However, with Masato's personality, one that couldn't tolerate the slightest offense, he naturally kept Kamen Rider Tiger deeply in mind. He began to scheme, planning to take revenge at the first opportunity. He would make sure the other party knew his title of 'Movie Star' wasn't earned for nothing.
Satoru, of course, was unaware that he was already being targeted by Kusaka. If he were, he likely wouldn't care. After all, what's one more debt when you have so many?
Facing Takeshi's relentless attack, Satoru had no desire to fight and prepared to flee, retreating while fending off the attacks.
This segment of the battle caused a major sensation among the future audience. The popularity of Ouja soared, becoming one of the most highly-ranked contestants.
"Holy cow, this is too awesome!"
"As expected of the number one on the kill list!"
"That Tiger is no match at all!"
"Does this Ouja guy have some kind of grudge against him? Their Drivers are the same model, so they must be from the same world."
The audience from the future discussed animatedly, growing curious about the history between Ouja and Tiger. Coupled with the thrilling and intense Rider combat footage, the viewership ratings in the future continued to rise, surpassing the previous record for the Desire Grand Prix.
This delighted Raven immensely. He could feel the Golden Fruit thriving. The divine power it contained was far greater than the one he had consumed previously, and it had yet to reach its final stage of maturity.
When the moment of full maturity arrived, perhaps there would be an unforeseen transformation.
Raven's feeling was correct. The Golden Fruit was currently absorbing the desires from the Geats world, generating a power of creation. Once he consumed the fully matured Golden Fruit, he would instantly possess the power of creation held by the Goddess of Creation in Kamen Rider Geats.
He would be able to grant wishes. At that point, the limitations on the wishes he could grant would be higher. After all, by merging the power of three Golden Fruits, his divine power would become terrifyingly strong.
Soon, the first round of the Rider Battle Royale concluded.
The battle between Takeshi and Satoru had to be halted. Since battles were simultaneously occurring elsewhere, the number of remaining contestants had dropped to only 20.
The final list of the 20 contenders included:
Takeshi Asakura (Ouja)
Masato Kusaka (Kaixa)
Satoru Tojo (Tiger)
Kaito Kumon (Baron)
Mitsuzane Kureshima (Ryugen)
Ace Ukiyo (Geats)
Keiwa Sakurai (Tycoon)
Michinaga Azuma (Buffa)
Neon Kurama (Na-Go)
Sara Sakurai (Hakubi)
Sae Ganaha (Lopo)
Daichi Isuzu (Nadge-Sparrow)
"Congratulations, you have successfully advanced to the next round of the game!" Raven announced to everyone.
The remaining 20-plus contestants were then teleported to the game waiting lobby. This naturally included Neon and Sara, who had been protected inside the safe room.
The two women appeared among the crowd. Keiwa, searching through the group, quickly spotted them.
"Onee-chan, are you okay?" Keiwa rushed over, highly concerned. To be honest, he hadn't expected his older sister to successfully advance.
"I'm your onee-chan, of course, I'm fine," Sara replied nonchalantly.
Unlike those who had spent three days fighting desperately outside, Sara looked not only spotless but positively radiant. Neon was in the same condition. Compared to everyone else's Rider Battle Royale, the two of them looked like they had been on vacation.
Keiwa noticed this and couldn't help but ask about it. Sara then told him about the situation.
"So there was a safe room after all..."
Upon learning this, Keiwa immediately called it unfair. He had spent three miserable days holding on; without items like the Command Buckle, he probably would have been eliminated. Meanwhile, Neon and his sister had been essentially enjoying a holiday.
"But I'm relieved to know that."
The worry in Keiwa's heart immediately vanished. With Raven backing them, he felt assured that his sister would not suffer any harm. Perhaps those Buckles he received were even secretly sent by Raven.
"I wonder what the next game will be..." Keiwa mused aloud.
Just then, Raven's figure appeared on the large screen in front of everyone. He began to announce the start of the second round.
This game was rather unique.
It was an Illusion Dungeon Game.
Each Rider would enter their own exclusive illusion, enduring various trials. The one who successfully clears the Illusion Dungeon would receive an exclusive enhancement item and advance to the next round of the Rider-versus-Rider game.
"Illusion Game?"
Everyone was puzzled upon hearing the name of the game, unsure of what awaited them. The future audience was also deeply curious.
"Without further ado, let the game begin."
The next second, Raven waved his hand.
All the contestants present vanished.
They each appeared in their own resting chambers and lay down inside a stasis pod, falling into a deep slumber. However, their consciousness was sent into an incredibly realistic dream space.
Everyone temporarily lost their memories of participating in the contest and reverted to a certain period of their past lives.
But unlike most of the others, Keiwa found himself in a scenario he had not yet experienced.
This was a carefully arranged trial by Raven for him. It was the storyline from the original series where Keiwa eventually suffered a dark turn.
In this sequence, his older sister, Sara, was transformed into a Jyamato by Daichi Isuzu, and was ultimately mistakenly killed by Michinaga Azuma. This event led to Tycoon's descent into darkness.
He then used the power of creation awakened in Tsumuri to wish for the Bujin Sword Buckle.
However, having lost his relevant memories and being fully immersed in the scenario, Keiwa still developed along the lines of the original story, becoming the tragic clown. He exposed the hidden, hypocritical side of his personality. Losing his family, world peace no longer mattered to him.
Raven could actually understand this kind of dark turn.
But there was only one thing he didn't understand.
That was the fact that Keiwa directed his hatred at the wrong target from the beginning. The DGP management had committed so many morally reprehensible acts, yet Keiwa perfectly attributed all the blame to the Goddess of Creation.