The parasol still looked enormous even when folded, especially contrasted against Camellia’s slender arms.
To onlookers, it was hard to imagine how such a petite girl could wield such a massive umbrella.
Probably only Kaos, who had just been harshly slapped across the face, truly understood how much strength she possessed—he felt as if a truck had slammed into his face!
Kaos’s consciousness seemed to lift along with his body, plunging into a brief void.
In that moment, memories flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern.
If he recalled correctly, the first time he fought Legend, he’d also taken a merciless, face-first hit like this. After that, his face was swollen for three days.
Unable to explain the inexplicable wound, he had no choice but to fake a fall down the stairs to cover up the injury.
During his recovery, Kaos, like a kid with a new toy, obsessively scoured every bit of information about Legend.
Every video and photo of Legend he could find, he watched and studied.
Fortunately, he had targeted Legend soon after Legend became a Kamen Rider, not Epic with over twenty years of experience and countless materials, including many ancient, low-quality recordings.
Even if Kaos worked himself to death, he’d never finish watching all of Epic’s footage.
He developed an unprecedented interest in this enemy who had made him taste failure.
So fascinating.
This was the first time he’d encountered something he couldn’t overcome.
If it was Legend, surely it wouldn’t be so easy to defeat and bore him, right?
That said… he had never seen Legend’s face beneath the mask.
The sturdy armor made it impossible to tell if Legend was male or female.
Could it be that Legend was actually a woman?
No, that wasn’t right.
Legend hadn’t used any weapons last time—just the classic, simple flying kick, the Rider Kick.
Camellia, however, borrowed a weapon: the parasol…
Comparing the two, Legend was definitely stronger—no fancy tricks needed!
That was his true, orthodox nemesis!
Legend couldn’t possibly be Camellia!
After a brief moment of floating in midair, Kaos instinctively adjusted his posture.
As he flew past the Iron Gate he had violently torn apart just minutes ago, the spiked Gauntlet on his hand suddenly unfurled, gripping the mangled metal tightly.
Pulling the metal further out of shape, he stabilized his body, preventing himself from flying even farther.
His free hand reached out to the air as if to summon his weapon, but another sharp gust of wind rushed toward him, even faster and more merciless than before!
No, this wasn’t just speed—it was Camellia anticipating that he would pause midair, immediately following up with a second strike!
Kaos instantly realized there was no time to summon his weapon and hurriedly dodged to one side—Camellia’s second punch had already arrived before his eyes.
This was a straightforward, powerful punch that discarded any unnecessary weapons, channeling her full strength.
The shockwave stung the face beneath Kaos’s mask, air exploding by his ears with a ringing that made him dizzy!
Had it landed on his body, he would’ve been sent flying again.
Within just a few seconds, Camellia’s reaction speed and battle awareness completely shattered Kaos’s earlier underestimation of her.
His pupils contracted sharply as he counterattacked, opening his Gauntlet to try to grab Camellia’s right arm that had just brushed past his cheek, still unretracted.
But Camellia had already considered the possibility of missing with that punch.
Just as Kaos touched her arm, her left hand, guarding her left waist, transformed into a straight fist aimed at Kaos’s face.
Forced to abandon his earlier plan, Kaos crossed his arms in front of him as a shield and took the punch.
His bones trembled under the immense force, and his body slid backward dozens of meters before coming to a halt.
Kaos hunched over, head bowed, staring for a long moment at the two narrow scratches his feet had left on the concrete floor.
Slowly, his gaze rose to Camellia, who stood silently at the School Gate.
Her expression had remained unchanged from the start, and she showed no sign of lowering her guard despite his current state.
The muscles in her arms hanging at her sides were tense, ready to throw another punch like the last one at any moment.
Camellia had fought Kaos many times under another identity.
She wasn’t worried about him being seriously injured, but even though he appeared to be on the losing side now, his threat could not be ignored.
Kaos squinted slightly as he stared at her.
After a moment, he straightened up, lifted a hand to his face, and squeezed out a low laugh from his throat.
His laughter grew louder and more joyful.
“Ha… hahahaha, hahahahaha! Interesting, so interesting! I really made the right choice coming here today!”
His laughter seemed to thaw the previously tense air.
The crowd watching snapped out of their daze from the brief battle just seconds ago.
Most hadn’t clearly seen what had happened, only that Camellia had sent Kaos flying.
That didn’t stop them from cheering for her.
“Just as expected from Camellia! She’s truly invincible!”
“Exactly! A magical girl’s punches should land with real impact! This violent aesthetic is so satisfying!”
“Charge, Camellia! Smash his face into a Camellia!”
“Camelliaaa! Why reward him? If you’ve got guts, come fight me!”
Camellia: “?”
Thankfully, she was somewhat used to these wild cheers and didn’t react much.
She also held back from turning around to see who was hurling those insults.
In her mind, she silently gave a thumbs-up to whoever had just landed a punch on Kaos’s face, also congratulating herself for being clever—knocking Kaos out of the students’ line of sight was necessary.
Otherwise, continuing the fight under such pressure would have been torturous.
Kaos, who often fought Kamen Riders within their domain, was seeing spectators for the first time.
Curious, he glanced back but quickly lost interest and withdrew his gaze.
“Sorry for mistaking you for Legend just now. You and he are completely different people.”
Camellia couldn’t be bothered to ask what he meant, merely stopping Kaos’s approach with her eyes.
Confused, he lowered his head, then suddenly understood.
“You just told me to ‘get lost,’ right? So you’re going to beat me up if I come near the school? Ha, you’re like a poltergeist—fun!”
He clapped his hands gleefully.
“Interesting! Next time I come here, will you come out and play with me again? Although I didn’t find Legend, there’s definitely fun stuff here! That person really wasn’t lying!”
Camellia keenly caught the key phrase.
“That person?”
“I—oops, I slipped up. I promised him I wouldn’t mention him today.”
Kaos realized he’d let something slip but shrugged it off.
“However, I only promised not to tell Kamen Riders, and you’re not one, so I guess I’m not breaking my word?”
Seeing a subtle change cross Camellia’s face for the first time, Kaos whistled.
“You interested in the person I mentioned?”
His entire face was hidden by a purple leather mask and goggles, but from his light and cheerful tone, Camellia guessed he was smiling brilliantly beneath the mask.
“Play with me a little longer! If you beat me, I’ll tell you about him. How about it?”
Camellia stared motionless, maintaining her usual calm expression, but Kaos felt as if a beast had fixed its gaze on him.
Every move was locked down, and it seemed she was judging the truthfulness of his words.
After a moment, she nodded.
“It’s a deal.”
Kaos’s smile deepened.
“Hahaha… you really are different from my nemesis Legend! But it doesn’t matter, as long as you’ll play with me!”
Who’s your nemesis?
Crazy talk.
Yun You muttered silently.
Camellia spoke little—not out of deliberate aloofness, but because hearing such a girlish voice come from her own mouth was always uncomfortable.
No matter how many times, she found it hard to believe it was her voice.
So she spoke as little as possible, and when she had to, she kept her lines brief.
…Moreover, crossdressing in front of strangers and crossdressing in front of classmates were two completely different things—two levels of shame!
If he hadn’t misheard, the voice shouting
“Why reward him!”
definitely came from his own class.
He had to make sure he never found out who it was!
But that burning shame didn’t show on Camellia’s steely face.
Instead, it transformed into her resolve to give Kaos a thorough beating—she’d already paid the price of crossdressing in front of her classmates today, so Kaos would pay the same.
But from Kaos’s perspective, it was a completely different story.
Kaos’s eyes curved into a smile.
If Legend had come out to stop him, it would have been easy to guess that Legend wanted to prevent damage to the school.
But this red-haired girl radiated pure aggression—something he had never seen in Legend’s composed demeanor.
She wasn’t a protector like Legend.
She was a tyrant, a lion raising its claws to defend its territory.
“Magical girl? Magical girl…” he chuckled lowly,
“What’s the matter? You should be my ally. Definitely more interesting than magical girls! And way more suitable for you!”
If Legend were here, maybe he’d even be interested in exchanging some small talk.
But Camellia didn’t want that.
She just wanted to beat him into confessing the truth and then send him as far away as possible so she could get back to class.
So she responded with a storm of relentless punches and kicks.
Kaos wanted to laugh again to show his excitement, but just as he was about to say a word, Camellia spun and delivered a powerful kick to his waist.
He opened his mouth to retort, but Camellia punched him in the cheek before he could get a word out…
She seemed determined to keep hitting his face repeatedly, not letting him speak anymore.
Why wouldn’t she let him talk?
What’s wrong with what he says?
Camellia was so petty.
Camellia was bad.
Legend would actually listen to what he says.
Legend was good!