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The dead of night. A river flowing through the wilderness.

A lone figure trudged through the water, breathing ragged, body aching, surrounded by naught but corpses long since bled dry...staggering aimlessly to evade the spectre tailing them.

 

"...sad, isn't it? The price you pay for defying the laws of love..." The voice is sickeningly calming, carrying that hint of overbearing sympathy that can't POSSIBLY be sincere. "...spreading yourself too far, and finding only disappointment. It is high time you chose - love those at your side, or love those you defend."

 

"I...will not...choose..."

 

"Then...you will suffer." Lightning crackles from the heavens, striking the riverbound figure, halting its advance with a screech of agony.

 

"Why...are you...doing this?"

 

"It is my duty."

 

"What duty...is torment?"

 

"You haven't figured it out, have you? And here I thought you were touting yourself a genius." Another flash of lightning assaults the being, but this time the sky remains lit up as the spark subsides, illuminating both traveler and phantom.

 

"...YOU...Of course YOU would...find duty in torture..."

 

"And of COURSE you would construe it as sadism." Two pairs of blue eyes locked against each other. "But it is merely my duty as an instrument of God."

 

"You have...NO RIGHT to call yourself that!"

 

"Don't I, now?" The ghost responds with another bolt. "You defy divine law. I interpret and execute divine law." And another. "Your fate is to oppose me. My fate is to teach you the price of heresy."

 

"Helping my friends...is NOT heresy..."

 

Instead of thunder, the traveler is rebuked with pulses of fire. "You would say that, stacking it atop all your other treasons. Consorting with all you survey to sate your base lusts, defying your right to the lifeblood of lesser beings, bringing untold ruin in the name of a commoner, even defying your own code to bring salvation to avatars of death..."

The phantom raises its sword, leveling the tip at the traveler's throat. "...a very special place in Hell awaits you, Haruka Emmerich."

 

"...fuck you with a rake...Maya..."

 

The shadow of the woman once called Bishop of the Fangire rears back, slamming the sword against Haruka's chest and sending her tumbling into the water. "Were this a less severe infraction, I would implore you to return that life to God. But you have made it abundantly clear that you will not accept Him, and so He will not accept you."

 

"And He'd accept YOU...after all you've done to defile that armor?"

 

[RAI-JI-ING-U] The form of Rising IXA now towers in front of Haruka, Calibur raised. "I offered you every chance to cooperate, every chance to see reason, and yet you have defied the way things ought to be for so many years. You have defied all that came before you, and all that is to come after, all in the name of retribution for an unintended consequence of the progression of the natural order."

 

"Murdering someone...for who they love...is NOT supposed to be the natural order..."

 

"Not murder. Judgment." [IX-A CA-LI-BA RA-I-SE AH-P] "Just as the judgment I must levy upon you, Grievous Whore." A brilliant fire overtook the blade of the IXACalibur, illuminating the face of Maya vi Inoue underneath the helmet - there is no rage to her, no anguish, no indicator of vengeance, a frightening serenity in her expression and movements.

"...I'm terribly sorry I could not make you understand."

She brought the saber down upon the helpless Haruka...

 

- - - -

- - -

- -

-

 

[<PAIN>///]=

...only for the sword to crash against an assemblage of metal and fabric that'd appeared out of nowhere.

 

"BullSHIT we are having this." The shield parts from the woman, floating in the wind until it takes its rightful place as the Barrier Jacket of Kamen Rider Calibur. "All these so-called crimes you're accusing Haruka of? That's your goddamn 'natural order' right there - the pain in her heart that's brought about by the aftershocks of YOUR bullshit, and the common sense to make sure others don't suffer like that." Kenoko flips Maya the bird.

 

"This is a private matter. Please refrain from making wanton challenges to God's judgment." Rising IXA raises its sword once more, attempting to strike Haruka...

 

[<FEAR>///]=

...this time, it was yanked away before the killing blow by a crimson scarf.

 

"We will make what challenges we please to the words of tyrants, wanton or no." The Orpheus Fangire shrugged as it cast aside the sword. "What judgment is just, whose result is to sustain rule by fear? And is it not the nature of all just beings to fear that which is innately wrong, and resist it accordingly?"

 

"If that is the case, then it must also be their nature to accept due punishments." Maya pulls the IXARiser and pulls the trigger...

 

[<END>///]=

...but the blasts spark off Haruka harmlessly, her form transmogrified for an instant with the Metal Trilobyte's power.

 

"There are consequences for all actions, yes, and they must be dealt with." Kamen Rider Blade steps to the side of the other new apparitions. "But true cunning lies in meting out the proper reactions, gauging all possibilities, and coming to an end whose purpose is virtuous."

 

"And you find virtue in ends brought about by rage-clouded means?" She readies another shot...

 

[<FURY>///]=

...only for the Riser to be plucked clean out of her hand by an invisible force, which reveals itself amongst the others as Proto-DCD.

 

"There is a fine line between hate and rage." Akebara sounds oddly collected compared to the last few days. "Hatred clouds, twists intents, destroys from the inside. But rage is a rather effective focus - it brings to light the exact things that are wrong with something, and inspires the methods with which they may be corrected."

 

"All that needs be corrected here is this travesty brought about by someone who has committed crime after crime, all to guarantee a place between her lover's thighs!" Now Maya brings the IXA Knuckle to bear, going right for Haruka's head...

 

[<JOY>///]=

...and slamming against a wall of pink electricity, enough of a counter-jolt delivered to force the gauntlet out of her hands.

 

"All this time, and you still honestly think the goal here is a cheap sexual thrill?" Kamen Rider ZX harrumphs. "A far more base pleasure is at stake here: the joy of living, the pleasure of taking destiny into your own hands. All you have sought punishment for was done to share that joy with those from whom it was wrongfully taken in the first place, and to ensure that those taking advantage of it could continue to do so in peace."

 

"And yet her actions have taken selfsame joy from STILL others! The only due course of action is to visit sorrow upon her in kind!" Bereft of weapons, the inquisitor simply charges towards her prey with a fist reared back...

 

[<SORROW>///]=

...only for Haruka to finally act of her own accord, catching it mid-punch and twisting Maya into an armbar.

 

"...you have no IDEA what sorrow MEANS, do you?" The Sirknight Fangire's opposite arm quickly curls around IXA's neck. "It is no mere grief, no mere sadness, no mere retribution...it is a sense of loss that death itself cannot even HOPE to eclipse, the anguish of knowing those around you are gone and broken, and yet YOU remain...it is something you have never truly felt, hiding yourself behind your smug superiority to all around you."

 

"...and you would continue to endure it, knowing it drives you to defy natural law?" The words are choked.

 

"I have no use for the laws of tyrants." Haruka twists, slamming her down HARD - Maya crashes into the riverbed as if the water wasn't even there, IXA's armor cracking away piece by piece. "And I have no use for the petty definitions that dictate what I should or shouldn't do."

 

<<MAXIMUM DRIVE>>

<<MAXIMUM DRIVE>>

<<MAXIMUM DRIVE>>

<<MAXIMUM DRIVE>>

<<MAXIMUM DRIVE>>

<<MAXIMUM DRIVE>>

 

The five spirits who'd come to Haruka's aid fade into the night as a sawed-off assault rifle materializes in the Fangire's hand. "...And I'm terribly sorry I don't feel like putting up with a dead woman's insults."

 

"...This is no victory by your standard, Grievous Whore. You will not forge new life in slaying me as you have in the past. And above all...you are no Kamen Rider."

 

"You're right. I'm not." Haruka grins madly as she levels the gun at the ghost. "I'm gonna be a hero. And you're not gonna stop me. Not now. Never again."

 

The last thing the spectre of Maya vi Inoue saw was the ancient fire reawakened in Haruka's eyes, glowing a nearly-malevolent crimson behind the muzzle flash of her gun spitting a 5.56mm round between her own.

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