Kamen Rider Zi-O, Dimensional Descent

"I advise you not to say that, senior."

Suddenly, Putaros appeared next to Momotaros.

The turtle-like demon god, with only half a body, shook its head with its arms crossed, looking utterly disapproving.

"He probably has his own plans. I feel that this person is very meticulous... definitely not as simple as you think."

"What does that mean... I don't understand!"

"That's just because your brain capacity is too small. A brain like a dog's can't see through these kinds of things, right?"

"You little brat...who are you calling a dog?!"

Behind them, the sounds of two otherworldly demons playfully fighting could be heard slowly.

But Yan Ming had already secretly planned what he wanted to do.

Even if someone doesn't say something, it doesn't mean they won't do it.

--------------------------

And so, the scene was shifted to the other side.

A little earlier in the morning... Gates and Woz were still following Yan Ming's instructions, investigating information about magical girls.

And now—

"Hey…"

Hiding in a corner with Woz, Gates pointed to things outside the corner and couldn't help but say something.

"Then what are you going to do?"

The magical girls all gathered together.

They bypassed the streets and crowds and came to the spacious factory where there were few people. Gates and Wozniak followed them so as not to alert them.

At that moment, a familiar person walked up to the girls.

"It's that girl named Yuzuki Hana... That's strange, wasn't she always by that Time Jacker's side? How come she's in a place like this now..."

"Keep your voice down, we'll know once we see it."

The magical girls seemed to be looking at Yuzuki Hana with blank expressions, somewhat puzzled.

"What exactly do you want to do by calling us to a place like this?"

"Yeah, I even do a live stream at noon. I make money by using my magical girl persona to stream, and now I can buy a luxury car in a day! Do you think you deserve to waste my time?"

"I'm waiting to go on a date with my boyfriend. He really likes this ability of mine, which is practically magic."

Faced with all sorts of opinions, Jie Yuehua simply smiled calmly.

"Please don't get excited, everyone. The reason I called you all here is actually quite simple."

"For what purpose—"

Snap—she then snapped her fingers.

"That's exactly why I came to see this."

—Buzz!

A huge, colorful wave unfolded directly behind Yuzuki Hana.

"Waaaaah...!"

"What? What is this...?"

"Wait! It looks like something inside is about to come out..."

"Could it be a giant robot?"

Then, to the astonishment of the magical girls, an extremely large object slowly emerged.

"…etc!"

The first people to be shocked upon seeing that thing were Gates and Wozniak.

—That was a train.

The train, with its jet-black body resembling a ghost's head, looked extremely eerie, and was entirely covered in black mist.

"What is that thing? A train that appeared from another dimension? Could it be...?"

Gates said with a surprised look, while Woz... recognized its true form at a glance.

"...Originally belonging to Kamen Rider Yuuki, the train of the dead."

Volume Nine: The Demon King Appears: Chapter 394 Although I'm very strong, I'm still afraid of ghosts

Kamen Rider Yuuki.

He was once an enemy of Den-O and was one of the Dark Knights summoned by Swartz from a world devoid of possibility.

"It must have been that damned Time Jacker who did it."

"...Since we've already taken control of the God Train and the King Train Station, which serves as the main station, there's no reason why we can't get our hands on the Ghost Train."

The train that appeared in front of Gates and Woz had a front end that looked like a skull, and the entire body of the train resembled a steam-age carriage, all in black.

Then, the same pitch-black fog continued to swirl around the entire train, and a chilling aura emanated from it.

The magical girls followed Yuzuki Hana and entered the carriage with her.

hum-

Just as everyone entered the carriage and the doors closed, the horn sounded.

"What…?"

The black train, seemingly ignoring the complex and intertwined buildings around it, gradually began to move forward.

Boom—Then, the train passed right through the building in front of them.

"What, what's going on now?!"

At that moment, Gates and Wozniak could hear various gasps of surprise coming from the buildings the train was passing through.

It's likely that the people living in the building were startled by the train suddenly passing by.

However, the train completely ignored all physical effects, not only flying through all the buildings into the sky, but also opening a spacetime rift in the high sky, flying directly into some kind of alternate dimension.

…And looking along that crack, it’s not just a simple spacetime rift.

Within that crack was a black space, devoid of any light, seemingly capable of swallowing up all living things.

"Gates, let's use the Time Demon to catch up with them quickly!"

"The Time Demon God? Isn't that thing specifically designed for time travel? Can it take us into that space that looks really weird?"

"After the Time Demon God's upgrade in the Oma Twilight Advent Calendar: KT, he can even pass through the barriers of the world, so we can pass through that space too... Anyway, let's hurry up and go!"

Urged on by Woz, the two immediately summoned each other's Time Demons.

One on the left and one on the right, the red and green-black Time Demons followed behind the Ghost Train.

Just before the black portal was about to close, the Time Demon they were piloting accelerated and rushed inside.

Then, what came into view was an environment even more bizarre than the scenes during the time travel.

"Where...am I?"

All around was endless darkness.

It seemed to truly devour all visible light, with black, lightning-like phenomena flashing intermittently in the dark clouds. The clouds rolled up completely from left, right, top, and bottom, creating an environment like a train tunnel.

Wozniak and Gates' time demons traveled in a straight line in this dark space.

There was no trace of the ghost train.

"This space is way too...too dark, isn't it? Waz, where exactly did those guys bring us?"

"There's no need to be surprised at all... This is the Road of the Dead, where only ghost trains can travel."

The Road to the Dead? Gates couldn't understand what Woz was saying at all.

"According to this book, the train of the dead, the ghost train, can not only travel through time like other time-space trains, but also has its own dark tunnel... a road that leads directly to the world of the dead."

"In this world, all dead things... exist here."

If Wozniak's explanation is true, then this space is practically like...

"…hell."

Without realizing it, such a word popped into Gates' mind, and he unconsciously uttered it.

"You could also call it the underworld. Anyway, Gates, just imagine this place as one of those hellish or underworld scenes in horror movies, a place that specifically collects the dead—"

"Then, then, I think we should hurry up and go back, or we can leave this matter to you and me, and I can come back to you later."

The voice on the other end of the call became noticeably stuttering.

Woz looked at Gates on the screen, who was pretending to be strong, with ill intent, and couldn't help but click his tongue a few times.

"Scared?"

"No, how could I possibly be afraid...!"

"Well, that's good. I thought that since you're usually so afraid of ghosts, you'd probably wet your pants coming into a place like this. But guess what?!"

"Who are you saying will wet their pants? There are some, but what's there to be afraid of? It's just a crappy space. I can take this hellhole over in no time—"

Whoosh—! A thunderous explosion suddenly came from outside the Time Demon God's place.

"Uwaaaaaaaahh ...

In Woz's Time Demon Communication, Gates's screams echoed continuously.

"Still the same as always, Gates-kun... are you that afraid of ghosts?"

"...No, don't treat me like a fool."

Even though that's what they said, Woz could clearly see that Gates, sitting opposite him, was trembling constantly.

Despite having such strong combat abilities, he's afraid of ghosts, something ethereal and intangible... Hmm?

At this moment, both Wozniak and Gates noticed the situation.

Ahead of the Time Demon God... something with a physical form gradually emerged.

"found it!"

It's a ghost train.

However, its entire body has become somewhat transparent, and even the radar of the Time Demon cannot detect its coordinates.

"Just like a real ghost..."

“Gates, we have to stop that train from going any further.”

As Woz gazed at the ghost train on the screen, his tone grew heavy.

"The ghost train is the train that governs the living and the dead. Once it reaches its destination in the world of the dead... it will have a huge impact on the other side."

"Then, what will happen? Will the dead be brought back to life?"

“It’s even worse than that.”

Woz's voice came from the other side.

"When the ghost train arrives at its destination, the living and the dead in that time and space will all be replaced."

"…What did you say?"

"The living will become the dead, and the dead will return to the world as walking corpses, covering the entire world... This is the true power of the Ghost Train."

Gates fell silent.

Although it's unclear where this train is headed, whatever it goes, according to Wozniak, nothing good is likely to happen.

We must stop it.

"However, the Time Demon God's existing attack methods are insufficient to interfere with it. It already possesses the means to completely isolate itself from ordinary attacks and all physical laws, so we must find another way."

"What should we do then?"

“In this way, I will use the spatial power of the end of the galaxy to teleport you into that train. You will be responsible for interfering with the train from the inside, but I will have to stay outside to analyze its destination and find a way to interrupt and stop it in advance.”