“Hurry up and talk! Where’s the treasure?! You want this girl to die or what?!”
Kida yelled, while the giant held Saeko high up in the air with his hand on her throat.
“Stop! Make him stop!”
The pale Saeko wasn’t even screaming anymore at this point.
“Fine! I’ll tell you! Just let her go!”
Tachihara shouted while grabbing the muzzle that was pressed against his stomach.
“The treasure’s just up ahead!”
Kida shook off his hands and slapped him with the gunstock.
Saeko could see Tachihara stagger, but she could do nothing but continue to groan as her neck was squeezed even tighter.
“It’s right here! This is where the treasure’s hidden!”
Tachihara took off his shirt and showed his chest.
Carved there were tattoos of various numbers.
Kida’s eyes lit up.
“Now that’s something! I didn’t know you and Sumio were into the same things. Let’s see, these numbers are… longitude and latitude, right?”
“Right. Three islands and three reefs.”
“Much appreciated. I’ll make sure to tear that off once I’m done with you!”
He pointed his gun with a ruthless smile on his face.
Right that moment, they could hear the roars of the Undead.
“Don’t tell me there are actually monsters here…”
Kida’s shoulders quivered while his face grew pale.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to…”
But before Tachihara could finish his sentence, the roars grew louder, and a sharp pain shot through his earlobes.
Kida had squatted down with his ears covered as well.
The very next moment, the Undead lashed out from the darkness.
The giant was still standing in place with no idea of what was going on as fresh blood spurted out of him before he collapsed onto the ground.
Saeko fell with a scream, and Tachihara quickly moved to protect her.
“Get on the ropeway!”
“But you’re…”
“Just hurry up and go!”
Cards began rotating around his waist and formed a belt.
“Henshin!”
He transformed into Garren and took on the Undead.
His sharp punches and kicks mowed down the Undead and sent them flying.
“Wh-Wh-What the hell are you?!”
Kida’s eyes were wide open as he was taken aback with complete confusion.
Garren repelled each and every one of the incoming Undead with extreme precision.
Meanwhile, Saeko had made it into the gondola and shouted out with her finger held over the start button.
“Hurry up, Tachihara…!”
“Don’t worry about me! Just go!”
But the cowardly Kida had floundered his way in instead.
“Move!”
He knocked Saeko to the other end of the gondola and pressed the button, closing the doors.
A thud could be heard as the gondola shook and began descending.
A single Undead then jumped onto its roof.
The gondola shook heavily from the impact, and the horrified Kida could be seen haphazardly shooting at the ceiling from behind the glass.
After finally defeating the Undead in front of him, Garren jumped from the end of the platform as well, and transformed into his Jack Form midair as he pursued the gondola.
The Undead on top of the gondola was tearing apart the ceiling of the gondola in its attempt to make its way inside.
The gunshots of Kida’s pistol could be heard alongside Saeko’s screams.
Garren spread his wings as he rapidly dropped down towards the Undead, letting out an attack.
He managed to knock the Undead off, but it had managed to grab onto the pulley support at the last second, along with grabbing Garren’s leg with its other hand, causing him to slam against the roof.
Garren instantly kicked that hand off and rose back up again, but he was now forced to fight on top of the gondola against the roaring Undead that had managed to get back up on its feet again.
The cable bent, and the gondola made a huge sway.
Through the torn-open roof, Saeko and Kida could be seen screaming and rolling around the gondola helplessly.
The intense shaking and impacts caused the pulley to let out grating sounds.
Garren finally landed his finishing move onto the Undead.
The Undead fell with a dying shriek, dissipating as it rolled off the slanted surface.
“Watch out, Tachihara!”
Just as Saeko screamed, a gunshot could be heard, and a bullet grazed against Garren’s cheek.
“So you were a monster too, huh?!”
Kida was pointing his gun at him from beneath the hole in the roof.
“Stop!”
Saeko grabbed onto Kida’s arm, but she collapsed upon receiving an elbow strike.
“Saeko!”
“Die die die!”
Garren just barely dodged the haphazardly launched bullets as he rose into the air, only to be attacked by another Undead that had flown towards him from the sky.
Failing to react in time, Garren was knocked down against the descending gondola.
After having just finally stabilized, the gondola once again began swaying violently.
“Screw you! Just drop dead!”
Kida lost his balance as he continued to fire recklessly at Garren.
Right then, the flying Undead returned after making a long turn and shot out crimson flames from its mouth.
Garren felt the approaching heat and dodged into the sky at the last second, but the flames then entered straight into the hole in the roof.
Kida could be seen engulfed by the flames from behind the glass window, with Saeko crouching right behind him.
“Saeko!”
Garren spun his wings and crashed into the glass window, and at the same time, the pulley ended up disconnecting from the cable due to the support getting incinerated.
As the gondola tilted in its descent, Garren slipped past the flames and embraced Saeko.
“Tachihara…!”
“Close your eyes!”
Immediately afterwards, he felt a tremendous impact as if he had been slammed into a slope, followed by an even more violent impact as the earth and sky switched places.
A scene that resembled a large fireball crashing down arose in Garren’s mind.
Blade was defeated? Kenzaki died?
No way. There’s no way that happened.
Tougo found himself standing still in dumbfoundedness upon the Mother Undead’s attack.
“Tougo… Get a hold of yourself, Tougo!”
After receiving a slap from Takuho, Tougo finally came back to his senses.
“Takuho…?”
“We’re heading all the way back! That thing’s huge, so it won’t be able to chase us!”
The Mother Undead was rampaging within the steering room, seemingly annoyed by the cramped space.
With the arrival of the Mother Undead possibly having raised their spirits, the other Undeads were roaring as well as they attacked in a frenzy.
Sparks flew out as the devices and instruments in the room began to blow up.
“Stop!”
“What do you think you’re doing to our ship?!”
The captain and the chief engineer shouted in anger.
“Don’t let them get to the wheel no matter what!”
“We have to protect our ship!”
“Right!”
The rest of the crew didn’t budge an inch either, and proceeded to attack the Mother Undead with everything they could get their hands on, including fire extinguishers, chairs, and other pieces of furniture.
“Are you listening to me?! You and Rikiya need to hurry up and get out of here!”
“…Got it. But what about you, Takuho?”
Instead of responding, Takuho simply ran towards the captain and the rest to join the fight against the Mother Undead.
“Takuho!”
Tougo and Rikiya shouted, and Takuho yelled in reply without turning around.
“Hurry! I’m counting on you to take care of Dai and Mei!”
But his words weren’t convincing enough.
For just a moment, Tougo and Rikiya exchanged glances of hesitation.
No, we want to fight too.
They began to search for things that could be used as weapons, but it didn’t take long for their motivation to disappear.
Right then, one of the crewmates got caught by the Mother Undead’s iron claws and was crushed to death.
Right after that, another crewmate was torn apart by an Undead.
Fresh blood splattered, and the situation quickly took a turn for the worst.
Everyone in the room began stepping back all at once, causing Tougo and Rikiya to get pushed against the exit door, ultimately trapping them inside of the steering room.
“Ow! Don’t push!”
Rikiya cried out as both him and Tougo crumpled from the increasing weight put on them.
The Mother Undead and her minions continued to advance.
Their reptilian-like breath caused Tougo to turn his face and fight back nausea.
Everyone was prepared to die at that moment, but just as the Mother Undead reached right in front of their noses, she began to draw back.
Someone had grabbed her tail and was pulling her back to the deck.
Both the crew and the Undead watched in surprise.
Standing before them was the imposing figure of Blade in his Jack Form.
There was no doubt he had flown all the way from the island in pursuit of the Mother Undead using his wings.
“Blade!”
“You’re alive!”
And then Tougo witnessed something incredible.
After making a small nod, Blade transformed into a new form.
The color of his suit changed from blue to gold, and an enormous sword manifested in his hand.
“It’s the King Form!”
Having peeked out from his hiding spot, Kojirou shouted those words, and then Tougo remembered.
The King Form.
It was Blade’s final form that appeared towards the end of the story.
The smiling faces of Dai and Mei, who were carried by Ren, could be seen next to Kojirou.
“Kenzaki!”
“Blade!”
Blade swung his sword with the cheers of the children behind him.
One flash, two flashes.
Every single one of the Undeads that had jumped out from the steering room was mowed down by his swing, dissipating midair as they were knocked away.
“Whoa!”
Rikiya cheered as well, and Tougo raised a first.
“You can do it, Blade!”
Blade adjusted his sword stance and confronted the Mother Undead.
Waves of tension clashed between them, causing the atmosphere to tremble.
The Mother Undead dashed forward, and so did Blade.
The two of them ran across the long deck before leaping up and intersecting midair.
The incredible speed was much too fast for the naked eye to perceive.
All that could be made out was the flying sparks and loud clangs caused by their combat.
A terrible anguished roar could be heard.
The Mother Undead stopped moving, with blue blood spurting out of her trembling body before she dropped towards the sea and disappeared.
“He did it… He did it!”
“Yes!”
Tougo and Rikiya danced in joy, and the others cheered as well.
After undoing his transformation, the out-of-breath Kenzaki was immediately embraced by Dai and Mei who had jumped out of their hiding spot.
“Kenzaki!”
“Kenzaki!”
Despite the intense exhaustion that dyed his face, his lips still curved into a gentle smile.
Then they heard lightning.
The captain and chief engineer’s eyes grew stern as they looked towards the distance.
“A storm’s coming.”
“If we don’t fix up the ship and set sail soon, we’re gonna be in trouble.”
Kenzaki’s face visibly grew pale upon hearing mention of a storm.
It could have been that even without his memories, his body still remembered that fear.
Kenzaki trembled.
Kamen Rider Novel Translations 