Chapter 196: Examon—Arrival
The colossal dragon's body pierced through the cloud cover, its sheer mass blotting out the sun. Sprawling, crimson wings unfurled, casting a vast, suffocating shadow that swallowed the entire sky. This was Examon. The very fabric of the Digital World's space seemed to groan and warp under the sheer density of his existence. Even LordKnightmon and the other present Royal Knights felt a suffocating, crushing weight bearing down on their cores.
The reason for their apprehension was simple. Setting aside his terrifying size and the apocalyptic volume of his data, Examon's raw combat strength sat at the absolute apex, even among the exalted Royal Knights. He was the executioner. When Gankoomon had openly rebelled against Yggdrasill's absolute will, it was Examon who had personally carried out the sentence, extinguishing his former comrade without a second thought.
While the elite warriors hesitated, caught in the gravitational pull of Examon's arrival, the younger combatants broke. Nearby, DoruGreymon and Breakdramon were the first to succumb to the ambient pressure. Their knees buckled, driving them into the cracked earth.
"Ugh..." Breakdramon whimpered, his massive metallic frame trembling violently against the dirt. "So scary... What is this terrifying guy...?"
"Breakdramon... Damn it—!" DoruGreymon gritted her fangs. Seeing her companion shivering beside her, she instinctively tried to flare her wings to shield him. But her muscles locked. The oppressive aura enveloping them was so dense it felt like being buried alive; she couldn't move a single inch.
She knew Examon wasn't even targeting them. This was merely the passive radiation of his existence. Yet, DoruGreymon felt every line of her code running on dangerous overload, her Digi-Core spinning out of control under the crushing stimulation. Her spirit was fracturing.
But the agony did not last long.
A brilliant, crimson barrier flared to life overhead. The suffocating pressure torturing the two dragons instantly evaporated. The transition was jarring, like stepping out of a biting, apocalyptic blizzard into the gentle, sunlit warmth of a spring morning.
Feeling that familiar, reassuring warmth, DoruGreymon forced her heavy head up and looked to the side.
Standing there, his hand outstretched and his Digi-Soul burning with a steady, protective light, was Mizuki.
"Lord Mizuki—!" she gasped, relief flooding her voice.
"Sorry I'm late," Mizuki said, his voice calm and steady. He knelt slightly, checking their condition. "Are you two alright?"
Mizuki's brow furrowed, his jaw tightening as he took in their exhausted, trembling forms. He let out a soft sigh. In the end, he just couldn't harden his heart. When Examon first appeared, his tactical mind had briefly considered using the overwhelming pressure as a crucible to train DoruGreymon and Breakdramon. But seeing them in such genuine distress shattered that logic. Before he had even consciously made the decision, his body had moved, interposing himself between them and the crushing aura.
'All of this is still too early for them,'Mizuki thought, his gaze softening.'No matter how much raw power they gain after evolving to their higher levels, it doesn't change the fundamental truth. Right now, they are still just children.'
With that thought, Mizuki tilted his head back, his eyes narrowing as he locked onto the colossal entity dominating the heavens.
Examon. A member of the Royal Knights, yes, but more, the absolute pinnacle of all Dragon-type Digimon. The undisputed Dragon Emperor. As Beast Dragon-types themselves, it was only natural that DoruGreymon and Breakdramon felt a paralyzing, instinctual terror in his presence.
High above, the giant dragon finally moved.
He offered no words, no grand declarations. He simply raised the colossal, sentient lance in his grasp, Ambrosius.
It was a basic, preparatory motion, but due to Examon's apocalyptic mass, the simple shift in posture displaced millions of tons of air. A violent, shrieking gale erupted. The ground below was instantly torn up in massive, jagged sheets. Entire forests were uprooted, rivers were violently redirected, and mountain ridges were sheared flat by the sheer atmospheric pressure of the rising storm. Through the dust and devastation, the tip of the Dragon Emperor's lance locked onto a single target below: ChaosGallantmon.
Examon remained utterly silent, a monolithic force of nature.
ChaosGallantmon stood tall amidst the raging, world-tearing winds. His dark armor gleamed as he narrowed his eyes at the leviathan above.
Not a single word was spoken between them.
Was there truly nothing left to say? Or had Examon completely abandoned his own free will, choosing instead to become nothing more than a mindless vanguard for Yggdrasill's absolute order? Whichever it was, it didn't surprise the dark knight. In ChaosGallantmon's memories, his former colleague had always been exactly this kind of rigid, uncompromising zealot.
'However, this is fine too,'ChaosGallantmon thought, a cold, dark amusement flickering in his core.'Facing a machine like him means I don't need to waste time worrying about the ghosts of past friendships.'
As if sensing the finality in ChaosGallantmon's resolve, the Dragon Emperor reacted. The massive lance, Ambrosius, began to emit a blinding, terrifying glow.
In the next second, endless, searing light descended from the heavens like a torrential downpour of lasers. For the Dragon Emperor, who had chosen blind obedience, this bombardment was the obvious, wrathful judgment of Yggdrasill itself.
But as he watched the apocalyptic light rain down, ChaosGallantmon read something entirely different in the attack.
The dark, tattered wings on ChaosGallantmon's back snapped open with a sharp, metallic crack.
Yes, this was Yggdrasill's judgment. But to the dark knight, it was also a twisted baptism, a blessing that would finally shatter the shackles of his predetermined fate. Standing his ground, he looked like a lone, defiant star. Even facing the vast, endless wrath of a god, he didn't flinch in the slightest.
From a distance, Omnimon watched ChaosGallantmon launch himself upward into the storm of light. The white knight had originally intended to step forward to stop him, but he found his arm frozen in mid-air, his hand raised only halfway.
'What... am I doing?'Omnimon thought, his core trembling with sudden uncertainty.'He has clearly chosen the path of rebellion. He is an enemy of the system. So why did I instinctively want to reach out to him?''I... I really...'
Gazing at ChaosGallantmon's shrinking, defiant silhouette as it charged the heavens, a faint, unrecognizable emotion stirred within Omnimon's bewildered eyes. It was a trace of deep envy, an envy for a freedom he could not allow himself to possess.
ChaosGallantmon was entirely oblivious to Omnimon's internal turmoil. His entire focus was consumed by the blinding barrage of Examon's attack. As he flew directly into the torrential light, jagged cracks began to spiderweb across his dark, Chrome Digizoid armor.
Yet, acting as if he couldn't feel the agonizing structural damage, ChaosGallantmon pushed through the bombardment, accelerating his charge toward the leviathan in the sky.
"Come on, Examon!" ChaosGallantmon roared, his voice cutting through the deafening roar of the gale. "Gankoomon, UlforceVeedramon, Craniamon... and Leopardmon!"
He thrust his own dark lance forward. "So many of our colleagues have already fallen beneath your blade! Now, let me see just how far you are willing to go for the sake of Yggdrasill!"
Facing the roaring dark knight, Examon still refused to speak a single word. He simply drew Ambrosius back and unleashed a second, even more devastating wave of annihilation upon his former comrade.
"Avalon's Gate!"
Facing the apocalyptic strike, ChaosGallantmon, now burning with the dark aura of his Calamity Mode, refused to simply sit and wait for death. Without a microsecond of hesitation, he unleashed his own ultimate technique.
"Quo Vadis!"
Theoretically, the collision of two ultimate techniques from Royal Knight-tier entities should have instantly vaporized the surrounding landscape, reducing the entire sector to digital ash.
Yet, miraculously, the devastation on the ground was far less severe than when Examon had merely swung his lance. The shockwaves were contained, directed upward and outward. Without a doubt, even in the heat of a death match, ChaosGallantmon was deliberately manipulating the trajectory of his dark energy to shield those below from the catastrophic fallout.
"That monster, Examon... if my eyes didn't deceive me, his attack radius just now included us as well, didn't it?"
While Omnimon stood in frozen silence, Dynasmon had quietly descended by his side. The winged knight stared up at the blinding explosion in the sky, his tone laced with a cynical, pointed edge.
Dynasmon paused, glancing sideways at his silent colleague before speaking again. "To carry out Yggdrasill's orders, that guy truly has no limits. He's completely reckless."
Omnimon said nothing. He simply watched the sky burn.
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