"It looks like I need to put in some effort, too."
After grasping Touka's intention, Raven threw caution to the wind. He was determined to give her an ample amount to aid her recovery.
"Gulp…"
"Guh…"
"…"
An unknown amount of time passed.
It was clearly visible that the wounds on Touka's shoulder and back were healing at a rate visible to the naked eye. This was the power of the Amazon cells taking effect, which was also related to the very special nature of the consumed protein. After all, it was produced by an Amazon Origin, and it clearly provided a superior boost to an ordinary Amazon's healing.
Touka was naturally aware of this and therefore worked even harder.
The eggs Raven had originally prepared for her were all eaten by him in the end to replenish his own lost vitality.
Finally, after a long period, Touka's injuries were completely healed.
"Raven-san, you're too good to me." Touka swallowed the last bit and licked the corner of her mouth, looking at Raven with genuine embarrassment.
"…"
Raven let out a sigh of relief. Although he had been continuously eating eggs to replenish his nutrition throughout the process, he still felt completely drained. He decided he would never try this method again.
"Well then… I guess we should… clean up and go to sleep." Raven glanced at the time; it was already past 3:00 a.m.
He and the completely healed Touka then entered the bathroom together. They finished washing up and went to bed around 4:00 a.m.
Consequently, when Akira walked in at 9:30 a.m., she was speechless to find Raven still sleeping in.
Touka, naturally, was not as depleted as Raven. Having been replenished with high-quality protein, she got up after only a few hours of rest. However, she barely spoke a word all day, seemingly having overused her mouth the previous night.
Akira didn't overthink it. She just assumed Raven was sick. She was very attentive and went into the bedroom to provide him with special care, which nearly suffocated him.
....
Meanwhile, in the Helheim Forest.
Demushu had chased Ryoma all the way back to the Yggdrasill base. He then found himself in a battle with Kouta and the others, who had arrived intending to have a peaceful discussion with the Over Lords.
Faced with the combined forces of many Riders, Demushu found himself struggling.
"You monkeys are all doomed to perish! You are not on the same level as us Femushinmu!" Demushu shouted, still arrogant.
"It seems that if we want you to reveal the location of the Forbidden Fruit, we'll have to properly torture you first," Ryoma stated.
Relying on their numerical advantage, he was highly confident. If he could capture this Over Lord, he would be one step closer to the Golden Fruit.
"Hey, we don't need to fight! Can't we just talk this out?" Kouta, the inherent good guy, was still attempting to persuade Demushu.
"How long are you going to stay so naive?" Kaito said exasperatedly from the side.
"Everyone, there's no need to waste words on this guy. Let's use our full power to capture him!" Ryoma urged Yoko, Kaito, and the others. He planned to use their collective strength to secure the spoils for himself.
However, facing the simultaneous attack of so many people, Demushu finally unleashed his power to control the forest. With a single move, he defeated everyone.
"Damn it… he has this kind of power too!" Ryoma and the others lay defeated.
Kouta was greatly shocked, but he was also secretly pleased because the opponent truly possessed the power to control the forest.
Just then, a naturally occurring Crack appeared. Seeing it, Demushu jumped into it without hesitation. He landed atop a tall building, finding himself in an extremely prosperous city.
"This is your human civilization." Demushu's tone was filled with jealousy.
His own Femushinmu civilization had been destroyed long ago, and only a few hundred of their entire race survived, forced to remain in the boring forest. Yet, humanity still had such a flourishing city.
"This is bad! We have to stop him!" Seeing this, Kouta chased him immediately, with Baron following closely behind.
As for Ryoma and the others, they chose to stay put, intending to conserve their energy for a while and let Kouta and Demushu wear each other out.
The double-agent, Mitsuzane, naturally chose not to offer support either. Having just learned that his brother was dead, his emotions were complicated. He had received news of his father, Amagi Kureshima's death just a few days prior, and now he had lost his brother.
Yet, he was strangely not sad. Instead, he felt a manic sense of liberation. Finally, no one could dictate his future anymore.
....
At that time, in Zawame City.
"I'll destroy and annihilate all of this!" Demushu arrived on the streets and began causing destruction everywhere. It quickly led to a huge commotion.
The Metropolitan Police Department officers were all deployed, but their weapons had absolutely no effect on Crimson.
"How can this be?!" Everyone was horrified.
Fortunately, Gaim and Baron arrived just in time and blocked Demushu for them.
While Gaim and the others fought Demushu, Ryoma activated the city's super-intelligent system. He cut off all communication and network access and sealed off the roads leading out of Zawame City. In an instant, Zawame City was isolated from the rest of the world.
"We have full control over Zawame City's communication network. All Rider teams, please commence the Over Lord Inves capture operation as per my instructions," Ryoma said, safely concealed in Yggdrasill Tower's secure room, planning his strategy.
"If only we had the Scalar System, we wouldn't have had to go to all this trouble," Ryoma Sengoku sighed. Unfortunately, Kouta had destroyed that system. "But perhaps this is better—this is an excellent opportunity to capture them alive." He was desperate to learn the location of the Golden Fruit from the Overlords.
....
At the Amazon café.
Raven had just woken up a while ago when he noticed the pedestrians on the street growing frantic. Kurokage Troopers on flying bikes occasionally zipped through the air. Everything had descended into chaos.
"It looks pretty bad outside." Akira went out of curiosity to take a look.
She rushed back inside and shouted to Raven and Touka, "Everyone seems to be running to the shelter…"
Has that day finally come? Raven thought. It must be that Demushu has emerged from Helheim Forest.
———————
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over here ——— pa-tre-on.c-om/AlexandrusTL [remove the hyphen for normal access]