Love Live and Kamen Rider 23

"Since you're so eager to die, then take this." After saying that, he aimed his pistol at the head of the lion Mlortha. "Bang!" A deep blue spirit energy bullet fired from the muzzle.

The spirit energy bullet struck the head of the lion Mlortha, sparking once again against its skull.

"Awoo!!!" The lion Mlortha let out a painful howl, but instead of retreating, it raised its claws and accelerated, charging toward Senba Gari.

"Not good." Seeing that the lion Mlortha hadn't retreated but was instead charging forward, Senba Gari quickly stepped forward, holstered his pistol at his waist, and used both hands to heave his wooden sword upward, the blade emitting a faint, deep blue glow.

"Clack." The deep blue wooden sword in his hands collided with the claws of the lion Mlortha. "Ugh." But the strength of this lion Mlortha was significantly greater than before; the sensation of his internal organs being jarred together forced a pained cry from his lips.

"Ya, ha!" He pushed the lion Mlortha back with both hands and swung the wooden sword in a backhand strike at the beast. "Ugh, ah." But as the lion Mlortha was struck, its right claw left three gruesome gashes across Senba Gari's chest.

"Ha... ha... Seriously, I underestimated it. That hurts." Senba Gari retreated to Arisa's side, clutching his chest and gasping for air.

However, this can't go on. I absolutely have to get her out of here.

"Big brother, are you okay?" Arisa watched with concern as she looked at the three bloody wounds on Senba Gari's chest.

"Don't worry, big brother is fine. No need to worry. Besides, I will definitely get you out of here." Senba Gari ruffled Arisa's small head, then picked up the hat that had fallen during the fight, patted it off, and placed it on Arisa's head. It seemed too big, almost covering half of her face.

"Mm." The gentle hand on her head suddenly calmed Arisa's heart. Then, the hat was placed on her head, but it was so large that it almost blocked her vision.

"Roar!!" A roar from the lion Mlortha drew the attention of the pair once again.

Arisa hid fearfully behind Senba Gari, her small hands gripping his clothes tightly.

Senba Gari gently wrapped his left arm around Arisa's slender waist and lifted her up. "Don't worry, no matter what, I will definitely get you out of here, even if it means... (risking my life)."

He stuck his wooden sword into the ground with his right hand and pulled a piece of paper marked with a strange character from his pocket.

"Hold on tight."

"Mm." Senba Gari's voice seemed to have a magical quality, calming Arisa's newly unsettled heart once more.

At the same time, Senba Gari threw the talisman, which stuck firmly to the lion Mlortha's head.

The lion Mlortha felt something stuck to its head, but no matter how it tried, it couldn't shake it off.

Senba Gari picked up the wooden sword with his right hand, held Arisa tightly with his left, and opened his mouth to utter a single word: "Explode."

Immediately, the talisman on the lion Mlortha's head erupted in a violent explosion.

"Awoo!!!" The lion Mlortha let out a painful shriek.

Taking advantage of the brief window of agony caused by the explosion, Senba Gari endured the pain in his chest, turned, and ran away while carrying Arisa.

"Roar!" The lion Mlortha roared in fury, picked up a massive boulder nearby, and hurled it with all its might in the direction of their escape.

Seeing a shadow suddenly appear at his feet and grow larger, Senba Gari looked back, his face darkening as he saw the massive rock flying toward him.

"Hey, are you kidding me! It's that big?" Despite his words, he came to a stop.

"Boom!" The boulder crashed down, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The falling rock snapped a nearby lamppost, which then came crashing down toward them.

"Ugh." "Big brother!" To prevent the lamppost from hitting Arisa, Senba Gari turned his back to take the impact instead.

"Big brother, are you okay?" Seeing that Senba Gari had protected her, Arisa looked at him with worry.

"N-no problem. Tsk, this just got even more troublesome." Senba Gari turned his head in pain to see the lion Mlortha closing in on them.

"There's no other way, little sister. I'll hold this guy off; you just keep running forward and you'll be saved. But remember, don't look back. Never look back." Senba Gari said to Arisa with a serious expression.

"But, big brother, if you do that..."

"No buts. Go now. If you can get rescued sooner, then maybe I'll have a chance to survive too, you know?" Senba Gari stood up slowly, gently ruffling her small head. "And don't forget, I'm not that weak."

"So, if you can escape and get help quickly, then maybe I'll still have a breath left in me." He gripped his wooden sword and walked step by step toward the lion Mlortha.

Arisa looked at Senba Gari's back, tears welling in her eyes, then turned and ran in the direction he had indicated, shouting, "You have to stay alive! Big brother!"

Turning his head to watch Arisa run off, he whispered, "Yeah, let's hope so. But as long as you can leave this place alive, that's enough."

He turned back to face the lion Mlortha, raising his wooden sword with the tip pointed at the beast.

"Come on then. Today, either you die or I do."

"Roar, roar, roar!!" The lion Mlortha roared and charged at Senba Gari.

"Haaaaaaa!!" Senba Gari shouted, refusing to be outdone, and charged forward as well.

Rescue and the Mysterious Figure

"Roar, roar, roar!!" The lion Mlortha roared and charged at Senba Gari.

"Haaaaaaa!!" Senba Gari shouted, refusing to be outdone, and charged forward as well.

The lion Mlortha raised its sharp claws, which flickered with a pitch-black light, and slashed down at Senba Gari.

Senba Gari likewise raised his wooden sword, which shimmered with a deep blue light and was etched with strange runes, holding it horizontally before him to block the strike.

The pitch-black claws and the deep blue runic wooden sword collided in that instant.

"Boom." The shockwave generated by the collision of the two different energies blasted everything in the vicinity away.

"Ugh." His hands couldn't quite hold the strain, and the wounds on his chest tore open again. Senba Gari's body was, after all, only human; it could never compare to the bodies of those monsters.

The lion Mlortha seemed to notice this, using its other claw to backhand Senba Gari, sending him flying into the wall of a relatively intact building across the way.

"Bang!" "Thud."

"Ugh, p-pua." Senba Gari, who had been swatted against the wall by the lion Mlortha, fell to the ground. He scrambled up onto one knee, using his wooden sword as a crutch. Feeling as though his internal organs had been pulverized, a sharp pain suddenly pierced his chest. A tickle in his throat forced him to spit a mouthful of blood onto the ground.

"Ha, ha, no, I have to hold on. I have to hold on until that child escapes." Gripping the wooden sword tightly with both hands, Senba Gari slowly stood up.

"Come on! You stinking lion!" Enduring the agonizing pain within his body, Senba Gari charged at the lion Mlortha once again.

Far from where Senba Gari and the lion Mlortha were, Arisa was running forward with all her might.

"Ugh!"

"Thud." Arisa accidentally stepped on the hem of her dress and fell to the ground. Her hat tumbled off, and her white dress was stained with dust, losing its pristine appearance.

"Ah, it hurts." Arisa tried to stand, but as she moved her foot, she realized she had scraped her right knee. The intense pain made her cry out.

"Bang!" A loud crash echoed from behind Arisa, coming from the direction of the battlefield where Senba Gari and the lion Mlortha were.

"No. I can't, big brother is still there, still there buying time for Arisa, fighting the monster. Arisa can't stop here." Enduring the sharp pain in her right knee, Arisa slowly stood up.

"Rip." Arisa bent down and tore off the hem of her soiled white dress, revealing ivory-white calves that would drive any lolicon or foot fetishist in this world wild.

She used the torn fabric to perform a simple emergency bandage on her right knee, just as her grandmother had taught her, then picked up the hat Senba Gari had given her.

"You have to wait for me, big brother."

"Thud."

The wooden sword had snapped in two, the handgun was shattered into pieces, and his clothes were stained with dust and blood. His pants were tattered, his left eye was bruised and swollen, and blood trickled from his nose and the corner of his mouth. His head felt dizzy and heavy, several of his ribs were broken, his right leg had been pierced by claws, and his left arm was fractured.

This was the umpteenth time he had been swatted away; Senba Gari couldn't even remember. He only knew that no matter how many times he was thrown, he absolutely could not let the lion Mlortha chase after that child. He only knew he had to hold the intersection behind him.

(Geez, to risk my life for a child whose name I don't even know... if that bastard old man and the others found out, they'd definitely call me a lolicon.) He no longer had the strength to speak. Even though his right leg was punctured, he still limped toward the lion Mlortha step by step. His left arm hung uselessly due to the fracture, and his right hand trembled as he raised the broken rune-carved wooden sword to strike at the lion Mlortha.

"Roar!" The lion Mlortha watched Senba Gari block its path yet again; this behavior infuriated it.

It raised both claws and slammed Senba Gari into the ground with force. Then, as if to vent its rage, it stomped on him several more times until Senba Gari was embedded into the earth.

But just as the lion Mlortha lifted its left leg to move, its right leg was grabbed by Senba Gari's blood-stained hands. He weakly spat out a few words, "I. Will. Never. Let. You. Hurt. Her."

"Awoo! Awoooooooo!" The lion Mlortha was driven mad with rage. It frantically raised its claws and hammered down on Senba Gari, driving him several centimeters deeper into the ground, before swiping its claws to launch him into the ruins across the way.

"Roar!" The lion Mlortha growled at the dying Senba Gari, then turned around, intending to pursue Arisa.

(Ah, that child must have escaped and been saved by now. It seems I'm really done for. Bastard old man, Mom, I'm coming to join you.) Senba Gari's lips curled slightly upward as he closed his eyes.

"Eli-chin!" A voice caught Eli Ayase's attention.

"Nozomi, why are you here?" Turning her head, she saw her friend Nozomi Tojo standing there.

"Ara, I saw Eli-chin on the news, so I got worried and came to check," Nozomi Tojo said playfully, seeing the confusion on her friend's face.

"I see. Right! Nozomi, you have to help me, my sister Arisa hasn't escaped yet..." Eli Ayase pleaded with her friend in a panic.

"Calm down first, Eli-chin." Nozomi Tojo watched Eli Ayase's frantic state and urged her to stay calm.

"But—"

"Look! There's a little girl running this way!" A sudden shout interrupted Eli Ayase. She frowned, but then remembered what she had just said—wait, a little girl!

"Arisa!" Eli Ayase turned around, overjoyed, and saw her sister running toward them, limping and tattered, clutching a hat she had never seen before. But that didn't matter; as long as her sister was alive, it was enough.

Ignoring the police barricade, Eli Ayase ran straight to Arisa and caught her as she collapsed from exhaustion.

"Arisa, Arisa!" Eli Ayase called her sister's name in a panic.

"Sis, sister, please, you must, you must save big brother. Big, big brother is still there, you must, you must save, big brother." After saying this, Arisa lost consciousness, her hands still clutching the hat Senba Gari had given her.

"Arisa! Arisa! Doctor! Where is the doctor! Come save her!" Seeing her sister pass out, Eli Ayase screamed for a doctor.

A young police officer called for a medic and spoke into his radio, "Hey, headquarters, do you copy? We've found a girl who managed to escape, and she says there is still a boy left behind. Requesting backup, requesting backup."

At the same time, a voice came through the radio, "This is headquarters, we have already dispatched a team. I repeat, we have already dispatched a team."

"Whoosh!"

A pillar of fiery red light erupted in the distance, drawing everyone's attention.

"Whoosh!" At the place where Senba Gari lay, a pillar of fiery red light erupted, piercing straight through the sky.

A figure clad in armor appeared within the pillar of light.

"Skreeee!" A loud eagle cry echoed across the heavens.

At the same time, Senba Gari's voice emanated from the armor's visor.

"Now, the hunt begins!"

Camus and Gaia, and transformation!

"Now, the hunt begins!"

What is going on here? Well, let's rewind time by a few minutes.

Rewinding time, time, time, time, time--

In a boundless space surrounded entirely by white.

The unconscious Senba Gari lay there quietly, and all the wounds on his body had vanished, as if they had never existed at all.

Suddenly, a ripple appeared in the white space beside Senba Gari, and a little loli with silver-white hair and silver eyes, wearing a black gothic lolita dress that set off her pale skin, appeared silently by his side.

"Hey, wake up." An ethereal, melodious voice echoed through the space.

"Hmph, wake up already!" Seeing that Senba Gari didn't react, the silver-haired loli pouted in annoyance, raised her right hand into a fist, and slammed it hard onto Senba Gari's head.

"BOOM!"

"Ow! That hurts." The pain in his head made Senba Gari wake up while clutching his skull.

"Uh, where is this?" Senba Gari opened his eyes and looked around; white, a boundless, pure white color—that was his first thought upon opening his eyes.

"Hey."

"That's not right. I remember being in Akihabara, right? And wasn't I just... by that lion-type Mlortha?" He didn't hear the loli's voice behind him, instead sitting on the ground and lost in his own thoughts.

"Hey, hey, you jerk! Listen when I'm talking to you!" Seeing that Senba Gari was still ignoring her after waking up, the silver-haired loli angrily landed another punch on his head.

"Ow, that hurts, who is that!" While Senba Gari was still thinking, the sudden force made him cry out in pain again.

"Uh, who are you?" He turned his head and saw a silver-haired loli standing in front of him, looking furious.

Hearing Senba Gari's question, the silver-haired loli kicked him in dissatisfaction.

"Ouch! What are you doing? That hurts, you know."

She said huffily, "Hmph, that's for ignoring me. Listen well, my name is Gaia, and I am the will of this world. If you want to know where this is, I'll tell you: this is the World Interstice."

"Ha, you? Gaia? Stop joking around, will you? The world's will is a loli? How is that even possible? Do you have any proof?" Senba Gari looked at her with an expression of disbelief.

"Hmph, since you want proof, fine, I'll show you." After saying that, Gaia flicked her hand toward Senba Gari, and the space in front of him suddenly rippled, causing a figure to appear before him.