Then Divine pulled the transformation card out of his belt and flipped it over, revealing the geometric diamond pattern on its back. He then flipped it back and inserted it into the belt.
The belt once again gave off a metallic synthesized sound.
"Skyfire Fall!"
The Battle's End
Divine pulled the transformation card out of his belt and flipped it over, revealing the geometric diamond pattern on its back. He then flipped it back and inserted it into the belt.
The belt once again gave off a metallic synthesized sound.
"Skyfire Fall!"
Then the armor on Divine's back opened once more, flames burst out, and wove themselves into a pair of flaming wings.
He spread his arms slightly, staggered his legs, and bent them a little before leaping high into the air. At the same time, a flaming silhouette of a bird-headed, human-bodied figure appeared behind him. It stood out against the night, and everything around him seemed to burn in its presence.
Seeing Divine's current appearance, Lion Mlortha knew it might not be able to dodge, so its claws glowed with an intense black light.
"Caw!" Divine faced Lion Mlortha in midair, flapped his wings, and kicked hard with his right leg. Garuda's flaming silhouette enveloped him, transforming him into a giant flaming bird that charged forward.
At the same time, Lion Mlortha's claws, glowing with black light, slashed toward the oncoming Divine in an X shape.
In an instant, the flaming bird's scarlet light collided fiercely with six black streams of claw-shaped energy.
The shock waves from the collision sent everything nearby flying. The rescue team's captain would have been blown away too if he hadn't braced himself against the car behind him.
"You've got to be kidding me. That kind of power..." The captain stared, stunned, at the clash between Divine and Lion Mlortha.
"Ha!"
"Caw!"
Then Divine, inside the flaming bird, kicked hard again with his right leg. The flames around the bird blazed even brighter, and it smashed straight through Lion Mlortha's claw-shaped energy before slamming into its body.
"Boom!"
When the flaming bird struck Lion Mlortha, a violent explosion erupted where they stood. The shock wave swept away everything within a kilometer.
Before long, the smoke cleared, and Divine came into view.
Lion Mlortha was nowhere to be seen. In its place lay an unconscious lion and a black crystal. The next second, the crystal suddenly shattered, and its black fragments slowly vanished into the air.
"Ha... ha... ha... Just as I thought. The first transformation takes too much spiritual energy."
Divine's chest heaved. After a moment, he steadied his breathing, hoisted the unconscious lion over his shoulder, and turned to walk toward the captain.
"Hey, are you all right? Can you stand?" He set the lion down beside the captain, then reached out his right hand to help him up.
"Oh, I'm fine. Thanks. It's just that the kid and my teammates are probably..." The captain took Divine's hand and was pulled to his feet. Then he looked sadly at the bodies of his teammates around them.
"I'm sorry. If only I'd gotten here sooner..." Divine knew that this tragedy had begun because of him, and he spoke with deep remorse.
"It's all right. Maybe this was just their fate." Noticing Divine's tone, the captain assumed he was blaming himself for arriving too late and tried to comfort him.
"Fate, huh? Heh. Maybe it was." Divine lowered his head and muttered to himself.
"Oh, right. I still don't know who you are. Please tell me your name. I'll report this to my superiors, and they'll reward you." The captain came back to himself and asked the warrior in strange armor for his name.
"Me? Uh... I'm Divine, Kamen Rider Divine. As for a reward, I don't need one. Just take this lion back." He had been wondering what name to use, but then remembered something a strange teacher who had taught him swordsmanship as a child once said. He gave his name, patted the still-unconscious lion, and declined the captain's offer.
"Your backup is here. I should be going."
Divine saw figures in the distance and turned away. He drew a winged card from the right side of his belt and swept it across the top. The card turned into red light that flowed into his back. His armor opened, flames burst out and formed fiery wings, and he flew away.
"Thank you! I'm deeply grateful you saved my life! Goodbye!" the captain shouted after Divine as he vanished into the sky.
Afterward, in a hospital room, a beautiful blonde girl quietly watched her younger sister lying in bed with her eyes closed.
Seeing her sister's pale face, Eli felt a pang of sorrow.
"Click." The sound of the door opening caught Eli's attention. She turned and saw her friend Nozomi Tojo in the doorway.
"Oh, it's you, Nozomi." Eli watched Nozomi walk over, then turned back to her sister.
"Don't worry, Eli. Little Arisa will be fine." Nozomi seemed to notice Eli's concern and tried to comfort her.
"Yeah, thanks, Nozomi. But Arisa ended up like this because of me. If I hadn't been careless, she wouldn't have... It's all my fault, all my fault." As Eli spoke, tears began to fall.
"Eli, don't blame yourself anymore. Little Arisa would be so sad if she saw you like this." Nozomi took out a handkerchief, comforted Eli, and wiped away her tears.
"Yeah. Thanks, Nozomi."
"Mm." Arisa, lying in bed, let out a soft groan and slowly opened her eyes.
"Arisa, thank goodness you're awake! Does anything hurt?" When Eli saw her sister wake up, she forgot even the tears still clinging to the corners of her eyes.
"Big... Sister... Where am I?" Arisa asked weakly.
"You're in the hospital. Here, Arisa, drink some water, then get some more sleep. We'll go home tomorrow, okay?" Eli picked up a glass of water from nearby and handed it to Arisa.
"Okay. Gulp, gulp, gulp." Arisa picked up the glass and immediately gulped down the water.
"Careful. Don't choke." Eli patted Arisa's back to keep her from choking.
"My, seeing the two of you so close is making me a little jealous." Nozomi chimed in from the side.
"Nozomi!" "Big Sister Nozomi!" The sisters both blushed and called out to her.
"All right, all right. I'll stop teasing you."
"By the way, Sister, what about Big Brother? Was he saved?" Arisa clung to Eli's arm and asked about Senba Gari.
"Well..." Hearing Arisa ask about another boy suddenly made Eli feel a little uncomfortable.
"Knock, knock, knock." A knock at the door interrupted Eli's thoughts.
"Come in."
"Sorry to bother you."
"Click." A middle-aged man in a security uniform opened the door and entered.
"Um, may I ask who you are?" Eli asked, looking at him with confusion.
"Hello, I'm with the Criminal Investigation Department. Is little Arisa Ayase here?"
"Yes, I'm her sister. What is it?"
"We went to the place little miss described earlier, but..." The middle-aged man hesitated.
"But what?" Eli asked.
"But we couldn't find the other person."
Hearing this, Arisa ignored her weak condition and reached out to throw off the blankets so she could get out of bed.
"Arisa! Stay in bed and don't move!" Eli pushed her back down.
"Let go, Sister! Big Brother can't be gone. He promised Arisa he'd wait for her there. Boo-hoo, Sister..." As she spoke, Arisa started to cry.
"Don't worry. Didn't the police say they just couldn't find him? That doesn't mean he's dead." (Far away, Senba Gari sneezed.) Eli wiped the tears from Arisa's face.
"That young lady is right. The boy isn't dead. He may have been saved by that Kamen Rider."
"Wait, Kamen Rider?!" Nozomi, who had been standing off to the side, suddenly spoke up.
"That's right. The masked man did tell one of our surviving officers he was a Kamen Rider. Is there a problem?" The officer looked at Nozomi, confused by her reaction.
"Oh, no. It's nothing. Sorry." Nozomi answered the officer thoughtfully.
"Oh, no problem. Ah, right! Here, take this. I hope it helps." As he spoke, the officer took a USB drive from his pocket and handed it to Nozomi.
"What's this?" Nozomi asked, looking at the USB drive in her hand.
"It's a backup of the surveillance footage from Akihabara. The boy might appear in it. I hope it'll be of some help." With that, the officer opened the door and left.
"Well, Eli, it looks like we have a way to find little Arisa's hero."
"Wonderful! Sister, Sister, we have to find Big Brother!" Arisa clapped happily.
"Yeah. We'll look for him after you're discharged, okay?"
"Okay! Arisa has to get out of the hospital soon so we can find Big Brother!"
A few days later, at a Criminal Investigation Department office.
"Knock, knock, knock."
A knock sounded at the door.
"Come in." Shinnosuke, sitting inside and reading that day's newspaper, called to the person standing outside.
"Click."
The door opened, and a police officer walked in.
"What is it?" Shinnosuke asked, though his eyes remained on the newspaper in front of him.
"Reporting in, sir. Someone who claims to be your friend is here to see you."
"Oh? What kind of friend?" Shinnosuke put down the newspaper and looked up at him.
"Uh, well... He has a pompadour, and the first thing he said to me was, 'Be my friend.'" The officer said awkwardly. It was the first time he'd encountered a situation like this.
"Haha, it's him. Show him in." Shinnosuke laughed and told the officer to bring the man in.
"Yes, sir."
"Click."
A moment later, the door opened, and a young man in a gray suit and trousers walked in. He wore a white shirt with a red patterned tie. It should have been a fairly formal outfit, but his pompadour ruined the effect.
"Yo! Long time no see, Shinnosuke."
"Yeah, you too. Long time no see. Shouldn't you be teaching at Amanogawa High School? What brings you here, Kisaragi?" Shinnosuke looked at Kisaragi curiously.
Kisaragi turned and closed the door, then sat down on the sofa without any ceremony.
"You already know why I'm here, don't you?" Kisaragi looked at Shinnosuke with a serious expression.
"Heh. Yeah. So, do you think he can do it?"
"Yeah, he can. No, actually, they can."
"Oh, right. That kid should be training with Ryusei right now, shouldn't he?"
"Yeah. Looks like you'll have to give him a position. And our strength has dwindled considerably, so we can only count on them."
With that, Kisaragi looked out the window.
"Hey, don't talk as if you're old."
Shinnosuke looked at Kisaragi and ribbed him.
"I suppose the news has reached the others by now."
"Of course. I came here after seeing this morning's newspaper."
"You seriously left your students behind and came all the way here?"
"Ah, ahaha, hahaha." Kisaragi laughed awkwardly.
The headline in the newspaper they'd forgotten about would cause quite a stir, even though it was only text.
<Chaos in Akihabara! A Mysterious Masked Man?! Calling himself Kamen Rider Divine, the Long-Missing Kamen Rider Reappears?!>
In an abandoned warehouse in San Francisco, America.
"Bang!"
"Grrraah!"
A humanoid shark with gray-brown skin flew outside the abandoned warehouse. Anyone who had witnessed the chaos in Akihabara would have been shocked, because it looked just like the Lion Mlortha from Akihabara. The Shark Mlortha stared straight ahead and roared.
"Tap, tap, tap." As the Shark Mlortha roared, the sound of footsteps drew closer, accompanied by an armored figure.
As the armored figure came closer, its appearance became clear. It wore silver-white armor over white reinforced skin. The armor had gold trim and black stripes like a tiger's.
Its helmet resembled a tiger's head. It had a blue, continuous visor, and the armor on either side of its mouth bore three gold whisker-shaped markings.
Three golden claws protruded from the front of each arm guard. In its left hand it held a silver-white Ancient Tiger Saber, whose guard was shaped like a roaring tiger's head. Golden lines depicting a tiger ran along both sides of the blade.
Before you continue