"Mission of the Inherited Name."

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"Wait—who the hell are you?"

Just as Dan was about to do the whole "cool hero exit," Erik dropped down from the second floor.

"I'm just a passing Kamen Rider. Don't overthink it."

He waved casually and turned to leave, repeating his signature catchphrase.

But Erik stared at his back—and at that familiar-looking belt on his waist.

After a moment of hesitation, he called out, "Dan… is that you, kid?"

Dan froze. No way. His identity's been blown already?! He just started this gig!

Seeing the reaction, Erik knew he was right. He remembered now—when he visited Dan's garage, that belt was on his waist.

"No point pretending. I know it's you. But don't worry—I'm not telling anyone."

Dan let out a long sigh. Man, what a fail.

He made a quick hand signal to Erik, motioning for them to talk outside. Who knew if there were still cameras or bugs in the bar—he wasn't about to get tracked by vampires.

Out on the road, Dan was driving the Tridoron around aimlessly.

Erik sat in the passenger seat, looking at the young driver beside him, his expression complicated.

"First of all, thanks for saving me tonight. But I've gotta say… kid, you shouldn't have gotten involved in this mess."

Dan kept one hand on the wheel and smiled. "Too late. I'm already in it, aren't I?"

Erik's already dark face turned even gloomier. Fighting vampires was his job. He didn't want to drag anyone else in—especially not a sixteen-year-old kid. Even if this kid wasn't exactly normal.

"Alright, Mr. Erik, how about we swap some intel? You must've noticed—these vampires aren't like the ones you're used to."

As a Level 10 agent, Erik immediately picked up on what Dan was implying.

"You know something, don't you?"

He thought back to what happened at the bar. That freak who wasn't afraid of sunlight or silver weapons, the one he couldn't even scratch, got totally wrecked by Dan.

Dan nodded and looked at Erik seriously.

"I do know a few things. But I need some confirmation—to see if it matches what I suspect."

Erik hesitated, then finally said, "I did get some intel. Vampire Firth dug up something from the Blood Ancestor's vault. Whatever it is, it's weird—and powerful. I had a shot at stealing it, but… I missed my chance."

Later, that guy just disappeared. But I had a feeling—those monsters must've been created through his experiments with those secret vaults. The vampires even said those things could push their entire species into a new stage of evolution."

Dan scratched his head. He was honestly a bit stunned. He'd watched Blade, so he knew the Twelve Blood Ancestors had left behind a bunch of treasure—but that was supposed to be nukes and gold, right? What kind of nuke turns into a vampire monster?

"Alright, your turn to talk."

Dan cleared his throat lightly.

"Well… the monster you saw, I call it a 'Fang Vampire.'"

"Fang Vampire? Isn't it just a regular vampire?"

"They're kinda the same thing—it's just a name," Dan said, waving his hand to stop further questions and continued.

"There's not a huge difference between a Fang Vampire and the kind of vampires you already know. Both need something to survive—regular vamps drink blood, these guys suck life energy instead. But here's the real problem—they're even more dangerous.

First off, sunlight and silver weapons don't affect them. All the usual vampire-killing stuff? Useless.

Second, Fang Vamps have special abilities that regular vamps don't. And each one is different. Take the guy you saw today—his power was soundwaves."

Erik's brows knitted together as he listened. His weapons were useless against these things, and now they had powers too? How the hell was he supposed to fight that?

Dan saw Erik's troubled expression and had a pretty good idea what he was worrying about.

"Don't stress too much. I think making even one of these things takes a lot of effort. Otherwise, we wouldn't have seen just one in that bar tonight. If they could mass-produce an army of sun-proof vampires, the world would already be theirs."

"But still," Erik muttered, "Even if it's difficult, Feith won't give up. He's definitely trying to figure out how to mass-produce them. And when he does…"

He trailed off. Just the thought of a vampire super-army was terrifying.

Dan thought for a moment and said, "Maybe I can help you. If a Fang Vampire shows up, I can take care of it. And once I keep them busy, regular vampires are easy for you, right?"

Erik looked at him and shook his head.

"No, no way. It's way too dangerous. You're still young—I can't drag you into this."

Seeing how stubborn Erik was, Dan sighed.

"Listen, Blade—like I said before, the moment I showed up back there, I was already involved. And right now, you're no match for a Fang Vampire. Just imagine—if Feith really cracks the code on how to make those things in bulk, what do you think will happen to this world? Do you really think I could sit on the sidelines when that time comes?"

Erik fell silent. He knew Dan was right. But the thought of putting the fate of the world on the shoulders of a sixteen-year-old still didn't sit well with him.

Eventually, Erik brought the car to a stop. The Deletron pulled up at the side of the street.

Standing outside, Erik looked through the window at Dan.

"Dan, kid—tell me, why are you doing this? Why put yourself in this kind of danger?"

Dan looked back at him and smiled calmly.

"Because I'm a Kamen Rider. The moment I put on the mask, I accepted the mission that came with this armor. I fight to protect human freedom. Even if you hadn't shown up, I'd still be standing in front of any threat to humanity. That's my mission—the mission of the name I've inherited."

Hearing that, Erik's tense expression eased a little.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a grain-sized tracking device—Dan had planted it on him.

"You know, pulling tricks like this on a trained agent? You're still too green, kid."

He handed the tracker back and gave Dan an address.

"I'll think about what you said. But until then, there's a lot you need to work on. Come to this place in three days."

"....."