Chapter 154: A New Year, A New Beginning
War. Death.
When the fragile illusion of peace shattered without warning, the very blades forged to protect the innocent twisted into butcher's knives.
The initial confusion and bewilderment in his heart rapidly boiled over into an all-consuming rage.
Why? Why do such a thing?
These Digimon had committed no crimes. They were blameless. So why slaughter them with such wanton cruelty?
The desperate questions he had hurled at these former guardians were met with nothing but a suffocating, dead silence. In the end, there was no reasoning with them. The only choice left was to stare directly into those merciless, hollow eyes.
And face the descending executioner's blade...
—
Guided by an overwhelming surge of willpower, the raw, untamed energy of the earth veins began to converge. It spiraled at a terrifying velocity, condensing into a massive, blinding sphere of hyper-concentrated heat between the Digimon's clawed hands.
With an devastating roar, he hurled the devastating mass of energy straight toward the "Judge" hovering imperiously in the night sky!
"Terra Force!"
Beneath the oppressive, suffocating canopy of the dark sky, the luminous sphere of superheated plasma roared to life. Imbued with its master's unyielding conviction, it erupted into furious, swirling flames, a miniature sun determined to scorch away the darkness consuming this world!
Yet, against all logic, this apocalyptic strike achieved absolutely nothing.
The supreme Digimon suspended high above merely raised a single, pristine white arm. With a casual, almost dismissive wave of his cape, the blazing sun was swatted aside, detonating harmlessly in the distance.
Witnessing this effortless deflection, the attacking Digimon's armored fists clenched so tightly his gauntlets groaned under the pressure.
Is the gap in our strength truly this impossible?
Royal Knights... you were supposed to be the absolute protectors of this world. Why would you commit such atrocities?
"WarGreymon X!"
A desperate cry from his partner sliced through the thunderous aftermath. Reacting on pure instinct, WarGreymon X lunged forward. Lightning crackled violently around his frame as he raised the Dramon Killers equipped to his arms, slashing them in a vicious cross-cleave toward the approaching enemy.
He had fully braced himself for the devastating recoil, fully expecting his own armor to shatter against the Royal Knight's absolute defense.
Instead, a shockwave of pure astonishment rippled through WarGreymon X's core. The impossibly powerful Royal Knight—a being of legendary, god-like status in his memories—was suddenly blasted backward by the sheer force of his singular claw strike!
While WarGreymon X stood momentarily paralyzed by the sheer impossibility of what he had just accomplished, his partner did not hesitate.
Seizing the microscopic window of opportunity, MetalGarurumon X locked his targeting sights onto the reeling Royal Knight. The heavy artillery mounted on his mechanized, blue-and-gold chassis whirred to life, venting plumes of freezing exhaust.
"Cocytus Breath!"
At the exact moment MetalGarurumon X's freezing payload detonated against its target, a solitary figure stood hidden in the shadows of a nearby ridge. Shrouded entirely in a heavy, dark cloak, the observer watched the chaotic battlefield in absolute silence.
'Did it... succeed?'
No. Not yet.
"Mizu!?"
The sudden voice from behind made the cloaked figure flinch. She spun around instantly, the heavy fabric of her hood shifting to reveal a sliver of her features.
Approaching her was a delicate-looking young man. He leaned heavily against the handle of a parasol, using it as a makeshift cane. Every step he took seemed to require a monumental effort, his breathing shallow and strained.
Seeing his fragile state, she abandoned her post immediately, sprinting to the young man's side and wrapping an arm around his waist to support his weight.
These two cloaked wanderers were none other than Mizuki and Belle.
As for how they had ended up in this war-torn, apocalyptic wasteland—
"Mizu, why did you come out here?" Belle demanded, her voice trembling with a mixture of anger and deep-seated panic. "Hurry back inside! It's not safe out here for you!"
"I'm fine, Belle..."
Despite her frantic concern, Mizuki offered a weak, reassuring shake of his head. Under her anxious, wide-eyed gaze, he slowly raised one of his hands.
The sight was horrifying. His skin was fractured, marred by glowing, jagged cracks visible to the naked eye, as if he were a porcelain doll on the verge of shattering into a million pieces of scattered data. Yet, despite the terrifying visual, the structural integrity of his hand was barely, stubbornly holding together.
"I am gradually adapting to this world's rejection of me," Mizuki murmured, his voice tight but steady. "Besides... I couldn't just let you come out here alone to scout the situation."
After all, the sheer hostility of this dimension far exceeded anything they had faced in their previous world.
As Mizuki spoke, his gaze drifted past Belle, locking onto the distant, violently illuminated sky.
High above the scorched earth, three legendary Digimon were locked in a death match.
Omnimon versus WarGreymon X and MetalGarurumon X.
Beside him, Belle's hands clenched into tight fists, a bitter, unwilling sound escaping her throat.
"Damn it... If only I could fully master Mastemon's power. I could tear a rift through space and take you home, Mizu. You wouldn't have to endure this agonizing pain... this world trying to erase you."
Her voice cracked, heavy with self-loathing. "Why? Why do I already possess the dormant powers of BeelStarmon and Magnadramon, yet I still can't trigger the digivolution into Mastemon?"
"Belle... it's okay. These things can't be rushed."
Looking at his partner's deeply self-reproachful expression, Mizuki's eyes softened. A warm, gentle smile graced his pale lips as he reached out to comfort her.
"If we're being completely honest, the only reason we're trapped in this nightmare is my fault."
His gaze darkened slightly, the warmth fading into a cold, hard realization. "I placed far too much trust in Homeostasis..."
As the words left his lips, fragments of the recent past involuntarily flickered through his mind.
The catalyst for this entire disaster had begun shortly after he and Belle arrived at Myotismon's castle.
At first, it had merely manifested as a strange, unsettling dream. In his sleep, Mizuki had witnessed a world drowning in despair and senseless cruelty.
But the visions didn't stop. Over the course of a single day, the hallucinations bled into his waking hours. He was bombarded by fragmented glimpses of a dying reality: innocent Digimon being ruthlessly slaughtered, the agonizing wails of countless living beings echoing in his ears, and the very fabric of a world tearing itself apart.
Knowing his unique connection to the digital world's underlying fabric, Mizuki had suspected that Homeostasis—the supposed will of the Digital World—was deliberately targeting him, trying to send a desperate SOS through these visions.
So, despite the glaring risks and the troublesome nature of the situation, Mizuki had chosen to follow the invisible pull of that guidance.
His decision wasn't born solely out of a lingering debt of gratitude to the world that had granted him a second, healthy life. It was driven by an unyielding, core sense of justice.
If thousands of innocent Digimon were truly being massacred, and he now possessed the power to intervene, he absolutely refused to stand by and do nothing!
Perhaps cynics would call such blind heroism foolish.
Mizuki didn't care.
In his past life, bound by a frail, bedridden body, he had been utterly powerless. He had been forced to watch tragedies unfold, unable to lift a single finger to stop them.
But now? Now he had strength. He had Belle. He would never again betray his own conscience just to play it safe.
However, what Mizuki hadn't realized was that this very compassion—this fierce, protective nature—was exactly what Homeostasis had ruthlessly exploited.
Following the entity's silent breadcrumbs, he and Belle had ventured deep into the bowels of Myotismon's castle, arriving before a massive, ancient door. Without warning, the tightly sealed gates had violently thrown themselves open, generating a massive spatial vortex that sucked them both into this foreign, dying world.
The instant they crossed the threshold, Mizuki had been hit by a crushing, agonizing force.
It was the absolute, obvious repulsion of a world's fundamental laws violently rejecting an "outsider."
If Mizuki's physical body hadn't already undergone extensive datafication, the sheer pressure of those alien physical laws would have instantly crushed him into atomic dust.
Had Homeostasis simply failed to make the necessary preparations to safely transport him across dimensions?
Mizuki's eyes narrowed. He didn't think so.
Following the logical threads of the entity's cold, calculating nature, only one chilling conclusion remained.
This entire cross-dimensional journey was, in all likelihood, a deliberate trap set specifically for him.
Of course, he couldn't entirely rule out the possibility that Homeostasis was currently locked in a desperate, all-consuming struggle against Apocalymon, leaving it with no spare processing power to ensure his safe transit.
But regardless of the entity's excuses, one thing was absolutely certain.
From this moment forward, Mizuki would never again blindly trust Homeostasis, the so-called "savior" of the Digital World.
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