The air was unnaturally still, as if the very realm they stood in were holding its breath.
Before them loomed a colossal gate—neither entirely real nor illusion—crafted from crystalline energy, its structure shifting between mirrored glass and flowing light. Each pulse it emitted throbbed with a soundless rhythm, like the heartbeat of something ancient and dreaming. Waves of distortion rippled across its vast surface, showing not just their reflections but countless fragmented possibilities. Some glowed with promise. Others were monstrous and broken, warped by inner conflict.
Zhu Zhuqing narrowed her eyes. Her reflection shimmered and changed—showing a taller, colder version of herself. One who stood alone, her claws soaked in shadow, her gaze devoid of feeling.
Xiao Wu stepped back instinctively. "That's not me," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Is it?"
Li Wei remained silent. His reflection was... absent. The mirror showed nothing at all.
Zhao Wuji folded his arms, his tone grave. "This place doesn't test your strength. It tests your soul. We're not here to fight monsters. We're here to confront ourselves."
Liu Erlong eyes glinted with unease. "Then we'd better be ready. Because there's nothing more dangerous than the truths we bury."
The crystalline gate shimmered with an internal pulse. A calm, ageless voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere.
[Trial Three: The Self Opposes You. Each of you must overcome what lies within. Only when the truth is embraced can the gate open.]
The light from the gate expanded rapidly, washing over them. In a blink, the ground vanished beneath their feet—and they fell.
_________________
They landed apart, each dropped into a realm shaped by their deepest selves.
Zhu Zhuqing awoke in a moonlit courtyard eerily identical to the compound of the Zhu clan. The ground was lined with frost-laced tiles, and the air smelled faintly of iron. Shadows twisted under her feet like living things.
A soft breeze stirred the trees—but the silence was unnatural, suffocating.
Then she saw her.
A mirror of herself. Taller, clad in deep black. Her face was carved from ice, her movements graceful but lifeless. She made no sound as she approached, as though she existed only halfway in the world.
"You survived because you were alone," the mirror-Zhu Zhuqing said, voice void of warmth. "You became strong by abandoning weakness. By severing the useless ties."
Zhu Zhuqing tensed. She recognized that tone. She had used it herself once, before she met Li Wei and might continue in another life if left alone.
"Now you cling to him."
A flicker of Li Wei face shimmered in the mirror-self palm—only to crack and dissolve into slivers of glass.
"You're vulnerable now."
Zhu Zhuqing wanted to shout, to deny it. But the words struck deep. Part of her believed them.
She drew a breath.
"I did survive alone," she said quietly. "But I never wanted to. It's something that was force upon me."
Shadow blades shimmered behind her, rising like wings.
"I don't rely on him to fight."
She stepped forward, slow and deliberate.
"But I choose to walk beside him. That is my strength—not my weakness."
Light broke around her in radiant arcs, shattering the frozen stillness. The mirror-self began to dissolve, fading like mist under sunlight.
____________________
Elsewhere, Xiao Wu stood in a vast crimson field, the ground covered in blooming roses. But every rose had thorns as long as daggers, and each petal glistened with dew that looked suspiciously like blood.
Her other self sat among the thorns, arms wrapped around her knees, eyes hollow. Vines bound her ankles. She looked... abandoned.
"No one picked you," the reflection whispered, voice frayed like torn silk. "Tang San chose power. Li Wei chose her."
Xiao Wu lips trembled. Her hands clenched.
"You pretend it's fine. You joke. You smile. Because that's easier than falling apart."
She sat down, mirroring the posture.
"You're not wrong," Xiao Wu admitted, her voice cracking. "I kept smiling so I wouldn't scream."
She met her other self eyes.
"But that doesn't mean I don't matter."
She reached forward, hands steady.
"I won't stop being cheerful. But I'll stop hiding myself."
A single white rose bloomed between them, brilliant in the blood-colored field. Her reflection dissolved into falling petals.
__________________
In the heart of nothingness, Li Wei stood alone.
There was no sky, no stars—just void. The silence here was oppressive, like standing in a vacuum.
And then it came.
A Rider stepped forward from the darkness—clad in cracked, decaying armor. The color scheme mirrored Diend, but warped. Black streaks of shadow oozed from the joints, and its visor pulsed with pale, dead light.
"You fight for them," the specter said, voice like rusted metal. "But when they fall, what will remain? You. Alone. As always."
Li Wei stared, unflinching.
"Power without bonds is efficient. Clean. You carry weakness in every attachment."
He summoned the Diendriver.
"And yet," he replied, calm and resolute, "those attachments are why I became strong in the first place."
The Knight lunged.
A duel ignited in the void. Riders summoned—Kuuga, Ryuki, Faiz—fought and fell. The shadow Knight broke through them all with brutal efficiency.
Li Wei staggered, breathing hard. But then he drew a final card.
A card that can only exist in this dimension at this times. A card that represent his ideal. A card that represent his hope and dream.
[Kamen Ride: Li Wei.]
Energy burst around him as a Rider took shape—bearing his own armor, but brighter, filled with the energy of all he had fought for.
He stepped into the form. Not perfect, but whole.
This time, he fought not to destroy the Knight—but to accept him. To integrate what had been rejected.
Their final clash sent shockwaves through the void. Blade met blade. When that fail, it's punch meeting punch.
The dark Rider cracked, light spilling through its armor. Then it shattered.
Li Wei lowered his weapon. His breath shook—but his eyes were clear.
"I don't have to be perfect," he whispered. "Only true to my desire. And I believe that I will be able to reach it." He then hold his hand toward the knight.
____________________
Across the dimension, others faced their shadows.
Ning Rongrong confronted the desperate part of herself that feared being left behind, the version of her who only felt valuable when needed. But in the end, she chose something radical, to be whole, even if alone.
Meng Yiran stood before a future version of herself—an emotionless weapon forged by ambition and trauma. But she chose mercy. She chose humanity.
Flender saw his failures play out again and again—students lost, dreams unfulfilled. But he did not run.
Liu Erlong faced the trembling girl still terrified of losing everyone she loved. She held that girl, and let her weep.
Zhao Wuji confronted his guilt—the lives he'd taken, the ones he couldn't save. And found the courage to forgive himself.
Each emerged wounded, but whole.
_________________
The gate reappeared, humming with new light.
Without fanfare, it shattered—its crystalline frame becoming dust, then motes of light that wove into a bridge. A thousand threads now spun together.
One by one, they regrouped in a twilight realm of silver skies.
Zhu Zhuqing walked not behind Li Wei, but beside him.
Xiao Wu leaned gently against Zhuqing shoulder, eyes quiet and soft.
Ning Rongrong retied her hair with a simple white ribbon.
Meng Yiran didn't speak, but brushed fingers against Zhu Zhuqing's hand. Just once. Just enough.
And Li Wei looked forward. 'They stood before the truth of themselves—and did not turn away. Perhaps that is what strength truly means.'
Then, the sky above them shifted. Darkness coiled. Shapes descended—monstrous silhouettes in warped armor, twisted echoes of Riders, each cloaked in consuming shadow.
The voice returned, quiet but commanding.
[Trial Four: When the light falls... will your bonds endure?]
Li Wei raised his Diendriver.
Zhu Zhuqing stepped beside him.
The others followed.
They were ready.