Kamen Rider Spirits Chapter 16: Legend of the Stars Part 2

Legend of the Stars (Part Two) is the sixteenth chapter of Kamen Rider Spirits and the second part of the three part Legend of the Stars story arc.

Synopsis
Super-1 engages Asuma in a kung-fu battle on the moon, trying to find out why he attacked the base. His fight is interrupted when Captain Gorbinov tells him that the evacuation shuttle needs his abilities to fly away. Super-1 fixes the shuttle and boards it, ready to escape back home to Earth. A mysterious portal appears, which sends the shuttle off course into a dangerous freefall though Earth's atmosphere. While this goes on, the Badan Empire reveal themselves to the entire world!

Plot
On Earth, the International Space Development Mission Control has received the distress signal from the Moon base, but they cannot get in contact with the astronauts. The mission specialists try to get a feed from another satellite in the hopes of getting in contact with them. Mr. Tani is in shock at least turn of events and believe that the base has been destroyed. Meanwhile, Masim is still on the phone asking about the rabbit on the Moon.

Back on the Moon, Super-1 stands in the middle of the Moon base wreckage then walks slowly towards the attacker. He proclaims that what the man destroyed was humanity's dream and all the hard work and sacrifice of those who risked lives to fulfill that dream. Super-1 then goes into a kata stance, which his enemy recognizes as the Sekishin Shaolin Fist and says he is impressed that he has found someone who studies that particular style of fighting. The man introduces himself as Asuma and Super-1 gives Asuma his Rider name on being asked what his name was.

Super-1 then makes the first move, executing his Super Rider Whirlwind Kick, only to have a Asuma block the full force of it and notes that Super-1 used the ability to alter his gravity to increase the force of his kick. Asuma then sprouts insect-like mechanical arms, which Super-1 dodges. Asuma then transforms his real arms and tries to attack Super-1 again, with the Rider realizing those arms prevent him from getting in close to attack. As Asuma attacks, he mocks the Rider's words, calling humanity "worthless locusts" who infest the Earth and now seek to destroy the universe and themselves with their infestation. He then calls humanity's "dream" the words of an idiot and then delivers a powerful punch that rattles Super-1's body, causing the hero to cough up blood. Super-1 leaps away from Asuma and then tries a ranged attack using the Thermal Hands to fire a powerful stream of flame at him. Asuma will not allow the Rider to get to near "the power sleeping in the moon", with Super-1 realizing he is somehow responsible for the quakes and the hole in the Tchaikovsky Crater. With the flame shedding Asuma's human skin, the martial artist reveals himself to be a water strider-type cyborg and tells that what lies in the moon is "God's Power".

Super-1 thinks his enemy is from the Dogma Kingdom or the Jin Dogma, but Asuma says he is from neither organization. Just as the kajin about to reveal the name who he worked for, a communication from Captain Sergei to Super-1 reveals that the crew of the moon base managed to make it safely into a shuttle. But, the shuttle cannot escape because the electrical systems have shorted out and the rocket boosters won't start. Asuma runs toward the shuttle to slaughter the entire crew, but Super-1 summons the V-Jet by remote control and it rams into Asuma at full speed using its boosters to pin him down. Super-1 takes the Blue Version get to the shuttle and uses his Elec Hands to solder the broken wires back together and give the shuttle power to restart the systems. Sergei examines the instruments as the ship starts up and says the shuttle can fly now, Kazuya back in Human form boards the shuttle and tells Sergei to take off. The shuttle ignites its boosters just as Asuma frees himself from the hold of the V-Jet, only to oddly observe them flying away presumably as he planned for this, contacting Needle. As the ship leaves the moon's gravity and heads towards Earth, Kazuya finds it suspicious that his enemy just gave up chasing them. Sergei sees a strange light coming towards them, as strange symbols appear and align into a pattern that forms a Magic Circle. Unable to respond quickly enough to slow down, stop or maneuver away, the shuttle enters the Magic Circle and is then swallowed by it.

Back on Earth, Masim is still asking about the rabbit as no one is answering the phone. Genjiro apologizes and explains they got busy on the other end and Elena insists her son should stop asking about the rabbit. Masim gets upset and throws a tantrum, before starting to cry. Elena is concerned about her ex-husband, she says she left because she couldn't keep up job but now doesn't want to leave without knowing if he's alright.

Mission control picks up static on the radio and monitors followed by a transmission that jams their signal. They see an image of the Earth from the International Space Station, while the crew on the station are struggling to regain control of communication systems as something is taking control and broadcasting the same signal on their monitors. One of the crewmen of the ISS notes the signal is being beamed to every major city in the world and redirected to ever corner of the entire planet. The crew then see something out their window, a giant monstrous asteroid-like mass surrounded by a fleet of UFOs and a small human-like figure sitting on top of the asteroid monster's face.

The figure makes his appearance clearer to the monitors and then speaks as the Kamen Riders and their allies all see him on TV from across the world:

"Humans...Can you See? Humans... Can you Hear?. The Lord... is crying... grieving. He should have said "I should not love them" and from the black tears he shed, we have come. We are BADAN, those who are loved by God. It is too late humans, because you have no future."

Needle is on a UFO near the asteroid beast and is pleased with how things are progressing, while a girl named Rumi in Japan is visibly shaken by the mention of the name Badan as a professor watching TV with her tries to comfort her. The ISS Crew see the monster and UFO fleet vanish without a trace and then a bright light appears in the void of space. The light becomes a Magic Circle and the shuttle emerges from it, but it is now on a dangerous re-entry trajectory towards Earth as Sergei struggles to level the ship. However, the shuttle is at too steep an angle to be leveled off. Sergei says if the ship does not correct its course, they will burn up in the atmosphere. Seeing how frightened the crew are, Kazuya decides to step outside the shuttle to try and support its steering using his cyborg powers. Sergei asks if Kazuya plans on dying, but Kazuya says he cannot die because he has not seen how humanity will grasp its future dreams yet. Kazyua transforms into Kamen Rider Super-1 and steps outside to go walking on the ship's hull to head for the front. One of the crew members says how dangerous this is, but is told to shut up by his captain as Kazuya promised he'd come home alive. The panel ends with Super-1 facing the intense heat of re-entry and wearing his Thermal Hands to go on a dangerous and life-threatening mission.

Allies

 * Captain Sergei Grobinof
 * Genjirō Tani
 * Kazuya Taki
 * Spike
 * Bridget
 * Annrietta Birkin
 * Kanji Yada
 * Rumi Ichijō (first appearance)
 * Keitarō Shido (first appearance)

Enemies

 * Asuma
 * ZX
 * Southern Cross
 * Needle
 * Eisuke Mikage