"Whoosh—"
Duramente saw only the blackish-brown afterimage purse her lips in a whistling gesture. No sound came out, yet she heard a whistle in her mind.
As if it were another hallucination, she saw Frostfall's lips move as she silently said:
"Hello~ Miss Rumble~ Don't you want this race... to become even more thunderous?"
As she mouthed those words soundlessly, the blackish-brown figure seemed to glide along the ground, as though springs had been fitted into her legs. With several rapid thuds, she used the gap in the Outside Lane to complete an astonishing burst of acceleration in an extremely low posture.
Her acceleration was so fast that the air she kicked up made the blades of grass on the track flatten outward from her in an instant, producing a series of rustling swishes.
Frostfall's sudden attack was like a lit fuse, detonating the already tense race.
New variables had entered the deadly struggle between Kitasan Black and California Spangle.
California Spangle moved first. Like a shark that had caught the scent of blood, the golden-haired girl suddenly accelerated, opening a gap of less than half a horse length between herself and the black-haired girl ahead.
She traced a dazzling golden arc through the bend, like a shining meteor streaking forward. Grass Clippings burst beneath her horseshoes like stardust, becoming a brilliant flaming tail behind that meteor.
Kitasan Black's response was simple.
She used no flashy technique. The moment she sensed the drastic change closing in from behind, she violently poured her power into the ground.
She became a black hurricane, like an endless night curtain, swallowing the track ahead with almost brutal force.
Before the golden arc flung out by California Spangle could fade, it was instantly swallowed by that black night.
The track behind them was swallowed as