T/N: Brother asked(threaten) you guys if you don’t give me powerstones then you guys have small PP, his words not mine (ﾉ≧ڡ≦)
anyway here is chapter 8!
enjoy~
===
“Recently, the gangs have been much more restrained in their actions.
A major incident occurred.
Look at this.”
Zhu Yuan pointed to the enlarged photo on the document.
It came from surveillance footage.
The image showed a strange figure riding a motorcycle.
He wore a full-body suit.
His head was covered by a helmet made of some unknown material.
Two large eyes dominated his face, looking like insect compound eyes.
They glowed a deep crimson, giving off a blood-stained aesthetic.
Louis kept a calm expression on the surface.
But inside, a headache was already building.
Because that was him.
In his transformed state.
Riding a motorcycle.
Back then he was young and reckless.
He had been speeding through the streets when the police tried to pull him over for it.
As someone who could transform, Louis naturally ignored them.
He twisted the throttle and blasted away at overwhelming speed.
All that remained was this single photo.
That day, the belt he had randomly obtained was Kamen Rider Kuuga’s.
He had used the crimson Mighty Form.
That’s why the photo came out red.
This was one of the biggest advantages of being able to transform.
No matter what he did, no one could ever trace it back to his real identity.
“Haha, a hardcore fan of the Starlight Knight.”
Qingyi burst out laughing as she looked at the photo.
Louis opened his mouth.
He wanted to tell her this wasn’t some fan cosplay.
It was the real deal.
Not some tokusatsu show.
The reason he thought that way was simple.
In this near-future world, people still made tokusatsu dramas.
It seemed no matter how advanced technology became, people would always make those kinds of shows to earn money.
And the Starlight Knight Qingyi mentioned was this world’s version of a Kamen Rider.
The setting was almost identical.
The protagonist used special props to transform into the Starlight Knight and fight evil Ethereal monsters.
When Louis first learned about this, it gave him a serious headache.
He had hoped to leave behind the legend of Kamen Rider in this world.
But someone had already beaten him to it.
Now he couldn’t help but wonder.
Was he really the only one who had crossed over?
Was the person behind those shows another traveler?
“No matter who he is, he’s still an escaped suspect.
And he did something big.
Look at the next photo.”
Zhu Yuan spoke with a serious expression and pointed to the following image.
Qingyi and Louis looked together.
It was still the same armored figure.
But this time the background was completely different.
Burning houses and streets.
People scattered across the ground.
The person taking the photo had been shaking badly.
The image was blurry.
Only a vague outline of the slightly altered form could be seen.
“That’s it?
My grandma could take a clearer picture with a doorknob.”
Qingyi complained.
Zhu Yuan gave her a helpless glance.
The serious atmosphere was instantly ruined by her senior.
But there was nothing she could do.
That was just how Qingyi was.
“This photo was taken by a gang member who was badly injured.
This person, let’s call him that armored fighter for now.
He single-handedly destroyed the entire Giant Tooth Gang.”
“That gang used to be one of the strongest forces in their district.
And it was wiped out overnight.
All members were seriously injured, but none died.
He must have held back.”
Zhu Yuan explained seriously.
Louis nodded slightly.
Probably because this world already had tokusatsu shows like Starlight Knight, people were more accepting of this kind of thing.
It sounded better than being called some ‘suit monster.’
“This gang deserved everything they got.
Those scumbags are human traffickers.
They snatch people with high Aether Adaptability off the streets.
Those victims either get forced into becoming gang muscle or get thrown into Hollows to work as Hollow Raiders.
Eventually they turn into Ethereals.
Every single person in that gang deserves to die ten thousand times.”
Qingyi put away her smile and spoke seriously.
She was usually cheerful.
But when it came to serious matters, she became dead serious.
This wasn’t something to joke about.
It was also a failure on the Security Bureau’s part.
Louis understood deeply.
He hadn’t come to a peaceful world.
This place was closer to a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
If the people of New Eridu hadn’t developed applications for Aether, multiple large Hollows expanding at once would have created a true doomsday scenario.
In times like these, the unregulated old city districts were breeding grounds for crime and evil.
What was worse was that these places were almost impossible to control.
It created a vicious cycle.
Both Qingyi and Zhu Yuan knew about the Giant Tooth Gang’s dirty dealings.
But the police needed solid evidence before they could act.
Without it, they could only grit their teeth and endure.
Louis was different.
He only needed to see it with his own eyes.
That was evidence enough.
Coincidentally, the very day he obtained Kamen Rider Kuuga’s belt, he had witnessed members of the Giant Tooth Gang kidnapping someone with high Aether Adaptability on the street.
He followed them all the way to their stronghold.
He heard everything.
How they described their “work.” The tragic state of the victims.
The string in his heart had almost snapped.
Although he was just an ordinary law-abiding citizen before, seeing such evil meant he couldn’t just stand by and watch innocent people suffer.
Using the power of Kamen Rider Kuuga, Louis single-handedly crushed the Giant Tooth Gang.
From the leader down to the lowest henchmen, not one was spared.
He broke their arms and legs.
Even if they survived, they would spend the rest of their lives in wheelchairs.
He didn’t know that one of the underlings had snapped a photo of him with a phone at the time.
But it didn’t matter.
No one knew it was him.
That day, when he freed the kidnapped victims from their cells, the looks of gratitude and thanks in their eyes were something he would never forget.
Yet he didn’t decide to become a hero who punishes evil because of that one event.
There were too many complicated issues involved.
First, Zhu Yuan’s attitude already made it clear.
People who did these things from the shadows weren’t officially recognized.
To the Security Bureau, it was just a dangerous entity eliminating weaker ones.
A ‘dog eat dog’ situation that couldn’t be shown in public.
If they encountered him, they would treat him as hostile.
If Louis kept doing things like this, he would eventually be targeted by both the criminal underworld and the authorities.
A transformed warrior might be powerful, but Louis himself wasn’t made of steel.
He couldn’t stay on guard against both sides forever.
Moreover, he didn’t want to define evil based solely on his own judgment and then use that power to punish people.
Qingyi said everyone in the Giant Tooth Gang deserved to die.
Louis knew that.
But he still didn’t kill them.
He held back his strength and left them alive.
As a longtime tokusatsu fan, he understood one thing clearly.
Once you take a life, there’s no turning back.
Especially when you possess absolute power.
You must never take human life lightly.
Louis couldn’t guarantee his judgment would always be correct.
If he ever made a mistake, those lives could never be returned.
That would be far too dangerous.
So he was very grateful for those words from Shiro Kido.
They helped him keep his original intention intact.