Thirty-Eighth Chapter, Eiji, Use This!

Perhaps because the Herrscher of Death's core was inside him this era, Xing found the white flower exceptionally easy to use. Green vegetation grew within the gymnasium, bringing a sliver of peace to the terrified people.

Xing wiped away a nonexistent bead of sweat from his forehead. "Phew, just the last one." He looked at the youth sitting in the corner, dressed in simple clothes, covered in wounds, and unconscious. He raised the white flower and released the power of creation. For some reason, he felt this youth was very familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before.

One minute later—

The youth showed no signs of waking. Xing didn't mind and continued to channel his power.

Two minutes later—

The youth showed no signs of waking. Xing frowned and increased the output.

Ten minutes later—

The youth still hadn't woken. Xing panted heavily, stuck the white flower into the ground, and used it to support himself so he wouldn't collapse.

Xing looked at him, panting, and was very confused. "Is this guy dying? No, if he were dying, I should have saved him by now with this much output."

The youth's body suddenly twitched, then he opened his eyes. To Xing's astonishment, he stood up, stretched, and said, "I slept so well! My body feels like I just came out of a hot spring, all soft and relaxed. I haven't felt like this in ages!"

Xing's mouth twitched uncontrollably. "So he was just sleeping. No wonder my healing had no effect."

The youth noticed Xing in front of him. "What a cute girl! Hey, why do you look so tired? Should I help you over to rest for a bit?"

"No, thank you. Sigh, you were sleeping so soundly, I thought my healing wasn't enough. By the way, how did you get so badly injured?" Xing was very curious as to why the youth had so many wounds on his body.

A passing Valkyrie happened to overhear and explained, "This gentleman is truly remarkable. He saved many people here from monsters. When we found him, he was still protecting a little girl. Fortunately, we arrived in time, or he might have died there."

Xing's respect immediately surged. "This gentleman is a hero."

The youth sheepishly scratched his head. "Hero is too high praise. I just wanted to reach a little further with my hands. By the way, was it you who healed me? Thank you so much! My name is... Hey! Where did it go!" The youth was about to state his name when he habitually put his hand in his pocket, but felt no familiar touch. He immediately panicked.

The youth anxiously asked the two, "Have you seen a red coin broken in half? Please, it's very important to me!"

The passing Valkyrie thought for a moment and shook her head. "Sorry, I haven't seen what you're talking about. Maybe it fell on the road when we brought you back, or maybe you lost it yourself earlier. In any case, it's very dangerous outside right now, so please stay here patiently. Your life is the most important thing."

The youth eagerly walked towards the exit. "No, I have to find it quickly, otherwise..." The Valkyrie stopped him. "Didn't you hear me? It's very dangerous outside. If you go out, you'll die! No matter how precious something is, it's not worth your life!"

The youth seemed to have been provoked somewhere and yelled at her, "He's not 'something'!"

The Valkyrie was startled by the youth's expression and her voice immediately softened. "But it's really dangerous outside. Those monsters have evolved from their initial humanoid forms into all sorts of dangerous shapes. Even we don't dare to go out."

The youth wanted to say something more, but a hand landed on his shoulder. "Is that thing very important to you?" Xing asked him.

The youth nodded vigorously. "Yes, very important!"

Xing felt helpless. He didn't know when he had started liking to help strangers. "Alright then, I'll go out with you to look for it."

The Valkyrie was greatly surprised. "Huh! Are you going personally?"

Xing took off the Judas bracelet, transformed it into its original form, and infused it with power. A sakura-colored barrier enveloped the entire stadium. "Based on its current remaining energy, it should be able to maintain for a day. Alright, I'll accompany this gentleman to find his lost item, and also help Durandal clear out the monsters outside. You all stay here and guard well, understand?"

"So amazing! Just as the captain entrusted you!"

Xing pulled the bewildered youth out of the stadium. The youth asked in surprise, "Miss, are you the commander here?"

Xing corrected him, "Acting commander. You can call me K.K."

The youth was very grateful. "Miss K, thank you so much! My name is Hino Eiji, please take care of me!"

"Mhm, please take care of me, Hino... What did you say your name was?" Xing stopped mid-sentence, realizing what he had said. She stared intently at his face, and only then did she remember why he seemed familiar. Wasn't this the user of Kamen Rider OOO—Hino Eiji?!

Eiji felt a bit creeped out by her stare. "Miss K, do you know me?"

Xing shifted her gaze away. "No, I just feel you're very approachable." Since it was Eiji's precious item, it could only be that, right?

Activating Honkai Vision, she indeed saw faint wisps of red in the black and white world. "Let's go, Mr. Eiji. I asked them where you were found earlier, let's hurry and look for it."

We need to find it quickly before OOO King returns, otherwise it will be dangerous.

— Divider —

Kiana fired her dual pistols in all directions. "Damn it, how can these mummies evolve?" In a daze, she felt a chill on her neck. A grasshopper-type Yummy had somehow gotten behind her and raised the blade in its hand.

"Kiana, watch out!" A katana severed the monster's head, and Mei timely saved her friend. "Thanks, Mei!" Kiana thanked her before immediately focusing more intensely on the battle.

On the other side, Wendy, now wearing exoskeleton armor and having regained some mobility, joined the fight with backup weapons from the Fire Moth team. Her combat ability was surprisingly on par with the other three. "Even though I was in a wheelchair for so long, I'm still an A-class Valkyrie!"

Bronya controlled the Heavy Cannon Rabbit, providing fire support for her teammates in the front.

With the cooperation of the four, they finally cleared the Yummy in this area.

Mei said worriedly, "These are just enemies in the outer area. If we go deeper inside, we can't even imagine what powerful enemies we'll encounter. Xing is missing, and Miss Sakura is also nowhere to be found. What should we do?"

Wendy was very concerned about Xing. "Brother Xing, he'll be fine, right? Judas is with him. With the protection of a Divine Key, who could harm him?"

Bronya shook her head. "That's hard to say. Bronya hasn't detected any Honkai Energy reactions from these monsters. Coupled with their almost bizarre evolutionary methods, we might be facing an unprecedented opponent. We should have listened to Xing's instructions from the beginning and not come in."

"What are you talking about, Bronya? Even if we didn't come, if they broke out of this city, wouldn't we still have to fight them? Escaping for a while won't solve the problem!" Kiana retorted Bronya's point with strong words, then her expression changed, and she took out something she had just picked up. "Here, I picked this up ahead. It looks like a broken coin with a bird printed on it. Based on my instincts, this must be something of great importance."

Bronya looked at her like an idiot. "Stupid Kiana, hurry up and throw away this dirty toy coin. Don't embarrass yourself."

Wendy couldn't help but laugh as she watched the two argue. Kiana and Bronya stopped arguing when they heard the laughter. "What's so funny?" Kiana asked with a displeased expression.

Wendy quickly apologized. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to mock you. It's just seeing you two reminds me of when I used to argue with my teammates back at St. Freya Academy."

Bug Bug's tone immediately deflated. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

Wendy quickly waved her hands. "It's okay, it's okay, I don't care about that anymore. Let's hurry and find Brother Xing."

Mei, standing beside them, watched the lively group with a helpless expression. She shook her head and was about to continue forward when several red feathers suddenly fell around them. The four of them instinctively looked up. A red figure hovered in the air, two vibrant wings spread out behind it. The bird-type Greed's icy gaze fixed on Kiana.

"Mine, give it back." This was its first utterance.

Flames rained down from the sky, attacking the bewildered Fire Moth team.

"Force field at maximum!" Bronya activated the shield of her Yamabuki form to its highest setting, protecting her allies from the scorching flames. However, the rapidly depleting energy indicated that they couldn't remain in this passive state for long.

In her black and white vision, the sparse red suddenly became abundant. Xing's pupils contracted, and she thought of a grim possibility. Summoning a red cross, she pulled Eiji, who had no idea what was about to happen, and jumped onto it.

"This is an emergency, hold on tight, Mr. Eiji!"

"What's wrong? Waaah!" Before Eiji could react, the red cross carried them both into the sky and rapidly flew forward. Fortunately, he had grown accustomed to high-altitude flight when he transformed into the bird-type combo, and apart from his initial exclamation, he showed no signs of losing composure.

Soon, the two of them saw the Greed that was relentlessly showering the ground with flames and feathers.

Eiji froze for a moment. "Ankh?" Then he realized, "No, that guy is a fake!"

Compared to the Greed, Xing was the first to notice the four girls huddled within the shield on the ground.

Xing's heart leaped. "Kiana!? Didn't I tell them not to come over? Where did Sakura run off to now?" But the current situation didn't allow her to think too much. After quickly setting Eiji down, Xing directly lashed out with a chain.

The chain was intercepted by the Greed's wings while still some distance away. However, it had already noticed her. Seeing what Xing held in her hand, it stopped its attack on the Fire Moth team.

Xing landed on the ground and took out the three Core Medals, holding them up provocatorily. "Hey, ugly, what you want is with me, come at me!" She then immediately threw the TaToBa combo to Eiji. "Eiji, use this! Help me out!"

In a daze, Eiji seemed to see Ankh's figure.

Looking at the familiar red, yellow, and green combo, Hino Eiji was momentarily stunned. He subconsciously caught it, and past memories surfaced in his mind. When he came to his senses, the OOO Driver was already on his waist.

"I don't know what's going on or why Miss K has Core Medals, but none of that matters, because Miss K and I—" Eiji skillfully inserted the three Core Medals into the belt. Before the bird-type Greed could approach, he removed the disc on the right side of the belt and scanned the medals to transform. "Because Miss K and I are old friends who met just today!"

"Taka, Tora, Batta! TaToBa, Taka Tora Batta, TaToBa!"

The cheerful sound effect rang out once more, but this time, it was the Kamen Rider OOO that Xing was familiar with.

A red head, a yellow torso, and green legs, each embodying the abilities of a falcon, a tiger, and a grasshopper.

The Rider's hands were in a tiger claw formation, striking his usual starting pose, reminiscent of Tiger Claw Kung Fu.

Kamen Rider OOO, TaToBa combo, has arrived.

Author's Notes—

Let me explain how Durandal defeated the OOO King and the Greed in the previous chapter. They illegally crossed over from another world. If we liken the login medium to a server, and them to users, then when Durandal and the OOO King clashed, the server crashed, causing them to temporarily go offline.

As for why Eiji didn't disappear, he was a legal entrant.

In the early stages, when Xing's base form hadn't grown yet, she would generally choose to use Kallen's transformation or rely on the power of Bonded Weaponry to deal with strong enemies. Later, when the young boy grew up, he mostly fought on his own.

Ankh will be restored, so don't worry. After all, the Eternal Wedding Bird is truly strong.