Chapter 51: End of the Grand Galactic Race

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"Do, or do not. There is no "try".

– Yoda, (Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back)

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<(Atem POV)> 

"Go, my babies, help me win." The Grandmaster's voice rang in my ears as he activated his bracelet with a fervent push, a sense of excitement and anticipation present in his voice, as well as something else - a hint of desperation perhaps.

I was puzzled by the Grandmaster's sudden reference to babies. Did he have offspring of his own that I was unaware of? Was I in danger of being ambushed by a horde of baby gaming fanatics?

*Crack* *Crack* *Crack* *Boom* The air was filled with a deafening noise as chunks of the wall near the tunnel collapsed like a bunch of Lego bricks, sending dirt and debris flying in all directions. But the sudden collapse of the wall was not what startled me. What truly left me speechless was the sight of three of the Grandmaster's 'babies' emerging from the smoke.

"Of course, his 'babies' are nothing but savage beasts... I should have seen that coming." I sighed to myself as I faced the three enormous green boar-like creatures that snarled at me with rabid mouths. They had a giant metal collar on each of their necks which were probably the devices responsible for keeping them under the Grandmaster's control.

"Snuffy!" Korg suddenly exclaimed with joy, for reasons unknown to me, reasons that I didn't even want to know.

"*ROAAAAAAAAAAAR*" The beasts all roared together and charged at me; their teeth bared at me like a bunch of hungry beasts which they most probably were. 

The creatures looked strong like Hulk-strong, but they severely lacked in the intelligence sector. There were a variety of ways I could use to get rid of them but of course, I chose the most effective way of all to control oversized beasts. 

"Rinnegan" I muttered, changing my eyes into the mythical eyes of the sage of the six paths and using them to instantly take control of the beasts' minds.

My telepathic powers combined with the illusion powers of the Rinnegan were more than powerful enough for me to directly dominate the minds of the mindless feral beasts without any significant effort. Under my control, the eyes of all three beasts too changed into replicas of the Rinnegan as they immediately stopped their rampage and focused their attention solely on me.

'Take care of your dear father and the two racers behind him.' I mentally commanded them.

With a small vertical shake of their heads that looked a lot like a nod, they sprinted forward, determined to crush the other competitors with their speed and tremendous size. I however remained unruffled, gliding past them in my racing pod without even bothering to give anyone else a second look.

"Huh? Topaz, you made sure that they know who I am, right? I am supposed to be their daddy, so why are they charging at me?" The grandmaster asked with a small gulp as he saw one of the monsters running straight towards him. 

"They look like they are in some sort of mental control my liege... I don't think they even recognize you. We will have to kill them to get them out of our way." What? NO." The Grandmaster begged. But it was too late. Both the Red King and Topaz had already activated all the missiles in their carts with their targets locked onto the three monsters.

"No, wait. They haven't even killed anyone. This was supposed to be their first match, they were supposed to be my ultimate champions." The Grandmaster tried to reason but the other two didn't listen to him and fired all their missiles. For them, saving the Grandmaster and their own lives was their topmost priority right now.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

A string of explosions rang one after another, completely decimating two of the three giant monsters. However, one of them still survived with some injuries. It used the last bits of strength in its body to crash against the Red King's cart in a desperate effort to complete Atem's previous command.

*THUD* The racing vehicle of the native Sakaaran king completely disappeared under the immense size of the monster's dead body, eliminating another one of the racers just like that.

Maybe, they should have thoroughly discussed the details of the various traps and how to avoid them among themselves before starting the race because most of the Grandmaster's minions lost quite horribly due to traps set by the Grandmaster himself. It was almost too embarrassing to see. 

I could not help but smile at the Grandmaster's bad luck as I raced through the tunnel at a speed of 435.0 mph (700 km/h)

"It's still not over. I still haven't lost. The Grandmaster NEVER loses a game." The old alien overlord declared from behind as his car too entered the tunnel, rapidly approaching mine while heavily matching the speed of my own car despite its magical advantages. 

His loyal attendant Topaz was also just behind him. In fact, it looked like the two vehicles had joined together as Topaz's racing pod was providing a free boost in speed to Grandmaster's cart by propelling him forward through a burst of nitro in his jet engine, something that was quite self-evident by the blue flames emitting from the back of her car. 

'Oh, wow. The guy really wants to win. He doesn't even care about maintaining his image as a cool athlete anymore.' I thought to myself in admiration for his perseverance. 'But it is truly unfortunate for him that he is competing against me.' 

Topaz's nitro boost soon ran out and she slowed down but Grandmaster had already received the boost he needed and he finally activated his own nitro acceleration, momentarily achieving a speed that was much superior to the current speed of my own vehicle. 

His vehicle was rapidly approaching mine, in a final desperate attempt to overtake my cart and win while he had a massive victorious grin on his face, confident of his upcoming victory. 

"Well, I didn't think I would need to use this, but desperate times call for desperate measures I guess." My cape at my mental command began to change its shape at my words and began to increase in size, slowly moving to the back of the car and taking the shape of a flat jet nozzle. Then it began to emit its own green burst of necrotic energy that gave a boost to my pod's speed.

But I didn't just stop there. With some expert use of my telekinesis, divine energy, and Ryujin Jakka, an even stronger boost of energy and destructive fire began to be released from my cape, taking the speed of my pod to absurd heights that matched the speed of the fastest rockets on Earth. 

*Vrrrrrooooommmmmmm* My racing pod roared as it rushed straight ahead with a speed that the public couldn't even keep track of with their eyes, a green energy trail being the only thing they could see clearly. 

"Wait, that's cheating. It's not fair..." The Grandmaster's protests were cut short by the roar of my pod's engine as it zoomed past his grand statue and crossed the finish line, finally securing my victory in the race. 

I had finally won. 

[Ding! Congratulations, the first quest of the Chain Quest has been successfully completed]

[Ding! No Reward found]

[Please complete the other two quests from the Chain Quest to receive your reward]

"Well, that's disappointing," I muttered to myself as I saw the empty reward panel.

"Good game, that was truly a good game. It was an extremely close game, no doubt. But your performance was exceptional, almost as good as mine." The Grandmaster clapped excitedly with a smile on his face as he got down from his car. "So, let's just call it a tie and move on. I mean this planet is dying anyway, so even if you were to become its ruler, you wouldn't be able to rule it for long anyway. The core without the constant support from my ship which is linked directly to my life force would break down and destroy the entire planet, killing you and everyone else here while I sail out of here as if nothing happened. Maybe, you could select some good-looking slaves and take a couple of billion credits as your reward instead. So, what do you say, Atlee?" 

"What do I say?" I repeated his words, sneering at his shamelessness. I had already gotten what I wanted. It was time to end this farce. "Well..., I say, fuck you, old fart of the universe." 

"Huh...?" As soon as my words ended, the melt stick of the Grandmaster that was currently inside Topaz's vehicle flew towards him at lightning speed with just a single twitch of my index finger and struck him without him even realizing what was happening. 

"... Oh shit. I didn't see that coming." He somehow uttered aloud before both his body and the stick exploded into goo instead of slowly melting. The melt stick wasn't just a piece of technology, it was a piece of technology that could access the same energy field as him, making it one of the few weapons in the universe that could kill him without him being able to resist even the slightest bit.

"NOOOO. You... what did you do? You killed him. You will have to die for this." Topaz who had frozen in surprise after seeing the Grandmaster die due to her melt stick finally threatened as she activated her gun-spear and approached me.

I activated my Ryujin Jakka to end her too but before I could do so, Brunhilde suddenly jumped on her, swiftly cutting her down with her sword in a single strike without Topaz even realizing how she died.

"Well, that was anti-climactic." 

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