"Did you need something from me?"
"Huh? 'Need something?'...!"
He had a smug look on his face, but there was no mistaking him. He had such an unmistakable aura about him, so why did no one else seem to find him suspicious? Or was it only a Rider who could recognize a Rider?
If you're trying to hide, at least do something about that toy camera hanging from your neck!
"Senpai? Is there something wrong with that person?"
"Uh, well...?"
Yukina asked with a puzzled look, but the situation was so sudden that I couldn't wrap my head around it. His Highness and the others were also staring blankly.
Could it be that even a slight abnormality is recognized as someone's 'quirk' in this world...? If so, then this world must be overflowing with diversity—which it actually is!
That's probably why they overlook abnormalities caused by Stands!
The man in front of me, who looked a little older than when I saw him in the main series, was Kamen Rider Decade, Tsukasa Kadoya.
The multidimensional Rider who travels between worlds. He's known as the Destroyer of Worlds and is a special existence even within the Kamen Rider series... or so the show's lore goes.
Could it be that the exact same person exists in this world of infinite possibilities? Is it really him?
Or is he just a look-alike who likes photography? ...That's unlikely.
While I was thinking, Tsukasa Kadoya (temporary) had gone somewhere. I looked around, but I couldn't find anyone with a camera hanging from their neck.
"Oh, come on..."
I'm sure there's something going on, but this feeling of frustration left in my throat...! If I weren't on guard duty, I'd go looking for him until I found him!
Just then,
"Hmm, yes, what is it?"
Tatenashi-san put a finger to her ear.
"...Yes... Yes, understood. Please handle it on your end."
"Is there a problem?"
"Hmm. Just a little something."
When I asked, she was evasive. She came closer and whispered in my ear.
"It seems a monster of unknown identity has appeared on the floor below. Do you know anything about it?"
"I don't know anything about it."
I understand her suspicion, but I genuinely don't know anything about this.
"I'll go check it out. Something might be happening, so I'll leave this place to you, okay?"
"Understood."
"Hmm, then, everyone, farewell."
Tatenashi-san, with a fearless smile, left the scene.
"Did something happen?"
"Something's going on on the floor below."
"Will she be alright...?"
"From the sound of it, she seems fine."
Reines, with a changed look in her eyes, asked sharply, and Yukina sounded worried.
But I wanted to see this 'monster' myself. Even if I had no idea what it was, I felt I'd know something if I saw it.
Since Decade was here, the possibility of it being a Rider-related monster is very high. His presence probably means that such trouble is going to happen.
The guards from the other countries, seeing Tatenashi-san's reaction, started to become a bit more on edge. They must have sensed that something was up.
It didn't take long for the abnormality to manifest.
Bang! With a violent sound, the door was thrown open. No, it wasn't opened. Something in a human shape had rammed it and broken it.
The entity that hit the door fell to the floor, and a succession of others trampled over it and rushed in.
Monsters that looked like zombies or faceless mummies. Their name was.
"'Yummy Grunts'...! So they're enemies from the OOO series!"
They were the foot soldiers from Kamen Rider OOO. Fortunately, there were no full-fledged Yummy or their leaders, the 'Greed.'
But,
"One after another...!!"
A continuous stream of Yummy Grunts came pouring in. There seemed to be a lot of them.
"Could it be..."
Could it be that Tatenashi-san was breached?
It's not that they're too strong for her to handle. It's that there are too many of them to defeat.
"Senpai!"
"Master!"
"All right! Let's defeat them no matter what!"
The job of a bodyguard is to keep the VIP safe. It's a given that the top priority is to ensure the safety of the person you're guarding.
And ensuring safety isn't always the same as eliminating the enemy. Many of the other guards seemed to think it was the Bureau of Management's job to handle the monsters.
But there were clearly not enough bureau members. It was a sure thing that the guards would have to work. Still, I was worried about the situation on the floor below—and about Tatenashi-san.
"Shō-san, please go down there! I'll be fine!"
His Highness, who was behind me, shouted. She was kind, and like me, she was worried about Tatenashi-san's safety.
With La Folia and Peco—Eustiana with her, their guards would protect them. Given their personalities, they wouldn't abandon her.
Then,
"I'm going. Yukina and the others, I'm counting on you to protect His Highness. I'm leaving one of me here."
"Yes...! Yes?"
"Leaving one of you here...?"
I put on the Gamer Driver for the first time in a while. Holding it, it had a different feel than the Ziku Driver.
As I was moved, I pulled out my transformation item.
"MightyBrothers XX!"
It was the Mighty Brothers Gashat that Artoria and the others had returned to me. I'll use this one this time.
"Henshin."
"DOUBLE GASHAT!!"
"LEVEL UP!!"
"MIGHTY BROTHERS! TWO IN ONE! MIGHTY BROTHERS! VICTORY FOR TWO! X!"
"Oh..."
"Shō-san..."
"Whoa! I've become so cute!"
The people behind me were surprised by my transformation.
I was in a stocky form with a large head. The head looked like two-colored hair was growing out of the middle. Honestly, it wasn't a very cool-looking form at first glance.
"One more time!"
This time, I opened and closed the lever.
"DOUBLE UP!"
"I am you and you are me! We are! Mighty! Mighty! Brothers! XX!"
The stocky exterior blew off, and two Emu Eku-Edo, one orange and one green, appeared.
"Oh, my goodness...!"
"Shō-san...!"
"You've multiplied!? This is not good!"
They all reacted in their own way.
"Yukina, I'm staying!"
"I'm going!"
"Huh? Uh, wait, what?"
Yukina had a question mark floating over her head, but there was no time for a long explanation.
"Here, take it!"
"Thanks!"
The one who was going down to defeat the monsters (the green one) received the exclusive weapon, the 'Gashacon Key Slasher,' from the one who was staying (the orange one).
"I'm going!"
"All right, we need to do something about this!"
The battle of the Double Action Gamers had begun.
---------
"Yes, they're definitely monsters of unknown identity..."
Tatenashi, who had arrived on the scene, described the sight that way.
Many bureau members were fighting the Yummy Grunts. The situation wasn't exactly unfavorable. Their individual strength wasn't that great.
In this situation,
"I'd like to capture two or three of them."
She said lightly, touching an accessory on her fan.
"Let's go, Misted Lady."
The next moment, Tatenashi was enveloped in light.
Armor was attached to her body, which was clad in a form-fitting inner jacket. Furthermore, a veil of water enveloped the parts not covered by the armor.
She was equipped with her main weapon, the Sōryūsen—a huge spear.
This was Tatenashi's IS, the Misted Lady.
IS is a key item that appears in "Infinite Stratos."
In the original work, it was a multi-form suit developed by 'Shinonono Tabane' for activities in space. It was used as a mobile weapon due to its optical weapons, ability to fly, an absolute defense to protect the pilot, and expandability through self-evolution.
However, for some reason, only women could use it, and the protagonist, 'Orimura Ichika,' was the only male in the world who could use an IS.
In this world, that's mostly unchanged.
The only difference is that it's a magical device, not a chemical product.
However, like Shinonono Tabane, it has a significant impact on the world.
First, you can fly even if you don't have the aptitude for it.
You might forget this since Nanoha and Fate can fly normally, but Subaru and Tiana have no aptitude for magic and can't use flight magic. In terms of numbers, they are the overwhelming majority.
This disadvantage can be easily overcome.
Also, it's possible to use magic without being affected by the AMF (Anti-Magic Field), which has been a major problem for the Bureau of Management, which uses magic as its main force in recent years.
However, the 'core' of the IS can only be made by Shinonono Tabane, so their number is limited. Still, there was no doubt that it was an important force for peace.
As the 17th head of the Sarashiki family, which holds great power in Japan's defense, Tatenashi wields the power of the IS.
The water that made up her veil, sharper than a blade, pierced the Yummy Grunts. The exhausted Yummy Grunts turned into broken Cell Medals.
"Sarashiki-san!!"
"What's the situation!?"
"These monsters are coming out of nowhere!!"
"No matter how many we defeat, there's no end to them!"
"Don't complain!!"
In between spurring them on, Tatenashi thrust her Sōryūsen. The Yummy that were hit directly by the spear exploded on the spot, and the ones that were hit by the shock were thrown against the walls one after another.
Clink, clink, the medals rolled across the floor.
Her strength boosted morale at once, but morale alone doesn't restore stamina.
"Hah!"
Tatenashi moved forward in one swift motion. With each swing of her spear, multiple Yummy Grunts were blown away and vanished into dust. And she kept the damage to the building to a minimum.
The Sōryūsen is wrapped in water manipulated by Tatenashi's magic. A normal spear becomes a blunt instrument when swung, but the Sōryūsen can cut like a sword with its sharpened water.
The same goes for the veil of water that envelops her. It can become a shield to protect her and a spear to pierce her opponents. A half-hearted defense would be useless against it. A single drop of water is Tatenashi's weapon.
"(Now, what should I do?! I'd normally blow up the whole area with an opponent like this... but that's too dangerous. I guess I'll just have to keep crushing them, one by one!)"
She had attacks that covered a wide area, but using them indoors, especially with guards on the floor above, was not an option.
A blast of light flew from behind her.
"A magic bullet... no?"
It was Shō, who had transformed into Double Action Gamer, who appeared.
---------
"Are you alright, Tatenashi-san!"
"Yozuki-kun!? Why are you here!? Is everything okay upstairs?"
"It's fine. I'm up there, too."
"...I see. So you have that kind of power, too (This form looks like Paradox, but I've never seen it before... There's still so much I don't know about his Kamen Rider power)."
"I'm glad you caught on so fast, but those monsters are also on the floor above. The VIPs are being protected by their respective bodyguards, but..."
"In that case, we can't let them break through here...!"
So they hadn't broken through. In that case, there must be a source on the upper floor as well. I'll have to leave that to the other me.
From behind the pillars and outside the door, the endless stream of Yummy Grunts, no matter how weak, was wearing us down. Is there a source somewhere? No, the places they're coming from are too random.
We fought back to back, but we were still clearing out the Yummy Grunts.
Even so, their numbers weren't decreasing at all. It's not good to spend too much time on this. But what should we do?
"...No, this is it..."
"Is there a way!?"
"I'll enhance everyone here!"
I activated a new ability.
---------
"Yukisōrō!!"
Yukina's spear slashed at her opponents, and she struck them with its handle. I punched away the Yummy Grunts that attacked her in the brief opening of her attacks.
"Shō-san...!"
"Your Highness, please don't step forward. Spirits... bestow your blessings upon them!"
With Kokkoro's power, our fatigue lessened.
However,
"Yukina! Can you still go!?"
"Haah, haah, yes! I can still go on!"
I looked around and saw that no one was being pushed back. Still, the accumulated fatigue was visible on their faces as they fought the Yummy Grunts, who could appear from anywhere and seemed to have no end.
"Damn it, what's going on down there...!"
Why are so many of them appearing all the time!?
"Don't you know what's happening to the split you!?"
"I don't know!"
We talked while fighting back to back.
Unfortunately, Double Action Gamer doesn't have such a convenient feature.
"Ha!? ...I see."
"Senpai? What happened?"
I must have been the only one who felt it. The activation of that ability on the floor below. A power that's more of a divine authority than magic.
"I'll use it too...!"
A golden magic circle appeared under my feet.
"I will enhance everyone in this place!"
It was the power of a Princess Knight.
---------
"This is...!"
"What's this? My body suddenly feels lighter...?"
"To think you were hiding a power like this..."
"To be precise, I just got it recently."
I mumbled to myself so no one could hear.
The power of the protagonist from "Princess Connect! Re:Dive." It's honestly a bit plain since you can't see the direct effects, but its power is immense. It's a top-tier support ability. There's no way it could be weak, as long as there's someone to enhance.
The faces of the Bureau of Management members, who had been exhausted by the onslaught of enemies, became sharper. They started to attack as if they had forgotten their fatigue.
"...If they're on our side, they're certainly reliable... Push them back at once!!"
"Yes!!"
With Tatenashi-san and me at the center, the counterattack began.
---------
"Mmmph...!"
"Power is flowing from Senpai...? Senpai, is this...!"
"It's my new power. Kokkoro! Use your support magic on us!"
"Y-yes! Understood, Master!"
On top of my Princess Knight buff, Kokkoro's blessing of the spirits was added, filling the entire venue.
"Oh!!"
"We can do this! We'll push them back in one go!!"
"Senpai! Us too!"
"Yeah!"
With the sudden power-up, not only the Bureau of Management members but also the guards were energized.
And so, we managed to repel the great army of Yummy Grunts.
--------------------------------------------
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