The Orion Zodiarts steadied itself and stepped forward to counterattack, punching out with its red fist that could smash through walls.
Shiraishi Shin and Okada Yuriko split to the left and right respectively, then exchanged a glance before kicking at the Zodiarts' shins with their soles.
The Orion Zodiarts' punch missed, and before it could adjust its stance, its legs were hit by the impact, forcing it to kneel on the spot.
"Teacher!"
Shiraishi Shin shouted, stacking his palms upward. Okada Yuriko immediately understood, ran a few steps toward him, jumped onto his palms, and was thrown high into the air by Shiraishi Shin's strength.
This throw, combined with Okada Yuriko's own jumping power, reached a height of four meters—a height that would make Valen cry with envy.
"Haah!!"
Okada Yuriko spun two and a half times in mid-air to increase the power of her kick. Combined with her current height, she then extended her right leg and delivered a critical strike to the head of the Orion Zodiarts, which had just stood up, kicking it down.
Then, using the recoil of the kick, Okada Yuriko performed a backflip and landed.
"So powerful!"
Kisaragi Gentaro and Jōjima Yūki, who were watching from the side, were stunned. This coordinated battle and combo attack were simply too cool.
Okada Yuriko looked at the Monster she had kicked down, her heart racing. This was the result of her training!
She immediately looked at Shiraishi Shin and said in surprise, "Shiraishi-san, that coordination just now was perfect. But you really can't judge a book by its cover; you actually have such strength."
Shiraishi Shin met her gaze and said, "Speaking of not judging by appearances, I'm not as surprising as you, Teacher. You're actually Denpa Ningen Takkuru."
"Actually, Teacher..."
Okada Yuriko only got halfway through her sentence before the fallen Orion Zodiarts stood up completely unharmed.
As expected, it had no effect.
Shiraishi Shin watched calmly. With their human strength, they could handle fodder, but they were far from being able to face a real Monster. The attack just now only provided enough impact to knock it down.
To actually hurt this Orion Zodiarts, even if it stood there and let that hunk Tanzaburo Tojima punch it for ten minutes, the only thing that would hurt would be Tanzaburo Tojima's fists.
After all, this Zodiarts had armor covering its entire body and even stronger muscular defense.
"Dammit, it's fine?"
Although she was prepared for the fact that a real Monster couldn't be dealt with so easily, seeing it stand up unharmed still made Okada Yuriko a bit nervous.
But despite her nervousness, she didn't fear or run away, because her dream was to become Denpa Ningen Takkuru. If Tackle could take a Monster down with her, why couldn't she?
The Orion Zodiarts turned around and erupted with a powerful aura, charging at the two. Although the Orion Zodiarts was a tank type and not fast, that was only relative; it was still much faster than a human, and they weren't far apart.
Thus, in its burst of speed, the Orion Zodiarts quickly ran in front of the forward-positioned Okada Yuriko and threw a punch.
"So fast!"
Okada Yuriko barely had time to react. Knowing she couldn't dodge, she hurriedly crossed her arms to block.
"Boom!"
With one punch, Okada Yuriko's block was broken. The impact sent her flying two meters back. It would have been more, but Shiraishi Shin caught her from behind, though he still had to step back two and a half times before stopping.
Immediately after, energy condensed in the Orion Zodiarts' chest, and it unleashed a flash explosion forward. In this critical moment, Shiraishi Shin grabbed Okada Yuriko's slender waist and dove to the right.
"Boom!"
An explosion rang out, and the firelight illuminated the spot where Shiraishi Shin and the other had just been standing. Fortunately, he was quick and had dodged with Okada Yuriko; otherwise, a direct hit would have resulted in death or heavy injury.
"Ah!"
Okada Yuriko cried out as she landed, then looked at the explosion site with lingering fear. If Shiraishi Shin hadn't caught her and dodged, her fate would have been obvious.
She thanked him sincerely, "Thank you, Shiraishi-san."
Shiraishi Shin knew that human strength alone couldn't defeat a Monster, so he took out the buggle driver II. Hearing his teacher's thanks, he turned his head and said, "Teacher, you should really like watching Kamen Rider, right?"
"Eh?"
Okada Yuriko turned to look at Shiraishi Shin, not knowing what was in his hand, but she still answered, "Yeah, I've loved watching Kamen Rider since I was a kid, especially Denpa Ningen Takkuru from Kamen Rider Stronger. I've aimed for that and worked hard in my training every day. I thought I'd never meet a Monster from a tokusatsu drama in this life, so I'm actually quite excited to see one today."
"Is that so? Then you should also know that since Monsters exist, Kamen Riders must surely exist too. After all, the world is in balance; where there is darkness, there is light. That is an eternal truth."
[Click!]
Shiraishi Shin attached the driver to the buckle on his waist and pressed the Cronus Gashat in his right hand.
[Kamen Rider Chronicle!]
"Kamen Rider?"
Okada Yuriko watched Shiraishi Shin's actions and heard the sound effects.
[Gashat!]
Shiraishi Shin let go of the Gashat, then brushed his right hand in front of the driver. Immediately, the floating Gashat automatically inserted itself into the driver, and he pressed the red switch on top of the driver with his left hand.
"Henshin!"
What?
Hen... Henshin? Transformation?
Okada Yuriko's mouth fell open and her eyes widened as she stared blankly at her student, Shiraishi Shin. What was the deal with this student of hers? Not only did he have strength beyond normal people, but he even said Henshin.
Eh? Henshin? Was it the transformation she imagined, or was he going to manually put on a combat suit like she did?
[Buggle Up!]
After the switch was pressed, the driver read the data from the Rider Gashat. A giant golden clock instantly appeared overhead, and a green electronic screen spun out at high speed from the glowing panel in the center of the driver, flying beneath the golden clock.
[Ten wo Tsukame Rider! (Wow!) Kizame Chronicle! Ima koso Toki wa Kiwamareri! (Wow!)]
Golden Roman numerals arranged themselves in a clock formation in front of him. As the electronic screen above fell, a massive amount of green electricity covered him from top to bottom.
The sky, which was still bright daylight, had unknowingly been dyed by the pitch-black curtain of night.
Rider armor appeared out of thin air on Shiraishi Shin's body. The golden clock behind him, which was extremely striking in the night, lit up and then slowly dissipated.
"Gah!"
The four people present were all dumbfounded. Whether it was Okada Yuriko standing two steps away to Shiraishi Shin's right, the Orion Zodiarts opposite them, or Jōjima Yūki and Kisaragi Gentaro hiding in the distance, their jaws dropped after Shiraishi Shin's transformation.