The air in the clearing was thick with the scent of pine, blood, and a newfound, fragile hope. The Harpies, freed from their sundered cage, huddled around their queen, their fearful chirps slowly softening into murmurs of awe as they watched the two identical-yet-opposite brothers.
Seiji turned to the Harpy queen, who was now standing, her platinum hair catching the light like a crown. Though her dress was torn, her posture was regal, her eyes a piercing gold that held a deep, ancient intelligence.
"Your Majesty," Seiji began, his voice respectful. "My name is Seiji. This fortress is no longer safe for you. I lead a sanctuary, a place called Grimgar, where the oppressed of this empire can find shelter. You and your people would be welcome there."
The queen, Seraphina, studied him, her gaze flicking between him and the silver-haired Tsurugi. "A sanctuary," she repeated, her voice a melodic, haunting sound. "We have heard whispers on the wind. A black knight gathering the outcasts. You are he?"
"I am," Seiji confirmed.
Seraphina bowed her head, a graceful, profound gesture. "Then we place our fate in your hands, Lord Seiji. We accept your offer."
Beside him, Tsurugi looked genuinely surprised. "You've built a sanctuary?" he murmured, his red eyes wide. "I was just… breaking things."
Seiji clapped a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Sometimes, you have to break the old to build the new. Come on. We'll talk on the way."
The journey back to Grimgar became a conduit for shared histories. As the Harpies flew in a protective formation above, their songs now notes of relief rather than despair, Tsurugi told his tale.
"It was a month after you and Dad left," he began, his voice losing its warrior's edge, becoming that of a lonely teenager. "I was walking home, and the world… blurred. Just like soemthing described in novels. Next thing I knew, I was in some dusty, ancient chamber. An old man, a wizard, was on the floor, his robes torn, his life fading. He could barely speak." Tsurugi's expression darkened, remembering the wizard's desperate, gasping words. "He grabbed my arm and said, 'Please… save this world…' and then he was gone. Just… dust."
He spent the next few days wandering, lost and confused, in a border city of the empire. "I saw it, Ani. The same thing you did. The knights bullying peasants, the taxes that left families starving, the nobles in their gilded carriages, oblivious. The 'peace' was a lie, painted over rot." A familiar fire burned in his red eyes. "I felt so angry. So powerless. And then… it appeared."
Just like Seiji, a screen had materialized before him. At the top, the words: STRIZIER AWAKENING: YES / NO.
"It had all my info," Tsurugi continued. "And the abilities… it wasn't Kamen Riders, Nii-san. It was the Super Sentai. All of them. The teams I'm big fan of." He listed them off, a roll call of heroes: the combination power of Gokai Red and Lupin Red for adaptability and theft, the legacy of Zenkaizer and GozyuWolf, the foundational swordsmanship of the early Reds, the martial arts, the ninjutsu, the speed, the power of flight...
"I didn't hesitate," Tsurugi said, his voice hardening back into the Strizier's tone. "I selected 'Yes'. If this world needed a hero, it also needed a punisher. Someone to bring rage and fire to the parasites feeding on the people. I would be that fire."
He described his solitary training, a mirror of Seiji's own, unlocking the various Red Ranger powers, learning to blend their techniques. He became a crimson specter, a rumor in the empire's underbelly.
"I was tracking a Goronda supply convoy when I heard them," he said, gesturing back towards the clearing. "The knights were laughing, talking about how they'd lost the 'elf prize' but these 'songbirds' would please the Count just as well. I heard the Harpies' cries… and I couldn't ignore it." He shrugged. "The rest, you saw. And then the system lit up, showing your location. 'Vanguard'."
Seiji listened, his heart aching for his brother's lonely journey, yet swelling with pride at the man he had become. He then told his own story—the public humiliation, the despair in the alley, the awakening of the Vanguard system, the rescue of the elves, the conquest of Grimgar, the alliances with the Beastmen and the dragons.
"So you're not just breaking things," Seiji concluded as the familiar, fortified entrance to Grimgar came into view. "You're saving people, just like you always wanted to when we were kids. You just have a… flashier method now."
Tsurugi grinned, a familiar, mischievous expression that looked surreal on his otherwise severe features. "Somebody has to."
Seiji stopped and looked his brother in the eye. "You don't have to do it alone anymore. Join us, Tsurugi. Join Grimgar. Be my general. Be my brother, at my side."
Tsurugi's grin softened into a genuine, heartfelt smile. "There was never any other choice, Ani."
Their arrival in the main cavern of Grimgar caused a sensation. The sight of the Harpies was startling enough, but the sight of a second Seiji, with silver hair and red eyes, walking beside the first sent a ripple of shock and confusion through the crowd. The leaders, summoned by the commotion, gathered with similar astonishment.
Seiji stood before them, Tsurugi at his shoulder. "Leaders of Grimgar," he announced, his voice carrying through the hall. "This is Tsurugi, my twin brother. He is a warrior of immense power, equal to my own. He has saved the Harpy tribe from the empire's clutches and has pledged himself to our cause. From this day forward, he is one of us, and his voice carries my full authority."
A few murmurs of dissent arose, primarily from the more territorial Oni and Beastmen chieftains. But one look from Seiji, and another, more challenging glare from Tsurugi's fiery red eyes, silenced them. The aura of power radiating from the twins was a tangible force, a promise of shared strength and shared retribution.
From the shadows of a high balcony, the girl known as Lyx observed the scene. But her ancient eyes, the eyes of Lugia, the Primordial Dragon, were wide with a shock that transcended mere surprise. She saw not just two powerful young men, but two converging destinies, two systemic anomalies that defied the natural order of her long, long life.
"One catalyst was enough to shatter the balance of an age," she whispered to herself, her voice barely a breath. "But two… a Vanguard to build and protect, and a Strizier to judge and destroy." A profound, cosmic trepidation settled in her soul. "The threads of fate are not just tangled; they are being rewoven by forces from beyond the tapestry. I wonder… I wonder what the future of this world will become now."