In the space between Rin Kuga and Sakura Yamauchi, the green luminescent particles coalesced with a violent, glitching intensity. Driven by the overwhelming pressure of Rin's Ohma power, the pathogen skipped its long incubation period, manifesting instantly in its near-complete form.
"Roar—!!"
The digital slurry solidified into a physical nightmare. It was a creature armored in verdant plating, its head a draconic visage adorned with obsidian horns and tribal markings. In its hand, it gripped a long, jagged blade fashioned from what appeared to be fossilized dragon fangs.
The Graphite Bugster.
The monster threw its head back, let out a guttural shriek that rattled the nearby rocks, and then slowly lowered its gaze to its new body, clenching its talons.
"So... this is my vessel?" Graphite's voice was a low, grinding hiss. He turned his predatory eyes toward Sakura, pointing his clawed finger at her throat. "By slaughtering you, I shall attain true flesh. Your life is my completion."
He swung the Graphite Fang in a lethal arc, the blade whistling through the air as he began a heavy, methodical march toward the pair.
The world Sakura knew shattered in an instant. The sea, the sand, the setting sun—it all became a backdrop to an impossible horror. A cold sweat broke across her neck, and her vision tunneled as the monster loomed closer. Her pulse hammered against her ribs like a frantic bird. She stumbled back, her breath hitching in her throat as the realization of her own mortality took a physical, monstrous shape.
But then, a shadow fell over her. Rin Kuga stepped forward, his back a solid wall of calm between her and the monster.
"I'm afraid I have to object," Rin said, his voice dropping into a low, terrifyingly steady cadence. "I am this girl's attending physician. As such, I cannot permit a parasite like you to touch her."
"Kuga-san..." Sakura whispered.
Crouched behind him, the truth finally dawned on her. The "treatment," the "physician"—it wasn't a metaphor or a joke. The virus that had been eating her from the inside was the very beast standing before them. Within a single day, Rin Kuga had dismantled her entire understanding of reality.
"Come then, monster," Rin murmured, his eyes glowing with a faint, amber hue. "Let us begin the operation."
Rin reached into the flow of causality, his Ohma power manifesting the tools he required. Space warped around his waist as a Gamer Driver materialized, its neon-plastic frame belying the godlike power it channeled. He produced two crystalline devices: the Maximum Mighty X and the Hyper Muteki Gashats.
"Hyper Henshin," he intoned, his voice a low vibration.
He slotted the gold-trimmed cartridge and slammed the lever open. A blinding flash erupted from his position. The sheer radiance forced even Graphite to raise his blade to shield his eyes, while Sakura had to bury her face in her hands to keep from being blinded by the golden majesty.
"Bakkan! Muteki! Kagayake! Ryusei no Gotoku! Ogon no Saikyou Gamer! Hyper Muteki Ex-Aid!"
As the jingle reached its crescendo and the golden light faded, a warrior clad in shimmering gold armor stood upon the sand. Dreadlocks of golden fiber trailed behind his helmet like a lion's mane, and the very air around him shimmered with invincibility.
Rin, now transformed into the invincible Ex-Aid, raised a hand to his chin, his voice echoing with a metallic, regal resonance.
"I'll clear this game... with no continues."
"No... no continues?" Sakura stammered, momentarily jarred out of her terror by the sheer absurdity of the line. Is this a battlefield or an arcade? What on earth is he talking about?
"No continues? Don't play games with me, brat!" Graphite roared, his warrior's pride wounded by Rin's nonchalance. "Die beneath my blade!"
The Bugster lunged, the Graphite Fang glowing with a dark, sickly energy.
Rin didn't move. He merely tilted his head slightly toward the girl behind him.
"Stay back, Sakura-san," he commanded