Chapter 450: with translation of chapter title

The noisy night had passed, and when Jiang Xia opened his eyes, Gao Siwu was dancing beneath the vermilion torii.

The sky had already brightened; morning dew was falling from the fresh green leaves, and there was actually a sun in the sky, its light slanting through the torii and sprinkling onto her.

Jiang Xia, having dressed, leaned by the window to watch Gao Siwu dance; this might be the ritual of a divine shrine maiden, her expression natural, her complexion flushed, her originally shoulder‑length gold hair quietly lengthening, swaying in the sunlight with her elegant dance, her skin as fine and splendid as golden silk, like a spirit born of the sun.

Gao Siwu had shed her white robe‑like garment and donned a snow‑white shrine maiden outfit adorned with fiery red patterns; her long legs traced exquisite curves, gold rings on her wrists and ankles chiming clear, bell‑like sounds accompanying her swan‑like graceful dance.

All these items had always been kept in her room, including the shrine maiden outfit that fit her perfectly, for Gao Siwu was the destined shrine maiden of Gao Si Shrine, so her shrine maiden attire had been prepared since her birth.

Except for the outfit she had worn at age eleven or twelve, the rest were locked away together with her shrine maiden things in the bottom of the wardrobe, with no chance to perform at the already‑demolished Gao Si Shrine; now, however, it truly felt like a dream—the regret buried in her heart for many years was dispelled in a single night, and the once‑unattainable wish in her heart was fulfilled.

At that moment, Gao Siwu saw Jiang Xia leaning by the window, admiring her; her smile blossomed like a flower opening for the first time, gently swaying on the branches of youth.

A shrine maiden is one who serves the Divine Lord, and her dance is meant to bring joy to the Divine Lord; seeing the Divine Lord she serves pleased, she naturally felt happy as well.

The dance belonging to the Divine Lord continued, only Jiang Xia's viewing spot had shifted from the treehouse windowsill to before the divine shrine maiden; the maiden pleased her own Divine Lord, and the Divine Lord, delighting in his protégé, bestowed a blessing.

"Do you like it? My Divine Lord." The girl stepped before Jiang Xia, bowed slightly, and gave a playful wink.

"It's wonderful, but from now on you should dance only for me." Jiang Xia smiled at Gao Siwu, who stood before him in her splendid shrine maiden attire.

"Of course, my dance henceforth belongs only to you." Gao Siwu took Jiang Xia's hand and gently placed it on her chest, "Besides you, I will never dance for anyone else."

"Then I should quickly defeat the other competitors." Jiang Xia laughed, stood up, took Gao Siwu's hand, and together they entered the shrine.

……

Ze Ya City, western plaza.

On these gray‑white steps, dozens of youths clad in red‑black were facing off against another group, just like gangs fighting over turf, each side with its own leader.

However, although those facing off truly were there to claim territory, they were not gangs but street‑dance crews.

These street‑dance youths were spread throughout the city, forming various teams, each giving their squad a representative name, and performing street dance in the city.

To perform in Ze Ya City, they must use the variously graded Containment Seeds in their hands to summon eerie beings from their own spaces, competing in summoning beasts on a virtual arena.

The match results and territory ownership are tallied into points held by the host of an illegal radio station; the winner can seize the opponent's turf, while the losing team must withdraw and surrender the Containment Seeds they hold.

Don't you feel something is off? Street dancing has turned into turf wars, and the losers must hand over all their Containment Seeds, so strictly speaking they are still gangs—only they fight for dance stages instead of protection money, and their weapons have become summoned alien beasts.

The Containment Seeds used to summon these alien beings are the fruits of the Helheim Forest transformed, only their outer appearance has been altered while the essential power remains the same.

If the Seeds are not used via a belt, this power is likewise a trap of the Helheim Forest, just like the fruit itself.

The alien beings summoned by these street‑dance youths via the Seeds have a high chance of going berserk, and even more frightening is that anyone scratched by an alien beast likewise succumbs to the Helheim Forest's corruption—meaning the alien beings are effectively zombies.

Anyone who is scratched cannot escape.

Jiang Xia stood on the upper circular plaza, silently watching the street‑dance youths perform; on the gray wall behind them, flyers bore their team's name: Barong.

The leader of the Barong street‑dance team is Qu Wen Jiedou, who also firmly believes that violence solves problems.

Facing them are Ge Ye Hongtai, representing the Armored Martial team, and their temporary captain, Gao Siwu.

The former captain of the Armored Martial team has become an alien beast, so only a girl can serve as captain.

"First, let me be clear: if I win, Barong must leave the western stage and hand over your Containment Seeds to the Armored Martial team." Ge Ye Hongtai said, looking at Qu Wen Jiedou opposite him.

"Fine! But if you lose, the Armored Martial team must disband immediately." Qu Wen Jiedou said confidently.

"Are you ready?"

"Of course." Ge Ye Hongtai produced his pink strawberry Containment Seed.

On the empty plaza, a ring‑like apparatus suddenly appeared; as the Seed was pressed, several spatial cracks sprang up on either side.

From the spatial rift behind Qu Wen Jiedou leapt several small, ordinary alien beings; he held three Seeds in his hand, but they were all low‑grade, and his face changed instantly when he saw the alien beings summoned by Ge Ye Hongtai.

Because the phantom alien beings summoned by Ge Ye Hongtai were not only much taller than ordinary aliens, but their ferocity was on an entirely different level.

The fearsome, beast‑like deer alien merely swung its arm and lifted its spiky‑laden leg for a fierce kick, shattering two of the three round‑headed, round‑brained ordinary aliens summoned by Qu Wen Jiedou; the last one clearly could not last much longer.

Several members of the Armored Martial team showed delight, especially Gao Siwu, for this meant she could dance again on the western stage.

"Jiedou is going to lose." A Barong member hiding around the corner glanced at the stage and whispered cautiously to his friend.

"Looks like Barong's victory will depend on me." Another, hearing that Barong was set to lose, pulled out a prepared slingshot, drew it back, and aimed a small stone at the hand of Ge Ye Hongtai holding the Seed; a hit would cause the summoned alien on stage to lose control, granting an easy victory.

Such practiced motion showed it wasn't their first time; whenever Barong faced defeat in the alien‑beast game, the two would interfere, and given Qu Wen Jiedou's own strength, this underhanded tactic had gone unnoticed.

As Ge Ye Hongtai prepared to greet victory, he suddenly felt a sting on the back of his hand, and the Seed he had been gripping fell to the ground.

At the moment the Seed dropped, the towering, mighty alien beast let out a huge roar; its illusory light‑shadow instantly solidified into flesh, freed from the Seed's bind, it punched the last alien into fragments, and as it struck, it leapt into the air.

It was a humanoid monster with antlers on its head, its body covered in blue vine‑like patterns, orange‑yellow spikes lining its elbows and outer legs, and two blade‑like horns thrusting toward the sky.

Its protruding sharp face opened the Blood‑filled Mouth, emitting a beastly roar, revealing fierce fangs in the great maw.

When the surrounding spectators and supporters of the two dance teams witnessed the monster's birth, the primal fear humans feel upon encountering a beast exploded in their hearts.

Panic and countless screams erupted across the plaza; even the lowest‑grade alien could slaughter crowds effortlessly, let alone the deer alien, which was faster and stronger than the weakest alien, lunging directly at the fleeing throng.

"No!" Ge Ye Hongtai, seeing this, swiftly bent to pick up the Seed that had just fallen; if he could regain hold of it, he could control the alien.

But amid the fleeing crowd's chaos, Ge Ye Hongtai's Seed had been kicked far away; he could only dodge the escaping people while trying to grasp it.

However, as Ge Ye Hongtai bent down, Gao Siwu, who had been standing closest to the stage behind him, became the deer alien's target.

Because she was still pondering how the game's alien beings had become corporeal, that very thought prevented her from running far.

The deer alien's monstrous form lunged at Gao Siwu; Ge Ye Hongtai didn't even transform, and Gao Siwu, merely an ordinary girl facing the alien, could only shut her eyes in fear and raise her thin, frail arms to shield herself.

Obviously this could not block the alien; the deer alien's body could stop bullets, its strength enough to tear a calf apart, so a girl paralyzed by fear on the ground stood no chance of surviving its grasp.

"Ahwu!" After picking up the Seed head, Ge Ye Hongtai shouted at Gao Siwu.

"Why am I taking part in this alien‑beast game when I could have used the belt's power earlier to protect everyone? Why summon alien beasts when this power should protect others? What am I doing with the Seed's power now?!"

The fallen Gao Siwu likewise smelled the beast's foul saliva, guessing the monster was opening its maw to lunge at her, while Ge Ye Hongtai, who possessed the Sengoku Driver, seemed unable to reach her in time.

"Am I going to die? Is my dance dream ending like this? Ending right beside the stage I love most?"

"I wish I could wear the shrine maiden outfit again, even without a shrine, just to dance once more and let the Divine Lord grant beautiful blessings to my friends."

"Peng!"

A huge sound exploded before her, the wild wind tossing Gao Siwu's black hair; she opened her eyes, staring blankly at the man blocking her path. He slammed a fist into the alien's chest; the deer alien's body shuddered as if struck by a shell, the tremendous force hurling the nearly two‑meter‑tall beast straight into the wall.

The wall built of gray bricks was shattered directly, and dense spiderwebs spread across that wall.

"Are you okay?" The man who suddenly appeared in the sunlight reached out his hand to Gao Siwu.

"Mm, I'm fine, I'm fine." Gao Siwu carefully placed her hand in the man's palm, and using his strength she stood up from the ground; she could even smell a faint fragrance emanating from the man who saved her life.

It seemed like a fruity scent; she felt familiar with this smell, but couldn't recall it.

"It's good that you're okay; stay away from the battlefield, the fight ahead is the man's." Jiang Xia looked at the otherworldly being crawling out of the ruins and said to Gao Siwu.

I never expected Gao Siwu to almost really die; it seems the effects of the spacetime disturbance are all-encompassing, now we're truly bound together.

Whether past or future, both must be saved; it seems we need to resort to some small tricks.

If we can't fix the future, we try to erase the past; the spacetime regulations really have you.

But this doesn't stump him; as long as we make the spacetime regulations believe that future Gao Siwu has disappeared, it's fine.

Jiang Xia watched the obedient Gao Siwu run off, then turned his gaze to Ge Ye Hongtai, who was looking at him with a surprised expression.

"You're that guy… the one who called himself my rival last time, thank you for saving Ahwu." Ge Ye Hongtai ran over to express his thanks.

"I'm no longer your rival; you've already lost." Jiang Xia said to the foolish-looking Ge Ye Hongtai.

"I lost?" Ge Ye Hongtai pointed at himself, "I haven't even competed with you, are you from the Baron Team? The otherworldly being match just now should obviously have been won by our Gaim Team."

"I'm not from the Baron Team, and I'm not referring to this matter; even if I explained, you wouldn't understand." Jiang Xia said somewhat helplessly.

"Then let's not talk about it; I'll go deal with the otherworldly beings first, and later thank you for saving Ahwu."

Ge Ye Hongtai took out the Gaim Belt from his pocket; he had already found the purpose of the power brought by the Sengoku Driver—it is protection.

He wants to use this power to protect everyone in the world, not to deliver takeout, paint walls, or work part-time.

Jiang Xia looked at the belt on Ge Ye Hongtai's waist; he also pulled a Sengoku Driver from his pocket—of course, he didn't buy it from a black-market dealer, but made it himself; the Earth Library has data on the belt, so building one himself is no problem.

"You also have a Sengoku Driver? Great, we two can jointly handle the otherworldly beings." Ge Ye Hongtai rubbed his hands, then took out an Orange Lockseed and struck his complicated, impractical transformation pose.

"It's just a transformation; no need for that." Jiang Xia mentally complained about Ge Ye Hongtai's flashy movements.

He simply clenched his fist lightly; when he opened it again, a square, green-shelled Lockseed had appeared in his palm.

A Melon Lockseed, of course, also handmade.

"henshin! (transformation!)"

"Melon (melon)"

"Orange (orange)"

"LOCKON!"

As the fruit knife pressed down, the Lockseed fixed at the center of the belt instantly split downward.

At that moment, the Deer Otherworldly Being spread its claws, leapt up again, and charged toward the two preparing to transform.

The space above the two quickly opened, revealing a giant green and a giant orange armored fruit, which swiftly descended onto their heads; a white base form covered Jiang Xia's body, then the emerald-green fruit armor unfolded.

Jiang Xia's chest and shoulders gained armor resembling a peach; he gripped the air with his right hand, and a rectangular shield topped with a melon emblem was loaded onto his arm; a black longsword hung at his waist, and the horns on his forehead were not one long and one short like Gaim's, but both ends equal in length.

Kamen Rider Zangetsu, basic form.

"Is that a new knight?" Gao Siwu whispered while looking at the white knight.

Qu Wen Jiedou, watching from the sidelines, gazed at the armor-clad knight resembling a peerless general, his eyes filled with longing; such great power, he would surely obtain it as well.

"Haha, Melon? Really quite handsome." Ge Ye Hongtai glanced at Zangetsu then at himself, "But I'm not bad either."

"Let's end this quickly!" Jiang Xia drew the longsword from his waist, stood silently before the Deer Otherworldly Being, which felt immense pressure, instantly halted its attack, silently shifted its steps, and dared not approach.

Although Jiang Xia only used an ordinary Lockseed, casually drawing any power from within would be enough to instantly defeat it, let alone that he possesses the power of the Helheim Forest, which is stronger than that of the otherworldly being before him—"ok."

Ge Ye Hongtai combined the Big Orange in his hand with the black longsword, placed the Lockseed into the blade's groove, and the Lockseed energy instantly filled.

Jiang Xia's operation was much simpler: he lightly swung the black longsword at the Deer Otherworldly Being, a splendid emerald blade arc flew out along the sword, instantly slicing the being vertically in half.

The next second, Gaim's ultimate move finished charging; an orange-yellow blade flash passed, the poor Deer Otherworldly Being was cut into four pieces by the two blades, and finally exploded under the combined force of Melon and Orange.

"Pleasant cooperation." Ge Ye Hongtai put away the Big Orange.

"If you don't want today's incident to happen again, then don't play with the otherworldly beings game; Lockseeds are very dangerous, and if you don't understand them, don't touch them." Jiang Xia said seriously to Ge Ye Hongtai.

Afterward, he pointed his sword at the two people hiding nearby who were cheating with slingshots: "Today's whole affair is your fault; if there's a next time, I'll directly cut off your hands."

Although Jiang Xia spoke normally, the content frightened the two into a start; they waved their hands repeatedly: "There won't be a next time, no, no."

At this point, Qu Wen Jiedou finally realized that the dropped Lockseeds were done by his teammates; thus, part of his victories so far have been tainted.

He glared at the two angrily: "You two bastards! What do you mean by doing this! Do you look down on me? Losing is losing! If I catch you, I'll break both your legs!"

"Hey hey hey, no need for that." Ge Ye Hongtai glanced at Jiang Xia then at Qu Wen Jiedou, "One cuts hands, the other breaks legs—isn't that a bit too much…"

"This is internal Baron Team business; you don't need to interfere." Qu Wen Jiedou gave Ge Ye Hongtai a vicious look.

"Alright." Ge Ye Hongtai could only watch the Baron Team leave; after all, they said there'd be a next time—what else could be done?

"Um, may I ask your name?" Gao Siwu trotted over to Jiang Xia's side after the battle ended.

"No other meaning, I just want to repay you." Gao Siwu looked at Zangetsu as he looked over, waving her hands repeatedly.

"If you want to repay me, then let me join the Gaim Team." Jiang Xia de-transformed, "I still lack a proper job, so does your team need people?"

"Um, we don't have much money, so the wages might not be high." Gao Siwu said carefully.

The Gaim Team's treatment is far inferior to other dance troupes; the wealthiest is Baron, and the Gaim Team doesn't even have uniforms; financially it's a bit difficult, after all they're just a group of young people who like street dance.

"That's fine." Jiang Xia laughed, "I don't care much about money, but I also can't have none."

"Deal?" Jiang Xia extended his hand.

"Mm, deal." Gao Siwu nodded and shook hands. (End of chapter)