Gradually, his figure came into view. He looked to be a man in his twenties, dressed in strange clothes and wearing an odd mask.
"Well, we finally meet, young man."
Senba Gari didn't answer. His pupils suddenly contracted. The figure before him was one he would never forget for the rest of his life. It was also the source of his trauma, because this was the same thousand-year-old corpse he and his father had encountered a few months ago.
When he came to his senses, his right hand was trembling as he pointed at the masked man. His voice shook as he asked, "Y-you, y-you—you're not—weren't you already reduced to ashes?!"
"Uh...! Um, young man, could you calm down a little? I really was reduced to ashes. Uh, why does that sound so weird? Never mind. Just calm down and listen to me." Seeing Senba Gari trembling even as he spoke, the masked man hurriedly tried to calm him.
Honestly, is this guy really the reincarnation of one of my other souls? the masked man thought.
"Uh, all right. Go ahead." Senba Gari's eye twitched as he looked at the masked man, and he tried to settle his panicked nerves.
"Oh, oh! You really live up to the kid who dared to fight Lion Mlortha. You accepted all that pretty quickly," the masked man cried out.
"Enough fooling around, you two. It's time to talk business." Gaia piped up, making sure they hadn't forgotten about her.
"Hm? What business?"
"Oh, right, right! I nearly forgot. First, let me introduce myself. I'm Camus, and I'm also Divine's wearer. And this little loli is Gaia. You've already met her, haven't you?" Camus sat on the ground and introduced himself and Gaia to Senba Gari.
"Yeah. My name is Senba Gari. Just call me Gari. Also, why am I here, and what's this business you mentioned?" Senba Gari blurted out all his questions at once.
"Well, you see, you—"
"I brought you here when you were on the verge of death and saved you." Gaia cut Camus off halfway through his sentence.
"That's right. But before we get down to business, you need to answer my question." Camus's tone grew unusually serious.
"Oh? Ask away." Seeing how serious Camus had become, Senba Gari looked at him just as seriously.
"Ahem, then, young man, would you like to make a contract with me and become a Magical Boy?"
Silence. The entire white space fell deathly quiet.
Gaia and Senba Gari looked at Camus with blank expressions. They could both read the same thought in each other's eyes:
This guy's definitely an idiot.
"Uh, ha, ahahaha. Th-that was a slip of the tongue. A slip of the tongue. Let's start over, okay?" Camus looked nervously at the two before him.
"Forget it. I'm leaving. Hurry up, you two." With that, Gaia vanished into the World Interstice.
"Ahem, Gari, if we could give you the power to defeat Lion Mlortha, would you use it to protect this world?" Camus asked, this time in a very serious tone.
"I would! Of course I would! If it meant wiping them out, I'd do anything!" Senba Gari looked at Camus, overcome with emotion.
"Good. That's the Senba Gari I remember."
As he spoke, Camus reached out his hand. Space rippled where it hovered.
"Clap." A strange-looking belt appeared in Camus's hand.
The belt was mostly silver-white, with gold patterns. Its shape resembled a modern PSP, though it had no buttons. Instead, a display screen sat in the middle. The design on its surface was the diamond-shaped emblem Senba Gari had seen in the ruins that day, except that the small diamond in the center had been replaced by the screen. Looking closely, he could see a long, narrow slot on the top and another on the right side of the belt.
"Th-this is the Stone Belt, isn't it?! How did it..." Senba Gari stared at the belt in Camus's hand in surprise.
"How did it stop being stone? Gaia and I broke its seal, of course." As he spoke, Camus handed the belt to Senba Gari.
"Take it. Oh, right, there's this, too." Camus took a card from his pocket. It was black all over, with no designs on one side and a gray diamond-shaped emblem on the other. He handed it to Senba Gari.
"This is... Uh, Camus, your body..." Holding the card, Senba Gari looked up and saw Camus's body turning transparent, as if he might vanish at any moment.
"Looks like I'm running out of time. Oh well. Gari, remember: if you want to obtain Divine's power, go awaken the Phantom Beasts within your heart." With that, Camus pushed Senba Gari toward the spatial ripple behind him.
"Wait, Camus! Camus!" Before he could say another word, Senba Gari vanished.
"Is this really all right? Does he really have the power to defeat them?" Gaia's voice came from the place where Senba Gari had disappeared, not long after he was gone.
"Yeah, it'll be fine. After all, he's me." Camus looked at the spot where Senba Gari had vanished.
"Are you leaving?" Gaia saw Camus's figure on the verge of disappearing, and a trace of sadness crossed her eyes.
"Yeah, I'm leaving. Oh, right, take this mask. If you miss me, just look at it." Camus removed his mask and gave it to Gaia. His face was revealed, and it looked exactly like Senba Gari's.
"Wh-who would miss you?" Though she said that, Gaia blushed and hugged the mask tightly.
"Is that so? Goodbye." With that, Camus vanished.
"Goodbye." Gaia, too, disappeared into the World Interstice.
Scene change—
In some ruins in Akihabara, a ripple in space appeared and then vanished, leaving only one figure behind.
"Camus, don't worry. I'll wipe out every last one of the Mlortha." Senba Gari looked at the belt and card in his hands and murmured to himself.
"Now then..." Senba Gari held the belt in front of his waist.
A white strap suddenly extended from the belt. On its right side was a silver piece bearing gold patterns. The belt and strap fastened tightly around his waist.
Senba Gari gripped the card tightly and closed his eyes, thinking to himself:
Awaken the Phantom Beast within my heart.
"Cawww!"
A loud bird cry made Senba Gari open his eyes. The card had disappeared from his hand. Before him was a sky ablaze with fire, and a Phantom Beast with fiery red wings, eagle talons for feet, and a bird's face atop a human body: Garuda.
"Garuda! Fight alongside me!"
"Cawww!"
Hearing Senba Gari's voice, Garuda turned into a massive ball of fire. Slowly, the flames shrank to the size of a palm. Senba Gari stepped forward and caught the fire. At last, it became the card from before, except that the previously blank side now bore the image of a fiery red bird-faced humanoid, and the gray emblem on the other side had turned fiery red as well.
Senba Gari closed his eyes once more. When he opened them, he was back in the real world, and the card in his hand had changed. He lifted it with his right hand and spoke two words:
"Transform!"
Senba Gari inserted the card into the slot on the right side of the belt.
The liquid-crystal display on the belt showed the image of Garuda from the card he had just inserted.
"Whoosh." A pillar of fiery red light erupted from beneath him and shot straight into the sky.
"Vehicle armour appear." A metallic synthesized voice rang out from the belt.
Then fiery red armor silhouettes appeared over the various parts of Senba Gari's body.
"Armed."
"Divine Garuda."
Another metallic synthesized voice rang out from the belt.
The armor silhouettes became real armor and equipped Senba Gari.
"Cawww!" Garuda's phantom image appeared behind him.
The pillar of light faded, revealing the armor. It was mostly fiery red, with golden lines and patterns, black reinforced skin, and a fiery red helmet shaped like an eagle's head. It had two brilliant blue compound eyes and silver armor covering the mouth. The shoulder armor curved inward like folded wings. The chest armor was patterned with feathers, with a red flame-shaped gem at its center. The back looked like two wings folded together. The arm armor was decorated with patterns resembling eagle legs, and two golden eagle-claw blades were flipped around and locked into place on the arm guards. The leg armor bore the same patterns as the arm armor, except for the addition of what looked like eagle talons gripping the greaves. A single feather rested on each thigh plate.
A blue glint flashed across the brilliant blue compound eyes. After transforming, Senba Gari snapped the fingers of his right hand.
"Clap."
He looked in the direction Lion Mlortha had gone.
"Now then. The hunt begins." Senba Gari's voice rang out from beneath his mask.
The Battle Symphony
"Now then. The hunt begins." Senba Gari's voice rang out from beneath his mask.
Then Divine drew a card from the Card Box on his right.
The card looked just like the transformation card, except that its face showed a pair of fiery red wings.
One side of the card had three small grooves and three raised ridges alternating between them. They matched the ridges and grooves inside the long, narrow slot on top of the belt.
He swiped the card across the top of the belt with his right hand.
"Blazing Wings." The belt's metallic synthesized voice rang out again. The card turned into red sparks and merged into Divine's back, while the wings behind Garuda on the belt's screen spread open.
"Click." The armor on Divine's back, shaped like two folded wings, opened out to either side, revealing the armor beneath. Two wing-like plates spread from his back, reaching only as far as his shoulders. The backplate beneath them was silver-white, with three small flame thrusters where each wing plate connected to it. Fiery red lines traced a geometric diamond pattern across his back.
"Whoosh." Deep red flames blasted from the thrusters on his back, weaving together into a beautiful pair of deep-red wings of fire.
Divine bent his knees slightly as the fiery wings spread. Then they beat powerfully, lifting him into the air.
"Whoosh." Divine beat his wings again and shot toward Lion Mlortha like a blazing meteor.
—The Pursuit Is Underway
Somewhere in Akihabara, a five-person search-and-rescue team sent by the police was hurrying cautiously toward the place where Lion Mlortha and Senba Gari had fought. Unfortunately, they didn't know that neither Senba Gari nor Lion Mlortha was there anymore.
"What a shame. This place used to be so lively, but now... Sigh." One of the team members, A, said.
"Tell me about it. I was going to come here tomorrow to buy some figures, but now they're all gone." That was another team member, B.
"Enough complaining. Don't forget why we're here." Their captain spoke.
"But, Captain, could that young man the girl mentioned still be alive? I heard that thing's a monster." Team member C, who was rather timid, looked at their captain doubtfully.
"Yeah, C's right. If that boy really—"
"Enough. I know. I've thought the same thing myself. But if even a boy dared to fight a monster, while we're afraid of every little thing, then we're no better than children." The captain cut team member D off.
"Yeah. If even a kid could do that, wouldn't it be pretty embarrassing if we couldn't?" Team member A said, clamping an arm around team member D.
"Sigh, fine, we... C-Captain, l-look!" Team member D pointed ahead in a panic.
Everyone turned and saw Lion Mlortha charging straight toward them.
"Damn it! Everyone, cover the retreat!" The captain raised his pistol and aimed it at Lion Mlortha.
"Bang! Bang-bang!!!" But the bullets only produced a few sparks against Lion Mlortha's body.
"Roar!!!"
Lion Mlortha accelerated and rushed toward team member B. Its sharp claws rose and came down.
Team member B didn't even have time to scream before he was torn in half.
"B! Damn it!" Seeing Lion Mlortha rip B in two, team member A grabbed his pistol in fury and charged at it.
"A! Don't!"
"Gaaah!"
The captain had just tried to stop team member A when Lion Mlortha slammed him into the ground, turning him into a pool of gore (our protagonist had plot armor).
"Augh!!!!"
"Help! Help me! Don't kill me! Aah!!"
"You bastard!!!"
The captain watched his team members fall one by one, unable to do anything. In a fury, he raised his pistol and opened fire on Lion Mlortha.
"Gah." The bullets barely hurt Lion Mlortha, and the captain ended up lying injured on the ground after it struck him.
Just as Lion Mlortha raised its claws, about to kill the captain, a ball of fire interrupted its attack.
"Boom!!!!"
The flames crashed down hard in front of Lion Mlortha. Gradually, they faded, revealing a fiery red figure within.
"I finally found you, you filthy lion! Come on, let's settle our score once and for all!" Divine pointed at Lion Mlortha.
But when Lion Mlortha saw Divine, its body trembled instinctively, as if it had come face-to-face with its natural enemy.
It abandoned the injured captain and turned to run. But would Divine let it get away? Of course not.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Seeing Lion Mlortha turn and run, Divine somersaulted forward, landed in front of it, and spun around to punch it, knocking it to the ground.
Lion Mlortha hit the ground, then angrily swung its claws down at Divine.
Divine dodged with a quick sidestep. Then he clenched his left fist, which burst into flames, and drove it into Lion Mlortha's abdomen.
"Grr!" Lion Mlortha staggered back several steps, clutching its charred stomach as it cried out in pain. Then it raised its claws. Black light shimmered across them as it swung at Divine, sending three black claw-shaped blasts rushing toward him.
"Ugh!" The attacks struck Divine. Sparks flew from his armor as he cried out in pain.
"Tch, this is still a bit much for me. Never mind. Let's finish this quickly."
"Clang." Divine willed the two metal eagle claws on his arms to flip forward. Then he pushed off with his right foot and rushed at Lion Mlortha, his claws bursting into flames as he slashed it in an X.
Two X-shaped bursts of sparks flared across Lion Mlortha's body. Before it could regain its footing, Divine kicked it down with a back kick.
Before you continue