Disclaimer: I don't own anything that doesn't belong to me.
Screaming incoherently, Daiji attacked Vail, slashing him repeatedly with the Livegun's blade, leaving blue energy trails in the air. Vail, seeming bored, didn't even move, using two fingers to block every strike before finally catching the blade between them. "Is this the extent of your power? How disappointing."
Revving up his Crimson Vail Vistamp, he attempted to strike Daiji with it, only for the Rider to disappear in a burst of white feathers. "Eh?"
He felt the end of a gun against the back of his head. "Disappointed now?"
HOLY JUSTICE FINISH!
Daiji pulled the trigger, and Vail's head exploded, splattering Daiji…
With red and black paint?
"What-" Daiji stammered as the decapitated body dissolved into paint.
"Yes."
CRIMSON IMPACT!
Vail struck Daiji with his Vistamp from behind, red and black paint spraying everywhere. Daiji cried out as he was flung to the ground. The demon approached, but Daiji quickly flipped over and fired a dozen energy bullets at Vail, who swiped his Vistamp through the air, creating a paint shield to defend himself.
"You… You couldn't do that before!" Daiji cried almost petulantly, getting back to his feet.
"Now that I've been reunited with Genta, I'm stronger than I've ever been," Vail bragged. "Something you, who killed your own demon, can never understand."
Daiji flinched at this.
"Oh? Have I struck a nerve?"
"He… He didn't give me a choice," Daiji protested, Livegun trembling. "It was him or me. He said as much himself. Only one of us could live."
"I thought the same about Genta and myself," Vail told him. "And yet here we are. Are you certain there's nothing more you could have done to change his mind? That this was truly the only way?"
"Of course it was!" Daiji snapped, the doubt very clear in his voice.
"Then why do you still feel guilty?" Vail taunted. "Why are you so unsure of yourself? Why do you sometimes wonder if maybe the wrong one of you died that day?"
"… Shut up. Shut up! SHUT UP!" Daiji screamed, charging at Vail, firing his Livegun and forcing Vail to use his Vistamp to deflect the bullets.
Grunting in irritation, the demon charged up his Vistamp and swiped it at Daiji, only for him to explode in white feathers. Vail hesitated only for a fraction of a second, then launched into a roundhouse kick, striking Daiji as he tried to attack him from behind, knocking him back. Daiji disappeared into feathers again, and Vail charged up his Vistamp and spun it around him, creating a circular slash of paint which struck Daiji as he reappeared and pushed him back again. He vanished once more, and Vail promptly jumped to the side just as Daiji reappeared above him, screaming furiously as he shot downwards, driving his blade into the ground hard enough to crack it.
Vail threw a punch at him, but Daiji activated another finisher.
HOLY JUSTICE FINISH!
He parried Vail's attack, slashing him with a blue energy blade that caused him to grunt and take a step back, then drove the Livegun into his gut and fired it at point blank range, causing Vail to scream as cyan blue energy blades exploded out of his back, leaving a huge hole in his chest.
Daiji gasped for breath as Vail collapsed to the ground. "I… I did it! I finally beat-"
The corpse dissolved into paint.
"… No! NO! Not again!"
There was a hand on his shoulder.
"You know, Daiji," Vail whispered into his ear. "If you had actually hit me with that, you'd probably have killed your father too? I hadn't realized you hated him that much."
Daiji stiffened in horror. He hadn't even thought about that! "That's… No! I-I didn't mean-"
"Not thinking things through is starting to become a recurring problem for you, isn't it?" Vail taunted him. "Don't worry. I've thought this through perfectly."
CRIMSON FINISH!
Charging up his Vistamp, Vail punched Daiji in the back with it, flinging him away. Daiji managed to regain his footing, whirled around, and tried to shoot Vail, but the demon struck his Livegun with an uppercut, nearly knocking the weapon out of his grasp. Crimson paint and energy engulfed his lower leg, and he hit Daiji with a side kick, emanating crimson and black fire and creating several red energy waves on impact, engulfing Daiji in an explosion.
The middle Igarashi child hit the ground, knocked out of his transformation, uniform torn and bloody and splattered with red and black paint. Daiji laid there for a minute, struggling to breathe, and then screamed in anguish and frustration.
"As I said," Vail said, picking up the Holy Wing Vistamp, which had been flung away in the blast, and examined it with interest.
Was that…
Hmmm. Interesting.
"You are a disappointment," Vail continued, flinging the Vistamp at Daiji's feet and turning away.
"Don't… Don't you turn your back on me!" Daiji rasped, struggling to sit up.
Vail rolled his eyes. "Daiji, you are not the hero of this story. This is not the part where you gain your resolve and continue to fight despite being in bad shape, overwhelming your much stronger adversary and proving the strength of your convictions. You're not even a villain. You're the fallen hero, too consumed by jealousy and pride to admit that you made a mistake and you're on the wrong side, but too weak to actually be anything more than an ineffectual threat."
"I'm not weak!" Daiji shouted, producing a new Vistamp. "I'll show you… Everyone… Even Akaishi… I'm not a joke! I'm not weak!"
GIRAFFE!
CONFIRMED! VERSUS UP! OVER DRIVE! POWER DIVE! KAMEN RIDER LIVE! GIRAFFE!
Vail stared.
Daiji was now wearing a variation of his base suit with yellow and white upper chest armor with an emblem resembling a giraffe's head on it. In place of the head, he had a massive black and white spotted pillar which rose a third of his height into the air, terminating in an incredibly derpy-looking head resembling a cross between a giraffe and Kamen Rider Grease.
Daiji fell to his knees and burst into tears.
Vail facepalmed. "God dammit, George."
On the sidelines, George laughed hysterically, earning him a disappointed "Ook" from Georgina.
Vail sighed and lowered his Vistamp. "Daiji. The reason you keep failing isn't because of your family, or Akaishi, or the loss of Kagerou, or your Vistamps – though honestly, they probably aren't helping-"
Daiji sobbed at this.
"The only thing that's really holding you back is yourself," Vail continued. "And until you realize that, you'll never be anything more than a laughingstock."
He turned and walked away, leaving the pathetic giraffe man behind.
…
Genta shouted as he tried hitting Akaishi with rapidfire punches from both hands and his Herclaws. The Giffdemos chuckled, purple shockwaves emanating from his hands to form a force field blocking the other man's attacks. "It's no use, Genta, you can't hope to penetrate my barrier. And even if you could, it wouldn't do any-"
DESTREAM NOVA!
Revving up his drill, Genta thrust it into the force field, sparks flying as he ground it against the barrier.
Akaishi frowned. "Weren't you listening? I just said-"
Ignoring him, Genta ignited his Komodo Dragonic Heat and pointed it at his drill, setting the Croco Wizarolling on fire.
Akaishi scowled. "Okay, are you just ignoring me? That's extremely rude-"
Genta pointed his left hand at him, launching flames at the barrier, adding to the blaze around his drill and covering the force field in fire.
"I told you, that won't do any-"
Genta drew back his Herclaws, then thrust them forwards at a single point, converging on the spot he was drilling. Crying out, he pushed them forward as far as he could, then started to slowly pull them away from the drill…
And a tiny hole began to form in the barrier, the tip of the drill just starting to break through.
Akaishi stared in disbelief. "That's… No. That's not possible! How are you doing that?!"
Genta laughed raucously. "Would you believe the power of human potential?"
"No! Not even remotely!"
"Then maybe it's this," Genta grinned, the barrier continuing to begin as he kept hitting it with flames and thrusting his drill through the hole the Herclaws were slowly pulling open. "You're very strong, Akaishi. Immortal, even. But… That's part of the problem, isn't it? You're so used to being able to just heal all your wounds to outlast your opponent, you've let the rest of your abilities, as formidable as they may be, atrophy."
"That's preposterous! There's no way that's true!" Akaishi protested, a part of him worrying his foe was right.
"Maybe you're right," Genta conceded. "But maybe it's this. Think about it. Both of us have Giff cells in our bodies, don't we? And I've spent all day with him, having fun, bonding with him, getting to know him better as a person. Treating him like a friend and family member, not a boss or God. As a person. Maybe those cells inside of us realize that Giff favors me more because I appreciate him for who he is, not what he is… Giving me the strength to keep fighting!"
"No!" Akaishi shouted, pouring more energy into maintaining his barrier, startled to discover it didn't seem to be enough. "I have served Giff for countless millennia! I formed a contract with him! It is me he trusts, not you!"
"Then why didn't he bother telling you he was going to visit us himself? Why did he even leave a note?" Genta taunted. "Maybe you don't know him as well as you think you do! Maybe Giff is starting to get sick of you!"
"No… No, that can't be true! You're lying!" Akaishi shrieked petulantly. "I'll kill you! I'll kill all of you!"
"And you think that'll make him love you?" Genta retorted. "Killing the people he spent the whole day bonding with and having fun?"
"SHUT UP!" Akaishi started gathering energy for an attack…
And was startled when his barrier almost collapsed, forcing him to quickly divert power back to reinforce it. Dammit, how could he counter attack like this? If he took even a little energy away from his force field, the Rider would hit him!
He just needed a minute, he was thousands of years old, surely he could think of a way out of this-
CRIMSON IMPACT!
Akaishi cried out as Vail punched him in the back, splattering him with paint and causing his concentration to waver for just a moment-
DESTREAM NOVA!
And the barrier shattered, Genta burying his drill in the ancient immortal's stomach, causing him to howl in torment as it ground through his insides, flames engulfing his entire body.
"Let's finish this… Best buddy!" Vail declared, charging up his Vistamp.
Genta burst into laughter, both of his armaments dissipating as Akaishi continued to flail about, burning alive. "Knew I would get you to say that some day! Come on!"
CRIMSON FINISH!
DESTREAM FINISH!
As Vail coated his lower leg in paint, polygons made from lines of cyan energy emanated from Genta's fist before he delivered a running punch surrounded by additional red and blue energy to Akaishi, causing him to double over in pain. He then turned to face him again before channeling streams of cyan energy into his lower leg, which was then covered by cyan energy itself. He and Vail performed a side kick at the same time, with several cyan energy components appearing before attaching to his leg, forming a Hercules beetle's head. The energy beetle's head spun and was surrounded by a cone of cyan and red energy, acting similar to a drill. Cyan electricity was generated as the energy beetle head struck Akaishi at the same time as Vail's finisher.
The duo then dramatically turned away as Akaishi wailed in anguish, red and black and cyan energy crackling around him, before he collapsed and exploded.
"You messed with the wrong family," Genta said gravely.
"Nobody gets to screw around with the Igarashis but me," Vail declared, the two of them performing a pretty cool secret handshake without even looking.
Daiji, having dismissed his transformation, stared at his father and his father's demon in disbelief. He couldn't believe it. After everything Vail had done, everything he'd put the family through… He and Genta were able to work together as partners and equals.
"Why… Kagerou… Why couldn't we have been like that?" He whimpered, clutching the Holy Wing Vistamp so hard he cut himself on it.
Suddenly, maniacal laughter rang out from the blaze. Genta and Vail turned around in surprise just as the fire dissipated, revealing Akaishi back in his human form, his clothes in tatters, covered in burns and blood…
All of which was rapidly vanishing as his body healed itself.
"An impressive feat of teamwork… But it is meaningless!" Akaishi cried. "Have you forgotten? I am immortal! No matter how hard you knock me down… I will always get back up again!"
"Tch! He's right. That kind of resolve is the kind of thing you'd expect from one of you annoying heroes, not a bastard like him," Vail growled.
"If you just get back up… We'll keep knocking you down again, until you learn when to stay down!" Genta declared. "Your body may be limitless… But so is our resolve!"
"You tell him, dad!"
Ikki and Vice, still in their Neo-Hopper Genomes, rushed over to join the senior human and demon duo. Understandably, they did a double take when they realized Vail was there. "Dad?!" Vice exclaimed in disbelief.
Vail nodded at the other demon. "Hello, Vice. Weren't expecting to see me again, were you?"
"I was hoping we wouldn't!" Vice cried, hiding behind his partner.
"Dad, what's he doing here?" Ikki protested.
"Don't worry, son, he's on our side now," Genta assured his son.
"… Well, if you say so…" Ikki murmured doubtfully.
"Don't forget, Ikki, if he causes trouble, we're more than strong enough now to take him down for good!" Sakura reminded her brother as she and Lovekov joined them.
"Grandpa! Do you promise to be good?" Lovekov demanded of the older demon.
Vail groaned and rolled his eyes. "Yes, Lovekov, I'll be good."
"Yay!"
Abruptly, Lovekov hugged Vail, much to his astonishment. "Welcome to the family, grandpa!" She cried, squeezing him affectionately.
Vail stammered. "That's… You don't… Get off of me-"
"You have so many missed holidays and birthday parties to make up for, love!" Lovekov cheered happily. "Wait, no, I don't think I've actually had a birthday yet… Well, when I do, I expect something really nice!"
"Hey, can I get something good for my birthday too, dad?" Vail asked, immediately coming out from behind Ikki at this lucrative prospect. "Some money would be nice!"
Vail's eye twitched as Lovekov continued hugging him and Ikki and Sakura stifled laughter. "I have many regrets."
"Don't worry, you'll lose those soon enough," Hana remarked, abruptly glomping Sakura from behind. "The benefits way outweigh the toll it takes on your sanity! Hey babe, you miss me?"
"Always," Sakura replied, patting her on the head and causing her to swoon.
"Curses… Did none of the Deadmans executives do their jobs?!" A frustrated Akaishi demanded.
"Well what do you expect, we beat them all before!" Vice jeered.
"Yeah, and their power boost basically amounted to a new color scheme and some minor tweaks to their costumes! So lazy! It's no wonder they lost!" George cried from the sidelines.
Akaishi snarled, then chuckled. "Ah, but it seems that Olteca has not disappointed me…" He said cruelly as Kamen Rider Over Demons approached, shocking everyone else. "I'm a little surprised you needed to transform to deal with that loose end Tamaki and his serpent. Was your current power not enough? Or did you just feel like killing them as hard as possible?"
Ikki gasped. "Wait… That's not Hikaru?!"
"Then… Does that mean…!" Hana cried, the implications suddenly striking her. No… There was no way… Tamaki couldn't possibly be…!
"No, we encountered him on our way to the park. He was easy enough to defeat and take the Demons Driver from," Akaishi crooned as Over Demons walked over to him. "And now, once again, Olteca has become the superior-"
DEMONS FINISH!
Four cable-like mechanical appendages extended from the Rider's back and grabbed the startled Akaishi in their manipulators, pulling him close and allowing it Over Demons to slash him with his shoulder wing, charged with cyan energy, nearly cutting him in half.
Akaishi cried out as he was flung away, the massive gash in his stomach already healing. "Olteca! What is the meaning of this?!"
"I'm sorry, you've got the wrong former Deadmans," Over Demons spoke up, shocking everyone because it was in Tamaki's voice! "He's going to jail for a very, very long time."
"Tamaki!" Hana exclaimed in relief. "You're okay! And… A Kamen Rider?!"
George's jaw dropped. "No… No way! There's no way freaking Tamaki could become a Rider and take down Olteca!"
"He can and he did," Hiromi declared, appearing on top of a nearby booth, coat billowing dramatically in the wind.
Daiji gaped. "Hiromi?!"
"Hiromi, Hiromi! Love love!" Lovekov squealed joyously, throttling Vail.
"Ohhh do I want to take that man out for parufaits," George moaned lustfully.
"No way! Our little Tamaki really did all that?!" An amazed Vice demanded.
Hiromi nodded. "I saw with my own eyes, as did over a dozen other witnesses."
"He was so dreamy!" Ampaz swooned, suddenly appearing beside Tamaki and draping herself over him. "This is the man I'm going to marry one day!"
"A-Ampaz!" Tamaki exclaimed, flustered.
George stared, then turned to Georgina. "You're seeing this too, right? Tamaki is a hero? And apparently good with the ladies?!"
"Ook," she replied.
"Goddamn!"
"It's over, Akaishi! You've lost!" Ikki declared.
"As usual!" Vice taunted.
"I suggest you either withdraw your forces and leave this park immediately, or else you'll find yourself facing the wrath of an entire family of Kamen Riders," Hiromi said, gesturing as his Demon Troopers filed into the area. "With help!"
Akaishi gnashed his teeth and cried out in frustration as he transformed back into his Giffdemos form. "Damn you… Damn you Igarashis!" Energy started crackling around his form. "Fine then… I'll take out you, your friends, and this entire park if that's what it takes!"
Daiji started. "What?!"
"That's crazy! If you blow up the park, you'll blow up Giff, too!" Tamaki protested.
"He'll survive," Akaishi said flippantly as he started forming a massive energy ball over his head. "You won't!"
He gestured, and a portal opened, disgorging several dozen True Gifftarians. "Delay them! I will only need a few moments to gather the necessary power to wipe this park off the face of the earth!"
The monsters howled voraciously and charged towards the Riders. "Dammit," Genta cursed. "We don't have time for this!"
"Don't worry, partner, we can take them easy," Vail said confidently.
"That's never not going to be weird," Vice complained.
"I'm really feeling it now… Okay, let's do this-" Ikki began.
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Without warning, an armored figure leapt over the Demons Troopers and Igarashi family (and Associates) and landed a powerful punch to the chest of the first True Gifftarian leading the horde, vaporizing it, before leaping into the air and crashing down in the middle of the mob with a Rider Kick enshrouded by blue energy, sending demons flying.
ROCKING THE END!
"What?!" Akaishi exclaimed as George started screaming shrilly in excitement.
"Riders of the new age," Kamen Rider Type-1 declared, muffler blazing. "Remember to always leap towards your dreams!"
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A purple armored figure shot down from the sky with a flying kick, abstract energy projections forming in its wake. With a sonic boom, the figure hit the ground as the projections suddenly all lined up to form the emblem of MetsubouJinrai dot net, crushing all the surrounding demons as well as leaving an imprint in the ground in the shape of the emblem.
METSUBOUJINRAI IMPACT!
"True Gifftarians will be extinct!" Kamen Rider MetsubouJinrai declared in English for some reason, and George started jabbering happily.
"Another one?!" An astonished Akaishi cried. "How many more of you are there?!"
"Well, there's me, for one!"
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A dark blue armored figure leapt into the air, blue lines of energy produced from his legs and surrounding his body. His foot became covered with that energy and he launched into a flying kick which produced a circular pattern, followed by an energy emblem of circuitry. A blue energy construct of a Wolf's head formed around his foot as he crashed into the remaining True Gifftarians, annihilating them all in a spectacular blue explosion and blasting another circular pattern into the ground on impact.
LONE WOLF IMPACT!
"Demons… I will crush them all!" Kamen Rider Vulcan declared as a squealing George shook an utterly unimpressed Georgina.
"He, uh, doesn't mean us, right?" Vice asked nervously while Lovekov gushed over how cool he was.
"Or me," Tamaki whimpered.
"Or us!" The Demons Troopers cried.
"I could take him," Vail insisted.
"WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?!" Akaishi screamed.
"Wait, I recognize the blue one… That's… Kamen Rider Vulcan, the secondary Rider of Kamen Rider Zero-One," Sakura realized, remembering him from George's presentation on secondary Riders and why she would make a perfect one. "But… He's dead! What's he doing here?!"
"All of them are dead," Ampaz announced reverently, an awestruck look in her eyes. "St. Fuwa, the Hound of Zea, the lone wolf who travels the land, fighting evil, all in accordance to his own rules!"
"I'm a wolf, not a hound!" Vulcan exclaimed.
"The Fourfold Arkseeker MetsubouJinrai, who seeks out and eliminates malice wherever they find it in their never ending battle to vanquish the Ark and gain redemption for their past sins!"
"Malice will be extinct," MetsubouJinrai announced in English for some reason.
"And Primogenitor Soreo Hiden I, father of Aruto Hiden, who gave his life to stop the Ark during the Daybreak Incident and set his son on the path to becoming the first hero of the Reiwa era!"
"I couldn't be prouder of him," Soreo bragged.
"I know the feeling," Genta said, glancing proudly at his children.
"All of them perished, but their souls are forever preserved in the Celestial Databanks, and in times of great need, will be manifested by Zea to vanquish those who threaten the innocent!" Ampaz gushed.
"So they're ghosts?!" Tamaki wailed, hiding behind his girlfriend.
"Holy ghosts," Ampaz emphasized.
"I don't see any holes in them," Genta joked, causing everyone to groan, except for Fuwa, who abruptly burst into laughter.
Soreo shook his head in amusement. "That's the sort of joke my son would make…"
"You'll all become ghosts in a minute!" Akaishi cried, now hoisting an energy ball several times his size over his head. "You're too late, all of you! Now, this park, and all of you, will become history!"
"But there's lots of people who aren't guys here too! Why not call it herstory? Or maybe theirstory! We could ask Touma Kamiyama for help, he writes all sorts of stories! And that's how you know it's an Aruto!"
Akaishi stared in disbelief at Kamen Riders Zero-Two and Zea-Ro, who had just appeared. "… WHAT?!"
George passed out, a blissful expression on his face, as Fuwa doubled over in laughter again.
"That's… President Aruto!" Ikki realized. "And… Izu? She's a Rider, too?!"
"And what a Rider," an aroused Sakura murmured.
"Yeah," Hana, who would normally be consumed with jealousy at Sakura looking at another woman, agreed dreamily.
"Director Akaishi, I suggest you put that energy ball down right now," Aruto declared.
"Not literally, of course, because that would destroy the entire park," Izu pointed out.
"Right, that," Aruto agreed quickly. "Hiden Land is a place where everyone can smile and laugh and have fun, and all you've done is make people afraid!"
"Blame the Igarashi family! They're the ones who brought Lord Giff here in the first place, putting everyone at risk!" Akaishi insisted.
"The entity known as Giff has been… Not exactly a model guest, but he has done his best to adhere to the rules," Izu pointed out. "The only one putting anyone at risk is you."
"Yeah! What she said!" Fuwa agreed.
"There's only one couple who can stop you…" Aruto began.
"And that's us!" Izu finished.
"… Wow, they're a really cute couple," an amazed Tamaki remarked.
"An absolute Best Match!" Ampaz agreed.
Akaishi scoffed. "Preposterous! You may have destroyed a machine or two, but I am a being of a higher order, an immortal, nearly perfect fusion of demon and man that cannot be-"
Aruto and Izu's eyes glowed, and Akaishi's words died on his tongue.
What…
What was this? This divine pressure?
Something was staring at him through their eyes. A massive unblinking mechanical eye, far larger than the fabled Great Eye of the Ganma, positioned in the center of the cosmos, ringed by metal halos and wings and surrounded by millions of souls made of compressed code. The eye stared right through him, into his soul, peeling it back layer by layer, laying all bare before its lidless gaze.
It found him wanting.
How was this possible?! How could humanity make a God of their own which, in such a short amount of time, a blink of the eye for an immortal such as himself, had already amassed so much power?!
It didn't matter. No matter how strong this new God was, it couldn't stop him. All he needed to do was move his arm and-
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As Aruto crouched, red and green energy crackling around him, Izu spread her arms, the crystalline spines launching off of her limbs and transforming into miniature Rider and Lost Models which formed rings around the energy ball Akaishi had been generating, causing it to start changing color as they lifted it skyward. "What-"
Aruto shot forwards, hitting Akaishi with a horizontal flying kick so hard he left a boot print in his chest. Izu, moving so fast she might as well have teleported, appeared behind him, striking him with an upward kick which launched him into the air. The duo leapt after him, trailing lines of energy in their wake, striking him repeatedly with a series of unstoppable aerial high-speed punches and kicks, breaking limbs and shattering his bony armor.
Above them, the energy ball was now blue, and the Models broke apart, reassembling themselves to form a multicolored projection of Zea with the energy ball serving as Her eye. Aruto and Izu sprang off of Akaishi as the satellite's eye lit up and fired a massive energy beam downwards, vaporizing what remained of his armor and smashing him into the ground hard enough to crater it.
As the projection dissipated, its power spent, Aruto and Izu shot down towards the prone Giffdemos, hand-in-hand, their legs and feet crackling with red and green and white and teal energy, hitting him with a massively powerful double kick which generated a spectacular explosion, tearing up the ground even further and utterly consuming Akaishi.
ZERO-TWO BIG BANG!
ZEA-RO SUPERNOVA!
The couple backflipped out of the flames and posed before the awestruck Igarashi family and Associates, who started applauding. They were still holding hands.
"Wait, why are we clapping? They just upstaged us in our own story!" Vice protested.
"Shut up, Vice," Ikki told him.
George suddenly woke up. "Did I miss anything awesome?!"
"Yes," Lovekov told him.
"GODDAMN!"
Georgina patted his shoulder sympathetically, nearly dislocating it.
Ampaz moaned and clutched her chest. "I think I just had a religious experience."
"I thought you worshiped Ouroboros, not Zea," Tamaki pointed out.
"And the two are courting, which will mean our pantheons will merge or something, it still counts!" Ampaz insisted.
"And that's what happens when you try to mess with Hiden Land while we're around!" Aruto declared. "They'd better go into hiding, unless they want to get a hiding!"
Just about everyone groaned, except for Fuwa, who doubled over in laughter, his suit vanishing. "Showoffs," he muttered before fading away.
"All enemies are extinct!" MetsubouJinrai said in English for some reason, briefly splitting into four figures who smiled and nodded before fading away as well.
"Well done, son," Soreo said as his suit vanished as well, giving Aruto a thumbs up before disappearing too.
Aruto and Izu's suits vanished, revealing Aruto was smiling. "Thanks, dad."
"No, seriously, why are they getting to show off and get emotional payoff, we're the stars-"
"Vice, shut it!"
"Kuzu."
"DON'T YOU START!"
"Hey, don't yell at my daughter!"
"Yes'm."
Ikki wiped his hands on his pants and offered everyone an apologetic smile. "So! That was a thing, wasn't it?"
"That is an understatement, Husband Aruto," Izu told him fondly.
"Seriously though, thanks, all of you," Aruto told the others. "You probably saved a lot of lives by keeping Akaishi and his toughest guys occupied. We'd have taken them down eventually, of course, but you saved us a lot of time, energy, and kept the park from being destroyed. I can never thank you enough for protecting this place. Like I said before, it means a lot to me."
"Hiden Land means a lot to my family as well," Genta said, as he and the rest of the Igarashis changed out of their Rider forms. "We've been coming here for years. We've made a lot of good memories here." He turned to Daiji, who was slumped against a pole, staring in disbelief at the crater that had used to be Akaishi. "Isn't that right, son?"
Daiji couldn't bring himself to answer.
"Well, I hope this park will continue to be a place for you, your family, and your friends to make good memories in the future," Aruto told them. "Which is why, out of gratitude for helping to save the park, we're issuing you all lifetime passes!"
Everyone gasped. "No way, really?!" Hana asked eagerly.
"Yes way, really!" Aruto replied.
"Even us?" One of the Demons Troopers asked hopefully.
"Even you!" Aruto said enthusiastically. "Izu, hand them out!"
"Yes, husband Aruto," Izu replied, walking over to the excited Igarashi family and Associates. She opened her mouth, printer noises emitting from it, and a sheaf of passes emerged from the orifice. She plucked them from her mouth and fanned them out before her.
Everyone exchanged looks, then shrugged and walked forwards to take them, Hiromi quickly scrambling down from his perch to try and claim one before they ran out, cursing himself for wanting to make a cool dramatic entrance.
"Hey, there's still a few left," Sakura noticed when all of the passes had been distributed.
"They are for your mother, Lady Astarte, Azuma, and Cousin Giffrey," Izu explained. "We'll give them their passes when they return."
"Oh, that makes sense."
"Where are they, anyway?" Tamaki wondered. "Shouldn't they have been back by now?"
"They'll be back when they're back," Genta said, unworried. "Hey, Mr. and Mrs. President, can Daiji get a pass too?"
"What?" Daiji asked, startled, as just about everyone else cried, "WHAT?!"
"Hey yeah, can he get one?" Ikki chimed in.
"Ikki, what are you thinking?!" Vice protested. "Daiji doesn't deserve a pass!"
"Vail got one."
"Trust me, I'm as surprised by that as you," the elder demon remarked.
"Well, I think that's up to Daiji," Aruto decided, glancing at the stunned Daiji. "Hey, Daiji. Want a lifetime pass?"
Daiji stared at him incredulously, then looked at his family, who were all giving him hopeful looks. He swallowed, mouth suddenly dry. "I…"
"It's not… Over… Yet!"
Everyone turned in surprise as Akaishi managed to stagger out of the crater.
He was not in good shape. His clothes were bloody and in tatters, half his body was severely burned, and the other half looked as if it were calcifying. New flesh was struggling to grow over his burns, only to melt and run down his mangled body. The calcification seemed to be spreading, more and more of his body turning pale, cracking, and crumbling away, and part of his skull was exposed.
Tamaki, Ampaz, and Lovekov screamed and a few of the Demons Troopers threw up.
"Holy shit! You're still alive?!" Vice shouted.
"Have you… Forgotten?" Akaishi rasped. "I am… Immortal!"
"You don't really look very immortal right now," a very disturbed Hiromi pointed out.
Izu nodded in agreement. "Scans indicate you are undergoing rapid cell death. Your body is attempting to regenerate, but the damage is so great it is quite possible that you might die before that can happen."
"It's just a minor setback," Akaishi claimed. "I've had worse!"
His utterly calcified left arm suddenly snapped off and shattered on the ground.
"It'll grow back!"
It did not, in fact, grow back.
"GIff will fix it!"
"You really think he'll do that? Considering how you just tried to kill us and destroy the park?" Sakura argued.
"I am his most loyal and trusted servant! Of course he will!" Akaishi insisted.
Vail shook his head. "I don't think you know my father as well as you think you do, Akaishi."
"Shut up!" Akaishi snapped, energy gathering around his remaining hand. "I may not be able to destroy you or the park… But I still have enough strength left to keep you from claiming a total victory!"
And then, before anyone could stop him, he fired a powerful purple laser beam. Everyone braced themselves…
Only for the beam to pass right over their heads. For a moment, they thought he'd missed…
Until they realized the beam was heading straight for the Zea Wheel.
Aruto gasped. "No!"
"YES!" Akaishi cackled.
The beam streaked for the Ferris wheel…
Only to be met by a hand.
Giff, floating in front of the wheel, narrowed his eyes, easily holding the energy blast back with a single hand, and casually flung it to the side, causing it to strike a distant mountain and explode.
"He did it! Cousin Giffrey stopped it, love!" Lovekov cheered.
"… I'm not sure that's Giffrey anymore," Hana murmured anxiously as Giff descended towards them, a sinister air surrounding him, his goofy disguise and sunglasses disintegrating from the energy his body was generating. Suddenly, he no longer seemed like the weird, awkward, somewhat endearing being they'd spent the whole day with.
Now, he seemed like what he really was: a demon king.
Akaishi laughed brokenly as Giff landed before him. "You see! Lord Giff has returned! Now, he will make all of you pay-"
"Akaishi. Thank you," Giff said abruptly.
Akaishi blinked. "What? Oh, you're welcome, my Lord, I'm always willing to go above and beyond in your service-"
"Akaishi, you fool!" Azuma shouted as he, Astarte, and a worried Yukimi rushed onto the scene. "That's not what he's thanking you for!"
Akaishi gave him a confused look. "What? What do you-"
He was interrupted when, quite suddenly, Giff thrust a claw into his chest and ripped out his heart.
Tamaki passed out. Ampaz screamed. Vice threw up. Vail whistled, impressed.
"Goddamn!" George shouted.
"Holy-" Aruto swore.
"My… my Lord?" Akaishi stammered, shocked.
"Thank you," Giff said coolly, regarding him with abject loathing. "For reminding me that humans are the real demons."
Akaishi collapsed to his knees, one of which disintegrated, blood beginning to drip from the hole in his chest, only to dry up and turn to ash. "My Lord, I… I don't understand… I was just trying to help!"
"Help?!" Giff shouted, squeezing the heart and causing Akaishi to cry out. "I was having a lovely day out with my family, enjoying this wonderful amusement park and gaining a better understanding of the species I am to rule over! Does it look like I need help?!"
"I was worried… That the Igarashis or someone else would… Would set you off," Akaishi said weakly. "That you would destroy the park, and harm many innocents."
Giff gave him an incredulous look, then gestured angrily at the devastation around them. At the flames consuming booths, smoke rising from various points around the park, the screams echoing from areas where the fighting had not yet ceased. "Akaishi, the only one trying to destroy the park and harm innocents is you!"
Akaishi had the grace to actually look embarrassed. "I… May have overreacted."
"No, really?!" Hana sneered.
Giff took several deep breaths, squeezing the heart like a stress toy and causing Akaishi to whimper. "I am very badly tempted to kill you for this, Akaishi."
"But… But my Lord, I've served you faithfully for centuries-" Akaishi protested.
"Why didn't you tell me about either world war?" Giff demanded. "Why didn't you tell me about you and Azuma falling out? Why haven't you given me the complete picture of what's happened in the millennia I've been gone? How am I to pass proper judgment on your species if you're leaving things out?"
"Well. Um. It's, you know, a lot happened," Akaishi said vaguely. "Kind of hard to summarize…"
"Actually, there's lots of videos online that do a good job of summing up historical events in manageable portions of time-" Genta started.
"SHUT UP, IGARASHI!"
Giff squeezed the heart again, causing him to gasp. "Don't talk to my son like that ever again."
Genta blinked. "Wait. Did he just call me…?" He looked to the others, confused. "How should I feel about this?"
"Ask him for birthday presents!" Lovekov suggested.
He considered this. "That's actually not a bad idea."
Yukimi facepalmed.
"I am no longer convinced I can trust you, Akaishi," Giff continued.
"But… Master, of course you can trust me! I've only been working in your best interests!" Akaishi protested.
Giff gestured again at the ruins around them. "Okay, yeah, that looks bad, but-"
"Akaishi. When I was in my sarcophagus, did I look like a vagina?" Giff suddenly asked.
Akaishi blinked. "What? N-no, of course not, whatever gave you that idea?"
Giff narrowed his eyes. Without looking, he asked, "Daiji. Did I look like a vagina? Answer me truly."
Horrified and bewildered, Daiji shot his family a questioning look. They shrugged. "Um. Well. I mean, I didn't want to say anything…"
Akaishi blanched. "Daiji! You shouldn't say such things-"
"I am very tempted to kill you," Giff repeated, causing his acolyte to shut up. "However… I don't want my family to see that side of me today. And I don't want to desecrate this wonderful park anymore than it already has been by tarnishing it with your corpse. As such, I will spare your life… This time."
He leaned in very close, eyes glowing red. "But let me make this clear: you are on very thin ice. Do something like this again, try to harm my family or launch an attack without my permission… And I will make sure you understand the limits of your immortality. Do I make myself clear?"
Akaishi swallowed. "C-Crystal."
"Good." Giff stood back up and gestured, opening a portal leading back to Akaishi's office. He callously threw the heart in, then turned his back on his disciple. "Get out of my sight. I'll heal you later. If I'm in the mood."
Terrified, Akaishi bowed his head repeatedly before dragging himself through the portal, which closed behind him.
Giff sighed, then turned to Aruto and Izu, and much to everyone's surprise, bowed down in dogeza. "Mr. and Mrs. Hiden, I wish to apologize on behalf of my subordinate. While his actions were unsanctioned, as his master the responsibility lies with me. I assure you, I will offer whatever restitution is necessary to make amends."
"Oh, I'm sure that won't be necessary-" Aruto started.
"You could pay for the repairs to the park," Izu interrupted, much to his annoyance.
Giff looked up. "Certainly. I shall pay you whatever sum is necessary."
Izu named a sum.
"Akaishi shall pay whatever is necessary," Giff amended his previous statement.
"Do you even have any money?" Aruto wondered.
"That is another thing I will need to speak to Akaishi about, among many others," Giff acknowledged, standing back up. "Thank you for helping to stop him."
"Oh, no problem, we're good at stopping people, it's basically our catchphrase," Aruto assured him.
Giff turned to the others. "And… My family. I feel I must apologize to you as well. As I'm sure is now evident, Cousin Giffrey does not exist. He was a cunning ruse, a fiction I constructed so that I might interact with you all outside our struggle, so that I might grow close to you and better understand you and why it is you fight. I apologize for deceiving you all, but I promise, I truly did enjoy our time together, and I'm sorry you had to find out the truth this way."
Everyone stared him.
"Wait, does he actually think his disguise worked-" Hiromi started, only for George to elbow him.
"It's okay," Ikki promised. "It's a bit of a shock, not gonna lie-"
"And he's totally not lying right now," Vice said sarcastically.
"But… We had a great time with you today," Ikki continued. "It was… Nice, interacting with you this way. I feel like we understand you better, a lot more than we did before."
Yukimi nodded in agreement. "It's like I said before, Giff, no matter what you call yourself, after everything we've been through today, you are absolutely a member of our family, and nothing will change that."
"Do… Do you all really feel this way?" Giff asked hopefully, and had to fight back tears when they all nodded. "That's… I do not know how to describe what I'm feeling right now. This… Happiness. This sense of belonging. For most of my existence, I have been a being of solitude, but now… I think I am truly starting to understand what it means to be a family. Our experiences today have opened my eyes to many things. About humanity and about myself. There is much I did not understand about the world and the people in it, and while there is still much I do not know, I think I would like to... Together."
Astarte smiled fondly. "That sounds wonderful, Giff."
"We'd love to help you out, Great-grandpa Giff!" Lovekov promised.
"You could move into the bathhouse!" Ikki suggested eagerly.
"But you're not rooming with us!" Vice said quickly.
"Or us, it's going to be crowded enough in our room as it is," Vail added.
Genta frowned at him. "Wait, you're going to be rooming with Yukimi and me?"
'Well of course I am, where else would I sleep?" Vail asked.
"… Inside my heart?" Genta said slowly.
Vail laughed and patted him on the head condescendingly. "You're adorable."
"Hang on, don't I get a say in this-" Yukimi protested.
"You can sleep with me and Georgina!" George volunteered loudly and ecstatically. "And I totally promise not to take samples in your sleep!"
"You're totally going to take samples from him in his sleep," Sakura accused him.
"Yes, but he doesn't know that!" He hissed.
"The gorilla you refer to as 'Georgina' is property of Hiden Land and cannot be taken off these premises," Izu told him.
"Yeah, but I don't care," George replied flippantly.
"George, while your offer to allow Azuma and myself to room with you is most appreciated-" Giff began.
"Wait, since when was I a part of this?" Azuma asked in confusion.
Giff gave him a look. "Do you want to go back to sleeping in a cave?"
Azuma contemplated this. "Not particularly, no. Carry on."
"Hang on, I never said either of you could stay with us, the bathhouse is getting pretty crowded enough already-" Yukimi stammered.
"Unfortunately, I must turn you down," Giff said regretfully.
"What? Why?! I promised I wouldn't take samples from you in your sleep!" George protested.
"You had your fingers crossed," Vice pointed out.
"You can't prove that!"
"While I would like nothing more than to move in with you all and share in your familial bonds…" Giff began.
"I mean, I'm not opposed to you moving in, but it would've been nice if someone asked me first," Yukimi griped.
"You seem to be laboring under the misapprehension that everything between us is settled, when in actuality, nothing could be further from the truth," Giff said solemnly.
Ikki tensed. "What are you talking about?"
"There is something we must discuss," Giff said gravely. "The future. Of our family, and the human race."