8Kamen Rider of Halkeginia
Chapter 3
Sorry for the wait for this chapter. I was stuck with writer's block and it wasn't until watching the recent Zi-0 episode that I got my muse back.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
"Wh-what are you?" Guiche asked the Rider again, "Are you by chance…a Noble?"
"Hardly," said Raja, "I am not of regal blood, though I'm quite sure my heart is nobler than yours by far."
"How dare you?" spluttered Guiche.
"Hmph," scoffed Raja, "you act all tough, but when things get serious, you splutter and throw a tantrum like a child."
"Now," said the rider as he picked up a discarded spear and twirled it before pointing the tip at the fallen blond, "do you yield, or shall we continue this dance?"
"I-I…" stammered Guiche, but before he could answer, a wave of power swept through the courtyard, causing everyone and everything to freeze in place as if the universe itself had been put on pause.
"Non non non," said voice as a man walked up, "the story, it mustn't end like this."
The man wore a dark blue trench coat held shut by several belts over a navy shirt and pants. His collar was turned upwards and he wore a metal mask over his face that resembled the divine face of comedy.
"Lend your attention to this humble Bard s'il vous plait," said the man as he pulled out a thick tome with a black leather cover and flipped through the pages, before stopping and raising his arms grandiosely, "The story of a monster created by the works of man! An artificial being given life that now turns on its creator!"
The man suddenly shoved his hand into the pages of the book, the limb passing into them as if the pages were a portal of sorts, and withdrew what looked like a Ridewatch.
"That's…" exclaimed Raja, though he was unable to move due to the time freeze.
The man walked over to one of the fallen Valkyrie armors and aligned the face of the watch before pushing the activator button and shoving it into the chest plate, causing energy to arc out, hitting the other fallen armor pieces and pulling them together as they were melted down and re-formed into a humanoid shape that resembled a patchwork man that was composed of random pieces of armor that were fused together at the seams.
[Frankenstein!]
"Its name…is Frankenstein!" declared the man, "bid welcome, to this new Story!"
"Who are you?" demanded the Kamen Rider, "A Time Jacker?"
"Non, cavalier masque," said the man with a laugh, "I am but a simple Bard, but you can call me Xin. Au revoir, mon cher auditoire."
With a snap of his fingers, Xin restored the flow of time as pages shot out of his book, surrounding him before flying away, leaving an empty space where he once was. This caused the constructed monster to roar and take jerky steps toward the Kamen Rider before thrusting its arms forwards and sending bolts of lightning that sent the Rider flying back across the ground.
"Well that's not good," groaned Raja as he climbed to his feet. Turning to the gathered students, he waved his arms exasperatedly, "well what are you waiting for? This isn't a show anymore! RUN!"
This caused the assembled teens to scatter as the constructed monster let out a roar of defiance. Charging at the creature, Raja grabbed the lance that had been knocked out of his hands when he was struck by the blast. The Rider again felt that strange lightness fill his body, but he pushed it to the back of his mind as he charged at the Frankenstein creation. Swinging the lance, he attempted to slash at the creature, but the blade merely glanced across the construct's metal hide, and when Raja attempted to stab the creature, the blade of the spear simply shattered against the metal shell.
"This is lovely," muttered the Rider sarcastically as he tossed the broken weapon aside and dodge several clumsy attacks from the lumbering armor juggernaut to land several punches against its torso, but the armor held firm against the rider's blows, retaliating with a backhand that sent Raja sprawling across the grass.
The Rider tried to pull himself to his feet again, but the beast slammed a foot down on his chest, pinning him to the ground. Raja struggled against the limb, but the strength of the creation forced him into the ground as it stomped down again, creating a crater around his prone body as he grunted out in pain.
'This is really bad," thought Raja as the monster roared and began to charge up energy in its hand, 'I've been treating this like just another Tokusatsu episode, but I could really die here. I need to take this seriously, but I can't move from here!"
Suddenly, Louise's voice cut through the Rider's panicked thoughts, surprising him out of his fear, "Fireball!"
While a blast of flame was not the outcome of the pinkette's attack, the subsequent explosion that erupted upon the breastplate of the creature was more than enough to knock the construct back several steps, freeing the Rider to roll to his feet.
"Louise!" he exclaimed, turning to see that the Pinkette hadn't run away when he had begun the fight with this new monster. On one hand, he wanted to yell at the girl for not listening and putting herself in danger, but overriding that, he saw an opportunity that he could use to take down this monster.
"Louise," he said again, quickly addressing the pinkette, "the spell with the shortest incantation that you know how to use, cast it repeatedly at the beast to keep it occupied as I look for a weak point."
"But I can only make explosions," said Louise.
"I know," said Raja, "and I'm counting on it! Let's go!"
Rushing at the monster again, the Kamen Rider ducked under its swings as he threw several quick jabs at its armored hide, his fists bouncing off the alloyed metal as he tried to find a give in the armor. Jumping back as the monster made another swing at him, he saw the beast charging up another energy blast in its hands, but an explosion erupting on its chest thanks to Louise stopped that cold. Using the opening he had been given, Raja rushed in again, aiming several punches at the monster's lower body before trying for a jumping roundhouse to the side of the monster's head, but the armor that made up its form protected it, though the kick did cause it to stagger back slightly.
The beast roared again and another two explosions blossomed on its body, courtesy of the Rider's pink-haired master, but the monster swept the smoke aside once it got its bearings again and roared. Knowing that he had to end this, Raja pressed the activator button on his driver.
[Finish Time!]
The circle of floating kanji appeared in front of the Rider as he jumped into the air with it following him as it merged in the center to become a single set of characters before flying to slam into the monster, paralyzing it as the Rider spun the Driver into place again.
[Time Strike!]
The Kamen Rider launched himself at the armor golem, slamming a flying kick into the beast that sent it flying back from the impact as an explosion was created from the attack, Raja landing in a crouch amidst the flames once he had finished.
"That…should do it," panted the Kamen Rider as he pulled himself to a standing position, but to his shock and horror, the smoke cleared to reveal the monster had tanked his finishing move and was making its way back toward him, with only a few scuffs on it's patchwork armor to show for it, "it survived my Time Strike? What I would give for a weapon that could pierce its hide!" groaned the Rider.
Suddenly, the center of Raja's Ziku-Driver began to glow and several red Kanji flew out from the Driver and formed into a katana-like blade made of grey metal that had a glowing red edge that extended partially over the hilt over a gun-trigger like a guard
[Ziku-Divider!]
"A sword?" said Raja as he gripped the hilt of the blade, feeling energy and that strange lightness fill his body again, "I can work with this."
Moving into a ready stance, though finding it slightly surprising that he suddenly was this skilled with a blade despite never using one a day in his life, the Kamen Rider rushed at the monster again as Louise cast another spell at it, though missing the target due to range and blowing up a rock instead, and swung the sword he had been granted at the construct. To his surprise and satisfaction, the crimson edge of the sword easily cleaved through the monster's metal hide, revealing a black void that could be seen through the wound across its torso.
The monster let out a roar of defiance and charged up another blast of energy that it sent at the rider, but a quick swing of his new sword allowed Raja to part the blast down the middle, causing it to explode harmlessly past him.
"Sorry," said Raja, "but I've got the edge now."
Swinging the Ziku-Divider, the Kamen Rider forced the beast onto the defensive as he attacked in earnest, slicing gashes across the monster's thick metal hide. Seemingly deciding to take a new strategy, the construct began to charge up another blast of energy, but instead of firing it at the Rider, he launched it at the pinkette that had been throwing explosions at him.
Louise was frozen in fear, but Raja moved quickly. He quickly dove in between the blast and the girl and swung his new sword in an arc, redirecting the blast away, but the force from the attack sent him sprawling across the ground, coming to a stop at the girl's feet.
"You saved me," said Louise.
"Of course," said Raja, "look, this is getting dangerous. Get out of here and get help. I'm going to make another attempt to finish it, but I can't do that if it keeps targeting you."
"I can't leave you!" protested Louise, "What kind of Master abandons their Familiar in battle?"
"You're not abandoning me," said the Kamen Rider as he pulled himself to his feet and placed a comforting hand on the diminutive girl's head, "you're moving to a safe distance so your Familiar can eliminate a threat. Please Louise. Trust me."
Louise hesitated, but nodded, being reassured by the presence of the Kamen Rider she had summoned. Running off to find help, she paused once to make a parting statement.
"Familiar…Kazi," she said, correcting herself, "Win."
"As you command," said the Kamen Rider as he smiled behind his helmet, turning to face the monster.
With his master gone, Raja reached for the Ridewatch on his Driver and removed it before attaching said Watch to the slot on the back of the blade, pressing the activator button attached to the slot.
[Finish Time: Raja!]
Pulling pressing the trigger on the hilt, time around the Rider slowed to a crawl, allowing him to rush forward at the monster as a blade of energy extended from the edge of his sword, bisecting the creature's body with a quick slash, before coming to a stop behind it, time around the Rider returning to normal, making it seem like he had moved in a flash of speed due to the time dilation.
[Dividing Issen!]
The monster let out a roar before going up in a massive explosion that engulfed its entire form. The Kamen Rider walked over to the burning metal remains to confirm that the beast was dead, and saw something strange. Sitting in the center of the remains, was a Ridewatch. Picking it up, he aligned the face dial and pressed the button to check what kind it was and he was surprised at the result.
[G4!]
"Mister Carter," said a voice that cut through the Rider's thoughts, causing him to look up and see several teachers, including a stern green-haired woman that pushed up her glasses seriously, "I believe we'd like some answers."
Image of Raja's weapon can be found on JoinedZero's DeviantArt page, or in my page's favorite's folder. (link to my page on my profile). And yes, Xin is based off of Enter from GoBusters.
