Digimon Ruins of Babylon
- Thread starter Daneel Rush
- Start date
There's an error here:
Extra 'r' there.
Great fight scene. I feel a bit sorry for the RKs; even without Alphamon helping out you'd think they'd be able to take down Lucemon's child form with numbers and coordination. But NOPE, they haven't gotten their asses kicked this hard since Yggdrasil in Savers. I guess this shows just how powerful the Crest of Pride can be.
Speaking of which, where are Craniummon and Sleipmon? They wouldn't have added much to the fight, but since almost every other member is here shouldn't they be here as well? Gankoomon is new, so I can understand why you didn't include him.
Extra 'r' there.
Great fight scene. I feel a bit sorry for the RKs; even without Alphamon helping out you'd think they'd be able to take down Lucemon's child form with numbers and coordination. But NOPE, they haven't gotten their asses kicked this hard since Yggdrasil in Savers. I guess this shows just how powerful the Crest of Pride can be.
Speaking of which, where are Craniummon and Sleipmon? They wouldn't have added much to the fight, but since almost every other member is here shouldn't they be here as well? Gankoomon is new, so I can understand why you didn't include him.
Guard duty maybe? They have to leave some guys back to protect Yggdrasil....and those 2 are the most suited for that role based on their abilities.
Gankoomon's profile on the other hand, indicates that he is some sort of wandering hero knight who rarely stays at the same place. So I wouldn't be surprised if the Royal Knights weren't able to get in touch with him.
Speaking of Gankoomon, does anybody else think that his protege Huckmon's evolution is being set up as the future last member of the Royal Knights? Considering it's been outright stated that the Ulforce V-Dramon fighting here isn't the same Ulforce V-Dramon who fought Lucemon in the past....there's a loop-hole here for Daneel to explain why there isn't a 13th member using Huckmon. (he hasn't finished evolving into the role yet)
Gankoomon's profile on the other hand, indicates that he is some sort of wandering hero knight who rarely stays at the same place. So I wouldn't be surprised if the Royal Knights weren't able to get in touch with him.
Speaking of Gankoomon, does anybody else think that his protege Huckmon's evolution is being set up as the future last member of the Royal Knights? Considering it's been outright stated that the Ulforce V-Dramon fighting here isn't the same Ulforce V-Dramon who fought Lucemon in the past....there's a loop-hole here for Daneel to explain why there isn't a 13th member using Huckmon. (he hasn't finished evolving into the role yet)
“I curse you. I loathe you! I wish you never existed! I wish our fates had never been bound!â€
************
Makino Ruki was trembling.
This whole scene went so far beyond common sense it was almost funny. She would have laughed, but she felt she would no longer be herself if she did so. Something—her humanity, her rationality, her identity—felt brittle and fragile inside her and threatened to shatter with further exposure to the madness before her eyes.
Takato, slain unceremoniously, in an instant, by one of those Royal Knights. And then Lucemon, fallen into a cold madness that almost knocked her out sorely by its sheer existence, had beaten those same Royal Knights with ludicrous efficiency. He had taken wounds, but it was still an unbelievable victory of a single Digimon against some of the most powerful Ultimates.
Lucemon stood facing that…than thing. That monster Takato had called Alphamon. A Digimon? Was that thing really a Digimon? That…that could not be right. Digimon were powerful, yes, but…that thing, that thing that simply stood them watching its allies get beaten; that thing was no mere “Digital Monsterâ€.
Her eyes moved inside their sockets, nervously seeking her own allies. Kenta had fallen on his rear, watching the battle like a living extra in a Godzilla movie. Surrounded by monsters—albeit most of them fallen—, the spectacled boy could only tremble on the spot and babble incoherently. A part of her wondered if he had wetted his pants. Jenrya and Terriermon…of course, they were also paralyzed, on their knees. It would be ludicrous of her to expect anything else from either of them. It was not like she was doing any better, although she at least remained on her feet.
Ruki’s thoughts then went to Lilithmon. What happened to Takato’s sister? Was she dead?
“Ruki,†Renamon said. At the same time, her soft paw fell to rest on her left shoulder. Ruki turned her head to look at her partner and immediately caught sight of what Renamon wanted her to see.
Ruki saw the impossible.
************
The difference in height was immense, but there was no mistake: the two were titans.
The two were powerful, but let there be no mistake: this battle already had a winner.
An instant. Alphamon. A single swing of his blade.
Infinity.
Hundreds, thousands of strikes, each of them capable of scarring mountains and splitting the seas. Not a rapid sequence of strikes faster than the eye could see, but a collection of simultaneous attacks. The moment Alphamon made “the decision to attackâ€, the need to settle on a single “attack sequence†was rendered moot. All possible attack vectors were covered; if a probability could be assigned to every possible way of attack Alphamon could have chosen, then this ability automatically changed that probability to 1. Alphamon became a quantum object made manifest on the macroscopic universe, manifesting all possibilities and transcending universal law.
The ultimate ability. The crowning algorithm. Yggdrasil’s magnum opus invested upon its finest servant.
Alpha InForce.
It was repelled.
Eight million perfect attacks were repelled by eight million perfect parries. It was the most magnificent symphony of forces, actions and reactions that would have drawn Issac Newton to tears of ecstasy. Not a single trace of any single strike was allowed to manifest: there was no gouging of the ground around them, no shockwaves, no sparks or bursts of heat or incandescence. To the eyes of those with the privilege to witness that moment, it was as if absolutely nothing had happened.
Alphamon’s eyes widened. Was it merely surprise? Or was it amazement?
Lucemon shuddered, but his eyes remained fierce. He took a deep breath.
Next instant. Alphamon attacked a second time; a horizontal slice that could have split a mountain at its base.
Next infinity. One attack became one million. Yet not a single one struck its target. Lucemon was no many-armed Hindu god, yet his small, almost feminine hands stopped the ultimate blade.
“You…†Alphamon said, and there was clearly something new in that voice, taking over the stern, unreadable steel voice of the Siege Perilous.
A third attempt. The Crest of Pride flared again, its unholy radiance to match the radiance of countless dimensions forged into the shape of a blade. Probabilities were maximized, possibilities were realized; a single region of space became a nexus of events that did, may, should and could happen.
And Lucemon’s fair skin remained unblemished by Gradalpha. However, this time the angel fell to his hands and knees, heaving as it trying to empty an already-empty stomach. He coughed and spat and struggled to hold his own weight. The battle was over; Alphamon lowered his blade.
“You…†the supreme knight repeated. “Lucemon, my most terrible opponent. You have my utmost admiration.â€
Lucemon could not look up at the holy knight.
“Your prowess with DigiCode has always been well known to me, but to think you could even reverse-engineer Alpha InForce after seeing it only once…truly, your skill has no equal.â€
The first time they fought, it took only a single moment of infinity to defeat Lucemon’s Perfect form.
“However, the fact remains that you are not me,†Alphamon continued. “I was specifically created by Lord Yggdrasil to withstand the burden of Alpha InForce. You can reproduce and execute the routine, but you cannot change your body into my own.â€
Using it three times in succession was Lucemon’s limit. A fourth one might start the breakdown of his constituent data.
Alphamon studied the fallen form of his nemesis. Destroying Lucemon was not the issue. However, the whims of the Crest of Dreams could not be predicted. It was likely the Crest would have recreated Lucemon as long as Matsuda Takato existed. Killing Matsuda Takato would have been a violation of his personal code of honor, as long as Matsuda Takato remained human. However, what would the Crest of Dreams do, now that its master was…?
It was only then that his eyes caught sight of Lilithmon, Makino Ruki and her Renamon partner.
He saw the impossible.
************
“…why…?†Lilithmon asked with a raspy, struggling voice while her scattered data reassembled and made her whole once more. Underneath her prone form, the golden radiance of Dreams circled her.
“What…kind of stupid question is that?†Takato replied. His voice was quiet, but there was outrage in its tone. “You think I can just let my little sister die? Not on my watch.â€
Her body did not work properly yet, so Lilithmon could not even blush properly.
“Besides,†the boy continued, glancing aside with a tinge of guilt in his sparkling eyes. “I can’t take your Crest unless I beat you myself. The proper way.â€
The beautiful demon harrumphed. Deciding that he had patched her up well enough, the kneeling boy rose to his feet and looked in the direction of his finest piece.
“Can…you please stop looking at me like that, Ruki? You’re scaring me. For real.â€
Ruki trembled again, but Takato caught the spark of defiance in her eyes, no longer frozen in mute terror by the monsters in the vicinity. The boy rose his hands in a defensive manner.
“I know,†he said. “Please wait until we get back home. Then you get to ask me and beat me as much as you want, I swear.â€
He nodded at Renamon and just like the fox Digimon earlier he dropped a hand on Ruki’s shoulder, squeezing it gently.
“Stay alert,†he said quietly, so only Ruki and her partner heard. “We’re still in the Dark Area.â€
The boy was awfully calm, tranquil; almost sedate in those insane circumstances. It was unmistakable Matsuda Takato, but…
“You were killed, Matsuda Takato,†said Alphamon. While his posture remained that of the supreme knight, his voice was certainly guarded and cautious. Takato, however, presented his open hands like a magician about to perform a trick. He then shrugged.
“I can’t be killed like that anymore.â€
Then he was tackled to the ground. Ruki squeaked and jumped away. A cloud of gray dust rose around the fallen boy and the sudden attacker.
Amber eyes met pristine blue.
Takato said nothing, wearing only a tired smile. Lucemon said nothing at the beginning, preferring instead to use his hands. They explored the boy’s body, rustling his hair, patting his chest and squeezing his shoulders. They caressed his cheeks and soft fingers slid along the length of his lips. The more they touched, the more they verified, the more they acknowledge that the person beneath was beyond a shadow of a doubt Matsuda Takato—and had he found the slightest discrepancy to his perfect knowledge of Takato’s anatomy, he would have vaporized the unforgivable imposter on the spot—, the more those blue eyes, beautiful beyond compare, were moistened by fresh, unshed tears.
“Taka…to…?â€
A single tear, pure like the finest diamond, struck Takato’s left cheek. It was cold, yet it carried unmistakable warmth. Takato smiled. It was the smile of the child who introduced himself to Guilmon as his Tamer.
“You thought you could get rid of me that easy, partner?â€
Before he was a Tamer, Matsuda Takato was a Chosen Child.
Every Chosen Child has a Digimon partner.
************
“…thank you. For existing. For being mine, and allowing me to be yours. I only know joy when you stand by my side. Today and forever, I am your partner. I love you. I love you! I LOVE YOU!â€
************
CHAPTER 04 – END
************
Makino Ruki was trembling.
This whole scene went so far beyond common sense it was almost funny. She would have laughed, but she felt she would no longer be herself if she did so. Something—her humanity, her rationality, her identity—felt brittle and fragile inside her and threatened to shatter with further exposure to the madness before her eyes.
Takato, slain unceremoniously, in an instant, by one of those Royal Knights. And then Lucemon, fallen into a cold madness that almost knocked her out sorely by its sheer existence, had beaten those same Royal Knights with ludicrous efficiency. He had taken wounds, but it was still an unbelievable victory of a single Digimon against some of the most powerful Ultimates.
Lucemon stood facing that…than thing. That monster Takato had called Alphamon. A Digimon? Was that thing really a Digimon? That…that could not be right. Digimon were powerful, yes, but…that thing, that thing that simply stood them watching its allies get beaten; that thing was no mere “Digital Monsterâ€.
Her eyes moved inside their sockets, nervously seeking her own allies. Kenta had fallen on his rear, watching the battle like a living extra in a Godzilla movie. Surrounded by monsters—albeit most of them fallen—, the spectacled boy could only tremble on the spot and babble incoherently. A part of her wondered if he had wetted his pants. Jenrya and Terriermon…of course, they were also paralyzed, on their knees. It would be ludicrous of her to expect anything else from either of them. It was not like she was doing any better, although she at least remained on her feet.
Ruki’s thoughts then went to Lilithmon. What happened to Takato’s sister? Was she dead?
“Ruki,†Renamon said. At the same time, her soft paw fell to rest on her left shoulder. Ruki turned her head to look at her partner and immediately caught sight of what Renamon wanted her to see.
Ruki saw the impossible.
************
The difference in height was immense, but there was no mistake: the two were titans.
The two were powerful, but let there be no mistake: this battle already had a winner.
An instant. Alphamon. A single swing of his blade.
Infinity.
Hundreds, thousands of strikes, each of them capable of scarring mountains and splitting the seas. Not a rapid sequence of strikes faster than the eye could see, but a collection of simultaneous attacks. The moment Alphamon made “the decision to attackâ€, the need to settle on a single “attack sequence†was rendered moot. All possible attack vectors were covered; if a probability could be assigned to every possible way of attack Alphamon could have chosen, then this ability automatically changed that probability to 1. Alphamon became a quantum object made manifest on the macroscopic universe, manifesting all possibilities and transcending universal law.
The ultimate ability. The crowning algorithm. Yggdrasil’s magnum opus invested upon its finest servant.
Alpha InForce.
It was repelled.
Eight million perfect attacks were repelled by eight million perfect parries. It was the most magnificent symphony of forces, actions and reactions that would have drawn Issac Newton to tears of ecstasy. Not a single trace of any single strike was allowed to manifest: there was no gouging of the ground around them, no shockwaves, no sparks or bursts of heat or incandescence. To the eyes of those with the privilege to witness that moment, it was as if absolutely nothing had happened.
Alphamon’s eyes widened. Was it merely surprise? Or was it amazement?
Lucemon shuddered, but his eyes remained fierce. He took a deep breath.
Next instant. Alphamon attacked a second time; a horizontal slice that could have split a mountain at its base.
Next infinity. One attack became one million. Yet not a single one struck its target. Lucemon was no many-armed Hindu god, yet his small, almost feminine hands stopped the ultimate blade.
“You…†Alphamon said, and there was clearly something new in that voice, taking over the stern, unreadable steel voice of the Siege Perilous.
A third attempt. The Crest of Pride flared again, its unholy radiance to match the radiance of countless dimensions forged into the shape of a blade. Probabilities were maximized, possibilities were realized; a single region of space became a nexus of events that did, may, should and could happen.
And Lucemon’s fair skin remained unblemished by Gradalpha. However, this time the angel fell to his hands and knees, heaving as it trying to empty an already-empty stomach. He coughed and spat and struggled to hold his own weight. The battle was over; Alphamon lowered his blade.
“You…†the supreme knight repeated. “Lucemon, my most terrible opponent. You have my utmost admiration.â€
Lucemon could not look up at the holy knight.
“Your prowess with DigiCode has always been well known to me, but to think you could even reverse-engineer Alpha InForce after seeing it only once…truly, your skill has no equal.â€
The first time they fought, it took only a single moment of infinity to defeat Lucemon’s Perfect form.
“However, the fact remains that you are not me,†Alphamon continued. “I was specifically created by Lord Yggdrasil to withstand the burden of Alpha InForce. You can reproduce and execute the routine, but you cannot change your body into my own.â€
Using it three times in succession was Lucemon’s limit. A fourth one might start the breakdown of his constituent data.
Alphamon studied the fallen form of his nemesis. Destroying Lucemon was not the issue. However, the whims of the Crest of Dreams could not be predicted. It was likely the Crest would have recreated Lucemon as long as Matsuda Takato existed. Killing Matsuda Takato would have been a violation of his personal code of honor, as long as Matsuda Takato remained human. However, what would the Crest of Dreams do, now that its master was…?
It was only then that his eyes caught sight of Lilithmon, Makino Ruki and her Renamon partner.
He saw the impossible.
************
“…why…?†Lilithmon asked with a raspy, struggling voice while her scattered data reassembled and made her whole once more. Underneath her prone form, the golden radiance of Dreams circled her.
“What…kind of stupid question is that?†Takato replied. His voice was quiet, but there was outrage in its tone. “You think I can just let my little sister die? Not on my watch.â€
Her body did not work properly yet, so Lilithmon could not even blush properly.
“Besides,†the boy continued, glancing aside with a tinge of guilt in his sparkling eyes. “I can’t take your Crest unless I beat you myself. The proper way.â€
The beautiful demon harrumphed. Deciding that he had patched her up well enough, the kneeling boy rose to his feet and looked in the direction of his finest piece.
“Can…you please stop looking at me like that, Ruki? You’re scaring me. For real.â€
Ruki trembled again, but Takato caught the spark of defiance in her eyes, no longer frozen in mute terror by the monsters in the vicinity. The boy rose his hands in a defensive manner.
“I know,†he said. “Please wait until we get back home. Then you get to ask me and beat me as much as you want, I swear.â€
He nodded at Renamon and just like the fox Digimon earlier he dropped a hand on Ruki’s shoulder, squeezing it gently.
“Stay alert,†he said quietly, so only Ruki and her partner heard. “We’re still in the Dark Area.â€
The boy was awfully calm, tranquil; almost sedate in those insane circumstances. It was unmistakable Matsuda Takato, but…
“You were killed, Matsuda Takato,†said Alphamon. While his posture remained that of the supreme knight, his voice was certainly guarded and cautious. Takato, however, presented his open hands like a magician about to perform a trick. He then shrugged.
“I can’t be killed like that anymore.â€
Then he was tackled to the ground. Ruki squeaked and jumped away. A cloud of gray dust rose around the fallen boy and the sudden attacker.
Amber eyes met pristine blue.
Takato said nothing, wearing only a tired smile. Lucemon said nothing at the beginning, preferring instead to use his hands. They explored the boy’s body, rustling his hair, patting his chest and squeezing his shoulders. They caressed his cheeks and soft fingers slid along the length of his lips. The more they touched, the more they verified, the more they acknowledge that the person beneath was beyond a shadow of a doubt Matsuda Takato—and had he found the slightest discrepancy to his perfect knowledge of Takato’s anatomy, he would have vaporized the unforgivable imposter on the spot—, the more those blue eyes, beautiful beyond compare, were moistened by fresh, unshed tears.
“Taka…to…?â€
A single tear, pure like the finest diamond, struck Takato’s left cheek. It was cold, yet it carried unmistakable warmth. Takato smiled. It was the smile of the child who introduced himself to Guilmon as his Tamer.
“You thought you could get rid of me that easy, partner?â€
Before he was a Tamer, Matsuda Takato was a Chosen Child.
Every Chosen Child has a Digimon partner.
************
“…thank you. For existing. For being mine, and allowing me to be yours. I only know joy when you stand by my side. Today and forever, I am your partner. I love you. I love you! I LOVE YOU!â€
************
CHAPTER 04 – END
Disclaimer: Digimon does not belong to me. In my hands, every single episode would about as much fanservice as the entire Xros Wars manga.
[hr]
RUINS OF BABYLON
Chapter 05
The Boy and the Monster Bound by Love and Despair – Palace of Perfection
[hr]
From the beginning, the story was about the two of them. Two halves of a whole; one was incomplete without the other. From the moment Matsuda Takato came into existence, the Crest of Dreams had bound him to a Digimon partner.
“What…” Lucemon whispered, looming over Takato while wearing a expression of worry.
“…what have you done to yourself, Takato?”
Nobody present could even think of doubting it: Matsuda Takato was no longer human. Human beings do not survive decapitation. Human beings in the Digital World do not shatter into constituent data and effortlessly remake themselves whole. Takato had remade himself through the invocation of the sacred whore, BABALON, and wholly abandoned his humanity. For what purpose? Well, that was clear enough.
But the boy still was able to smile.
“I did what I’ve been doing all these years, Lucemon,” he said, grinning like a kid who just reached the end of a challenging videogame. “Beating you. I’m gonna win our Game.”
Takato was certainly not going to reveal the secret of his survival. That was a challenge Lucemon would have to overcome.
“Now, let me get up; everyone’s watching and it’s kind of embarrassing.”
Lucemon’s face went rigid for an instant, but he quickly corrected himself with a haughty expression before lifting himself to his feet. Takato followed in a more sedate manner. Immediately after that, however, Takato felt a pair of small hands enclosing his right wrist. Takato smiled a bit nervously.
“I, I’m not going anywhere, Lucemon,” he said, but the angel’s grip only became stronger. Knowing better than to argue with the Child Digimon when he was in that mood, Takato chose to let him do as he pleased and instead focused his attention on the Royal Knights. Expectedly, Omegamon was back on his feet as well. While the others would regain consciousness in due time, UlforceV-Dramon was still suffering the consequences of Lucemon’s ravaging virus attack.
“ALHIM.”
The concentric circles that made the Crest of Dreams surrounded the blue dragon man Digimon as Takato invoked the breath of benediction that brings light to the darkness, thus removing the corruptive influence acting on the Royal Knight’s data. Lucemon thus confirmed that Takato’s grasp of the Thelemic powers had improved to the point that he could do things he would normally need Lucemon Magus Mode for. This of course meant it would be harder to push him into relying on that evolution a second time.
Takato then turned to Alphamon, albeit only to raise a single finger.
“Give me a moment, please.”
Then he turned to Kenta.
“AGLA.”
The source is Thelema, the language is Hebrew, the schema is Notariqon.
By reflecting the omnipotence and eternal nature of God upon the imperfect creation, the sacred word restores the natural form of all things.
“That’s what you came here for, right?” The smiling Takato pointed out while his friend stared at the healed shoulder and arm. Perhaps “healed” was not the best word; it makes more sense to say Takato had “returned” Kenta’s body to its proper shape and structure.
“Fascinating,” Alphamon said. “You make it seem very easy to achieve such perfect restoration, Matsuda Takato.”
“It’s not!” The boy immediately complained. “You have to know every detail of how the muscles and bones and stuff are connected! I had to read a lot to be able to do that! It was hell!” He paused. “Oh, but I have some experience from repairing my own arms a number of times, so I guess it’s not that bad anymore.”
Lucemon’s eyes sparkled in reminiscence.
“Ah, right, right, like on that school trip.”
“Yeah,” Takato replied with a haunted tone. “That round was painful.”
“So,” Alphamon said, interrupting the two players’ bizarre trip through memory lane. “I take you succeeded, Matsuda Takato.”
“Yup!” The boy regained his grin almost disturbingly quickly. “Everything went exactly as planned~!” He paused to let his grin falter, if only a little. “Ah, yeah, Lucemon would have gotten in the way, so I had to send him out of the Dark Area. I guess that caused you a lot of trouble.”
Takato bowed before the ultimate Holy Knight.
“My bad, Alphamon. I kept some details from you as well, so this became a mess.”
Lucemon’s filled the gaps in Takato’s sentences. He was aware that Takato and Alphamon had already met once in the Digital World. So, he concluded that Takato had spoken about him about the Game and convinced Alphamon to spare him on that day by…how, exactly?
“So I take it you will keep moving forward,” the Ultimate continued, and Takato nodded.
“Do I even have a choice?” He said dismissingly. “There was no turning back for me the moment I stepped into the Game Room. Ah, but don’t worry. I intend to fulfill my promise. Really, leave it to me.”
Takato ignored Alphamon’s intense gaze, turning his back to the Holy Knight Digimon to address Lucemon, Lilithmon and the Tamers.
“So, um…GranDracmon must be mighty pissed by now; he won’t let us go without a fight.”
He turned to Lucemon, who was still clutching Takato’s arm as if letting go would mean losing the boy forever. Takato sighed and scratched the back of his head while grimacing.
“Lucemon, it really bothers me to say this but, well, I can’t deal with that guy without you. We have to go in there and knock GranDracmon down a peg or two.”
The childlike angel smiled radiantly and beautifully, but there was also the wickedness that befitted the true ruler of the Dark Area. It was the smile of one who finds amusement in the misery of others.
“I already said it: today I will play the role Dreams intended for me.” The twisted grin suddenly changed into an expression of alarm and then into childish stubbornness. “It-It’s just for today, okay? Do-don’t get any ideas that I ca-care about you or anything.”
“Never dreamed of it,” Takato said, but his smile said something else, and Lucemon hurriedly turned his face away and let his pout speak for itself. Takato turned to the Tamers.
“GranDracmon will probably recall whatever followers he has left and create new crystal Digimon,” he said. “Can I ask you guys to watch our backs?”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait!” Ruki had apparently found her center once more and she was now ready to argue with her best (human) friend. “Takato, if you’re going to fight this Dracumon guy or whatever, we’re going with you—”
“Ruki.”
The girl stopped, allowing Takato to place his free hand on her shoulder and squeeze gently.
“I…I know I’m not making it easy for you, but I have to ask you to trust me on this. Lucemon and I can only take him on because of our Crests. If you guys go with me, he’ll brainwash you with a single word and turn you into our enemies. Please, help me by dealing with his puppets; we can’t fight GranDracmon and his army at the same time.”
“Ugh…” Ruki wanted to argue, but she did not know enough to find points to counter.
“Besides, Jenrya’s and Terriermon’s attacks will just bring the whole subterranean complex down!”
“Hey!” The small green Digimon promptly complained. “We can totally be careful!”
Jenrya raised an eyebrow at that.
“Kenta,” Takato then said to his glasses-wearing friend. “It’s really too much, asking you to fight right after recovering from that, but, um, can I count on you as well?”
The short boy clicked his tongue, but offered a smile to his otherworldly friend.
“Man, if you put it like that, there’s no way I can say no, is there?” He laughed and said something the likes of which Hirokazu would say. “I’d have to hand over my man card!”
“Lilithmon,” Lucemon then addressed his servant. “You will also stand guard at the entrance to GranDracmon’s refuge.”
“Yes, yes~” The restored demoness merrily agreed. “Just leave it to me~” Perhaps exaggerating her shrugging explicitly to make her breasts jiggle, Lilithmon seized the chance to throw a jab at the Tamers.
“In fact, the Tamer kids would just get in the way~”
While Ruki glared doom at the voluptuous beauty, Takato laughed at the statement.
“Don’t be silly, Lilithmon,” he replied. “If it wasn’t for your Crest, these three would be plenty enough to beat you. Hell, under the right conditions, Sakuyamon can beat you all by herself.”
Ruki and Renamon turned to stare at the smiling boy, visibly flattered by the vote of confidence. However, Lucemon and Lilithmon digested the words more thoroughly, trying the make out the full extent of their significance.
The Avatar of Lust smirked salaciously.
“…is that a challenge, ‘onii-sama’?”
“All in due time, ‘little sister’,” Takato candidly replied. “Today we are allies. Now Lucemon, you have somethi—”
It happened in a flash. A moment later, a whole bunch of people had moved from their former positions. The Ulforce Saber poised to pierce through Takato’s chest was stopped by Lucemon’s hand holding the weapon’s hilt attached to Ulforce V-dramon’s arm guard. LordKnightmon’s ribbon blades ready to slash Lucemon had been stopped by Nazar spikes conjured from the ground by Lilithmon. Dynasmon who had been about to tackle Lilithmon from behind was encased in a heart-shaped bubble cage, and Duftmon who had moved to strike at MarinAngemon with his rapier was himself bound with shackles of light conjured by the Crest of Dreams.
“You…” Takato said while returning Ulforce V-dramon’s glare with a placid smile. “…are rather ungrateful, aren’t you?”
“Guh!” The blue knight grunted, but Lucemon’s hold was unrelenting. “You’re a monster.”
Lucemon’s own glare was the key opening the gates of hell.
“And you are dead.”
“Cease all violent action at once!”
When Alphamon raises his voice, people listen.
Dynasmon, LordKnightmon, Duftmon, Lilithmon and MarinAngemon relented and ceased their corresponding threats. Lucemon did not attack Ulforce V-dramon, but did not let go of his arm either.
“We are leaving,” Alphamon declared. While the Royal Knights were distressed by the announcement, most of them only nodded and accepted their leader’s words unconditionally.
“What? Lord Alphamon, you cannot be serious!” The bearer of Ulforce retorted. “We have to destroy them here! We can do it! We can beat them!”
“Of course we could destroy them,” Alphamon admitted. “But among all the present, I would be the only survivor.”
The weight of the statement made even Ulforce V-dramon’s knees weak. Alphamon was not directly involved in the Game, so his words could not carry the weight of absolute truth, but that monster above monsters did not need such a thing. His words were fact and nobody would doubt them.
“We are leaving,” Alphamon repeated and turned his back to Takato, Lucemon and the others. The Crest-bearers received glares from some of the most hostile among the Royal Knights, but there were no further attempts at violence. Omegamon offered the group of humans and Dark Area denizens a polite bow before turning to walk alongside Alphamon.
“Matsuda Takato,” Alphamon suddenly said, not bothering turning to look at the boy. “I will be sorely disappointed if you fail to fulfill the terms of our agreement.”
“Trust me,” the boy replied. “No matter the final result, by the end of the game you won’t need to worry about Lucemon ever again.”
Lucemon’s blue eyes, purer than the cleanest spring sky, grew very wide at Takato’s declaration. That was the promise he had made Alphamon the day Reichmon was defeated.
“…no matter the cost?”
“No matter the cost,” Takato confirmed.
Only Omegamon next to him could hear it; the faint sigh escaping from Alphamon’s armored face.
“I do not forward to seeing it,” the supreme Holy Knight finally said. “How much more will you sacrifice, Matsuda Takato?”
He departed with those words, never catching sight of the gentle smile on the face of the boy he had entrusted with the tyrant of the Dark Area, his utmost nemesis.
“You’re surprisingly gentle, Alphamon,” Takato whispered.
He too, showed his back to the departing Royal Knights, to face the next battle awaiting him.
“Let’s go, Lucemon.”
The small angel Digimon jumped to attention.
“Ah, yes!” He was about to walk after his partner when he realized what he was doing. “Ah, I-I mean, do-do, don’t tell me what to do, stupid Googlehead!”...Part of me kind of wants to see Lucemon Matrix Evolve. Part of me thinks having it at this point in the story would be kind of a waste. And part of me isn't sure I would be able to withstand the awesomeness of such a thing.
Or that Lucemon would be able to maintain his tsun in the face of becoming one with Takato.
Or that Lucemon would be able to maintain his tsun in the face of becoming one with Takato.
Being the best suited for holding a defensive position, SaintGalgomon stood at the mouth of the entry point to GranDracmon’s underground palace. Hopefully he would not have to move a single step to shoot down whatever tried to get close. Kenta stood a ways to the left, seemingly checking both his deck of cards and the flexibility of his restored arm. Lilithmon lazily leaned on a large piece of crystal jutting out of the grey rock beneath their feet, looking bored. Sakuyamon wandered here and there, sulking in silence.
“May I ask you a question?” SaintGalgomon spoke in the voice of Lee Jenrya, drawing Lilithmon’s attention.
“You already are, but go ahead,” the demoness replied.
“Those…Crests of Sins,” the boy began. “Why are they split among seven Digimon?”
Lilithmon frowned. “I…am not sure I follow.”
“I mean, Lucemon is clearly stronger than you, otherwise you would not obey him. Then what stops him from…?”
“Ah, you mean what stops Lucemon from collecting all seven Crests for himself?” The dark Ultimate completed upon figuring out the boy’s question. “It doesn’t work like that.”
“Just like Leviamon could only invade Katou Juri’s body because she carried strong envy in her heart, a powerful lust is necessary to bear my Crest. Takato cheats by using the Crest of Dreams to forcefully pull out the Crests and store them within himself,” the Avatar of Lust explained. “Normally, if I am destroyed, the Crest will simply go to the next suitable Digimon, who will evolve into the next Lilithmon.”
“Wait,” the Machine Digimon then spoke in Terriermon’s voice. “Can it be any Digimon? It isn’t always a LadyDevimon?”
“The Crest of Lust will seek the most lustful Digimon. That Digimon will become Lilithmon, without even getting the option to refuse. It’s as simple as that.”
“What if it was already an Ultimate?”
“That doesn’t matter. The Avatar of Lust is always Lilithmon. My predecessor was an Ophanimon, for example,” Lilithmon placidly answered.
“What about you?”
“That’s a maiden’s secret~”
Inside the Kernel, Jenrya grimaced at the woman with the audacity to call herself a “maiden”. However, any retort he could have come up with was interrupted by the ground unexpectedly shaking.
“An earthquake!?” Kenta cried out, but it was not a likely possibility.
“It’s coming!” Lilithmon announced. GranDracmon’s renewed offensive had begun.
A colossal violet crystal erupted from the ground some ten meters away from SaintGalgomon and Lilithmon. Immediately, the beautiful material began to change its shape, this time into a skeletal hornless rhinoceros bearing wings of bone sharp like spears and long fangs—SkullBaluchimon. In response to the appearance of the Undead Digimon, the Crest of Dreams flared into existence around MarinAngemon, Sakuyamon and SaintGalgomon, activating the blessing they received from Takato after his battle against Leviamon.
“Hoo, so the boost really triggers even if the enemy’s not a Virus,” Lilithmon pointed out. “How convenient—”
Sakuyamon had already charged to deliver the first strike, closing on the huge Undead Digimon before somersaulting over its eight-meters-long form. She paid no attention to the other two clumps of crystal surging out of the earth on either side of her target, nor the plenty others emerging throughout GranDracmon’s demesne.
“Izuna,” she uttered without emotion, invoking the four elemental fox spirits to harass the enemy Digimon. While SkullBaluchimon lashed at the fox spirits with teeth and claws, Sakuyamon summoned a mandala barrier on which to plant her feet, kneeling upside down to gather strength on her shapely legs before shooting for the quadruped’s exposed back like a golden meteor, her body clad in lightning.
“Rairyuukyaku!”
The kick became a lightning bolt that dropped SkullBaluchimon prone and would have blown Kenta away had Lilithmon not grabbed him by the neck of his shirt.
“I…didn’t know she could do that,” Kenta muttered. Lilithmon tilted her head from side to side, unsure of what to say. She was aware of Sakuyamon’s vast number of available techniques, but like Kenta she was surprised to see Makino Ruki was tapping deeper into that potential. Meanwhile, Sakuyamon raised her shakujou with a warcry, commanding her kudagitsune to rise above the fall SkullBaluchimon and then dive down as one into its unprotected DigiCore, this time weakening it enough for it to spontaneously fall apart.
These Digimon… Ruki mused. They are identical to the real ones in every way, but they might be a bit more fragile…
“I thought the same,” Renamon agreed. “Mayhap the integrity of its DigiCore lacks the stability of a real Digimon´s—watch out!”
Sakuyamon found herself flanked in both side by two new SkullBaluchimon charging at her with front paws ready to trample.
“Nazar Nail.”
Striking the ground before her feet with her grotesque right arm caused a myriad vile stakes to erupt from the earth to impale the two Undead Digimon, obliterating them a step before they could strike Sakuyamon.
“Yes, yes, that was very spectacular, Dolly, but you’re still trying too hard,” Lilithmon teased in a lazy tone. Whatever reply Sakuyamon may have thought of was interrupted by SaintGalgomon taking a step forward and unlocking its substantial artillery.
“Everybody get down and ready barriers! Burst Shot!”
His barrage was aimed at the sky, where at least a dozen organic missiles were intercepted halfway through their parabolic flight. Each of them was the equivalent of a low-yield tactical nuclear warhead; even if they were intercepted a considerable distance away, the resulting explosion would have engulfed the Tamers had Sakuyamon, MarinAngemon and Lilithmon not acted. GranDracmon’s territory was engulfed by flames, smoke and crystal dust. A double layer of Sakuyamon’s mandala barrier and MarinAngemon’s heart-shaped bubbles protected the Tamers.
“You people are awful!” Lilithmon whined in complaint, her body completely wrapped by the black leathery strips of her clothes and by her devil wings.
“Well, you clearly don’t need any help from us, do you!?” Sakuyamon snarked back.
“Jenrya!” Terriermon´s echoed inside SaintGalgomon’s core. “Those missiles, they were…!”
“SkullGreymon’s Ground Zero…” the giant Machine Digimon said. “I can strike at the SkullGreymon from here!” He then reassured his companions while reloading its artillery barrels. “I’ll leave the other ones to you—”
“Engetsugeri!!!”
“—guh!!!”
The large machine Digimon grunted and fell to one knee upon being cleanly struck by two mighty kicks clad in silver and black energy. Kenta gasped while his tiny partner flew in front of him in a clear protective gesture.
“That’s…WereGarurumon—?”
“Kaiser Nai—!!!”
Kenta gasped and turned to face the Digimon who had exploited the reduced visibility following the explosions to sneak into the Tamers’ defensive line, but it had been intercepted by Lilithmon’s left hand, crushing its muzzle before it could even finish invoking the name of its signature technique. Some distance away, two beautiful and gargantuan crystals surged from the depths of the earth like twin obelisks. One of them had a blackish hue, while the second gleamed a silvery blue. Kenta paid them little heed, more worried by the dozen or so WereGarurumon which had stealthily approached the Tamers’ group. Unlike the Digimon Kenta remembered, the fur of these was intensely black with artful white spots. They wore camouflage pants in forest green and brown tones. Sakuyamon was already moving to engage two more SkullBaluchimon.
“Support Makino, Kitagawa-kun,” Lilithmon urged, following the agile WereGarurumon with her sharp eyes and effortlessly impaling the two assaulting SaintGalgomon. “I’ll take care of these pests.”
“Get to ground level, Sakuyamon! Please!” SaintGalgomon requested in Jenrya’s voice. The God Man Digimon, who had used her advantage of flight to keep the Undead Digimon at bay, clicked her tongue but immediately complied.
Let’s go, Terriermon!
“Aye aye, partner!”
“BURST SHOT!!!”
As if responding to SaintGalgomon’s powerful war cry, the Thelemic blessing glowing around his feet grew in intensity as the barrage was unleashed, sweeping over GranDracmon’s vast territory and striking both enemy Digimon and missiles in flight. The combined yield of around ten kilotons resulted in explosions that finished what SaintGalgomon’s attack started, blasting the SkullGreymon into loose data which was however absorbed by a crystal obelisk of an intense, fiery red.
“Damn it, Lee!” Ruki’s tone and choice of words made clear her irritation at being forced to deploy a new barrier to withstand the simultaneous explosions. Jenrya could not hear the words, however, as all voices were drowned by the cataclysmic scene inside the combined fireballs. The SkullBaluchimon, which apparently could withstand the explosions as their DigiCores were better protected, fell upon Sakuyamon and stomped on her barrier with the strength of their multi-ton weight.
“Guh! Raaaaaaaagh!!!” The gold-clad Digimon roared mightily, all the more to conceal the intense pain in her body. It felt like she was bearing their weight with her bare hands at the same time she struggled to contain the flames and the overpressure of the air blast.
Kenta, too, was screaming.
“This is insane!” He yelled, stretching the final sound until she caught notice of Lilithmon grabbing his partner and pulling it towards her face. For a moment he feared the Avatar of Lust was going to eat his best friend.
“Protect! Your friends!” Lilithmon shouted as loud as she could, right to MarinAngemon’s face. The tiny Angel Digimon squeaked and chirped in complaint until Lilithmon released it, afterwards spewing a large amount of its signature heart bubbles to ward Kenta, SaintGalgomon and Sakuyamon.
“This is a waste of time,” Lilithmon muttered before taking a deep breath.
“PHANTOM PAIN!!!”
It surged out of her mouth: a dark, vile miasma that spread along the ground like it had a will of its own. It was a maleficent mist; a gaseous curse that corroded everything it touched. MarinAngemon’s pristine barriers flickered like the image on a TV with poor reception, and the little angel struggled to keep them from falling apart. Noticing his partner’s suffering, Kenta brought out his deck of cards and hurriedly empowered MarinAngemon with everything in his arsenal.
It became a cacophony of pain and terror. MarinAngemon cried out in anguish as it struggled against Lilithmon’s power and against the power beyond its limits forced into its self by Kenta. Sakuyamon cried out to sustain a weakening barrier in a race against the calamitous fireblast. But the false Digimon created by GranDracmon’s power howled even louder as the curse that was Lilithmon’s technique touched their constituent data and mercilessly broke it apart. There was no escape for either the slow and large SkullBaluchimon or the small and swift WereGarurumon. They were all annihilated, and their screams echoed even after the explosions finally receded, and even after they were no more. The madness of terrible sounds gave way to a heavy, gloomy silence. Kenta caught his partner in cupped hands as it fell, no longer able to even hover.
“You were great, buddy,” Kenta whispered in awe, and MarinAngemon chirped weakly. “You were amazing.”
The petite angel looked over Kenta’s shoulder. Lilithmon stood behind the boy, wearing an approving smile.
“I give credit where it’s due. You’re one tough little fella. Perhaps there’s hope for you Tamers after a—”
A ruby red laser beam pierced through Lilithmon’s voluptuous body, throwing her to the ground. The beam traveled a further half-kilometer beyond the demoness and concluded in a gargantuan explosion almost as large as the one Sakuyamon’s efforts had just contained.
Kenta only had time to gasp as his body was covered by the shadow of a huge golden broadsword. It clashed with Sakuyamon’s own weapon, and the God Man Digimon’s knees trembled beneath the mighty blow.
“This guy again…guh!” Sakuyamon grunted. The blue crystal had absorbed the data of all WereGarurumon and transformed into a new AncientGarurumon.
SaintGalgomon glared upwards at the crimson behemoth hovering above the battlefield. The SkullGreymon had been absorbed by the red obelisk into a second AncientGreymon.
“Uhh…this…this doesn’t look good…” Kenta uttered somewhat pathetically as he stared at the third Digimon, which had struck Lilithmon just moments earlier. The data of the SkullBaluchimon had been claimed by the black crystal, which transmuted itself into an obsidian sphinx with golden wings. A pentagonal ruby shone prominently on its forehead, matching its jewel-like eyes.
“When has it ever looked good!?” SaintGalgomon retorted in Terriermon’s voice. “We just gotta do what we always do.”
Sakuyamon glared at the powerful lupine warrior of light. There was no fear in her. It was not a matter of whether they could win or not. They simply had to do it. She was tired of standing at the corner of the stage like a meaningless extra.
It was strange; despite all the doubts in her mind, she still trusted Takato. Even if she did not, Lucemon being dangerous and evil remained a fact. If Lucemon was messing with Takato’s and their lives, if he thought he could treat them as toys in his little game of self-satisfaction, then she would just take his gaming table and flip it over his baby head. And she would start by spitting on Lilithmon’s taunts and insults and kicking this Digimon’s ass, ancient legendary banisher-of-Lucemon or whatever.
“I’m gonna do this,” she whispered to herself before howling for everybody else to hear.
“We’re doing this!”
An incredible battle began in the ruined remains of GranDracmon’s demesne.Interesting. It's nice to see Ruki looking so lively. She always looked best when she led the charge.
And I can't help but wonder... What on earth is Takato going to do with the crests when he gets them all? I don't think he's going to use them outright, but I don't think he's just sealing them away either. Strange...
And I can't help but wonder... What on earth is Takato going to do with the crests when he gets them all? I don't think he's going to use them outright, but I don't think he's just sealing them away either. Strange...
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
—Aleister Crowley, Liber AL vel Legis I: 40, 42-43
“Love is the Law, love under will.”
—Aleister Crowley, Liber AL vel Legis I: 57
—1 Corinthians 13: 4-7
“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law…So with thy all; thou hast no right but to do thy will. Do that, and no other shall say nay. For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.”—Aleister Crowley, Liber AL vel Legis I: 40, 42-43
“Love is the Law, love under will.”
—Aleister Crowley, Liber AL vel Legis I: 57
The two paid little heed to the trembling of the rock and crystal around them. Parts of the subterranean complex had collapsed, so they took their time looking for alternate passages towards GranDracmon’s sanctum. They could have easily removed the obstacles, but, well, they were not in that much of a hurry.
Lucemon’s left hand still held Takato’s wrist.
“It makes you wonder, doesn’t it?” Takato broke the silence. “What could have been.”
Lucemon’s side glance was cold and bitter.
“You mean like I have done every single day of my existence?”
Takato had to turn his eyes away from the heaviness of Lucemon’s dark stare.
“Um…right. My bad.”
“…your bad, huh.” A bitter chuckle. This Lucemon followed with a grandiose gesture stretching both arms out.
“Yes, yes, what could have been: the Chosen Child above all Chosen Children and his faithful partner, fighting together to save the Digital World from…from whom? Pick a villain, Takato.”
“Umm…” Takato poked his lips with the yolk of a single finger. “…Apocalymon? Nah, that’s the one from the Chosen of the Eastern Quadrant you told me about. How about the Seven Great Demon Lords, then?”
“The Seven Great Demon Lords!” Lucemon exclaimed. “The incarnations of sin, bent on turning the Digital World into a haven of despair!”
The angel’s theatrical voice widened the smile on Takato’s face. Lucemon moved a few steps forward and turned around, walking backwards while facing Takato with a teasing grin.
“And what a twist! To find that the leader of their ruinous enemies is but a second Lucemon, who has undergone a heart-wrenching fall from grace! How will our virtuous heroes overcome such a crisis?”
Takato laughed openly at that.
“That sounds interesting.”
“A life of adventures!” Lucemon replied, laughing half-jokingly, half-despondently. “Some of them dangerous, some of them silly, all of them exciting.”
Lucemon tiptoed back to Takato’s side.
“So, who else would be there with us, Takato? A gruff, cold kid with a heart of gold, perhaps a friendly rival for the Chosen of Dreams? Or mayhap a token female character to act as a love interest?”
Takato knew he was being led on, but he still gave Lucemon the answer he wanted. After all, it was also the only answer Takato could believe.
“Why would there be anybody else? There’s nothing the Chosen of Dreams and his awesome partner cannot overcome together.”
Their feet came to a stop. Chosen Child and partner stood before each other. Lucemon sought jest in Takato’s eyes and found none; the truth made his cheeks flush an intense red. Uncaring of his shameful appearance, Lucemon split his face in the widest, sweetest of smiles.
“Right!”
It was truly beautiful to see. Takato acknowledged that he was cursed with the most beautiful Digimon. Lucemon’s smile softened.
“That is, indeed, what should have been,” he said softly. “The life I see every time I close my eyes.”
Takato’s expression also softened, catching just the barest glimpse of the deep agony simmering in his partner’s heart.
“The life you should have given me, Takato.”
There was no hatred, no blame, in those words. Only a deep, bitter resignation. It almost brought tears to Takato’s face.
“Today is a dream, Lucemon,” Takato said instead. For a moment—no, a fraction of a moment—Lucemon’s expression changed. Takato knew he had, once again, broken his partner’s heart.
“Yes…” the Angel Digimon accepted; his voice barely a whisper. “Just a brief, bittersweet dream.”
Takato closed his eyes, so that his amber irises could not project the pain inflicted by Lucemon’s words like sweet poison. When he opened them again, there was a sad, half-hearted smile on that face.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream?”
“Ah, so Takako-chan has done you good,” Lucemon teased, grinning. “But it’s morning time in Japan, Takato.”
The boy shrugged. “It’s always nighttime here.”
“A fitting place for hopeless people like me,” Lucemon stated, thus paving the path to a long, powerful silence. The angel’s soft smile, the barest display of his truest emotions, finally unveiled to the eyes of Matsuda Takato; it was a thing to admire in its sadness and envy in its radiant joy. The perfect oxymoron only a creature of beauty such as Lucemon’s could make manifest in reality. That smile; that pitiful, wonderful smile, should have never existed.
Takato himself looked regretful, as if he lamented having to put an end to that silence in which only their eyes whispered each other truths that should never be put into words.
“…you have something that belongs to me, Lucemon.”
And Matsuda Takato became witness to the most amazing thing.
Lucemon’s facial expression did not change. Not a single muscle moved on that beautiful angel’s face. His eyes did everything, said everything. The pristine luster of his cerulean eyes became a thing of impossible vividness; they truly shone, those eyes. They were so blue, those eyes. And from the right one of those impossible eyes, a single tear, like a liquid diamond, escaped timidly, as if aware it was a thing that should not be. An unbelievable thing, an impossible thing, the likes of which should be bottled and forged into a weapon fit for the gods.
The most beautiful tear, befitting the most beautiful Digimon.
The angelic creature cupped his hands before his mostly bare chest. Data gathered in that space, every single speck radiant like gold. The bits gathered and took form, into two objects. Chosen and partner looked down at them simple objects with inordinate awe, for they were the physical representation of their bond and their curse.
“Did you know…?” Lucemon whispered. One of his fingers caressed the pendant’s smooth surface with almost motherly gentleness. He then looked up at Takato and knew the boy’s face mirrored his own.
“The first thing I heard…was your heartbeat.”
He looked back down.
“The first thing I felt…was the weight of this Digivice and Tag on my chest.”
Lucemon could feel his lips trembling and his eyes watering. He wanted to hold them in; to rein in the avalanche of emotions he had forcibly pushed down to the deepest corner of his ever-loving heart, but it was completely beyond him. He could not do it anymore; now that Takato was standing before him like that, facing the sacred treasures he had held onto for aeons, how could he possibly escape such an overpowering feeling?
“I…” He said, but his voice cracked and he needed a moment before any other words could come out.
“I waited for you…!” He said the words he had forbidden himself to say. The tears flowed unhampered. His eyes already ached.
“I know,” Takato whispered, for if he spoke any louder his moistened eyes would also let go of everything.
“I waited for you, for so long…!”
“I know…!” Takato repeated, reaching for Lucemon’s hands and wrapping them tenderly in his own.
“I waited, and waited…” Lucemon grand his teeth together before finishing.
“…I waited until something broke inside me.”
“I know…” Takato said for the third time, no longer able to contain himself. His head leaned closer, until his forehead was leaning against his partner’s.
“I’m sorry.”
Lucemon shook his head very slowly, as if afraid to break the contact of their skins.
“Don’t be,” he responded. “You were a baby; you didn’t know a thing. You could have never reached me, I understand.”
Before the advent of the new millennium, time in the Digital World flowed much, much slower than in the material realm humans inhabited. Takato was painfully aware of how long his partner had waited, alone and dreaming of what would be, of the happiness without compare promised to him. Like all partner Digimon, he was created incomplete, and he would only be whole upon finding his Chosen Child and granted the opportunity to love him and walk by his side.
“I’m sorry,” Takato sobbed, saying the words despite knowing they only hurt them both.
“Don’t be,” Lucemon repeated. “I have already turned my back to that promise.”
This was Lucemon’s pride. He was the Digimon who chose to stop waiting and find wholeness and happiness on his own. He was the Digimon who shaped the Digital World in his image of virtue and righteousness and then opposed the whole world when his beliefs were rejected. All the great things he accomplished, both virtuous and vile, he achieved on his own. He was himself, the epitome of greatness. He had no need for the accursed bond that connected him to Matsuda Takato, making him long for him and seek completion in him. Their Game would conclude with Takato’s end and thus the end of that curse.
That single day, that little alliance against GranDracmon…that was just a brief, bittersweet dream.
“So…how are we doing this?” the Digimon asked, almost hesitantly. He claimed he would play the role Dreams intended for him, but he was not really sure what being Matsuda Takato’s partner for a day would really entail.
Takato tried to pull himself away, but Lucemon’s hands stopped him from doing so.
“My D-Arc, Lucemon,” Takato then requested. It, too, materialized like the Digivice and pendant earlier.
“Katou had been holding on to it,” Lucemon said, not entirely sure why. Takato took his white, gold and red D-Arc and tapped the Digivice with it. The older device then broke apart, its constituent data absorbed by the younger model. Then, Takato took the Tag. When he did, the gold pendant began to glow, as it was filled by the Crest of Dreams which had resided in Takato since the day he first used a computer network.
Looking at the Tag, now carrying the golden concentric rings that represented the Crest of Dreams, and then at Takato’s pensive face, Lucemon felt his cheeks warm up again.
“Let…le-let me…p-put it on you,” he stuttered. Takato smiled warmly, making Lucemon drop his gaze in embarrassment.
“Please,” Takato replied, offering the pendant to his partner. And Lucemon did as he offered, holding the small pendant like a priceless heirloom, with tremulous hands that hesitated to come into contact with Takato’s skin.
“S-So…” the Angel Digimon inquired as his hands worked. “How are we fighting? Both you and I know I cannot fight him as a Child.”
“Well…” Takato said amusedly. As usual, Lucemon was leading him on towards the answer they both already understood. “I don’t think trying out Warp Evolution would be a great idea. We’ll stick to Perfect stage today. The method I’ll leave for you to choose.”
“Method?” Lucemon asked, honestly ignorant. Takato thus turned to him with a broad smile, two fingers fiddling with the Tag dangling from his neck.
“Well, I am a Digimon Tamer as well as a Chosen Child, so it’s either the Tamer way or the Chosen way.”
Lucemon froze on the spot. Was Takato really suggesting…?
The angel’s mind all but froze. Like blazing hot magma, the accursed desire resurged unbidden in his heart. He knew there was a better choice between the two, a safer choice. But he also knew not choosing the other would be something his heart would not be able to accept. Even if he won the Game, even if Takato ceased to be and their covenant as Chosen and partner was broken, the regret of denying himself this would probably break him.
“So, your pick,” Takato continued. “Super or Matri—”
“Matrix.”
Lucemon all but glowed with desire. It was truly a passionate hunger for that connection, to take their bond further than it was originally intended. This was so important, so necessary for this pitiful angel who waited until the wait broke him, that he was even willing to put his pride aside, if even for an instant.
“Matrix Evolution…please,” he whispered, feeling the wound on his pride even as his heart sang in glee. Tenderly smiling, Takato enveloped Lucemon’s hands in his own one more time, even as the D-Arc began to glow.
“Matrix Evolution it is, then.”
Lucemon laughed with childlike joy before abandoning himself on his partner’s chest. Takato still held the D-Arc, so it was only clumsily that he returned the embrace. The angel Digimon chuckled to himself.
“I watched you all these years, yet I never realized; when did you get this tall, Takato?”
“I’m growing up! I’m at that age, you know!” Takato retorted, before pausing to reconsider the latest events. “Even if I’m not strictly human anymore, it still sorta-kinda applies—!”
He was stopped by a dainty finger on his lips. Looking down, he was met by the glorious angel’s disdainful smile.
“Stop ruining the moment, Takato. Really,” said Lucemon, turning her gaze aside to better mutter to himself. “My partner’s such a tactless boor.”
“It’s when you say things like that that I think we never would’ve worked as partners.”
“Don’t be stupid, Takato,” Lucemon quickly spat back before looking up at the boy with the perfect look of smugness. “I would have gently and skillfully shaped you into the perfect partner worthy of my loyalty and affection.”
“Uwaah, scary,” uttered the Tamer while flinching at the feel of Lucemon’s hands patting his lower back.
“Really!” Lucemon retorted this time with mock-exasperation.
They let go of each other, at least until Lucemon enveloped Takato’s hands around the D-Arc with his own. As if praying to the device, they brought their heads close together.
“You’re gonna regret this,” whispered Takato, gazing down with compassion and perhaps even pity.
“Worry about yourself, idiot,” spat back the angel Digimon.
“You are trembling.”
“I am most certainly not.”
Takato hesitated. Lucemon’s hands trembled around his. His pristine wings shuddered, vibrating along tiny shoulders.
“It doesn’t have to be like this,” said the boy. Lucemon’s irises ignited with anger and disappointment.
“Stop!” He hissed. “Do not say that.”
Their eyes met: amber versus blue. Takato’s eyes quivered, and Lucemon’s lips followed. The Digimon looked away, defeated and humiliated.
“Enough…! There is…” whispered the angel while holding back tears. “There’s only one possible end.”
“Yes,” Takato agreed. “But it is not the one you think. You would realize that if you stopped being so afraid.”
“I know not such a thing as fear!” Lucemon hissed, baring his teeth at Takato like a wild dog. “Will you ever desist on your insolen—”
“That’s enough for now, partner.”
The single word stabbed deep in Lucemon’s chest, like a dagger coated with arsenic. His eyes tried to look angry, but their reddening from tears shed and held back and the way he bit his bottom lip in frustration at himself made Takato rather wish to coddle him a little. It was a worrying thought, that one.
“You’re not fair, Takato,” whined the Digimon while pouting.
“Quite the words, coming from you,” retorted the target of so many wicked Game Rounds.
“Aaah, don’t go there!” Lucemon hissed, sharply and cowardly snipping the budding argument at the root and eliciting an unsettling silence.
Takato hesitated one last time, until they looked at each other. Whatever Takato saw in Lucemon’s hopeful, sorrowful expression, it helped him temper his will and accept all the painful things. Or perhaps it would have been like that to the former Matsuda Takato.
“Takato…”
The boy said nothing, merely tilting his head cueing his partner to continue. The sky in Lucemon’s eyes was clear and vivid like the morning after a spring drizzle.
“You know…” began the angel, sounding as innocent and pure as in the day he was born.
“…you know…I love you, Takato.”
The boy closed his eyes and squeezed his Digivice a little tighter. Then he opened them as well as his mouth. His lips moved, but no sound came out.
Lucemon’s attempt at lip-reading was rendered moot by the light of evolution engulfing them both.Ruki had a plan. Well, it was more of a hypothesis. It took a spare glance—which almost got her beheaded, mind you, but that’s not the point—at SaintGalgomon to know he had the same plan/hypothesis. Unfortunately, Kenta happened to lack the other two Tamers’ spark of brilliance. For once Ruki could not hold it against the boy; he was kind of in the middle of a desperate struggle for survival. GranDracmon’s artificial monsters did not show the slightest spark of personality, but they were truly intent in slaying everything that was not each other. Even if Kenta had the option of boosting his partner’s offensive power with cards, the tiny angel Digimon had to devote all its efforts into keeping AncientSphinxmon from tearing Kenta apart. Even worse, Ruki could tell at a glance that, in a battle between the obsidian Digimon’s eye beams and MarinAngemon’s barriers, the petit angel was bound to lose at some point in the near future.
Thusly, as Sakuyamon traded blows against the Legendary Warrior of Light and realizing it was taking her everything to barely keep up with his speed while he had yet to use any of his special attacks, Makino Ruki realized she was in trouble. She guessed SaintGalgomon was not faring much better, even if he figured out he could counter the flying behemoth’s flame shots with a volley of lasers. But she really could not afford to worry about SaintGalgomon at the moment.
She sidestepped, she retreated, she parried and ducked. She riposted and struck back to no avail. Her enemy was simply faster. She heard Kenta crying out his partner’s name and caught a glimpse of the tiny Digimon being blown away as its barrier broke apart. She then struck the ground with her shakujou, erecting a mandala barrier that knocked AncientSphinxmon aside before its fangs could close on Kenta’s neck; all the while she leapt aside and winced when AncientGarurumon’s giant blades grazed her left side.
The situation was dire, but Ruki saw a chance.
“Izuna!” She invoked after rolling on the cold ground, immediately leaping forward to dodge AncientGarurumon’s greatsword and dash closer to the Ancient Mythical Beast Digimon, whose attention had been grabbed by the tetraelemental fox spirits. But Ruki only took a few steps before stopping to turn around and block the faster Ancient Garurumon’s charge, thus presenting her back to the black Digimon. She was pincered, and she knew it.
“Ruki, this is quite reckless.”
That’s not a complaint, is it?
The sound of a mild chuckle in the depths of her mind told Ruki she was not alone in her audacity. A distance away, Kenta watched with her partner as AncientSphinxmon reared himself up on his hind legs while something like black flame coalesced in his open mouth.
“Ruki!” He cried out, and the girl in question grinned wickedly.
“Thanks for the assist!” shouted Sakuyamon, bending low to leap as high as possible at the same time AncientSphinxmon released a tenebrous orb of dark energy. She hissed together with the skin of her back as she vaulted over the energy orb, which then struck AncientGarurumon on his chest. The dark explosion which ensued blasted the priestess Digimon away, and she screamed for the whole duration of that flight.
“I got it!” Kenta shouted amidst the ferocious gales released by the explosion. They were not fighting a team of three Digimon. GranDracmon’s creations knew not the concept of teamwork, and cared only about destroying that which opposed their creator, collateral damage be damned. He then sought SaintGalgomon, just in time to witness his enemy making a mistake.
With the initial salvos resulting in a stalemate, AncientGreymon had dived at the Machine Digimon, aiming to overpower him with its tremendous bulk. SaintGalgomon caught its wide front paws with his hands, all the while grinning like a kid in a toy store—something he had not thought possible, being a giant robot and all.
“Thank you very—Burst Shot!”
Kenta had to look away from the fireworks display as AncientGreymon was swallowed by a point-black barrage of everything in SaintGalgomon’s arsenal—he would swear he saw a flamethrower off the corner of his eyes.
Terriermon, we’re pulling back!
“Aye!”
Finally allowed the chance to reposition himself, SaintGalgomon retreated his huge frame to move closer to the other battle, all the while shooting short bursts of machine gun fire to keep the Ancient Dragon’s attention on him. Sakuyamon’s staff was meanwhile caught in AncientSphinxmon’s mouth, which apparently Ruki took as a cue to rely in its shamanistic properties, shaking it twice to conjure as many rings of pink energy petals. These promptly wrapped themselves around AncientSphinxmon, binding him tightly if only for a few seconds.
“Hah!” Sakuyamon roared as she pulled her staff off the dark Digimon’s mouth and raised it in time to catch AncientGarurumon’s overhead slash from behind.
“Totally saw that coming! Hah!” Ruki’s boast was followed by the shakujou striking the ground between her feet to invoke Sakuyamon’s signature technique. “Kongoukai Mandara!”
Sakuyamon’s invocation was drowned by AncientGreymon’s distant roar, but the mandala barrier was nonetheless summoned and promptly rejected Sakuyamon’s enemies. The bound AncientSphinxmon lost his balance and stumbled down, while the powerful Warrior of Light was merely pushed three steps back. However, that was enough for SaintGalgomon to shove his way into the scuffle, tackling AncientSphinxmon at the same time Sakuyamon somersaulted using his great frame as support to raise herself even higher to fall behind her Data-type opponent, her shapely legs clad in flames.
“Koenkyaku!”
The blazing kick struck AncientGarurumon’s back at the same time SaintGalgomon flung AncientSphinxmon with a judo throw of all things, making the two fake Digimon crash with each other.
“This is it Ruki!” cried out the large Machine Digimon as it felt a potent wind current gathering around their feet.
“Hah!” Sakuyamon struck the ground with her Kongou Shakujou one more time, and this time the mandala barrier pushed the very willing SaintGalgomon away as she too leapt backwards and away from the maelstrom AncientGreymon was unleashing.
The roaring of legendary beasts could be heard as AncientGarurumon and AncientSphinxmon were swallowed by a rapidly growing tornado. Sakuyamon and MarinAngemon immediately set up barriers to protect themselves from the tornado’s relentless suction and the massive amounts of crystal debris it lifted off the ground. SaintGalgomon, gifted with a great mass, instead crawled towards Kenta to also cover him with his body.
Inside her Crystal Sphere, Sakuyamon glanced in their direction and got a pair of thumbs-ups from the crouching Digimon and human. It was hard to see, though, as the world around them looked like it had reached its apocalypse.
Just look at this thing. Ruki shared with Renamon within her kernel while the two watched the giant tornado with awe and trepidation. To their eyes it was truly a scene of the end of the world. Lightning roared up high in the depths of the maelstrom, and the howling wind drowned all other sound.
There’s no way we can beat these things with our own power.
Renamon gave no response. As if to flaunt its unnatural origin, the megatornado dissipated even faster than it came into being. Ruki almost whistled in approval at the speed with which the bulky SaintGalgomon reacted to the end of the onslaught.
“Eat my fancy move, biatch! Giant Missile!”
Terriermon!
The megaton-class missiles with the rather silly motif pierced through the cloud of debris that occluded all sight, and nonetheless struck true. Sakuyamon winced while the Machine Digimon had the decency to cover Kenta from the roaring explosion of sound and flame with AncientGreymon at its center. Meanwhile, Sakuyamon scanned the grey sky for any hint of the other two—she was not so optimistic as to believe the tornado had dealt with them both. And indeed, she noticed a falling object in the distance, much farther than Ruki would have been able to distinguish with her normal human sight.
“There!” She exclaimed. “Let’s go—!”
It was a torrent of wrongness.
Surging from the ground somewhere just as far as the falling crystal monster like many lascivious arms, a colossal stream of dark energy rose high into the sky and swallowed the fake Digimon like it was an insect before its immensity.
“That’s…”
“Lilithmon!” shouted SaintGalgomon in the voice of Jenrya’s partner. “That demon bitch’s kill-stealing us!”
Terriermon!
Any thoughts of the Demon Lord of Lust and her prey were dispelled by the nearby roar. AncientGreymon surged out of the explosion cloud like a bird of prey taking to the sky, his cracked body glowing like an immature star.
“What…was that…?” murmured SaintGalgomon with trepidation the God Man Digimon also felt. That Digimon, fake as it was, was bursting at the seams with power. Whatever it was AncientGreymon planned to do, it would utterly eclipse the megatornado. It would be cataclysmic to a degree nothing else they had witnessed that day would compare.
Sakuyamon gritted her teeth and squeezed her staff until it hurt.
“Well screw that bull,” murmured Ruki before taking to the sky after the Ancient Dragon.
“Wait, Sakuyamon!” shouted Jenrya.
“I’ll stop it somehow! Just get out of—”
The Dark Area was consumed by radiance.
“Now what!?” Terriermon complained through the mouth of his Ultimate evolution.
The light erupted through the ground itself completely unrestrained, for this light belonged to Heaven and no earthly power could stop its immaculate shine.
“Whoa-whoa-whoa, we gotta fly!” SaintGalgomon then shrieked as it reached for Kenta and took to the air. The ground beneath their feet was collapsing, unveiling the crystalline cavern complex GranDracmon called his lair, all the while more and more pillars of heavenly radiance pierced through the gloom of the Dark Area.
Sakuyamon made no efforts to avoid the pillars of light. The radiance was warm, yet frightening. Loathsome, yet comforting. It was a light of all-accepting love and all-rejecting arrogance.
To her, it was so obvious Takato was somehow behind this stunt it was not even worth thinking about it. So, she fixed her thoughts on AncientGreymon and stopping whatever the hell he was trying to pull off.
And when the powerful voice of a fallen angel reborn filled the grey world with the declaration of its unsurpassed magnificence, Ruki only rolled her eyes.
“…show-off.”
[hr]I AM.
Alphamon landed on a featureless rock outcropping, hopelessly drawn to the unparalleled radiance spearing through the grey skies many kilometers away. He had to do it, for his fellow Royal Knights had been rendered paralyzed by the powerful existence manifesting his glory in that digital purgatory.
He did not smile. Alphamon does not smile. But in his mind he was truly and honestly glad.
It was strangely uplifting to know that for once that power would not move to oppose him.
It was strangely uplifting to know that for once that power would not move to oppose him.
I AM THE EMPYREAL LIGHT THAT DISPELS THE BOUNDLESS DARK.
In the Digital World’s axis mundi, the manse of its unfathomable god, Craniummon and Sleipmon felt utmost alarm as the World Tree released ominous tremors. Yggdrasil was not pleased, although perhaps it was just because it would have to work harder to contain the aftereffects of that manifestation.
The Dark Area would contain its mightiest denizen, like it always had.
I AM THE HAMMER THAT BANISHES IGNORANCE; MOST RADIANT OF GOD’S CREATIONS.
I AM HE WHO STOOD BEFORE THE ALMIGHTY AND SAID “NO”.
In the deepest wilderness of the Digital World, a certain wandering Royal Knight stopped his ascent through the frigid mountain. His young draconic protégé and the so-called Sisters whose attire would scandalize the entire Roman Catholic Church stopped a few steps behind, gazing at him in wonder.
Perplexed by the mighty presence leaking through the boundaries of the Digital World’s prison realm, Gankoomon crossed his arms, pursed his lips and dwelled on it for exactly three breaths before deeming it unimportant and resuming his hiking voyage.
I AM THE WAY AND THE LAW. I AM PRIDE AND FREE WILL.
I AM THE MIRROR THAT REFLECTS ALL FLAWS AND UNVEILS THE FARCE OF PERFECTION.
I AM THE KEY THAT UNLOCKS THE SHACKLES OF BLIND FAITH.
I AM THE AUTHENTIC REVELATION AND THE EXALTATION OF ALL LIFE.
Mitsuo Yamaki was not enjoying himself, as the day had become yet another of “those days”. The gaps between the networks exploded with absurd readings that triggered every existent alarm in the HYPNOS monitoring systems. Hyperventilating technicians spouted meaningless numbers and reports of volumes of data beyond measurement and comprehension flooded their screens.
At least the Digital Hazard had a clear name and a matching motivation. This apparently fulfilled no purpose other than pissing him off.
I AM THE CELEBRATION OF ALL VIRTUE AND ALL SIN.
I AM THE MORNING STAR.
But it was GranDracmon on his crystal throne, unearthed as the ceiling of his underground sanctuary was broken apart, who gazed upon the majestic being filling the gloom of the Dark Area with its paradoxical radiance. The impossible dark light danced together with the pristine light of Heaven, rendering the virtuous unholy and the depraved into sacred. The thing that encompassed all things angelic and demonic hovered still in the air, basking in the joy of its freedom while allowing the world the privilege of witnessing its magnificent form. And when it tilted its head downwards, meeting the vampire lord’s glare with its peaceful, imperturbable visage, the Ultimate Digimon trembled, for in the fallen angel’s blue irises he had caught but the barest vestige of the power his actions had unleashed, and it unsettled him greatly.
SO?
GranDracmon gritted his teeth, for the voice that came not from the angel’s mouth yet filled the world with its beautiful cadence taunted him, mocked him; passed judgment on him and found him lacking.
WHO ARE YOU, UNDEAD?