Starting with Firefly, Speedrunning Through the World — Part 29

"Thank you, thank you!"

The girl hurriedly thanked Sakurai Keiwa, then, without even looking at her boyfriend lying sprawled on the ground beside her, turned and ran in panic toward what she believed was safety.

Watching the girl run off, Sakurai Keiwa turned toward the Jamato. It was completely unharmed, and two more had appeared beside it, all coming straight for him.

Sakurai Keiwa's expression changed. He quickly raised the Magnum Shooter in his hands and unleashed a barrage at them.

Under the Magnum's firepower, one Jamato was successfully knocked to the ground.

Yet at that moment, a phantom club suit floated into view, and the fallen Playing Card Jamato sprang back up, full of life.

"What's going on?"

Sakurai Keiwa had no idea what was happening. He quickly pulled back, then attacked again unwillingly. The Magnum switched to Sniper Mode, its power adjusted to the maximum.

Energy erupted in an instant, powerful enough to pierce through rock and metal.

The next second, the Jamato approaching him was blasted more than ten meters away.

But even so, when that phantom club card floated up again, it quickly stood back up.

"How can this be?"

Keiwa frowned deeply, utterly bewildered!

That attack had been incredibly powerful. There was no way that Jamato should have come away unscathed.

Why was this happening?

It wasn't just Sakurai Keiwa. Not far away, Azuma Michinaga was facing the same situation—defeating the Jamato before him time and time again, only to watch them rise again perfectly unharmed.

The other groups of Kamen Riders were the same. They found it unexpectedly difficult to successfully kill even a single Jamato.

Compared to the others, though, Ukiyo Ace and Kurama Neon were working together fairly well.

Because Geats's Buckle was so lousy, he could only lure the monsters to the water's edge.

"...Come on!"

[Water Strike!]

Watching the Playing Card Jamato approach, Ukiyo Ace immediately connected the armed water gun in his hand to the water.

When he twisted the faucet on the Water Buckle, the sound effect rang out, and the water gun instantly unleashed an immensely powerful stream, blasting the approaching Jamato away in a single hit.

"As expected of Geats!"

"Even a water gun can be this powerful in his hands."

Watching Ukiyo Ace's performance, Kurama Neon could not help but marvel.

They had gotten water guns before, but in other people's hands, they were practically toys for kindergarteners—completely useless.

They could only be used to hit people, and even that barely did any damage.

Yet Ukiyo Ace had managed to bring out such tremendous power from it!

As expected of the original consecutive champion.

"Of course. Every Buckle has its own purpose."

Ukiyo Ace coolly lowered the water gun in his hand. He wasn't like the others; a thousand years of experience were not for nothing.

If he couldn't even bring out the true power of these Buckles, then he would truly have lived for nothing—and he would never have been able to keep winning so easily.

However, Ukiyo Ace's expression soon changed. That attack, powerful enough to kill an elite monster, had failed to destroy the Playing Card Jamato. It rose again and lunged at Kurama Neon without a scratch.

"Na-Go!"

Noticing this, Ukiyo Ace hurriedly warned her.

Kurama Neon reacted at once as well, quickly raising the Beat Axe in her hands and striking it. Her repeated blows only forced the Jamato back; they could not truly hurt it.

Seeing this, Kurama Neon hurriedly operated the Beat Axe's tuning device and selected the ice-element melody.

After the "Funk Blizzard" sound effect played, she pulled the trigger, and with the "Tactical Blizzard!" sound effect, she immediately unleashed her finisher!

[Strategic Snowburst!]

Kurama Neon played the Beat Axe, and the next moment, an incredibly hyped funk track rang out around them. The Jamato at the front was instantly frozen, transformed into an ice sculpture.

Kurama Neon then turned, Beat Axe in hand, and charged at the Jamato before and beside her. With freezing air curling around the axe blade, she launched into a fluid chain of slashes.

Every strike effortlessly froze them solid.

But it wasn't over yet. A freezing sound wave then formed along the ground, gathering them together, and Kurama Neon switched the music again.

"Strategic Fire!"

[Tactical Fire!]

The Beat Axe's ice instantly transformed into flames. Holding the blazing battle axe, Kurama Neon swung at the Jamato.

Multiple firestorms struck the Playing Card Jamato, destroying the Jamato there along with the surrounding buildings and even the ground.

The sight was utterly spectacular!

"Hehe, we won!"

Kurama Neon laughed happily. Just as she thought they had won a complete victory and waited for the flames to fade... she discovered that the Jamato before her had perfectly regenerated once again.

"How could this be?!"

Kurama Neon was left dumbfounded by the sight.

Even that kind of attack couldn't destroy them? These Jamato were way too hard to kill!

"Wait, maybe we're using the wrong method."

Ukiyo Ace stared at the phantom images of playing cards that appeared when the Jamato regenerated. He seemed to have an idea, but he wasn't sure.

"What method?"

"I don't know. I can't be certain yet."

Ukiyo Ace answered honestly. He had only had a flash of insight, but he hadn't fully grasped the train of thought.

"Then what do we do now? We can't kill them even if we fight?"

Kurama Neon blasted the Jamato away again, but faced with monsters that could not be completely eliminated, her fighting spirit vanished along with her previous drive.

"Let's leave first. We need to think this through carefully."

These Playing Card Jamato could not be dealt with directly, and other Jamato were approaching from all around. They could not remain here any longer, or they would be completely surrounded.

"Okay! That's all we can do."

Kurama Neon stopped overthinking it after hearing that.

Just as the two were preparing to retreat, a familiar figure fell from the sky and crashed into the Playing Card Jamato before them.

The surrounding Jamato were knocked sprawling by the sudden arrival, but due to the special rules, they quickly returned to normal.

The sudden appearance made Kurama Neon and Ukiyo Ace, who had been about to leave, stop in their tracks.

"You again."

"Stellaron Hunter, Sam."

As he looked at the familiar armored Rider before him, a trace of discomfort appeared on Ukiyo Ace's face.

He had already lost to this Stellaron Hunter twice.

For the ever-confident Geats, it was indeed a major blow.

It was only because he had lived so long that he remained rational and would not act as impulsively as Buffa. Otherwise, he would have been unable to hold himself back long ago.

But this time, when facing Stellaron Hunter Sam, he had no desire to fight her at all. Not to mention that he was even weaker than in the previous round, with only a Water Buckle.

Their last battle had also made him understand that the gap in strength between them was currently far too great.

Game Management Enters the Fray

Ukiyo Ace was like a fox. Unless someone touched his reverse scale, he would not act impulsively.

Instead, he had some thoughts of his own.

Unless he received other help, the only way was to wait until he won the Desire Grand Prix this time and became a God of Desire. Only then would he have a chance to defeat her.

Because of Stellaron Hunter Sam's appearance, he had altered the wish he wrote down this time.

Now that Ukiyo Ace faced Sam again, not only did he show no resentment or hostility, he even took several steps toward her and set down the water gun in his hand as a gesture of goodwill.

Of course, the main reason was that even if the water gun's power were pushed to its limit, it would still be unable to do anything to the Rider before him.

So the clever fox mainly used it to express his attitude.

"Stellaron Hunter Sam, you should be targeting the Desire Grand Prix, right?"

"That has nothing to do with you."

Sam held a Playing Card Jamato in her hand. Under her strength, the Jamato was utterly incapable of resisting.

Completely ignoring Ukiyo Ace, she locked her gaze onto another Jamato. That Playing Card Jamato formed a matching pair with the one in her hand.

That was why she had come here!

Sam had already appeared earlier, but there were very few Jamato in this round, nowhere near enough to farm points.

More importantly, normal methods could not kill them completely.

Fortunately, having seen the story, she roughly understood the rules.

Concentration. It was a classic playing card game.

A deck of cards was placed face down and spread flat across a table.

Then, the players flipped over cards.

If two cards had the same suit color and number—diamonds and hearts forming the red group, clubs and spades forming the black group—the cards were collected and points were scored.