Speedrunning Worlds from Firefly's Beginning — Part 40

His base stats were several, even dozens of times greater than those of an ordinary Rider.

Yet faced with this strike, Firefly merely raised her arms and crossed them before her, blocking his attack exactly. Glare's base stats were about the same; only the systems installed in them differed.

After exchanging a few moves, Niram saw that the girl before him was quite capable and possessed clear combat awareness. He stopped deadlocking with her, snorted coldly, and stepped forward.

He raised his right fist and unleashed it with force, powered by the ultra-high-voltage energy supplied by the Vision Driver.

Noticing Niram's move, Firefly refused to yield and threw out the same punch to meet his head-on.

Bang!!

A heavy, muffled crash rang out, followed by the piercing sound of an airburst.

But when the recoil reached him, Niram instinctively staggered back several steps.

"Hmm?"

Niram looked at the Kamen Rider Glare before him, slightly startled. Even he had been affected by the recoil, yet she seemed completely unfazed.

"Is this the gap you were talking about?"

Firefly asked flatly, then threw a punch at his head.

Even with the same Driver, and even if her system was somewhat inferior to his, she could still defeat him.

Did he really think the Path she walked was for show?

With the Path of Destruction empowering her, the outcome had long since been decided.

"Hmph!"

Hearing Firefly's calm words, which somehow sounded like mockery, Niram said nothing. He merely raised his right leg and swept it toward her.

Firefly swung an arm up to block. At the same time, her right hand suddenly grabbed and pulled Niram closer, then her charged fist blasted forward.

Bang!!

The heavy muffled impact sounded somewhat strange.

That was because it was mixed with the sound of control systems detaching. The control devices on Niram's body appeared in time and blocked the blow.

Then, without mercy, the control devices bombarded Firefly. A laser cannon comparable to a missile arrived in an instant.

Firefly did not let her guard down either. She immediately controlled the devices on Kamen Rider Glare to block the attack, but Glare's defensive equipment was far inferior to Gazer's and was clearly at a disadvantage.

Niram used this opportunity to pull away and regained his calm, unhurried demeanor.

"Our battle has only just begun!"

Patting nonexistent dust from his body, Niram spoke slowly, displaying absolute confidence.

But after glancing around, he voiced a question.

"By the way, where is that Stellaron Hunter, Sam? Didn't he appear with you? Are you alone?"

Compared to the Kamen Rider GlareN before him, Niram was more concerned with the Rider who had repeatedly appeared and disrupted the dgp games.

There was no need to ask. That Stellaron Hunter and the woman before him were definitely allies.

Stellaron Hunter Sam had given her the Vision Driver, yet he himself had not shown up?

"You sure talk a lot."

"Are all future people as long-winded as you?"

With one punch, Firefly blasted away the control device in front of her. She spread her arms, causing the control devices on Kamen Rider Glare to detach one by one as well.

She then made them hover over her hands, forming a vortex before blasting it toward Kamen Rider Gazer.

Faced with this attack, Niram immediately placed Gazer's control devices before him. The powerful assault was perfectly blocked by a golden barrier.

This was Kamen Rider Gazer, equipped with a defensive system capable of blocking "any" attack.

"Future people? You say that as if you aren't one yourself."

Niram stood in place with his hands behind his back. He did not need to make any movements at all; he only needed to control the devices to deal with everything.

It was as though everything was under his control.

He was also puzzled by Firefly's words. She spoke as though she were not from the future.

If she were not from the future, how could a native of this ancient era possess such technology and power, much less successfully master the Vision Driver?

That was not something natives of this ancient era could accomplish.

"I'm not one of you vile future people. Future people should stay obediently in the future, using even more advanced technology to satisfy your twisted tastes. How boring."

"It doesn't even count as the lowest form of Elation."

These future people could be considered amusement seekers, but their methods of entertainment were the most shameless and lowest-grade kind.

In the Star Rail Universe, they would not even meet the threshold to become Masked Fools.

Coming to a dimension of the past and turning its original world into a stage for entertainment—did they really take pride in that?

"I'll assume what you said is true. But what do you know? The meaning behind the dgp's existence is a truth you cannot possibly understand."

Niram still did not believe Firefly's words, but his tone remained firm.

The Desire Grand Prix reality show was a program beloved by countless future viewers. Its significance was hardly as simple as others imagined.

"Enough of this. Now, I'm taking back the Driver that was never yours."

Niram said no more. He merely stood where he was and snapped his fingers stylishly. Immediately afterward, the other four control units on his body began to detach.

The five control units then spread out side by side, all locking onto Firefly before them.

"Erase her!"

At Niram's command, he raised a hand.

All the control units sprang into action at once, launching a coordinated assault on Firefly.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Kamen Rider Gazer's firepower was terrifyingly powerful, causing massive destruction even within the Creation Temple. Fortunately, it would not affect the Statue of the Goddess of Creation.

"I'll give those words right back to you."

"Not just Glare—your Gazer will be mine as well."

Facing Niram's attack, Firefly had Kamen Rider Glare's control units begin an equally erratic, unrestricted bombardment.

Using the control units to deal with Niram's control units, Firefly herself turned into an afterimage and rushed in front of Niram, throwing a punch.

Niram did not panic. He simply controlled one of the units to block in front of him.

Gazer's terrifying defense system revealed itself once more. Even Kamen Rider Glare's power could not break through it.

But Firefly did not give up. She merely took out one of her cards.

After having the Vision Driver scan the Providence Card once again, accompanied by the sound effect of "Delete"—

Firefly gathered energy in her feet and launched a kick at Niram before her, sending an energy blade sweeping out from her foot toward him.

Under that power, the control unit in front of her was still kicked aside.

"Hmm?"

Niram, who stood with his hands behind his back as though elegance itself, frowned slightly at the sight. Yet he still made no move, simply remaining where he was and watching Firefly's kick approach.

Just as it was about to hit him in the next second...

Bzzzz!

All the control systems instantly appeared before him. The five control units arranged themselves on the same plane, releasing energy to form an invincible golden defensive barrier.

Boom!!

The Rider Kick struck the defensive barrier, yet could not so much as shake it.

When her first strike failed, Firefly immediately controlled Glare's units to unleash their maximum-output bombardment before Niram. Even then, she could not break through the defense.

"It's useless. I already told you... you're no match for me."

"Rather than this, why not have that Stellaron Hunter, Sam, fight me instead?"

Niram remained utterly calm. Although the Game Master's Driver was more refined in terms of game settings, its combat mode was inferior to his.

The outcome had been decided from the very beginning.

Instead, he was more interested in the arrival of Sam, the Stellaron Hunter. He very much wanted to see the strength of that unknown Rider.

"That may not be true."

Indeed.

Kamen Rider GlareN's power was far inferior to Sam's, but that did not mean it could not break the man's defense.

Firefly swiped her card across the Driver once again. Then she took out a card Niram had never seen before and slapped it onto the Driver.

The unfamiliar item made Niram's heart tighten. For some reason, he had a bad feeling.

But no matter how he thought about it, it was impossible. How could Glare possibly break his defense?

"Then watch carefully. What comes next... will be your defeat!"

As a Kamen Rider, Firefly naturally would not waste such a perfect chance to show off. She raised her right hand, pointed at Niram and the ground, and declared his defeat with absolute confidence.

The moment her words fell, Firefly moved.

She leaped into the air once more, but compared to before, she was far more terrifying now. The Path of Destruction empowered the armor covering her body.

A terrifying phantom flashed behind her.

It was death comparable to a stellar lifeform, the collapse of a galaxy... Merely a phantom, merely a trace of its aura, was enough to fill one with utter despair.