Disclaimer: As per usual, I don't own Kamen Rider or any Type-Moon property.

Previously on Across the Kaleidoscope

"I am Kiva, the World itself. To fight me is to go against the World."

"Please don't call me the same as Ritsuka-kun; there's nobody worse than him out there."

"You've finally appeared again, Decade. No, Fujimaru Ritsuka."

"Thanks but I have to thank you for your help too," The prince thanked him with a grateful smile. "We couldn't have done this without you."

"I was just passing through." That was a bald-faced lie, he had been dragged here by Bishop but he wasn't going to mention that. "So, what are you gonna do now?"

Ritsuka peered around the street corner they were hiding behind and saw a woman in black walking away, her back turned to them.

"You're not gonna try talking to her?"

"And say what? 'I'm from the future and just came back to fight a monster version of myself?" Hakuno said.

"Don't forget the part where she was an assassin nun whose job was to hunt down your people," the other boy snarkily added.

"...yeah, no." He shut down that idea. Still, he stared wistfully at the retreating woman; however, both he and Ritsuka soon lost sight of her when she walked around another corner.

Well, there goes his chance to speak with his mother…

"Hey, Haku."

"Hmm?"

"Have you ever wished you were born to a normal family?" Ritsuka asked him. "Where you didn't have to go through everything that's happened to you and your sister?"

Hakuno did not say anything as he thought about the answer. What if things had been different? What if he was born a normal person? What if he didn't become Kiva? Would his life be better than it is now?

"I…" —

The man stopped, thinking about that question again.

"What if things had been different…" he muttered to himself as he looked out the window. 'It won't be long now… Soon…'

Chapter 22: 2008: The Golden Emperor's Debut

Out of everything Ciel expected when she stepped through the doorway, ending up in a mountainous desert underneath an alien albeit beautiful sky was not one of them. For a second, she believed she was in another world… before Ciel realized she was most definitely in another world.

"Where are we?" She asked the butler, still carrying a sleeping Ritsuka over his shoulders.

"Inside time itself, " he answered while looking up at the sky. "What we're standing on right now, each grain of sand is history unfolding."

"Time… itself?" Honestly, she didn't expect time to be a desert. Then again, she also didn't expect a photo studio backdrop could utilize Second Magic so a desert of time is not that weird.

"Normally, people who come here would use the trains to get to where they want but we'll be taking something else." As he said that, a near-deafening roar shook the area. Turning her eyes towards the sky, she saw a flying dragon fused with a castle.

'Oh, so that's why it's called Castle Doran,' she thought as she watched the dragon-castle land in front of them, kicking up a small dust cloud of time. Hopefully, nothing terrible will happen because of that— like someone from the present ending up in the ice age or something like that.

Back at the matter at hand, Doran stared at the two/three of them before opening its mouth. A yellow orb flew out of its jaws which enveloped them, resulting in yellow light filling Ciel's vision. She felt a sense of weightlessness for several seconds before her vision cleared.

"Getting eaten by a dragon, let me add that to the list I thought wouldn't happen to me…." Admittedly, the hallway they were in was pretty nice. Certainly better than the digestive tracts one would expect.

"Follow me." Alright, she was getting really tired of the man; he hadn't even told her his name yet. Regardless of her irritation against the butler, she followed him as they walked through the castle's hallways. It was not long until they reached their destination: a hall already occupied by three men, one of whom was tied up and loudly complaining.

"Let me go already! I've got important busi—Ah! It's you!" Ciel recognized the man; he was the one playing the violin in front of the church earlier. How did he end up here? "Save me, Frenchie! They're going to eat us!"

"Welcome back, Jiro." the boy in the sailors' uniform said from the couch, completely ignoring what the tied up man was shouting.

"Move, Ramon," Jiro, as Ciel now knew, simply ordered as he walked towards the couch. As soon as the boy vacated the seat, the man laid Ritsuka on it. The amnesiac teen just snorted in his sleep, completely unaware of what was happening. "Hey, wake up."

Ritsuka continued lightly snoring.

"You want me to splash his face?" Ramon offered to which Jiro shook his head.

"No need. He can sleep for a bit longer," the butler turned towards Ciel. "You must be confused about everything."

"That's putting it mildly."

"Are you all just gonna ignore me?!"

"Firstly, who's he?" Ciel glanced at the tied up man out of the corner of her eyes.

Realizing that they finally acknowledged him, the man cleared his throat before talking calmly and collected. "My name is Kishinami Otoya, mademoiselle. And your name is Elesia, correct?"

"It's Ciel."

"Ah, I apologize," Otoya said, "Now then, GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"As you already know, this man is—was Kishinami Hakuno and Hakunon's father," Jiro revealed to her. "But because of the fake Kiva's presence, history has changed and they, along with the rest of the 13 Demon Races, do not exist."

'And Otoya Kishinami survived.' Ciel was not going to mention that aloud, of course. The man in question was right there, after all. "But how do you remember them?"

"When time was getting rewritten, Castle Doran noticed and fled here to the Sands of Time," answered Jiro. "Being here protected us from the alterations to history, but that meant we are stuck here until help arrives."

"Yeah, he really kept us waiting for a while," Ramon interjected, glancing at Ritsuka. "An entire month, I think."

"Back to the topic at hand, I'm sure you already know the problem with the fake Kiva; she is unbeatable," Jiro said. "The World itself will heal her completely. Moreover, time will reset and those who escaped the initial alteration will get erased."

"How do you know that for certain?" Ciel asked. However, she had a feeling that she knew the answer.

"We weren't the only ones in Doran when it fled here. The princess was with us." Princess… Ciel knew she was referring to Hakunon. "She tried to fight the fake Kiva and managed to defeat her initially."

Jiro stopped talking, but Ciel understood what he was trying to say.

"As we were soon informed, the only person who can stop the fake Kiva is someone who wields the powers of Kiva themselves."

"Informed? By who?"

"Bishop." Ah. That made sense. "Despite our mutual disdain towards each other, we are on the same side here."

That left her with two questions: where was Bishop now, and how did he learn about Another Kiva? She decided to ask the latter question first.

"We don't know; he avoided answering the question when we asked."

"What we do know is that Decade here is the only person left who can defeat the fake Kiva," Ramon cheerfully said. "Which is why we brought you two here."

"...I have no idea what any of you are saying," Otoya grumbled, now confused on top of being annoyed at being tied up.

Meanwhile, the last person in the room, who had not spoken at all the entire time, was standing over Ritsuka's sleeping body. "He's… dreaming." He slowly said, noticing the teen's content smile.

…?

Ritsuka yawned as he entered the large room with a tired expression. "mmmd morning."

"Morning, Fujimaru." One of the people that were already in the room cheerfully greeted him. "Had a good sleep? 'Cause we got a lot of things to do today."

"And by we, D̷̡͍̙̬͚̮̳̼̫̪͔̤̪̽͑͛͗͊̽̒̅̀̑̍̈́̋̐̕ä̸̙̩̟̥̯͈́͗̍͗͐̈́́̋̄͘͝͝͝ ̴̢̡̛͍͚͔̅́͝V̴̡̮̜̜͈̝̄̈͗̍i̸̡̛̺̟̼̮̖͑̐͗̂͐͌͋̅̓͆̌͝ṇ̷̢̨͈̣̜̪̜͇̱̻͙̮̣͇̈́͛̈́͌́͋c̴̙͓̑͗̈̏̑̌̆̍͠͝i̶̹̟̼̺̽̃̽̅͗͋̔͜ means you."

'Obviously," Ritsuka mentally sighed. "Where's M̵̥̂̀̊̓̚̚̕ǎ̴͖̹̰̤͎̟͗s̶̨̘͙͈͉̥̠̾͐̆̂̈̔͐̐̈̕͜͝͠h̷̡̛͉̞̹̼̝͙̗̔̔̂̊̽̒̒̀͝͝?"

"Miss K̸̞͓̦͍̟̊̂̄̉̈́̀̋̀̚͠ẙ̶̢͑̇̄̅̅͐͂̓ŗ̵͕̥͕̫̤̓̽͊i̶̝̩̬͐e̴̖̞̰̺̤͚͂̂̅̓̈́̈́l̷͇̳͇͈̫̼̱̦̅̄͝͝i̵̜̒͒͑̉g̴̨̨̥͑̓̃͑̉̈́h̸͖͇̲̞̝̒̅̅́̏̄̒͋͘͝t̷̢̹̯̻̯̊̐̾͆̒̏͝ has other tasks she needs to do this morning; she will join you later today."

Oh. Well, that was no biggie. He can do just fine without Ḿ̷̨̛͎̳͖̰̭̏̀̐̿̾̉͛̀a̶̧̛̗͇̰̻̘s̵̢̜̫̘̭͙̝̠̫͍͐̌͝ͅh̵̢̩̺̥̣̼̾'̴̙̈̄̾̒̊͋͠s̶̛̮͍̣̞̫̝̹̒̑͒͒͝ help. "What do I have up first?"

"Ņ̷̡̰̳͍̱́͌̓̀̂͊i̵̛̱͖̗̍͒̈́̓̈́̀͝ğ̶̨̡̯̟̻̖̑́̏̚͝ḣ̴̡̨̪̮͓̟̈̈́͐̈́̾̊̽͘͘͜͝t̷̹̱̺̗̻͖̏̔͝i̵̠͔̥̓͒̈͐͒̽͛̆̂̅͠ņ̸̨̬̙͇̖̹̫̬͗̓̃́̏͊̂̓̕͜͝g̶͇̘̤̖̓̓̋̂͋a̶̤͑̃́́̚ļ̴͇̟̘̣̙̞̺͘͜e̵̛̝̠̻̞͙̼͖̖̭̦̖͑̂͒̆̆̿͐ said she and A̷̛̯̽́̃͐̄̋̑̏̈́͐s̸̹͖͕̮͎̠̼̑̑̚͠c̷̗̩͈̠̤̱̰̮̙̻̿̈́̕͜l̵̢̢͖͈͕͈̼̻̟͋̅͑e̸̢͙̻̪̿̈́̽͌͐̋̀̄̕͝p̵̡̼͚̙̱̤͔͈̗͊̓̈̊i̵͙͉̱͆̏̉̎̑̾̉̐̚̕ư̶̜̱̐̀̓̋̓̍̏͗͠͠ş̶̧̛̼̞͈̲̔̐ͅ needed to run some medical tests on you so you better get going."

'This is gonna be a long day, isn't it…' Ritsuka mentally groaned, remembering the last time the two did a check-up on him. "After that?"

"Normally, it would be Embers but we all know you'll be preoccupied all morning so it'll be lunch… Assuming you're conscious, of course."

He can already feel his stomach getting sick….

"And if you are conscious, there'll probably be a fight between the other S̴̜̠̼͈̉̄͠͠ẽ̸̮̩̘̟́̀͛ṟ̵͈̪̘̔͘͠v̸̡͔͓̠̗̼̟̪͑́͆͛̍̈́̄̀̕͜ḁ̶́n̸̨̧̳̖̥͚̪̮͕͍̓͘ͅṱ̶̣͇͛̂̏̎͐̒͗͘͝ş̴̛̖̖̼̬̜͊̎́̍̊̅̓̚ over who gets to spoonfeed you."

And now fear and exasperation replaced that feeling of sickness. Still, Ritsuka couldn't help but smile as he imagined the chaos that was the cafeteria during lunch.

"I miss them…. I can never smile with them again."

"M̵͙͓̗̱̥̥̓́͆̈̄̓̂͠à̸̩̟̟̹̇̅̉͗͘s̷͚̘͌̅͜t̴̛̜̫͒ę̷͓͔̱̜͖̟͓͊̐͊͋͒̅͑͝͠ȓ̴̥̯͍̖̦̹̻̞̘̇!̶̜̌" Ritsuka turned around to see A̵̜̦̗̩̩̤̼̞̍̑̈r̵̛̟̻̤̞̲̭̀̐̽̈̀͗̍̕͝t̴̢̢̛̖̫̤͈̱̰̯͎͙̤̉̔̋̒̃͋͋̉̊͌̊͐͜͝ǫ̵̨̣̼͇̙̞͔̀̾̿̏̇̂͗̋̅͐̓̾̕r̸̢̺̫͙̀́̓̈́̑̌̚̚i̷̬̮̬͖͍̞̞̪͈̹̋̏̅̀̽͊͊́̚͜ȧ̸̧̭͈͙͔̯̜͎̼͓͙̗̝͜ ̵͎̈́͝ͅĂ̴̧̘̦̟̗͓̣̲͔̱͐̀̄̏͛̈͝v̵̧͖̼̺̲̯̳̺̭̯̠͚̀̃͜ã̶̰̤͚̰̥̖͖̣͋̅̌̏̍͐͆̾̚͝͠ļ̶̢̛̛̟͚̞̗͖̳̮̿̏̆̐͌̉̈́̓̀͜͝o̵̞͇̝̗̔̈̓͊̀̅͒̌̾̚ń̴̡̫̥͉̰̠̫̘͇̙ͅͅ running up to him.

"What's up?" He smiled at her.

"S̴̛̘̳͍͔̟̯̼̭̘̣̙̖̺͚̒̎̽͘ą̶̨̛̛̦̖͈̃̓̎̀̎̕̕̕̕͝k̶̨̻̞̰̘̣̼͕̃͑͆̇̈́̍͜͝ą̶͖̙͚͈̙͖͉͓̻̪͐̄̂̓̀̇̈́̑̄̀̍̚̕m̶͕͓̯͈̣̰̯̗͈̬͒̍̽̕͜͜ͅͅo̵̝̲̟̮̣͙̦̱̹̭̳̽̓͂̓́̏̈́̂̂̂̔̓͒ͅt̴̟͙̾͊͛̈́̌͒ǒ̷̡̹̘͓͇̞̹̻̜͚̻̆̾̄̿̔́͠ wanted me to tell you that he wants to meet up in the simulator," she told him. "So… Um…"

Ritsuka already knew why she was stuttering and immediately offered, "You want to walk together?"

"Yes! Uh… I mean, sure, I don't mind." A̵̹̮̩̞̠̟̮̱̠̹̰͉̯͆͛̒͜͝r̵̖̮͙̼̼̬͎̲̺̈́͛̓͂̍̓̀̇̈͑t̴̛͍̖̣̅͌͆̔̓͌̓̏̑͛͝ǫ̴̨͚̤̫̖͇̹͓̻͖̝̮̓͒͋̏̎͋͆̋̏̈́͐̈̚͜r̴̘̖̙̳̳̝̜̬̹̰̬̜̯͐͗̄̌̌́́̂̚͜͠͠ĩ̶͇̤̺̥͓̲a̶͔͔̻̰̻͖̭̩͍̬̅̄̉̓̓̊̌͛͝ tried to act cool but she was unable to hide the happy smile on her face.

"Was it bad that I didn't want those times to end?"

Ritsuka wiped the sweat off his brow and continued trekking through the sweltering jungle.

"Senpai, don't push yourself. We can take a break if you—"

"No need to worry about me; I can manage," Ritsuka interrupted M̸̧̨̰̹̳̘͔̥̎̆a̶̬̪̺̓̅̇̈́̃s̶̛͔̯͎̍͋͂͘ẖ̷̱̅̽̈ while smiling, hoping that it'll ease her and the others' worries. 'Besides, we can't stop for my sake.'

"Just… don't push yourself too hard."

"I won't. I know my limits," Ritsuka continued smiling.

"My limits didn't matter… I didn't matter in the long run."

Heavy footsteps reached his ears before a distress cry calling to him did. "Senpai!"

He looked up and saw those he cared about coming to save him. His first Ş̵̛͎͍͉̗̰̻̖͖̖͐̅͛͒̒̃͊͋͝ͅȩ̶̤̹̯̲̤͍̾̆̒͊̋͝͝͠ŗ̸̛̲̖̘͚̭̘̹͕̓̈̾v̷̥̣̥͈͝ͅą̸͎̦̂̓͊̄͋̋̂̚n̵̨̢̯͔͉͙̂t̵̡̬̪͖̾̀̉͋̈̅͜ had her hand reaching for him.

"Take my hand!" She shouted. In that second, he remembered a similar moment happened a few years ago. That time, he reached for her hand.

This time, he gave them a reassuring smile— "Don't worry, I'll always be with all of you…." —and his fingers let go…

"I'm sorry… I didn't want to bring you all down with me."

Smack!

"Ow!" Ritsuka yelped, holding his cheek in pain, "What did you do that for?!"

"You're a very deep sleeper, you know that?" Jiro told him with an annoyed glint in his eyes. "Just be glad I didn't ask Ramon or Riki to wake you."

Since Ramon's water came from his mouth, Jiro had a point. As for Riki, chances are he'd be thrown into the hallway while he was asleep. Still, Ritsuka grumbled at being woken up with a slap.

"Get up already. Riki wants to clean this room," the manservant glanced over to the doorway, making the grumbling teen look in the same direction where he saw said Franken with a broom in one hand and a dustpan in the other. "Wait in the dining hall or something."

With an annoyed sigh, Ritsuka threw the blanket off, got out of the bed, and exited the guests' room. Making his way through the castle's hallways, he eventually reached the large but empty dining hall. Sure, there were lots of furniture around but it was nearly completely void of people. In fact, there was only one person in the room.

"Oh, good morning, Ritsuka."

"Good morning," the teen greeted back. "Thanks again for letting me crash here for the night, W̸̡̛͕̮̤͔̜͎̲͍̏̓͊̎́̑̿̈́̋̒͆̽͘͝͝ͅä̸̧̢̧̲͎̺̬͈͍̲̫̥̜̻͈̭̂̊̌̊ͅt̴̡̢̺̖͉̼͕̘̠̼̱̬͍̅̎͐͆̾̉̎̚͜a̵̙̫̙̭̕r̸̢̡̡̲̫̦͎̯̰̲͎̯̬̳̯̼͓͌̈́̈́͒̉̑̀͆͑͒̽̍͘͠͠ǔ̴̧̡̼̥̘͈̝̩͍͈͎̞̲͇̠̲̈̋̓́̀̿̑͆͐̆́͒͒̔͋̚͘͘".

"I miss them… And they're gone because of me…."

Splash!

"Ah!" Ritsuka was jolted awake by cold water getting thrown in his face. "That better have not been from Ramon's!"

"Nah, you're fine," the Merman said. However, he was in his true form, which obviously threw in a lot of doubt. "If I did, then you wouldn't have a face."

"..." he stared at the green Arms Monster with squinted eyes, scrutinizing him as Bassha turned back into his human disguise.

"Decade, focus," Jiro said, drawing Ritsuka's attention off the Merman.

He glanced around the room where he noticed Ciel with an annoyed face while next to her was Otoya, who had his mouth taped shut as he struggled to get out of his restraints. "Where are we?" Ritsuka asked no one in particular. He knew he was in Castle Doran but how?

As he was looking at Ciel, she was the one who answered him. "Jiro says we're in the Sands of Time."

'The Sands of Time…' Ritsuka got off the couch and moved over to the nearby window. Staring out of it, he saw the vast desert and strange sky that was time-stream. "So this how you hid from time? Hiding inside time itself?"

"We didn't have a choice in the matter. Doran brought us here before we realized what was happening," explained Jiro. "Regardless of how we end in this situation, we'll be out of it soon enough. You gained the prince's powers when you were here last time, correct."

"...Yes," Ritsuka answered after a moment, already knowing where they were going with this. "But why are you guys in Castle Doran? I thought it belonged to the Fangire King?"

Unless Taiga decided to abdicate the throne to one of the Kishinami twins, there was no reason for the Arms Monsters to be here.

"It did," Jiro answered. "However, after you left, the new King decided to move his operations elsewhere and leave Doran to his siblings."

"And as their retainers, we moved in here with them… or rather just Haku-chan," Ramon added. "Only she moved in while Ha-kun stayed in their old house."

"And we… take care… of Doran," finished Riki.

"Back to the more pressing issue." Jiro changed the topic, saying, "We need to defeat the fake Kiva and restore history to normal."

"Uh… About that," Ritsuka spoke up. "We have a minor problem."

"And that is?"

"I lost it."

"You… what?"

A short time later…

To cut a long story short, Jiro lost his temper and came close to tearing Ritsuka's throat out. Luckily for him, Ramon and Riki were there to hold the Wolfen back and let Ritsuka run out of the room with his life.

"You were awake for two minutes and you nearly got killed by a werewolf. I should be surprised, but I'm not."

"Should I feel insulted by that?"

Ciel did not respond as they wandered through the halls of Castle Doran. As for Otoya, they had left him tied up in the chair. He should be fine, they reasoned.

"I have to say though, I didn't expect that my third adventure with you would lead me here." Ciel glanced to her right at the large stained glass window where she could see the desert outside. "So when were you going to tell me your bathroom door was a portal into the timestream?"

"Never. Firstly, telling someone you can time travel is generally a bad idea," Ritsuka plainly answered. "Secondly, I didn't know my bathroom door could do that… or that Jiro used my bathroom door to get here. I was asleep, remember?"

"Speaking of that, you're a very deep sleeper, you know that?" She told him, "You kept sleeping through everyone's attempt to wake you up."

"I wake up when I want to."

"Except when water is involved," Ciel snarkily retorted. "Must have been some dream you were having."

"Dream?" Ritsuka parroted before he recalled the odd dream he had. 'What did that mean….'

Faceless people and unintelligible names… Why was he dreaming about that? There was that last part of his dream, where he apparently once stayed the night in the very castle he was currently in. That was, of course, impossible. He only visited Doran two times, once during the initial meeting with the previous King and the other to talk with Taiga the day after they assassinated his father.

'Time…' Ritsuka stared out the window at the Sands of Time. Did being in the timestream influence his dream somehow.

In the back of his mind, a voice whispered: time is memory. Those forgotten by time never existed.

"Remember me, and I exist…. But if you don't want to, that's fine by me."

"...What?"

"Huh?" Ritsuka turned towards Ciel. "What's wrong?"

She just stared at him, trying to understand what he had unintentionally said. "Nothing. Just thinking."

Ritsuka just gave a confirmatory hum before saying, "Hey, Ciel?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think you could kill Noel if it comes to it?" he asked.

It wasn't even a second later when Ciel nodded and said, "Of course I can. She has to pay for everything she did and misusing powers like that."

While they were trying to wake Ritsuka up, Jiro explained a few more things to her. Namely, Noel had murdered many people with Kiva's powers over the years.

"I see… I guess that makes sense," Ritsuka hummed before he continued staring out the window.

"I'm going to continue looking around," Ciel said, sensing that he'd rather stare at the landscape than explore. Hearing a mute yes from him, she split off from him.

As soon as she disappeared out of sight and earshot, Ritsuka let out a long, frustrated sigh. "Why did I have that dream…."

Closing his eyes, he tried to recall every detail of that dream. However, it only frustrated him more as it was too vague to extract any information from it.

"Beating yourself over what happened a long time ago, that's really unlike you." A familiar and frustrating voice echoed through the hall, further worsening Ritsuka's mood.

"Quiet. I don't want to hear anything from you."

"Are you really that upset at what I did?" The voice Ritsuka was talking to sounded like he was about to start laughing. "Oh please, I've done worse stuff than that. Ditching you in Hibiki's world was a slap on the wrist compared to everything else."

"A slap on the wrist is a type of punishment," Ritsuka couldn't help but comment on the specific term he used.

"Did I stutter? Deep down, you know you deserve everything coming your way."

Ritsuka sighed at the cryptic sentence. "And having to deal with you is another punishment?"

"Another self-inflicted one, but yes." He could practically hear the smugness in his tone. "I'm here to make sure you do what you're supposed to do if you try to slack. What's happening is inevitable, so we might as well let it happen as soon as possible."

"Let what happen?"

"That doesn't matter yet."

"You just love infuriating me, don't you?"

"I thought that was already obvious." Ritsuka heard a strange sound in front of him. As his eyes were still closed, he couldn't tell what it was. "Besides, I'm the one who'll finish our mission." He heard footsteps circling him.

"You really do love infuriating me," grumbled the amnesiac teen again, rubbing his forehead.

"Because I hate you, and you hate me." He could tell them that the voice was smirking. He just knew. "Now then, time for me to carry out my own investigation. See you later."

Ritsuka felt the familiar sensation of an Aurora Curtain wash over and the presence he felt disappeared. Only then did he open his eyes, and only see the desert outside Castle Doran.

Letting out another frustrated sigh, Ritsuka turned around and resumed walking through the halls.

While Ritsuka was arguing, Ciel had found herself in a strange hallway.

Well, to be more accurate, she was standing before a strange door with her hand on the ornate handle. Something about it was drawing her in, but she resisted the urge to open the large wooden door.

"Found you." Ciel snapped out of her daze and stepped back from the strange door before looking back. She saw Jiro standing there with a neutral expression. "I see you found the Door of Time."

"The Door of Time?" She glanced back at the door with a renewed interest. "So this door—"

"—can lead to the past and future," Jiro finished. "However, we're not allowed to open it on most occasions. Even the King, the tyrant he was, never used this door before."

"That's good to know…." Ciel muttered.

"That's not to say that the door will remain closed till the end of time. There will be a day where it will open, that we know for certain."

"How do you know?"

"Because it's already happened," Jiro cryptically said, "Now then, let us return to the hall. We need to plan our next move to restore history. Riki and Ramon are already looking for Decade."

The Wolfen butler spun around and walked back down the hallway, prompting Ciel to follow after him but not before giving the door one last look.

Present, 2022…

After a long day's worth of effort, Noel decided to give up on her search. At this point, she realized there was no way she could find the man.

Now, she was resting in her hotel room, staring out the window at the shining moon. A distant memory swelled in her as her eyes were fixated on the silver orb in the sky.

It was a night just like that when she first encountered the man 14 years ago…

December 2008…

'Keep running, don't look back. Keep running, don't look back.'

Noel ignored the burning she felt in her lungs as she continued running from her pursuers. She heard the sound of something cutting through the air and barely managed to tilt her head to mostly avoid the Black Key. The blade still managed to nick her cheek and drew a bit of blood. The weapon, meanwhile, smashed into the concrete in front of her with a loud crack.

'Dammit!' She silently cursed as she turned around and twirled her spear. Despite the brave facade she put on as she stared down her attack, her legs and hands were shaking upon seeing the cloaked Executor.

She knew there was no way she could beat them and was more than ready to run away if the moment presented itself. Noel felt a sweat drop on the side of her face as the moonlight illuminated the blades in her pursuer's hands.

That was when she heard something coming from her side. Before she knew it, everything went black.

When she came to, Noel saw an altar. The next moment, she realized her captors positioned her to kneel before it and tied her hands behind her back. Moonlight shone into the large hall from the large stained window above the altar.

"Executor Noel, do you know why you were brought here?" One of her captors questioned her with no hint of emotion. "Did you truly believe that you could escape judgment?"

"It was an accident!" Noel tried to defend herself, her fear evident in her voice.

"Accident or not, that doesn't change reality. Many of your comrades are dead due to a risk you took despite being warned and aware of the consequences."

"It's not my fault!"

The other Executor acted as if she didn't say anything and continued speaking. "You will be held here for the night. In the morning, we will take you to the minister where your fate will be decided."

"Wait!" Noel cried in a final attempt to get them to listen to her.

And at that moment, everything froze. The air became still, the fire of lit candles stopped flickering, and her two captors were as still as stone.

"Wha—?"

"What do you believe makes one fit to be a king?" A voice asked from behind her before somebody walked past the still-tied Noel.

"Who are…" She trailed off, unable to finish her question as she felt the presence the man was giving off. His aura of pure confidence and power extruded from his very being, silencing Noel and making her freeze like everything else.

"Is it their unwavering determination to walk down their path? The unceasing belief that what they are doing is what is best for their people," the man listed. "Or could it simply be their fate to be a king? That time itself wills it so that they will be the one to rule over all? To be the one who will defend their World when the time comes?"

He turned around, cold eyes looking down on her. Even if she understood what the man was talking about, his stare ensured she couldn't get a single word out.

"But time itself has fractured once again, and the stories of the 20 pillars have changed one more time," the man narrated. "Do you have what it takes to become a pillar? To become the reason your World exists?"

The man reached into his suit and pulled out a gray pocket watch before he pressed the button on top. A purple clock appeared over the watch with only a single, turning hand.

KiVa!

The face of the pocket watch changed, now showing the grotesque visage of a yellow monster. While she did not know who the man or the pocket watch was, Noel recognized the name; it belonged to the long-dead King of the Fangires.

"Yes, or no?" The man questioned her. "Will you follow the path the World decided for you, or will you take your fate into your own hand and deny the World that has made you suffer its true King?"

Noel will not say she understood what the man was talking about, but she understood that the man was giving her a once-in-a-lifetime offer of great power. And she was not going to turn him down.

"Yes," she steeled herself and nodded. "Whatever it is you're giving me, I'll take it."

His lips tipped upwards as the man chuckled at her answer. "Good, I preferred you not to have lost your mind. Take it as an early birthday gift."

"Ah!" Noel couldn't help but shriek as the man grabbed her collar and dragged her to her feet. Before she could say anything else, the man thrust his hand along with the watch into her stomach. However, she felt no pain as a purple vortex swallowed the watch.

"One last warning," the man whispered into her ear, "One day, a young man, Fujimaru Ritsuka, will appear in your world to fulfill his true role."

The man let her go and lightly shoved her back. Noel felt something surge deep within her as the black bands covered her body.

"When that day comes, you have to kill him to protect the world, for he is the Destroyer of Worlds, Decade."

KiVa!'

"And you, are Kamen Rider Kiva."

Present, 2022…

After that, it barely took her any effort to escape and she continued running for the next 14 years. Unlike the short time she was on the run, she was more than able to fight back, even against the person she hated most.

Admittedly, Elesia— her world's Elesia —was her most relentless pursuer, having spent the six years after that night chasing after her. However, Noel has to give credit where it is due— Elesia still went after her even after Roa's final death in 2014. It proved to be her undoing as their final confrontation turned out to be Elesia's final battle.

"Idiot…" Noel scoffed at her dead rival. "You could've just accepted that I was stronger and turned tail."

Not that it mattered, Noel knew she would eventually exact her years-old grudge against her, a grudge that was now pushing her to prioritize killing the other Elesia over her true enemy.

"The Destroyer of Worlds…" Noel wondered how he could've gotten that title. It wasn't one that someone could earn by knocking over a couple of trash cans, that's for sure.

Shaking her head, she decided to turn in for the night and think about it in the morning…

Sands of Time…

Otoya's head hurt. Their talking, or "planning", as they called it, made his head spin as he tried to follow what Jiro said.

"Ahhhhh…" Not helping was Riki trying to spoonfeed him some rather… interesting-looking food.

"Hey, big guy?" Otoya whispered to Riki. "What exactly is Wolfy going on about?"

"Jiro… wants to save… history…". Riki slowly answered.

"Yeah, I got that part." It was easy to piece that together from Jiro's rambling about the Sands of Time and history getting altered. "What I'm talking about was this other Kishinami."

Jiro kept talking about a prince named Hakuno and how he was the only one that could fix everything. The violinist had a suspicion of who he was but he needed confirmation.

It was a suspicion that Riki was more than happy to confirm, "The prince… is your son."

"Is that so…" Otoya muttered. That means if Jiro and the others are to be believed, he has a son in the "real" timeline and was royalty. Otoya knew he had charm but to seduce a queen? He had a whole 'nother level of game in that timeline.

…But there was something he was missing about the entire thing. Namely, how does he (Otoya) factor into anything? If their goal was solely to restore the proper timeline, why would Jiro bother saving him from that mindless servant?

"Big guy?"

"Yes?"

"Did you guys know me in the original timeline?" Otoya asked. If he was being honest with himself, Otoya had a vague sense of familiarity with the three monsters-in-human-disguise. However, he was also confident that he's never met them in his life.

"We did…. You gave your life to save us…."

"My… life?" The violinist muttered. As if on cue, something flashed before his eyes. It was a memory of him standing by a lake with three people on some nearby rocks.

"My children will be born soon. They… will face a lot of trouble in life. When they do, I want you to help him."

"I dunno. We're monsters after all; we might break a promise with a human. I mean… we might just eat your kids."

"...I'm counting on you, Jiro."

"Jiro… You're still fulfilling your promise…". It wasn't Otoya who said that. At least… he thinks it wasn't him. He felt his mouth move but it definitely wasn't him who said it. Right?

"Here… Eat." His thoughts were interrupted by Riki once again attempting to shove a spoon of something into his mouth.

Meanwhile, nearby at the chess table, Jiro continued to come up with a new plan with Ramon, Ciel, and Ritsuka. Mainly the latter, but the former two were chipping in somewhat.

It wasn't going too well.

"We can't defeat the fake Kiva without Kiva's power," Jiro grumbled, glaring at the chessboard in front of him. "But because you lost his powers."

"In my defense, I wasn't expecting you to need it," Ritsuka retorted, "Besides, I was already trying to take care of Another Kiva before you abducted me in my sleep."

"And you lost. Quite embarrassing for you."

"That's her fault."

"Hey!" While Ciel had admitted she was somewhat at fault for the fight going sideways, that didn't mean she appreciated getting called out like that.

"At any rate, we're stuck in an impossible situation that not even time travel will fix," Ritsuka continued. "The creation of Another Kiva made it so that the 13 Demon Races never existed in the first. In other words, we can't even go back to a time where Haku or even a previous Kiva existed."

"And without you not able to use Kiva's powers, that means the fake Kiva is unbeatable."

Ritsuka did not respond and just stared at the chessboard in thought.

"...When will you make the first move?" Jiro asked after a moment.

"What?" Ritsuka tilted his head in confusion.

"Do you think we were sitting here just to talk?" Jiro sarcastically asked, "You have white so you go first!"

"...Ciel? Swap."

"Really?" The Executor stared at him with a deadpan look.

"I already avoided getting my throat ripped out earlier. I'm not gonna jump into that fire again."

"So you're throwing me into the fire?"

"Yes," Ritsuka bluntly answered before he had to quickly lean back to avoid getting slapped by Ciel. He failed, though and was smacked in the shoulder.

Ramon couldn't help but snicker a bit at their minor dispute— "What makes either of you believe you could beat me?" —before he sighed at Jiro's implicit boast.

"I'm several centuries old; what makes you think I could ever lose to the likes of you?" Jiro continued speaking in a smug tone.

"I've beaten both you and Riki before."

"That doesn't count!" The Wolfen snapped at Ramon, who just snickered at his outburst.

'I thought this was supposed to be a serious discussion,' Ciel mentally sighed as their discussion had somehow devolved into petty bickering in a matter of seconds. "Shouldn't we be getting back to the topic at hand?"

"What's there to talk about?" Ritsuka replied. "It's impossible to defeat that friend of yours so why should we be talking about it?"

Needless to say, Ritsuka's response annoyed Ciel, to say the least. "Are you really giving up? Didn't you say you wanted to save your friends?"

"Whoever said anything about giving up? I'm just saying that any plan we come up with has a 99% chance of failure."

"That sounds like giving up to me."

"Well, I'm not," the boy refuted her. "When all else fails, try brute-forcing it."

"That sounds like a recipe for disaster."

"You mean a bigger disaster than it already is? The worst that's gonna happen is we get our life sucked out of our bodies," he said. "It's not like Another Kiva's goal is world domination or anything."

"So you're content to just throw your life away?"

"I might have a death wish; you ever thought of that?" Ritsuka shot back with a calm tone.

"You—" Ciel tried to say something but was cut off by an intervening Ramon.

"Hey, hey, let's not argue," the boy in the sailor uniform said, "It's not gonna help us figure out a proper plan."

"Oh, I already have one," Ritsuka said, only to get a snarky retort from Ciel. "You mean the "brute force and hope for the best" plan?"

"Yes." Instead of getting another smack on the shoulder for his blunt answer, Ritsuka watched as she facepalmed at his stupid and suicidal plan. "You didn't let me finish; brute force is only the first step. Well, second step."

"What's Step One then? Get your throat ripped out by the fake me?" Jiro couldn't help but snark at him as well. "As you said, there isn't a way any of us to defeat the fake Kiva."

"True, but we can lay the groundwork for her downfall."

"Oh? How so?"

"Firstly, do you know where Haku was when history got altered?"

"Yes, he was in his house," answered Jiro.

Satisfied with that answer, Ritsuka turned his head to Ciel. "Do you know when in 2008 Noel could've gotten Kiva's powers? A day where she would've been vulnerable enough to even accept a deal with a devil."

"A deal with the devil?" It took her a moment to realize where he was going with his questions. "Well, there was a time where she was on the run from the Church though I don't know when specifically."

"That's good enough. Now for the hard part: how do we lure Another Kiva out?"

Present, 2022…

Somewhere within the world, underneath the moon on a rooftop, an Aurora Curtain opened and Bishop stepped out. However, there was already someone waiting for him.

"Bishop, I suppose a pat on the back is in order," the man congratulated the priest. "You managed to find and bring Decade into this world."

"It was barely an inconvenience," Bishop replied. "After all, it's not like I have any other missions lined up thanks to your efforts."

"Are you upset I chose your world as my testing grounds?"

"No, I find your experiment… intriguing," he answered. "But may I ask why you chose my world in particular?"

"Hmm…" A thoughtful look appeared on the man's face, "I suppose it's due to the presence of a king that drew me here."

"So you haven't given up your ambition to be king?" A third voice asked him. "Did that battle ignite your passion again, Swartz?"

"Fujimaru… Ritsuka." The Time Jacker slowly turned his head towards the voice's source, where he saw the smirking teenager. "But you're not him."

"Maybe," Fujimaru replied.

"You're the one from the Mirror World, correct?" Bishop asked, to which the boy nodded with a grin.

"So what if I am? That doesn't change anything, does it?"

"It does," Swartz bluntly answered. "After all, you and the real you can be considered different people at this point."

"Not for long," Fujimaru replied, "It won't be long until one of us disappears."

"Oh, I see you're already scheming something, Fujimaru," Swartz said with a smirk.

"I would say the same thing about you… but I haven't seen you in what? Two and a half years now?" Fujimaru hummed. "Regardless of how long it's been, I have to wonder what you're up to. Why did you bother creating Another Riders when that doesn't matter anymore?"

"I can ask you the same," Swartz calmly shot back. "From what I heard, you created Another Faiz, did you not?"

"I did that to dispose of the remnants of Faiz's powers," the reflection defended himself, "And something tells me that's not why you created Another Kiva."

"Maybe so, but you cannot know for sure, can you?"

"You're irritating, you know that? But can you, both of you, answer me this?" His previously amused face turned dead serious in the snap of a finger. "Why are you serving an empty throne?"

Fujimaru's eyes darted towards the badge sewn onto Swartz's collar: the black-and-white symbol of a two-headed eagle on top of a globe. "Dai-Shocker's Great Leader died a long time ago; why hasn't it turned over and died yet?"

In response to his question, Swartz laughed slowly… before he broke down in hysterical laughter. Next to him, Bishop simply made a noblewoman laugh, amused at his confusion.

"Swartz." Fujimaru glared at said man. "Did you usurp the throne while all the Riders were gone?"

"No, you're correct," Swartz answered, "The role of Great Leader still remains empty after all this time. However, the old guards are expecting someone to reclaim their position soon."

At his answer, Fujimaru's eyes widened slightly. "You don't mean him? He's been missing for years now."

"Oh, I don't mean your predecessor, Fujimaru," the Time Jacker smiled. Hearing him, Fujimaru just crossed his arms and glared at Swartz.

"Swartz, I don't care if we were allies once," Fujimaru said coldly, "Mention him again and—"

"Yes, yes, I'd regret it." Swartz sounded bored as he spoke.. "However, that doesn't mean you won't come sulking back and rejoin us again one day."

"I doubt it."

"But if such a day does arrive," Bishop said, "I'd be willing to serve you as faithfully as I serve my King. After all, you'd be in a higher position than I am, correct?"

"The King that you didn't lift a finger to save or the other King you also didn't lift a finger to save?" Fujimaru retorted and before Bishop could respond, he already turned back to Swartz. "For old time's sake, will you tell me when you created Another Kiva?"

"And if I don't?"

"Then things will get a bit more… explody."

Swartz couldn't help but smile at that implicit threat. "Alright, you convinced me."

"...I was not expecting this to go that easy."

"The eve of my puppet's birthday, I'm sure your new companion could answer that for you."

Knowing that no amount of force would get him anything more than that, Fujimaru decided just to take what he got and leave. "Just remember, I'm keeping an eye on you. I can be everywhere and everywhen, you know that."

With a small wave of his hand, the reflection opened an Aurora Curtain behind himself and stepped back, leaving as quickly as he arrived.

"Hmm… That was an enlightening conversation," Bishop said after a moment. "So Kamen Rider Decade is the missing leader?"

"Yes…and no," Swartz answered, "Now then, shall we return? My experiment will be coming to fruition soon enough."

Like the Mirror World denizen, Swartz opened a dimensional wall and both he and Bishop entered it, leaving Kiva's world behind.

Sands of Time, Castle Doran…

"So… any questions?"

"...Can I ask how long you had this idea?"

"About… five minutes ago."

"So right before you started talking," Jiro sighed/grumbled. "However, we have no other options so even a plan as risky as yours will have to do."

"You're really into death-or-glory tactics, aren't you?" Ramon hummed. "First, assassinating the previous King, and now you're trying to kill Kiva."

"A fake Kiva," Jiro asserted.

"We still have to deal with the elephant in the room, though." Ritsuka craned his neck at the nearby, still tied up Kishinami Otoya. He didn't hear what they were planning but seeing all of them turn their heads towards him made the violinist gulp. "Jiro, why did you save him anyway? No matter what we do, he's gonna get the short end of the stick."

Neither Jiro nor Ramon responded, the latter innocently whistling while the former kept up his grumpy exterior.

"Before we can do anything, we need to decide what we do with him."

"What are our options?" Ciel glanced at Otoya.

"Well, as I said, neither will end well for him," Ritsuka reiterated, "Either we can throw him out into the world and let him disappear if- when we defeat Another Kiva, or we can let him stay here but the world and everyone he knows and maybe loves will be erased."

"That's…" "Terrible, yeah," he shrugged.

"We have to leave him to his fate," Jiro affirmed. "Letting him live in a world without anyone he cares about is a fate worse than death."

"My thoughts, exactly," Ritsuka agreed. "But you still have to go to his house either way."

"...Hey, Otoya!" The Wolfen shouted across the room, "Are you ready to go home?!"

"Uh… Sure?!" Otoya reluctantly replied. As he did not overhear their plans, he was wary of why they were letting him go so easily.

"Well, that's settled with, but we also need to figure out the date of Another Kiva's creation."

"Sorry, I can't help any more than that," Ciel apologized sincerely. "If we can get any more information—"

'The night before her birthday.'

"—maybe I can narrow it down," she finished. "...What are you staring at me for?"

"I have an odd question," Ritsuka said, "Was it her birthday when she was on the run?"

"Uh… yeah, actually." Ciel was surprised and mildly impressed at his question, "Noel was born on Christmas and she went on the run a couple of days before that."

"So the 24th of December was when she got Kiva's powers," Ritsuka proclaimed with complete confidence.

"Christmas is the 25th."

"I know, but the 24th is the right date."

"How are you—?"

"Anyway, we got all the information we need to execute Operation Golden Fever."

"That's a dumb name," Jiro voiced his opinion.

"As if you could do any better," Ritsuka retorted. The Wolfen probably could, though, since he came up with the name on the spot to avoid answering Ciel's question. "We just need to find Noel and end this."

"Right…" Ciel muttered, "We end this…".

"...Tomorrow though, I'm still tired," Ritsuka said after a moment.

"What are you talking about? You just said we have everything we need," Jiro voiced his annoyance with him.

"Need I remind you, you abducted me in my sleep then splashed cold water on me to wake me up," the amnesiac teen grumbled as he recalled what happened in the last hour, "At least let me get my eight hours of sleep before this suicidal mission."

"So you do admit this plan will get us all killed," Ramon giggled, which Ritsuka ignored as he got up from his seat.

"I'm gonna borrow one of the guestrooms, 'kay? See you guys in the morning." Without waiting for a response, he left the room—which earned him a frustrated sigh from Jiro.

"Wait here. I'll go talk to him," Ciel said before she went after Ritsuka.

"So…" Otoya slowly said, "You guys gonna untie me or what?"

Nobody answered him as Riki went over to the chess table where Ramon had hopped into Ritsuka's empty seat and started to play a game with Jiro.

"I hate you guys."

"Hey, wait up."

Ritsuka stopped momentarily to look back at Ciel. "What?" He said with little emotion.

"Look, I appreciate you worrying over me, but it's misplaced," Ciel told him seriously. "That was just an isolated incident; if it comes to it, I can fight Noel with little trouble."

It wasn't a boast; at least Ciel didn't think it was one. She didn't get the chance to go all out in the previous battle—actually, she hasn't gotten the chance to go all-out, period, but that was neither here nor there.

"I dislike Jiro, but he's right; we have everything we need—" 'Somehow.' "—So why are you taking your time now?"

"Because I'm tired; that's all," Ritsuka answered before turning around. "I thought you'd know it's best not to go into battle exhausted."

"You're right but—"

"So see you in the morning or… whenever I wake up," Ritsuka cut her off, much to Ciel's annoyance. "Look out for Ramon, alright? He likes to play pranks on people who stay in Doran."

Since she knew that arguing with him was useless, Ciel was about to—begrudgingly—thank him for the advice, but she realized something odd. "Wait, isn't this the first time you're sleeping here?"

Ramon mentioned that they moved into Castle Doran after Ritsuka left Kiva's world, so how could he know that?

However, Ciel did not get an answer as Ritsuka had already walked away. While she could catch up to him quickly, she had the feeling that he wouldn't answer her—that was also assuming that he knew the answer himself.

Sighing, she turned on the spot and went back the way she came. Maybe she could squeeze a couple of answers from the Arms Monsters.

Elsewhere…

Fujimaru sighed as he roamed the station. 'What was the point of me going through all that trouble if he was just gonna lie down and nap?'

He knows it wasn't because he supplied the information—Fujimaru could feel that idiot's true emotions—his real self's reason for wanting to sleep was because of a stupid belief that doing so would jar some more lost memories.

It wasn't that much of a stretch, per se, but it shows how selfish he could be regarding his memories.

Of course, there was another reason that Fujimaru laughed off, but their memories were the primary reason Ritsuka went to sleep. Regardless, that idiot was doing his thing; Fujimaru was doing his. And his thing was looking for a certain someone within this station: an informant.

After weaving his way through the crowds of people, Fujimaru found himself in a secluded corner of the station. There, he found who he was looking for.

Sitting next to the inconspicuous man on a bench, he said, "I like your luggage."

As the man didn't have luggage, Fujimaru sincerely hoped he was right and didn't make himself look stupid in front of a random time traveler.

Luckily for him, his intuition was correct as the man responded. "Thanks. I found it in 2007."

'Oh good…' Fujimaru mentally sighed in relief.

"So, what is it that you want to know?" The man asked.

"There are several things I need to know," he replied. "And don't worry, I'm willing to pay the price for them."

"In that case, fire away."

"The Blessed One; have you heard about him?"

"The Blessed One is nothing more than a myth, but I had heard of people who claimed to have stood before him," the informant answered. "If you're looking for how to meet him, you're barking up the wrong tree."

'There's no point in me doing that yet.' "I'm not trying to, but I wanna know who has met him."

"Just the attention-seekers. However, there is a credible source from someone from the early 2000s."

"Who?"

"A journalist from some port town in Japan, but that's a dead end."

'Dead end?' "Why?"

"No one's been able to enter 2002 for a while now; not the trains, Time Mazines, or even the conductors."

'2002… Journalist… Could it be?' "My next question: there's a man who has been missing for years… from the perspective of people inside of time."

"You have to be more specific than that."

"Kadoya Tsukasa," Fujimaru grimaced as he said his name.

"Ah… him." The man had a thoughtful look on his face as he recalled the name. "Unfortunately, nobody outside of time has heard about him either. Like the Blessed One, he's basically a myth."

'Dammit…' "Alright, last question: Dai-Shocker—"

"Let me stop you right there," the informant interrupted Fujimaru, "I'm not going to get involved in whatever you or they are up to."

'Well, this was nearly useless.' Nearly; he did find out about the journalist so it wasn't a complete dead end. "What's the name of the port town?"

"What?"

"The port town you mentioned. The one the journalist is from."

"Oh, someplace called Fuyuki," the man answered dismissively. "Though there are some who say that city doesn't exist at any point in history."

Fujimaru didn't quite catch what the man said though as a feeling of nostalgia enveloped him. "Fuyuki…" It was a name he was more familiar with by another name. 'Singularity F…'

Even now, that place was haunting him in some way—a place that he apparently couldn't go to. More accurately, a specific time in that place he couldn't go to.

"Is that all?"

"Yeah," Fujimaru nodded as he reached into his pocket and fished out a card. "Here you go. You know what to do with it."

"Thank you very much," the man grinned as he took the card and read the date on it. "30th July 2015. What does that date mean to you?"

"Hmm… The start of something, I guess." Getting off the seat, Fujimaru thanked the informant one last time before leaving…

?...

'This place is…'.

Was he dreaming? He felt aware, yet he couldn't think straight; his first thought was how cold it was and that he was not wearing the right clothes to be here.

Pushing through the fog in his head, Ritsuka saw that he was in a large room with a cracked… globe?

Floating in the middle of the sphere made of multiple rings was a gray globe with a large visible crack. A moment later, Ritsuka realized that someone was standing between him and the globe.

"When was the last time you were here?" The person asked. "Years?"

"There about…" Ritsuka muttered unconsciously. It was as if he was watching everything through someone else's eye, unable to control what he said or did. "Why did you bring ht me here?"

"This was the start, wasn't it? After this, you were on the road that eventually led to our meeting."

"I…" He trailed off, unable to come up with the right words to answer the man.

"You have a choice now; you can continue on the path you are now ā̸͈̲͐͒n̴͉̟͒̓v̵̢͓͉̞̣̏͂̃̓͘ḑ̷̥̺̇͒ ̷̲̖̻̈́͗͘͠c̴͈̻͎̹̾̈́ͅk̶̨̛͇͎̬ ̷̪͔̫͑̊͐b̸͔̙̩͖̋̀n̵̥͓̾m̸̯̳̬͖̩̌͌͘h̴̓́̿ͅo̸͓̿̓̒̊̒ͅ ̴̛͕̘͔̠̓a̴̼̅ȩ̴͓̣̦͆̓́ŭ̴̦̙e̴͈̣̯̬͊e̵̲̼͎̮̥̍̋͆e̶̼̗̖͐̂̚õ̷̯̯̗̽͆̐͘n̷̪̭̜̝̳̋͌̕t̵̟̫̝͕́͆̆ȩ̴͕͙͂͘ê̵͙̫͐͂̋͘ ̷͔͛ ̷̧͚̒̑ẹ̵̲͙͎̿̈͠v̵̗̅e̴͈̩͚̹̰͆͂͌u̸͕̥͕̬̳̇͗̒D̸̡̰̯̮͂̈ḭ̷̳̹̀͜ ̸͕̓̾͐̀̈́ ̴̨̛̋̔̚͝r̷̥̣̩͊̓ͅ ̴͇̄̂d̸̘̺̠͚̋͝p̶͚̲̟̿̌̾e̷̡̙͍͈͠ͅg̶̰̀̂̍c̷͙̫͝t̵̺̆ḍ̸̛̥͉̘m̸̡̼̙̥̒̇a̴̛͙͈̥̩̩̍̽͘ÿ̸͉̮͚́ ̴̫̮̋̓o̵̮̺̮̯̝̿͊'̷̯͚̯̄̒̈́̕̚o̵̗͕̲̖̽r̵̯̹̩͇̖̒̎̍̓̽f̶̣̠̤̎͐̑y̸̦̦̮̓ö̵̦̫̘̪͇́͘, or you can return to your friends v̷̙̬͙͛̀͑͜g̸̻̹̐s̶̯̗̓ḩ̸̙̱͇̫̀̅̿͘ȋ̴̢̙̪̻ŷ̷̤ë̸̘͍͊̏̈́͘n̸̖̲͂̈́͌͝r̶̡̜̰̳̈́̔ͅ ̶̟͚̞̮͂̐̐̂͠ ̸̺̳͎̤̈́͑̃̇̈e̴̹͚̘͑ͅ ̴̫̪͆̌͘f̸̼̩̯͋͆̎̾͠ ̷͇̦͍̄̾̕n̷͚̖͂̏͋̿́e̴̮̞͌̈́̓̄t̸̛̬̳̼̹̳̅̎d̷̦̦̣̻̟͗o̵͖͚̟̐r̶̳̱̱̞̽̕o̵͉͖̪͗̍̾̓t̵̨̰̰̒̍̾͝l̸̢̝͚͚͉̂'̷̺̭͇̱̇̒͜a̴̩͐͋e̶͎̎̊d̴̡̛͔͎̀̓ȩ̵̦̩̍̊̈́ͅr̷̳̻̳̜͎͑͐̈̾͠ḧ̶͈̰̣́͝ḙ̴̻͎͎̘͑͒̈́͝n̷̛͓̕ ̴̛̱̦̏͝i̷͓͍̻̺̻̅̐̆̿ḯ̸̦͙͉͇͈̇̊̋u̴̝͎͂̓̈́̾̄ȅ̴͍̤̅͝ė̷̫͓̙̻̟̓̈́ ̷̱̫͎̖̄̕f̶̱̲͗͒d̷̡̗̻͇̀͜͝ ̸̭͓̳̫̔ͅb̶̘̬͗̑̑̔ ̴̱̺͋ ̵̛͈̇̄l̵̨͛͜w̷̻̮̕k̸̼̬͚͛e̴̢̐̓̀t̵͉̭͚̗̼̂̒̎͝m̸̪̠̗̼̝͘͝ō̷̱̠̦̔̆͠v̴̨̩̫̰̙̉ẹ̸͙̈́̋̃̕͘.̶̨̲͚̹̋͜" The man's words because unintelligible and Ritsuka felt his head splitting open. "Tell me, Fujisaki—"

"Fujimaru," he corrected him but was ignored.

"—do you believe good will always win? Or will evil eventually edge out one day?" The man turned around to stare at him. "Or will good and evil be forever locked in battle?"

Ritsuka did not answer again.

"In your journey, you've seen what happens if one truly defeats the other."

Flashes of strange memories appeared before Ritsuka's eyes, memories that he didn't understand.

"So you know what happens if you choose â̸̡̙̯̪̼͔͔̏̿e̷͍̫̤̹̳̺͗ ̸̮̐̿͜͝ḗ̶̹͕̘̩͋͘ť̶̙̮̜͈D̸͓̗̾̽ẽ̷̮͌͆̀̌̀c̷̣̿͊̿ ̸̡̨̗̪̱̱̟͑́̂̾̔̏̽o̴͚͎͗̂b̴̨̧̨̢̼̳͉̀̍̀̿͑d̷̠̜͈͌͌̋, you t̷̻́̾̏e̸͉͎͒͒͋͋ŗ̴̖̻͗̒͜ț̸̟͑̂͘͝͠l̴̰͙̰͕̋̈́͌ͅe̸͔̤̾n̸͔̯͉̘͋̽̽̈́̈b̴͚̜̖̝͑̕t̶̫͈̓l̶̢̟̫̠̮͊̌̒͛é̵̘̗a̴̢̝̼͔͐l̷̹̜͗̇̆e̷̟̘͛̊͗i̷̡͔̰̍͌̈́̚͜r̸̃̾̏͊ͅt̶̛͓͍̘̮́̍̈w̸̬̩̃͊͑͂ ̴̩́ò̶̦̱̟͇̃͐̓ ̵̱͉̅͒͑̑̓r̸̨̺̰͊͋̉t̷̀̐̈́͜ ̶͇͙̲͔͊̑́ ̶̫̒̊̽͊͝R̴̡͙͓͉̖̓́n̴̖̰͌̓͘͝͝n̷̛̬͎͖̥̤̒̈́ ̴̛̹̱̾̉͊̽ ̴̪͎̲̞͇͑̓͆ă̴̢̱̖̬̫̅̿͘͝ỉ̷̯̟̻͖͙̾d̷̢̈̄̉ḛ̴̻̳̖̿͐̑̍̃ ̶͎͓͓̠͆a̶̛̫͝ ̵̼́̆̆̃̀s̶̟͇̜͐̒́́͜r̶̤̹̩͍̰̊̊͝t̸͕̬̭̙͛ḩ̷̣͎̮͙̿̍͘w̸̟͋͠ ̷̪͉̊̋̃̾b̴̨̛̼̗̆̂ẖ̶͍͍̌t̵̡̡̐̐d̷̠͖͉̓͌́̿͜͝ǎ̷̫̝͎̗̼͗͋͘ȩ̷͍̪̠̹̈̇e̷̟̎͜ͅì̷̩̙̪͙̗͊̓ṕ̴̞̘̮̔͜ͅp̸̧̘̦̔͑͆̈ĺ̷̘̙̲͎̅͗̓i̶̫̎́͝͝e̵͓̓͌̀̊̾h̵̢̧̓͛̇̕ ̶̢̀̈́

Oddly, he knew what the man was talking about and answered accordingly(?). "Do you mean alongside or against?"

"Yes." Ritsuka couldn't see his face but he could tell the man was smirking. "But you'll be throwing yourself into l̵̨̼̣͇̂͋ì̶̬̺̓ ̷̡̩̗̎͐̉͊̃ḁ̸͍̪̍̒̒t̴̡̡̰̯͎́͘b̵͍̪̩̞̂ē̸̻̖̯̌͠t̶̬̖̤͔͉͝t̵̠̼̰́͜e̶̗̊̑̋̕l̵̩̼̒͝ȩ̶͓̱̦̖̈́è̸̗̹̀̓͛h̷͚̮͊̌͜͝ṣ̸̗̫͖̤͒ ̵̩̭̈́̆̿͂̕t̷̢̠̹͔̉̓̂ṉ̶̞͕̟̏̄̈́͑͘ͅĕ̵̙͙̔̎͋̕w̶̬͖̽̔ḏ̵̛̳̻͌̄̈́͐͜d̶̗̦̥̘͒͠͝ ̷͇̰̥̊͑̈́̐ ̴̺̰͔̍͛̋ ̵̨̔͐̓͜l̵̳̈́ḧ̶̨̬́ ̸̬̖̆̉̎̉̚n̵̼̥̩̼̠̆̚t̷̖̣̦̗̓̎̈́͗͝n̶̝͇͎͒ͅg̸̼̈̓̃́̚į̶̫̱͒͌̎̀̉s̶̱̩̯̉̋̈́o̶̦̤̞͗a̸̙̲̠̋͠t̶̳̤̺͓͓͑̍̏̚ḧ̶̙́̔͊ǹ̸̡͇͖͘ ̸̲͔̗̔͐̕͠ȁ̴͙͚̰̞̄̈́ ̸̺̯̲̱̆̚̕. e̸̢̺͒̊ṅ̸ͅa̸̢̮͉͂̌́͒̄ḣ̶͈̊̀p̷̣̅̀̍y̴̡̻̍̑͝e̸̩̜̽̆́ ̷̝͚͇͛̌̎̕b̵̨̻̥̪͎̑͑a̷̢͇̙̎̐̽̔͝r̵͇̗̺̳̾ ̴̖̻̮͔̹͋̄̂̚ę̵͖͎̙̊́͋̿b̷̢̨̛̞̞̦̉̅f̵̖̩̖̳͌̐̿̀o̶̢̻̘̐̈́e̷̙̤̞͛̓͋̒̉s̸̪͔̮̬͔͛̔͗ ̷̡͙̩̃̌̒ṃ̴̦͓͎͂͂̇͐r̷̢̹͕͎̱͊̒̅ć̶͈̱̓̌ȇ̸̛̯͓͍̿ ̸͈̻̪̎̽͝o̸̦̝̤̾ḙ̸̢̜̩̹̌̔͒'̷͙̐̎̓ọ̸͕̐͆̿͛͠ ̵̨̺̬̱̤͑̌̄͂b̷̰͋̾͂d̵̢͈̝̰̓ ̷̢̺̺̀̃̊͊͌e̶̯̤̩̿̈́̕A̸̢̦̱̋̾̊t̷̬͈̝̼̔̅͛ ̸̝̥̲͉͎̀̔͗͘r̵̬̱͕̓e̶̼̹̟͊̾͘v̸̠͕̭͂̆l̷͓͕̊͗̂͝ẃ̶̞͉͍͐̄͠u̷͔͌̋͝ ̷̡̨́̈̿à̷̲̟͈̞̍̀̂͘͜ļ̵̣̦̱̖̐̽̈̔͌ ̸͖͐e̵̦̲͚̗̻͆̕͘t̸̯̣̱͓̑̑͑͒̚t̷̗͉͓̚̚."

Ritsuka's headache felt worse as he continued listening to the man. Still, he answered, "That's how it's been for me for a while."

"I guess you have a point," he heard the man quietly laugh. "In any case, this will be the last time we'll be meeting for a long time."

The man reached into his suit and took a couple of things. "Here's your choice," he said before throwing the two items at Ritsuka's feet. "If this isn't the road you want to walk, all you need to do is turn around and leave."

Without waiting for a response, the man disappeared in the blink of an eye—leaving Ritsuka staring at the items at his feet.

He couldn't see them clearly—just that one was magenta while the other was primarily white—Ritsuka knew what they were; he would be an idiot if he didn't know what they were.

'Walk away.' He heard a voice whisper in his head. 'You don't have anything to do with this battle. You'll be suffering for no reason.'

He didn't respond to the voice for what felt like hours—"...That's a lie."—and bent down to pick them up.

"The start of a new legend… after the end of an unknown one."

Ritsuka's eyes squinted open as he woke up with a raging headache. If he knew what a hangover was, he'd describe what he was feeling as such.

'This better not be another dream.' He mentally groaned, holding his head in pain.

"Finally," a gruff voice said from his side. Turning his head to his left, Ritsuka saw Jiro sitting on a chair with a bored expression. "You finally ready to deal with the fake Kiva?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get right on it." There was no longer postponing the coming battle—not that he wanted to. "Where's Ciel?"

"Your friend was sleeping in the hall but she's awake now," the butler told him. Ritsuka assumed that he was talking about the room they were in earlier. "Say thanks by the way. I managed to stop Ramon from pulling a prank on you two."

"Do I want to know he was scheming?"

"Let's just say that the both of you would be wondering if something happened last night," Jiro answered before he sat up. "Come on; we better get a move on already."

"Not even gonna let me shower or eat breakfast or something?" Ritsuka snarked as he got out of his borrowed bed.

Jiro's answer was short and blunt: "No."

The sound of the door opening alerted everyone to the two's return. On the other hand, Ritsuka's ears got bombarded by the snoring of Otoya, who had evidently passed out in his chair.

"You guys still haven't untied him?"

"No, because we were waiting for you," Jiro answered him as they walked to the center of the room.

"Finally awake?" Ciel asked Ritsuka as he stopped next to her.

"Maybe, I could still be dreaming for all I know," he replied semi-honestly.

"Oh, you see me in your dreams? How sweet," she snarkily retorted, "I've refilled my Scripture so I'm ready to—" Jiro interrupted her by loudly snapping his fingers to get their attention.

"Focus, you two. We now have everything set to carry out this mission," the Wolfen briefly shot Ritsuka a dirty look, obviously still annoyed that he decided to sleep first. "Riki, untie him."

Riki bowed his head slightly before going to Otoya and ripping the rope with little effort. However, this ended jarring the violinist awake with a loud snort.

"Hubba?" Otoya drowsily murmured before he yelped as Riki threw him over his shoulder. "Hey! I know I wanted to get untied but not like this!"

Jiro then reached into his suit and took something out. "Here," he said before tossing what turned out to be a strange-looking train ticket, which Ritsuka managed to catch. "In case of emergency, use this to return here. I assume I don't need to explain how to use it."

"No, but the chances of us returning here are slim at best." What were the chances that time would line up when they needed to escape? "And don't you need one for your mission?"

"We're using Riki's," Jiro answered bluntly. "Come on, let's go already."

As if on cue, the room shook for a few seconds as Castle Doran landed on the sands.

"I'll hold down the fort while you all are out," Ramon cheerfully said. "Don't go getting yourself killed, okay? I'd rather not be alone here."

"It's finally time…." Ritsuka heard Ciel mutter (which was saying something since Otoya was loudly complaining again on Riki's shoulder).

'I probably should keep an eye on her….' He thought to himself. He wasn't worried over Ciel herself—far from it, Ritsuka knew that she could handle herself now that they've seen what Noel was capable of—but he had to make sure she didn't get overzealous and defeat Noel too fast.

"Hey, you can find her, right?"

"Yeah, just leave it to me," Ciel said. They had planned the night before that she would be the one to look for Noel and lead her to where Ritsuka would be waiting.

At the same time, Jiro and Otoya (and now Riki too) will be doing their part of the plan and hopefully could succeed in it.

And so, the five left the room and made their way out of the castle.

Early noon, Kishinami residence….

Despite the house's residents getting erased from existence, Hakuno's house still had life. However, the only source of actual sound was the television on the upper floor of the house while the person watching remained quiet as they watched whatever was on.

'What the hell is he doing?' The woman grumbled to herself, barely paying attention to the TV. While she was annoyed that her husband hadn't returned home the previous night, she was more worried for that exact reason.

Knock, knock

Short but firm knocks from the downstairs door snapped her out of her thoughts—"Coming!"—and she went down to answer it.

She opened the door and got greeted by the stern face of an unfamiliar man dressed as a butler. 'No, that's not right.'

Deep within her heart, she felt a sense of familiarity as she unintentionally stared at the man.

"Kuz–Kishinami Yuri?" The man quickly corrected himself—which the woman didn't notice at all.

"Oh, yes. Can I help you?" The woman, Yuri, asked.

"That is your husband, correct?"

"HELP ME YURI!" The loud voice of her husband of nearly two decades shouted from the front gate. Leaning her head out and glancing in that direction, she saw Otoya restrained by a large, formally dressed man.

Letting out a long sigh, Yuri asked, "What did he do this time?"

"He got caught up in something he wasn't supposed to," the butler answered blandly.

"Of course he did," she let out another sigh of exasperation. "Thank you for bringing him back, Ji–"

Her voice got stuck in her throat when she tried to say his name—she realized she didn't know his name.

"Uh… come on in, let me make you two some tea for your troubles," Yuri offered.

"If you insist. Riki!" The man called out to his companion, who nodded and entered the house's premises.

"NO YURI DON'T!" Otoya shouted as he was dragged by Riki, "THEY'RE MONSTERS! DON'T INVITE THEM IN!"

"...Would you also like some snacks? I'm really, really sorry you had to deal with him like that."

That was step one of the plan done, Jiro thought; now, they just need for those two to do their part….

Elsewhere…

Noel had a wide smirk on her face as she walked out of the clothing shop, having just managed to swindle another poor sap to give her a massive discount. The multiple shopping bags she was carrying was proof of that.

"Now, what's the next shop I could visit…". Noel hummed to herself as she looked around the shopping mall's atrium. As her eyes scanned through the early noon crowd, something caught her attention: blue hair. "Elesia?"

However, the person with blue hair did not stay still—Noel saw them walk away from her, further into the crowd. Without a second thought, she tried to follow after who she thought was Ciel—determined to finish her off for good this time again.

Before she knew it, Noel found herself going through the second entrance, where she saw Ciel waiting for her, still in her high schooler disguise.

"You've gotten rather arrogant, haven't you Noel?" She calmly derided her. "I could very well be leading you into a trap."

"And how would that matter?" Noel smirked, proving to Ciel how correct she was. "As I proved yesterday, neither you nor your… friend could beat me."

"Are you sure about that?" Despite speaking in a neutral tone, Noel still found herself irritated by Ciel's words. "If you want to finish this once and for all, then follow me."

Turning around, Ciel ran away.

It was very self-evident that she was leading her to a trap but Noel didn't care—as she said, she could kill them with little problem.

While Ciel was leading Another Kiva to his location, Ritsuka waited in the large outdoor theater they had chosen as the battlefield. At the moment, he was waiting in one of the many rows of seats for them to arrive.

'Did it rain last night?' He couldn't help but think as he glanced at the several water puddles around the area before shrugging, 'Doesn't matter.'

He looked down at his wrist and checked the time— 13:07:38. Good, they were on schedule.

'Worried?' His voice said in his mind.

'No, and don't talk to me.' Ritsuka shot back somewhat aggressively. 'I'm not gonna deal with you now.'

'Oh, come on. It's not like you got anything better to do.' His voice sounded a bit smug. 'Besides, if we can't talk about this now, when can we talk about it?'

'Never.'

'I expected that answer.' His voice sighed. 'Whatever, we'll be having a nice, long talk soon enough.'

That did not sound good, but Ritsuka already threw that conversation into the drawer labeled "This thing didn't happen" and moved on. His eyes soon wandered towards the puddle he was standing in. Was he smirking? Ritsuka didn't think so but yet, his reflection was. However, he was sure that his eyes were not as full of joy as the him in the water was.

Before he could do anything about it, he heard fast footsteps echoing about a minute later, signaling that Ciel—and Noel—had arrived. As soon as he looked up, Ciel was already in front of him.

"Ready?" She asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be." They only had one shot at restoring the proper history of Kiva's world. If his plan failed… well, his journey might be over before he reached the halfway point.

A few seconds later, a second set of footsteps echoed in the area, alerting them to Noel's arrival. A short distance away, she stood on the stairs and looked around. While the former Executor didn't look exhausted by the brief chase, she was sweating slightly. Guess her clothes didn't allow her to run comfortably.

"You know, this isn't that much of a trap," Noel said after glancing around. "A wide-open area like this won't work well with whatever you have planned."

'Well, she's more arrogant than yesterday. That's good.' To an extent—they could take advantage of that if they need to.

"Noel, will you continue this path you're walking?" Ciel questioned her again.

"What a dumb question." Yup, that wasn't unexpected. "Why would I ever consider giving up this power?"

"Because it didn't belong to you—that power belongs to Kiva," Ritsuka told her. "You only got it because somebody wanted to screw with me."

"In that case, I was chosen by fate. Out of anybody that man could've chosen, it was me." Noel had her signature sadistic grin as she turned to Ciel. "And out of anybody you could've been with, it was her."

Ritsuka didn't know whether having Kiva's power had gotten into her head or if Noel was naturally that insane. Regardless, it meant they needed to defeat her once and for all.

Next to him, he heard Ciel deeply exhale and muttered, "Noel, you…." Whatever she wanted to say was unclear as Ciel took off her glasses and swiftly changed into her Executor attire.

"The time for talking is over then?" Noel sarcastically asked before grinning again. "That's fine by me. Let's finish this, Elesia."

KiVa!

With a snap of her finger, she transformed into Another Kiva, summoning a small hoard of energy bats around her. The next second, the three fake Arms Monsters appeared around her—poised to protect their leader.

Despite needing to transform immediately, Ritsuka still took the time to check his watch. "4 minutes," he whispered to Ciel—who gave a short nod in acknowledgement—before taking out the Decadriver and putting it on.

"Henshin."

KAMENRIDE: DECADE

After transforming into his magenta Rider form, Ritsuka stood side-by-side with Ciel, ready for their final confrontation with Another Kiva.

At the same time, Kishinami residence….

"I have to say, you and Jiro are the most polite guests Otoya brought home in a long time." Yuri couldn't help but be relieved that the two men who brought her husband home were nice. While Jiro was a bit standoffish and had dragged Otoya to the upper floor to talk to him about something, he did apologize for only taking a small sip of the tea.

Riki responded by grunting and smiling while drinking from the cup.

However, upstairs was another story; the air was cold and quiet as Jiro stared at Otoya whilst leaning on one of the tables.

"…What do you want?" Otoya finally broke under the Wolfen's gaze. "Why did you bring me back to my home? Wouldn't you monsters rather help those two lovebirds than protect me?"

Jiro didn't answer him for several moments before saying, "We are helping them by being here or rather, they're helping us by fighting the fake Kiva. But Riki and I are not here to protect you and Yuri."

His answer confused Otoya for a few seconds before he finally asked, "Then why are you here?"

"Waiting," Jiro bluntly answered before checking his watch. "2 minutes, 26 seconds."

"Before?"

"Before the person who can save this world will appear." 'Assuming that they keep to the schedule.'

With Ritsuka and Ciel, two minutes and twenty-six seconds left….

The fight had just been going on for only one and a half minutes but it was admittedly going better than their previous attempt to fight Another Kiva. While it looked the same—Decade fighting the Arms Monster while Ciel fought Noel again—the latter fight was going slightly more in the Executor's favor due to the Rider getting the trio's full attention. Slightly in the sense that Another Kiva couldn't fight back at all.

"Not even gonna ask me to repent, Elesia?" Despite being unable to even hit her opponent due to how agile Ciel was, Another Kiva sounded bored as she asked her.

"...Noel, why do you insist on calling me that?" Ciel finally said. "I don't know if you did the same with the other me but I know she was baptized too."

"The answer is simple, Elesia. I see your new name as you running away from your past." She didn't wait for a response before continuing, "You murdered everyone I cared about and managed to walk away scot-free with even a new name. Do you know how much I hated calling you by that name? Honestly, I didn't know myself until I got this power."

"You truly hate me that much, Noel…."

"Of course I do. You took everything from me after all."

Yes, Ciel knew Noel had an underlying disdain for her but to hear it outright was slightly disheartening. She had hoped that she could mend their relationship— this world's Ciel and Noel — but it was now evident that it was impossible.

However, that came with the added benefit of her no longer having a reason to hold back. She took one last deep breath and closed her eyes as Another Kiva dashed at her.

Just as the monster reached her—"In the name of our Lord, come forth, O' third cause of death."—she was sent flying as Ciel summoned her massive, jagged sword. In addition, the Executor had changed clothes again—now she had the dark blue attire that she wore when they fought the El Lords.

"As it is my fault you turned into this—" Ciel emotionlessly eyed Noel "—it is up to me to save your soul."

"Go ahead and try then," Another Kiva laughed, "You'll end up like this world's Elesia."

Her threat fell on deaf ears as Ciel already jumped towards the Another Rider, easily wielding the massive blade with little effort.

At the same time, Decade was facing off against the three Arms Monsters nearby and just dodged a claw swipe from Garulu. After ducking a swing from Dogga, the magenta Rider took out a card from the RideBooker—"Henshin."—and inserted it into his Driver.

KAMENRIDE: AGITO

The humming of the Alter Ring echoed through the theater and Decade transformed into the yellow Ground Form of Agito. Dusting off his gloves, he quickly landed a powerful punch on the closest monster—who just happened to be Garulu—and sent him flying where Ciel and Noel were fighting.

However, the Wolfen didn't land though as he turned into his weapon form and flew into Another Kiva's hand—who then used it to try to block Ciel's. Of course, it did little to stop the massive weapon and the Another Rider ended up getting slashed from shoulder to hip. Had she been able to bleed, she definitely would have. Instead, sparks flew off her body and she stumbled back.

"You've certainly haven't lost your touch," Another Kiva grunted. "Then again, that's because you've been living longer than the one I know."

Ciel resisted the urge to say that the other her was dead because of Noel. Instead, she chanted again, "In the name of our Lord, come forth, O' first cause of death."

Her sword changed form—shrinking and changing shape into a one-handed rifle. Immediately, she began unloading bullets into Another Kiva.

While the bullets hurt her, the Another Rider ignored the pain and tried to attack Ciel. However, she easily avoided the attack, leaping high in the air while continuing to shoot at Another Kiva. Landing on a different row of seats, Ciel didn't pause before throwing more Black Keys to whittle her further down.

"What are you after, really?" Another Kiva scoffed, "You know that fighting me is pointless, Elesia."

"At the moment, I'm just a distraction." The tiniest hint of a smirk was on Ciel's face before she shouted, "Fujimaru!"

FINAL ATTACKRIDE: A-A-AGITO

Another Kiva just had enough time to turn around to see the flying figure of Agito coming at her. She wasn't able to avoid the Rider Kick and was struck in the chest, exploding again as Decade landed on the other side.

Kishinami residence, forty seconds earlier….

"…Tell me something, Jiro: why did you save me?" Otoya asked the Wolfen just as Riki came up the stairs. "Was it just because you knew me in the original timeline?" Otoya doubted that was the case.

Jiro, ever the aloof man he was, just scoffed and didn't reply—instead, he stared at the nearby door to his right. "…Otoya, are you satisfied with your life?"

"What?"

"The way you live your life now, are you happy with how it went?" Jiro clarified his question.

"Well… I suppose that I am," Otoya honestly answered. "I have a beautiful wife who loves me back, our daughter visits us regularly, and I'm pretty famous if I do say so myself."

"I see… So this is the life you would've led had none of us existed…." Jiro quietly muttered. "Maybe you'd even have this life if you didn't meet us…."

"What was that?"

"Nothing," the Wolfen shook his head before rechecking his watch. "16 seconds…. I guess this is goodbye again, Otoya."

"Again, huh…." Despite his only interaction with Jiro and the Arms Monsters basically amounting to them tying him up and ignoring him all day, Otoya still felt a sense of camaraderie with them. 'Wait, isn't that Stockholm Syndrome?

Jiro went to stand by the door with Riki by the door as 13:13:13 approached. He glanced at Otoya again and decided to say something.

"…Otoya, I didn't get the chance to tell you this but you were the best fri—" Jiro did not get the chance to finish what he wanted to say as the room glitched out… and someone else was now standing in his place. Well, no time to lose.

It took less than six seconds before the room glitched again and Otoya found himself alone on the upper floor. "...What was I doing up here again?" He wondered since he should be eating lunch with Yuri downstairs. Shrugging, he went down the staircase where his wife was already eating, completely unaware of what was going on.

KiVa!

As before, the explosion dispersed to show Another Kiva completely unharmed by the finisher.

"Was that supposed to do something?" She sneered as she turned around to face them, her three servants joining her side—Garulu turning into his real form. "Did you truly have a plan for after leading me here?"

"Haven't you heard? Hubris leads to downfall," Decade told her, "And we're already done with our mission; it's only a matter of time before your downfall."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that they have won this battle—" a man's voice boomed through the area "—and Fujimaru Ritsuka has passed the test I have set up for him."

All those present turned towards the voice and saw a man in purple and black standing in the highest row.

"You-?!"

"Who are you?" Ciel calmly demanded, aiming her rifle at the man. He didn't seem perturbed by the weapon and simply smirked.

"I have to tell you, woman; your bullets will not find their targets if you pull the trigger," he boasted.

As they were talking, Ritsuka stared at the man with a sense of familiarity. "You are…" A flicker of a forgotten memory flashed through his head—he saw that very man offering him his hand. "…Swartz?"

"Long time no see, Fujimaru Ritsuka." The man smiled. "How long has it been? Three years now?"

"Three years…" That meant… this man knew him from before he lost his memories.

"What do you mean test?!" Another Kiva shouted in anger and betrayal. "Didn't you give me this power because I could deny fate?!"

"What I say and what I do are two different things," the man—Swartz—told her. "I chose you because you just so happen to be what I need—a person who wouldn't think twice about being given the power to correct what you feel was unjustified to you."

"What…"

"So you're the mastermind behind all this," Ciel glared at him. "Who are you?" She demanded again.

Before answering, the man huffed, "I am the Time Jacker, Swartz; a kingmaker."

"Time Jacker?"

"I'm here to congratulate you two," he continued. "Your plan has succeeded and the new Kiva has reached his destination. It won't be long before this world is restored to its proper state."

"You…" Another Kiva muttered in disbelief.

"You," Swartz turned back to her, "It would only be right to correct your misconception. You may have thought you were a King, or Queen as it were, but you were nothing more than a pawn in a game far greater than you could ever imagine."

"A game…" Decade muttered.

However, before anybody could make another time, it was as if time froze for a second— right before their eyes, the man disappeared like he was never there in the first place.

"Noel…" Ciel muttered, glancing at her. The Another Rider looked frozen, unmoving and staring at where the man was standing moments earlier.

Silence filled the theater until—snap—Bassha changed into his gun form and flew into her hand.

"Of course it's not gonna be that easy…." Decade muttered before he dodged the water bullets wildly shot at him and Ciel.

24th December 2008…

The screams of the two Executors were cut short by the fake Arms Monster murdering them and sucking their lifeforms out of their bodies.

In the center of the aisle was Another Kiva, huffing as she looked at her new body. "This is… What is this…." She mumbled to herself.

Bang!

However, the sounds of the wooden doors loudly swinging open drew her attention. Turning around, she saw a young man standing in the doorway, his face illuminated by the moonlight. Flying above his shoulders was a golden bat with piercing red eyes..

"So she's the one messing with time," the bat said. "She doesn't really look like us. And where did Tatsulot go off to?"

"That doesn't matter now, Kivat…." The boy sighed before steeling himself. "Let's go."

"Yes!"

He grabbed his winged companion and brought the bat's fangs onto his left hand.

"Gabu!"

A hypnotic tune filled the church as stained glass marks appeared on the boy's face—marks that Noel recognized.

"A Fangire…." 'Destroy him, he's a monster with no soul,' a voice whispered in her head. 'Destroy him, destroy him.'

"Henshin!"

"Kiva…" 'Destroy him, destroy him!'

In the present, Another Kiva held her head in pain, feeling her memories getting overwritten. The pain cleared for a second—and she saw Dogga fall before her two foes.

In the past, the fight had been taken outside as Kiva was thrown through the church's back wall by the Arms Monsters. The Rider landed in the forest edge and quickly got to his feet. He saw the four monsters step out of the large hole in the brick wall, Another Kiva in the back and stumbling as she was still getting used to her new form.

"Ayayayay, this is harder than I thought!" Kivat frantically commented from his perch, "Where is that damn dragon?! And why couldn't those three come help anyway?!"

"Kivat, calm down," the Rider told his partner, "Tatsulot will come soon, I know it."

"You have way too much faith in—"

"Tenshin Fortissimo!" As if the world was trying to prove Kivat wrong (or just the small dragon himself), Tastulot flew in and sliced the four with his wings before flying over to Kiva. "Sorry for disappearing like that! I ended somewhere weird and had to—"

"Stop talking already, it's not the time!" Kivat interrupted.

"Lend me your powers, Tatsulot!"

"Got it! Let's go, Ha-kun!" The golden dragon shot towards the air at high speeds and sliced the chains on Kiva's shoulders. The shoulderpads spread out, revealing bright golden wings that blinded the four monsters. Additionally, golden energy bats flew out from the wings as the Rider raised his left arm.

"Henshin!" Tatsulot cried as he perched onto Kiva's arm. The golden bats flew back at the Rider, merging with his armor—the chains on his leg shattering—changing their shape and color. Finally, with a burst of flames, a crimson red cape appeared on his back with a burst of flames. His boots and kneepads turned silver while the rest of his armor became bright gold. His chestplate and previously yellow visor were now a brighter crimson red hue than before.

Standing before the Another Rider was not just a normal Kiva, but his final evolution: Kamen Rider Emperor Form.

In the present, Another Kiva screamed again as her personal history got further altered. This left her open to a kick from Decade that sent her flying back. She barely got to her feet before Black Keys hit her and made her stumble around.

'How?! Why?!' She mentally screamed as she ripped the blade in her shoulder out. She snapped her fingers, summoned Bassha to her hand again, and tried to shoot them.

"You're very stubborn, you know that?" Decade sighed before he turned his RideBooker into its gun mode. With Ciel already having her weapon in its rifle mode, the two returned fire with their bullets finding their targets more than Another Kiva's did.

"Ha!" Kiva cried as he kicked the fake Garulu back into Bassha and Dogga. While they were trying to get up to their feet, the golden Rider raised his arm and pulled on Tatsulot's head—the symbol on the dragon's back spinning before stopping on a blue symbol.

Garulu Fever!

Taking Tatsulot off his perch, Kiva pulled the Garulu Saber from his back and attached his second partner's tail to its pommel. As he dashed towards the fake Arms Monsters with the sword in his right hand, a blade of fire shot out from Tatsulot's mouth.

With several quick swings of the two-bladed, all three dummy monsters sparked before they exploded—leaving Kiva to face off against his fake self.

FINAL ATTACKRIDE: DE-DE-DECADE

With a single shot, both the fake Garulu and Bassha fell as well—leaving Another Kiva alone to fight against the two. Despite being vastly outmatched, she still didn't give up.

Another Kiva grunted as she was kicked repeatedly in the chest before receiving one final kick that sent her back to the ground.

"Why… What…happened…" She mumbled too quietly for anyone to hear, least of all Kiva who was a short distance away.

"The finale," the Rider announced before pulling on Tatsulot's head again, causing the symbols to spin again. This time, it landed on a crimson red version of his symbol.

Wake Up Fever!

He let out a small and low breath as he prepared to deliver the final blow—crimson red fog gathered around here while the moon illuminated him in the sky above. Tapping the ground with his foot, the golden Rider leaped into the air and aimed his feet at Another Kiva. Energy blades in the shape of Kiva's insignia erupted from the sides of his legs before his attack connected.

With a loud scream, Another Kiva was thrown back into the church wall—cracking it further and creating another hole in the shape of her figure—before she exploded, outright destroying that side of the building.

However, the church remained standing, and Noel's unconscious body emerged from the fire. Next to her, the Another Kiva Ridewatch sparked before shattering—ending her reign before it could begin.

'Right… That was what happened…'. Noel wistfully thought to herself as she lay on the ground. Next to her, the Another Kiva Ridewatch glitched out and disappeared. 'This power… was intoxicating….'

Above her, Ciel stood over her with her weapon in a third form—a giant pile bunker with a very sharp nail.

"It's done," She emotionlessly said as her pile bunker disappeared. Ciel then pulled out a Black Key and prepared to deal the final blow. "Noel, go now and atone for your sins in the afterlife."

'Right, this is the fate of a loser…'. Noel thought. She lost, and this was what she got for everything she did.

However, the final blow never came as Ciel was stopped by someone grabbing her wrist. "That's not needed anymore, Ciel."

"Huh?" Ciel was not the only one confused, Noel had no idea why Ritsuka would stop her either. "I thought you were fine with me doing this?"

"You're right, she does need to pay for everything she did with Kiva's powers," Ritsuka agreed. "But she didn't do those things, right?"

"Wha—?" It took Ciel a second before she understood what he was saying. "…Oh, so that was your goal. I'm impressed, Fujimaru, going that far so that we could spare her."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ritsuka denied.

Right then, a near-deafening roar filled the theater. "Come on, let's get going."

Noel heard footsteps walking away from her but Ciel didn't move. Instead, the Executor kneeled down next to her. "For what's it's worth, I'm sorry for everything that happened, Noel," she apologized, her sorrow easily heard in her tone. "I—I wished that I could do something to change what happened that day too."

Ciel then stood up and followed after Ritsuka, leaving Noel alone to contemplate her fall…

Sometime later…

In one of the many halls of Castle Doran, the whiny voice of a small white bat loudly complained while everyone was thinking tea, "Ahhhhh! So everything that me and Hakunon did meant nothing?!"

"Kiva-la, be quiet," sighed the twin sister of Hakuno, "What's done is done and we don't need to dwell on it."

"I'm just saying! Why do Hakuno and Kivat get to do everything while we are left sitting around doing nothing?!"

Knowing that saying anything would just make her companion more annoying, Hakunon turned toward the two people sitting across the table. "At any rate, thank you for your help with this."

"It's nothing, just don't go getting erased from history again," Ritsuka semi-jokingly replied. "This was a pain for me—Ow."

His not-so-pained cry was due to Ciel flicking him in the temple. "Ignore him, he can be annoying at times."

"I know. I've met him."

"But really though, messing with time like we did is sure to have consequences for you guys. At least, we were unscrewing time rather than changing something in the past—Ow."

Ciel sighed after flicking him again, annoyed that one of his more irritating traits was showing itself.

"Oh yeah, speaking of that," Kiva-la said, "Why haven't those three returned yet? What are they doing in… What year are they in?"

"2008."

"2008?!" Kiva-la finished.

"...When exactly did he go to?" Hakunon asked after a moment.

"Christmas Eve," answered Ritsuka. "Why? Did something important happen that day?"

"Not Christmas Eve but the day itself…" she trailed off. "Would he actually do that…"

"What's wrong?" Ciel asked.

"We mentioned before that our mother left us in our father's old house when we were six, right?"

That was all she needed to say for Ritsuka to understand her worries. Sighing, he got up and said, "I'll go get him."

"Did you not just say that messing with time would have consequences, Fujimaru-kun?"

"It's just a quick five-minute trip; I'll be back soon," he told her before walking out of the room and making his way to the Door of Time.

Dawn, Chrismas Day 2008….

In front of the abandoned house were three people—one woman and two children. High in the sky above them were the two Kivats, keeping an eye out for danger.

"You two, from now on you will live here," the woman in dark clothes told them as she gently gave the boy a briefcase. "They will take care of you to the best of their abilities."

"No! Why do you have to leave us?!"

"It's for your safety," she sadly told them, "Staying with me will put you in danger and I can't bear that thought."

"But—"

"Hakuno, Hakunon, promise me something—even when everything seems lost, be as strong as you can," the former Queen of the Fangires smiled, "As much as I hate it, it is better for you two to forget about me—"

As the mother of the twins comforted them, the Hakuno from the present watched from behind a corner nearby. He tried to listen for a few more minutes but couldn't hear much else. Eventually, his mother stood up and left his and his sister's younger selves, prompting him to move away and take cover behind another street corner.

From there, he peeked and watched as his mother walked in the opposite direction.

'Should I…' Messing with time was bad; he knew that. However, he still couldn't help but entertain that thought.

"Hey."

"Ah!" Hakuno yelped at the sudden voice from behind. Turning around, he saw it was Ritsuka who evidently followed after him.

"Any reason you're still here?" He asked the prince.

"N—no. Just…"

"I guess the thought of meeting your mother was tempting enough for you to hang around a few more hours," Ritsuka sighed. "Regardless, congrats on beating Another Kiva."

"Thanks but I have to thank you for your help too," The prince thanked him with a grateful smile. "We couldn't have done this without you."

"I was just passing through." That was a bald-faced lie, he had been dragged here by Bishop but he wasn't going to mention that. "So, what are you gonna do now?"

Ritsuka peered around the street corner they were hiding behind and saw a woman in black walking away, her back turned to them.

"You're not gonna try talking to her?"

"And say what? 'I'm from the future and just came back to fight a monster version of myself?" Hakuno said.

"Don't forget the part where she was an assassin nun whose job was to hunt down your people," the other boy snarkily added.

"...yeah, no." He shut down that idea. Still, he stared wistfully at the retreating woman; however, both he and Ritsuka soon lost sight of her when she walked around another corner.

Well, there goes his chance to speak with his mother…

"Hey, Haku."

"Hmm?"

"Have you ever wished you were born to a normal family?" Ritsuka asked him. "Where you didn't have to go through everything that's happened to you and your sister?"

Hakuno did not say anything as he thought about the answer. What if things had been different? What if he was born a normal person? What if he didn't become Kiva? Would his life be better than it is now?

"I…" No, there was no use thinking about what his life could've been. "No, not really," Hakuno answered with a small smile.

"Is that so?" Ritsuka hummed, "Anyway, we better get back to 2022 before something weird happens."

"Yeah, you have a point."

Bang!

"What was that?" Hakuno turned his head towards the other end of the street where the bang came from.

"No asking, we better get going," the other boy shot down the idea of investigating.

The two disappeared in a shower of golden particles…just as a red-armored figure stumbled into view at the end of the street.

Present…

Ritsuka let out a long, exhausted sigh as he sunk into the sofa in his living room.

"Is everything finally catching up to you?" Ciel asked him as she, too, rested on one of the chairs, slightly amused at how he was acting.

"Maybe. You planning on doing anything about it?"

"No," she bluntly stated, "I'm also exhausted by everything."

"Fair," Ritsuka sighed before glancing at the backdrop—the symbol of Kamen Rider Kiva now restored on the moon, signifying the restoration of this world's timeline. "Do you think we can rest a bit before moving onto the next world?"

While he does miss Tetsuya and Ryoko—who were apparently in the next world over doing stuff according to what Bishop said—he felt like he deserved a bit of rest after everything that happened in the past few days.

Has it really been about two weeks since the destruction of their world? It felt longer than that.

"That's really up to you, Fujimaru-kun. This is your place, after all."

Technically, he was borrowing it but she didn't need to know that.

Knock, knock!

"Oh, who is it this time?" Ritsuka groaned as he got up from his resting place.

"Do you want me to—"

"No need, I got it." Exiting the living room, Ritsuka walked towards the front door, opened it—"Hey, Fuji—"—and closed it immediately.

"Who is it?" He heard Ciel ask from the door.

"Nobody, go back in."

"Open this door or I'm breaking in!"

"...Is that me?"

"No."

Ciel didn't believe him—she easily recognized the sound of her own voice—and a grin appeared on her face. "So if it's not me, then there shouldn't be a problem with me opening it, right?" She asked as she approached him.

"Do not take another step," he warned her as he locked the door.

"Oh come on, let me talk to me for a few seconds," Ciel pleaded in a fake tone. "I promise we won't make fun of you in any way."

"Nope." Ritsuka body-blocked the entrance to prevent her from opening the door—not that it would stop her.

Within the next few seconds, Ritsuka found himself dragging Ciel away from the door by the waist. Meanwhile, Ciel used just enough strength to stay one step ahead of him, slowly pulling him towards the entrance.

Neither of them knew exactly how long they were like that but an amused "Well well well," came from behind them. They both turned their heads back and saw this world's Ciel looking like she was on the verge of laughing.

"Fujimaru-kun, I know I said to go ask another me but I didn't think you'd actually do it!" She nearly shouted, a grin on her face as she stared at her doppelganger. "Hey!" Ciel (K) waved to herself.

"Hey!" Ciel (A) waved back. "I've heard so much about you."

Granted, what she heard about her alternate self was that she tried to kill Ritsuka and then flirted with him later but since it embarrasses him, she said it anyway.

"How did you even know I was around, Ciel?" Ritsuka grumpily asked.

"Never underestimate me, Fujimaru-kun. I thought you knew that already," Ciel (K) boasted as she adjusted her glasses. "Oh, and don't mind me letting myself in through the window."

"Get out."

"Oh come on, let me talk with me for a few seconds," she pleaded in a fake tone, "I promise we won't make fun of you in any way."

"That's what I said!" Ciel (A) laughed at the coincidence.

"This is precisely why I didn't want you two to meet." They'd bounce each other so well and Ritsuka didn't know if he could deal with two Ciels.

Hearing his exasperation, both Ciels laughed again. However, Ciel (K) soon stopped and said, "Actually, I just came here to say hello. Unfortunately, I have other things I need to do."

"And that is?" Ciel (A) asked. She had hoped that she could speak to her other self for a bit longer.

"Well, someone I knew just reached out to me out of the blue," she answered. "I don't know why but she wanted to meet up since she's in town."

"Someone…" Could it be…

"Anyway, it was nice seeing you again, Fujimaru-kun," Ciel (K) said as she squeezed past them to reach the door. "And it was nice to meet another me."

"Likewise," Ciel (A) smiled back and waved herself goodbye.

As quickly as she had appeared, this world's Ciel left—leaving the two by themselves again.

"…Fujimaru-kun?"

"Yes?"

"When will you let go of me?"

It was then that Ritsuka realized he had been holding onto Ciel the entire time they were talking. Needless to say, he quickly let go and stomped back into the living room.

"Hey, there's no need to be embarrassed about it," Ciel said while stifling a laugh as she followed him in.

Ritsuka didn't give any indication that he heard her and stopped by the pillar with the chain. Grabbing it, he pulled the metal chain and a new backdrop replaced Kiva's as a blinding light filled the room.

"Wow, I didn't think you'd be that upset," Ciel sighed after lowering her hand from her eyes.

The new backdrop depicted a strangely designed playing deck, with seven cards in the foreground. In the center was the Ace of Spades card, the three cards above it being the other three classes, and the three below being similar-looking but differently colored Ace cards.

"This is… Blade's world…"

Next time on Across the Kaleidoscope

"Finally! Where the hell were you two?!"

"There are seven Riders in this world, and six of them are working for this company."

"The enemies of humanity here are Undeads, immortal beings created by God."

"Kamen Rider Glaive, Shirahara Junichi. Nice to meet you."

"Kamen Rider Blade, Tsurugi Kazuma at your service!"

Chapter 23: Four Aces, Three Cerberus, Two Swordsman

Meanwhile, in Castle Doran…

Hakunon stood in front of a certain door within the castle, unsure about what she wanted to do. On the one hand, she knew that this was a bad idea. On the other hand, she found it a bit unfair that her brother got to go to the past even for a few hours.

"What's the destination you have in mind, princess?" The voice of one of her servants surprised her. Turning around, she saw Jiro standing there with his usual bored look.

"Nothing, I was just making sure it was closed," Hakunon lied on the spot. Jiro and the others had warned her that using the Door of Time was forbidden.

Surprisingly though, he was not upset that she was there. "If you want to try seeing your parents, go ahead," Jiro said, "But don't change anything, you know that, correct?"

"Of course I do, but is it really fine for me to—"

"Go." As if on command, the Door of Time opened and Hakuno couldn't even scream in surprise as she was sucked into the past. The doors closed again, leaving Jiro standing there.

"What was that…" He muttered to himself, thinking about the brief image that flashed in his mind. "That…battle?"

A/N: And done! This also took a while so but it's over 16k now so that makes it up, right? Right?

Anyway, I realized that I have about 4 arcs left before the middish point of this story so I decided to turn up the story elements in this rather self-indulgent arc. Many important part happened and yet I still had to cut a few things like Takaragi appearing in the final battle. There was also supposed to be a certain scene that had a passing mention by Jiro but I decided against it.

The next arc, as you can tell, will be the Blade Arc and no, it's not Shirou. However, I'm sure you guys can piece together which Rider he'll be thanks to that very obvious clue in you-probably-can-guess-where. Wink

Finally, as always, please leave a review and all those stuff and see ya next time!

EDIT: Okay... so I found out Noel's birthday was on Christmas itself and not Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve was the French Incident. I dunno how I got those two confused, especially since Noel's name means Christmas.