Kamen Rider Dragon Knight (c) Adness Entertainment / Toei / Ishimori Production. Puella Magi Madoka Magica (c) Magica Quartet / SHAFT / Aniplex / MBS.
Phase IV: True Divine Battle
The seemingly never-ending tunnel of mirrors has reached its end, and we were swallowed by a blinding light.
We then landed in a strange dimension. The dimension looked like a miasma of purple gas surrounding a field containing some patches of land and sea. And we were standing in what seemed to be mid-air.
"WHAT? That Kamen Rider survived after being stabbed by me? What outside force compelled you to be alive?"
No doubt… that voice we have just heard from out of nowhere – was Mayuri's.
He sat on a throne that is composed entirely of the vile purple gas.
"But no matter. How are you feeling now... that this redhead you have bonked at least once dumped you in the end? And Kyouko... my sweet little Kyouko… where have you gone after I have done wonderful things to you and your fellow Traitors?" he continued.
Kyouko responded with an unruffled, yet determined voice:
"Mayuri Kurotsuchi… I call you master no more. You have only used me and Kit for your nefarious plans. I only resigned to my fate as a Traitor before because I couldn't disobey your orders… but Kit has taught me how to love in the most divine way – and how to change for the better. Now… I'm a reformed Puella Magi… who is teaming up with a determined Kamen Rider… to put an end to your shenanigans!"
"My, my." Mayuri elicited a mocking appreciation. "This girl has turned into a woman? What has that naive nobody done to you? Hm-hm-hm-hm… Love? Love, love, love, I want your love… AHAHAHAHA! Don't you know how a bad romance goes?"
I finally replied to him, "It's not just romance that is needed to bring forth love. There's this thing called consummate love – the most powerful love a couple can ever wield – that is composed of intimacy, passion, and commitment."
"Oh my! This Kamen Rider is preaching about love… that is, plagiarizing from a self-help booklet!" Mayuri retorted.
The soul reaper's tirade was then cut off by a mirror that suddenly appeared behind us. Out of the mirror came…
…my old comrades-in-arms, Len and Kase…
…and a face familiar to Kyouko, a blue-haired girl named Sayaka Miki.
We were both surprised by their appearance from nowhere, but this nonetheless was a positive development.
I welcomed Len and Kase with open arms.
"Thank goodness, Kit…" Len commented, "I thought you were a goner after fighting that lost Kamen Rider…"
Kase continued, "I'm glad you're back, Kit. But… who's that girl beside you?"
I answered, "It's a very long story. We have to finish what we have started first, and then I'll tell you who she is."
Kase replied, "You're right, Kit. But I confess… her long, red hair makes her very pretty. I'm typically not a jealous person, but…"
"At least you have scored a beauty. Maybe you were jealous of us, then?" Len commented jokingly.
Kyouko, meanwhile, was puzzled by Sayaka's appearance. She should be dead after turning into a witch, but…
"K-Kyouko?" Sayaka made the first move to the redhead. Her blue Soul Gem glowed briefly.
"S-Sayaka… It's you again… I guess… Madoka had her way and revived you. But now... have you realized the folly of your wish?" Kyouko's manner of speech was full of contempt.
"I-I don't know, but…"
"Silence, ignorant girl! If you think being a Puella Magi is the only way to get closer to your beloved… you're absolutely mistaken. Look at this man…" Kyouko then pointed her finger at me. "Even though I have met him just recently… he quickly understood my true feelings… without the need for any fancy-schmancy powers. All he needed was faith and willpower. You can do the same."
"K-Kyouko… I-it's too complicated…"
"Tch! You're making me sick! Are you missing my point? Or are you just that simple-minded, Sayaka?"
Len commented on the tension between the redhead and the bluehead: "I don't know the truth behind their argument, but we must stop their bickering."
But before Len, Kase, and I could start placating Kyouko and Sayaka, we were cut off by Mayuri's maniacal laugh.
"Ahahahahaha! OOOOhhhh! Now this is more like it – a party! A party of kooks who couldn't even get their acts together! Now come at me, you interlopers! I will have my fun in the end – since I will use your bodies in the pursuit of science!"
Mayuri readied his sword, holding it with its guard at level with his face. A strange trident spawned from his sword's blade – the same trident that stabbed through me before.
"Claw out!"
His command released more of that purple gas – and that gas really got to us this time. Our nerve impulses were affected, and we were brought down to our knees.
"Oh no! I think it is poison gas! And I thought only Kamen Rider Strike has the ability to generate such potent venom…" Len remarked.
"K-Kyouko… let's… forget our argument for now… I… don't know why I was revived in the first place… but… from the looks of it… there's still some unfinished business left…" Sayaka said.
"Yes, Sayaka," Kyouko answered. "Once this is over… we will settle our little dispute the peaceful way."
But unexpectedly…
A gentle, healing wind blew behind us, sweeping away the poison gas and signaling the arrival of the two major forces that compelled Kyouko and I to go further…
Master Eubulon and Madoka Kaname.
They simultaneously asked us while hovering in mid-air, "Are you all right?"
Naturally, we were all pleasantly surprised. We didn't expect the two to show up in such an emergency.
"Grr! More interlopers who are able to ward off my poison gas! And you… you are…" Mayuri declared while focusing his eyes on Eubulon.
"This enemy has a destructive power equaling that of Xaviax," Eubulon remarked.
"But the power we wield, the power of creation, will offset that destructive power," Madoka followed. "This is a major reason for selecting five exceptional warriors to assist us in defeating this fiend."
"Now – show him what you five can do. The combined power of Kamen Riders and Puella Magi – will be the key to keeping the world – and the multifaceted universe – a safer place."
The two great forces of good made this declaration.
With that declaration… I, Kyouko, Len, Kase, and Sayaka – the five warriors who are waging war against the instigator of the "traitor game" – readied our Advent Decks and Soul Gems.
"KAMEN RIDER!"
Even the two Puella Magi copied our transformation call as a gesture of unity.
Five powerful surges of energy then materialized to transform us into our battle forms.
Kyouko and I simultaneously and bravely asserted, "Now, count your sins!"
A huge battle is about to start. And Eubulon and Madoka could only watch the developments from above.
"Sins… whatever," Mayuri retorted. "Here's something that will be of a sinful pleasure to you. Bankai: Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo!"
His sword transformed into two parts. One was a small sword that closely resembled the original version. The other… a giant creature with the body of a caterpillar and the head and arms of a grotesque golden baby, wearing a red cape and sporting a silver halo that hovers around its head.
Kase remarked, "If he can summon a creature this big… it's best never to underestimate him."
And so, with all our might, the five of us rushed towards him for a simultaneous preemptive strike. But the creature tried its best to shield Mayuri from our attack.
The creature then released several blades, all tipped with a more potent poison, as a counterattack. The blades caught us off-guard, but thankfully, the poison did not touch us.
"Ahahaha! How you like my bankai now, eh? Your puny transformations are nothing before my dominion over poison!"
"Not if our Advent Beasts enter the picture," Kase commented while she, I, and Len inserted identical cards into our Visors.
"ATTACK VENT."
The Advent Beasts Dragredder, Black Wing, and Blancwing simultaneously appeared to put a stop to the giant grotesquerie.
"Oh… so you have your own durable little toys to fight my bankai. Well then… if it's a battle on two fronts you want… then I'm on it!" Mayuri declared.
While the grotesquerie was busy focusing on the three summoned Advent Beasts, Kyouko and Sayaka saw their opportunity to attack the soul reaper.
The redhead changed her spear into a multi-sectioned whipping spear with chains connecting its sections. She tried to whip Mayuri's body with innumerable lashes, but…
He brought out a concealable weapon from his ear, a chain-sickle. With his expertise in using such a weapon, he tangled Kyouko's weapon, leaving her defenseless.
Sayaka then made the opportunity to attack the reaper with her sword. But because Mayuri could dual-wield both his sword and his chain-sickle without much effort, she was in a similar deadlock as Kyouko's.
"SWORD VENT."
"Don't you dare harm Kyouko!"
I shouted as three simultaneous Sword Vents from me, Len, and Kase made three significant dents in the reaper's back.
He winced, and thus lost grip of his chain-sickle. Kyouko then had full control of her multi-furcated spear.
"Now who's having the last laugh, jester?" Kyouko declared as she summoned several homing spears, all aimed at Mayuri.
The spears naturally hit their intended target.
But despite sustaining huge damage, Mayuri still persisted. "Is that all you can do, freaks?"
"You're the bigger freak, and you're not called Captain Freakshow for nothing!" Sayaka answered back as she made the following invocation.
"Not your lucky day!"
Sayaka's sword changed into an ornately-decorated blade, packed with the power of lightning and carrying the suit of spades.
"I control my fate."
With her better-aimed and better-timed multiple slashes, she made more dents on Mayuri's body.
"Let's finish this! Bull's-eye."
She let out a final thunder-elemental slash, effectively knocking the reaper off-balance.
"Uagh! Seems I underestimated you and your toys," Mayuri commented while looking up at his pet grotesquerie, now being badly bruised by the Advent Beasts.
"Give it up, greatest traitor in the universe," I retorted. "You will severely pay the price for messing with the lives of me, Kyouko, and everyone else involved in your 'traitor game'."
"Ahahaha!" Mayuri countered. "Me? The greatest traitor? What a cheap title to give to a brilliant scientist such as me."
He then brought out a syringe, and promptly injects its contents into himself. No sooner did his wounds heal.
"This cannot be…" Kase reacted.
"This must be… regenerating serum," Len followed.
"And so I have now turned the tables," Mayuri mocked us. "You all look like you're tired, and me – I'm now livelier than ever!"
"Not until we defeat you again!" Kyouko replied angrily. "Perseverance always pays off in the end."
"That's it! No more playing around!" Mayuri answered back. He then brought out an Advent Deck, which was colored ocean-blue. The Advent Belt formed around the soul reaper's waist, and he shouted...
"KAMEN RIDER!"
The inserted deck spun fast, and two rings of energy enveloped Mayuri to reveal...
"Kamen Rider Abyss! That's the lost Kamen Rider!"
I replied to the surfacing of the fourteenth Kamen Rider – the blue-armored, shark-themed warrior. His giant grotesquerie also transformed into a giant mechanical shark – a shark that was once familiar to me. Even the battle background changed, from purple gas to light-blue gas.
Thus, another revelation was made.
Mayuri Kurotsuchi, the President of the Shinigami Research Institute, the Captain of the 12th Squad, the real master of the Yousouma Space Station, and the brains behind "the traitor game" – was one of the remnants of Xaviax's army, after Andal Ampatuan – a politician responsible for the killing of members of a rival political family and several journalists.
He once fought us – the three Kamen Riders – before I was beamed into the space station.
"S… So you're the holder of the lost Advent Deck, after all," I said. "I should've vented you when I had the chance – but then, I wouldn't have met Kyouko…"
Kyouko just sighed lightly as Mayuri, or should I say, Kamen Rider Abyss, started his exposition.
"Enough talk about corny love stories! I greatly admired the late great general Xaviax for his grand, complex schemes to conquer the parallel worlds of Earth and Ventara. Thus, I struck a deal with him while continuing my research on my little research lab called the Yousouma Tritium Cruiser. And when you meddlesome Kamen Riders started to mess with Xaviax's plans and then finally defeated him, I had to lie low on the space station, waiting for the right time to avenge his death! This right time… is none other than the all-encompassing 'traitor game'! I should have had my last laugh, until that nincompoop alien, Eubulon; and that annoying little piece of pink fluff disguised as a goddess, Madoka Kaname; interfered! Not to mention that lovey-dovey couple from that disposable world named Terresia! But as we all know, I have a plan B, and it's perfectly set into motion! I will be the new Xaviax! I will continue this traitor game forever – and ultimately become the ruler of space-time! AHAHAHAHA!"
"What a terrible disgrace," Eubulon and Madoka succinctly reacted to Mayuri's overblown exposition. "As a legend goes, 'Cut one head, and two more will spring forth' – but the metaphorical hydra will finally be slain once we defenders of peace get rid of the root of the selfish, ill-intentioned desire to conquer our beloved multiverse by force."
"This is for all the antics you have caused, mad clown. With Master Eubulon and Madoka Kaname on our side... another of Xaviax's conspirators is about to be brought down! Osama bin Laden may have been killed, but true peace to Earth will not come to fruition unless his allies are eliminated and the Islamic world will come to know what living for Allah truly is! The same goes for you, Mayuri Kurotsuchi," Len declared.
"SURVIVE MODE."
Len, being surrounded by dark mist, brought out his upgraded form – Kamen Rider Wing Knight Survive Mode. And his Advent Beast, Black Wing, transformed into Black Raider.
"Well, Len," I declared, "I have made a love pact with this girl… and with Madoka's help… it has the ability to grant a more powerful Survive Mode."
I brought out my enhanced Survive Card – a card displaying two golden wings being surrounded by pink flames. Madoka smiled faintly when she watched the enhanced card that was given to me by a certain stupid prince being used again (it was first used during the "traitor game" proper).
"Ready for it, Kyouko?"
"Obviously, Kit."
As Kyouko and I stood back-to-back, the battle background changed to a flurry of flames, and I inserted the enhanced Survive card into the Drag Visor Zwei, which was transformed from the normal Drag Visor.
The following voice prompt then bellowed throughout the battlefield.
"DUAL SURVIVE MODE."
Flames enveloped our bodies, and out came not just Kamen Rider Dragon Knight Survive Mode, but also...
Kyouko's enhanced form, Puella Magi Modo Superesse.
She donned the exact chest plate as my Survive Mode (though her Soul Gem is still visible), and her hair ribbon exuded a more dragon-like appearance. Her spear's tip was even decorated with the head of my Advent Beast, Dragredder.
Like in Len's case, Dragredder transformed into Dragranzer.
We then both whispered to each other with renewed energy, "With love and courage, we can overcome anything."
And Len, Kase, and Sayaka, who were obviously amazed by our love-powered simultaneous transformation, added, "Together, we'll be stronger."
"Ooooh! Shinier transformations and sillier declarations of love? Enough spouting from our pot holes. Have at you!" Mayuri mocked our sequence of enhancements.
Only time will tell when the second phase of our decisive battle – the true divine battle – will end. And there's no escaping from it.
But we three Kamen Riders and two Puella Magi chose to continue the fight – and to finish it with flying colors.
The Advent Beasts continued in fighting the giant grotesquerie that turned into a huge shark while we five made use of well-coordinated teamwork to do some serious damage on the blue Kamen Rider. The 3-in-1 advantage eventually took down the shark in the end.
"Now to destroy your grotesque Advent Beast, vile fiend."
"FINAL VENT."
The sound came from Len's and Kase's Visors, the Black Visor Zwei and the Blanc Visor – and that came after Len and Kase themselves made the declaration that the shark will be definitely finished off.
Blancwing strategically sneaked behind the shark and then produced powerful gusts of wind with its wings. The gusts then sent the shark flying toward the path of Kase's several powerful slashes.
The slashes threw the shark off to the skies, and Black Raider transformed into a motorcycle that Len could ride on – even skyward. The transformed bat emitted a beam from its eyes to paralyze the shark, and then Len rammed the shark over like a high-speed missile.
The shark was completely destroyed with those two devastating Final Vents. However…
Abyss survived. This was a peculiarity, as Len explained…
"Mayuri! You should've been vented since your Advent Beast is now gone!"
"Oh? This Advent Deck I possess has a failsafe feature that ensures my survival long after my Advent Beast – or should I say, my bankai – is killed off," Mayuri responded.
"Well, monster clown…" Sayaka charged with all her strength towards the reaper, "…can you survive this?"
With the suit-of-spades blade still intact, she made the following speech before doing six powerful slashes.
"I give my all... to this sword! Prepare!"
And she topped off with a final slash – a slash that was more powerful than the thunder-elemental one she performed earlier – that left a magical explosion of her innate element, water.
"You're finished!" was her quote before she made that final slash.
"Impressive, Sayaka!" Kyouko reacted to what Sayaka had done. "Now I see you've slowly reforming now."
"Agh! Ghh! You're… all… more… powerful… than I thought… I should… have… brought… more… of that… regenerative… serum…" Mayuri was definitely weakened after eating Sayaka's attack.
I did not hesitate to bring out my trump card and insert it into the Drag Visor Zwei.
"FINAL VENT."
"Ready, Kyouko?" I asked her.
"Ready as you are, Kit."
Eubulon and Madoka smiled more as their efforts to unite us five started to bear fruit.
As Dragranzer transformed into a motorcycle, Kyouko and I hopped into the Advent Beast.
Dragranzer surged towards the sky, while Kyouko chanted the following.
"I've returned to my senses! Heavenward!"
The transformed Advent Beast then fired several powerful fireballs at Mayuri. They all never missed their intended target.
Afterwards, it plunged down to where Mayuri stood at an even more blistering speed.
"Dragon's grasp... With all of our strengths!"
Kyouko and I valiantly declared this as we rammed both Dragranzer and Kyouko's charged spear into the rogue Kamen Rider.
The result was a truly dragon-like explosion of fire and light as the two of us trailed away with the Advent Beast.
Eventually, the five of us just stood as huge sparks flew from Abyss' armor.
"Aghh… ungahhh…. UBOAAAAA!"
Finally, Abyss fell into an explosive conclusion.
And in the explosion's aftermath, Mayuri, blemished with several cuts, scars, and burns on his body, kneeling on the ground and writhing in utter pain… made his farewell speech… as his body gradually dissolved into thin air… the sign that a Rider is about to be vented.
"This… is not… the end… of this traitor game… All of you… who interfered…will have your just desserts… someday!"
Eubulon replied, "You think that taking over Xaviax's work, abducting and manipulating people from different worlds and different dimensions into being experiments for your own twisted research, and then severing whatever relationships that have flourished throughout the traitor game that you have formulated – is justice? If it is so, then better enjoy your eternal torment in the Advent Void."
Madoka followed, "I gave Kyouko and Sayaka a second chance at life – so that they will right whatever wrongs they have committed in their careers as Puella Magi. I am the patron saint of magical girls of my own free will… so I will see to it that they must live their lives to the fullest of their own free will!"
"What pathetic nonsense. Someday… I will return from that thing… you call the Void… and someday conquer it… before taking over… all space-time. For now… I will say these… three words… YOUUUUUU… WILLLLLLL… PAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!"
Mayuri Kurotsuchi's wails of defeat then dissolved into thin air as he was finally sent to the Advent Void – his permanent prison.
The true divine battle is over.
The five of us demorphed as we celebrated our victory.
Len noticed Abyss' Advent Deck and picked it up. He would give it later to Eubulon for safekeeping.
We all then shook our fists into the air and then hugged each other.
"K-Kyouko… we finally did it!" I shed some tears of joy.
"Yes, Kit. We used the love and courage we have all along… to win this!" Kyouko also shed some of her own. She and I then hugged each other even tighter.
"I guarantee," Len commented as he wrapped his right arm around Kase, "that Kit will have a blissful life with her."
Kase reacted, "Definitely. He has learned the very tenets of love from us… and now, he's taking our lesson to heart."
Sayaka then rushed at Kyouko, shedding more tears than her.
"Kyouko! I'm sorry! I'm terribly sorry!" she said as she hugged the redhead. "I now realize… how wrong I was! Seeing you with that man… and seeing the other couple, too… reminded me of Kyousuke."
Kyousuke was Sayaka's childhood friend who is a paralytic. He was the reason why Sayaka desired to be a Puella Magi, and Kyouko has been chastising her for the irrelevance of her wish to fully cure him in the grand scheme of things.
"Now, now, Sayaka," Kyouko replied. "I'm very sure… that your beloved Kyousuke will be healed someday. Look… we have Eubulon on our side now."
Eubulon then approached Sayaka.
"Sayaka Miki, is it?"
"Yes."
"I only grant full recovery for people who realize the folly of their desires and then decide to fight on the side of good. In your case, Sayaka, you only wished for the full recovery of your childhood friend – and thus you struck a deal to become a Puella Magi. Just like in the case of the Marine aspirant, Chris Ramirez."
Chris was supposed to be a US Marine but got discharged due to asthma, thus breaking his family's long legacy of military service. Xaviax posed as an agent in order to prey on his weakness. When Chris donned Kamen Rider Sting's armor and faced Len and I, he was convinced that what was supposed to be "a mission to fight off invading aliens" was really "a mission to aid invading aliens". And thus, he joined the side of good. However, the advanced asthma got to his body, and so, in the end, he decided to take the bullet for Len when the latter was about to be vented. His last words were... Semper Fi. Always faithful. The Marines' motto. But when Xaviax was defeated, Eubulon saw the resolve in him, and thus he granted full recovery to Chris as a reward, enabling him to continue becoming a Marine.
"And now, Sayaka… since you have realized the folly of your wish after you were revived by Madoka… I will cure your friend as I speak."
With a wave of Eubulon's hand, the powerful, omnipotent healing permeated Kyousuke from where he was being bedridden.
Just then…
The battlefield started to break down. Innumerable cracks gave way to indescribable blanks. There were also signs of static that erratically changed from the field of miasma to the Yousouma's laboratory and vice-versa.
"Fear not, everyone," Madoka consoled all of us. "We will all send you to the place where the entire adventure started. As this illusion in the space station built by this fiend is rapidly collapsing… Eubulon and I are sure of one thing…"
The five of us asked, "What?"
"That Mayuri Kurotsuchi is the last of Xaviax's remaining commanders. Many brave people from other dimensions successfully defeated other remnants of this great dictator's army, and with Mayuri's defeat, the specter of Xaviax's tyranny throughout the multiverse is finally gone."
"We're glad to hear that," Len and Kase commented.
"Now, everyone," Eubulon declared, "Close your eyes, and leave the safe transportation to Madoka and I."
All of us were then swallowed by a combined white and pink light.
Our happy endings await us.