Dark clouds drifted across the sky, dyeing the land below pitch-black. Yet even without that veil of cloud, this land would still have been boundless darkness, because this was the Dark Area, filled with data of resentment, rage, and every other negative emotion. Ever since it came into being, it had continually accumulated all kinds of viruses transferred from the human world into the Digital World, the resentment in the hearts of Digimon who had failed to evolve at every stage, the death-cries of Digimon as they perished, and so on.
Countless Digimon were able to live here, but all of them were cursed, exiled Virus-type Digimon, and beings born in this forgotten, abandoned place, formed from piled-up negative data and filled with hatred. Strictly speaking, they should not even be called Digimon, because they had no Digicores—the most important core any Digimon possesses. They were nothing more than creatures made purely from the most negative data, whose hearts held only emotions like hatred and anger, and even those emotions did not truly belong to them, but were merely things attached to them by the data itself.
Yet now, at the place where the darkness of the Dark Area was at its thickest, where the boundless negative power was so intense that even the native beings born here could not survive, several figures floated in the air.
They were the original source of darkness—the Seven Great Demon Lords. Created directly from the power of darkness, each one a Mega-level Digimon, every single one possessed world-shattering might, far beyond what ordinary Megas could withstand—existences that even the so-called Royal Knights, the thirteen Royal Knight Digimon, had been unable to completely annihilate.
The Seven Great Demon Lords had been created by Apocalymon and Millenniumon, using the densest desires within human hearts. Each of them embodied one facet of negativity. Pride among the Seven Deadly Sins: Lucemon: Falldown Mode, the holy-yet-wicked ultimate demon king created by God and then hunted by God. Gluttony among the Seven Deadly Sins: Beelzemon, the aloof and cruel demon king who rides Behemoth in pursuit of prey. Envy among the Seven Deadly Sins: Leviamon, the sea demon king whose enormous jaws can swallow the world. Lust among the Seven Deadly Sins: Lilithmon, the dark goddess whose seductive charm and rotting golden fingers bewitch all. Wrath among the Seven Deadly Sins: Daemon, the avenging demon king who rebelled against goodness and fell into darkness. Greed among the Seven Deadly Sins: Barbamon, the crafty and avaricious old demon king who unleashes his magical power. Sloth among the Seven Deadly Sins: Belphemon, the great plague demon king that awakens once every thousand years and creeps out from beneath the gate. These seven Demon Lord-type Digimon reigned at the very apex of all Demon-type and Dark-attribute Digimon.
Each of the Seven Great Demon Lords possessed its own "emblem", each taking on one of the seven colors of the rainbow: Lucemon: Falldown Mode's red, Leviamon's water-blue, Daemon's orange, Belphemon (Rage Mode)'s deep blue, Barbamon's purple, Beelzemon's yellow, and Lilithmon's green. At the center of each emblem was the seal of one of seven Olympian spirits/angels, and above that seal was the astrological symbol of the celestial body it ruled. Around the outer ring of each emblem were written, in English, the name of each demon and the Deadly Sin associated with it, and beneath the seal, written in Arabic numerals, was that sin's rank in Purgatory.
Moreover, legend said that when the Seven Great Demon Lords combined into one, the most evil and powerful aberrant demon king would be born—Ogudomon, a being that embodied the combined power of all seven Demon Lords. Seven swords were thrust into the seven legs of its body, each sword having its own unique design based on a different Demon Lord; above each sword's hilt floated the emblem corresponding to a Deadly Sin. The order of Ogudomon's swords was not arranged by the rank of the sins, but by the celestial bodies associated with each Demon Lord. Seen from below, starting from the sword at the direct rear and moving clockwise, the seven swords followed the geocentric order of the planets: the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
After the battle in which Apocalymon led the Seven Great Demon Lords against the Royal Knights under the World Tree, the Digital World lay shattered. The Royal Knights and the World Tree turned themselves back into primal data to repair everything, and at the same time erected a barrier that separated the Digital World from the Dark Area. Apocalymon was sealed beyond the Wall of Fire, and the Seven Demon Lords suffered heavy casualties. Apart from Daemon, who sensed things were going badly and fled early, the other six Demon Lords all fell in battle, yet their cores did not disappear; they continued to exist, restoring themselves at the center of the Dark Area.
As for the Royal Knights, because they had exhausted their own primordial energy together with the World Tree to repair the Digital World, they vanished into the vast river of the Digital World's history.
Now, after a long period of recuperation, several of the Seven Great Demon Lords had awakened again, and, obeying Millenniumon's command, were preparing to invade the Digital World once more.
Daemon glanced at the Demon Lords beside him and was the first to speak. "Lord Millenniumon has already pinned down the strongest Omegamon and that kid. As long as we wipe out the mechanical army here on File Island, there'll be nothing in the Digital World left that can stand in our way."
Leviamon opened his gigantic mouth, the countless fangs lining his jaws flashing cold light. "Hmph, what's there to think about? I'll just go over there and swallow them all in one bite and be done with it. Back then, even the Royal Knights, one-on-one, I never took them seriously. Now they're all dead—who's left that could possibly defeat me? You can all sit here and do nothing; I alone could conquer the entire Digital World."
Lilithmon covered her mouth and let out a soft laugh. "Really? Funny, because I heard there's another Omegamon in the Digital World now, and it even has a Transcendent Form stronger than the Omegamon of the Royal Knights back then. Leviamon, do you really think you can beat that?"
"You—" Leviamon glared fiercely at Lilithmon, jaw spreading wide as if he might gulp her down in one bite.
"All right." Daemon frowned, speaking impatiently. "We don't need to worry about that Omegamon. Lord Millenniumon has already tied him down. What we need to deal with now is the Chaosdramon on File Island and that endless mechanical army. I don't suppose you've forgotten the power of the Steel Empire's mechanical army back then, have you?"
At that, both Lilithmon and Leviamon fell silent. How could they possibly forget? When the Steel Empire had turned on them and launched its attack, the endless mechanical army, those tireless mechanical soldiers that fought on without rest until the moment they were destroyed— even if you could wipe out a whole group with a single blow, another ten groups would immediately join the battle, waiting for your slaughter. That army had been capable of exhausting even Megas, whose energy was said to be inexhaustible, until they spent their very last strength. The Steel Empire's terrifying industrial output and the mechanical army's fearsome combat power had been displayed to the fullest in that battle; the Empire's sharp might had even forced the Royal Knights and the Seven Demon Lords—sworn enemies—to join forces temporarily to destroy the Steel Empire together. That alone was enough to show just how formidable the Steel Empire had been. In all the Digital World's history, the Steel Empire was the only force that had managed to defeat Megas using nothing but an ocean of Ultimate- and Champion-level Machine-type Digimon, without relying on any Mega-level Digimon of its own. No other faction had ever managed, or even come close to matching, such a feat. After that, the Steel Empire disappeared from the Digital World—until the Steel Empire's greatest creation, Machinedramon, appeared, activated part of the Steel Empire's ruins, and founded the Mechanical Empire.
"So what?" After pondering for a moment, Leviamon spoke again, still in a tone of disdain. "The so-called Steel Empire on File Island is nothing compared to the Steel Empire of the past. What's there to be afraid of?" But he very carefully avoided bringing up his earlier claim that he alone could handle everything.
"This time is a perfect opportunity. Lord Millenniumon has already kept that kid and Omegamon occupied. All we have to do is defeat this Chaosdramon, and that's enough. The other Demon Lords still haven't awakened—there are only the three of us."
"So what? The Digital World's current strength is nothing compared to what it was back when the World Tree was in charge. In those days, the Digital World had thirteen Megas just among the Royal Knights alone; now they're probably down to a mere fraction of that." Leviamon spoke with open scorn and contempt, as if it were all going to be effortless.
"Then let's move out." Daemon swept his arm forward in a grand gesture and flew toward the node ahead of them.
Rumbling followed in their wake as a vast army of various Dark-attribute Digimon surged after Daemon and the others, advancing toward the sealed node that linked the Digital World and the Dark Area.
In front of the halted army lay a region of pure chaos where light had completely lost its effect. All that could be seen ahead was a dark vortex, and above that vortex, faintly visible, was a golden circular seal formed from thirteen constantly-rotating golden runes.
"We meet again, Royal Knights." Daemon looked at the seal before him—at his former opponents—with a complicated gaze. "You can no longer stop us. It seems this war that has lasted for tens of thousands of years is finally ours to win. Now we'll go and conquer the world you gave your lives to protect, and all you can do is sit here and watch helplessly. Hahaha!"
"Seal—release!" Daemon shouted, gathering a gigantic sphere of light between his hands and firing a powerful beam straight into the seal. Ripples spread across it at the impact, and then Lilithmon, Leviamon, and the army behind them all unleashed their own attacks as well.
Even under such a violent barrage, the seal remained intact; it only trembled slightly.
"Hmph." The corner of Daemon's mouth curled upward. "So it really can't be broken by just the likes of us? Royal Knights, you're as stubborn as ever. However…" Daemon roared again, "this time is completely different!" As he spoke, his beam of light suddenly turned violet and drew in all the other attacks, compressing them into a single point—like a balloon swollen with air being pricked gently by a needle.
Boom!
The deafening blast completely drowned out the hearing of Daemon's entire army. The shockwave from the massive explosion scattered every cloud in the sky; for a moment the heavens were utterly clear, revealing the pitch-black firmament behind them.
Yet even an explosion of that magnitude failed to affect the dark vortex in the slightest; it continued to churn as before. Only the golden runes representing the seal above it now showed the faintest trace of a crack.
//Check out my P@tre0n for 20 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810