Under Ikezoe's command, Orfevre started running and she once again unleashed her astonishing final spurt!
And at the same time, Orfevre's still immature Zone was activated!
Compared to T.M. Opera O's grand like nature and Tamamo Cross's aggressive lightning, Orfevre's Zone was clearly not that defined, but some clues were already subtly visible.
Unlike the confidence of other Uma Musume, Orfevre's Zone should be said to be closer to Symboli Rudolf's, a kind of oppressive dominance over the racecourse.
It was as if she was the sole king over the race; no one else was allowed to challenge her authority.
And what this Zone provided to Orfevre, besides the intimidation factor and the boost to her stats that every other Zone gave, was a single, terrifying ability.
Stamina, a seemingly endless supply of it from within her body— this was the most unique aspect of Orfevre's Zone.
Usually, activating a Zone consumes a great deal of stamina.
Zone can be described as the ability for an Uma Musume to actively enter a state of high concentration, thereby unleashing their ideal performance as well as enforcing their various idiosyncrasies onto the world.
The activation of such a powerful ability would naturally incur an equal amount of stamina, so it is generally treated as a trump card, being only used in the final corner or straight.
However, while Orfevre's Zone did indeed consume her stamina, it instead drew from the boundless amount of hidden stamina that had accumulated within her.
At this moment, Orfevre's stamina depletion rate was astonishingly horrifying; any other Uma Musume would likely collapse within ten seconds under this rate of stamina drain.
But it had no effect on Orfevre, because the unknown reserve of stamina within her that her Zone was drawing from seemed to be truly endless!
She could only be described as...
"—A monster more terrifying than Oguri Cap."
Symboli Rudolf rubbed her chin as she uttered this sentence in an incredulous tone.
"More terrifying than Oguri Cap? President, are you saying that once Orfevre masters her Zone more, she will directly become as strong as the 'Gray Monster?!'"
Air Groove also replied in disbelief:
"Impossible, Orfevre's physique... doesn't seem like it could hold a stamina pool that high."
"Even with the Mejiro Family as ideal examples; while they have abundant stamina, their sprinting consumption is also very high, it's impossible for them to sustain such a terrifying pace like this for very long."
"...Just another prank played on us by the Three Goddesses I suppose. It seems my initial expectations of Orfevre weren't wrong."
Symboli Rudolf merely smiled faintly as she continued to watch the mock race... only to suddenly sense a familiar Aura.
Her intuition quickly made Symboli Rudolf turn her head, her gaze fixed on the suspicious figure standing beside Nakayama Festa, who was dressed rather oddly.
'That Uma Musume, isn't she 'that one' from Shadai... Why is she here?'
As Symboli Rudolf thought this, she began to feel that the other party definitely had her own agenda in coming here, especially when she sensed that Aura.
Shadai's secret weapon, when in discussions on who was the strongest Uma Musume in Japan, was always ranked among the top, a truly powerful existence.
The second Undefeated Classic Triple Crown Uma Musume... once considered to be stronger than even the Emperor herself, Symboli Rudolf.
Yet, due to a certain scandal, she was reluctantly benched by Shadai and eventually became uninterested in everything, giving up on being enshrined in the hall of fame.
The strongest Uma Musume that was fully under Shadai's wing.
And what made Symboli Rudolf nervous about the other party was that she was currently excited— excited about Orfevre's existence.
This was not a good sign. This person could not casually enter races like she did.
But if she really forced herself to enter one, then perhaps...
...
Regardless of what Symboli Rudolf's thoughts on that figure were, it did not affect Orfevre's current rapid progress on the track.
With Ikezoe's commands, Orfevre's final spurt this time was incredibly overwhelming, even more so than usual.
She truly did as she said, entrusting her brain's work to Ikezoe while focusing solely on running with all her might.
And since Ikezoe wasn't telling her to slow down, she would only run faster and faster!
"H- hey, Junior, wait—! Running at such high speeds would only overly strain your legs and heart!"
However, despite Maruzensky's words, Orfevre's increasingly fast final spurt showed no signs of stopping, seemingly intending to run like this all the way to the finish line.
For the first time in this mock race, Maruzensky felt a sense of panic as she chased Orfevre while shouting,
"I- it's over! You win! So please stop! Don't ruin your bod-"
"—Let me tell you, you retired old hag!"
Orfevre's eyes were still fixed on the finish line ahead, and she shouted with absolute confidence,
"You don't understand where our limits lie! My limit is far! FAR! From just this!!!"
"Move on with the times you cranky old hag! You'll find that us juniors have already far surpassed you seniors!"
BANG!
As soon as her words fell, Orfevre's cleat once again left a deep imprint.
Then, in front of Maruzensky, the one she called "retired old hag," Orfevre displayed the physical prowess of a new generation Uma Musume, a young Uma Musume with nothing to fear!
Before her initial final spurt even ended, she accelerated again!
Unleashing a double final spurt, Orfevre bursted forth once more!
Such terrifying stamina consumption and strain were enough to make many fragile Uma Musume shrink back in fear; it was on the level where trying meant possibly getting crippled for life.
Not even Maruzensky during her wildest days would dare to attempt such a maneuver.
What's more, Orfevre's double final spurt wasn't anything like T.M. Opera O's two stage final spurt; it couldn't even be called a technique.
It was a move that could only be considered as brute strength, relying entirely on her sturdy legs alongside her Aura and newly-awakened Zone!
Maruzensky, of course, wanted to catch up. She wanted to unleash her final spurt and engage in a final showdown with Orfevre.
But gradually, she began to feel her legs lose strength...
No, rather, her body subconsciously knew what the consequences would be for her if she ran without regard for the repercussions.
"Maruzensky-senpai..."
"...It's fine, Chiyono O."
Maruzensky shook her head and gradually slowed down. This time, it truly seemed like she lacked the energy to continue running.
"I really am a fool, intending to teach a junior a lesson in the guise of a senior... I didn't expect to be mocked by a junior instead."
"Has our time... really ended...?"
The sigh from Maruzensky was because of the truth she had never been willing to accept, or even perhaps had always been avoiding.
Maruzensky had a relatively short career, but she had managed to do so with a record of eight wins in eight races.
And with this record, she used it to protect something within her heart... her prime.
With these honors, she could always deceive herself that she was still that same young girl from all those years ago.
She was beautiful, she was smart, she was fast, she was strong. Even if she had retired long ago, she could still dominate the racecourse anytime she wanted if she returned— was what she said to herself.
But now, seeing the facts directly shoved into her face, it seemed Maruzensky had no choice but to accept reality.
She had long turned into a rotting corpse. It was time for this stage to be completely handed over to the new generation.
And thus, Maruzensky slowed to a halt.
Under everyone's gaze, a few meters before the finish line, Maruzensky calmly crouched down, letting Sakura Chiyono O get off her back before patting her on the head.
Meanwhile, Orfevre, who had already crossed the finish line, also felt something amiss.
She and Ikezoe, who had already dismounted from her shoulder, silently watched Maruzensky, who had stopped.
For a moment, the finish line seemed to separate the world in two, dividing them into their own world.
"...Hm~ You won, my dear student and Junior."
Maruzensky smiled as gently as ever. She didn't even try to demean their achievement by mentioning her earlier act of holding back, merely stating the outcome with a faint voice.
"Then, according to our bet, I must go prepare— I hope you can forge your own future with the same fervor you showed today."
With that, before anyone could even react, Maruzensky immediately turned and ran off from the scene.
—Literally ran, and in a somewhat disheveled manner too, completely lacking her earlier composure.
But just as Maruzensky ran off, Ikezoe suddenly realized and immediately chased after her.
"Teacher! Please wait for me!"
"Ikezo— ...he ran off."
Orfevre reached out her hand, subconsciously wanting to chase after them.
But after only a few steps, she silently stopped, only muttering in confusion after her reason had restored,
"Did... did I do something wrong? Did I speak too harshly?"
Orfevre's simple brain couldn't support her in pondering these questions.
But as she watched Ikezoe chase after Maruzensky's retreating figure, she still felt a sharp sting in her chest... as if something of hers had been taken away by someone else and she couldn't even say anything against it.
"Ahhh!!!!!! Winning isn't right, losing isn't right either!! What am I supposed to do??!!!"
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Hell yeah! Bullying the elderly! Way to go Orfevre!
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If you spot any errors, feel free to comment about it and I will fix it as soon as I can.