Chapter 11: Temple Raid
I DON'T OWN ANKOKU KISHI MONOGATARI OR KAMEN RIDER AND THEY BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.
In front of a desolate part of the rampart, Kuroki stood alone under the guise of the night, wearing his Cross-Z armor. This was in preparation for a raid on the aforementioned temple.
He knew this was necessary because Nut, his spy in the temple, had informed him that Rena was preparing to summon another hero to this world. Now, Kuroki found himself in a dilemma. He had already been summoned, and if another one followed, especially if it was another Kamen Rider, it would be disastrous, as he didn't want to fight one of his comrades.
Due to this, Kuroki enacted his plan to raid the temple and destroy the summoning device.
The defense around the temple was strict, with many Temple Knights patrolling the area and its vicinity. Moreover, Reiji and his group were also present and could serve as backup at any time. The battle could become intense at any given moment. That's why Kuroki had armed himself perfectly before starting the temple raid.
"Well, it's about time to start."
Kuroki decided to initiate the operation.
His goal was to get the answers he wanted directly from Rena's mouth and to stop the ritual as soon as possible. But, he knew he had to act quickly — his time was limited. He was literally entering the enemy's stronghold, so he might need to escape at any given moment.
"That's why I'll distract them with this."
Currently, Kuroki was holding a bag containing thirty white stones. These stones were magic items forged with the fangs of a Dragon. Modes had given this bag of white stones to Kuroki right before leaving Nargol. It was in case he needed backup for a grand operation or against a strong foe, fitting for Kuroki's current situation. Modes had told Kuroki that these stones could not be used by just anyone. However, with his strength, Modes was positive that he wouldn't have any problem using them; they would be very useful to him.
Taking them out of the bag, Kuroki planted the thirty stones on the ground beneath him, making sure to separate them at fixed intervals. He then straightened up and began chanting a spell.
"O Soldiers, With The Power Of Dragons, Come Forth!"
As his chant subsided, the thirty rocks started shifting. Then, thirty eerie-looking soldiers crawled out of them. These soldiers, heading towards Kuroki, were well-armed for battle, donning a dragon helmet, a pile bunker shield on the left hand, and a short sword that resembled the Blaze Blade on the right.
These Dragon Fang soldiers, born through magic, were called Spartois.
"I have to thank Modes for this, but… how strange. They seemed to like a simplified Cross Z Charge?"
Suspecting that it might be because of his origin, the Spartois changed into something that resembled his other form. Casting his observations aside, at first, Kuroki was rather skeptical when he heard the explanation about this magic item from Modes. However, after he performed the ritual himself, he felt that his magic powers had somehow formed a link with the Spartois when they appeared.
"It seems I can freely order them.'
He then looked at Nut.
"Nut, make sure to stay away from the temple since you might accidentally be trampled and injured by the battle."
"Eh, can you reconsider, Kuroki-sama? It's alright, I can join. I'll make sure to stay out of your way during the battle."
Naturally, Kuroki would have considered that option if they were going in normally. But, that wasn't the case this time.
"Sorry, Nut. Things might be getting really dangerous this time. Rena alone is already dangerous, not to mention that there's also the possibility that she brought along her Valkyries. That's why I'll infiltrate this temple by myself."
Kuroki had been told before that Rena was protected by female angels called Valkyrie. There was a high possibility that they had descended with Rena. Those battle maidens were very powerful and had extraordinary presence detection; not even Nut could escape their detection.
"Uh… Sure enough…"
"SPARTOIS!"
Kuroki called out their name as he moved forward; the Spartois followed, obeying his implicit command. Their movements were as agile as his own, seemingly weightless as they easily jumped from one roof to another, following Kuroki's lead. Their destination was the Alrena Temple. On the way, Kuroki ordered the Spartois to spread out, approaching from eight different directions to confuse the guards. Kuroki would arrive later to raid the temple unnoticed and without major interruptions.
According to Nut, Rena was staying in the central room of the temple to prepare for the reverse summoning ritual. Thus, he concluded that the summoning altar was also located in that very room.
"Since they'll most likely start the ritual tomorrow, I have no choice but to destroy the altar right now."
Kuroki's raid has now officially started.
The Temple Knight, Lucullus, had lost his cool.
"What's wrong with this bastard?"
Beside him, despite swinging his sword desperately towards the opponent in front of him, none of Hyllus's attacks could pass through the strange shield held in his opponent's arm. The intruder before him was pushing through them with his shield. The shield made contact with Hyullus, and he was pushed back. The push's force made him completely lose his balance, causing him to fall on the man behind him.
"GUHA!"
"GUHE!"
The two's dumbfounded voices overlapped as they grunted in pain.
"Such power!"
Lucullus stared at the invader before him, who wore black-colored armor, eerie crimson red light peeking through the helmet's visor.
"It's not human…"
Lucullus and his battalion had been assigned on guard duty since the Goddess's descent. They were stationed in front of her altar room, an important position worthy of honor. As such, they had all felt elated and had started cracking jokes about whether or not they'd be able to see the Goddess in person.
It was in the middle of their banter that the sound of an alarm rang inside the temple, alerting them to incoming intruders. The alarm bells chimed across the temple's entirety, meaning that intruders were trespassing from all four corners of the temple.
Lucullus and his team had just started rushing towards the raiders' location when one of the assailants abruptly appeared before them, attacking their post. Lucullus looked around him, his disposition frantic—six of his subordinates had been defeated by the intruders. Some of them had lost their limbs, while others had been knocked down by the assailant's strange shield that used a peculiar but powerful mechanism on the top.
Yet, strangely enough, none had died. The enemy was so strong to the point that it didn't even need to kill them. Even now, it could've easily killed Hyullus, who fell on his rear, and yet, it did nothing.
"O beautiful Nier, Valkyrie of Victory! Turn my faith into power! Sharp Edge!"
After Lucullus finished chanting his spell, his long sword glowed with brilliant light. Lucullus had zero talent when it came to magic.
But, luckily, he had received Valkyrie Nier's divine protection, granting him the ability to use magic. Moreover, since he was granted divine protection from one of Goddess Rena's aides, he was able to climb through the ranks, becoming a commander with ease. Lucullus swung his sword towards the intruder, the latter receiving his attack with its shield.
"Not even my enhanced sword can scratch it!"
He thought that his sword, enhanced with a sharper edge through magic, could slice through the strange shield. But even that couldn't put a scratch on it. The intruder then swung its sword at him, forcing him to retreat as he defended against the attack with his knight shield.
(And yet, only one of its attacks can easily destroy our shields!)
Lucullus observed his opponent's attack pattern. Strangely enough, it wasn't aiming for his body or head, as if it didn't want to kill him.
"Is it just… toying with us?" Lucullus muttered.
Though there was only one assailant fighting against him and his subordinates, they were still completely overwhelmed by that single opponent. In this 9 vs 1 battle, six of Lucullus's subordinates had been rendered immobile with ease. As for Lucullus, defending against his opponent's attacks was all he could do.
"Huh?"
Behind him, one of his subordinates suddenly muttered something. Noticing the terror on his face, Lucullus followed his line of sight and was met with another shadow appearing behind the intruder. When he was just starting to wonder whether the new invader was reinforcement for their enemy or not, he discovered that the new invader wore strange armor with an even stranger belt on its waist.
Upon seeing the new intruder, Lucullus felt a chill running down his spine. The pressure released by the new intruder was leagues above the ochre-colored one.
"D-D-Dark… Knight."
Another one of his subordinates barely squeezed those two words out of his mouth.
"Dark Knight? Don't tell me the one from the rumor! So that rumor is real after all!" Lucullus shrieked at the top of his lungs.
The real intruder and mastermind of this raid was the Dark Knight, who had once almost killed Reiji, the Hero of Light. By now, his name had spread far and wide across the lands as the man who broke the Hero of Light's undefeated record.
Nowadays, there was a rumor circulating saying that this very same Dark Knight was leading monsters around the world to destroy humans.
"No way, is he aiming for Goddess-sama?"
The worst possible scenario suddenly crossed Lucullus's mind.
"B-Be careful, Goddess-sama…"
Lucullus had been trembling non-stop. Just by standing in front of the infamous Dark Knight, he was overwhelmed by the fear of his impending death. He watched as the Dark Knight approached him, resembling the Grim Reaper.
Once the Dark Knight arrived in front of Lucullus, he raised his hand.
"Sleep."
As soon as those words were uttered, Lucullus was suddenly overwhelmed by extreme drowsiness. The last scene his eyes viewed was his other unconscious subordinates.
"Sleep… magic."
It was already too late by the time he understood the origin of his sleepiness.
"So the altar is right on the other side of this door."
Lucullus's consciousness sank deep into darkness right after he heard the Dark Knight's voice.
"Well, that was easier than expected. I had a harder time infiltrating Faust bases back then."
Kuroki arrived at his destination as he muttered those words. No one who blocked his path could escape his sleeping magic.
In addition, for some reason, no angels were stationed near the Goddess's room. His raid felt like a breeze. Had he known that the raid would be so easy, he would have just brought Nut along with him. He had told Nut to return to Nargol due to the potential danger, after all.
Seems he had wrongly analyzed the situation. However, as Kuroki mused, he shook his head in dismissal. Negligence was taboo; it was always better to be safe rather than sorry.
"Rena should be preparing the reverse summoning ceremony in the altar room right now."
He sent a telepathic order to all the Spartois, commanding them to head to his position and stand guard in front of the altar's door. He didn't want anyone to intrude after going inside. Once all of them were gathered, Kuroki walked towards the room.
Upon opening the door and entering, he arrived in a spacious chamber illuminated by several mana lamps hanging on the walls. As he looked around, he understood why it was called an altar room.
It really resembled a shrine built for worship, with tall pillars standing upright across the room, and grandiose decorations adorning the floor, ceiling, windows, and walls.
As he swept his gaze around, he noticed a huge magic square engraved in the center of the room. At the four corners of the magic square, four devices stood erect, resembling the street lamps that existed in his original world.
Those four poles resembling street lamps were also similar to the devices Kuroki saw at the Demon King's castle when he was just summoned to this world. It was definitely the summoning assistance device created by the God of Craftsmanship, Heibos.
Added to this setting was the figure of a woman. She stood in front of the magic square, her back facing Kuroki. Kuroki realized the woman's identity at a glance since he had seen her portrait before—it was Rena.
"Have you captured the intruder?"
Rena asked without even bothering to turn around and look at Kuroki.
"My apologies, I'm not someone from this temple."
"Eh?"
Rena turned around at once upon hearing Kuroki's voice. The moment Rena turned around, her transcendent beauty had made Kuroki at a loss for words
"I see she was far more beautiful than in the pictures"
Mona was a beauty, but Rena's beauty surpassed hers by leaps and bounds.
Meeting her face to face had blatantly proved this fact.
Rena, on her part, was also showing a surprised look on her face upon seeing Kuroki's figure.
"Who are you? Could it be… the Dark Knight?!"
Rena recited a magic spell right away.
"Transfer!"
However, her magic failed to activate.
"My apologies again. I placed a seal on the temple once I started my raid to prevent any kind of teleportation magic. In short, you can't use this spell within this temple."
Rena's expression changed to that of shock.
"It seems my teleportation prevention was a success…"
Kuroki heaved a sigh as he confirmed the effect of his teleportation seal. He was worried that Rena's power would override his spell since she was a Goddess
. Ending all of his whirlwind thoughts, Kuroki took a step forward towards Rena. As if responding to his actions, she took a step back while looking around the room with a desperate look on her face.
"Is she looking for a weapon?"
Unfortunately for her, nothing in this altar room remotely resembled a weapon. Moreover, Kuroki had no intention to let her summon her weapon.
"Were you aiming for me all along? I was almost certain that your aim was Reiji… Had I known the situation would turn this way, I would've brought my Valkyrie troop along with me. What a blunder I've put myself into."
Kuroki helplessly shook his head and then pressed the side of his helmet. The helmet collapsed upon itself, revealing Kuroki's face.
He heard the sound of Rena's gasp and wonder as she saw his bare face appearing from the helmet.
"It's nice to meet you, Goddess Rena. I apologize for the sudden intrusion in your temple late at night."
Kuroki gave his greeting and bowed.
"Did I greet her politely enough?"
Kuroki was a bit anxious about whether his greeting was polite enough or not. Back then, Gentoku and Sawa taught him some etiquette lessons and manners because he needed to be a VIP security for Prime Minister Taizan whenever Gentoku was not available to guard his father or accompany Gentoku in meeting with bigwig corporations like Yggdrasil and Smart Brain as an extra gig.
Along with that and other lessons, Modes had arranged extra etiquette lessons for him to learn the proper protocol towards this world's Gods.
He happily attended the lesson since he considered it necessary during his travels in this world. Surprisingly, the etiquette of this world wasn't that different from the one in his original world.
Even though there was no connection between his home world and this world, some countries had similar cultures, or rather, the same exact traditions as Kuroki's world. That's why he didn't find any difficulties in learning this world's etiquette.
Though his normal greeting wasn't that bad, he definitely couldn't show a boorish attitude in front of a God. Therefore, he made sure that he was extra courteous to the Goddess before him.
When he raised his face to peek at Rena's, he was faced with her beautiful visage that far eclipsed the one in her portrait. Rena was also staring intently at Kuroki's face.
Kuroki had been waiting for Rena to return his greeting all this time. But Rena's eyes were dead set on Kuroki's face.
"Goddess… Rena?" Kuroki had no choice but to try to call out to her.
"HAH… EH?!"
Though she finally came to her senses, Rena was clearly flustered.
"I-It seems that you're not aiming for my life. Isn't that right, Dark Knight?"
When he saw Rena's light smile as she spoke to him, Kuroki dazedly became fascinated by its beauty. However, he knew that it was only a smile of relief since she now knew that he wouldn't kill her.
"I came because there's something I want to ask you, Goddess Rena."
"Something to… ask me?"
"Yes. First, are you going to summon another person from the spirit world like me?"
That was one thing he wanted to know. The matter of her trying to return Shirone and Chiyuki back to their original world aside, he couldn't help but be curious about the possibility of her trying to summon yet another person, a new hero.
"Ah, I see now… you're mistaken about something, Dark Knight."
"Then… huh?"
"I'm preparing to return the hero's comrades. That will be more convenient for you, right?"
Rena thought that there was bad blood between Kuroki and Reiji. That's why she thought that sending the hero's comrades back would be more convenient for Kuroki.
She didn't understand why he came here and disrupted the ritual since his deep hatred towards the hero and his companions should have made him happy with this outcome.
"Our military forces will lose a great deal of power after we send the hero's comrades back. Of course, when they requested this, I had intended to summon other people to take their place. However, the Elios council forbade me from summoning other people from the spirit world. That's why you don't have to worry; I absolutely won't summon anyone else."
"Wait, then there's something off here. As far as I know, it should be impossible to return summoned people to their original world, right?"
"Yes, you must've heard about this matter from Modes… But, you have no choice but to believe him. However, I'm not lying about the fact that I'm not going to summon someone else."
"...But then, it means that the hero's comrades are in big trouble, right?"
"Sure, they are. But, so what? It has nothing to do with you anyway."
Upon hearing her cold-blooded answers, Kuroki's eyes suddenly hardened, and Rena was surprised. Normally, when men look at her visage, it's either admiration or lust, and the women either envy or anger, but the Dark Knight's eyes were cold and empty, something that was never directed at her before.
"...What a pity."
"What a pity? What do you mean by that!?" Rena unnervingly replied.
"I wonder who is the real evil in this world."
Kuroki's helmet covered his head again, and he jumped towards the center of the summoning altar.
"Dark… Knight?"
Feeling the situation change yet again, Rena implicitly questioned his motives with a troubled face.
(I've confirmed what I need to know. Any further dialogue is unnecessary.)
Kuroki pulled out a weapon and a FullBottle from his portal.
"BEAT CLOSER!"
"KEY!"
Kuroki inserted the FullBottle inside the Beat Closer.
"SPECIAL TUNE!"
Kuroki then pulled the Grip End Starter of the Beat Closer once.
"PULL IT!"
The Beat Closer was engulfed in black flame, and Kuroki stabbed the middle of the altar.
"SMASH HIT!"
The sword emitted four trails of flames and destroyed the devices simultaneously. Rena was surprised and horrified by the power of the Dark Knight. Kuroki faced her and pointed his still flaming sword towards her.
"What are the hero and his comrades to you?"
Kuroki asked while holding back his anger. He couldn't believe how appalling she is. She was merely treating them as puppets; chess pieces that could be discarded at any time.
Rena, on the other hand, was utterly shocked by his question. She could feel the hidden rage within his tone, her expression changing to that of fear.
"... I see… that's only natural since you're a summoned person too."
As if coming to a sudden realization as to why his reactions were different from what she expected, Rena uttered a statement with slight misunderstanding.
"Why… did you lie to them?"
"Because the summoning was already… difficult… and now it's all going to waste."
Rena replied with a bitter smile. Seeing her aggrieved smile, Kuroki thought that maybe she had no other choice; maybe she had to make up for the existence of the reverse summoning ritual.
"Nevertheless…"
However, all of his conclusions were dashed cruelly to the ground by her next words.
"I can't help it! Seeing that repulsive thing—that ugly Modes… he went too far when he made a clone of me… Just imagining what he does with that clone makes me…"
Rena exclaimed while averting her gaze filled with disgust.
"Even though we finally expelled him from Elios… he ended up doing THAT. How dare he?!"
Kuroki was at a loss for words. He realized that the origin of Rena's conflict with Modes was a sort of psychological disgust. It was an utterly foolish reason, and unfortunately for him and the others, they were all summoned and thrown into battle for that silly conflict.
Kuroki's anger is slowly rising.
"That's it..?"
"What do you mean?"
"THAT'S IT!? The reason you dragged them into this world and started a war is because of a petty reason? How pathetic." Kuroki spat.
Rena was at a loss for words. Never in her life had someone shouted, much less admonished her. But she was able to get a grip and rebuked back at Kuroki.
"A petty reason? NO! That's not a petty reason, at least for me! I have suffered greatly because of Modes and his hubris! Besides, what do you know about war? Reiji and his comrades told me that your world is peac-"
"THOOOOM"
Rena was silenced by the intense killing intent that came from the Dark Knight. A suffocating aura suddenly emitted by Kuroki was so great that Rena was mustering all of her willpower just to stand up.
"What do I know about war..? Yeah, I know a lot. Me and my friends started a war for Love and Peace, I killed a lot of people to save some people, I willingly died so everyone could live again, and yet..you..TELL ME THAT I KNOW NOTHING OF WAR!?" Kuroki lashed out.
The silence was palpable in the temple that you could hear a pin drop, and a few seconds later the intense killing intent died down.
"Sorry, This is your temple. It was rude of me to do that."
Kuroki broke the silence and apologized to Rena.
Rena was terrified and…strangely aroused. Never in her life has she felt that anger and killing intent so great that even a Goddess of War herself was scared by a mere mortal. This is foreign for her, and strangely it's quite relieving for Rena that for the first time in her life, someone actually got mad at her.
"...I apologize, Dark Knight. I have offended you with my words." Rena sincerely offered her apologies.
"Apology accepted."
Kuroki was still angry, but it would be childish of him to let go of his emotions like that. Since both of them apologized, they are now even.
"But it's still not a good enough reason for her to lie to Shirone and the others."
Rena never told Shirone and the others the truth. That was the biggest reason why they chose to cooperate with her. However, if they knew the true reason behind the conflict, Kuroki was hoping they would never agree to participate in this battle any longer.
"Goddess Rena, I ask you to simply tell the hero and his companions the truth."
Kuroki got closer to Rena, a tense atmosphere enveloping both of them.
"Hmmm, you know… How about you become my Knight?"
"HA!?"
Kuroki was surprised by Rena's sudden offer.
"Don't you think that serving under a beauty like me is far better than serving under an ugly man like Modes? That's why you should become my knight."
Kuroki was really confused when he heard Rena's offer.
"…"
"Well, you might look like a dull man at first glance, but upon a closer look, you're actually quite handsome."
Rena continued blabbering, ignoring the completely bewildered Kuroki.
"If it's you, it'll be no problem since you are stronger than Reiji. So, what's your choice?"
"In short, you're telling me that I'm your next tool, Hahaha... well here is an answer right now: NO."
"NO!? D-did you just reject me? How dare you say that! I am the most beautiful goddess in this world!" Rena shot back, part insulted that she was rejected just like that and partly happy because someone is actually putting up resistance against her charms.
"Like I give a shit. Your personality is so horrible that I can't believe people are actually simping for you despite your shitty attitude!"
"Me, Shitty!? You have the gall to call me that? Such blasphemy! Simping? What in the world was that?"
"It is -"
"DEYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
That shadow barged into the room and slashed their weapon at Kuroki.
Sensing danger, Kuroki retreated backwards to dodge the oncoming attack.
"I've come to save you, Rena!"
That shadow was Shirone.
"Sorry for not coming faster, those Spartois were blocking my way…"
Shirone pointed her sword at Kuroki while standing in front of Rena as if to protect her.
"You coward. How dare you point your sword towards a harmless and weaponless woman!"
Shirone shouted with an enraged look on her face.
.Get away from this place, Rena! Leave the rest to me!」
"A-y-yes… I understand, Shirone. I leave the rest to you…"
Rena, who was overwhelmed with Shirone's spirit, quickly headed towards the door. Rena took a quick look at Kuroki again before proceeding and she smiled a bit. Their argument is a bit crass and uncouth but strangely it's fun. To think that someone actually told her what they think of her is..
Kuroki was about to follow Rena, but Shirone blocked his way.
"I won't let you leave this place! Your opponent is me!" Shirone swung her sword filled with killing intent at Kuroki as she spoke.
Kuroki parried Shirone's attack using his hand.
"Hmph, her sword skills are as bad as ever."
Kuroki was somewhat disappointed that Shirone's swordcraft was as easy to read as ever. Parrying her attacks was far easier for him, as he was already familiar with her skills.
"Haaa, This is getting bothersome, maybe I could just turn off my armor and be done with it."
Kuroki parried Shirone's sword again and retreated to gain some distance.
Just as he was about to pull the Dragon Fullbottle off his belt to explain the situation to his childhood friend, he heard Shirone's bellows.
"How dare you hurt Reiji-kun! I absolutely won't forgive you!"
Kuroki stopped his hand that was about to pull the Fullbottle and stared at Shirone. Something had snapped inside him.
"For what?" Kuroki asked as he stared at Shirone.
"Eh?...Y-You are evil! You hurt Reiji!"
"Let me ask you this…Am I supposed to stand still then and wait for him to kill me? As far as I know, I am fine with you leaving Nargol while I was supposed to finish you off. I also remember your hero was planning to attack me when my back was turned. Isn't backstabbing an opponent who gave you mercy a despicable and evil act?"
Shirone was stunned by the Dark Knight's reply.
"Th-that was… Y-you brutally assaulted Reiji!"
"I asked for a duel, and he complied. I also remember that he used his own magic when I was just using my sword and my fist. Now I will ask the same question, am I supposed to stand still?"
Shirone couldn't find any words to reply to the Dark Knight because she knew it was true but…
"I don't care about such reasons! What's important is that you are an evil man allied with the Dark Lord Modes! Justice is going to prevail, and no words shall sway me!"
"She is still stubborn and pigheaded as ever. I just wasted my breath. Tsk."
Kuroki was hoping that at least, even for a bit, Shirone would use her common sense that could have developed in this one year she stayed in this other world, but unfortunately, it had done the opposite.
Kuroki just sighed.
"You foolish idiot, in order to justify your so-called 'justice,' you ignored every word that I said, then…"
Kuroki threw the Beat Closer into a portal and grabbed the Blaze Blade. Shirone, seeing that the blade almost resembled a Dagger, meant one thing.
"Are you underestimating me!?" Shirone accused.
"No, you don't have anything to be estimated, not even a little bit."
"YOU!"
A pair of angelic wings appeared behind Shirone, growing from her slender back.
"TAKE THIS! LIGHT WINGS' ARROW!"
Kuroki just parried the arrows with the Blaze Blade.
"GOTCHA!"
Shirone flapped her wings and quickly flew around the room, distracting Kuroki with her shadow. Once she found an opening, she immediately attacked Kuroki's back.
"Lightning Blade!"
Electric discharges enveloped Shirone's blue sword. As it swung, raging thunderbolts raced towards Kuroki.
Kuroki swiped his hand against the thunderbolts, and they disappeared into thin air.
"Take this!"
Shirone's next attack came down towards Kuroki like a raging storm as she accelerated her movements. With the current strength she was showing, it was obvious that she was now as fast as Reiji. Yet, her attacks were all made in vain as Kuroki either dodged them or parried them with his blade. It had been a while since the last time Kuroki had fought with Shirone.
Ever since she had joined Reiji's party, Kuroki had rarely had the chance to spar with her. It felt great to do it once again.
"She became stronger than before, but…"
Kuroki mused about her achievements while receiving her sword. He was aware that her swordplay had become even faster, which impressed him a bit. Yet, he knew that her blatant weakness still remained.
"Still disappointing."
Seeing the shadow of her past through her fighting skills, Kuroki started reminiscing about the old days. Shirone's swordcraft had always been straightforward. That's why Kuroki could always easily see through her attacks. The situation is still the same now.
Back then, Kuroki would let Shirone win and be happy, but with the current situation, he doesn't see the point in giving her a victory.
Firstly, he needed to teach Shirone a lesson and show something that they must have forgotten, and most importantly—time was now of the essence.
"Rena will call for reinforcement, not that I can kick their asses, but gotta wrap this up quickly then."
Kuroki was running out of time. He predicted that Rena would call for help, and they would come soon.
"I guess playtime is over. As much as it was fun seeing her charge like a bull, anyway, I have to defeat Shirone first. Time to make her face reality."
"I can't reach him!? Is he that strong?"
That was what Shirone felt as she fought against the Dark Knight before her.
"My attacks are all easily seen through by him, and he either parries my sword or dodges my attacks completely. What's more, he was just using a dagger!"
While contemplating her current standing in the battle, Shirone sent another attack, which the Dark Knight effortlessly dodged with a paper-thin margin yet again.
"He's basically toying with me!"
As their duel continued, Shirone grew more and more impatient. The Dark Knight was clearly more powerful than her. The only reason why their battle had not ended until now was merely because the Dark Knight had never even considered attacking her.
Shirone was mortified since the other party was a coward who pointed his sword at an unarmed woman. Yet, she couldn't even defeat that supposed coward. Even so, she kept swinging her sword. Then, after swinging her sword for the umpteenth time, Shirone felt her hand had gone lighter. To her horror, the Dark Knight is holding her sword by the blade. Not content with that, the Dark Knight snapped her sword into two with his bare hand, sending her a clear message: Her effort was useless right from the start.
"Monster!"
That was Shirone's impression of the Dark Knight now.
"The Dark Knight never took me seriously. He never considered me as his opponent! And he was clearly stating that he could have ended things earlier if he wanted to!"
Before she knew it, tears were welling up along the rims of her eyes.
"You must think that I really have no chance to win against you, huh!"
Shirone glared at the Dark Knight as she cried.
"Good, now I have disarmed Shirone. Maybe she would now consider that she was biting off more than she could chew. Now if I could talk things down, maybe we could stop this stupid shit from getting worse."
Kuroki disabled Shirone's means to fight by snatching and breaking her sword. Kuroki was about to approach her when…
"You must think that I really have no chance to win against you, huh!"
Kuroki stopped in his tracks. Shirone was now crying because of how humiliated she was.
"Soon, Reiji-kun will come and defeat you!"
Her mournful shouts continued as she caught her breath.
"BECAUSE REIJI-KUN IS WAY MORE POWERFUL THAN YOU!"
Shirone screamed at the top of her lungs.
"...Pathetic."
"Huh?"
"You are pathetic, disgusting even."
"What do you mean by that!?" Shirone angrily asked.
"You pick a fight with me, get lost, and the first thing you do is tell me that Hero would defeat me? Aren't you embarrassed for yourself? You can't even vow to finish what you started."
'That-that's…"
"You are worse than a coward. A coward at least can finish what he started once he got his will. Meanwhile, you just gave up."
"...sob.."
Tears fell from Shirone's eyes. Now she realized that her words were very unbecoming for a supposed warrior like her. Unfortunately for her, the Dark Knight isn't finished yet and struck a final blow that shook Shirone's core.
"...No wonder his final words are an apology for bringing such an untalented child into this world."
Shirone looked up at the Dark Knight with wide eyes. Those words may be a bit confusing, but for some reason, she knew that in her heart, it was for her.
Right when Shirone was trying to understand what Kuroki said, a commotion was heard outside, a group of people then barged into the altar room.
"Shirone, are you okay?!"
"SHIRONE-SAN!"
Reiji and his companions all screamed Shirone's name as they made their way in.
"R-Reiji… kun?"
Shirone's cries ceased a little bit, a smile replacing her previous wails as she looked at Reiji. However, she felt a stinging gaze towards her. The Dark Knight was just staring at her as if Shirone just proved his point. Her smile disappeared, and she looked at the floor in shame.
"YOU BASTARD! GET AWAY FROM HER!"
Reiji barked at Kuroki as he readied his sword.
Kuroki, whose disappointment has reached an all-time high, just lost his will to fight. Even though he can smash them like bugs in this instant, his interactions with the Goddess Rena and his disappointing fight with Shirone somewhat got to him.
He just sighed, threw the Blaze Blade away that entered into a portal, and walked away from Shirone. As he turned his back on them, he could hear Reiji and his party's bewildered voices from behind, but he honestly didn't care anymore.
"WAIT!"
A voice shouted. Kuroki stopped walking and looked back. It was Chiyuki, one of Reiji's companions. She hesitated for a bit and then asked something interesting.
"Dark Knight…A-Are you a Kamen Rider?"
This piqued Kuroki's interest. To think that they knew Kamen Riders. Kuroki then noticed that Reiji flashed an angry expression for a moment before returning into an alert state. To make things more interesting, Kuroki decided to tease them and give them something to think about as petty revenge.
"What do you think?"
He then walked away from the stunned Hero's party and waved his hand. The ceiling of the temple broke down, and Kuroki leaped out from the altar room, then immediately invoked his flight magic.
"Haaa… so tiring. I think I will ask Mona-san for some tea and snacks. Also, what Modes said back then, about making a Goddess?"
He knew that the Gods of Light's subordinates might discover his presence if he used flight magic so blatantly, but he really didn't care. Kuroki has more important things to think about. Maybe those guys might present a better challenge.
CHAPTER 11 END
A/N
Well. That's chapter 11.
Ok I did a bit of adapting the story directly but to those who read the story will notice a massive difference.
First of all I removed the Hero Party interactions and went straight to Kuroki's parts. If you ask me they are just fillers and bring nothing to the story. Trust me, to those who want to try the story, there will be a time when you will say "what the fuck is this shit!? I want to read Kuroki's parts! Not the Hero's party shenanigans!." Unfortunately the author has a hard-on for Reiji and company.
Second, Kuroki is no selling Rena's charms. Since Kuroki is a late 20's guy who lived a pretty normal life (well until Evolt screwed it up) and not the "cookie cutter JPN virgin MC", He can easily see Rena's true nature after he gets over her beauty, that's why he was repulsed and able to see that well, Rena's interest on him is just like a kid who is ready to throw her toy away for another shiny new toy." Rena meanwhile will be in the phase of "I like you because I can't control you". Imagine this, everyone is worshiping you despite being bitchy. Then some handsome guy comes in and says "you are a bitch." Angry maybe at first then, realizes that he doesn't care about what you look like and have a refreshing feeling that someone actually calls your bullshit out.
Well that's it for now, 1 more chapter and side story, then we go to the next arc. Don't worry you will like the changes. =D