Ultraman: I am really just a human.

Chapter 33 Knight

"squeak--!"

With a sharp screech of tires, Fujiwara narrowly avoided the scarf-wearing man, turned the car around, and drove off the ramp towards the city.

Despite his palms being sweaty, Fujiwara Saiji did not lose his composure. He and the scarf-wearing man moved away from the city and headed towards Kanagawa Prefecture.

"I am Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider Thebee..."

Fujiwara Saiji glanced at the scarf-scarved man following him with a light laugh through the rearview mirror, silently encouraging himself as he continued to turn the handlebars to speed up.

As long as his belief is strong enough, he has nothing to fear.

This time, I'm sure I'll be able to successfully transform.

The first step is to choose a suitable battle location.

There is an abandoned beach in the direction of Kanagawa Prefecture.

"Buzz!"

A flapping sound approached from mid-air, seemingly sensing Fujiwara Saiji's presence. Thebee insect device broke through the air ahead of time, circled the motorcycle once, and was firmly grasped in Fujiwara Saiji's hand.

……

Training hall at the base.

As Natsukawa led Ryota Murai into the lounge, a faint buzzing sound suddenly reached their ears.

Another Gurongi event?

The perception wasn't strong; there was only a general direction.

"Master Kaminaga," Murai Ryota said apologetically, "I've made up my mind. I'm going back to my hometown to find a job. I'm simply not cut out to be a Kamen Rider..."

"I know your situation and I understand how you feel, but is it really appropriate to give up like this?" Xia Chuan suddenly interrupted.

"Huh?"

"We didn't first meet here."

Natsukawa looked directly at the bewildered Murai Ryota and said.

"I witnessed everything that happened outside the Metropolitan Police Department. What were your thoughts the moment you put on the belt?"

"I……"

Ryota Murai lowered his head in a daze.

"I just wanted to stop that Gurongi from destroying the belt. At that moment, my mind went blank. I subconsciously felt that the belt was begging me, begging me to wear it, transform, and fight, but..."

At this rate, I'll probably turn into a monster, just like those guys.

Murai Ryota's face turned bitter.

"Actually, I had already received the research institute's inspection report before I came here. Unlike the Kuuga outside, my belt is just a defective product."

"It has nothing to do with the belt; the real problem is with you."

Xia Chuan turned on the TV screen in the lounge and transmitted the combat footage of the Kuuga collected from the outside world to the local screen for playback.

Although the battle scenes were very fragmented, almost all of them were taken by pedestrians in a hurry, and the image quality was blurry, with many clips showing only afterimages of Kuuga, they still managed to edit together various forms of Kuuga.

"This is?"

After watching the video, Ryota Murai looked even more bewildered.

Why should we show him this?

Do you see how useless you are compared to Kuga?

"This is video footage I got from a friend," Xia Chuan said, pausing the video. "The character in it, Kuuga, isn't actually stronger than you; he's just good at controlling his own power."

The reason you lost control was simply because you couldn't control the dark power. Why don't you learn from him and transform in his way?

"Learn from Kuuga?"

Ryota Murai's gaze was fixed on the video, staring blankly at the image of Tenma Kuga.

"Can...can I do it too?"

"Why not?" Natsukawa said softly, "Perhaps Kuuga's inability to transform into black is not because he can't, but because he can't control the power of black either."

Murai Ryodai opened his mouth as if to speak, but then stopped himself.

Even in his black form, he wasn't completely unconscious; he still hasn't forgotten being kicked unconscious the first time he transformed into black.

That Kuuga couldn't control the dark power?

"Okay, don't overthink it."

Natsukawa patted Murai Ryota on the shoulder.

"Watch it several times, memorize it well, and I believe you can become the next Kuuga."

"I……"

Murai Ryota watched Natsukawa leave in silence.

He had heard from the students in Class B about Xia Chuan's past.

He applied for three consecutive years but failed to become a Kamen Rider, and then came here to serve as a Kamen Rider mentor.

Although you can't tell from the outside, you must be in a lot of pain inside.

"Do you believe it?"

Ryota Murai turned around, clenched his fist, and stared at the Kuuga battle footage.

"Our mentors have placed their dreams on us, and we can't let them down."

……

Metropolitan Police Department.

Hiroko Asami and her partner Kazumi Takahashi watched as the tattooed young man, A-Dong, was taken away by veteran detective Kudo.

"This guy confessed to everything; there were several murders involved."

Kazumi Takahashi clicked her tongue in disapproval.

"They're human, yet they aspire to become Grongi, really..."

"Let's not worry about that for now," Hiroko Asami said, glancing thoughtfully at the confession on the table. "There's something he said earlier that's quite interesting to me."

"what?"

"It's that the Gurongi and Kuuga are talking in a strange language. According to his description, like previous cases, it should belong to the language of the Gurongi race."

Asami Hiroko analyzed curiously.

"Logically speaking, these Gurongi have all learned Japanese by now, so why do they insist on speaking Gurongi to me? Isn't that strange?"

"It is a bit strange," Kazumi Takahashi nodded. "But didn't the research institute say before that Kuuga might actually be a Gurongi?"

"I always felt it wasn't that simple."

Hiroko Asami's thirst for knowledge surged, and she painfully rubbed her cheeks, grabbed her hair, and let out a regretful sigh.

"Ah, if only I could know what that Gurongi was saying... No, I will never give up!"

"Snapped!"

Kazumi Takahashi covered her buttocks with a mournful expression and subconsciously moved away from the snarling Hiroko Asami.

"What?" Hiroko Asami looked at her partner in confusion.

"N-nothing," Kazumi Takahashi quickly shook her head.

"Alright, Kanagawa Prefecture has reported news about the motorcycle Grongi. Let's go check it out."

……

"Buzz—!"

"Bang!"

Kanagawa, on the coast of Yokosuka City.

Two motorcycles sped off the road at the same time, collided violently on the rocky beach, and Fujiwara Saiji eventually fell off the motorcycle with a muffled groan.

"Ahem!"

This time, Fujiwara Saiji successfully transformed, but without Clock Up, he is still far from being a match for a Grongi of the Grongi class.

"Haha!"

Standing up again, Fujiwara Saiji launched an attack amidst the sound of the waves. After pressing the full-speed switch, the insect needle on the back of his hand was fully charged and charged forward with tearing electric light.

However, the scarf-wearing man's motorcycle was completely unaffected by the rocky beach.

After revealing its locust Gurongi form, the motorcycle was also modified by a special force, as if it had become an extension of the scarf man's body, hands, and feet.

"snort."

The locust Gurongi's scarf fluttered around its neck as it glanced disdainfully at the desperate royal bee, Thebee, before accelerating and launching a lightning-fast attack.

"Bang--!"

Another loud impact rang out, and the Royal Bee Knight screamed as it flew backward, almost losing its transformation before it could even unleash its ultimate attack.

After landing with a thud, he couldn't get up for a while.

"What are you talking about? I would never lose to someone like you. I... I'm going to become the strongest Kamen Rider!"

As the locust Gurongi turned the motorcycle around, the royal bee swayed and propped himself up, his trembling fingers touching the timer switch on the side of his belt.

The reason why the belt can only be activated when the fusion coefficient is 80 is not because it cannot be activated. It's just that the lower the fusion coefficient, the greater the burden. Activating it below 80 may cause irreversible damage to the body, or even endanger the rider's life.

"Clang!"

Suddenly, an air arrow descended from the sky. The locust Gurongi, which was about to charge, hurriedly swerved to avoid it. When it looked up at the sky, its body suddenly tightened.

"Kuuga?!"

"Buzz!"

Natsukawa, in his Pegasus form, hovered in mid-air, holding Gram with one hand and hooking his foot, his gaze briefly sweeping over the royal bee that Fujiwara Saiji had transformed into on the rocky beach below.

There has been some progress, but not much.

"Sizzle!"

Several more air arrows forced back the locust Gurongi, and Xia Chuan's Pegasus form further transformed into a sublimated Pegasus as golden electricity spread, while the Pegasus Crossbow in his hand also advanced at the same time.

"Kuuga!!"

The ground locusts, the Gurongi, were furious, but faced with the attack of the sublimated Pegasus Crossbow, they could only retreat to the coastal highway in disarray.

Even so, under the barrage of Ascended Pegasus Crossbows, the locust Gurongi was still hit by an air arrow.

Golden energy broke through the surface of the body, instantly revealing sealing characters, almost detonating the core in the abdomen.

"hateful!"

The locust Gurongi dodged left and right with trepidation, while simultaneously turning the handle to accelerate.

He never imagined that he would be treated like prey and manipulated.

No matter how fast you go, if you can't fly, you're useless.

However, Kuuga's green form transformation time is limited, so as long as you can hold on, there will still be a chance.

"Buzz!"

Enduring the excruciating pain, the locust Gurongi glanced back, then accelerated to its maximum speed, covering several kilometers in the blink of an eye.

"Hmph, it'll be my turn soon..."

"That's about it."

After confirming that there was no one around the target, Xia Chuan concentrated and raised the Pegasus Crossbow for the last time to aim.

"call out--!"

Golden energy surged in, and a beam of light, magnified several times, shot straight toward the ground. Although the locust Gurongi instinctively dodged, it was still struck in the back from an extremely long distance amidst flashes of lightning.

"Whoa!"

As the golden lightning erupted fiercely, the locust Gurongi tumbled off the motorcycle, sliding a long distance before lying half-dead in the middle of the road like a dead pig, the sealed text on its back continuing to expand.

"Is that not allowed?"

Xia Chuan aimed again.

Among Kuuga's Rising Evolution forms, Rising Omniform has the strongest attack, while Rising Pegasus is still significantly weaker.

In Kuuga, the protagonist also uses the Rising All-Powerful Kick to eliminate the locust Gurongi.

However, when dealing with these special Gurongi, he still preferred to use the Ascended Pegasus Crossbow, shooting one arrow if one wasn't enough.

His physical strength is sufficient to withstand this kind of exertion.

Moreover, the explosion caused by the sublimated Pegasus Crossbow is much smaller than that caused by the sublimated All-Powerful Kick.

"goodbye."

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"

Three glowing air arrows struck in succession. This time, the locust Gurongi could not resist. After a short while, its body, along with the sealing text, developed cracks and exploded with a loud bang.

A spherical shockwave of flames spread outwards, turning all vegetation within a radius of several hundred meters into ashes.

"Bang--!"

Huangfeng picked up the motorcycle and returned to the road. He felt a strong gust of wind and looked up to see Kuuga's figure disappear on the horizon.

(End of this chapter)