Skymint's POV

  The trumpets blasted, and Golde lunged forward like lightning off ice.

  I barely felt my weight hit the saddle again before the wind tore at my face and the ground blurred beneath us. Hooves thundered in sync like war drums. A dozen racers sliced through the trees in a blur of color and outer magic.

  "Let's go, boy!" I shouted over the roar, crouching low as Golde surged ahead.

  The scent of pine, dust, and stirred-up earth flooded my lungs. A yell erupted behind me. Someone's horse had stumbled. Not mine.

  Golde ran like he knew what I was fighting for. That I had to win, to pay my bounty.

  I didn't glance back. I didn't have to. I'd already seen Arie's eyes: quiet, sure, full of belief. If I messed this up, I'd keep being hunted. I had to get those leaf bills before the bounty hunters reached here, before the news about me being wanted spread. Losing would be its own shame.

  Branches lashed out. I ducked, one whipping past my ear. Elemental abilities flashed from riders ahead: dazzling bursts of light and flame meant to throw us off.

  "Not today." I muttered.

  Golde dodged left, his golden mane snapping like fire. I grinned.

  Then he veered right, hard, dodging a sandburst that cracked the trunk beside us.

  I didn't steer. I didn't have to.

  The saddle Ellie gave me last midnight was already working. Golde's instincts were sharpened like blades. Every shift in terrain, every threat behind us, every patch of unsafe earth—he moved like he saw it before it happened.

  I tried to stop her, but she said that her sleep debt would take no effect because it was only one simple spell, and that Chillberry's passive ability of stamina boost would keep her daylight self awake and energetic.

  In the end, I just held on and trusted. Arie wouldn't be happy to hear that I cheated. So I did my best to act like a skilled horseman, directing Golde's movements.

  To our left, I caught a blur of Luceran Pieverel, riding something that looked more like a forest creature than a horse. Vines trailed like reins, hooves cloaked in moss and blooming flowers. With a wave of his arm, a tangle of roots burst from the ground, swiping at the riders behind him.

  They missed us by inches.

  Up ahead, Wade Grandiluxe shot a wave of frost at Luceran's path. "Did you miss me, Plant Prince?" he shouted.

  Luceran's growing plants froze abruptly. Then new roots erupted, clawing from the ground.

  We continued through the dense path of trees when a blast of flames blocked our way. Golde dodged the burning bushes precisely while the Flame Prince kept bombarding the path to slow us down.

  Wade killed the roaring flames with a wave of water, and just like that, Luceran manipulated the plant Wade had extinguished, growing it into an enormous, giant eater plant. It was big enough to paralyze a racer in its jaws. He had accidentally fed it. He cursed so loud I heard it through the wind.

  "Thanks." The Plant Prince shouted with a smirk.

  Golde slowed as we neared the monstrous plant, when the Light Prince passed us, speeding his horse with glowing white wings. And in one beat, he got caught in its jaws. Relief washed through me. One of the threats had vanished. He was one of those racers who always ranked high.

  Skadar passed by my right side, his yellow eyes glancing at me with contained rage. Ice began dominating the still-wet ground, targeted primarily at my horse. But Golde consistently avoided the crystal blue's reach.

  I took advantage of the slick ice, summoning slips at just the right moments, catching a few racers off guard. The noble who betrayed Arie was still ahead. Would Arie be glad if I didn't hurt him, or would she appreciate it? Ellie probably would. But my faith is in the girl I saved, not the curse.

  A burning sensation flared behind us. The ice ground evaporated beneath a wave of flames. As soon as Golde stepped onto mud again, sand replaced it, spinning in the air, daring to blind us.

  I half-blinked, and in the corner of my vision, the Sandman noble from Sunstar Kingdom blurred past. Glad to see a bear race here like me, especially one outlasting the human racers. But I couldn't let him win this race.

  The dust cleared from my eyes only for blinding lights to follow. Strangely, I was the only one whose horse kept moving in the right direction while others stumbled or nearly lost their balance. I was a skilled horseman, not a cheater. Though even I knew blind resistance wasn't exactly a trait of horsemen.

  "Prince Luceran is in first place now! Followed by Pandust from Sunstar!" The race caller announced.

  And there—Skadar ahead. He summoned glowing illusions of racers. From what Arie told me, those illusions sear your skin if you hit them. There were too many. The enchanted saddle continued guiding Golde wisely and safely. I hate to admit it, but thanks, Ellie.

  This must be the first time Arie would see me in action. Real action. I shot an ice shard at a distant tree, specifically at the yellow oval hanging there.

  And suddenly, bees swarmed.

  Thanks to my passive ability, my hardened skin resisted the bees. Honestly, that honey was really tasty. I finished the last of it before heading to the stables.

  I passed Skadar like a shadow. Glanced back. His body flared with light as the bees burned on contact. Just a glimpse of his face told me everything: fury.

  "Hey, you, white-furred freak!" He shouted, yanking his reins to ride beside me. Our horses thundered neck and neck.

  "You're that bastard." I shouted over the wind. "You should've known how to keep what you froze buried."

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  His nostrils flared. "You don't know what you're talking about. Clueless mutt."

  Got him.

  He fired ice, then light. The ice missed. The light scraped Golde's flank. Too fast to dodge. Golde shrieked, high, sharp, agonizing.

  I winced. "Attacking my horse instead of me? Coward."

  He sneered. "That filth shouldn't even be on this track."

  Of course. This silver-haired noble couldn't stand being outrun by someone who wasn't human.

  His mount gleamed in white fox fur, its head capped with a buffalo-horned helmet.

  "You think that was the solution?" I growled. "Freezing her? Burying her under the ocean like some treasure to dig up later?"

  His smile curled into something rotten. "You ruined it. She was supposed to stay there until I defeated Felipe. Then I'd wake her. She'd think I saved her. She'd marry me. She was supposed to be mine."

  My knuckles went white on the reins. "She's not a prize. And she's not yours."

  "I was going to be the Ice King. Everything was lined up. Until you—"

  "Until someone did the right thing." I cut in.

  A beat of silence. Then he hissed, "You'll pay for stealing what was mine."

  "You're not even human." He snarled, raising a glowing hand. A circle of light spiraled to life.

  "And neither is she." I snapped back. I was testing him, to see if he knew about the curse. "But you still think she belongs to you?"

  He launched a blinding spear. Golde veered hard. Another shot past, searing my arm.

  He scoffed. "She's perfect. And she was already mine until you stole her."

  Only slightly, his brow twitched. No fear, no flicker of recognition. Just pride.

  He doesn't know. Not about Ellie. Not about midnight.

  Golde danced beneath me, forcing him to adjust his aim, but he didn't miss a beat. His voice went cold.

  "You can't protect her forever." He said. "An animal like you is just a tool. Remember, the Glacian royal family used to enslave your kind."

  His words stabbed deep, like ice through my ribs.

  But he was wrong. Arie isn't like her ancestors. She treats Polarmen with more heart than any human I've ever met.

  I opened my mouth to snap back, but suddenly, fog filled the air we passed through. No, a sandstorm in the forest. Must be Pandust's work. Nobody here is a wind elemental user. That could've countered this sand chaos real quick. The trees around me blurred even more, my eyes narrowing like blades.

  That's where I've lost sight of Skadar.

  The crowd noise from before was gone, which meant we were now far from the stadium where we started. I focused my eyes on the rapid movement of the mud beneath Golde, cleansed of trees.

  Wade swiftly passed me with his beige horse, decorated in light seashells and seaweeds, followed by the Flame Prince, whose black horse was just as plain as mine.

  My nerves jolted from sudden, erratic movement. I looked up and saw that the light illusions were still there, Golde completely sober, still avoiding many of them.

  Meanwhile, the Flame Prince didn't care and passed through the light illusions that crowded him. He passed through them like nothing, like spear stabs on my hardened body. It's no surprise, as he lived in a very hot kingdom.

  His skin turned almost as orange as his hair, but it quickly returned to its warm beige color.

  There was one racer I hadn't seen yet. I think his name is Elion. He must be behind Skadar. I wonder how he's doin—

  A high-pitched noise rang through my ears, and a bright yellow laser fell from the sky, surprising even Golde. It left a large pit hole, revealing an earthy smell. I instinctively closed my eyes from the loud sound. My ears still hurt from the energy sound, as though a large glowing celestial body had entered my skull.

  I felt Golde leap through the air, and at the same time, my eyelids opened. We jumped over the pit, but Skadar was now in front of me again, and he looked back with a smirk.

  Another noise came from afar. And more and more filled my hearing. Skadar had been planning light projectiles behind my back, and now they were hitting.

  We passed through trees, thick and overgrown from the wealth of this kingdom. I gazed at the blue sky, lit bright by the orange sun, hoping Megaverse saw me and would grant me the luck to win.

  A brown-haired guy flanked me, his horse the same color as his hair. He looked at me and smiled, a warm one. We were far behind the others; only Skadar remained in our sight.

  "It's my first time here." Elion said through the rapid air.

  "Me too." I replied, hoping it sounded friendly.

  He looked friendly, though, with his large orange eyes, so I didn't think he was a rival. He was a new face like me, unlike the other racers who had either participated multiple times already or were famous, or both.

  My eyes were still observing him when a gaping hole appeared at the edge of my vision.

  "Watch out!" He bellowed.

  I was suspended in the air again as Golde jumped. I gripped the reins tighter. I felt like my heart had been left behind where we were positioned.

  The trees had shifted with something magical. Splashes of water filled the air, the river clear and empty of fishermen.

  It waved, waving like usual. Wade's tsunami suddenly rose up and followed us like the tails of our horses.

  It washed over all of us, making everyone wet. It was impossible that it wouldn't reach Luceran in the first place. My fur was now wet. Smelled like a newly washed cub.

  With outer magic, the environment must also complement it. That's why Luceran had the advantage, because the forest was a playground for his plant abilities. And that's how Wade was able to summon a tsunami from the river. But in cases where the environment doesn't match one's elemental abilities, the higher the Class, the more likely it is to create an element out of its proper environment.

  "Prince Wade has stolen first place from Prince Luceran!" The race caller's voice boomed, amplified by a Magical Item.

  I suppose from the no-killing rule, it means no direct attack that results in a racer's immediate death. So freezing must be fine.

  I caught up to Skadar and shot ice at his gray horse's legs. But it melted. The closer I got to him, the warmer it became. He must have been using internal light energy to get dry.

  As we sped past him, the path opened into the heart of the Mystical Forest, where sunlight broke through the canopy in golden shards. A towering waterfall cascaded beside us, its mist sparkling like glass dust, painting rainbows across the mossy rocks. The trees here pulsed with life. Glowing berries blinked like tiny stars, warm and gentle, illuminating the undergrowth.

  Fairies hovered in midair, translucent wings fluttering with curiosity as their wide, unblinking eyes followed our movement. Talking animals lined the sidelines: squirrels murmuring predictions, owls debating strategies, and a fox whistling at the racers.

  "Why aren't you using your outer magic?" I asked Elion out of curiosity.

  "I'm just waiting for someone to lose their abilities halfway while summoning something novel." Elion blurted out. "Because of eating their Magical Fruit a couple of hours ago, which resulted in expiration and cooldown when the competition started." He said it in a quick pace.

  Oh no, he got me. I chuckled, but such a thing is impossible. There's no one here that would be stupid enough to do that before the competition began.

  "Well, I'm currently on a cooldown. I forgot to time my abilities." He added.

  "How could you do that?" I asked in disbelief.

  I can hardly think he's an ordinary citizen turned warrior when he's this unserious. The higher the Class, the shorter the cooldown, which reduces the universal one hour to a few minutes only, or none for a Class 5 fruit master.

  He hovered his fruit cube in the air, following him still in motion. I hardly saw what the symbol etched on the black surface was, but it was glowing orange.

  "Summon fruit!" He commanded.

  An orange with an orange aura hovered in front of him.

  "Welcome back, Raging Orange." He said before biting it.

  The glowing orange disappeared, and he seemed more energetic than ever.

  The black cube magnetically went back to his hand in a swift motion, then he tucked it in his pocket. I wonder what element he has. Although I'm sure his passive ability is immunity to diseases because orange is a tropical fruit.

  I caught up to Skadar, and he shot a blade of ice that flung me away from my horse. The next moment, my hand was gripping tight to a rock. I looked down, and terror crept up my spine. I was hanging on a cliff.

  If I die, it's all over. I thought of Arie like a farewell memory. No. I'll survive. I can't let both of us die.

  I heard electric sounds from above, but that wasn't the only thing I would hear. I could tell the race caller would state my position.

  "Our Polarman, Skymint, is hanging on a cliff! But his horse is still running! How splendid!"

  The wind howled beneath me, calling me from the depths of death.

  Damn you, Ellie. Now they'll suspect me of using a Magical Item.