But what Buffa didn't know was that everything was within Ace's expectations.
Ace had intended to fall behind first, giving the appearance that he was about to be eliminated. This allowed him to bait Win Hareruya into revealing crucial information.
Meanwhile.
Girori, using the Boost Buckle combined with Glare's power, battled the S-Class Inves for a while before finally defeating it and snatching the Driver back from its grasp.
At this point, Girori finally breathed a sigh of relief. The weight on his mind was gone. The man who had called himself God last time had not appeared. It seemed that Raven's elimination was now a foregone conclusion.
Little did he know that Raven no longer wanted to play their game and was preparing to host his own.
And just as Raven had this thought, the System's voice sounded in his mind.
Ding!
[System Quest Issued!]
[Host the Golden Fruit Grand Prix!]
[Quest Reward: The ability to freely manipulate the power of time!]
"System, the Golden Fruit is an immensely valuable object. Are you sure you want me to put it up as a prize? Wouldn't I be losing out immensely?" Raven couldn't help but feel a pang of reluctance.
While the quest reward was excellent, the power to control time, giving the Golden Fruit to someone else meant that person would also gain the authority to control Helheim. That was unacceptable to him.
[Host, rest assured. As long as the Host personally becomes the final boss of the competition, the Golden Fruit will naturally not fall into the hands of others.]
"It can be done that way?" Raven's eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this. If he, a god, could personally descend into the game, what was there to worry about?
[In addition, participants are not limited to the living. The Host can also summon deceased Riders from other worlds.]
"Deceased Riders?"
Upon hearing the word "deceased," Raven immediately thought of the dead Kamen Rider, Masato Kusaka (Kamen Rider Kaixa). He would certainly be an excellent candidate for the competition.
I can't believe I'll have a chance to flog that corpse once more.
Raven quickly decided. He would host the Golden Fruit Grand Prix, and he would appear as the final boss.
A show like this would certainly be far more engaging than the Desire Grand Prix.
"So, how exactly should I organize this game?" Raven immediately asked curiously. He hated trouble. If he had to handle everything himself, starting the preparations from scratch, it would be too exhausting.
[The Host can directly usurp the position of the Desire Grand Prix, acquire this world's Creation Power, and live-stream the event to future audiences.]
[The viewership will also provide the Host with extra nourishment required for the Golden Fruit's growth.]
"Just take over the whole thing? I can definitely do that." Raven pondered. This meant that every world he visited in the future could host such a competition, accelerating the Golden Fruit's growth. Why not?
…
Just as Raven was contemplating how to swallow up the Desire Grand Prix, Ace was confronted by Girori.
Ace had already managed to glean some information from Win and had recovered his Driver with the help of Keiwa. But now, Girori stopped pretending and appeared directly in front of them.
"The Game Master?" Ace's eyes narrowed slightly, looking at the masked man before him. He naturally knew that Girori was the Game Master.
Keiwa and the others stared blankly at the strange masked man who had suddenly appeared. They had only heard his voice and never seen him in person.
Girori then voluntarily removed his mask, revealing himself.
"Geats, this is where you stop." His goal was to force Ace out of the game here and take back his Driver.
"Eh?"
"It's Girori!" Keiwa was utterly shocked.
Neon's eyes widened, her expression showing disbelief. She never imagined that the Salon Concierge who usually greeted them in the waiting lounge was the Game Master of the entire Desire Grand Prix!
Girori's action of transforming in front of the contestants and attempting to forcibly eliminate them far exceeded the expectations of Niramu, who was observing from behind the scenes. Although he knew Girori was hard to control, he hadn't expected him to be so unhinged.
"Girori, if you don't want the job, there are plenty of people who can replace you." Niramu had been annoyed with Girori for a long time and saw this as a perfect reason to fire him.
At the scene, Girori pulled out the Vision Driver. He placed it on his waist.
"Vision Driver!"
"Glare!"
"Log In!"
Following the standby jingle, he took out a card and swiped it across the Vision Driver.
"Henshin."
"Install!"
"Dominate A System!"
"Glare!"
Girori transformed into Kamen Rider Glare.
Ace, seeing this, quickly inserted the Magnum Buckle and completed his own transformation.
Glare immediately swiped another card, summoning several purple energy spheres and launching an attack at Ace. Facing the barrage, Ace constantly dodged and even tried to shoot them down. However, the Magnum's output wasn't powerful enough to destroy the spheres.
Geats was quickly hit. After a few blows, he was completely pinned down. Glare's power was undeniable.
"Tycoon, lend me the Command Buckle!" Ace, rolling on the ground, urgently called for the equipment.
"Oh, right!" Keiwa readily threw the Command Buckle over.
"That equipment… should be an incomplete model!" Girori was slightly taken aback, but remained confident. The power of Glare was not something these contestants could fight against.
Ace switched to the Command Form. He immediately swung the Command Twin Blade at Glare. Relying on his superior skill, Geats managed to hold his ground for quite some time, finally possessing the strength to fight Glare on somewhat even terms.
"Why is the Game Master so determined to eliminate Ace?" Keiwa still seemed confused.