Chapter 176: We Are All Failures
MetalGarurumon X. WarGreymon X.
These two Mega-level Digimon were old acquaintances. In the past, they had shared similar convictions. Both were hailed as champions of justice, fighting for the same ideals, and naturally, they had gotten along quite well.
Back then, neither of them could have ever imagined a day where the weapons forged into their very bodies would be aimed at one another.
"MetalGarurumon X," WarGreymon X began, his voice a low, vibrating rumble that shook the debris around his feet. "I have had something I wanted to say to you for a very long time."
"...What is it?"
MetalGarurumon X narrowed his optics. A bone-chilling frost began to seep from the seams of his metallic armor, instantly crystallizing the moisture in the air into a freezing mist.
In direct defiance, WarGreymon X's entire frame erupted with a scorching, golden aura. The sheer, oppressive heat radiating from his Chrome Digizoid armor was so intense it warped the surrounding space into a hazy, suffocating mirage.
"I really cannot stand your way of doing things." WarGreymon X took a heavy step forward, the ground beneath him cracking and blackening. "Long-range strikes and calculated tactics are the style of your combat data. I cannot say much about that. But how much have you lost because of your so-called 'rational' way of acting?"
MetalGarurumon X remained silent, his metallic jaw locked tight.
"When the Digital World underwent its great upheaval," WarGreymon X continued, his tone rising with barely suppressed fury, "you told me to be rational. You told me to trust in Lord Yggdrasil."
He slammed a clawed gauntlet against his own chest, the metal ringing out like a cracked bell. "But what happened? The Digital World was plunged into an abyss of misery! Countless lives were snuffed out under the merciless rampage of the X-Program, or slaughtered by the Royal Knights!"
"If you had just been willing to act back then, the Digimon who survived might have..." WarGreymon X's voice hitched. His slitted pupils contracted, the fiery glow dimming for a fraction of a second.
He shook his head, the heavy armor grating. "No. I cannot say that. In the end, it was all because of my own lack of ability. Blaming you is just a foolish venting of my own anger."
WarGreymon X drew in a massive breath, the ambient heat surging as he steadied his chaotic emotions. He locked eyes with his old friend once more.
"But I still hate your approach. Rationality? Weighing the options?" A bitter scoff escaped his jaws. "How much longer are you going to hesitate behind those excuses? How much more do you have to lose before you finally decide it is enough? Do not forget—you are the very last of your species!"
"...Regarding my species," MetalGarurumon X finally spoke, his mechanical voice laced with a heavy, metallic rasp. "I admit it. It was indeed my fault."
A heavy silence fell between them, broken only by the crackle of flames and the hiss of frost. Then, MetalGarurumon X let out a soft, freezing sigh, as if resigning himself to the crushing weight of his fate. "It is exactly as you say, WarGreymon X."
"In the past, for the sake of maintaining that so-called calmness and rationality, I failed to make the right decisions at the critical moments. When a choice had to be made, I hesitated." He lowered his head, the frost around his paws thickening into jagged spikes of ice. "This guilt... it makes it impossible for me to ever find peace."
Then, the tone of his voice shifted. The melancholic resignation vanished, replaced by a razor-sharp edge. MetalGarurumon X's optics flared with a piercing blue light.
He took a deliberate step forward. The Cocytus Breath aura beneath his feet surged outward, instantly freezing the scorched earth into a desolate tundra of white frost.
"I have my problems, WarGreymon X. But what about you?" MetalGarurumon X challenged, his voice echoing like cracking glaciers. "Are you necessarily in the right?"
WarGreymon X stiffened.
"Do not forget," MetalGarurumon X pressed on, "you were the first Digimon to make a choice. And what was the result? You led countless Mega and Ultimate level Digimon to oppose Lord Yggdrasil. You raised an army of rebellion. And what was the result?"
The ice crept closer to the flames. "In the end, you were the only one who survived."
"If you had listened to my advice back then, if you had not been so impulsive, then perhaps things would not have—"
"Enough!" WarGreymon X roared, a shockwave of heat blasting the encroaching frost away. "You say I was impulsive?! Lord Yggdrasil's butcher knife was already at our throats! Even if we did not resist, it was a dead end! The extinction of your species is the best proof of that!"
Provoked by the agonizing memories, WarGreymon X's eyes burned with a raw, unadulterated fury.
The faces of his fallen comrades flashed across his mind. Those brothers-in-arms who had fought side-by-side with him. He remembered their faces, full of hope and unyielding determination before they marched into battle. He remembered their steadfast will, a fire that never wavered, even in their final, dying moments.
WarGreymon X had never forgotten a single one of them. Not for a second.
Most of all, he could never forget the real reason he was still breathing. He survived only because of the ultimate sacrifice made by his closest friend, BlackWarGreymon X.
It was precisely because of that sacrifice that he had dragged his battered body through this desperate, dying world, continuing to fight until this very day!
He fought to avoid failing the compatriots who had placed their absolute faith in him.
He fought to ensure that this life, bought with their blood, would not be wasted.
Looking at WarGreymon X, who was practically erupting with waves of heat and a surging, violent momentum, MetalGarurumon X sighed again. His exhaled breath formed a cloud of glittering ice crystals that hung suspended in the tense air.
After a long moment, the armored wolf shook his head.
"Through words, it ultimately will not work."
"In that case—"
Before the sentence could even finish, WarGreymon X exploded forward, shattering the ground beneath him. He charged straight into the freezing domain.
"MetalGarurumon X! I have been sick of you for a long time!"
"I feel the exact same way, WarGreymon X!"
Uncharacteristically abandoning his usual evasive tactics, MetalGarurumon X roared and launched himself into a head-on charge against the blazing dragon!
'Although this is a battle of ideals between us, in the end...''Whether it is me, who failed to protect my species and watched them die under the agonizing torture of the X-Antibody program...''Or you, who failed to protect the companions you fought alongside, forced to witness them fall one by one beneath the blades of Lord Yggdrasil's knights...''In the end, we are both just failures.'
The razor-sharp claws reflected in MetalGarurumon X's optics as they lunged for his throat. With a burst of his thrusters, MetalGarurumon X sidestepped, narrowly avoiding the lethal swipe. In the same fluid motion, he brought his heavy forelimb up, aiming the massive Gatling gun mounted on his armor directly at WarGreymon X's exposed abdomen!
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat—!
The rotating barrels let out a furious, mechanical roar. A relentless storm of high-speed, armor-piercing rounds slammed into WarGreymon X's plating, sending a blinding shower of sparks into the air!
Faced with MetalGarurumon X's point-blank rapid fire, WarGreymon X was briefly knocked off balance. But the moment he dug his claws into the earth to stabilize himself, he did not even attempt to dodge. Instead, with a deafening battle cry, he leaned into the hail of bullets, forcing his way forward through sheer, brute strength!
"MetalGarurumon X!!!"
"WarGreymon X!!!"
'Since we are both failures, there is naturally no need to obsess over victory or defeat...''Precisely because we are failures, this battle is no longer about winning or losing...''It is just... a shameful venting of our sins...'
"Mizu, is this really okay?"
Watching the two Mega-level Digimon tear into each other in the center of the devastated battlefield, a deep trace of worry flashed through Belle's crimson eyes.
She could see it clearly. Both WarGreymon X and MetalGarurumon X were fighting with genuine, unbridled fury. The reckless, frantic nature of their attacks made it seem as though the one standing across from them was no longer an old friend, but a mortal enemy that had to be slaughtered—even if it meant grinding their own bones to dust in the process.
"If this continues, I am worried they will—"
"Do not worry, Belle. Nothing will happen."
Mizuki's calm voice drifted over from beside her.
A faint, ethereal glow was currently shimmering in the depths of his eyes. The ambient data around him hummed with suppressed energy. It was clear that he had been silently gathering his Digi-Soul this entire time, keeping his power coiled and ready to intervene the second a lethal accident threatened to occur.
"I will not let anything happen to them," Mizuki said softly, his gaze fixed on the clashing titans. "Besides, for them, this battle is necessary."
He crossed his arms, the gentle glow of his eyes reflecting the sparks of the battlefield. "As I said before, for Digimon like them who have lived for a very long time, carrying that much weight... simple words no longer have much effect."
"What they need right now is a real battle. It is the only way they know how to confess their pain."
[Akarin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/AkarinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/AkarinTL
🔗 All My Links: linktr[.]ee/AkarinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]