Uma Musume, do I have to tell you that I know how to use the Santa Hat special move?

Her tone did not fluctuate much, and was even very calm:

“Are you really competing properly? The Emperor, let me be honest with you - Uma Musume competitions are not just about statistics!”

She reminded the Sky Palace ahead of her.

"But the competition is not a naive world like yours where you can win just by being full of passion!" The Sky Palace responded confidently.

----------

"What's going on? Why do these two look like they are chatting during the game?"

McQueen's eyes widened, he couldn't believe what he saw.

In this crucial race that determines the number of people who can enter the Gaoyue Sho, the two runners who are most likely to win in her opinion are the Emperor of the East Sea and the Sky Shrine...

They were chatting and even arguing on the track?!

"This Emperor! Is there going to be something wrong with the game?!"

"McQueen, I know you're anxious, but don't be anxious yet."

Stardust Illusion comforted his friend beside him without taking his eyes off the track:

"Let's not talk about the Sky Palace for now, but the Emperor of the East China Sea is running seriously now."

“——Huh?”

"Look at her footsteps... the way she exerts her strength, and the way she runs behind the Aerial Palace. It's obvious that the emperor is conserving his energy, right?"

"Under this slow pace, it would be more feasible to use words to attract the runner ahead and make him make mistakes, right?"

Hearing this, McQueen finally reacted.

She carefully studied the situation on the field, and her expression became much better:

"It seems that it is indeed as you said. This is the emperor's tactic. Really, how could I forget it..."

"Forgot something?"

Stardust Illusion asked casually.

"No, it's nothing!"

"...?"

McQueen's unexpected and fierce rejection made Stardust Illusion couldn't help but look back at her.

Seeing the panic on the noble girl's face, she shook her head and raised the corners of her mouth:

"Let's just watch the game. The emperor has a good sense of distance now, so there shouldn't be any big problems in the first half."

"...Indeed, this is what the emperor has been training for recently."

McQueen stroked his flat chest and calmed himself down.

She actually knew why the Emperor did this - ever since he watched the Stardust Vision Yomiuri Mile last time, the Emperor had been constantly asking other players in the team for advice, hoping to get reliable suggestions.

Coupled with the symbol of Rudolph and the guidance of Mejiro Ryan... She has now changed from a runner who specialized in forward movement to a dual-wielding player who is proficient in both forward movement and backward movement.

Mastering these two running methods at the same time not only means having one more option in the competition, but also allows you to switch back and forth between the two running methods and gain the advantages of both at the same time.

Plus……

McQueen recalled the time when he accompanied her in training, and silently apologized to Stardust Illusion in his heart.

One of them is her close teammate, and the other is her best friend.

For the sake of fairness in this Gaoyue Award, McQueen, as the eldest daughter of the Mejiro family, absolutely cannot favor any side.

Things like revealing the content and results of the emperor's training to Stardust Illusion in advance are a big taboo.

Fortunately, Stardust Illusion seemed to have noticed this as well, so he didn't ask any further questions.

“This race is 2000 meters long. If run normally, the emperor will certainly be able to run at his best level.”

"But the Sky Palace has very precise control over the position, which can block the Emperor from the right front for a long distance, making it almost impossible for her to cut into the inner circle from the outside."

Since he couldn't reveal what he knew about the training, McQueen analyzed the game more diligently:

"Especially now that the race is already halfway through, the Emperor has tried to cut into the inner circle several times but failed. He is completely suppressed... Maybe this situation will continue until the end of the race?"

"If that were the case, the emperor would have to run a greater distance and consume extra energy..."

She looked at the Stardust illusion beside her and asked, "Stardust, how do you think the emperor will deal with this?"

"In my opinion, endurance is not a big problem."

Stardust Illusion looked back and forth among all the contestants, finally stopping at Sky Palace, and replied calmly:

"Sky Palace, her running style reminds me of Bourbon, the two are very similar - so the emperor may face a more severe situation next."

"for example……"

----------

While the Stardust Illusion was talking to McQueen, the Sky Palace, which was speeding on the runway, was also using the curve of the road to look behind with side lights.

Her unique talent for rational calculation and intelligence gathering ability, coupled with her body as a horse girl that matures earlier than others, have given her more confidence.

It is also because of this that the Sky Palace can spare more energy to pay attention to the every move of the Emperor of the East China Sea.

Although when she was talking trash just now, she spoke as if she really relied entirely on data calculations.

But in fact, the Sky Palace certainly understands that all kinds of extraordinary things can happen on the field, and the calculation results can never be absolutely correct.

It can be said that what Parcae calculated is definitely subject to change.

Whether the East Sea Emperor will lose to herself in this game, or she will lose 7cm in the Japanese Derby...

Thinking of his goal, Sky God Palace shook his head violently to get rid of the complicated thoughts.

In order to make up for the limitations of the data, she must rely on her self-esteem and strength as a runner.

Just before entering the bend, the Sky Palace saw it very clearly. The moment she stepped into the bend and switched lanes, the East China Sea Emperor smiled slightly.

That's the look of someone who is sure of victory.

At that moment, the Sky Palace realized that it would be impossible to completely deplete the physical strength of the Emperor of the East China Sea by just relying on the technique of blocking.

For a top runner like her, even a tiny bit of strength left can create a miraculous result - just like the Yayoi Sho race 12 days ago.

(…So, more interference is necessary.)

He shifted his gaze away from the Emperor of the East China Sea and took a brief breath of fresh air. The Sky Palace mobilized blood to flow to the brain, pushing its computing power to its maximum.

(Then... try this!)

Trample, tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp…

Those were completely disordered footsteps, but each one happened to be at the moment when the emperor's legs landed on the ground.

This disordered rhythm turned into a big net and immediately enveloped the Emperor of the East China Sea behind her!

------------

Running rhythm plays a very crucial role in Uma Musume competition.

Mastering the rhythm that best suits you is the basis for a runner to stand on the field and compete with others.

When they run at this rhythm, both the physical exertion and the use of other running techniques will be in the most suitable and energy-saving state.

Just like Oguruma's second and even third leg, the fundamental reason is that she usually runs at the pace of a slower runner in the first half of the race, accumulating endurance and strength for the final sprint.

Another example is the strategist under the clear sky, Nebula Sky. Her running rhythm is to run away to create a gap, then slow down to give hope to those who come late, consume their energy, and finally win the victory in one fell swoop.

It can be said that rhythm is like a runner's heart during a race, which is crucial.

That's why, during the Japan-France exchange qualification simulation competition a few months ago, Toyama Scarlet named the two-person escape tactic Heart Destruction, which meant to destroy the rhythm of other runners through the escape while allowing Stardust Illusion to maintain his own running style.

And escaping is not the only way to disrupt the running rhythm.

In addition to the big runners who will appear in the race and everyone will have to change their pace because of this running method, there will also be runners who become anxious or whose physical strength is approaching the limit.

Under such circumstances, they could no longer maintain a stable rhythm, their steps became disrupted, and their movements became less standard, leading to further consumption of additional physical energy.

This is also the principle behind the magic of some runners.

However, for truly calculating runners like Miura Bourbon or Sky Shrine, even without the so-called magic, they still have ways to disrupt the rhythm of specific runners.

That was the technique that Bourbon Miura had used on the Stardust Illusion, and it was also the top technology that the Sky Shrine was currently using.

The rhythm named "Flow" by Toyama Scarlet interferes with the pace.

The essence of this step is to grasp the target runner's footsteps rhythm through massive data flow analysis while running, and then change your own running method.

Without consuming extra energy, each step falls exactly at the moment before the opponent's foot lands. This sense of difference is used to make the target runner have the illusion of "Am I landing too slowly or too quickly?", thereby making the target runner confused.

Just like the emperor now...

[The Emperor of the East Sea and the Sky Palace have both started to move! As the race entered the second half, the two runners began to change their running rhythm at the same time! Are they going to overtake each other? ! ] The host on the field slammed the table and shouted, attracting everyone's attention to the front center of the runners' echelon.

The soil with grass roots attached was shattered by the swift footsteps.

On the track, the two runners were almost tightly pressed together, one in front and one behind, yet their bodies were not touching at all.

Wisdom and passion, their confidence collides at this moment.

The two men, full of fighting spirit, were constantly attacking each other, trying to defeat the other side with incredible swiftness.

[The race has entered the final corner! We can see that Sky Palace and East Sea Empire have surpassed Shelley Wei and are now in fifth and sixth place. Will they decide the winner here? ! ]

[Will the Sky Shrine be able to defeat the legendary undefeated triple crown dream here, or will the East Sea Emperor kill the G1 winner before the Gaoyue Sho? ! ]

[Showdown! Another exciting showdown! The two have been competing against each other since the beginning of the game. Who will win in this final duel? ! ]

…Oh no…

The Emperor of the East China Sea did not have time to hear clearly what the host was shouting, or rather, she heard what the host was shouting but did not have the energy to understand it.

From the very beginning, it seemed as if the footsteps of the Sky Palace, which had always been on her heart, had really affected her rhythm.

The originally planned game process was disrupted and could not be reorganized.

The Emperor of the East China Sea now feels heavy-legged, dizzy, and exhausted all over.

But her steps were still firm, as if all these difficulties did not exist. The Emperor of the East China Sea took powerful steps forward and was not in a hurry to pass by the Aerial Palace.

The Sky Palace running ahead of her was not in much better condition than the Emperor.

It wasn't just physical fatigue. She had been using all her energy to calculate the emperor's steps since just now, and now she couldn't turn around at all.

I can only rely on mechanical instinct to wave my arms forward, breathe, move my legs, and rush forward.

It felt like a pointed hammer was hitting the temple, making the Sky Palace feel like something was buzzing in his head at a high frequency.

She roared in disbelief:

(How is it possible... the emperor's strength is still not exhausted?!)

(Has something changed in her that I didn’t anticipate? No, even a stronger runner would be immune to rhythm disruption.)

(She must be at the end of her rope!)

Sky Goddess gritted her teeth and kept running. She was sure that as a precocious horse girl, she would not lose to the East Sea Emperor in terms of physical strength.

Especially since the opponent had been disrupted by me throughout the game and couldn't even get the first position -

However, what she didn't know was that the emperor was not running to be in the lead position from the beginning of this race.

The reason why he is still in such a fierce confrontation with her until now is entirely because the emperor saw through the Aerial Palace's intention to block her and used the same trick against her!

The current Emperor of the East China Sea feels that his condition is extremely mysterious.

Her body was exhausted. Every inch of her muscles began to tremble. Her bones also made a mournful sound as they moved, and the nerves hidden between her muscles and bones kept twitching. Her blood vessels were also working to their limit.

However, her mind was clearer than ever before.

It was like the fresh air I breathed in when I got up from my bed in the dormitory, walked out of the door with the stardust illusion, and took the first step towards the cafeteria.

Even the condition of his own body is completely under control, and even the status of a certain blood vessel can be clearly perceived.

The emperor didn't understand what was going on, but she didn't need to understand.