Takeru and the Riders he was with inside the Daitenkuu temple had gone their separate ways. Hojo-sensei returned to the hospital and continued treating patients during this worldwide invasion while Tomari-san patrolled around Tokyo and offered his assistance.
Takeru encountered Haruto-san, and Kosuke-san defending an antique shop from the monsters attacking everyone and everything in sight.
Five Kamen Rider Mages arrived moments later and with them were more civilians whom they had rescued from different areas.
Takeru did not hesitate to help his fellow Riders, even if he didn't know who the other two orange mages were.
Kosuke volunteered to escort everyone to the Daitenkuu temple as Haruto and Takeru went towards the portal that led to the entrance of Himeji castle and cleaned up the place.
"I'll be waiting for you and Kazuraba here, Tenkuuji."
"Thank you for your assistance, Haruto-san."
Three Riders were inside an ornate dark ages-esque castle. Takeru couldn't believe he was inside the famed Himeji castle in Osaka because it was devoid of any Japanese influence.
The three Riders made quick work with the monsters they encountered, even with all three of them in their very first forms when they became Kamen Riders the first time.
"Kaigan! Omega Drive!"
"Chouine, Special!"
"Orange Squash!"
Gaim slashed in the air and hit everything in the room, containing every enemy with one large orange construct.
Wizard conjured fire on his hands and let it stream to their enemies.
Ghost jumped in the middle of the gathered enemies before spinning upwards, creating a fire tornado. He then kicked the flailing monsters in the air and landed on the floor below the level they entered as their enemies exploded to ashes.
Gaim and Wizard looked at the hole Ghost made before shrugging and jumping into it, following Takeru's lead.
Kamen Rider Ghost continued to lead the other two Riders down the hallway when they were stopped by an old man in robes.
"Halt!"
All three Riders stopped dead in their tracks before they found a large enough pillar to hide themselves in.
"No point in hiding, I have already seen you."
The Riders kept their guards up as they walked towards the open hall.
"This must be the Kamen Riders I have heard so much about."
The Riders looked up and saw an elderly man wearing traditional robes walking towards them.
"Interesting powers, you Kamen Riders have," The elderly person stated. "Various sources of power and yet you waste them."
"It's not wasting them if it means protecting people from monsters like you!" Kouta fired back.
"Gaim, the man turned god," The elderly man snarled at Kouta. "Your soul is mine!"
The elderly person shape-shifted into a helmetless Zangetsu Shin, with Takatora's head. He raised his sonic arrow and intended to cause harm to the three Riders.
Takeru was quick to act as he immediately did some hand gestures before thrusting his hands forward and throwing at the shape-shifter an image of an orange eye, undoing the transformation.
"Curious."
The elderly man rushed towards Takeru only to be blasted away by a torrent of water coming from Wizard, whose color had changed from red to blue.
"Another sorcerer." The elderly man raised an eyebrow.
"Not a sorcerer, a wizard." Haruto quipped before sending another torrent of water towards the sorcerer.
"Not for long," The elderly man snarled.
The man shape-shifted into a helmetless Guridon: Lychee Arms, showing Hideyasu's face, wielding the Armored Rider's saber only for it to be undone as soon as another orange eye hit him.
"Interesting," The elderly man commented. "Not only have you undone my shape-shifting capabilities you also made those souls inaccessible to me."
Takeru glared at the elderly man, under his helmet. He had met the person who was most probably responsible for Ermac's creation.
And considering the elderly man's capabilities, this person was the one stealing souls for his own gain.
"Tenkuuji, Kazuraba, you go on ahead and find your friends, I will handle this old man."
"Old man, you say?" The elderly man commented. "Vermin are so rude these days; at the very least refer to me as Shang Tsung."
"Whatever you say, old man," Kouta growled. "Are you sure you can handle him?"
"We're both using magic; I should stand a chance against him." Haruto replied, donning a fighting stance.
"No one is going anywhere." The elderly man, Shang Tsung, growled as he shape-shifted into a helmetless Knuckle, with Zack's face.
Shang Tsung charged at Ghost and Gaim with Knuckle's gloves.
Kouta was quick to act as he kicked the shape-shifter's chest towards a nearby pillar before Takeru drew another image of an orange eye and threw it towards the shape-shifter, undoing his transformation once more.
Ghost drew another orange eye in the air and threw it towards Wizard.
"That should prevent Shang Tsung from stealing your soul and accessing your memories and skills."
Kouta and Takeru ran in another direction, leaving Haruto to fight against the elderly sorcerer.
Takeru took the lead once more. He led Kouta around the hallways of the castle, filled with empty rooms blocked by vertical and horizontal bars.
"Halt! In the name of Emperor Shao Kahn we order you to halt."
As soon as the duo of Riders stopped, in their view were the forms of Kouta's friends: Takatora, Zack, and Hideyasu where inside one of the blocked rooms.
"Kouta-san, please go right ahead, I'll deal with Ermac."
"You know this guy, Takeru?"
"I fought him earlier."
Takeru turned around and Ermac was already floating at the intersection they had passed earlier.
"We said, halt!"
Ermac rushed towards Kouta, who ignored everything that was happening in favor of rushing to his friends' side.
"You're facing me, Ermac." Ghost blocked Ermac's path with his sword.
"The person who fights like us," Ermac intoned. "We will redeem ourselves from our failure."
Takeru retrieved his Mugen Ghost Eyecon, inserted it into his driver and assumed his Mugen Damashii form, the same form that he used to fight Ermac to a draw earlier in the day.
Takeru and Ermac traded blows. Each of their attacks was blocked successfully, no one intended to give their opponent any time to exploit each other's weakness.
Ghost managed to get an advantage and not before long, he managed to kick Ermac away from him. Ironically, because of this, he gave the construct an advantage, allowed the mummified person to teleport away from him, and threw a soul-energy-based ball.
Takeru did not wait for the projectile to travel to him and rushed towards the mummified construct. He summoned his sword and attempted to slash his enemy, only for him to be unceremoniously levitated and slammed to the ground.
Ermac did not let up his attack, after slamming Ghost to the ground, he grabbed his opponent's shoulders and carried the Rider to the roof before throwing Takeru to the ground and falling on him, elbows first.
Ermac grabbed Takeru's head and kicked him towards the projectile that he had thrown earlier.
The projectile sent Takeru hurtling towards Ermac, thinking fast, Takeru immediately pulled the lever on his belt and angled himself that he was in a kicking position.
"Chou Dai Kaigan! Mugen God Omega Drive!"
A ray of multiple colors coated Ghost's foot before he made contact with Ermac's chest. The kick slammed the construct to the wall that was connected to the cell, destroying it and allowing Gaim to enter his friends' cell.
Ermac was able to get their bearings quickly and ignored Kouta, who was already inside the cell, in favor of attacking Takeru who now had two swords in hand. They rushed towards Ghost as they telekinetically threw a lot of debris towards their opponent.
Takeru slashed all the debris coming at him before sending red slash energy to the rushing Ermac. He did not let up attacking his opponent too, as soon as the slash energy hit the construct, he immediately rushed towards the floating mummy and hacked at his opponent.
Ermac was able to recover by sending a shockwave of soul energy and called on an idle axe nearby.
Both combatants traded blows with their weapons, attacking and blocking each of their attacks.
Ermac found an opening, teleported themselves behind Takeru, and rushed towards their opponent's unguarded back.
"My life burns bright!"
"Inochi Dai Kaigan! Ikari Slash!"
Takeru's swords glowed red before he twisted his body and slashed Ermac on their chest and hips, throwing them to a nearby pillar before exploding.
Takeru drew an eye in the air before throwing it to Ermac's unmoving body.
Multiple souls exited the construct's body, all of them rushing out of it in the hopes of finally being able to rest from the torture of being imprisoned with other souls for a very long time.
Takeru found himself in the same place where he met Kung Lao and King Jerrod. This time, Jerrod was accompanied by a few souls, none of which he knew. He was in his civilian wear, his rider suit was nowhere in sight.
"Well done, young warrior," Jerrod praised. "Not only did you defeat the Emperor's construct of souls, our vessel, but you also gave us the choice of exiting the construct."
"A choice?" Takeru frowned. "You don't want to be released from their body?"
"This body may have been from evil, but I believe Ermac and their abilities can also do more good in the world," Jerrod smiled. "The souls you see here with me are the souls who agree with my way of thinking."
"I mean, sure…" Takeru trailed off. "But…"
"No need to worry about us or pity us, young warrior." Jerrod shook his head. "We can handle things from here."
Takeru nodded.
"Now about the captives of this place..."
A/N: The following points are what I believe to be the next parts of the WIP, had I successfully recovered my files.
= The next match up would have been Shang Tsung against Haruto Soma, Kamen Rider Wizard.
Because of the invasion, both Rinko and Shunpei become Kamen Rider Mage, like their counterparts in the Wizard movie, made possible by the Philosopher's stone hidden inside Haruto's underworld.
= I don't know what the other match-ups would have been, but I know it would end with Kronika against Ohma Zi-O. This whole story was inspired by the Death Battle template of Kronika vs. Ohma Zi-O as well as Raiden vs. Kamen Rider Gaim.
= The timeline would be around MK11 and Kamen Rider Zi-O maybe even Saber.
= Gentaro would get his Fourze powers back through various means, still don't know how.
= It will end with the champions of Earthrealm, Ermac and a thankful Raiden and Fujin.