"Sorry, idol~"
The instant they entered the corner, Laiya An glanced to the side.
Derek Su's face was hidden in shadow, making his expression impossible to read.
"Let me see just how far you can go against a blockade from Dawnbreak and Snowpeak!"
Inside Snowpeak's cockpit, Leon Li wore a cold, serious expression.
He looked toward the man beside him, sitting there as though enthroned, his eyes filled with anticipation.
Clearly, he was thinking the same thing as Laiya An.
He also wanted to see just how far Derek Su's driving skills could go!
The live feed immediately switched to the scene, and Kool Kenny grew excited once again.
"Ladies and gentlemen, another thrilling moment has arrived! As you can see, our most closely watched contestant, The Magician, has fallen into danger once again after breaking through the blockades of Black Fortress and Ice Soul. Now, he and Purple Lightning are about to face the combined pressure of two top-tier Mecha Girls, Dawnbreak and Snowpeak. Both are piloted by the aces of their respective clubs. So how will our Mr. Magician break out of this situation?"
"Boss Su is in trouble this time." In Stella Club's Operations Department, Absolute Shadow stared gravely at Purple Lightning, trapped between the other two Mecha Girls.
Imperial Scale, still standing by in the helicopter, frowned.
Vanessa Ming had already left the Knox Rally course and had Blazing Wind pull over to the roadside. Watching the scene on the screen, Vanessa Ming pursed their lips.
At the instant the three entered the corner, time seemed to freeze.
Then, as everyone held their breath, it began moving again at a crawl.
Countless hearts tightened.
At the preparation area on the summit of Panlong Mountain, Stella clasped her hands together and silently prayed.
"Purple Lightning, Master... You can do it!"
At that very moment, Derek Su's narrowed eyes suddenly opened.
His hands flew across the controls as he simultaneously issued commands to Purple Lightning.
Snowpeak and Dawnbreak had not yet reached the optimal braking point.
But Derek Su had already pulled the handbrake.
Purple Lightning's two front wheels locked, and her body rapidly swung sideways.
But this wasn't a drift meant to take the corner.
She rotated more than 120 degrees, turning almost completely around until she sat diagonally between Snowpeak and Dawnbreak, facing backward.
During the brief process of entering the corner, the entire maneuver took only an instant.
At such extreme speed, everything in their field of vision had already blurred into streaks of light and shadow.
Neither Laiya An nor Leon Li had time to understand what Derek Su had done.
In those fractions of a second, all their attention was focused on controlling their own Mecha Girls.
They reached the optimal braking point, and Leon Li and Laiya An took the corner normally.
Snowpeak, occupying the inside lane, initiated her drift first. Her nose pointed toward the apex while her rear swung outward in a broad arc.
Under normal circumstances, Snowpeak's rear should have clipped Purple Lightning's front.
Instead, it swept through empty air.
Snowpeak slowed under braking. During that brief moment of relative delay, Leon Li glanced ahead and to the side.
His face went pale.
He froze.
Somehow, Purple Lightning had already turned around and was now angled toward Snowpeak.
Derek Su wasn't even looking at the track.
He was taking the corner backward.
"You can do that?!" Leon Li exclaimed.
He finally understood why Snowpeak's rear had missed Purple Lightning.
Derek Su had swung Purple Lightning's rear around to the front ahead of time.
He was drifting through the corner in reverse.
Not only had Purple Lightning avoided deliberately reducing her speed, she had also neatly evaded Snowpeak's attack.
The maneuver was theoretically possible.
But only theoretically.
Never mind how Derek Su overcame the fear of driving without looking at the track, or how he could judge the road conditions without seeing where he was going.
Simply maintaining speed while drifting backward without losing control was a technique Leon Li and Snowpeak might spend their entire lives studying and still never master.
And Derek Su's display wasn't over yet.
He had only avoided Snowpeak's collision.
Dawnbreak was still on the outside.
After Snowpeak began drifting, Dawnbreak followed from the outer lane. Under Laiya An's control, her nose turned inward.
Now Laiya An could clearly see that Purple Lightning had completely turned around.
Dawnbreak's front was heading straight for Purple Lightning's side.
If the collision connected, then with Dawnbreak's current Impact Resistance and stability, Purple Lightning would most likely lose control.
"My idol actually came up with something this ridiculous to escape the blockade!"
Laiya An gritted her teeth, admiration filling her eyes.
While doing everything possible to ensure Dawnbreak made it safely through the corner, she also guided Dawnbreak closer to Purple Lightning, determined to give Derek Su some trouble.
As far as she could tell, Purple Lightning had to be incredibly difficult to control in her current position.
She was driving backward in the middle of a corner, and Derek Su couldn't even see the road.
If an ordinary pilot found themselves in this situation, they would probably sit inside the cockpit and silently pray to heaven, too terrified to move a muscle.
But Derek Su was no ordinary pilot.
The moment Laiya An's gaze met his, she saw his calm expression and the casual confidence in his eyes.
Derek Su even smiled at her.
It was the sort of smile an adult might give a mischievous child.
"You want to see what my driving skills can really do?"
Derek Su could see the eagerness and fighting spirit in Laiya An's eyes.
"Sure~"
He had no intention of holding back.
His movements accelerated, his hands dancing over the controls with astonishing speed.
Purple Lightning was already beginning to struggle to keep up with his inputs, so a handbrake automatically formed beside the control stick for Derek Su to use.
He repeatedly pulled and released it in rapid succession.
Combined with constant left and right adjustments of the controls, Purple Lightning maintained a precise distance from Dawnbreak and Snowpeak throughout the corner.
Whenever Dawnbreak moved an inch closer, Derek Su shifted Purple Lightning an inch away.
For Laiya An and Leon Li, cornering was the hardest moment to control a Mecha Girl.
It was the moment that tested a pilot's skill and the coordination between pilot and Mecha Girl more than anything else.
For Derek Su, it looked as easy and casual as playing a game.
At the most extreme point, Purple Lightning was practically parallel with Snowpeak in the inside lane while facing Dawnbreak head-on in the outside lane.
[Figure] Arrow indicates the direction of the rear swing
And just like that, she drifted through the corner backward.
By the time they exited the turn, Purple Lightning was already more than half a car length ahead of Snowpeak and Dawnbreak.
Derek Su released the handbrake and countersteered, gradually applying throttle as Purple Lightning's body rotated back into position.
Tires screeched against the track as white smoke billowed around them.
Purple Lightning quickly straightened out.
Then Derek Su floored the accelerator.
ROAR—!
The engine surged to maximum power, and purplish-red flames erupted from the exhaust pipes.
With her overwhelming advantage in speed, Purple Lightning shot forward like a projectile.
In an instant, she pulled more than two car lengths ahead of Snowpeak and Dawnbreak.
Just beyond the corner, the three lanes merged into one.
Under Derek Su's control, Purple Lightning seized the lane first, taking the lead ahead of Snowpeak and Dawnbreak.
Inside the cockpit, Purple Lightning looked completely dazed after experiencing the entire maneuver.
She stared into the rearview mirror at the man calmly sipping water from a bottle cap, as though she were gazing upon a god.
"M-Master..."
"Hmm?"
"What was that move just now called?"
"That move?"
Derek Su glanced at Snowpeak and Dawnbreak in the rearview mirror.
Reverse drifting.
Break the old rules.
Create rules of your own.
Become the master of those rules.
It was called...
"Break to Rebuild," he said calmly.
...
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