Previously on Across the Kaleidoscope…
"...Will you try resetting things here again?"
"Don't let Ritsuka wallow in his despair. He needs someone to pull him out of the darkness he trapped himself in. There was someone who managed to keep him afloat before he met us… but she's gone now."
"For two reasons; first, I want to see my newest servant's strength before I send him on his mission."
"I'll put it in simple terms; buried deep inside you is knowledge I seek, and the easiest way to draw it, or him, out is to do this."
"Now then… it's time for you to experience true hell."
To say that Ciel had to stay on the defensive was a complete understatement. She didn't know if he had the Mystic Eyes of Depth Perception, given that he was an alternate version of him, but it was better not to risk it. Doing so was courting death— a single cut would be all it took to kill her instantly.
That said, it was still incredibly difficult to keep Kamen Rider Eternal at bay. He was a master with his knife, more so than he was, and was fast as the wind as well. That combination of skills made it near-impossible for Ciel to block or avoid every attack.
"Hmm… I have to admit you're good with those knives," Eternal complimented her as they locked blades. "It's been a while since I last met someone who I couldn't kill in a few slices."
Ciel didn't respond, keeping her eyes on his yellow bug-like visor.
"I would ask for your name, but that'd mean I have to give mine— and I don't want to do that yet," the white Rider continued. He then put more force into his next strike, shattering Ciel's Black Keys before stepping back. That action made Ciel harden her stance in preparation for his next move. He had been keeping close to her the entire time; for him to put distance meant he was up to something.
ZONE!
Sure enough, Eternal took out a greyish-white USB stick that had a stylised Z on it and pressed its' button. He then pulled back his cloak slightly to insert the USB into a slot on the right side of his belt. Finally, he pressed a button on the slot itself.
ZONE! MAXIMUM DRIVE!
Right in front of her eyes, Ciel's foe disappeared in a brief flash of light. She barely had time to think about what happened before her instincts screamed to turn around. Not doubting herself at all, she whipped around just in time to parry a slash from Eternal.
'Teleportation?' That made things a lot harder.
ZONE! MAXIMUM DRIVE!
'Left!' Another strike was denied.
ZONE! MAXIMUM DRIVE!
'Right!' Eternal's next attack was blocked too.
ZONE! MAXIMUM DRIVE!
'Behi— Ah!' This time, she wasn't fast enough. Blood spilt out of the fresh wound in her side, forcing her to retreat slightly. It wasn't a deep wound by any means, but it still hurt.
"And first blood goes to me." Ciel could practically hear the smirk underneath his mask.
However, the slight sadistic tone in his voice had a side effect Eternal didn't realise; Ciel was fully able to understand that the person before her was not him— it could not be him. The teenage boy she met years ago could never sound as cool and calm as the white Rider was upon hurting someone.
Now, she could separate her feelings from her actions and fight without holding back. "That'll be the only blood you'll be spilling today."
"Oh?" Eternal sounded intrigued and amused by her declaration. "Let's see about that."
ZONE!
Chapter 29: The End of the Rider War (Part 1)
Decade had no choice to admit to himself that he got way in over his head; Knight was proving to be a force to be reckoned with— the power of the Survive card granted him was no joke.
He was also proving himself to be incredibly skilled with his sword— able to parry his and land his own strikes with little effort.
"Dammit…" Decade grunted under his breath. He needed to turn the tides somehow, or at least even the playing field, else he would be killed by Knight. "What card to use?"
Using Kuuga Titan could work; he could use Knight's sword but would he be able to disarm him in the first place? An alternative would be Agito Storm— using wind powers to counteract Knight's own.
As Decade was trying to decide which card was best, Knight had already settled on his next attack. He sheathed his sword into his shield and pressed a button on the hilt. The panels on his sword split open, revealing a small depression to put his cards in.
Knight then pulled a card from his Deck and inserted it into its proper location before pressing the button again.
Blust Vent!
A bat's screech rang through the area again before Knight's Contract Monster descended from the skies and levitated behind him. Now though, it looked powered up like its' master— slightly larger than before and being a more vivid shade of blue and gold. However, the most important aspect now was the fan-like wheels in its wings, which enlarged slightly before spinning rapidly.
The wheels generated strong tornados that blew Decade off his feet and into the sky; the magenta Rider soon crashed into the ground with a loud thud.
"Ow… Fine, Storm it is." He groaned as he got to his feet and took out the two cards he needed.
KAMENRIDE: AGITΩ
FORMRIDE AGITΩ: STORM
Now armed with the Storm Halberd, Decade spun in his hands for a bit before getting back into a combat stance. The intimidation tactic, of course, failed on Knight who simply unsheathed his sword again.
Meanwhile…
Ryuki grunted as he rolled out of the way of Dark Decade's attack; as he stopped in a half-kneeling position, he raised his dragon head-shaped weapon before a blade flipped out. He stood up again and ran towards his opponent, ready to slash him.
His attack was easily blocked, with Dark Decade chuckling under his breath at the failed attempt.
"Come on…" He goaded Ryuki. "You're fighting for your life and that's all you got?" The Dark Rider questioned before he broke through Ryuki's defences and slashed him across the chest.
The powered-up Rider, however, wasn't done yet and immediately pulled out a card from his buckle. "Give me a good one…" he muttered under his breath as he pulled on a second handle on his Visor, causing a panel with a slot to pop out. He then inserted the card in and pushed the handle.
Strange Vent!
Instead of summoning a new weapon or using a new attack, the panel popped open again— the picture on the card changing. Ryuki then pushed the handle in again.
Copy Vent!
Hearing what card Strange Vent turned into made Ryuki nod in relief. He raised his free hand towards Dark Decade, who did nothing as an illusionary copy of Rekka came out of the one he was holding and flew into Ryuki's hand. In a flash, Ryuki had an exact duplicate of the Sword of Flames in one hand along with the Dragvisorzwei.
Before Dark Decade could react, both blades lit on fire as Ryuki closed the distance and let out a flurry of quick slashes, hoping one would get through his opponent's defences. Luckily for him, a single slash did and the Dark Decade was pushed back a few steps.
"Ah… Now that's more like it!" Dark Decade suddenly burst out in joy— not at all upset "his" weapon was getting copied and used against him. "In a fight for survival… One has to use everything at their disposal, right?"
The answer went without saying as both knew it. As such, Dark Decade continued talking— taking out another card at the same time.
"Now then, let's kick it up another notch."
FORMRIDE SABER: PRIMITIVE DRAGON
Rekka Battou!
As with all of Saber's transformations, a large book appeared behind Dark Decade. This one was bigger than the other Wonder RideBooks and flipped open before Ryuki could read the title. However, instead of releasing an avatar straight from its pages, the insides of the Wonder RideBook was empty but was quickly filled by the Brave Dragon Wonder RideBook. However, Ryuki finally noticed what was odd with the books Dar Decade kept summoning— the letters on the cover were reversed.
He couldn't bluethink much about that for long though as, from behind the Wonder RideBooks, a glowing cyan dragon peeked over with its claws gripping the bigger book. Finally, Brave Dragon was held in place by a claw that flipped out from the other side of the Primitive Dragon Wonder RideBook.
Baki! Boki! Bone! Gaki! Goki! Bone! Primitive Dragon!
The transformation announcement played as the bone dragon leapt from behind its book and grabbed Dark Decade. It fused with his armour, its massive claw covering his chest as his suit became black and cyan. A picture of Brave Dragon's cover appeared on his right shoulderpad— complete with its flipped title —while the flames on his mask turned cyan.
"Alright…" Dark Decade smiled under his helmet as he ran his hand on Rekka again. "Let's continue."
Without waiting for a response from Ryuki, he leapt into battle once more— not giving the other Rider time to breathe as he made quick, powerful strikes repeatedly.
In the real world…
Now that she could keep her feelings down, Ciel could match Eternal's speed more easily. However, the white Kamen Rider seemed to mind her keeping up; in fact, he seemed pleased that she was.
In any case, Ciel managed to land a hit on Eternal's chest, the thrown Black Key breaking upon hitting him. The force she put in the throw, which should've been enough to easily kill a normal human by causing their internal organs to burst, was only enough to make Eternal stumble back.
"Eh… I actually felt that through this." Ciel couldn't see it, but she knew there was a smirk underneath his mask. "I doubt that would be enough to kill me if I wasn't transformed. But that still makes my heart race."
'So he lives for the thrill to fight,' Ciel mentally noted. She could not help but note what might be different with this version of him— if Eternal was truly an alternate reality's version of him.
"So then, can you keep making me feel this way?" In any other situation, that question could easily be misinterpreted as something else entirely. But in this instance, it was a question that made Ciel tense up— mind already running to figure out what would be next from his bag of tricks.
CYCLONE!
His next trick ended up being another USB stick; this one was green and was labelled with a C. Instead of inserting it into the slot on the side of his Driver, he put it into the one on his knife before pressing the button.
CYCLONE! MAXIMUM DRIVE!
Green wind coated Eternal's combat knife before he slashed the air, sending bullets made of that same green wind shooting towards Ciel. Not knowing if the bullets would continue in their path if she blocked them with her Keys, she quickly tried to move out of the way. She was able to dodge them for the most part; a single wind slash grazed her leg, leaving a small cut through her clothes.
'Dammit!' It was another minor wound, but that'd still slow her down further.
"I'm still not done yet."
ETERNAL! MAXIMUM DRIVE!
Eternal's next move was not to just pull out any USB stick, but the white one in his Driver. He activated it before inserting it into his knife— replacing the green one already inside. He activated his finisher and reversed his grip on his knife as a large blue flame coated the blade— extending its length threefold as winds gathered around him.
"Disappear."
That simple command was followed by Eternal sending a powerful slash made of the blue flames and winds at Ciel. She barely jumped back far enough to avoid the brunt of the attack; however, Eternal's finisher caused a massive line of explosions where she was standing— the sheer force of which made her lose her balance in addition to the flames singeing her clothes.
Ciel quickly got her footing and continued putting distance between her and her opponent, eventually landing near a trash pile with a large broken mirror in it. That didn't register in her mind as she focused on the thick black smoke caused by the finisher in front of her. Fast footsteps reached Ciel's ears before Eternal shot out of the smoke at high speeds.
The Executor threw more Black Keys at him, but he managed to swipe them out of the air without a moment's hesitation and continued on his path.
Nearby, Swartz continued to watch them fight— noting both Ciel's and this version of Eternal's capabilities. The Time Jacker had looked into this Eternal's past and while there are many similarities with the previous Eternal he summoned, there were enough differences with not only Daido Katsumi but also the young man with those powerful eyes that Swartz saw in Ciel's past, that could affect the way his new servant fights.
At the moment though, he was satisfied with how things were proceeding— even if Ciel was not using her massive weapon and fighting at her most powerful.
'Now then… What happens next is…' Swartz took his eyes off the battle for a second to glance at the mirror.
Mirror World…
FINAL ATTACKRIDE: A-A-AGITΩ
After inserting the golden card, Decade tightened his grip on the Storm Halberd as blue wind gathered at each end. Once sufficiently charged, he sent a ring of blue wind cutting through the air at Knight.
The other Rider raised his admittedly small shield to block the blow— not thinking it was powerful enough to grievously injure him —and was thrown back by the following explosion. He quickly balanced himself though and turned his eyes back towards Decade.
Or rather, what was near him.
"…I'll admit, I didn't expect you to use a trick like that." Knight was not talking about his cards or anything like that. No, he was referring to the tactic Decade was using.
"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," Decade lied with a calm, if tired, voice.
The specific tactic he employed was a simple, yet very effective one. Namely, he was sticking close to the mirror they entered the Mirror World with. Once he realised this, Knight was forced to be more careful with what he does. He didn't know if Decade would be willing to break the mirror to trap them both here if pushed into a corner, and he couldn't risk shattering it himself by accident if he used another Advent Card.
Moreover, time was slowly running out— even with Survive, Knight knew that it wouldn't be long before he and Decade would start disintegrating because of the Mirror World's nature. While he was aiming to kill Decade, he was also aiming to survive the battle and win the Rider War.
"You know, I have to ask," Decade suddenly said. "You're also trying to kill me to protect Emiya, right?"
"…So?" Knight responded after a moment.
"But you're also aiming to win the Rider War," the yellow-and-blue Rider pointed out. "That means you'd also have to kill him eventually."
To that, Knight had nothing to say. Decade guessed that he had also realised this and threw away that thought for the meantime— until the time he needed to fight Ryuki to win the War.
"You're really weird, you know that?" It may be hypocritical for him to say that, but it was the truth. As much as he disliked it too, Knight was only delaying the inevitable by trying to kill him. If anything, he'd only make himself feel worse as his previous efforts would eventually be for nought.
In any case, Decade hardened his stance, taking a few steps back so the broken mirror was in his field of view. However, he immediately noticed something within the mirror's reflection; on the other side in the real world, he saw Ciel fighting another Kamen Rider and being pushed back.
'What?!' He froze up in surprise at the sight, which was quickly picked up by Knight.
Shoot Vent!
Decade snapped towards Knight just in time to be hit in the chest by arrows and flew back.
"There goes your advantage." He heard Knight say before he had to roll on the ground to avoid further arrows.
'Dammit…' While he wasn't taking things as seriously as probably should've considering the situation, he knew he had to help Ciel immediately. However, it didn't look like Knight was willing to compromise and let him go.
At the same time…
"GAH!" Ryuki cried in pain as he was sent rolling on the ground. Despite all his attempts to strike back, he still found himself unable to get an advantage over his opponent for longer than thirty seconds.
Dark Decade had long since proved himself to be a challenge to win against, but it was just ridiculous at this point. If he didn't know better, Ryuki would've thought the Dark Rider was just testing him with how he only used just enough strength to beat him back.
"…Aah! What's taking you so long?!" Dark Decade suddenly burst out in a scream, making Ryuki jump in his armour. However, the blue-and-black Rider quickly calmed himself down before asking, "Emiya, do you want to die or something? I know your other selves were more than willing to sacrifice themselves to help others, but I don't think you're willing to get yourself killed for nothing."
Despite having no idea what he was talking about, Ryuki still tried to think of a suitable response. However, he wasn't able to before Dark Decade did.
"It's because you know I need you alive, right?" He quietly sighed… before saying in a more cold tone, "But are you so sure about that?"
Ryuki saw his opponent take out another card and was about to insert it into his Driver when— "Wait… That's…?!" —he suddenly stopped and shouted, looking away from Ryuki and at thin air.
"Wha…?"
"…Emiya, if I remember correctly, you had pretty terrible Luck," Dark Decade said, laughing under his breath. "Maybe it's better than theirs but looks like you ran out for the rest of the War." Behind him, a silver wall appeared and the Dark Rider turned around. "We'll finish this next time. See ya."
He gave a short wave before running through the wall and disappearing into it. Ryuki stared at the wall as it also disappeared, completely confused at what had just happened. After a few moments though, he collapsed to his knees, taking loud and deep breaths as the pain from the wounds he had been ignoring came back in full force.
However, he couldn't rest now; he had to get out of the Mirror World before he could actually rest. He pushed himself to his feet and staggered back to the sculpture he was dragged through— exiting through it and detransforming.
Now out of immediate danger (and out of the rather hot armour), Shirou sat down and rested against the sculpture. He resumed catching his breath; in the back of his mind, he wondered why the other Fujimaru Ritsuka suddenly took off like that…
CLANG!
The sound of steel hitting steel continued to echo through the air as the fight continued with no apparent end in sight. Ciel knew her best hope of ending this fight was to simply tire Eternal out— which was admittedly looking more and more difficult. He wasn't getting slow at all and was just as fast as when the fight started.
Ciel managed to push him back enough to throw more Black Keys at Eternal that shattered on impact. It caused him to stumble back slightly, but he found his footing near immediately.
"Do you have any other tricks up your sleeve?" Eternal asked, sounding somewhat bored. "I was resurrected specifically to fight you, and you're starting to bore me. This game of keep-away getting stale."
'Resurrected?' That specific word stuck out the most to Ciel; there's also his mention of surviving her earlier attack even if he wasn't transformed.
"I'll just use this again then."
ZONE!
ZONE! MAXIMUM DRIVE!
Eternal disappeared from sight again and Ciel didn't immediately sense him teleporting near in her blind spots. She spun her head around to try and find her opponent but didn't spot him.
'Where did he—?'
At the last second, Ciel realised the only direction he could possibly come from was above; she immediately jumped away just as Eternal came down from the sky and planted his knife into the ground.
Eternal quickly recovered— standing up and looking at Ciel again. "Still fast on your feet," he hummed, "But for how much longer can you keep going?"
Truthfully, Ciel didn't know the answer to that. 'Of all the times I left it at home,' she mentally chastised herself for not taking the Seventh Holy Scripture with her. While she justifiably didn't expect to get into many fights since they all took place in the Mirror World, she should've expected something— like Kanzaki Shirou sending another Mirror Monster at Ritsuka —since they were searching for the Core Mirror.
"Fine. I'll finish this right now," Eternal said in his usual cool and collected tone, reaching down to take the USB in his Driver out again.
Before he could though, an Aurora Curtain appeared in between Ciel and him— "Not on my watch!" —and the black Decade came out, guns blazing.
Due to the suddenness of his appearance, Eternal couldn't even move in time and was struck dead centre in the chest. Sparks flew off his armour as he stumbled back more than three feet.
"You're…?" It didn't even take a second for Ciel to realise who her saviour was. "Why are you here?" She coldly questioned him.
The black Decade didn't answer but lightly chastised her instead. "Don't complain about rescues you don't like."
He had a point, which Ciel conceded.
"Now then, you." Dark Decade turned his attention towards Eternal who was looking straight at him. "Kamen Rider Eternal… From Another World, I assume?"
The question went unanswered since they all knew it. "And you're the so-called true Kamen Rider Decade," Eternal retorted while playing with his knife. "The second strongest Rider in existence."
"Yup," Dark Decade cheerfully nodded. He didn't seem to care about the emphasis on the "second". Ciel, once again, noted the backhanded compliment and quietly wondered who was the strongest Rider.
"Then you'll be a better fight than her," the other Rider complimented Dark Decade/insulted Ciel.
"Maybe, but I wouldn't go underestimating her yet." Ciel was slightly taken a bit off guard by his surprise praise. but was able to keep a straight face. "And if you're hoping I'll go all out for you, I have to say sorry. I'd rather not waste too much energy on a zombie who can't even remember how he died."
"What?!" For the first time, Eternal's cool demeanour broke.
"That's a common trait for all you Eternals," Dark Decade continued. "None of you could remember much about your own past anymore. Would be sad if you Eternals weren't massive assholes who tried to destroy an entire city filled with innocent people."
Ciel stayed silent and listened to what he said while keeping an eye on Eternal's reaction; the white Rider was quiet too, but she noted him tightening his grip on his knife.
Until slowly— "...Hehe…" —a small but deranged cackle escaped Eternal's lips that quickly turned into full-blown maniacal laughter. "HAHAHAHAHAHA!" He continued laughing for a few more moments but eventually calmed down and regained his previous cool composure and spoke as if nothing had happened. "So you're more aware of my past than I am. How amusing." Ciel assumed there was a small grin underneath his mask as he continued talking. "Yes, I don't remember how I died anymore, but that does little to hamper my abilities. As for Fuuto… Well, I admit to razing that pest-infested city and turning the lives of everyone there into a living hell."
"Hmm? Confessing your sins already? How nice of you, Katsumi," Dark Decade sardonically said, converting his RideBooker into its sword mode. He glanced back at Ciel, asking, "You'll fight with me, right?"
What surprised Ciel was the slight hopeful undertone in his voice. Still, she agreed that it would be better if they fought together for now and questioned… everything later. For now, she stepped forward— willing to be his ally for the time being.
However, one thing didn't escape her notice that confused her and Eternal too: the name Dark Decade called him.
"Katsumi?" Eternal repeated before letting out a short laugh. "Sorry, but that's not my name, Decade."
That revelation in turn surprised the black Decade. "Eh… So you're like those three, huh? What's special about you then? I get Emiya… somewhat… and I'm still trying to figure out the twins. Why don't you share your name with the other Eternals?"
'Other Eternals…' That comment, as well as the one earlier, stuck out to Ciel. 'Has he met other Riders already?'
Of course, she also noted that Eternal's name was not Katsumi— not that it automatically means his true name was the same as his.
"Whatever then," Dark Decade quickly brushed off the reveal like nothing. "I'm sure I'll figure out your real name when we get to Double's World."
The conversation ended there as he ran his hand on his sword, ready to finally fight Eternal. The other Rider agreed, readying his knife for another fight.
And they would have fought… had Swartz not decided to choose that moment to intervene. Time froze, and nothing could move except for Eternal and Swartz himself.
"This… Swartz!" Somehow, the time stop didn't completely freeze Dark Decade, who managed to force himself to speak. Meanwhile, Ciel could still think and hear but was completely frozen.
"I'm afraid this fight has gone along far enough," Swartz stated as he moved between them, right in front of his servant. "We're pulling out now, Shiki."
"Shi…Shiki?"
'So… it is him.' The deepest part of her knew that her intuition was correct and it had to be him, but she didn't want to be right.
Meanwhile, Eternal clicked his tongue in derision, annoyed that he had to retreat and his name was given without his consent. However, he also knew he couldn't complain. "Fine, it's not like I have any choice in the matter anyway."
"Good." A dimensional wall appeared behind them, but before they left, Swartz decided to give them each a parting gift. Turning to Ciel, he calmly shouted at her. "I shall mention this to you, Executor; Kamen Rider Eternal's nature is similar to yours. Or at least… your former nature."
'What?' Ciel tried to figure out what that meant.
However, Swartz was already moving on to her companion. "Fujimaru Ritsuka, this is not supposed to happen…" the Time Jacker slowly raised his hand— dark purple energy swirling in his palm as he prepared to attack. "But… I wonder what would happen if I changed the foreseeable future."
None of them could do anything as Swartz shot the ball of purple energy straight at Dark Decade. The attack struck but, instead of exploding immediately, expanded slightly as the Dark Rider was lifted a few inches off the ground.
"That should be enough," Swartz grinned to himself, "Come, my servant." He turned around and stepped through his Aurora Curtain; Eternal let out a small "hmph" before following after him.
The second the wall disappeared, time resumed— KABOOM "AH!" —and the energy ball exploded for real, sending Dark Decade flying and screaming before loudly slamming into the ground some distance away.
"Fujimaru?!" Now unfrozen, Ciel turned around to see Fujimaru lying on the ground groaning, his armour having disappeared shortly after he landed. While she was well aware that he wasn't the real Ritsuka, Ciel still rushed to his side.
"Ow…" She heard him groan under his breath. Once she reached Fujimaru though, she immediately noticed that his body was disintegrating just like all the way back in Fourze's World.
"Are you okay?" It was a dumb question but she still asked anyway.
Fujimaru let out a small laugh as he pushed himself to lay on his back. "Worried about me? I'm surprised, Ciel." Despite his massive injuries— parts of his clothes being burned and ripped as well as bruises all over his body —Fujimaru was still smiling. "Even though I nearly killed you a few Worlds back."
"That…" He had a point, but Ciel didn't want to outright say she was worried because—
"I know, you're just worried about what would happen to the real me, aren't you?"
…Was he a mind reader?
In any case, Fujimaru continued, "Don't worry your cute little blue head about it. Nothing will happen to that idiot if I die. It's only if he dies that I'd disappear with him."
'That's a relief…" Ciel let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding. However, she was still worried about the Fujimaru Ritsuka disappearing in front of her.
"As for me… There's no sugarcoating it; I'm gonna be resting inside him for a bit," Fujimaru continued to read her mind, "I'll be back by the end of it though. I still need to find the true… Well, I'll keep that to myself."
'Are all of you going to be so lax with dying?' Ciel couldn't help but think in response to how he and Touma seemed so calm about dying. Any normal person wouldn't be as calm as they were about dying… but then again, they weren't normal, were they?
However, before he disappeared, Ciel had one more question for him. Actually several, but only one was in the forefront of her mind now— "Why did you kill Kozaki Touma?"
Fujimaru's answer was not one she expected. "Because I had no choice. The future would be set if he stayed alive. Now then…" He somehow found the strength to raise his hand and summoned an Aurora Curtain that swept over them— taking them away from the scorched battlefield.
Shoot Vent!
Decade knew he couldn't avoid Knight's next attack; he was too exhausted to successfully dodge the bolts.
Luckily, he didn't need to move as an Aurora Curtain suddenly appeared between him and Knight— protecting him from the arrows.
"What?" Knight was justifiably confused by the wall Decade— 'Dammit, not again.' —was annoyed that his other self was saving him again. Still, he let the silver wall wash over him and take him away from (maybe) certain death.
Knight, meanwhile, didn't realise he was gone before it was too late. Once the wall disappeared, so did Decade— leaving Knight behind. He remained quiet before huffing in frustration at failing to kill Fujimaru Ritsuka.
However, he knew he could stick around for much longer and turned around, going to the mirror to leave the reflected World.
Before Ciel knew it, they were in front of Ritsuka's house. And by they, she meant herself, the disintegrating Fujimaru, and the real (and very injured) Ritsuka, who appeared nearby. He quickly noticed the two, muttered "You…", but remained rooted in place several feet away from them.
Seeing his hesitancy to get closer to him, Fujimaru laughed again. "Still scared to see me, me?" He smirked. "Well, lucky for you, I'm at the end of my ropes… See ya…" With his final words spoken, Fujimaru stopped trying to hold onto life and fell back on the ground before his body fully disappeared.
However, his "remains" (i.e. the particles) didn't simply float into the sky. Instead, they flew into the nearest reflective surface; in this case, it was one of the house's windows covered from the inside with newspapers. The window rippled before settling and showed Ritsuka's reflection.
Ritsuka remained quiet for a couple of seconds before turning to Ciel. "What happened?"
The Executor didn't answer him immediately. She simply stood up and glanced at him then the house. "It's better if we talk about this inside."
He couldn't argue with that and nodded in agreement— "Fujimaru?!" —before immediately collapsing to the ground and falling unconscious, the exhaustion and injuries he sustained finally caught up to him…
A few hours later…
"Ngh…" For the second time in the past two days, Ritsuka woke up with a groan and a splitting headache. His body felt sore, and he realised a few moments later that he was bandaged up unlike a couple of days prior. He guessed his wounds from the fight with Knight warranted actual medical attention.
"Finally awake, sleepy-head?" Ritsuka heard Ryoko's voice to his right and turned to see her sitting there. "It's already nighttime. I would say that you must've been pretty beat up to sleep for that long… but that's how long you usually sleep."
"Ryoko?" He groaned, "What… Oh right." Ritsuka recalled what happened— how he was effectively manhandled by Kamen Rider Knight throughout nearly the entire battle. It felt weird since he was usually the one who beats others up.
"Ciel brought us up to speed and… you have a couple guests downstairs," Ryoko hesitantly told him.
Ritsuka let out a short sigh before forcing himself to get out of bed. "Tell them I'm awake and will be down in a minute."
"Got it." Ryoko playfully saluted before getting off her seat and leaving the room so Ritsuka could get dressed.
As he picked out his clothes, Ritsuka wondered who could be downstairs for him. He had an idea and since he was about to find out anyway, he just went on and changed.
About a minute later, he exited his room and went down the hall and stairs; he heard muffled arguments coming from the sitting room as he walked closer to it.
"—gami, you're also at fault he—"
"I'm here…" Ritsuka announced his arrival as he opened the door, interrupting whatever the argument was. He glanced around the room and saw his three travel companions sitting on one side while on the other… were Emiya Shirou and Asagami Ren were on the other. He also noticed that the former of the two had some bandages that were covered up by his jacket's sleeve.
"Good evening, Fujimaru-san," Shirou greeted him with a relieved smile. On the other hand, Ren just crossed his arms and frowned upon seeing him. "I'm sure you know why we're here."
Ritsuka did and quickly went to his friends' side of the room, standing behind the couch they were sitting in. Before they could start the real conversation, Ritsuka had one question— "Who did you two find this place?"
Instead of either of them answering him, Tetsuya did. "Emiya-san called your phone earlier. He said that he needed to talk to you urgently about something and I gave him our address."
Oh yeah… Ritsuka did exchange contact info with Shirou that morning before he left the latter's house. In any case, they can now get started.
"Firstly, he—" "Ow!" "—would like to apologise to you for nearly killing you earlier." Ren quietly grumbled as he rubbed his side where Shirou had elbowed him. "He really shouldn't have done that and feels sorry about it, right?"
Ren didn't answer and just huffed, making Shirou sigh.
Ritsuka, however, didn't really care about Ren's apology all that much. His main interest was why Shirou was injured like him. "Emiya, what happened to you?"
"Oh, this? Well…"
"The other Fujimaru Ritsuka attacked him," Ren finally spoke up. "While we were fighting, he dragged Emiya into the Mirror World and nearly killed him. The only reason he's still alive is because the other you decided to leave at the last second."
"What…?" Needless to say, that confused Ritsuka. He also found it a bit odd that they accepted the concept of him having an evil identical twin but that didn't really matter. His main confusion, however, came from the outcome of the fight. "He left on his own? You didn't make him retreat?"
"No," Shirou shook his head. "Even when I used Survive, he still was stronger than me."
So the complete opposite of his and Ren's fight. But that still left one question: how did his other self die?
However, before he could ask that question, Ciel had already changed the topic. "Then let's move on to the next matter; the Core Mirror's location."
Ritsuka heard Ren huff again but he didn't move from his spot.
Ciel continued, "Fujimaru-kun and I weren't able to find where it is because someone—" She shot a quick glare at Ren, who was unfazed by it. "—interrupted us in the middle of our search."
"I see… That's fine. I didn't expect that it'd be found immediately," Shirou tried to reassure them but couldn't hide the slight disappointment in his voice; although, it wasn't directed towards them.
Ren, meanwhile, decided to butt in again. "I told you already, Emiya. It's pointless to look for it. You'll either fail or get killed like Sakakibara. He didn't even find a clue to its location in the end."
'Sakakibara?' Ritsuka assumed he was talking about the previous Ryuki; the one who saves Emiya and passed on his Deck and wish before dying.
"Asagami, we've had this argument so many times already," Shirou groaned, quite obviously annoyed that Ren was bringing it up again. "No one's going to change my mind. Not even you."
That sounded slightly suspicious but Ritsuka wasn't going to judge nor did he care. He intervened in their argument anyway— "Emiya, where else could Kanzaki hide the Mirror? Does he have a house somewhere in the city?" It was a long shot but it's better than nothing.
"He does," answered Shirou before sighing. "But that's a dead end. I've already looked into it and his sister doesn't know where it could be either."
"His sister?" This was the first time Ritsuka was hearing about her. Maybe… Shirou could've mentioned it in passing the night before.
"Yes. Kanzaki Yui; her grandmother owns the café Asagami works at."
"Hey, don't tell them that!" Ren shouted, not appreciating Shirou telling them that last bit of information.
Shirou already had the perfect retort to that. "You already tried to kill him. I think he deserves to know more about you just like me."
"…Screw you, Emiya."
"Anyway," Shirou continued, "Yui-san was separated from her brother after the fire years ago and didn't know he was planning the Rider War until it already started."
"So nothing then," Ritsuka sighed internally. However,
Meanwhile, Ciel thought now the best time to bring up her theory from earlier. "Emiya-san? Can I ask you something?"
"Sure. What is it?"
"Is it possible that the Mirror is actually somewhere you've looked before?" She asked. "Such as the temple. Is there a chance the Mirror is hidden there and you didn't find it?"
That question made Shirou think. "Hmm… I want to say that I didn't miss anything but that's possible."
"Then we'll look there again tomorrow," Ritsuka decided for all of them. Well, nearly all of them. He glanced at Ren, saying, "You can just go off and do whatever you want." While it was rude to say that, Ritsuka had the foolproof defence of Ren trying to murder him earlier.
"Fine by me. As if I have any interest in stopping this War," Ren unsurprisingly agreed with him on that. He then stood up and moved towards the door, "Now if you'll excuse me."
'I didn't mean now but that's fine by me…'
"Hang on, Asagami!" Shirou quickly followed after him, leaving the room to the actual residents of the house.
Immediately, Ciel turned around and looked up at Ritsuka. "How are you doing?" She asked, her concern evident in her voice.
Ritsuka shrugged and said, "I feel fine."
Not only Ciel but all three gave them a look that said, "Really?"
Honestly, other than a slightly wounded pride, Ritsuka felt fine. "Yes, really. I'll get better anyway. No need to worry about this."
"This is you nearly getting killed by someone and only surviving by the skin of your teeth," Ciel retorted.
"And I have no hard feelings about it," Ritsuka told them truthfully… he thinks. Regardless, if he did have a disdain for Asagami Ren for trying to kill him, he could bury that feeling; it was not that important and would get in the way…
Meanwhile, outside…
"Asagami, wait!"
Shirou quickly caught up to his… not-friend outside, grabbing his arm so he couldn't walk away.
"What do you want, Emiya?" Ren grumbled while trying to pull his arm out of the other man's grasp. "Look, I already talked to Fujimaru like you told me too. Isn't that enough for you?"
Obviously not since he didn't actually apologise— but that was not why Shirou ran after him. "Why don't you help us? You know it makes more sense to seal—"
"I told you many times already, Emiya. I'm not interested," the other man snapped back. "Unlike you, I have a wish— one that could only be granted by winning the Rider War. I have no desire to play hero like you."
His scathing remark made Shirou pause, letting Ren pull his arm from his grip.
"Go ahead and try as much as you want. You won't find the Core Mirror," he continued. "And if you by some miracle do find it, not only would it be a nest of Monsters, the others will stop you— including me."
"..."
"We all are staking everything to win this battle; none of us will let a naive idiot who stumbled into this War and wants to fulfil a dead man's wish ruin it for us." That was the harsh truth, and both of them knew it. If Shirou does locate the Core Mirror, then the target on his back— which was already there for being a Rider —would get larger.
"Asagami, I—" Shirou didn't get to finish; this time because Ren turned around and left. Shirou could have run after him again but didn't find the will to do that. He watched as the other man got on his motorcycle and drove away.
After a minute or so, Shirou let out a long sigh. He knew Ren had a point with everything— the other Riders would not take too kindly to him stopping the Rider War. Except maybe Asakura but he'd just still try killing him anyway for fun. The only reason none of them (excluding Verde who was paranoid) tried stopping him before was that no one believed he could find the Core Mirror.
Well, they've all tried to kill him at some point— but because he was a Rider and not for his mission.
Regardless, Shirou understood why Ren was being very blunt and harsh about the topic. 'Still, you could've been less of an ass about it.'
"Couldn't convince him?" He heard someone ask. Turning around, he saw Ritsuka leaning against the doors of his house. Whether it was to look cool or because the teen needed support was not clear but Shirou didn't ask.
"No, but Asagami is always like this," Shirou sighed again. "Actually… they're all like this."
Ritsuka recalled Shirou mentioning this the previous night, how the other Riders disliked the topic. "I have to ask, how and why are you friends with him?"
"Frankly, I'm not sure either," the older of the two confessed. "I guess it's because… Asagami is not that bad of a guy underneath his dark exterior."
"Are we talking about the same person here?"
"I understand why you'd say that," Shirou chuckled at Ritsuka's snarky remark, "Asagami… Right after Sakakibara saved me and passed over the Ryuki Deck, Asagami arrived and taught me the basics of what's going on."
"Despite how you two are supposed to be enemies by that point?"
"Yes. He could've just killed me then and there but he didn't."
"…And that's what you're basing your assessment on?" Ritsuka couldn't help but think that was slightly naive of Shirou. However, he didn't think it was stupid or wrong of him to think that.
After all, the reason Ren tried to kill him was to protect Shirou.
"So then, you know the plan for tomorrow," Ritsuka said, "We'll meet up first thing in the morning at your house."
Shirou nodded at the plan. "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then," he said, "I should be getting back home. Good night, Fujimaru-san."
After waving goodbye to each other, Shirou turned around and started walking as Ritsuka went back inside his house. He locked the front doors and returned to the living room where the others were still discussing.
"Where's Emiya?"
"He's going home," Ritsuka answered Ryoko as he sat down on one of the chairs. "Now let's talk about something more important." He turned towards Ciel. "What happened?"
Ciel knew what he was referring to immediately. "It's… honestly, I'm not too sure either," she sighed. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around it too."
"Let's start from the beginning; who was that white Kamen Rider?" Ritsuka asked… which surprised Ciel.
"You saw him?" She thought he didn't; Ritsuka only appeared after they were teleported back to the house.
"Kamen Rider Eternal… right?" Tetsuya asked. Seeing the confused look on Ritsuka's face, he explained, "Ciel already gave us the gist of what happened." 'And only the gist.'
"Eternal…?"
"Yes," Ciel nodded. "Swartz appeared too."
That didn't surprise Ritsuka at all. But that means… "Then Eternal is like Bacht?"
"Yes," she nodded again. "He's from an Another World too."
"So that guy can also come back to life no matter what we do?" Ryoko already felt a headache coming. To say the one week they (or rather, the Riders plus Ciel) spent holding Falchion off as best they can was a pain would be a massive understatement.
"And he was the one who killed… him?" Ritsuka continued to avoid naming him directly. Whether Ciel or the others noticed that was unknown, but the former answered him.
"No, it was Swartz," she corrected his assumption. "In a single hit too."
That either meant Swartz was much more powerful than Ciel initially presumed (which is saying something since she knew what he was capable of) or there was something else about the attack that allowed him to kill Fujimaru in a single shot.
"Hmm… Did you learn anything else about Eternal?" Ritsuka backtracked the conversation back. He saw the new Another World Rider as a bigger threat than Swartz currently and wanted to know more about him. "What about a name? Did he tell you that?"
Ciel, however, stayed silent for a few moments before answering, "No, Eternal didn't say his name."
'You're hiding something, aren't you?' Ritsuka immediately realised something was off but didn't mention it aloud. Ciel had to have her reasons for hiding whatever secret she had, and he would respect that. If it did eventually matter, he trusted that she'd tell him.
However, Ciel was not finished talking yet. "There's something else though. Before he left, Swartz said that killing the other you would alter the future. I'm not sure what he meant but—"
"I get it." Ritsuka interrupted her. He didn't actually, but he didn't want to dwell on that topic more than he had to. "Anything else? If not, I'm hungry. Is there any food around?"
"Ur…, There's some leftovers in the fridge," Ryoko told him, prompting RItsuka to thank her and stand up again. He then went into the kitchen, leaving the others by themselves again.
They silently watched as he left for a few moments before Ciel sighed. "He's still avoiding the issue…" She muttered, slightly frustrated at Ritsuka's constant attempts to dodge the topic.
"Do you want me to talk to him? Maybe he'd say something to me." Tetsuya offered. Since he knew Ritsuka the longest— although not by much (only a couple of days compared to Ryoko) —he might have a better chance than anyone else. The other two knew and understood that so they didn't argue.
Seeing them nod, he stood up and followed Ritsuka. "So…" Ryoko mumbled. Her eyes darted around the room as she avoided looking directly at Ciel.
Ryoko hadn't quite figured out what to say to her despite having two months to think it over. In her defence, she was more preoccupied with her thoughts regarding Ritsuka than Ciel; the most Ciel crossed her mind was wondering what the two were doing together (and if they possibly got together in the two months they were missing). Had she had the courage, Ryoko would've asked her if anything had happened between them.
Instead, she settled on annoying Ritsuka until he gave her the goods when she got the chance.
The other woman, however, noticed her fidgeting around. "Is something wrong, Jindai?" Ciel asked, making Ryoko sit straight and start nervously sweating.
"N-nothing!" Ryoko stuttered. "It's just…"
"If you're still scared of me over what happened last time, don't be," Ciel giggled in amusement, hitting the nail on the head for Ryoko's nervousness. "I've already forgiven you for accidentally kidnapping me."
While Ryoko could tell she was being truthful, she couldn't easily forget how Ciel nearly ran a sword through her head— even though she was never going to actually hurt Ryoko on purpose. If there was anyone in this house Ciel was going to hurt without any regret, it'd be Ritsuka due to how he's been acting lately. Even if it was horrible, he really needed to stop avoiding reality and face the truth sooner or later.
Back to the matter at hand though— "I know but…" Ryoko trailed off; she knew how stupid it was to hold what Ciel did after she was unintentionally dragged into this journey against her, especially since it was Ryoko's own fault. But that was still not something one could easily forget— nearly getting killed like that.
"I suppose I have to do something to make up for that," hummed Ciel. While helping rescue them right before attempting to nearly kill Ryoko should make up for that, Ciel did that out of the kindness of her heart (and duty too) and not with any thought of reward so she didn't want to bring that up. "Tell you what? One favour, anything you want, and I'll do it," she told Ryoko. Maybe that offer was a bit too much from Ciel's end, but she didn't mind despite the accident being Ryoko's fault.
"I'll… keep that in mind." Ryoko didn't know what she could use that favour for, but something might come up in the future.
Now with that minor issue taken care of, the two's thoughts wandered towards how Tetsuya's and Ritsuka's talk were going.
In the next room over, Tetsuya sat across from Ritsuka who was quietly snacking on the leftovers. The former stared at the latter, trying to come up with the best way to start the conversation.
Eventually though, he decided to just rip the bandage right off.
"You know we don't believe a word you say, right?" Tetsuya rhetorically asked, making Ritsuka pause. "You're not convincing everyone that you're fine."
"…What do you want me to say?" Ritsuka muttered. "That seeing myself die frightens me?"
While that was another thing Tetsuya wanted to talk about, that was not the main issue here— "You're not wondering where we put Kozaki-san's sword?"
"No," Ritsuka answered bluntly and quickly. Needless to say, Tetsuya didn't believe him.
"Ritsuka, you've known me for as long as you can remember—" Unlike the previous times when he meant it as a joke, Tetsuya was completely serious. "—I won't say anything to the others. Just tell me."
His friend remained silent for a few seconds and glanced at the doorway connecting to the living room. Ritsuka seemed worried that the others might be listening before finally admitting to Tetsuya.
He sighed under his breath before saying just loud enough for Tetsuya to hear, "I didn't know who Touma was."
Tetsuya didn't say anything; he just listened to what Ritsuka had to say.
"Ten minutes. That was it. That was how long I knew him for," Ritsuka continued. "I have no reason to be very upset at his death, even if he was instrumental in saving Blade's World. Then…" he trailed off into a whisper, "…why does it affect me so much?"
"Ritsuka…"
"Touma treated me like an old friend, one he hasn't seen in a long time. He said so himself." The deceased swordsman said he had been waiting for three years—, about the same timespan as Ritsuka and Swartz's last meeting since Kiva's World, according to the latter. "All I did was find him and he was more than willing to lay down his life to help me."
And Touma did; he died at Fujimaru's hands. Ritsuka still needed to know why either of them did what they did— his other self for killing Touma, and Touma for knocking him out before he could help.
There was another reason he was upset too. "Touma knew everything— me, Ciel, even Kazuma, and what was going to happen in the future —and he said he'd explain everything once the battle was over," Ritsuka continued. "But… he said he was sorry and that he had to die."
Tetsuya knew that already from Ciel's account of what transpired after Bacht's defeat.
"There's one more thing too…" One of Touma's comments directed at the other Ritsuka. "He said I was beating myself up for nothing and that nobody blamed me."
"Blamed you for what?"
"…I don't know," he sighed. The worst part was that Ritsuka knew what he was talking about; he had been carrying a burden that had been getting heavier and heavier as time went by. He just didn't know what that burden was and where it came from…
"...Ritsuka, while we were separated, Ryoko and I did some thinking. A lot of thinking actually," Tetsuya said. "I'm not sure if Ryoko reached the same conclusion as me but…"
"But?"
"You've been keeping things hidden from all of us. From the day we met, you've never truly expressed yourself from the heart, have you?" It was another rhetorical question; they both knew the answer to that. "And Ryoko and I were fine with it. You had many things on your mind and we understood that and let you settle things on your own. But now it's become unhealthy how you're bottling everything up."
He was right and Ritsuka knew it. Tetsuya continued talking, "Don't misunderstand me, Ritsuka. I am not going to make you tell me what you're keeping to yourself. Not now. But, at some point, you need to confide in someone. Maybe me, maybe Ryoko, maybe Ciel, maybe even someone else. All I'm saying is… you need to eventually talk to someone."
"…"
"That's all I wanted to say so… keep that in mind." Now done, Tetsuya stood up from his seat and walked out of the room, leaving Ritsuka alone to think deeply about what he said.
Elsewhere…
The house was nearly void of life with tarps covering the furniture. Not a single light was on, with only moonlight pouring in from the windows. However, in the attic, were several uncovered mirrors where the figure of Kanzaki Shirou was reflected. The man himself was nowhere to be seen though.
He was silent, eyes closed in deep thought… or he was sleeping while standing. Whichever it was, it was disturbed by a silver wall appearing in the centre of the room. A second later, two people stepped out of the Aurora Curtain; Swartz and a younger man wearing dark clothes— most notably a simple black jacket with red accents. The latter stayed behind his apparent boss, looking around for any signs of danger.
"…Why are you here again?" Kanzaki said after a moment. "I've already agreed to not using that card yet. Unless you're here to say you're leaving."
"No, it's not that," Swartz replied with his usual confident and high tone. "I'm here to give you another warning."
The first warning, of course, was about Decade; a few months prior, Swartz managed to enter Ryuki's World and contact Kanzaki. That same meeting was how Swartz was able to "procure" some Mirror Monsters for the planned attack on the World Fujimaru Ritsuka was living in. Many of the monsters that were gathered ended up destroyed by Decade himself but they did their jobs; Fujimaru Ritsuka's journey started once again.
Back to the topic at hand though— "Your War is heading for its imminent conclusion, this time around."
"Yes, I've gathered that from the black Decade's… fight with Ryuki." To call it a fight was giving it too much credit; it was only because Dark Decade was playing around that Emiya Shirou survived the battle. That reminds him… "Who is he?" Kanzaki glanced at the young man behind Swartz. "I assume he is Eternal?"
"Hmm?" Now that they were talking about him, the young man in black paid more attention to their discussion.
"Your soul… it shines a dark light. One that will soon be snuffed," Kanzaki observed, recognising his condition. "You… are going to die soon."
"Hmph, as if," the young man scoffed. "Until the day my boss here declares me useless, I will be eternal. And knowing myself, I'll avoid that fate too."
"He's already proven himself to be a useful weapon for my future plans. Just as his purpose is supposed to be," Swartz praised him. "However, the true Fujimaru Ritsuka is not who I'm talking about."
"Then…?"
"Any moment now, the real Fujimaru Ritsuka is about to learn of the Core Mirror's location." Swartz watched as Kanzaki's eyes widened slightly. "And tomorrow, he will go with Ryuki to destroy it and end the War."
"Hmm… Thank you for bringing this to my attention." Kanzaki was not going to ask how he knew that; he already trusted Swartz's information. In an instant, Kanzaki disappeared from his mirror with a ripple.
"He's gone," Eternal stated the obvious, "Now you're going to send me off on that mission you keep saying, right?"
Swartz nodded and opened another wall. "Go, Nanaya. Do what you're meant to do and quell the Resistance in that World."
"Hmph. Gladly." A smirk stretched across Nanaya Shiki's face— his grey eyes shining in the darkness. He took out his combat knife, a different one than the one he used while transformed, and twirled it for fun. "I'll show them the meaning of true hell."
With that confident and disturbing declaration, the young man went through the Aurora Curtain— more than ready to carry out his mission.
Previously on Across the Kaleidoscope...
"It's just the two of us. One on one…"
"Just hold on for a bit longer, okay? You're going to be fine."
"All of us are going to stop you. Sorry, Emiya."
"Finally, you've shown yourself… Ryuga."
Chapter 30: The End of the Rider War (Part 2)
A/N: Well, this is a bit embarrassing… I originally planned for this to be a single episode but I decided to split it into two instead. And unlike with Ex-Aid, I'm gonna be upfront about it and just name the chapters Part 1 and 2 (and not just because I can't think of another title).
So anyway, important stuff. Fujimaru is simply on another level compared to everyone else; Asagami is a bit of an ass but is good at heart; Emiya survived by the skin of his teeth, and Eternal is actually Nanaya. Everyone figured out it was Shiki (cause it was obvious as all hell) but no one seemed to think it was Nanaya and not Tohno. As you can probably tell, he's gonna be different from the others and be a major-minor antagonist… in the future. I also want to say this, there's going to be one more planned Protag-Rider. That doesn't mean that there won't be more than the one I know I'll do, I only have this specific character in mind when I'm thinking about the future of this series. All I can say for now is that he'll first appear in the next arc.
Next then, I foreshadowed some stuff, threw some more character bits and some other stuff like ship teasing.
That's all I want to say about this chapter so… please leave a review. All reviews help me grow and find out what you guys like and dislike about my story. See you all next time!