Chapter 117: The Race 4
Nicholas had been watching the other racers through the display screen mounted in front of them. At first, seeing how everyone was solely focused on their own tracks without trying to interfere with one another... It made him hesitate for a second, wondering whether he should go through with his plan.
But then Shifu made him stop deliberating.
’Let’s get started.’ A grin spread across Nicholas’ lips as he stepped forward.
Light was going with everything he had, trying to reach before the Brazilian Hero.
But Veloce didn’t give him any chance at all, they were already at the end of the race and he had no intention of losing out.
He poured in all the energy that was left, his eyes focused ahead. His muscles tensed, drawing out all the speed he could muster.
"Are we about to witness Brazil take first place?! Did the Americans start this race with no intention of finishing it?!" Julie’s voice filled the stadium.
Light gritted his teeth, ’I can’t give up! Not like this!’ he thought, trying his best.
"Arrghhh!" Light let out a guttural roar as he pushed off the balls of his feet, his speed toppling with an explosive force that sent him tearing through the tracks, leaving a path of flames behind him.
But he soon noticed something odd, the air resistance he was feeling quadrupled!
It was as though the very air had become a wall standing in front of him.
It wasn’t just him, Veloce felt it as well and behind the two, Shifu had a grin on his face as he caught up with Light.
"Tsk!" Light hissed in anger as he noticed Shifu go past him.
While all of this unfolded, Nicholas slowly took a step forward to the incoming racers.
Nobody in the arena had time to ask what he was doing.
Two spatial rifts tore open simultaneously.
The first appeared directly beneath Veloce’s feet — not large enough to swallow him, not designed to harm, just wide enough to catch both legs mid-stride and hold them for a single moment of complete physical confusion.
Veloce’s momentum carried his upper body forward while his lower body stopped and the resulting disorientation sent him stumbling, his relay handoff completely broken, his partner waiting empty-handed as he fought to find his footing.
The second rift opened directly in front of Shifu’s wind current — a spatial distortion that didn’t redirect the air so much as consume it, pulling the current into a pocket of compressed space and releasing it pointed at the cave ceiling rather than down the track. The gathered wind that had been carrying Shifu forward dispersed upward, and for three full seconds he was sent crashing down to the ground like a broken aircraft.
Both rifts were unstable. They flickered and closed almost immediately, the spatial distortion too rough and too quickly constructed to sustain.
But they didn’t need to sustain.
They needed to last three seconds.
"Hey! That’s cheating! It’s not our turn yet" Star the Brazilian Hero yelled.
Nicholas turned to him with a grin, "And it won’t be your turn anytime soon"
"Don’t get cocky, I don’t think anyone running the second track had any good intentions" Acron the German lady said with a grin.
"Then I guess we all have mutual thoughts" Nicholas replied back.
"Hey, don’t lump me in with you lot, I have no bad intentions for anyone" Bullseye said.
Everyone merely glanced at him before focusing on the team with the relay rods.
Thanks to Nicholas’ interference, the trajectory of the race changed in an instant, and Light didn’t let the opportunity go to waste.
Light saw the gap and didn’t think about it.
His body converted and he crossed the remaining distance as light rather than matter, reforming at the relay zone with the rod already extended.
Nicholas’s hand closed around it.
The chat exploded with comments.
[Romano: HERE WE GO!]
[Josh246: Light was going to hand off in second and Phantom just made it first]
[Atticus: I said I was betting on him. I said it.]
[Kol_lol: coat guy said I’ll handle it]
[TheMad_King001: I was sure Phantom was up to no good. Lmao]
Light slowed to a stop at the relay zone, reforming fully, his chest heaving. He looked at the space where Nicholas had been standing only to realize Nicholas was already gone, relay rod in hand.
Light stared after him.
Then he looked at the scoreboard feed showing the relay positions.
America. First.
"America takes the first relay! They started strong, held onto the lead, and carry first place into the second stage!" Julie’s voice tore through the speakers, echoing through the entire arena.
Light collapsed onto the track with a heavy breath.
’We made it!’
A feeling of euphoria washed over him as he saw the leaderboard.
Just then, another racer passed the Rod, a series of shocked gasps echoed at the same time.
"Where the heck did he come from?! Coming second! Australian Tread!" Julie announced with a shocked voice.
[DaoistxskAEK: Fuck! Bro was waiting for the perfect opportunity!]
[Daniel_Hoeving: I didn’t see that coming]
[Theory: DAMN! I THOUGHT WE LOST THAT GUY!]
In the theater room, Jackson had a smile on his face as he saw the exchange, Mercury nodded once in acknowledgement.
The third rod was passed.
"The Brazilian passed the rod! Will Star be as exciting as Veloce?" Julie asked.
The Brazilian placed both hands on the ground, strange blue patterns spread across the track and within an instant, he blasted off.
"The fourth handoff is complete!" Julie announced, excitement buzzing in her voice.
Kite took the rod from Shifu and as he continued down the track, it seemed as though he was gliding across the track rather than racing. Moving at an inhumane speed, the track seemed to bend under his will.
"It seems the fifth rod won’t be passed anytime soon" Julie announced as the camera shifted showing Panzer whose boosters seemed to have crashed after Shifu’s stunt.
Acron hissed watching the broadcast, having no other option she had to start the race without passing the rod.
"And now our second set of racers will be leading the race, but unlike the first where we enjoyed the burst of speed. The second stage won’t be as simple. The second stage is no longer about speed—it’s about surviving the terrain."
The camera focused on Nicholas who was already leading the race.
And directly ahead of him, the track split into multiple branching paths.
"Who will come out of this section as the winner, we’ll find out soon" Julie said, her eyes bright with excitement.
The actual race was just beginning.
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