Despite Raven's earlier unusual performance, it wasn't enough for Oren to take him seriously. In his opinion, Raven wasn't much older than these kids; how much experience could someone his age have making desserts? He was probably just an apprentice who hadn't finished his training yet.
"I hope you'll still be this arrogant in a moment."
Raven spoke, pulling out a Sengoku Driver from his person.
"Man... Manager, you have a Driver too!?" Kouta, watching from afar, was dumbfounded. He never expected Raven, who always seemed so busy, to have also acquired a Driver and plan to join the battle.
Everyone else was equally shocked. Yet another powerful-looking person with a Driver had appeared. Things were truly spiraling out of control.
"Perfect! Since you have one too, let's have a fair duel between the two of us," Oren said excitedly.
"Let's begin."
Raven opened the Melon Lockseed in his hand.
"Honeydew Melon!"
"Eh! It's a Melon?" Kouta was instantly startled. Wasn't this the same Lockseed the white Rider who attacked him in the forest used?
Immediately, a zipper opened in the sky above Raven, and a large, green-and-white melon descended. He then placed the Melon Lockseed onto the Driver, closed the Lockseed, and pressed the fruit-knife-shaped switch on the side of the Driver.
"Lock On!"
Subsequently, the melon split open and transformed into a green-and-white armor that covered Raven. Finally, a Rider appeared, clad in armor resembling that of an ancient Chinese general, wielding a Melon shield and a long sword.
Kouta, seeing the full appearance, finally breathed a sigh of relief. The Melon Rider Raven transformed into was clearly different from the Melon Rider who attacked him. The styles of the two were vastly dissimilar.
"So it's Melon. A fruit I like," Oren said disdainfully. "But that Lockseed is wasted on you."
Raven let out a slight chuckle, ignoring the verbal taunt, and decided to let his actions speak for themselves. He extended a hand toward Oren in a provocative gesture, simply waiting for the other man to attack first.
"Brat, it's not your turn to look down on people!" Oren was instantly enraged that his taunt hadn't worked and that Raven had silently mocked him.
He attacked first, swinging the Duri Noko (Durian Saws) at Raven.
Raven blocked with the Melon Shield in one hand and attacked with the sword in the other. He was perfectly balanced in offense and defense, easily parrying Oren's fierce attack.
"You can take a hit, which makes you better than those Street Riders, but that's the extent of it!" Oren, leveraging his mastery of the Driver and the Durian Lockseed, executed his signature move: the Durian Drill!
Chh—!
The two chainsaws spun in front of him as his body rotated, crashing head-on into Raven's Melon armor!
Just as Oren thought his ultimate attack was guaranteed to succeed, Raven only retreated a few steps. Then, with a backhand swing of his sword, he forcefully knocked Oren away.
Bang!
Oren's body slammed directly into a large steel frame. He looked utterly disgraced.
"Wow!"
"That's incredible!"
The spectators were stunned. Oren, who had been rampaging through all the Street Riders these past few days, had just been defeated by a newly introduced Rider.
Kouta couldn't believe it either. "The Manager is that strong!?"
Mai looked at Raven with the eyes of a complete fangirl.
"It's not over yet!" Oren wouldn't fall so easily. He quickly picked himself up. He grabbed a nearby metal cage and viciously threw it at Raven in the distance.
Raven made no attempt to dodge. He simply pressed the Cutting Blade on his belt, preparing to charge his sword. Then, he swung it forcefully.
Boom!
The flying metal frame was instantly shattered in the air.
Oren used this moment to rush in. Throwing the object had just been a distraction; his real goal was to seize the opportunity for a surprise attack.
However, as he charged, every move he made seemed to be seen through. He was completely outclassed by Raven in technique. After a few exchanges, sparks flew from his chest armor where he was struck by the sword. His body was reaching its damage limit.
"Im... Impossible!" Oren couldn't believe that the fighting skills he prided himself on were so pathetic against Raven. He simply couldn't accept it. After all, how old was Raven?
"Nothing's impossible." Raven's attacks were flawless, giving Oren no opening. Soon, his weapon was easily knocked away in his confusion, sailing through the air before slamming into the concrete floor.
Bang!
Finally, Raven struck Oren with a final sword blow, then pressed the Cutting Blade twice in quick succession, preparing to launch his finisher to end the fight.
Raven combined his sword and Melon Shield and brought the unified weapon down from the ground. A massive green energy slash instantly struck Oren.
Following an explosion, the battle was over.
The spectators saw Oren demorph, his transformation dissolving. Several B-Class Lockseeds he had stolen tumbled onto the ground. Raven completely ignored them and simply crushed them underfoot. He could find countless such Lockseeds in Helheim whenever he wanted.
Despite the damage, Oren managed to stand up due to his hardened physique. However, his previously immaculate appearance had become thoroughly disheveled.
"This time... this time, you win!" Oren conceded defeat very reluctantly. "But I will definitely get my revenge next time!"
"Wait... I didn't say you could leave yet." Raven pointed his sword at him.
"What else do you want?"
"Apologize to me publicly and admit that your desserts are inferior to mine," Raven told him.
"Absolutely not! As a pastry chef with honor and pride, even if I lost to you in other areas, I will not go against my conscience!" Oren was still extremely confident in his identity as a pastry chef.
"Then how about this? Let's let the citizens of Zawame City judge. We'll make the same dessert, randomly select some passersby to taste it, and whoever loses must publicly admit the other's superiority." Raven proposed with absolute confidence.
———————
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over here ——— pa-tre-on.c-om/AlexandrusTL [remove the hyphen for normal access]