Sitting calmly at the edge of the forest, Tsutsumi leaned back against a tree and watched the starry black sky stretch infinitely above him. He pulled out a small stack of Final Kamen Ride Cards from inside his coat, flipping through them lazily with one hand, realizing just how much he underutilized them.
He could admit it. Despite carrying a ridiculous arsenal, he mostly stuck with base Kamen Rides or the simple upgrade forms. They were more than enough. Most enemies didn't even push him hard enough to make him consider going further.
If he suddenly pulled out Muteki Gamer just to punch a couple of foot soldiers, that would be overkill in the stupidest way.
Because of this, he rarely fully utilized all of his power.
Even the villains attacking the forest now didn't make him feel anything special. Calling them "threats" would be insulting to actual threats. Sending Azu was more than enough, especially with Ark-One in her hands.
This is like how Hiden Aruto would later let his assistant Izu become Kamen Rider Zero-Two while he uses Realizing Hopper, which looks identical to Zero-One.
"Hm. Should I try making Realizing Ark?" he said, half-joking, half-serious. "Might be interesting."
Unlike the regular restiction that Kadoya Tsukasa have, his Quirk basically allowed him to mixed different abilities together as long as he could still control them.
Where Kadoya Tsukasa was limited, only able to use powers belonging to the "Main Riders", Tsutsumi didn't have that restriction. His perspective was different. Every Rider, no matter how obscure, was the main character of their own story.
And because he viewed them that way, the cards responded.
As far as the Rider System was concerned, that recognition alone elevated them to "Main Rider" status.
Which meant Tsutsumi Ryoko could use all their powers.
...
Meanwhile, deep in the forest, Azu walked with calm, steady steps. Her crimson eyes glowed faintly in the dark as she linked herself to every electronic device scattered throughout the area. Information flowed into her at once, locations, movements, letting her see exactly where everyone from U.A. was.
"It seems they aren't far from the facility," she murmured, noting the cluster of signals stuck in some late-night study session.
Most of the students were either trapped inside or gathered around the big campfire outside the building. Only one person was away from the crowd, her Master. And honestly, the villains should be more afraid of him than he should be of them.
As she continued walking, a thick purple fog crept in from between the trees.
"Poison gas?" she muttered, her gaze shifting toward the blue flames lighting up another part of the forest.
Closer to the facility, she spotted a tall brown-haired man with big lips pinning down Pixie-Bob by the head with a steel pillar. Nearby, a lizard man dressed like some Stain fanboy was busy doing introductions for the Vanguard Action Squad of the League of Villains.
Azu let out a small, amused click of her tongue. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. No wonder Master didn't take you seriously."
Her voice came from behind them, casual and playful enough to make both villains freeze and turn around. Spinner and Magne stared at her in pure confusion. She wasn't a hero they recognized, and she definitely wasn't one of theirs.
The proes and heroes-in-training reacted differently.
"That… me?" Jiro was the first to say it. From the face alone, the resemblance was impossible to ignore.
"Jiro-chan, do you have, like… an evil twin or something?" Hagakure asked, sounding both hesitant and weirdly hopeful.
"I-I don't think so…" Jiro replied, unsure of her own answer. This was her first time seeing Azu in a human body, and definitely the first time hearing her speak normal human language.
Spinner clicked his tongue, annoyed. "Who the hell are you?"
Smiling calmly, Azu raised the Ark-One Progrisekey. "Just a passing-through Rider. Remember that."
Ark-One.
The Key snapped open, releasing an ominous crimson glow.
"Henshin."
She placed the Key into her Driver.
SINGULARISE! Destruction, Devastation, Despair, and Ruin!
Black and crimson liquid metal spiraled out, wrapping around her body before exploding outward, revealing the cold, sleek armor of Ark-One.
CONCLUSION ONE.
Her single crimson eye shone through the helm, oppressive and chilling enough to make both heroes and villains tense up. Even those supposed to cause fear found themselves frozen in it.
Jiro blinked. "…Hold on. That line… sounds familiar."
Before anyone could question it, Azu moved. One step and she was already right in front of Magne only leaving a fading trails of crimson lines. Her white armored hand shot forward, gripping his throat and lifting him off the ground like he weighed nothing.
"W-Wait!" Magne choked, clawing at her arm. His Magnetism Quirk activated, only to do absolutely nothing.
His power only worked on humans, polarized by gender. But Azu wasn't human. She was an Intelligent Construct, a physical AI, an android who chose a female form because her Master seemed close to Jiro, and she wanted him to see her the same way.
"Let go of him!" Spinner roared, swinging his giant patched-together blade at her shoulder.
The blade sparked off her armor with no effect.
Azu turned her head toward him. Spinner jumped back instantly, but her voice came from right behind him.
"Where do you think you're going?"
He barely had time to twist around before her kick smashed into his legs. Both shattered at once.
The crack echoed through the forest, followed by Spinner's scream as his body flew and slammed into a tree before crumpling to the ground.
Without even glancing back, Azu slammed Magne's head into the dirt. Hard enough to give him heavy brain damage, but not fatally.
She straightened up, letting his unconscious body drop. Her orders were to "clean up the villains," but killing them now would only make her secondary task, herding the others toward the facility, far more troublesome.
So she chose the efficient solution.
To cripple and disable them.
"Please don't be alarmed. They're still alive."
Azu spoke softly, though the words sounded anything but comforting coming from the armored figure who had just taken down two villains without even looking serious.
"W-Who sent you?" Mandalay asked. She stayed tense, not daring to move. Pixie-Bob was still unconscious and lying too close to Ark-One for comfort.
Behind the helmet, Azu smiled a little and gave them a polite bow. "No need to panic. I'm only following Master Ryoko's orders to clean up these villains."
"You're with Tsutsumi Ryoko?" Tiger stiffened at the name.
"Correct. Chatora Yawara, hero name: Tiger." Her tone stayed polite, but the weight behind it felt more like a warning. "Please help gather everyone and get them inside the facility. That is also part of Master's instruction."
"Wait." Mandalay stepped forward. Her voice cracked under the pressure. "My nephew Kota is still out there."
She forced herself to continue. "Student Midoriya Izuku said he knows where Kota is. He's probably with him by now. Can you bring them back safely?"
Azu nodded quickly. "Both Izumi Kota and Midoriya Izuku are included in my objective. I will retrieve them."
She didn't waste another second. She turned and left, moving with a steady pace through the forest. As she ran, several Cluster Cells detached from her armor, forming white-and-black drones that scattered into the trees to collect more information.
A Nomu leapt at her from the side. Azu didn't even slow down, her hand sliced through it, the entire creature collapsing in two twitching pieces behind her.
Her next target appeared on her visor: Mustard, the gas-user filling the forest with poison.
He didn't even notice her until she was already in front of him. His mask cracked under her fingers, shattering apart. Without the mask, his own gas overwhelmed him in seconds. He collapsed from the poison he released himself.
MALICE! FEAR! RAGE! Perfect Conclusion! Learning Three!
Black and crimson energy surged around her fist as she drove a punch into Moonfish's face. Teeth scattered across the ground as the man in the straitjacket slammed into a tree and went limp, the side of his mask crushed inward.
Azu kept going, cutting through more Nomu, mindless, aggressive, and slow. Her armor generated weapons from Ark-One's databanks: blades, projectiles, energy edges. Each strike cut down another creature without stopping her advance.
At another part of the forest...
"…This isn't going as planned…" Kurogiri muttered. He observed the battlefield through the purple mist. None of the Nomu had reached a single student. Every one of them was shredded apart by someone calling themselves Ark-One.
"So, should we continue?" Dabi asked, walking beside him, his burnt skin flickering in the faint blue light of his flames.
"We'll continue," Kurogiri replied. "Young Master Tomura and the Boss are both interested in Tsutsumi Ryoko."
Dabi didn't argue. He simply kept walking deeper into the woods.
Meanwhile, Azu dragged a bloodied blonde girl, Toga Himiko, across the forest floor by the hair. Toga tried to struggle, but with her fingers twisted the wrong way, ribs broken, and several teeth knocked out, her voice came out as broken, weak murmurs.
Azu had already seen the black mist villain through her drones. Once she realized the villains were targeting her Master, she decided that she was being too nice to them so they think they can try to trouble her Master.
"L-Let go of Toga-chan…" The weak plea came from Twice, who was currently nailed to a tree by Toga's own stolen knives. His voice trembled behind his full mask.
Azu didn't bother responding. Her drones hovered above and fired more energy shots into his already injured torso. His scream echoed through the trees as fresh blood flowed down his suit.
She dropped Toga onto the ground like a pile of rags. The girl exhaled a faint whine, barely conscious.
Azu picked up a sharp branch nearby and, without hesitation, drove it through Toga's shoulder, pinning her to the dirt.
While walking, Azu suddenly stopped. Her head turned slightly to the left, the single bright crimson eye glowing with a sharper, colder light than before. She stared into the trees for a moment, then quietly adjusted her route and walked away without saying anything.
From the direction of that gaze, Dabi felt something inside him drop, like his soul tried to escape through his shoes. His heart skipped so hard it hurt.
"What the hell was that… I didn't sign up for this," he muttered under his breath, trying to calm the uncomfortable tightness in his chest. He joined the League because it was supposed to give him a foothold, a chance to get closer to his own goals.
Picking off students during a training camp. Was suppose to be a simple and easy job. Barely an inconvenience.
But whatever just looked in his direction wasn't part of the deal.
"I definitely didn't sign up for this…" he repeated, turning around to retreat.
The second he turned, a silhouette was already standing in the dark. Black smoke curled around the figure, heavy and slow. For a heartbeat, Dabi assumed it was Kurogiri, until he noticed the outfit wasn't right. The mist was the wrong color. The coat was long, pitch black instead of patterned in gray and white, and heavy metal boots stood planted like they owned the entire forest floor.
Alarm bells screamed in his head.
Dabi immediately ignited his flames and launched a stream of blue fire straight at the figure.
The flames washed over the black metal like a harmless spotlight, doing nothing except illuminating the figure's full form.
Tsutsumi stood there, his entire body transformed, hair, coat, gloves, even eye color, all turned pitch black. Nebula Gas rolled off him in steady waves, like a broken furnace breathing in the dark.
He slowly lifted his head, and his cold black eyes locked onto Dabi.
Then he charged.
"Stay back! Don't come any closer!" Dabi shouted, his voice cracking from something that sounded too much like fear. He unleashed a massive wall of blue flames, the heat harsh enough to warp the trees around him.
Tsutsumi didn't care. He ran straight through the flames as if they were warm air, the black metal coating his body easily stop the heat before it could even bite at him.
A single gut punch, coated in concentrated Nebula Gas, slammed into Dabi, lifting him clean off the ground.
Final Attack Ride: B-B-B-Build!
Before Dabi even started falling, three more blows smashed into his stomach and chest in rapid succession, each hit shattering something inside his body.
He didn't even get the chance to hit the dirt.
Tsutsumi's metal boot swung up in a sharp arc and crashed into the side of Dabi's skull, cutting the lights out instantly. The villain collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, flames snuffing out as he hit the ground.