Kamen Rider Tarock, Re-Dealt – Reading Sixteen: Crimson Queens
So far on Kamen Rider Tarock, Re-Dealt…
Delinquent Liss Decker found herself caught between combatants from a strange alternate world called the Sphere, and afterward found herself with the ability to transform into Tarock, a warrior of awesome powers. Tarock's creator, a mystical immortal being called an Arancum, asked Liss to become a champion for his people, who were being plagued by the reappearance of monstrous beings they call the Mythos. Mainly seeing an escape from her oppressive everyday life, Liss agreed.
Expecting mostly battle, Liss was surprised to encounter people who saw her as a powerful ally and savior for fighting the Mythos. She found more than her share of enemies as well, including the people of the city of Mazones, ruled by Arcana who considered Tarock a menace for killing one of their number ages ago. After a shaking experience in Mazones, Liss returned to Earth recover.
But the battle continues to rage and to prepare her for greater battles Liss was given the Royal Core, a crystal able to summon the likeness of her cards' original users to help fight. As she prepares to go after the source of the Mythos, she'll need all the help she can get…
The light of the concrete room burned down on Lost, interrupted every few seconds by the rotation of the fan just below. It had been set up like that to make it impossible for her to achieve any note of peace or stability, she was sure. As if her life hadn't been bleak enough before, always desperately searching for help she wasn't sure even existed, spewing that awful darkness and then having to run before it arose into something itching to capture her and take her to its mistress.
But the last time she'd been too tired, too slow. And it had caught her. Now, here she was.
Lost huddled herself in the farthest, darkest corner of her cell as she felt the familiar quivering that was the first sign of another "attack" coming. The oily black mess started to drip from her nose, her mouth, under her fingernails and under her eyes.
She was as far away from the circular grate in the middle of the room as she could get as she spasmed and she collapsed on the floor, gushing a river of black slime from her body. It felt like she wretched and spasmed for hours before it stopped, but she was sure if nothing else it had lasted even longer than the last time.
At first it had felt like she was regurgitating tar, but as it happened more and more often, and she released more and more of that horrible stuff that spawned the Mythos she didn't feel or taste anything anymore. Lately the droplets had even been seeping from her arms. Her attacks were getting worse, she was sure.
She'd hoped the sludge wouldn't flow into the grate if she'd been far enough away when the next attack came, but flow it did as if drawn to the grate by a magnet, leaving a black stain on the floor in its path.
Quivering from the strain on her body of what she'd just been through, Lost pulled herself into a sitting position. All she could do was wait, reaching out for Tarock's mind and hoping she could make contact again. Before things got even worse…
The Mythos thought himself lucky.
Behind him a pair of hulking, yellow-skinned Trolls threw themselves against the giant stone Arcanum who protected the gates of Avalon. They were only half his height but they threw themselves against him repeatedly to keep him from recovering enough to fight back.
Roc turned both sets of his eyes toward the imperial palace looming up before him, and tucked his wings in to start a dive toward the main tower. If their suspicions were correct they might have a chance to rid themselves of Emperor Solymen himself. He was one of the most powerful of the surviving Arcana, but that they'd seen him use his power so rarely suggested to his enemies he wasn't much of a warrior anymore.
He landed on the balcony of the main tower and tore the doors leading inside off their hinges. A pair of pike-wielding guards came charging up the stairs at him, but the Mythos reared back one head and spewed a stream of power that punched a hole through the wall of the tower and blew them out through it.
He descended the stairs as quickly as his taloned feet could take them, stopping suddenly when he came to the next floor. The doors hung wide open, and standing there, unmistakable in his royal blue robes and simple golden crown, was Emperor Solymen himself. His long beard hid most of his face, but the area around his eyes was lined with fatigue.
Still, the Mythos didn't attack head-on. He shrieked with both mouths and spread his wings wide to look threatening, like the people expected a monster to do. Solymen grimaced and raised a hand glowing with red power. He loosed a bolt of energy at Roc who was already springing toward the wall to let the blast shatter stone fifteen feet behind him. Roc vaulted off the wall and came shooting at the Emperor, spreading his wings and tucking in his legs to avoid having them blown off by the next blast
Roc opened both beaks and spewed a beam of his own at the Emperor from one and a barrage of glowing orbs from the other. The floor at the Emperor's feet exploded with dust from stray shots and the beam caught him flat in the chest. Solymen gasped as he was pushed back foot after foot…
…then Roc was suddenly surrounded by a bright red bubble. For a second he could feel it heating up, then he and it burst and splattered blue ichor up and down the hallway which evaporated a second later.
Limping over to a window overlooking the city, Solymen peered out in time to see one enormous Troll grab Sentos, pinning the stone behemoth's arms to his sides. The other Troll backed up and then charged, slamming his shoulder against Sentos's back and sending pieces of rock flying off. He backed up for another charge, and a massive red blast ripped across the rooftops from Solymen's hands. The Troll was vaporized where he stood.
The other Mythos, surprised at the sudden extermination of his ally, froze for just the second Sentos needed to pull an arm free and bring his stone fist down hard on the Troll's shoulders. The Troll lost his grip and before he could recover Sentos grabbed one arm, lifted the Mythos over his head and slammed him down so hard the floor rumbled and cracked even as far as the Emperor's vantage point.
The Troll erupted into a cloud of blue smoke that was quickly whisked away on the wind, but Solymen didn't see it. He'd crumpled to his knees after that display of power, and it was all he could do to hold himself in a crouch with his quivering arms. Seemingly out of nowhere appeared a man in flamboyant medieval attire who hoisted Solymen up and helped him to a padded chair.
"I don't mean to cast aspersions," he said, "but is the burden perhaps getting heavy, friend?"
"It wouldn't be if there were time to rest, Jack," Solymen gasped. "But they know that, that's why these are happening even more often. It's as if there's no end to them." He took a breath to steady himself. "And it's why I don't dare heed your warnings about a purge."
"Of course I'm not asking you to abandon your people. But you'll have an alternative before long."
Solymen pulled himself upright in the chair. "If suitable volunteers can be found," he corrected Jack. "My people are scared. You want the people to stand up and fight for themselves. Well they have, Jack. The strongest, the bravest…most of them are already gone from defending this city. What are the strongest weapons in the Sphere worth without those who can use them?"
Jack smiled faintly. "Greatness can sometimes be found where it's least expected," he said.
"Ah yes, I've met that new Tarock, as a matter of fact. Fought a huge Mythos, but she was gone with that card as soon as it was over and hasn't been back since. Where is she now, Jack? Do you even know? And how can you even entrust that much responsibility to someone driven by that much anger? I'm all for gathering powerful allies, but pinning all your hopes on her…"
Before Solymen had even finished Jack held out his hand and a projection was beaming up from it. A projection Solymen's rheumy eyes took a moment to recognize as the teenage girl who'd come to his court so long ago. A young girl was lying on the street, her clothes on fire, but Liss ran over and beat them out with her coat. Then as soon as the girl seemed all right, Liss strapped on her belt and transformed into a suit of blue armor.
"I have some idea," Jack said, a small, wry smile on his face. "And I have reason to believe she's exceeding everyone's expectations for her. Even if that isn't something she's concerned with herself." The image faded and Jack put the card away. "I don't ask you to abandon your people, Solymen. But try to prepare them for a time when they may need to abide without you."
A sigh escaped Solymen's lips. A long, thin sound that seemed as if it had been trapped within him for an eternity. He looked up at Jack again, but this time with a small wry smile not unlike Jack's own.
"Perhaps I can think of a few brave souls to encourage," Solymen said. Jack smiled and nodded.
Sparks flew through the air. Vaga stumbled backward from the vicious blow of the Mythos's claw-like hand, tripped over a large rock and went sprawling. He looked up, catching the glint of an active Wild Card in the grass nearby he knew was recording the fight for Jack and Shardak's little PR campaign. He wondered for a second how much this fight really helped their goals, with that being the latest in a couple of hard knocks the monster had gotten in on him.
A strand of silk-like thread shot out and coiled around Vaga's arm, jerking him to his feet suddenly. The thread was anchored inside the mouth of the monster's pale human-like, womanly face, which looked so wrong against the black armor covering the rest of her and the six hairy arms swaying at her sides. He pulled against the thread, just as Air Talon, the metal gryphon who was Vaga's unlikely ally, struggled against a web of the threads covering his body.
Vaga swung his spear with all his might and cleaved through the cord. The monster staggered a few steps as it was cut suddenly but Vaga rushed her before she could recover. The tip of his spear gouged into her stomach through a gap in her exoskeleton. She hissed in pain and was about to spew another line of her threads when Vaga pulled back with all his strength and hurled her a good thirty feet.
But in midair the Mythos turned and landed on her feet, all eight of them. She scuttled in Vaga's direction, zigzagging back and forth to keep him from being able to focus on where she was long enough for him to attack. Suddenly she pounced at him, fangs glistening green with some kind of poison. Vaga jumped back and brought the haft of his weapon down hard against her side, knocking her flat on the ground. She scrambled to her feet and Vaga moved to stop her before she could attack him again.
"Vaga Kick!" called his bracelet and he jumped at the fallen spider monster, outstretched foot glowing green. She was knocked off her feet, spraying blue slime from the new hole in her armor plating shaped like Vaga's foot. She spat a web-line that coiled around the haft of Vaga's spear to pull it from his hand, but he twisted it to aim the point at her new wound and let her jerk the weapon from his hands. She shrieked in surprise as the Lancer stabbed into her chest, more blue slime flying.
Enough of this crap, he thought. He concentrated all his power and his bracelet spoke, "Vaga Nova!" It was a huge expenditure of energy, but he didn't care.
He threw a punch and a glowing green circle hung in the air. He punched again and again, making two more. Light flowed between them, forming a triangle, and then a wider circle rippling with energy. Finally Vaga shouted as he threw one last punch at the center of the circle and the energy he'd created shot out in a giant burst, engulfing the spider Mythos. She screeched before dissolving into smoke.
Vaga waited a minute to see if the Mythos reappeared as something bigger and stronger. A giant spider Mythos had been Liss's first enemy, and she'd been a lot bigger than that from what he'd heard. But nothing happened. The Mythos was dead. Vaga cut Air Talon free, and jumped on for the ride back to Avalon. He had one thing to check on, then he was gone.
Whatever they thought of it.
Hastily Uthar wiped a sheet of sweat off his dark skin. It was barely dawn but he'd already been up for hours overseeing repairs to the city wall when the Emperor called for him personally.
Now, he watched uncertainly as Emperor Solymen walked slowly through the palace gardens, picking up the blossom of a purple rosebush and regarding it thoughtfully before setting it back down. Uthar had gone ahead and ordered a dozen old factories reopened to take advantage of the new designs from their reclusive master weapon craftsman, but the Mythos had been detected more and more often and it was feared they'd be overrun before those new weapons were able to make any difference. Uthar feared the threat to their people had finally worn through the Emperor's mind.
"Sire?" Uthar asked cautiously.
"You have such a strong name," Solymen mumbled, seeming barely aware he wasn't alone. "It was my father's, I think. Or very, very close to it…" He wandered away to gaze at a fountain. In the center was a statue of a slim woman in a long dress, holding a cocked bow and arrow. Since being permitted into the palace grounds Uthar had always wondered who the woman was supposed to be. Emperor Solymen stared at the statue's weather-beaten face so intently there must've been an answer.
"Sire?" Uthar repeated. "Is…all well?" he asked slowly. Solymen smiled, and if it was possible even more wrinkles had formed around his eyes than when Uthar had entered his service.
"You're wondering if I'm losing my mind, if I'm not mistaken," Solymen said gently. "I don't think so, Uthar. If anything, some of it's coming back. We had a visit from Jack the other day, remember?"
Uthar's jaw tightened. "Yes, I remember. He and that hermit he's friends with almost-" he said, but Solymen held up a hand to stop him.
"They wanted to warn us the Mythos were seeking us out, probably to steal our power, and they're probably right about their suspicions," the Emperor said, patiently but firmly. He looked Uthar straight in the eye then. "Master Shardak didn't always go by that name, but I think he and I worked together once before, ruled another kingdom, led other warriors.
"He had powers I could scarcely understand even then, and it was he who taught me to rule. We and those who served us would sit in a circle and meetings, I recall, and there were…a hundred? Hundred and thirty of us, I think, before it was all over. Have you heard of Master Thyer?"
A little uneasily, Uthar shifted from one foot to the other. "He was an incredibly formidable warrior, from what I have heard. But also that he allied with Shardak and the first Tarock when the Mythos made their first attack. One of the only allies Tarock could find after killing Knight Duric."
The Emperor waved a hand to silence the rumors Uthar was repeating. "Once I wielded an all-conquering sword. I'm supposed to have thrown it into a lake," he smirked slightly, "but I gave it to Master Thyer because my time as a warrior was mostly passed by the time I settled on the Sphere. He was so strong, so dedicated to stamping out evil he didn't listen to a word anyone said about any agendas any Arcana had. Hadn't seen his like in centuries."
"Sire," Uthar said, interrupting as gently as he could. Solymen's reverie broken, he stood up and looked Uthar in the eye with a questioning gaze. Again Uthar shifted uncomfortably, this time at his ruler's penetrating stare. Still he managed to collect himself. "Sire, we have more immediate concerns, do we not? We need to discuss what to do with Valerian's new…creations. If we're to offer to share their designs with Mazones. And the sooner the better, if I may say so…Sentos's leg may snap clean off if he has to face another fight with the shape he's in."
Slowly the Emperor raised his hands and clapped them together, smiling beneath his thick beard. Uthar flicked his eyes back and forth, unsure of what was going on, but then Solymen spoke. "That's why I called you, Uthar. Do you have any idea how many people in this court of mine, even now, are afraid to try to put me back on track?"
"What are you suggesting, sire?" Uthar asked, thoroughly bewildered by what the Emperor had said.
The Emperor opened his mouth to answer when the doors into the gardened swung open suddenly and a masked figure in dirt-caked green armor barged in. "Hey," Vaga said. "I took care of those monsters your guys sighted. If that's all, I'm out of there."
"Don't be so terse when you speak to the Emperor," Uthar admonished him.
"It's all right," Solymen interrupted. "Vaga, please stay a moment longer. I was just about to tell Uthar something I believe you should hear as well. Change is on the horizon. In all likelihood there will need to be new leaders, new champions. Young, vital and proven warriors to protect the people in the days ahead. Like Uthar. Like you, Vaga. And like Tarock," the Emperor said, sounding as if he was trying to make them all equally important.
"Her name isn't Tarock, it's Liss," Vaga replied sharply.
The Emperor smiled strangely, a little knowingly at the comment. "Is it? Perhaps I've thought of the mantle as 'Tarock' for so long, I've gotten set in my ways…"
"Whatever," Vaga said. "Your monsters are taken care of and Valerian's got the info he wanted about my suit. I'm going to check on 'Tarock' like I should've a frigging week ago." He turned around and walked back out, not bothering to shut the doors behind him and the dust of his journey shaking off his armor with every step.
After Vaga was out of sight, Uthar asked, "Champions like him?"
"Not just like him," Solymen reminded him. Uthar gave his ruler an incredulous look.
Air Talon galloped down the avenue of the small tents and huts that'd been built outside the walls of Avalon, home to many of the refugees unable to find space inside the city itself. Around Vaga the air felt as if it was stretching and then he and his mount were gone, flying instead through the black void that lay between the Sphere and Earth.
As Earth grew bigger and bigger in his lenses, Vaga felt the frustration he'd vented in front of the Emperor start to drain away. Once he was home, maybe he wouldn't be in a place where he was in the best position to be the big hero he'd imagined himself the first time he'd changed into a superhuman. But the people, the places, the problems, they'd be ones he'd seen for years. And of course, he'd be able to keep an eye on Liss herself.
Not that she needed any looking after, he admitted to himself and smirked behind his mask.
Earth loomed closer and closer and then he was cruising to a stop along an empty street in that familiar town of theirs. Or at least it had been familiar when he left. People were walking around, and not looking over their shoulders for someone to spring out and demand their money. All the windows looked clean and most were actually open to let the cool midsummer air in.
Vaga dismounted and let his powers fade, leaving a tired and dirty Ben Corland in his place. He pulled a pair of cards out of his pockets, pushed a small amount of energy into each. The cards shimmered and changed into a crystal shape, one a moth and the other a snake.
"Find Liss," Ben said, even as they left his hands and disappeared into the buildings surrounding him. "I need to know she's doing all right," he added even once they were out of sight.
A transparent moth started to descend as it approached an empty lot. Empty except for the warrior in red and black armor who held out her hand for the moth to land in before it reverted to the form of a card. With only a thought from Tarock the card projected an image into the air of what it had seen on its recon mission.
The deserted amusement park and large room holding the rusting remains of a swing ride were familiar but Tarock ignored them. She wanted to see what her little spy had found beyond it, and didn't have long to wait.
The view passed through a back room, down a hall into unlit underground maintenance tunnels. After a few minutes it stopped and suddenly ducked into a side passage when something roughly humanoid passed, but something unimpeded by the darkness of the tunnel. What could that be but some Mythos horror?
The projection made a circuit of the tunnels she'd seen three times from as many recon trips, but still nothing that gave her any idea if Lost was being held there, or in any of the other buildings they'd scouted for her over the last couple of days.
Still, it was the most obvious answer: close to you but closer to them, as Lost had said in Tarock's dream, and some rich weirdo deciding to reopen the decrepit amusement park because of her fighting monsters. That was probably where the Mythos were holding her. Or was it all just some kind of trick to keep Tarock busy there while the real Lost was being chased down somewhere else…?
But it was her only lead, and if she was going down there she going to be ready. Tarock sighed and put the card in the pouch on her belt with one hand and touched the Royal Core hanging from the other side with her other hand.
"Coronation! Queen of Swords!" said her belt buckle. An image of a woman in red armor wielding a two-handed sword appeared beside her. Tarock concentrated and the Queen raised her sword and went into a battle stance.
Tarock and Queen moved back and forth in a figure-8 pattern, Tarock having to think of the actions Queen took while also seeing through both her own eyes and Queen's. It had been overwhelming the first couple times, and Tarock hadn't been able to hold onto the concentration she needed to maintain her strange ghostly companion, causing her to fade away until Tarock called her again.
After a couple days of practicing nonstop, isolating herself from everything except helping out at kung-fu class and her evening sparring sessions, it was getting easy enough to maintain the concentration she needed. She hadn't had a chance to try it out in actual combat yet, which worried Tarock. It was almost as if the Mythos knew she knew about them being at the amusement park and were waiting for her to come to them. If that was true, they probably had something really nasty waiting for her…
Then she noticed something and paused in confusion for a second before realizing it was through Queen's eyes. A figure in familiar white armor aimed a bow and fired a glowing arrow. Tarock and Queen scattered with the arrow exploding where they'd been with enough power they could feel the heat even twenty feet away.
"You still wanna piece?!" Tarock shouted and raised her sword high to show she was ready to fight too. "Come on out, you two! You want a fight, you got one!"
Not to her surprise the answer was a pair of attackers in the familiar black armor of her enemy Ven jumped out of nowhere at her, and three others at Queen, brandishing long saw-edged knives. Tarock caught two of them across her chest and went down while another two of them slashed Queen. The other point of view in Tarock's mind became a blur for a few seconds. She focused harder and Queen's vision returned, then Queen blocked another wild swing from a dagger with her sword and slashed with a strength Tarock wouldn't have thought she had, catching her attacker on the chest and bowling over the other two as they went flying back.
Donis drifted overhead, clutching his bow in his hands but strangely not loading another arrow. "It's no use, Tarock," he said. "This time you won't escape us!"
"Funny how every time somebody says that, they're always wrong," Tarock called back.
Despite having wanted to test her new powers out in an actual fight, Tarock was a little worried about having so many enemies and having to split her concentration. She considered letting Queen fade and handling Ven and Donis herself, but decided against it. The reason why she'd gotten into this was to prove she could handle whatever came her way. Well, something had come her way, and she'd crush it like everything else.
Suddenly Tarock's bladed bracelet was on her wrist. "Calamity! Thunder Lash!" The electric whip uncoiled from her wrist and she snapped it at the pair of Ven-copies standing over her, knocking them both off their feet and giving Tarock the time to get to her own.
"Time to go to work," Tarock whispered.
Queen charged her three opponents with her shoulder, taking a slash across her back as she went but managing to scatter the three of them and dash past. She turned and brandished her sword at her opponents, who recovered and ran to attack. But as they did Tarock rushed past the three Vens and brought them all down with a powerful swing of her Skycalibur across their backs. All went down and the one in the center was sent flying into thei air to disappear completely from the strength of Tarock's blow.
Suddenly Donis flew down from above and chopped Tarock on the shoulder, making her arm suddenly go numb and her sword drop from her hand. He lashed out at Queen to disarm her next. She didn't even move from the attack, and before Donis could get over his confusion Tarock went into a spin kick that crunched against his back.
Tarock looked at Queen, who looked back, and Tarock could see her own masked face in her mind's eye. Of course a numbing attack hadn't worked. Queen was made up completely of the power of Tarock's Card of Swords.
She didn't have long to dwell on it, Ven screaming as she ran forward and stabbing her Dark Gasher at Tarock's chest. Queen moved forward and parried the blade on her own. Tarock threw the hardest punch she possibly could with her good arm and connected with Ven's face. There was a crunch and Tarock was sure pieces had gone flying off.
Ven reeled back, clutching her mask, then rose off the ground and hovered far out of Tarock's reach. Her copies shot into the air as well, then two came diving at Tarock from different directions.
Tarock back-flipped out of their way alongside Queen who landed brandishing her sword. The air whistled as Donis swung the shaft of his bow at Tarock's head, but she ducked and it struck Queen across the shoulder's. That extra vision in Tarock's mind blurred again for a second and she had to grit her teeth and pour all of her concentration into holding onto that link. A second later Queen had stabilized but Ven's surviving clones were dive-bombing her all at once. Two plowed into Tarock, grabbing her by the arms and pushing her to the ground. The last Ven-copy landed feet-first on Tarock's chest and knocked the breath out of her.
Queen rushed to help Tarock but Donis jumped in her way, blocking her sword with his bow and pushing her away from Tarock as they dueled.
"Looks like you finally got me," Tarock said. "Guess my murder spree's coming to an early end. Oh wait, there wasn't one."
The true Ven drifted down and kicked Tarock in the head. "If you're so innocent, why were you hiding out in Mazones?" she demanded. "If you're so righteous why didn't you reveal yourself as a show of good faith? Show the Empress you meant her and her allies no harm?"
"Gee, maybe it's because all I did was wear this belt and killed a bunch of the same monsters they wanted dead too. For that, they sent assassins after me before I ever got anywhere near that place and before I did anything to them!" Tarock spat. She could feel her arm again, and knew she'd be able to fight back in just a second. "You know, you look a lot like one of them!"
"Shut up!" Ven barked, and one of her copies holding Tarock down punched her in the head. But that weakening of their hold on Tarock was all she needed to yank her arm free, grab the leg of the Ven-copy standing on top of her and tip her onto the real Ven. The Ven-copy who'd punched Tarock grabbed for her arm again only for Tarock to deliver a punch to her chest, knocking the Ven-copy away The last Ven-copy raised her Dark Gasher but Tarock grabbed the hand holding the weapon and headbutted her hard, knocking the dark-armored attacker down.
Tarock jumped, landed in a somersault near her fallen Skycalibur, grabbed it and in one fluid motion rolled to her feed with her blade pointed at Ven and her gang of copies. Meanwhile Queen knocked Donis back as his bow started to glow again. He laughed and took to the air, pulling back his hand and causing an arrow to appear.
"Goodbye, Tarock! You and your new friend!" Donis said as he hung safely out of reach and took aim.
Then suddenly Queen and Tarock both jumped high into the air, but nowhere near high enough to reach Donis before he fired. But without warning Tarock planted her foot on Queen's shoulder and jumped again, high enough to slam her fist into Donis's chest. He grunted in surprise and fell from the sky, landing in front of Ven and her copies.
Followed by his arrow.
The explosion ripped through the lot. It cleared after a few seconds, leaving a pair of dirt-smeared unarmored people on the ground in its wake, and Tarock let Queen fade away. "See? You said you couldn't lose, and you lost," Tarock said.
Then she turned and walked away from them.
"What…what are you doing?!" Nema screamed.
"Nothing," Tarock said. "The same thing I did to any of the Arcana unless they came after me first. Go back and tell your bosses about that."
She got on Shift Runner and roared away as fast as she could. Nobody would think Ven and Donis were on her side after what just happened, but with them showing up too she was afraid it hadn't gone unnoticed by the Mythos. If they learned about her fighting it out with Ven and Donis nearby, they might get nervous and decide to move Lost somewhere else. And if Tarock's hunch was right, she couldn't give them the chance.
The gate in the chain link fence around Marvel Land was padlocked closed, but Tarock rammed right through it on Shift Runner. No monsters were streaming of old buildings or maintenance tunnels to protect their treasure, but she didn't let that keep her from thinking she was in the right place. There was a distant but constant feeling of cold on her arm, confirming if nothing else the place was a Mythos nesting ground.
Well, not for long…
She kicked open the door to what faded paint around it indicated was probably some kind of jungle ride once. The coldness on her arm sharpened and she didn't have to look far to see why.
Hovering between two plaster statues of an elephant and a lion was the Warlock Mythos himself, the glow from the end of his staff intensifying as she came in.
"Good evening, Tarock," he said with mock cordialness. "How have you been?"
Next time on Kamen Rider Tarock, Re-Dealt…
Warlock: So eager to join us, are you, human?
(Tarock and the Warlock duel as monsters rush into the building)
Liss: I don't care if there's one of you or a million.
(Lost cowers in her cell, but Tarock kicks in the door)
Lost: Be careful Tarock, they're going to release…
(A formless black blob with countless tentacles and mouths slithers down the hallway toward Tarock and Lost)
Narrator: Your fate is in your hands.