With a single instantaneous move, Raven appeared on one of the floors of the apartment building. He confirmed the identity of the escaping figure as he saw her.
"It's Tendo's sister, Hiyori." Raven smiled faintly. He had sensed a difference in the two auras earlier and knew one was a Worm and the other was a Native Worm.
"Run! There's a monster!"
Hiyori, panicking, ran up to Raven when she saw someone on this floor, tugging at his sleeve to warn him.
But at that moment, the Worm was battling a group of quickly arriving ZECTroopers on the exterior staircase of the apartment. Facing the dense barrage of fire, the green Worm's body temperature soared, and it began to shed its pupal shell, evolving from its pupal form into its adult form—a large red spider!
Seeing that Raven seemed unmoved, Hiyori felt confused, then decided to continue climbing to the upper floors.
In a flash, the massed ZECTroopers were completely wiped out by the newly molted Worm.
The Worm then continued its search for Hiyori Kusakabe, reaching the top floor of the apartment building with a Clock Up.
Raven, feeling ignored by the enemy, followed them. He didn't want to miss the show.
On the top floor of the apartment building, a man climbed up the stairs from the other side. He already had a belt on his waist.
It was the notoriously downtrodden Arata Kagami.
"Worms, I will defeat every one of you!" Arata declared to the Worm before him.
However, just as he reached out to summon the Zecter, the red rhinoceros beetle Kabuto Zecter flickered past his hand and landed on the hand of another person nearby.
Raven looked on from a distance. He knew the newcomer was the King of Pride in Rider history, the protagonist of this series: Soji Tendo.
"I'm sorry, but I am the one chosen by fate." Holding the Kabuto Zecter, Soji felt a sense of destiny arriving. "Now, my hand grips the future. I have been waiting for this moment… no, I have been living for this moment."
He then inserted the Zecter into his belt right in front of Arata.
"Stop! That's mine!" The 'cuckolded' Arata urgently shouted.
"Henshin."
As the Zecter slotted into the belt, Soji's body was covered in armor, transforming him into the slightly bulky Kabuto Masked Form. The shockwave generated by the transformation slammed the unlucky Arata against the wall.
Next, the King of Pride began his performance. He fought the Red Spider in his Masked Form, which could not use Clock Up.
Raven stood quietly in the distance, observing.
Hiyori hid in a corner of the floor and witnessed the battle. She also noticed Raven. That man is really strange, she thought. He's just standing there watching the commotion at a time like this. Isn't he afraid at all?
Overall, Raven gave Hiyori a very strange first impression.
Just then, the Worm, having been disadvantaged in the direct clash with Kabuto, began to use Clock Up.
At that moment, from its perspective, everything, including Kabuto in his Masked Form, froze. It was as if time had stopped.
The Red Spider Worm then noticed Raven's presence.
Raven simply gave it a faint look while inside the Clock Up field.
"??" The Red Spider was instantly bewildered. How is that possible? I clearly used Clock Up. Logically, no human should be able to see me!
The distant Raven gave it a scornful laugh, then snapped his fingers.
At this moment, time was truly stopped.
Raven unhurriedly walked up and lightly touched the Red Spider Worm. A destructive force, similar to that used by the Orphnoch, instantly invaded the Red Spider's body, destroying its entire physical structure.
It burst into purple flames.
He then walked over to Kabuto. He examined the legendary King of Pride with interest. Even Soji was completely powerless under his time stop. After all, the only Rider in all the series who could currently pose a threat to Raven was Ohma Zi-O.
Having satisfied his curiosity, Raven finally vanished in a flash.
The time stop ended just as suddenly.
"What happened?"
Soji hadn't had his fill of the fight when he saw the Worm stop in place. Purple flames erupted from its body, and it disintegrated into sand.
The distant Arata arrived just as the battle ended, only to see the Worm seemingly vanish.
"It's already over?" He stared blankly at the scene.
Soji was also confused. He was supposed to be the man who controlled everything, yet something had occurred beyond his prediction.
'Something must have happened after that Worm entered Clock Up,' Soji thought.
He then glanced at Hiyori Kusakabe, who was hiding in the distance. A gentle look crossed his eyes beneath his mask. This was the little sister he swore to protect, though he could not reveal himself to her yet.
After seeing that his sister was safe, Soji departed.
"Wait!" Arata urgently called out to him.
But by the time he chased after him, Kabuto's figure had already vanished.
He suddenly remembered something and quickly ran toward Hiyori. He saw her looking around as if searching for something.
"Hiyori, are you okay?" Arata asked, concerned. He usually worked part-time at the restaurant where she worked, so they were colleagues.
"I'm fine." Hiyori shook her head. Her mind was full of confusion and uncertainty. Why did that strange man vanish in the blink of an eye? And how was the monster defeated along with him?
Soon after Arata comforted Hiyori and sent her off, Shuichi Tadokoro of ZECT, along with the arriving ZECTroopers for backup, reached the scene from the other side.
"Good job, Kagami." Seeing that the Worm seemed to have been annihilated, Shuichi praised Kagami.
"It wasn't me…" Arata shook his head, his eyes filled with frustration.
He then followed the others back to headquarters to report what had happened. It was only then that the people at ZECT learned that the Kabuto who had just fought and used Clock Up was a different person who had transformed.