Chapter 224: Despair
Time rewound slightly, anchoring itself to the immediate aftermath of the grueling battle against the Eater that had consumed Examon.
Having laid bare its lingering doubts to Kentaurosmon, Omnimon offered a solemn farewell. The Royal Knight turned its back on its comrade, beginning a solitary pilgrimage to seek the absolute truth from King Drasil.
Visitors from another world. The parasitic anomalies known as Eaters. The devastating X-Program. And above all else, the true meaning of its own justice. As Omnimon traversed the endless streams of digital code, a torrential flood of conflicting thoughts surged through its mind.
The Digital World had once been a world of stunning beauty. Under the benevolent guidance of King Drasil, every sector and server had flourished in an era of unmatched prosperity. When exactly had the rot set in? The peaceful daily life that should have stretched on into eternity had been violently shattered by a sudden, inexplicable catastrophe.
The official decree stated that the sheer volume of Digimon had grown too massive. The absolute data capacity of the Digital World was rapidly approaching a critical overload, triggering a chain reaction that threatened to collapse the entire fabric of their reality.
Desperate to break the fatal deadlock, King Drasil had initiated countless countermeasures, running millions of simulations. None succeeded. In the end, driven into a corner with no alternative, their absolute god had mandated a large-scale population purge through the deployment of the X-Program. It was a merciless culling, enacted solely to pull the world back from the brink of total annihilation.
Omnimon knew the bitter truth. The Digimon erased by the purge were entirely innocent. Those fragile lives knew nothing of data limits or collapsing servers; the vast majority were simply kind-hearted beings living out their peaceful days. Yet, for the sake of the world's continued survival... for the ultimate greater good, Omnimon had raised its blade and struck them down without hesitation.
If the Royal Knights failed to act, the entire world would be reduced to static and void. Everything was for the greater good. To bear that crushing weight, Omnimon had long ago forged a silent, unbreakable vow. Once the crisis was averted and the world was safe, the knight would end its own life, offering its death as the final atonement for a mountain of unforgivable sins.
Despite executing King Drasil's absolute orders with unwavering loyalty for years, Omnimon could no longer suppress the creeping doubt gnawing at its core. Was this endless slaughter truly justified? To ensure the mere continuation of a physical world, was it really worth exterminating the very souls that gave it meaning?
Carrying that heavy burden of doubt, Omnimon had waded through oceans of deleted data. The knight had witnessed countless meaningless deaths and tragic sacrifices. Even Gallantmon, its closest comrade and dearest friend, had perished in the wake of this relentless crusade.
Just as the knight found itself drowning in a mire of hopeless confusion, the sudden emergence of the Eaters had sparked a twisted ray of hope. Their terrifying ability to erode and consume all forms of data represented an entirely new variable. A new possibility.
If its hypothesis held true, the root cause of the Digital World's critical overload was never the natural population growth of Digimon. It was the parasitic, unseen influence of the Eaters draining the system from the shadows.
The deeper Omnimon analyzed the data, the more violently its core programming churned. If this theory proved correct, it meant every atrocity the Royal Knights had committed in the name of justice was nothing more than a ridiculous, pathetic farce. Such a revelation would utterly shatter the remaining knights who had sacrificed their morality for the greater good.
Yet, for the sake of the world's true future, and to ensure not a single innocent life was wrongfully deleted ever again, Omnimon pressed forward to confront King Drasil. The truth had to be brought to light. Regardless of the outcome, the knight's final destination remained unchanged. The vow of self-termination stood absolute.
A weapon stained so deeply with the blood of the innocent had no right to exist in the peaceful era to come. If it could just accomplish one truly righteous act at the very end... If it could just correct the catastrophic mistakes they had blindly enforced, even by a fraction...
Driven by that singular, desperate hope, Omnimon arrived at the absolute zenith of the network. The knight bypassed layers of impenetrable, golden firewalls, stepping into the sacred, silent data space where King Drasil resided.
A heavy, oppressive energy fluctuation rippled through the pristine white void. The cold, mechanical voice of King Drasil echoed directly into Omnimon's audio receptors.
[Omnimon... I am disappointed. You have failed to execute my absolute orders.]
[You allowed the irregular threat from another world to slip through your grasp...]
Gazing up at the towering, crystalline sphere that housed the great existence, Omnimon steadied its internal processors. The knight lowered its head respectfully, yet its voice carried an unyielding edge.
"King Drasil, I offer no excuses for my failure to perform my designated duties."
"I have come before you today solely to present a critical anomaly."
"Regarding the imminent collapse of our world due to data overload... I have reason to believe the excessive population of Digimon is not the true catalyst."
Raising its left arm, Omnimon projected a dense cluster of holographic data logs into the air.
"This is the entity I engaged on the battlefield a short time ago."
"It possesses the terrifying ability to consume and rewrite core data. To our kind, it is the absolute equivalent of an apex predator."
"I strongly suspect the systemic collapse of the Digital World is directly tied to their proliferation."
As Omnimon presented the evidence, the glowing avatar of King Drasil fell into a dead, suffocating silence. The ambient data in the air grew heavy, pressing down on the knight's armor like physical weights.
A fraction of a second later, the mechanical voice vibrated with a dangerous resonance.
[...Omnimon. Are you questioning my absolute judgment?]
"No, my liege. I would never question your ultimate decision."
Omnimon raised its head, its optics glowing with a desperate, pleading light. "I merely... I merely hope that you can recognize the true threat lurking in the blind spots of our network."
"After all... we have already sacrificed so much..."
[Omnimon...]
King Drasil's tone dropped into a low, distorted hum.
Just as the deity prepared to issue another command, the massive crystalline sphere suddenly convulsed. Violent, erratic spikes of corrupted data lashed out across the sacred chamber.
Omnimon took a sharp step back, its optics widening in alarm.
"King Drasil!? What is happening?"
But the entity masquerading as King Drasil paid no heed to the Royal Knight. Deep within its core, a frantic, alien thought process was spiraling out of control.
'Why are the Eaters suddenly rioting?''They have always remained dormant...''Wait. Could it be—'Sending a rapid, sweeping ping across the entire Digital World, the unknown existence wearing the skin of God finally grasped the catastrophic shift in the network.'So that is the truth.''I never truly held absolute control over those parasites.''The only reason the Eaters remained docile for all these years was because Jesmon had been tirelessly culling their numbers at the very root of the world.''That constant purge was the only reason I could maintain control over this eroded avatar of King Drasil...''To think a hidden program was masking that continuous battle from my sight... King Drasil, even in your fractured state, I did not expect you to possess such cunning countermeasures.''I grew careless.''And just moments ago... Jesmon was deleted. The Eaters have lost their sole natural predator. The restraints are gone, and they are already proliferating at an exponential rate.''However... although this catastrophic outbreak exceeds the parameters of my original design, the ultimate result... still falls within acceptable margins.''By allowing the Eaters to consume this chaotic, uncontrollable world, they will simultaneously erase these Royal Knights who have outlived their usefulness. A total system wipe. Everything is for the absolute balance of the Digital World...'
As that cold, calculating thought faded into the void, the parasitic entity abruptly severed its connection to the host.
Without the unknown existence holding the corruption at bay, the avatar of King Drasil—which had been secretly infected by the Eaters long ago—began to violently twist and rupture.
Before Omnimon's horrified, incredulous gaze, the sacred crystalline sphere shattered. Sickly white tentacles and jagged, geometric limbs burst forth, rapidly mutating the remains of God into a colossal, nightmarish humanoid monstrosity.
"King Drasil—how is this possible?!" Omnimon staggered back, drawing its Grey Sword purely on instinct. "No... an Eater!"
"Was King Drasil infected by the Eaters from the very beginning?"
The knight's processor stalled, grinding against a sudden, horrifying realization. "No... that is not right!"
With the abrupt departure of the unknown entity, the subtle cognitive filters and memory locks it had woven into the network instantly dissolved. The entity had severed all ties to prevent the Eaters from tracking its signature, inadvertently freeing the Royal Knights from its mental manipulation.
Freed from that insidious influence, a torrential flood of suppressed memories and glaring inconsistencies crashed into Omnimon's consciousness. Details the knight should have recognized cycles ago, but had inexplicably ignored, now burned with agonizing clarity.
"King Drasil... I should have seen it! I should have known!"
"The true King Drasil... Norn. Norn does not possess that kind of cruel, calculating personality!"
"If it were truly her... even if the entire Digital World were crumbling into the abyss, she would never issue an order to slaughter the innocent just to preserve the shell of the world."
"Instead, after exhausting every conceivable miracle, she would have stood by our side. She would have held our hands and welcomed the final twilight together with a smile..."
Omnimon dropped to its knees, the Grey Sword slipping from its grasp to clatter against the pristine floor. "I should have realized it... I should have realized it so long ago..."
The legendary Royal Knight muttered to itself incessantly, the fierce, unwavering light in its optics flickering and dying out. Its tone grew increasingly hollow, devoid of all purpose and resolve.
The colossal Eater loomed over the broken knight, its grotesque appendages writhing, yet Omnimon did not even raise its head to acknowledge the encroaching doom.
'What have I... actually done?'
In the silent, sacred void, Omnimon's soul shattered completely.
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