Kamen Rider Alchemy

by Layton13

The Slumbering Beast - Familiar Faces

This couldn’t be real, right? They had searched so long for him, and now he just reemerged like nothing happened and most baffling of all, with his kidnapper? Everyone just couldn’t other than to star at the man in the lab coat, with his white skin and light blue hair. The only thing he didn’t wear was his glasses and a purple gem necklace, but besides that, he just looked like no time had passed since his disappearance. But there was just something off about him, but he couldn’t place a finger on it.

Ocean, however, was far too caught up in the moment to notice. The moment she got out of her shook she lunged forward and hugged her old friend. For a moment the world was hole again, everything was good, nothing bad could ever happen again. She didn’t question how he got here, or why Platinum was standing next to him, she just didn’t care, or at least wanted to care. “Oh, ivory, I’m so glad that you are back. We have looked all over for you. I’m just so glad that you are save,” She started, tears forming in her eyes as she pulled the hug tighter and tighter.

“Thanks, I’m also glad to see you as well. I missed you so much,” Ivory returned, returning her hug just filling her with a familiar warmth. This was just like old times, it just felt right, right? There was this nagging voice in her head that told that something was off and the feeling just grew more and more with every passing second. She just couldn’t let go, she thought if she never let go things wouldn't spiral out of control like they always did. That was until Phoenix spoke up, with a cold and serious tone.

“What is Platinum doing here?” Phoenix sounded surprisingly serious, slowly walking up to the two and staring them dead in the eyes. Platinum just remained standing there, his arms crossed as he let out a huff but besides that ignored him.

The warm hug she had just been feeling quickly grew colder as Ivory pulled himself free from her embrace and walked over to Platinum, who looked just as uninterested as until now. “Hm, I had assumed that Ocean would catch on to this rather fast, but you? I did not see this coming,” Ivory chuckled while throwing a quick glance over to Phoenix.

“Ivory…” She just muttered as she saw her friend walk over to his captor like it was nothing.

“What have you done to Ivory Platinum or Shadow Gold, whoever is responsible for this,” he growled, steadily stomping over towards him and grabbing the grey man by the color. “Tell me you sick fuck,” he barked at the men, who still showed little to no interest in him.

“You are talking to the wrong guy here, this was not my idea,” he returned.

“What do you mean? You kidnapped him, not me! And if you don’t talk I’m going to make you talk right before I throw you inside a jail cell!” His anger just grew more and more, much to Platinums annoyance.

“Liste, I don’t care about all of this. Sure, I killed those people, but what do you care? You didn’t even know them, so did I. It just happened to be that it was my job, you should know about that, shouldn’t you?” Shadow returned, his voice changing from disinterested to angry the longer he spoke. “And now let go of me you bastard or I’m going to kill you, got it?”

“Enough! You are just as useless as always! He is mine, and you know it. If you even as much as lay a finger on him I will end you!” Ivory growled at Platinum, who looked back at him before huffing and relaxing again. Phoenix, Ocean and the rest just stared at him in shock. Now there was no doubt about it anymore, something was definitely off about him.

“Ivory,” she weakly said, looking at him in desperation, begging anyone that this wasn’t going the way she thought it would.

“Well, it seems my useless subordinate ruined the surprise for everyone, and I wanted to have at least a few more minutes before breaking you, but it can’t be helped,” Ivory returned, sounding rather annoyed, all while throwing a disapproving look towards Platinum. Everyone else, besides Ocean, just stared at him in complete shock and with open mouths. No one had even the semblance of an idea what was transpiring before them.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you face to face for the first time. You don’t know how long I have waited for this moment,” he continued, a smugness and superiority radiating from his voice. “We have already met, more or less, but let me introduce myself again. My name is Shadow Gold.” At that moment time seemed to stand. Still, no one dared to even as much as breath. The only thing they could do was stare at the man that was standing before them, the man with the face of a friend, the man who claimed to be their worst enemy. “It seems you remember,” he chuckled, taking in the looks of complete and utter shock around him.

“How,” was all Phoenix managed to say, his body shaking, having let go of Platinum and staggering backward.

“Ow, it’s quite simple really. You would be surprised what you could do with a Philosopher Stone,” he chuckled, with a malicious grin decorating his lips. “Especially for the one that discovered how to produce it in the first place,” he continued slowly stepping closer towards Ocean, circling around her with that damned grin on his face.

“What did you do with Ivory?” Ocean finally broke her silence, her voice sounding cold, noncaring, but there was that sliver of anger in it.

“Ivory? Oh right, the poor doubt that this body belonged to, I almost forgot about him,” he returned mockingly, something Phoenix really wasn’t pleased with. Clenching his fist he took a step closer to ‘Ivory’, ready to deliver a good punch to him, maybe even snapping him out of all this. That was until his fist was clenched by Ocean who gave him a look that let him relax a bit. A look that told him ‘don’t worry, I got this’.

“I’m sure he is in here somewhere, but Celestia knows where. Or maybe he isn’t anymore. I’m not really that experienced with what happens to the victims of body possession,” he chuckled, letting his glare go over everyone in the group, but lingering especially long on Ocean and Phoenix. “But what I can tell you what I did to him. I took his body,” he spread his arms out and started to chuckle, much to the irritation of everyone present, most of the group taking a few steps back. All besides Phoenix, Ocean, and Pinecone, all three stared him down. Phoenix in a mixture of disgust and anger, Ocean with a cold glare and Pinecone was just done with this shit.

“And I must say, his body is great. I have never felt so alive in six hundred years, but that is what happens when you trap your soul in a Soulgem. You just see what others do, can’t act, just command, and you never get a good servant, just rotten ones like this one here,” he pointed towards Platinum who just glared back at him but remained silent for the entire time. “But this, this feels great. And especially all the knowledge of this guy, you wouldn’t believe what a clever little boy he is. Or you would I assume, why else have him around,” he continued, enjoying every second of it.

“There is so much to learn from this world, but what is far more interesting is what he knows about all of you. Yes, you,” he pointed at the Rider’s with the most devious smile they had ever seen, a smile that just didn’t fit Ivory. “What he knows about your powers or your personal lives. You wouldn’t understand how interesting this is. How week it makes you,” the delighted tone of Shadow Gold vanished in an instant, replaced with a low, threatening voice that just didn’t belong to Ivory, or at least it shouldn’t belong to him. Gold was standing right in front of Ocean at this point looking straight at her.

“What do you want?” Ocean returned, staring him dead in the eyes, not even blinking for a moment. His voice was so cold she probably could have scared even the biggest criminal with it. Gold however just stared back, bot locked in a battle that seemed to last for eternity.

“What I want? Oh, that is simple. I want revenge, revenge for what he took from me, what he denied me, what he owes me. But I will never get that because the fool killed himself because he didn’t listen to me. But that doesn’t mean I can’t have my revenge. I’m just going to destroy every last thing he had built up in his life. His family, his inventions, everything. I will show him just how pathetic he and his descendants are. I will show them what true despair is when you only can watch as the world crumbles around you, no way to interfere and just because of one man. I will burn down everything you hold dear, every one of you. Your lives will be left in shambles, all your dreams crushed, your ideals shattered, everything,” Gold continued, slowly creeping over to Phoenix, who could feel the foul aura coming off him. It felt unnatural like he just didn’t belong in this world, he just couldn’t other than to shiver and stare at him in disgust and fear.

“Exactly, you should fear me, because I will finally get my revenge. You became the hero of this city, a Kamen Rider, a symbol for hope and peace. I will take that from you like Fools Gold took them from me so long ago. I will show this city that there are no heroes, no one to save them, just how pathetic you are and I will all do it while showing them what truly can be done with the powers you so foolishly use,” with that he pulled out a device Phoenix was extremely familiar with, an Alchemy Driver. “I will be the one that breaks you, the one to destroy the legacy you want to build for yourself, the one that will destroy that bright future you keep talking about.”

That was enough, as much as he disliked Phoenix, this farce had gone on for far too long already. Waisting no more time Pinecone lunged forward, ready to beat Shadow Gold to a pulp, even if he had Ivory’s face. However, to his surprise, the body of the skinny scientist moved in ways that seemed impossible for such a week person, easily dodging his attack by simply sidestepping it and quickly delivering a kick to his back, sending him crashing into a few trashcans that were standing right next to him. “Oh, right you also existed. In all honesty, I almost forgot, probably because you are no threat to me. Neither are your friends, but they can at least put up a fight, you, however? You are no threat, just a dog that barks at everything that gets to close to his little shrine. If I wanted to I could easily drag you into despair, but where would be the fun in that. So, if you could stay out of this, I would really appreciate it,” Gold said without even looking at him once, just hearing the rustling of the cans as he tried to stand up again.

With that he put the Driver on his waist, the device looping around it like it did for Phoenix. With a smirk he pulled out a magic Disc, one Phoenix recognized almost immediately, a Philosopher Stone. Putting the Disc into the Driver, he smirked one last time before spinning the Disc.

\ PHILOSOPHER STONE DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ EUREKA! /

“I am perfection, unparalleled, I am the Magnum Opus the Alchemy Systeme will ever create. I am Kamen Rider Chrysopoeia!” His voice echoed through the streets, getting the attention of the passing by civilians who looked at him in awe. His armor was made out of a white material that shimmered in the early morning sun like snow. His armor was shaped exactly the same way as Alchemy’s, just with two major differences. First, his eyes. Instead of the calming blue, they instead had a piercing red, glaring directly at them, almost menacingly. The other thing was the color of the ornaments on the armor. Instead of Alchemy’s gold, Chrysopoeia’s was black.

Before any of the Rider’s could even react he had already grabbed his Philosopher Stone and removed it from the Driver again, holding it out towards them, all three Riders, quickly putting on their Drivers and starting their transformations, all while Chrysopoeia was activating his Disc.

\ PHILOSOPHER STONE DETECTED! /

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

\ UNLEASHE THE MONSTER! /

“Henshin!”

\ EUREKA! /

\ 100, 150, 200! OVER CHARGE! /

\ AWAKEN: CHANGELING! /

\ Philosopher Stone Attack Mode! /

\ Magnum Opus! /

The entire street was covered in a blinding light, both of the transformations of the Riders as well as the forming of Chrysopoei’s weapon. The Stone had changed forms, now resembling a black metallic lance with a round circle at its top, and tip on top of that as well. The circle was filled out by slim lines that formed into a five-pointed star, five gems in all five corners of the weapon. In the middle, the Philosopher Stone was placed on a purple gem that covered the entire part of the star.

The Riders stared at him and his new weapon for a moment before storming towards him, Charge having already pulled out her Stun Baton. The new Dark Rider gracefully blocked her first swing with his own spear, and just as Alchemy was about to strike him, he redirected the force of the blow and let Charge stumble into Alchemy’s path. The Rider hit her right in the back, sparks erupting from the impact point letting her cry out in pain, Alchemy in clear shock at the sudden development, so much so that neither of the two had time to react to Chrysopoei’s next move. Using the blunt end of the spear, he slammed it into Charge’s stomach, something that was quite easy for him since he had the weapon already lined up for exactly that. The impact sends Charge flying back and right into her partner, sending both Riders flying backward, landing on top of a fire hydrant, letting the entire street get soaked with water.

While Alchemy and Charge had gotten their butts handed to them by the new Rider, Monster had circled around him and was about to strike Chrysopoeia down with a well-placed claw swipe when something else interrupted him quite rudely. In the entire chaos, Alkahest had also suited up for the occasion, blocking the Rider’s attack with his own weapon. A long black spear with purple decorations. In his other hand, he held a large tower shield. The Dark Rider was clad in a replica of Alchemy’s Friendship Mode, just like usual, the purple had been replaced with black, and the ornaments on his armor had a purple tone to them. Two glowing purple eyes stared at him as Alkahest cooked his head to the side before pushing Monster back and lunging at him.

The first strike of Alkahest was fairly easy for him to dodge, just jumping to the side and further towards the Rider was enough. What he, however, hadn't expected was the fact that Alkahest just swung his weapon in his direction the moment he pulled that trick. Completely caught off guard the Rider was quickly swatted to the side, the tip of the weapon scraping across his armor and letting him feel the burning sensation surging through his body. With a loud thud and groan Monster landed in a nearby bus stop, the glass overstand coming crashing down on him, Alkahest quickly dashing towards him.

Meanwhile, Alchemy and Charge were trying to gain the upper hand on their own opponent, to mixed results all things considered. The new Rider was gracefully evading every single of their attacks and getting the odd counterattack. Even when they hit him, he had already blocked their attack before it could even cause any kind of harm to him. It was unnerving, especially after he had told them he hadn't had a body for over six hundred years and that Ivory was not known for being that well trained. He had once actually dawned the Charge system during a test, and as expected he failed miserably and gotten himself a good amount of bruises simply because he had no idea how to properly control his body. That this man, or at least his body was now kicking their asses was just surreal. Chrysopoeia apparently knew the ins and outs of the Alchemy System, to even a bigger extent than Phoenix and he had used it for over three months.

After being kicked back again by the Dark Rider, Alchemy landed on the ground again, rolling a good bit further before coming to a close. He slowly crawled back up, staring at the Rider in front of him, and growled. “Ok, if you want to play with that, fine, I’ll give you that,” he muttered annoyed as he pulled the Philosopher TSone from his Driver and did exactly what his opponent had done before. The bright white light blinded everyone that was still in the area, as well as interesting Monster’s and Alkahest’s fight as well. The few remaining civilians that had resorted to filming the entire fight with their phones finally took the hint, and after a loud screech when seeing the light, he could hear footsteps quickly running away from them.

\ Philosopher Stone Attack Mode! /

\ Magnum Opus! /

In his hands a new weapon had formed, one shaped exactly like the one his opponent was wielding, just made out of a golden metal instead of the black one the Dark Rider used. Twirling the weapon over his head for a moment he rushed towards the Rider, both weapons clashing against each other, the impact alone let some discarded paper fly off into the distance. Not waiting for the reaction of his opponent Alchemy quickly followed his attack up with another strike, one that was just as brilliantly blocked by Chrysopoeia as the last one. With a loud growl of frustration, he jumped a step back only to lunge forward at his opponent, trying to stab through his armor.

The Dark Rider put his weapon between himself and Alchemy, deflected the blow and as Alchemy lunged past him simply delivered a good kick to his backside, sending him stumbling towards the ground only coming to a halt as his mask scraped across the ground.

Charge had meanwhile pulled out her own weapon and thanks to the fact that the civilians had finally left the battlefield unloaded the weapon on him. The energy blast rocketed towards him, only for the Rider to chuckle and push one of the stones on his weapon.

\ EARTH! /

An orange glow emitted from the weapon only to form into a large wall of stone in front of the Rider. With a large explosion, the new barry exploded into dust, covering the entire street, leaving Alchemy and Charge completely blindsided.

\ WATER! /

\ WIND! /

These two sounds echoed through the thick dust, and leaving Alchemy and Charge on edge and nervous what would happen next and ready to jump back at any moment. Within seconds a gust of ice rushed towards them, both Riders eyes growing large at the unexpected attack. Jumping back they only narrowly avoided the icy doom that had been let loose on them. The entire street had been covered in a thick layer of ice, freezing everything in its wake, like the broke water hydrant that had been frozen solid. The destruction reached around fifty meters around them, thankfully no one had been caught in the crossfire, no one besides Monster who had been far too occupied with his own opponent and hadn’t noticed the incoming attack. His feet frozen to the ground he furiously tried to break free from the ice that had encased his lower half.

“Well, well. The fearsome Monster caught like a wild animal in a cage. Kinda funny, isn’t it?” Alkahest jokingly returned, pointing his spear at the half-frozen Rider who just growled back in anger. “Oh, come on, don’t be like this. It’s not like I have anything against you, this is just business, so why so livered. Just a little pocket and everything is over, so just relax and-“ that was as far as he got as Monster managed to free himself from his icy bonds by rocketing into the air with his wings. “And I thought that this would have been easy for once,” Alkahest muttered to himself.

Monster lunged himself towards his opponent, who quickly put the tower shield between him and Monster, something that only partially worked. With the force Monster had hit the shield not even Alkahest was able to withstand him, being sent flying several meters backward, only for him to come to a screeching hold on the slippy ground with his speer, by ramming it into the ground. Monster however quickly return to his previous hight and shot down towards Alkahest again, the Rider only able to see the Rider rocketing towards him, his wings shimmering in the morning sun, his claws ready to strike him down.

But then, everything came differently than expected. Moments before Alkahest could be reached by Monster he lifted his had and held it out towards the Rider. In that instant Monster’s wings just stopped working and he quickly crashed into the ground leaving large cracks on the ice as he slithered across it. He felt the impact, the chilliness of the ground an the pain that surged through his body, all while his opponent just turned around and no doubt had a bright smirk under his mask. With a swift pull, Alkahest pulled his spear out of the ground and dashed towards Monsters, elegantly sliding across the frozen ground towards the still dazed Monster.

Meanwhile, Alchemy and Charge have gone on the defensive, Chrysopoeia going on the offensive, striking at them with precision and skill that was just unreal. Both Riders were slowly pushed back further and further the farther the Dark Rider pushed. Alchemy had just managed to parry one of his attacks as the next one already came, and not able to stop it was forced backward and landing against a streetlamp, that came crashing down beside him. Everything was spinning, and he was getting exhausted, his breath grew more infrequent as he slowly rose back to his feet, using his weapon as support.

“Ok, apparently I can do that too, I hope,” he muttered to himself and pushing the red gem on the weapon.

\ FIRE! /

The fiery energy started to circle around the round end of the speer, the Rider cooking his head curiously, while Charge, readying herself for an attack. With a loud scream, Alchemy pushed the spear into the ground, the ice below them melting in an instant, covering the entire street in a thick fog. This was exactly what she had needed, her targeting system had already picked up the Dark Rider, and now it was a simple pull of the trigger and… hit! A loud growl of pain could be heard through the thick mist followed by several more as Charge’s shoots pelted him.

\ WIND! /

\ FIRE! /

\ EARTH! /

It echoed through the empty street as she suddenly felt her cover being blown away by a very strong wind, one she had to nearly hold onto something not to be blown away. Before the wind had even settled, she heard what she could only describe as the sound of rattling chains. Only as the wind had died down again could she see what happened. Before her stood Chrysopoeia, restrained through metal chains, binding his arms to his side while his weapon being out of reach for his fingers to activate it. Alchemy meanwhile dashed forward, all while pushing several buttons on the weapon.

\ WATER! /

\ WIND! /

\ EARTH! /

A green aura surrounded the weapon as he lunged it forward at Chrysopoeia, moments before the impact vines growing from the weapon and quickly flowing round the Dark Rider, encasing him in a cocoon of plants.

While Alchemy was apparently succeeding at immobilizing Chrysopoeia Monster had far more problems. Alkahest was relentless, storming towards the Rider and piercing him with his spear like it was child play. Every time he tried to escape through the air his wings just stopped working, and he had no idea why, but he was sure it had something to do with his opponent. Thanks to Alchemy removing the ice under his feet he could actually attack from the ground, however, something he made frequent use of.

Still, Alkahest matched his attacks with his shield, blocking the Rider from doing any significant amount of damage, both of them only able to graze each other as they thought. After another attack of his blocked by Alkahest’s shield Monster had finally enough, with a loud roar, he lunged forward again and started to claw away at the shield, forcing the Dark Rider backward. This went on for a few more strikes, Alkahest trying desperately to get the Rider away from him with his shield as he was pushed further and further back.

That was until he was pushed against the next wall, Monster continuing his assault on him, letting out angry roars every time his claws struck the shield. “Why does everything have to be so damn hard? Why can’t it be simple for just once?” Alkahest cursed, trying his hardest to push the Rider back.

Monster didn’t even listen anymore, he just kept attacking and attacking, not even noticing anything around him, he was just to busy with Alkahest. With one last particularly powerful swipe he smashed his shield away, the metal object landing several meters away from him. Without the barrier protecting him from Monster he quickly felt the fast claws of the Rider scratching across his armor, time after time, the burning sensation returned, and his screams of agony filled the streets.

His screams however quickly turned from pained scream to louder and louder roars and with one single move he lunged himself away from the Rider and towards his shield. However as Monster jumped after him Alkahest just turned around and lunged the speer into Monster’s direction, the Rider basically jumping into the attack.

The roar of pain could be heard from both Alchemy and Charge who spared a quick look over to their comrade, who was staggering backward, clutching his shoulder. But before they could see anything more they were quickly pulled back into their own fight, Alchemy just barely managing to block Chrysopoeia’s next attack, still being forced back by the sheer force of the attack. Before the Dark Rider however could continue his assault Charge unloaded her weapon on him, several of the shots hitting him from behind before he dashed over to her with his super speed evading the incoming projectiles.

Letting his weapon come down on Charge she managed to wedge her rifle in between herself and the Rider. She was desperately trying to hold off Chrysopoeia, but she was slowly losing ground, being forced towards the ground further and further with every passing moment. That was until she heard something from behind the Rider.

\ FRIENDSHIP! /

\ FIRE! /

She could only see how over the Dark Rider several seals appeared out of nowhere. As he turned his head slightly what was going on, he could only see a dozen firey etherial swords rain down on him, covering him in a massive explosion. Stumbling out of the smoke Charge was the first to react, bombarding him with her rifle, letting him stagger backward, right into Alchemy’s still glowing lance, slashing him across his back.

“Everything ok?” Alchemy asked, sounding quite exhausted already.

Looking over to him, the sweet forming under her mask she returned: “More or less. But we should concentrate on him here for now,” and with that she dashed forward, firing at the Dark Rider the entire time. As Alchemy also rushed towards him, trying to finish this quickly both were caught off guard. The previously staggering Chrysopoeia suddenly just held out against the barrage of projectiles that came his way and pressed the gem in the middle of his weapon.

\ FRIENDSHIP! /

And before any of the two Riders could react, he slashed his weapon in their direction, the glow at the top of the lance now hurtling towards them in a purple wave. A massive amount of sparks erupted from both Riders as they staggered back with loud screams, their bodies tightened, unable to properly react to the attack. It felt like their entire bodies were burning. From the point where the attack hit the pain just surged through the rest of the body, letting them feel like they were being cooked alive. Ultimately both of them sunk to their knees, panting heavily, their heads vaguely looking towards their opponent.

“Well, this has been fun, but it never could have gone any other way anyway. It was fun to spar with you, but I think it’s time to leave. Platinum!” Alkahest looked over to him, currently trying to hold Monster at a reasonable distance. One look from the Rider was enough for Chrysopoeia to understand that Alkahest was listening. “We are leaving. Finish this off and follow me!” With that, he activated the purple gem on his weapon again and stomped the spear on the ground. Out of nowhere, a magical seal appeared on the asphalt and slowly traveled towards the sky. The higher it went, the more it revealed something that just left Alchemy and Charge speechless a carriage. A damned carriage, made out of white metal with black ornaments. It had two weals that were just as decorated as the carriage itself. What however really left them at a loss for words was what was pulling the carriage, golems. Golems made out of stone and purple runes all over them. This was just bizarre, even for Rider standards and those were already pretty damn high. “See you again,” he waved the two a goodbye just before leaning down towards them and smugly adding: “Enjoy the time I leave you, soon everything will get so much worse.”

With that, he slowly walked over towards the carriage and stepped onto it, grabbing the reins, and with a swift smack, the golems sprung to live, storming off towards the outer rims of the city. Alchemy was the first one to get back on his feet and weakly ran over to his own bike, Charge just behind him, just as shakingly. Both their engines roared to life, the riders quickly following their opponent with immense speed.

Meanwhile, Alkahest was trying his hardest to gain himself some time to follow Shadow Gold, Monster was already pretty exhausted, but he just wasn’t about to give up, nothing could stop him. That was untiled Alkahest gathered his magical energy in his weapon again and dashed towards Monster, who managed to evade the first attack as well as the second, but not the third. That one hit him right in the chest, sending him flying backward and clutching his chest as he helplessly flailed on the ground. Alkahest, however, instead of capitalizing on this opportunity dashed over to a side alley, and seconds later the loud roaring of an engine could be heard. Out of the alley jumped a black bike, covered in crimson ornaments, almost like it was taunting Monster it roared once again and raced after the three other Riders.

He was about to rush to his own bike as he suddenly had the feeling that something was near him, something was just off. Then he heard it, the sound of a weapon discharging and with only a split-second to spare he dodged out of the way, and after a short role, he jumped back up, facing the new arrival. Before him stood a man in long white robes with golden trimming. His face was covered by a with a mask with golden accents that was formed in the image of a smiling man. The little bit of skin the figure showed was as white as snow. In his hand, he held a short sword made out of a material that almost looked like marble with gold ornaments while holding a round shield in similar style in his other hand.

“What do you want?” He barked at the Corrupted, already lowering himself into an attack position.

“Oh? What I want? Shouldn't you ask for a name first before you jump to things like these?” An angelic voice returned, only for Monster to just growled back. “Well, it seems manners are lost on you, but not on me, my name is Elysium. Fine, I was sent to stop you from interfering and to take you down. Shadow Gold has no real interest in you, you are jutting not important enough to Alchemy to be considered a valuable target, but too dangerous to be left roaming around freely. So I’ll take care of you,” with that the Corrupted lifted his sword and dashed towards Monster who himself dashed towards him as well.

>-------<A>-------<

While Monster was dealing with the new arrival, Alchemy and Charge were busy hunting after Chrysopoeia. To their surprise the golem powered carriage was extremely fast, making it almost impossible for them to catch up to him. The Drak Rider had left a trail of destruction behind him, cars, small stands or anything that had gotten in his way had been brutally smashed to pieces by the golems. They could see the injured laying on the sidewalk, screaming and cries echoing through the streets even drowning out their engines. Worst of all, they couldn’t stop, or he would escape or just hurt more people. It was either do or die at this point.

As they passed the next corner, he had crashed through they finally were catching up to him. Now they could see the destruction and mayhem he was leaving behind firsthand, and it was horrific. The screams and cries for help were even louder, mixed in with screams of utter terror. It was heartbreaking to just race past them, but they had to stop him before things got even more out of hand.

Charge was the first one to point her weapon at the Dark Rider, letting a barrage of projectiles lose on him. To their surprise Chrysopoeia quickly turned around and with disturbing grace deflected all of her shots, several of them impacting the road behind him, a few even hitting buildings in the near vicinity, letting debris rain down on the frightened civilians. Thankfully no one was hurt, but Charge cursed under her breath, put her weapon back on her back and let her engine roar even louder.

Chrysopoeia, however, was not so caring and pointed his spear towards the Riders, not before pushing one of the buttons on his weapon. Thanks to the fact that they were so far away from him they couldn't hear what element he had used, something that became quiet explanatory as a giant firewall lunged towards them. Both Riders managed to avoid the fiery obstacle quite well thanks to their bikes, but they could feel the burning sensation as they passed it, the fire was unnaturally hot.

Alchemy had enough of this. If they couldn’t stop him soon, he would wreck the city completely. Throwing caution to the wind, he pulled his weapon from his back aiming it at the Rider. That was until he suddenly heard another machine rushing up to him. He narrowly avoided the swing of Alkahest’s spear that soared over his head as the other Dark Rider passed by him. With a silent curse, Alchemy swung the weapon at Alkahest who managed to avoid it by simply driving further away, letting him hit just the air beside him.

While he had distracted, Alchemy Chrysopoeia had meanwhile pushed two more of the gems on his weapon and pointed them at Alchemy and Charge. Within seconds the entire street was filled with lightning. However, it wasn’t normal lightning, this one had a crimson tone to it. Both Riders were hit by the attack, letting them feel the burning heat and pain that suddenly surged through their bodies, both of them almost falling off their bikes.

However, Alchemy pushed through, pointing his own spear at the Rider, pushed one of the gems on it and let his attack lose.

\ FRIENDSHIP! /

\ FIRE! /

The seals appeared around him again, and within seconds the magical fire swords rained down on him, letting Chrysopoeia scream out in pain, almost even falling of his carriage. However, that was not to come to pass. Slamming his own spear on the floor of the carriage he managed to stabilize himself and started to spin the disc on the weapon. Simply pointing the weapon at him was enough for the Dark Rider to unleash a blinding light, one that was just too much for both Alchemy and Charge, both pressing ahead effectively blind. Not even a second after they had been blinded they felt a pain that was unrivaled in intensity, one that covered their bodies from head to toe.

With a loud crash, both Riders landed on the ground, the bikes laying behind them, only able to see how both Chrysopoeia and Alkahest vanished inside the same kind of portal the carriage had come from in the first place. And with the last part of the disappearing portal gain, both Riders couldn’t do any more than to just lay there, unable to even stand up, the pain just too great. Their entire body felt like they had been lit on fire.

>-------<A>-------<

While Alchemy and Charge were busy with Chrysopoeia Monster had his own battle to fight, and Elysium was not making it easy for him. Most of the attacks Monster made were quickly brushed aside by his shield, and punished with a swing of his sword. Still, Monster was unrelating, no matter how many times he was struck down he came back, angrier and even more relentless. As the fight continued, Monster actually managed to break through the seemingly unbreakable defense of Elysium, letting the Corrupted scream out in pain every time he was struck by Monster’s claws.

Monster had just again managed to strike through the defenses of Elysium, by pushing the shield aside with his first attack and something he followed up with his other claw, swiping at the mask of the Corrupted. However, before he could connect his attack, he felt the sharp edge of the sword that scraped across his stomach. With a pained grunt, he used his feet to jump backward away from his opponent, a jump so powerful that he was thrown into the next wall.

The pain was ever-present, his entire body felt sore, on several parts of his body he could feel the wounds and scratches he had endured through the fight. His breath had grown rather and more frequent, his entire body shifted with every breath he took. That was however not important now, he couldn’t stop now, he had to finish this. He had his duties he had to return to, so falling against someone like him was just not an option. With a loud primal scream, Monster rushed towards his opponent and threw his entire mass at him.

Elysium managed to get his shield up before the Rider could strike at him, however, feeling the entire weight of the Rider as he slammed against his shield. Moments later he felt another crash against the shield, then another one and another one. Monster was furiously pounding at the shield, pushing Elysium against the wall time and time again.

“You know- You are really- really persistent!” The sound of claws crashing against the shield could be heard time and time again, Elysium not managing to save himself from this gruesome fate. However Monster also not able to strike his opponent down. “I can respect that. In all honesty, this is getting really tiring. And in all honesty, my job is it to keep you busy and judging from how much time has already passed I think Chrysopoeia is already done with them. I think I’ll retreat as well, but I’ll be back. Maybe I’ll visit you sometime in the future, guardian,” Elysium said with a strangely calm voice, even while being attack by Monster the entire time.

Monster just ignored him and continued his onslaught of attacks on the Corrupted who however did not react anymore to the continued attacks on him. And just seconds later Monster felt a sudden push, the shield he had clamored himself to suddenly starting to move and not just a subtle movement but a forceful push instead. With immense strength he was thrown off the Corrupted, landing on his feet several feet away from him.

The Corrupted pushed himself off the wall, entering a battle stance, shield in front of him, his sword ready to strike at any moment. Both combatants stared at each other for a good few moments, carefully eyeing each other, no one daring to make the first move. That was until Monster lunged towards the Corrupted. Elysium, however, had anticipated this already and reacted the moment the Rider came at him.

Sparks flew, a golden glow enveloped sword slashed through his armor, and a loud cry of pain echoed through the streets. Monster sunk to his knees, the agonizing pain that surged through his body had already taken hold of him. Other senses like smell, sight or sound slowly drifted in the background as the pain consumed his entire mind. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t act, he couldn’t move, he just could feel the pain and scream, everything around him slowly turning more muted and black. With a last whimper he collapsed on the ground, his armor shattering upon impact with the ground, Elysium looking down on him. However, before he could make any other move, he could hear two engines roaring in the distance. With a sigh, he stepped away from the unconfessed Rider and quickly made his escape before his comrades would show up. He couldn’t really take the Monster Driver here anyway, Shadow Gold would without the shadow of a dought know faster than he could say ‘Tartarus’. He had to wait and take it when he was alone with him, and he already knew where that could be.