Dr. X: Before we begin the chapter, I want to thank everyone who has voted for the winner. It was great to have so much support! Now, without further ado, it's time to see who wins!

Kamen Rider SideRide Chronicles: Oscura's Encore

Reality IV: Rider Manhunt

After the singing contest, everyone was seated at the dinner table set up in the middle of the lounge for their evening meal. Marcy was absent as she had locked herself in her room, too embarrassed to join them. She just could not face anyone right now and requested to have her meal taken to her room.

"Guess Marcy's still feeling too embarrassed about her performance," Luz commented, noting Marcy's absence.

"I don't see why. The girl was on fire! I probably would've gone for her if I hadn't met Vee. She kinda has the same vibe," said Masha.

"Watch it," Sasha warned.

"Yeesh, just saying."

"While we're on the subject," said Boscha, addressing the enby. "Why did the person you like appear to be a basilisk? And how do you even know what they look like?"

"Oh, that's because Vee is a basilisk," Masha confessed. "She's from your world, and she's Luz's adopted little sis."

Boscha's eyes widened upon hearing this news.

"W-W-Wait, WHAT?! That's not possible! Basilisks have been extinct for hundreds of years!"

"Whoa, really?" Masha blinked. "I didn't know that."

Luz sighed heavily. It was probably something Vee wanted to bring up on her own time, but Boscha just went and blurted that out.

"It's true, Masha. Basilisks like Vee have been extinct in the Demon Realm for a long, long time. The truth is, Vee was created, along with other basilisks, who were brought back to life by Belos so he could study their ability to drain magic for his draining spell," Luz explained. She had access to Belos' notes so she knew everything about the experiments. However, by the time Luz took the throne, the basilisks had escaped. "One of those basilisks attacked Glandus High, St. Epiderm and Hexside by posing as an inspector."

"I, unfortunately, still remember when that thing attacked Hexside," Boscha added, shivering as she hugged herself. "Everyone was running around in a panic, trying to escape that thing, but only ended up getting drained and rendered feeble. Until…"

"Until what?" Sasha asked. Boscha did not answer but she glanced at Luz for only a second.

"I stepped in," Luz interjected. "That basilisk kept feeding on magic from everyone: teachers and students, even the younger children. No one was safe. I managed to confront it, I even gave it a chance to release the magic it had eaten. But it refused…and I…"

Masha looked at Luz with an expectant gaze.

"And then what, Luz?"

"…I killed it," Luz answered, taking a deep breath. "The magic it stole was returned to everyone, thankfully. But I asked around to find out what it was, everyone kept telling me it was a basilisk, something that shouldn't be alive anymore. I dug deeper into it and went through Belos' notes. I eventually found the facility where he made them, but like I said, they all escaped. At least, the ones that were still alive."

"Wait, how many were there?" Masha inquired.

"We found a lot of cages. A lot of empty cages. Unfortunately, I know the horrible things that Belos did to them. He kept very detailed notes. So, Masha, now you know why Vee's so opposed to getting into any confrontation, why she's so timid. It's because she's been abused, tortured, and experimented on since the day she was created."

Masha's eyes widened, surprised. They had not known this but they remembered that Vee had told them that she had a rough past, she just never really talked about it. The enby had assured her that she could tell them whenever she was ready. Masha never could have imagined that their girlfriend had gone through such horrible treatment and that until she came to the Human Realm, all she knew was pain. Now all Masha wanted to do was bolt out of the Desire Temple, go to Vee's house, and hold her tight.

"So let me get this straight: For the last four years, that thing has been living under the same roof as Amity? A creature that feeds on magic? That's a natural predator to witches and demons? How can you let something so dangerous near Amity?!" Boscha demanded. "I knew you were doing something sick and twisted to her! Have you been using Amity to feed your little basilisk pet, Oscura?!"

"Hey!" Masha bolted out of their chair as they slammed their hands on the table. "That's my girlfriend you're talking about!"

"Basilisks are magic-eating monsters!" Boscha snapped back as she stood up as well. "How do we know it hasn't been feeding on Amity without any of you realising it?"

"Because I've been willingly feeding her a bit of my magic so she can maintain her disguise," Amity said, surprising Boscha. "I was surprised when I learned what Vee was, but I got to know her. She eats magic, sure, but she could never hurt a fly."

"And don't call my sister an 'it' or a 'pet'," Luz warned.

"'Sister'?" Boscha repeated, scoffing. "Of course, a monster like you would have another monster for a sister."

"Boscha, sit down, and shut up," Sasha ordered. "You're ruining the mood and it was nice until you tried to start something."

Boscha grumbled and muttered under her breath before sitting back down, prompting Masha to do the same.

"Does Vee know? Does she know that you killed one of her kind?" Masha asked.

"…No, I never told her," Luz answered, sighing. "…I guess I'm a little afraid of what she might think of me. I didn't hide a lot of what I did as Oscura from her, but…that was one thing I never told her about, because…I didn't want Vee to be afraid of me. To think that her big sister killed one of her kind."

Masha sighed heavily. There were still a lot of things they didn't know, a lot of the finer details that Luz still kept them in the dark about her past as Empress Oscura.

"Just tell me one thing, Luz: did you kill the others? The ones that escaped like Vee?" Masha asked.

"No, I didn't," Luz answered, shaking her head. "I didn't even have my Phantoms hunt them down. As long as they did not cause trouble, I left them alone."

"But basilisks still need to feed on magic, right?"

"Yeah, but the basilisk that attacked Hexside was feeding itself to make itself stronger and to get revenge on all the witches and demons on the Boiling Isles for what Belos did to it," Luz explained. "I did hear some people suffer from magical exhaustion, which I suspected was because of the basilisks but they never took more than they needed or completely drained anyone."

"Great, so we still have some monsters running around on the Boiling Isles," Boscha commented. "You're lucky we can't leave this place. The Isles have a right to know we have magic-eating monsters living amongst us."

"Well, I guess it's a good thing that you're stuck here with us," Luz replied, grinning, as Boscha glared at her. "Plus, it won't really matter in the end."

"And why's that?" Boscha challenged.

"Because your informing the Isles about the basilisks depends on you actually winning and retaining your memories of this entire conversation, Boscha. Which, if you lose, you'll just go back to doing whatever it was you were doing, none the wiser," Amity said with a smirk.

Boscha gritted her teeth. She hated that the losers would be returned to their normal lives with no memory of the Desire Grand Prix. That meant they could not bring their experience back with them.

'For the sake of Vee's kind, she definitely can't win,' thought Masha.

"Everyone, the votes have been counted," Tsumuri addressed the players, getting their attention. "So, I will announce the winner." Everyone turned to look at her, ready to hear the results. Amity, Luz and Masha were holding hands in anticipation. "And our winner is..." She tapped her tablet to open the holographic screen which displayed the name of the winner. "Luz Noceda!"

*CONGRATULATIONS!*

*LUZ NOCEDA*

As fireworks went off, Luz gasped when she saw her name onscreen and Amity immediately hugged her.

"Way to go, Luz!" Masha congratulated her future sister-in-law.

Sasha scowled and Boscha was livid.

"How is she the winner!?" Boscha demanded. "Her song wasn't even that good!"

"The audience has spoken," Tsumuri said as she revealed the final results of the poll on the screen.

Luz Noceda/Oscura: 36.4%

Marcy Wu/Newtonne: 27.3%

Masha DeLisle/Kurma: 25%

Amity Blight/Gato: 6.8%

Sasha Waybright/Soaron: 2.3%

Boscha Barbtalone/Red-Pan: 2.3%

Boscha could not believe what she was seeing. She had gotten last place. LAST PLACE! That was the loser spot!

As for Sasha, she could not believe she had tied for last place with Boscha. She then saw how high Marcy ranked and while she was jealous of her friend, she was happy for her to get second place.

Amity was a bit disappointed that she was not in the top three, but she was still happy for Luz.

"As the winner of the contest, you will be rewarded," Tsumuri said as she presented Luz with a Mission Box. "Congratulations."

Luz happily accepted the Mission Box and opened the lid to reveal its contents.

[Command Twin Buckle!]

It was the same Buckle that Sasha had used at the end of the Labyrinth Game and allowed her to defeat the Dungeon Raid Boss. Now Luz had another powerful item to add to her arsenal. Maybe she could use this instead of relying on her Oscura Buckle all the time.

"C'mon, Luz! Let's celebrate!" Masha urged. "Drinks all around!"

Sasha was able to coax Marcy out of her room so she could join in the celebration. Marcy already knew the results as she had been notified on her Spider Phone. So, she agreed to leave her room to join the festivities.

"Hey, Luz," Marcy greeted Luz who was celebrating with Amity and Masha. "Congratulations on winning the singing contest."

"Thanks," Luz gratefully said. "You didn't do too bad yourself."

"I know, I saw the poll results," Marcy blushed. "I didn't even think everyone would like my performance so much."

"Girl, what are you talking about?" Masha questioned. "You were on fire!"

"I didn't even know you could sing or dance like that," Luz admitted.

"It was something Sasha, Anne and I did when we were younger," Marcy confessed, rubbing the back of her head. "See, I hacked the PA system to play that song to start an impromptu dance party at school."

"No way!" Luz exclaimed. "Didn't you get in trouble for that?"

"Oh, Principal Murphy was very understanding," Marcy replied.

"Lucky you," Luz grumbled. Her principal had not been so tolerant of her antics. However, looking back, she knew she had gone too far by releasing snakes for her book report and a dance party was mild in comparison.

"You deserve this win, Luz. I think your story touched a lot of people. The DGP is your redemption arc and you have a lot of people rooting for you," Marcy said.

"Too bad for Sasha, though," Luz remarked.

"Yeah, she hates getting last place," Marcy admitted. "Honestly, I feel like Boscha's just dragging her down. We need to do something about her."

"What are you suggesting?" Amity asked.

"During the next elimination, can I count on you three to help me vote Boscha off?" Marcy requested.

As the players continued to celebrate, a holographic screen suddenly popped open and the Game Master's face appeared in it.

{Your elimination game has begun!} the Game Master informed them.

This surprised the players. They had not expected to have a mission so soon after the singing contest.

"Elimination game," Luz repeated. "Does that mean at the end of this mission, one of us will be voted off?"

{Exactly,} the Game Master confirmed.

"So, what's the mission?" Luz asked.

{You all will be going on a hunt, but not just any hunt, but a Rider Manhunt!} the Game Master informed them.

"A Rider Manhunt?" Amity repeated, wondering what he meant by that.

{Yes, and this is your target.} Another screen popped open, displaying a face that Luz, Masha and Amity did not expect to see. {His name is-}

"JACOB HOPKINS!?" Masha, Luz and Amity yelled in unison as they recognized the face on the screen.

There once was a man by the name of Jacob Hopkins. He was, how shall we say, obsessed with the paranormal. While he did not let it show in his daily life, he was an avid consumer of conspiracy theories. Unfortunately, this person had set his sights on the Noceda family.

Initially, they hadn't noticed his activities until a few months after Luz and Amity were permanently banished to the Human Realm. He set up traps around their property, snare traps to be exact. They mostly captured rabbits and other small critters. Camila had gone to the police to report this since someone was illegally setting up these traps around her home. Unfortunately, they couldn't turn up any evidence at the time. Of course, this made her angry since she was an animal lover and the thought that someone was skulking around or near their home when she had three teenage girls to look after also made her a little anxious.

It didn't start to get really worrying until Luz walked out one day and found a small hidden camera. Luz immediately informed her mother about it and called the police, again. Unfortunately, yet again, they couldn't do anything about it. Apparently, the person who set up the camera was careful. There were no fingerprints on it and the serial numbers on the cameras were filed down to ensure that they couldn't be traced to a store or buyer, online or otherwise.

It was weird to think they had a stalker. Luz didn't think she was stalker worthy, but then a thought occurred to her. What if the stalker was after Amity? She was beautiful, classy and definitely someone that a stalker would target. Amity hadn't been outside of the house that often but Luz wasn't about to start contemplating how the mind of a stalker worked.

The family of four started to routinely check the property for any more cameras or traps, believing the same trap setter was also the one planting the cameras. They did find a few, making sure to wear gloves when they did so that if there were fingerprints on them, they wouldn't get mixed with their own.

"Mamá is getting stressed out, and honestly, I am too. How long will it be before this creep manages to break into our house? He could put a camera in our rooms!" Luz exclaimed with disgust as she shivered and hugged herself. "I do not want some creep seeing me naked."

"And the last thing I need is for someone else to see me in my true form," Vee added in complete worry.

"Or me performing magic and my ears," Amity concurred.

"There's got to be some way of finding out who's been stalking us. What if this guy suddenly breaks into the house?!" Luz cried out.

"If…If they see me, then people will come after me…!" Vee started to hug herself, shivering with fear. "T-They'll take me away! I've seen the movies! T-They'll want to do experiments on me, cut me open! I'm not about to go back to that again!"

Luz pulled Vee into a hug and gently patted her adoptive sister's head as she cooed softly to soothe her.

"Shh, shh, it's okay, Vee. That's not going to happen. I promise I won't let anyone hurt you," Luz swore.

Amity smiled when she watched how protective Luz was of Vee. After hearing the young basilisk's story, it wasn't hard for them to sympathise and even become protective of Vee. She had been treated like an animal, a lesser being, for years. After escaping, she found someplace far away from the people who hurt her. But now that was in jeopardy thanks to some unknown stalker and, honestly, Amity's ability to live with Luz was in the same amount of peril. If this person managed to find out she was a witch and expose her, then it would bring no end of grief to Luz and Camila. She came to this world not just as a form of punishment for herself, but to also do what she could to help Luz to make up for not helping the human when she really needed it before she became Oscura.

"I think I might be able to find out who's stalking us, but it will require me to use some magic," Amity offered.

"Amity, you can't. If there are still cameras out there, then this creep could totally use them as evidence against you! He could expose you to everyone," Luz warned.

"So long as this person is creeping around this house, none of us are safe," Amity countered. "Not you, Vee, or Camila. I'm not about to let something bad happen to you all, not when I have the power to stop it."

And so, Amity used a combination of Oracle and Illusion magic to find their stalker. She did this under the cover of night, with Luz and Camila armed with a couple of baseball bats, and Vee watching from the upstairs window. Apparently, basilisks had very good night vision, so having her as a lookout helped.

After Amity finished conjuring an Illusion barrier around them, she used Oracle magic to 'rewind time', in a way. She glimpsed into the past and created images of the person who was setting up the traps and cameras. Amazingly, it worked. They were able to track the stalker's movements, watching as the image set up the cameras before they went off into the woods. They followed the image and saw that it was also setting up a trap, confirming that the trapper and stalker were one and the same. After getting a lock on his aura, Amity told the Nocedas that she could now cast a spell that would take them right to the stalker.

However, both Luz and Camila knew that even if Amity's spell led them to their stalker, they couldn't just accuse that person without proof and the stalker had been careful about leaving any evidence thus far. Additionally,' aura matching', as Amity called it, wasn't exactly admissible. They needed to catch him red-handed.

Jacob was working at his usual spot in the Gravesfield Historical Society as the manager and curator of the building. He casually sat behind the front desk, going through some articles on his cell phone as he awaited some visitors. Not like there were many. The majority of the people who came into the building were either tourists who were passing through, or kids doing a history project for school. Rarely did anyone walk in just because they felt like it. That all worked out just fine for him. The job offered a steady paycheck and as long as he kept the place clean while making sure that the displays and artefacts weren't disturbed, he could spend the rest of that time dedicated to his other hobbies. It wasn't like he didn't like working here either, he was somewhat of a history nerd but not in the way you might think.

The curator of the GHS decided to head to his private office. The inside of which was littered with books on demons and witches, with one wall that had many different bladed weapons mounted on it. There were newspaper clippings on a kind of 'murder wall' at the back of the room, depicting sightings of paranormal occurrences. One was related to Los Angeles as a strange pillar of light was sighted, and there was a photo of a large, four-legged, avian beast.

"I know your kind are here and I will find them," Jacob swore.

He turned to his desk where he had different monitors set up that were displaying different footage. All of them were linked to his cameras, with one showing the inside of a rundown house, and another one of a trail in the woods. One of them showed a house - the Noceda house. For the past few months, Jacob had been watching this place. Mostly since his run-in with the witch monster was around that area. Recently, he had taken an interest in the Noceda family.

Call it a hunch, intuition, but something about them seemed…off. Mostly in regards to the young teenage girl who resided in that house. Through some less-than-legal means, Jacob managed to find out the names of the occupants: Camila and Luz Noceda. He didn't think much of them until he noticed someone new had joined their household. Some brunette teen that he had never seen before. Jacob had seen his fair share of kids walking in and out of the Historical Society building over his career, but he hadn't seen someone like her before.

Then it finally happened! He saw them: two Luz Nocedas. He knew this couldn't be a coincidence. The registry he obtained (illegally) only listed one daughter to the Noceda family, no twins or any kind of siblings. That was when he concluded that one or all three were not what they seemed.

So Jacob decided to up his game by planting traps around the forest and family home, as well as installing hidden cameras. It did annoy him when they started to discover them. Thankfully, they only managed to find the decoys, while the more well-placed cameras were still in their hiding spots.

From his observations, the brunette girl rarely left the house, while Luz 1, the one who looked more meek, left the house for school and what-not while Luz 2, a somewhat depressed-looking version of Luz 1, stayed with the brunette.

He couldn't see inside, and he wished he could. That was the only place he hadn't been able to set up a camera and with at least one or two of them being present in the house at any given time, it made it hard for him to actually go out there and install the cameras.

Let it be made clear: Jacob was not some kind of perv, or so he claimed. He had no interest in the three girls. His only interest in them was proving that they were demonic witches in disguise, or that one of them was the real Luz Noceda, and she and her mother were being held hostage by the monsters. If that was the case, then he needed to save them. He just needed proof.

His chance came that day as he watched his monitors. He made note of when Mrs. Noceda left the house, and when Luz 1 left. That was when he saw Luz 2 and the brunette girl leave. That meant the entire house was empty. This was his chance to set up more cameras and collect evidence. He gathered up his spy equipment and quickly flipped the 'open' sign to 'closed' as he ran for his car and peeled out of the parking lot to head to the Noceda house.

By now, he had gotten this down to a science. He would take a dirt road, veering off the paved street so as to not attract attention. From there, he would walk into the forest and come up behind the house. Jacob had done this enough times to know where the visible and nonvisible areas were to avoid getting seen by any neighbours that might be in their homes.

The GHS manager got into the backyard where he proceeded to do…some unnecessary sneaking movements, and even hummed his own sneaking theme music as he did so. He hugged the wall of the house near the door but paused when he thought he heard movement. At the same time, held the note of his sneak theme.

He took a breath and went back to sneaking. Once at the backdoor, Jacob slipped on some plastic forensic booties, the same kind that crime scene investigators wore when collecting evidence. He also put on some surgical gloves, taking care to not leave any trace that someone had been in the house. After taking out a lock-picking kit, Jacob fiddled with the lock until he heard it click. Once inside, Jacob decided to not waste time and got to work.

He planted a small spy camera under the top shelf of the wall that faced the kitchen and table, which would provide him a wide view of the entire room. He also planted a microphone one under the table, and a second next on the bottom shelf.

He quickly moved on to the living room. Jacob planted about four cameras, and three listening devices in different areas. Once he was done, he moved to the master bedroom. It was here that he planted more listening devices in Mrs. Noceda's room, and some in her restroom.

Afterwards, he hurried upstairs. There was a full bathroom, so he decided to put a few in there as well. Again, he wasn't a perv, but if there was going to be any place in the house where a demon or witch might let their guard down, it was going to be in their own room or bathroom. Sometimes, you had to get your hands dirty if you wanted to protect the world. Once the waterproof cameras and microphones were set up, Jacob started his search for the room where Luz 1 and 2 slept.

Jacob opened one of the doors and found the room he was looking for. It could be that both Luzs slept in the same room, or that Luz 1 and Brunette Girl were sleeping in this room and were forcing Luz 2 to sleep in the basement.

'Animals,' he thought bitterly. He was about to plant the cameras, but that was when he heard something that nearly made his heart stop: the sound of the front door closing.

'SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!' he screamed in his mind.

Jacob wasn't sure if it was Mrs. Noceda or one of the girls, but his worries only increased when he heard footsteps coming from the staircase. In a panic, Jacob opened the closet and went inside, closing the door behind him. He cracked the door open ever so slightly to allow him to see what was going on outside.

Just as he feared, the footsteps were drawing closer, and that's when he saw, who he deemed, Luz 1. She was wearing her typical grey-blue hoodie with a yellow shirt and black pants. However, it seemed that the young girl was dirty, like she had gone swimming in a dumpster.

"Ugh, Zoe is becoming a real pain, but…I really don't want to have to fight her or anything…Not like I could," said Luz 1. Jacob watched carefully as Luz 1 threw her backpack onto the floor with a huff. "Guess I should get into the shower now, but first things first."

Jacob was about to shut his eyes but then started to hear strange noises. Keeping his eyes open, Jacob watched as Luz 1's body shifted and changed, morphing into a half-serpent and half-humanoid creature. After witnessing such a sight, he did the only logical thing any man would do in this situation...

"I KNEW IT!"

Yep, he burst out of the closet and pointed an accusatory finger at Luz 1, which naturally caused the poor girl to scream bloody murder.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Vee screamed as she bolted towards the bed. "WHO ARE YOU?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM?!"

"I knew this place was housing demons, but now I know for sure! All those months and weeks of surveillance and now I have the proof right in front of me!" Jacob exclaimed.

"Weeks? Months? Wait, are you the guy who's been stalking our family?!" Vee questioned.

"Heh, 'your' family. Please, I'm onto you demon scum! You took this poor family hostage! And that other girl is an accomplice, isn't she?! Probably another demon, or if I'm lucky, an actual witch!"

Vee glanced at the door to see if she could make it and escape. However, Jacob saw this and quickly reached into his backpack, pulling out a large, crooked knife and brandishing it before her. The basilisk immediately froze up as memories of her captivity started to rear their ugly head. She recalled how the Coven Scouts would threaten her with the Demon Realm version of a cattle prod and oftentimes spears, swords, and knives.

"Don't even think about escaping!" Jacob threatened Vee as he put down his backpack. He kept the knife pointed at her as he rummaged through it and brought out some rope. "Good thing I brought this, just in case."

Vee began noticeably shaking, her pupils dilating as she looked upon the rope and the knife together.

"P-P-Please don't! Please! J-Just leave me alone!" Vee begged as she dropped to the floor, curling up defensively.

"Ooh, don't try that little innocent act with me! I'm going to save the people of this house and the world!" Jacob proclaimed.

"HELP! PLEASE SOMEONE, HELP ME!" Vee yelled.

"Your witch friend isn't going to help you, monster!"

"VEEE!"

Just then, Jacob and Vee turned their heads towards the door where Luz now stood along with Amity. The Latina's expression was one of shock, but once she saw the man holding a knife and rope, her expression quickly shifted towards anger.

Jacob froze when he saw the glare the young teenage girl was shooting at him and, for some reason, that glare made his blood run cold. It was as if this young girl was oppressing his very soul with sheer willpower alone.

Perhaps he was wrong. Perhaps all the children in the house were demons. Why else would he feel fear from just one girl? Despite this, Jacob managed to harden his nerves as he confronted Luz and pointed the knife at her.

"Y-You don't scare me! I'm onto you!" Jacob yelled, attempting to sound brave, but there was a quiver in his voice. Amity squinted her eyes at the man for a moment before her eyes widened once she realised who he was.

"Luz! It's him!" Amity identified. "That's the guy who's been stalking the house!"

"Are you sure?" Luz asked.

"Absolutely."

Luz took a step forward, and Jacob instinctively took a step back, even though he was the one with the knife.

"You've got a lot of balls waltzing into my house and threatening my sister!" Luz growled.

"I-I won't be intimidated by you witches and demons! I know what you're here for!" Jacob stated.

"What?! What exactly do you think they're here to do, huh? What pathetic excuse do you have for stalking my family and threatening someone who's clearly scared to death?!" Luz demanded.

"I know that the witches and demons plan to invade Earth!" Jacob began to explain as he used his left hand to push up his glasses. "They've come here from their secret underground civilization on Mars, and seek to harvest the teeth of every human on Earth to power their time machines, in order to grant them supreme dominion over the past, present, and future of our galaxy! Well, I won't allow it! I won't let the human race be reduced to enamel cattle for your sick needs!"

Luz blinked.

Amity blinked.

Even Vee blinked.

It was very silent in the room for a long minute as the three girls processed the rant that came out of his mouth.

"…"

"…"

"…You're stupid, that whole rant was stupid and I feel like I just lost a couple of IQ points just listening to you," Luz remarked.

"Agreed," Amity and Vee concurred.

"Tch, like I care about the opinion of a demon, a witch, and a possible human collaborator!" Jacob snapped.

"Well, there is one thing you should care about," Luz informed.

"That is...?" Jacob challenged.

Luz made sure that Amity was behind her as she got into an aggressive stance. Jacob could tell the Latina was going to try and attack him, that much he was sure of. There was a small amount of hesitancy, considering that he was contemplating killing a child. But he just had to remember that they weren't humans. They were monsters, demons and witches who were hellbent on enslaving the human race, and he had to do whatever it took to stop them.

"If you mess with my family, then I'm gonna mess you up!" Luz declared.

Before Jacob could do anything, a purple aura surrounded the knife in his right hand and in the next second, it was violently yanked out of his hand before it was thrown into the ceiling, piercing it and keeping it out of his reach.

"What the-?!" While Jacob was gobsmacked, Luz took this opportunity to rush him. Despite losing his weapon, he was confident. Luz was only a fourteen-year-old girl, and he was an adult. There was no way a child could overpower an adult. Unfortunately, the grown man was about to find out the hard way that age and size were not always the determining factors in a fight.

Jacob cocked back his fist to punch out Luz, but the Latina easily weaved under his punch. He punched again, but Luz dodged it again. Jacob kept at it, punching wildly at Luz with no technique or anything close to being called skill. As far as Luz was concerned, compared to her fights with Belos, Alt Luz and Alt Anne, Jacob wasn't even a threat. She might've been more concerned had he kept the knife, but Amity made sure to even the playing field.

Deciding to stop indulging him, Luz weaved under another of his punches and swiftly struck him in the gut with her elbow, driving as deep into his gut as she could. The older man released a loud cough in pain, but Luz wasn't done yet.

When Jacob hunched over, that brought his face in range for a swift spinning backhand from Luz, sending him stumbling backwards until he hit the bookcase behind him. Luz pressed the attack as she cocked back her left fist and drove it into his stomach, but then followed it up with an uppercut right into his chin. Luz took a step back, drew back her right foot, and drove it – tip first – straight up into Jacob's manhood.

A high-pitched squeal of pain suddenly rang out through the house as Jacob collapsed to his knees, cupping his crotch. Unfortunately, that only brought him closer to Luz's fists. The Latina punched him across the face with her left, and again with the right. She began rolling with her punches, using the momentum from each movement to knock Jacob's head around like a punching bag. Her eyes were narrowed, and her teeth clenched as she kept up the assault, continuously wailing on Jacob as teeth flew from his mouth and blood splattered the floor. Jacob was about to collapse, but Luz grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and glared daggers into the one good eye that still remained open.

"You dare come into my home, stalk my family, and threaten my sister!" Luz drew back her right hand and slapped the man across the face. "You seriously do not know who you've fucked with!" Luz raised her right fist and delivered a hammer blow to the top of his head, letting go of his collar as she allowed Jacob to fall onto the floor. Luz spotted a baseball bat out of the corner of her eye and went to pick it up. Walking back to Jacob, she raised the bat over her head, ready to finish the man off for his transgression against her family. "I'm going to make sure you can't hurt anyone ever again!"

"LUZ, STOP!"

Amity quickly rushed towards Luz, hooking her arms under Luz's as she quickly pulled her back and away from Jacob.

"LET ME GO, AMITY!" Luz barked. "LET ME GO!"

"IT'S OVER! HE CAN'T FIGHT BACK ANYMORE! HE'S UNCONSCIOUS!" Amity argued.

"HE THREATENED VEE WITH A KNIFE! HE THREATENED ALL OF US! HE WAS GOING TO KILL US! IT'S NO LESS THAN HE DESERVES!"

"DON'T BECOME HER!"

Luz stopped her struggling when she heard Amity say that.

"Don't…Don't give in. Please, don't become her again," Amity pleaded. "You've won, he's knocked out."

Luz's red-tinted vision finally dissipated as she looked down and really took in what she had done to Jacob. His face was bruised and swollen, one of his eyes was swollen shut, and she had broken his nose. She also saw some of his teeth lying on the floor. Her grip on the bat loosened and it dropped to the floor.

"Did…Did I do that…?" Luz questioned.

"…Yes," Amity answered.

Luz looked at her hands as they hurt like hell and saw there was blood on her knuckles. She couldn't tell how much of it came from the scrapes and cuts on her hands and how much came from Jacob when she was punching him repeatedly. Her hands began to tremble, and not long after, her whole body shuddered as she began to cry. She had almost taken someone's life, just like she did, just like Oscura.

Vee managed to snap out of her fear curl and took in what happened. She saw Jacob lying unconscious after the beating Luz had given him. She also saw Luz trembling as Amity lowered her to the floor. The Latina turned around and cried into Amity's chest as the witch girl held her tight.

"Vee, call the police. Tell them to hurry and to send an ambulance," said Amity.

"B-But, Luz…" Vee stammered, shocked by the sight before her.

"Vee, listen to me!" Amity ordered. "I know you're scared, but right now, we have to take care of this. Don't forget to call Camila afterwards."

Vee nodded and reached into her backpack to call up the police, all while Amity continued to hold Luz as she stroked the top of her head soothingly.

What followed next was a whirlwind of activity. The police and Camila rushed to their house. Before they arrived, Vee hid away in the attic along with Amity. Amity hated leaving Luz alone, but the witch had not yet been registered as part of the Noceda family, nor had she been registered with Gravesfield High. Luckily, Camila made it and was able to stay with Luz while the EMT picked up Jacob's unconscious body, and took him away with a police escort to formally arrest him once he regained consciousness.

Luz gave her account of what happened. Thankfully, she managed to retain enough sense to ask Vee what happened at school that sent her home earlier than usual. With that information, she was able to convince the police of her whereabouts. Although, they were surprised by how she was able to subdue a grown man like Jacob. Not that he looked bulky or anything, but Luz was scrawny by comparison. Again, she lied and told them she had taken self-defence courses at the camp. A girl could never be too careful.

When Jacob regained consciousness, he began spewing his tirade about demons and witches and accusing Luz of being one. He also ranted about the Noceda family harbouring a demon and a witch. Of course, that went about as well as you'd think it would. The police raided his workplace and found numerous demonology books, newspaper clippings, weapons, and surveillance cameras. That, along with the footage they collected, allowed the police to locate the rest of the hidden cameras, listening devices, and the last of the traps. With all this evidence, plus the fact that he was in Luz's room, with a rope and knife, it was more than enough to convict Jacob Hopkins and put him away.

Now, the man was sitting in a prison cell. Jacob wasn't completely stupid. He knew that his time behind bars wouldn't be long. He had seen enough TV shows to know that convicts in prison didn't particularly like child molesters. And while he hadn't done anything like that, once the rest of the inmates heard what he had allegedly done, it would be enough for these guys to possibly hang him in his cell. Plus, there was no doubt that word had gotten around that he was beaten up by the very same girl he had gone to kidnap. That much labelled him as a weakling and therefore, someone that anyone in the jail could do with however they pleased.

"Dammit…Dammit…Dammit!" Jacob cursed. "I was set up! I saw what I saw! Those demon and witch-loving bitches! No, this town is corrupt, too! They're under some kind of spell! All they have to do is look in that house! They're there! I know it! I didn't 'imagine' or 'hallucinate' them!" Jacob slammed his fists against the wall of his cell. No one would believe him, not a single person. He was trying to save them, but it seemed that the entire town was either in on it or just thought he was crazy. Unfortunately, he didn't get to install the cameras in that room, nor had he caught either the snake demon or the witch performing magic. "If only I had got the camera up, then they'd believe me! But now…now the human race is doomed…"

"Jacob Hopkins."

"WHAAA!" Jacob yelped as he swiftly turned around and saw an Asian woman in a black and white dress standing in his cell. "Who are you?!"

"My name is Tsumuri, and I am here to grant you entry in the Desire Grand Prix," said Tsumuri in an unenthused tone.

Jacob looked around the cell. The door was still locked, and there was no other way inside the cell except for that one door.

"Oh, no! You're with the demons and witches, aren't you?! You're here to silence me! Well, I won't go down without a fight!" Jacob rushed Tsumuri, but the DGP navigator quickly tossed the box she was holding into the air, grabbed his arm, and proceeded to Judo flip him until the man was slammed onto his back and was now staring directly up at the ceiling. Tsumuri held out her left hand, and the box she had thrown into the air landed perfectly in her palm.

"Mr. Hopkins, please refrain from any further acts of violence towards me or else I will revoke your status," Tsumuri warned.

"W-What…W-Why are you here?"

"I am here to inform you of your selection into the Desire Grand Prix, a game in which you will compete against other players as a Kamen Rider. You will fight in several games that will determine the winner, who is to be crowned the God of Desire and granted the reward of a wish that will create your ideal world. Whatever it may be," she explained.

"You guys seriously made him a Rider!?" Luz questioned in disbelief.

{Indeed, we did. It was about four years ago when we originally selected him to join the Desire Grand Prix. However, he was disqualified for using his powers outside of a sanctioned round.}

"Let me guess, the first thing he decided to do after you gave him Rider powers was to come after me and my family," Luz deadpanned. "And yet, even after that, you decided to make him a Rider again."

{Of course, but merely as your target for the Rider Manhunt. After this, he will be returned to where he belongs, with no memory of this.}

Luz still did not like this, but the last thing she heard about Jacob was that he was locked up in a prison that was far from Gravesfield.

"Wait, you all know this guy?" Sasha asked the Gravesfield trio.

"Guy's a creep who used to work at the Gravesfield Historical Society and claims to be a witch hunter," Luz answered. Jacob had brought out the worst in her. If Amity had not talked her out of it, she would have crossed the line all over again.

"A witch hunter?" Boscha raised an eyebrow. "That's a thing in the Human Realm?"

"Centuries ago, the practice of witch hunting started because people were paranoid about the supernatural. Anyone that was even suspected of practising witchcraft was trialled and then punished," Marcy grimaced. "That was an ugly period in our history."

"And back then, someone like me would have been labelled as a witch," Masha added with pure disgust. "Nowadays, people calling themselves witch hunters are just nutcases and this nutcase went after my girlfriend." Vee had told them everything that happened after Jacob was arrested. If they had been there, well, if Luz had not beaten Jacob up, they would have.

"Oh, so he tried to hunt down the basilisk? Not really seeing a problem so far with this witch hunter," said Boscha with a grin. Masha clenched their fist, sorely tempted to punch Boscha in the face for that remark.

Amity heard Boscha's snide remark and quickly responded in anger, "That same nutcase broke into Luz's house, and pulled a knife on Vee. He would've used it to kill me and her, but Luz managed to overpower him and beat him up, saving my life and her sister's."

"Wait, what?! That human was going to kill you?!" Boscha exclaimed, suddenly changing her tune. "Oh, that's it! His ass is mine!"

{Now, allow me to explain the rules:}

{Rule #1: You must capture the fugitive before sunrise. This is done by claiming their ID Core. Killing the fugitive is permitted as well.}

{Rule #2: You must select and use only one Raise Buckle for the Hunt. Switching Buckles in the middle of the mission is prohibited.}

{Rule #3: Players may not exchange Buckles in the middle of the Mission.}

{Breaking rules #2 and #3 will result in immediate disqualification.}

"Now, Mission Start!" Tsumuri announced.

Luz found herself standing on the side of the road in her DGP uniform. Even though she could not see them, she knew that those flying cameras were watching her. For this game, she was only allowed to carry one Raise Buckle with her and she had already chosen the one that would allow her to win. If she won, she would win immunity, which would keep her safe during the voting round.

"Alright, where are you, you son of a bitch?" Luz muttered as she took out her Spider Phone and turned on the locator app. She saw the symbols of the other Riders scattered across the map and they were on the move but her eyes focused on an ID Core symbol she had never seen before, one that resembled a donkey. "Gotcha."

Just as she was about to go after Jacob, several figures appeared to stand in her way. They were Pawn-type Jyamatos who were dressed like cops. She grimaced. Of course, the Jyamatos would be here to get in her way.

"Fine then." Luz cracked her knuckles. "Showtime, assholes."

Jacob Hopkins could not believe his lucky stars. His prayers had been answered and he regained the power that had been taken from him. Even better, he had a chance to wish for his ideal world. All he had to do was survive and not get caught by the other players until sunrise, and he would earn a spot in the DGP.

After regaining his memories and his Desire Driver, he broke out of prison. Then, with his powers, he managed to put some distance between himself and the authorities. Unlike the last time he was in the DGP, he was not given one of those weak and generic small Raise Buckles. What he got instead was a major power-up and he would use them to get what he wanted.

He still had important work to do and since he was not an official player yet, it was the best time to take care of some unfinished business. He was heading to Gravesfield, to the Noceda house, where he knew that demon was hiding.

As he followed the road towards Gravesfield, he stopped when he spotted a figure approaching him. When they stepped under the street light, he saw that it was a girl with blonde hair and dressed in a familiar uniform.

"You're Jacob Hopkins, right?" Sasha asked as she checked her Spider Phone. She had followed the signal and found him.

"Who wants to know?" Jacob challenged.

"The girl who's gonna haul your ass back to prison! Henshin!"

[Set!]

[MONSTER! READY, FIGHT!]

Jacob's frown turned into a grin. This would be the perfect test for his new power.

[Set Fever!]

Soaron paused when she saw Jacob put on both a Boost Buckle and FeverSlot Buckle into his Desire Driver.

"Son of a..."

"Henshin!"

[GOLDEN FEVER! JACKPOT! HIT! GOLDEN FEVER!]

Jacob had just transformed using the Boost Buckle and FeverSlot Buckle and was able to get a matching set for his Boost Fever Form. Soaron also saw his helmet. The Rider Head had a yellow visor and a snout with large nostrils. Atop the Rider Head was a pair of long ears. He really did look like a stupid donkey. No wonder his name was...

"I am the Hero of Justice who will protect humanity from the monsters that hide among us!" he declared dramatically, pointing at Sasha. "And my name is Kamen Rider Jack-S!"

"Yeah, you definitely are, "Soaron agreed. Whoever came up with Jacob's Rider designation, probably did it to make a joke at the man's expense.

This was a bad matchup since the Boost Buckle was already powerful and she was forced to only use one Buckle for this mission. Why didn't she choose the Command Twin Buckle? Oh, because it technically counted as two Buckles. No, she would not let this disadvantage stop her. She was Sasha Elizabeth Waybright and she was going to win!

Soaron broke into a run and charged at Jack-S, her Monster Gloves shining as she went to deliver a punch. At the last minute, Jack-S sidestepped the punch and she smashed her fist into the ground. Whirling around, she delivered a backhand swing but Jack-S jumped back from the blow. Soaron continued her attack, throwing rapid-fire punches at Jack-S who easily dodged her blows.

"Stand! Still! You! Asshole!"Soaron yelled as she tried to hit him but he kept dodging her attacks. He jumped away from another punch before landing a distance away from her.

"Sorry, but I am on a holy mission!"Jack-S retorted as he cocked back his fist, and then the exhaust flames burst from his gauntlets and boots. He rocketed straight towards Soaron and she put her gauntlets in front of her to block the attack. His fist connected with an explosive force, sending her sliding backwards.

"Hah! Is that all you-!"

[BOOSTRIKER!]

Jack-S mounted the Boostriker and took off, leaving Soaron in the dust.

"Dang it!" Soaron cursed and she took out her Spider Phone. She contacted Boscha first. "Boscha, I found him. Yeah, but he got away. Be on the lookout 'coz he's got wheels." She then switched to calling Marcy next."Hey, Mar-Mar. Yeah, I ran into him. He's on a bike too so you need to take out his wheels if you wanna get him."

She ended the call with a scowl. She hated losing but by alerting Boscha and Marcy, they could at least take out Jack-S. Even if she did not win, she'd rather have one of her allies win instead. She would not let Noceda steal the win again.

Jack-S laughed as he managed to get away from Soaron. However, now he was worried. Since he was in the middle of a DGP round, that meant there would be more Riders gunning for him. Nevertheless, he felt confident with his chances. With the Boost and FeverSlot Buckles, he was unbeatable.

As he continued to race along the road, his wheels suddenly got stuck as he drove over a mud puddle. His wheels spun, splashing him in mud which had a strange purple hue.

"What is this stuff?" Jack-S wondered.

"Abomination, attack!"

The puddle of mud came to life as arms burst out and grabbed hold of him. He screamed as he was tossed off his vehicle and sent tumbling on the road. Grunting, he rose up and then felt himself being tied up by a hoop of purple slime that hardened around him.

"Hey, what's going on!?" Jack-S shouted as he struggled to free himself but then he saw another Rider approach him. It was Kamen Rider Gato in her Abomination Armour.

"Target captured," Gato said as she stepped towards him. The win condition for the mission was to capture Jack-S and retrieve his ID Core. He tried to run but stepped into a puddle of Abomination goo which he got stuck in. "You can't run, Hopkins. Now, just surrender."

"No!" Jack-S protested. "I won't lose my wish! Not again!"

Just as Gato was about to reach him, a group of six Jyamatos dressed as SWAT officers with riot shields appeared. They brandished clubs and glared at her. Jack-S panicked when he saw the Jyamatos as he was unable to fight.

"Jyamatos!? Get out of my way!" Gato yelled.

The SWAT Jyamatos charged at Gato who gathered Abomination slime around her fists which she reshaped into spiked balls. They came at her and she swung, hitting a Jyamato in the face. She delivered another punch but her fist connected with a shield before she was bashed from the right, knocking her to the ground.

Meanwhile, Jack-S was trying to break out of the slime hoop that restrained him but then it seemed to melt off him. His feet also came unstuck. It would appear that Gato could not maintain her restraints while she was busy with the SWAT Jyamatos. He quickly collected his bike and pulled it out of the slime puddle before he mounted it and sped off.

"Hey!" Gato shouted when she saw Jack-S speed past her. "Get back here!" She knocked a Jyamato away with an Abomination fist and pointed her nozzles at Jack-S. She fired two streams of Abomination slime at him and they formed hands to grab him. Unfortunately, he quickly sped out of range and she failed to catch him. "Damn it! Gah!" A Jyamato hit her in the back of the head with its club as she turned to glare at them, her eyes glowing purple.

The Jyamato froze up, frightened as Gato's body radiated with a purple aura. The slime flowed towards her, gathering around her as they took on humanoid shapes.

"Abominations, kill," Gato commanded.

The Abominations roared and charged at the SWAT Jyamatos who charged right back.

Newtonne was standing atop the roof of the Gravesfield Historical Society and she was not alone. Standing beside her was Red-Pan who cracked her knuckles. The triclops had gotten back her Boost Buckle from Sasha for this game and it was only a coincidence that the Taiwanese teen ended up in the same location as she.

"I'm going to make this 'witch hunter' pay for threatening my Amity! If he's so determined to hunt a witch, then I'll show him just how powerful a witch can be!" Red-Pan declared, seething with anger for Jacob's apparent attempt at Amity's life, and righteous fury for all of witchkind.

Newtonne frowned, remembering Oliver's words. If she won, then she could get immunity and get Red-Pan voted off. Luz, Amity and Masha would no doubt want to get rid of the three-eyed witch and with four votes against her, Red-Pan would be going home. However, Newtonne should not count her chickens before they hatched. Right now, she had to focus on catching Jacob.

She got down on one knee and turned her Magnum Shooter into its Rifle Mode before looking through the scope. Narrowing her eyes, she soon spotted Jack-S entering the town.

"Gotcha," Newtonne pulled the trigger.

[TACTICAL SHOOT!]

The beam hit Jack-S in the side, knocking him off his bike. As he was thrown off his bike, the Bootstriker fell on its side and made a screeching noise as it slid across the ground before coming to a stop.

"Damn it..." Jack-S groaned as he felt his aching side. What just hit him?

Suddenly, Red-Pan dashed towards him and grabbed him by his neck before tossing him into the air. She then jumped up and pummelled him with a flurry of punches, fire bursting from the exhaust of her gauntlets. Jack-S cried out as he was beaten before she sent him crashing back to the ground. A crater formed on impact and Red-Pan dropped down on him to deliver a crushing blow. Jack-S yelped and rolled out of the way before her fist met his face. As she rose up, she was about to come after him when she was hit in the shoulder.

"Argh!" Red-Pan cried out and she whirled around to glare at Newtonne who was perched on the GHS' rooftop. "Watch where you're shooting!"

"Sorry!" Newtonne apologised. "It was an accident!"

Jack-S quickly used this chance to launch a counterattack and threw a punch at Red-Pan but she avoided the attack before she drove her fist into his stomach. She then punched him in the chest and face before grabbing his head and driving her knee into his face, pushing the face up as he recoiled. He grunted as he staggered on his feet.

"Hey, I heard you're some wannabe witch hunter, "Red-Pan mocked.

"I am a real witch hunter!" Jack-S snapped defensively.

"Well, then try and hunt me, hunter!" Red-Pan taunted. She drew two spell circles which caused her fists to ignite.

"You...you're a witch!? They actually let witches join the DGP!?" Jack-S yelled in disbelief.

"They let scum like you join, didn't they?" Red-Pan retorted.

Jack-S angrily yelled and charged at Red-Pan, throwing sloppy punches at her. She countered with flaming punches of her own, knocking him around before sending him sprawling with an uppercut. Jack-S groaned as he lay on the ground and Red-Pan put out the flames around her fists.

"I can't believe you got away from Sasha," Red-Pan remarked. "Probably just a fluke." As she approached him, she was suddenly hit by a rocket. The explosion violently knocked her away from Jack-S, sending her tumbling roughly on the ground.

"What the-?" Newtonne looked through her scope and spotted a group of five Jyamatos that were dressed as soldiers and one of them was holding a smoking bazooka. "Boscha, we've got Jyamatos!"

"Yeah, I can see that," Red-Pan grunted, feeling lucky that her transformation had not been cancelled by the rocket. She angrily glared at the Soldier Jyamatos as the one with the bazooka reloaded his weapon and aimed it at her. "Oh, no you don't!" She drew a huge spell circle and shot a large fireball at the bazooka-wielding Jyamato. It let out a scream as it was set on fire while its comrades tried to put it out.

Red-Pan got on her feet and charged at the Soldier Jyamatos who quickly fired on her with their sidearms. The bullets bounced off her armour and she yelled as she punched one of them in the face before kicking another in the stomach. She grabbed the last two by their heads and knocked them together.

As Red-Pan fought the Jyamatos, Newtonne fired upon them like a sniper, hitting them in the heads, and dropping them like flies. She then looked around for Jack-S and saw him crawling to his bike. He got up and put the vehicle back on its wheels. She had a clear shot and could take him out right now but then she heard an explosion go off. She turned her gaze to look at Red-Pan who lay on the ground, her armour covered in soot. The Jyamatos all had grenades and were going to throw them at her.

Newtonne gritted her teeth. She did not like Boscha but that did not mean she wanted her dead.

[MAGNUM!]

She attached the Magnum Buckle to her Magnum Shooter and activated it.

[TACTICAL BLAST!]

Explosive rounds fired rapidly from her weapon, hitting the Soldier Jyamatos and blowing them up. She then jumped off her perch and ran over to Red-Pan to help her up.

"Are you OK?" Newtonne asked.

"No," Red-Pan grunted as she pulled her arm away from Newtonne. "Where's the target?"

Newtonne and Red-Pan looked around. Jack-S had escaped.

"Come on, he can't get far," Red-Pan ordered as she summoned her own Boostriker but before she could mount it, more Soldier Jyamatos appeared. "Are you serious!?"

"Looks like these guys are not gonna make this easy for us," Newtonne remarked.

"Whatever, they're dead meat for getting in my way," Red-Pan growled.

[DARKNESS! TACTICAL SLASH!]

Oscura charged at the Cop Jyamatos and slashed them with her DesWizarSwordGun as she ran past them. Finally, she stopped with her back turned to them before they collapsed and exploded.

"Alright." Oscara shouldered her sword and checked her Spider Phone. She turned on the map app and saw that Jacob had entered Gravesfield. Her six shadow wings spread behind her and she took off.

She knew where he was headed and needed to catch him before it was too late.

After accepting the Desire Driver and ID Core from the mysterious woman, Jacob found himself standing on a floating platform with dozens of people from all walks of life. He was informed that the Desire Grand Prix was a tournament and the prize for the winner would be their greatest desire, a wish to create their ideal world. With such a prize being offered, Jacob immediately accepted and wrote his wish down on the Desire Card.

As soon as he wrote his wish down, he and the other players were transported to a field and given their Raise Buckles. This was the first mission and it was simple: eliminate the Jyamatos.

"So, gotta kill some monsters, huh?" Jacob grinned eagerly as he adjusted his glasses. "I was born for this!" He took out his Hammer Buckle and inserted it into his Driver.

[Set!]

"Henshin!"

[Armed Hammer! Ready, Fight!]

Once his armour formed, Jacob was ecstatic. He was a real Kamen Rider!

After joining the Desire Grand Prix, Jacob Hopkins somehow found himself released but on probation. It was better than rotting behind bars. Now, he could resume his crusade on the demons and witches that threatened his town with the powers of a Kamen Rider.

He could not believe it, his prayers had been answered as he had been given the power to be a real hero. Once he won the Desire Grand Prix, the world would soon know his name and he would be respected, worshipped and revered. But first, he needed to deal with some unfinished business.

He approached the Noceda home, his Desire Driver strapped around his waist. He took out his Hammer Buckle and inserted it into his Driver.

[Set!]

"You demons and witches will face justice at the hands of a Kamen Rider!" Jacob declared, pointing at the house. "Hen-!"

All of a sudden, he felt a zap in the back of his neck and everything went dark.

Jacob did not remember what happened after he was knocked out. All he remembered was being back in his cell, with no memory of the Desire Grand Prix. He must have broken the rules, which caused him to be disqualified. But how could they do that to him? He was only going to kill some monsters.

Riding the Boostriker, Jack-S managed to escape those other Riders thanks to the Jyamatos providing a distraction. With the Boostriker, he was able to cover a lot of distance. And thanks to both the FeverSlot and Boost Buckles, he was able to take on all those Riders. He was never this lucky during his time in the DGP. He remembered other Riders getting either one or the other of these two buckles, but here he was with both in his possession.

'My luck's finally changing! Now I can use my powers to do what I wanted to all those years ago! Today is the day I kill that demon scum!'

He was almost at the house when, all of a sudden, multiple explosions went off around him, causing him to swerve on his Boostriker as he tried to evade them. However, that proved to be impossible as the explosions seemed to be popping up out of nowhere. Finally, one massive explosion went off right in front of him with enough force to throw him off his motorcycle. The Boostriker landed in a heap of twisted metal off on the other side of the road, while Jack-S landed on the asphalt.

As he got back to his feet, Jack-S watched as a figure appeared in the raging flames. A black silhouette was all he saw until the figure swiped their right hand to the side and instantly snuffed out the raging flames. That figure revealed themselves to be Kamen Rider Oscura, her visor glowing bright violet as she stared down at the man who dared to threaten her sister's life, again.

"Ugh! How did one of you catch up to me?!" Jack-S demanded.

"Magic, jackass, but that shouldn't be your concern," Oscura stated. "I won't let you hurt my sister."

"Sister…? Who the hell are you talking about? I'm going back to kill a monster! That's what Riders are supposed to do, right?! Kill monsters! Who are you even?!"

Oscura stopped walking and tilted her head to the side, an action that made Jack-S shiver.

"Oh, yeah, you probably don't recognize me because of the suit, but I'm that girl from four years ago who nearly beat you to death."

Jack-S's eyes widened behind his helmet as he began to take a few shuddering steps back.

"W-W-WHAT?! No, you?! And you're a Rider too?!"

"That's right. This is actually my second tour in the DGP and you're looking at last season's winner. And now…I'm going to make sure you can't hurt anyone ever again!"

Jack-S kept backing up, utterly terrified. Now that he thought about it, this feeling was very familiar to him. It was just an amplified version due to that same girl gaining Rider powers. He stopped backing away. Jack-S's fists began to clench as he resolved not to retreat.

All those Riders only had one Raise Buckle, and it was the same for the Noceda girl. He was equipped with two of the most sought-after and powerful Raise Buckles in the DGP. And with this Fever Boost Form, he was faster and stronger than any of them. What did he have to fear from this girl?

Nothing, that's what.

"I'll admit, you caught me off guard four years ago. Never imagined a fourteen-year-old girl could be that vicious, but I guess that's what happens when you're beholden to demon scum! Well, it doesn't matter! Because whatever dark deals you made with those creatures, I won't be–!"

Jack-S stopped talking the moment Oscura appeared in front of him and grabbed his face.

"Do me a favour and shut the hell up."

With speed and power that Jack-S did not expect, Oscura slammed him, head first, straight into the ground. A huge plume of dust exploded around them as asphalt and chunks of dirt went flying into the air upon impact. Fissures formed along the road and into the ground beyond it as even the trees shook from her swift and powerful attack. When the dust settled, Jack-S found himself lying on his back, stunned as he stared up at the Rider of Darkness.

"Dark Root, Now!"

Suddenly, black vines sprouted out of the dirt and wrapped around his wrists and ankles before going taut and anchoring him to the ground. Oscura held out her right hand as a magic circle appeared and allowed her to pull out her weapon.

[DesWizarSwordGun!]

'He's the one who wanted to kill your sister, he was going to kill you and Amity…'

Oscura pressed the muzzle of the DesWizarSwordGun against Jack-S's midsection before pulling the trigger repeatedly. Sparks flew from Jack-S's armour as the man cried out in pain from getting shot at point-blank range again and again and again. Although the armour absorbed the damage, he still felt pain from each shot he took.

'Don't let up. Do not give him any chance to hurt what's ours…!'

Oscura switched the weapon into its Sword Mode and began slashing at Jack-S mercilessly, causing more sparks to fly off his armour as she took care not to slash at the vines that kept him anchored to the ground. Oscura did a cartwheel over him, and while in the air, she kept up her assault, creating streaks of violet light with each swipe.

'The Game Master said dead or alive. We can drag him back kicking or screaming…or not breathing at all…!'

"Explosion, Now."

Oscura jumped out of the small crater she made and within seconds, another of her magical explosions erupted. This time that explosion happened right underneath Jack-S, incinerating the vines as it sent him flying out of the hole and back onto the streets. The moment he hit the asphalt, his Rider form disengaged and Jack-S was back in his civilian form.

Jacob felt a great amount of pain surging through his entire body, but he had to get up and fight. He had to save the world. He looked down at his Desire Driver, and noticed that the FeverSlot and Boost Buckles were missing. Jacob frantically looked around for his Raise Buckles and saw that the FeverSlot was glinting in the far distance, while the Boost was just a couple of feet away.

'If I can just…!'

As Jacob began to crawl towards his Boost Buckle, Oscura stopped him by throwing her DesWizarSwordGun like a javelin. It landed, blade-first, as it stabbed the ground ten inches from Jacob's hand. The fugitive retracted his hand as he flipped onto his back and watched as the Rider of Darkness slowly walked up to him.

'This is it! Don't show any mercy! Every time we show mercy, they never choose it! So, let's just take the choice from them!'

Oscura's right hand was engulfed in black flames as she held it out and pointed it at Jacob.

"WAIT! PLEASE! WE'RE HUMANS! WE'RE RIDERS! HEROES! WE KILL MONSTERS AND PROTECT HUMANS! I KNOW THERE'S STILL A HUMAN BEING IN THERE!" Jacob pleaded.

"YOU POINTED A KNIFE AT ME, MY GIRLFRIEND, AND MY SISTER! YOU DON'T DESERVE TO CALL YOURSELF A HERO!"

'Kill him! He's a threat to you and what's yours! Kill him! Kill him! Kill him! KILL HIM!'

Oscura readied to cast the spell to end this man's life. However, before she could, a memory flashed through her mind. This entire scene felt far too familiar. That was when Oscura's eyes widened. Jacob Hopkins was gone and was replaced by the pleading witch known as Adrian Grey, the former Head of the Illusion Coven. A man whom she had rendered powerless and weak. He was no longer a threat but, in spite of that, she still killed him in cold blood. She had burned him to death and left him to flail about until the flames turned his body into ash.

"No…"

The Rider of Darkness's hand shook, the flames going out.

'Do not hesitate!'

"No…!"

'KILL HIM! NOW!'

"NOOOOO!"

Oscura forcefully disengaged her Rider Form as she dropped to her knees and held her head, breathing heavily with eyes wide and shaking.

"I…I'm not you! I'm not! I'M NOT!"

Jacob had no idea what was going on with Luz, but perhaps his theory of the girl being possessed or manipulated by witches was not too far off after all. Whatever the case may be, when she reverted to her civilian form, the sword had disappeared, allowing Jacob to crawl the rest of the way to the Boost Buckle. Not wasting a second, he quickly grabbed it and inserted it into his Driver.

[Set!]

"Henshin!"

[BOOST! READY, FIGHT!]

Within seconds, Jack-S was back in his Boost Armour, reinvigorated by its power. Jack-S walked back to Luz, finding the girl still in the middle of whatever mental breakdown she was having.

"Looks like those monsters messed you up good, kid. I'm sorry I couldn't save you all those years ago, but I'll do the next best thing for you, and put you out of your misery."

Jack-S cocked back his right fist as the exhaust ports on his forearm released jets of flames. The 'hero' was about to 'save' Luz, but before his blow could land, a golden barrier appeared before him. When Jack-S's punch hit, his fist bounced off and he was thrown back five feet. He flipped in the air and landed on his feet, and wondered what or who had done that.

When the barrier fell, he saw a girl standing in front of Luz. She was wearing a DGP outfit, and had a Desire Driver on.

"Oh, great, another one! And who are you supposed to be?"Jack-S demanded, frustrated.

"The name's Masha and my pronouns are They/Them." Masha turned around and got down on one knee as they looked at Luz. "Hey, Luz, you alright?"

"I…I almost…I almost killed him…I almost did it all over again…!" Luz babbled.

Masha gripped Luz's shoulders tightly before bringing her into a hug.

"It's alright. I got this, SIL. Just sit right here."

"Look, I don't know why you guys are all after me! I'm TRYING to save the world from an invasion! The real monsters are in that house! Right over there!" Jack-S pointed to the Noceda residence. "If you come with me, you'll see that the Jyamatos aren't the only monsters we have to fight!"

"Oh, I know. There's a basilisk living there. That's what you're talking about, right?" Masha questioned.

"You've seen it?!" he asked happily.

"Seen it? Heh." Masha stood up and fully faced Jack-S as they smirked. "I'm dating that cute snake girl." Jack-S was taken aback by the enby's last sentence.

"Excuse me?! You're 'dating' it?!"

"Yep, she's my shy, lovable, sweet, and super kind and caring demon girlfriend," Masha informed in a happy tone. "She's literally the light of my life and I'd do anything for her…" The enby's happy expression soon darkened. "And if that means killing bigoted, xenophobic, delusional jackasses like you, so be it."

Masha held up their Fantasy Buckle and slotted it into the Desire Driver.

[Set!]

An octagram appeared behind Masha as several rapier swords made of light landed around them, embedding themselves in the ground in a perfect circle.

"Luz protected Vee from you four years ago. Since then, I've been kicking myself that I didn't go with her. But it looks like life's given me a second chance to make up for that mistake. By letting me put an end to you." Masha pulled the lever of the Fantasy Buckle, causing the octagram circle on the Buckle to spin rapidly. "Henshin!"

[FANTASY!]

Masha's Rider Entry suit appeared over them, and to their right was the upper half of the Fantasy Armour. The armour broke down into golden particles of light before it rematerialized around them, transforming Masha into Kamen Rider Kurma Fantasy Form. The armour had a reminiscent look of a magical knight, with the armour itself coloured deep navy blue, with golden accents. Their arms were covered by navy blue sleeves that had gold trim around the cuffs. Their Blank Crusher was also replaced by a black faceplate with fang-like details and a golden chinstrap. Painted on the chestplate was the same octagram, in the same detail as the one behind them and on the Buckle itself.

Kurma got down on all fours, like an animal preparing to pounce on its prey. The octagram magic circle remained where it was, but the light rapiers all disappeared, except for nine of them which now hovered behind Kurma, making them mimic the appearance of a nine-tailed fox.

[READY…]

The eyes on Kurma's red fox-like helmet glowed bright with a crimson gleam before the magic circle behind them pulsated and launched them forward at great speed.

[…FIGHT!]

Jack-S reignited the exhausts on his right forearm armour as he cocked back his fist and threw a Boost-powered punch at the incoming Rider. As soon as he landed the blow, his fist passed right through Kurma before they completely disappeared like a ghost.

"What!?"Jack-S gasped.

Suddenly, sparkling blue fireballs rained down from above and exploded all around him. Jack-S looked up and saw that there was a magic circle that was blasting them right over his position.

[Revolve On!]

Jack-S transferred the armour to his legs and dashed out of the way of the fireballs until he was clear from the firing range. Suddenly, several copies of Kurma appeared as they surrounded him, twenty in total. At the same time, more magic circles materialised around him. Instead of shooting fireballs, the Kurma clones used the magic circles as platforms to launch themselves off and attack. Three rapier swords made of light appeared over each of the clones' wrists before they transformed into long claw-like constructs. Now armed, all the constructs began slashing at Jack-S from every angle as the man was blitzed relentlessly over and over again.

The 'hero' quickly dropped to the ground as he used the Boost exhausts to spin around and kick in a circle to make them back off. When they did, Jack-S dashed out of the blitz zone. However, the clones were already on his tail as more and more magic circles appeared, granting them extra reach as they hopped from one to the other. As Jack-S ran, he was paying too much attention to the ones behind him, and not to the ones ahead of him. Before he realised it, the clones pursuing him vanished and when he looked forward, he was immediately hit by a claw strike from Kurma, which threw him onto his back in a shower of sparks.

Jack-S managed to get back to his feet. He needed to get his FeverSlot Buckle. If he had that, he would be more than a match for this Rider, this traitor to the human race. That was when he had an idea. Jack-S jumped into the air, and came down with an axe kick, striking the road and causing a large chunk of it to come off and shoot into the air. Using the Boost exhausts on his leg, Jack-S spun in midair and kicked the piece of asphalt towards Luz.

Kurma sneered with disdain at the man before they snapped their fingers. A golden barrier formed around Luz just in time for the chunk of road to crash against it and break apart. But it seemed that action was enough to grant Jack-S the precious seconds that he needed to speed past them. Jack-S headed straight for the FeverSlot Buckle and slid down to snatch it up. Once in hand, he got back to his feet and turned to face Kurma with a confident smirk on his face.

"Alright, now it's my turn to kick some ass!" Jack-S went to insert the FeverSlot into his Driver. The moment he did, however, the Raise Buckle disappeared, turning into golden vapour. "WHAT?!"

"Oh, yeah, I figured you were going to go for that. So, while you were busy with my clones, I went and grabbed this." Kurma held up their right hand and the real FeverSlot Buckle appeared. "You want it back? Think fast!"

Kurma tossed the FeverSlot Buckle into the air. Predictably, Jack-S jumped straight up to try and catch it. But before he could reach it, several FeverSlot Buckles appeared in the air around him. The sudden appearance of many FeverSlot Buckles caught him off guard, allowing them all to fall to the ground with a clatter.

When Jack-S landed, he was in a panic. There were so many FeverSlot Buckles, there must've been twenty, no thirty? Were they multiplying?

"Which one is the real one?"Kurma taunted."Think you can find it before I end you? Let's play our own game. If you manage to find the real FeverSlot, I'll give up immediately and you can do your business. Ready, set, GO!"

Kurma dashed for Jack-S as the claw constructs appeared over their wrists again. Jack-S, left with little choice, ran and picked up two FeverSlot Buckles. He inserted the first one, but it disappeared just like before. Jack-S did the same with the second and, yet again, it disappeared too.

Jack-S grabbed another couple of Buckles, but as soon as he grabbed them, they exploded in bursts of blue flames, like bombs. The explosions knocked him back and tossed him to the ground.

"Oops. Sorry, forgot to mention: some of these Buckles are actually bombs. So choose wisely or you're going to blow your ass up before you find the real one!"

Kurma disappeared, forcing Jack-S to raise his guard.

This was ridiculous, not only was the real FeverSlot Buckle among fakes, but some of the fakes were also fire bombs. Jack-S was left with an impossible choice. If he continued to search for the real FeverSlot Buckle, he could end up getting blown up again; but if he didn't get it, he wouldn't stand a chance against this Rider. And even worse, the longer he spent fighting this Rider, the more time it gave those other Riders to catch up to him, and then he'd truly be outnumbered.

"Decisions…Decisions…Find the buckle and get away? Let me kill you? Get blown up by the fakes? Or wait until the other Riders get here and get ganged up on? Your options don't look very good, Jacob, "Kurma taunted hauntingly.

"How are you holding up, Luz?"

Luz managed to snap herself out of her mental breakdown and finally took notice of what was going on around her. What she saw was unreal. There were several FeverSlot Buckles scattered about the area, and Jack-S was frantically picking one up after the other, only to have them either disappear or explode in his hands, damaging him. At the same time, Luz saw Kurma disappearing and reappearing at random moments, slashing at him with their construct claws, or their rapiers, or even blasting him with jets of blue flames.

But then who was the Kurma standing in front of her?

"Don't worry, he can't see us in the barrier," Kurma informed.

"Why…Why are there so many Buckles?" Luz asked.

"They're just illusions and this is the real one." Kurma held up the real FeverSlot Buckle for Luz to see. "The Boost Buckle is powerful, but not unbeatable, and without this, he's even less of a threat."

"Masha, you've got magic," Luz observed.

"More like the Fantasy Buckle is bringing my inner fantasies to life. So, yeah, I guess it is magic. Now you got three witches in the family, huh?"Kurma turned their attention back to Jack-S, who kept on looking for the real Buckle with increased desperation. "Look at him. The dumbass actually thought I was playing fair. He should know better than to trust a fox."

"Masha…you have him. Just…just capture him and end the game," requested Luz.

"No, "Kurma denied, shocking Luz by how vicious they sounded."He needs to suffer. He needs to understand the fear he put into Vee on that day. To feel what it's like to be utterly powerless! To be at the mercy of someone dangerous."

Luz felt a strange familiarity with that tone and sentiment.

"Masha…you are going to capture him, right?"

" …"

"Masha!"

"Even if we capture him, Luz, once he gets out of prison, he'll still want to come to Gravesfield and finish what he started. It may not be tomorrow, or the next day, but all it takes is one slip up, one little crack in the system and he'll be back on the streets! He'll come to Gravesfield and then he'll kill you, Amity, Cam-Cam, and Vee! I'm not about to wake up one morning to find out that my family got slaughtered and I wasn't there to stop him!" Kurma shouted.

"Masha, you can't kill him," Luz pleaded, trying to reason with her sister's enbyfriend. "If you do that, it will taint your soul. Trust me, I know. Vee would not be happy that you killed someone in her name. I won't let you shoulder this burden. Let me do it. I have enough blood on my hands already."

"Yeah, I know you do. I don't know the full extent of it, but you shouldn't have to dirty your hands anymore. I'm ready to do this. The moment I heard Jacob was loose, I was ready."

"You can't keep blaming yourself for that! No one could've known that Jacob was going to be at our house!" Luz pleaded.

"But the fact is, he was. I could've walked Vee back home. You guys told me about the stalker problem and I should've gone with her to make sure she was safe. But like an idiot, I just stayed behind. Not today, Luz. Just stay here until it's over."

"MASHA!"

Luz reached out to them, but Kurma disappeared before she could grab ahold of them.

Jack-S was panting heavily, his armour damaged from having taken so many explosions to the face as well as burns and slashes to his armour. He honestly didn't know how much more of this he could take before his body gave out. But he knew he had to endure. As humanity's saviour, Jack-S had a duty to protect the world.

Kurma reappeared just then, and in their hand was the FeverSlot Buckle.

"Wait…is that…?!"Jack-S's eyes widened when he saw it.

"Yeah, it's the real FeverSlot Buckle," Kurma confirmed.

"You're telling me you had it this entire time?!"Jack-S exclaimed, incredulously.

Kurma laughed loudly.

"Now Jacob, you should know better than that. Everyone knows the last person you should trust is a tricky fox."

Jack-S watched as Kurma made a fox gesture with their left hand as if to further mock him, and it was having its intended effect. Kurma had tricked him, utterly. He was now furious. He had spent this whole time, wasting all this time taking damage, looking for a Buckle that was never even there.

Furious, Jack-S dashed towards the fox-themed Rider, hopped into the air, and struck with a flying, Boost-powered roundhouse kick. But just like before, when he made contact, Kurma disappeared. Only now there was another problem: All the FeverSlot Buckle copies simultaneously started to glow bright blue and when his feet touched the ground, all of them exploded at once.

There wasn't a space where Jack-S could run. Below, above, and to every side there were blue flames that engulfed him. His HUD was blaring warnings that his armour was sustaining a dangerous amount of damage, and telling him to disengage. However, that was not an option, or rather, Kurma wasn't going to give him that option.

"You tried to kill someone I love dearly…"

A slash struck his back.

"And you tried to hurt two people who are like family to me as well…"

Two more slashes hit Jack-S, this time from the front.

"I won't allow you to threaten my girl or her family ever again!"

Within the flames, nine clones of Kurma appeared, and one after the other they attacked. Two landed punches into his helmet, two more into his gut, sending him flying into another two who kicked at the same time in the back. This sent him flying in the direction of another two who threw a joint uppercut that propelled him into the air and out of the flames, only to be intercepted by the ninth and original Kurma as they struck him with an axe kick. The blow threw Jack-S at an angle and he crash-landed against the road.

Kurma stood upon a floating octagram platform as they pulled the lever on the Fantasy Buckle. Upon doing so, the eyes on Kurma's helmet glowed bright yellow. The flames that were still burning around them began to spiral and swirl about before splitting into nine pillars. Those nine pillars of flames then shot towards Kurma as they dropped low. The pillars reformed into nine, blue fiery tails that undulated behind Kurma as blue embers danced in the air around them.

Jack-S saw this but was not ready to give up as he pressed the button on his Desire Driver.

[Revolve On!]

The armour switched again, now returning to cover his torso and arms. Jack-S wrapped his right hand around the Boost Buckle's handlebar and gave it a single twist. The eyes on Jack-S's helmet glowed as well as he cocked back his right fist, with orange-red flames blazing forth from the exhaust ports on his right gauntlet. The flames wrapped around his fist as he prepared to execute his finisher.

Kurma jumped off the platform and into the air. With a flip, they extended their right leg out just as the nine flaming fox tails fanned out behind them. Those same nine flaming tails shot towards their right leg, engulfing Kurma in blazing blue flames as they descended towards Jack-S.

Jack-S spun around on the ground, building up momentum before he launched himself at Kurma to deliver his super move. The orange-red flames wrapped around his entire being as he flew up to meet Kurma's attack with his burning punch.

[FANTASY STRIKE!]

[BOOST STRIKE!]

The two attacks met in the air as Jack-S's punch connected with Kurma's kick. Blue and orange-red flames raged in the air as the two Riders fought for supremacy, neither one willing to back down. However, despite Jack-S's best efforts, the strain from his battle with Oscura and the damage he took from Kurma's earlier assault were catching up with him. Jack-S's flames were starting to die out, while Kurma's flames only got bigger and bigger, threatening to swallow his fire. That was when nine jets of blue flames roared out from behind Kurma, propelling them forward as their kick broke through Jack-S's punch, and struck him in the chest. The two Riders descended like a fiery comet from the heavens before hitting the ground and releasing a powerful explosion of blue flames that lit up the night.

From those very flames emerged Kurma, coming to a skidding halt as their eyes continued to glow in the shadows cast by the flames. Kurma's Fantasy fire died down after a few seconds, and when it did, Jack-S was revealed. He was lying on the ground, still in Rider Form. That did not last long as his armour disengaged a moment later, leaving him in his civilian form. Unfortunately, he was still breathing.

Kurma furrowed their brow. It seemed his suit managed to prevent him from dying or maybe they were subconsciously holding back. Were they afraid to actually do the deed? Kurma shook off that notion. They were committed to this. All of this was for Vee's sake, and people like Jacob were the reason why Vee had to hide who she really was. Well, no more. When they got their wish, everyone would be accepting, and feel like it was a natural thing to them. But that would be after they won. For now, Kurma would settle for getting rid of one less evil person in the world.

The fox-themed Rider walked up to Jacob, who was coughing with some blood leaking from his mouth. He was covered in scratches and cuts, and his prison jumpsuit had scorch marks. Kurma held out their right hand and manifested a light rapier which they held in a stabbing position.

"Any last words?" they asked, looming over Jacob.

"T-Traitor…! Demon lover…!" Jacob spat painfully.

"And proud of it too!"Kurma declared as they thrust their sword. Jacob squeezed his eyes shut but before the blade could hit its mark, chains made of violet light suddenly wrapped around Kurma's weapon. Suddenly, more chains appeared and wrapped around the limbs and body, with more of them covering their Driver. "Hey! Leggo!" Kurma struggled as they searched for the source of the chains before they glanced over their shoulder.

That was when the golden barrier Kurma had put up around Luz shattered like glass, revealing Kamen Rider Oscura. The Rider of Darkness was walking towards both of them. With a flick of her wrist, Oscura made the chains move Kurma out of the way.

"LUZ, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"Kurma screamed.

"I'm keeping you from making the biggest mistake of your life," Oscura plainly answered.

"I'M DOING THIS FOR YOU! I'M DOING THIS TO PROTECT YOU AND VEE! SO, JUST LET ME GO SO I CAN–!"

"Kill him?"Oscura finished their sentence. She willed the chains to bring Kurma close to her, allowing the Rider of Darkness to look them in the eyes. "Here's a little life lesson, Masha: when you kill someone, when you take a life, the first time it's hard. But when you do it again, it gets a little easier. When it happens again and again, it gets even easier and with each life you take, it dulls your hesitation and the guilt you should feel from taking a life. That's because, with every life you take, a piece of your soul dies too!"

"All the more reason why I have to do this! You've killed a lot already, right?! You don't need to anymore! Let me do this! Let me protect Vee!" Kurma begged.

"You are going to protect Vee," Oscura concurred."I live with the fact that every time I hug my sister, it's with hands stained with blood. Your hands are clean, Masha, and they need to stay that way."

Oscura looked down at Jacob, fear apparent in his eyes. She thought about the best way to kill him, the quickest and least painful way. Using her Wrathful Destruction spell would fit the bill. But as she thought about that, she looked down at his ID Core. She bent down and plucked it from his Driver.

"Riders are supposed to protect the innocent, uphold justice, and defend the world from evil. But you, Jacob Hopkins, don't embody any of those traits. You were given the power of a Rider, and your first act upon getting them was to try and kill innocent people whose only crime is not being human."

"Y-You're not innocent…a-and…n-neither are those…monsters…!" Jacob responded in both fear and agony.

"Heh, well, I can't argue with that. I'm not the innocent little girl I used to be. But Vee, all she wants is to live in peace. Amity, the witch, wants to live a peaceful life with me as my bride. The people you're seeking to kill have no intention of hurting others. They just want to live their lives. For your sake, Jacob, can you at least accept that not every demon and witch is evil?"

"I…I won't be tricked…! T-They want our…our teeth!"

Oscura and Kurma deadpanned.

"Goodbye…Jacob."Oscura held the ID Core in the palm of her right hand. "Wrathful Destruction, Now."

The red gemstone on her Buckle glowed as the ID Core was immediately engulfed in crimson flames. Within the flames, the ID Core of Kamen Rider Jack-S was instantly destroyed, not leaving a trace of its existence at all.

Kurma looked down at Jacob as his body started to become pixelated. Jacob seemed panicked as he saw parts of his body start to break down one after the other.

"AAAAAH! No! NO! MAKE IT STOP! I CAN'T DIE! I CAN'T DIE NOW! NOT LIKE THIS! I HAVE TO PROTECT THE HUMAN RACE! I'M SUPPOSED TO BE THE HERO! I'M A HERO! AAAAAH!"

He kept yelling and screaming until his entire body broke down into blue pixels which floated into the air before disappearing.

[Retired!]

Oscura watched this all happen and sighed heavily. She looked at her right hand, and then to the spot where Jacob had just disappeared.

'Yet again, I took someone's life…Just like before,' thought Oscura regretfully, picturing the look on Amity's face once she heard what her fiancée had done. 'I'm sorry, Amity.'

The moment this happened, the sun crested over the horizon, bathing Kurma and Oscura in its warm orange glow, signalling the beginning of a new day.

[MISSION CLEARED!]

After the mission ended, the players were brought back to the Desire Temple to hear the results.

"The winner of the Rider Hunt is Kamen Rider Oscura! Congratulations!" Tsumuri declared. "And because of that, she has earned her immunity from elimination!"

Amity and Marcy were relieved but both Sasha and Boscha looked unhappy. Sasha was disappointed because she lost to Luz again while Boscha was upset since there was no chance to vote Luz off right now. Masha, of course, was unhappy as well due to Luz's betrayal.

"Luz..." Masha muttered, still unable to believe that Luz had taken the win from them.

"Although, you were supposed to return with Jack-S's ID Core, undamaged," Tsumuri said, frowning.

"That guy didn't deserve to be a Rider so I took it away from him," Luz said firmly.

"Well, you did manage to defeat him, so you did not break the rules. The Game Master did not specify that you could not destroy the ID Core once you claimed it," Tsumuri mused. "Now, Mr. Hopkins should be back in his cell with no memory of the DGP."

This surprised the players, especially Luz.

"Wait, I thought that destroying an ID Core would kill a Rider. So how come he's still alive?" Luz asked.

"Oh, I understand your confusion. You see, a damaged ID Core is the result of a player meeting their end after receiving lethal injuries from the Jyamatos. Since you destroyed it, you simply removed his memories of the DGP and his ability to become a Rider permanently," Tsumuri explained.

"I see..." Luz had a thoughtful look on her face. Masha became angry, seeing that Jacob got another chance to live another day to harm her loved ones. Amity, on the other hand, was just relieved that Luz hadn't actually killed Jacob.

"Everyone, it's time for you to vote off one of your fellow players. Please take out your Spider Phones to cast your votes," Tsumuri instructed seriously.

The players took out their Spider Phones and they saw the voting app flash for them. They pressed on the app and it showed images of the Riders that were up for elimination. Only Luz's image was absent since she had immunity.

They each pressed on the image of the Rider they wanted to get kicked out of the game. Boscha wanted Luz to be eliminated, but she decided to choose the next best thing. Amity did not have to think twice about who she wanted to be eliminated. As soon as everyone cast their votes, their results appeared onscreen.

Luz Noceda/Kamen Rider Oscura - Immunity

Masha DeLisle/Kamen Rider Kurma - 3

Amity Blight/Kamen Rider Gato - 1

Boscha Barbtalone/Kamen Rider Red-Pan - 2

Sasha Waybright/Kamen Rider Soaron - 0

Marcy Wu/Kamen Rider Newtonne - 0

"I'm sorry, Kurma, but you are no longer a Kamen Rider," Tsumuri said apologetically. "You may say your goodbyes before you are sent home."

Masha sighed as Luz, Amity and Marcy gathered around them.

"Masha, I'm so sorry about this," Amity apologised, feeling sympathetic that the enby was voted off the DGP so early in the game.

"Hey, don't shed any tears for me, Amity," Masha grinned. "I may not have played long, but it was fun playing the hero even for a little bit." She gave Luz a look. "Luz."

"Are you mad?" Luz asked.

"Just disappointed," Masha admitted. "I mean, yeah, it sucks that I lost and that my future SIL stabbed me in the back."

"Luz, you did what?" Amity questioned, surprised that her fiancée would do that.

"I stole the win from Masha," Luz confessed. "But only to stop them from killing Hopkins."

"After everything he did, he deserved it," Masha said firmly.

"No, Masha. I know you wanted him to pay for what he tried to do to Vee, but you can't choose revenge. You'd stain your soul if you killed him," Luz argued. She took Masha's hands in hers. "These hands need to stay clean and Vee would not want you to hurt anyone for her sake."

"...Yeah, I know," Masha nodded, seeing Luz's point. "I guess it's a good thing you were there 'coz I don't think I would've stopped until he was dead. Still mad that you stole the win from me but I can't blame you for wanting it so badly."

"So, what will you do after this?" Luz asked.

"I'm gonna ask Vee out on a date," Masha answered. "We'll watch that new talking animal movie she's been talking about."

"Just don't watch the live-action remake of The Lion King," Luz advised. "The original is way better anyway."

"I know, the classics are always better."

Masha's ID Core was covered in blue energy before it faded away.

[Retired!]

Masha's body dissolved into blue pixels before they vanished completely, leaving behind their Desire Driver as it clattered to the floor.

Luz received a notification on her Spider Phone and checked it to see that Masha's Beat, Shark and Fantasy Buckles had been transferred to her. As she was the winner, she could claim the Buckles of the player that had just been retired, namely Masha.

After Masha vanished, a message was written on the holographic screen:

Kamen Rider Kurma was not the Mole.

"So, the Mole is still among us," Marcy remarked. She looked at the other players. It could be any one of them.

Amity suspected that Boscha had voted for Masha to be retired since they had won the last mission and she wanted to remove one of Luz's allies. Sasha would vote the same way too if Boscha had convinced her.

Amity did not know who had voted for her, however. She had her suspicions as she looked at Luz. The witch did not want to suspect Luz but she had betrayed Masha, claiming the win, and earning immunity for herself. She also knew her fiancée would do anything to win. She also remembered that Luz did not want her back in the DGP. She did not want to believe Luz was the Mole. However, earlier, Marcy had asked them to help her vote Boscha off. When the opportunity presented itself, it was Masha who got voted off instead.

"Luz, did you really betray Masha?" Amity asked her fiancée.

"I have to win, Amity. No matter what. I have to bring Anne back and fix my mistakes," Luz resolved.

"It has been a long night, so please rest up, everyone," Tsumuri instructed.

As the players began to disperse, Boscha took this chance to confront Luz. Amity wanted to stop her but Luz put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head.

"It's OK, batata."

"But, Luz..."

"It's fine. I can deal with her." Luz turned her attention to the three-eyed witch. "What do you want, Boscha?"

"You just got lucky, Oscura. Next time, your luck is going to run out," Boscha threatened.

"Yes, yes, I know," Luz sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Amity is mine," Boscha glared. "For now, you get to keep having your fun with her, but I swear on the Titan that she won't be yours forever! She's mine and will always be mine!"

"I am not yours!" Amity snapped at Boscha.

"She's right, Boscha," Luz agreed. "Amity doesn't belong to anybody."

"She and I are meant to be together!" Boscha snapped.

"Oh, come off it, Boscha!" Luz retorted. "The only thing you're attracted to, that you're 'in love' with, is power and control. Hell, you cornered me in a classroom four years ago. Now that I think about it, you came close to molesting the very person you were afraid of. Guess you knew what you wanted, right? Someone with a lot of power?"

Boscha wanted to retort but caught Sasha glaring at her. Huffing, the triclops stormed off to her room. Sasha nodded at Luz before she went to her room as well.

Confessional: Luz Noceda/Oscura

"Only five players left and the Mole is still among us. I suspect it's Boscha but that would be too obvious. Sasha too. I mean, if she wins, I don't have to fight her, and we get Anne back. I don't see her being the type to accept an easy win and let things between us go unresolved. The only two suspects remaining are Marcy...and Amity."

Luz sighed heavily, as she thought about her fiancée and future wife.

"I don't want to doubt her but…after what she told me during the Slasher Game, how she said her wish was to go back in time and stop the Unbreakable Oath, I…I've been a little suspicious of her. And now she's back in the game, which makes me more suspicious."

Luz shook her head as she stared into the camera.

"Look, I trust Amity with my life! So, don't ever doubt that! I just…" The fire in Luz's eyes seemed to simmer down. "I just want to fix this last mistake of mine. And if Amity can't support me on this…if she's still trying to change everything…I don't know if we can move forward. I want to build a life with her, and it hurts that I have to suspect the person I love the most of not having my back…"

Confessional: Amity Blight/Gato

"Honestly, it wouldn't be much of a problem if Luz, Sasha, or Marcy were the Mole. If any of them win, then we all get what we want. Boscha's the only wild card here. Marcy asking us to vote with her to get rid of Boscha is suspicious, but at the same time, totally understandable."

Amity had a disgusted expression on her face as she crossed her arms.

"And whether or not Boscha is the Mole, I'll sleep better at night once that psycho is back in the Boiling Isles. I mean, Titan, she's lost it! I didn't think she was this obsessed with me! She nearly raped me! Luz even stopped her from stealing a kiss from me when I was in a coma! If Luz hadn't been there, Titan knows what else she would've done to me!"

Amity shuddered at the thought. Her shoulders slumped a little as her crossed arms started to move into a hugging position.

"…I know this is going to sound terrible, but I think Luz doesn't trust me. I mean, I know she trusts me in a fight and with everything else. But right now, I think she might be worried that I won't help her get Anne back."

Amity chuckled dryly, filled with self-loathing.

"Not that I can blame her. She trusted me before when she thought we were wishing for the same thing, and I didn't tell her otherwise. I just let her believe that. I was being selfish. I wanted to correct my own mistake, but in exchange, I would've lost all the happiness I gained afterwards. I wouldn't be surprised if Luz voted for me in the next elimination. I could tell her my wish, but I've lied to her face before and led her on. All I can do is hope she believes I am with her on this. I have to believe the love we have for each other is strong enough to convey that to her."

Confessional: Marcy Wu/Newtonne

"Masha was not the Mole, so that means it could be any one of us now. This is just like Suspicion Island, only this time we're on the proverbial chopping block instead of watching the whole thing go down. Friendship and trust are gonna be tested now and it'll only get worse as the game progresses. I hate to say it, but the people running this whole thing really know how to create tension."

Marcy balled her fists. Both the tension and frustration were getting to her, even if she didn't show it.

"Things would be going so much smoother and faster if Sasha wasn't around Boscha. That girl is just feeding Sasha's vendetta. She doesn't care one bit about getting Anne back and the moment Sasha lets down her guard, I don't doubt Boscha's going to take advantage of her! I still can't believe Sasha's even bothering to stay in an alliance with her! She's just – AUGH – I love her, but dammit if she doesn't tick me off sometimes!"

Marcy crossed her arms and pouted, her face tinting red as she looked at the cameras.

"Yeah, I know what I said. But at this point…" Marcy glanced down at the floor. "At this point, if anyone wins, I want it to be me. If I do win, I can at least start helping Sasha get over her toxic tendencies. That way, when Anne comes back, the three of us can be happy together. If Sasha wins…I don't know if any of us can be together like that. And if she gets together with Anne, with the way she is now, things won't end well for them. For Sasha's sake, for the sake of all three of us, and whatever we may become in the future, I have to bring Anne back and I have to save Sasha from herself…"

DGP Rule: If a player's ID Core is destroyed, they permanently lose the ability to transform into a Kamen Rider.

Rider Manhunt Results

Luz Noceda/Oscura (Winner)

Amity Blight/Gato

Marcy Wu/Newtonne

Sasha Waybright/Soaron

Boscha Barbtalone/Red-Pan

Masha DeLisle/Kurma (Retired)

Who is the Mole?