Let the blood of the Abominations of Abundance spray across the earth and paint the walls!
The moment that thought surfaced in Hoshigaki Sora's mind, he knew something was wrong.
No matter what the universe thought of him, Sora had always thought of himself as a pacifist.
If no one messes with me, I won't mess with them. If someone does mess with me, I'll hit back hard enough to knock their teeth all over the ground.
That had always been his temperament. He'd always lived that way.
Even so, he could still feel a flicker of pity for his opponents.
Life was precious—its place in his heart had never changed.
Sure, in this vast universe, the value of a single life might not even measure up to a ship capable of interstellar travel.
But if you offered him a ship to save someone's life, Sora would trade it away without hesitation.
Yet the thought that had just risen up was unmistakable: killing intent, and exhilaration.
Blood flooding the galaxy. A grand spectacle wrought by his own hands.
And when that spectacle was complete, the name "Hoshigaki Sora" would be one the entire universe remembered.
That was the real meaning hidden behind those words.
But it was far, far too different from who he was.
Treating lives like paint for scenery, trampling them underfoot just to make his own name… it was completely alien to his nature.
This wasn't something "mental fatigue" could explain.
Symptoms like this could only be chalked up to…
Don't tell me I've developed a split personality?!
It was hard to explain thoughts that ran this far against who he was any other way.
But wasn't dissociative identity something that formed in response to trauma—something the mind created to protect the core self?
When had he ever suffered some massive shock?
Sora ran through everything that had happened lately, and no matter how he tried, he couldn't match any of it to that word: trauma.
So what was this?
"Mr. Sora, there's no need to worry too much. The Cangyan is still missing, but it certainly hasn't been ravaged by disaster."
The voice beside him snapped him back.
Seeing how deep in thought he was, they assumed he was worried about the Cangyan and offered reassurance.
"Oh—right. I understand. Thanks."
Sora added, "The Cangyan hasn't taken any serious damage, but I still want to step out for a bit and clear my head."
"Of course."
He excused himself, went into the restroom, and splashed his face with cold water. Then he looked up at the mirror.
They said mirrors showed the real you, but Sora stared and saw nothing unusual.
Was it just his imagination?
No. Absolutely not.
"Hah… why am I overthinking it here?"
Sora let out a breath. This wasn't the time to get stuck.
Right now, the Luofu—and the Xianzhou Alliance as a whole—was in crisis.
Robin and Titania were both trapped here, unable to leave.
How could he not care?
And he knew perfectly well that spiraling like this would only make them worry and lose focus because of him.
Losing focus in a situation like this was the last thing they needed.
So he had to deal with whatever was happening to him—fast.
With that thought, Sora stepped straight into the system space.
It looked the same as always. The things left behind by the senpai floated in midair.
"Please, senpai. I'm begging you—help me figure out what's wrong with me."
He could tell his body itself wasn't malfunctioning, and that only made him more uneasy.
If this happened again while he was making a critical decision…
And if it pushed him into a choice he'd regret to his core…
By the time he tried to make it right, it would be too late.
Catch it early. Treat it early. That rule applied anywhere.
So he could only come here and "see a doctor."
"Just wondering which 'doctor' I'm getting this time…"
Hopefully not a pediatrician. Though honestly, that might not be the worst thing.
As Sora's daydreams drifted toward a shampoo-commercial-worthy cascade of hair, a medal sank into his body.
...
As his awareness returned, Sora finally took in the scene.
Hot steam rose in thick waves. He was soaking in warm water, his whole body melting into comfort.
Looking closer, he realized he was in a bathhouse.
Well, damn. So this is the "specialist clinic for split personalities," huh?
The complaint slipped out before he could stop it—then he heard the door open.
"Sir, your scrub service is here."
A middle-aged man walked in and headed straight for Sora.
After all, there wasn't anyone else here.
Sora stared for a beat, caught off guard.
The man was Genta Igarashi—father of the Igarashi siblings, and the first Kamen Rider of this era.
"I didn't expect it'd be you, Igarashi-san—"
"That's right! It's your boy Genta!" He laughed. "Come on, sir—time for your back scrub!"
Still grinning, he beckoned Sora over to the scrubbing area.
Sora didn't know what Genta was planning, but he doubted it was anything harmful.
So he got out of the bath, sat down, and waited.
A rough scrubbing cloth landed on his back, and Genta spoke as he worked.
"Looks like you've been chewing on something. Want to talk about it?"
His hands kept moving, steady and practiced.
Sora didn't hide it. He told him what had been bothering him—those sudden thoughts and emotions that went completely against who he was.
And with the situation outside as urgent as it was, he couldn't afford to ignore it.
"I know what you're talking about," Genta said, sounding almost wistful.
But he also understood Sora's situation wasn't the same as his.
"So… do you have any way to deal with it, Igarashi-san?"
"Don't be so formal. Call me Uncle Genta. You're about the same age as my kids."
"As for the solution…" Genta's tone sharpened. "It's simple. Why not face him yourself?"
Sora froze.
Face that personality… himself?
How was he supposed to do that?
As he sat there, baffled, the grime scrubbed from his body seemed to answer some invisible call, gathering behind his back.
Before long, someone with the exact same face as Sora stood there.
But even with the same face, he was fundamentally different.
Crimson scales covered his body. Two dragon horns rose from his head, flashing with a sharp gleam.
With their curved, blade-like shape—and the lethal light at their tips—no one would doubt how dangerous they were.
They could probably gut someone in a single stroke.
And yet, that imposing pair of horns made Sora feel strangely familiar. Like he'd seen them before…
When was it?
The question in his eyes was caught immediately by the other him.
"Heh. It's been a while, and you forgot me already? Or maybe this is the form you actually recognize."
He let his true shape flicker out for an instant before returning to human form, facing Sora again.
But even that brief glimpse was enough to make Sora's eyes widen.
"So it's… you."
A memory he'd nearly forgotten surged up.
Back when he used FangJoker, his consciousness had been burned away and he'd gone berserk—there had been a dragon-shaped creature squatting in his mind.
It had taken over his rampaging body and launched relentless attacks on Zulo.
And when Sora finally regained control, it had plunged back into him and vanished.
Now it was here again.
And with its reappearance, the strange thoughts Sora had been having suddenly made perfect sense.
This guy's favorite chant back then had been, "Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!"
So it really had been this thing influencing him.
"Not bad," the other Sora said. "At least you didn't really forget me."
Seeing Sora come back to himself, the other him crossed his legs.
"Why are you suddenly back?"
"Oh? So you didn't want me to come back?"
He teased lightly. "Fine. The real reason is that lion."
"That thing ate too much before it left, so it spat out some leftovers. You absorbed them—and that's why I'm back."
Sora's mouth twitched.
If he remembered right, Chimera had said something like: "Since you fed me so well, I'll leave you something that can make you a wizard."
And this "something that can make you a wizard"… was this guy?
Watching his other self pace around the bathhouse, Sora felt thoroughly cheated.
Then again… maybe it wasn't wrong.
In the Wizard arc, a mage earned their title by using their own power to suppress the monster born from the despair in their heart.
Chimera had "left him something to become a wizard," and what it did was revive this guy.
"So you're… the embodiment of my deepest despair?"
"What despair?" the other Sora snorted. "I just want to slaughter to my heart's content!"
He stepped close, a scaled hand brushing Sora's face.
"If you won't let me have my fun, then I'll just take your body and have my fun myself!"
And it wasn't an empty threat.
No matter what, he was still "Sora"—just another consciousness.
They both had a claim on this body.
But Sora didn't take the bait.
He grabbed that scaled arm and yanked it off his face.
"I don't think you can take my body from me."
"Oh?" The other Sora bared his teeth in a wicked grin. "Then let's test it."
"Whoever wins gets the body!"
It looked like the two personas were about to settle it right here.
But then a figure stepped between them, cutting them apart.
"Sir," Genta said calmly, "fighting isn't allowed in this bathhouse."
Uncle Genta appeared again, blocking them.
"Tch. Fine. For your sake, Uncle Genta."
The other him retreated two steps.
Then both of them turned their heads away—mirroring each other perfectly.
Which made sense. They were both Sora.
With the fight defused, Genta glanced at the other Sora's swaying dragon tail, then looked back at Sora.
"Everyone's life is different, so my experience can't be copied onto yours."
No matter how vast the universe was, no two lives would be identical.
So Genta couldn't just paste his own experience onto Sora.
But some things might still help.
"Understanding and accepting each other is the way forward. But in the end, what matters is what he does—not what he says."
"You can do it."
With those words, the scene dissolved into light. Sora vanished.
...
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained the power of Kamen Rider Vail.]
When Sora woke in the system space, the system notification sounded at once.
[Congratulations, Host.]
[You have obtained "Giff Factor (Temporary)"]:
[The demon in your heart will gain physical form.]
Sora glanced at the countdown timer. It matched this power's duration.
As for "the demon in your heart"…
Red light spilled from him, and in the next instant, a red-scaled figure with Sora's face appeared—the other Sora from before.
The moment he manifested, he rushed in and snatched what Sora was holding.
A dark-red, glowing roller—an item that could draw out his true power.
"I wanted to beat you down back there. Now that I'm out, we have to fight at least once."
The other Sora held a roller too, grinning.
"Sora, you know the theory—the king and mount."
"Who gets to be the king leading the fight, and who becomes the mount boosting the king's power? Let's decide it here!"
He was practically vibrating with excitement, throwing himself into exaggerated poses.
Sora looked at him, pinched the bridge of his nose, and sighed.
Thinking back over everything… he realized something.
Back when he used FangJoker, he'd gone berserk and met this guy for the first time.
And at the time, this guy had been controlling his body and hammering Zulo without pause.
Now that he'd revived, aside from all the talk about killing, he hadn't actually shown much aggression.
The only "change" he'd caused was making Sora poke Titania in the nostrils.
That was basically it.
The only time he'd really shown killing intent was when they faced the Abominations of Abundance.
Back then, the murderous aura had been real.
So, linking his words and behavior to what Sora remembered…
A horrifying guess rose in Sora's mind.
"Wait. You're not… the sum total of my chuunibyo, are you?"
"Hahaha—cough, cough—!"
The other Sora's laugh cut off midstream. He choked and coughed a few times before he could speak again.
"Y-you bastard—what are you saying?! I'm the Crimson Blood Dragon who slaughters everything in the world!"
Hearing that title only made Sora's head hurt worse.
That name. That look. Aaaaaagh—
The sheer psychic damage was too much. Sora crumpled—one-shot.
"Hey! Fight me already, hey!"
The other Sora rushed in, grabbed his collar, and shook him hard, roaring, "What are you doing?! Fight me! Use violence to vent your anger! Use strength to prove our feelings!"
Sora was already half limp.
"Do whatever you want…"
There's nothing left in this world for me anymore.
Goodbye, everyone. Goodbye, everything.
"Tch. Boring."
The other Sora clicked his tongue, then slipped back into Sora's body.
Sora finally got a moment of peace—and he firmly noted the true culprit behind all this.
Chimera, you sucked away my luck and I didn't even complain. But then you went and left me with this guy…
Next time I find you, you're going to regret it.
For now, he just wanted to rest.
He needed to recover his sense of the world again.
...
Once Sora had recovered, he went to the Seat of Divine Foresight to look for a solution.
Before he arrived, they'd already eliminated several wrong answers.
"We still haven't gotten any news. And we captured their scouts. The Luofu has been marked."
The Gudiao that was supposed to receive Taoran had only surrendered after several of them died.
Which meant the other side definitely already knew what had happened on the Luofu.
Right now, there were probably countless Abominations of Abundance lying in wait around the Luofu's star region.
"So if we blindly try to rendezvous with other Xianzhou ships, we might end up getting two ships wiped out together."
Yukong delivered the grim assessment.
Xianzhou ships could unite—but Abominations of Abundance could unite too.
And it wasn't just one civilization on the enemy side. Just look at how many Xianzhou ships were being tangled up by other Abundance civilizations.
No one knew how many Denizens of the Abundance had joined forces, or what their exact plan was.
The Divination Commission attended the meeting via remote projection as well.
"After continuous projections through the Matrix of Prescience Ultima, our odds are only thirty percent."
Fu Xuan looked exhausted, but she still threw herself into calculating plan after plan.
"They're hidden, we're exposed. Being at a disadvantage is only natural," Jing Yuan said, taking it in stride.
Still, the number was low enough to make even him click his tongue.
Thirty percent meant a seventy percent chance of failure.
With odds like that… what strategy could raise their chances even a little?
Jing Yuan kept thinking.
Because he was the general, carrying countless lives on his shoulders.
And because every additional ten percent might mean thousands of Cloud Knights surviving.
So he had to think.
But no matter how hard he pressed at his brow, no matter how he wrung his brain dry, too many unknowns remained.
"So what's the problem you've run into?"
Jing Yuan looked up. Seeing Sora, he didn't bother hiding anything.
They were on the same side. Some things didn't need secrecy.
So he gave Sora a brief rundown.
In the end, it boiled down to two pain points.
"First: how do we find out how many Abundance clans are involved?"
Sora started thinking too.
—That's easy. We charge into their den and slaughter every last one of them!
At the same time, the other persona spoke up—perfectly in character.
Yes, in character.
For this guy, killing solved everything.
If it didn't solve it, it just meant you hadn't killed enough.
In a way… there was even a hint of logic to it.
But if things were that simple, they wouldn't be here.
So for now, Sora looked at the second problem.
"Second: how do we contact the other Xianzhou ships?"
If communications could be restored and information shared, maybe this war was still winnable.
If the ships could reconnect, coordinating a plan would be far faster.
"Unfortunately, the Xianzhou Yuque—the one that maintains communications—has been entangled by Rahu, and the other signal routes have all been jammed."
With communications cut off, the vast universe had split them into isolated individuals.
No amount of desire could bridge that distance.
—Then we just cut a path straight to the Yuque! Problem solved!"
Sure, you made that sound easy. How many people would die carving a road through? Nobody knew.
Sora found himself wondering how he'd ever come up with this persona in the first place.
Maybe he'd watched some show and thought the villain looked cool.
But even villains had brains. Meanwhile, this guy's solutions were always the same—
Storm the enemy's nest and kill.
Or carve a road through and kill.
And somehow, those were the only solutions he ever had.
Sora wanted to scream. Why hadn't this guy inherited even a shred of his intelligence? Couldn't he offer one helpful suggestion?!
—Then fine!
—We break into their den, slaughter our way through, and then from their den we carve a path to the Yuque and restore communications!
He'd actually combined the two ideas.
A breakthrough. A discovery.
It was almost impressive that he'd bothered to use his brain.
Sora turned his head, exasperated—because a plan like that was obviously—
Wait.
"Huh."
Something about it snagged.
He thought it through again.
A "solution" from his own black history… might actually have a sliver of value.
"General Jing Yuan," Sora said, "I have an idea. It's not fully formed yet—could you help me evaluate it?"
"Oh?"
Jing Yuan looked surprised and gestured for him to continue. "Go on."
"If we can plant an undercover agent inside their ranks… couldn't we build a private communications network from within?"
An undercover agent.
If the Yuque couldn't support itself right now, then building a new comms network was critical.
And if they wanted to build it right under the enemy's nose without being detected, the best way was to become one of them.
That would also let them gather intel on every clan involved.
"We've considered that," Jing Yuan said, "but how would they casually accept someone into their ranks?"
The Denizens of the Abundance only absorbed species that carried Abundance traits.
And if a Xianzhou native fell to Mara, their mental state would suffer severe damage.
How could someone like that build a communications network?
That was why the idea didn't work from the start. It was why Jing Yuan and the others hadn't seriously pursued it.
"But didn't we already have people who made contact with them?" Sora said.
The moment he said it, Jing Yuan thought of Taoran—and of Dan Shu in the prison.
Those two… might actually work.
But—
Taoran had already been swallowed by that golden maw, hadn't he?
Jing Yuan looked at Sora, helpless.
Sora understood the look. But he thought of the guy inside him.
A past he didn't want to face. A memory he'd tried to bury.
A demon.
But if using a demon's power could make the plan work...
—You want to let me out for a walk?
"It's not healthy to keep you bottled up forever. Besides, I'll take the body back."
—Hahaha! Fine. Let this Crimson Blood Dragon come out and get a breath of fresh air!
Sora took the Vistamp and swiped it across his hand.
No Driver—just the Vistamp, used directly with his body.
The instant it cut across, some force inside him surged violently outward.
Then, before Jing Yuan's eyes, a figure manifested—covered in red scales, with two sharp dragon horns rising from its head.
Anyone who saw him would think: yes. That's exactly what an Abomination of Abundance should look like.
Sora's awareness sank inward, still watching everything from inside.
"Hahaha! What? I change my form and you don't recognize me anymore?!"
He laughed loudly, brazen and wild.
Inside, Sora covered his face.
Can you please talk like a normal person and stop doing this?!
Sigh…
---
T/N: LMAOOOOOO CHUUNI BITCH!
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