The wind rose.
The 1,000-meter marker flashed past behind them, and the third turn arrived right on schedule.
The entry angle here was vicious, the track banking at a subtle tilt.
For ordinary umamusume, this was where you had to carefully regulate speed and stamina to withstand the high-speed centrifugal force.
But for the ambition-driven hunters of victory, this was the killing ground where the race would be decided.
"Finally… I found it…!"
In the middle-rear of the pack, Jixianju's anxious sapphire eyes snapped tight.
Pushed to the absolute limit, the thread of inspiration she'd been chasing detonated in her mind like a spark.
Crack.
A sound like something shattering from within.
Her body jolted—and then an utterly terrifying blue radiance spilled from her pupils, surging out like a tidal current.
BOOM—!
One step.
Thunderous leg power drove her forward, and in a single instant she speared straight through the middle of the pack!
Everyone around her, in her eyes, was standing still.
"Break through!" the blonde girl roared inside her head.
No more holding back. Wrapped in the cover of Domain, her high-speed charge became a streak of light.
She forced her way up along the outside, trying to overtake the French representative before they hit the final straight—straight at Chiduo.
Jixianju's sudden eruption lit the entire stadium on fire.
"She's coming, she's coming! Jixianju isn't holding anything back—fast, fast, terrifying late kick! She's passed three in a row—she's up to fourth, and now she's closing on Oguri—"
The commentator's voice was blazing with excitement—until it cut off mid-sentence.
…
On the track.
Jixianju had just opened Domain, riding an absolute confidence, and even she sensed something was wrong.
She'd thought her speed now was enough to tear open the storm—enough to catch that gray-white back that had been drifting ahead of her the whole race.
Because under Domain, to her vision, the other three umamusume were slow.
Anasda, the rest of the field—just frozen scenery.
But the thrill of closing in quickly shoved that unease out of her mind.
"Got you!"
That gray silhouette was right there—within reach. Jixianju's eyes lifted into the curve of victory.
She wanted the one who'd ruled the Irish Champion Stakes to look back at her with shock.
But…
That figure never once turned around.
Instead, she drew in a deep breath—then took thirty-three steps.
And just like that, the pure-white path that had burned itself into Jixianju's memory months ago bloomed beneath those feet again.
A road as clean as fresh snow unfurled forward, as if it pointed straight to the finish.
Festive Miracle!
BOOM—BOOM—!
Horseshoes detonated against the Sha Tin turf.
Under Jixianju's stunned stare, Oguri moved—
—and slipped past her in a single sweep.
Just like her, the ash-gray girl swung out to the outside lane.
"You want to race me on pure speed—head-on to the death?!" Jixianju snarled.
Cold light bled from her eyes. In her view, Oguri was declaring war.
"Fine—then let's race!"
"I'll show you Domain isn't something you can make up for with that freakish stride!"
The Irish legend bellowed, her feet wrapped in pure-white light as they tore at the grass in a frenzy.
Every push looked like it would punch straight through the track.
Above the stadium, the commentator's voice snapped back in perfect timing.
"Jixianju is coming—but Oguri's going too! Oguri's going too!"
"Is Anasda and Chiduo still not moving?!"
…
The lead group.
"Do you think I don't want to go?!" Anasda ground her teeth at the commentary.
Sure, she still had stamina in reserve, but how could she blow her finishing kick now?
She wasn't about to crawl the last 200 meters with nothing left in the tank.
With that thought, Anasda cut her eyes sideways—at the gray-white figure now running level with her.
"Honestly you're—"
"A monster."
The moment the thought landed, a savage gust ripped past her.
In the blink of an eye, Oguri surged ahead of her like a thunderbolt, charging straight toward Chiduo in front!
And soon, Jixianju's figure slid into Anasda's peripheral vision as well.
She was fast—no question.
But…
"You're passing me this slowly… how are you supposed to catch that monster?"
Anasda pressed her lips together, drew a deep breath, and kept storing power for the final phase.
Even if she was sure she'd lose—never giving up was the reason she ran.
…
BOOM—! BOOM—!
Out on the outside, two completely different streaks of light ran nearly scraping the grass side by side!
Pale-blue radiance shook violently around Jixianju as she tried to drag that gray-white figure down from the altar.
In this moment, even Chiduo had been left behind by the two of them.
And yet—no matter how she poured out her strength, the distance to that gray-white back only kept widening.
"OOOOOOOH—!"
The ferocious chase duel turned the stands into an earthquake of cheers, but on the track, Jixianju's heart sank inch by inch.
"Am I… going to lose?"
Silence.
Then—Jixianju's eyes sharpened, crushing that fear. She bit down and hissed, "No… I won't accept that. Never!"
That will ignited an even harsher power, and her already-blazing sprint after Oguri quickened again.
The wind howled as both figures tore down the outside.
Just as Jixianju spent everything she had trying to shave even a single centimeter from the gap, the silent runner ahead suddenly tilted her head.
Their eyes met in the rush of speed.
Oguri looked into those sapphire pupils—at the madness of battle burning there, at the stubbornness that refused to fall behind no matter how twisted the face became.
In that instant, time seemed to slow inside Oguri's gaze.
"Ah… that look."
The gray-haired girl's eyes flickered.
Long ago, she'd worn that same look.
On that track called "Central," she'd carried a young, blazing Domain of her own—desperately chasing the one called the "strongest active runner," Tamamo Cross, chasing those towering rivals that felt untouchable.
It was the challenger's gaze.
A scream that refused to be left behind.
"So… I'm standing where they stood back then, now?"
After defeating Tamamo Cross, Oguri hadn't actually tasted the peak for long.
Because right after that, she'd been beaten—by Fujimasa March, by the umamusume of Chasing Light, one after another.
In her memories, she'd never truly set foot on that summit.
But now, the one who once chased had become the wall the world chased.
"…All right."
Her eyes turned crystalline clear. A faint smile lifted the corner of her mouth.
"Then I'll show you—at the far end… what the view really looks like!"
It was an answer to Jixianju's will, and an answer to the racewear on her back—proof of the "final chapter" of the expedition.
The next second—
Hnnng—!
The last restraint snapped, and that tiny pure-white afterglow sealed deep in Oguri's pupils burst free.
BOOOOM—!!!
If Jixianju's light was a surging river, then what erupted from Oguri now was a tsunami that swallowed everything.
Her inner landscape flooded reality without reserve. The power of Domain, carved into her soul long ago, erupted into a dreamlike brilliance that shook the world.
Domain — Miracle White Star!!!
This was the second time since last year's Arima Kinen that Oguri unleashed this absolute power in an official race with nothing held back.
One step.
The air—still wild moments ago—split apart.
Countless pure-white motes raged around her, forming a breathtaking torrent of white!
"Wha—?!" Jixianju's pupils shrank to pinpoints.
In her vision, the gray-white figure that had been locked with her a heartbeat ago—
vanished.
No—not vanished.
Too fast.
No logic. No tactics. No mind games.
Just raw, brutal speed violence.
In only a few breaths—
what had been a two-length gap exploded to three, and kept stretching farther.
No matter how she screamed, no matter how she wrung out every last drop of power from her body, that distance became a chasm between mortal and god—one she could no longer close by even a hair.
She couldn't catch her.
In that instant, Jixianju understood the cruel reality with perfect clarity.
"This is… the top of the world…?"
Reflected in her eyes was the white comet slicing across Sha Tin, and she stared, blankly, as it pulled away.
Until—
"She hits the line!"
"She won!!"
"An overwhelming victory!! A new legend is born here in Hong Kong!!"
"The ash-gray monster from Japan!—Oguri Cap!!!"
(End of Chapter)
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