Special Week's raw talent! King Halo's relentless effort!
Both were laid bare in the current Japanese Derby. This was the true clash of the three powerhouses!
Not like the Satsuki Sho where Special Week, stumbling out of the gate, had lost all chance at the crown from the start!
"King Halo shows no sign of slowing on the slope, maintaining her leading position as she's the first to reach the final stretch where victory will be decided!"
"Seiun Sky and Special Week are chasing with undiminished speed!"
"Could it be Special Week? Will Special Week come from behind to take it?"
The commentator's voice was charged with excitement, the situation on the track fiercely contested. No one could predict the final outcome until the very finish line.
Seiun Sky could clearly feel the pursuit from behind, could sense the imposing aura from King Halo ahead and glimpse that incomplete "Zone," could see the end of the course.
The Japanese Derby isn't always won by the strongest Uma Musume, but by the luckiest one.
This was a saying that had persisted since the dawn of Japanese Uma Musume Racing.
Having won the Satsuki Sho, even in this three-way showdown, her strength was second to none—this was Seiun Sky's confidence.
Yet, even so, facing King Halo's relentless lead and the deployed Zone, her early burst of final speed still couldn't close the gap between them by much.
She could clearly hear the footsteps behind her, clearly see the figure ahead. Seiun Sky knew with stark clarity: Special Week's chase was fierce but couldn't close the distance before the finish, just as she herself couldn't close in on King Halo now.
The gap between herself and King Halo wasn't vast. In stamina, she might even be stronger, but over 2000 meters, it granted no real advantage.
Her final speed was superior, yet it still couldn't catch a King Halo who had activated her Zone.
All those clever tactics the netizens loved to chatter about were utterly useless in a situation like this.
That unbridgeable distance, in the eyes of those truly competing, felt so despairing, so powerless. 'No one can predict the final outcome?' When giving your all still isn't enough to catch up, perhaps it is already written.
Various thoughts flashed through Seiun Sky's mind.
Then, she cast them all aside. Her feet maintaining their pace, she reached the final straight.
If there seemed no way to overtake, if so-called clever tactics proved useless, then she'd try to break her own limits!
Give everything to the very last moment!
From her already peak final speed, she pushed again, trying to accelerate her stride once more, trying to chase down and surpass King Halo's figure.
Her ample stamina began to deplete rapidly under this super-limit push. Sweat traced lines down her cheeks. Yet, even so, the originally small gap showed little sign of shrinking.
An Uma Musume's limits weren't so easily shattered!
Seiun Sky gritted her teeth and held on. And it wasn't just her; Special Week hadn't given up the chase either. The moment the race wasn't over, they wouldn't choose to surrender!
Even if her expression was no longer as composed as during the Satsuki Sho, even if it twisted into some strange contortion, the faint, imagined cheers from Grandpa, from Barbatos, from her teammates wouldn't let her quit!
'Barbatos has already won… two crowns. I absolutely! Cannot lose here!'
'And besides…'
The image of the four-leaf clover Barbatos had given her as a birthday gift flashed in her mind. She was already lucky enough!
--+--
"Only 300 meters remain! Still leading is King Halo!"
"Seiun Sky! Special Week! These two Uma Musume, whose strength is beyond doubt, are both launching their chases! But just as we think they're about to close in, they simply cannot narrow the gap to King Halo!"
"King Halo's lead isn't huge, less than 3 lengths!"
"Yet this very gap has left the other two powerhouses powerless to catch up!"
--+--
Three lengths? Three lengths isn't huge?!
Barbatos frowned, complaining about the commentator's words in her heart.
A powerful hand gripped her shoulder with a force that could probably crush an egg—Grandpa, beside her, tense over Seiun Sky's race, acting unconsciously.
But Barbatos, equally tense, didn't even notice, her own hands clamped tightly on the railing in front of her.
How could a three-length gap not be huge?
Especially when your opponent's strength is on your level. An uncatchable three-length gap stood there like an insurmountable chasm, a true despair!
How could the Japanese Derby commentator say something like 'three lengths isn't much'?!
What Barbatos didn't know was that three lengths would have been considered significant last year. But now, especially after her own debut, her numerous dominating victories had warped the perception for many unfamiliar or new to Uma Musume Racing.
It was as if not winning by 10 lengths meant an Uma Musume wasn't really impressive.
In current netizen culture, it had evolved into: a lead under 5 lengths basically didn't count.
It wasn't that the commentator didn't understand Uma Musume; it was because he understood them too well, because he surfed the net constantly, that he said it!
The commentator knew a three-length gap was huge, especially when Special Week and Seiun Sky were pushing yet not closing in. Three lengths at this stage could indeed be despairing.
But as the commentator, his job was more about stirring the emotions of the watching audience.
Explaining professional knowledge was the job of his partner, the analyst.
Given the current race situation, barring a miracle, the victor should be King Halo. That was Barbatos's most objective assessment.
With her girlfriend pushing repeatedly yet failing to close the distance, those three lengths had become an impossible chasm!
Meaning, unless King Halo exhausted all her stamina because of her Zone, this Japanese Derby was practically in her pocket.
Exhaust her stamina? Was that possible? This was King Halo! The one in their generation who started striving first, who had always strived desperately, who never slackened—King Halo!
That's what her own experience as an Uma Musume and in races told her.
But.
Her heart said otherwise!
"Run!"
Barbatos's cheer blended into the cacophony of shouts. The railing she gripped, dented slightly under her nervous grip—the strength of an Uma Musume unmistakably evident at this moment.
They were all classmates on good terms, but her support was definitely for her girlfriend!
--+--
The final stretch, less than three hundred meters!
King Halo's lead remained unchallenged. The scales of victory had tilted. The King's bearing was on full display at the Japanese Derby.
Under the clear sky, Seiun Sky gritted her teeth, feeling a sense of powerlessness for the first time since her debut.
At this moment, both she and Special Week even felt the instinctual urge to let out a defeated groan.
Uma Musume without a "Zone" could defeat those who had activated one, like Narita Brian, like Barbatos herself. But since the beginning of Japanese horse racing, such cases were exceedingly rare.
A Zone didn't cause a qualitative leap, but an Uma Musume already on the same level, upon activating her Zone, would inevitably surpass that original baseline!
The Zone was the divide between the legendary and the ordinary Uma Musume!
A realm ordinary Uma Musume could hardly reach!
Even if the concept of Zone seemed more common in their generation because of Barbatos, it didn't mean Territories were common!
Seiun Sky only felt her chasing body begin to hit its limit. Not a limit of stamina, but a limit born from repeated chases, repeated pushes from her legs!
The accumulated fatigue in her body made her steps feel heavy. The gap to King Halo seemed on the verge of widening, not shrinking!
'I can't give up here!'
A little over two hundred meters to the finish line!
She could see Barbatos near the finish, could see Grandpa gripping Barbatos's shoulder, could see everyone from Team Canopus, and beyond them, the finish line!
Her mind flashed to after the relay marathon, her usually listless self declaring to El Condor Pasa and Barbatos that she would become a Triple Crown Uma Musume.
She remembered the scene of defeating both King Halo and Special Week in the Satsuki Sho.
'My goal…'
The world before Seiun Sky's eyes seemed to shatter in that instant. The grass beneath her feet, the spectator stands around her, all turned into a still image.
Her initial limit was broken. Her speed climbed past its peak once more. The gap to King Halo began to close.
'My goal… is to become a Triple Crown Uma Musume!'
--+--
Less than two hundred meters to the finish!
"It's Seiun Sky! Seiun Sky is catching up!"
"Was this all part of Seiun Sky's plan from the start? Feigning weakness, only to reveal the true strength of the tactically famed Seiun Sky now!"
"Could the winner of this Japanese Derby be Seiun Sky?"
"Is it Seiun Sky?!"
"One hundred meters to the finish!"
"The gap between Seiun Sky and King Halo is just one length!"
"Can Seiun Sky overtake? Or can King Halo hold on?!"
The commentator no longer mentioned Special Week. In this situation, Special Week had lost her chance at victory!
With a hundred meters left, even with the most astonishing final speed, unless you were Barbatos or the Symboli Rudolf, it was almost impossible for anyone to reverse the outcome!
"Fifty meters to go! The finish line is right there!"
Even if hope seemed lost, Special Week didn't want to give up. Mom must still be here, cheering for her!
"Spe-chan!"
A familiar voice reached Special Week's ears.
Near the finish, the noise was chaotic, but among the multitude of sounds, Special Week could pick out this one clearly. That voice—she could recognize it anytime, anywhere!
It was Suzuka, and Mom, and everyone!
"Ah!"
Her body's limit shattered in that moment. Special Week's speed surged once more!
"Special Week is making a comeback!"
"Who will win the Japanese Derby?!"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Urgent hoofbeats pounded the ground. The top three of the Japanese Derby had crossed the finish line and come to a stop.
Seiun Sky gasped for breath, exchanging a glance with the equally panting King Halo, waiting for the race results to be announced.
Even as participants, as the ones who had crossed the line, she and King Halo couldn't tell who had crossed first!
The commentator's voice rang in everyone's ears.
"This year's Japanese Derby winner will be determined by the photo finish! We await the judge's decision based on the photo!"
Everyone strained their necks to look at the central display, waiting for the judge to determine who crossed first via the photo finish!
In the final moments, Special Week had made a comeback, breaking her limits. But fifty meters was too short a distance for an Uma Musume to turn the tide.
Seiun Sky and King Halo had crossed almost simultaneously, indistinguishable to the naked eye.
Everyone watching held their breath, waiting for the result from the photo finish.
"This is!"
"Incredible! Two contestants have won the Japanese Derby!"
"They are King Halo and Seiun Sky!"
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.