Uma Musume Girl, I'll tell you about my Santa Hat special move too?

That supreme posture, that unyielding pressure...

It's a dragon!

Was a giant dragon chasing after her, Zhuo Fu?!

……

But how is that possible?

This pressure, this speed!

Faster than I am now!

Wasn't she already defeated by me?!

Shouldn't she have already exhausted her strength and been unable to launch another attack?!

Oh right... a great escape! Wasn't she on a great escape?

Why are the drawbacks of the Great Escape completely invisible in Stardust Illusion?

During the race, Zhuo Fu, who was enjoying running, felt panic for the first time.

At this moment, she had completely lost her judgment and was completely unable to understand the situation before her.

Why does the Stardust Illusion, which was defeated by itself in terms of maximum speed, suddenly unleash such terrifying speed here?

Her explosive running style... could it be that what she did just now wasn't even her limit?!

With a demonic, ferocious face and executioner-like cold eyes, the runner had already closed in on Zhuo Fu in the blink of an eye.

And then... he beat her to a pulp!

-

Nothing remained in my mind.

At this moment, Stardust Illusion's eyes cannot see anything else but the destination ahead.

The talk of revenge against the powerful clans and defeating Zhuo Fu has been completely forgotten.

Stardust Illusion didn't even have the leisure to think about what to do next; its body was driven solely by instinct.

Take a step, start running.

Take a step, start running.

Take a step! Run!

The number of pursuers behind him gradually increased from one person to three? Five? Or seven?

do not know.

Let's run!

The track beneath my feet suddenly started to rise. Was it going uphill?

do not know.

Let's run!

The finish line pillar ahead is hurtling towards me at high speed? What is that?

do not know.

Let's run!

"Aaaaaaaahh ...

Subconsciously, Stardust Illusion channeled all the excruciating pain in its body into its vocal cords and screamed out loud.

Her consciousness became even more erratic, and everything before her eyes seemed to begin to change in strange ways.

Huh? What happened...?

I surpassed Zhuo Fu, and then...?

Am I still running...?

Many strange and unusual things appeared before my eyes...

In the sky, Zhuo Fu's figure floated triumphantly, shouting to herself:

"You cannot defeat my ultimate zero-gravity running technique!"

It felt completely unreal.

Unbeatable?

But I must win.

Only victory can bring me the glory I desire.

So what should I do?

My consciousness started to fade...

Hey, Stardust.

Wearing that classic white final outfit, the petite racehorse girl walked towards her with her back to the light.

With one black and one white glove crossed and held in front of him, the runner looked at the fallen Stardust Illusion and smiled brightly:

[You've already given up? You're far from enough.]

The East Sea... an emperor?

"I... have completely lost control of my body."

The Stardust Illusion collapsed to the ground, sighing helplessly.

Of course, because your stamina is really too poor.

As the girl spoke, she extended her right fist toward the illusion of stardust.

She was facing away from the sunlight, her entire body enveloped in the light, making her appear somewhat blurry.

[Before the Satsuki Victory arrives, you must become stronger—if you still wish to defeat me, the Emperor of the East Blue!]

"..."

As soon as I opened my eyes, raindrops slammed into them.

Stardust Illusion hurriedly tried to raise its hand to rub it, but found that its body was completely out of its control.

An unbearable soreness instantly flooded my mind.

kindness?

This is……

"what!!!"

"Don't move." Just as Stardust Illusion was about to spring up from the stretcher, it was forcibly pressed down by a hand.

The face before her held an unprecedented severity; it was the expression of Hikari Toyama, her brows furrowed.

"You... is that a domain?"

The trainer asked this question.

"Domain? No, wait, how did the match go?! Who won?!"

"..."

When confronted with Stardust Illusion's question, Toyama Scarlet silently looked away.

"Did I... lose...?"

Seeing the trainer's expression, Stardust Illusion seemed to realize something.

The fact that I'm lying here means I must have just fainted from exhaustion.

Was it because he ran out of energy early that he couldn't cross the finish line?

We lost...

(My head hurts so much, I can't remember what happened in the end...)

"Don't scare her, trainer."

Beside him, the smiling face of the wind god Aeneas also leaned closer.

She reached out and forcefully turned Toyama Hikari's head toward the Stardust Illusion as well.

Before the stardust illusion lay Toyama Hiren's exaggeratedly funny face, barely suppressing a smile—

"You won, Stardust. You defeated everyone and won the match!"

Ennis the Wind God told her the result of the competition.

"..."

"Tamamo's Toyama Scarlet! You're even lying about being a racehorse girl, huh! How dare you call yourself a trainer... Ouch, that hurts!"

The competition is over, and it's finally time for some rambling thoughts again!

This Japan-France exchange match can be considered the final climax of the first volume. Next, we will move beyond training and simulation matches and prepare to compete in open tournaments.

The title of the next volume should be: The Classic Triple Crown, I'm Coming to Take You...?

Let me briefly explain the strategy for this competition. It's actually quite clear; you can understand it using the game strategy of Uma Musume:

In the early stages, they took the lead, but in the mid-game, Zhuo Fu exerted her strength, and Stardust Illusion's positional awareness kicked in, leading to a contest between the two. However, Zhuo Fu lost, and her stamina began to seriously deplete.

Then the powerful clans began to control people, pulling everyone into a slower pace.

The Stardust Illusion triggered the uphill gold recovery, and then triggered Holy Night, replenishing the stamina that would otherwise have lasted until the end of the match, and starting to speed up, breaking through the slow pace.

At the final corner, it's equivalent to activating both (Victory Shot) and (Curve Expert) simultaneously. As I've emphasized before, this track simulates the Tokyo Derby track, so triggering these two skills here is equivalent to perfectly executing the final speed boost.

After all, anyone who's played Uma Musume Girls should know that in the Taurus Cup Derby, the two most useful skills are Crimson Flame and Victory Shot, both of which perfectly trigger and maintain a 0.35 speed boost.

To put it another way, it's about understanding the Uma Musume Pretty Derby anime.