For countless nights, Kiana had dreamed of drowning in a bottomless abyss.
It was pitch black.
An icy coldness engulfed her body as she desperately tried to swim toward the surface, struggling to catch her breath.
But it was too dark.
The surface was too far away.
Giving up appeared so much easier.
She was tired.
So very tired.
Perhaps she could simply ignore the sufferings of the world and surrender herself to sleep.
Then—
A voice weakly called her name.
Massive slabs of ice cracked around her.
Her name felt so alien to her.
It felt as though it had never truly belonged to her.
And yet…
Every syllable tugged at her heart.
Fu Hua: "Kiana!"
Fu Hua: "Kiana Kaslana! Wake up!"
She remembered that name.
She had always longed to have that name.
Slowly, Kiana regained consciousness.
Memories came flooding back.
The experiments.
The interrogation.
The pain.
Her mission was not yet complete.
She could not allow herself to keep sleeping.
The water level finally began to lower.
Kiana's head broke through the surface.
Kiana: "HAKK KAFF"
She coughed violently, desperately drawing air into her lungs.
Across from her, a large monitor flickered to life.
Jackal's face appeared on the screen.
Jackal: "Very impressive, Herrscher of the Void. You were unconscious for only 0.3 seconds in this test run."
Jackal: "Your body is a work of wonders. No matter what I do, it always manages to put itself back together…"
Jackal then saw that Kiana mouth moving
Jackal: "Can you still talk?"
Kiana glared at the screen.
Kiana: "Your experiment… how many people in Arc City will survive your experiment?"
Jackal tilted her head.
Jackal: "Are numbers that important to you? I thought we humans were just meaningless bread crumbs on your dinner table."
Jackal: "I'll gladly share the answer once I have one… if you are still alive by then, of course."
She turned toward the laboratory equipment.
Jackal: "Alright, next test item: interconnections between the Herrscher Core and biological tissue."
The machinery activated.
Pain surged through Kiana's body.
The girl could bear it no longer.
She screamed.
Jackal observed her through the comm screen, a sadistic laugh escaping her lips as she watched Kiana writhe.
Jackal: "Your cells and tissues exhibit an astonishing level of Honkai resistance…"
Jackal: "The Stigmata has started glowing after we injected the Honkai solution…"
Jackal's eyes widened with fascination.
Jackal: "Such beauteous patterns… oh how my faith has grown for my Sire's promises of the future…"
Kiana gritted her teeth.
Kiana: "The Stigmata… you did everything you could to steal the Schicksal vaccines… and pissed off the Valkyries…"
Kiana: "But nobody… nobody in this city has Stigmata except for the zombies…"
Kiana: "Your calculations are wrong…"
Jackal's expression immediately hardened.
Jackal: "Preposterous. I refuse to discuss details of my profession with a lab rat."
Jackal waved her hand.
Another test began.
Kiana: "KYAAA–!!"
The equipment continued its work.
Yet even through the pain, Kiana forced herself to speak.
Kiana: "Maybe you did your math wrong… placed the decimal point at a funny place… always happens to me…"
Jackal waved her hand again.
Another torturous routine began.
Kiana: "KYAAAAAAAAA—!!!"
Jackal's smile disappeared.
Jackal: "You're an insect that acquired powers you don't deserve, and you think that allows you to determine the world's fate…"
Jackal: "This is divine knowledge poised to shape our future! I won't let you insult it with grade school arithmetic."
Jackal gestured toward the equipment surrounding Kiana.
Jackal: "Improvements to the vaccine, the amount of Honkai energy to baptise the city with and fully activate the peoples' Stigmata…"
Jackal: "…These are secrets known only to a genius like me."
Kiana's eyes sharpened.
She had gotten what she wanted.
Information.
Kiana: "You're… releasing the Honkai energy? Where? The city center… or its outskirts?"
Jackal frowned.
Jackal: "You're getting too inquisitive, lab rat. Skip the other tests. Start the dissection at once…"
Kiana stared at the screen.
Then—
She smiled.
Kiana: "What the hell? And I was giving you such a good show! I thought you would tell me something more."
The lab rat suddenly smiled.
The helpless prisoner Jackal had been observing was no longer helpless.
She had finally lost patience with the bad comedy show.
Kiana: "Forget it. I don't think I'll get anything else from you."
Jackal's expression changed.
The "helpless specimen" no longer squirmed or trembled in pain.
Instead, Kiana grinned like a predator.
Jackal: "This… this isn't possible! We've already…"
Kiana raised her head.
Kiana: "Oh come on. I thought every girl knew how to fake painful screams and tears to get her way."
She laughed.
Kiana: "To be honest, your hurty nonsense didn't really hurt at all."
Kiana raised her fist.
She swung.
BAM!
Then again.
BAM!
The hardened reinforced glass shattered like thin ice beneath her wrath.
Fragments scattered across the laboratory floor.
Kiana: "And I'm going to smash more than this stupid glass. I'm gonna smash your stupid Project STIGMA as well!"
Jackal's eyes widened.
Jackal: "I'll show you…"
Kiana threw several more punches.
BAM! BAM! CRASH!
The comm screen shattered before Jackal could finish her threat.
Kiana: "And I'll smash your stupid dog head as well!"
Kiana ripped the bundles of IV tubes from her body.
She stepped out of the testing tank and took a deep breath.
Alarms immediately began blaring throughout the laboratory.
WARNING! WARNING!
A massive holding cell began to open.
Something inside moved.
A monster emerged from the chamber, its body completely encased in a sickening purple carapace.
Kiana smiled.
She prepared herself for combat.
Fu Hua: "Kiana, you…"
Fu Hua: "Are you alright?"
Kiana glanced at her own body.
Despite everything that had just happened, she appeared remarkably calm.
Kiana: "Funny thing is… it doesn't hurt at all."
Fu Hua: "…"
Then—
The fire-colored crystal necklace around Kiana's neck began to glow.
A powerful aura erupted from it.
WHOOSH!
A transparent warrior materialized beside her.
Kamen Rider Agito — Burning Form.
The warrior's body radiated an intense crimson-orange light.
Flames burned across his armor as though his very body had become an outlet for an immense fury.
Agito slowly clenched his fist.
The monster roared and charged.
Agito pulled his arm back.
The flames around his body intensified.
The monster continued rushing toward him.
Agito stepped forward.
Then—
He thrust his fist forward.
BOOOOOOM!
The monster suddenly felt the overwhelming power contained within that single punch.
As the fist approached its face, something seemed to click inside whatever passed for its instincts.
It had Fucked up.
CRASH!
Agito's fist slammed directly into the monster's face.
The sheer force completely obliterated its body.
Its purple carapace shattered.
The monster disintegrated into countless black fragments before those fragments themselves vanished into a yawning void.
Silence returned.
Kiana and Fu Hua stared at Agito.
Both had the same expression.
A visible sweat drop formed beside Kiana's head.
Kiana: "I think you over did it."
Agito looked toward Kiana.
For a moment, he simply stood there.
Then he reached over and gently patted her head.
Kiana blinked.
The gesture was strangely gentle considering the sheer brutality of his attack.
The truth was simple.
Those people had tried to torture Kiana in the most brutal way possible.
And that had generated an immense amount of rage.
Some of it had gone into that one punch.
And judging by the way Agito's flames still burned…
That rage had not completely faded yet.
Agito's body finally began dissolving into fire-colored particles.
The particles flowed toward Kiana's necklace.
One by one, they were absorbed back into the crystal.
Then—
BOOOOOOM!
A mighty explosion shook the laboratory.
The giant doors behind Kiana trembled violently.
CRASH!
The doors collapsed.
Kiana spun around and immediately prepared herself for another fight.
But the intruder was someone she was wholly unprepared to meet.
Mei stood on the other side.
Mei: "Kiana…"
Kiana Kaslana had fantasised about a million different reunions with Mei Raiden.
She had imagined running toward her.
She had imagined crying.
She had imagined laughing.
She had imagined finally being able to hold her again.
But this was not one of those fantasies.
She had never expected to meet Mei here.
Not now.
Not in this place.
There was no joy in Kiana's heart.
There was only fear.
Kiana: "Mei…"
Kiana: "What are you doing here? You… you shouldn't be here! This place… it's dangerous!"
After everything she had endured, Kiana had thought she was strong enough to face her best friend—and lover.
But the moment she saw Mei, all of that courage vanished.
For an instant, she became that drifting girl once more.
Guilt.
Fear.
The fear of losing control.
The demon of her past whispered behind her ears.
Mei immediately rushed forward.
She wrapped her arms around Kiana in a tight, silent embrace.
She held on as tightly as she could, as though she were afraid that letting go would mean losing Kiana again.
Mei: "Kiana, you're hurt…"
Mei tightened her embrace.
Mei: "I'll take you back to the Hyperion. Principal Theresa… everyone's waiting for you."
Kiana's expression fell.
Kiana: "No… I can't go back, Mei."
The past where she could laugh with her friends was gone.
She could not pretend that nothing had happened.
Would they welcome her with smiles and hugs?
Some wounds never healed.
A forced smile only worsened the pain it tried to disguise.
Kiana: "I'm sorry… I can't go back… I can't put you all in danger again."
Mei looked at Kiana as though she were a stranger.
Before either could say anything else, Fu Hua spoke.
Fu Hua: "Uhm… Kiana, this isn't the time to talk about the past."
Fu Hua: "Enemies are coming through the corridors. Tell Mei to get ready for battle."
Kiana looked toward the corridors.
She could already hear the approaching footsteps.
Kiana: "Give me some time, Mei. We must leave this place quickly. I need to save this city from disaster…"
Kiana looked back at Mei.
Kiana: "…Before we can talk about other things."
Mei nodded.
Mei: "I understand. Rita told me where to find you. She told me everything."
Her expression softened.
Mei: "Kiana… I want you to know that I… that everyone on the Hyperion will always be waiting for you."
Kiana nodded.
Then she turned toward the approaching enemies.
Her expression hardened.
The familiar energy of the Herrscher of the Void gathered around her body.
In an instant, Kiana transformed into her Void Drifter form.
The corridor ahead erupted with movement.
Guards rushed toward them.
Mechas followed close behind.
Kiana and Mei simultaneously reached for their crystal necklaces.
Two different energies began to radiate through the underground laboratory.
WHOOSH!
Eight transparent warriors appeared.
Four were surrounded by violet energy.
Kamen Rider Sasword — Rider Form.
Dekamaster.
Hyper Shinken Red.
Kamen Rider Tycoon — Bujin Sword.
Four others emerged in blazing fire-colored energy.
Kamen Rider Agito — Burning Form.
Kamen Rider Zeztz — Catastrom.
Kamen Rider W — Fang Joker.
Kamen Rider Zero-One — Hellrising Hopper.
The eight warriors stood in formation.
Kiana stared at the lineup.
Even she couldn't help but feel a little worried for the guards and mechas.
She quickly raised her hands.
Kiana: "Uhm, Don't kill them, Okay?"
The four fire-colored warriors turned toward Kiana.
One after another, they gave her a thumbs-up.
Kiana smiled awkwardly.
What she didn't realize was that, for those guards, she might have just sentenced them to a fate worse than death.
The guards froze.
They stared at the eight transparent warriors.
The atmosphere suddenly became unbearably heavy.
Fear spread through the formation.
One of the guards at the front finally stepped forward.
Another guard immediately grabbed his shoulder.
Guard 1: "Larry what are you doing, don't you see."
Larry pushed the hand away.
He pointed toward the eight transparent warriors and the two girls standing behind them.
Larry: "Come on Mike, It's just 8 of them, we can …."
He never finished.
WHOOSH!
Zeztz Catastrom suddenly disappeared from his position.
In the next instant, he seized Larry by the ankle.
Larry's eyes widened.
Larry: "Wha—?!"
Zeztz lifted him completely off the ground.
Then swung him through the air.
SLAM!
Larry crashed onto the hard floor on his left side.
Before he could recover, Zeztz reversed the motion.
Larry was swung upward again.
Then—
SLAM!
His body smashed into the floor on his right side.
The transparent warrior continued the motion.
Left.
Right.
Left.
Right.
Each impact shook the corridor.
Larry's power armor absorbed much of the punishment, but his body was still being thrown around like a rag doll.
Finally, Zeztz released him.
Larry was tossed into the ground.
BOOM!
The floor cracked beneath him, leaving a small crater.
He lay there motionless, dazed and completely incapable of getting back up.
Mike and the other guards stared in horror.
Kiana and Mei stared too.
Neither of them seemed to know what they had just witnessed.
Zeztz slowly turned toward the remaining guards.
The guards looked at each other.
No words were necessary.
Every single one of them reached the same conclusion.
All the Guards: "FUCK THIS."
They turned and ran.
The mechas weren't nearly as fortunate.
The eight transparent warriors immediately descended upon them.
BAM!
CRASH!
BOOM!
One after another, the machines were dismantled and destroyed within seconds.
Then the eight warriors turned toward the fleeing guards.
And gave chase.
The guards ran for their lives.
The transparent warriors followed.
Kiana and Mei remained standing in the corridor.
They watched the chaos disappear into the distance.
Silence settled between them.
Kiana slowly looked at Mei.
Mei slowly looked at Kiana.
Neither girl knew what to say.
For several seconds, they simply stood there.