Asking Who I Am?
Then You’d Better Remember This.
6: Chapter 6: You!
Asking Who I Am?
Then You’d Better Remember This.
A chaotic swirl of thoughts, accompanied by a heavy, oppressive pressure, made Buyuan’s brow furrow slightly.
“Kabuto King, this is your first time entering a Hollow, right?
Are you feeling some kind of invisible pressure?
What’s your Ether aptitude?” Belle, controlling Eous, walked up to Buyuan, who had paused in his tracks.
“Uh, just call me Kabuto.
Yeah, it’s my first time in a Hollow.
Ether aptitude is 80.” Buyuan felt a bit awkward hearing Belle call him Kabuto King.
As for the Ether aptitude, he’d just tossed out a number off the top of his head.
After all, he was a nine-tails.
If he didn’t even have that much, there’d be a serious problem.
Buyuan took a moment to acclimate to his body’s condition and discovered that Ether corruption indeed didn’t seem to affect him.
“Ehhh?!
Shouldn’t I be the one leading the way?!” Belle was startled and hurriedly piloted Eous, bouncing after him with a pat-pat sound.
“Don’t worry.
You can only calculate Hollow paths, after all.
You can’t predict all the various dangers inside the Hollow.
So we’ll just go by feel.
You just focus on getting me out.” Buyuan had originally planned to let Belle guide him in searching for targets, but he realized that was more Fairy’s specialty.
“Hey, aren’t you worried about running into Ethereals we can’t handle?” Belle was a bit dumbfounded.
She was starting to think this guy wasn’t just a clueless rich kid with too much money — he was also some hot-blooded, chuunibyou reckless fool.
“Relax.
I don’t plan on going deep, just wandering around the edges.
First time here, obviously I’m gonna use low-level Ethereals for practice.” Buyuan was no reckless fool.
The signature trait of a Kamen Rider was that the main Rider’s base stats were the lowest.
He had no idea what kind of results he’d get using it.
All he could say was, power was never in the armor — it was in the one wearing it.
“That’s good.
Best if you think that way.” Belle’s mood relaxed considerably.
One man and one Bangboo wandered aimlessly.
Aside from the bizarre, kaleidoscopic scenery, they couldn’t even spot a single Typhon.
“Phaethon, are you sure we’re not still in the outer perimeter?” Buyuan suspected Belle was worried his skills weren’t up to par and was discreetly leading him in circles around the edges.
He didn’t mind sticking to the outer perimeter, but he hadn’t seen a single Ethereal!
“Yeah!
Even though we’re still a long way from the center, we’re definitely past the outer perimeter now!
Actually, we’ve put quite a bit of distance between us and the outer edge.” Belle piloted Eous, glancing around in all directions.
“Belle, something’s not right.
Something must have happened inside the Hollow.
Talk to Kabuto.
Maybe we should leave and switch to a different Hollow.” Wise leaned in close to Belle and suggested in a low voice.
“Kabuto, when a Hollow suddenly turns out like this, there are only two possibilities.
One, a powerful Ethereal was born nearby.
Two, some organization swept through and cleared the area.
How about we switch to a different Hollow?
Don’t worry, we can give you a twenty percent discount on the commission fee for this one.” Belle found her brother’s reasoning sound and made the suggestion to Buyuan.
“Makes sense.
But I’m a little curious about what actually happened.
Add 100,000 to the commission fee and get me to the source of this incident.
How about it?” Buyuan thought it over.
He felt the possibility of a powerful Ethereal being born was zero — nothing like that was even remotely mentioned in the original story.
Still, he couldn’t rule out butterfly effects caused by his own interference.
So he had to take a look.
“Brother!
Brother!
This guy just added another 100,000!” Belle’s mood was practically boiling over with excitement.
“This…” Wise was also a bit torn.
“Forget it.
Let’s do it!” Wise figured the benefits of this commission far outweighed the risks.
“No problem.
Kabuto, let’s keep going deeper.” Belle happily piloted Eous to the front.
As the two ventured further in, they began encountering scattered Ethereals here and there.
But with their objective changed, neither of them went out of their way to engage, avoiding unnecessary trouble.
Soon enough, the man and Bangboo passed through a spatial rift and arrived behind an abandoned building.
Buyuan placed a hand on Eous’s head and raised a finger to his own lips.
“People.” Buyuan’s ears twitched.
He could hear a somewhat noisy clamor of voices.
Ignoring Eous’s struggling, Buyuan scooped the Bangboo into his arms and carefully edged along the wall toward the back of the building.
As they drew closer, the voices gradually became clearer.
“Hounds!
I’ll say this one last time!
Do!
Not!
Push!
Us!” A rough male voice, exceptionally irate.
“Yeah!
Your backup isn’t here yet!
Worst case, we all go down together!” “Yeah, boss!
Let’s just fight it out with them!” “Is that so?
Our backup will arrive very soon.” This voice was young, but its tone carried a certain seasoned calm.
“We won’t let you slip away this time.” Another voice, female, somewhat valiant, but also giving the impression of a straightforward, earnest young woman.
Buyuan touched his brow.
‘Qingyi and Zhu Yuan?
Looks like PubSec officers in a shootout with some gang’ “Kabuto!
Touch your own brow, why don’t you!” Belle, piloting Eous, jabbed Buyuan with her elbow in annoyance.
“Cough, sorry.” Buyuan scratched his head awkwardly.
Feeling the hand scratching at the top of her head, Belle’s round electronic eyes flattened into two horizontal lines.
“F**k it!
Get ’em!
Waste these bastards!” The burly lead enforcer roared, and a swarm of underlings charged forward.
The PubSec officers didn’t flinch either, rushing in headlong.
“Senior Qingyi!
What do we do?
Our backup isn’t here yet.
The numbers gap is too big.” Zhu Yuan fired an Ether round from her Riot Suppressor K22 at a thug, then looked worriedly at Qingyi, who had calmly drawn her baton.
“Hey~ don’t panic, Zhu Yuan.
Things will work out when the time comes~” Despite her words, Qingyi’s brow was furrowed.
They could stall like this until backup arrived, but there would clearly be senseless casualties.
Just then, light footsteps rang out.
In the chaos of the scene, they were somewhat inconspicuous.
But the frantic voice of a Bangboo was exceptionally clear.
“Kabuto, you!
En-na-na-na!” Seeing they had fully emerged onto the battlefield between both sides, Belle could only resort to mimicking Bangboo-speak, sputtering en-na-na.
The moment a third party entered the fray, the brawl came to an abrupt halt.
Everyone’s calculations suddenly started spinning.
The PubSec officers worried about the young man’s safety.
The thugs wanted to grab him as a hostage and make a clean getaway.
And poor Belle could only pitifully en-en-na en-na-na.
“Hey!
Get out of here, it’s dangerous!” Zhu Yuan kicked a thug trying to launch a sneak attack and shouted at Buyuan.
Qingyi, meanwhile, studied Buyuan’s getup, trying to guess his identity.
“Oi, brat!
This isn’t a place for little kids!
Looking to get yourself killed?
Be a good boy and come over here.
Maybe I’ll even let you join the Yellow Scorpions as a junior boss!” The burly man in charge looked at Buyuan and said.
“Boss, what’s the point of all that talk?
Watch me.” Just then, one of the underlings, under the stunned gazes of the crowd, rushed straight at Buyuan, clearly intending to use brute force.
“Look out!
Senior Qingyi?” Zhu Yuan panicked and was about to fire her gun to stop him, but Qingyi held her back.
“Relax.” Qingyi leisurely stowed her three-section staff.
After all, the other party was a male Thiren.
Thud!
The small fry was sent flying by a single kick from Buyuan.
“How does a such a weak human dare pick a straightforward fight with a Thiren?” Buyuan muttered under his breath, a bit speechless.
The Yellow Scorpion boss, seeing the other side make a move, realized this target was a bit tough.
Could this be PubSec’s backup?
“Oi!
Who the hell are you, brat!” The burly man asked, even as he scanned the surroundings for any sign of an ambush.
!!!!
“You ask who I am?” Buyuan instantly got fired up.
He bent down and set the bewildered Eous onto the ground.
“Then you’d better remember this.” From who-knows-where, Buyuan produced a red mechanical beetle.
“I’m just a passing-through Kamen Rider.” “Henshin!” A belt materialized around Buyuan’s waist with a faint glow.
He pressed the Kabuto Zecter onto the driver.
Accompanied by mechanical sound effects, armor continuously materialized from the waist, gradually covering his entire body.
What finally appeared before everyone’s eyes was an armored figure, its entire body clad in heavy white plating.
Upon closer inspection, one would notice that beneath the thick white armor lay a vivid, striking red.
“!” xN “En-nah?!
En-na-na-na!” Belle was utterly shaken.
Bro, are you a Starlight Knight?!
Everyone present had roughly the same thought.
Wasn’t this the plot of Starlight Knight?
“Gwaaah!
It’s Starlight Knight!
Boss, we’re done for, gwaaah!” One of the thugs dramatically contorted his flexible body.
“It’s Kamen Rider!
Kamen Rider Kabuto King!
Damn it, looks like I need to teach you all a lesson.” Buyuan had just been assessing the physical burden the transformation placed on him when he heard some clueless thug on the other side.
He’d actually mistaken him for Starlight Knight!
That instantly pissed him off.
Buyuan charged straight in.
The heavy armor put a strain on his speed, but his overwhelming combat power more than compensated.
Seeing this armored weirdo rush at them, the burly man shouted out.
“Brothers, fight for your lives!” Buyuan was unfazed.
One came, one got slapped.
Little heads bounced like rubber balls, one slap per head.
The burly man’s mechanical gauntlets gradually heated to a scorching glow, and he threw a fierce punch.
Seeing this guy had some skill, Buyuan stepped back with his left foot, bent his knee slightly, and threw a punch of his own.
Fist met fist.
Buyuan only felt a slight resistance before effortlessly sending his opponent flying backward.
“Damn, what kind of monster!” The burly man watched as his other underlings all piled onto Buyuan, attacking him together while he was supposedly tied up blocking.
The guy hadn’t budged an inch from start to finish.
The underlings behind him were swinging with everything they had.
“S-Senior Qingyi…
is that some new kind of PubSec armor?” Zhu Yuan stared in disbelief at the white armored figure in the center of the battlefield.
“No, no.
Didn’t he say he’s a Kamen Rider?
I think it’s more likely…
some young heir from a major corporation idolizes Starlight Knight, so he funded the research to make this.” Qingyi found this possibility far more plausible.
Ignoring the small fries still attacking him, Buyuan strode straight towards the burly man.
“WTF, I’m taking you down with me!” The burly man panicked, hot blood rushing to his head, and charged over.
“Don’t get cock— Aaaahhh!” Buyuan silenced him with a single elbow strike, stripping him of his fighting ability, then hoisted him up with one hand.
Turning back, he saw that the PubSec officers had already subdued most of the thugs.
“There, all yours.
Remember!
Not Starlight Knight.
Kamen Rider!
Kabuto King.” Buyuan tossed the burly man at Qingyi’s feet, ignored the stares of the crowd, picked up Eous, and left directly.
“Please wait!” Zhu Yuan moved to stop him but was held back by Qingyi.
“Let it be.
We’ve got a mess right in front of us to deal with first.” Qingyi cast a meaningful glance in the direction Buyuan had left.
…
“You really are a Kamen Rider.” Belle, piloting Eous, looked up and studied the armored figure.
“If I weren’t, who’d pick a name like that?” Buyuan replied, exasperated, glancing down at the chubby little guy in his arms.
He set Eous down on the ground and removed the Zecter from his belt.
The armor particles gradually dissipated, and Buyuan reappeared before Belle’s eyes.
“Amazing!” Belle looked curiously at the beetle in Buyuan’s hand.
“Why make the transformation device look like a beetle?” Belle clearly had some doubts about Buyuan’s aesthetic sense.
“Heh heh, you’ll understand after a while.” Buyuan put the Zecter away.
When he faced a strong enough enemy and Cast Off, the other party would naturally understand why it was a beetle.
Following Eous in search of a path out of the Hollow, Buyuan quietly mulled over the before-and-after comparison of the transformation, as well as the physical burden it imposed.
Currently, without Cast Off, he could maintain the transformation for three hours.
But after Cast Off, he estimated it would sharply drop to under one hour.
He hadn’t tried it, but he’d been tempted to Cast Off earlier — only for his instincts to warn him against it if possible.
If he used Clock Up as well, the time would probably drop even further.
As for why, the reason was simple.
He could feel that Kabuto had been weakened, and yet it suited him exceptionally well.
His terrifying physical strength and power would likely skyrocket after Cast Off.
Excellent.
The first chapter of Kamen Rider Kabuto can now be put to pen.
Hehehe, a new tokusatsu hero is about to debut in New Eridu.
“Proxy, I’ll leave you here.
This commission fee will be transferred to your account within ten minutes.” Buyuan set Eous down on a chair outside the coffee shop, turned, and left.
“En-nah, en-neh.” Belle piloted Eous to wave goodbye, then circled around into Waterfall Soup, went through the back door, entered the garage, and returned to the video store.
“Yo, Belle, you little ditz.
Who knew you were actually pretty careful.” Buyuan stealthily watched the little guy disappear into the garage, then found a hidden spot and removed all his disguise.
“Today was absolutely exhilarating.
Head home, grab some food, take Baal to visit next door.
Then go home and bang out the first chapter.” Buyuan clasped his hands behind his back like an old grandpa and ambled leisurely back home.
“Baal, I’m back.” Buyuan tossed the bag with his disguise gear to the side and walked straight over to Raiden Makoto.
“Ahh, missed you so much.
This texture really is top-tier.” Ignoring Raiden Makoto’s struggling in his arms, Buyuan vigorously squished her round, chubby body.
“En-neh!
En-na-na!” (Right now!
Go eat!) Huffing with indignation, Raiden Makoto piloted the Bangboo body, picked up the bag Buyuan had tossed aside, and ran off to tidy up.
“Nom nom nom~ Who designed this Bangboo, seriously, nom nom nom~ This texture is just unreal, nom nom nom.
Oh, hey, Baal, don’t put so much ginger next time, nom nom nom.
I don’t like eating ginger.” As Buyuan rambled on about the Bangboo’s excellent squish factor, he grumbled about Raiden Makoto hiding ginger slivers in the shredded potatoes.
“Alright, stop tidying up.
I’m taking you to Belle’s place to visit.
Early in, early out.
I’ve still got stuff to do tonight.” Buyuan placed his finished bowl at the very back of the table, where Raiden Makoto, wanting to wash it, absolutely could not reach.
Picking up Makoto, Buyuan hurried downstairs.
“Hey!
Belle, Wise.
I’m here.” Buyuan pushed open the door of the video store and walked in, carrying Makoto.
“Ah!
Buyuan, you’re here!
Have you eaten?
Is this Baal?
She’s so cute!
Come~ let big sis give you a hug!” Belle immediately came over, stretching out her hands excitedly, wanting to hold Raiden Makoto.
Makoto deftly wriggled free from Buyuan’s arms and dropped to the floor.
“En-neh, en-na-nah.” (Hello, Shopkeeper Belle.) Raiden Makoto gave a rather refined, slight bow.
“Whoa, so well-mannered, so mature!” Belle was stunned by Makoto’s demeanor, since she could understand Bangboo-speak.
Buyuan had expected this.
During the Archon War era, the elder sister governed while the younger fought.
Raiden Makoto’s response was entirely within his expectations.
“Sorry, Belle.
Baal doesn’t like being touched by others.” Buyuan didn’t make things difficult for Makoto.
“No worries, no worries.
Bangboo have their own minds.
This kind of behavior is pretty common.” Belle didn’t take it to heart.
Seeing that she couldn’t pet this cute Bangboo…
Belle’s little eyes unconsciously drifted towards Buyuan’s swaying tail again.
“Hm?
Buyuan, you’re here?
Have you eaten?” Just then, Wise emerged from the archive room and saw Buyuan had come to visit with Baal.
“Yeah, I ate.
Just let Baal get acquainted with No.
18.
I’m almost done with my tapes, so I figured I’d borrow a few more.
I’ll return the last batch tomorrow.” Buyuan knew it’d be rude to just turn around and leave, so he decided to rent a few more tapes.
“Sure thing!
I’ll show you around~” Belle grabbed Buyuan and dragged him off, leaving Wise and the two Bangboo staring awkwardly at each other.
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