When that determined cry of “Henshin — ” was shouted, Luke clearly perceived that his entire world, from the inside out, had undergone an earth-shattering change.
First to flood his consciousness was an unprecedented “sense of clarity.”
His senses, which had been dulled by severe injury and fear just a second ago, became incredibly sharp at this moment.
Bart’s face twisted in rage, the blood light condensing on his knuckles, and even the flow of the air were all slowed down and decomposed as they entered his enhanced visual system.
The layers of sound also suddenly became rich.
The sounds of his companions fighting in the distance, the roars of soldiers and the howls of the Blood Race, and even the sound of the blood rushing through his own body and the steady beat of his heart were all clearly discernible and easily processed by his brain.
Following that was an explosive sense of power filling his limbs and bones.
His agonizingly pained and weakened body seemed to be instantly replaced, substituted by a nimble and vibrant physical form.
He could “feel” the cool, strange metal wrapping around his entire body fitting perfectly with his limbs, like a second skin, yet granting him physical strength far beyond human limits.
He tentatively clenched his fist, and the metal finger guards made a low grinding sound. The strength stored in his arm gave him the confidence that he could easily crush rock.
The simultaneous enhancement of his five senses brought absolute control over the environment. What surprised Luke the most was that the fear that had almost swallowed him when facing Blood Pillar Bart was completely gone.
It was replaced by a calm evaluation and a sense of battle intent, eager to be tested.
‘This isn’t just courage brought by an increase in power,’ he thought. ‘It’s some deeper influence from this mysterious armor.’
“What the hell is this?!!”
Bart’s roar was full of unbelievable shock and fury.
His crimson pupils stared fixedly at the Luke before him.
Except for the silhouette that could still be recognized, where was there even a hint of that wretched red-haired kid from before?
Covered in strange metal, just by standing there, he emitted a sense of pressure completely different from Magic or Aura.
‘A Magic Tool? A Magic Tool that I have never seen or even heard of?’
Bart’s head was buzzing.
In a short amount of time today, his cognition had suffered repeated blows.
Being crushed by Yize’s pure physical body was already a great humiliation, but that could at least be understood as the opponent being a deeply hidden monster.
But now, this kid whom he had viewed as an ant and could crush at will had actually turned into this appearance just by relying on a metal gadget on his head. He had even kicked him until his arm went numb?!
Yize was an “anomaly” that “That Great Person” was concerned about, so he accepted that.
But what right did this red-haired brat have?
Just based on this strange metal shell?
A surge of stubborn rage rushed to Bart’s head.
“I don’t believe that a Fool who relies on external objects can turn the world upside down!”
He let out a mad roar, pushing the Blood Qi in his Blood Awakening state to the limit. Blood flames raged around him as he turned into a bloody hurricane once more, crashing toward Luke with even more violent momentum than before!
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
Heavy impact sounds exploded on the city wall!
Silver-gray and blood-red afterimages intersected, separated, and collided again at high speed!
Luke was initially a bit unaccustomed to this skyrocketing power and speed. His movements were slightly stiff, and he relied purely on the superhuman reflexes and Defense granted by the armor to parry and block.
Bart’s heavy punches slammed into the armor, exploding into large ripples of blood-colored energy and producing deafening clangs of metal on metal, yet it was difficult to actually break through that seemingly thin but incredibly tough metal.
Instead, the force of the counter-shock made Bart’s blood and Qi churn.
After several exchanges, Luke quickly found his rhythm.
He found that he could not only see the trajectory of Bart’s movements clearly but could even predict his force-exerting habits and the tiny openings after his attacks.
In the moment he parried Bart’s heavy left hook, while the opponent’s right fist was slightly slow to retract due to overextending his strength, a blue light flashed in Luke’s eyes. He slammed his left foot onto the ground and launched a swift side kick with his right leg, accurately striking Bart in the side of the waist!
Boom!
Bart’s massive body was kicked off the ground and sent flying once more, even further than the last time.
“Haha! Big guy, how is it?” Luke stabilized his stance and shook his wrist, his voice carrying an uncontrollable sense of novelty and excitement. “Is my new look a big surprise for you?”
The feeling of expansion brought by the power made him temporarily forget his previous wretchedness, and he even looked down on Bart a little.
This style of fist-to-fist, head-on combat was simply much more satisfying than hiding in the back and releasing Magic!
Bart struggled to stand up from the debris. Several fine cracks appeared on his dark red Blood Qi armor, slowly writhing and repairing.
Listening to Luke’s arrogant address and feeling the dull pain from his waist, his face twitched violently, and he was nearly bursting with rage.
Humiliation!
It was simply a great humiliation!
It was one thing to be crushed by Yize, but now even this kid who was showing off with an unknown Magic Tool dared to despise him so much!
“Surprise? I’ll let you know what despair is!”
Bart completely lost his mind, no longer holding anything back. He pushed the power of his Blood Awakening to the peak, and his momentum climbed again. His eyes were so red they seemed to drip blood as he hissed and launched an even more frenzied and brutal offensive!
However, Luke, who had now completely adapted to the power of the “Kamen Rider,” was no longer the same as before.
He no longer defended passively; he took the initiative to meet the attack!
The silver-gray figure was nimble and swift.
He dodged the Blood Qi strikes from Bart.
Precise parries neutralized the lethal claw attacks.
Fists, feet, elbows, knees… every part of his body became a weapon. Combined with the terrifying power and speed granted by the armor, he fought impressively.
Although he was temporarily unable to deal a decisive injury to Bart, who had his Defense fully open, he effectively dragged him into a stalemate and even subtly held the initiative on the field!
The fierce battle here had already attracted the gazes of the vast majority of people on the battlefield.
Sara gasped as she looked toward Luke, her beautiful eyes filled with extreme shock and confusion.
Was that silver figure, full of technology and a sense of power, really that always-noisy Luke?
He didn’t have the obvious, unsettling non-human Mana fluctuations like Li En. He didn’t have the light of Aura, either. There was only a texture belonging to metal and unknown energy.
“Luke… is that you?” Sara couldn’t help but ask loudly, her voice carrying a hint of uncertainty.
The silver figure forced Bart back with a punch and took the opportunity to turn his head, giving a thumbs up in Sara’s direction.
“Senior Sister Sara, of course it’s me! The genuine article, the Wilson Family’s once-in-a-century genius Fire Mage and… uh, newly-promoted melee expert, Luke!”
Even through the faceplate, that familiar, slightly show-offy tone still leaked out.
“How about it? Am I super powerful right now?”
Like a child eager to show off a new toy, before his voice even finished, he exerted force with his feet. His entire being soared into the sky, leaping dozens of meters high and smashing heavily into a nearby area where the Low-level Vampires were most densely packed!
Boom!
Dust and smoke erupted at the landing site, accompanied by the muffled sound of bones shattering and the short, pained wails of the dying Blood Race.
The silver-gray figure turned into a cyclone of death among the enemy crowd. Everywhere his fists and legs passed, the Low-level Vampires fell in swaths like harvested wheat. His clearing efficiency was even greater than the Dragonified Li En from before!
The crushing force of pure physical strength brought the most direct sense of violent beauty.
Sara watched dumbstruck, only finding her voice after a long while. “Very… very powerful!”
This was a sincere compliment.
Then, she immediately followed up, “But what is going on? This… armor, and this power?”
While continuing to efficiently sweep away the grunts, Luke quickly explained, “This? It’s the effect of a Magic Tool on me! It’s what I mentioned before, bought from that mysterious Traveling Merchant who passed through our family!”
“It’s called… called something like ‘Kamen Rider Transformation Device’.”
“I never knew how to use it; I thought it was just a decoration or some scrap metal I couldn’t figure out. Just now, that big guy backed me into a corner, so I pressed it randomly, and I didn’t expect this!”
He didn’t reveal anything related to Yize. He pushed the source of everything onto that fictional “Traveling Merchant.”
Hearing this explanation, Sara understood everything. She even felt a sense of calm, as if thinking, ‘So that’s how it is.’
Traveling Merchant?
It was that “Mysterious Traveling Merchant” again.
The one who provided the god-tier Potion to Emma was “him.”
The dark shadow who saved them and killed Horn was very likely “him” or someone related to him.
……
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