"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Undead"

Inside of a simple bedroom, a certain young man could be seen laying down quietly on his bed while reading a book. The individual looked no older than fourteen, having a lean yet decently athletic build visible due to the thin clothing he was wearing.

The male had fair skin along with smooth straight snow-white hair, along with a pair of golden eyes that seemed to almost shine like real gold. His clothing only consisted of a pair of black shorts, a tight white t-shirt, and what looked to be a pair of black running shoes.

This young man was none other than Yu Kasuga, a simple middle schooler living his boring old life. Checking the clock, Yu closed his book upon seeing the time. It was almost time for him to head out, the reason being that he had been called to come play sports with his friends at the nearby park.

That was why he already had his shoes on, which was a bit strange since he was in bed, but he didn't really care since they were brand new shoes. Anyway, getting up from his bed, Yu stretched his limbs before giving off a satisfied sigh.

The time has come…

"What…?" Yu blinked his eyes in clear confusion upon hearing the unfamiliar voice. Looking around his room, he saw no source that could have produced the sound. All of his electronics were turned off, and he was obviously the only one in the room. "Did I imagine it?"

Your duty has been set in stone

"Who's there?!" Yu narrowed his eyes dangerously as he knew for a fact that he was not imagining this voice. It was very clear in his ears, and he was for sure not freaking sleeping right now. He didn't know where this voice was coming from, so he kept his guard on high alert.

The time of judgment has come

"Judgment…" Yu frowned heavily upon hearing this. While hearing this unfamiliar voice was already strange enough, what it was saying to him was even stranger. Just what the hell was even happening right now? "What are you talking about?"

Become the pillar of humanity

Become… Chalice!

Before Yu could even get out another word, his vision suddenly became covered in blanket of white. He wasn't even certain whether or not he was conscious before a ringing sound seemed to deafen his ears to the point that all he could hear was silence.

Yu's eyes snapped open when he suddenly felt his entire backside feeling very cold, he was breathing a bit heavily as his eyes remained trained upwards. What confused him greatly though was the fact that he was staring up at the blue sky.

"Wh-What…?" Yu shook his head as his fingers twitched. Quickly sitting up, Yu snapped his eyes around the place, only to see that he was sitting inside of what looked to be an alleyway. "What the… wasn't I just in my room?"

Pushing himself off of the concrete ground, Yu stumbled a bit as a headache seemed to strike him. Gritting his teeth a bit, he shook his head before taking a deep breath. He looked towards the exit of the alleyway and began walking towards it.

"Where… am I?" Yu felt his jaw unhinge before dropping a bit as he found himself in a very unfamiliar street. He didn't recognise any of the buildings, nor did he recognise the layout of the street itself. In a bit of panic, he took a few steps back into the alley as his eyes were shaking. "Wh-What… I don't get this! What's happening?!"

'Please calm yourself. Your mental state is becoming unstable, my child.'

Yu flinched at the sudden voice. "Wh-Who…?"

'There is no need to be alarmed, I mean you no harm.' Yu wasn't entirely sure why, but just the tone of the voice seemed to make him relax as his breathing began to regain its natural pace. 'As for who I am, please look down to your right hand.'

'My right hand?' Yu blinked at the words before doing as told, his eyes widening considerably when he noticed a strange card present between his fingers. He didn't know how it got there, nor how he hadn't noticed it, but none of that mattered. "This is… a Rouse Card? The Human Undead? Wait…"

'It is indeed as you are thinking, I am the one known as the Human Undead.' The voice spoke once more inside of Yu's head. Looking at the card, Yu noticed it glowing for a bit before the glow faded away. 'I completely understand your confusion, my child. You are overwhelmed, and that is understandable.'

"...How are you real?"

'A question such as that does not have a simple answer, and one that I cannot provide I'm afraid.' The Human Undead responded before continuing soon after. 'However, I can explain the reason you are here. You were chosen… chosen to represent humanity in my stead.'

"Represent?" Yu frowned in confusion before a look of realization appeared on his face. "The Battle Royale!"

'Indeed. You were chosen as this Battle Royale's representative for the human race.' The Human Undead explained as Yu couldn't believe what he was even hearing. 'I understand if you are afraid, but this is your fate now. Your task now is to defeat and seal the other Undead.'

"B-But, I'm just a normal human." Yu stuttered as he leaned his back against the wall of the alleyway, his face showing just how overwhelmed he was with the turn of events. "How in the world am I supposed to fight them? I can't stand up against the Undead…"

'Your doubt is understandable, but you are not powerless.' The Human Undead spoke as Yu blinked at that. As far as he knew, he was nothing more than a simple middle schooler who liked playing games and doing sports. 'I'm sure you recall the words, the one who you've become.'

Yu went silent for a bit. "...Chalice."

'That's correct, you now represent all of humanity in this war as none other than Chalice himself. You are to utilize his incredible powers to defeat the others. The responsibility is immense, but you must keep your head high and push on. For the sake of all my other children.'

"But, I'm no fighter… Even if I have Chalice's abilities, what good are they if I don't even know how to properly fight?" Yu couldn't help but wonder. Chalice may have been called the strongest fighter, but he himself wasn't truly Chalice. "I'm nothing more than a sheep for slaughter…"

'That is why you must grow, become stronger. I truly wouldn't have wanted you to face such a battle, especially at such a young age, but we have no choice. You were chosen, that much is a fact. Now, all you can do is strive to become stronger. Strong enough to win!'

"I… need to think."

Yu had many things he needed to think about, but despite all of that, walking around this unfamiliar city was quite relaxing. He was taking in the beautiful scenery as the warm flowing wind brushed against his face, causing his hair to sway in response.

The Battle Royale.

He was familiar with it, it was the event that occurred throughout the Kamen Rider Blade series. A battle between the ancestors of all life on earth, a battle to determine who would gain dominion and the right to populate the entire planet with their species.

But the thing was that this concept of such a battle was supposed to simply be fiction, a piece of work that stemmed from someone's imagination. Yet… here he was, the new representative for the upcoming Battle Royale in this new… City? World? He wasn't entirely sure…

'Yu.'

'Yeah, Adam.'

'Adam?'

'W-Well, you are the first human, and most people have called the first human male to be Adam.'

'I see, then I shall be known as Adam then.' The Human Undead seemed quite satisfied with the name if the tone of his voice was anything to go by. 'I know you are troubled by these circumstances, but I ask for you to stay strong. The road will be treacherous, but I shall be with you every step of the way.'

'Y-Yeah. Thanks a lot, Adam.' Yu smiled a bit hearing those words. Despite the situation, Yu was happy to hear all the words Adam had told him in an attempt to help comfort him. Adam really was like a father, he was treating him like his own child. 'How would I know if an Undead is around though?'

'You will know when.'

Yu wasn't sure what Adam meant by that, but shrugged it off for now and focused on his surroundings to help calm himself. Even though he was very concerned with the Undead, worrying about them like he was right now wasn't going to do him any good. It'd be very bad if he ended up having a panic attack.

"I'm getting hungry…" Yu was initially going to get something quick to eat before meeting up with his friends, but that plan couldn't really come to fruition right now. Reaching into his pocket, he took out his wallet. "I hope they use Yen here, otherwise I'm screwed…"

He did have quite a lot of money in his wallet, so he definitely had enough for some food and more, but it wasn't exactly going to last forever. That's assuming that this place utilized Yen. Even so, he definitely needed to see if he could find a job or something, which probably won't be that easy considering his age…

On top of that, he was going to need to find a place to stay as well. Maybe he could see if booking a hotel room was possible or not, at least for a few nights until he found other easier accommodations or something.

Without a guardian though…chances were low.

"G-Gah…!" While Yu was walking down the street, his eyes suddenly widened as a flow of pain suddenly rushed to his head. He stumbled heavily and onto the nearby building, his hands gripping his head as he keeled over in pain. 'Wh-What's happening…?'

Just as those words passed through his mind, Yu suddenly experienced multiple images that flashed through his mind. He saw what looked to be a strange figure covered in green sickening scales, armed with multiple sharp blades causing havoc wherever it went. This being… was walking through this very same street.

"R-Run…!"

"It's a m-monster!"

Yu's vision immediately stopped as the pain also went away as fast as it came, and once he regained his bearings, Yu turned his head towards the screams. When he did, Yu felt his heart drop when he saw the reason for all the people that suddenly started running.

Walking through the streets was a large humanoid creature that was covered in dark green scales, just like in those recent visions. The creature had a multitude of sharp silver spikes protruding from its body, as well as on metallic pieces of silver armour on its body.

The creature was growling aggressively as the people ran away in horror, the unlucky few who weren't able to get away were brutally skewered by the creature's weapon. A few others also were slashed, with some of them even having limbs cut off.

Yu knew who this creature was.

It was the Lizard Undead, the Category 2 of Spades.

"D-Damn it…" Yu instantly felt himself shaking at the very sight of the undead, but something in him also made him attracted towards it. Not in a good way either, it was more like he was craving the desire to fight it. Both his fear and this desire clashed, and he didn't know what to do. 'This is too soon! I can't do this…!'

'Yu, listen to me!' Adam's voice shouted in Yu's mind. 'I know you're scared right now, but you need to fight! Think about all of the lives that will be lost if you don't. It's too late for the few that have already perished, but prevent any more and fight!'

'I know I agreed to do this, even though I didn't really have a choice, but…' Yu had already accepted the fact that he was going to be fighting the Undead eventually considering the situation, but now that it was actually happening… 'I-I'm hesitating…why now?!'

Even though the Lizard Undead was no doubt one of the weakest of the Undead, Yu had no doubt in his mind that it would still be a difficult battle for him. He had no battle experience, he had no idea how to properly fight, he didn't have the experience the Undead all had.

Yu's thoughts were interrupted when he heard the sound of another loud scream, looking up he saw the Lizard Undead walking casually yet intimidatingly towards a young girl who looked no older than himself. She was on the ground shaking in fear as the Lizard Undead stared down with unrestrained bloodlust.

'Yu, it's time to transform! Use the power of Chalice!'

'A-Adam's right, I need to do this…!' Yu forced himself to stand up straight, though it was obvious his body was still shaking. He'd be fighting much worse in the future, so if he couldn't overcome this, then all was lost. 'Adam, how do I summon the Chalice Rouzer?'

'Concentrate and imagine it appearing on your waist, the Chalice Rouzer will answer your call!'

'Okay…' Yu nodded before taking a deep breath, his eyes narrowed as he saw the Undead starting to raise its weapon. Soon enough, Yu felt some weight suddenly appear on his waist as he looked down to see none other than the Chalice Rouzer present. 'It worked! Okay, let's do this!'

Opening up the card holder on the side of the belt, Yu quickly took out one specific card. He looked at it for a quick second before taking a deep breath and sliding the card through the front buckle of the Chalice Rouzer, prompting a voice to speak out through the area.

"Henshin!"

[CHANGE]

Yu then felt a strange sensation around his body as black static energy completely encompassed his entire being, that energy soon began to condense. Soon enough, Yu's entire body was then covered by a black suit of armour with various golden and red accents, the visor of the helmet was also a crimson red in the shape of a heart. Extending from the top of said visor were two silver horns.

"...!" The Lizard Undead couldn't exactly speak the human tongue, so all the girl heard was it growling at her aggressively. Its intentions were clear as the bladed weapon was pointing upwards, ready to strike down at her.

"H-Help me…!"

Just as the Lizard Undead swung its blade down, the girl closed her eyes at the incoming danger. However, no pain came to her as she opened her eyes back up in confusion, which she soon heard the sound of metal colliding. Confused, the girl looked up to see a sight that surprised her greatly.

Standing in front of her was a figure donned in a fancy suit of armour, staring down the Lizard Undead while using a strange bladed weapon in their hands to block the Lizard's blade. Both the Lizard and the newcomer were pushing back against each other, both trying to overcome the other.

"R-Run…!" The armoured figure suddenly shouted. "I'll hold it back, get out of here!"

The girl could only blink as the tears of fear she had shed were still present on her face, though she soon reacted to his words and stood up, although still shaking. She soon gave him a grateful look, though the figure couldn't exactly see as they were facing the other way.

"Th-Thank you!"

With that, the girl ran away after giving her saviour one more look.

'Good job, Yu!' Adam praised in Yu's head. 'Now that she's safe, take down the Lizard!'

The young man merely nodded, Chalice then gritted his teeth as he began putting as much strength into his arms as possible. With the Chalice Arrow in its Blade Form pushing back against the Lizard's own weapon, both parties growled at one another as they fought to win the struggle.

"H-Haah~!" With a shout, Chalice managed to win the power struggle as the Lizard stumbled back from the force. Chalice quickly rushed up and slashed a few times at the Undead, causing sparks as well as green blood to splash from its wounds as it rolled backwards across the ground. "A-Alright!"

If it weren't for the suit of armour giving him this improved physical ability, there was absolutely no way Chalice could have won that clash. Even so, the battle was far from over as the Lizard gave him an angered roar as it stood back up, the wounds on its chest quickly healing back up.

"Cha…lice!"

Yu wasn't entirely sure why he could understand the word that was just spoken by the Lizard Undead, but he didn't have time to think about it as he found himself quickly engaging in an exchange of blows with the Lizard.

While he was certainly having a difficult time, Yu managed to parry any attacks that were sent at him and was able to get in a few of his own whenever he found a possible opening to attack. The advantage he had was that he was much smarter compared to these things, the Undead that didn't have human levels of intelligence mainly just fought on instinct alone.

[CHOP]

Scanning one of his other Rouse Cards, Chalice's right hand was soon encased in a swirling energy as he delivered a powerful chop across the Undead's chest. Sparks and blade came out as the Undead was sent flying back and through the air towards the ground.

Chalice had noticed how he already had two other cards in possession aside from the Mantis and Human Undead cards, and one of those two cards was the Hammerhead Undead's card. Which was what just allowed him to deliver that powerful attack.

He then pulled back the Chalice Arrow as if it were a bow, he then released it as an arrow made entirely of energy fired out and struck the Lizard Undead mid-air. Chalice did this as many times as he could before the Lizard crashed down onto the concrete pavement.

"...!" Chalice widened his eyes underneath his helmet when the Lizard suddenly leapt out from within the dust cloud it created, it then delivered a powerful slash towards Chalice's chest. Resulting in numerous sparks to fly as he was sent rolling across the floor. "G-Gah…!"

'Yu!'

"I-I'm fine!" Chalice groaned in pain as he stumbled back onto his feet. No doubt without this armour on, that single attack would have killed him in an instant, at the very least causing him an incredibly lethal wound. "Alright, asshole! Let's go!"

With loud war cries, both Chalice and the Lizard charged at one another before they began exchanging multiple blows against one another. The constant barrage attacks from both parties caused countless sparks to fly and splashes of green blood as well to to scatter across the ground.

Yu gritted his teeth in pain as the damage he was being dealt was probably the most painful things he's ever experienced, they felt as if a hot metal whip or something was constantly being slapped against his bare skin. Even so, he forced himself to continue on.

'You need to finish this quickly, you won't last through this exchange forever!'

'G-Got it!' Quickly parrying one of the Lizard's slashes, Chalice gave a push kick to the Undead's stomach as it stumbled backwards. Chalice quickly pulled off his buckle and slotted it into the Chalice Arrow, to which he then took out another card and swiped it. "Say goodnight, you bastard!"

[TORNADO]

Pointing the Chalice Arrow towards the Lizard Undead, the weapon soon fired a large energy arrow that was surrounded by a powerful flowing barrier of pure wind. The arrow directly struck the Undead's head, resulting in a massive explosion of sparks as the Lizard gave off a cry of agony.

Falling to the ground, the Lizard gripped its face in pain as it flailed around on the ground. Chalice narrowed his eyes when the buckle on the Lizard's waist snapped open, which prompted him to take out a different card from his holder before tossing it forwards.

When the card hit the Lizard, the card began to spin rapidly before the Undead became completely covered by an aura of green light. Soon enough, the Lizard was absorbed straight into the card, resulting in both new text and a picture to appear on the once blank card.

"Category 2… of Spades. Slash Lizard." Yu muttered to himself as the card flew into his hand, which he caught before giving it a curious look while panting heavily. "Damn it, this really freaking hurts…! That was only a Category 2…"

'Congratulations on defeating the Lizard, Yu! However, I suggest you leave the area quickly before any of the authorities arrive.'

Without verbally answering, Yu simply nodded before stumbling into one of the nearby alleyways and walking deeper in where no one could see or find him. Once he went far enough, he leaned against the wall before his armour shattered away.

"The heck…?" Yu blinked when he looked down to check and hopefully tend to his wounds, but what confused him greatly was the fact that there didn't seem to be any physical wounds on his body. Which didn't make sense considering the attacks he took head on. "Did my armour prevent any body injuries…?"

Yu soon coughed as some blood came out of his mouth, he had instinctively placed his hand in front of his mouth when he coughed, thus the blood splashed onto his bare hand. Yu opened his eyes before widening them, the reason being what he saw.

"M-My blood!" Yu stared in disbelief at what was on his hand. Not only was the usual red blood present, but it was seemingly mixed together with green blood. "G-Green blood? No, no, no… this can't be! Adam, what the hell is this?!"

'I understand your reason for panicking right now, but please calm yourself and I will explain.' Adam spoke as Yu took deep breaths to try and calm himself down. He had a very bad feeling, and that feeling was for good reason. 'It is as you think, since joining this battle, you have become an Undead.'

"B-But… considering I'm Chalice, don't tell me-!"

'No, you do not have the blood of the Joker within your veins.' Adam quickly took away Yu's worries before he could even express them. 'In fact, you have my blood. It seems that as the next chosen representative for humanity, my very being was placed into you. It is due to the nature of my blood that the wounds that were inflicted had already healed, at least on the outside for now.'

'I see…'

That did bring relief to Yu, he was seriously going to go into a panic attack if he was like Hajime and ended up being the Joker. He didn't want to end up losing himself to the Joker's tendencies, just the thought of it happening brought a cold chill to his spine.

While he wasn't entirely sure how to feel about the fact that he wasn't entirely human anymore, he did at least appreciate the advantages of this. He had a healing factor to help him heal from his battle wounds, and that also meant he couldn't exactly die, just like the other Undead..

'Hold on… if I'm not the Joker. Does that mean he's out there somewhere?'

'Indeed, the Joker lays in wait elsewhere.'

'This is horrible…' Yu sighed to himself. Not only did he have the Undead to worry about, especially the likes of the Royals and the Aces, but now also the Joker who could be literally in the next freaking block. 'I need to get stronger, this isn't enough…'

Narrowing his eyes as he looked towards the area he had just entered in from, the images of the dead bodies came flashing back to him. Shaking his head, Yu turned and began walking towards one of the other exits that the alleyway was accessible from. No doubt the police would start investigating around the crime scene, and he didn't want to be here for them to find him.

He had managed to seal the Lizard Undead… and there were still many more to go.