Chapter 397: The Rabbit Talisman Obtained!
With the crack of the starting pistol, the starting line was instantly empty. The rabbit and the cheetah had vanished, leaving only a long trail of swirling dust in their wake.
"Currently, the cheetah is in the lead," Blacklight said, immediately operating his equipment to track their progress.
Silas nodded calmly. No matter how many times he saw it, he wasn't surprised; a cheetah's initial acceleration was simply that explosive. However, the latter half of the race was what truly mattered. Fortunately, he and the System had extended the track; otherwise, the rabbit wouldn't stand a chance.
From high above, one would only see two long streaks of smoke screaming across the plains.
On the track, the Gale Rabbit occasionally looked up at the cheetah ahead. No matter how hard it pushed, it could only see the other's tail. Meanwhile, the cheetah didn't take the rabbit seriously at all, its limbs pumping faster and faster, determined to leave the rabbit in its dust.
"The cheetah is speeding up, but based on stamina, it'll have to slow down before long," Blacklight calculated.
"Don't worry, Blacklight. The Gale Rabbit is in peak condition today. It'll definitely overtake that cat," Darklight said, full of confidence in his furry friend.
Silas smiled, leaning back in his chair and sipping some fruit juice. He began to ponder the riddle the Ancient One had left for him.
"True and false, false and true... why would she say that?" Silas took another sip, still unable to wrap his head around it.
"He's doing it! The cheetah's speed is starting to drop, and the Gale Rabbit is catching up!" Blacklight shouted.
"Go, Gale Rabbit, go!" Darklight cheered from the sidelines.
On the track, the cheetah's stamina was finally failing. Its heart was under immense pressure, and it was forced to decelerate. Seizing the moment, the Gale Rabbit surged past the cheetah and bolted toward the finish line.
The cheetah watched in disbelief as the tiny figure overtook it. A race it thought was won had slipped through its paws. The Gale Rabbit gave the cheetah no chance to recover, accelerating one last time and crossing the finish line in a blur.
[Congratulations, Host, for unlocking the Rabbit Talisman]
As the notification echoed, the Gale Rabbit's body turned into a translucent phantom and vanished from the finish line, reappearing right next to Silas a second later. Silas stood up and looked down at the rabbit; its eyes were glowing with a distinct rabbit emblem.
"The Rabbit Talisman," Silas whispered, picking up the rabbit and looking into its eyes. The magical energy of the Rabbit flowed out of the animal and slowly merged into Silas's body.
"I can feel it." Silas set the rabbit down. A faint, nearly imperceptible white light flashed across his skin.
Suddenly, the world seemed to slow down in his eyes. He looked at Blacklight and Darklight; they appeared to be moving in slow motion, their every trajectory clear as day. Then, Silas took off across the prairie.
"Whoo-hoo!" Silas cheered as he sprinted across the land. The sensation of such raw speed was incredibly exhilarating! As he ran, he gradually activated the Rooster Talisman—Rooster plus Rabbit equals supersonic flight!
Silas was now like a Quinjet, soaring through the sky at high velocity.
On the ground, Darklight picked up the Gale Rabbit, which was lying exhausted on its back. "Where'd Master go?"
"No idea. Probably testing out the Rabbit Talisman's speed," Blacklight shrugged. "Finally finished this task."
"What do we do now?"
"Go back. Master will call us when he needs us." The two ninjas stepped back into the Shadow Kingdom.
High in the sky, Silas eventually slowed to a halt. He opened a shadow portal in front of him and flew through.
"Sigh... women are so hard to please. This isn't right, that isn't right... I'm going crazy." Pietro Maximoff lay on his sofa, sighing deeply. Ever since the recent "incident," Wanda had been picking on him constantly, even though he was the older brother.
"Hi, Pietro," Silas said, suddenly appearing behind him.
Pietro jumped a foot in the air, startled. He was about to launch into an attack before realizing it was Silas. "Silas? It's you? What are you doing here? Oh, right, Wanda just went out." He patted his head. He assumed Silas was here for Wanda—why else would he come?
"I'm not here for her. I came to see you today," Silas smiled.
"Cough, cough!" Pietro choked on his own breath. "Me? Is something wrong?" He felt a bit nervous, wondering if Silas had overheard him complaining earlier.
"Let's race," Silas said. He wanted to see how the Rabbit Talisman's speed compared to Quicksilver's.
"Race?" Pietro's eyes widened, followed by a confident grin. "I might not be able to beat you in a fight, Silas, but you definitely can't outrun me."
"Yes, yes, you're the fastest," Silas nodded dismissively.
"..." Pietro felt a bit speechless. What was with that tone?
"Enough talk. From here to that traffic light down the street," Silas said, pointing out the window.
"You're serious?" Pietro's brow furrowed. He could see Silas wasn't joking.
"Dead serious."
"Alright then, let's go." Pietro cracked his neck. He hadn't had a good run in a while; a little exercise would be good. He wasn't worried; in terms of speed, he considered himself second to none.
"Ready... Go!"
The words had barely left Silas's mouth when two blurs—one silver and one white—vanished from the room.
"Oh my god," Pietro muttered in shock as he looked to his side. Silas was keeping pace with him!
"How is it?" Silas asked, staying right alongside Pietro, even showing signs of pulling ahead.
Pietro was no longer relaxed. He swallowed his questions and focused entirely on the race. Seeing Pietro accelerate, Silas increased the magical output of the Rabbit Talisman and stuck to him like glue.
Boom!
In the blink of an eye, they reached the traffic light, startling the nearby pedestrians.
"How did you do that?" Pietro asked, breathless with shock.
"Just practiced a bit more, I guess," Silas said mysteriously. Pietro didn't believe a word of it. If it were that easy, everyone would be a speedster.
"I need a rematch." Pietro's competitive spirit was finally ignited. He hated the idea of losing to Silas. In that brief sprint, Silas had actually been faster by 0.01 seconds. To a normal person, that was nothing, but to a speedster, it was a lifetime.
"Wait a second." Pietro vanished and returned a moment later wearing his Quicksilver suit. "Now let's go."
Pietro hadn't really used his full power since the Civil War, mostly using it for convenience. His body was getting "rusty." Silas had managed to beat him in the one area he took pride in, and now he was fired up.
"See that skyscraper in the distance?" Pietro pointed to a far-off tower. "First one to reach it and get back to this room wins. Deal?"
"Deal." Silas was curious to see his limits.
"Ready... Go!"
Pietro lunged forward first, with Silas hot on his heels.
One second later...
"I won," Pietro panted, collapsing onto the sofa. "I'm still the fastest."
"You won, sure, but your stamina is terrible," Silas critiqued. They had just covered ten kilometers in a second. That wasn't even their top speed yet; Silas hadn't fully mastered the Talisman, and Pietro hadn't pushed himself either.
Pietro could easily reach speeds between Mach 5 and Mach 6. However, this version of Pietro had a glaring weakness: high-speed movement drained his physical energy rapidly.
"Looks like you need some training," Silas said.
"Training?" Pietro sat up abruptly.
"Yes. You have the speed, but not the endurance to match it. That's what's holding you back from truly leveling up." Silas decided it was time to put Pietro through a training regime.
"I think I'm good," Pietro said, not liking the sound of endurance training.
"No," Silas insisted. "You definitely aren't."
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