The incline rose before them like a wall. Nakayama Racecourse's slope was a brutal hairpin hill, so steep it felt like heaven and earth had suddenly flipped upside down. The world tilted at an angle that made your legs scream just looking at it.
Even that didn't slow the three uma musume down. Led by Biwa Hayahide, they charged up the slope one after another, their leg power driving through the vicious incline like pistons. Muscles burned, lungs gasped for air, but none of them backed off.
By this point, they were already nearly three lengths ahead of the fourth-place uma musume, and that gap kept widening with every stride.
"Tickezo!" Biwa Hayahide's voice came out strained, each word forced between gasps. She could feel Winning Ticket right behind her, could hear her ragged breathing mixing with her own.
This wasn't just a race anymore. This was BNW. This was pride.
"I'm not... backing down!" Winning Ticket's legs screamed at her, begging her to stop. The slope felt like trying to run up a vertical wall. Every step was agony, her stamina gauge flashing red in her mind.
But she couldn't stop. Wouldn't stop.
Because Hayahide was right there. Right THERE.
"You think you can pass me?!" Hayahide gritted her teeth so hard her jaw ached. She'd been conserving stamina the whole race for exactly this—for Tickezo's inevitable challenge. "I've been WAITING for you to try!"
Golden light flared around both of them as skills activated in rapid succession.
Winning Ticket surged forward, her body moving on pure determination and muscle memory. "HAYAHIDE!"
Their shoulders nearly collided as Ticket pulled alongside her. The gap between them—one length, half a length, a quarter—
"Not happening!" Hayahide kicked harder, found reserves she didn't know she had left. The two of them roared up the slope neck and neck, neither giving a single inch.
This was already Winning Ticket's second time up this brutal slope. The first time, she'd charged up without thinking, powered through on pure adrenaline. Now her body was screaming at her that she'd pushed too far, burned too much.
Her stamina was almost gone. The tank running on fumes.
"I can't—" The words caught in Ticket's throat. Her vision started to blur, not from tears but from sheer physical strain. "I can't let it end like this! Not here! NOT NOW!"
She threw everything into one more surge, legs pumping even as they trembled violently.
Behind them, Narita Taishin exploded past with her rainbow aura blazing. "OUT OF MY WAY!"
She overtook both of them in one devastating motion, her Nemesis skill firing at full power.
"NARITA TAISHIN HAS BROKEN THROUGH! SHE'S TAKEN THE LEAD!"
And King Halo, King Halo charged up from behind with emerald fury, her dress streaming like a war banner.
"If this is all you've got, I'll be taking first place!" Her victory declaration rang out loud and clear.
Call Me King activated!
Golden light exploded around King Halo's form as she RUSHED up the slope with impossible speed, passing Hayahide and Ticket like they were standing still.
"KING HALO'S CHARGING! She's caught up to Taishin! THEY'RE NECK AND NECK!"
Biwa Hayahide watched them pull away. Watched Taishin and King Halo surge ahead into their own battle, leaving her behind.
No. No, no, NO!
"I'm the monster's older sister!" The scream tore out of her throat. "I'm Biwa Hayahide! I don't GET LEFT BEHIND!"
Her stamina was gone. Completely empty. She'd burned it all fighting with Winning Ticket, and her body was begging her to stop, to accept third place, to just let it end—
"SHUT UP!" She screamed at her own body, at her limits, at the wall in front of her. "I REFUSE!"
Something inside her ignited.
Red mist started emanating from her body, thin at first but growing thicker. Her eyes blazed with crimson light, and the air around her seemed to shimmer with heat.
The world SHARPENED.
She could see the exact trajectory Taishin and King Halo were taking. Could calculate in perfect detail how to close the gap. Her body moved before conscious thought, operating on pure instinct.
The Zone. She'd entered the Zone.
"WHAT?! BIWA HAYAHIDE IS ENTERING THE ZONE! HER SPEED IS INCREASING!"
Her exhaustion didn't disappear—the Zone didn't erase physical limits—but it let her push PAST them. Let her operate at a level beyond normal racing.
Red light flared around her as she SURGED forward, closing the gap to King Halo and Taishin.
Behind her, Winning Ticket watched in disbelief. Hayahide was... she was actually...
"No way..." Ticket's voice came out as a whisper. "Hayahide, you're not leaving me behind either!"
Her vision was blurring badly now. Her legs were shaking so hard she could barely keep her balance. The second climb up this slope had drained everything she had.
She was done. Finished. Fourth place would have to be enough—
Then she saw Taishin's blue Zone-mist ahead. Saw Hayahide's red mist flaring to life. Saw King Halo's golden light blazing like the sun.
And something in Winning Ticket's chest roared in defiance.
"I'm BNW too, damn it!" The scream ripped out of her. "We made a PROMISE! We're entering the Derby TOGETHER! ALL OF US!"
Her body was breaking down. She could feel muscles tearing, her heart hammering so hard it hurt. But watching her rivals, her friend fight ahead without her?
That hurt more for Winning Ticket.
"GIVE ME STRENGTH!" She threw her head back and screamed at the sky. "JUST A LITTLE MORE! LET ME STAND WITH THEM!"
White mist exploded from her body like a shockwave.
Her eyes blazed with pure white light, and her vision sharpened into crystal clarity. The Zone manifested around her, incomplete and flickering but REAL.
Every calculation, every strategy she'd ever studied, every race she'd analyzed, all clicked into place with perfect precision.
"WINNING TICKET IS ENTERING THE ZONE TOO! THIS IS INSANE! ALL FOUR OF THEM ARE IN ZONE STATE!"
Hayato shot up from his seat in the booth, eyes wide with disbelief. "Four Zones?! AT THE SAME TIME?!"
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Btw, the illustration will be on the comment.