After defeating the Proud Banana, Raven also confiscated some Lockseeds from him. These counted as spoils of war. Very few enemies who actively attacked him survived without leaving something behind. Otherwise, he couldn't find any reason to spare them.
"Consider these Lockseeds the price for your life."
Dangling a few of the A-Class Lockseeds that Kaito Kumon had just found, Raven waved his hand to open a rift and kicked Kaito through it.
"You're welcome." Raven said to Kaito, who was now sprawled on the street. He immediately closed the rift. If he hadn't sent the other man out, leaving him in Helheim with those injuries would have been a death sentence.
After the encounter and having thoroughly beaten the Proud Banana, Raven wandered the forest for a while longer. Finding nothing else of note, he left.
A few days later, at the Charmant pastry shop in Zawame City.
Lock Dealer Sid, in an effort to make the game more chaotic, distributed the last few original-version Sengoku Drivers. These were given to the teams ranked below Gaim and Baron. Suddenly, the dynamics of the situation were no longer the same as before.
The last person to receive a Driver, a man wearing red jacket, was currently celebrating wildly inside a dessert shop.
"Hahaha! With this, the world is ours!" Sonomura excitedly danced around the shop, even placing his feet on a chair and talking nonsense.
His excessive noise disturbed the other customers. Finally, the owner of the dessert shop emerged from the back kitchen. It was Oren Pierre Alfonzo, a muscular man wearing feminine makeup.
"You children are utterly disgraceful." Oren removed the hat from his head, revealing a bald scalp. His presence was immediately intimidating.
He walked over and lifted the young men up like little chicks, tossing them out. This sent shivers down their spines.
"Truly amateurs. They have absolutely no concept of fighting technique." Oren said to them.
The youths had never encountered anyone so terrifying. They immediately abandoned their leader, Sonomura, and fled in panic.
"If that's the case..." Sonomura decided to retaliate and tried to use the Driver. However, before he could secure a grip on it, Oren easily subdued him, pinning him to the ground, unable to move.
"You don't need to pay for the dessert set, but in exchange, I'll be taking this Driver." Oren had noticed the Driver in their hands early on. It was the same item the street-dancing kids in the viral videos used to transform into Armored Riders.
As a former military man, he immediately recognized the danger of such a device. He also felt that the Drivers in the hands of these youths were being used like children's toys, completely lacking in skill or spectacle. He decided to personally step in and teach these people a lesson.
"Ah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Sonomura lost all his bravado. He proactively handed the fallen Driver to Oren, apologizing profusely. He then scrambled away in fear.
"Finally, it's mine." Oren, having acquired the Driver and a Lockseed, smiled. He quickly prepared to act.
The next day, he publicly announced a challenge for an Inves Game. In reality, he wanted to issue a formal declaration of war to everyone playing the game.
The unlucky victims who were first on his list were Hase and Jonouchi, who were training under a bridge while transformed into Kamen Rider Kurokage and Kamen Rider Gridon, respectively.
Soon, starting with those two, all the young men in the city playing the Inves Game were soundly defeated by Kamen Rider Bravo, Oren's transformed self. After achieving a continuous winning streak, Durian-nee was even ranked on the scoreboard by DJ Sagara as a new official participant.
....
Inside the Amazon café.
Raven sat at the bar, sipping coffee and watching an illegal online radio program playing on the TV screen. The host was none other than DJ Sagara. The customers inside the café were all highly interested in the show, indicating that despite being illegal, the radio show was very popular among the youth of Zawame City.
"Hello, Zawame City!"
"Today, we have some surprising, breaking news straight from the streets!" Sagara gesticulated wildly in front of the camera.
"The latest sensational competitor is named Bravo. Though he is an outsider with absolutely no connection to street dancing, his skill is unquestionable!"
"Since his debut, he's crushed both the Inves and Team Wild Raider, and has since defeated four more teams in a row!"
"Right now, Bravo has a huge collection of stolen Lockseeds. Okay, and we've actually just received a video from Bravo himself!"
"Take a look, everyone!"
As Sagara finished, the screen cut to a video Oren had filmed for himself. In a room filled with European-style decor, Oren sat in his Durian armor, holding a glass of red wine.
"Did you all see it? I've brought real combat and real passion. By comparison, you can see just how big the gap is between a fake and the genuine article."
"Those so-called 'Street Rider' guys will naturally disappear once they lose the public's attention. From now on, please use a critical eye to discern the real from the fake, and judge accordingly."
Raven couldn't help but laugh out loud upon seeing the flamboyantly showy Oren in the video.
"If I don't join this game, wouldn't it be too boring?"
Strictly speaking, he and Oren were now rivals. After all, both their shops sold desserts. Plus, he had recently been aggressively stealing Oren's business.
Therefore, Raven quickly decided to enter the fray as a new Rider. However, the power of the Forbidden Apple Lockseed was too great and would quickly attract the attention of the Yggdrasill Corporation. Since Raven was new to the Gaim world, he didn't want too much attention for now.
He decided to use an ordinary A-Class Lockseed to fight instead. He intended to fight Oren fairly. After all, it would be much more satisfying to completely crush his opponent through superior combat skill alone.
He was extremely confident in this area. The Max-Level Learning Ability he obtained from the System gave him the power to quickly master any skill and push it to the extreme. Combat techniques were naturally included. Therefore, solely in terms of fighting skill, he was already in an absolutely unbeatable state.
———————
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over here ——— pa-tre-on.c-om/AlexandrusTL [remove the hyphen for normal access]