Because there seemed to be two more girls accompanying her, and several black-clad bodyguards were following behind them.
At that moment, Silver Phantom was in motorcycle form, following Sonoda Umi, whom she had met that day. There seemed to be two more girls with her now, and not far behind them stood several men dressed in black shirts and trousers, wearing sunglasses as they watched their surroundings.
"..."
Master? Are you there, Master?
The communication line suddenly fell silent. Silver Phantom anxiously asked, but soon Senba Gari's helpless voice came through.
"Sigh... They're practically asking to die. Whatever. I'll protect as many as I can."
Understood, Master.
"By the way, how are things on your end?"
Everything's fine. They're having a great time.
Silver Phantom looked at the three girls in front of her, who seemed to be enjoying themselves.
"Good. That's good."
After saying that, Senba Gari continued staring at the computer screen in front of him. Then he spotted a red dot on the electronic map. It was moving quickly toward Silver Phantom's location, and Senba Gari grinned.
"Heh heh, the little kitty's taken the bait. Hey, Phantom, your target's heading your way. Do your best to hold him off. I'll be there soon."
Understood. You'd better hurry, too.
Silver Phantom's voice came through Senba Gari's earpiece.
He closed the laptop and set it aside, then brushed the dust off his backside and stood up. Taking out Divine's transformation card, he called into the empty air.
"Manifest!"
A silver belt appeared around his waist: the Beast Soul Driver.
"Transform!"
At the same time, Senba Gari inserted the scarlet transformation card into the slot on the right side of the Beast Soul Driver. An image of Garuda, with a bird's head and a human body, appeared on the driver's screen, which then emitted several synthesized mechanical voices.
Vehicle armour appear (Armour manifestation)
As the first synthesized voice rang out, ghostly images of scarlet armour appeared around Senba Gari's body.
armed (Armour)
When the second synthesized voice rang out, the scarlet armour images covered Senba Gari, arming him.
Divine Garuda (Garuda)
Then, as the third synthesized voice rang out, Kamen Rider Divine appeared.
"Eagle Eye, activate!" (Eagle Eye: Allows the user to see a target from a distance, up to a maximum range of 1 km. Note: This ability was inspired by Kamen Rider OOO.)
After Divine spoke, a faint red light flickered in his azure compound eyes. He spotted Silver Phantom's location.
"Now then, the hunt begins~"
After saying that, Divine swiped the Blazing Wings card across the top of the Beast Soul Driver, which emitted another synthesized mechanical voice.
Blazing Wings
When the mechanical voice fell silent, the card dissolved into specks of red light and merged with the armour on Divine's back. The armour plates spread apart, releasing several jets of flame that intertwined to form a pair of enormous fiery wings.
He tensed his legs and leapt into the air, then beat the flaming wings on his back. Like a meteor of fire streaking across the night sky, Divine flew toward Silver Phantom's location.
Meanwhile, over by Silver Phantom...
—Scene change—
"Oh! Umi, look! There's ice cream over there~ Let's hurry over!"
Honoka Kosaka stared at Sonoda Umi with shining eyes. Umi put one hand to her forehead and said, "Honoka, could you stop thinking about food all the time? If you keep eating like that, no one will marry you."
"Eh, it's fine! I've still got you and Kotori, Umi."
"W-what kind of nonsense are you talking about? Kotori, you say something to her too."
Sonoda Umi blushed and turned to her other friend.
"Well~ I don't think that would be so bad. But, Umi, what's with those strange older men behind us? They've been following us all the way from Honoka's house."
"Yeah, yeah! I'm curious too, Honoka."
Minami Kotori looked a little worried as she spoke. Honoka joined in, and after hearing her two friends, Sonoda Umi said with a grave expression, "Actually, after I left Honoka's house last night, I ran into the murderer who's been targeting women lately! Those men were sent by my father to protect me."
"Eh!" ×2
"Umi, are you all right?!"
The two girls were clearly frightened by what Sonoda Umi had said. Honoka then asked, "Don't worry. If something had really happened to me, would I still be here? But I have to thank Mr. Divine for that."
When Sonoda Umi said Divine's name, her eyes filled with admiration. Honoka and Minami Kotori looked puzzled, and just as Honoka was about to ask about it, something unexpected happened.
"Umi, then—"
"Help! There's a monster! Ah!"
A terrible scream interrupted Honoka's question. The three of them turned around and saw Black Cat Mlortha standing in front of them, its fur jet-black, its claws razor-sharp, and its eerie green eyes gleaming.
"!!!!"
Sonoda Umi turned to look for the bodyguards her father had hired, but they were nowhere to be seen.
"Umi! Don't just stand there—run!"
Suddenly, two hands grabbed her, one on each side, and pulled her away. Looking up, she saw Honoka Kosaka and Minami Kotori each holding one of her hands as they ran. But—
[Hmph. You think you can get away? Not a chance!]
Black Cat Mlortha suddenly appeared in front of them and knocked Honoka Kosaka, Minami Kotori, and Sonoda Umi to the ground. Just as it was about to finish them off with a single swipe, a blue energy blast struck it.
"Bang!"
The blast struck Black Cat Mlortha, sending sparks flying from its body. Then a powerful kick sent it flying, and a silver-white robot appeared in front of Honoka, Kotori, and Umi.
"Mr. Robot!"
Sonoda Umi excitedly called out to Silver Phantom, who had seen the three of them and said, "Don't worry. Master is on his way, so this will be over soon."
[Hmph, don't make me laugh! What do you mean, it'll be over? You'll all be dead long before he gets here! Hahaha! Minions, attack!]
Several Servant Cat Mlorthas appeared beside Black Cat Mlortha, which then swung its claws at Silver Phantom and the three girls.
When Silver Phantom saw this, it shouted to Umi and the others, "Run! Master will be here soon!"
Then it was swarmed by the Servant Cat Mlorthas. Seeing Silver Phantom occupied, Black Cat Mlortha charged toward Sonoda Umi and her friends.
"Ow! That hurts."
"Kotori!" ×2
Just as they were running away, Kotori suddenly fell to the ground. Sonoda Umi and Honoka Kosaka ran to her side. They saw that the skin on Minami Kotori's knee had been scraped off, and it was bleeding.
"Umi, Honoka, run! Don't worry about me—"
"No! Kotori, you and Honoka got dragged into this because of me. If we leave, we leave together."
Sonoda Umi cut Minami Kotori off before she could finish speaking. Then Black Cat Mlortha's voice came from behind them.
[That's right. If you're leaving, you can all go together!]
It swung its black claws at the three girls, but before it could strike, a huge ball of flame slammed into it.
"Bang!"
"That's right. If they're going, they can all go together, so you can stop trying to send them off."
As the flames died away, a red figure clad in armour appeared before Sonoda Umi and the others.
"Mr. Divine!"
Master!
[You again, you bastard!]
"Mr. Divine? Is that him?"
Four different voices rang out: Sonoda Umi's excited shout, Silver Phantom's delighted cry, Black Cat Mlortha's furious roar, and Honoka's puzzled question.
[Tch. So what if you showed up? You still can't hit me.]
Black Cat Mlortha sneered at Divine.
"Oh, really? Let's find out!"
Divine inserted the Fenrir transformation card into the right side of the Beast Soul Driver. Several synthesized mechanical voices rang out.
Armor conversion (Armour conversion)
When the first mechanical voice fell silent, the red armour on Divine's body dissolved into red specks of light, revealing a black Base Body beneath it. (Base Body: A strengthened body with no armour, just the enhanced body beneath it. Note: This form was inspired by Kamen Rider Ghost.) Ghostly images of silver-grey armour then appeared around Divine's body.
armed (Armour)
When the second synthesized voice rang out, the silver-grey armour images covered Senba Gari, arming him.
Divine Fenrir
As the third synthesized voice rang out, the new Kamen Rider Divine appeared before everyone.
His silver-grey armour was streamlined, and his enhanced skin was still black. Three slightly upturned shoulder plates were joined together, and silver-grey armguards and greaves covered his limbs. Silver-grey armour completely encased both hands, with a small claw protruding from the tip of each finger. Three small metal claws jutted from the front of each foot.
His helmet resembled a wolf's head, with bright yellow compound eyes. Faintly protruding fangs seemed to line the front of his silver mouth guard.
Under the moonlight, Divine in this form looked especially proud and dashing.
[Curse you! Die!]
Seeing Divine in this form sent a shiver of impending death through Black Cat Mlortha, so it decided to strike first. It lunged at Divine at full speed.
But just as it was about to reach him, Divine sidestepped and dodged. That's right, Divine dodged it, then followed through with a heavy slash of his claws. Sparks instantly flew from Black Cat Mlortha's body. As for Sonoda Umi and the others, Silver Phantom had already taken them farther away. When they saw Black Cat Mlortha charge at Divine, their hearts tightened, but Divine dodged it at an even greater speed and attacked it with lightning speed. That was right: Divine's Fenrir form specialized in speed, so a mere Black Cat Mlortha couldn't keep up.
"All right, time to end this!"
Divine swiped a card bearing the image of a silver-grey dagger across the top of the Beast Soul Driver. Two synthesized mechanical voices rang out.
Weapon appeared (Weapon manifestation)
Shadow Moon Short Blade
A short blade appeared in Divine's hand. Its hilt was shaped like a wolf's head, with a blade extending from the open mouth. The blade itself resembled a wolf's tail.
Divine lightly tapped the wolf-head hilt, and a card slot popped open. He took out a card depicting a wolf biting a crescent moon and inserted it into the slot. Several mechanical voices rang out.
Kill Weapon (Finishing Weapon)
Energy storage
Shadow Wolf Moon Blade
Divine clamped the short blade between the fangs protruding from his mouth guard and crouched low to the ground. He then charged at Black Cat Mlortha at tremendous speed. A shadow enveloped his body, turning him into a giant wolf. As the giant wolf reached Black Cat Mlortha, Divine burst out from within it and brought the blade clamped in his mouth down on Black Cat Mlortha.
Defeated again
Divine clamped the short blade between the fangs protruding from his mouth guard and crouched low to the ground. He then charged at Black Cat Mlortha at tremendous speed. A shadow enveloped his body, turning him into a giant wolf. As the giant wolf reached Black Cat Mlortha, Divine burst out from within it and brought the blade clamped in his mouth down on Black Cat Mlortha.
"Shhk~"
He passed Black Cat Mlortha, the Shadow Moon Short Blade still clamped in his mouth, his body still in a half-crouch. A diagonal line appeared across Black Cat Mlortha's waist, and its body split along the line. Then—
"Boom!!!"
The explosion's flames accompanied a deafening roar. When the flames died down, a man lay on the ground. A black, diamond-shaped crystal floated out of his heart, then slowly broke into tiny fragments that drifted away in the air.
"Phew~ Now I can finally get a good night's sleep~"
Divine took the Shadow Moon Short Blade from his mouth and raised both hands above his head in celebration. Then Silver Phantom's incongruous voice came through.
Ahem, Master, there are still people here.
Before you continue