The magenta light didn't just flicker; it bled into the reality of Teyvat like an ink stain on a watercolor painting.
In Leo's hand, the Decadriver felt impossibly heavy, a mechanical weight that seemed to hum with the echoes of a thousand different worlds.
"Leo? What is that?" Lumine shouted, her wind-blade flickering as the Abyss Herald lunged.
"It's... it's changing the air!"
"It's a headache," Leo growled. He slammed the driver onto his waist.
[DRIVE! DECADRIVER!]
The Herald's twin water-blades descended in a lethal arc, but Leo didn't dodge.
He pulled a card from the side-buckle—a card with a stylized, barcode-like face.
He flicked it into the center of the belt and slammed the sides together.
[KAMEN RIDE: DECADE!]
A series of grey, ghostly silhouettes exploded from Leo's body, circling him like a hurricane of film strips.
They slammed into his form, turning black, then white, and finally—with a pulse of neon magenta—locking into a suit that looked like a tactical intersection of armor and a barcode. Seven magenta plates slammed into the helmet, forming the iconic visor.
"What... kind of monster are you?" the Herald hissed, skidding back as the sheer pressure of the transformation pushed the Abyssal mist away.
Leo didn't answer with words. He reached into the Ride Booker at his hip, drawing the sword mode.
"Just a passing-through Kamen Rider. Try to remember that."
The Herald was fast, but Decade was absolute. Every time the creature tried to blink through the tides, Leo was already there, his blade clashing against the Hydro-swords with a shower of sparks.
"Lumine! The spikes!" Leo shouted. "I'll hold him here—you get to Dvalin!"
Lumine nodded, using a gust of wind to propel herself toward the dragon's neck.
But the Herald wasn't alone.
Two Abyss Mages appeared on the rafters, ready to freeze her mid-air.
Leo didn't even look up. He flipped the Decadriver open and slid in a different card.
[ATTACK RIDE: BLAST!]
His sword shifted into a handgun. Without breaking his stride against the Herald, he fired three rapid-fire magenta energy bolts.
They didn't just hit the Mages; they tracked them, curving through the air like homing missiles and detonating their shields in a single burst.
"You're distracted," Leo muttered to the Herald.
He slapped a final card into the belt.
[FINAL ATTACK RIDE: D-D-D-DECADE!]
A row of giant, translucent holographic cards materialized between Leo and the Herald, stretching across the tower floor.
Leo leaped into the air, passing through each card. With every card he breached, his speed and power doubled, his body glowing with a terrifying magenta aura.
"PERISH!" the Herald screamed, crossing his blades.
CRACK.
Leo's foot connected.
The Herald didn't just fly back—he disintegrated.
The Abyssal energy was forcibly overwritten by the Decade's particles, leaving nothing but a fading purple mist.
At the same time Lumine and the others successfully purified Dvalin.
As the armor dissolved into shimmering magenta pixels, Leo slumped against a pillar, breathing hard.
Leo reached into the digital rift and pulled out the items one by one.
The Flying Falcon Key felt warm and buzzed with a pinkish energy.
The Medajalibur was massive, its blue-and-silver guard gleaming in the dim light of the tower.
Then, there was the ticket. It was literally a piece of paper with "EXPIRED" stamped in bold red ink.
"Seriously?" Leo tossed the ticket into the air, catching it with a frown.
"I save a dragon and the system gives me trash for a train that doesn't exist in this world?"
"Is that... a map?" Paimon asked, floating over to sniff the ticket.
"It smells like... sand and clock-oil. And why are you holding a giant blue sword now? You already have the pink one!"
"Magenta," Leo corrected automatically. He shouldered the Medajalibur, feeling its weight.
"And it's a backup. You can never have too many ways to hit things."
Venti walked up, his expression uncharacteristically grave as he looked at the Decadriver on Leo's waist.
"The dragon is free, Leo. The winds are returning to their proper course. But I can't help but wonder... where exactly are you 'passing through' to next?"
Leo looked at the empty spot where the photographer had stood.
The man was gone, but the feeling of being watched remained.
"I think," Leo said, looking at Lumine and then at the strange items in his hands,
"I'm going to need a bigger inventory."