That wasn't a metaphor, nor a trick of the eye.
To Super Creek, to the Commoner Queen, to Bamboo Memory, to every runner on the course who had even a fledgling Domain—the sky truly went dark.
Not clouds blotting out the sun, but a purer will, staining and overlaying reality itself.
Centered on Obey Your Master, a boundless, silent starry firmament bled outward like ink in water, swallowing the clamor of daylight in an instant.
It draped the entire Tokyo Racecourse—from track to stands, from sky to earth.
"Crack—!"
On the lake of her mind, Obey Your Master stood before a door labeled "World."
Behind her, a canopy of black stars surged, forcing that door ajar by three slender seams.
"Game over."
Domain—Wild Joker.
The brazen declaration didn't travel by air or eardrum. It descended like an oracle, exploding directly in every rival's inner world.
Creek's resolve and confidence froze on her face.
Her so-called "boxing," her "leverage"—under this vast, star-strewn sky—felt laughable.
So… insignificant.
It was like a child's sandbank trying to stop a world-shattering meteor.
Boom—!
A terrifying footfall pounded at her side—not iron on turf, but stars falling onto the earth.
In a blink, that golden figure was about to blaze past her completely.
"Tch!"
Creek ground her teeth, pain lancing through her and yanking thoughts crushed by that absolute power back to reality.
It won't end here…
She'd tasted this despairing pressure—being ruled by overwhelming force—far too many times.
But her mind was long made up.
No matter what… no matter who stood before her…
She would not stop.
"Haaaaa—!"
With a low shout, the blue girl wrung every last ounce from her body.
Pale, powerful calves bulged with cords of strain.
The deep-blue glow stopped trickling like a stream and erupted skyward from within her, a flood that darkened the heavens.
Domain—Clear Stream.
Like the roar of the sea, Creek stamped hard. Her domain surged with her, ripping the air—and that starry sky—ahead, hurling itself straight into Obey Your Master's line, intent on sealing the route yet again.
But—
Eh?!
Creek's pupils snapped tight.
In her sight, the spot she'd planned to seal perfectly… was off.
Only by half a body.
"Shame,"
a voice murmured at her ear—soft, yet endlessly indifferent.
"It isn't a little. It's a lot."
"Goodbye."
Boom—!!!
No more words.
Those ruthless legs, wreathed in stellar might, smashed through Creek's all-out block like rotten wood.
A golden streak flashed and lunged toward the three shapes dying on their feet up ahead.
Three?
Creek, bracing to spend everything to follow, finally processed it—her eyes blown wide.
Two of those were Ibu Bocchi and Pirate Ravenhawk, flames guttering like candles in a gale.
But the third—who?!
That figure had stood there all race, silent as a shadow.
Even Creek, propped up by Domain to keep her strength from bottoming out, would've already lost the juice for a final kick.
Why was that girl still there?
Don't tell me—
A cold thought pricked through Creek's mind.
"Onto the final straight! Obey Your Master! Obey Your Master finally unleashes!" the commentator's voice cracked the sky.
"She's past Super Creek! She's charging the runner in third! So fast—far too fast! Is this the true power of last year's queen?!"
"Super Creek is accelerating too! But… she can't match it! She can't match Obey Your Master at all—she's being dropped!"
As called, Creek drove herself with everything she had.
And could only watch the golden back pull farther, and farther away.
While the stadium reeled at this world-ending surge—
Abruptly—
"Hoo…"
The silver-haired girl in third, the one who had seemed so quiet and unnoticed,
exhaled.
…
A second later, she turned her head slightly.
Cold heterochrome eyes—two flawless mirrors—clearly reflected the golden figure behind, wrapped in a midnight firmament.
In Obey Your Master's gaze, the black flame had peaked to a blinding blaze.
The two of them had become magnets, nature drawing like to like. Beyond control. On a collision course.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Footfalls like a god's war drum shattered the air, each beat making the world itself tremble.
The sound was so close it felt as if, in the next instant, an unbreakable hammer would land between her shoulder blades.
…
Her inner world flipped to endless night.
The Commoner Queen sprinted through the dark, heart pounding, lungs on fire.
Behind her, the golden silhouette bore down with a starry sky vast enough to crush hope, closing at a senseless speed.
Wherever the starlight reached, darkness was devoured, the world assimilated. In the next breath, it would grind her to nothing as well.
"We lost."
A voice—identical to hers, but glacial—rang through the empty void.
From the black came another "Commoner Queen," walking out slowly.
Arms folded, she studied the face twisted by effort, and sighed.
"No! She hasn't caught me yet!"
The Queen whispered, rejecting the verdict.
Ghostly gold rose in her pupils—the last blaze of an unbending will.
"You know."
The mirror self analyzed, cool and steady. "That end-leg speed… it's already past our limit."
She narrowed her eyes at the starry abyss swallowing everything. "Even if we open that, it won't save us."
"Back then… Ellerslie-onee-san lost like this."
Ellerslie-onee-san…
The name stabbed the Queen's heart like a needle, and her frantic steps faltered.
Right… she lost… Even the sister hailed as closest to a monster lost…
How could I—
No.
After a beat of silence, the Queen stopped running. She turned, no longer fleeing, and faced her reflection head-on.
In those mismatched eyes burned a fire she'd never felt before.
"Help me."
"…"
The reflection blinked, then smiled like she'd known this was coming.
"All right."
The instant the words fell, she became a lance of pure crimson and shot into the Queen's chest like a swallow coming home.
Boom—!!!
On the outer course, on Tokyo's final straight—
The Commoner Queen let out a slow breath.
Then, she snapped her head up.
In those uncanny eyes, blue and red detonated like a volcano.
Not a glow swirling around her, but a tangible, sky-rending cyclone of raging gold and crimson.
"I—"
"—can't lose here!!!"
Domain—Reversal Hurricane.
(End of Chapter)
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