The night was heavy with storm clouds. Rain fell across Nocturne's skyline, drenching its steel towers in silver. Ren—still armored as Kamen Rider Nyara—stood beside Eternal on a rooftop, both silent as they scanned the city below.
Since their alliance, the Feraloid attacks had grown more coordinated. Something was changing. Eternal could feel it, even if he didn't say it aloud.
Ren finally broke the silence.
"You still haven't told me why you're here."
Eternal's skeletal visor turned toward her. His voice was steady but low.
"Because your world isn't the only one in danger. The Bestia Order… they're searching for something. A crack. A door."
Ren tilted her head. "A door?"
Eternal raised his hand, blue fire flickering across his glove. "A way into other worlds."
---
The Council of Beasts
Beneath the city, the Bestia Order gathered in their chamber. The stone idol of the Beast King loomed, its hollow eyes burning faintly with crimson energy.
Lord Veyra paced, his cloak dragging against the floor. Before him, Cobraxis hissed softly, presenting a glowing shard of fractured space. It pulsed with unnatural light, as if reality itself had been wounded.
"My lord," Cobraxis said, her voice venomous and smooth, "our scouts have confirmed it. The Riders' battle has weakened the walls between worlds. This shard is proof—a fragment of the Rift."
Veyra's eyes gleamed. "Then it is true. This world is not the only one. Countless others exist, ripe for conquest."
Garras snarled eagerly. "Then why waste time here, gnawing on scraps of humans? Let us march through the Rift! Let us devour other worlds, and awaken the Beast King where no Rider can follow!"
The chamber filled with approving roars.
But Ravgar, ever cautious, tilted his head. "If other worlds exist… does that not mean Riders exist there too?"
The council fell silent.
Veyra's grin widened. "Then we must seize the Rift before the Riders do."
---
The Ambush
Ren and Eternal arrived too late. The Order had begun the ritual at an abandoned cathedral on the city's edge. Arcs of crimson energy cracked the stained glass, lightning flashing across the skies as the shard pulsed like a beating heart.
The Feraloid generals encircled the cathedral steps. Cobraxis spotted them first.
"The strays have come to play."
Ren readied her claws. Eternal's flames flared. Together, they charged.
The battle was chaos. Sparks lit the rain-soaked streets as claws clashed against talons and blades. Garras roared, meeting Eternal head-on, their blows shaking the ground. Ravgar dive-bombed from above, forcing Ren into a desperate roll before she slashed upward, her tail striking his wing.
But Cobraxis was the true threat. She slithered toward the Rift shard, chanting in a guttural language as the air tore open. A glowing fissure split reality, revealing glimpses of… another city. Another world.
Ren froze mid-strike as she glimpsed it. Skyscrapers unlike Nocturne's, streets filled with people—an entirely different Rider World.
"They're running," Eternal growled, his voice hard as steel.
---
The Rift Opens
With a final hiss, Cobraxis flung the shard into the fissure. The portal stabilized, widening until its light engulfed the cathedral. Garras and Ravgar began to retreat, dragging wounded Feraloids into the glow.
"Cowards," Ren hissed, leaping forward. "You won't get away!"
But Cobraxis whipped her tail, venom splattering across the ground, forcing Nyara back.
Veyra himself stepped into the portal's edge, his crimson eyes gleaming. "This world has grown… stale. We shall claim another. If you wish to follow, Riders, then chase us—if you dare."
The Feraloids vanished into the Rift. The light began to shrink.
Ren's heart pounded. If it closed, they'd lose them forever.
"We can't let them escape!" she shouted.
Eternal was already moving, blue fire igniting across his body. "Then hold nothing back. Jump."
Together, they sprinted into the collapsing Rift.
---
The Endless Void
For a moment, there was nothing but darkness and fragments of shattered worlds. Streets, skies, and towers floated like broken glass, suspended in an endless storm of light. Ren felt her body tearing apart, the Nyara Driver struggling to keep her form stable.
But Eternal's hand gripped hers, his voice cutting through the void.
"Focus. Breathe. Your Driver will adapt. Trust it."
Her golden visor flickered, stabilizing. Slowly, she found her footing, claws digging into a fragment of floating stone.
Ahead, they saw them—the silhouettes of Garras, Cobraxis, Ravgar, and Veyra, fleeing across the broken pathways of the Rift.
Ren's tail lashed. "We've got them."
Eternal's flames ignited brighter than ever. "Then let's finish this."
Together, the Cat and the Deadman gave chase, leaping across the void between worlds.
And so began the Riders' pursuit into the multiverse.