Imakarum was annoyed; actually, he had long since passed annoyance and was quickly overtaking rage. This was not how he had planned for things to happen—he'd not been expecting to fight a Guyver who could challenge him on his own terms. He had already known that Sho could not have hoped to do such a thing, not with his memories of Masaki Murakami still so strong and immediate. He had certainly never been expecting the Fifth Guyver to adapt so quickly to his new situation and come to the aid of someone he had only met on that selfsame day. And yet this boy, this Ryan Crouger, had done just that. It was aggravating in the extreme.

And that was why he was going to rip the Control Medal from the brat's skull and give it to Lord Hamilcal for study. And more than that, he was going to do it quickly. Kenji would doubtless be missing him by now, and he was also eager to spend some time with his son. There was only the matter of dealing with this irksome little Guyver.

Sensing another impending attack, Imakarum swerved, directly into the path of the sole of Ryan's foot. The little brat was more cunning than he had first expected. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, along with the remains of two chipped teeth, Imakarum knocked aside the child's fist, then grabbed Ryan's head. Transforming into his larger battleform, Imakarum closed his right hand around the little Guyver boy's skull and squeezed.

"I'll split your skull open and pluck out the Control Medal, brat!"

Gritting his teeth in a fierce grin, Imakarum squeezed the Guyver boy's head and listened to him scream. It was a very satisfying sound. The little pest kicked and struggled, but he was of course completely unable to overcome the strength of a full Zoalord.

It was only to be expected: the boy had not been using his Guyver for even half a day. He could not hope to match any but the weakest or the stupidest Zoanoids. The ones he had killed were a prime example, as they were all merely Standard Zoanoids.

A sudden pain in his wrist, just above where he had the little brat's head in his hand, almost caused Imakarum to release his grip. Noticing that one of the Guyver's Vibration Blades – and just how the hell had that little bastard contrived to have blades on his wrists?! – was fully extended and jammed into the joint of his right wrist, Imakarum hissed in pain. As his hand started to go numb from loss of blood, Imakarum forced it to open with the last amount of control that he had over it.

Then, grabbing the brat's armored collar with his still functional left hand, Imakarum threw him at the approaching Guyver I. Unable to stabilize in time, Guyver V slammed into Guyver I with all the force that Imakarum had imparted to him. The blood that had been dripping from Guyver V's blade – his blood, Imakarum thought with an irritated snarl – was soon joined by that of his comrade in arms.

Laughing, Imakarum watched for a moment as Guyvers I and V attempted to disentangle themselves. Guyver V pulled his right Vibration Blade out of the base of Guyver I's shoulder with a wet, sucking, popping sound. That certainly made the situation a great deal more amusing. Firing another volley of Gravity Bullets at the two Guyvers, Imakarum watched in mild annoyance as Guyver V dodged them again.

That annoyance was lessened by the fact that Sho did not manage to dodge. Guyver I took most of his Gravity Bullets in the left flank, leaving him injured and bleeding all over the roadway beneath them.

"Mr. Murakami! Please, don't do this! I don't-"

"You seem to be forgetting, Sho," Imakarum hissed, grinning at the anguish he could hear in the Japanese Guyver's voice. "I'm not that fool Murakami anymore!"

Firing two more Incision Waves at the annoying, pathetic little Guyver, Imakarum dodged a blow from Guyver V that would have removed a large chunk of his shoulder. The brat had both of his wrist blades extended and his fists up like a human boxer. Whatever he thought he would accomplish with that tactic, Imakarum was not going to let the boy get away with injuring him again.

Just as Imakarum had been expecting, Guyver V was attempting to punch him. The Vibration Blades on his wrists would have done a great deal of damage if they had been allowed to connect; that was why he would not let them do so. Imakarum was not going to give this miserable, irksome little brat the satisfaction of wounding him again. Once had been more than enough.

Darting out of the range of the Guyver boy's fists, Imakarum lashed out with a barrage of Wind Scythes. Guyver V managed to dodge two of them, but the third sheared off his left hand, and the fourth sliced part of his right leg off, leaving the limb torn open and bleeding from the knee down. The fifth did no more than cut off the tip of the fin atop his head, and the boy managed to dodge the sixth.

Still, the fact that the brat was injured now would make it a great deal easier to deal with him in the long run. Or the short, considering the fact that Imakarum did not plan to let the Guyver brat live to threaten Chronos' plans any further, to say nothing of the danger that another Guyver would pose to Kenji. He would not allow anyone to threaten his son.

"Mr. Murakami-!"

"Shut up, you brainless, simpering halfwit!"

Firing an Incision Wave at Sho to shut him up, Imakarum watched in satisfaction as the boy's severed right arm fell to the ground far below. There was still the matter of Crouger to be dealt with, but with Sho – the one who knew how to best use his Guyver – out of the way, dealing with that brat Crouger would be a great deal more simple.

-Imakarum!-

-Lord Shin? Did you want to speak with me?-

-There are a pair of news helicopters heading your way. I have been trying to steer them away from your location, but I have not been able to dissuade them as yet.-

-You have blockaded the streets that would lead other humans to this area, correct Lord Shin?-

-Yes, but these news crews are in helicopters, as I stated before. They will not be affected by a mere roadblock, and I doubt it would be possible for you to conceal an aerial battle from them. They will be approaching your position very shortly.-

-I see,- Imakarum commented, supremely annoyed at the interruption of what had been shaping up into a very entertaining battle for him. -I will return to Cloud Tower, then.-

-Thank you for your understanding, Imakarum.-

-And thank you for your warning, Lord Shin.-

Imakarum ground his teeth in annoyance; reporters were more trouble than they were worth. He knew Masaki Murakami had been a reporter, and that man had caused nothing but trouble for Chronos. Of course, Murakami had not been like any other reporter, but his differences had only made him more dangerous. But now was not the time for such thoughts; the Guyvers had to be dealt with quickly now, before any of those irksome reporters could make trouble for him.

Firing an omni-directional barrage of Gravity Bullets, Imakarum teleported out. Hopefully, the Guyvers – or at least one of them, preferably Sho – would be killed by the blasts. There were other matters that required his attention, such as the inspection of Chronos' Antarctica Research Station that he had been called away from to lead this mission to retrieve the Relic cocoon – a mission that had become a great deal more involved than he had been expecting – came to mind.

It was time he returned to his original duties; there would be other opportunities to annihilate the Guyvers. As much as he wanted to believe that he had eliminated both of them, he knew that that was supremely unlikely. Sho Fukamachi could be irritatingly persistent, and it seemed as though the Crouger boy was made in the same mold, only to a somewhat greater degree.