The race reached the final stage.
Leading by nine lengths was Demon King Ship. Although she had started to burst, because she had run too conservatively in the earlier stages, she hadn't completely "sealed" the other runners. And since she had moved to the front early, her domain and gating skills could no longer take effect. She could only run purely on her acceleration skills and her own stats.
However, even though it looked like she was using her full strength, neither her "Tides" nor her "Aura" were fully unleashed. Compared to Mejiro McQueen, Gold Ship, who was born strongest, seemed to understand less about how to fully utilize her power. Even with Mejiro McQueen's life memories as a guide, those were, in the end, just memories.
Trêve in second place and [Mejiro McQueen] in third were only half a length apart. Both of them had also unleashed their full abilities. At least in terms of aura intensity, they were not weaker than Demon King Ship, as they had the buff of their domains, while Demon King Ship did not.
In fact, [Mejiro McQueen]'s awakening was exactly what Demon King Ship had wanted to see in the past. She wanted all the horse girls in the world to achieve this kind of evolution. But after learning of Mejiro McQueen's existence, Demon King Ship's heart was no longer as pure as it was in her childhood. If she were to awaken her domain now, she probably wouldn't awaken a domain that offered zero self-enhancement. That is the change in one's state of mind.
However, even if her heart wasn't pure, a Demon King wasn't so easily defeated. At least, the current [Mejiro McQueen] and Trêve couldn't do it. Even if they were "Heroes," their strength was at best "average Hero" level. They hadn't reached the level where they could exchange blows with a True Demon King.
"Leading is Gold Ship! Still far in the lead is Gold Ship! Although Runner Trêve and Runner [Mejiro McQueen] are chasing hard from behind, the gap is not shrinking! Gold Ship's lead is unshakeable! That terrifying last-spurt explosive power is simply unprecedented!"
In the eyes of the audience and the commentator, Demon King Ship's performance could only be described as terrifying. A last spurt that started in the middle of the race... could that really be called a last spurt? They had never seen a runner who could unleash a burst of this intensity in the middle stage. And it seemed this wasn't even her limit, because after entering the final straight, Demon King Ship's speed was still increasing.
In the stands, Montjeu watched the sweat-drenched Trêve falling behind and couldn't help but sigh.
'The gap is too big. Trêve and [Mejiro McQueen] haven't even been able to make that runner get serious. Perhaps only if the other McQueen comes will there be a capability to fight her? But if it's only the strength shown in that previous race... the chances of winning are slim.'
If she hadn't already believed the theory that the other McQueen was from another world, Montjeu would probably have judged directly that even that McQueen couldn't beat this Gold Ship. Because Gold Ship's strength was comprehensive. It wasn't just the power of her abilities; her physical stats were equally powerful. At least, Montjeu couldn't see any weakness in this Gold Ship. And if that Mejiro McQueen was only at the strength level of the previous race, her physical stats were far inferior to this Gold Ship's. In a clash between masters, a tiny gap is fatal, let alone a gap in "hardware" like this.
'How in the world did the Emperor find a monster like this? And is she really Gold Ship? That bastard Emperor... did she forge an identity and let this monster compete just to snipe that child, Trêve?'
Montjeu looked toward Team Spica.
Although [Gold Ship] was wearing dark glasses, Montjeu recognized at a glance that this girl was the [Gold Ship] she remembered. But if the real [Gold Ship] was in the stands... then who on earth was the Gold Ship down on the track?
Thinking of this, Montjeu stood up, preparing to pay a visit to the Emperor.
By this time, the outcome of the race had been decided.
"Crosses the line! The winner of this race is Gold Ship! This runner has brought us an astonishing performance in this race!"
Hearing the commentator's words, [Gold Ship] blushed. It was from both shame and anger. Although she knew the commentator was sincerely praising "her," the problem was that the person down there wasn't Lord Goldie-chan at all!
The race results were displayed.
Sure enough, Demon King Ship had taken first place with overwhelming strength and completely eliminated the other runners.
Although the young champion of the Arc de Triomphe took second place, because she was "eliminated" (too far behind the winner), her result in this race essentially didn't count. This result was unbelievable to many fans.
That was the world's strongest! To be eliminated in a place like this by a horse girl without much fame... this kind of plot was something they wouldn't even dream of.
After the race, Demon King Ship looked impatient. She felt no joy from the victory at all. After all, this was vastly different from what she had imagined. What she wanted wasn't to see [Mejiro McQueen]'s awakening; she wanted that Mejiro McQueen to descend again.
She looked at [Mejiro McQueen] and found that she didn't seem to have much regret about losing. Instead, she looked like she had found a life goal, like she had been reborn. Demon King Ship didn't want to say anything more.
After all, even she had to admit that [Mejiro McQueen] was now qualified to challenge her. This girl really had evolved into a "Hero." Although she didn't know what ability [Mejiro McQueen] had awakened, it seemed she could indeed pass the trials Demon King Ship created.
Toward a Hero, she believed that as a Demon King, she must be magnanimous.
However, since that person couldn't be found in this world, there was no meaning in her staying here. She should find a way to return to her original world first. After all, she still had to clear the story mode as quickly as possible.
Just as Demon King Ship thought this, she noticed her body beginning to fade. She was becoming transparent, bit by bit. She didn't panic, because she had a rough idea of what was happening.
'So as long as I want to go back, I'll be sent back?'
She couldn't understand the principle behind it, but it didn't matter.
Her passion had been mostly consumed.
She had finally gotten fired up, but unexpectedly, it was just wishful thinking on her part. That person hadn't responded to her summons.
Damn it.
Just as Demon King Ship was thinking this...
She looked toward the stands. Suddenly, a purple silhouette caught her attention. Seeing that figure, similar to [Mejiro McQueen] but even cooler... Demon King Ship's eyes snapped wide open. She wanted to do something, but in the next instant, her figure vanished from the spot, leaving only a lingering afterimage.
In the stands, Mejiro McQueen, wearing a Tracen uniform, watched Gold Ship vanish. She silently turned and walked out of the venue.
'Even though she's still in story mode... she was able to cross over to this world in her main body?' Mejiro McQueen was quite curious about how Gold Ship had come to this world. After all, according to her understanding, the ability to freely travel to other worldlines was a privilege only possessed by characters who had cleared their story mode.
...
Time rewinds to the day Gold Ship was born.
After being ejected from Gold Ship's body due to an unknown influence, Mejiro McQueen continued to research the system. She found the system's manual, which had a detailed explanation of her situation.
Because the system had been upgraded, the character transformation mechanism had undergone further changes. It was no longer like the first version of the system, where a single consciousness transformed into different characters.
The first version of the system didn't have the power to create parallel world branches, nor could it allow multiple characters to exist simultaneously. It could only allow the user to transform into one character at a time. And because it couldn't create parallel worlds, it couldn't further strengthen the user's mind through reincarnation.
Although Mejiro McQueen didn't know what had happened to the first-generation user, based on the system upgrades, that user's final end probably wasn't very happy. Because without a story mode, the user's mental strength cap was naturally fixed. The first-generation user very likely died in the training mode.
If the first-generation user liked to push themselves to the limit like she did, then without the reincarnation ritual to repair mental strength, death from serious illness was an almost foreseeable outcome.
The system upgrade was likely an improvement made because of the first-generation user's death. The upgraded system not only possessed the power to create parallel worldlines but also allowed multiple characters to exist simultaneously.
These characters could share their memories and mental strength, helping each other reach higher realms.
The reason Mejiro McQueen was kicked out of the story mode was that the moment she entered it, the character "Gold Ship" had already completed her reincarnation. That was a new person created using her, the user, as a base template, fused with Gold Ship's character card.
Strictly speaking, after completing the new round of reincarnation, Gold Ship was no longer her, but another person possessing her past memories. Just like how she was now Mejiro McQueen and no longer the original human, they could all be considered brand-new individuals.
Mejiro McQueen didn't have much of an opinion on this.
After all, it didn't affect her personally. The manual also had further explanations about her current situation.
After completing the story mode, she had gained the ability to freely enter and exit other worlds. Although entering other characters' worlds required waiting for them to complete their story modes and obtaining authorization, she could freely return to her original world and go to the "First World"—the world her soul had traveled to initially.
And this "First World," although it currently looked like the anime's plot, was actually the first-generation user's world, just rebooted. The parallel worlds created by the system were all branches created based on this world. So, these worlds were actually interconnected, and there were even ways to travel between them.
As the system user, she could naturally enter this world freely. The reason Mejiro McQueen came to this place today was that the system notified her that another character had crossed over to this world. So, she took leave from school and came here.
She had originally thought Gold Ship's crossing would be like hers back then, but she hadn't expected Gold Ship to cross over in her main body. This made her curious. But before she could make contact with Gold Ship, that girl went back. So, she decided to save this question for later.
Anyway, she believed that with Gold Ship's strength, clearing the story mode wouldn't be a problem. After all, Gold Ship's character card was trained by her.
And the strength of the parallel worlds was actually limited by this "First World." If system users like them didn't interfere, the strength of the parallel worlds wouldn't change. She didn't think that with the strength of Gold Ship's character card, she would fail to clear the story mode.
If such an unlikely event really occurred... then it must be a problem with Gold Ship, this "clone," herself.
Mejiro McQueen didn't linger in this world but returned to her own original world. Because the story mode was cleared, the time flow in these two worlds was currently the same. As for the situation in the world still in the story, she didn't know. The system didn't give any explanation. Perhaps she could only ask when she had the chance to see Gold Ship.
...
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