During the time I spent slaughtering the Shuukis alongside Chief Uzen, things went surprisingly smoothly. Without a single word between us, we moved in sync while anticipating each other's strikes, covering blind spots, and never once getting in the other's way.
She rode the chained Shuuki like a warhorse, driving it straight through the battle as she carved apart any unlucky creature that dared step into her rampage.
Not wanting to be outdone, I reached to my side and pulled out two Core Medals, swapping them with the ones currently active.
[𝕂𝕦𝕨𝕒𝕘𝕒𝕥𝕒]
[𝔾𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕒]
[𝔹𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕒]
My form shifted instantly. Along with the gray, heavy-armed Gorilla torso. My head turned green rather than red. A massive stag beetle antler now jutted from my helmet like a crown.
"Alright," I muttered, pounding my chest once.
I inhaled deeply, clenched my fist, and raised it high above my head.
"HULK SMASH!!"
I slammed my punch into the ground with brutal force. The earth shattered beneath me, splitting open in a wide crater that sent the Shuukis in front of me stumbling before they plunged into the pit below.
Seizing the moment, I leapt skyward and crashed down onto two of them, crushing their chests in a single devastating impact.
But more were already charging at me.
Letting out a whistle, I grabbed the weakest looking one by the leg and swung it like a living weapon, battering the others that rushed forward. Its body tore apart with every hit, flesh ripping until it was barely recognizable.
"Bring it on!" I roared, still smashing them with the corpse in my hands.
After a few more brutal swings, even I had to admit—
Yeah… that's enough of that.
Sorry, fella.
I don't want to play with you anymore.
I tossed the ruined Shuuki aside and switched to fisting the hell out of them, punching through chests and stomping through heads as they swarmed me. They didn't stand a chance cause every strike I landed punched straight through flesh like paper.
That Armored Shuuki I fought last time really was insanely durable cause it was able to tank this Medal's power.
Smirking, I decided to continue things with one of my favorite wrestling move.
I swept a Shuuki's legs out from under it, sending it crashing to its knees. Then I grabbed its head in a tight facelock, wrapping my arm around its neck.
Planting my feet, I leapt backward and shouted—
"DDT!!"
I hit the ground hard, driving the Shuuki's head into the earth with excessive, bone-crushing force. The impact split the soil and left its body twitching for only a second before going limp.
I rose immediately, scanning the field.
Their numbers were thinning.
"Let's subtract a few more, shall we?"
The stag beetle antler on my helmet began to glow. A sharp green light pulsed from its edges, growing brighter with every passing second. Soon, arcs of green lightning crackled around me, snapping violently through the air and scorching the ground beneath my feet.
Energy gathered at the tip of the antler, humming louder and louder. Eager to be unleashed.
"Let's make Daddy Palpatine proud"
"So, try to cooperate, will you?"
Without waiting another second, I pointed my finger forward. Green lightning exploded outward in a raging torrent.
It ripped across everywhere like nature's own executioner. Tearing through bodies, burning through, sending Shuukis to their demise as the voltage coursed through them. The air was filled with the sharp scent of charred flesh.
Some tried to shield themselves.
Still, none of it mattered.
The lightning chained from one body to another, multiplying the destruction across the shattered ground. I stood there, arms crossed, letting Mother Nature's lethal weapon do the rest.
When the light finally dimmed, what remained was silence.
======
======
Earlier...
During the Kamen Rider's transformation, Kyouka allowed only half her attention to drift toward him, careful not to lose focus on the far more urgent task—holding back the horde.
"Really… what are you?" she wondered.
Seeing him up close only deepened the mystery. The Kamen Rider was an anomaly—an existence that didn't fit into any known category. She didn't know whether to be impressed or concerned by his strength.
Still, one undeniable fact remained:
Whenever he appeared, the results were overwhelmingly in positive favor.
But that did not absolve him.
He was still a question mark. A variable that needed to be investigated by her and by the Defense Force.
"Tsk."
Kyouka clicked her tongue as a Shuuki managed to ambush the one she was riding. The creature shrieked as it was torn apart beneath her, collapsing before she could compensate.
She clicked her tongue again and leapt off its back gracefully.
Then—
The ground shook violently.
Her eyes shifted toward the source of the tremor.
The Kamen Rider.
He slammed his fist into the earth, splitting it open and creating a massive pit. Like mindless beasts chasing bait, dozens of Shuukis swarmed after him and tumbled straight into the crater.
Kyouka watched for only a second.
Then she looked away.
For now, he wasn't her priority.
She raised her hand and cracked her middle finger against her thumb—a small, habitual motion.
Of all the Peach abilities she could have been given…
Why did it have to be such a troublesome one to use?
Yet despite her complaint, her eyes sharpened once more.
Annoying or not—
She would not rely on it for now.
And she would win.
Obviously.
"I don't need any Peaches to beat the hell out of you," Kyouka said, her expression unchanging, not a flicker of doubt crossing her face.
She slid the scabbard over her katana in a single smooth motion, then tossed the blade into the air. Before it could descend, she vanished from where she stood.
In the next instant, she reappeared before the Shuuki, which had left itself wide open. Kyouka steadied her breathing, locking the muscles of her upper and lower body together to ensure her strike would not lose power—only amplifying it.
She drove a palm strike into the creature, forcing it back and knocking it off balance. Stepping her rear foot forward, she clenched her fist and adjusted her stance, coiling her body for the rotation to come.
"Let's dance, you shithead."
𝕋𝕖𝕟 ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕖𝕔𝕦𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕊𝕖𝕚𝕜𝕖𝕟 正拳十連突き
Kyouka unleashed a swift relentless barrage of devastating punches, each one slamming into a different point. Fists tore into the Shuuki's body, blasting holes through its body until, overwhelmed by the full force of her assault, it staggered and crashed backward to the ground.
Seeing no signs of it rising again, she sensed another presence closing in.
Another attacker.
Another corpse waiting to be made.
The incoming punch tore through the air. Kyouka raised her right hand and redirected its flow with precise control, guiding the force past her body. It was a fatal mistake on the Shuuki's part—its momentum carried its masked face directly within her reach.
Her eyes locked onto the mask.
She seized the creature by the head and drove her knee upward, crushing its face with a sickening crack. Once wasn't enough. She struck again—a second blow, then a third, then a fourth—each impact sharper and more brutal than the last before she finally released it.
As her palm opened, her katana dropped neatly into her hand as if it were an extension of her own limb. Fingers wrapped around the hilt without hesitation. She lunged forward, unsheathing the blade in a single fluid motion, cutting through the enemies in her path as she advanced.
Kyouka never looked back. Her gaze remained fixed ahead, her back turned to the Shuuki she had just passed. She broke into another sprint, already hunting the next cluster of dead meat.
Behind her, the Shuuki she had crossed stood frozen for a breathless second, as though unaware of what had occurred.
Then their bodies came apart.
Limbs slid free. Torsos split cleanly. They fell in pieces—like salmon filleted by a master chef—only then realizing, too late, that they had already been cut down.
Watching their kin fall one after another, the remaining Shuuki grew frantic. Desperation drove them together as they began to gather and merge.
They crawled over one another, piling into a grotesque mound of writhing flesh.
Kyouka snorted at the pitiful spectacle, unimpressed.
"Well, this makes it easier. I can wipe you out all at once," she said coolly, tilting her chin up as the mass continued to swell. "You've made my job much simpler, idiots."
A sharp crackling sound sparked behind her. She glanced back to see green lightning arcing from the pit the Kamen Rider had created.
"What the hell is that?," she muttered, before turning her attention back to the abomination nearing completion.
It grew larger by the second.
Massive.
Grotesquely thick.
Veins pulsing beneath stretched skin.
A colossal, muscular Shuuki towered over her, looming as though looking down in mockery. Kyouka's eye twitched at the perceived insult.
"Time to meet your maker."
With a sharp motion, she raised her katana above her head, the blade spinning like a helicopter's propeller.
Myouga Style Swordsmanship: Fourth Form
ℂ𝕣𝕦𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕄𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕚𝕟 山砕斬
Living up to its name, Kyouka brought the blade horizontally in a devastating arc, cleaving cleanly through both of the monster's legs. The massive limbs separated from its body in a spray of ruined flesh.
The giant Shuuki toppled forward, its enormous frame collapsing toward her.
She did not move. Not a trace of fear flickered in her eyes.
Instead, she sensed it—
Rapid footsteps closing in from behind.
"ORAAHHHHHHH!"
A male voice roared in a battle cry as a figure burst past her. He leapt into the air and drove a powerful punch into the falling giant, the impact altering its trajectory and sending the colossal body crashing backward instead of crushing her.
By now, the gate had likely already closed. Realizing that, Kyouka decided it was time to end this.
From behind her came a vaguely familiar jingle.
[𝕋𝕒𝕜𝕒]
[𝕋𝕠𝕣𝕒]
[𝔹𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕒]
[𝕋𝕒-𝕋𝕠-𝔹𝕒! 𝕋𝕒𝕥𝕠𝕓𝕒 𝕋𝕒-𝕋𝕠-𝔹𝕒!]
A presence settled at her back—their shoulders lightly touching. She didn't need to turn around to know that the Kamen Rider stood behind her.
"Well? What do you say we finish this, Chief Uzen?"
She exhaled slowly.
"I'm not your friend, so stop acting chummy," Kyouka replied coolly, though her mind churned with unspoken thoughts and unanswered questions. After a brief pause, she added, "But yes. Let's clean this up."
She jumped.
He jumped.
They rose into the air together, staring down at the giant Shuuki sprawled across the ground, its massive arms twitching as it struggled to rise.
[𝕊ℂ𝔸ℕℕ𝕀ℕ𝔾 ℝ𝔼ℂℍ𝔸ℝ𝔾𝔼]
Circles of green, yellow, and red materialized beside Kyouka, lining up in luminous rings. Behind the Kamen Rider, a blazing crimson aura erupted, forming wings of radiant light.
Kyouka tightened her grip on her katana, preparing to deliver the final stroke.
"SEIYAHHHH!" the Kamen Rider roared as he descended like a meteor.
"HAAAAAAAAAA!" Kyouka cried, drawing her blade back for a maximum, sweeping strike.
Below them, the Shuuki looked up just as converging light engulfed its massive body. In the next instant, it was carved apart—split in fractions of a second as steel and energy tore through it.
A chain of explosions erupted across its form.
When the smoke cleared, Kyouka and the Kamen Rider landed amid the fading sound, the giant Shuuki—and the last of its kin—reduced to nothing but scattered remnants.