"Oh? Then hop on." Raven said with interest.
"Ah, thank you!" Arata quickly replied, grateful, and sat in the back seat.
"Hold tight." Raven kindly warned.
Then, he twisted the throttle, and the Junglaider shot forward like a rocket.
Boom!
The loud engine roar echoed throughout the area. Arata was startled in the back. How is it so fast?
In the blink of an eye, Raven had caught up with the rapidly accelerating Soji Tendo, stopping just above a highway overpass.
Soji looked at the Worm standing atop the cargo container of a flatbed truck. He decisively uttered the command: "Clock Up!"
He then pressed the acceleration switch on his belt.
"CLOCK UP!"
As the belt's sound effect rang out, Kabuto instantly leaped onto the truck's cargo container, entering Clock Up mode with the White Spider Worm to engage in fierce combat.
This battle was impossible for ordinary people to follow. It happened in a mere instant.
But Raven, who was speeding toward them, could precisely track their fight.
In the time it took to blink, Arata in the back seat noticed that Kabuto had vanished. His first thought was that they must have entered the Clock Up realm.
To steal the King of Pride's kill, Raven activated his time-stop ability again.
He dismounted the bike unhurriedly and jumped down from the overpass to the empty space below. Kabuto and the White Spider Worm were there, along with two cars suspended mid-air and falling.
Raven found the White Spider Worm. This time, he didn't use the ability to turn the object's structure to sand. Instead, he used the Faiz Driver, which he hadn't touched in a while.
He pressed the Enter button on the Faiz Phone. The transformation sound effect began to play.
"Standing By!"
Raven then closed the phone and placed it onto the Driver on his belt. He lightly called out: "Henshin!"
"Complete!"
Once the belt successfully activated, a framework composed of red Photon Blood began to materialize on Raven's body, culminating in a dazzling flash of light as he successfully transformed into Faiz!
Thinking about it, among the many Riders, only Faiz and Kabuto possess a strong sense of technology. Both also have acceleration abilities. Raven intended to use Faiz for battles in the Kabuto world for now. His true power was simply too monstrous; a casual touch would turn enemies into dust. That made things too boring. That's why he wanted to use a limiter.
He also wanted to see which was faster: Faiz's acceleration or the Kabuto system's Clock Up.
After completing his transformation, Raven delivered a Crimson Smash to the time-stopped Spider Worm.
The moment the kick landed, he deactivated the time-stop effect but remained in his own super-accelerated state. He stood on the other side of the resulting explosion.
Soji, standing on the opposite side also in his super-accelerated state, was anticipating the approaching Worm. Instead, he saw the enemy eliminated before it could even charge at him.
"What?"
The unexpected turn of events once again stunned the man who walks the path of heaven. The situation from yesterday happened again today? Who is it?
As the explosion faded, Raven's figure flashed and vanished after absorbing the Worm's energy. He quickly returned to his motorcycle on the bridge.
Although he only revealed himself for an instant, the King of Pride managed to catch a glimpse of him. Of course, this was intentional on Raven's part.
"That Rider is…" Soji was incredibly surprised. But he saw that the figure was gone and had to let it go.
…
On the overpass.
Everything that had just transpired was less than a blink of an eye for Arata. Naturally, he hadn't noticed Raven vanish.
"Something seems to have happened down there." Raven parked the bike by the bridge railing.
Arata hurriedly dismounted and peered over the railing, seeing Kabuto standing below between the two exploding cars. Kabuto briefly looked up at the bridge before entering Clock Up and vanishing.
By the time Arata reacted, the motorcycle that Soji had stolen, which was originally parked on the side of the road, had been stolen again!
"Hey! Stop right there!" Arata turned to pursue him, but before he had run a few steps, the other party was already gone.
Helpless, he turned back toward Raven.
"I almost forgot to thank you. My name is Arata Kagami." Arata was the typical 'good guy' archetype in Rider series, willing to sacrifice himself to save others. In any other story, he would be the undisputed protagonist.
Unfortunately, he encountered Soji Tendo, a protagonist who started at max level and was one of the few Kings of Pride in Rider history—a man who walks the path of heaven and rules everything. In short, he was a man who was constantly showing off, even when breathing. Any other character inevitably paled in comparison to him.
"My name is Raven." Raven introduced himself to Arata.
Just then, ZECT personnel arrived at the scene below the bridge. Arata had no choice but to go and meet up with them.
Inevitably, he was subjected to a reprimand. Arata had, without permission, driven off with the Kabuto-exclusive motorcycle developed by ZECT, only to have it stolen by Soji. He was slapped by a female ZECT member and publicly chastised:
"You do not have the qualifications to be a member of ZECT."
Arata was momentarily stunned by the slap, but given his personality, he bore no resentment. He even wondered if he was being too useless.
Raven, still observing from the bridge, couldn't help but shake his head at Arata's good nature.
Speaking of which, that woman who slapped Arata is quite aggressive and rash.
Although Arata was only a ZECT trainee member, his true identity was the son of a high-ranking ZECT official. Yet, she dared to publicly slap him and say such a thing. Was she simply taking advantage of Arata's honest nature?
It's true that the kind are often bullied.
Seeing this, Raven felt like playing a little prank on the woman. He used his time-stop ability and conjured an oil-based marker.
The next second, he appeared in front of her. The woman's name was Yuzuki Misaki. She was the capable assistant of Shuichi Tadokoro in ZECT and Arata's senior. She had a significant role in Kabuto, and he felt she was safe to mess with.
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