The days following the battle were filled with uneasy silence. The Elven Village, once a place of peace, now stood as a wary fortress, its people still recovering from the terror of the Shadow Wyrm and the dark elves. Tsukasa, though physically exhausted, felt the weight of their victory settle on his shoulders, but it was a hollow victory — for he knew the war was far from over.
The elves treated him with a mixture of awe and fear, unsure of what to make of him. His powers, his transformations, the way he fought — none of it fit within their understanding of the world. He was something new, something alien to them. And they couldn't help but whisper in hushed tones about the human warrior who wielded a power beyond anything they had ever seen.
Even the Elven Elder, wise and old as he was, struggled to comprehend Tsukasa's abilities. "What kind of magic is this?" the Elder asked one evening, as he observed Tsukasa from across a crackling fire. "What kind of power can break the laws of nature itself? You are not like any being we have encountered."
Tsukasa, seated on the ground with Dragreder by his side, stared into the flames. He didn't have an answer for the Elder. He wasn't even sure if the power he wielded had a name. "It's just something I can do," he said, his voice low. "Something I was given… or something that found me."
The Elder didn't seem satisfied, but nodded slowly, as if coming to terms with the fact that this warrior was more than just an outsider. Tsukasa's strange power, the way it resonated with the very fabric of the world around him, made him a mystery to even the most learned beings.
The following day, Tsukasa found himself standing at the edge of the village, gazing out into the dark, twisted expanse of the corrupted forest. His mind was far from peace. The dark elves had been dealt with for now, but the leader's parting words echoed in his mind. You'll fall like the rest of your kind. Zorc's legacy was something more than just a broken god — it was a curse that had tainted everything, and it was far from over.
"Tsukasa," Elara's voice called out to him. He turned to see her approaching, her face still marred by the soot of battle, but her eyes were filled with determination. "Are you alright?"
He gave her a small, reassuring smile. "Yeah. Just thinking."
"You've saved us, but there's more coming, isn't there?" Her words weren't a question but a statement. She had seen the same fear in the dark elf's eyes, the same dark power that lingered in the air.
"Yeah," Tsukasa said, turning back to the forest. "This is just the beginning. Whatever Zorc's legacy is, it's not over. The dark elves… they'll keep coming. And something worse is out there. I can feel it."
Elara looked at him, her brows furrowing. "You said 'something worse.' What do you mean?"
Tsukasa hesitated for a moment. He didn't have an answer, only a deep sense of foreboding. "I don't know… but it's more than just an army. It's something old. Something ancient. Something powerful."
Lumi, who had been standing nearby, joined them. "You're not the only one who feels it," she said softly, her voice carrying a strange weight. "I feel it too. This power… it's beyond us all."
Tsukasa looked at them both. "I don't know if the world's ready for what's coming. My power… it's something that even I don't understand. It's like it doesn't belong here, or maybe it was never meant to. It's like… I was meant to face this."
Elara placed a hand on his arm, her touch warm and comforting. "We'll face it together, Tsukasa. You're not alone in this."
Tsukasa's eyes softened. He had come a long way since meeting these two — Lumi, who had fought by his side, and Elara, who had proven herself not just as an ally, but as a friend. The thought of facing whatever was to come, whatever ancient evil lingered in the shadows, seemed a little less daunting with them by his side.
But he knew this was only a brief respite. The true battle was still ahead.
As the sun set, casting long shadows over the village, Tsukasa's thoughts drifted back to the dark elf's words. Zorc's legacy. The Destroyer of Worlds. He had defeated their dragon, but there was something bigger, something far more dangerous, waiting in the wings.
Something beyond the comprehension of the world. Something that was not just a threat to the elves or the humans — but to the entire world itself.
Tsukasa knew that no one could truly understand his power. It wasn't something that belonged to them. His ability to wield the Drag Blazer, his transformations, and the strange, ancient energies he tapped into… they were all mysteries, even to him. And yet, he was the only one who could stand against the coming storm.
He was the unknown rider, a force beyond reckoning, a new kind of power that the world could neither explain nor understand.
And the more he thought about it, the more he realized that the world had no idea what kind of power it had just witnessed.
It was something entirely new.
The Rider.
But what kind of Rider?
He didn't have an answer.
Not yet.