Kamen Rider Tarock, Re-Dealt – Reading Twenty-Eight: Dawn of a New Era
So far on Kamen Rider Tarock, Re-Dealt…
The day she found herself caught in the middle of a fight between a giant spider and a red-armored knight, Liss Decker was thrust into a war between the monstrous beings called the Mythos and the people of a strange world called the Sphere. Seeking an escape from an oppressive everyday life and a chance to prove her worth to herself, Liss became the empowered warrior called Tarock and joined the fight against the Mythos.
Numerous battles followed and the Mythos seemed to grow stronger each time, eventually capturing the girl known as Lost who was the source of their numbers but only wanted a chance to escape that nightmare.
After Lost's capture, Liss returned to Earth to collect herself and try to work out a way to save her friend from the leader of the Mythos. While taking a night off to visit an amusement park with friends she was attacked and her form cards stolen by a new agent of the Mythos, Ivan Tawanovitch. He delivered them to another Mythos commander who created four monsters based on the elemental power of each card and turned them loose on the park.
Other Riders who'd joined the fight because of her example took on these monsters while Liss and Uthar, a soldier from the Sphere, entered the lair of a powerful Mythos commander called the Warlock, knowing he was aware of their presence…
A few blocks away the sound of titanic punches landing and small buildings crumbling started to become louder, and closer. Kelly Hunt peered out the window of her apartment and could see Rampart and Golem grappling two blocks away before Rampart lifted his enemy overhead and slammed him to the ground. A second later something was sent flying by the impact and cracked the window Kelly was looking out.
She gasped in surprise and fell down as she tripped over a footrest. "Paige!" she screamed. "We have to get out of here!"
Her partner sat at their small kitchen table, silently sipping coffee. Paige had said nothing for the past ten minutes as the two giants fought back and forth and sounds of an awesome battle came from the edge of town as well.
"I can't," Paige said softly. "I can't leave."
"Paige, I have put up with a lot for the sake of this relationship, but—"
"It sounds like the end of the world out there," Paige interrupted, "and I know my crazy little sister's probably right there in the middle of it. She's out there fighting the things doing this, Kelly. Just like that guy out the window. Hell, they probably know each other. I can't leave, because I'd be running away from everything Liss has been accomplishing. She went from a delinquent to…this. And I think she's the only one who can stop these monsters, or whatever they are."
Kelly sighed and looked long and hard at the front door. "We're gonna have a long talk after this is over," she said.
"I know," Paige said. "And I'll be ready for it."
She was right, though, Paige had to admit. Paige had met Kelly before they were even out of school. She'd resisted when she started to feel things about Kelly that weren't normal, but Kelly had figured it out, accepted Paige for it and given her her space until Paige was ready to talk it over.
Paige had left her family over it when they'd found out. It had been hard, even with parents like hers, but this was something she wanted to build a future around.
And then her crazy little sister had found out about a war with monsters and rushed in face-first.
To a certain degree, Paige was proud of her sister. Liss had been planning on ditching school as soon as she could line up some way of providing for herself, which probably wouldn't have been anyone's definition of legitimate. But apparently Liss had gone and made herself into some kind of superhero her old kung-fu teacher always talked about.
Paige had left her family behind because her father hadn't been healthy for her. But as something else ricocheted off the windowpane, she had to wonder how healthy Liss was for her.
The hollow echo down the stairs every time his boot hit another of the stone stairs made Uthar shiver with unease. He'd put his life on the line plenty of times, and that was before the Mythos had reappeared. But this place…something about it was wrong. He expected it to seem that no matter how far they climbed they never reached the top, but it had only been about ten minutes since they started walking up the stairs into something five hundred feet high and already he could see a light that he hoped was the top.
"Tarock?" he asked.
"My name's Liss."
"All right, Liss," he said, a bit slowly as he digested her name. "Does it seem like we're getting to the top a lot faster than we should be?"
Cautiously she answered, "Yeah. That confirms it."
"You mean, how this means Warlock knows we're here and is leading us into some kind of trap."
Liss nodded.
He kept following her up the stairs in silence, even as he knew he was out of his league with neither he nor the great Tarock herself having any of her vaunted powers as they walked straight into a monster's lair. The answer, Uthar supposed absently, was that he had to know.
The Tarock he'd been expecting to find when he came to this world, the one who'd been everywhere except in his city of Avalon helping to defend his people, and who'd even gone to help defend the insular city of Mazones when he'd been in need of powerful help, wasn't the one he'd found. Instead it was a girl who'd concocted a plan to keep other people calm out of the way of danger, strange as it had been, and was now walking into an obvious trap hoping she could regain her powers and join the battle.
Had Tarock known where she was needed the most somehow, and always made a point to be there? Uthar had been angry with her about how many more lives might have been saved if she had been in Avalon helping its defenders, but he was starting to wonder now how many more lives might have been lost if she hadn't been where she'd been.
"Hey," Liss said, distracting him. "Why'd you act surprised when I said my name?"
"It was my mother's name, and my sister was named after her."
"Oh," Liss said. "Is that a regular name on the Sphere, then? I mean…it isn't the name my parents gave me. I made it up myself."
Curious with the rest of his image of this girl falling away already, Uthar climb up beside her. "Why did you do that?"
She sighed, but answered. "I did it after my dad kicked my sister out of the family. I didn't really feel like being the person my parents wanted me to be after that. So I changed my name to something that sounded more like the kind of person I wanted to be."
"And what kind of person was that?"
"Someone who was in charge of her own life," Liss said, then looked over at him. "But what about you? You never said what you were doing here. When you showed up you acted surprised or something when you saw me. And even when you found out I was going to go and get my powers back."
He pondered his answer for a minute. "I came to see where the great Tarock was while the Mythos tore my city apart and killed the Arcanum who guarded our gates.
Liss's face fell slightly. "You mean that giant rock guy who turns into a tower?...I'm sorry."
"These are terrible times," Uthar answered her. "Sentos wasn't the only one. And it sounds like you were closer to the heart of all this than I thought."
Liss didn't reply. The opening at the top of the stairs was right above them. For better or worse, they emerged into the room above.
The monster's wind-bladed sword pushed back against Vaga's Warder as he tried to strike her with all his strength, and again it was deflected without even touching her. Djinn suddenly flew high into the air and the tornado engulfing her body doubled in size, then she came screaming back down like a missile.
"Vaga Nova!" he yelled as he quickly gathered his energy for his ultimate attack. He punched three points in the air and a glowing green triangle formed before blasting a column of energy straight up at the tip of the end of the tornado. There was a blinding green explosion and when Vaga could see again Djinn was spinning away from him. She crashed into the ground and there was an awesome rush of wind that cut against his armor like knives.
Then out of a cloud of dust and debris came Djinn, giving off a scream like a piercing, icy gale as she charged at him across the devastated ground.
"Vaga Punch!" He swung his fist at Djinn's torso and to his amazement felt it connect with something underneath the rushing wind and blast her backward a few feet. In the split second he had to come up with a new angle of attack against this monster who just kept coming no matter what he threw at her, suddenly three metal grenades came arcing through the air and fell into the cone of the tornado around Djinn's waist. They exploded one after another and wisps of yellow smoke drifted up and engulfed Djinn's face. She coughed and leaned back, seeming dazed, and not about to let such an opening slip by Vaga charged up to her and landed a fierce jump kick to her chest that sent her spinning away.
But with Djinn out of his face for the moment Vaga turned around to see who'd thrown the grenades and came face-to-face with a group of ten or so people in bright yellow uniforms, silvery chest harnesses with a yellow crystal in front of the left shoulder, and blank silver full-head masks. Coming up behind them, each carrying a round shield with a star carved into the front, were a similar number of people in green uniforms.
"Who the hell are you guys?" Vaga demanded. It had been too soon after he'd almost been killed by a tornado for him to give anyone the benefit of the doubt.
One of the yellow-uniformed soldiers saluted him. "Cups Corps and Pentacles Corps, reporting for duty, sir," she said
"Sir?" Vaga asked suspiciously even as Djinn recovered and came charging at them again. "I have no idea who you people even are!"
Clouds of dust pelted them and pieces of stone debris as long as swords flew through the air, one skimming the side of Vaga's head. The soldiers in green jumped between him and Djinn, brandishing their shields. Their reflective surfaces flashed and it was as if an invisible wall had appeared, blocking them off from Djinn's bombardment.
"If you guys want to help, keep her in one place. And do you guys have any more of those grenades to soften her up with while I change?" Vaga said.
"Something even better than those, right boys?" the yellow-suited soldier said, looking over his shoulder at the others, who chuckled.
"Whatever you got, get it out now," Vaga replied. "Change Trosik!" His armor turned a bright blue and from somewhere the four quarters of a golden disc flew together and connected on his chest.
The green Pentacles Corps surrounded Djinn, and whenever she charged and tried to break through their line one of them would jump in her way and repulse her with his shield. Every time the soldier was sent flying as Djinn was knocked backwards but another jumped up to take his place.
Behind them the yellow Cups Corps held their hands up the crystal on their harness and a pyramid-shaped crystal appeared. As they moved into position, Vaga could only think of one thing.
"Liss…hang in there, I'll be there soon."
Suddenly lights burst from the ceiling as Liss and Uthar reached the top, and both went into a fighting stance as they waited anxiously for their eyes to adjust.
No attack came. No monster appeared to claw them to bits, no shots fired from the walls to cut them down. Instead after the light cleared the pair of them saw themselves standing in what looked like an executive's office with a medieval castle influence. There was a wide glass window along the back wall, with large stone blocks making up the floor and walls. By the window was a carved wooden desk with feet of rounded wooden balls and long, snake-like dragons across the front and sides. Light came from iron torches hanging from sconces in the walls.
Sitting at the desk was Carl Stanford, in a rough approximation of his human form Liss had seen at the concert. He wore a dark gray suit and glasses and his skin wasn't green and covered in scales, but when he smiled his mouth was far too wide, like an alligator's waiting for just the right moment to snap open and devour its prey. Inside his teeth were like two rows of needles, and his eyes were yellow and slitted like some kind of animal who only saw them as something to destroy.
Behind him was a clear crystal block, each side sporting a crystal arm holding up one of Liss's form cards that glowed with light. Except the Card of Wands in the back, almost as if their host was hoping she wouldn't notice…
"Good evening, Tarock!" Stanford said, his voice still registering a slight hiss. "I see you brought a guest to our meeting. Not terribly polite, but let's not start this off on the wrong foot."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Uthar demanded before Liss had the chance.
Stanford grinned. "The future, of course!" he said, and as he did the scene was transferred all throughout the amusement park on the giant floating screens he'd created before. "Tonight, the Order of Shining Darkness rises! The Dark Mother grows in strength every day! You tried to thwart her reformation, but our new Mother is an observant and forgiving being. When she ascends and the darkness falls across this world and the Sphere, she has agreed to extend the offer to grant new sight even to you."
Liss's eyes darted to the crystal block in the back of the room, wondering if she stood a chance of getting to it before Stanford could stop her, and what he might have at his disposal to stop her if she tried. "So you guys have your own cult now, huh?" she asked, trying to keep him distracted.
Stanford shook his head but still smiled, deflecting her scorn with his noble façade. "Cult is such an ugly word, a base word. You've seen for yourself the power our Mother possesses, Tarock. How many times did you escape an encounter by the skin of your teeth?"
" 'The Mother' is too good a name for that thing. The White Lady was too good a name for that thing," Liss snarled back. "She almost destroyed the Sphere and did it to kidnap some poor dumb kid whose life was a living hell thanks to that 'Mother' of yours."
But still Stanford was unfazed. "Her name told you everything, though, didn't it? She was lost and confused, unsure of her purpose and running away from that intimidated her, but something great. She has become part of the Dark Mother again, and now she grows strong. Soon she'll be strong enough to cover whole worlds with her influence again, and rescue all us poor folk from the evils of our condition. Old age, disease, death, disability, the dangers our own kind pose to each other in such a confused, avaricious world.
"This attack on the park is a regrettable but necessary show of power, to demonstrate we are more than a lowly cult, as you put it so well," Stanford went on, then turned to Liss. "But you need no such demonstrations, do you, Tarock? When the Dark Mother ascends she will even be willing to allow you to see in the darkness, and in her generosity she may even bestow that same gift on your friend here." Stanford held out a hand indicating Uthar, showing long yellow claws in place of fingernails.
Uthar made a sound of disgust, "You're out of your mind."
"I'm not taking any offer from her," Liss replied, and after Stanford's eyes were on her she noticed Uthar surreptitiously drawing something from his belt.
"What will it take to change your mind? I've got quite the influence, you know," Stanford said, with the most infuriating grin on his face Liss had ever seen, "Just for starters, how would you like to see your own action figure?"
Liss scoffed at his offer. "Now you're just screwing with me. Why the hell should I believe anything you're trying to sell me about your bitch boss giving me a spot in her little cult?"
Stanford shook his head, like he'd been expecting this, which he probably had, but had been holding out hope. "You know, she left me in charge of this, let me arrange everything here, showing how vulnerable you were against your own species and the wisdom of joining us…because she thought you might be more willing to hear it coming from another human." He scowled viciously and the skin on his face started to fall off in strips, revealing serpentine scales underneath. "I was hoping you might prove yourself something above the rest of your…kind."
Stanford's long white staff appeared in his hand but even as it did Uthar was lunging at him, holding a blue metal baton. The end of the baton connected with Stanford's chest and there was a flash of light. Stanford was flung through the air and landed heavily on his back.
Liss rushed over to the crystal block where her cards were being held, but Stanford brandished his staff and a low, menacing voice came from the crystal on the top.
"Shock."
A bolt of lightning ripped from the staff and struck Liss. She screamed and fell to the floor, smoke rising from her duster. Stanford stood up and from nowhere his cloak dropped over his shoulders and the last of the fake flesh fell from his body revealing the snakelike monstrosity underneath. He had become the Warlock again, and Liss had a feeling he intended it to be the final transformation.
Uthar jabbed at Warlock again but this time the Mythos calmly raised his staff and parried Uthar's weapon. Warlock slapped the crystal on the tip against Uthar's chest and a web of crackling energy exploded across Uthar's body and hurled him across the room.
Surprisingly Uthar managed to roll onto his stomach, gasping and grunting in pain, and struggled to get his feet on the ground to get up and attack again. Warlock's cane spoke again: "Bind." Strands of thick iron chain shot from the crystal and coiled around Uthar's arms, egs and neck, then their ends sank into the floor, pinning him.
"People speak too highly of last acts of defiance," Warlock somehow hissed and sighed at the same time. He leveled his staff at Uthar and its crystal started shine.
"No…" Liss gasped, just regaining enough feeling to awkwardly try to get to her feet. Her eyes darted to her cards, a good fifteen feet away. Even if she could get to one and change, even with the speed of her Wands Form she'd never be able to stop the shot.
Liss fastened the Fate Driver on her waist anyway and lunged for Warlock as a desperate plan entered her mind. She focused her thoughts on the Fate Driver, trying to get it to activate even without a card. Her body tingled and turned black just before she grabbed Warlock's staff.
"Char."
She yanked it upward and the fireball that shot from the tip exploded against the ceiling and peppered them with dust and debris. But the gurgle of surprise from Warlock had nothing to do with that.
Standing over him was Tarock, covered just in her black undersuit but the yellow lenses over her eyes seemed to glow with anger. She felt stronger, faster, even like this, but it was only a fraction of what she'd have even in her weakest form.
"Do you really think you can take me on with such pitiful power?" Warlock asked with disdain. "I was your better even when you had your entire arsenal, remember? I'll crush you!"
"I've heard that from your boss, too. I got a new eye out of that, and I'm kind of starting to like it," Tarock said with sarcastic amusement. "Wonder what present you guys'll end up giving me next."
She lashed out with a kick and Warlock jumped back with surprising agility. As he did his staff charged for another attack. "Mob." Two identical Warlocks appeared on either side of him. Then another two next to them. Then another two. And then they advanced on Tarock.
Before, the only emotion she'd shown was amusement as she mocked Trideka, but now Undine seemed to scream without sound. Tendrils made of smoke but that showed the faces of tortured souls coiled around her fish-like tail and pulled her down, closer to Trideka, no matter how hard she struggled or slashed at them with her spear. The shell-point somehow went right through them even as they held onto Undine herself with an unbreakable grip.
Clenching her teeth with fear Undine pointed her spear at Trideka and a whirlpool ripped from the tip and washed over Trideka, but the dark Rider just dug in her boots and let the waves wash over her. Her black cloak was tossed about in the currents and her hood was whipped back by the force of the whirlpool, exposing a skull-like underneath, an angry yellow light pouring from the eye sockets. Trideka pulled back with her scythe, dragging Undine even closer to her.
She paid no attention to the cracks already forming in her armor, seeping white light.
"There's no escape for you, Stanford," Trideka said as Undine was dragged closed enough to strike, and she knocked the monster out of the air with a wicked slash from her scythe. "If I'm not the one to cut you down, Tarock will, and if not her then another. But know this: if you hadn't covered yourself in that power you're so proud of, the power of this Dark Mother…wherever your soul ended up, at least it would still be your own."
Undine tried to push herself back into the air but Trideka charged up and brutally sliced her across the back and knocked her to the asphalt again. "This is death. You fight, you consume, and your precious Mother may outlast entire worlds. But even she's vulnerable."
A forboding voice spoke from her belt: "Dark Reaping." A cold while shine passed over the gleaming blade of her scythe, and then she swung it in arc at Undine. The Mythos raised her golden spear to try and block the attack but Trideka's blade cut right through it before cutting right through her. Undine split apart and dissolved into smoke.
With her enemy destroyed Trideka turned to the dark tree towering over the park, and held out her free hand. "Charge Wraith, Arise!" spoke her belt and black smoke issued from her palm but then thinned and disappeared.
A groan of pain escaped her throat and the light behind her mask went out. Cracks were spreading all over her armor. Her power was already too much for her mortal body. As Trideka felt herself fading away to the next world, she had time to say, if only to herself, "I tried to come to you, Liss. Fight on, survive until Master Mortis sends me to your side again…"
And then in a puff of black smoke she was gone.
In Warlock's fortress the light on the Card of Cups went out, but no-one noticed. Tarock had grabbed the nearest Warlock copy and thrown him against another with both of them going sprawling, but the rest of them had split up to avoid the attack and were aiming their staffs at her while circling around to box her in.
"Burst," five of the staffs spoke at once. Thin energy rays blasted from them at Tarock, who dodged back and forth to avoid the shots even as one singed against her shoulder through what little armor she had, and another ripped past her ankle, sending her to her knees. With an angry yell she grabbed the staff out of the clawed fingers of the nearest Warlock and thrust it straight into his scaly face. He croaked in surprise and went down, and even before he hit the floor she rammed the tip of his own staff through his heart. The Warlock didn't explode into smoke, simply flickering and disappearing along with the weapon Tarock had finished him off with.
And behind a wall of black crystal two figures watched, unseen, as the battle unfolded. One was Mallory Quinn, a teenage girl with long red hair in a black leather jacket and an uncertain look on her face. She'd been the one who invited Liss and Ben to park, where they'd been led into a trap by the man beside her.
Ivan Tawanovitch, a huge, burly man with a blond crewcut who looked like the heavy of a by-the-book action movie. He crossed his arms and chuckled to himself as Tarock destroyed another two copies of Warlock with a kick in each of their faces.
"Shouldn't we help Carl?" Mallory asked and looked up at Ivan uncertainly, almost as if she was afraid he'd attack her for asking. He didn't. Instead he just smirked.
Warlock's staff flashed and a disc of energy formed above Tarock who dove out of the way in time for it to just clip her heel before crashing down on the ground before it could pin her.
Ivan answered her, "He's so proud of the secrets he learned in all his old books, and the power he got from that crystal, over what the Mother gave him. He set all this up, let him see it through."
"But…"
"The elite are expected to stand on their own two feet, little girl," Ivan said, warningly. "And that's what you are, believe it or not. An elite."
Mallory stepped back and faded into the darkness, and a second later Ivan did the same.
Tarock ripped the staff out of the hands of the Warlock facing her and with all her strength kicked him across the room and through a wall into the air. The staff in her hands disappeared after a few seconds, but already she was throwing herself at another two of the monsters and tackled them to the floor.
"Char."
"Grav."
A fireball ripped through the air behind Tarock and blew her through the air, burning away parts of her thin undersuit, the only armor the Fate Driver by itself could give her. As soon as she'd landed in a heap on the floor a crushing weight pressed down on her back and pinned her.
The group of Warlocks closed in on her again, one of them speaking, "The human race is so proud of their achievements. Cities, weapons, supply chains…taming the world to suit its own conveniences. They simply cannot accept that there are forces greater than themselves in the universe. That they'd be better served knowing when submission will extend their lives. Allow me to give them such a lesson."
All over Marvel Land, the parkgoers looked up to watch in horror as Tarock was being crushed into the floor by a disc of force. She screamed as it pressed down harder and started to pound her fists against the ground.
As the soldiers continued to hold Djinn at bay, Vaga looked up at the scene and couldn't believe his eyes. Liss panicking and throwing a tantrum? It wasn't possible.
Angelo looked up in disbelief as Tarock, his prize pupil, pounded her fists against the ground, contorting helplessly. Virginia and the others at the concert stage had stopped listening to L-Mitless's music, and the band themselves had stopped singing and could only stare at the screen above them showing Tarock being ground into the floor.
Warlock seemed to grin as he increased the power of the gravity disc that had Tarock trapped. Uthar grunted and strained against the chains that still bound him to the floor, unable to believe what he was seeing like everyone else in range of Warlock's screens. He'd expected someone who was willing to risk their life in battle with enemies as powerful as the Mythos to face death with dignity, not crying and beating their fists in useless rage when they couldn't escape their end.
But then he noticed something that seemed to have escaped Warlock's notice.
Tarock's fists had actually beaten indentations into the floor a few inches deep. When they hit the floor again, suddenly she took advantage of the room she'd made for her hands and brought her fists up in a hard, deliberate strike at the very edge of the gravity disc. It tilted up with the other side tilting down and grinding against the ground giving off sparks. Just enough room was created underneath it for Tarock to tuck her legs against her chest and roll onto her back, and lash out with both feet at the center of the disc.
It shattered like a pane of glass, huge transparent chunks flying all over the room. Uthar winced as one spun toward him before disappearing just in time.
Warlock sputtered in surprise, but Tarock didn't wait for him to recover before she lunged for the block where her cards were being kept. Her body still tingling with pain, she reached out a trembling hand and grabbed the cards of Cups and Wands, the only ones that looked safe to touch. And as quickly as she could Tarock slammed the Card of Cups into her Fate Driver.
"Cups Suit!" it announced, and the words had never sounded as reassuring. The glowing card shape drifted down over Tarock forming her yellow Cups armor over her singed undersuit. Immediately she aimed her Sea Hand at him. "Dire Fate! Frost Gatling!" She blasted long daggers of ice at Warlock and his remaining copies, again and again, creating a cloud of roiling steam and ice chips as they fired heat beams from their staffs trying deflect Tarock's relentless attack.
After a minute she couldn't keep it up anymore and leaned against a wall. The cloud created by the destructive exchange of power soon cleared and there stood Warlock, alone again but covered in a bubble of energy that had kept him in one piece. It flowed back into the crystal on his staff, and he fixed Tarock with a disdainful stare.
"Cute," he hissed, "but even after all that, here I am."
"And you're still ignoring how willpower and some clever application got me out of that one," Tarock replied and leveled her Sea Hand at him. "Let's dance."
Back in town, Golem reeled from a blow Rampart had landed on his head and then was knocked down and went sliding across the ground from a punch to his rocky midriff. Golem crashed into the corner of an old building with a long-abandoned luxury car showroom on the bottom floor. With a roar of brick on brick the building toppled over on him, burying Golem in rubble.
"Now's my chance," Rampart thought, looking up for just a second at one of the screens in the distance where he could see Tarock had managed to shift into one of her armoreds form and was fighting back against the Warlock. A reassured smile formed behind his mask. It was indeed the time to strike.
"Dire Fate! Shed Assail!" said his buckle, and his giant suit of armor crouched and then launched into the air. When it was directly above Golem, who'd just managed to get to his feet, one huge brick fell from around the middle of Rampart's giant suit of armor. It struck Golem's forearm and sliced his hand clean off
Before Golem could escape another pair of bricks fell, and before those had even hit the ground they were followed by five more, glowing yellow and blue as they fell and pelting Golem like bombs. The bricks exploded as they made contact and blew pieces off of Golem's body.
Faster and faster they fell, seeming to glow brighter and explode with more force as each one bombarded Golem, blowing off hunks of arms and legs. Within another minute there was a final blast as the last brick landed right on top of Golem's torso and exploded in a column of orange light that could be seen all the way to the fringes of Marvel Land.
Rampart landed on the edge of the smoldering hole where Golem had been, and with his enemy destroyed he looked up at the screen showing Tarock locked in battle with Warlock, and blocking a swing from Warlock's crackling staff on her elbow that almost hit Uthar, who was still chained to the floor.
Rampart broke into a run.
Warlock's staff flashed out and the crystal smacked against Tarock's Sea Hand, shattering the jetted gauntlet. Then the crystal crackled with electricity before he swung again and caught her across the chest. Bolts of energy raced over her body and Tarock screamed, falling back.
Right then the light around the Card of Pentacles winked out. Tarock managed to get to her feet and staggered over to it, grabbed it and loaded it into her belt. "Pentacles Suit!" Thick green armor formed on her body, filling her again with overpowering strength. Maybe her fight with Warlock was starting to wear on her, but it wasn't as much power as she was sure she remembered. Not the time to get hung up on feelings, though.
"Calamity! Temblor Punch!" Her fist glowed with power and she punched at Warlock, but he seemed to fade away from in front of her and reappear behind, hitting her across the shoulders with his electrified staff. Tarock gasped in pain and staggered forward, then swept her hand in front of her belt and in a golden flash the Gran Crusher, her massive warhammer, was in her hands.
"You think that gigantic weapon of yours frightens me?" Warlock asked, drawing his robe in front of him in fake fear, then he laughed.
Tarock said nothing. Instead she slapped the Royal Core hanging on her belt. "Coronation! Knight of Pentacles!" said her Fate Driver and an imposing figure in dark green armor appeared across the room from her with Warlock in the middle. Tarock swung her hammer at Warlock's head but he ducked under it with ease and jabbed her in the stomach with his crackling staff. Warlock turned and faced Knight in time to jump over a swing at his legs with the armored warrior's hammer.
But suddenly Knight let go of his hammer and it went skidding across the floor. While Warlock's eyes were still on that, Knight grabbed him in a powerful bear hug.
"Dire Fate! Grand Impact!" Tarock's hammer glowed bright green as she swung it with all her might at Warlock, who went flying forward through Knight's body which shattered into green fragments. Warlock spun drunkenly through the air until he collided with the wall.
Then he got right up and seemed to sneer at Tarock, apparently unhurt.
"How—?" Tarock sputtered.
"I think you'd have remembered better," Warlock said. "I was leagues above you even before, but now…you saw how I created Mythos from your own precious cards. You think that wasn't a strain on their powers? Right now I'd estimate they're at about forty-five percent strength…you see, little girl, your friends might stop our forces out there in that park, but even if they do, they were spread out so far they'll never get here in time to help their weakened champion. I win again."
"Char," his staff said and a fireball that seemed even bigger than the ones he'd fired before roared through the and blasted into Tarock. She flew into the air, pieces of green armor flying from her body. She slammed into the far wall, leaving a crater, and rolled to a stop on the floor. Her armor shattered, leaving a battered Liss.
Warlock closed in for the kill, and Uthar's chains groaned as he struggled with all his might to pull free.
The strands of energy running through the soldiers who were keeping Djinn confined burned white for a second as the ones in yellow charged the pyramid-shaped crystals in their hands. The crystals exploded and huge clouds of water vapor erupted from them, and at the same time the temperature around them plummeted.
The clouds of vapor around Djinn solidified, forming into a giant ice crystal. Inside the tornado surrounding Djinn kept spinning and slowly chipping away at the ice. Obviously it wouldn't hold her for long.
"Sir?" asked the leader of the yellow Cups soldiers, an edge of nervousness to her words. "What are your orders? That was our best shot…"
But Vaga had no orders. All he could think of was that tree-fortress in the distance, and Liss fighting for her life against an evil wizard inside.
She was strong. Stronger than Vaga would ever be, even with a power like his Trosik form.
Vaga saw through the strands of power running beneath the ground, all the way up to Warlock's fortress, where Liss lay on the floor, weakened and helpless while Warlock glowed like a star as he gathered his power and then stabbed Liss with the tip of his staff. Her body jerked and spasmed horribly from the power, and Warlock just started to glow as he charged his power again.
Vaga screamed in rage, his cry echoing off the buildings still standing around them and cracking the ice crystal holding Djinn. A sudden clarity came over Vaga, and he saw the lines carrying their bits of power running under everything, but suddenly they looked like strings. Strings to be pulled.
He reached down and grabbed two handfuls of these strings running through Djinn's body, then pulled. The golden disc on Vaga's chest spun until it was a golden blur. Djinn thrashed around inside the ice and opened her mouth wide as if screaming in pain, but Vaga only pulled harder. This monster was keeping him from being at Liss's side, and giving her what little help he could. It had to be destroyed.
"ROTA…Render!" Vaga yelled at the top of his lungs and pulled the strings in opposite directions with all his strength. The ice crystal cracked down the middle, freeing Djinn, but she stayed where she was, held there by Vaga. Suddenly a glowing yellow tear formed at the top of her forehead and raced down her body, and in the next second she exploded into puffs of air.
But as she did Vaga was blown backwards too. In a flash his armor was gone and Ben landed in a heap, his eyes glowing bright yellow with the power he'd wielded for a few seconds after he landed. He propped himself up on his arms and tried to survey the area, but everything was a blur of colored blobs after changing back so forcefully.
Ben focused on a tall black spire in the distance that could only have been Warlock's fortress. He reached out for it with a quivering hand as blackness started to flood the edges of his vision.
"Liss, I'm sorry…I let you down again," he groaned before he passed out.
Liss's body spasmed with electricity from Warlock's staff again and every fiber of her being screamed with pain, but beyond the edge of his cloak she could see the light surrounding the last of her cards go out.
Again Warlock stabbed at her stomach with his staff, but inches away from contact her leg flashed out and hit his ribs with a loud *CRACK* that made Uthar wince from where he was still chained to the floor. Liss jumped to her feet, her body quivering from all the punishment she'd been taking from Warlock and grabbed the haft of his staff, and tried to pull it away from him. Even with the inhuman strength of his Mythos form, he found himself struggling to pull it out of her grip.
"I suppose it's true," Warlock hissed. "In a way the stubborn refusal to accept your place in the universe is your kind's greatest strength. Not nearly great enough to elevate you out of your slimy…"
But he'd no sooner said that than Liss leaned back and her foot skidded on the floor and she was falling backward again, and as she did she twisted her body and rolled one way while Warlock rolled the other. The crystal on the staff brushed the links of a few of the chains pinning Uthar.
Warlock hissed in anger and held out his hand, and a mysterious force wrenched the staff away from Liss and back to his scaled fingers. He looked up as Liss dashed past and started to ready a fireball to end this farce once and for all, but suddenly Uthar came flying at him and tackled him to the floor again. A blast of fire ripped from the staff and flew backwards against the wall, exploding harmlessly but showering both of them with small flaming bits of debris.
Uthar paid no attention to the tiny flames landing on his uniform, focusing entirely on his far more powerful enemy. His weapon out of reach, Uthar just rained punches and blows from his elbows down on Warlock's face again and again. Small black nicks and cuts formed on Warlock's face and neck under Uthar's furious assault, when the Mythos hissed in rage and lashed out with glowing strikes of his reptilian talons. Trails of blood formed across Uthar's face and he cried in alarm as one leaked into his eye. Warlock shoved him off and called his staff back to his hand again.
"Swords Suit! Coronation! Ace of Swords!" he heard the Fate Driver call and turned to where he'd heard it. As he'd expected there stood Tarock in her red Swords armor, the Skycalibur in her hand already in its strengthened curved form with electricity dancing along its edge.
"Bind," Walrock's staff announced before chains snaked from its end, the word sounding more urgent than ever as if it could sense how desperate Tarock was to end this fight.
"Ace High! Thunder Cleave!" A wave of crackling power jumped from Tarock's sword and smashed the chains as if they were only toothpicks. Most of its power was spent by the time the last edge burned into Warlock's chest.
"Ace High! Thunder Cleave!" Again electrical power ripped from Skycalibur, before Warlock had a chance to defend himself. Even as he blocked the wave against his staff it blew him across the floor until his back touched the wall.
"Ace High! Thunder Cleave!" said the Fate Driver as once again Skycalibur charged with power, but Tarock dashed across the room and shoved the blade against Warlock's staff with all her strength. Then the power ripped from Skycalibur in a blinding flash that sent both Tarock and Warlock flying backward. Tarock slid across the floor, but Warlock was blasted right through the wall, carried over the park by the force of Tarock's point-blank ultimate attack.
Uthar knelt by Tarock's side, planning to inspect her for injuries being seeing nothing through her armor. "Are you all right?" he asked instead.
"Did I get him?" Tarock groaned. Uthar answered by hooking her arm over his shoulders and helping her limp over to the new window she'd made with her attack. There was a figure on the ground a ways away covered in crackling yellow electricity, but as soon as they spotted him his body disintegrated into a cloud of blue smoke like so many other Mythos before him. It didn't blow away on the window like all those others, though, instead it spread and formed itself the shape of a giant demonic face with fanged teeth and curling horns sprouting from its head before finally fading away.
Silence descended over the park with Warlock's demise. Tarock reverted to normal and looked down at her cards, frowning at how they'd lost their colors, their golden emblems resting against gray. There was a small tingle of energy there, enough she was sure they'd regain their power eventually, but for now she could probably forget about being Tarock at all.
Uthar looked down at where Warlock had last stood before meeting his end. "So passes the Warlock, emissary of the Mythos," he said with a surprisingly solemn tone, placed his clenched fist over his heart and bowed lightly.
Liss stared at him. "Awfully respectful, isn't that," she said.
"It's supposed to be standard practice toward those brave enough to fight for their aims, even if they fought against our side," Uthar explained. "I hadn't done it in years, but…," he looked her in the face. "After tonight it suddenly seems appropriate to acknowledge valor when I see it."
"Perhaps things can change for the better after all, then," said a raspy voice from behind them. Uthar and Tarock both turned around, ready to fight, but instead of another Mythos they saw a pale-skinned woman with dark hair wearing a threadbare, practical gray gown with a smaller woman wearing a blank-visored helmet and two short swords strapped across her back beside the first. It was Empress Maeve of Mazones, and Thena, her aide.
"Long way from home, aren't you?" Uthar asked, a touch of suspicion in his words.
Maeve tried to walk closer to them, staggered and sank to one knee with a gasp. "I suppose," she replied. "But I hope you'll think it was worth the effort when you see what I came to bring." Maeve clutched her stomach while she reached out with her other hand, and Tarock walked over to meet her.
"What do you mean, what you came to bring?" Tarock asked, taking her hand and helping to her feet.
"It's a war zone out there," Maeve answered. "You have powerful allies, Tarock, but judging by tonight the stakes against you are only rising, you'll need all the power you can find before long. That is what I have come to bring you…power."
"What power?" As Liss asked Maeve seemed to lose the last of her strength and collapsed completely onto the stone floor. Thena stepped forward to try to help her but Maeve held up a hand to stop her.
The Empress explained, "I'm dying, Tarock. Apparently Arcana can do that as well," Maeve punctuated with a dry, tired laugh. "I believe the proper protocol is to appoint a successor before that happens. Even if my office is not exactly what I think you're suited for…"
"Tarock, something's happening!" Uthar called from the opening in the wall. She turned and looked and could see a shimmering mist in the air outside, quickly seeming to mingle together and solidify. Within seconds it had formed a giant skeletal shape, easily twelve feet high. Then another pair of arms sprouted from its spine, and a cold purple light that flickered like flames lit in the sockets of its eyes.
Its jaws clacked open and shut a few times, then it spoke in a loud echoing form of Warlock's voice: "You fight me, you strike me down, and still I rise again! My power is even greater now! Let me see how many times you can rise again!" One giant skinless hand reached out and grabbed onto the trunk of the black tree, and he started to climb the tree up to the fortress.
"Oh god," Liss groaned, looking down at her gray form cards. Quickly she went over to where Maeve lay, drawing in ragged gasps of breath. "What do I have to do?" she asked.
"Just tell me one thing," Maeve replied, managing a weary smile. "What is your real name?"
"Liss Decker."
Maeve nodded and shut her eyes, seeming as if that simple act had brought her peace she'd been looking for a long time. "A strong name. I'm not at all surprised." She placed one hand against her chest, and her fingers suddenly sank into her body as if she was reaching into a pool of water. A second later she pulled it back out, holding a glowing purple crystal she offered to Liss. Her fingers trembling, Liss took it.
As soon as she had, Liss's false eye quivered in its socket for a second as something powerful took shape next to her. For a second she froze, expecting another attack, but she recognized a pale-skinned man in a black robe and hood, carrying a scythe with a chipped but gleaming silver blade. Smiling softly, reassuringly Liss thought it was meant to be, he offered his hand to Empress Maeve.
"Master Mortis," she said as she took it. "Somehow I thought I'd never see the day."
"I come personally for someone so long-lived," he said calmly, gently. "And if any does, today truly marks the end of one era, and the beginning of another."
Gently he helped Maeve, who stood with surprising ease considering her recent weakness. She looked at Liss with an encouraging smile, and Master Mortis gave Liss a measuring look, then a second later they were simply gone.
The ground shook as the new Mythos thumped and slid its giant, awkward tentacles along the ground to bring him closer to the fortress. Liss looked down at the crystal in her hand, unsure of how to harness its powers, and held it up in front of her Fate Driver as if that might provide the answer.
"Hold it near your Driver," Thena explained. "It should take on a more suitable form."
As if it had heard her, the buckle hummed and whirred for a second, a ray of light sweeping from the transparent dome in the middle and scanning over the crystal in Liss's hand. The crystal shimmered and changed into a flat card of a woman in a yellow robe, holding a golden scepter in one hand while a white shield with a Venus symbol on it rested at her feet.
The ground rumbled again, and without another moment's hesitation she loaded the card into her Driver.
"Empress! Major!" the Fate Driver seemed to scream.
A power unlike any she'd ever felt as Tarock rushed through Liss's body. Her black undersuit formed over her body and then a purple card shape, dominated by the symbol III appeared above her and floated down over her body, forming a purple mask with a golden ridge across the forehead with five golden spikes almost like a crown. A thick purple breastplate formed around her chest, the symbol III inscribed across the front in large golden letters, as well as across the armor on each shoulder. A short white cape hung from the back of her new armor down her waist.
Heavy white gauntlets with thick armored knuckles, decorated purple and with a purple streak running up to where the armor ended at her elbows appeared next. White boots of thick armor, also decorated with a purple stripe running up the front and then across both sides of the cuff.
Superhuman power of different sensations rushed through Tarock's body. Incredible strength, though not as great as her Pentacles form. But also awesome speed waiting to be unleashed.
"kkrrrrttt…" the Fate Driver hummed, and thin streams of smoke rose from the card slot. "Arm of the Empire!" A mass of purple energy jumped from the crystal ball in the Fate Driver and into her right hand, tingling and racing up and down her fingers for a few seconds before solidifying into a new weapon. It was dull silver scepter with a golden coil running up its foot-long haft, which led up into three golden prongs shaped like a dragon's talons that held a huge purple gemstone in place.
"Incredible…" Uthar breathed. "But are you still going to be able to fight?"
"Are you kidding?" Tarock relied. "I just caught my second wind." She walked past him with a powerful stride over to the opening in the hall, then looked down as Warlock kept climbing up at her. "Kamen Rider Tarock…Fighting fate!" Tarock screamed, then jumped off the edge and went into freefall. Warlock seemed to smile as she came shooting down at him.
Next time on Kamen Rider Tarock Re-Dealt…
(Tarock battles the skeletal Warlock, blazing away with purple beams of power as giant black tentacles flail around them)
Warlock: You have new power but ours are boundless…strike me down and another will rise.
(Warlock and Rampart both grab for a huge, rough black crystal that seems to make the area around it darker but is still somehow visible)
Rampart: All these years and you know nothing of humanity's powers.
(Liss drops a seed the size of her whole hand into the ground and a silver sapling appears)
Liss: We can win, and this proves it.
(The silver sapling shines a light on the huge black crystal, and everything goes white)
Narrator: Your fate is in your hands.
I'm sorry! Two chapters of endless fighting, and I'm having it drag out into yet another one! I just felt like this chapter was so crowded already, I felt like Liss's first battle in her new form needed its own space.
Hope you're enjoying Liss return, even in spite of how shonen it's been with fight length!