Bonus (2/2)
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Chapter 34 – Even If I Have No Dream, I'll Protect Yours.
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When a girl feels lost and overwhelmed, she instinctively seeks the person she trusts the most.
For Rikka Takarada, that person was Kihara.
"Where is Kihara right now?"
"The Rider went to save Akane Shinjo. He's probably fighting those strange monsters as we speak."
"…By himself?!"
"Mm." The kaiju girl nodded. "He told me to protect you."
She gestured around the train.
"This train circles the edge of the city constantly. It's safe here. That intruder can't enter… unless the entire world gets swallowed and control falls into its hands."
"That thing… you mean the cloaked monster called Alexis?"
"Exactly."
"…Then I can't stay here." Rikka clenched her fists. "I'm going to find Kihara and Akane!"
The kaiju girl hesitated, stepping in front of her.
"But… I promised the Rider I'd protect you. If something happens to you, he'll be heartbroken. So please… don't go."
"No."
Rikka's voice was firm.
"My boyfriend is out there fighting… and you expect me to sit here like some helpless princess waiting to be protected? I can't do that."
Even if it was something small.
"Even if all I can do is bandage his wounds… I'll go. I'll stand by him. I'll support him!"
A faint glow flickered from within her body responding to her resolve.
The kaiju girl saw it… and smiled, as if greeting an old friend.
"…Just as I thought. You're still you."
She stepped aside.
"Maybe that's why Akane chose you back then."
"W-What do you mean?"
"No time. Let's go help the Rider!"
The train came to a stop.
The two rushed out and were greeted by hell.
The city had transformed completely.
Smoke choked the sky, casting everything in suffocating darkness. Flames licked the ruins like the tongues of some monstrous beast. Buildings crumbled, glass shattered under intense heat, and the streets were buried beneath twisted steel and broken concrete.
The once lively city.
was now a burning graveyard.
The air reeked of charred flesh, blood, and decay.
Every breath scorched the lungs.
Corpses of monsters littered the streets, cleanly sliced apart, their massive bodies discarded like trash. Dark purple blood pooled across the ground in thick, viscous puddles.
Some had their heads split in half, fangs still glinting.
Others were reduced to charred skeletons.
A silent testimony.
to the brutality of the battle.
In the distance, roars and shrieks echoed.
Something… was still fighting.
Rikka's heart trembled.
But she didn't stop.
She couldn't.
She had already decided.
to stand beside Kihara, no matter what lay ahead.
Even if that future ended in death.
The kaiju girl nervously held up a small wand.
"…I can't fight those monsters yet. If we run into them, we should avoid them."
"I'm not stupid enough to come out here just to die," Rikka replied calmly. "If Kihara went after Akane, he'd take the shortest path. We'll follow it. If monsters appear, we go around."
"…Okay!"
Elsewhere…
SPLAT!
Kihara's fist pierced straight through a monster's chest and crushed its grotesque, cable-like beating heart.
Dark purple blood splashed across the Faiz armor, forming a crust that shattered instantly under his relentless movements.
The closer he got to Akane's house.
the more monsters appeared.
More types. More numbers.
At one point, he had even faced two colossal beasts the size of three-story buildings.
He had destroyed them.
but at the cost of Auto Vajin, now reduced to scattered scrap.
Without it, his situation worsened drastically.
Only one kilometer remained.
And yet, he could barely move forward.
He became a living grinder, tearing apart the endless swarm flooding toward him.
These monsters were weaker than the earlier ones—clearly mass-produced.
But even ants can kill a lion.
And Kihara—
was no elephant.
At best… he was a lion.
He smashed one monster's head.
only for another to immediately take its place.
They were stalling him with sheer numbers.
"…No choice."
He pressed the acceleration watch.
"Start Up!"
A crimson bolt of lightning tore forward.
drilling through the wall of flesh blocking his path.
For a brief moment, through the hole.
his staggering, exhausted figure could be seen leaning against the ruins.
"Time Out!"
"Reformation!"
His vision dimmed.
Damn… if I don't recharge now, I'm going to pass out from hunger…
He vaulted over rubble, using it as cover. Dropping his transformation, he grabbed a handful of candy from his dimensional storage.
No time to unwrap.
He crushed them—wrappers and all—with his teeth.
Then chugged an entire bottle of cola to force it down.
He had anticipated a prolonged battle.
Long ago, he had used acceleration mode to raid empty convenience stores.
stockpiling sugar-heavy supplies.
Tossing the empty bottle out as a test.
he suddenly noticed something strange.
His left hand…
was turning to sand.
"…What the—?"
He brushed it off.
only for more sand to crumble away.
Sandification…?
His expression stiffened.
So the Faiz system's side effects weren't gone after all.
Repeated use of acceleration.
pushing photon blood to its absolute limit.
was destroying his body.
"…If it's for the sake of saving the girl I love…"
He let out a quiet, self-deprecating laugh.
"…then dying like this isn't such a bad ending."
His eyes sharpened with resolve.
Once more—
he transformed.
"I may not have a dream…"
"…but I can protect someone else's dream!"
Meanwhile…
"Fuhahaha…!"
Watching through a drone feed, Alexis Kerib let out a shrill laugh.
"This unexpected guest claims he'll protect your dream… but isn't your drea
m simply to turn this entire city into monsters?"
Its gaze shifted.
It noticed—
Akane's heart…
was beginning to waver.
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Thank you for reading.