…
The hallway was plunged into tense silence as everyone's gaze fixed on those blue eyes that looked at them as if they were mere children fighting over trivial matters.
"I must say, it's surprising to see you here, although I shouldn't be surprised considering your little fairy godmother."
The eyes of the voice narrowed a millimeter, but it was enough to put everyone on alert, which seemed to amuse the voice, if the laugh it let out was anything to go by.
"Oh, but where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself properly."
From the darkness emerged an abnormally tall humanoid figure, who must have been almost three meters tall. His blue eyes glowed with an unnatural intensity as he looked at all the children present with a primal hatred. He wore a long, flowing black cape with a deep red interior, which added a touch of elegance and majesty to his presence. His face, painted in bright colors, reflected a perfectly controlled neutral expression as he walked with a firm and elegant stride; not a single step was out of place.
"My name-"
He wore an impeccably cut blue jacket, embellished with golden details that lent an air of nobility and distinction. His already large hands looked even bigger due to his long, thin forearms that only contrasted with his long fingers. On his feet, he wore polished black boots, adorned with a skull motif on one side.
"-is Vamdemon"
His posture was firm but not arrogant, his walk was serene but not narcissistic, and his presence was intimidating but not overconfident.
"And welcome to my castle."
Suddenly, thunder rumbled in the distance, illuminating the hallway with a white flash that blinded everyone in the hallway for a fraction of a second. When the flash faded, there was no trace of Vamdemon, only a sinister laugh that echoed throughout the castle.
All the Chosen Children felt their skin crawl as the laughter faded into the darkness, leaving the hallway in deep silence.
"T-Togemon!!" Mimi's panicked voice made everyone catch their breath as they quickly recovered from their first encounter with the Vampire King.
Sora, Matt, TK, and Joe quickly began attacking Eyesmon, who moved like water, dodging each blow from the Digimon and counterattacking with heavy, powerful blows.
Meanwhile, Mimi peered out the window, watching in fear as MadLeomon relentlessly slammed Togemon into the ground, creating a small, rapidly expanding crater.
"Filmon, go help Togemon!" Noah exclaimed, receiving a quick nod from Filmon before jumping out the window in an incredible display of speed. The large hedgehog landed on MadLeomon's shoulders, causing the Lion to turn instinctively and send Filmon flying through the air.
"Beast King... Fallen... Fist..."
Filmon's eyes widened as he watched the concentrated ball of energy collide with his chest. The first thing was that MadLeomon now had more metal all over his body along with a huge chainsaw on his right arm. And the second was that this attack was almost identical to Ogremon's special attack.
BOOOOM!!
A huge purple explosion appeared in the sky right where Filmon had been standing.
MadLeomon looked up at the sky with erratic movements in his eyes. Suddenly, Filmon appeared a few meters away from the purple lion with both claws pointed at his neck.
However, MadLeomon reacted easily, blocking Filmon's claws with his chainsaw; the lion growled fiercely, saliva dripping from his mouth and showing all his teeth.
"Old man, your mouth stinks," Filmon taunted with a slight smile before both Digimons engaged in a real competition of who would cut whom first. It was difficult; MadLeomon's new chainsaw served as a replacement shield while the chainsaw destroyed Filmon's spikes and claws with each clash thanks to its constant movement.
The battle of cuts escalated quickly, with both Digimon moving around the garden, cutting everything in their path as they tried everything to finish each other off. Feints, lunges, charges—anything to finish the other off, but they were tied in everything.
Tied in everything except madness and instinct.
With a roar like that of a locomotive, MadLeomon let one of Filmon's claws slightly cut his left arm as he lunged with his chainsaw at the hedgehog's stomach, taking Filmon completely by surprise, who could only take the full brunt of the attack.
"Aghhh!!" The hedgehog screamed in pain as he felt his quills being easily destroyed and his Data being sliced away until nothing remained. The hedgehog heard Noah shouting his name as feelings of fear and panic momentarily took hold of him.
"Mach Jab!!"
But before Filmon was completely cut in two, a powerful punch sent MadLeomon flying into a wall, crashing into it and generating a large cloud of dust and debris that fell on the berserker lion.
Despite the pain, Filmon heard Noah's desperate orders and launched a veritable rain of electric quills at the fallen berserker. The lion rose from the debris with ease, growling in pain as electricity coursed through his body like a second skin. The moment he tried to take a single step toward Filmon and Togemon, an electric shock stopped him in his tracks for a whole second.
And that was all Togemon needed to end this.
"Totemo Kusai Nioi!"
A purple gas with sickly white particles came out of Togemon's mouth, hitting MadLeomon directly in the face. The purple lion paused for a moment as he smelled the gas before going crazy and screaming desperately into the air. The lion tried to get out of the gas, but Filmon's electrified spikes managed to keep him in place with a strong electric shock.
The walls and debris behind MadLeomon began to turn to dust. The lion slowly began to lose strength as his skin slowly melted away, his exposed bones turning from white to a rotten yellowish color. The metal embedded in his body began to rust rapidly as a smell like rotten fish and burnt wire began to fill the air.
Mimi and Noah watched the entire decomposition process with expressions ranging from horror to disgust and guilt.
With a roar that seemed more like an agonizing plea, MadLeomon stood completely still before exploding into a shower of Red Data.
***
Deep within the mountain, a large, dark room could be seen, with a few candles on the walls that did little to dispel the darkness of the place. In the middle of the room was a large drawing of a circle resembling a mixture of a pentagram and several constellations. In the middle of the strange circle was a pedestal with strange symbols, drawings, and writings in a strange language that glowed faintly with a dim blue light.
Tailmon and Wizardmon looked at the place in amazement, while I simply crossed my arms and watched with amusement at the reactions of my two Commanders. Tailmon looked thoughtfully and calculatingly at each symbol on the pentagram and pedestal, managing to recognize a few symbols, but failing to make sense of the drawing itself.
"Lord Vamdemon, may I ask what this is?" asked the little feline respectfully, her tail twitching nervously from side to side.
"This, my little lady, is a Digi-Link. It is one of the few remaining gates between our world and the human world." I paused deliberately, letting that information sink in before asking, "As you can see, the Digi-Link is deactivated. Can you guess why, Wizardmon?"
The wizard, who for once was not drunk, frowned thoughtfully before answering hesitantly. "I guess the Cards and this thing are related, right? ... So, huh ... I guess they're necessary to open the portal to the Human World, like a kind of insurance."
"You're partially correct." I nodded with a slight smile on my face as I approached the pedestal. "Yes, the Cards are the key to traveling to the Human World, but they can also be used to travel to many other Worlds, such as the home World of your people: Wichtcharly."
"I see..." Wizardmon muttered softly as he looked thoughtfully at the pedestal. "Are there other Digi-Links?"
"I know there is one on Infinite Mountain and another on the Folder Continent; I don't know if there are others on any of the Islands or somewhere in the Net Ocean, although I wouldn't be surprised if there were. Even with all my knowledge and experience, I am not omnipresent or omniscient." I let out a small laugh before taking out all the Cards and approaching the portal. "Well, it's time to go."
I could feel both of their eyes fixed on my back.
"Is something wrong?"
"My Lord, with all due respect, aren't you going to take care of the Chosen Children?" Tailmon asked in her usual respectful tone, but I could also hear beyond that. The doubt, the foreboding, the hesitation, the confusion.
An understandable mix of conflicting feelings. I didn't blame her, I couldn't, that would be unfair to her, who doesn't know the magnitude of my task.
"I'm afraid not." I shook my head firmly as I arranged the last card in the correct order, causing the pedestal to glow brightly as small golden rays began to form around the pentagram. "Believe me, if I could do it, I would gladly do so. But, unfortunately, fate is against us; besides, I have more important plans than being the villain of the moment for half a dozen humans."
The room began to shake slightly as more lightning bolts began to emerge from the pentagram and connect firmly with the pedestal; it was like watching tree roots grow into the earth. The space in front of the pedestal began to warp and twist; the very reality of the World began to crack as a door between two worlds opened for the first time in millennia.
"I can understand that part, but I don't understand why you sent Eyesmon and Madleomon after the Children instead of our troops. If they are destined to fail, then why send them alone?" Wizardmon asked with suspicion in his voice. "In fact, I don't understand why you decided to move all our troops to our base on the Folder Continent. You even took the Devidramon..."
I remained silent as I gazed at the glowing portal with something I couldn't quite describe. Achievement? Pride? No, I was above those feelings. Perhaps sadness or joy? Maybe, but those feelings didn't seem quite right.
In any case.
"Eyesmon believed he could take control of my army to force them to fight against me and become the new Leader of the Nightmare Soldiers," I replied in a light tone, as if it were a mere annoyance. I couldn't help but let a small, mocking smile form on my face for a split second. "MadLeomon, for his part, can't even reason or think normally due to the changes he underwent at the hands of Eyesmon when he was still Leomon; he only obeys my orders out of fear and instinct, knowing that if he fights or argues with me, I would kill him with a single move."
"L-Lord, forgive my boldness, but are you sure Eyesmon would be capable of such a thing?"
"Ah, don't worry, it's not the first time in my long life that I've been betrayed; perhaps it's new to you, after all it was Eyesmon who brought you to me, but that's the crux of the matter: Betrayal never comes from an enemy, but it hurts the whole soul deeply." I repeated the saying I had learned throughout my existence with a thoughtful hum; I could hear Tailmon and Wizardmon's breathing stop for a good moment. I ran a hand over my neck as I muttered aloud. "I don't rule out the remote possibility that Eyesmon is the one who really orders MadLeomon what to do and is just putting on an act. But I doubt that Eyesmon has achieved such a degree of understanding and skill with the DigiCore."
With a casual shrug, I turned to face my little cat and my little resident drunkard with my sharp eyes. They both swallowed hard as they looked away for a second, where I could see a storm of emotion and contradiction forming on their faces before they looked back at me, this time with doubt and uncertainty.
"Our troops, while strongly loyal to me and considerably powerful, I do not plan to use them to invade the Human World; the time is not yet right for that."
"...May I ask why?" Wizardmon asked through clenched teeth.
I fell silent, remembering times past; my gaze was no longer fixed on my two subordinates, but on all the others I had failed.
"Long ago, when Darkness and Light fought tooth and nail to destroy each other, I learned one thing: An army's might depends on its leader's insight." My voice, heavy even to my own ears, echoed throughout the cave; the weight of hundreds of years of existence seemed to manifest itself in my words. "I have commanded armies, I have fought to the death in impossible situations and lived to tell the tale, I have seen the World slowly die while my comrades in arms are struck down one by one."
"A commander does not fight a lost battle. And this one, no matter how or why, is one we will lose no matter what. The World decided so as soon as that prophecy was given. Isn't that cruel? Isn't that unfair?" I let out a hollow laugh as I looked at the palm of my hand before closing it into a trembling fist. "To strive so hard, to see others die, to sacrifice your life for a greater purpose, only for a foolish prophecy to render centuries of effort lost in vain?"
I fell silent for a second before letting out a long sigh, allowing my weary and resigned gaze to settle on the only two people in the room. We stared at each other for a moment; I could see how the weight of my words made them reflect and think, but without the clues, without the right information, and without old age, they could never understand the cruelty of what I was talking about.
And that... was good.
I spoke again, this time in a lower tone, in a more sincere tone than I had used in years.
"I don't want you to throw your lives away in vain. If you are going to fight for change in this world, the least I can do as your leader is to make sure that your struggle has meaning, that it has merit, that it has purpose." I let those words sink deep into their ears, letting my desire reach their minds. Before raising my left hand toward them, I said, "With these words clear..."
"Nightmare Wave"
A reddish aura that looked like blood emerged from nowhere, holding both Tailmon and Wizardmon in the air, completely immobilized. My hand glowed with primal power as I watched my Commanders try to break free with all their might, but failing miserably in the process.
Tailmon's gaze, on the other hand, seemed hurt and deeply betrayed.
That look hurt me more than I would ever admit, but I couldn't put either of them at risk. It was the least I could do for them.
"I'm sorry, but neither of you can come with me. You have served me loyally, you have followed every order I have given to the letter, and for that I am grateful," I said gravely as I turned to contemplate the beauty of the portal before me. I stared at what marked the end of my mission, of my existence, and I couldn't help but think of all the good soldiers and subjects I had commanded at some point in time; I wished they were all still alive to see that their sacrifice had not been in vain. "I'm sorry, truly sorry, but this is a path I must walk alone; it is my last gift to all of you who have served and inspired me over the decades. It is my last tribute to my fallen friends, who have given more than their lives for change, and my last hope for creating a just world, a balanced world."
Not daring to look them in the eye, I began to walk forward, always forward.
"I don't expect you to forgive me, but I hope that someday you will look back and understand my decision."
With those last words, I let out a deep sigh as I allowed my Data to be transferred to The Net. Zeros and ones flew across my vision as I watched each line of code in my being being distorted with terrifying efficiency. Every tiny bit of Data in my being was quickly ripped away, leaving behind a small empty hole that quickly grew larger and larger. It was like watching myself turn to dust before my eyes, but every speck of dust was still part of me; it was disconcerting.
But even as I felt my being being converted and compressed, I couldn't help but let out a small smile as a single thought came to my mind.
'Ah, so this is what it feels like to be whole.'
...
__________________________________________
Thank you very much for reading! If you liked the chapter you can leave a Power Stone or a Review! You can also join my Patreon to support me!
https://www.patreon.com/rTem