"Ken! Ken!"
Ryo and the de-digivolved Wormmon both called Ken's name. Off to the side, UlforceVeedramon had also de-digivolved back into Veemon. Although the huge hole in his chest was gone, he still hadn't woken up.
Ryo hurriedly picked Veemon up, looking at the unconscious Veemon and Ken, completely at a loss for what to do.
"Tai, are you okay?"
Not far away, Omnimon saw Tai wobbling unsteadily through the air and quickly flew over, letting Tai slump down onto his shoulder.
"I'm fine, just completely out of energy. I'll be okay after I rest for a bit. Still… at least we finally managed to seal MoonMillenniummon."
Tai spoke with a wry smile.
When they reached where Ken and Ryo were, Tai took in the scene before him and asked, "What happened here?"
"It looks like Ken got hit by something, and Veemon took Millenniummon's last-ditch attack," Ryo replied anxiously.
Tai examined their condition carefully, then said, "Ken will have to be sent back to the human world. Leave Veemon with me. His Digicore's been damaged—he'll need time to slowly recover. And…"
Tai paused, then said, "Your time in this world is about up, isn't it?"
Ryo nodded, his eyes dim and reluctant. "I'll take Ken to the hospital first. I have to leave Veemon in your care. There's no way I can bring him with me. Please look after him."
Tai nodded, then took Veemon from Ryo and set him gently in Omnimon's hand. Turning around, he added, "But with his Digicore damaged, I can't guarantee that when he wakes up, he'll still have all his memories."
Ryo lowered his gaze so no one could see the sadness in his eyes. "That might be for the best. I might not be able to come back here in the future anyway. Forgetting me… might actually be the best outcome."
With that, he raised his Digivice and opened a Gate. Without looking back, he jumped through it, leaving behind only a single tear, falling from the sky.
"Let's go, Omnimon. We've still got enemies to deal with. This war's only just getting started."
Tai turned away as he spoke and leapt back onto Omnimon's shoulder.
Omnimon flicked his cape, and his body shot upward into the sky. A ring of sonic-boom clouds trailed behind him as he accelerated.
Back in Tai City, the entire metropolis had been completely destroyed. The steel city that had once occupied over half of File Island, stretching hundreds of kilometers across, was now nothing but ruins. Countless buildings had either collapsed entirely or snapped in half; wisps of black smoke rose from all over the city.
Among the wreckage, mechanical soldiers and Dark Army Digimon were still fighting. Flash Cannons and energy blasts constantly tore across the sky, streaking off to who-knows-where—but even more prominent were the thunderous explosions and the anguished cries of Digimon as they died.
Chaosdramon's condition wasn't good either. Even with a body made from Red Digizoid, there was no way to completely withstand the combined assault of three Mega-level Digimon—especially three Demon Lords at the top of the Mega tier.
His red body was covered in gouges, two fingers on his right hand were missing, and one of the cannons on his back had been destroyed. But his opponents were in even worse shape.
Leviamon's mouth continually oozed black blood, one of his foreclaws was gone, one whisker was missing, and his entire body was scored by huge wounds leaking black fluid. Lilithmon's clothes had been reduced to rags, and the bat wings on her back were torn and tattered. Only Daemon was relatively unscathed—though his robe was ripped in places, he hadn't taken any real damage.
"This guy's nearly out of power. I'll just swallow him."
Leviamon ground his teeth as he spoke. With his massive body, he had taken the brunt of Chaosdramon's cannon fire.
Schlick.
Leviamon looked down in disbelief at the tip of a sword protruding from his abdomen, etched all over with Digicode. When he glanced over his shoulder, he saw that Omnimon's Omega Sword had been driven in all the way to the hilt.
"H… how? I…"
Leviamon stared in stunned disbelief, and Lilithmon and Daemon were just as shocked.
"You're trying to say you never noticed Omnimon, right?"
Standing on Omnimon's shoulder, Tai spoke calmly. "That's because this is my Digital World, not yours."
Leviamon's body began to break apart, and in moments he had completely vanished before everyone's eyes.
"One down, two to go."
Tai turned his not-at-all-friendly gaze on the stunned Lilithmon and the now-sour-faced Daemon.
"Flame Inferno!"
Daemon shouted, gathering even more intense flames between his hands.
"Garuru Cannon!"
Omnimon raised the Garuru Cannon on his left arm and fired a blast of absolute-zero cold.
Fire and freezing energy clashed, neutralizing and consuming each other. Thick mist billowed across the battlefield as Daemon and Omnimon both poured their full power into their attacks.
Lilithmon suddenly snapped her whip, lashing it toward Omnimon in hopes of disrupting him.
Omnimon simply gave the Omega Sword in his right hand a light sweep, slicing Lilithmon's whip into several pieces.
"What?!"
Lilithmon gritted her teeth. "Still as sharp as ever…"
Tai drew the Holy Sword: Grade Alpha and met Lilithmon as she lunged at him, blade colliding with her right arm.
The confident smile on Lilithmon's face twisted into surprise. She had intended to use the corrosive power of her right arm to dissolve the sword in Tai's hand—but her ability had absolutely no effect.
"This is a Holy Sword. You really thought it would be that easy to corrode?"
With a shout, Tai shoved Lilithmon back and then swung the Holy Sword down with all his strength, carving a massive gash across her body.
"Aaah!"
Lilithmon cried out in agony and hastily retreated, trying to get away from Tai. She had been far too careless, and that's the only reason Tai had been able to land a blow. Now she wanted nothing more than to get some distance—but Tai had no intention of letting her go.
He shot upward, quickly positioning himself above Lilithmon, gathering all the power left in his body to unleash his strongest technique:
"Dimensional Flash Slash!"
A strike said to be capable of slashing open even space itself.
The fracture spread from the wound on Lilithmon's torso, splitting further and further. Her body shattered like broken glass, scattering into fragments of data that drifted away.
"Hahahaha!"
Daemon suddenly stopped using Flame Inferno and burst into wild laughter. "Well done, Tai. I really didn't expect you to do even better than I'd planned."
"Hm?"
Tai frowned, watching Daemon laugh like a madman. His instincts told him that whenever a villain started talking like this, it usually meant they were about to reveal some trump card. Of course, in the end they always wound up miserable again—but still…
Daemon finally stopped laughing and shot a razor-sharp look at Tai.
"What do you think of the power of darkness?"
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"
"To wield darkness, you have to pay an equivalent price. Whatever it takes, it demands even more in return. That's the law of dark power—equivalent exchange. You've been using the power of darkness for a very long time. Now it's time for you to pay the bill."
Daemon's voice turned cold and sinister as he slowly thrust his right hand out from beneath his robe. His entire hand was wrapped in black mist. The black fog coiled around Daemon's arm like ribbons, radiating a chilling, ominous aura.
"This is…"
Tai and Omnimon exchanged a glance, seeing the same confusion in each other's eyes.
Omnimon lifted the Omega Cannon on his left arm and, testing things, fired off a blast of absolute-zero cold. The ice-crystal energy tore through everything in its path, streaking straight toward Daemon.
Daemon made no move to dodge. He only watched the incoming blast with a low, sinister chuckle.
Boom!
The explosion's blaze engulfed Daemon. But when the flames subsided, the Digimon at the blast's very center was unhurt.
"What?!"
Omnimon was stunned. Even though that shot hadn't been fully charged, its power had still been immense; if it had hit the ground of the Digital World, it would've gouged out a pit hundreds of meters deep.
"This is the Source of Darkness. By the way, Tai, do you remember that mass of condensed darkness under Gokuwmon's pyramid?"
Daemon suddenly brought that up.
"That thing…"
Tai recalled it well—that terrifying mass of concentrated darkness that made your heart tremble just to look at it. No one knew where Gokuwmon had found it. Later, Tai had used the power converted from that thing to help WarGreymon successfully Warp Digivolve to Mega, and his own strength had greatly increased as well. For a long time after that, it had even been the main energy source for his Empire.
If he hadn't later discovered a safer source of energy and abandoned that unknown dark power, he'd probably still be using it even now.
"What are you getting at?"
"Hahaha. Didn't I already tell you? The law of dark power is that whatever you borrow, you must pay back with interest. Now it's time for you to pay the price for using that power. Source of Darkness, show them your power!"
Daemon raised the Source of Darkness in his hand, and the black mist coiled rapidly around it. But as soon as it drifted more than a meter away from Daemon, the mist dispersed—yet Tai could clearly feel that dark force rushing toward him.
"Divine Protection!"
Tai quickly raised a magic shield around himself, crystal-like barriers completely encasing his body. Even so, he didn't relax at all, still pointing the Holy Sword straight at Daemon.
Black mist suddenly appeared all around Tai, wrapping him up. To his horror, he realized that Divine Protection wasn't working at all—the dark fog ignored the shield completely and slipped straight through.
Tai frantically swung the Holy Sword at the encroaching mist, but the blade simply passed through it, unable to affect it in the slightest, while the black fog surged into Tai's body.
"Tai!"
Seeing the black mist flood into Tai, Omnimon panicked, but he had no idea what to do.
"How…?"
Tai could feel the power inside him beginning to fade, his energy draining away without pause.
"Hahahaha! What incredible power. And now, it's all mine!"
Daemon felt the tremendous energy being siphoned from Tai through the Source of Darkness and into his own body, and he let out a delighted howl.
"What's happening?! Why is my power disappearing?!"
Off to the side, Omnimon suddenly cried out in alarm.
The next moment, Omnimon's body split into two streams of light, reverting to WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon. The fusion had been undone.
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