Chapter 1: A Passing Through Belt Salesman

 

The first thing she remembered upon waking up was how hungry she was, and how the thing who’s standing before her, flabbergasted as it is, looked like something delicious.

“Impossible! A greater demonoid?! From a commoner?!”

She could hear the thing start shouting in disbelief. She tried opening her mouth to reply, but what came out was an intelligible sound instead.

The thing, larger than herself, a reptilianne head, a humanoid upper body, and lizard-like lower body complete with four small legs; basically a giant lizard in her eyes--a delicious giant lizard, kept retreating as she approached it. The more she looked at it, not only she became even hungrier, something else also emerged within her mind.

Hate.

She hated that thing. But strangely she also found it too delectable to miss. In the end she concluded that all she needed to do to reconcile those conflicting feelings was to kill it, tear it into pieces, then after it dies, eat it.

And she went with that plan.

Instinctively, she pounced forward in the attempt to catch the lizard off guard. But still unaware of what she’s capable of doing, she ended up offshooting her pounce by a lot, crashing into the group of some pale fleshed miscreants. Her momentum actually turned the first few miscreants that came in contact with her as she crashed into them to a spray of red liquid and chunks of meat.

Checking her hand, she realized that her clawed hand managed to gouge out a chunk of meat from the giant lizard’s flank. Her nostril caught the delectable fragrance from that piece of meat, causing her hunger to flare up. Yet at the same time, she felt disgusted by seeing it.

Before she could do anything else, the pale miscreants around her started to pounce at her. They tried to claw and bite at her feet and thighs, barely able to reach her waist when they jumped. But her shiny carapace was too hard for the puny cretins to even scratch. Instinctively, she used the appendage on her butt--her tail-- to shove them away.

The miscreants were less delectable in her eyes than the giant lizard, but the hate and disgust that came after seeing them closely were probably just as strong. 

Fueled by this hate, she aggressively lashed around with her clawed hand and the bone spear tipped tail. Killing everything that attempted to approach her. That was until she caught sight of the giant lizard again. She decided that she hated the lizard more than the small miscreants. Not to mention that it smells more delicious.

Having secured some spaces among the group of miscreants, she directed her aggression back to the giant lizard, which now had become aware of her antagonism toward it. The lizard touted a long spear that was taller than itself, using the spear length to intercept her mid-flight when she attempted to pounce again. 

She was sent sideways to the rickety building, which collapsed from being impacted with her body. Despite that, the momentum coming from the spear swing managed to send her blasting into two more houses.

For the first time since waking up, she felt pain. Her carapace did not break, but the area where the spear struck still hurt. The pain simply added into her hate. She pounced at the lizard once more, only to get swatted again by its spear.

“Tsk, I was scared for nothing. It’s still just a feral demonoid in the end.”

She could hear the giant lizard comment at her recent attempts to attack it.

This time the spear hit a larger portion of her body. The carapace still didn’t break from the impact, but the stricken area hurt all the same. She’s seething right now, but she also instinctively knew that charging straight in wouldn’t work anymore.

Growling in frustration, her currently simple mind raced to find a solution. But in the end, all she could come up with was to try to not get hit. Right, all she needs to do is to watch out for the spear!

Keeping that in mind, she once again charged at the giant lizard, this time keeping one eye set on the spear in its right hand. Thanks to that, she saw the spear coming at her. She knew that she needed to dodge…

 

...only to find on the next moment that the lizard hadn’t swung its spear yet. And that she’s no closer to the lizard than when she saw it about to swing the spear just now. Given her speed, that should be impossible. 

Then as if following the vision she foresaw to a T, the lizard took an exact same stance and even swung at an exact same angle and speed. 

She was perplexed, but didn’t have time to mull over it. All that matter was that she knew in advance how the spear is moving, 

Right… there…

In the split second before the spear reached her, she ducked, causing the spear to hit empty air. She continued her charge, thinking that it’ll take a while for the lizard to recover from the momentum.

 

But she was wrong. Using its left hand, the lizard halted its spear before the swing was completed, then proceeded to trip her. Not stopping there, the lizard followed with a downward swing, directly hitting her as she’s still trying to get up. The impact this time was so much more severe than the lizard’s previous attacks that the ground caved in into a huge crater.

Again? 

There she was, still ducking to dodge the horizontal swing. Quickly shifting her eyes to the lizard’s left hand, she instantly knew that her vision just now would play out the same as well. And unlike the previous one, where it stopped before she got hit, she actually saw what happened if she fell prey to this next attack. That is, unless she did something.

She kept charging in, though now ready for what’s about to come. 

Seemingly noticing the change in her body language, the lizard changed the trajectory of its spear swing to be slightly higher. But it didn’t matter to her. Not to mention her own agility, the lizard’s hesitation slowed its attack by a fraction, making it easier for her to somersault over as the spear passed by.

Landing gracefully on both feet, she immediately looked up, anticipating the overhead downward swing. There it was, the looming presence of the spear. She couldn’t dodge this one, she knew that full well. Therefore, the only path left was to face it head on.

Instinctively, she moved her left foot to the front and entered a stance. In but an instant, she could feel power gathering down to her right feet. When the converging power was reaching its critical point, coinciding with the lizard’s spear dropping down at her, she released it by launching a round kick toward the spear.

 

Kaboom!

 

The two powers collided. But not exactly in a direct confrontation. As the spear dropped down, her kick hit the side of the spear with extreme precision. Receiving a push from another direction, not to mention a very powerful push at that, caused the spear to not only miss its original trajectory, but also caused its wielder to lose balance.

Yes, she didn’t aim to compete in power with the spear attack. What she wanted was to make the lizard off balance. Not waiting for the lizard to recover, she charged at it again.

Using her full body to tackle the lizard, rendering it to flinch backward while further exposing its defense, she used the recoil of their collision to make a little gap between them then sprung back with her right claws up. 

“Grraaaaaaahh!”

The lizard wailed in pain as her right claws dug deep into its lower stomach. 

She didn’t stop there, however. With half of her arm still inside the lizard’s body, she leaped up, and did an uppercut to free her right arm, tearing a large vertical gash along the lizard’s upper body in the process.

“Graahh!! You little…!”

The lizard growled in pain, but it still managed to retaliate by grabbing her with its free left hand while she’s still in midair, slamming her to the ground twice then tossing her aside.

She was tossed into a house, which didn’t collapse like last time. Guess the lizard spear strike was more powerful. As she was about to get back to battle, she noticed another presence by her side. At first she thought that it was more of those pale skinned miscreants. But..  

“Sis…”

“Shush! It may hear you”

A pair of tiny creatures, the first time she saw since her awakening, spoke to each other in hushed voices. Probably trying to conceal themselves from her. But she clearly heard them anyway.

“It’s looking at us…”

“I told you to be silent”

She looked at the little ones with curiosity. There was welling hate when she saw the lizard and the pale skinned miscreants. But strangely she felt nothing like that when she’s looking at these two small creatures. In fact, she felt... 

...pity?

But then her senses felt something else coming. Baleful killing intent. She reflexively turned away to look for the source of this killing intent.

However, she didn’t even have a chance to react. The spear tip was already extremely close to her.

And yet it missed.

Probably because the lizard couldn’t see her inside the house, it wasn’t able to aim at her accurately. But given the power behind the spear throw, slightly missing the target won't be a problem.

But there WAS a problem.

The spear missed her, but it’s speeding toward the little ones hiding under the bed beside her…

 

“Sis…”

“Shush! It may hear you”

She was startled to hear the same hushed dialogue once more. 

It was the vision again.

She now knew what kind of attack was coming. And yet, her mind was conflicted as another kind of feeling started to well up in her chest. It was different from the hate she felt toward the lizard or the miscreants. It was…

...anger…

...and grief.

“Sis, I think it’s angry…”

“I told you to be silent”

The little ones’ dialogues were slightly changed from what she heard in the vision. But it mattered not for her. Her instinct was flaring, her body sending in overflowing information to her brain in a matter of millisecond. The spear was coming.

 

And she knew what to do.

 

======================

 

The Greater Demonoid Valak looked on as his spear demolished the house and raised a huge cloud of dust and debris. 

That should do it… right?

Valak cursed inwardly at himself.

He was attacking this village to capture some of the human villagers to be turned into more Lesser Demonoids. That blasted ‘Kamen Rider’ attacked his group while en route to Haiaiel Kingdom, severely reducing the number of Lesser Demonoids under his command. Thus he’s forced to flee and resupply here.

But who knows that among the villagers he captured and forcefully turned into demonoids, there’s one who actually turned into a Greater Demonoid instead?

Valak winched. The large gash on his body was still bleeding profusely. The female demonoid’s lingering energy prevents it from healing. Who would’ve thought that he, whose image was based upon the nagas of mythic tale, along with his superb spearmanship, was pushed into such a pitiful state by a newborn Demonoid?

Doesn’t matter now.

That female Greater Demonoid should be dead now. Although his wound reduced his accuracy, not to mention that he didn’t have clear sight on his target, his spear throw is powerful enough to destroy the vicinity along with her. 

However, when the dust cloud suddenly cleared, he realized how wrong he was.

“Impossi…”

Before Valak could finish his muttering, he was already skewered in the head by his own spear.

 

========

 

A young man and a beautiful woman walked in haste following a scrawny guy that was jogging ahead of them. The scrawny guy was dressed in a regular male commoner’s clothing of Ars Nova, a white cotton kilt and a pair of sandals. The young man and the beautiful woman, on the other hand, were dressed in a foreign looking set of clothing; at least from the scrawny guy’s point of view.

 The young man--his reddish brown hair looked slightly unkempt, giving his partly asian face a sense of playful laziness-- was wearing a red shirt under a baggy brown jacket with feather decorated cowl, as well as a pair of blue jeans, and brown boots to complete the ensemble. A pendant with a golden chain hanging on his neck. He’s also carrying around a large backpack.

The beautiful woman--her long silky silver hair left draping on her back, adding a sense of innocence to her pretty face-- was wearing a similar set of clothing as the young man. The difference being that she’s wearing black strapless top under her smaller blue jean jacket, and a pair of leather high heeled boots instead. The blue jeans she’s wearing were also more tight fitting, highlighting the curve of her hips and thighs. A pendant that matched the shape of the one worn by the young man, albeit with a longer chain, hung from her neck and nestled itself on top of her rather voluminous breasts. Despite wearing high heeled boots while travelling in the wilderness, she didn’t seem to have any trouble keeping up with the two guys.

The two were in the middle of tracking the enemy that fled before the young man could finish it off, when they came across a group of people who were forced to abandon their village. As it turned out, their village was attacked by the greater demonoid Valak, coincidentally also the enemy they had been trying to track for these past few days.

They managed to convince the group to have one person to guide them back to the village. And here they are, rushing toward their target once more.

“You could’ve let me show them my stuff first…”

“Look at the situation. Do you think they have the mood or money for your shenanigan?”

“Well at least I could try…”

“Yeah right”

“You’re my ‘assistant’, aren’t you? You should’ve at least help me to sell some of my stuff”

“Pardon, but that is not part of my job description.”  

“Do we even have a proper working contract for you to have a job description?”

“Do not push your luck, boy.”

“What if I am? Ma’am?”

“.....that means nothing. Besidely, I have not seen you sell even one of your… stuff so far. I do not see the reason why you keep insisting on doing so from the economic standpoint.”

“....touché”

The young man and the beautiful woman spent most of the journey bickering with each other, which made the scrawny man feel uncomfortable walking near them. That’s why he’s been keeping his pace to stay some distance in front of them.

 

Before they knew it, the intrepid trio arrived at a precipice facing the village. Here, they could observe the village from a safe distance. The young man extracted a binocular from his bag before joining the beautiful woman to observe the situation. She gave him a look with her amber colored eyes as if she found what he did strange.

“...what? Sorry for being a human with regular human eyesight.”

After a short pause, the young man muttered in response to the bewildered gaze. 

“Forgive me. I can be forgetful at times.”

The beautiful woman sighed.

Without saying anything more, the two kept themself low on the ground and started observing the village in their own way.

 

“Is that another greater demonoid attacking our target?”

The young man commented upon what he saw from the binoculars.

“Indeed. A newly born one.”

Replied the beautiful woman.

“Wait, how could that be possible?”

The young man lowered his binoculars and turned at the woman with an incredulous look on his face.

“Who knows? Fate can be fickle at times.”

Hearing the woman’s reply, the young man remained silent for a while, before returning to observe the situation from his binoculars.

“There are survivors in that house.”

He suddenly said while pointing to a certain house.

“How did you know?”

The woman asked. To be fair, she only sensed the two kids after the young man pointed it out.

“All of my gadgets were made by the Professor, remember? Naturally, they’re nothing but normal despite their appearance. This one has a heat radar on it.”

Replied the young man without lowering his binoculars.

“The Professor? Of course.”

The beautiful woman’s reply was dry, seemingly already convinced the moment she heard that it was made by the Professor.

“This new one, at first it’s moving like a wild beast, but then it starts moving as though it has foreseen Valak’s actions. Not to mention its swiftness”

“Perhaps it has the ability to see the future, albeit limited.”

“Ugh, fighting it will be troublesome.”

“But I believe you already have a plan.”

“You know me so well.”

The two then continued to observe the fight.

 

“Fuck! Valak tossed that other greater demonoid to that house. I’m going in!”

“Wait!”

The woman prevented the young man from joining the battle. Knowing something was up, he returned to his binoculars to see what happened.

“No way…”

“It protected the kids through the use of some sort of telekinetic power.”

“The plot thickens. But anyway, I need to extract those kids first. I’ll be back in a sec.”

The young man left abruptly. Leaving the beautiful woman and the confused scrawny man atop the hill.

“Wha, what is he trying to do, charging into that hell hole by himself like that?”

Asked the scrawny man in confusion.

“No need to concern yourself with his antics.”

“Wha…”

Finding the confused local guy amusing, the beautiful woman smiled--almost causing the scrawny man to have a mild stroke from seeing how hauntingly beautiful she is-- and added.

“He is, after all, just a passing through belt salesman.”

 

========================

 

She was so blinded by rage, that by the point she regained her sanity, she didn’t know how she ended up standing in the middle of piles upon piles of the pale skinned miscreants' corpses. Looking to the left, she found the heavily mutilated body of the giant lizard, skewered by a number of his own spears. Small amount of greenish flame could be seen burning some parts of the bodies. 

Did I do all this?

She wondered to herself. Though she knew the answer already. The memory was returning to her slowly. And her blood drenched body was more than enough for evident. 

Following her instinct, she approached the lizard’s corpse. The sight disgusted her just as much as the pile of miscreants’ corpses, but at least this one is more ‘edible’.

She took a deep breath, then exhaled. Her instinct told her that is all she needed to do. So she followed. As she kept inhaling and exhaling, she noticed that the greenish flames grew bigger, until it finally engulfed the corpse whole. In the meantime, as the flame grew and consumed the corpse, she could also feel her body growing stronger and her hunger sated with each breath. 

“Ma’am, or whatever you are, I have to ask you to stop right there before it gets harder for me to deal with you.”

A voice distracted her from continuing the feast.

She turned toward the source of the voice. Finding a similar creature to those little ones hiding in that house--albeit taller and bigger, gazing back at her. But something confused her.

With the two little ones, she felt something akin to pity for them. She felt anger when they’re put in danger, thus why she attempted to protect them. And yet, even if she knew that the one standing before her right now is of the same kind as the little ones, the feeling she got was totally different.

What she felt was foreignness…

...and dread.

“Wh-who… are… you…”

Finally capable of forming a coherent sentence after absorbing parts of the Lizard’s essence, she asked.

“It’s not important who I am. But I’m here to see if you can bear the burning cross.”

The creature replied. Putting on a weird and foreign looking object around its waist.

[X-over Driver, ready to roll~]

A sing-song voice played out as the object seemingly activated. The creature then raised a thin cylindrical shaped object on each hand, before jamming the two into the object on its waist.

[Featuring Hero Reel A, Godspeed Beetle Fighter Kabuto]

[Featuring Hero Reel B, Futuristic Hopping President Zero-one]

Two voices saying different lines played out on top of each other.

“But first, allow me to show you the cross I bear”

It then pressed something on the object on its waist, causing the two cylindrical objects that are now latched on it to start spinning. At the same time, crimson fire engulfed the creature.

[Set, roll, action! Xrossover Hero! Here we go!]

“Henshin”

[Kamen Rider A-Cross!]