Kamen Rider Date A Live

"...Huh? Kotori—what did you just say?"

Thinking she had misheard, Kotori asked again, somewhat dazed. Kotori, who genuinely thought she hadn't heard clearly, once again clearly and loudly explained her question out of curiosity.

“Listen carefully! You’re similar to Shido in this respect… Let me say it again, who are Yiwen and Otaku? We don’t know anyone with a name.”

That's right, I definitely didn't mishear. Kotori just explained that they didn't know Evangelion and the otaku at all... But how could that be! If that's the case, why are Evangelion-senpai, Otaku-san, Nanoha-senpai, Fate-senpai, Hayate-senpai, Ken-san, Hoshino... all clearly present here in my future self's memories?!

Startled by the stark difference between her future memories and the words of Kotori from that future life recorded in her future memories, Strike Agitω's pupils dilated, and she was even somewhat confused about what was going on. But after Strike Agitω realized that her future memories were completely different from those of the future Kotori, the memories of what she had experienced in her future memories, as well as the things that Evangelion, the otaku, Nanoha, Fate, Hayate, Key, and Seiya had done, suddenly cracked.

[Oh dear, to be discovered by you, Shido, at the most likely moment... is it lucky... or unlucky for you, Shido?]

A familiar voice, with its familiar cynical tone, rang in Qiangji agitω's mind. The moment she heard it, a clear image of that long-lost, almost forgotten reader, eye-catching person, whose name hadn't even appeared yet, appeared in Qiangji agitω's mind.

As she recalled a certain eye, the false future memories existing in Agitω's mind, which had begun to shatter, completely shattered!

———Land of Possibilities———

Someone might think: Hmm? Even in the future memories given to Itsuka Shido, the boundary between falsehood and reality has disappeared? —No, it's shattered. It seems like he's detected the falsehood? Oh well, it's not really my concern anyway. There's no need to get involved; it's just a business deal.

—Breaking down false memories and revealing true memories—

Evangelion, Otaku, Nanoha, Fate, Hayate, Key, Seiya... These familiar predecessors of the Chosen Ones, in Shido's future memories, their figures begin to shatter and disappear, and at the same time, the future memories begin to change.

A completely different [You], whom Agitω had never seen before, with gray eyes and gray gloves, and black and white pupils and white gloves, replaced the figures of Evangeline and the others.

It was no longer Yiwen and the others who trained him; all his training in this other world was done by that gray "You"—and without Yiwen and the others, although there were many differences in the details between this memory and his own, the general process and the ending were almost the same!

[If you want to know what happened, come to the spiritual world, because it's not something that can be explained in a short time—of course, Shido, you can choose not to come. Some things are better left unknown too soon.]

(Although I understood from the beginning... it seems... the contract of this power is far more than what you've said before! What else is being hidden! This time I must find out completely, there is...! No, I should say, Rector F. Grimmore!)

"Oh my, you've even called me by my alias. Looks like you're quite curious... Well then, come in, Shido. Let's have a long-awaited chat, Shido and I, your guide, have it."

As soon as he finished speaking, Qiangxi agitω closed his eyes, calmed his mind and body, and entered his own mental world!

The Truth About the 252nd Chosen One (Part 2)

The Truth About the 252nd Chosen One (Part 2)

"Hey, long time no see, Shido. Shall we exchange pleasantries first, or get straight to the point?"

After descending into her own mental world, she looked at the simulated living room of her own home, and saw a young man sitting there with a carefree and enigmatic air, striking crimson hair, handsome features, and wearing a black suit with gold trim that clearly indicated his extraordinary status. With one eye closed and the other hand holding a teacup, the man smiled and greeted Strike agitω as he took a sip of the black tea.

"Of course, let's get straight to the point, you long-lost bastard. Tell me exactly how much you left out when you made the contract with me."

Although it was indeed the first time she had seen this man (whether in her future memories or her own), Strike Agitω clearly understood that this man, who was even more handsome than Kannazuki, was undoubtedly her guide, the one who made her a chosen one—the pseudonym Rector F. Grimmore, the guy who had been hiding so much from her!

"Oh dear, what an impatient fellow... But speaking of which... do you know the theory of three-dimensional intersecting parallel lines, Shido?"

"I know a little bit... It seems that what you didn't tell me before is closely related to this theory."

In response to Rector's powerful attack, agitω pulled out a chair, sat opposite Rector, and quietly waited for the next installment.

"Well, I knew you knew a little bit about it... So, Shido, do you know about the historical transition period? Your existence is our historical transition period."

"...Please explain clearly, I don't understand."

Listening to the completely unfamiliar words coming from Rector's mouth, and unable to figure out what they meant, Strike Agitω could only urge Rector to explain more clearly in a helpless tone.

"Oh, well then, let me briefly explain our goal—why we're doing this. Originally, this was only revealed to the chosen ones whose mental fortitude, strength, and resilience had reached a level that we, the guides, deemed acceptable… It's not that I don't want to tell you, Shido, but I'm asking you again, do you really want to know?"

"........."

There wasn't a trace of a joke in Rector's words, only utmost seriousness and solemnity—but all of this had no effect on Strike agitω, who had already made up her mind to accept whatever the truth might be.

“I’ve said these words once already. Now that I’m here, I’m not going back. Go ahead and say it.”

"With your temper... don't you know that there are some things in this world that you shouldn't know?!"

Annoyed by Agitω's attitude, Rector yelled at Agitω with an angry expression. But seeing that Agitω remained unmoved, he suddenly changed his expression and reverted to his previous nonchalant one.

"Alright, alright, you're not even scared of this... At least you've got enough guts. Fine, I'll tell you then, but as always, don't regret it—this is no joke."

"Go ahead."

Looking at the now indifferent Strike Agitω who was like a robot, Rector shrugged, took a sip of tea, and began to explain the origins of the Chosen Ones.

"Looking back, it has been more than ten thousand years since we decided to create the Chosen Ones. In the process of selection, almost all of them failed at first. After a long period of time, the success rate of the Chosen Ones appearing began to rise... However, as of now, the number of Chosen Ones that we can consider to be true Chosen Ones is just over a thousand. Most of them are like you, Shido, who are not yet mature."

"The reason we decided to create the Chosen Ones is actually quite simple. To put it nicely, we are heroes who decided to find partners so that all worlds can continue to survive; to put it bluntly, we are acting on instinct to fight those who destroy the world, but because our combat strength is insufficient, we plan to train some guys who can become our henchmen."

"What I've said so far, some of which you already know about Shido—after listening, do you have any questions? Why do I use 'instinct' to describe our actions?"

Although she was annoyed that Rector seemed to see right through her, Strike agitω couldn't refute it, because Rector was absolutely right. She did have doubts, and those doubts were exactly as Rector had said.

"Actually, the reason is quite simple—just like light and darkness, water and fire, heaven and earth, these two extremes of existence, our enemy is the one who destroys everything, and we are the ones who protect everything, just like the two sides of black and white. Although we don't know why we protect everything, the greatest immutable principle in our hearts is this—innate, unchangeable, engraved in our bodies, and carried through to death. To put it simply, it's just like how you humans are born with the need to eat, drink, sleep, mate, and have sex, without any reason. That's why I say it's instinct."

"No, no one is born knowing how to mate and have sex!"

Although I understood what was going on after hearing it, I couldn't help but complain about Rector's last words. I thought he would be serious at a time like this... but what the hell are you talking nonsense with such a straight face at the end?!

"Calm down, Shido. It was just a joke to lighten the mood, don't take it to heart—but you'd better listen carefully to what I'm about to say."

"As long as you don't talk nonsense, there's no problem. I'm listening carefully."

The corner of her mouth twitched under the mask, but her tone was indeed much more relaxed because of Rector's nonsense earlier—of course, she would never admit that it was because of Rector's nonsense.

"Hey hey... But before we get to that, there's something Shido should know—you probably don't know, but actually we [have], and because of our different strengths, we're roughly divided into four categories."

"Hey?"

Upon first hearing this, Rekdo expressed his doubts with a question—but Rekdo simply smiled at this expected question and continued.

"The classification is quite simple. Just like in RPGs, we have categories like combat, support, research, and civil/military."

"Combat, as the name suggests, refers to those who specialize in combat. While it's not to say that other types of beings can't fight, combat-type beings are inherently incredibly powerful from the start—among those you know, there are Sekai, Yuusei, and Ken, so you could consider them halfway through. However, they trained themselves, unlike Yuusei who were born with the ability to fight. But for some reason, although there are many of this type of being, they usually disappear very quickly."

"Support, as the name suggests, is someone who specializes in support. This type of support is relatively rare. They are good at things like pharmacists or chefs in games, creating all sorts of power-enhancing drugs and foods, or their own abilities are to strengthen their own side or weaken the opponent. Among the people you know, only Xingye is a support specialist."

"Scientific research, as before, literally means specializing in research and manufacturing items. It's similar to the definition of an auxiliary profession, and they are relatively rare. They are skilled at creating various convenient and combat/everyday equipment, much like weapon and armor makers in games. Among the people you know of this type of 'scientific research,' only one is Keya. He is a 'scientific research' expert. Speaking of which, let's take out Shido's motorcycle later. If I'm not mistaken, you should have already reached the point where the mechanical tornado modified by Keya can appear in a new form."

"And the final one, 'literary and martial arts'... is not quite the same as the literal meaning. You should understand 'Shido' as fighting with literature. This type, like combat, is one of the most numerous among the 'Kings.' They don't have direct combat abilities. Most of the time, once the chosen ones are selected, they leave it alone, only appearing when necessary to guide. Because this type of 'King' excels at verbal sparring, negotiation, and the almost omniscient knowledge they gain by sacrificing most of their talents—I am this type of 'King.' For example, I am good at verbal sparring and negotiation. My main job is to pave convenient paths for other chosen ones in places they don't know about. And my ability is a permanent activation type, which means that it makes others believe in my words and greatly increases the chance of them agreeing."

"Now that we've covered that, let's talk about what the Chosen Ones are. The Chosen Ones we choose are mostly people who are favored by this world. To put it simply, they are people who can cause changes in the world—Shido, in your world. It's because of your unique ability to seal spirits that even without me, you would have been found by Ratatoskr sooner or later, and then the spirits would have been sealed."

"As for why you are looking for someone loved by the world, that is not something you need to know, Shido."

"However, as I mentioned before, this move did not go smoothly at first, because even if you train to the strongest, it is still just the level of one world, one plane, with its own limits... just like human potential, it has its limitations."

"To put it simply... Shido. Kamen Rider Wizard Infinite Form, the robe he wears has a permanent mechanism that absorbs the magic power he releases. This makes it not an exaggeration to say that Wizard's total magic power is infinite. However, the amount of magic power that a human can use and output has a limit. Even if you have ∞ magic power, your output is limited to 100."

"Looking at the Chosen Ones whose strength is no less than ours in combat specialization, and who, unlike us, lack the strength to withstand death due to the enemy's characteristics, we realized this and decided to do something: increase the potential and output of the Chosen Ones. From 100... to ∞."

"But the so-called limitations are not so easy to overcome—because limitations exist precisely to protect the human body from overexertion. Therefore, we did not start our research from the body itself, but from the capacity of a person's existence."

"Temperament is a very direct reflection of a person's capacity for existence. Some great people and powerful martial artists can make people feel as if they are facing some behemoth, not just one person, but hundreds or thousands of people just by their temperament... But that is ultimately just the pressure and illusion of temperament - but what if we think about it the other way around?"

"It's not about giving people the illusion of being a behemoth or having countless people; it's about being real, facing one person is like facing countless people."

"After realizing this, we set out to find a way—and eventually, we found one—to absorb the same existences of ourselves in all parallel worlds. To increase our own capacity of existence and rise in rank—as for what rank is, that's not really relevant to you right now, Shido, so you don't need to understand it."

"And this method worked better than we expected. The potential of those who are chosen to be sublimated into unique beings can only be described as limitless. If nothing unexpected happens, it is not impossible for them to become a conceptual deity like our enemies. But just as we were rejoicing, the drawbacks of this method appeared."

"Every cause has its effect. Because of the cause we planted, we have to accept the bitter fruit of our own actions. Those chosen in this way are all destroyed by natural and man-made disasters that even we have to fear and find difficult to deal with. And at this time, we finally realize how foolish we have been."

"The same existence in countless worlds is dissolved into one existence, and a world loses its most beloved person... The immense causal lines formed by these causes and effects are enough to destroy everything."

"To give you an example... Shido. If your world didn't have you, what do you think would happen?"

"Tohka will be driven mad by humans, turning into a demon king who kills anyone she sees; Yoshino will become increasingly closed off, never finding redemption; Kurumi will endlessly kill and eat people, never receiving understanding, living a lonely life; Kotori, due to her rampaging spiritual power, will burn everything, and after regaining her senses, will spend her life in guilt; Kaguya and Yuzuru will have to make the cruelest choice between each other; Miku will live with distrust of all humanity, wearing a hypocritical mask; Nanami will manifest in the world in self-loathing, being hunted, captured, or killed; Origami, without any spiritual support, will live with hatred, ultimately collapsing and becoming a demon king who destroys the world..."

"...So this is the kind of despicable thing you've been hiding from me?!"

Unable to contain his rage, he reached out and grabbed Rector's collar, his furious voice proclaiming the fury he felt at that moment!

I couldn't listen anymore! Hearing about Tohka and the others' plight, even knowing it wasn't directly related to me, I still felt... if I hadn't become a Chosen One...

Seeing that Strike Agitω had suddenly relaxed and let go of himself, looking somewhat lost and dejected, Rector, understanding Strike Agitω's thoughts, sighed.

"Are you regretting becoming a Chosen One? But it was your choice, which means it's all your fault... That's what I want to say. But Shido, think about it carefully. If we really did that, why do you still see countless futures and pasts of yourself in the world of possibilities?"

"You mean!!"

Upon hearing Rector's words, the Strike agitω, who had suddenly raised its head, grabbed Rector's collar again, its face getting closer and closer... creating an overwhelming sense of pressure.

"Move your hands and face away! It's scary!"

Even though it looks like a cool helmet, being so close and feeling that oppressive aura... I really couldn't think of anything else besides being scared.

"Speak quickly!"

Not forgetting to urge him on, Agitω released Rector. After being released, Rector straightened his collar and continued speaking.

"Because this forceful approach is extremely risky, even though it was very effective, we still stopped it at our unanimous request. However, we believe that we did not choose the wrong method, but rather used it in the wrong way. What I am about to talk about is what we have been using until now."

"The biggest problem with the original method is that it causes the world's trajectory to go drastically wrong, or even causes the world to collapse. Countless causal lines make it almost impossible for the Chosen Ones to survive when they encounter difficulties. In order to solve this problem, we came up with a way to clear the blockage."

"It's not about absorbing the counterpart all at once, nor is it about absorption anymore. It's about taking it slowly and attaching to it, while simultaneously attaching to the plane of the counterpart. We use our abilities to create causal replicas that are exactly the same as the counterpart that was absorbed, and live on in place of the counterpart that was attached."

"And what you noticed, Shido, is why the training you by Evan and the others turned into my clone doing it... The reason is simple: because Evan and the others are unique, there is only one of them."

"However, once you become the Chosen One, you become the main world of all the parallel worlds of your world. Even if you don't, slowly, one by one, the causal threads that wrap around you will gradually make you an important being who can influence the world—this kind of being is what we call a period of historical transition. Of course, most of what you can trigger are events, not a person."

"...That's roughly it. Although you haven't absorbed any yet, Shido, you'll absorb one soon. Then you'll understand why we did this."

"...To be honest, if it weren't for you, I'd suspect the person who said something like saving all the worlds had a mental problem...Rector, I'm asking you. Did Senior Evangeline and the others also know this?"

"Ah, of course I know, because they are all exceptionally outstanding chosen ones, and they also have determination."

"Let me tell you something else, Shido. After absorbing all your counterparts, your existence will reach the limit of sublimation. If you successfully sublimate, everything within you will be liberated—but let me tell you clearly, with this mindset, you cannot complete the sublimation, and there will be no second chance for that sublimation! What you will face then is even greater regret and pain!"

With a serious expression, he warned Rector, who was attacking agitω. This time, there was no joking attitude; he was genuinely warning him.

"...Damn it! Now that you say that, I have no choice! Rector...Since my predecessor, my teacher, could do it, then in order not to disgrace my teacher, I must do it too!"

The momentum had begun to change, and Shido now possessed an unparalleled and unwavering determination. At this moment, it seemed to bring Rector both immense relief and worry—Rector sincerely hoped that Shido wouldn't kill him after learning the true truth.

That's right. While what Rector said before wasn't entirely false, there were also many things he deliberately didn't say... For example, Shido won't be able to live a peaceful and stable life from now on. The clones that were released after being attached might not actually be able to go back—because the causal clones that copied them won't think of themselves as fakes.

Finally, there's the negative impact of those causal lines, which will also affect the people around Shido—to put it bluntly, they'll become unlucky (based on the average person's experience).

However, even though he had a lot on his mind, Rector wouldn't stop talking about it.

"Hehe, then I'll look forward to it. I really want to know what your true name will be after you've been sublimated and it's etched into your being."

"Real name?"

The unfamiliar words prompted agitω to ask a question instinctively. However, Rector waved his hand dismissively and replied indifferently.