Chapter 9 – Prisoner Island, Leangle Awakens
It was hard to say how much time had passed.
Tachihara had been standing still in front of the Stone of Sealing.
No matter how much he tried to fight back, his body would not move. At the same time, his consciousness was gradually growing faint. He was failing to recognize who he was. Why? How? Even thoughts like those had begun to fade away.
The wind swept through them, the rain washed over them, and the Stone of Sealing and Tachihara continued to stand in place, becoming one with nature.
And then something arose within Tachihara’s mind.
“He’s coming… Someone carrying the same fate as me is coming…!”
Tachihara shouted out in neither fear nor expectation, and the Stone of Sealing laughed at him mockingly.
“What did you do to me…?!”
When Tachihara tried to glare at it with what little control he had left in him, someone came inside him.
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The first thing they saw was smoke.
It was Prisoner Island, a place where the area around an old castle was repurposed into an imprisonment facility.
As for the old castle itself—which could be seen on the top of the mountain—it appeared that something had happened to it, as it was half falling apart with smoke rising out from it.
The tides suddenly grew harsh, and it seemed doubtful that their tiny boat would be able to approach the island, but for some reason, they were able to smoothly weave through the swirling currents and make it all the way to the harbor.
The only explanation was that there really was some kind of higher power controlling their boat.
They were unable to do a thing to stop the boat from sailing to Prisoner Island all on its own.
They had a guess at what that higher power could possibly be, but they were all too afraid to reach that conclusion, so they refrained from thinking about it any further.
The Stone of Sealing. Also known as the Master.
That’s what Kenzaki had said, but he didn’t understand why those words came out of his mouth. It appeared that his memory was still as fragmented as ever.
There was nothing like that in the story. What could that possibly mean? It has to have some kind of meaning, Tougo thought to himself. He could feel goosebumps from the bad feeling he was getting.
Kenzaki stared at the approaching pier with his face twisted in pain from his headache.
Tougo tried to speak to him, but he couldn’t.
It wasn’t until Kenzaki jumped off the bow of the ship that Tougo realized that what he was really staring at was the giant stone slab standing atop a low hill.
“Henshin!”
He turned into Blade midair and quickly rose up in his Jack Form.
“Kenzaki!”
“Blade!”
Rikiya, Dai, and Mei all looked at him with surprised faces.
Blade made a turn in the sky and flew straight for the stone slab.
“Wait… Is that the Stone of Sealing?”
Tougo shouted, and so did Rikiya.
“Let’s go!”
They jumped onto the pier without even waiting for the boat to dock.
“Take care of the kids!”
Kojirou shouted to the rest of the crew, who stopped Dai, Mei, and Ren from following after, and then Kojirou joined up with Tougo and the rest as well.
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His instincts had told him to avoid the island’s bay and to instead head for the other side.
After realizing that the uncontrollable speedboat was heading towards Prisoner Island, Hajime immediately transformed into Chalice and threw himself into the swirling tides.
Compared to the surface of the water, the currents underwater were not that strong. He dodged the sharks who saw him as prey as he made a huge detour around to the bluff on the other side of the island.
After cautiously poking his face out from the water, he turned into Joker and began climbing up the bluff.
His mantis-like limbs were efficient at grabbing the rock protrusions and pulling himself up, allowing him to scale the overhanging bluff without any issue.
I have complete control over Joker now. No longer will I be that beast who was at complete mercy to its instincts.
Chalice grew satisfied, momentarily forgetting about the cruel fate that awaited him.
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He could see that grotesque form of Hajime’s climbing up the bluff.
“Hajime…!”
Satsuki, who had stopped his speedboat in front of the swirling tides, took out the belt and cards from the briefcase.
He had no idea what he was doing. Ever since he had left the Domed City in pursuit of Hajime, his consciousness had slowly been growing hazy.
“Lame-tsuki… You idiot!”
Who was it that called out those words behind me?
I can’t remember, even though I could just a little while ago. I can’t remember. I probably never even heard that voice in the first place. When I think about it that way, everything makes so much more sense. That’s right. That has to be it. It never happened. I’m sure of it.
The only thing I hear is the roaring sea. The only thing I can see is that grotesque creature.
That voice he once heard began ringing in his head again.
“Fight, Mutsuki! Fight, Leangle! Defeat Chalice!”
Mutsuki. Is that my name? Yeah, I’m pretty sure it is. I’m Mutsuki. I’m Leangle. I will fight and defeat him. I’ll defeat Chalice. I have to.
Suddenly, I could feel someone inside me.
I put on my belt, passed through the wave of energy, and became Leangle.
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“Henshin…!”
Driven by the entity within him, Tachihara became Garren.
At the same time, he attacked the figure that could be seen rapidly flying down towards the Stone of Sealing.
It was a figure that he saw in his dreams, someone whose bizarre appearance resembled Garren’s. Blade. Although he momentarily recognized him, that recognition soon faded away.
“…Garren! Is that you, Tachibana…?”
After slamming onto the ground, Blade looked towards his direction with surprise.
“Tachibana… Tachibana…”
That name began to permeate throughout his consciousness.
“That’s right… I’m… Tachibana!”
Someone shouted out from within me.
And soon enough, I became that certain someone.
“Saeko… No, Sayoko… Watch over me. I’m going to destroy Blade, the one who dragged you into the mess that caused your death!”
Garren released another flurry of attacks that sent Blade down onto his knees.
However, Blade would not fight back.
“Garren…? Tachibana…?”
It seemed that he was confused over his own words.
“Who is that…? I can’t… remember…”
He began groaning while holding his head, to which Garren then took the opportunity to kick him as hard as he could.
After getting launched by at least thirty meters, a golden light surrounded Blade as he attempted to transform.
“King Form…!”
He subconsciously recognized the phenomenon, causing him to launch out a wave.
The wave formed a maroon curtain that wrapped around Blade, preventing his further transformation.
Upon finally breaking through the curtain, Blade realized that it was made up of a herd of crow-sized maroon beetles. Their sharp jaws bit at Blade’s eyes, nose, and ears.
“Die… Blade…!”
Garren listened to the brutal words that spat out from his own voice.
—————————————————-
By the time he only needed thirty more meters to reach the top of the bluff, he was attacked.
Leangle, who had crawled up with his spider-like movements, had stabbed a dagger into him.
After lurching back from the damage, the Chalice within Joker, or rather, Hajime, found himself taken aback from encountering Leangle for the first time in over three hundred years.
“Leangle! Is that you, Mutsuki…?! Wait, no… Satsuki?!”
Upon looking down towards the ocean, he could see a speedboat of the same model as his own get swallowed up by the tides.
“But why…?”
Before he even had the time to process the situation, he received another attack from Leangle and fell ten meters, barely managing to hang from one of the rock protrusions.
A swarm of green spiders surrounded him from all directions like rippling waves, covering his entire body. The poison dripping from their fangs glistened in the light.
“Die… Chalice…!”
Leangle’s voice rang out as if it came from the depths of hell.
—————————————————-
The Stone of Sealing was laughing.
When Tougo ran up the hill together with Rikiya and Kojirou, he could clearly hear the mocking laughter coming from the stone before him.
“Blade!”
Rikiya shouted, and Tougo looked in surprise.
Blade was suffering from the attacks of another Masked Rider.
“Garren…!”
Kojirou screamed, and Tougo immediately understood.
That maroon body with a design based on the stag beetle was one of the four Riders that appeared in the story.
“So that means… Chalice and Leangle are here somewhere too…? Seriously?”
Kojirou frantically looked around.
Surrounded by the swarm of maroon beetles, Blade received another flurry of attacks from Garren and dropped to his knees.
Blade groaned from the damage and began speaking words with indiscernible meaning.
“Don’t… make me go mad… Don’t make me go insane…!”
Suddenly, he changed form as if he was shedding his skin.
He had taken on a warped sinister appearance that resembled a Heracles beetle.
“That’s… Joker…!”
Tougo understood what Kojirou’s stunned voice was referring to.
The Joker that appeared at the end of the story. It was Chalice’s true form, and Blade had willingly turned himself into one as well in order to save humanity.
Both Chalice and Blade then repressed their instincts as Jokers and headed their separate paths in order to avoid conflict.
That was the story’s last scene.
Two heroes who carried the fate of deciding a victor between them, only to end up choosing to reject such a fate. It was an ending that made Tougo cry. He had read it over and over again, crying every single time.
And now that very same Blade, or rather, Joker, was shouting.
Tougo and the rest shut their ears from the soundwaves that pierced their eardrums, and then they saw something horrifying.
The swarms of beetles surrounding Blade Joker began to burn up with blue flames. One by one, they dropped to the ground and disintegrated.
Blade Joker’s eyes held a glint that had never been seen before.
They were the eyes of a mad beast.
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“I’ve had enough of this!”
A surge of anger erupted from within his body, and Chalice listened to his own cry.
The very next second, the spiders burned up in flames and dropped down one after the other.
Chalice shivered.
His memories as a beast had begun resurfacing against his will, and a dreadful premonition crossed his mind.
Stop. Don’t go mad. I should have complete control over Joker right now. But that very same Joker is trying to go berserk again. It’s acting on its own, completely ignoring my orders.
No, that’s not it. Maybe this is what I really wanted all along. Maybe Joker and I are one and the same. Maybe I’ve just been mistaken all this time.
As his heart violently trembled, Chalice came to a realization.
He now understood what the Master’s scheme was.
Three hundred years ago, I sealed Joker away and succeeded in controlling it. I became capable of using it as I willed, as if I had sealed it within a card.
It should’ve been the same with Kenzaki.
But the Master planned on interfering with all of that.
That’s why he made Satsuki transform into Leangle and had us fight.
Meaning that right now there’s a good chance that Kenzaki, as Blade, is being made to fight against someone who was manipulated into transforming into Garren.
“That’s not happening!”
I now know where my anger should be directed.
Master, I won’t allow this to go your way.
I won’t go mad. I won’t turn into Joker, I won’t turn into a beast. No matter what.
Kenzaki, where are you? Kenzaki. I won’t go mad. So don’t you dare go mad, either. Don’t go mad, Kenzaki. Kenzaki.
Chalice resisted as hard as he could as his consciousness grew dim.
And as he resisted, he dodged Leangle’s attacks and jumped off the bluff.
He then transformed into his strongest form, Wild Chalice, midair.
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