Walking alone on the path back to his dormitory, Kato Akira looked up at the bright moon in the sky and couldn’t help but feel a sudden, inexplicable chill.
He was wrong.
He was completely, utterly wrong.
It was true that Uma Musume were spirits born to run.
It was true they were supernatural beings blessed by the gods with mysterious powers.
But that did not mean they were simple-minded or easy to deceive.
Their obsession with victory allowed them to endure grueling training that ordinary humans could never withstand.
It allowed them to suppress their true personalities, endure countless grievances and hardships, and continue training regardless of rain or shine.
How could horse girls with that kind of willpower ever be content with just accepting whatever life threw at them?
Just as the Emperor Symboli Rudolf was driven by her own anger and unwillingness to accept defeat—pushing forward massive reforms so no other horse girl would ever have to suffer the humiliation she went through—Mr.
C.B.
was secretly plotting a fatal strike against that very Emperor for the exact same reasons.
In the end, Uma Musume will always settle their differences on the turf.
“That will be 1,500 yen, please.”
“Right.”
Walking out of the store carrying a newly purchased wooden chair, Akira sighed and continued his heavy hearted walk back to his dorm.
The Dream Trophy league.
The ultimate stage created after the three year transitional period to showcase these new reforms and changes.
All the shifts, all the disturbances in the industry—everything was meant to culminate in the ultimate showdown of the Dream Trophy, announced amidst soaring morale and the cheers of tens of thousands.
Symboli Rudolf intended to ride that overwhelming wave of cheers.
She planned to use her absolute network of connections, her peerless running, and her raw strength to guide the transformation of her dream into reality.
But would Mr.
C.B.
simply accept that?
Absolutely not.
She was wedging her own steel crowbar right into Symboli Rudolf’s past anger, determined to smash a fatal crack into the Emperor’s currently flawless state of mind.
The current Symboli Rudolf was invincible.
She possessed absolute power and absolute confidence in everything she did.
Because she fundamentally did not believe she could lose.
When everyone—absolutely everyone—respected her, worshipped her, viewed her as a great pioneer, and treated her every word and action as the golden rule…
how could Symboli Rudolf possibly lose?
The clamoring of those she had already defeated was nothing to worry about.
Mr.
C.B.’s open hostility couldn’t reach the bottom of Symboli Rudolf’s heart.
This intense, burning desire for victory and rivalry could only be passed down to the new generation of Uma Musume and Trainers. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
It could only be entrusted to the very system Rudolf herself had built with her own two hands.
Only when a part of her own creation started rebelling against her would the terrifying Emperor’s armor begin to crack.
It would create a vulnerability that allowed for a fair fight—a crack that others could actually reach.
In the past, due to her own immaturity, Rudolf had shown cracks exactly three times in her entire career.
But now, as a fully matured Emperor, why would she ever give her defeated rivals another chance?
That was why she was invincible.
Her state of mind was perfectly complete, her strides had reached absolute mastery, and she had even achieved the ultimate, perfect form of her Domain.
She could use her flawless mindset to enter her Domain at will, without needing any external adjustments.
(TL:Damn the glazing is insane!!)
So, Mr.
C.B.
chose an assassin.
An assassin born directly from the very system Symboli Rudolf had created.
The combination of Orfevre, Deep Impact, and Kato Akira.
Because this trio actually represented Symboli Rudolf’s ideal, perfect vision: a setup where the Uma Musume could focus entirely on running safely, while the Trainer provided all the necessary emotional and strategic support.
As long as Akira truly studied hard, became a Trainer, and then cooperated with Mr.
C.B.
at the critical moment, Rudolf’s flawless state of mind would shatter.
At that moment, on the stage of the Dream Trophy, reality and the past would intertwine, and the two Triple Crown legends would clash once again.
A true, final showdown, where everyone was at their absolute peak.
(…Seriously, is there something wrong with these people’s heads?!)
Arriving near his dorm building, Akira looked down the empty hallway, breathed a sigh of relief, and let out an exasperated groan.
He knew Uma Musume were spirits born to run, and he knew they had an obsession with racing.
But he had never imagined their obsession could grow this massive—twisting the entire industry just to settle a personal rivalry!
Symboli Rudolf was doing all of this to wash away her past humiliation.
Mr.
C.B.
was doing the exact same thing.
And everyone else who got dragged into this was nothing more than a plaything caught in the blazing crossfire of their fighting spirits.
For Akira, this outcome was undoubtedly the absolute worst.
He just wanted to make money!
He didn’t want to get involved in any of this!
“Society is way too lenient on Uma Musume…” Akira muttered bitterly as he reached for his door handle and pulled it open.
Bathed in the quiet moonlight filtering through the window, a tall figure stood in his room.
Symboli Rudolf—the existence known as the Emperor, the Tyrant of Tracen Academy—was sitting in his chair, looking up at the young man with an amused expression, as if she were watching a comedy show.
“It seems you have properly taken my words to heart, Kato-san.”
Looking at the utterly shocked Akira and the extra chair in his hand, a brief flash of surprise crossed Symboli Rudolf’s face.
“I was fully prepared to reprimand you for forgetting my instructions, but you are surprisingly obedient.
That is a fine chair you bought.
It seems you do not view me purely as an enemy after all.”
“When the Emperor gives an order, how could I dare disobey?”
“Is that so?”
Uncrossing her legs wrapped in black stockings, the slender, elegant Emperor stood up, walked over to Akira, and tilted her head up to sniff his earlobe and hair.
From an outsider’s perspective, this might have looked like a jealous high school girlfriend checking her boyfriend for another woman’s scent.
But Akira felt absolutely no romance or heart fluttering excitement.
He only felt cold sweat pouring down his back.
The tension spread through every bone in his body.
If he let his guard down for even a second, he might expose his fear.
It felt exactly like having a ferocious tiger standing right behind him, sniffing its prey.
The sensation was absolutely spine-chilling.
After a long, agonizing moment, her warm breath finally pulled away.
Looking at the cold sweat on the man’s face, Symboli Rudolf smiled faintly and stepped back into the room.
“Mr.
C.B.
spoke with you?
Very well.
Come at me.”
“W-What do you mean?”
“What else could I mean?
She has always wanted to defeat me, no matter what methods or powers she must use.
But I am the Emperor.
I cannot possibly be struck down by such absurd tactics.”
Acting as if everything in the world was entirely under her control, Symboli Rudolf walked to the desk, crossed her legs, sat down, and picked up a pair of red-framed glasses to put on her face.
She smiled at Akira, looking at him as if he were a mischievous, predictable child.
Normally, red framed glasses would soften a person’s aura, but on Symboli Rudolf, they didn’t make her look gentle at all.
Instead, they made her look even more resolute and unyielding, adding a sharp trace of mockery and amusement to her gaze.
“I already know everything, Prospective Trainer-kun.”