Volume 1 Chapter 5 — Thunder on Dragon’s Crest

Tires screamed against asphalt as both vehicles launched into the darkness.

Duke’s 1,000-horsepower hypercar surged ahead on the straightaway, utilizing raw horsepower to take the lead into Turn 1. The yellow machine rocketed into the fog, leaving the matte-black coupe two car lengths behind.

At the spectator viewing plaza, giant LED screens displayed live drone telemetry of the race. Victor Cross stood near the front, a smirk returning to his face.

“Power wins on the straightaways,” Victor boasted to the crowd. “Your mystery driver is already losing, Elena.”

Elena stared at the screens, silent and steadfast.

On the mountain pass, the road narrowed dramatically as it entered the infamous “Devil’s Scissors”—three consecutive hairpin turns carved directly into the sheer cliff face.

Duke slammed on his carbon-ceramic brakes, downshifting hard as he lined up for the first sharp right hairpin.

Behind him, Chase Walker did not brake.

In a move that defied human logic and physics, Chase pulled the hydraulic handbrake, flicked the steering wheel to the left, and threw the Phantom GT into an extraordinary inertia drift at over one hundred miles per hour.

The matte-black coupe slid sideways through the fog, its rear bumper sweeping less than two inches from the concrete cliff barrier. Sparks erupted into the night as the tires shaved the apex with surgical precision.

Before Duke could even react, Chase’s car glided past the yellow hypercar on the inside line, executing an impossible twin-apex drift that left Duke completely blocked.

“What in the world?!” Duke yelled inside his cockpit, frantically turning his wheel as the matte-black GT accelerated out of the corner like a missile.

On the spectator screens, the telemetry lines swapped positions instantly.

“He drifted Turn 3 at full throttle!” the race commentator screamed into the microphone, his voice breaking with excitement. “Look at the angle! It’s the Phantom Inertia Drift! The Drift King is back!”

Cheers exploded through the Midnight Apex Club.

For the remaining three miles of the mountain pass, Chase put on a display of automotive mastery never before seen in Apex Metropolis. Every curve, every hair-pin turn was carved with effortless elegance.

The Phantom GT crossed the finish line at the mountain base a full twelve seconds ahead of Duke, setting a new historical track record.