It would've been foolish to believe that the Empire was the only one reflecting on the skirmishes and deciding their next actions. All three of the other nations had new plans all ready.

Touto had received reports about Kamen Rider Build's actions. The warrior, empowered by the Hazard Trigger, had done its job; it had become an armored warrior capable of making sure everything around it would die. It was an incredible force on their side, but they realized that the fact that the Hazard Trigger drove the user berserk, it made it a near uncontrollable wild card. In fact, it took many of Touto's soldiers to stop Kamen Rider Build, who was trying his best to at least hold himself back against his fellow countrymen.

They had contained him within a cage, and managed to remove the Hazard Trigger and Build Driver. Transforming back to normal, Kei Uraga leaned back against the bars, taking the time to breathe. Thankfully, there weren't any casualties, but many were injured when they had to stop him.

It was truly a godsend that Uraga was the one that volunteered to wear the suit. Normal humans wouldn't be able handle its power, nor the consequences of how much they had killed. But Uraga was different; he was hardened by battle, and treated his duty as the top soldier of Touto as a mere job. Killing had become second nature to him, all for the nation of Touto.

One of the head scientists was hard at work, trying to figure out a way to harness the power of Hazard Trigger, without any of the negative side effects. This scientist's name was Sento Katsuragi.

Sento Katsuragi was the creator of the Build system. He had created Build as a tool in the name of love and peace. Needless to say, he was very surprised when he found out what the Touto government actually wanted to do with the weapon.

At first, he couldn't believe what he was hearing, but he had slowly come to accept it.

Sento was reluctant in actually using Build as a tool of war, but he had convinced himself that this was the only way to restore the love and peace after the Emperor had fallen. This was a task he had diligently dedicated himself too, and he'd continue to do so if it meant a better world. And besides, he himself wasn't in the suit doing the killing, so it wasn't as bad… right? Though he did admit that Kei Uraga within the suit did make him a little sick to his stomach, especially with how he didn't hesitate in killing even before the Hazard Trigger was added.

He had practically buried himself within his research, trying to find methods to control the Hazard Trigger. After so much hard work, he had found two possible solutions. He sent the propositions to the higher-ups, and was waiting to see which one they would choose.

The first was two jury rigged Fullbottles of the same type (in this case, the Tank Fullbottle). It made the Hazard Trigger even darker in color, with two black eyes like cold steel. The power of this form was astronomically stronger than the regular Hazard Trigger, and any weapon that fired on it couldn't even leave a scratch. Because of this, he decided to name the form Metal Build. The other design, the FullFullbottles, consisted of a much brighter color scheme, and canceled out the "negative" (at least, from his perspective) effects of becoming solely focused on killing, giving a better level of control. It also had the versatility advantage, using the Rabbit Fullbottles alongside the Tank Fullbottles. The only downside was that its power output was noticeably weaker than Metal Build. While still an improvement over the base Hazard Trigger, it wasn't on the same level.

Much to his disappointment and chagrin, the higher-ups selected the Metal Build option. He sighed, but knew that he should have expected it to happen. Those in charge would always want more power, no matter the situation. No doubt that Kei Uraga would prefer Metal Build as well. War never did change, even if the final result would end with love and peace.

"This is the worst…" He muttered to himself, rubbing the back of his head. "But I can only hope we're on the right path…"

Hokuto was faring differently. Yoshiko Tajimi was thinking back to the times she had spent with the long-dead Emperor. She remembered the times they had diplomatic meetings. She was surprised at how young the Emperor was, and had often treated him like a son or nephew.

Thanks to his young, impressionable age, it didn't take much for her to realize that he was simply being used. In fact, she was one of the few people out there that knew that the young boy was simply being manipulated by the corrupt Prime Minister Honest. She tried her best to find a way to free him from the corrupt grip, but try as she might, she could not come up with a solution.

Sadly, he had been freed from the corruption, but not the way she wanted.

She thought the opportunity had finally shown itself when the rebels had launched their attack upon the corrupt Empire. Despite trying to spread the message, her truth was completely ignored by the rebels, who treated him like the rest. They had gruesomely executed him and his remaining supporters, not even caring for the truth. And after all that, they had the absolute gall to rule over the Empire in his place.

She had briefly prayed quietly in her room, before opening her eyes. She swore revenge for the Emperor, and it was time for her to take action.

I'll make sure they'll all pay dearly, for what they did to you.

The first order of business was that she sent the order for the Hazard Trigger to be mass-produced to the absolute max. Why? In order to empower their army.

But this army didn't consist of normal human soldiers, no. By utilizing a special chemical vapor known as Nebula Gas, they injected it within their warriors. The result had let them transform into inhuman monsters far beyond the normal capability of humans, practically impossible to defeat.

The super-powered soldiers, known as the Smash.

And with the Hazard Trigger empowering them, there surely was no feasible way for them to lose this war.

But Touto and Hokuto weren't the only ones preparing for the next battle. Seito also was preparing themselves, but not in the same way you might imagine.

Hidden somewhere within the nation was Namba Titan Industries. The CEO of said company, Juzaburo Namba, smiled when he heard the report of the first battle.

When the Empire had been taken over by the rebels, he had lost one of his biggest financial partners; Prime Minister Honest. While he admittedly was a bit irritated, the ongoing war had proved to be completely fruitful to them.

Namba Titan Industries didn't care who they sold their weapons to, as long as they were paid enough coin. This ongoing war was providing so much money to the company, and it wasn't going to go down anytime soon. By prolonging this bloody battle as long as possible, he'd make sure that Namba Industries would come out on top. With all three of the nations foolishly fighting the Empire, the end result would surely be with Nanba taking over all of them with wealth alone. He could already hear the crowds of people chanting "Glory to Nanba Industries!"

Taking a bite out of his taiyaki, he swallowed his treat, before leaning back in his chair and laughing. Perhaps it was too early to celebrate, but everything was going exactly as planned.

In front of the capital of Seito, their artificial army marched. The robotic warriors known as Guardians made their way away from Seito, approaching the next battle.

One could only hope that the Empire was prepared for this war from three sides. But conquering the Empire in the first place was no mere feat of luck. It was a show of power, and it also proved that the other nations weren't playing around if they were to challenge them.

This war wouldn't be easy for anyone, and it might end up being the most bloody battle in history.

And each nation would make sure that they would be the last one standing in the end.