Blade Joker’s attacks were merciless.
After knocking Garren through the air with his first attack, he immediately chased after and followed up with a chain of consecutive strikes, kicking and stepping on him as to deny him any chance of standing up again.
Garren, now on the defensive, groaned from the pain completely helpless.
“Stop, Kenzaki! Blade!”
“That’s not Kenzaki or Blade. That’s Joker. A monster!”
Tougo was stunned by Kojirou’s words. But deep down, a fire was rising within him.
“Screw you!”
Driven by an impulse he didn’t even understand himself, Tougo picked up a stone from the ground and threw it.
His instincts told him that Blade was being driven mad by that laughing voice, and that it was controlling Garren as well. Blade’s enemy was not Garren, but rather the Stone of Sealing.
“Screw you! Screw you!”
He continued to throw more and more stones.
He saw Blade’s enemy as his own enemy. The enemy that created the unreasonable world he lived in.
Rikiya and Kojirou were at first taken aback, but it didn’t take them long for them to start throwing stones as well.
“I don’t really get what’s going on, but screw you!”
“Show your true self! What in the world are you? Show us!”
Even after getting hit by dozens of stones, the Stone of Sealing showed no reaction.
On the other hand, Blade Joker’s insanity was only growing more and more out of control.
He grabbed the defenseless Garren by his neck and lifted him up in the air.
Garren’s transformation became undone, and a man that appeared to be the same age as Kenzaki appeared. He was unconscious with his eyes closed.
Blade then began throwing his iron fists into the man’s unprotected body.
“Stop… Stop it, Blade!”
Tougo shouted.
Suddenly the Stone of Sealing responded. Its mocking laugh had changed to one that seemed to revel in victory.
It appeared that Rikiya and Kojirou could hear it as well. They forgot to keep throwing their stones as they stood still in surprise.
As the laughter grew louder, the ground underneath everyone’s feet disappeared.
——————————
After kicking off the bluff, Wild Chalice quickly spun behind Leangle and slammed numerous pulses of energy into the back of his head.
“I won’t go mad! I’ll use my power as Wild Chalice to suppress the Joker and crush the Master’s ambitions!”
He combined the Wild Slasher and the Chalice Arrow and fired. Grabbing the wire that stretched from the arrow sticking into the top of the bluff, he quickly pulled himself up while carrying the unconscious Lengel.
Leangle’s transformation became undone, and as expected, Satsuki’s face revealed itself.
But at the same time he arrived at the top of the bluff, the ground underneath him disappeared.
——————————
The silence was deafening.
Upon his eyes growing accustomed to the darkness, he realized he was standing in what seemed to be a half-destroyed underground shrine. The scent brought to mind ancient catacombs.
The cracked stone pillars stretched up and melted with the darkness, supporting an invisible ceiling, and the crumbled-apart stone stairs gave a glimpse at the shrine’s former glory.
But the shrine didn’t resemble any kind of historical structure Tougo was familiar with. The shapes were all odd, and the sizes were much too large.
What is this? Where in the world are we?
Rikiya was next to Tougo, with Kojirou collapsed on the ground not too far away, who was getting up while looking around in awe just as how Tougo was.
“Kenzaki!”
It wasn’t Tougo and the rest who shouted.
At the altar-like structure centered in the rubble that resembled a magic circle, a man different from the one who transformed into Garren was facing Kenzaki. He was the one who shouted.
“Do you recognize me, Kenzaki?”
He slowly approached Kenzaki and stretched out his hand.
Kenzaki absentmindedly gazed back at him, but then he suddenly twitched as if he was a small animal that had run into its natural enemy.
“…Who are you?”
“I’m Hajime Aikawa, a man who fought alongside you three hundred years ago… Chalice.”
Tougo was naturally surprised as he exchanged glances with Rikiya and Kojirou.
“Three hundred years ago…!”
“Chalice… It’s the same, right Kojirou?”
“Yeah… Exactly the same as the story.”
In other words, both Kenzaki and the man who called himself Hajime, Chalice, had lived for over three hundred years. If that was the case, then the two of them weren’t human. They were Undead.
Kenzaki was an Undead.
But for some reason, Tougo wasn’t surprised. He didn’t care.
If it was just like the story, that meant that Kenzaki had willingly discarded his humanity in order to become an Undead and save the world. He was undoubtedly a hero that saved humanity.
“Could it be…”
Tougo noticed the two men who were on the ground nearby.
The man who was Garren, as well as another man who seemed younger than Kenzaki.
Kojirou’s voice rose in excitement.
“Could it be that… the four Riders have assembled?”
Tougo thought the same. The youngest man had probably transformed into Leangle.
“This is crazy…!”
Rikiya shouted as well.
But why are they both unconscious? Is this also because of the Stone of Sealing? Are they somehow different from Kenzaki and Hajime?
“It’s me, Kenzaki. Hajime. You have to remember, Kenzaki!”
Hajime stretched out his hands in an attempt to touch Kenzaki’s arms.
“You, I, Tachibana, and Mutsuki all fought in that battle… Try to remember it, Kenzaki!”
His hands that had finally reached Kenzaki then began to shake him.
“Kenzaki… Kenzaki!”
Suddenly, madness manifested in Kenzaki’s eyes.
He let out a fearsome cry and shook Hajime’s hands away.
A belt appeared around his waist and he ran through the wave of energy that appeared before him. After transforming into Blade, and then into the sinister Blade Joker, he attacked Hajime.
“Stop this, Kenzaki!”
After dodging the attack by a hair’s breadth, he instantly transformed into his Rider form and then evolved into another form.
“It’s Chalice! And he’s using his strongest form, too! Wild Chalice!”
Kojirou shouted, and Tougo recalled the story.
Kamen Rider Chalice, a warrior whose appearance resembled a mantis. The story detailed how his strongest form, Wild Chalice, was able to suppress his power as Joker.
Are these fellow Riders really about to fight against their past comrades?
But Wild Chalice dodged each and every one of Blade Joker’s attacks without striking back in any way whatsoever.
“Kenzaki, I don’t want to fight you! If I did, you discarding your humanity to become an Undead, to become Joker, would have all been for nothing! Don’t you understand, Kenzaki?!”
Blade Joker’s attacks showed no sign of stopping, and his attacks appeared to have no thought behind them. He simply lashed out again and again in insanity, without any regard for the effectiveness of his strikes.
The unpredictability of those attacks made them impossible to dodge completely, and Wild Chalice was beginning to get hit. Despite that, Wild Chalice did not fight back.
“You have to remember, Kenzaki! Don’t you remember what you said to me back then?! To live amongst the humans. To keep living. It was those words that have kept me going all this time! Have you really forgotten, Kenzaki? You have to remember!”
Blade Joker’s attack then made a clean hit on Wild Chalice, knocking him far back into a stone pillar.
Cracks ran up the stone pillar, causing it to crumble apart. Dust could be seen falling from the invisible ceiling.
“You have to remember, Kenzaki… Please remember, Kenzaki…!”
The groaning, gasping, staggering Wild Chalice only made for an easier target for Blade Joker’s relentless attacks.
“Please… Just stop this already, Blade! I’m begging you, Kenzaki!”
Tougo shouted as well. He shouted at the top of his lungs with tears trailing from his eyes.
But his voice did not reach Kenzaki’s ears. It did not reach Blade’s heart.
Rikiya and Kojirou could do nothing but stand in a daze.
He was knocked back, knocked down, thrown from side to side, but even then, Wild Chalice showed no resistance. He desperately got up again, and desperately pleaded with Blade Joker.
“…As long as two Undead exist, the Battle Fight cannot come to a close… That’s why you became an Undead, Kenzaki… As long as you and I never fight to the death for all eternity, the Earth will not perish. And in order to make sure we wouldn’t meet each other ever again, you left me. You left everyone… Kenzaki, you saved the world! You saved humanity! You saved every living being there is on this planet! Remember! You have to remember, Kenzaki!”
The shrine trembled from Wild Chalice’s shouting.
New cracks appeared on the stone pillars, and dust began falling from all around.
Blade Joker’s attacks came to a stop.
“Undead… Battle Fight… Eternity… To the death… Earth… Perish… Humanity… Every living being…”
His face twisted as he grabbed his head, as if he was desperately trying to arrive at a memory.
But despite his struggles, the past showed no sign of resurfacing from within Blade Joker.
That loud laughter continued, as if the situation was the most entertaining thing it had ever experienced.
And then, droves of Undead manifested in the darkness.
They swung their iron claws and bore their fangs towards Black Joker.
Having let his guard down for an instant, Blade Joker took the brunt of all their attacks, getting launched away and knocked against the ground. The telltale mark of an Undead—blue blood—spurted out from his wounds.
“Hey, hold it right there!”
Kojirou shouted in surprise.
“We defeated the Mother Undead, so why are these things still popping up?”
“Maybe they were born before she was defeated?”
Rikiya responded, and Tougo recalled how the Mother Undead dropped into the sea after Blade in his King Form took her down.
“Could it be that she didn’t die back then…?”
And then, a roar let out from within the darkness, and the Mother Undead appeared. The wind pressure from her flapping wings sent the rubble into the air, which fell down onto Tougo and the others.
They quickly ran to cover while screaming.
Blade Joker stood up from under the dust of the shrine. His eyes lit up with a penetrating gaze, and he let out a roar that brought to mind a carnivore in search of its prey.
It all happened in an instant.
Blade Joker dashed forward, slicing apart the Undead and dyeing the dust with their blue blood.
He then went after the Mother Undead.
The Mother Undead let out an enraged cry as she fought back.
Tougo and the others staggered from the shockwaves of their clashes and landed on their bottoms.
And then Wild Chalice’s gasping voice could be heard.
“Why…? I don’t understand… The only reason us Jokers would be pitted against each other is if we’re the only two Undead left… Something… Something isn’t right here. No… Is this place even Earth in the first place?”
Kojirou immediately jumped in response.
“That’s right… That’s it! I’ve been thinking the same thing. It’s always been in the back of my head. If this place isn’t Earth, then everything makes sense. But… But if that’s the case, then where are we? Why are we here? When and how did we arrive here?”
At first, it seemed as if he wasn’t making any sense.
“What do you mean, Kojirou?”
Rikiya had a confused look on his face as well.
Suddenly, Tougo arrived at a horrifying guess.
“Could it be that… No…”
“What is it, Tougo? Could it be what? C’mon, tell me!”
At that moment, the Mother Undead that had been one-sidedly attacked by Blade Joker finally let out a dying cry and disintegrated.
Then, his figure seemed to be overlapping with Blade’s for a second, and then with Kenzaki’s, and a hoarse voice could be faintly made out.
“Tachi…bana… Mu…tsuki…”
Kenzaki was absentmindedly staring at the two men who had been collapsed.
“No, you’re wrong, Kenzaki. Those two are…”
Wild Chalice turned his head towards Kenzaki in surprise.
“Wait… Has your memory returned, Kenzaki?”
Tougo exchanged surprised glances as well.
“Seriously?”
“You really remember?”
“Kenzaki!”
Tougo immediately began to run towards him, but Rikiya held him back
“It’s too dangerous, Tougo!”
“Let me go, Rikiya!”
Tougo shoved Rikiya off and grabbed onto Kenzaki’s arm.
But it didn’t last for long.
“My head… hurts… I can’t remember…!”
Kenzaki struggled, and Blade’s figure overlapped with him, and then stabilized as Blade Joker again.
“Get away!”
After stopping Wild Chalice who came dashing in for the rescue, the Stone of Sealing manifested with laughter from within the darkness.
Suddenly, a large mass of darkness took hold of Tougo.
“Tougo!”
“Tougo!”
Rikiya and Kojirou’s voices quickly grew distant.
And then a vision came to Tougo.
Blade Joker, who Tougo had been grabbing onto, had been consumed by the Stone of Sealing as well, which was now transforming into a giant pitch-black Unknown.
The shrine shook as it lashed out at Rikiya and Kojirou from high up above.
Wild Chalice attempted to protect everyone.
“No… Stop it, Kenzaki… Stop it!”
Tougo shouted to Blade Joker, to the person that lied beyond the hand he was holding.
Within the darkness, Tougo was connected to Kenzaki not through sight, not through hearing, but through a subconscious bond. That’s what it felt like.
Kenzaki’s silent voice could be heard.
The voice resisted. It was clearly trying to fight against his actions.
So don’t you dare let go of his hand. Tougo ordered himself. If I let go of this hand, I’ll lose Kenzaki. Don’t let go of his hand, Tougo. Don’t let it go no matter what.
As Kenzaki suffered while trying to recall his distant memories, Tougo cheered him on.
“Remember, Kenzaki! Open your eyes, Kenzaki! Kenzaki!”
Tougo shouted with a silent voice as well.
He shouted again and again.
Kamen Rider Novel Translations 