Chapter 221: Countdown to World Collapse
Beelzemon.
Also known as the Lord of Gluttony.
He stood as one of the Seven Great Demon Lords, a terrifying Mega-level entity whose raw destructive output rivaled even the Royal Knights. In a way, he could be considered the dark progenitor to BeelStarmon.
His strength was absolute, sitting at the very apex of the digital hierarchy.
However...
Mizuki stared at the broad, leather-clad back of the newly evolved demon. Exhaustion tugged at the corners of Mizuki's eyes, yet a flicker of deep uncertainty cut through his fatigue. Given the inherent corruption of Demon Lord-type Digimon and Wizardmon's already fractured mental state, Mizuki had actively tried to steer the evolution away from this dark branch. He had feared the overwhelming malice would shatter Wizardmon's sanity completely.
If everything had gone according to his calculations, Wizardmon's Mega-level evolution should have resulted in Gallantmon, or perhaps MedievalDukemon. Mizuki had spent enough time fighting alongside Gallantmon to thoroughly analyze and understand his holy data structure.
Yet, reality had veered sharply off course. Wizardmon had not only embraced the mantle of a Demon Lord, but he had miraculously anchored his own mind, violently rejecting the corrupting madness that usually accompanied the Sin of Gluttony.
'The outcome is in our favor, sure...'Mizuki mused, rolling his shoulders to ease the phantom ache of channeling so much Digi-Soul.'But... did I miscalculate? Do I really need to sit back and rest for a minute?'
He quickly dismissed the thought, shaking his head. No. The battlefield was still swarming. It wasn't time to rest yet.
What Mizuki didn't realize was that this dark evolution wasn't a glitch in his data manipulation. It was a conscious, deliberate choice made by Wizardmon himself.
In the depths of his own code, Wizardmon felt entirely unworthy of the light. He had failed his promise to simply "survive." To stay alive, he had committed the ultimate taboo—devouring the residual data of his fallen comrades. A monster gorged on the sacrifices of his friends had no right to seek redemption.
He knew of Gallantmon's noble legend. He knew of the holy knight who defied Yggdrasil's absolute will just to shield the weak. Wizardmon firmly believed his bloodstained hands were no longer fit to wield such gentle, righteous power.
[Double Impact!]
The twin shotguns, the Berenjena, roared in Beelzemon's hands. Muzzle flashes illuminated the grim battlefield as a relentless storm of hyper-dense bullets tore through the air, wantonly shredding everything caught in their trajectory.
Eaters were the absolute natural predators of digital lifeforms, possessing an innate mechanism that suppressed Digimon data. Yet, in the face of such pure, overwhelming, and violent numerical superiority, their biological advantages meant nothing. They were blown apart into glitching fragments of static.
'It's not over yet!'
Beelzemon snarled mentally. The strafing run had carved a massive trench of destruction through the Eater swarm, but the Lord of Gluttony was far from satisfied.
He tossed the smoking shotguns aside. The heavy weapons clattered against the ruined earth. Instantly, a suffocating aura of deep, oppressive dark energy surged around his hands, coalescing into razor-sharp talons. He needed to vent the suffocating rage burning inside his chest.
[Darkness Claw!]
The jet-black demon lunged forward with a wild, guttural roar. His claws, dripping with crimson energy, slashed through the enemy encirclement in a frenzy of absolute destruction. It was a fighting style born purely of madness and wrath. He didn't even flinch when the Eaters' tentacles whipped out to scrape away chunks of his own data; he simply tore them apart faster than they could consume him.
This suicidal ferocity sent a deep shockwave through the surrounding allies.
"Wizardmon... was he always this unhinged?"
"No... it's not madness. It looks more like he's been holding back a lifetime of agony, and the dam just broke."
Two Mushroommon, who had also achieved their Mega-level evolution through the surge of Mizuki's Digi-Soul, exchanged a brief glance.
A beat later, identical, unhinged grins stretched across their wooden faces. "Then again, we aren't exactly the picture of sanity ourselves!"
The former Mushroommon—now fully realized as the terrifying Puppetmon—raised their massive, revolver-barreled mallets high into the air.
[Puppet Pummel!] × 2
"...These fools are far too reckless."
Dynasmon muttered under his breath. He was currently carving his own path of destruction through the horde, but he couldn't help but scowl as he watched the suicidal tactics of Mizuki's newly evolved allies.
They had just stabilized their precarious data structures by reaching the Mega level. If they continued throwing themselves into the meat grinder with zero regard for their own defense, even a Mega would eventually be dragged down and killed. The gap in raw power between different Mega-level Digimon was vast, but sheer numbers could bridge it.
And the numbers...
Dynasmon cast a grim look at the horizon. Ever since they had crashed into the battlefield and Mizuki had forcibly elevated the surviving Digimon to the Mega level, they had slaughtered thousands of Eaters.
Yet, the writhing, pale monstrosities still stretched as far as the eye could see. The swarm pulsed like a sickly, endless ocean. In the face of such an apocalyptic tide, even the mighty Megas felt as insignificant as insects.
Where in the digital world were these abominations pouring out from?
Meanwhile, far from the desperate defensive line, a streak of crimson and gold tore through the digital sky. After a long, arduous journey, Gallantmon X had finally crossed the dimensional boundary back into this world.
'Has the Eater infection already spread this far?'
The moment his boots touched the ground, the air warped. An Eater lunged at him from the shadows. Unlike the standard, nautilus-shaped drones he had seen before, this variant possessed a grotesque, beast-like morphology, radiating a far more dangerous, predatory aura.
It didn't matter. To Gallantmon X, it was merely an annoyance.
He didn't even bother drawing his lance. Without so much as a second glance, he backhanded the abomination. The sheer kinetic force of his gauntlet shattered the beast-type Eater into a shower of harmless, dissipating polygons.
Brushing off his cape, Gallantmon X scanned the frozen, desolate landscape to pinpoint his coordinates.
"This frozen wasteland... Kentaurosmon's territory?" The holy knight murmured, his visor gleaming in the pale light. "What a convenient coincidence."
During the recent encirclement operation against Mizuki's forces, Kentaurosmon had been present. However, Gallantmon X's sharp instincts had picked up on the centaur knight's deliberate hesitation. Kentaurosmon had merely been going through the motions, putting on a show of obedience.
That underlying reluctance proved one crucial thing: Kentaurosmon was not a blind, fanatical zealot like Omnimon and his loyalists.
Now that Gallantmon X carried the truth about Norn—the true will of Yggdrasil—he had a real chance to sway the speedster to their side.
Without wasting another second, Gallantmon X ignited his thrusters, blasting off toward the familiar, powerful aura lingering in his memory.
Deep within the Arctic region of the Digital World, buried beneath kilometers of ancient, unbreakable ice, lay a primordial ruin. This sacred site was the domain of Kentaurosmon.
Legend stated that these ruins housed the core program data responsible for the very genesis of Digimon. Because of its absolute importance, Kentaurosmon rarely, if ever, abandoned his post.
Yet, just hours ago, Yggdrasil's absolute mandate had forced his hand. He had been compelled to abandon his sacred duty to participate in the hunt for Mizuki's group.
Before leaving, Kentaurosmon had calculated the risks. The ruins possessed formidable self-defense mechanisms, and combined with the myriad of lethal traps he had personally laid, the sanctuary should have been impregnable to any external threat.
Reality, however, had just delivered a brutal, mocking blow.
"This is... a sick joke." Kentaurosmon's voice trembled, his grip tightening on his holy crossbow until his knuckles turned white. "If I had known this would happen, I would have defied Yggdrasil to his face..."
He stood at the entrance of the sanctuary, watching in horror as a ceaseless, writhing tide of Eaters gushed out from the depths of the ruins. The sheer volume of the monsters confirmed his darkest fear: the ancient creation program hidden in the deepest sanctum had already been corrupted and assimilated.
This wasn't just a localized breach. This was the death knell of the Digital World. The final countdown to oblivion had officially begun.
The implications were horrifying. With the genesis code infected by the Eaters, the very cycle of life was broken. From this moment on, the Digi-Eggs scattered across the world would no longer hatch into innocent, vibrant Digimon. Instead, they would birth twisted, absurd abominations—glitching Eaters born from the shells of corrupted data.
It was a nightmare beyond comprehension, akin to a human mother giving birth to a swarm of parasitic insects.
It was the ultimate blasphemy against life itself.
As the sworn guardian of the ruins, Kentaurosmon felt a crushing weight of guilt and fury. He could absolutely not allow this corrupted cycle to continue.
Since he had failed to protect the sanctuary, there was only one path left for a disgraced knight.
He had to completely, utterly obliterate it.
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