As the flames were pulled away by his hand, a brand-new form emerged upon his body.
Silver-white armor interwove with surging crimson radiance, shaping into a suit of dazzling armor.
This armor was simple yet powerful. Its silver-white metallic surface exuded a presence as cold and sharp as a blade.
This contrasted charmingly with the faceplate bearing Sora's round, cute eyes.
The armor's sleek and elegant lines perfectly conformed to his figure, as though specifically crafted for him alone.
Most striking were the vivid crimson lines pulsing like a heartbeat upon the armor, subtly trembling in sync with Sora's breathing, radiating tremendous vitality.
The long coat-like garment draped over his shoulders gave him a slender, refined appearance.
Upon this coat were countless slender silver threads, each precisely etched into familiar yet mysterious patterns.
Though densely woven, the patterns didn't appear chaotic, but instead exuded an air of deep, profound mystery.
This was Sora's new form—something he himself had never anticipated.
[Heisei Damashii] and [Superhero Senki] had fused, resulting in this [Eyecon] that appeared only once before.
Using it, Sora had transformed into:
KAMEN RIDER GHOST—RIDER DAMASHII!
In this form, Sora could borrow the power of all Kamen Riders.
These Kamen Riders had willingly lent their strength to Sora's cause, uniting with him to accomplish this revival of all who had fallen.
Just as declared during the henshin, heroes would endlessly rally to protect life and smiles.
They did not ask for rewards, nor question right or wrong. Their only goal was to fulfill this purpose.
And now, directly confronting this form stood HOOH, whose colossal figure stretched across multiple light-years.
Before THEM, Sora's presence was as insignificant as a speck of dust. Even the blazing flames around him failed to illuminate even a corner of THEIR immense form.
Yet even so, he stood in the breach, obstructing this AEON who represented one of the fundamental laws of the universe.
"I'm just an ordinary person borrowing their strength. Remember that well."
Only after Sora's transformation concluded, and the swirling power around him completely dissipated, did the cosmos finally settle into its usual stillness.
HOOH remained utterly unchanged. THEY expressed no surprise at Sora's new form, yet THEY spoke once more:
[YOU ARE NOT AN ORDINARY PERSON. FROM THE MOMENT YOU STOOD BEFORE ME FOR THE SAKE OF THOSE WHO DIED, YOU BECAME AN EXTREMELY POWERFUL WARRIOR.]
Many beings had challenged AEONs. Some overcame fear and stood boldly before the apex of the cosmos—for fame, glory, or personal gain.
Yet those beings had always challenged AEONs for themselves.
Sora was the first to attack an AEON purely for the sake of countless others who had no connection to him at all.
Thus, from HOOH's perspective, Sora standing here was already beyond ordinary.
But unfortunately…
[COSMIC EQUILIBRIUM BROOKS NO DISRUPTION. THEREFORE, I DELIVER JUDGMENT.]
Even if you have become an exceptionally powerful warrior, even if your power isn't used selfishly—
Equilibrium is equilibrium. No living being is allowed to overturn it. THEY THEMSELF would personally oppose any entity daring to disturb the balance.
HOOH invoked the fundamental rules of the cosmos. The entire starfield twisted as if stirred by an invisible giant hand; even the textures of space and time began warping.
Sora could sense a force beyond comprehension reshaping the laws of this universe.
Starlight flickered erratically—some stars abruptly extinguished, others flared brilliantly beyond their normal radiance.
Everything in space became utterly bizarre!
Gravitational pulls between star systems lost their balance; planets veered from their paths, some hurled into unknown voids.
Simultaneously, Sora felt countless invisible threads tightening around his body.
This is a binding net woven from the fundamental laws of the cosmos by HOOH?!
He grasped the true nature of this binding force: the raw power of cosmic principles themselves.
The surrounding space seemed designed from its very inception to imprison him here.
Such force could effortlessly rip apart planets; asteroids would instantly shatter under its strain.
Likewise, Sora himself was held firmly in place within this starfield.
"But this…isn't enough to affect me!"
Yet Sora's body showed no sign of tearing—instead standing tall and unyielding!
He summoned forth the energy of countless Kamen Riders within him.
The crimson lines upon his silver-white armor began pulsing faster, patterns on his hood radiating even brighter brilliance.
DECADE, GAIM, SABER...
Powers transcending worlds responded to Sora's resolve, reshaping the cosmos around him.
A barrier of energy appeared in the void ahead, neutralizing all attempts to restrain him, restoring normality.
Still, HOOH towered in endless space, palms clasped, rewriting the fundamental laws once again.
[BANISHMENT!]
In this instant, it wasn't threads of restraint—instead, countless rays of light vanished around Sora, as if he'd been banished into absolute nothingness.
Here, there was no existence whatsoever.
"Then I'll create my own laws with my own hands!"
If this place was pure nothingness, then he would bring forth new laws!
His fierce determination ignited the patterns on his hood once more.
Build, Ex-Aid, Zero-One…
BUILD, EX-AID, ZERO-ONE...
A powerful energy field expanded from his core, spreading throughout the emptiness. At the same time, Sora took creation itself into his grasp.
Analyzing the fundamental laws around him, he understood clearly what form the swarm-devastated planets should possess.
With a wave of his hand, countless radiant lights condensed—one star after another was born anew…
Outside, HOOH calmly stared at the thumb-sized ripple of emptiness before THEM.
It was the void THEY THEMSELF had created, completely detached from every cosmic rule. Within it, no time, space, nor any concept existed.
An instant outside could stretch tens of thousands of years within—that was the profound divide between this void and the external world.
No life capable of perceiving existence could withstand the erosion of absolute nothingness.
All THEY needed was to wait quietly for Sora's mind to dissolve into madness—for the Möbius ring resurrecting life to fade away.
THEY waited and waited…
But unfortunately, HOOH's expectations seemed destined to collapse.
The radiant Möbius ring hadn't weakened in the slightest, steadily growing instead. Rather, the void THEY THEMSELF created had begun trembling violently.
HOOH exerted THEIR utmost strength to stabilize it—but it was already too late!
In the next instant, the tiny thumb-sized void trembled fiercely.
One planet after another erupted outward, overflowing as though filled beyond containment.
These newly emerged planets swiftly settled into their proper cosmic locations, perfectly aligning with preexisting universal laws.
[WHAT NONSENSE IS THIS?!]
HOOH stared incredulously at the stream of planets pouring forth.
When THEY reached out to erase them, THEY quickly realized each planet perfectly conformed to the fundamental structure of the cosmos—as though these worlds had never been destroyed!
Yet the swarm had clearly devoured and shattered these planets long ago. Now, these pristine worlds stood before THEM, flawlessly integrated into cosmic foundations.
This paradox between knowledge and reality fiercely battered HOOH's mind, plunging THEM into profound confusion.
Just why exactly had this happened?
The fundamental laws of the universe hadn't changed in the slightest. That meant these planets hadn't been rewritten from their broken states.
Not being in a broken state indicated that the very foundations of the universe already acknowledged their completeness.
But what THEY perceived and what THEY saw conflicted. THEY couldn't confirm the brokenness of these planets unless THEY personally altered them…
[COULD IT BE…]
HOOH seemed to realize something. THEIR gaze shifted toward the cosmos around THEM, currently paused under THEIR control.
Within the confines of THEIR own power, all rules in this galaxy fell under THEIR direct control.
It should be impossible for anything to happen that contradicted THEIR intentions—and yet, precisely such an impossibility had just occurred.
The only entity capable of causing such a contradiction, aside from THEMSELF, was—
After excluding all impossibilities, no matter how improbable the remaining possibility appeared, it must be true!
Someone was currently stealing THEIR power within this space, walking along THEIR Path!
And this entity wasn't merely a follower of THEIR Path; it was using THEIR own identity to do it…
Simply put, THEIR "account" had been simultaneously logged in by two entities in this one place!
[THIS IS NOT BALANCED. THIS IS NOT BALANCED AT ALL!]
As the AEON governing EQUILIBRIUM, HOOH was the center of the cosmic scales, measuring both ends of balance.
Now, with two of THEM existing at once, HOOH THEMSELF had become the imbalance.
Who did this? Who was responsible?!
Instantly, HOOH's gaze crossed countless star seas, landing on THEIR old friend rolling around laughing wildly.
If there was one being in the entire cosmos who enjoyed walking along another AEON's Path just for fun—this guy was most suspicious!
Was it HIM?!
Noticing HOOH's gaze, AHA startled like a rabbit, hurriedly hiding behind countless planets.
[BLOCKHEAD! BLOCKHEAD! WE'RE GOOD FRIENDS! YOU CAN'T SELL OUT A FRIEND LIKE THIS!]
AHA seemed genuinely panicked, scrambling frantically behind celestial bodies.
[AHA ONLY WANTS SOME FUN! AHA DID NOTHING AT ALL! DON'T CAUSE TROUBLE FOR AHA!]
It didn't seem to be HIM—then only one possibility remained.
HOOH poured countless cosmic orders into the tiny thumb-sized void THEY had created. In that minuscule emptiness, countless specks of brilliance trembled violently before exploding outward.
At a glance, it seemed like worthless debris, yet upon closer inspection, each expelled fragment turned out to be a fully formed planet!
[AS EXPECTED—IT'S YOU.]
HOOH's gaze shifted to the silver-and-red figure who had not been lost within the void, finally understanding everything.
Not only had Sora avoided losing himself in that void of nothingness—when HOOH extracted innumerable laws from it, the most fundamental rules had been exposed.
Sora had seized precisely these foundational rules to reconstruct the previously destroyed or vanished planets.
As for why he hadn't become lost…
It was because upon his body, a certain countdown timer was continuously ticking down!
The critical factor causing beings to become lost within the Void was the loss of temporal perception.
Without perception of time, all things became meaningless.
Yet, within that emptiness, Sora still felt the passage of time clearly.
Precisely because he could grasp this fundamental rule, he had naturally avoided losing himself.
"Of course it was me. And I really ought to thank you."
Sora's mocking words didn't embarrass HOOH in the slightest.
As Sora stepped out of the void, the sensation of one account logged in by two beings gradually faded away.
As for these newly created planets—couldn't THEY just destroy them again?
With a tiny gesture, HOOH influenced objects countless light-years away, manipulating gravity until a pitch-black hole manifested within the star system.
"Trying to play with black holes right in front of me—are you really treating me like I'm not human at all?"
[AREN'T YOU AN ENERGY-BASED LIFEFORM NOW? WHY DO YOU STILL CONSIDER YOURSELF FUNDAMENTALLY HUMAN?]
HOOH's words caused a brief silence to fall across the starry skies.
Without answering, Sora's patterns lit up once more.
FOURZE, CROSS-Z, GINGA...
The black hole that was about to devour planets suddenly condensed obediently before Sora.
Leaping into it, he instantly crossed countless light-years, appearing right before HOOH.
The black hole transformed into countless particles, entwining around his fist, and he swung it straight toward the colossal AEON before him!
HEART, JOKER, BLACK...
HOOH's body was unimaginably vast. Viewed up close, one could only perceive Sora's insignificance.
Yet his fist caused an extremely radiant light to erupt in front of HOOH—that was THEIR power surging forth in defense.
Had it merely been a black hole, HOOH wouldn't have bothered defending—but atop Sora's fist gathered a strange, ever-growing power.
It grew continuously, forcing HOOH to guard against it.
Even so, that fist advanced, inch by inch, toward THEIR form.
[BUT THIS ALONE IS MEANINGLESS TO ME.]
An overwhelming repulsive force burst from HOOH's center, scattering outward. Sora's figure tumbled away helplessly like a leaf in the wind.
Ever since THEIR appearance, HOOH's form hadn't moved even slightly. All of Sora's attacks seemed utterly ineffective.
An AEON who governed the fundamental rules of the universe was, in a sense, the cosmos itself.
HOOH's figure seemed timeless, eternal in its existence here.
[IT'S OVER. EVERYTHING YOU UPHOLD IS NOTHING MORE THAN A TRANSIENT DISRUPTION TO ME.]
"No—you've merely defeated the person I was just a moment ago!"
Sora stabilized himself within the vacuum of space, patterns glowing brighter as his power surged endlessly higher.
AGITO, GHOST, WIZARD...
"If everything is woven in your hands, then I—as the final hope—will take it all back!"
'[OMEGA DRIVE KAMEN RIDER!]'
Brilliance gathered around his right leg. Behind Sora, a roaring dragon seemed to appear—
He leaped, delivering a flying kick!
"If you're the foundation of the world, then I'll become the one that destroys it!"
"HYAAAAH!"