The Road to Hegemony

T.M. Opera O did not look at A Tian. Her gaze, too, was fixed on the track—especially on that black figure at the very front, so steady it made one's heart tremble.

She let out a soft sigh. There was no regret or pity in it, only the calm of one who saw through everything, along with a trace of admiration for absolute strength.

"A Tian." Her voice was not loud, yet it clearly cut through the surrounding clamor and reached his ears.

A Tian's body stiffened almost imperceptibly, but he did not turn around.

"You understand now, don't you?" T.M. Opera O continued in a tone as flat as if she were stating a long-established fact. "This race was actually over at around the 1,000-meter mark."

A Tian's throat bobbed, but he remained silent.

Yet the knuckles of the hand gripping the railing had turned even whiter.

As if she had not noticed his reaction, T.M. Opera O continued on her own, her speaking speed steady but every word distinct. "From the moment the race began, Kitasan Black has been running a race that only she could run. Look at her speed curve."

She raised a slender finger and traced a smooth arc through the air. "It's frighteningly smooth.

"This isn't a change of pace, nor is it a tactical burst. This is sustained high-power output, starting from the very beginning.

"Everyone—including that child Mikki Rocket—has been forced to follow her slightly fast leading pace. From that moment on, their stamina has been slipping toward a dangerous threshold."

Her finger pointed toward the figures struggling to chase from the middle and rear of the pack.

"Every breath they take now, every stride they make, is borrowing against the pitiful bit of sprinting capital they have left for the final