Kageyama and the others, seeing the Worms eliminated, immediately shouted in excitement.
"Was that Captain Kagami?"
They assumed the one who had resolved the situation was TheBee.
But Kagami, who was still fighting the Adult Worm at the other end, suddenly called out, "It wasn't me."
Only then did the squad react, turning their attention to the sudden appearance of a red figure.
Kabuto!
At that moment, Kagami also successfully killed the Adult Worm with his finisher, Rider Sting. Finally, he and Kabuto stood facing each other across the distance.
Kagami showed no intention of attacking him.
"Captain Kagami, have you forgotten headquarters' orders?" Seeing Kagami hesitate, Kageyama couldn't help but urge him.
Kagami clenched his fist, conflicted.
"Still lost?" Tendo looked at Kagami, his tone suggesting a sigh of disappointment. "I can't stand you."
Immediately, he activated Clock Up, rushing forward in a blur to force Kagami's hand.
The two began a rapid chase within the accelerated field.
"Are you going to fight or not?!" Tendo landed a merciless punch on Kagami, who was still refusing to strike back. "Which one will you choose?"
"I don't want to fight my friend!" Kagami shouted loudly.
"I am not your friend." Tendo was trying to force Kagami to make a choice: either fully embrace being TheBee and obey ZECT, or choose to be himself.
Hearing that line, Kagami was heartbroken for the first time. Even at a time like this, was Tendo still being stubborn?
"Grandmother once said… friendship means a friend's heart is too immature."
"Did you just call me immature?" Kagami retorted, unconvinced.
"Did your grandfather ever tell you that your grandmother was a mute?"
Suddenly, a wildly discordant voice appeared within the accelerated field.
Tendo couldn't help but look over.
He saw that it was Raven, transformed into Faiz.
"Raven." Tendo's expression, hidden beneath his helmet, became extremely colorful.
"Raven-san?" Kagami looked over, surprised that he had suddenly appeared here.
"Allow me to be your opponent." Raven reappeared without any explanation, seemingly intending to pick a fight.
"Perfect timing. I've been annoyed with you lately." Tendo immediately focused all his firepower onto Raven.
"Tendo, you can't defeat him," Kagami warned him. The memory of their last encounter was still vivid. Tendo and Yaguruma together were no match for Raven.
"I am the man who walks the path of heaven, who rules over everything. I will never back down because of a few defeats." The "King of Pride" spoke with a rare, genuine gravity.
He held a lot of resentment toward Raven. After all, this guy was trying to seduce his sister right in front of him.
How could he endure that? Who could stand idly by and watch their precious sister be taken by someone else?
Therefore, a battle between him and Raven was inevitable. He wouldn't stop until he got his fight.
"If that's the case, I'll fight with you." Seeing that Raven meant business, Kagami stood by Tendo, declaring a united front.
Although he knew he was no match for Raven alone, combining forces with Tendo would be a different story.
"Very good. Then come at me." Raven beckoned to the two of them with a wave of his hand, a gesture of contemptuous mockery.
This immediately sent a surge of hot blood and anger through Kagami's head. Even if the Rider Bracelet was thrown to him like charity, he couldn't stand being looked down upon!
However, Tendo was the first to attack. His signature "King of Pride" fighting style was utterly ineffective against Raven. He could no longer appear completely at ease.
In fact, Raven was only using one hand to fend off Tendo while using his other hand to deal with the closely following Kagami. The entire process looked incredibly easy and relaxed for him.
It must be noted that this was less than one-tenth of his true power. After all, at full power, his combat strength in the entire Rider universe was infinitely close to that of Oma Zi-O. He was capable of instantly defeating the final boss of any Rider world with a single punch, just like the Oma Zi-O seen in the Zi-O TV series finale.
So, he was intentionally holding back severely.
"Damn it, how is he so strong?!" Kagami was incredulous. The two of them attacking together were being suppressed by one person.
Tendo was also deep in thought. Was there any weakness in Raven's fighting? He quickly racked his brain and realized that Raven's movements were simply flawless.
The only way was to break this balance with absolute power.
But the problem was, Kabuto's current power was far from being able to achieve that.
"What exactly is this guy?" Tendo wondered for the umpteenth time, trying to understand Raven's background.
Raven had simply brushed him off every time with, "I'm just a passing café owner." Clearly, he was hiding some secret, just like Tendo himself. The belt he was wearing was obviously complex and clearly not made by ZECT.
Finally, Raven activated the Faiz Pointer mounted on his leg. He kicked TheBee directly as Kagami rushed forward. Immediately, Kagami felt his body being forced back continuously. A red cone of light appeared!
Tendo noticed the danger right away and quickly warned Kagami.
"Get out of the way!"
But it was too late. Once locked onto by the Crimson Smash, it was nearly impossible to escape; the only option was to take the hit directly. Raven immediately launched his finisher, the Rider Kick!
Tendo had to rely on his instantaneous reaction skills, switching to Masked Form. He rushed forward to take Raven's kick for Kagami.
It must be said that Kabuto's Masked Form had excellent defense. It managed to absorb the full force of the attack for Kagami without being instantly destroyed.
Although, this was only because Raven intentionally held back.
"Tendo!" Kagami cried out in concern.
"You're too early to worry about me." Tendo got up quickly, though his voice was strained.
The two then looked together at their primary enemy, Raven, standing a short distance away. After fighting for so long, Raven looked completely unscathed, while one of them was severely damaged and the other was nearly exhausted.
"That's enough for today." Raven told Kagami and Tendo.
He then vanished instantly.