Rin Kuga's grip remained absolute, his hand clamped around the Spider Amazon's right forearm like a hydraulic press forged from cold steel. The monster's initial thrust hadn't just been stopped; it had been neutralized. Beneath their feet, the concrete groaned under the invisible weight of their collision. Hairline fractures radiated outward from Rin's boots, spider-webbing across the asphalt in a jagged mosaic of pulverized stone.
"A mere human... how!?"
The Amazon's voice was a frantic screech. It tried to wrench its arm back, desperate to reset for a second strike, but the limb wouldn't budge. It was no longer fighting a man; it was fighting an immovable object. Rin's arm felt like a solid iron pylon anchored into the very bedrock of the city.
"What's the matter, Mr. Villain?" Rin's voice cut through the creature's panic, dripping with effortless mockery. "Right hand stuck? Do you need a hand with that?"
The taunt acted like a spark in a powder keg. The Amazon's secondary eyes flickered with a murderous, crimson light.
"Filthy human! You dare mock me!?"
Deprived of its arm, the creature unleashed the eight chitinous appendages erupting from its back. They whipped through the air like serrated lances, whistling with lethal intent as they converged on Rin from every angle.
Then, the world hummed.
BOOM.
A violent, golden kinetic shockwave erupted from Rin's silhouette. It wasn't a physical blow, but a localized distortion of space-time that sent the Amazon sprawling. The creature shrieked as it was hurled backward, its body tumbling across the concrete like a discarded ragdoll. Its trench coat—the last vestige of its human disguise—was shredded by the friction, revealing the nightmare beneath: a bristling, obsidian exoskeleton covered in coarse sensory hairs, twitching with predatory instinct.
Nearby, Utaha Kasumigaoka watched from the ground, her breath hitching in her throat. The pain in her leg was a distant hum compared to the spectacle before her. She had been staring into the abyss of her own death, yet this stranger had stepped into the frame and tossed the monster aside as if it were nothing more than a nuisance.
Is he... the hope I was looking for?
"You should feel honored, little spider," Rin Kuga's voice echoed, now carrying a strange, metallic resonance. "You are the first in this world to witness my ascension."
He reached down, his fingers finding the twin triggers of the golden driver at his waist. With a deliberate, rhythmic motion, he pushed them.
[BLESSING TIME!] [T/N: Shukufuku no Toki! ]
The announcement didn't just play; it commanded the environment. Beneath Rin's feet, a massive, spectral clock face manifested on the pavement, its golden hands spinning with a mechanical roar. Molten gold, thick and viscous like primordial magma, began to flow through the etched Roman numerals, pooling around him.
Even from several meters away, Utaha felt the sudden spike in temperature. The air grew dry and heavy, smelling of ozone and ancient suns. The heat was so intense she felt as if her very soul might be vaporized if she looked too closely. In this moment, amidst the ruins of a dark alleyway, she knew she was witnessing the most pivotal moment of her life.
[THE GREATEST! THE BEST! THE SUPREME! THE STRONGEST KING! OHMA ZI-O!]
[T/N:Saikou! Saizen! Saidai! Saikyou-ou! ]
The operatic proclamation reached its crescendo. The magma and the spectral clock shattered into a thousand shards of golden light, dissolving into a shimmering haze.
As the dust settled, the shadow in the alley was gone. In its place stood a titan. Dark gold, heavy-plated armor gleamed even in the absence of the moon. Ornate, clock-hand protrusions flared from the helmet, and a majestic, cape-like mantle of bronze scales draped over its shoulders. A faint, rhythmic ticking—the heartbeat of time itself—echoed against the brick walls.
"Now," the armored sovereign rumbled, stepping toward the trembling monster. "Let's begin my debut in this world."