The god who would tune all living things stretched out a finger, as though to guide a broken-winged fledgling.
Even though that fledgling had already parted ways with him and chosen a different path, he was still willing to cast aside his former prejudice and draw her back to his side.
This was not only a god's mercy, but also a brother's duty.
He had an obligation to keep his sister from sinking any deeper into the past, and an obligation to lead her toward a new future.
Unfortunately, even at the very end, the god still failed to touch that lost fledgling.
Because a figure stood before that outstretched finger!
A crimson meteor fell from the sky, dyeing the whole heavens in a different color.
"Sorry. I'm late."
When that blazing meteor scattered, a figure stood there like a wall against the storm, planted in front of the broken-winged bird.
[You!]
Sunday recognized him at a glance.
This was the man he had thought had already left this place, already slipped away in secret.
The bastard who had lured his sister in and deceived her.
Earlier, when Sora had flown a ship out of Penacony, Sunday had not stopped him, because he had wanted to use that chance to let Robin see the truth of human nature.
People were like that—creatures who clung to themselves, who placed their own safety above all else the moment danger appeared.
When famine struck, people stopped caring whether others lived or died. For a single bite of food, they could come to blows, even stake their lives.
On the battlefield, there were those who urged fresh recruits to charge first, all so they themselves could cling to life a little longer.
And not to mention those who fled first when crisis came—the very people who had enjoyed every luxury, yet when the time came for them to stand up, they were the first to run.
Sunday had seen such things happen too many times.
That was precisely why he had come to doubt human independence.
He believed that once Robin had personally experienced something like this, she would absolutely come to share his view.
Because the two of them were the twins of the Order.
Brother and sister.
Both of them were beings who wished to save the countless lives of the universe.
Sora's appearance had undoubtedly been the perfect opening move.
Nothing etched itself more deeply into memory than that kind of disappointment happening to you personally.
And yet...
[Why have you come back? Had you not already flown out into the universe in your ship?!]
The pressure pouring from the giant puppet god's extended finger was no longer gentle when aimed at Sora.
It crashed down on him in crushing waves, one after another.
As if trying to grind an ant to death, Sunday drove that finger down on Sora.
"Brother, don't!"
Robin cried out sharply.
She had barely taken a step forward when the gusts bursting out from the clash blasted her far back.
But that was only preferential treatment on her part.
The buildings and vegetation around Sora had already been mangled beyond recognition.
Cracks spread wildly across the ground, and the greenery had been crushed so flat it looked no thicker than paper.
Robin could only watch as Sora's figure was forced lower and lower beneath that descending finger.
[You should never have come back!]
This Sunday was no longer the same as before.
Back at the third cycle of ORDER, he had already been able to contend with Sora.
And now he was on the verge of completing the Embryo of Philosophy.
Once the final baptismal hymn was complete, the Embryo of Philosophy would be able to call forth the return of the Beginning.
Its power far surpassed the third stage of ORDER by who knew how many times over.
Not to mention that the projections of Penacony's Twelve Hours were revolving around him.
ORDER stretched from them without end, making his strength several times greater still than before.
So what exactly did you think gave you the right to fight me?
Coming back here was nothing but suicide!
[Let this disorderly noise be silenced here!]
With Sunday's solemn declaration, that finger slammed into the ground.
There was a single instant of stillness—
Then the earth began to tremble violently.
Robin ran forward as fast as she could after landing. Even though the shaking ground made her stumble and fall several times, she never stopped.
But the moment she saw what lay ahead, she could not help coming to a halt.
As far as the eye could see, within several hundred meters of the place where Sunday's finger had fallen, nearly everything had been affected.
Cracks spread outward from the point of impact in every direction.
And at the center of it all, that finger plunged into a crater so deep that no figure could be seen.
The god had personally moved to suppress the rebel.
But...
Had he really?
FWOOM!
Violent flames burst upward from the crater gouged out by that finger.
The heat was so intense that it felt as though a sun were slowly rising before their eyes.
[What?!]
Sunday could hardly believe it, but the enormous force surging back through his fingertip made him recoil before he could stop himself.
"You think you can pin me down?"
Flames carrying stellar might drove the newly descended god back through the void for an enormous distance.
Sunday swept a hand, snuffing out the flames before him, and only then did his retreat come to a stop.
[What kind of power is this?!]
Sunday looked down into the crater at the red figure standing there.
Within it, Sora slowly drew back the fist he had just thrown.
He had just beaten Sunday back that far with nothing but a punch.
How could Sunday not be shocked?
He had never imagined something like this could happen now.
[Within this dream of ORDER, already so close to completion, how could you possibly wield such power?]
It should have been impossible.
Even if Sora had entered the dream again, he should not have possessed that kind of power within this nearly complete symphony of ORDER.
Under normal circumstances, everything in this dreamscape ought to have been under Sunday's control.
Buildings. Living creatures. Even the powers of other Paths...
All of them were things contained within this sweet dream, parts of the order of the universe.
So why was there nothing on Sora that he could manipulate?
That power was immense beyond measure, yet Sunday could not sense even the slightest source for it.
Sora's strength felt as though it existed outside ORDER, outside the universe itself—something impossible to contend with.
In the face of Sunday's question, Sora only chuckled.
"Who knows? I'm still trying to figure that out myself."
Robin could not help covering her mouth and laughing softly.
And just like that, the anxiety that had been choking her eased considerably under Sora's joke.
You finally came back.
A sense of relief—something Robin had not felt once during all this time—began to flow quietly through her heart.
"Do your best..."
She cheered for that red warrior of defiance in a soft voice.
Even if there was only her.
Even if, within this sweet dream of ORDER, she was the only one.
She would still believe he could create a miracle.
Because from the very first time they met, from the moment she first saw him inside that damaged ship—
That figure had been branded into her heart.
You are... my hero.
They had stumbled this whole way, endured trial after trial, but in her heart the image of that hero had never faded in the slightest.
He was always the one standing at the front to face the storm.
And he was always the one who remained as the final light in the dark.
That was why Robin had never despaired, never lost hope.
She had believed with absolute certainty that he would come back.
And now...
Once again, he had answered her expectations with action.
[The dream of ORDER is nearly complete. You ought to rest forever in peace...]
"Shut up!"
Sora stood on the earth and pointed at the god in the sky.
"This so-called dream of ORDER means nothing in front of me!"
Didn't you say I had to crush your paradise with strength?
Well, I'm here.
After hearing Sora's words, Sunday fell silent for a brief moment.
Robin's actions just now had nearly made him forget what the man before him stood for.
Casting aside his personal grievance with Sora—and Robin's as well—he calmed himself and looked straight at him.
[Since you too have returned to die for the sake of your ideal, then i should at least honor the final light you have chosen to let shine.]
Sunday suppressed the emotions churning in his heart, and the melody of ORDER echoed through the dreamscape once more.
[From the endlessly spiraling stairway, I slowly fall toward the future.]
[You need not remember me forever, nor try to seek me out.]
[The outline within my heart is destined to cross with other memories.]
[I leave behind traces too faint to notice as I pass through a silent night.
[You need not remember me forever, nor mourn the soul of a dream.]
[What belongs to me is bound to decline, and you will surpass its frailty.]
The grand melody rose on the wind, and countless puppets gathered into a tornado around that newborn god.
They filled the sky, nearly blotting out the heavens entirely.
Seven-colored threads splashed down from above, linking them all together, as if a god had unfurled radiant wings across the sky.
"Oho. This is getting serious."
Even Sora had to sharpen his focus at the sight.
Robin's heart clenched too.
Was Sora really going to face all of that by himself?
Wasn't that a little too unfair?
[The score of ORDER continued to be written as even as you departed.]
[If you wish to destroy our paradise, then first you must cross the obstacle before you.]
Sunday had no concern for such things.
In the next instant, the puppets under his control rained down from the sky.
Sora was surrounded on all sides, like a lone tree facing a storm.
Music, chains, steel rods—everything came smashing down on him in a flood, as if they cost nothing at all.
People said proper beef balls had to be pounded thousands of times.
If Sora had been a lump of beef, one round of this probably would have been enough.
Unfortunately, he was not the kind of idiot who just stood there and took it.
The puppets' attacks were dense, but to him they posed no real threat.
Sora stretched his body, and surging muscle burst forth with scorching power.
It was heat drawn from a star itself.
Under that kind of heat, the puppets' weapons melted into ash the moment they touched him.
And without weapons, they were lambs for the slaughter before Sora.
BURNING RIDER PUNCH!
Sora raised his fist, crimson power gathering over it until it looked as though he had donned a blazing gauntlet.
The moment that fist landed on a puppet, fierce flames exploded like a bomb, reducing a wide swath of nearby puppets to ashes.
And that was nothing more than a standard attack in Sora's Burning Form.
With every punch and kick, the puppets around him were being wiped out at incredible speed.
But it was little more than a drop in the bucket.
Each time one puppet was destroyed, the gears and threads extending from it withdrew back toward Sunday.
A few seconds later, a new puppet appeared on the horizon as though growing like fruit.
[So this is the enhanced strength of the enhanced Dominicus?]
Sunday could not help but marvel at his power.
No wonder Gopher Wood had been so confident before.
Now that Sunday had felt the results for himself, even he found them astonishing.
After all, the Dominicus were creations of HARMONY.
Creating even one required enormous resources and immense effort.
And yet after being strengthened like this, the Dominicus could now be mass-produced at an absurd speed.
They still could not exceed their fixed number, but with a recovery rate like this, they were more than enough to deal with most enemies.
"Looks like this anomaly can't even get through the first line."
Gopher Wood, too, was satisfied with the enhanced Dominicus.
So what if you were powerful?
You still could not break through the defensive line created by the puppets.
These puppets were not especially dangerous to Sora, but their sheer numbers were making his advance difficult.
If this kept up, he really might get dragged down here.
They should be here any second now...
Just as that thought crossed Sora's mind, clusters of pure white flames came streaking in from the far horizon.
Several more discordant notes had suddenly been added to the score of ORDER.
"What are those?"
Gopher Wood narrowed his eyes.
"It's them!"
Robin's voice was bright with surprise.
Those clusters of white flame were as tiny as fireflies.
And yet, the discord they cast into this score of ORDER shone as brightly as a beacon in the night.
"You came back without even telling us!"
With that sharp, girlish shout, the figures wrapped in white fire began weaving back and forth through the horde of puppets.
They could not crush those puppets as easily as Sora could.
But they had numbers, mobility, and the power of working together.
They tore back and forth through the puppet horde like a convoy of charging trucks, forcing open a path through sheer impact.
At the sight of them, Sora's mouth curled into a grin.
"I didn't have time, okay..."
The moment he landed, he had gone straight up against Sunday.
When was he supposed to contact them?
But he had believed that as long as he ran into trouble, they would cross any distance to meet up with him.
"Hmph. I'll let it go this time. Don't let it happen again!"
Mitsutake gave a snort, then began directing the members under her command into formation.
"Defensive formation! Cover Sora's advance!"
The white flames formed a line, blocking the puppets from moving forward.
"We've got this side. You just go beat the hell out of that wing-headed punk for us!"
"Exactly. I haven't liked the look of him for ages."
"If I'd known he was this much of a bastard, I'd have punched him myself, brother of Miss Robin or not."
Once enslaved and deceived, they were now entrusting the breaking of those chains once more to the person they believed in most.
"So, Sora—get moving!"
"Alright!!!"
With Hotaru's shout behind him, Sora shot into the sky and charged straight at Sunday!
...
[SO THAT IS HOW YOU BROKE THROUGH THE FIRST LINE?]
Sunday asked the question himself and answered it in the same breath.
He had never imagined Sora would escape the Dominicus' encirclement in such a way.
It was unbelievable.
It genuinely shocked him.
Especially the ones within those white flames.
They had clearly already been assimilated by ORDER before. They had once drowned in sweet dreams so deeply they could not pull free...
So why, bathed in that fire, had they chosen to wake?
[After experiencing pain, should they not have sunk deeper into the healing offered by sweet dreams?]
Why had they chosen to put on that suit once more?
"I was the one at fault."
Gopher Wood bowed his head in regret.
"I should have driven that NIHILITY-touched girl out of the dream back then."
If he had not let Hotaru into the dream, then this chaotic battle scene should never have happened.
[It does not matter. This is nothing.]
Sunday could not be bothered to pursue it.
Because the greatest discordant note in this score of ORDER had already rushed to the space right in front of him.
Seven-colored threads spread like wings behind him, while before him stood a figure bearing the aspect of a raging flame dragon.
"I'm here to keep my promise and smash your so-called sweet dream to pieces."
[I warn you this once, but the sweet dream of ORDER is not something you can shake.]
[This is a paradise belonging solely to humanity—a paradise that can contain the dignity and happiness of all.]
Sunday spread his arms, radiating a merciful light.
The Dominicus that had not joined the battle surrounded him, playing a slow, beautiful melody.
Below, the people worshipping in devotion all raised their heads in fervor the moment they heard it.
The music played out a god's dilemma:
[Are day and night equal?]
If they are, then why do people live in the day, while night is used only for sleep?
[Are the righteous and the wicked equal?]
A hero to one side may be an unforgivable enemy to the other.
[If humanity is born weak—then from which god are the weak to seek peace?]
From which god are they meant to obtain a warrior's peace?
The answer had already been performed within the score—
The true name of god, chanted and murmured by all living things together!
"HARMONY's grace, hearts and minds entwine, all voices sing as one!!"
"HARMONY's grace, hearts and minds entwine, all voices sing as one!!"
"HARMONY's grace, hearts and minds entwine, all voices sing as one!!"
Sunday bore the praise of countless lives and felt the power of ORDER swirling around him alone.
[This is the eternal paradise I have forged. But within this paradise...]
Sunday's gaze suddenly sharpened as it locked on Sora.
[...YOUR NAME HAS NO PLACE.]
A tremendous pressure burst outward from him in all directions.
The projections of Penacony's Twelve Hours closed in on Sora as well.
They were only projections, notes shaped entirely by ORDER itself.
And yet each one carried the power and weight of the area it represented.
All Twelve Hours came down together to suppress Sora, as though all of Penacony itself were crashing down on him and dragging him toward the earth faster and faster.
Just as Sunday had said, Sora's name had no place in this paradise.
And so Sunday made him the cornerstone beneath it, pinning him down under the Twelve Hours.
Beneath the projections of the Twelve Hours, Sora felt as though endless pressure were crushing down on him.
His organs, his muscles, his bones, even his mind—everything felt that weight.
Any ordinary being would likely have exploded into a cloud of blood on the spot.
But there was not a shred of fear in Sora's eyes.
That blazing fighting spirit only burned brighter and brighter.
"Perfect!"
Sora roared, and the red around his body flared up again like a burning star.
"You want to shove me into this damn paradise? I'm the one who doesn't want in!"
He began to struggle with all his might against the crushing force.
The combined pressure of the Twelve Hours was overwhelming, but Sora still did not give up!
He could not fall here.
He had to break this so-called sweet dream of ORDER.
For the people who had been enslaved—and for what this power itself represented!
"You think just Penacony can block my path?!"
A mysterious power slowly began to awaken inside him.
It fused with the abundant stellar power already within him, becoming something even greater.
His strength kept rising.
It was visible to the naked eye—the speed of his fall slowed more and more until it stopped completely.
Sunday's eyes widened slightly, because he was watching the projection of Penacony formed by the Twelve Hours begin to rise instead.
"How is that possible? That's the weight of the entire dream!"
Gopher Wood cried out in shock.
Penacony might be a dream, but if that weight descended on someone, the mental pressure alone should have been enough to turn their real-world brain to mush in an instant.
And yet under that pressure, Sora was still moving.
Even if only a little.
That should have been impossible.
But the fact was right there before them.
The Twelve Hours stopped falling and instead hurtled back toward Sunday even faster than before.
Only when Sunday waved a hand and recalled them did it finally stop.
But recalling them did not mean Sora's counterattack was over.
The Twelve Hours returned behind Sunday and resumed revolving there—but a fist struck HIS face even faster.
"What—"
Gopher Wood stared in astonishment.
He saw Sunday's face slowly distort under the impact of that punch.
How had that happened?
He had not sensed Sora move at all...
BAAAAAAAAANG!
A shockwave burst from the point where fist met face.
Sunday's body flew backward through the sky like a kite with its string cut.
The Dominicus linked to him were dragged out of control with him, all of them sent hurtling toward the far horizon.
"The battlefield isn't a game. You can call a halt if you want—I never did!"
Sora shot after Sunday again.
His fists were itching for a fight now.
This time, Gopher Wood managed to see Sora clearly.
He saw the fist already coiling for another strike, and the cracked red armor over Sora's upper body.
But by the time he reacted, that punch had already slammed into Sunday's face again.
That speed. That power...
It was even greater than last time!
How could that be?
In such a short span of time, how had his speed and strength both climbed another level?
Gopher Wood simply could not understand what kind of being Sora was.
Even Pathstriders could not possibly improve at such a ridiculous rate after stepping onto a Path.
And yet Sora had achieved exactly that in the blink of an eye.
It was a mystery of the universe.
Only after taking three punches to the face did Sunday finally recover.
Blood ran from the corner of his mouth. His face was swollen and throbbing.
And yet his mood surged higher instead.
[Your resolve—I understand it now!]
He raised a hand and caught Sora's next punch.
Then with a sweep of his arm, countless Dominicus surged in.
Sora twisted aside to dodge, ready to use the opening to land another savage hit.
But unexpectedly, when those Dominicus failed to reach him, they climbed onto Sunday's body instead.
One puppet after another clung to him, palms spread across him, while Sunday—the one bearing them—closed his eyes.
Had he given up?
No.
[NOW, I GRANT SORA THE RIGHT TO GAZE DIRECTLY UPON THE SUN!]
Sunday's voice no longer sounded clearly male or female.
Hand after hand piled onto HIS body and buried it, while thread after thread wound together, forging HIM into a seven-colored chrysalis of godhood!
[UPON THESE 107,336 CHORDS, LET THE ALL-POWERFUL CHORD OF HARMONY BE BENT TO MY WILL—!]
The chrysalis had only just formed when a crack split across it.
There was no need for further assimilation.
Through the endless cycles, those powers had already long since been swallowed by ORDER.
[—DOMINICUS, THE HARMONIOUS CHOIR, THE GREAT SEPTIMUS!]
The Twelve Hours split apart and spread themselves across that enormous puppet body as black-and-white piano keys.
The embodiment of HARMONY had been completely usurped into an orchestra of ORDER, and the shadow of a god thousands of meters tall stood before all life in this dream.
[STEP FORWARD AND PAY HOMAGE, LOST ONE WHO WALKS BENEATH THE SHADOW OF DEATH, I SHALL PERFORM YOUR DEATH HYMN FOR YOU!]
Sunday raised the baton in HIS hand.
The Dominicus played the hymn of death on the countless black-and-white keys formed from the split Twelve Hours.
The battle was only just reaching its fiercest point.
The hymn of death came rushing in like a tide, each note carrying killing force.
Vegetation withered yellow wherever the notes brushed past. The ground of Penacony turned to powder as if ten thousand years had passed beneath a single sweep of music.
Sora was caught in the middle of those notes, wrapped and dragged by them as though the music itself meant to tear him apart.
Hotaru even saw a crack split open across his chest with her own eyes.
She tried to charge upward, but wave after wave of notes stopped her.
[THIS IS BETWEEN HIM AND ME. YOU MAY NOT OVERSTEP.]
At Sunday's command, Penacony itself seemed to come alive, binding their arms and legs in place.
"Damn it... you bastard!"
They struggled with all their strength, but under Sunday's influence, they could not break free.
Did that mean they could only stand here and watch?
[SORA, YOU ARE NO FOOL. THEN YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND WHY HARMONY AND ORDER CAN BECOME ONE.]
Looking at Sora trapped within that hymn of death, Sunday said, [WHERE DO YOU THINK THOSE TWO PATHS TRULY MEET? AND WHY ARE THEY SO ALIKE?]
At that moment, Sora was still imprisoned within the hymn of death, his body already covered in cracks.
The Iron Cavalry who had rushed in to help him had also been suppressed by Penacony itself, now animate beneath Sunday's will.
And at a time like this, Sunday asked that question.
Why could ORDER merge and gather as one with HARMONY?
Was HE trying to make Sora understand why he was about to lose?
No.
[BECAUSE NEITHER OF US CAN TOLERATE DISSONANCE!]
This was HIS final death sentence.
Sunday suddenly snapped the baton in HIS hand downward, like an execution token thrown into the court.
[NO ONE REMAINS TO SAVE YOU FROM PERIL. EVERY DISCORDANT NOTE WILL BE PURGED, ONE BY ONE.]
The hymn of death grew sharper still, like a flock of death-crows beating their wings, filling the air with unbearable agitation.
And under Sunday's shadow, HE seemed to hear some strange fluctuation beside Sora.
It sounded as though he had said something...
What had he said?
Sunday reconstructed the sound in HIS ears and, at last, made out the words:
"But in the darkness, even a faint light can shine more brilliantly than the sun..."
A faint sun?
How laughable.
In the future dream of ORDER, HE would be the only sun!
Crack. Crack. Crack.
Amid the encircling hymn of death, the sound of something breaking rang out with piercing clarity.
It sounded like bones splintering—
Or perhaps...
Armor breaking.
Across Sora's body, the red armor that had already been riddled with cracks from battle was now covered in countless tiny fractures.
[YOUR STRUGGLE ONLY STRENGTHENS MY CONVICTION. SO...]
Sunday, having heard those fractures, drove the baton forward to pierce through body and soul alike.
[DIE!]
HE would write the final movement with blood tainted by discordant sound.
But just as HE rushed in, a hand suddenly burst free of the hymn of death and seized the baton.
And then a melody flowed through that baton, setting Penacony itself resonating with it.
Sunday had not yet recovered from the shock when HE realized that it was not the hymn of death.
It was...
YOU BEGIN TO MOVE. NOBODY CAN STOP THE FUTURE~
THE POSSIBILITES LAY AHEAD~
FOR ONLY US...
DON'T BE AFRAID~
TO FACE THE CHALLENGE~
"If no one in the darkness will light the way..."
Gripping the baton Sunday had thrust toward him, Sora raised his head. An unyielding melody spread out from him, resonating with Penacony itself.
"THEN I'LL BECOME THE LIGHT THAT SHINES AHEAD!"
Clack.
The last red piece of armor fell from his body, revealing beneath it a silver-white battle suit engraved with dense patterns.
Mysterious script spoke of the force contained within it.
At the center of his chest, the Wiseman's Monolith shone with the brilliance of the sun.
That radiance made him burn like the sun itself, even within Sunday's shadow.
BURN UP, BODY, HEART~
THEN JUST FOLLOW YOUR INSTINCTS~
BECOME STRONGER, EMOTIONS, WISHES~
THEN JUST MOVE ALONE~
BELIEVE YOURSELF AND GO TOWARDS THE FUTURE...
"[AWAKEN, SHINING SOUL]l!"
KAMEN RIDER AGITO SHINING!
---
T/N: AHHHHHHHHH SO COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!