Kamen Rider Zi-O, Dimensional Descent

Kamijou Touma stared wide-eyed, and even Stiyl watched in disbelief as the students left the building.

What exactly is going on?

"There's no need to make such a fuss."

Gates and Wozniak, on the contrary, seemed quite calm.

"Although these students have all been through a disaster, as long as we restore them to the time before they used magic, wouldn't that solve the problem?"

"Returning to the time before the magic was used—?!"

Even now, the two are still struggling to hide their shock.

They couldn't help but look at Yan Ming, only to see that he had somehow managed to grip a medium-sized watch with a gold and silver dial in his hand.

"Could it be...you?"

Faced with Steele's question, Yan Ming did not offer any further explanation.

If we use the power of Zi-O II to rewind time within this building to a recent point, everyone affected by Aureolus can be resurrected.

At that moment, Touma Kamijou also looked into the distance and noticed that someone dressed in knight's armor seemed to be slowly leaving the area.

"That person, too..."

They've all come back to life.

Ultimately, no one in this incident met a tragic or miserable end, all thanks to the being that could manipulate time at will.

In a sense, he is the one who can truly change reality.

“Let’s go, Wozniak, Gates.”

"Who exactly are you?"

Stiyl hurriedly asked Yan Ming about it; in fact, even Touma Kamijou wanted to figure this out.

The other party was just a new student in Academy City before, but I never expected that he would actually... possess such power.

The three of them did not respond to Stiyl's question, but simply turned and left.

Watching the person slowly walk away, Stiyl wore a complicated expression.

An entity with mysterious powers that has emerged from the scientific perspective.

A powerful being that even the Golden Great Evolution Technique could not contend with.

'It seems necessary to report these matters... to the Supreme Archbishop.'

Volume 5 of A Certain Magical Index: Chapter 143 The Resurrected Demon King

Endless void.

In the dark world that slowly emerged from nothing, a certain consciousness has lingered here from beginning to end.

Although it is a consciousness, it has never had any real thoughts or ideas.

Because it is dead, it is something that should not exist in the world.

but…

Until one day, light shone into the boundless darkness.

Guided by that light, this consciousness slowly stepped out into the world beyond the void, and returned to the human world.

Then--

Tokiwa Shogo slowly floated out of the green liquid in the culture tank.

"Lord Zhuang Wu!"

"Success! The device for resurrection using DNA has finally been successfully completed!"

I...this is...

Tokiwa Sougo lay down next to the instrument, and a series of images suddenly flooded his mind.

That was exactly what he experienced before he died.

By using Kamen Rider J's ability to grow to a giant size, he should have easily defeated those Heisei era trash with his power that "makes all Heisei Kamen Rider powers ineffective."

However, they were met with a joint counterattack led by the demon king.

Under that decisive move, Tokiwa Sogo's body and consciousness were completely destroyed, disappearing entirely into the annals of history.

This is my last memory.

Now, Zhuang Wu looked around and realized that he had stepped back into the human world.

"...Have I been resurrected?"

The people around him quickly pulled him out of the culture tank. These people were dressed in coats and scarves, and upon closer inspection, their attire was exactly the same as Woz's.

They are an organization called the Quartzer, a time management bureau.

Possessing a level of technology that surpasses that of the conventional era, and existing outside the Kamen Rider timeline, it uses a history management machine to observe the history of the Kamen Rider world day and night.

After being revived, Tokiwa Sougo was still a little unaccustomed to his body, but he fully recovered after about fifteen minutes.

He changed back into his old clothes and walked to the front of the room.

This is a space station floating in space, the current headquarters of the Timekeepers organization.

The space station itself floats in space because this allows for a more perfect and stable observation of the timeline of all Kamen Rider worlds.

"How did you resurrect me?"

"Lord Zhuangwu, using the DNA information you left in the main computer before your death, we have used this machine to restore your body and consciousness."

"I don't recall our Timekeepers' tech department having anything like this."

"This machine was created by gradually integrating the technologies we acquired from various timelines... We started working on it immediately after your passing."

So that's how it is... using DNA to revive oneself?

Tokiwa Sougo clenched his hand, and the subordinate immediately realized something.

He quickly gave the others a look, and when his subordinates returned from the room, they were carrying something brand new.

An incredibly luxurious little cushion.

On the mat was the Time Driver... and a gold, black, and green dial.

"Your belt, watch face, and the rest of the watch faces are in the warehouse."

"I'll choose one myself later."

"Understood, then... please accept this, our Demon King!"

Tokiwa Sougo took the belt and watch face handed to him by his subordinate.

He gazed at the watch face in his hand, slowly turning it until it emitted a faint glow.

"It's been a long time, Baruchs..."

And so, Tokiwa Sougo, the mastermind behind the Timekeepers and the true leader of the organization, was officially resurrected.

"Then tell me what happened in that timeline after I was defeated by Tokiwa Sougo?"

"Tokiwa Sougo obtained the power of the Supreme Good Demon King, and after that he collected the power of various Kamen Riders that were not recorded in history. He even defeated Another Oma Zi-O, which was formed by Kakogawa Hiryu by gathering the power of the Showa era."

"Kakogawa Hiryu? How did you guys manage to turn that nobody around?"

"I'm very sorry! At that time, we were busy observing the cause of the spacetime turbulence, so we underestimated the actions of such a minor figure."

Spacetime turbulence?

His subordinate's words caught Tokiwa Sougo's attention.

What's with that spacetime turbulence?

"To be precise, it's something like a spacetime turbulence, well, how should I put it..."

After thinking for a long time, the subordinate had no choice but to step aside.

"You should come and check the situation of each timeline yourself."

Looking at the various complex spacetime observation machines in front of him, Tokiwa Sougo raised an eyebrow and approached them.

He operated the machine in front of him and directly adjusted the data information of various timelines and spaces.

What is this?

He noticed that in every timeline, there were things that resembled abnormal fluctuations.

and…

This fluctuation exists not only in the Kamen Rider universe, but also in various unobservable universes outside the Kamen Rider universe.

"I see, so this is what you meant by time-space turbulence..."

Could it be that Oma Zi-O guy's influence?

Considering this possibility, Tokiwa Sougo directly activated the historical observation machine to continue re-observing the timelines of each Kamen Rider.

The subject of observation is Oma Zi-O, Tokiwa Sougo.

In less than a few seconds, the machine with enormous computing power instantly calculated all the information about Oma Zi-O and Tokiwa Sougo over all the time.

So the answer is—

"Does not exist...?!"

The historical observation machine concluded that Oma Zi-O and Tokiwa Sougo did not exist at any given time.

How is that possible? That's absolutely impossible!

"No...this is not right at all!"

Why did Oma Zi-O and Tokiwa Sougo disappear from the worlds of various Riders?

He couldn't understand it. It was like the sun rising in the east and setting in the west, and then one morning you woke up to find it was pitch black, only to discover that the sun never existed, and had never existed since!

"Are you kidding me... Hey! Someone explain this to me, what's going on?"

Tokiwa Shogo quickly asked his subordinates around him.

"This... I'm very sorry, we have no idea what the reason is."

But clearly no one knows the answer to the question.

He frowned deeply, if... if searching for Tokiwa Sougo and Oma Zi-O yielded no results—

So what will happen if we search for Zi-O?

However, the result should be the same, since Oma Zi-O is Zi-O and Tokiwa Sougo is Zi-O. If these two concepts cannot be searched, then searching for Zi-O should be meaningless.

then.

After a series of calculations, the historical observation machine finally arrived at a definitive result.

"The history of Zi-O...is only one?!"

After being shocked, Tokiwa Sougo immediately went to check what the historical record contained.

That is a point in time and space that exists outside the Kamen Rider world.

In this point in time and space, the concept of Zi-O... is a completely new name.

A name he had never heard before.

"Shilun...Yanming?"

Who is this person? Why is this guy's name the only one listed in the records related to Zi-O? I don't remember this name at all!

Thinking quickly, Tokiwa Sougo tried his best to connect all the clues together.

The anomaly in spacetime, the disappearance of Oma Zi-O and Tokiwa Sougo, and the fact that searching for the concept of Zi-O only yields the name Tokiwa Enmei…

Could it be...?

"The reason why Oma Zi-O and Tokiwa Sougo disappeared, and why turbulent phenomena appeared in spacetime, is all because—"

He couldn't help but speculate.

"It's all because of...this person?"

So that means he is... the new Zi-O?