The real thrill of racing, after all, lay in a close-fought battle.
A runaway victory by a single dominant competitor was, in a sense, a letdown. As the Remote-controlled Automobile Race entered its final stages, the heat of competition intensified as fierce battles broke out within every group.
The fiercest fighting took place in the second group. Bibs #8, #2, #6, and #3 were in a frantic scramble, their rankings swapping at a dizzying pace.
"Oh! Bib #2 has masterfully pulled ahead of the competing #6 and #3 to leap to the front of the second group! It’s now pursuing the leaders... but Bib #8 is right on its tail!"
"The determination not to let them get away is incredible," Sion noted.
Just as she spoke, Bib #8 accelerated, kicking up a spray of gravel as it dogged Bib #2. Then, at the corner, it moved to overtake from the far outside, successfully pulling ahead.
"Oh, magnificent! Now Bib #8 has taken the top spot in the second group!"
The spectators were reaching a fever pitch as well. The back-and-forth of the dead heat was a sight to behold.
However, Bib #2 was not about to let itself be overtaken so easily. Shifting its course slightly outward on the straightaway, the car accelerated all at once.
Unlike Rubina, however, Shu suffered no time loss to wheel spin. He accelerated at the absolute limit of the tires' grip, showing off a natural sense for piloting.
Meanwhile, in the fight for the lead, Lordtoss had begun driving his car at full throttle—perhaps a bit early—and had opened up a gap of about four seconds over the rest of the field.
"Lordtoss is good," Jin muttered.
He decided it was time to give it his all. Unlike Lordtoss, who was one of the Northern People, Jin was not accustomed to this kind of high-stakes piloting. He estimated he could only maintain the extreme concentration required for full-speed driving for another five or six laps at most.
It was now the twenty-third lap. With seven laps remaining, he wondered if he could sustain it.
It’s not like I have to maintain peak concentration through all seven laps continuously, he thought. ...Let’s go!
Having reached a conclusion, Jin finally unleashed the full potential of the Beetle.
"Ooh?! Bib #11 has suddenly spurted ahead! It looks like Jin-sama has made his move! Noticing this, Lordtoss-sama is accelerating even further!"
The battle of true strength against true strength had begun.
Lordtoss pushed his car even harder, driving at what he considered "one hundred and twenty percent." Jin, on the other hand, was operating at "eighty percent."
These figures were simply the units used within their respective minds to measure the strain. Lordtoss was driving by drawing out performance that literally went beyond the car's intended capabilities. Jin was driving at the absolute limit of what he could personally control.
The two were perfectly balanced. Whenever Bib #11 tried to dive into the inside, Bib #12 would swing its tail to block the path. Even when Lordtoss sped down the straights at speeds exceeding the car's maximum to pull away, Jin's car managed to keep up.
"I see. In Ro’s case, the pilot exceeds the car’s performance, whereas for Jin, the car exceeds the pilot’s skill," Sion said, nodding several times as the logic of the duel became clear to her.
"It’s a true tail-to-nose battle! Bib #12 is holding off #11!"
"...But the key to the championship will be whose limit comes first," Sion added.
Would Lordtoss's car reach its mechanical limit first, or would Jin's concentration break?
"If the ones piloting were golems or automata, it would have been a runaway victory for Jin, but this combination is quite interesting." Sion watched the race's progress with outward calm, but inner excitement.
Elsewhere on the track, the fighting had intensified in the other groups as well. The third group was currently ranked in the order of Bibs #7, #5, #13, #4, and #1.
"Oh, Marikka has moved up two spots," Sion observed.
Whether it was a victory for her steady pace or not, Marikka was now lapping in the 37-second range. Of course, Jin and Lordtoss had reached speeds in the 35-second range. A time difference of three seconds meant that the leaders would catch up to the tail end of the pack every eleven or twelve laps.
In fact, the third group had already been overtaken twice by the likes of Bibs #12, #11, #10, and #9. And now, the second group—consisting of Bibs #8, #2, #6, and #3—was catching up to them as well.
"The second group has caught up to the third group, which is a lap behind! Chaos is erupting on the track!!"
While a one-second difference in lap times was significant, it wasn't enough to facilitate a clean overtake in heavy traffic. If the second group had taken a line around the outside, they could have passed easily, but not a single car in that group tried it.
"Ah! A collision! Bib #6 and #5 have made contact!"
Entering a corner in a tight cluster—with cars of differing lap counts all jumbled together—led to unavoidable contact. The impact, occurring while lateral G-forces were applied during cornering, easily threw the cars off balance. The two cars that collided hit three more, sending two of them into a spin. It was absolute chaos.
"Bib #7 and #8 are off the track! #5 and #6 have spun out!"
"Marikka is... safe," Sion noted.
Marikka, who had been driving alone on the far outside, avoided being caught in the confusion and took the lead of the third group.
"Bib #2 and #3 are safe! And #5, #4, and #1 have also emerged from the corner a bit later!"
Fortunately, no cars had flipped or become inoperable, so the race continued without interruption. However, the accident caused a significant shuffle in the rankings. The top group remained unchanged: Bibs #12, #11, #10, and #9.
"The rankings have shifted significantly! The order from the second group onward is Bibs #3, #2, #5, #4, #6, #1, #8, #7... n-no, I stand corrected!" Luckhart shouted.
He was flustered and had momentarily forgotten that the third group was a lap behind the second. Once they completed a lap and the confusion settled, the rankings finally became clear.
"Yes, my apologies. The rankings from the second group onward are Bibs #3, #2, #6, #8, #13, #5, #4, #1, and #7!"
"So Marikka ended up at the top of the third group, then," Sion said. It was all thanks to her maintaining her own pace.
However, the next bit of chaos was already looming. The lead group had caught up to the point where the second and third groups were still entangled.
"The leaders are moving to overtake again, putting the second group two laps behind and the third group three laps behind!!"
It was originally expected to happen closer to the final lap, but a clustered state had unexpectedly arrived on the twenty-seventh lap.
At this moment, two people held the greatest advantage: Marikka in Bib #13, who was driving at her own steady pace, and Rubina in Bib #10, who possessed the ability to view the course from an overhead perspective.
"...They're in the way. I can't maintain top speed like this," Lordtoss grumbled.
"I guess things like this happen... nothing for it," Jin agreed.
Both Lordtoss and Jin were forced to slow down, but then—
"Marikka?!"
"Rubina?!"
Ignoring the crowded inside lane, the two cars cruised leisurely through the open outside lane.
I see! Jin immediately realized the advantage. He turned the Beetle's steering wheel and headed for the outside lane. A moment later, Lordtoss followed suit. Then, noticing the shift, Shu in Bib #2 and Eugene in Bib #3 followed as well.
However, during this scramble, Rubina's Bib #10 finally surged into the lead.
"Yay! I'm in the lead!"
Rubina was still young and prone to inconsistent performance, but her mood could occasionally drive her to demonstrate abilities far beyond her usual self. And now was one of those times.
As if venting her frustration from being stuck in third place for so long, Bib #10 dashed across the empty track ahead. Her lap time clocked in at a staggering 35.1 seconds—a new course record.