Souta observed the story that Ohnishi had outlined for Hikayu. Namely, a light-hearted story that explained how she ended up with the powers of a Magical Slayer. There was no mention of Mamika anywhere, just that Hikayu found her staff on the ground when she was on a date with Masayuki.
Souta understood why Mamika wasn't named. Not only did her Creators refuse to let her in anything Elimination Chamber related, but Mamika's battle at Sunshine carried with her such an infamy that people believed she was the second coming of Minky Momo, a Magical Girl from the 80's whose broadcasts would be followed by natural disasters.
When he noticed Ohnishi putting down the pen, Souta immediately spoke up.
"Hey… About Dan…" As Souta said that, Ohnishi turned to face him. His rat-like face was a little unnerving to him, but the smile he had gave him the go ahead with his question. "How… easy was it to reach out to him?" Souta asked.
"Huh?" Ohnishi asked back.
"He… must have really hated you for what happened. It… would have made it difficult for you to connect with him." Souta asked as Marine stopped sketching to listen in on the conversation. Ohnishi shook his head.
"No, it really wasn't. He was stubborn, though. He chose to isolate himself for a time and threw himself into his studies. Even so, I tried to help him in any way I could. By the time we graduated, he was willing to share those feelings he had with us." Ohnishi said.
"But… even now, he's still upset about what happened." Souta said.
"Yes. He is. But even so, he knows that he has me and his wife to help him cope with that. I don't agree with how he vents his emotions, but I won't let that stop me from reaching out to him when he needs the help. I already failed Sayuri, I'm not going to fail Izumi." Ohnishi then heard Souta sniffling and turned to see him taking off his glasses. He gave a blink as Marine got up to pat Souta on the back. "Erm… I'm not sure what's going on."
Just then, the door slammed open as Akagi rushed in, holding a smart phone.
"GUYS! We have a problem!" Akagi shouted as he placed the phone on the table. Some of the Creations went over to see the footage of the GO Princess concert, cameras focused on a flaming fox monster near the bottom of the screen with a giraffe monster fighting Rui and Yuuya near the top. Souta noticed Hoshi near the fox, ready to fight it.
Cinder Fall
Altair grinned as she watched the events unfold on the TV. Not only did a truth about Zenmetsuna get exposed to anyone who would listen, but also there was a massive battle that would serve to upset the balance of the world.
"Once again, I have misplaced my faith in you." Vega sat next to Altair and looked over to see Yudai by the sink, nursing his wounds. Charon sat on a sofa chair not too far from the couch while Blitz stood up, back resting against the wall.
"Indeed, it's surprising how that schoolgirl managed to set this all up." Blitz went over to the window, cracked it open, and lit a cigarette.
"I do not know the ending she has planned, however. Exposing Zenmetsuna's sins was a goal of ours… But… The presence of Yuichi's Creator unnerves me. Him being here will cause Dante and Verge's clash to happen much earlier than intended... The fact that Magane turned him into a Kaizo-Majin would only hasten their fight." Altair asked him. Blitz looked over to Yudai, who immediately rolled his eyes.
"Don't look at me! I only agreed to let that punk join in. I told her not to involve the other guy in this battle and yet there's your precious literal snowflake, right within striking distance of the asshole I'm supposed to kill!" Yudai loaded the Malefik Driver. "I swear, if that iceberg lays so much as a finger on him, I'll- GAAAH!" He winced as he dropped the gun to hold onto his side.
"You should rest up, son. Let someone else take care of the matter at hand." Vega said. On cue, Blitz put out his cigarette and headed out of the penthouse. As the door closed, Yudai looked over to Charon.
"Yo, tall, dark, and broodin'. You goin' too?" Yudai asked. Charon leaned his head onto his hand.
"No. I'm the only trump card left. Should I enter this fray, I'll have given our hand away." Charon said.
"Hate to burst your bubble, but our cards are already played. That brash blonde and the walking slushie already revealed themselves to our enemies. Chances are they'll sus you out soon." Yudai said.
"I'm not surprised, though. You two are so obsessed with seeing someone die that you disregard any plans that involve you." Charon said.
"Don't you have someone you want dead? What about your God? You surely want him dead for the shit he gave you, right?" Yudai asked Charon.
"No. I know he can also fix it once this world's balance is disrupted. I should redirect the question to you… Why do you want your God dead?" Charon said before he heard a faint growl coming from Yudai. Yudai glanced at the TV to see Celesia, then back to Charon.
"What's really stopping you? Her?" Charon's eyes were glued onto the redhead and all he could make as a response is a softened hum.
"If you're not going to answer my question, then I don't need to answer yours." Charon folded his arms and closed his eyes. Yudai chuckled as he continued to watch the chaos unfold.
I couldn't help but stare at the Kaizo-Majin that was once Dan. Shit… three Kaizo-Majin in the same area… It was like that battle with the Yakuza. However, this was different. All three sides were antagonistic. One wants to murder an idol, another wants to murder their producer, and this Kaizo-Majin…
The Fox cried out as he continued to lash his tails. The thing was, he wasn't attacking anyone… Rather…
He was beating himself. Seeing this Kaizo-Majin, one tapping into the element of fire, made me remember the time where I had become a Kaizo-Majin…
I never put any thought to what happens when someone transforms into one. Most of the time, I would write that Re:Shocker gave a person modifications to their body in order to have them better tap into an element and synchronize with their respective belt if they were to prove themselves worthy of it. Just a simple handwave that they became monsters off-screen…
The Essen Crystals were possibly another one of Tachibana's contributions to Dante's lore, perhaps cutting the middleman by having the Crystals outright be the ones that turn the people into monsters instead of the traditional surgical process that I had thought about. Even so, it didn't fill the gap of what the person must be feeling when they transform…
That's probably the one thing that horrified me the most about Creations entering our world. If there are any gaps in the narrative, they will be filled in some way. I didn't think about how the Volcano Belt would actually work and I had paid the price by receiving burns across my body, for instance…
The same thing applied here. Tachibana and I hadn't fully determined every detail of turning into a Kaizo-Majin, just that it felt cool to see people turn into them. As a result, the world filled in the details for us, and they weren't pretty…
As I saw the fox thrash about, I recalled the dark voice in my head. Perhaps the representation of the flames themselves… Anger. As we shared the same element, I could only imagine that's also the case for Dan… And if it is indeed anger…
Immediately, I ran to the fox, only for him to strike me. As I had thought, the way he clawed at me was slow and lumbering. If he actually wanted to hurt me, he would have done so… As I stepped away, the fox resumed his self-flagellation. Immediately, I turned to Yuichi, who I noticed had finished processing what just happened. As he glared at Dan, I ran in front of him.
This was a common thing that happens in Kamen Riders when the human turns into a monster against their will… One of the Riders would try and protect the monster from anyone that would want to kill it to varying degrees of success… Though, in my case, it didn't matter whether Dan was a monster or not… I still had to protect him from Yuichi.
"Yuichi… Think about what you're going to do!" I said to him.
"I have. Now the world can see my God for the rabid dog he truly is. And I shall put him down like one." As he began to pose, I shouted.
"He's still a human like you and me! Would your sister approve of this!?" It was a nuclear option… Either I would guilt trip him into giving up or…
"If she knew he was the author to all her pain? I would say so…" Or galvanize him, as he extended his arms in an alternate pattern. "Rider… HENSHIN!" His body crystalized into ice before shattering into Kamen Rider Verge. With a sigh, I loaded my gun.
FIREFLY SHELL!
"Henshin!" And fired at Verge. The firefly bounced off his icy armor as I embraced the armor it would grant me. He pulled out his dagger and struck me across the chest. As he knocked me out of the way, he advanced towards Dan before Celesia clashed her sword against his dagger. It cracked the blade, only for him to eject it out. The blade exploded into a cloud of snow as I heard a click.
SHORTY BLADE!
As Celesia swung her sword at him, Verge shrank down to about half her size to dodge the strike. He twirled around and cut Celesia at the knees, causing her to fall onto them. She held onto her sword and swayed it towards him. The two swords clacked against each other while I got up and fired at Verge. The bullets bounced off his armor, chipping away the ice on his shoulders. Seeing that it can get weakened, I loaded the next bullet.
MAMMOTH SHELL!
Meanwhile, Hikayu flew upwards as Melt followed. She flew out of the way as Melt fired off a burning heart that tore through the rooftop. I noticed the debris and adjusted my aim to instead hit the falling rocks.
BREAKING BURST!
I fired out a blazing stream at the debris, incinerating them as I could see Hikayu and Melt disappear into the skyline. I took a moment to look at the combatants. So far, only Celesia and I were in the immediate conflict with Verge, as Alicetaria was still handling Hangaku. Magane was still there, observing the battle with a sinister gleam.
As much as I wanted to, I knew I can't just target her without her being able to turn my powers against me like she had with Yuuya. The worst part was that she knew too. That's why she stood there in plain sight of everyone else. Just then, I saw Celesia fall towards me. I quickly grabbed her and set her upright.
"Alright, I think I have a plan… You take his left, I'll take his right. Whoever gets him distracted will go after the fox…" I whispered to Celesia as I saw Yuichi swap blades.
SLEEPY BLADE!
With a nod from Celesia, we rushed towards the icy rider. I fired at Yuichi, though I noticed the ice on his shoulder build up as he tackled me. He slashed through Celesia and, while he made no wounds on her, caused her to fall limp. From her loud snores, I knew she was out of the fight. Yuichi then turned to me and swapped blades once more.
SNEEZY BLADE!
Before he impaled me, causing my armor to spark as I-
"Achoo!"
-began to uncontrollably sneeze. I tried to focus my aim at Yuichi, but every time I tried, my sneezes would throw me off. There were several more strikes aimed at me before I fell down.
"Stay down…" Just as Yuichi approached the flaming fox, I saw Alicetaria fly towards him. He immediately blocked her lance with his sword, but the sheer force of the attack broke the blade. I got up and saw Hangaku closing in on Alicetaria. I fired a couple of bullets at her, stunning her momentarily. Seems I would be fighting Hangaku yet again…
The concert had been fully derailed as what little remained of the audience fled the area. Yuuya swung Kuronagimaru at Sparking Giraffe while Rui came in close to strike with his legs. Between these two attacks, the Giraffe had to keep up his defense.
Police were busy getting people out of the area, along with the idols and their producer. Instead of any music, there was the sound of panicked screams and cries.
"Big sis, what's going on?" Sakuya asked Nagisa.
"Don't worry… everything will be-"
BLAM!
The back of the stage exploded as a thick cloud of sparkling snow filled the immediate area. Nagisa looked at the shadow of a hulking bear loom in the distance.
"Nagisa Toyotoma, let me forever preserve your beauty…" Just as he was about to attack, a bolt of lightning struck his jaw, clearing the snowy powder away to reveal Freezing Bear. "You…" He turned to face Sparking Giraffe, bits of electricity coming out of his metallic horns as he had his hooves blocking both Yuuya and Rui's strike.
"You're the one I was waiting for…" He pushed the two away and zapped another bolt from his horns at Freezing Bear. The electricity coiled upwards like a Jacob's ladder, ready for the next strike. Watari roared before charging at the Giraffe. Claws met hooves as the hooves sparked electricity. Watari opened his maw up and expelled a cone of cold down at the Giraffe's face.
"What the… They're fighting each other?" Rui asked.
"Seems like a grudge match. Rui, get the others to safety. I'll pick off whoever's left standin'." Yuuya readied himself, though he gave a small cough as he held his rib. 'Damn,' he thought, 'Syo really did a number on my ass.'
"Alright." Rui said before he ran off to the idols and their producer.
Hikayu flew through the skies, dodging flaming hearts from Melt. She spun around and fired back with her own hearts. Both hearts collided and exploded. Hikayu lost track of Melt from the resulting smoke cloud, but she kept firm as she saw a shadow coming through the thick smoke. As Melt rushed forward, Hikayu pointed her staff right at her.
"SHINING SHOWER!" Hikayu shouted as Melt got pelted point blank with a stream of tiny hearts. Though they made cute popping sounds, each heart felt like a bullet hitting Melt, stopping her momentum. "Please, you have to understand… I don't know about what happened to your friend. I just began wearing this yesterday!" Hikayu said.
"Do you understand the responsibilities of your powers? Mirimiri doesn't just hand her powers to anyone!" Melt glared at Hikayu.
"I don't even know who Mirimiri is!" Hikayu blushed, though tightened her grip on the staff.
"Then who gave you your powers?" Melt asked her.
"My Creator! He wanted me to get a power for a fight I'm going to be in and he decided on this! Even though I… don't really like the outfit." Hikayu squirmed for a small bit.
"… Then I'm fighting the wrong person… Where is he? He's clearly the one who stole Mamika's power and gave it t you!" Melt shouted.
"He didn't do anything to her! You can't just…" Hikayu held up her staff, ready for round two… then she noticed Melt's staff glow.
"If you're not gonna tell me, I'm gonna look for him. Magical Splash…"
Souta tightly held onto the seat next to Ohnishi as Akagi drove them.
"You sure the Kaizo-Majin that Hoshi's fighting is Dan, right?" Souta asked Akagi.
"Positive. You guys don't need to come with. You're going to be in real danger-"
"Out of the question!" Ohnishi interrupted Akagi. "My friend's turned into a monster! I gotta snap him outta it!"
"The situation out there has become chaotic! I can't risk…" Before Akagi could finish, the trio could hear someone scream out:
"FLLAAAAARE!"
Followed by a large explosion. Akagi slammed on the breaks as he noticed Hikayu falling to the ground, the impact leaving a small dent on the hood of his car and cracked his windshield.
"AAAAAAH!" Akagi screamed and got out of the car, hands shaking over the damage. "No! Machine Itasha! Aaaaah, all my money towards the new KyurenOh is going to be wasted fixing this!"
"Hikayu! Are you okay?!" Souta also got out of the car, helping Hikayu off the Itasha as Ohnishi rushed over to hold Hikayu.
"My poor baby! Did she hurt you?!" Ohnishi said as Hikayu tried to shove him off.
"Not… badly… I can still fight." Hikayu said, though Souta looked at how her the edges of her clothes were singed and her face having black, dirt markings. The three saw Melt fly down.
"I'll only ask this once. How did you steal Mamika's powers?" Melt asked Ohnishi. Souta stared at Melt and spoke up.
"He didn't… I asked him to give Hikayu her powers." Souta said.
"W-what? What do you mean?" Melt asked Souta.
"I wanted Mamika to be remembered and… if she wasn't going to be in the Elimination Chamber Festival, then…" As Souta spoke, Melt's eyes darted from left to right.
"What do you mean 'remembered'? What are you saying?!" Melt asked. Souta could notice her eyes were quaking. Just as he was about to answer…
Boom!
Souta noticed the ground below him give way. He stumbled out of the way before landing onto the ground. As soon as he saw a small crater where he was standing on, he looked up and saw Blitz hovering.
"Leave them to me, girl." Blitz reloaded his gun as Akagi looked head… There was the stadium.
"Guys, run! I'll hold him off." Akagi took out his figure as Souta nodded. The two ran as Blitz fired at them. Hikayu deflected them with her hearts as Melt flew off after them.
"And who might you be? You look more like a delivery boy than someone with power." Blitz asked Akagi.
"I'm more than that…" He held the figure to the side before he shouted: "JUUMOUSOU!" And held it out as though he were aiming a gun before pulling the trigger.
Z-CUUUUNE!
Akagi's armor began to materialize beneath him, transforming him into Akiba Red.
"When it comes to guns, Banban is the master-" Blitz fired a bullet at Akagi that blasted him a foot or two away. As he got up, Akagi began to shake his fist. "O-OI! YOU CAN'T JUST SHOOT SOMEONE IN THE MIDDLE OF THEIR ROLE CALL!"
"In your story, that may be the case… But in mine, this sort of pragmatism is rewarded." Blitz began to fire bullet after bullet as Akagi rolled out of the way. Hikayu flew into him and tackled him. This allowed Akagi to get up.
"Jet Winger!" Akagi leaped in the air and stretched his arms out as the winged jetpack appeared on his back. He flew upwards before letting go of the jetpack and fired a few shots right at Blitz. Bullets entered Blitz's body, though they did not stall him from firing a gravity bullet right at Akagi. The bullet imploded, knocking Akagi further into the air as Blitz quickly reloaded. Before he could fire, however, Hikayu flew up.
"HEY!" Hikayu shouted before she let loose a body hook to his back. While her strength was nothing big, the sudden impact knocked the wind out of Blitz, long enough for Akagi to fall back down. Blitz looked up and saw Akagi smack right into him. Akagi's weight on top of Blitz caused his gravity watch to strain before eventually cancelling out. The two gunmen fell onto the ground, causing them to drop their guns. The two got up as Blitz cracked his knuckles.
"Guess we're doing this the hard way." Blitz threw the first punch. He felt the leather on his gloves almost break as he impacted the helmet. With a quick motion, he grabbed onto Akagi's scarf and dragged it for another blow to the head. Akagi, feeling the adrenaline of the battle, punched Blitz in the face, knocking his glasses off. The two tussled at each other for a bit, delivering blow after blow to the head. Blitz was about to drive his fist right to Akagi's face when he suddenly noticed a pink heart floating between him and Akagi. It then expanded and popped, knocking the two back.
"S-sorry! Just wanted to help!" Hikayu blurted out and bowed as Akagi and Blitz fell to the ground. Akagi got up and noticed Blitz's gun next to his own. He ran over to grab the two as Blitz staggered up. He soon noticed Akagi grab both guns. He pressed the button on his gun with the butt of Blitz's before aiming both of them at Blitz.
"Moe Magnum! Special Version!" Akagi shouted before he fired.
Let's go~!
Akagi fired a large red energy ball. Before it hit Blitz, though, he fired Blitz's pistol right at the ball, causing it to explode and bash Blitz so far that his back smashed against the concert window.
This was my fourth round with Hangaku and, already, I got her patterns down pat. Carefully, I dodged her swing, though that's when I noticed her suddenly strike me from the side. I realized that this was a similar case to when I fought Yuuya on the rooftop, in which Hangaku was at her full potential with her master simply watching the chaos unfold. Even so, her movements were such that I could at the very least try to predict them. Blocking the strike of her halberd with the Volcannik Driver, I dragged the gun across her weapon, cycling the revolver in the process.
FUJI BURST!
I pulled the trigger as my fist lit on fire.
"RIDER PUNCH!" I struck her stomach, cracking her armor. I gave a sharp exhale as I kneed right at the broken armor. As Hangaku staggered back, I noticed Magane backed away a bit, almost in sync to Hangaku.
"So… That's the curse that boy mentioned… That just makes this a whole lot more fun!" Magane clutched her stomach in the exact spot where I punched Hangaku. She smiled as Hangaku continued her assault. Each strike took a massive blow to my armor as I saw the sparks fly out of my body. While I managed to dodge one slash, a thrust from her halberd was enough to knock me down. Just as Hangaku was about to finish me, Celesia came over to block the strike with her sword.
"Uuugh… Can't believe I fell asleep in a battle…" Celesia muttered. I looked over to see Alicetaria battling Verge. She seemed to get the upper hand when I noticed him switch to a new blade.
DOPEY BLADE!
His blade contacted with Alicetaria's armor and, suddenly, her arms gave way and drooped as she tried to lift her lance.
"Wh-what did… Uugh… You do to me!?" Alicetaria asked.
"That's his thing! His blades will often disable you!" I said to her. I turned to Celesia.
"Go ahead, I'll take care of Hangaku." Celesia said.
"Thanks." I ran over, though that's when I saw Souta and Ohnishi run in, with Melt closely following them.
"Oooooi! You've finally come!" Magane turned her head and noticed Souta as well. Souta stopped running and flinched. Ohnishi soon stopped and turned to see Souta. While I wasn't entirely sure what Magane meant, I felt a strong pit at the bottom of my throat.
I recalled how Meteora was unable to reach Souta a while before I encountered Magane for the first time and became wrapped around her fingers. It seemed I wasn't the only one. Without a second thought, I raised my gun at Magane and fired, only for Hangaku to fly in and block the shot. As the flaming bullet sparked off her naginata, Magane grinned ear to ear.
"Now there's a side of you I haven't seen in a while!" Magane said. I growled before I sharply exhaled.
No.
This is what she wants.
I noticed a person or two stayed behind to take photos of the battle unfolding. Possibly even record us. No doubt this will be a hit on YouMotion. This entire thing would be something the government can't just easily cover up…
Perhaps that was the plan. This would serve as a massive disturbance to the world's balance and bring us one step closer to the Great Destruction. That, and should the fight get out of hand, the bystanders could easily become casualties. Instead, I turned my attention to Yuichi… For the brief moment I was able to before I saw Melt landing.
"I want a clear explanation…" Her voice had a surprising amount of venom in spite of her sounding cute. "What did you do to Mamika?" Though, I noticed tears on her face. Souta trembled as I could hear Magane laugh.
"Hmmm? Oh! She's a friend of that twerp, right? She doesn't know, does she?" She asked. I knew the next words out of her mouth would just further tip the scales in her favor…
CRASH!
That was when Blitz crashed through the window and landed on the ground. Akagi and Hikayu rushed through the doors.
"W-wait, is that… AkibaRed!?" A spectator said. Blitz slowly got up as he clutched his shoulder and gasped. I noticed Akagi had his gun. Good, took his most powerful weapon from his arsenal.
"We don't want to hurt you any further. Just give up!" Hikayu said.
"Someone as optimistic as yourself shouldn't be in the front lines." Blitz coughed out a bit of blood. Before I could even decide on who I should approach, I realized something…
During all this fighting… Dan had fled the scene.
"Wait! Where's Dan!?" I said.
Yuuya eyed his targets carefully. The battle had raged on for a good five, maybe ten minutes, and the two Kaizo-Majin weren't any worse for ware. While Sparking Giraffe's lightning bolts were able to crack the icy body of Freezing Bear, they were starting to slow down as the frost covered the giraffe's entire body.
Yuuya, however, bided his time. The longer the two would take to end the battle, the more stamina he would have for the eventual winner. If they managed to take each other out, that'd be optimal.
However, he heard a blast come from behind him and jumped out of the way. A fireball streaked past him towards the stage, exploding in an inferno that began to quickly spread. The two Kaizo-Majin stop if only to see a third one join in the scene: Fire Fox.
"Another one!?" Yuuya gasped out as the fox lunged forward. It slammed into a wall, then proceeded to smash itself against it, each one causing more and more flames to burst from his body. The icy chunks that covered Watari's body began to melt. Yuuya tensed up. This could be a chance to take one of them out… But then he'd have to face the other two…
Fortunately, he didn't need to choose to strike, as Sparking Giraffe moved in, his hooves flashing with electricity, ready to strike at one of the melted off points…
BLAM!
Both Kaizo-Majin dealt their blows… However, one of them was clearly a decisive blow as Freezing Bear's claws were embedded into Sparking Giraffe's flesh. What little flickers of voltage were in the Giraffe's hooves seamlessly spread onto Watari.
Watari pulled out his claw as Yuuya saw a yellow crystal impaled. It soon began to be absorbed into the claw as Sparking Giraffe's form shattered, his now human form falling down and trembling from the blood loss.
"Holopsicon, Electric Volt of the Aether, Thunderstruck." The booming voice of Vega could be heard as Watari's monstrous form changed. The patches where the ice was had been replaced with orange fur with black spots, while the ice that made up Freezing Bear's jaw was now replaced with a giraffe's head flipped upside down. Now the only remnant if the ice were within Freezing Bear's large paws and claws. In-between the claws were tesla coils that began to glow a bright blue.
"Now then… To resume the preserving…" Watari turned to Yuuya and held his claws out. The coils began to shoot out electricity onto the long claws as an icicle began to form from the middle claw.
"Oh shi-" The icicle immediately launched and impaled Yuuya on the shoulder. "GAAAAAAH!" He shouted. He struggled to take it out, but as soon as he touched it, his hand immediately recoiled from the shock. His shoulder soon began to feel numb as the current coursed down his arm, leaving only a prickly feeling that was too painful to bare.
"Out of my way." Watari grumbled as he walked past Yuuya. Yuuya gave a pained grunt as he fell to his knees, too busy focusing on the pain on his arm to do anything.
Why didn't I keep an eye on Dan? I was so looking after so many other problems that the one person I was assigned to look after not only became a Kaizo-Majin, but also ran off.
To make matters worse, it seemed I wasn't the only one who noticed this. As soon as I began running, so did Yuichi. I opened fire at him. He instantly crystalized his armor and thickened it, blocking the fiery bullets.
"You're not getting anywhere near him!" As I ran, his body shifted into a transparent, almost gaseous form before he flew like the wind. I felt a chill soon after. "Damn it!" I tried to switch over to Sakurajima, but as I fumbled with the bullets, I dropped it. "DAMN IT!" I shouted. At this time, Ohnishi ran off after Verge.
"Ohnishi! Wait!" Souta shouted.
"As you are, you can't catch him… Give in once again, and you will…" The voice called to me. I gritted my teeth. I picked up the bullet, but just as I did, I suddenly got decked in the face. The force of it got me to drop my gun and, quickly, I felt myself be grappled with an audible click from the Volcannik Driver. I smelled tobacco as I looked over my shoulder. Sure enough, Blitz managed to grab me and had a gun pointed to my head.
"I don't intend to give up. Not until my god pays for what happened to Erina." Erina… His daughter. I figured that's why he's with Altair…
"You… realize she's going to…" I weakly rasped as Akagi aimed his gun at Blitz. Before I can continue, Blitz smacked me with the butt of the Volcannik Driver. The vibrations intensified thanks to the helmet and all I could focus on was the pain.
"Leave him alone!" Akagi shouted. Magane began to laugh as I struggled to get out of Blitz's hold.
"OOOOOI! Little girl!" As Magane said that, Melt turned to her.
"You mean me?" Melt asked.
"Yes you! You want to know what happened to Mamika?" Magane asked. Damn it… I can't stop her… If only…
"You're in a bind… You need to give in." The stress, the pressure… The inability to do anything but watch as everything falls apart… Just like what happened with Setsuna… With Mamika… With Honoka… There was a feeling in my chest… An urge to scream to the top of my lungs. That feeling… It'd be so easy to just… let it all out for all to hear.
"Don't listen to her!" I snapped out of my thoughts as I heard Souta yell. I remembered when I had found out about Mamika's death… Then I remembered the burns I had received the last time I gave in to that urge. No matter what happened… I had to remain calm.
"Then who should I listen to!?" Melt said. There was a pause before she continued. "Mamika's my close friend… And… she left me to fight all by myself… Alone… I was told by a Military Uniform Princess that she was here… in this world… but… No one's… telling me where she went… All I got were dead ends… No actual answer… So… please… Tell me where she is…?" I could hear her voice begin to crack. Just as Magane was about to open her mouth though…
"I knew Mamika as well." Alicetaria stepped forward. "She was the kindest person I had encountered here. Her compassion helped me see things differently from the bloodstained war I was a part of. I was also… The last person she spoke to." Souta backed away as she said that.
"…" I wasn't sure what Melt was thinking of. She came from a children's Sunday morning cartoon and death, if it even happened, only happened to the bad guys. Though… At the same time, I'd believe she would be able to put two and two together.
"… Mamika died… Because I didn't tell her the whole story." Though, that comment from Souta took me by surprise. The hell did he mean by that?
"She's… No…" Melt began to chuckle. "She can't be…" Though, her laughs were clearly just cries covered in coughs. "You people…" And her voice couldn't balance its tone, mixing between melancholic and anger. "YOU'RE LYING!" Melt cried out as she sent waves of flaming hearts everywhere. Magane began to laugh as I struggled to get out of Blitz's hold. Fortunately, one of the hearts flew to me and Blitz.
The heart expanded before popping, pushing me and Blitz apart. In the chaos, he dropped the gun while I picked it up. I swiftly spun around and aimed the gun right at Blitz, who had fell onto the ground.
"Heh… What are you waiting for? Do it… You'll be doing me a favor." Blitz said. My hand trembled as I remembered watching his story unfold. The depressing ending of the Metropolis arc… How he had to kill his own daughter… Seeing it just a day after learning of Setsuna's death… I then looked to the clearly grieving Melt. I closed my eyes and shed a tear.
I remembered when I had found out about Mamika's death… Then I remembered the burns I had received the last time I gave in to that urge. No matter what happened… I had to remain calm.
"… No. I have bigger fish to fry. Hikayu, Celesia, I leave Dan's protection to you. I'm going to handle this." I said to her.
"On it!" Celesia flew off with Hikayu following. Melt was about to chase Hikayu when I stepped in her way.
"We'll explain everything, but you have to calm down." I said to her.
"YOU TOLD ME ENOUGH!" She spread her flames to me. They did nothing but tickle me as I looked over to her. Akagi ran over to me, but Melt turned around and blasted him with fire, causing him to get knocked back and forcing Blitz's gun away from his hand. It flew into the air as Blitz grabbed it. At first, he pointed it at me, only to sigh and spit out blood.
"This is enough excitement for me today." Blitz then hobbled off before firing behind him. As the bullet landed on the floor, it caused a massive explosion of force that broke the floor and caused debris to fly everywhere, making it the perfect cover for his escape. I noticed Magane fled in the chaos as well… Though, it didn't matter. My focus now… was on calming Melt.
Rui led the group of civilians towards some officers who began to escort them outside. A few of them had to be carried out, their clothes either slightly charred or frosted. Rui turned around to see if he could spot Yuuya in the battle. He heard his scream not too long ago and assumed the worst. As soon as Rui saw Chiaki about to be handled by the cops, he gave him a glare.
"As soon as this is over… You're gonna have to answer for this." Rui said.
Just as the cops were about to pull Chiaki away, a few of them noticed Freezing Bear lunge at them. One pulled out a gun and tried to fire at him, but they harmlessly dented into Watari's body as he landed, slamming two of the police to the ground. Rui noticed Chikai flee in the chaos and gripped his fists.
"You just can't quit, can ya?" Rui asked Watari. The Freezing Bear immediately turned his attention to Rui, who backflipped just as Watari swiped his claws. Rui carefully observed the giraffe-bear hybrid. It was definitely bigger than him, but his chest was the only part of the body without anything that could be used as a weapon. He didn't even have any armor on it, as the ice had melted off.
Rui delivered a few body hooks square to the chest, being sure to dodge out of the way of an oncoming swipe. He wasn't sure just how many strikes were needed to even weaken Watari, but he hoped he could get at least a few more in. Perhaps sweeping the leg might help knock Watari off balance like it did the last time. As it stood, he was the only person standing between him and Nagisa.
He attempted another sweeping kick, but this time, Watari was prepared. He struck him with the back of his paw and knocked him down. Watari began to walk forwards, only for Rui to come back up and jumped straight for his head before kicking. The kick disorientated Watari long enough for Rui to vault over his large body, delivering another kick to the face as he landed.
Rui leaped forward, knee striking right into the bear's chest, though it left him open for a slash from Watari's claws. It cut through his shirt and chilled the immediate area. Watari then charged forward and stabbed Rui, the tesla coils firing off a spark that knocked him down. Rui began to flinch as he felt a huge chill on his chest followed shortly by painful jolts. Watari walked over Rui and spotted the idols out of the crowd.
"Watch out!" That was all Rui could do as he saw Watari fire out an icicle that hurdled towards the crowd. He could see Sakuya push Nagisa out of the way… While the icicle merely scratched her back, it left enough of a gash for Sakuya to let out a pained scream, followed by Nagisa's own.
"BASTARD!" One of the people in the crowd ran over to Watari, who simply chortled and swiped his claw at him. The person fell over, his body shaking from the sudden voltage as his body froze solid.
At this time, Yuichi had flown through, though he stopped and reformed into a solid form as he heard the scream from Nagisa. Yuichi turned to see Nagisa cradling the barely conscious Sakuya.
"Sakuya… It's going to be okay…" Nagisa was clearly in tears, as were the few remaining people who didn't run at the first, second, third, or fourth signs of trouble. As Yuichi saw this, he remembered cradling Yuzusa in exactly the same way when she died.
Celesia and Hikayu arrived, weapons drawn, though they hesitated as they saw Yuichi stand motionless, not even paying any attention to Souta and Ohnishi running past him. Yuichi then turned to face Freezing Bear.
"Her beauty shall be frozen forever and be remembered fondly. However… I don't believe that I should stop with just her partner…" Watari held up his claw as electricity sprung through its coils. "I'll freeze this entire country so that every beautiful thing could be preserved for all eternity!" He then began to laugh.
"Melt…" I stared at her angry face as she flung flame after flame. I just calmly walked as I loaded the four main bullets.
TIGERMANDER SHELL! FIREFLY SHELL! BOMBARDIER SHELL! CICADA SHELL!
"It's okay to be angry… Let it all out. I won't stop you…" I spun the revolver and aimed at Melt. With a deep breath, I decided to announce the changing into Toranity Mount: "Chou Henshin."
CROSS FIRE!
"… I won't forgive… those who take away precious lives!" Yuichi immediately turned his blade onto Watari and slashed at his chest, sparks flying as he gave a nasty gash across Watari's chest. Watari stumbled back and felt the gash with his paw, then growled at Yuichi. "I shall be your white darkness at the end of the world… Kamen Rider… Verge!" The two then charged at each other.
I charged out of the concert hall with Melt firmly grappled into my arms. I used Sakurajima's legs to propel us up into the sky before using Yellowstone's arms to punch Melt away from me.
"I'll let you vent your frustrations, but know this… So long as I bear this cross of fire, I'll protect the Land of Gods. Kamen Rider… Dante!" I announced as Melt shouted and let out a flurry of flaming hearts at me. I punched each of them as they exploded in my face. Once the smoke cleared, I saw Melt fly straight towards me, giving out a battle cry as I held my arms up in time to her striking me with her staff. Her physical strength was some of the weakest I had handled as a Rider, but I took it regardless.
I could see the tears stream down her face, her teeth gnashed. At this point, words would only bounce off her. All I can do is get her to expend her energy mourning… That way, she could be calmed enough to understand. I pushed her away before throwing punches, holding back my strength and speed for her to get out of the way or counter them. According to Shindou, this was a common tactic in boxing, as you'd be reserving your strength while tiring the opponent out.
Yuichi slashed through a lightning-charged slash, as though cutting the bolt in two. In spite of having the smaller blade, Yuichi danced around Freezing Bear, weaving through the swipes that Watari would make. He would take a few blows here and there, but that would be when he would enable his Overhaul, a system built into his belt made to mimic Dante's form changes.
He used the Solid form of the Overhaul and crystalized his armor in a thick chunk of ice, sometimes causing the claws to get embedded into the ice and giving him the opportune time to strike.
As he made his slash, Celesia ran over to Nagisa and Sakuya, carefully securing the younger idol in her arms as she could hear her shallow breathing.
"It's okay… Go, while he's distracted." She told Hikayu, who only nodded and ran forward to where Dan would be.
I managed to catch some of Melt's punches. Each one she threw had her give out a small, yet distressed scream. I also managed to lightly smack some of her punches away. However, I began to wonder who would actually get winded in the end. While Melt had been expending a lot of energy attacking me, I had run myself ragged these past few hours fighting almost everyone sided with Altair. As such, I sustained quite a few injuries that needed to be taken care of.
Part of me even wondered if the reason I was going easy on her was because of my injuries and fatigue. Hadn't exactly slept well in the past few days.
"Flaming Shower!" Melt fired out a stream of fiery hearts at me. In response, I loaded two bullets.
ARMADILLO SHELL! CHAMELEON SHELL!
In a split second before the hearts hit me, I spun the revolver and fired.
ARMORED BURST!
I was soon engulfed in a bubble of flames that absorbed the blows from the hearts as I began to disappear into the sky, practically invisible to her. I just had to hold out for a while longer.
Perhaps the greatest drawback for the Freezing Bear Kaizo-Majin was that it had lost a lot of its icy armor, leaving behind a lot of "flesh" for Yuichi to cut through, even though all it created were sparks as the dagger smashed into the body. As Watari teetered, he readied for a counter attack. Yuichi merely glared before attaching a blade to his dagger.
STEALTHY BLADE!
Frost filled winds covered Yuichi briefly before they faded away, leaving nothing behind. Watari looked around for the icy Rider. He soon eyed Celesia escorting the idols out and tried to lunge for her, only for Yuichi to stab him in the back.
"Bastard… Their beauty… Will fade in time…" Watari rasped out as Yuichi detached the blade, leaving it lodged in Watari's back. Watari let out a stream of cold wind, with tiny bits of electricity spinning about. However, Yuichi bumped his fists together as his belt whirred to life. While assuming his Solid form to tank most of the electricity, the winds were absorbed into the belt.
"Better to let their beauty blossom than let it be cut… You, however…" As Yuichi spoke, Watari roared and leaped into the air, his claws about to swing down on him. However, Yuichi raised up his arms as the fans on his belt whirred faster and faster. Once his arms reached Watari's legs, Yuichi exploded, causing large, sharp icebergs to erupt from the ground around him. This sudden uplift of cold wind quickly froze Watari.
"I'll make sure your ugliness is wiped from this world!" Yuichi applied pressure onto his hold, causing the ice to strain. Watari's grunts soon became winces and then a scream as Yuichi managed to crush the frozen body of Watari, the fractured pieces falling onto the ground. When he looked around, he could see Celesia carrying Rui out of harm's way. He gave a sigh and went forward. One more ugliness left to shatter.
Melt seemed to have expended most of her energy at this point, so I decided to move in for a strike. However, Melt turned around and shouted, sending out a flaming heart point blank. It exploded as I was knocked back into the air. However, something managed to grab me…
No…
"Hop on, Devil." Someone. I gave a sigh of relief as Alicetaria placed me on Weisspherd. With a look towards the strained Melt, I knew why Alicetaria wanted to help me…
Weisspherd flew towards Melt as she went towards us. Alicetaria's lance clashed with Melt's staff, with sparks flying. As Melt tried to counter attack, I fired at her, the bullets doing nothing but knock her back. She flung another heart, though I leaped off and tanked the blow. While I was no longer able to absorb the flames to power myself, I was still able to be resistant to fire in general. I moved out of the smoke.
"You're not the only one grieving for Mamika! You're not alone!"
Now came the final part of Shindou's strategy: Go in and strike hard. I loaded two bullets and spun the revolver.
EAGLE SHELL! LEOPARD SHELL! SWEEPING BURST!
The flaming wings appeared on my back as my fists were imbued with fire. I flew over to Melt and began to give light jabs. This was why I used the Leopard Shell, as the punches would have been enhanced and allow me to hold back so as to not injure her. In the middle of this, Alicetaria held up her gauntlet.
"Gotz von Berlichingen! I summon you with my gauntlet!" I could feel currents of wind being pulled into her hand as her gauntlet sparked with purple lightning. "Donnerschlag des Jeghers! Reveal yourself here!" Soon, a ball of purple electricity was in her hands before she held it out towards Melt. I flew out of the way right as a large beam of thunder shot out of her hand and towards Melt. The beam lasted only for a second before it faded, knocking Melt down onto the ground.
Without a moment to lose, I flew down and caught her just before she impacted the ground. I gently let her down. It was clear from the now charred magical girl outfit that she was done… Even more so when her body flashed in an orange red light and changed back to her school uniform. Alicetaria flew down on her horse as well, then got off. She pulled out the pink ribbon, one of the few things that remained of Mamika, and held it out.
"Do you still think I'm a liar?" Alicetaria asked Melt, though I saw that Melt wasn't even looking at her, her eyes closed shut as tears began to flow. I reached out for her as Melt instantly turned around and cried in my arms. My hypothesis had paid off and that, without her anger, all she had left was the sorrow. I looked to Alicetaria.
"Tend to her. I have to stop Verge." I said as Alicetaria came for Melt. I gently had her let go of me before heading off.
Ohnishi and Souta reached Dan and saw that his monstrous form had been curled up, his tails still whipping himself. Souta saw Yuuya hunched by a wall, clutching onto his wound as he could see what seemed to be the last remnants of an icicle melting.
"Dan…" Ohnishi muttered. He tried to approach Dan, only for one of the tails to strike at the ground before him. He could hear his roars, though, he listened closer… They were more akin to wails. "… You can't keep hurting yourself like this… What happened to Sayuri wasn't your fault. Don't beat yourself up over this!"
"I could have…" Dan weakly spoke.
"But you didn't! That doesn't give you an excuse to beat yourself up over it!" Souta jumped in. Ohnishi looked at Souta for a moment before he gave a faint smile. "At some point… You need to realize that feeling guilty is only going to make it worse for yourself and everyone else! Believe me…" He closed his eyes briefly to dry some tears. "I know what it's like to blame yourself for a friend's suicide." Dan's wails slowed. However, just as he was about to stop whipping at himself, Souta and Ohnishi turned around to see Yuichi walking by.
"Found you." Yuichi said. Yuuya was about to get into action when he suddenly saw Hangaku appear in front of him and slashed at his chest, causing him to cough up blood as his back hit the wall.
"And now… the grand finale to this show stopping performance!" Magane announced as Souta could see her sitting on the stage.
"It's time to go…" Yuichi stomped on the ground as his feet became encased in thick sheets of ice. Tinier spiked icebergs erupted from beneath him. He crouched for a few moments before he leaped into the air, his feet extended into a missile drop kick as there seemed to be a large blizzard surrounding him.
I rushed inside to see that Yuichi was about to kill Dan. I rushed forwards and loaded two shells.
WOLF SHELL! FINAL SHELL!
As I spun the revolver four times, I saw Ohnishi hold his arms out in front of Dan. My eyes widened, but I didn't hesitate to pull the trigger.
KICKING BURST! TORANITY EXPLOSION!
"RIDER KICK!" As Yuichi shouted that, I leaped into the air and extended my foot towards Yuichi.
"RIDER KICK!" I shouted. My kick connected the side of and caused the both of us to explode. I fell onto the ground, knocked out of my transformation as several of my Burst Shells fell and landed by my side… However, Yuichi landed, looking no worse for wear.
"Oooooh, this is going to be fun!" Magane said. I tried to get up, only for Hangaku to come over and stab me in the shoulder. I screamed as Magane waved her finger. Souta ran over and attacked Hangaku with his fists, but they did no effect on her. Surprisingly, Hagaku wasn't attacking Souta back and focused on me exclusively as she slammed her foot down on my chest. I could only watch as Yuichi approach the two visual novel authors and…
"Why?" He stood still. "Why are you throwing your life away to save this scumbag of a god?"
"Because he's an important friend to me!" Ohnishi shouted. "Even though we don't agree with how we write our stories, he's still a close friend. He could be stubborn, but I can't just let you hurt him."
"Even after what he's done to me? My sister… My friends… my wife… They're all dead because of him. He knows this." Yuichi said.
"No!" We all turned our attention to Hikayu as she held her staff at Yuichi. "Please… Don't do this… What happened to you was horrible, but you can't let that cloud your life. If I had allowed myself to continue feeling horrible for Miho, I would have never fell in love with Masayuki…"
"I tried to move on! I tried to accept Yuzusa's death! But then the blizzard came…" Yuichi readied his blade.
"That twist wasn't his, though! It came from another person…" Hikayu said.
"What?" Yuichi asked.
"Shimazaki Yuusuke wrote the story you came from. Dan may have made the premise, but everything… starting from your sister's death to the blizzard… That was all done by Yuusuke! You're going after the wrong man!" Souta said. Just then, Dan shoved Ohnishi out of the way and walked to confront Yuichi.
"That's not what I was told from the Military Uniform…" Yuichi took out a blade, but just before he was about to install it onto his dagger, I shouted.
"Yuusuke is working with her! That's why she didn't say anything about him! She's only using you as her weapon!" I began to shove Hangaku's foot off my chest. "You call yourself a Kamen Rider, right? A Kamen Rider… isn't meant to be someone's assassin…" I shoved her off of me and got up, firing at Hangaku as sparks flew off her armor. "They're heroes of justice who protect humanity!"
"I am exacting justice." Yuichi plugged the blade onto his dagger.
FINAL BLADE!
"I know the kind of justice you're talking about… I was on that path too…" As I continued to fire at Hangaku in between my sentences. "It felt awful for me. I had hurt people without ever interacting with them. I turned my own Creation into a tool of destruction. Worst of all… I put a friend of mine into the crossfire." As I said this, Hangaku had been knocked ten feet away from me, having taken a lot of the brunt of my firing. "Altair is doing the exact same thing to you… So please… Open your eyes… This path you're on… It's not a Kamen Rider's path!" I teared up as the pain on my shoulder finally forced me to drop the Volcannik Driver.
"…" Yuichi said nothing as Dan approached him. He then swung his blade at Dan.
"STOOOOOP!" I cried out.
CRYSTAL BREAK!
He slashed through Dan as the blade exploded. The Fire Fox was encased in ice for a moment… before it shimmered and shattered into blue triangles. Dan fell down on his back, breathing heavily. Yuichi stood over Dan… Then…
He put his blade away.
"Eeeeeh? What are you doing!? I set up the perfect execution and you decided to not go through with it?!" Magane asked. Yuichi remained silent before he walked away.
"Holy shit…" I sighed in relief… I managed to talk him out of murdering Dan!
"Mmmm… Well, the rest of this day was fun, so I'll give you the win today." Magane shrugged as Hangaku struck at the floor, knocking up debris. When the dust settled, Magane and Hangaku were gone. Ohnishi went over to Dan and helped him up, all while I looked around to see that Celesia had arrived to help Yuuya up. Souta came over to me as I closed my eyes. I gave a sigh of relief as I wiped out.
Altair shut the TV off. Throughout the entire broadcast of the concert, Altair had a massive grin on her face.
"Not so damn sure why you're happy. Our monsters got beaten up and your little bomb didn't even kill his god." Yudai grumbled.
"I never expected any of them to succeed in their quest… However, what happened today is a victory for us." Altair said.
"Is it because of that stupid little war you keep propagating about?" Yudai asked.
"That's one reason, but the other reason… Our battles had been kept in the dark by the government, but now they're out in the open and no amount of shade will cover it up. The yoke of this world will soon be disturbed enough for me to do as I want without needing to fear its restorative powers throwing me out. However, it needs a few more pushes before it breaks completely. As such…" Altair nodded to Vega who handed Yudai two crystals.
"One to Zenmetsuna. One to Aid Setsuna. No Yakuza. No serial killers. Not even the gods themselves… And to make sure you don't screw up… Charon, be a dear and follow the boy. Make sure he does his duty." Vega said.
"Hmph… Alright." Charon said as he got up.
"What? You don't want to fight your girlfriend but babysitting me is a-okay?" Yudai balked.
"To her, I'm one of her closest allies… But to the world, I'm just as generic looking as any other teenager. I'll blend in, unlike you." As Charon put on his black leather, fur-trimmed jacket. Just as he did that, Yudai pulled onto his collar.
"Hey! I didn't ask to look like this, alright, dipshit!?" Yudai gritted his teeth as Charon just stared at him.
"So… that's why you despise your god…" Charon calmly said. Yudai shoved him and glared at Vega.
"What difference does continuing this stupid Setsuna debate make? It's because of the Yakuza that the world's yoke is even falling apart!" Yudai shouted.
"And it's Setsuna's death that damaged it in the first place. I want this world to know that killing Setsuna led to me arriving, what has led to you being created, and most important of all…" Altair looked out at the setting sun. Her smile fading for a moment as she thought about Setsuna's death… She then gave a menacing smile. "Why they're being punished."