Shiraishi Shin slapped Shotaro Hidari's chest plate with the back of his blue-flame-veined hand and drawled, "Thought it was something serious—turns out it's just this. A problem for you, not for me."
"Hey, hey, sixty lives are on the line—no fooling around."
Afraid Shiraishi Shin would insist on trying anyway, Shotaro quickly warned him.
"Relax, I'm one of the good guys."
Shiraishi Shin produced the eternal edge, slotted the Memory into the dagger's port, and turned his gaze to the Money Dopant.
Seeing the dagger, the Money Dopant bristled. "You dare resist? Kamen Riders are supposed to stand for justice—do those sixty hostages mean nothing to you?"
He was gambling that these self-proclaimed champions wouldn't act; hostages were always their weak spot.
The Nasca Dopant said nothing, hands clasped behind his back, as if merely lending moral support—though in truth he was fascinated by the different Memories and drivers this Kamen Rider used.
"Against any other Monster it might be tricky, but with Memories? Child's play—because I'm Eternal, king of Memories."
"Eternal! Maximum Drive!"
He squeezed the trigger on the dagger; the Maximum-Drive chime sounded. Blue current surged over the Money Dopant, forcibly cancelling the transformation. The Memory shut down, the man reverted to human form, and the now-useless Memory was ejected from his body.
At the same instant every life-coin he'd collected lost its power; the gamblers' lives streamed back into their bodies and they began to stir.
"What's going on!"
Not only was the Money Dopant's user, Kaga Taizō, sprawled on the ground in bewilderment—Kirihiko Sudo beside him was equally stunned. No attack had landed, yet the transformation had cancelled itself, something no Memory-user had ever seen.
Shotaro blinked. "What… just happened? Why did his Dopant form release?"
Philip caught on first. "That Maximum Drive just now?"
After Shiraishi Shin's Maximum Drive, the Dopant's Memory had lost effect and been expelled—how?
"You did this!"
Kirihiko Sudo stared at Shiraishi Shin as if facing a mortal enemy. How could such a thing be possible?
Shiraishi Shin chuckled, twirled the dagger with a flourish, and said, "I told you: I'm Eternal, king of Memories. I decide whose Memory stops working—his, yours, anyone's."
Indeed, Eternal was the supreme king of Memories. Shiraishi Shin could use its Maximum Drive to nullify any Memory-user's Memory, either singly or en masse.
Right now he'd targeted only the Money Memory; if he wished, he could just as easily shut down Kamen Rider W's Memories and Kirihiko Sudo's own.
"H-he can erase Memories…!"
Kirihiko Sudo drew a sharp breath. Impossible—even his father-in-law's top-tier "Terror" High Memory couldn't do this. How could some unheard-of Memory achieve it?
He snatched up the Money Memory; outwardly it looked fine, but when he pressed the activation switch no sound came—it was dead.
Unwilling as he was to believe, the proof lay before him: the Money Dopant had lost its power and the Memory was unresponsive.
"Seriously? King of Memories?"
Shotaro stepped to Shiraishi Shin's side, eyeing the black cape. "A cape—must be a power thing," he muttered, giving it a feel.
"Cut it out."
Shiraishi Shin slapped his hand away.
Shotaro withdrew the paw, grinning. "Heh, just excited. Never thought my partner was this tough. Now let's see if they still dare demand our Memories. Why not cancel the other guy's too?"
"If I cancel them all, where's the fun?"
Shiraishi Shin replied, glancing at his system tally—still seven Monsters defeated. Memories nullified by Eternal didn't count; a pity.
"So I'm your prey now?"
Those casual words stung Kirihiko Sudo. To be looked down upon—Memory-nullified or not, in a straight fight he wouldn't lose.
Shiraishi Shin turned, gave a thumbs-down, and sneered, "Think what you like. To me you're just a grasshopper hopping in the palm of my hand."
"Why you—!"
Even a clay statue has temper, let alone Kirihiko Sudo. A knife flashed into his hand; with a burst of super-speed he closed the gap and slashed.
Shiraishi Shin sidestepped left, slipped inside the arc of the blade, and drove a fist into Kirihiko Sudo's chest.
"Gah!"
Staggering back, Kirihiko Sudo couldn't believe it—his Stage-Two speed strike should have connected. How had it missed?
Shiraishi Shin didn't care. He advanced, swept the eternal edge through the air, and a crescent of blue energy shot out. Kirihiko Sudo threw up his knife to block; the impact juddered through his arm and forced him back, palm tingling.
He retaliated instantly, gathering orange-red energy in his left hand and firing a sphere of it.
"Hah!"
Shiraishi Shin barked. The eternal edge blazed blue; he slashed the incoming orb, cleaving it like a watermelon into two halves that exploded behind him.
He laughed, spun the dagger, and rushed in. The old adage says longer is stronger, but his short blade was keener and packed more power, besides being far more agile.
After parrying several strikes he slipped the Edge in a full circle around Kirihiko Sudo's wrist; pain loosened the man's grip and the knife clattered away. A quick X-cut followed, sparks spraying.
Before Kirihiko Sudo could retreat, Shiraishi Shin's boot—wreathed in blue flame—sent him flying for critical damage.