Kamar-Taj, the Sanctum Sanctorum.
The dwelling place of the sorcerer guardians who protect Earth, preventing it from falling into the hands of dimensional demon gods from various realms.
The Supreme Sorcerer, Ancient One, who lives and cultivates here as Earth's protector, was also watching New York—watching the first appearance of the Kamen Riders.
As the wielder of the Eye of Agamotto (the Time Stone), the Ancient One had noticed since six or seven years ago that something mysterious had altered the future of this world.
It seemed as though some unknown factor had interfered, causing a tremendous deviation in the originally foreseeable timeline.
Now, even with the Eye of Agamotto, the Ancient One could hardly see the future clearly. The only certainty was that compared to the original path, the timeline had been massively changed.
Over the past few years, in order to discover the source of this alteration, the Ancient One had repeatedly used the Time Stone to peer into past and future.
Although she saw far more timelines branching in countless directions than ever before, she never saw the true source of the change.
Even the power of the Time Stone could not directly bypass time to locate the origin of the anomaly—some force was disturbing the flow of time, muddying the river and blocking her investigation.
Although the original timeline already contained infinite possibilities—splashes on the river of time forming small streams and branching off into parallel universes—the timelines she observed in recent years diverged almost completely in unnatural directions. This change was unprecedented and uncertain—whether it was good or bad for this world remained unknown.
After the change, within the fragments of future she observed, sometimes she saw powerful heroes who had never existed before, protecting humanity and Earth, bringing light and hope, resolving catastrophes Earth was originally destined to suffer.
But at other times, she saw endless darkness covering the world—despair and suffering spreading, the world on the brink of annihilation, Earth and humanity facing extinction, disasters far more terrifying than those in the original history.
"Kamen Riders?…" The Ancient One lifted the glowing green Eye of Agamotto, her gaze distant as she murmured softly.
Within the fragments she had seen, the term Kamen Rider was always unavoidable—certain to play a decisive role in the progression of time.
And now, they had finally appeared.
"From what I have seen, most of the beings called Kamen Riders are heroes who fight for justice.
The two Riders who have appeared in New York are fighting those strange monsters—without doubt, battling for humanity.
At least for now, the presence of these two Riders appears to be a beneficial change for Earth and the future of humankind."
After careful thought, the Ancient One decided to take no action for the moment and observe what followed.
At the very least, this new development—the arrival of Riders Brave and Snipe—appeared to be a positive change. Deep in her heart, she even felt an unfamiliar sense of expectation.
Sometimes, being able to foresee the future is not necessarily a blessing.
The more of the future one sees, the more one feels the pain of inevitable fate. No matter how hard she tried to alter it, she had only ever caused insignificant splashes in the river of time—unable to reverse its destined course.
The more she saw, the clearer things became—and also, the more numb she became.
The Ancient One had foreseen countless futures and witnessed countless consequences born from her attempts to alter fate, and those results were often not good—sometimes even worse.
So she ultimately chose to give up. Let everything run its natural course and allow the future to develop along its own path.
"A Rider… the power to change the future through human will and belief?" The Ancient One smiled faintly. "Bugster Virus? The power to alter and create reality?
No matter where this power comes from, humanity now possesses the possibility of surpassing its limits.
Let me witness how powerful this gift truly is—whether it can really change humanity's fate."
For a long time, she had been able to see everything, yet unable to change anything—and such torment was unbearable.
In fact, if the next Supreme Sorcerer had already been ready to inherit the position, she would have stepped down long ago.
When Doctor Strange finally inherited the mantle, the Ancient One casually allowed Kaecilius to kill her with Dormammu's power, ending her suffering.
In order to fulfill her duty until the successor appeared, she had been forced to steal energy from Dormammu's Dark Dimension to prolong her life—enduring constant erosion from darkness. Truthfully, she was long tired of living.
Therefore, regarding this sudden shift in the world, the Ancient One was faintly willing to accept it. After all, the resulting futures were not all negative—and more change meant more possibility.
There is no absolute good or bad future, but at least the visible change ahead offered a chance toward something better.
The power originating from Kamen Riders indeed granted humanity the ability to carry out their own will—meaning humanity might gain the right to choose.
"Someone is interfering with time using an unknown method, attempting to investigate the source of the Bugster Virus through Li Hua and Elena's Rider transformations—Brave and Snipe—and through the Bugster monsters?"
In the Genm Corp tower in New York, Dan Kuroto froze slightly as a notification came from the Chronicle Rider System.
"Master?" Izu asked softly, noticing his expression change.
"Nothing." Dan smiled and shook his head.
"Time power… most likely that Supreme Sorcerer from Kamar-Taj. Although the Ancient One is powerful enough to defend Earth alone against dimensional demon gods, her precise control over temporal law is lacking—far inferior to her successor, Doctor Strange. Her ability to observe time with the Time Stone is not very accurate."
"And since I created the Bugster Virus using the Reality Stone's power of reality, its essence is on the same level as the power within the Time Stone. It can significantly block the Time Stone's detection.
So the Ancient One cannot find me through the virus for now.
But once Li Hua and Elena's identities are exposed, Genm Corp will appear openly before the world."
He analyzed internally—and was unbothered. It was all within his plan.
His script was that he accidentally discovered the Bugster Virus and—with help from a mysterious organization—used it to create Rider Drivers and Gashats as the president of Genm Corp.
That identity was supposed to be public from the beginning, which was why he directly approached Li Hua and Elena, the Riders' users.
As for his deeper identity—connections with Foundation X, Shocker, and the Tree of Life—those were concealed by the Chronicle system.
From the start, his intention was for Genm Corp's president to act as a guiding NPC in the scenario he designed—to personally enter the game storyline to craft the perfect game.
And also simply because, as game administrator, he wanted to play too.
Now that he sensed the Ancient One's probing, Dan Kuroto began considering when to meet her.
Now that the Riders had appeared publicly, the Ancient One would inevitably pay attention to this force capable of changing the world.
He was certain that the Riders he created would bring earth-shaking change—altering Marvel history and creating a new era.
Such massive change—someone with the Time Stone would definitely detect.
What she would see is only: The CEO of Genm Corp discovered the Bugster Virus and used it to create the Rider System.
His role as game creator and mastermind would remain hidden beneath that surface identity.
However, the Time Stone was something he absolutely needed. Although his Rider system did not urgently need time power yet, the Administrator Gashat—the Legendary Rider Cronus—would require time power to reach its perfect form.
So he must contact the Ancient One.
But when? And how?
To seize it by force was impossible right now—the Rider system was still developing.
Wait until she passes the mantle and stone to Doctor Strange? Too late.
The only option was to gain her approval and obtain time power willingly.
And if possible, he wanted more than just time power—the Ancient One possessed at least two other important elements ideal for Rider creation.
After brief thought, he made his decision.
"Izu, contact Ark. Have him prepare an android body—I may need to use it soon."
"Master, if there's a mission, you can simply send us. Why go through all the trouble of having the Tree of Life Foundation build a Humagear?" Azu laughed coyly.
"Yes, we can freely shift between digital and physical forms. We're far more convenient than androids," Izu added gently.
"Besides, with the Drivers you gave us, we're much stronger than a mechanical android." Azu pouted, pulling out the Eden Driver.
Dan smiled indulgently.
"This task has certain risks. I can't possibly send my two adorable secretaries. And there's no inconvenience—Chronicle controls space. I can retrieve the android anytime."
Hearing that, Izu clasped her hands tightly, blinking. "We obey Master's arrangement."
Her eyes flickered with flowing data as she contacted Ark.
"Master is the best." Azu smiled enchantingly, leaning onto his shoulder.
Yes—Dan Kuroto planned to control an android body to travel to Kamar-Taj in the Himalayas and negotiate with the Ancient One.
Going himself was impossible—things could fail and the Ancient One might directly attack.
Rather than risking Izu or Azu, sending a mass-produced Humagear was ideal—disposable and replaceable.
If negotiations collapsed—so be it. No loss at all.
(End of Chapter)