Tsumuri continued to explain to the group:
"The Drivers of the six contestants present were stolen by the mysterious girl, and the Jyamato side has already used two of those Drivers to transform into Riders."
"That means there are only four Drivers remaining now."
"Until the Kakurenbo Jyamato lurking within the designated area is defeated, the contestants who successfully retrieve a Driver will advance to the next stage."
Hearing this rule, everyone was in an uproar. They hadn't expected this kind of game rule.
The targeting was clearly obvious. It was plainly designed to handicap high-level players like Ace and Raven by 'banning' them at the start.
Tsumuri went on: "If you fail to retrieve your respective Driver before the Jyamato do, the number of winners will continue to decrease."
"So, how do we find the Drivers?" asked Keiwa.
"There's only one known clue: the little girl in the red hat," Ace spoke up.
Everyone recalled that a little girl had seemingly passed by them right before their Drivers disappeared.
…
In the Contestant Lounge.
The others had all left early to search for clues. However, Ace was calmly tending to a wound on his face.
Before being summoned here, he had been shooting a commercial on location when a large number of Jyamato suddenly appeared. While fighting the Jyamato, he was suddenly ambushed by Win Hareruya, who had transformed into PunkJack. It was then that the little girl effortlessly took his Driver, forcing him to fight the monsters in his civilian form.
The culprit, Win, now intentionally came to taunt Ace.
"You don't seem worried at all, but even if you're Ace Ukiyo, you can't defeat the Jyamato without a Driver."
Seeing that Ace ignored him, Win stood in the doorway and continued to mock him.
"The only reason you were able to maintain your winning streak was because of the Management's support. But the Management decided not to support you last season, so your unbeaten record was broken."
"In short, you won't get away with opposing us, the official side."
"Are you suggesting that Raven was able to defeat me because you supported him? Then why are you also trying to eliminate him now?" Ace finally spoke. Although he hadn't won the last season, he had been trying to find other ways to look up any information related to the Desire Grand Prix.
"That's two different things." Win walked in and sat down on a stool. He continued, "In any case, why are you so desperately trying to pry into the Management's affairs?" He wanted to figure out Ace's true motive, not get cornered into answering questions himself.
Ace stood up dismissively and said, "I should be asking you: What are you trying to hide by going to such lengths to eliminate me?"
"Guess," Win stood up, getting close for a direct confrontation. His attitude was extremely arrogant.
"I'll show you that I'll win next, with my own power," Ace stated confidently.
…
Elsewhere, Keiwa and Neon quickly located the little red-hatted girl with a Jyamato near a temple, thanks to a clue provided by Sara.
Both successfully retrieved their Drivers.
Suddenly, only two Drivers remained to be recovered from the little girl, as the other two had been taken by Jyamato.
Girori, who was secretly observing all this, felt quite smug. This game's rule set would effortlessly eliminate Raven and Ace. After all, without their Drivers, no matter how strong they were, they were just ordinary people.
His petty scheme, however, was noted by Game Producer Niramu.
Ace was the star contestant of the Desire Grand Prix. Raven, who came in late, was also a highly popular newcomer. Girori shouldn't be allowed to eliminate them on his own authority.
However, Niramu was in no hurry to intervene, nor did he intend to order Girori to stop his petty maneuvers. Instead, he wanted to see how the third-party power existing within the Desire Grand Prix would interfere with this game.
Meanwhile.
Michinaga lacked the intelligence or luck of Neon and Keiwa and was currently rushing around like a headless chicken, trying to find the little red-hatted girl.
But the Jyamato took this opportunity to attack him. Although Michinaga had a certain level of skill in fighting without his armor, he was still mortal flesh, and a single tiger can't hold off a pack of wolves.
He ran into Ace, who was also being attacked by Jyamato. They engaged in their usual exchange of insults and taunts. Just as they prepared to make a desperate final stand together, Keiwa and Neon, having recovered their Drivers, arrived on the scene and rescued them in the nick of time.
Michinaga always looked down on Keiwa's good-natured behavior. They were competitors, and by rights, this should have been the perfect time to eliminate the others. Yet, he came to rescue them.
"Why isn't Raven here?" Neon's first thought was of Raven. Where was he right now? Without a Driver, he must be in great danger. So, Neon began thinking about going to find him.
Unbeknownst to her, Raven had coincidentally run into Sara on the street and they were currently out shopping together.
"Raven-san, shouldn't you be trying to recover your Driver, just like Keiwa and Neon-chan? You don't look worried at all," Sara asked Raven at an outdoor seating area of a beverage shop.
"No need to worry," Raven replied nonchalantly.
The truth was, as this game neared its end, his participation no longer held any significance. Girori was clearly a poor sport. Even if you won, as long as he refused to acknowledge it, the game wouldn't end.
But Raven wasn't going to simply withdraw.
He had already implemented a backup plan. He had secretly summoned an S-Class Inves. This Inves was one whose power he had specifically enhanced. Its strength rivaled that of an average Over Lord, the only difference being that it lacked intelligence. However, it could follow simple orders.
Right now, this S-Class Inves had just defeated a Jyamato Rider. It was now heading their way, carrying the stolen Driver. Raven would only need to go through the motions of snatching it from the monster.
"Ah!"
"It's a monster!"
Just then, a large wave of Jyamato sensed Raven's location and came to attack him. The people on the street quickly fled the area.
"It's the Jyamato!" Sara didn't panic too much seeing the Jyamato again. Since her memory was preserved, she had already grown accustomed to it. Plus, with Raven right beside her, she felt completely safe.
"Jyamato!"
"Jya!"
However, just as the S-Class Inves was about to reach Raven, Girori, transformed as Kamen Rider Glare, appeared in front of it.
"I've had enough."
"Stop interfering!"
He transformed into Kamen Rider Glare and directly intercepted the Inves carrying the Desire Driver. Observing everything in secret, he fundamentally believed that the self-proclaimed god was trying to help Raven avoid elimination by sending this monster to 'deliver' a Driver.
He had completely lost his temper, risking another violation of the rules to descend to the battlefield. Above all, he absolutely couldn't let Raven get a Driver.
"You monsters that don't belong within the rules of the Desire Grand Prix, get out of the way!"
He pulled out a Boost Buckle and installed it on the side of his Vision Driver. The Boost Buckle could increase his base stats by a factor of 13. As an administrator, he had never used this Buckle while in the Glare form. It seemed he was truly enraged.
Raven, on the other side, saw through the Inves's perspective that Girori had jumped out to cause trouble again. It truly is him.
It looks like he really can't handle losing. Raven thought, Maybe he should rename himself Kamen Rider Sore Loser instead of Kamen Rider Glare.
Raven treated Girori's irrational behavior as pure entertainment. For him, even if he were eliminated, it was no big deal. As the Golden Fruit of this world was close to ripening, he no longer saw a need to hide his identity. He was even thinking about confronting the Desire Grand Prix head-on. It wasn't impossible for him to host his own "Golden Fruit Grand Prix" game.
He calmly shielded Sara behind him. Then, he displayed his ability to defeat monsters barehanded. Punching out the attacking Jyamato one by one with ease.
"Let's go." Raven extended his hand to Sara, who was hiding nearby, in a completely gentlemanly manner.
"Raven-san, you're too amazing…" Sara had completely become his fangirl.
On the other side.
Ace managed to turn the tables at the last moment by using the Command Buckle provided by Niramu and the Driver borrowed from Keiwa. He successfully defeated the Jyamato Rider.
However, just as he returned the Driver and various Buckles to Keiwa as agreed, Michinaga took the opportunity to snatch the Driver dropped by the defeated Jyamato Rider from the ground.
"This Driver is mine now," Michinaga said in a cold tone.
In truth, eliminating Geats this way was not what he wanted, but he had no other choice at the moment.
———————
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