The atmosphere fractured. With a mechanical chime that sounded like the shearing of reality itself, the Neo Decadriver spoke.
CLOCK UP!
In a heartbeat, Tsukasa Kadoya—now wearing the crimson, beetle-like armor of Kamen Rider Kabuto—vanished. To the naked eye, he had simply ceased to exist. In reality, he was moving through a world where time had ground to a halt. Raindrops suspended in mid-air became jagged crystals; the wind became a static wall.
Boom!
The sonic boom arrived a second after Tsukasa had already reached Rin Kuga's blind spot. He didn't hesitate. Drawing back his right fist, he funneled the friction of super-acceleration into a focused point.
Impact. Impact. Impact.
A relentless barrage of blows hammered into Rin's back, too fast for the central nervous system to even register pain. Each strike carried the kinetic force of a high-speed projectile.
"Hah!"
With a final, shattering shove, Rin was launched forward. He tumbled through the air, a silver-and-black blur, before performing a series of tight, controlled backflips to kill the momentum. His boots carved deep furrows into the earth as he skidded to a halt, stabilizing his frame with a heavy, metallic thud.
CLOCK OVER.
The tachyon particles dissipated. The world returned to its sluggish pace. Tsukasa stood a dozen yards away, casually slapping his palms together as if dusting off a minor nuisance. Even through the mask, his smug, traveling-photographer persona was palpable.
"Looks like this round goes to me," Tsukasa remarked, his voice smooth and colored by a hidden smirk.
Rin didn't collapse. Instead, he reached up, his gauntleted hand gripping his neck. A series of dry, rhythmic cracks echoed from his joints as he rolled his shoulders. The armor of the King was not so easily breached.
"You had your fun," Rin said, his voice dropping into a cold, resonant baritone. He reached into the void of his sub-space, manifesting a new device—the Faiz Axel Ridewatch. "But the King does not allow the same trick twice."
He clicked the watch, the mechanical pulse of the 555-system humming to life, and slotted it into the left side of his Ziku-Driver.
STARTUP!
The world didn't just slow down—it vanished. At a thousand times the speed of sound, Rin Kuga became a silver ghost. Where he had stood a millisecond ago, only a translucent afterimage remained.
Tsukasa's bug-like visor shifted. Interesting... He knew the capabilities of the Faiz Axel form. He didn't wait to be a sitting duck. He slammed his hand against the side of his belt once more.
CLOCK UP!
The wasteland became a graveyard of frozen motion. Two streaks of light—one crimson, one silver—clashed across the field.
To a human observer, the forest was merely screaming. Trees didn't just sway; they exploded as the displaced air of the Riders' passing hit them. Shockwaves rippled through the dirt, kicking up dust clouds that hung motionless in the hyper-accelerated slipstream.
Clash. Pivot. Strike.
The friction of their battle began to ignite the oxygen around them. However, the raw temporal weight of the Ohma-enhanced Zi-O began to tip the scales. The Faiz Axel's acceleration was a surgical instrument of speed, slightly over-clocking the natural limits of the Kabuto system.
Rin caught the opening. He saw the slight drag in Tsukasa's lead foot as he pivoted. Bracing his boots against the solidified air, Rin drove his right fist into Decade's chestplate.
BOOM!
The sound was a tectonic groan. Tsukasa was sent spiraling backward, his body a projectile that leveled three massive oaks, snapping their trunks like dry kindling before he finally hit the earth.
CLOCK OVER.
The hyper-speed state collapsed. Tsukasa reverted from the Kabuto form back to his primary Magenta-and-Black armor. He exhaled a long, ragged breath, the internal cooling systems of his suit hissing as they fought the heat.
"Damn," Tsukasa grunted, pushing himself up. "You're significantly more troublesome than the last Demon King I crossed paths with."
High above the battlefield, perched on a jagged ridge that overlooked the destruction, a lone figure watched the spectacle.
He was dressed in pristine white, topped with a matching domed hat that cast a shadow over his features. He leaned on a cane, his eyes dancing with a malicious, childish glee as he watched the "Destroyer" and the "King" tear the landscape apart.
"Aha... yes. Exactly like that," the man whispered, a thin, crooked smile stretching across his face. "Keep fighting. Break each other. When the dust settles, the spoils of this broken world will belong to me. Hahaha!"