The air was thick with the scent of scorched earth, blood, and soul power. Smoke curled upward in thin tendrils across the devastated glade, where moments ago the Shrek team had fought tooth and claw against enemies not of their world. All that remained were seared gouges in the ground, fractured stones, and broken trees. The echoes of battle had faded, leaving behind only the wheezing of the wounded and the soft sobbing of those who remained.
Li Wei stood in the middle of it all, his armor cracked and flickering with the last remnants of Diend transformation. The Diendriver in his hand hung loosely by his side, scorched black at the edges. He was panting, soul power dangerously depleted, limbs trembling from overexertion. The visor on his helmet cracked down the middle, splitting the world in two.
Xiao Wu knelt in the grass, cradling Zhu Zhuqing limp form in her arms, her expression a twisted mask of panic and grief.
"Zhuqing! Come on, don't you dare! Don't you leave us!" she cried, brushing sweat-drenched bangs from the other girl brow. "Stay with me. Stay with him."
Ning Rongrong was beside them, face pale and teeth clenched, her Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda hovering in front of her. She looked on helplessly, unable to offer healing—not truly. Her amplifications could strengthen body, but they couldn't stop someone from dying.
Li Wei staggered forward and fell to one knee beside Zhu Zhuqing. For a moment, he just stared at her—her face far too still. Then something inside him broke.
His ability of healing seemingly has been lock. When he want to manifest the Ex-Aid buff, something seem to be preventing him from using it as he felt his spirit vein burn. It disrupt his body from manifesting it and it also disrupt him from activating it.
His Diendriver and the card he use must be in harmony as it not something truly his. If something disrupt it he cannot truly control it.
He felt powerlessness.
The clash of Diend Complete final attack and that last burst of enemy also destabilize his abilties. He need to wait for it to pass then he will be able to use his ability freely again.
His hand reached into the deck on his belt. Not the Diendriver this time, but a single card, glowing faintly with crimson and silver energy.
[Kamen Ride: Kiva.]
The summoning can be said to be incomplete—ragged. All attacking power of this summon has been lost, but that is enough as it's fighting strength not the one he need right now. He need the harmonization of Kiva. The strength of Kiva host.
The world seem to pulse in tandems.
"What is Li Wei doing? Why is he summoning that rider?" Xiao Wu asked, eyes wide.
"I do not know," Ning Rongrong whispered. "There must be a reason that Li Wei summon it. It might help Zhuqing."
Li Wei order Kiva to placed both hands gently on Zhu Zhuqing chest, just below her collarbone. The Kiva aura spread from the palms like ripples in still water, light laced with faint silver threads. Her spirit fluctuations—violent and chaotic moments ago—began to slow.
Deep within her, her soul core had begun to rupture from the overload. Li Wei felt it—raw, unstable, collapsing in on itself.
"No. You're not dying. Not after all we've built." Then above the palm of the Kamen Rider Kiva, he put both if his palm.
He remembered his grandfather's final lesson. The Crocodile Douluo had once whispered that soul power, like water, could be guided—not just used. A legacy technique—one Li Wei had never dared attempt.
He closed his eyes.
Spirit Power Flow Transfer.
Like pouring himself into her, his soul power bled out of him in a steady stream. The harmonization guided it—aligning with her wounded core, stabilizing it like a hand catching a falling bird.
Zhu Zhuqing body arched slightly. Her lips parted. A breath escaped.
Then her pulse returned to rhythm.
"She's stabilizing!" Ning Rongrong gasped, immediately placing a strength amplification buff on her to increse the physical structure.
Meng Yiran appeared beside them, dropping to one knee with a bundle of herbs.
"These will hold the body together," she said briskly, applying salve to Zhu Zhuqing neck and sternum. "But only because he bought us time."
Li Wei collapsed backward, gasping.
"You need to rest," Meng Yiran said, not unkindly. "You've spent everything. That wasn't just soul power—that was your life force."
He didn't answer. He just looked at Zhu Zhuqing now-steady breathing.
___________
They set up a temporary triage zone as Liu Erlong, bloodied but alive as her wound look worse than it seem as it actually light for someone of her strength, organized those still standing. She walked among them, robes torn, eyes glowing faintly with residual dragon power. "Everyone still conscious, Flender has come to secure perimeter now. We treat the wounded and move."
Flender has been left at the camp to protect their retreat but now it look like it's a good idea. Rather then going back, they move the camp here and Flender took the brunt of most of the job.
Xiao Wu crouched near Li Wei, who lay beside Zhu Zhuqing, barely breathing.
"You can't keep doing this," she whispered. "We need you alive. Not burning out for us."
"She would've died," he murmured.
"We all would've, if you weren't here. That doesn't mean you always have to be the one who bleeds."
Ning Rongrong placed a firm hand on Xiao Wu shoulder. "Let him rest. There's nothing left to argue right now."
_______________
Later, Meng Yiran wandered through the smoldering remains of the battlefield. Her cane clicked against something buried in the ash. She bent and unearthed a charred black shard of stone, marked with spiraling runes.
Her spirit hissed in recoil. The Serpent Cane glowed defensively.
"Li Wei," she called. "Come see this."
He limped over with support. His aura was dim, but focused.
"That's not from any soul beast I've ever seen," he muttered. "Dimensional signature. Something... alien."
They then brought the stone into the camp trying to figure out it's function.
Ning Rongrong, holding Zhu Zhuqing hand protectively, stepped closer. Her fingers grazed the stone.
She flinched.
"A voice," she whispered. "Just for a second. It said… 'Not yet.'"
Liu Erlong growled from behind. "Whatever it is, it didn't belong here. And I doubt it was alone."
_______________
Their retreat was slow. Even injured, soul beasts were drawn to blood. On the second day, a pair of Shadowclaw Apes descended from the trees.
Meng Yiran didn't hesitate. Her external spirit bone Eight Spider Lance erupted in purple light while also summoning a serpent illusion. Her strike split the air in a spiral, crushing one ape beneath its weight, and impaling the second with condensed venom.
_________________
That night, they camped while the perimeter was secure by Liu Erlong. Zhu Zhuqing still hadn't woken, but her color had returned. Her breathing was deep. Steady.
Li Wei sat beside her, silent.
Xiao Wu sat across the fire, arms wrapped around her knees. Her gaze flicked between Zhu Zhuqing and Li Wei, unreadable.
Ning Rongrong passed Li Wei her coat. He accepted it silently, nodding his thanks.
A little apart, Meng Yiran leaned against a stone, looking at her snake cane.
"I need to be faster. Stronger. Next time, I won't be too late."
The forest was quiet, but none of them slept easily.
Only the wind carried the true weight of what they had faced—and what might come next.