Chapter 67: Etemon—Dead!
"Curse you! You're nothing but a miserable DigiDestined! How can you wield this kind of power?!" The screeching voice echoed across the fractured wasteland, laced with disbelief and static. "I—I am the great King Etemon!"
His screams were swallowed by the deafening roar of MetalGreymon's artillery. Missiles rained down in a relentless, devastating bombardment. Despite his desperate, thrashing resistance, the self-proclaimed king of the desert could not outrun his inevitable deletion. The explosions painted the sky in violent hues of orange and black, reducing his dark network to scattering fragments of dead code.
Mizuki watched the spectacle from a safe distance, the violent gusts of wind tugging at his clothes. He wasn't surprised in the slightest. The Taichi of this reality was a sharper, more battle-hardened version of his original counterpart. But even in the standard timeline, Etemon's actual combat prowess had never been overwhelmingly high. His terrifying reputation had relied entirely on the fact that the Chosen Children hadn't yet unlocked their Ultimate level forms, leaving them trapped in a grueling game of cat-and-mouse. Now that Taichi's Greymon had successfully achieved Super digivolution, Etemon's reign was destined to end in ash. The timeline had simply accelerated.
A few paces away, Gazimon stood perfectly still. The fiery reflection of Etemon's demise danced in her eyes, yet her expression remained entirely hollow. Not a single flinch. Not a shred of grief.
Once she had realized that Etemon's suffocating aura of invincibility was nothing more than a castle built on clouds of lies, her previous admiration had curdled into bitter resentment. It was all that arrogant ape's fault. He had spent every waking moment boasting about his supreme, untouchable strength. She had believed those grandiose claims, agreeing to manage his network and serve his empire, only to be dragged into a catastrophic war against opponents they had no hope of defeating.
Gazimon let out a slow, ragged sigh, her shoulders slumping. Her superior had been a pathetic frog at the bottom of a well, blind to the vastness of the sky. And by following him, she had become one too. What would happen to her now? What about the others hiding behind her?
As the grim reality of her situation settled in, she pulled her gaze away from the smoldering crater, only to find Mizuki watching her.
The human boy offered a mild, disarming smile. "Well, Gazimon?" he asked, his voice cutting through the lingering crackle of the flames. "What do you think? Have you made your decision?"
Silence stretched between them. Gazimon's claws twitched. She chewed on her lower lip, her mind racing through a dozen different survival scenarios. She didn't keep him waiting long.
"What..." Her voice was raspy, hesitant. "What exactly do you want us to do?"
'Or rather, what could we possibly offer you?' she thought bitterly.
Her eyes drifted down to the small creature resting comfortably in Mizuki's arms. Salamon. Now that Gazimon had shed her blind ignorance, she could see the terrifying truth hidden beneath the surface. This little white pup outwardly radiated the harmless, fragile data signature of a Rookie level. Yet, Gazimon knew better. She remembered the casual, devastating strike the creature had unleashed the night before. Very few Champion level Digimon could even dream of replicating that kind of raw, concentrated power.
And considering the rumors that this Digimon could freely rewrite her own data and shift forms, her true combat strength wasn't just Champion level.
'Ultimate level,'Gazimon realized, her core data trembling at the thought.'She has the power of an Ultimate.'
Her heart hammered against her ribs. Fear of the monster in the boy's arms was only half the problem. The other half was her own crushing inadequacy. What could a ragged band of Rookie and In-Training Digimon possibly do for someone who commanded that kind of firepower?
Fight for him? A joke. Their meager strength wouldn't even serve as a distraction.
Stroke his ego? Unlikely. This boy wasn't a delusional narcissist like Etemon, desperate to plaster the word Invincible across his own forehead.
Management, then? But manage what? This human didn't have a sprawling desert empire or a dark network to maintain.
"You really don't need to underestimate yourselves so much, Gazimon," Mizuki said, his tone conversational, as if they were discussing the weather rather than her life or death.
Gazimon blinked, startled.
"Perhaps your current combat strength is lacking," Mizuki continued, stepping over a scorched piece of Etemon's cable wire. "But to me, that means absolutely nothing. You possess something that the vast majority of Digimon in this world completely lack." He tapped the side of his head. "Wisdom. Technical intellect."
"Wisdom?" she echoed, narrowing her eyes.
"Exactly." Mizuki nodded. "Let's be honest. Etemon didn't exactly look like the type to sit down and carefully program high-tech surveillance equipment or route network cables. Even if he had the capacity, he lacked the patience. It's obvious that you and your team were the ones keeping his entire operation running."
He closed the distance between them, the golden light of his Digi-Soul flickering briefly before he dispersed the Dragon Head Shield he had kept manifested on his arm.
"That is the intellect I value," Mizuki said, stopping just a few feet away. "When traveling through unknown territory, having a friend who knows the infrastructure opens up entirely new paths. Your technical skills can make our journey through this world significantly easier."
He extended a hand toward her. "So, what do you say? Would you like to become my friend?"
Gazimon stared at his open palm, stunned.
"Naturally, I won't ask you to work for free," Mizuki added, his smile widening just a fraction. "In exchange for your expertise, I can offer you a little assistance of my own. For example... digivolution."
'digivolution?!'
The word struck like a physical blow. Not only did Gazimon freeze, but the two other Digimon hiding nervously behind the rocks—another Gazimon and a trembling Pagumon—gasped aloud.
A flurry of frantic, hushed whispers broke out behind her.
"Did I hear that right?"
"The human wants to help us Digivolve?"
"Is that even possible for us?"
"He's a DigiDestined! They're legends! Look at what they did to Etemon... maybe he really can!"
Listening to her companions' desperate, bubbling hope, Gazimon remained dead silent. Unlike them, she had been burned too badly by Etemon's empty promises. She had matured through deception.
digivolution. For any Digimon, it was the ultimate pursuit—a sacred threshold tied directly to their survival, their strength, and their very essence. Countless Digimon scoured the digital plains, hungering for the chance to ascend.
But it was a path paved with lethal risks. Everyone knew the legends of immense power, yet why were Ultimate level Digimon so incredibly rare? Why were Mega levels treated as mere myths?
Because digivolution was terrifyingly unstable.
No one could guarantee a correct path. A single misstep in data absorption could result in a hideous, universally despised form like Numemon. But a wrong path wasn't the true nightmare. What kept most Digimon paralyzed in their Rookie states was the ultimate consequence of failure.
Death.
Under normal circumstances, a fallen Digimon would reconfigure at the Primary Village. But a failed digivolution was different. The resulting data collapse would tear a Digimon's core apart, erasing them from the digital cycle entirely. True, absolute death. No egg. No chance of rebirth.
Even knowing this, the temptation was agonizingly hard to resist.
'But... can he actually do it?'Gazimon thought, her claws digging into her palms.'Can he really trigger our digivolution?'
Before her thoughts could spiral further, Mizuki's calm voice anchored her back to reality.
"I need to be completely transparent with you about this," Mizuki said, his playful demeanor fading into absolute seriousness. "The method of digivolution I am offering hasn't been actively tested on other wild Digimon yet. Because of that, it is a decision fraught with genuine risk."
He looked her dead in the eye, hiding nothing. "This concerns your lives and your core data. I will not deceive you, and I will not force you. The final choice is entirely yours."
Gazimon stared back. There was no grandstanding in his voice. No boastful claims of invincibility. Just a quiet, unwavering sincerity.
And for the first time in a long time, Gazimon found herself wanting to believe.
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