Kamen Rider from the ancient times

Kawahara stepped into the vortex of time and space, and arrived at that boundless, pitch-black space once again.

But this time was different; a gigantic wheel of time and space was spinning in front of him.

Its size seemed immeasurable, with layers upon layers of gears on its outer shell whose exact number was unknown. At the center of the ring was an empty black vortex, blending almost seamlessly into the background of this space. Two pointers, one long and one short, seemed to be frozen in the void.

When I first saw it, all I could see was its dazzling golden light, with only the turning gears barely visible.

Now, every detail of it is crystal clear to Kawahara.

His gaze fell upon it, and in a daze, he saw every moment of every Kamen Rider.

Kawahara raised his hand and pressed it on the pointer in the void. Countless golden lines spread out from his palm, like a long river of time, in which countless Kamen Rider figures stretched out with the current.

With just a thought, the future of these Kamen Riders will be born under his control.

He also controls all the possibilities.

There will be no accidents, no regrets, no loss of control, and no loss.

As the Wheel of Time resonated, countless torrents of information flooded into his mind at that moment, but just as his consciousness was about to be lost in this myriad phenomena, Kawahara had already withdrawn his palm.

The knight's emblem within the Wheel of Time glowed.

Kawahara did not stop the arrival of this power, so Kouta Kazuha, the "Man of Origin," stepped out of the black vortex in the ring.

"What are you going to do?"

Kota Kuzuha slightly raised the corners of his lips as he looked at him.

Kawahara looked at him expressionlessly.

"Why does everyone have to ask that question?"

"Ah ha~ So I'm not the only one who asked that? That's probably because we all care a lot about 'what you're going to do'!" Kouta Kazuha said frankly.

"You should already know this." Kawahara looked at Kouta Kuzuha.

But upon hearing this, Kouta Kazuha immediately shook his head.

"No, no, no! I just found out too!"

"Well, you still know now."

"Uh……"

After careful consideration, Kouta Kuzuha realized that there was nothing wrong with this statement.

So he looked back at the Wheel of Time, then straightened his posture slightly and faced Kawahara, his eyes filled with a complex yet somewhat relieved expression.

"So you really want to do this? Use this power that controls the world, time, and history to completely seal off our past timeline..." Kouta Kazuha whispered.

"Giving up another possibility in time and space, and the 'future' that begins from this moment, is already my biggest concession. In order to avoid interference with history by forces such as Time Jackers, Time Managers, and World Destroyers, I will absolutely not compromise on the 'past' of the Kamen Riders." Kawahara's tone was calm but left no room for argument.

From behind the vortex of the Wheel of Time, an endless, thick golden stream of light, like a river, stretched out, carrying the history of Kamen Rider.

This is what Kouta Kazuha once called the "Sacred Timeline"!
With all the Kamen Riders that Kawahara experienced as anchor points, the stories of Kamen Riders on this timeline have been "anchored," and cannot be changed, destroyed, or explored.

but……

The tiny streaks of light emanating from this river and spreading outwards represent another "possibility".

Different possibilities still exist in the past, but any twist will only result in the creation of a new parallel timeline from the existing timeline.

Therefore, the so-called change of the past is just the addition of a changer's "ideal" past, while the actual "past" has not changed at all.

—Cruel yet romantic.

But this is also necessary.

As this thought arose, Kawahara saw countless branches appear beside the "Sacred Timeline," like fragile, tiny tentacles nestled against the mother river, gently drifting in this boundless black space.

This means that a lot of shady characters like to distort history!

Kawahara felt his fist harden.

Kota Kuzuha looked at him speechlessly.

With the help of the Shocker organization, Time Jackers, Time Managers, and a bunch of other shady characters, the "Time Wheel" formed by Arc has captured the world of all Heisei generation Kamen Riders.

Therefore, under Kawahara's will, he can control everything that happens in the "past" and "future" of those worlds.

Such authority above the gods is undoubtedly terrifying.

Even if the gods have explicitly guaranteed at this moment that they will not interfere with another possibility of the past and future.

But only for this moment.

Kawahara closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his once brilliant golden eyes calming down again. He didn't look at Kouta Kazuha beside him.

"Go back now, Kouta."

"..."

The sacred timeline is not to be explored; any power that attempts to access it will be lost in this empty darkness.

Aside from the Kamen Riders it anchors to and favors.

Kouta Kazuha gazed at the rider emblems representing the twenty Kamen Riders of the Heisei era, engraved on the ring of the "Wheel of Time," his right eye's dark red pupil deep and unfathomable.

"Besides trapping the past timeline, what you've done to Kamen Rider isn't just that, is it?"

This time, Kawahara did not respond.

Kouta looked at Decade's knight emblem as if he wanted to say something, but the next moment, his figure unexpectedly turned into light particles and floated into the vortex.

Kouta Kuzuha: "..."

Kawahara simply waved his hand and sent the guy away.

The pitch-black space fell completely silent.

The Wheel of Time did not move because the "future" began from this moment, and the river of golden light was still at Kawahara's feet. Only when he moved forward would the story of the sacred timeline continue to roll forward.

But Kawahara has no intention of leading it forward.

Because he has already decided that the future will be left to the Kamen Riders to choose for themselves.

Therefore, they themselves also propelled the wheels of history.

Kawahara stepped aside, and the enormous, boundless Wheel of Time swept past him like a dazzling ray of dawn, piercing through the endless darkness and heading toward a new future.

The future will never be interfered with by the past.

……

The sacred timeline, shrouded in golden light, gradually engulfed Kawahara's figure.

The dazzling light refracted by the prisms appeared from all directions, like a kaleidoscope that was dazzling to the eye, with each irregular mirror surface displaying the splendor of a world.

Kawahara stood there for a long time before coming to his senses. Then he turned around, walked through the dazzling mirror passage, and emerged from the darkness at the end, arriving at a platform with a cosmic starry sky.

The cosmic platform, resembling a temple in the void, faces a blue planet. In the vast space, only a set of black table and chairs is placed in the center.

A young man in black, with his back to him, sat upright, gazing at the Earth.

"You're back."

A voice, usually clear and indifferent, rang out.

The young man in black turned his head slightly, watching the person who was completely different from when he left sitting on the other side, whose shiny white-gold hair, the opposite of his jet-black hair, was dazzling.

However, the Black God's emotions remained completely unmoved; he even suspected that the child had deliberately presented himself to him in this manner.

"Did you see that?"

Kawahara sat next to him and looked at the Earth together.

The Black God looked up at the dark universe, said nothing, and simply nodded slightly.

“This is the choice I made,” Kawahara then said.

"The way you choose to protect this world is no different from the way I protected humanity. Your will to dominate them will one day become so strong that it can no longer be suppressed. So—will you regret it in the end?" the Black God said calmly.

"No!" Kawahara said without hesitation.

The Black God turned to look at him, his calm, serene gaze scrutinizing this man who was now nothing like him.

Kawahara turned to meet his gaze, his dark golden eyes filled with a firm and resolute will.

"I won't regret what I'm doing now, but I don't know if I'll make choices I'll regret in the future. I don't want to become a second you, so I won't try to control that force."

Just like the Black God, he never regrets any of his choices.

But every future will bring regret.

God does not regret creating humankind, but He does regret creating humankind that would defy Him. God does not regret giving humankind a second chance after the flood that destroyed the world, but He does regret that giving that chance allowed humankind to completely turn to the power of light.

God does not regret sending angels to destroy humans who have awakened the power of light, but he regrets it because killing humans causes him pain.

Why is this so?
Because God possesses the power to create and reverse everything, he also has the option to regret without restraint.

"I won't give myself that opportunity."

Kawahara looked gently at Earth: "Right now, all I need to do is follow my heart, protect everything I want to protect, and make sure my future self doesn't regret it. That's the best choice I think is."

The Black God continued to gaze at him, and after a long while, he slowly shifted his gaze and looked with him at the beautiful blue planet in the distance.

"You made the same choice I did back then, except..."

As the Black God spoke in a low voice, a faint smile appeared on his slightly upturned lips, and his eyes, as clear as glass, held endless tranquility and peace.

"You are braver than I was back then."

The gods of the past gave humanity a second chance.

However, God also worried that if he continued to associate with "humans like this (who possess the power of light)," one day he would make a "choice he would regret" in his anger.

Therefore, after the battle with Prometheus, the power of darkness chose to lead all the angels into a long slumber.

When humanity is once again scattered across the world, the answer to whether humanity has truly betrayed him will be revealed.

The Black God gave himself a chance to regret it.

Because he lacks the courage to face humanity that might "betray" him in the future.

……

Kawahara did not speak again.

The whole world seemed to become incredibly gentle and peaceful. The two quietly gazed at the Earth, and after an unknown amount of time, the platinum-gold figure silently disappeared from the other end of the table.

The Black God never turned around; he simply lowered his eyes slightly and then closed them.

With a faint sigh, his figure gradually became transparent and disappeared, and the boundless cosmic platform also vanished in the dark arc of light.

--Earth.

In a bustling manor far from the city center.

The man, whose right hand was engraved with a dark purple rune, picked up the coffee cup on the table. At that moment, he suddenly realized something and looked up at the cloudless sky.

What just happened?
Because the god who was watching over the world at all times finally shifted his oppressive gaze away.

—Have you given up?

Tetsuya Sawaki quietly sipped his coffee, his slightly bewildered gaze unfocused as he stared at the sky, his mind seemingly empty, as if he had nothing on his mind.

But he waited patiently for a long time, but the dark power runes engraved on the back of his right hand did not disappear, nor did he see the second life bestowed by the gods taken back.

—It seems they haven't given up yet.

……

"Ok?"

In the dean's office of the Knight Academy, a woman with a serious and capable demeanor, who was engrossed in her work, suddenly looked up.

She looked up at the sky outside the window behind her, then got up and walked to the window, pressing her eyes against the glass and staring intently at the blue sky above.

"That's strange, Mr. Mizushiro..."

Kana Okamura murmured, "I have a feeling that Mr. Kawahara has already come back, and it's been a long time since we've all seen each other..."

Shiro Mizushiro, sitting on the guest sofa, glanced at the view from the side.

Although he no longer spends 24 hours a day in the G4 armor shell, his taciturn nature remains unchanged. After hearing this, he thoughtfully raised his left hand and looked at it.

As the dark Agul runes flickered and appeared with the light, Shiro Mizushiro seemed to sense something and focused his gaze on the water glass on the table.

The glass reflects the shimmering light, and the rippling water reflects the sparkling colors, then, like a kaleidoscope projector, it projects fragmented spots of light in all directions of the office.

Kana Okamura immediately turned around and asked, "Has the Mirror World opened?"

"Mm," Shiro Mizuki responded.

"You drove it?" Kana Okamura raised an eyebrow.

"Ah."

Shiro Mizuki responded again.

In recent years, the Mirror World has frequently opened in the real world, where monsters randomly spawn to attack humans. Therefore, both the human defense forces and the Knight Academy regularly enter the Mirror World to reduce the number of monsters.

However, frequently opening the mirror world will also deepen the connection between the inner world and the real world, so the frequency of this action has been calculated.

"Snapped!"

Kana Okamura slammed her hand on the back of the sofa, glaring fiercely at Shiro Mizushiro: "Give me a reason?"

Shiro Mizuki pointed to the fragments and said, "Before, we could only enter the Mirror World to eliminate monsters from another world, but now, we can also use the Mirror World to go to another world."

Previously, their world was unilaterally blocked.

Now that door is fully open.

Kana Okamura was stunned for a long time.

Meanwhile, Shiro Mizushiro stood up, opened a semi-transparent door in front of him, and then walked over.

"I need to go to a place first—"

Bang!
Bang!
However, halfway through his sentence, he was suddenly thrown back by two figures that flew out from inside the door.

Kana Okamura stared at the two people in astonishment.

"Master Godai? Master Tsugami!"

"..."

"..."

Shiro Mizushiro, who was pinned to the ground by the two men, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and finished speaking.

"No need to go."

……

……

Kawahara returned to that pitch-black space.

The world of Kamen Rider receded further and further behind him, eventually merging into the golden, sacred timeline until it became indistinguishable. Kawahara walked towards the colossal Wheel of Time.

He understood his own thoughts—only by firmly controlling everything could he prevent any unexpected situations from arising and continue to live a peaceful and tranquil life.

But he also understood that no one would like a life that was manipulated, and a manipulated Kamen Rider was just a doll on a shelf.

So, until he reaches that point, leaving everything as it is is the best outcome.

Kawa arrived in front of the Wheel of Time. He looked up at the ring engraved with the emblems of all the Kamen Riders of the Heisei era, and finally his gaze fell on the blank space at the 0 o'clock position, which represented the "future".

"that's it."

Kawahara lowered his gaze and stroked the Wheel of Time.

A ruler with selfish motives can never be a qualified ruler, so he believes that those time managers are not worthy of controlling the history of Kamen Rider.

But in fact, he also had such selfish desires.

Perhaps it will change one day.

But at least at this moment—

I want those Kamen Riders to live according to their own wishes, I want humanity to write its own future, I want tragedies to never happen again, I want everything to be beautiful, I want to see Kamen Riders again...

At this moment——

He is still trustworthy.

At the center of the vortex of the Wheel of Time, a huge Arce knight emblem slowly emerged, as if reflecting Kawahara's heart at this moment, his body gradually turning into golden light particles and merging into it.

Finally, the pitch-black space returned to a void of silence, and the "Wheel of Time," shimmering with dazzling light, roared through countless worlds. Behind it, the golden torrent, like a rushing golden galaxy, was vast and boundless, carrying endless hope towards every possible future.

The sacred timeline of Kamen Rider is eternal.

...(End of chapter)