Kamen Rider Zi-O, Dimensional Descent

With a voice that sounded almost obsessive, Yuzuki Hana took light steps and came to Homura Akemi.

He gently stroked the girl's chin with his hand.

"…you…"

"There's no going back now."

She smiled at herself, and in that instant—Homura Akemi finally realized something.

Those are Yuzuki Hana's eyes.

Those once beautiful eyes... have completely lost their charm.

It looks just like a moving doll.

"I... I don't regret doing these things at all. To be honest, I'm very happy."

I can't understand a word this guy is saying anymore.

All the syringes were aimed at Homura Akemi's heart, and just like that... Yuzuki immediately raised her hand.

Go to hell.

Just as those words were about to be spoken.

--Snapped.

The sound of applause came from behind her.

"…ah."

Upon hearing that voice, Yukiko's expression immediately turned to astonishment, and then—she turned around swiftly.

"what…!"

She saw a familiar figure.

The man in black and red clothes, the man with tattoos on the back of his hands, was standing there.

Looking at myself with great satisfaction, I applauded myself with great satisfaction.

"congratulations."

Super Time Jacker Teed.

Upon seeing that person, Yuzuki's expression instantly became incredibly innocent and adorable. She relaxed from the bottom of her heart and took a step forward without hesitation.

"Did you see that...did you see that? I did all of this."

Come and praise me!

Come and acknowledge my existence!

So... there's no need to feel sad and lonely anymore.

Having already put everything else behind her, Yuzuki walked towards the man in front of her without hesitation.

The man she had completely opened her heart to and trusted entirely—

puff-

"what…"

Teed's hand pierced straight through Yukihime's heart.

"Congratulations, puppet... you've finally finished creating what I needed."

Holding something pitch black in one hand, Tide spoke calmly to the puppet before him.

Volume Nine: The Demon King Appears: Chapter 435 Despair That Leads to Ultimate Darkness

"Ah...woo..."

Jie Yuehua stared wide-eyed, stunned and frozen in place.

"Although it was far from the scheduled time, I'm still quite pleased that it was completed smoothly... More importantly, where is Swartz? But at this point, there's nothing he can do anyway."

"How...could this be..."

"Hmm...? You're asking me why, right?"

The girl in his arms gripped Tide's clothes tightly with both hands.

Blood spurted from her mouth, and the expression on her face was neither anger nor shock—

It was fear.

It is the kind of panic that arises after witnessing something you least want to happen, the kind of panic that makes you unable to accept reality.

"You—you said it! Don't treat me like a pawn to be used and discarded! You told me your most important things... I... I've always believed in you...! So please—"

"Don't abandon me... I... I don't want to be rejected and abandoned by those around me like before...!!"

The silent Tede gently embraced the girl before him and patted her back.

"I never said I would abandon you, and I never considered you to be the same as those pieces that are used and discarded."

"That, that...!"

A look of anticipation immediately appeared in Jieyuehua's eyes.

Teed responded with a smile.

"So didn't I tell you? Puppet, oh puppet! You will forever act as an important puppet under my command. Didn't I just tell you that?"

"...Huh?"

The paradise that had just returned to heaven has now fallen back into hell.

"Didn't I tell you? I won't treat you as a pawn to be used and discarded. I wouldn't even give a second glance to ordinary magical girls, whether they live or die is completely irrelevant to me, but you are different."

"You are a singularity born from the world... a unique existence, possessing power that reflects the nature of this world! How could I treat such a precious resource as an ordinary pawn? I would never do something so wasteful!"

As he said these words, a smile involuntarily appeared on Tide's face.

A maniacal, extremely joyful smile.

"Only you know what my real goal is. That's right... I want to see clearly whether all worldviews, including this one, were created by some higher being."

"But I can't do it on my own. Simply becoming stronger is still just doing things according to everything that's set in the world. That's right, if I can't even break free from one or two worldviews... how can I possibly transcend all the worlds?"

This is where the problem arises.

Teed... how exactly can one achieve this abstract concept of transcending all worlds?

"So, if that's the case, I'll completely ignore the normal steps to becoming stronger in all these worlds! As long as something that couldn't possibly become stronger suddenly reaches a level of power that doesn't belong to it, wouldn't that work?"

His tone suddenly became incredibly excited.

"To be honest, the power creations of the Kamen Rider world are quite weak, at least compared to the world you magical girls inhabit, they're nothing special, but—"

“Using the power granted to me by that eye, I can forcibly break through the upper limit of my power… Do you know what that means?”

Originally, everything should have its own upper limit.

Knights, monsters, or anything else... no matter how strong they become or how much power they absorb from others, they will eventually reach the limit of their power.

The output of a faucet is fixed. Even if the water source is placed in a lake or even the sea, its output is only so much. If it is increased beyond the limit, the faucet itself will not be able to withstand it and will break down, and the water tank will also burst.

This is a limitation inherent in one's worldview itself.

But now, what Teed needs to do is use the power of the eye he has seen... to completely break this so-called limitation.

Even an ordinary-looking faucet, only a few dozen centimeters long, can instantly flow out a volume of water the size of a galaxy.

"I want to break the established mindset of power, to make the strong become appendages of the weak, and to confuse all the worlds together."

That's why he went to such great lengths to get close to this girl, Yuzuki Hana.

"I set my sights on you, went to your past, and used the power of the Rider's Watch to forcefully freeze your despair at the moment you were about to give up—then, I continuously triggered the fluctuations of positive emotions in your heart, and finally caused you to trigger negative fluctuations that were completely opposite to these emotional fluctuations."

"During this period, we also made a special check on the current activity of the Kamen Riders, and deliberately set the time around the 51st anniversary of all the Kamen Riders... in order to first surpass the history of all Kamen Riders."

When a magical girl is in despair, the Soul Gem will unleash unprecedented power... But Teedo removes the limits of Another Rider and buries the watch face inside Yuzuki's body, allowing her to constantly absorb the emotional energy called despair in order to maintain balance.

Another Rider Watch, having absorbed enough despair energy, is a singularity in the world.

That alone is not enough.

That's right.

Yuzuki herself may not be aware that her feelings have always been on the verge of despair, and under these circumstances, Tei... begins to give her constant hints.

First, you need to pull her out of the nearly destroyed world and tell her directly that you are a ruthless person. This will create the illusion from the beginning that you are only using her as a pawn.

In the time that followed, all Teedo needed to do was create various deliberate dangerous situations, ensnaring Yuzuki in them time and again, and then rescue her at specific moments, repeating this process over and over again…

'Ah...so even such a ruthless man can care about others...?' This allowed her to create such a fantasy, and with his many days spent together and repeated acts of kindness and help, he was able to further develop this fantasy.

Finally, Tee revealed his true purpose to her, making her believe that he was someone she was willing to confide in about her most important matters... thus completely increasing her favorability towards him.

"Was everything... just... a deliberate fabrication?"

He was cornered by a man named Gates on the ghost train, nearly attacked by a monster inside the train, and then saved by him. The same thing happened several times afterward...

Everything was just a deliberate attempt to create a liking for the man in front of her; it was all just a pretentious script.

"Ah... to put it simply, it's like the dating simulation games that modern young people often like to play... you little girls who are out of touch with the world and are in the budding stage of adolescence, with countless fantasies about love, encounters, and heart-to-heart talks, aren't you the easiest targets to deceive?"

It might sound silly, but for a little girl like Yuzuki Hana, being rescued in times of crisis, having everything about herself acknowledged by others, and even being told what is most important to them...

All of this combined was enough to elevate Tee's status in the other person's heart to an immeasurable degree... as if she had fallen in love with Tee.

Teedo has now occupied a very, very high place in Yuzuki's heart... What will happen at this point?

Reverse.

Think about it carefully... When a man who has saved you from danger many times, who is willing to listen to your heart, who is willing to admit your past, and who is even willing to tell you his most important secrets that you are the only one in the world who knows them, suddenly chooses to betray you without any mercy.

"Yes."

Seeing Yukika's body trembling slightly, Tede couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Extreme love and trust can instantly transform into pure despair, right?"

And it's... far beyond the realm of ordinary despair.

Yuzuki had placed almost all her trust in Teito, only to be betrayed by him without mercy—the resulting despair would be of an extraordinary degree.

In addition, her heart had long been forcibly preserved in moments of normal despair—

That would probably exceed the limits of magical girls and witches... all existing concepts of despair.

This is when the Teid Plan truly enters its final stage.

puff-

What was taken out of Yuzuki's chest cavity was a blackish-purple watch face, the Another Kuuga's control watch face.

She was once shattered by attacks from numerous Heisei Riders, but has now fully recovered by absorbing the despair within the heart of a Singularity Magical Girl over the years.

However, that's not enough.

That's far from enough to transcend existing concepts of power!

From his pocket, Teed took out another... identical watch face.

That was the Another Kuuga watch face that was stolen from Swartz and manufactured by him.

Now... Teed holds both identical watch faces in his hands, and right in front of him is a magical girl with an extremely special identity and a level of despair that surpasses the level of existing concepts.

What exactly will happen?

"…don't want."

Having understood the whole truth, and fully realized that everything about her—was fabricated like a script, even her love, trust, and all the entrustment—was fabricated, tears welled up in Yuzuki's eyes.

"No, no, no, no—you're lying to me, right? Is that true? Tide… I… I have nowhere to go. No matter which world I go to, no one will accept me. No matter how hard I try, my world will surely face disaster! I can only find meaning in my existence when I'm by your side…"

"Don't be afraid, silly little girl."

In a very gentle tone, the man in front of him... issued his final ultimatum.

"You will always stay by my side from now on."

"As... a mindless being, purely my puppet."

"Kuuga!" x2