Chapter Eight: Supernova

"It can't end like this…not here."

Weihan struggled to make his muscles move as the Awakened Spider Wraith came closer to where he lay. Although he had steadily gained the upper hand in the battle by switching to his Ninjetti Mode, it seemed as though he had been fooled by a smarter Wraith once again. Much like the Colossus Wraith had done, the Spider Wraith had been pulling its punches and making itself seem slightly slower than it really was. It had waited for the perfect opportunity to strike; however, for once, he hadn't been the target. That didn't mean he hadn't been caught extremely off guard by a sudden and brutal attack that had left him gasping for air as the Power desperately tried to piece his ribs back together. He could do nothing but watch in abject horror as the Spider Wraith began draining the life fluids out of Grand Bloody and, finally, complete the Awakening process. It was truly one of the most sickening transformations he had ever seen, easily beating out Slashing Vengeance's bloody mutation. Pushing more and more power to his broken body, he flexed his fingers as his HUB flashed a damage report.

"How weak you are, human." The Wraith growled as it stepped closer to him. "Only now, in the end, do you see how useless this struggle against my kind truly is."

Biting back a curse, the Rider weakly rose to his knees. Ignoring the blossom of pain in his chest, he drew a shaky bead at the Wraith and fired the Rider Shoot into its chest. Sparks flew as the energised rounds bounced off the thickened plates and he shook his head in a vehement refusal to give up. Pushing off the ground, the Rider summoned the Rider Blade once more and began slashing and swiping at the Spider Wraith; very aware that the arachnid monster was doing nothing to defend itself. A blur of movement was all the warning he had before the barbed blades pierced his shoulders, the paralysis inducing venom numbing his nerves almost as fast as his Powers could nullify the damage. As it was, he needed to put almost all of his concentration and focus into moving and attacking – giving his movements an almost robotic quality. In any other setting, this would be amusing but it was literally a matter of life or death…and he had no intention of dying a second time. Pushing power into the Rider Blade, he stabbed it upwards into the thorax of the Spider Wraith and smiled wickedly as he felt it splinter the protective armour.

"I told you before, as long as I have breath in my body I will never quit!" he roared.

The Spider Wraith had no answer to that and didn't seem to even be affected by the attack. A wave of dread washed over his body as he looked down to the impact site. He didn't want it to be true…but the mighty Rider Blade, which he had personally strengthened, had shattered against the enhanced material. Shaking his head in disbelief, he shakily lifted up the handle and blinked in absolute shock at the twisted shards of metal that protruded from the emblem. Moments later, he felt a sense of weightlessness as the Awakened Wraith flung him through the air to crash against the same wall it had been flung into earlier. His hand spasmed with pain as the paralysis venom finally overcame the Power nullifying it, sending his wrecked weapon clattering to the ground. For one terrifying moment, he was helpless as the Spider Wraith stalked towards him once more.

Through fluttering eyelids, he could see Kotaro and Hongo leaping up to strike at the monster – only to have their energised attacks bounce off its mirrored armour. He knew this was going to happen; Kamen Riders or not, their strikes just didn't have the power needed to pierce Wraith armour – something that probably went triple with the Awakened Wraith. He pushed through another pulse of energy from his Ultra Crystal through his body, feeling the shift as the numbness slowly faded from his extremities. The good news was that he estimated around five minutes before he was fully healed and ready to fight again. The not so good news was that he couldn't guarantee a clean victory against the Awakened Wraith. It almost made him wonder if the Colossus Wraith had been fully powered up as it had been rather easy to defeat. On the other hand, there had been help from that trans-dimensional energy blast from the Ultimax that had done the majority of damage. It had also opened up the rip in dimensions but he had mostly forgiven his duplicate for that. He rolled over to hear the Spider Wraith speak to the group of Riders.

"Foolish creatures. What can you possibly do against me now? Just wait your turn like good sheep."

Not wanting to risk any more time spent doing nothing, the Rider rose up on one knee before launching into the air to deliver a powerful kick to the Wraith. The monster spun around with all six arms swinging and he ducked to avoid being stabbed by the paralysis or poison blades. Images of the horror the Spider Wraith had unleashed on its first outing flashed through his mind; specifically the two innocent tourists it had brutally killed. He hadn't been innocent either, recalling the way he had accidentally burnt three dying men to a crisp but his actions had saved the world from an even worse fate. He was not going to stand by and let it do what it wanted to this world – even though it had protectors of its own. The horrors of the Wraiths would not be sullying this dimension as long as he was around. Wondering when he had begun to take on the full responsibility to destroy all of the Wraiths, he readied the Rider Shoot and pointed it at the monster. For its part, the grotesque creature just laughed.

There is a bigger problem here. You are nearing the fifty percent merge mark. The battle in the Ultimax accelerated it and, after this, there will be no going back.

Well, shit. That wasn't good news at all. He could see the gauge slowly creeping up to the magic 50 but knew it had been accelerating in the Ultimax. Even though he had been using the Ultra Grid of his doppelganger, he had been focusing that almighty power through his Ultra Crystal. He had known the risks from the outset but had chosen to form the Ultimax because it was the only way Slashing Nak could be destroyed. He also supposed the Rider System powered Ultimax Rider Kick finisher hadn't done wonders for the merging time but it was all in the past, no matter how recent it was. Sending another pulse of Ultra Energy through his body, he was momentarily taken aback at how much stronger it seemed. Since using the Rider System, it had always felt diluted and watered down except in a few rare cases – like healing Queen Starburst or unlocking the Ninjetti Mode. Leaping back to avoid a spurt of acidic venom, he shook his head and exhaled sharply. Running a hand over his Turbine to see if there were any hidden buttons he hadn't discovered, he furrowed his brow slightly as he felt a barely-there seam running across the face of the device. He hadn't seen it when he upgraded the System which meant it was something that had just occurred; more than likely a crack created by the Wraith or the energy shield.

"How much longer are we talking about, Shining Light?" he groused. "I'm kinda getting my ass handed to me here."

Whatever Shining Light would have said was lost as the Wraith, apparently bored with his distancing move, rushed him with all six arms slashing. Unlike before, he couldn't defend himself from the constant barrage of blows and was slammed to the ground repeatedly. A lightning fast crack on his visor was all the warning he had before the armoured glass shattered under the force of the attacks. Closing his eyes shut to protect them; he felt the shards dig into his face and wondered why the crumbly glass wasn't used instead. A moment later and they opened on instinct as his head impacted on the concrete harder than before, acidic drops of venom burning his eyebrows away in moments before attempting to do the same with his eyelids. He wanted to scream in pain or horror; he wasn't sure which and was having very nasty flashbacks to the futile fight against Psychogre and the bloody way that fight had ended. The only thing he could count as being some blessing was the fact that he could still feel his toes – even though they felt as though he had rubbed them on a belt sander and dunked them in lemon juice.

He finally let out a yell of agony as his arms were wrenched up over his head and pulled hard in a sick parody of stretching. He could swear he heard the bones in his arms creak as he swung through the air to impact, once more, on the concrete ground. He didn't know if it was the pain talking but he was feeling very much as though he was being massaged. Drunkenly shaking his head and testing his arms to see if they were still attached, he tumbled across the ground as the Spider Wraith kicked him in his chest. His vision was blurring and he knew he was only a few hits away from being knocked out of the fight permanently…but he knew there was nothing that could stop the Wraith's attacks. From their vantage point, the girls looked at the broken and struggling Rider as they eyed the Spider Mutants which had been hanging back as the two titans fought. Kotori's hands shot to her mouth as she picked out the grievous amount of damage the Interdimensional Rider had been subjected to and the yell he had produced earlier still rang around in her mind.

"Get up…please," Nozomi clasped her hands in front of her chest, praying to whoever could hear and tears running down her face. "Please let him get up. He can't be dead…no, please…"

The Spider Wraith stalked forward, enjoying the fear and terror the human in front of him was producing. The Mutants around him would make for good compatriots for a while but he would send this world to its knees on his own. Such was the way of the Wraith. Chuckling insanely, it summoned up a ball of energy to aim in at the Rider. Even in near-defeat, it couldn't take any chances.

"Finally. There is no one left to oppose me. When you wake up, it will all be too late for anything to be done."

"What the hell…" Kotaro was at a loss for words as he saw the ball of energy build up. "What's that light? Kenzaki, what's it doing?"

The Navy Joker shook his head and hoped the Rider could manage a last-minute second wind. If not, he would be risking the safety of everyone on the planet as he would need to change to his Joker form to defeat the Wraith. Weihan bit hard on the inside of his mouth to keep from blacking out as his vision skewed yet again. Jerking his head to one side, he narrowly missed the ball of energy that would have incinerated his head...but he couldn't keep up this feeble struggle for long. He had never felt so much pain in his life – not even when Psychogre had jammed the metal spike into his chest or even in the recent battle against Slashing Vengeance. Hell, the final battle with Xonix was a cakewalk compared to this and the Ultra Crystals had shattered in that fight! Even the pulses of power from his Ultra Crystal, strong as they were, didn't seem to be doing much to heal him. If he had to hazard a guess to what they were doing to him, he would have guessed that they were strengthening his body for something…though he would presumably need to be healed for the strengthening to actually work properly. Wheezing again as the Awakened Wraith stomped on his back; he struggled to keep his mind on the present moment, unaware that the injuries to his legs had completely healed.

"No…it can't end like this." Weihan fought hard to stay conscious. "Not when there's more I can do."

Back with the group, they stood in silence as they slowly watched their only hope break under the relentless attacks of the mirrored beast. Even Eiji, who had undergone the trauma of transforming into a Greed, had never seen such wanton displays of cruelty and the taunting that was almost too much to bear. He still had the Super Core Medals from the future but he didn't know if their power would be enough to defeat the monster. Looking at the other Riders, he knew they were all thinking the same thing: even though they didn't like it, they would have to wait to see the outcome. Swearing under his breath, he looked to the group of girls that had been caught up in this madness and his heart went out to them – especially the purple-haired girl. Although Nozomi had finally confessed to Eli, it didn't seem as though they would have a lot of time together before the end came. He would fight to the end to protect them from the creatures though and the other Riders would do the same.

You are at fifty percent merging. You know what to do.

Weihan nodded, even though his body felt as though it had been put through a rock crusher. Unsteadily rising to his feet, he felt another pulse of energy wash over his body and finally begin to heal his many injuries. He could see visible shock on the unmoving features of the Spider Wraith and could also see the first stirrings of hope and excitement blossom on the faces of the girls. Dropping his left hand to the side of the Turbine, he felt for the Activation button and allowed a smile to form over his face as he realised he would finally learn what it was used for. Steadily exhaling, he closed his eyes and felt his mind connect with the energies of the world and the Multiverse of Kamen Riders. Energy bombarded his cells as images of various places, people and potential Riders flashed up in his mind's eye.

He saw a lone figure in a blue and black robotic suit cutting down swarms of alien creatures with an energy blade as giant robots fought in the background. With a start, he recognised them as Advanced Heavy Mekas from Konu, though their designs looked a little different than the brochures he had flipped through. Changing scenes, he could see a group of four young girls running toward a tower of some kind; Rider Belts displayed prominently. From the looks of things though, they didn't know the significance of the belts around their waists. Faces, helmets and powers cycled through freakishly fast before he finally saw an image of…himself. Wherever he was, he was fighting against another Rider clad in black, red and silver armour while a Wraith crept up behind him. Where Serena was, he couldn't see but he had a strange feeling she was close by. The Black Rider pulled out a wickedly serrated blade and swung it high into the air, preparing to cleave his future self in half. The scene ended with a bright flash of light and, when it faded from his vision, he was back in his body and knew what to do. Inhaling deeply, he prepared to shout out his unlocked Power.

"ULTRA MODE!"

Power flooded his body as he pressed the Activation Button, sending a pillar of fire blasting up to the sky. The barely-visible seam running the length of his Turbine cracked open in a similar fashion to the original Power Morphers and pulsed with fiery energy. His undersuit sparkled as it transformed into a crystalline material that allowed greater flexibility than it looked and his armoured vest vanished in a flash of fire. A dimensional rip opened up above him but he wasn't sucked into it; rather it released his Assault Armour but the belt-mounted launchers and energy blade gauntlets were missing. Merging with his undersuit, he felt something sprout out of the back plate and hoped he hadn't suddenly grown a tail as that would be more than he could bear at the moment. On the other hand, he could see the changes that were happening on his suit thanks to the HUD cameras.

Can you feel it? This is Power that will not be accessed again; a true once-in-a-lifetime event.

Metallic claws sprouted from the fingertips of his gloves and the teeth that ringed his visor grew longer and jagged. It was a look that made him seem more of a monster than the Wraith; a look that was compounded by the pseudo-bloody smears around the 'mouth' of the visor. Quickly checking the attachment on his back, Weihan's jaw dropped open as he saw a wickedly cool tail-like assembly that held his Raptor Sabre, along with a new weapon that seemed to be made from a repaired Rider Blade and his Crocodile Sai. Mentally dubbing it the Rider Sword, he allowed himself a brief moment of wondering if that was the new default form for his Blade or if it was always supposed to have been used. Spreading his legs to redistribute the additional weight on his back, he chuckled darkly as he realised that, for all intents and purposes, he looked like a humanoid dinosaur. He could hear the other Riders and girls reacting in shock and amazement at his transformation and readied himself for battle.

It was time to end this.

TBC…