"Hah, looking at it like this, it's quite a moving experience. I swore revenge and came all this way, but the end is so anticlimactic."
"cough... Ah, cough...!"
Yami could barely resist. It was a fight in form, but in reality, it was just a scripted game, like professional wrestling.
Her Transform ability was sealed, and Azenda used Vivio in a way that was more malicious than simply taking her hostage. Megane was also held back by Lutecia being taken hostage, and You was incapacitated just like Yami because her Life Catalog Genome Tree was sealed.
As Azenda said, the control of this world was completely in her hands.
The clothes she was wearing were already rags. She couldn't walk outside in this.
Her body was covered in scrapes and fresh, raw wounds from being hit by the whip. Vivio's blows aimed at her internal organs had also caused serious, though unseen, damage.
"So, how was it? Living in the surface world?"
"..."
Yami, held from behind by Vivio standing on a bench, her head hanging limply, had no energy left to answer that question.
"You made little friends, went to school, lived with a guy, you seemed to be having a lot of fun, didn't you?"
Yami wanted to argue with some of those points, but she knew that saying anything would only please Azenda.
"So, what's the real story?"
"..."
"You said it was different just now, but you're living with a guy, and you're saying nothing happened. What's up with that? Doesn't that sound just as unconvincing as a celebrity saying they went to a hotel with a woman and didn't do anything?"
Even if she said that, if nothing happened, then nothing happened.
Was it because she was a woman that Azenda also wanted to humiliate her in this way?
Azenda, bored by Yami's lack of response, moved her hand.
She touched Yami's chest, where her clothes were torn to shreds. She brazenly played with her palm-sized breasts.
There was no sweet sensation. The disgust made her skin crawl.
"Ugh."
"That boy, at his age, would probably get a boner from your body."
Someone else spoke up, replacing the silent Yami.
"You wouldn't understand, old woman."
"...What did you say, you little girl?"
"I said you wouldn't understand, old woman."
"Y-You-chan! Stop it!"
You, gasping for breath and with a pale face, raised her head and made a sarcastic expression. The parts of her face were stiff, and it was obvious that she was forcing it.
However, to Azenda, the absolute ruler of this world, it was unbearable.
"I understand that you're jealous of Yami, but there's definitely something you lack, and always will."
"Oh? And what is that?"
"Youth."
Azenda's pupils dilated. The phrase "quiet rage" had never suited anyone more.
"I was told not to move, but I wasn't told not to talk... If you wanted to hear a scream, or a 'stop,' I guess I didn't live up to your expectations."
"I'll kill you."
A knife flew out of Azenda's sleeve. It was new and had a pristine shine, as if it hadn't been used much. It was a small knife with only the bare minimum of functions. Only the function to take a human life.
(Yami, you still have some strength left, right? Vivio is also far away. You should be able to do it now.)
(You're asking for something completely reckless. But we have no choice...)
Azenda was only Level 3 after all. If Yami hadn't hesitated, it would have been easy to subdue her. Although Azenda seemed to be at ease, she was actually performing a very precise ability manipulation.
If her attention was on You and she was enraged, a quick movement wouldn't be able to stop Yami.
But this was their one and only, last chance to turn the tables. A chance they had literally created by putting their lives on the line.
Azenda slowly walked toward the two of them.
"It seems you want to die first. Too bad, your life doesn't matter to me anymore."
Azenda was serious.
Yami began to put strength into her body. Vivio's restraint was tight, but she didn't seem to be on guard, even though Yami was starting to put effort into it. If she broke free, Vivio would surely be standing there like a log.
(Let's go!)
"Just so you know!"
Yami's body, which was about to move, froze at Azenda's voice.
"If you try to attack me, the moment you do, the kids will be made to commit suicide. Don't even think about attacking me from the back."
"!"
Azenda was a woman who had worked as a killer in the underworld. Such preparation was a given. For an assassin, a surprise attack should be a normal assumption. She did it all the time herself.
"What's with that face? Are you frozen because I hit the mark?"
Yami couldn't retort anything to Azenda's twisted smile.
The knife she lightly swung reflected a flash of light.
----------
The red-haired attacker's sharp blade aimed at my vital points without any hesitation.
I fired my ACT3 nail bullet backwards. The moment it landed, my body was sucked in, and I took refuge in the rotation hole.
First of all, it's bad to keep fighting here! It was good that I confronted her with full motivation, but if I fought in a place with so many people, I wasn't confident that I wouldn't get people around me involved.
"You can do that too!"
An innocent, childlike voice came from outside the hole.
She was trying to put something into the hole, like a child playing by sticking a finger into an anthill. But it was useless. Nothing could enter the rotation hole, no matter what it was!
"Whoa, my hair got caught! I wasn't told about that."
While she was doing that, my preparations were complete.
"Fixed Stagnett, Grasp Complexio."
The absorbed magic was charged throughout my body.
"Magical Armament, Agilitas Fulminis!"
The magical armament of wind and lightning. This was my combat form that could keep up with even a Servant.
I leaped out of the hole and faced the girl.
"I can tell too. That power is really dangerous. I don't know that power either."
"I don't recall teaching you."
The girl's face, as she said that, was stained with a crazed smile. As if she was having the time of her life.
Her long braided pigtails moved against gravity. Her hair transformed into a huge Buster Rifle. The ability to transform a part of one's body into a weapon. The phenomenon was familiar to me.
"Transform ability..."
Light overflowed from the muzzle. What was fired was not a lead bullet, but an energy blast. With one shot, it could burn a wider area than a lead bullet.
"This is why...! "
People who don't think about their surroundings are troublesome!
Behind me, customers who were finally starting to understand the situation had gathered. I wish they would just run away...!
But since they were in the line of fire, I had no choice but to protect them.
"Ha!"
"You're canceling it out with a punch?! That's amazing!"
It was a strike that applied the technique of cutting water that I had practiced in the morning. I used my whole body and fired magic. It was a "flying punch" rather than a "flying slash." I couldn't do it in rapid succession yet.
Our attacks canceled each other out, and the air trembled. Cracks appeared on the glass at the entrance.
The other customers, who had finally started to grasp the situation, began to flee in a panic. Because they were caught in the wave of rushing adults, some of the elderly and children had fallen. I wished they had escaped earlier.
I didn't want another attack that would get the surroundings involved. I decided to get into close-quarters combat.
The girl's attacks in front of me were intense. She was going toe-to-toe with me without even using a weapon.
Was she not transforming her body into a weapon to match me? Our fists and kicks grazed each other, cutting our skin. It seemed like a stalemate, but I was learning more and more with my perfect memory.
Also, if I released the magic I was charging with the magical armament now, I could instantly unleash a great spell.
And I still had weapons I hadn't used. I had no intention of showing my full hand yet.
And it was probably the same for the girl. She was enjoying herself but wasn't going all out.
At this rate, it would just drag on. It would be fine if this was a private matter, but my comrades might be in danger in this situation. I decided to break the stalemate.
"Black Shadow!"
A black bird flew out from my shadow and took the girl's attack.
Perhaps the signal was that I had used my ability, because the girl's pigtails moved greatly. The ends had become sharp blades.
I dodged by shifting my body sideways.
A rifle with a shortened barrel, the same type as the one she had transformed her pigtails into earlier, was thrust out in front of me.
I dodged by diving into the rotation of ACT3.
"Magic Archer Sagitta Magica!"
I leaped out of the hole into the air and nocked a magical arrow. This was a basic offensive spell that was the only one taught at the magic school in Mahou Sensei Negima!.
It was a spell that used spirits of thunder, wind, fire, ice, light, and darkness to fire magical arrows with effects like destruction or binding.
This time, I used a "wind" attribute arrow for the purpose of capture. It had almost no killing power, so I aimed to hit her with full force.
However, from her perspective, I was still trying to use magic. Naturally, a counterattack came.
This time, her pigtails transformed into a huge hand. She threw a rolling shopping cart at me with a terrifying speed.
The Magic Archer that missed its target dissipated.
The wind-attribute arrow, which had no killing power, couldn't stop the flying cart.
I activated Magic Archer again. This time, it was a light-attribute arrow with the pure power of destruction. A total of seven light spheres floated around me. I fired them forward with a punch.
"Ouka Houken!"
The water-cutting version.
The power of a Magic Archer was about the same as a person's full-power punch. Firing the arrows together would double the striking power.
The cart was crushed from the middle and broke into pieces.
With the distance between us, we gauged each other's range.
But then, the killing intent from the girl disappeared.
"I see. I guess this is enough."
"What? Are you running away?"
"I really wanted to fight more. But I have other things to do, and I want to see how my sister is doing. I'll be going now?"
"I'm not going to let you get away. You need to tell me about your comrades' abilities too."
Of course, I had no intention of letting her escape.
"Then I don't think you have time to worry about me. We're not following any kind of plan. I don't know what the others are doing."
"What?"
But I could believe that. If this girl was who I thought she was, she wouldn't try to make "friends" like that.
"So, I'll give you a small hint... It's a mirror."
"A mirror..."
"That face, it seems like something comes to mind."
Speaking of a mirror, there was a Stand that came to mind. And if my guess was right, my comrades were in a very dangerous situation, and I couldn't do anything to help. But was it dangerous to just assume it's a Stand...?
"Hey! Ah!"
I tried to call out to the girl to get more information—and realized she was already gone.
Damn it. That girl is gone! I did something stupid, taking my eyes off her during a fight.
"For now, I'll contact them..."
I contacted Yukina and the others at the lodge. They seemed surprised and said they would come here right away. I also talked to the store staff, and they started to evacuate the people inside.
"But there's no time to wait."
Everyone was being attacked as we spoke. And I was sorry to say it, but no matter how many people gathered, there was a chance they wouldn't be able to handle this enemy.
What should I do?
Even in the original story, it was a miracle that they were able to defeat them.
As I was agonizing over it, a person appeared.
"Are you in trouble, my Demon King?"
"I'm meeting a lot of hooded people today."
Perhaps because of my sarcasm, the man took off his hood.
He was a young man with a well-featured face, but he just couldn't shake his dubious aura. It was immediately obvious that someone who appeared so nonchalantly in this situation was not a regular person.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Woz. A loyal servant sent by the you of the future."
"T-the me of the future, did I finally awaken to being a gay man...!"
Surrounded by so many girls, did I finally go in that direction...? I was slightly despairing at the shocking truth, forgetting the situation for a moment.
"That doesn't matter."
"No, it does matter."
"It may be important, but there is something you must do now that is more important than that."
"So! You can do something about this?"
"Hmm..."
The man who called himself Woz opened a thick book he was holding.
"What's that?"
"It's a plan written by the you of the future, to change the future."
"Did you have to wrap it in such fancy packaging...?"
It was a magnificent hardcover, with a design of gears and clocks on the cover.
Woz's eyes moved up and down. He was probably checking the descriptions written in the book. He eventually looked up and closed the book with a flourish.
"Unfortunately, I cannot directly help you. Solving this incident is your job. Originally, I was here just to hand you this."
Woz knelt down and took out a small, red cushion with golden embroidery from somewhere. On it was a belt buckle. The color was different, but the shape was familiar. It was the belt of the Kamen Rider that the me from the future had transformed into before.
"You're really..."
"You should already have the watch. You should have obtained it."
I took it out of my pocket. It was thicker than a pocket watch and had "2018" written on it. It was something I had gotten as a result of my actions yesterday, but I didn't know how to use it. But I could feel an immense power from it. This must be it.
"Whether you believe me or not. I want you to decide right here, right now."
"If I become this Rider, can I change this situation?"
"You will get everything. You are fighting to take everything back. With this power, you will become the Demon King."
It wasn't an answer to my question. But I took the belt without hesitation. There was no need to doubt.
When I placed the buckle on my waist, it attached as a belt.
When I aligned the watch's image, the compound eyes completed a bizarre design of "RIDER."
ZI-O!
I set the watch on the belt.
A giant clock appeared behind me. Zi-O, "Time King," huh. I don't know this Rider. When I was in my original world, Build was on TV.
The next Kamen Rider would be the 20th anniversary work of the Heisei Kamen Riders. It had also been decided that the era name would change, so he would be the last Rider to begin in the Heisei era.
What that meant, I kept thinking about it until the turned buckle made one full rotation.
"Transform."
RIDER TIME! KAMEN RIDER ZI-O!
"Rejoice! The one who will inherit the power of all Riders, transcend time and space, and rule over the past and future as the king of time! His name is Kamen Rider Zi-O! It is truly the moment of his birth!"
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