them, can we?"
Trien took a deep breath.
He had to admit that he had underestimated his opponents in this race. Especially after taking down his old rival, he had gotten a little too full of himself.
But if he stayed calm, surely he could at least stop Purple Lightning.
Speaking of which, where was Purple Lightning?
He looked left.
Then right.
There was no sign of her anywhere.
Until the piercing howl of an engine suddenly came from overhead...
"Could it be?!"
Trien could hardly believe it.
But once every other possibility had been ruled out, no matter how absurd the remaining answer seemed, it had to be true.
Purple Lightning was above him and Ice Soul!
Neither Trien nor Ice Soul could see her.
But Kool Kenny's camera could.
And so could every spectator watching the race.
A dazzling purple Mecha Girl raced through the open air, her tail fins trailing a purple-gold glow like the Milky Way. Her entire body seemed wrapped in starlight as she soared above Ice Soul.
She was flying so high that she had risen beyond even the blizzard's maximum range, skimming along the curved edge of its dome as she raced toward the far side of Flying Dragon Cliff.
"A miracle!!" Kool Kenny clenched his fists, his face flushed red with excitement. "No! This is a divine skill!!!"
The entire audience rose to their feet.
Everyone stared in stunned silence, witnessing the breathtaking sight before them.
Above the waterfall stood Flying Dragon Cliff.
Above Flying Dragon Cliff stretched the ice bridge.
Over the ice bridge arched a rainbow, half within the blizzard and half outside it.
And beneath the sunlight, that purple phantom glittered brilliantly.
Like a meteor streaking across a rainbow!
...
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