Thanks for the invitation. I'm in Type-Moon, inheriting the legacy of Zi-O.

Monsters that are not human

Red crystals surrounded Ryotaro's body, and silver orbits appeared around him.

With a clanging sound, Ryotaro's body was replaced by silver armor.

At the same time, it gradually turned red, and the red armor that was originally folded up on its head opened.

"Hmph—" With his left thumb pressed against his chest, Ryotaro bent down.

"I'm here!"

On Nian Zhuo's side, a huge silver clock appeared behind him, and the ring of time enveloped his body.

"Rider Time! Kamen Rider Zi-O!!"

The long-absent Silver Knight reappeared from the ring of time.

“Then, let’s go!” Turning his head, he met Ryotaro’s gaze, and the two nodded silently.

Holding the Time Gun Sword in his hand, Nian Zhuo looked at the enormous figure that broke through the thick fog in front of him.

"Nothing can stop my Climax!" Holding his sword in hand, the Electric King's crimson figure charged straight into the mist, without waiting for his opponent to appear.

"As expected..." Nian Zhuo sighed as he looked at the opponent's wild fighting style, then looked at the enemy in front of him whose appearance had been exposed.

A hissing sound of billowing gas filled my ears, and the monster in front of me, like a man-made mechanical puppet, raised its right fist.

"Mr. Nianzhuo, please be careful!" Mashu held up her shield and turned to Ritsuka, saying, "Senior, please hide behind me."

With a powerful punch, he swept away a large patch of mist around him and slammed it heavily onto Mash's shield.

"Hmm—" Mashu grunted, but the shield still blocked the attack. "As for strength... it's not very strong!"

Then, Mashu's slender arms unleashed a completely unequal force, pushing the giant puppet away.

"Alright, then Mashu, this puppet is yours to keep!" Nian Zhuo looked at the several monsters that had broken through the mist, grabbed the sword blade, and rushed into the mist.

"Mr. Nianzhuo, please be careful!" Mashu's voice came from behind. She raised her shield high and smashed it into the puppet's body. After a series of metallic cracking sounds, the puppet finally fell down.

From within the mist came the muffled thuds of the golems crashing to the ground. Within a minute, three golems were cleaved in two, revealing structures inside that did not appear to be naturally formed.

"Hey, Ryotaro! And Momotaros!" Nencho's voice came from within the mist, accompanied by the cracking sound of a sword slicing through something. "Don't stray too far from us! This is a breakout! Visibility is too low in the mist. If we get separated, I won't be responsible for you!"

"Hmph! You don't need to worry about my battle!" Momotaros's confident voice came from the mist behind him, along with the loud thud of a puppet falling. The crimson figure broke through the mist once more. "Even with my eyes closed... I can find you—hey, where are you?"

After breaking through the fog, Momotaros discovered that Nian Zhuo, who had spoken earlier, was gone, and only the purple-haired and orange-haired girls were there fighting with several golems.

“Mr. Nianzhuo…” Mash answered Momotaros’s question while slamming a puppet against the wall beside her. “In the smoke ahead!”

"..." Urataros, Kintaros, and Ryutaros sat bored in the Time Train watching Momotaros and Ryotaro fight. "I say, this is so boring..."

"Hmm!" Kintaros slapped his knee heavily and nodded. "But patience is also part of the training!"

“Yeah…” Ryutaros rolled around in his seat boredly, “but Ryotaro refused to use our power, and only let Momotaros go—”

"Sigh—" The three otherworldly gods sighed simultaneously and lay down on their seats out of boredom.

—Back to the Singularity—

The sound of the puppet falling to the ground abruptly stopped as the silver body broke through the gradually closing magical mist.

"Quick! The puppets ahead are all cleaned up!" After gesturing for Mash and Ritsuka to leave first, Nianzhuo gritted his teeth as he watched the dark figure reappear in the smoke behind them. "Momotaros, Ryotaro, let's follow!"

"Oh...oh!" With their swords slung over their shoulders, the two knights also charged into the mist.

The fog obscured the view ahead, but it was also dissipating at a visible speed.

Finally, they broke free from the confined streets and arrived at a wide avenue.

"—Phew, phew, breakthrough successful." Mashu adjusted her breathing, and nodded with relief after seeing that no one was missing from the surrounding area. "Finally, we're not surrounded anymore, we can start moving now."

The communication device beeped, and Mary sounded somewhat surprised.

“I never expected there would be something like that in the demonic mist—” Recalling the appearance of the enemy she had just seen on the screen, Mary’s orange eyes revealed a thoughtful light. “No wonder everyone is hiding in the buildings and refusing to come out. But since the doors and windows haven’t been damaged, it means that those things can’t invade the interior of the buildings, right? How strange…” She lowered her head and pondered.

“…Yes, indeed.” Da Vinci nodded in agreement as he listened to the words in his earpiece. “It is indeed very strange. Mash, what do you think of those enemies?” Rather than watching Nencho cut down those monsters with a single blow, Da Vinci felt it was better to ask Mash.

“Hmm…those hostile creatures…” Mashu said cautiously, as if considering how to choose her words. “They are very strange, no, I don’t even think they are living beings. Let’s call them hostile creatures for now, but they are probably automated magical puppets.”

Mash recalled that she had read about this kind of thing in a book she had seen in Chaldea.

“I have an impression of the structure of those wreckage.” Even so, she was still somewhat surprised that “part of it was used in machinery from this era.”

“Is that so…” Mary’s fingers moved across the control panel as she looked at the screen, and finally she sighed. “Sorry, to be honest, I can’t sense things in advance. My magic-based reactions and perceptions are completely chaotic. At most, I can only sense moving objects. Tsk… this is a bit of a headache.”

“Me too.” Mashu nodded, flexing her hands. “It’s as if I and this city are shrouded in fog, smoke… and other such gloom… What about you, Mr. Nianzhuo?” She looked up at the silent silver knight beside her.

"Me...?" Nian Zhuo's voice sounded strained as he rubbed his wrist. "My condition isn't exactly good either. The effect of this thick fog far exceeded my expectations..."

Even now, Nian Zhuo still cannot fully analyze the magic in the air. It's as if this smoke can also become a barrier of magic, isolating people's senses. This caused Nian Zhuo to need to use his eyes to confirm the enemies behind him when he broke through just now, instead of simply relying on his senses.

"I see. Well, there's nothing we can do then. We'll do our best to support you." Seeing that even Nianzhuo was affected, Mary had no choice but to accept the fact. "But you must be extra careful and vigilant when you act. Alright, go and chase after that knight."

“Okay.” Mashu nodded, ending the conversation on the communication device, and looked behind her. “…Senpai, Mr. Nencho, and Mr. Ryotaro, let’s go.”

Following the knight's reaction from the main road, the group once again entered the alley.

Sure enough, the air was filled with the unpleasant smell of gasoline again, and the clicking and clattering of the engine started up again.

"Moving object detected!" Mary exclaimed through her earpiece. She gritted her teeth as she watched several reactions suddenly appear on the screen. "They're coming! They'll emerge from around the corner of the alley!"

"...It's the same mechanical sound as before!" Mash raised her shield again. "Master!"

"Understood!" Ritsuka quickly hid behind Mashu, cautiously watching the mechanical dolls that ran out from the street corner.

“Well, in that case—” The red color gradually faded from Ryotaro’s body, and he transformed from the Holy Sword form back into the Platform form. “Then, let’s borrow the power of others.”

Inside the Time Train, Momotaros suddenly fell to the ground from mid-air.

"Hey, hey, hey!" The three Imagin, who had been so bored they started playing cards, suddenly perked up. "Momotaros is back, which means—!"

"Kintaros, I'm counting on you!" Ryotaro pressed the third golden button on his belt, closed his eyes, and waved the train ticket in his hand.

"Ax Form!"

"Oh, oh!" Inside the time train, Kintaros's figure gradually turned into golden crystals and disappeared. "It was me! Good!" Kintaros bumped fists and possessed Ryotaro's body.

Inside the Time Tram, Urtaros and Rontaros sat down again out of boredom. Looking at Momotaros, who had just woken up, they handed him the card of Kintaros.

"Hey, wanna play?"

"That Ryotaro guy! He actually used that bear guy's!" Seeing the familiar decorations in front of her, Momotaros knew exactly what had happened. She angrily got up from the ground, "That idiot—"

He muttered something under his breath, but ultimately sat down with Urtaros and Rontaros and started playing cards.

In reality, small tracks surround the platform-shaped area, and golden armor pieces sequentially close onto Ryotaro's body.

Suddenly spreading his legs apart, Ryotaro stood in a horse stance, looking at the dolls bursting out of the demonic mist in front of him.

Then, the golden armor converged at the head, splitting in two to reveal the original sharp horns.

He slowly stood up, pressing his head firmly against his hand.

"Cry for my power!" Ryotaro, carrying a giant axe and transformed into his Sacred Axe form, charged toward the puppet.

With a single swing of his axe, he cleaved the puppet in front of him in two, smashing it into the ground and leaving a huge crack.

This time, there was no situation of being attacked from both sides; Quintalos was facing an enemy from only one direction.

He swung his large axe down relentlessly, chopping one after another of the golems that darted out from the street corner into scrap metal.

"Haha! Hahaha!" A rough laugh rang out at the same time, leaving Nian Zhuo and the others watching the show behind them somewhat bewildered.

"Use these to wipe away your tears!" At the same time, looking at the puppet that had been smashed into countless fragments, Kintaros laughed happily.

"Sigh..." Even Ryotaro, who was watching the operation of Kintaros, adjusted his glasses with a helpless expression.

Just as Kintaros was taking on countless magical puppets, Mashu suddenly twitched her nose, as if she had sensed something.

"Hmm." Nodding in confirmation, she looked at Nencho and Ritsuka beside her and said, "It seems like... or should I say aura... what exactly is this feeling?"

"Hmm? Mashu sensed something?" Marie asked expectantly after hearing the news. "Was it that girl from earlier? Is she nearby?... Or is she just an ordinary citizen who walks fast?"

“No, there are many people.” Mashu’s expression suddenly became somewhat strained, and she pinched her nose. “But there’s no sound…not a doll?”

"Hmm, maybe not." Mary's voice gradually calmed down, because she also saw the multiple magical reactions suddenly appearing on the screen. "Their behavior is different from those dolls, but this feeling... hmm. I judge it to be a hostile reaction! It's coming!"

Without a sound, the humanoid creature broke through the layers of smoke behind it and was exposed to Nian Zhuo and the others' view.

"Really... they were just saying they wouldn't be surrounded." Shaking his head, Nian Zhuo twirled his sword and laid the blade flat. "They really know how to cause trouble!"

A flash of silver sword light streaked past, and several enemies at the forefront were cleaved in two horizontally.

It wasn't a living person, nor was it a mechanical puppet; the enemy before me had a writhing form, but it was created using a human appearance...

Its eyes were two pitch-black holes, and its body resembled a wall that had been painted with paint but hadn't dried yet, with its soft tissues stretching out to form a shape like rice cake.

"Thump thump—" The attack speed was quite fast; their wriggling parts, which could be called 'hands,' struck Mash's shield, producing a series of sounds.

However, their strength was too weak; even Mash could slam them to the ground with the weight of her shield.

The sound of swords flashing and shields clashing rang out, and the suddenly appearing humanoid puppets were all reduced to scattered parts on the ground.

Meanwhile, the battle between Kintaros and Ryotaro ended with Kintaros and Ryotaro emerging victorious.

Looking at the scattered fragments of the puppets' bodies, the broken torsos that were almost hindering their progress, and the rather proud Kintaros, Nianzhuo and the others felt somewhat exhausted.

"We've defeated the hostile creature." Mash lowered her shield and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks for your hard work, everyone."

Looking at the fallen life form on the ground, Mashu carefully poked it with her hand, and it was surprisingly soft.

“It doesn’t seem to be a doll.” Mashu withdrew her fingers, looking at the sticky body tissue on her hand. “But I’m afraid… it’s also impossible to… call it human. These hostile creatures… might… be some kind of artificial life form.”

"An artificial life form?" Ritsuka tilted her head curiously, looking at the huge monster lying on the ground. "Is it the kind of android created based on magic?"

“Yes.” Mashu nodded. “It mainly refers to… life forms created through magic… and humans created in this way.”

"So, Mashu." Suddenly, Nianzhuo moved closer to Mashu, looking her up and down. "Were you injured in the battle just now?"

“No, no.” Mashu was clearly taken aback by Nianzhuo’s sudden statement, but she shook her head in the end. “Thank you, Mr. Nianzhuo. But don’t worry, I’m taking good care of my health.”

"I'm sorry." She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. "I was probably too nervous because of the special circumstances. I have to adapt to any environment, because I am both my senior's Demi-Servant and Nianzhuo-sensei's shield..."

"Alright, alright, then I'll leave it to you." Nianzhuo patted Mashu's head as usual.

Meanwhile, Mary watched the rapidly increasing numbers of the magic reaction on the screen and had a vague sense of foreboding.