Kamen Rider Zi-O, Dimensional Descent

Page 167

"...Finally, it's going to be over."

Volume 4: Knight Wars: Chapter 122 The Final Battle of This World

Dao Keji knew he could no longer live.

…No, it's more accurate to say that I wasn't even alive from the very beginning.

He died long ago, and then, with his mother's help, his body was transformed into Never, a walking corpse.

After that, he was defeated by the two-in-one Kamen Rider.

Then... he was forcibly resurrected in this world.

This is the life of self-discipline and self-restraint, which belongs to the Great Way.

From beginning to end, he lived with death.

He slowly spread his hands.

It was a platinum-gold memory fragment that had been shattered into pieces, which was then scattered by the wind in his hand.

"Eternity... that word sounds nice, but even if something possesses eternal memories, can it still not be preserved forever?"

The same applies to self-discipline in the Great Way.

Even if he becomes Never and possesses theoretical immortality, he is definitely not permanent.

Nothing in this world lasts forever.

For him, the only things that are truly eternal and unchanging are the memories he has left behind from the past.

Including the memories I have in this world

"It seems you never intended to live from the beginning, why?"

"Thanks to you, I'm finally free from that guy's control."

Dao Keji felt that he had relaxed his whole body and mind.

He rolled over, lay on the ground with his arms outstretched, and let his body slowly turn into countless particles, disappearing from this world.

"It's unfair to my former companions that I was resurrected all by myself."

"And now I can finally go back to my fallen comrades... Isn't that a good thing?"

There was no lingering affection in his eyes.

Yan Ming simply stared at him, watching this man's final actions in this world.

He is an enemy that he must defeat no matter what.

Therefore... defeating him without any regrets, as we are doing now, is the greatest respect we can show him.

"You are really... a very strong person."

Recalling how Yan Ming never panicked no matter what the situation, and how he never admitted defeat, I realized that Yan Ming had never panicked before.

Da Dao Keji then raised his arm.

"Thanks to you, I was able to finally reunite with my comrades... Well done."

The black particles were scattered into the sky by the wind.

In Yan Ming's final gaze, what appeared before him was the other party giving a thumbs-up gesture.

Then, it all vanished.

He stared at the spot where the two dark knights had vanished, and then... simply turned his head away.

it's not finished yet.

The culprit behind all this has not yet been identified.

"It's all over, Time Jacker."

Woz walked over, and Gates, Tsugumi, Kusaka Masato, and Tsugami Shoichi, who had recovered some of their strength, also came over.

Everyone surrounded Phineas at the foot of a building, and she stood on the top of that building.

"You've run out of cards to play, you're finished."

"Just surrender obediently, and that way you'll die a little less painfully."

Phineas looked down at the knights who had gathered around him.

Then...

She then slowly smiled.

"Yes... those useless things have already been defeated by you, so it's about time we finished."

"If I really am the so-called Time Jacker, Finis."

boom--!!

She ripped open her white dress, and then—

In an instant, Finnis's entire body transformed into something inhuman.

"what?"

Gates and the others stared in astonishment, while Woz seemed to understand.

"Just as I thought... this guy's real identity isn't Finnis at all."

The Time Jacker, Phineas, is dead; there is no way for her to be resurrected.

The guy in front of me is nothing but an imposter using Finnis's appearance.

What appeared before everyone was... a ball of flame.

The ball of flame hovered in mid-air, and in an instant, it swept over certain things in the world.

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At this very moment, in that village in the distance.

The villagers were waiting for news of Yan Ming and his men's final victory—

"Hey...you guys, look over there!"

One of the villagers immediately noticed something was wrong.

He pointed to the distant forest, and then the other villagers also noticed something was amiss.

"What is that?!"

From within the forest, an even louder tremor slowly spread.

Something... is flying out from there.

"It's...a satellite?!"

Suspended in mid-air is the defunct satellite that has remained near the village for many years.

At that moment, it seemed to regain its function and flew directly towards the distant horizon.

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Besides that satellite, all the monsters and Kamen Riders in the world were also swept into the very center of the flames like a vortex.

Everything then took shape.

With enough power to warp spacetime, and relying on a satellite as a carrier—

A colossal figure, over 100 meters long, appeared in mid-air.

"bird…?"

What appeared before everyone was a giant firebird whose entire body was wrapped in flames.

Its carrier is made of the original material of the satellite, and its interior also absorbs all the monsters and Kamen Riders in the world as the core power source.

An inextinguishable flame surrounds it, forming wings of flame that move up and down.

"This reaction...how could this be?!"

At that moment, after learning about the situation through the Zero-One Driver, Denji showed a shocked expression.

"The information transmitted from that satellite... uses the same signal frequency as the satellite Ark!"

So that's how it is...?

The reason why the satellite in that village could block the radio signals of the knights and monsters, and why it could draw all the monsters and knights in the world to this place... is now crystal clear.

That satellite—it was also something that Phineas summoned to this world.

No, that's not right.

Her name shouldn't be Finnis.

“...My name is Phenex.”

The voice was completely different from the original Finnis's voice.

A voice, as indistinct and genderless as that of an old radio, called out loudly from a being who called himself Phoenix.

"I am a demon ranked thirty-seventh, the god of fire who never dies!"

demon.

The other party was a monster of the same race as the demon named Baal from the previous world.

In this way, the other party's identity will be completely clear.

"Not Phoenix... but Phenex?"

Wozniak seemed to suddenly realize something.

"I should have known better than to find it in a place like this."

The monster named Phoenix flapped its wings, and a violent gust of hot wind instantly swept towards the earth.

The Earth's natural ecosystem has been altered once again.

The scorching heat was burning the surface of the planet... Soon, everything in the world would be burned to ashes.

"I really didn't expect to be pushed to this extent by you guys... But whatever, as long as I show this true attitude, there's nothing more to say."

It placed the satellite Ark, which it originally summoned to this world, into this world, allowing it to absorb as much of the negative emotions of the human race as possible, and then used this to increase its power by creating countless monsters and Kamen Riders.

Everything is for this moment.

"Now that you've forced me to reveal my true form, then you'd all die here—!!"

boom--!!

From Phoenix's mouth, a fireball spiraled down towards the ground in an instant.

However, a shadow rushed forward at an even faster speed.

It's Yan Ming.

He swung his strongest ultimate sword, and with a single strike, he instantly cut the fireball in two.

Flames exploded around Yan Ming.

It was as if a circle had formed, separating him from the knights behind him who had not transformed.

"Oh...are you planning to stop me?"

Phoenix, high in the sky, looked at Yan Ming with the same gaze one would give an insect.

"You dare to challenge me, a demon god, in the guise of a human?! Human!!"