"Only the 20 survivors will be qualified to advance to the next round!"
Raven explained the rules of the game.
"The first round of the game will already eliminate everyone until only 20 people are left?"
All the participants were stunned. Most of them had experience with at least one Desire Grand Prix. They knew firsthand just how high the elimination rate in the DGP was.
They never expected that this Golden Fruit Grand Prix would be even more brutal than the DGP.
"However, rest assured on one point: in the Golden Fruit Grand Prix, even if you are defeated, you can still be resurrected," Raven continued.
To him, resurrecting these people was merely an afterthought. Naturally, he wouldn't actually kill anyone just for the sake of pursuing some kind of 'truth.'
"That's a relief."
"I can finally relax..."
Quite a few people secretly let out sighs of relief. After all, if this were the DGP, once they, as Riders, died in the game, they could not be resurrected.
"What a letdown. That takes all the fun out of it."
Upon hearing this, Takeshi Asakura, located somewhere on the island, became displeased. In annoyance, he kicked a piece of scrap lying nearby.
"Still, this is a perfect opportunity to relieve some stress. Since none of these guys will truly die, I can just slaughter them to my heart's content."
He immediately snapped into game mode and began searching for targets everywhere. Ever since he was resurrected, his restless, agitated mood hadn't calmed down. Now, he could finally unleash himself completely.
On the other side, Masato Kusaka was the same. Unlike Takeshi, he had a very clear objective: he must obtain the Golden Fruit to return to his original world and accomplish his goal. To that end, anyone who stood in his way had to die.
Similarly, Kaito Kumon, who was also resurrected in the villain group, was there. Although he didn't want to be manipulated by Raven, the temptation of the Golden Fruit pushed him forward. This was a rare chance for him to turn his life around.
Soon after the game officially began, Keiwa Sakurai was randomly assigned a starting spawn point. After hearing that no one would genuinely die in this game, he quietly let out a breath and started taking the challenge seriously. If he could obtain that Golden Fruit, perhaps he could create a peaceful world.
"I wonder how my sister is doing."
While walking, Keiwa couldn't help but think of his sister, Sara, who had also entered the game. Although his sister had experienced a lot and had all her previous memories restored, this was still her first time becoming a Kamen Rider. She might not even be able to defeat a low-level minor monster.
"But Raven-san and my sister seem to have an unusual relationship; he should be looking out for her," Keiwa suddenly mused.
Lately, his sister couldn't stop talking about Raven, mentioning his name at home almost every day. She truly had him constantly on her mind. Moreover, there was that one time when she didn't return home for the night and stayed at Raven's place. Even though it was at the café, Keiwa still sensed something going on.
Just as Keiwa was lost in thought, a man hidden in the grass suddenly lunged out, wielding a steel baseball bat, attempting to ambush the passing Keiwa.
"Now's my chance!"
Thwack!
Caught completely off guard, the low-alertness Keiwa was instantly struck and collapsed to the ground. Fortunately, the blow landed on his back, not his head, otherwise he might have been eliminated immediately.
"That hurts!"
Keiwa tumbled a few times on the ground in agony before managing to weakly raise his head.
"Why did you ambush me!" he yelled in frustration.
"Why are you asking? I should be asking you! This is a Battle Royale! Eliminating your opponents by any means necessary is what everyone should be doing!" the man retorted as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
He immediately prepared to attack Keiwa again.
Bang!
This time, Keiwa endured the pain and struggled through a few exchanges with the attacker. He fully displayed the fighting ability he had honed through so many previous battles.
"You've got some moves."
Seeing that he couldn't take down Keiwa, the man quickly took out a Raise Buckle and inserted it into his Driver. His ID Core was a spider, and the Buckle he used was the pink Hammer Buckle.
"Henshin!"
"Set!"
The Spider-motif Rider soon completed his transformation and attacked Keiwa, brandishing the small pink hammer.
Facing the assault, Keiwa hurriedly rolled to the side and inserted the Ninja Buckle into his Driver.
"Henshin!"
"Set!"
"Ninja!"
Transformed into his Ninja Form, Keiwa quickly subdued the Spider Rider. Their abilities were on completely different levels—one used the lowest-level Hammer Buckle, and the other used the high-tier Ninja Buckle.
However, Keiwa once again succumbed to his bleeding-heart nature. He only knocked the Spider Rider down, failing to eliminate him or retrieve his ID Core. This gave the defeated foe a chance to try and escape.
At that moment, a massive purple python struck from a distance, swallowing the Spider Rider whole in a single gulp.
"What?!"
Keiwa's eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at the giant cobra!
"Hey, that's not how you play this game."
Behind the cobra, a robust figure emerged. It was Takeshi Asakura, transformed into Kamen Rider Ouja. Since the start of the game, he had already eliminated seven people. All seven were killed outright before they even had a chance to transform. The sight of the blood splattering everywhere had considerably alleviated his agitation. He didn't care that these people could be resurrected; he only cared about enjoying the process.
Raven's reason for including an ultimate villain like Takeshi in his game was simply to make the game more exciting. He also wanted to see how the members of the villain group would torment each other—for example, Masato and Takeshi. These two were among the few Rider characters who were both detested and highly popular among fans in the Rider series.
"You're not the main course I'm looking for, but you seem different from those small fry. I hope you can give me some excitement."
With that, Takeshi commanded his Contract Monster to attack Kamen Rider Tycoon.
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