While others were busy working, Ryuga immersed himself in studying the mysterious power of victory granted to him by Sagara.
Ever since he first activated the Kachidoki Lock Seed, Ryuga could feel a unique force flowing into his body whenever he held it. It reminded him of how the Helheim Underworld slowly eroded the Earth—but this was different.
Unlike Helheim's corrosive energy, this force was benevolent. It pulsed with pure vitality—the very essence of life itself. Though the energy wasn't immense in magnitude, the quality of it was staggering. None of the powers Ryuga had acquired so far could compare to its nature.
If his analysis was correct, this was the legendary Power of the Golden Fruit—the Law of Life, as it might be called in Eastern philosophy, or the Divine Essence of Vitality, as per Western terminology.
Logically, this force shouldn't rank higher than the powers of time, space, or causality—abilities held respectively by the Moon Reading Channel, the space-time dominion of E, or even the King of Evil Time himself. But all those powers in Ryuga's hands were still immature. In contrast, the Law of Life, though only partially present in the Lock Seed, was a true power of its domain.
He could, in theory, use it as a catalyst to nurture and evolve his other abilities—perhaps even helping them break through into the realm of divine law. But Ryuga chose restraint.
There was no need to rush. Once he obtained the Golden Fruit, this kind of power would become abundant. For now, it was more prudent to let his body and soul adapt to the rhythm of life's law. That way, when the time came, he could integrate the Golden Fruit's power more thoroughly.
Additionally, he had given up the naïve idea of becoming a god directly through the Golden Fruit. Attaining divinity through the Law of Life would be too weak a foundation.
Just like in ancient myth, Nuwa achieved sainthood through merit and remained the weakest among the seven great sages. Those who severed their three corpses to become saints ranked higher than her, and even they were no match for Pangu, who proved the Dao through raw strength.
Ryuga saw the same pattern: the Law of Life resembled the "path of merit"—easy but shallow. His goal was higher. He would use this divine vitality only to nourish his more potent and versatile powers.
While Ryuga was refining his power, Takatora Kureshima delivered unexpected news: the second male rider of Team Baron, Zack, had tracked down an Overlord just two days after receiving divine support.
That Overlord's name was Demushu.
As his name implied, Demushu had a flaming temper to match his bright-red body. The irritable old Overlord didn't waste words—he attacked immediately upon seeing Takatora and Zack.
Unfortunately, he severely underestimated his opponents.
Kureshima and Zack, transformed with Genesis Drivers—Kureshima as Zangetsu Shin and Zack using Lemon Energy—easily overpowered him. Demushu might have been captured on the spot if not for a Crack opening at the last second behind him, allowing him to flee.
But the Crack posed a new dilemma. Only two pathways existed: one from Helheim to Earth, and one from Earth back to Helheim. No one could determine the destination of this random Crack—it was metaphorically and literally a wild card.
Suddenly, Zawame City was plunged into crisis. Overlords were no ordinary monsters—their destructive capability was off the charts. Had someone weaker than Takatora and Zack—say, Sid—encountered Demushu, they would have been instantly overwhelmed.
When Demushu emerged in Zawame City, he simply hurled a massive fireball into the sky. Smaller fireballs split off, decimating several city blocks. The area turned into a war zone. Survivors ran screaming through streets strewn with fire and debris.
At this point, the World Tree could no longer maintain its secrecy.
Taking advantage of Kureshima's absence, Ryoma Sengoku seized control of the World Tree Tower. He declared martial law over Zawame City, deployed Kurokage Soldiers to blockade all exits, and severed all communications to prevent news from leaking to the outside world.
In truth, he didn't need to go to such lengths. The top of the World Tree Tower was equipped with a scalar weapon system.
The original contingency plan stated: if Helheim's forces ever breached Earth in a public setting, the scalar system would fire on Zawame City, erasing all evidence to maintain global stability.
However, that scalar weapon had already been secretly sabotaged—by none other than Kureshima himself.
Why? Because he had seen a glimmer of hope.
In the past, before the golden fruit or Overlords were known, humanity's survival depended on mass-producing Sengoku Drivers. But their production limit was capped at 1 billion units. In other words, 6 billion people would have to be abandoned.
Worse still, to prevent those 6 billion from becoming Inves, the World Tree intended to cull the global population down to 1 billion within ten years.
In comparison, the lives of a few hundred thousand in Zawame City were deemed negligible. That was why Kureshima had initially supported the scalar weapon system—and was even designated to trigger it when necessary.
But not anymore. Not after hope had taken root.
He dismantled the system in secret. Had it remained operational, Sengoku Ryoma would've pressed that button the instant Helheim was exposed.
Now Ryoma focused on maintaining martial law while sending Minato Yoko to capture Overlords and uncover the Golden Fruit's location. Meanwhile, Sid took advantage of the chaos to make his move.
He betrayed them all.
Sid destroyed the artificial Crack stabilizer inside the World Tree, severing all direct connections to Helheim. He also destroyed every Lock Seed tied to vehicle access, isolating the tower from the other world.
Now, only Sid and a few elite riders with vehicle-capable Lock Seeds could travel to Helheim. Even Kureshima, who had returned to Zawame via a random Crack while pursuing Demushu, found himself cut off.
Inside Helheim, Sid encountered the second Overlord: Redyue.
Redyue was the complete opposite of Demushu—calculating, cunning, and cold. Though he also desired the Golden Fruit, he was too weak to claim it. Seeing potential in Sid, and perhaps sensing a useful pawn, he let Sid "defeat" him after a minor scuffle.
Ego inflated, Sid "graciously accepted" Redyue's surrender and was promptly led to the Overlord King himself—Rosyuo.
Believing Overlords to be beneath him, Sid arrogantly demanded Rosyuo surrender the Golden Fruit.
Rosyuo stared at Sid like one might at a particularly loud insect. His expression was unreadable—mostly because his eyes were tiny, practically smaller than mung beans. Sid misinterpreted Rosyuo's silence as defiance... and mistook his stare as one of noble resistance.
Fueled by bravado, Sid transformed into Kamen Rider Sigurd and charged in confidently.
He didn't even land a hit.
Rosyuo flicked his hand. A wave of invisible energy launched Sid like a rag doll into a rock wall.
Before he could stand, Rosyuo flicked again. The rock wall parted, swallowed Sid whole, and closed shut—without leaving a trace.
Only Sid's trademark top hat drifted down slowly in front of the wall, like a tombstone marking the fall of a fool.
Thus, the self-declared conqueror was gone.
Sid, guardian of the mountain—entombed in Helheim.