“Alright, I’ve had enough of this.”

Watching the progressive clusterfuck that was the battle between the fusion of Alphamon and Examon and the darkened Imperialdramon unfold, AncientWisemon felt whatever scant patience he held for The Plan melt away. He’d already openly defied the Sovereign of the East multiple times; and he had little to motivate him away from doing it again as he disconnected himself from his host.

“Baihumon and Zhuqiaomon are still in the area, Wisemon,” The Ancient Spirit of Steel began to his host, his voice still with the Demon Man as he himself disappeared into the aether of the universe for whatever purpose he had in mind, “Go to them and get the order to start evacuating the area.”

Wisemon’s response was simple; he nodded and snapped his fingers, following the spacial co-ordinates that his master had given him to contact the two Sovereigns nearby.

__________________________________________

As Arondight was thrust through him, shattering the control over Imperialdramon’s body that he had fought so hard to obtain, Primus screamed in bloody fury. And for the very last time, Imperialdramon took control back over his body. Gazing down at his rapidly disintegrating form, he closed his eyes in resignation.

“So be it. Victory is yours, Examon.”

Examon didn’t even dignify him with a verbal response. As his most hated foe spoke his last, the Dragon Emperor merely raised a foot, placing it upon Imperialdramon’s chest before yanking his blade out with all the care of a child kicking down a sandcastle.

And as Imperialdramon lay dying, he felt his body begin to dissipate even quicker than it should. In fact, it felt as if he were devolving-

That bastard.

Primus was trying to unmerge himself from Imperialdramon! With a startled hiss, the dying First Knight focused all of his remaining power into trying to maintain the DNA Digivolution, resolving to at least take Primus down with him.

And then that proved futile as his chest exploded outwards.

Screaming a primal, horrifying scream, a black mass emerged from Imperialdramon’s shattered torso, data rushing outwards from the wound and coagulating over it as it began to take shape.

Seeing this, Examon hissed in disgust, recognizing the mass as the Orci that had sent this entire fight to hell. Still packing unspeakable amounts of frustration from the ordeal he and his comrades had been put through, he merely glared at the creature, power filling Arondight as he prepared to eviscerate Primus-

“Yggdrasil is dead.”

And then he froze up as it spat out those free words.

“... What.”

“Dead’s not the right word, though there’s really not much difference,” The black mass that was Primus hissed, taking the Dragon Emperor’s hesitation as a chance to tear himself fully from the dying Imperialdramon, “But you get the picture. Isn’t that right, Imperialdramon?”

“Hmph.” Imperialdramon leaned back on the ground, closing his eyes. He had failed completely. His Knights had betrayed him, he had fallen in battle, and now his schemes were revealed. There was no point in denying the truth. “What use is a dying ‘god’? We had the chance to be greater than simple servants to a machine, and I took it. But I failed…” And so Imperialdramon breathed his last, his head dissipating into data along with the rest of his body.

And as his most hated foe faded from the world, Examon Prime just stared off into space.

Which was all the opportunity that Primus needed to pull Imperialdramon’s data into himself.
Wasting no words, the black mass sprouted wings as he finished loading the data into himself, and took into the air at high speed, burning through the power from the data in order to escape the battlefield.
Everything had gone to hell here, but he would still have his day. He would just have to wait.
__________________________________________

And within the space that Baihumon and Zhuqiaomon occupied, there was a hiss as Wisemon took form.

Closing itself, the book that the Demon Man’s soul resided in moved out from beneath him, rising up further and further into the air before it disappeared in a puff of smoke; as Wisemon descended to stand upon his own two feet.

Kneeling before the two Sovereigns with a sense of casual, unforced reverence, the Demon Man began:

“AncientWisemon has sent me here to request an order for evacuation, my Lords. Under the circumstances, he believes it would be wise to remove the Tamers and their allies from the area whilst Imperialdramon is still occupied with Alphamon and Examon.”

Zhuqiaomon simply turned his attention back to the battle with Imperialdramon, but stopped in surprise as Imperialdramon finally fell on the field. A fraction of a second passed before the Sovereign of the South spread his wings and let loose a triumphant roar at the death of one of his most hated rivals.

With his gloating done, Zhuqiaomon turned back to Wisemon and let loose a cackle, flames licking around him.

“Evacuation? The blasted Knight is finally dead! All that’s left is Yggdrasil. Azulongmon’s rambling plans are worthless at this point. No, this ends now. Baihumon, with me!” The phoenix roared, taking to the air with a shriek as he saw the opportunity that Imperialdramon’s death presented.

Still somewhat stunned by the sudden change in the tide of the battle that had seen Imperialdramon struck down, Baihumon took a moment to respond; when he pulled himself together, his response was a resolute nod, and as he prepared to leap into the fray, he turned his head to Wisemon.

“At least evacuate the wounded and depleted. Any still able to fight, and you direct them to us for the attack on Yggdrasil. Understood?”

“Entirely.” Wisemon responded, his eyes burning with a disturbing glee as he saw Imperialdramon’s life pass before him, before he disappeared into the aether of the universe again, back to the library whence he had came.
_________________________________________

Zhuqiaomon bellowed a furious cry as he unleashed an infernal hellstorm of flame down upon the nearly-ruined fortress of the Royal Knights, hoping to draw Yggdrasil out now that he had no more defenders.

With the fortress having become completely abandoned as the final stand of the Knights had progressed, Baihumon felt little compunction as he joined in; as a terrifying hail of steel, holy energy and pure hyperdestructive force was released from his digicores and bombarded Yggdrasil’s fortifications below.

Those in the library were safe; the castle was nothing but Yggdrasil’s shell at this stage, and both Sovereigns knew this as they tore it to shreds. Although in Zhuqiaomon’s case, he wouldn’t have quite cared if there had been anyone caught in the bombardment.

With the level of fortification given to the castle, it would take a decent amount of time for even the Sovereigns to demolish it; and as they gave it their all, the terrifying sight could be seen all the way across the battlefield.

And in particular, one specific combatant’s attention had snapped towards the sight the very moment the assault had begun.

Black flames roaring around him as he was continuously swarmed by the black cloud of demonic insects released by the lesser Orci a kilometer away, the Black Sovereign let out a hiss as he sensed his brothers take the field.

His mind, no matter how clouded by bloodlust, hunger, pain and desperation, could immediately recognize the opportunity at hand. He need only to make his away across the battlefield, and then the opportunity to restore himself would present itself. His reserves had made enough from his attack on the Golubac Swarm to allow him to make a clean cut across the battlefield, and so the black flames around him burst outwards into an even more gigantic inferno as he began to move in the direction of Baihumon and Zhuqiaomon.

However, his assailants were not so willing to give up the meal that they had sensed in him; and they gave chase, with more joining them as they went in order to subdue the possessed Bird Man.

____

“Mega Barrage!”

A slew of missiles came flying at BanchoLeomon, who dashed to the side and hit the ground running, trying to evade MegaGargomon’s artillery barrage. The explosions from the missiles created a smoke cloud covering the entire area, and BanchoLeomon used it to conceal himself as he made his way towards his foe. As the smoke began to dissipate, the lion Digimon made his move and leapt out, jamming his sword into MegaGargomon’s knee joint before jumping up to catch the green behemoth across the face with a right hook, followed by a roundhouse kick to the snout. Gravity kicked in, and BanchoLeomon fell to the ground, taking hold of his blade and viciously ripping it out of MegaGargomon’s knee as he plummeted towards the earth.

But as he touched down on the ground, BanchoLeomon fell to one knee as he felt his form begin to waver. Shakily raising a hand, he noticed it begin to fizzle out, almost as if his Biomerge was ending.

“This shouldn’t be happening...” He muttered to himself as MegaGargomon recovered, raising one foot to try to stomp BanchoLeomon into the ground, who hurled himself to the side to evade. All the while, he wondered to himself just what the hell was going on. He thought he’d recovered enough data to fight again, but his body was beginning to dissipate, and he started to feel the strain of trying to maintain the Biomerge. Had his Dark Digivolution into Ruin Mode really taken so much out of him? At this point, going into Burst Mode wasn’t even an option, considering how much it hurt to just stay in his base Mega state. Struggling up to his feet, BanchoLeomon realized that the only way he was going to come out of this alive was to kill MegaGargomon quickly and load his data to stabilize his own form.

Just then, MegaGargomon turned his attention from his suddenly weakened opponent for a split-second as he saw his leader fall. Eyes widening, he reached out towards his dying commander, utterly shocked that Imperialdramon had been slain. But that split-second of inattention was all that BanchoLeomon needed. Calling up every last bit of his fluctuating power, he rushed forward and leapt up, calling forth whatever reserves he had left into his left hand to form a lion’s head formed of a blazing orange aura around it and slammed it into MegaGargomon’s throat before taking his right fist and thrusting it up into the massive titan’s jaw in an uppercut. Still not done, the lion Digimon quickly drew his sword with his now-free left hand and thrust into MegaGargomon’s snout, using it as leverage to materialize a Berejena shotgun in his right hand and jam it into the dazed juggernaut’s mouth, pulling the trigger over and over again without hesitation, only stopping when MegaGargomon’s entire body began dissolving into data. Without his foe’s body to use as a foothold, BanchoLeomon plummeted towards the ground, collapsing to one knee with a groan after he landed. But as MegaGargomon’s data flooded into his body, his Biomerge finally stabilized and the pain that wracked his body faded away. Slowly pulling himself up to his feet, BanchoLeomon finally noticed the commotion in the sky.

As the Orci’s black swarm chased Ravemon, BanchoLeomon raised the Berejena shotgun that he was still clutching and fired up at the veritable cloud of insects, trying to draw their attention away from their current target.

As it was, he was only partly successful; as part of the swarm was swallowed up in a burst of black energy as the shells from the Berejena found their target, only a small amount of them compared to the swarm as a whole distracted themselves from Ravemon to dive down towards BanchoLeomon.
However, the sudden intrusion into the battle seemed to surprise Ravemon, and his concentration was momentarily broken as he paused and stared down towards BanchoLeomon.
With two mismatched, empty eyes.

BanchoLeomon didn’t have time to pay much attention, though, as his attention was focused on shooting down the insects rushing towards him. The wide spread of the Berejena’s scattershot brought down several insects with each shot, and the relatively small swarm was slain in no time at all. With that done, he scanned the sky once more, giving Ravemon only a cursory nod as he noticed Zhuqiaomon and Baihumon in the distance. The Leomon aspect of himself wondered why two of the Four Sovereigns had shown up and leapt off to investigate, trusting that Ravemon could handle the rest of the swarm’s reduced numbers.
__________________
Whatever response Kappa would have had to EmperorGreymon’s quips was completely lost as he felt something jolt through him; as he felt another one of his brothers fall.
And as the overwhelming signal of Imperialdramon petered out alongside it, it took all of a few seconds to figure out exactly which one had just shuffled off their mortal coil.

“Well, that didn’t take long,” The gigantic Hazard-spawn observed drily, allowing himself a small snigger, “Though I suppose I should have expected this. It was only a matter of time before the idiot bit off more than he could chew.”

Continuing to snigger at the thought of his hubris-saturated brother going down with all the dignity and grace of a cat in cement shoes, Kappa turned his head away from EmperorGreymon, Sleipmon and the still-comatose Parasimon to look out across the battlefield.

Primus, and by extension, Imperialdramon, was all the way over the other side of the battlefield, obscured by a gigantic black cloud and the Royal Knight’s castle.

Which Kappa now noted, with some surprise, to be being blasted to smithereens by a pair of newcomers. And with the frightening haste with which the fortification of Yggdrasil fell to their power, they were likely at levels rivalling the other two heavyweights in this battle.

“Oh what the fuck,” The Orci deadpanned, thoroughly nonplussed by this new development. This whole situation with the Royal Knight’s final stand was just getting increasingly ridiculous. First, Imperialdramon turned into a being just below a Sovereign in power, and then his father and shown up and belted him and his brothers out. Then some Sovereigns had shown up. Then Alphamon and Examon fused. Then one of his brothers fused with Imperialdramon. Now this shit.
At this point, Kappa was starting to think that whatever higher powers were overseeing all this were just a bunch of jackasses with no sense of consistency. It would certainly explain a whole lot. Fuck you, Ganon.

“Keep an eye on the Lizard and Daddy Dearest, Horsey Boy,” Kappa chimed towards Sleipmon as he spread his wings, his lance appearing in his hands as he slowly took into the air towards the scene of destruction in the distance, “Gonna go check this shit out.”

Five minutes.

Five whole minutes had passed, and yet only now were Baihumon and Zhuqiaomon breaking through to the very center of the Knight’s castle; where Yggdrasil resided and oversaw the Digital World.

Baihumon hissed in fatigue, finally allowing himself to drop the barrage of power he had assaulted the castle with as he saw the walls between the heart of the castle and the rest of the structure give out at long last. This had really taken far too long; were he and Zhuqiaomon really so out of experience with their own power that a simple fortification gave them so much trouble?

He hissed again, dispelling the thought. It wasn’t important now. He and Zhuqiaomon had been conserving the majority of their power for the confrontation with Yggdrasil; should he have taken them by surprise during their assault, having enough power in stock to defend themselves would have been essential.

As it was, though, Yggdrasil hadn’t reacted at all to their assault; even as the wall to the heart of the castle crumbled, entire moments passed and yet there was no sign of Yggdrasil aside from the ocean of wires and cables leading deep down into the earth below the castle.

“At the risk of tempting fate,” Baihumon began, speaking quietly to his brother as the Sovereign of the South began to gather flames about himself once more, readying a gigantic jet of flame to scorch the parts of Yggdrasil visible at present, “This is going far too smoothly. Something’s wrong here.”

More than anything, Zhuqiaomon wanted to just set fire to any part of Yggdrasil he could see, but Baihumon had a point this time. With the ruckus the two were making, Yggdrasil had to have noticed them by now, but no defenses had been established. No barriers, no counterattacks, nothing. The Phoenix of the South suppressed his murderous rage and gave his brother a nod.

“Fine.” He grumbled. “We’ll do this your way.” Zhuqiaomon spread his wings, bellowing a summons into the sky. Seconds later, a white snake Digimon materialized on the ground, bowing down to his master.

“What is required of me, my lord?” Sandiramon hissed, his head bowed low.

“Scout the inside of the ruins. Report back to me on what you find.” Zhuqiaomon rumbled, doubtful that this servant would survive. In truth, he’d been looking for a new Deva to fill Sandiramon’s place, and he’d have to open that role first.

“As you command, Lord Zhuqiaomon.” Sandiramon rose, utterly unaware of his master’s contempt for him, and slithered off, descending into the fortress’s depths.

Minutes passed, and Zhuqiaomon found himself utterly disappointed when Sandiramon returned alive.

“My lord...Yggdrasil was within the depths.”

“And he left you alive?” Zhuqiaomon asked doubtfully.

“Actually, it was as if he didn’t even notice my presence. He was merely floating in the chamber, unresponsive.”

The Sovereign raised an eyebrow, giving Baihumon a dubious look before turning back to Sandiramon.

“Fine. You are dismissed.”

And with that, Sandiramon dematerialized, teleporting back to his Sovereign’s palace. Turning to Baihumon, Zhuqiaomon gave an impatient huff.

“Well, brother? Are you satisfied now?”

“There’s definitely something wrong. Last I recalled, Yggdrasil was violent with his own underlings, let alone a servant of his sworn enemies,” Baihumon replied, ignoring Zhuqiaomon’s characteristic brusqueness.

Baihumon wasn’t even going to bother sending a servant down to make sure. Quicker than Zhuqiaomon could have expected, the white tiger disappeared in a flash of blinding light down the shaft leading to Yggdrasil’s chamber, slashing at the mass of cable all the way down.

Landing upon all four of his feet as he finally entered the chamber, he organized the eleven digicores he had on his person into a horizontal circular formation, the powerful orbs spewing out a spherical field around himself as he looked about.

Yggdrasil was there, just as Sandiramon had said; the gigantic orb floated above what seemed to be an equally gigantic reactor, with the mass of cable from the shaft above connecting into the rim of the reactor’s frame.
The orb itself hummed as it floated in midair, and seemed to wobble slightly upon its axis; but was otherwise stationary, with a dull opaque colour adorning its form.

Baihumon stared for a moment.
And then his forcefield receded and a gigantic white burst slammed into the orb before him.
And again.
And again.

As soon as he heard the sounds of combat, Zhuqiaomon descended into Yggdrasil’s chamber himself and stared for a moment, mildly disturbed that Yggdrasil was simply taking Baihumon’s abuse. And then he joined in as well, covering his entire body in flame and ramming into the orb alongside his brother.

Amidst the roaring flames and eruptions of silver and white, the orb that was Yggdrasil’s body could be seen to slowly crack; Yggdrasil offered no resistance as his body was slowly shattered by the two Sovereigns, and as their powers reached their peak in intensity and blasted up the shaft above to release a torrent of energy into the sky, a horrific crack rang out.

Followed by the sound of glass shattering as the multiple pieces of Yggdrasil’s spherical body smashed into the floor of the chamber, followed by a dull thud as something dropped onto the surface of the reactor below.

And yet Yggdrasil offered no response, even as his core came crashing down to the ground from its protective shell.
Baihumon knew that even this level of punishment wouldn’t have killed Yggdrasil; the shell was a mere protective layer, and his core was ridiculously resilient in and of itself.
The blasted computer wasn’t dead; but that didn’t seem to matter as his core laid inert and comatose upon the wreckage of its shell.

Zhuqiaomon let loose a cry of rage and dove down, his claws lashing out at Yggdrasil’s core. He struck again and again, talons wreathed in flame. Eventually, a crack appeared in the orb, and Zhuqiaomon took the opportunity, jamming a single talon deep into in the crack and starting to pull. The crack widened, and the Sovereign of the South jammed more talons in, ripping the core in two as he did so.

“Die, you miserable wretch.” Zhuqiaomon sneered as he tore Yggdrasil’s core completely in half before pulling back and letting a gout of flame loose, incinerating it.

“Unbelievable,” Baihumon muttered, shaking his head in disbelief as the almighty computer was burned down to less than scraps of data under his brother’s rage, “Bloody unbelievable. All that talk from Azulongmon, and this is all it amounts to.”

The sheer heat of Zhuqiaomon’s flames began to consume not just Yggdrasil’s core, but the very data that composed said core. Zhuqiaomon increased the intensity of the fire, and Yggdrasil’s data itself was destroyed. No Digimon would load that data, not even the Sovereigns themselves. Had it been anyone else, the phoenix would have snatched the data up to add to his own power without a care, but his hatred of Yggdrasil was such that he refused to even touch his data.

“We’re done here.” Zhuqiaomon snarled vindictively, taking to the air once more. “What now, brother?”
“What now? We gather the Tamers and make our case before Azulongmon steps in. I’ll take any victory I can get over that bloody reptile, and this is as good a place to start as any.”

Baihumon’s tone practically sweltered with bitterness. Something had been amiss with Yggdrasil, and he’d be willing to bet every single one of his Digicores that Azulongmon had been aware of this somehow.

“Contact AncientIrismon and have her marshall as many of the Tamers as she can into the conference chamber. I’ll have AncientWisemon and AncientVolcamon do the same. Don’t bother with AncientGreymon; he’s always been more inclined to obey Azulongmon than he has been to obey you.”

“Feh,” Zhuqiaomon spat as they ascended to the surface. “Never liked that fool anyways.” With that said, he expanded his consciousness, reaching out to the minds of the Ancients on the surface and calling to them, while Baihumon did likewise.

“Ancients, hear me! Your masters call! Gather the Tamers, and bring them to the domain of the West!”
____________________
Hearing the signal from his master, there was a flash of light as AncientWisemon materialized nearby the site of the final struggle between Imperialdramon, Alphamon and Examon.

As it was, he’d been waiting for that signal for about five minutes now. The situation he’d originally anticipated had tuned out, but he’d quickly re-adopted the desire to remove the Tamers from the battlefield if only to be able to be able to out-maneuver the damned monopoly that Azulongmon and his disciples had called over the Sovereign’s affairs.

As AncientWisemon had observed, Examon and Alphamon seemed to be the joint leaders of the Tamers; or at least commanded enough respect amongst them that the distinction was purely arbitrary. If he were to sway them first, the others would be more likely to comply.

“Excellent work,” He began, as he descended towards the silent, contemplative form of the Supreme Dragon Emperor, his green form fluttering in the winds born in the aftermath of the intense final conflict, “On behalf of Baihumon, Sovereign of the West, I confer upon you our highest commendations, and an invitation to the Domain of the Sovereigns for you and you comrades.”

Meanwhile, Valdurmon rose from her perch at AncientIrismon’s urging.

“Lord Zhuqiaomon has commanded me to request that the Tamers gather, child.” AncientIrismon whispered in her mind, to which Valdurmon could only scoff.

“And I should heed this why? I will listen to your requests, but not anyone else’s. My choice to serve is mine alone.” Valdurmon said, blatantly refusing to move.

“...Very well. However, you may bring Zhuqiaomon’s wrath upon yourself. Keep that in mind, for I will not be able to save you if that should be the case.” And with that warning, AncientIrismon fell silent in her mind.

"Oh, so now those bloody high and mighty wants to thank us? Gee, I'm flattered," Dorumon remarked sarcastically, somewhat grateful that their conversation was reserved amongst them. Still battle-weary and recovering from their chaotic fusion, she offered no other objection aside from her remark. Out of all the three females, she was the most skeptical about the Sovereign's intention, but she trusted her friends' long and well enough for her to know that they wouldn't knowingly led her to danger.

"I suppose we should come and listen to what they have to say," Zei suggested, having regained her sanity gradually after the battle reached its conclusion. "My head still feels odd... like I have done something I shouldn't have, but we can put that aside for now and regroup with our friends. I'm worried about them."

"Well then, Examon, Siggy. You have the final say here," Alphamon calmly stated. "Whatever that might be, we'll accept it." Now that she had the time to think further, she realized that Examon had not only displayed good leadership, she felt that he was a better leader than her in any aspect. She didn't think that way out of lowered self-esteemed, but out of admiration and a sense of clarity. In all regards, she felt thankful that Examon had stood up against her in the past. It helped pull her back to the ground and allowed her to move on from her past of bad decisions. 'I still have much to learn...'

As the women in the mental link spoke amongst themselves and debated the course of action, Siggy and Examon sat quietly in thought, only pulled to by Alphamon's words.

"... Alright," Siggy replied to Alphamon, the young man evidently tired and suffering from some degree of shell-shock as he acknowledged the Knight's words, before he turned to Examon, "You're the one they're interested in. Could you-"

"I'll do it," Examon replied with a nod, evidently exactly as fatigued as his tamer despite his decision to take charge of the situation.
__________________
So, as AncientWisemon descended down towards him, speaking of an invitation from the Sovereigns to their domain, Examon Prime's eyes roused themselves from the dim , contemplative half-light that they had been just a few moments before, as he almost glared at the green form before him.

"It's interesting how you choose to involve yourselves now, isn't it?" The Supreme Dragon Emperor growled in deadpan towards the Ancient before him, "Come out and be all holy and high and mighty when others do your own job for you, am I right?"

In response, AncientWisemon rolled his eyes.

"Is that a yes or a no, Examon? My Master is apologetic in these regards, but he has no patience for petulance."

Examon's response was to evolve the almost-glare to a full glare, which wasn't even slightly tempered by the fact that AncientWisemon refused to balk under his oppressive gaze. psyker enjoys gobbling cock

"Petulance? Petulance!?! Me, Alphamon, Dorumon and our Tamers all could have died because you all washed your hands of your duty! Every single combatant against the Royal Knights could have been massacred, and yet you have the gaul to take the moral highground!?!"

"Tch. This isn't getting us anywhere," AncientWisemon spat in return, evidently irritated by Examon's refusal to co-operate with him.

"Be quiet," Examon snapped back, the glare remaining, "If your Master wishes to speak to me, he can come to me directly. If he's so apologetic, I'm sure he can deign to come to us with his words."

As Examon finished speaking, all fell silent for a few moments.
And then the world around him and AncientWisemon seemed to be frozen by a magnificent presence.

"I suppose you have a point, Examon," A deep, resonant voice intoned towards the Dragon Emperor as a silver sphere materialized before him, which unfurled to reveal the owner of the voice, "You and your companions have done today what we Sovereigns really should have done a very long time ago. Coming to negotiate in person is one of the smallest courtesies we should be expected to extend."

Seeing the form of the White Tiger of the West appear before him in all its glory, Examon's glare was suddenly replaced by an expression of shock.
He hadn't expected that one of the Sovereigns would so willingly deign to appear before him, especially in response to an angry statement on his part.

Nonetheless, he held his ground, and as the six red eyes of the tiger bored into his very soul, his expression of shock slowly turned into a more resolute expression.

"... I see," He replied to the Sovereign before him, choosing his words carefully as not to anger the mighty God, but also finding that his anger seemed to be dissolving in the aura of soothing supplication that seemed to be emanating from Baihumon, "... Very well, as you've been so kind as to answer me, I'll gather whoever's still alive. Make no mistake, though; we expect answers, and we expect them soon."

"Very well," Baihumon replied with a nod, gesturing to AncientWisemon off to the side in order to dismiss him, "I will wait here, take as much time as you require to gather everyone."

And with that, Examon just stared at the Sovereign for a few moments before turning in the opposite direction and heading for the castle in the distance, spreading his wings as-

"... Though, may I ask a question?"

Hearing the Sovereign speak up again, Examon turned around on the spot and stared at him.

"What?"

"There were others with you when you defeated Imperialdramon. Where are they now?"

"... Oh no."
_______________________
Meanwhile...

"Oh my God what just happened," A high-pitched, disorientated voice asked out to nobody in particular, as a tiny yellow shape flitted about confusedly and haphazardly a few meters off the ground a few hundred meters away from where Imperialdramon had finally been slain.

As far as his memory was concerned, the last few minutes had been an incomprehensible rush for Patamon. Last thing he remembered was being in the library with his Tamer and Gallantmon, and now he was flapping about confusedly on the battlefield with a gigantic aura of death seeping out from his surroundings and making everything even worse.

"Gallantmon... Ari... Where are you..."

There was no defending against it. In the flurry of blocks and parries, the third clawed limb was unencumbered as it sunk its claws deeply into the right shoulder of War Capidramon Hunts Mode. The arm instantly went dead, falling uselessly to his side, the sword clung loosely in his clawed hand. The wound began to seep, and for an instant, the Ascended Mega froze.

---

Jordan! Jordan! the voice of Shrewmon called out in their shared mind.
He didn't react. He remained frozen as he was, blank shock written on his face. He could barely process the pain, not even to be able to scream uncontrollably.

---

The fight had gone downhill since the barrier had been broken. As suddenly as their strength had surged forth to meet their foe, it had waned, as though the source of his power had been choked off. Since that point, he had barely been matching blows with the furious beast. BYAKKO had exhausted itself in a brutal assault which melted the monstrous Orci's armor and shattered its carapace, but the creature's regeneration seemed to make any damage they could deal instantly obsolete.

How? How could a mindless beast be so powerful? How could he be struggling to defeat something that was only capable of blunt direct attack? It was not as if there were some complex tactic the monster employed. It was not as if there were some simple strategy he were forgetting. So how? How could this mindless beast best him so? That simple thought, along with the pain, had shut his mind down to a near catatonic state.

With Jordan, at the moment, out of commission, Shrewmon's only choice was to frantically exert himself to sustain the function of their combined form and not die. It was not until their combined psyche as WarCapidramon's power finally kicked in that the outer Data Body reacted.

---

The Orci, seeing its opportunity, spread its horrid buzzing wings and took flight. Thinking the fight was all but won, it began to prepare its final assault, floating back and gathering energy. This was it. Their only chance.
"Well..." the beleaguered warrior growled to himself, "It's now or never."
It was then that he turned up his head, noticing, with mild surprise, that the area he had struck with his spear seemed to still be damaged somewhat, and did not fully regenerate. With his shield still clasped to his wrist, he reached with his functioning arm and drew his spear. Holding it out, he looked curiously for a moment at its glowing blade. Slowly, he drew the blade through the air, until it formed a glowing, familiar set of characters, "白虎".
"Baihumon's Rune!" the injured Holy Knight Digimon called out.
With a roar of speed, the rune raced for the Orci. Still gathering energy, heedless to the threat in bloodlust, it neither could move, nor took the time to release its attack defensively. Instead, the glowing blue rune struck, planting itself on the chest of the abomination, beginning to slowly warp and spread with a metallic shine.
Panting, the Norse Warrior looked upon his foe as it slowly began sinking in the air, "Well... one thing can... handle it," he admitted to no one other than himself, "Good thing I can do this with one hand."
Slowly, he raised his left arm, stowing his spear and shield, before holding his palm open in front of his forehead. Slowly, a blue white orb began to form in his hand, which he then slowly pulled, drawing it back behind himself as it began to gather force. When the sphere began to stream harsh, concentrated beams of light, he clenched his hand into a fist, the glow intensifying there as he did. With great force, he threw his hand forward in a punch, all his energy and hope locked into it.
"Byakko Ken!" he called with all his might.
As he did, the energy in his fist burst forth, taking the form of the visage of a tiger before careening towards the metalized foe. In a great burst of light, with a roaring impact, the attack connected, a blinding flash that could surely be seen from a great distance overtaking their battlefield.

(Ulforce, Veemon, Leon, Emperorgreymon, Ravemon, Cherubimon, Shakamon, Purger, Slayerdramon, Rapidmon, Sistermon... Trying to remember all of my characters.)

As Ulforceveedramon began to fire a blast at the odd attacks the Orci summoned, a large surge of power came from not far away. Then another. Then another. There seemed to be a vortex of energy just firing off.

hm... we probably should see whats going on.

They can handle it Veemon. Pretty sure three uber digimon are fighting just Imperialdramon right now.

And one if more enemies come at them while their fighting? Jordan adn Shrewmon have him! Plus, Beezlemon can help if he needs it.

....Alright. Lets go quickly.

"Hold on" Ulforceveedramon wispered to Ranamon, unsure is she was still with him anymore. With a blast of speed from the Ulforce the Blue Knight quickly found his way into the open air climb the skies to find his comrades. That didn't take long at all. But now, instead of Imperialdramon's ugly form, the White Tiger himself was there. Reaching the patch of land that they were talking on, Ulforceveedramon came in just at the end of the conversation.

"There were others with you when you defeated Imperialdramon. Where are they now?"

"Wait.... what happened?" Ulforceveedramon asked quickly, as he, Leon and Veemon's heartbeats all quickened in fright.

---

Emperorgreymon, still trying to talk out peace with the Orci and half dead Parasimon, felt the large rush of power coming and going and feared for his friends who were battling so far away. Looking around at the digimon... the supposed enemies of his, the Dragon warrior let out a sigh. "It'd be nice if none of you blasted me in the back as I leave. Enjoy what peace you find..." with that, fire burst from his limbs and allowed Emperorgreymon to quickly rocket himself towards the large beacon of energy. "Please don't let anyone else be dead.... Except Imperiladramon. That ones fine with me."

---

As the Purger continued to fly his passenger back, a voice appeared in his head. Purger, don't come directly back to my realm. I'm having an... old friend over for a short while. Go make sure that our Digidestined are still surviving, especially the young ones.

Yes Lord Shakamon, he thought back warping himself through digital portals to appear above the battliefield with a screaming human wondering what was going on now.

---

Shakamon, a statuesque digimon, seemed almost giddy as he spoke aloud to the air, "Come out, my dark friend. I believe its time for another meeting."

"Nnhh..."

His head felt like a big blank canvas as he tried to pick himself up amidst the rubble around him. His entire body coordination was completely disoriented as he tumbled around like a drunkard. "... Master... Seraphimon?" he called, trying to get a clear look at his surroundings, but to no avail. "Lady Ari?" he called again, wandering about the inquisitive little girl he had met not long ago. After finally getting his composure back, Guilmon began his aimless trek through the desolate ground, his only goal finding his new comrade and his female ally.

---

"H-Hey! Why a-a-are you t-taking me here?!" Ranamon whimpered, recognizing the gigantic figure of Baihumon, at least in comparison to hers, standing in his mighty glory with his eyes fixated on Examon Prime, whom she didn't recognize. Shaking her head to push her fears aside, she looked at the destroyed battlefield and muttered, "It's... It's over... Please tell me it's over..." The blue Digimon looked at UlforceVeedramon, barely hearing what Baihumon had to ask, and asked him, "Wait, I thought we're fighting Imperialdramon. What is he talking about? I think that bastard's own allies should have been dead by now..."

Noticing UlforceVeedramon's approaching presence, Dorumon tilted her head and sighed, "And here I was wondering if that guy had run off somewhere," she murmured, but quickly noticed something else: a shade of blue that seemed off compared to the rest of his azure armor. "Just wondering, but is he carrying something?" she asked quizzically, trying to pinpoint the different shade of blue.

“Don’t worry, they’re fine.” Baihumon said to UlforceVeedramon and Examon as they expressed concern over the status of their friends, “It’s faint, but I can pick out their signals as being nearby. I’ll have one of my Servants… retrieve them.”

Turning to AncientWisemon, there was a sudden shift in the surrounding space as the Ancient disappeared, leaving behind a figure wrapped in a brown cloak and hood.

With a nod to his master, Wisemon descended towards the ground, his senses expanding outwards to search for the components of the now-devolved Gallantmon Crimson Mode.

“That’s enough waiting.” Zhuqiaomon’s voice boomed in irritation, as he suddenly emerged from the aether as Baihumon had just a few moments before. “If anyone else needs to know, you can tell them afterwards. I’ll have no more delays.” The Phoenix of the South rumbled as BanchoLeomon landed next to Examon, curious as to why there were two Sovereigns on the field.

“Really, now?” The aforementioned lion drawled. “Then get to it. We’ve got lives to get back to.” Zhuqiaomon narrowed his eyes at his insolence, and a gout of flame erupted next to BanchoLeomon’s feet.

“Be silent, worm. My patience grows thin. Now then, Baihumon, if you would?”

“Right,” Baihumon began, withdrawing the somewhat pointed glare he was shooting Zhuqiaomon for his aggression before continuing; “Now, to begin, I suppose you’re all wondering why the Sovereigns didn’t get involved when Yggdrasil and Imperialdramon were on the warpath?”

“More like wondering why the fuck you didn’t do anything when Yggdrasil’s been dead for god-knows how long,” Examon replied, glaring at both Sovereigns with barely-disguised enmity.

“Perhaps because we didn’t know until just now. After all, it wasn’t as if we inhabited the same domain as he did. Perhaps you should be chastising yourself for that, rather than us.” Zhuqiaomon retorted, spitting out a gout of flame into the air.

“You can blame Imperialdramon for that,” Examon growled in return, looking incredibly irritated as Zhuqiaomon fired back at him, “And seriously. You’re fucking GODS. At least ONE of you useless bastards must have caught onto it eventually.” I fucked Ob’s mom.

“Yes, well…” Baihumon began, his calm and composed demeanour devolving into a furious and incomprehensible growl of wrath as Examon reminded him of his suspicions.

“...Wait.” Zhuqiaomon snarled, remembering just who it was that had suggested leaving Yggdrasil and his faction be. “I need to confirm something. Baihumon, you can finish up with the humans and their pets.” The phoenix ascended into the air in a blaze of crimson light before shooting off towards the eastern sky.

“Very well,” Baihumon replied to him as he left, regaining his staggered composure before turning his attention back to Examon with; “We can’t confirm anything at this stage, but we suspect that Azulongmon was hiding a lot of information from the rest of us.”

“... What.”

“Don’t ask me. I have no idea what’s wrong with the bloody reptile,” Baihumon growled, his eyes flashing a deeper shade of red out of sheer irritation.”

“Wow.”

“Look, I’m going to level with you. Azulongmon does not work on anything resembling rationality, logic or common sense. To put it in human terms, he’s every joke and cliche about sneaky politicians rolled into a single body.” At this, BanchoLeomon threw his head back and began laughing his ass off.

“Right. So, what you’re saying is that because one of you happens to be a complete and utter tosspot, Imperialdramon got away with turning the Royal Knights into a fucking fascist regime?”

“That’s about the gist of it, yes.”

“... I don’t know what’s sadder. The fact that you’re using this as an explanation or the fact that I can actually buy that.”

At this, Baihumon shook his head and sighed.

“I’ll not make excuses. As a body, the Sovereigns failed to do their duty. Regardless of any factors that may or may not have influenced that, the failure still stands. You have more than our gratitude for doing what we failed to do.”

“Then are we done here?” BanchoLeomon asked dryly as he stepped forward. “I’m sorry, but as fascinating as this is, we’re pretty much done here. If there’s nothing else, then we might as well be returning to the Real World.”

“Admittedly, I believe there isn’t much else to cover. Until we interrogate Azulongmon fully, we’re hardly any better informed than your group on the matters at hand. All I can really think to broach is the future of the Knights.”

“The future of the Knights?” Examon asked, quirking his metal brow.

“Yggdrasil and Imperialdramon are gone, but the Knights still remain. If I remember correctly, more than half your number remain alive, and the majority of those are your allies. For all the trouble they caused, it seems that it only took the right push for their true priorities to emerge.”

“... Give us some time to convene on our own, then. I’m pretty damn sure that some of us never want to touch anything to do with the Knights ever again.”

“Examon, we can do this some time later.” BanchoLeomon folded his arms, sighing. “Right now, we’re all exhausted and half-dead. Plus, I just realized that we forgot a rather big problem in the Real World. Remember the Kimeramon?”

“That was kind of the point, BanchoLeomon- wait, what.”

Examon’s initial response was tired, but the mention of Kimeramon caused him to freeze.

“Oh fuck, you’re right. Can’t believe we forgot about that. Feels like it’s been years since we bumped into that piece of slapdash shit.”

“No, you’re missing the point.” BanchoLeomon snarled. “Remember what BlackWarGreymon said? That Kimeramon was manmade. It’s been a week since we’ve left the Real World. Whoever was controlling BlackWarGreymon might’ve made more or made the first one stronger.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Examon started, not entirely convinced he’d missed the point, before leaving off and continuing with; “But yes, I remember. I’m likely going to be stating the obvious, but we need to gather all the forces we have left, bring them to the human world.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Baihumon interjected, quirking a brow, “The human world isn’t exactly like the Digital World. Prepare your allies and your forces, certainly, but remember the damage that you could cause to a world that isn’t ready for you yet.”

“He’s got a point there.” BanchoLeomon said. “We can’t fight a full-on battle in the middle of Tokyo like we just did here. With the amount of collateral damage we put it, we’d be lucky if only a few hundred people were dead by the end of it.”

“True, but it’s not like we’re in a great situation here. I doubt whoever was controlling BlackWarGreymon will care about causing that kind of destruction, and at the very least, we should be prepared to try and threaten him into submission.”

With this, Examon paused, thinking, before he continued.

“We’ll send someone to infiltrate the bastard’s base of operations and take him out before he can pull anything. Whilst whatever he might have created is likely to be a threat, but he’s still a human.”

“I’ll do it.” BanchoLeomon volunteered himself, closing his eyes. “I’m the only logical choice. You’re too large, Zei, Leon, and Jordan might not have the stomach for it, and god knows I don’t trust Beelzemon with anything requiring subtlety.”

“Fine. I’ll leave this to you, then. Just give me some time to organize and make preparations for the worst-case scenario.”

“Worst-case scenario is the Japanese government loses its head completely and requests the Americans to nuke Tokyo to try to take us all out. Hypothetically, of course.”

“At the very least, I can lend some aid here,” Baihumon began, as the subject of nuclear weapons was raised, “I’m aware of the danger that those particular human weapons pose to humans and Digimon that aren’t resistant to them, but they pale in comparison to the power of the Sovereigns. Should the worst come to pass, I’d not hesitate to lend you the aid of the Sovereigns and take preventative measures.”

“You can stop a nuke from detonating, then?” BanchoLeomon raised an eyebrow. “Because the radiation’s the problem, not the explosion. I’d rather not see what that would do to a Digimon, much less have Hiroshima and Nagasaki happen again.”

“The scope of the powers of a Sovereign may surprise you. At the very least, the weapons can be redirected to where their consequences will be of far lesser concern. Complete annihilation would be simplest, granted, but there are many preventative measures that can be taken.”

“Fine by me. I’m going to go find BlackWarGreymon and get some information out of him. Just call for me when we’re ready to leave, Examon.” BanchoLeomon nodded in respect towards both Examon and Baihumon before turning around to leave.

Returning BanchoLeomon’s nod, Baihumon then turned his attentions back to Examon.

“I’ll remain here with you and your allies. If you need to make any preparations, get onto them now and get them done as quickly as possible.”

“Alright,” Examon replied, nodding to Baihumon as he rose into the air and headed for the ruined castle in the distance.

It was time. Time to put an end to this mess once and for all.
___

Meanwhile, Zhuqiaomon literally burst into Azulongmon’s domain, crashing through the walls of his fortress in a burst of flame, and snarled in fury at the Dragon of the East.

“You knew.” Azulongmon looked up to the fiery Sovereign, his expression unreadable. He or Antylamon would probably need to patch that hole later, before the draft got bothersome.

“If I did?” He didn’t need to ask what Zhuqiaomon was referring to. Only one revelation would have infuriated him like this.

“Then you are a damned fool. We could have disposed of Yggdrasil’s corpse months ago! Do you know how much chaos the Royal Knights have caused under Imperialdramon’s leadership? They have intruded upon our domains, made a mockery of our rule, and practically enslaved Digimon that were supposed to be under our protection! And you let this insult against us stand? By a mere Knight?! Have you lost your accursed mind, Sovereign of the East?” Zhuqiaomon roared, flames erupting in Azulongmon’s throne room. Azulongmon exhaled deeply, invoking his powers to keep the embers from doing any further damage and uncoiled to better look Zhuqiaomon in the eyes.

“I will not deny I had made mistakes in handling this. Had I known Alphamon was still alive and had the loyalty of so many Knights, I would have contacted her and explained the situation. However, when I found out about Yggdrasil, at the time, I did not know. I only knew the Knights were either loyal to Yggdrasil or loyal to those who followed him. If I approached even Examon to tell him what I knew, I would have been rebuked, most likely. If I had torn the castle apart to prove it, Imperialdramon would have manipulated it to make it appear I had slain Yggdrasil, and we would have truly been at war.” He let the words hang; he doubted Zhuqiaomon would need time to absorb the information, but he was reflecting on how much worse the damage would have been. He could only imagine the land scorched, Devas destroyed, Knights and Sovereigns weakened, and Huanglongmon rising to finish the image of annihilation. “I knew if I told the rest of you, you would want to intervene.” He did not think he was wrong there, giving where Zhuqiaomon had come from.

“You act as if intervening would not be the correct course of action.” Zhuqiaomon snarled, flames licking across his own body in outrage. “We are the Four Sovereigns, you fool. Without Yggdrasil, the Knights lack the power to resist us. Had you simply informed us, we could have destroyed the Knights in one fell swoop and reconstituted them under our control.”

“I’m certain that would have gone well.” Azulongmon’s calm facade had begun to crumble. “I would think it far more likely that, instead of an internal civil war, WE would have been targeted instead in this war. Do not think my isolation has left me ignorant. At best, they’d become martyrs and we would be considered the tyrant Imperialdramon became.” A low blow, to be honest. Azulongmon didn’t mind saying it - as if anyone would actually consider HIM comparable to Imperialdramon - but he doubted Zhuqiaomon would take it nearly as well.

“As if this has left us any better in the eyes of the people.” Zhuqiaomon spat, vindictively satisfied that Azulongmon was starting to lose his composure. “As it stands, the Royal Knights have torn each other apart, and instead of we Sovereigns intervening to fix the problem, a group of humans partnered with power-hungry fools slew the tyrant Imperialdramon. What does your vast wisdom say to this, Azulongmon?”

“I do believe you have that backwards, it would say.” The light joke did help his mood. “Antylamon, would you fetch us both a drink? I think it would be appreciated.” His Deva left - and, with them alone, Azulongmon let his lightning crackle, the sheer electric force pervading the air. “Do you really think the original problem had to do with anything so trifling as the Knights? Remember before, when humans were partnered to digimon before? How we found it impossible to do anything to keep this world safe? I do not deny, I was still working out how to deal with Yggdrasil and the Knights alone until that girl came here. That’s when I knew - we wouldn’t be able to intervene again in whatever was coming. And if these tamers couldn’t handle Imperialdramon, then how could we expect them to save our world?”

“You still believe we need to rely on humans to save us?” Zhuqiaomon spat, materializing flames to match Azulongmon’s lightning. “We are Huanglongmon’s chosen four! With his slumber, we are the closest to gods that a Digimon can reach! Should we unite, nothing short of all seven Demon Lords combined can match us, you utter fool! Rely on your own power and that of your kin, not the power of humans!” Azulongmon maintained his glare before finally sighing and leaning back, his anger replaced by fatigue.

“Zhuqiaomon, tell me: why else do you think tamers are here?”

“Perhaps because Imperialdramon abducted a human? I cannot fault them for protecting their own.”

“You know what I meant. It’s not every day a partnership is established between human and digimon.”

“Feh.” Zhuqiaomon spat, extinguishing his flames as he turned his back on Azulongmon. “I warn you, Sovereign of the East: trust your brothers. Believe in our power. Believe in your own. Nothing in this world or the humans’ can resist the power of four Sovereigns combined. Should you turn your back on us once more, I will kill you. Your treachery shall be forgiven this time, but never again.” And with that, he flew off into the sky, blazing across the horizon. Azulongmon nodded, collapsing back to his original position.

“It is noted...Zhuqiaomon.” Antylamon then returned at last with two barrels and looked around the scorched throne room.

“Sir?”

“He departed on official business.” Azulongmon looked down at his faithful servant. No point in worrying her. “Would you care to join me for a drink?”

It was over.
A hole of eroded, crunched metal rested square in the torso of the hulking remains of what had once been the Orci. The Warrior Rodent barely stood, panting, bleeding from the wound that had been punched in his shoulder. He almost lost it there, stumbling to the side from exertion and pain. Steadying himself now, he stood, staggering forward, leaking a trail of blood behind him. Turning away, he closed his eyes, clutching the throat of his former adversary in his claws.
"Sorry... but you don't get another chance..." he muttered, shattering the head from the body with a sharp grasp, sending the metaloid corpse spiraling into bits of data, "I don't feel like dealing with you again..."
The data flowed across the Mega's blue armor, repairing the cracks and dents, rejuvenating the external data-body that the two tired minds within shared.
It was over-
-and yet something was wrong. The data, when it had been free, seemed to be pulling in one specific direction, and WarCapidramon Hunts Mode felt that pull now. Something was there, out in the distance- two things actually, that he seemed to be drawn towards. It was almost as though one had been there the whole time, and he just noticed it now- or maybe the strain of fighting in the Digital World again had finally gotten to him and he was spiraling into madness. Either way, he pushed on, aimlessly wandering in the direction in which he thought something might be.
After what felt like hours, but could have been mere minutes of walking, he saw in the distance a chunk of debris, around which several figures were huddled. He couldn't recognize any of them, but he didn't figure it mattered. Either way, it would be an end- a way out of the fighting one way or another. His head dropped, and it was then he noticed a small, red, dinosaur like figure that he had almost stepped on. Without even thinking, he reached down and lifted the small creature, bringing it to eye level.
"Oh..." a voice that did not seem to fit the large form of the Mega exclaimed, "Do I... know you?"

Guilmon felt as if the entire world was spinning around him. It was already hard enough to walk, let alone know where he was going. In fact, he felt as if he was flying off the ground. However, when he finally regained some sense of direction, it turned that he had, indeed, lifted off the ground. Alert and in a state of panic, Guilmon began to try and make sense of where he actually was until he heard a voice close to him, seemingly directed towards the red Rookie. Turning around, he saw another Digimon, possibly a Mega, and realized that he was holding him on his hand, much to his relief. Tilting his head, he loudly hummed at the Mega Digimon, wondering if he had seen him somewhere. He thanked his lucky stars that he wasn't a hostile Digimon and there was something about him that he was familiar with. It took him a few minutes before something clicked inside his mind. "Master... WarCapidramon? Is that you?" he asked, hoping that his hunch hit the right target.

A few minutes later, BanchoLeomon found BlackWarGreymon holed up with his Tamer next to a still-standing section of the fortress. Walking up to them, he wasted no time in getting down to business.

"So, we need to talk. Should probably send your Tamer away, though. Unless you want her hearing us plan to murder a man." He said bluntly, immediately catching BlackWarGreymon's attention.

"Oh? And who would you possibly want to...oh." The armored dragon trailed off, realizing who BanchoLeomon was talking about. Standing up, he turned back to his Tamer. "Ruby, I'm going to be gone for just a bit. I'll be right back, though." After receiving a nod from her, BlackWarGreymon walked off with BanchoLeomon inside the ruined castle. "What do you want to know?"

"I need details. His name, his location, his security, the works."

"Fine then. His name is Masashi Takeda-"

"Wait, the CEO of Tokugawa Heavy Industries? Are you serious?" BanchoLeomon narrowed his eyes. He knew that name well. Or rather, Lucas did.

"And this would be relevant to the discussion why?" BlackWarGreymon raised an eyebrow, mildly annoyed at the interruption. But before BanchoLeomon could reply, he devolved back into Lucas and Leomon.

"Because my father's a vice president in that company." Lucas scowled, folding his arms. "Don't worry, though. This affects nothing. I haven't spoken to the man in four years. Haven't had more than a three sentence conversation with him in seven. Keep going."

"...Right. Anyways, he's been developing Digital World-based technologies ever since he kidnapped Ruby and held her hostage in exchange for my services. You know as well as I do that he possesses the ability to create Kimeramons, although he can only make them from data that I acquired for him, and the only one he made used up all the data that he had."

"So we won't have to face more than one if it comes down to open combat." Leomon nodded approvingly. "How well can he command the creature?"

"I wouldn't know. All I've seen him do with it is command it to move to an area, like what happened with the train battle. It may just be that it attacks Digimon on instinct. Other than that, though, his security is all human. A Champion-level could break through his lab's defenses."

"And he would be in these labs, then?" Leomon asked.

"Ever since you lot appeared, he's been focusing heavily into Digital World-based technologies. His labs and office are in the same skyscraper anyways. And that's all I can tell you. He was always tight with information."

"The Tokugawa Heavy Industries complex?" Lucas said, looking down at the ground in thought. "Alright, then. I've been to that building before. From what I remember, the CEO's office is on the highest floor. But even though we can break through his security easily, it doesn't matter if he sees us coming and runs for it. So we'll have to sneak in. Leomon, let's get back to the others. We can discuss a plan of attack while we're Biomerged." Wasting no more time, Lucas raised his Digivice and Biomerged back with Leomon into his Mega form before heading back to where Examon and Baihumon were.

Meanwhile, neither Digimon had noticed a third shadow listening in from the outside...

Alphamon had kept herself from saying anything to the Sovereigns. As much as she wanted to express her grievance about the Sovereigns’ lack of action, she felt that it wasn’t her place, not when her selfish motives were the ones that kickstarted the fall and subsequent corruption of the Royal Knights. She had expected most of the Knights to be loyal to Yggdrasil, so the knowledge that some of them were loyal to her stunned the Knight of the Empty Seat and left her wondering about what other assumptions she had guess incorrectly and how big of an impact her selfish decisions had caused.

While she finally found what she was looking for in her solo quest and subsequent ‘birth’ of Dorumon, she had badly neglected her duties as a Royal Knight in her absence and now many had paid the price of her negligence. To her, it was the final straw to her pride as a Royal Knight and she now saw herself unfit to lead anymore, at least not at her current capacity. However, there was still a silver lining to this entire fiasco that she had kickstarted. In the process of weeding out terrible leaders, her time with her new friends and allies had brought to her attention another Digimon who was worthy to take up the mantle of leadership.

With the subject of the Royal Knights, tattered and leaderless, and the future it held, Alphamon said to Examon as he flew back to the castle with all five of them still Biomerged, “I believe it is time for the Royal Knights to turn to a new chapter. There is no denying that their ruthless regime under Imperialdramon has inflicted pain and suffering and only time could allow these wounds to recover, but they do deserve a proper guidance, one that would guide them to a true peace in Digital World."

"I believe they deserve a second chance... Through you.”

As he flew off in the direction of the burst of energy Emperorgreymon searched the ground with his eyes along the way. As he went a large figure came into view, holding onto a smaller one. With a sigh the Shinegreymon inside him told him to fly on, but his emotions had fluctuated slightly with the power of water that was given to him not long ago. Darting down to the ground and lightening his landing with a small blast of fire at the earth. Taking a moment to slow down Emperorgreymon broke into a light jog as he caught up to the two Digimon. The larger one he didn’t recognize on site, but as he approached the two the Red Knight could sense who the Guilmon truly was. “Well well! Interesting seeing you so tiny Gallantmon!” he shouted as he approached, a chortle escaping his helmet. “What are you two doing all the way out here?”

---

Starting as a small dot in the side of the wall a golden portal slowly opened up across from Ruby. As it reached the size of a large human a golden figure flew through it and held its place in the air. The Purger scanned the room quickly, seeing that Ruby was in one piece. While the human it carried still struggled in its grip, the Purger spoke directly to the child. “Subject: Ruby. Human Tamer. Partner: BlackWargreymon. Digidestined, are you okay? Where is your partner?”

---

Ulforceveedramon just groaned continuously during Baihumon’s and the other’s arguments. During the conversation the blue knight chuckled as a thought came to him. “You know, we are probably some of the few Digimon so sick of this shit that even god equivalent powers don’t even bother us anymore. Especially ones that screw us hard. In the ass. With Craniamon’s head.” When discussion went to Kimeramon and going back to do some covert ops Ulforceveedramon was going to speak up, but BanchoLeomon flew away before he could say anything. “Pretty sure Imperialdramon is dead now Ranamon. You don’t have anything to worry about right now. ”

Veemon, I think we should separate and try to reserve some power for now. We are potentially going to need it later.

I can agree to that. I’m going to go to In-Training, alright?

Sounds good buddy.

In a quick flash Ulforceveedramon left the field and Leon stood in his place on the ground. Ranamon fell a few feet from the sky above him into his arms and Demiveemon landed on his head. “Uff. Good landing you two.” Leon grunted. Looking up to the titanic Digimon he spoke loudly to them. “We’re going to try to reserve energy until the next battle. ” Looking up at BanchoLeomon as he returned Leon turned to face him. “Lucas! Leomon! Me and Veemon are going to go with you when you infultraite the organization. We’re small, mobile, and fast too so we can get in and out without much fuss.”

“Plus,” said the mini blue dino from ontop of Leon’s head. “We have the stomach to do what needs to be done. Especially after everything we’ve been through so far. You are NOT going in alone!” The little squirt spoke with an authority he didn’t truly have in his current form, but at least their opinions on the matter were known now. He then muttered under his breath. “Even the Ancients at least handed out their help sometimes…”

Lucas listened to Leon and DemiVeemon’s request, raising a hand up to rub his chin in thought. He’d already come up with a plan, and it would still work if he included more people, but he simply didn’t want to. Mainly because he didn’t want to have anyone else see him speak with his father, on the off chance that he lost his composure. And then after some more thought, Lucas grimaced. What the hell was he doing? UlforceVeedramon could be a valuable asset, and he was willing to pass that up just because there was a chance that his friend could see him lose control? Forget that.

“Fine,” He allowed, nodding his head. “When we get back to the real world, we take a night to rest and recharge. Meet me at Shibuya Station tomorrow at noon, and wear a suit. Bring a suitcase or something to hide DemiVeemon in. We’re going in through the front door, and we’re not getting past without looking presentable.

___

“I believe it is time for the Royal Knights to turn to a new chapter. There is no denying that their ruthless regime under Imperialdramon has inflicted pain and suffering and only time could allow these wounds to recover, but they do deserve a proper guidance, one that would guide them to a true peace in Digital World."

"I believe they deserve a second chance... Through you.”

As he headed for the castle in silence, Examon listened to Alphamon’s words.

Whilst still frustrated with the First Knight, the last few hours had broken down the barriers he had put up against her, and as she spoke, he just listened, taking it all in.
In all honesty, he just wanted to be rid of the whole fiasco; once Kimeramon had been dealt with, he would come back to help rebuild the Digital World as necessary before going off to keep out of the way of whatever order sprung up to replace the Knights. He didn’t feel cut out for the leadership; for whatever pride he had, he didn’t feel himself to be a suitable figure of authority, at least not compared to how another could be.

Tired and unfocused, Siggy didn’t weigh into the thoughts of his partner; and so Examon pushed the thoughts into the back of his head, to contemplate later.
However, one thought remained.

"I believe they deserve a second chance... Through you.”

As far as Examon was aware, a few Knights remained unaccounted for. With the revelation of Yggdrasil’s demise and how Imperialdramon had manipulated everyone, it was possible that some form of negotiation could be attempted.

“... Look, let’s not talk about Leadership now,” He finally replied to Alphamon, after a quarter of a minute’s pause, “We can decide who’s going to lead who later; but you’re right about one thing. We should go find the survivors, see what we can do.”

Pausing in flight, Examon began to descend towards the ground; and as his feet touched down, his senses expanded as he blocked out all inside interference.
Run-down and low on energy after his grueling fight with Imperialdramon, his senses didn’t stretch far; at least, not so far that he could sense any of the remaining Knights at his current range.

However, as he grunted in frustration and forced himself to focus further, something else came up.
At first, all he could tell was that it was some kind of Hazard-based dataform; but as he locked onto it and began to identify it, he realized what it was.
One of the three ‘special’ Orci that had been created from Parasimon earlier. The one that wasn’t that rat bastard Primus or that green asshole that had goomba-stomped him earlier.

Thoughts entered Examon’s head. Even when running on low energy, he was far stronger than the Orci; if he could ‘persuade’ it to tell him where Parasimon was, he could probably track down the rest of the Knights from there.

And so, Examon began to make his move.
_________________________________
Imagine for a second that you are Kappa.

One moment, you’re flying idly along, minding your own business as you look over the devastation your complex-riddled older brother caused after bodyjacking your boss. Sure, you’re admiring it, but who’s to judge?

The next, every single instinct in your head is screaming at you to drop to the ground.

“FUCK,” The white abomination yelled out as he narrowly avoided being skewered by a sudden spear of light, as he dropped to the ground with all the dignity of a duck with lead wings.

He looked up, scanning the air around him for the origin of the attack.
And then he found it.

“Well, fuck me,” He groaned to himself as he saw Examon Prime descend to the ground a few hundred meters away from him, holding his arm up to recall his spear as he began to walk towards him.

“Where’s Parasimon?” Examon asked, in a tone that made it perfectly clear where the spear in his hands would be going if Kappa didn’t answer in the next few seconds.
“And I should tell you, why, exactly?”

Examon’s initial response was to tilt his head at the Orci, glaring at him before continuing.

“Cut the shit and tell me before I beat it out of you, you little psycho.”

“So, you’re calling me a psycho?” Kappa replied, returning the glare, “Man, Imperialdramon’s dead and you’re asking me where daddy dearest is so that you can go and stomp on him anyway. Pot, meet kettle. Make good fri-”

“No, you idiot,” Examon sniped, cutting the Orci off before continuing with, “Turns out Yggdrasil’s been dead for god-knows how long.”

“... What.”

Examon sighed.

“Look, it’s a long story, and I don’t even know the half of it. Basically, we talked to the Sovereigns and Yggdrasil’s been dead for ages. Alphamon just wants to open negotiations with the surviving Knights. No death threats, no funny business, a lot of shit has happened and we just want to talk.”

For a few moments, Kappa just stared at Examon in amazement, taking in what he had just been told, weighing up how it affected what he knew, and what to do next.
Finally, after a minute of thought and Examon staring at him, he came to a conclusion.

“... Alright, I’ll trust you. I don’t actually know exactly where the remaining Knights are at the moment, but I know the rough area. If you’re willing to trust me, I can take you to them.”

In response, Examon willed his spear to dissipate and began to walk towards Kappa.

“Fine, but I’m reserving the right to shank you if you pull any bullshit.”

“And apparently I’m the psychopath around here,” Kappa muttered to himself as he turned, spreading his wings to head for the outer reaches of the castle grounds as Examon followed behind him.
__________________________________________________________
“Hey, let go of me!”

“Oh, give over,” Wisemon replied to the struggling orange creature he had been told to collect by Baihumon, holding tightly onto Patamon as he looked around for the other Rookie present.

As fortune had it, Guilmon was already collected; Wisemon could see the red dinosaur being held by the mammal Mega that Baihumon had gifted with one of his cores, along with the Knight who had come asking AncientWisemon for spirits earlier. Even with his senses screwed up in the wake of the battle earlier, he could make out at least that much.

“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble,” He asked the two Megas as he quickly and suddenly moved over towards them, letting go of the struggling Patamon as the Rookie continued to protest, “Could you take this one and get him back to his Tamer? No offense to either of you, but I have things that I really need to be getting on with and, well, at least one of you is actually with the little bugger.”

"Huh? He's dea-aaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"

Ranamon could hear her screaming her lungs out as she suddenly found herself falling from where she was sitting, as if her Mega protector had suddenly disappeared, only to land on a pair of strong arms with an audible "Oof!" coming from her as she made her unannounced landing, grateful that she didn't land on the ground given the distance between her original position and the hard soil.

"I wish I had wings..." she cringed and mumbled to herself as she opened her eyes to look at whoever, or whatever, had caught her, quickly finding herself looking at Leon and DemiVeemon on his head. The blue one was a dead-on Digimon, but the other one was unrecognizable. He looked like an Etemon, but was dressed in odd-looking clothes, had hair on his head and a furless skin.

"Huh? Who are you both?" she asked, sounding confused and lost, though her train of thoughts were promptly interrupted when he, DemiVeemon, another Etemon-like being, and another Digimon were engaged in a conversation, clearly a lot more pressing than her own confusion. Her instincts, honed by years of living as a thief, kicking in, she carefully listened in to the conversation, picking up a few key words that she was familiar with: Infiltrate, organization, mobile.

"Hey, are you guys planning to steal something?" she asked, speaking after Leon and DemiVeemon were done speaking so she could get their attention. "Because, if you do, I want in. Whatever you guys are planning to do with this organization, I want to help. Besides, it's not like there's a lot of challenges for me here and I already have way too big of a bounty to stay in the Digital World for too long."

---

In the middle of his confusion, Guilmon sensed a familiar figure approaching them, then making fun of him while he looked at himself. Instead of a sense of shock and shame normally expected from a Royal Knight, Guilmon was filled with a sense of familiarity and relief at seeing his tiny Rookie form, seeing that he was starting back from square one.

"I suppose I am, Master ShineGreymon. I miss being so small and helpless," he calmly replied to EmperorGreymon. "As to why I'm here, I truly wish I could answer that."

His wish was granted when Wisemon, suddenly darting towards them, dropped in with a struggling Patamon. Putting two and two together, Guilmon carefully crawled on WarCapidramon's hand towards his ally. "Master Seraphimon! Do you recognize me?"

"Yeah, well-!" DemiVeemon tried to yell at his friends but was quickly silenced. "Oh..." DemiVeemon's voice was low. "I actually expected an argument over whether we would be able to go or not." As Leon set down Ranamon the little blue digimon began explaining. "This ugly thing here is a human! His name is Leon, and he is my pet. Quite a handful, but full of love!" Clutching Leon's head protectively, he pointed one of his hands at Ranamon. "You can't have him!"

After a moment of struggling Leon was able to pull DemiVeemon off of his head. "Jesus! Do you have to do that?" he said, rubbing his chain from DemiVeemon's pinching hand. A lengthy amount of stubble was on his face now. "Hm. Probably means I should shave a bit. Too bad, I think Elle liked it... I can't believe I'll have a reason to wear a suit!" Leon said with a bit of excitement. The last time he wore one was at his brother's funeral.

Hearing Ranamon asking to tag along Leon thought about the logic behind that. She wasn't very easy to hide by comparison with the In-Training forms of Leomon and Veemon. Even in a good disguise a digimon would stand out in a building of people that actually knew about them. Plus, their task was very different from what she seemed to be thinking. "As this little oaf said, I'm Leon. Ranamon, I don't know if you coming is a good idea. We won't be trying to steal anything really. There's a digimon project there that is fusing different ones together to make stronger slaves for them to use. The last time we faced this monster... It didn't go great for us. And they've had plenty of time to amp up the juice on it since then. If it isn't surpassing an average mega level digimon by the time we get back, I would be surprised."

"You can still come back with us though!" DemiVeemon said happily. "The human world is a lot of fun! "

---

If Emperorgreymon could smile, he would have right then and there at Guilmon's response. Sombering his expression, Emperorgreymon squared his shoulders and gave Guilmon a look over once more. With a closed fist inside an open palm the larger Red Knight gave a bow to the Rookie. "It's nice to have you back on our side again, Master Gallantmon. I'm sure it was an impressive battle to make you use all your strength." Straightening his back from the bow Emperorgreymon felt another presence nearby right before it appear right next to them, giving Emperorgreymon a quick start. "Ygg damn it, Steelhead. You really need to give some warning!"

Noticing the second small Rookie the Red Knight lowered his hand to pick up the digimon and let him rest on his palm. "I know a little girl who will probably be missing this guy. I bet their all together where those power levels keep shifting. I'll bring him back over. Patamon, you wanna come see your... um... trainer? tamer? The little squishy thing? You wanna see her again? We're heading that way now. Or, at least, I am."

“I honestly don’t believe that little fucker,” Dorumon muttered, unable to do much but go along with whatever Examon had in mind at this point.

“Knowing Examon, he might have something in mind just in case. Let’s give this Orci a benefit of the doubt. After all, if he starts acting up, we can always skewer him,” Alphamon replied with a faint maniacal laugh and a shrug, the effects of Digital Hazard’s influence on her overall psyche still evident.

“That’s the plan,” Examon replied, keeping a close eye on the white Hazard Dataform in front of him as they were lead further and further away from the battlefield, “One wrong move and we can just take him down before he can blink.”

A few minutes passed, and they landed. There was no sign of the remaining Knights anywhere, though there were some telltale signs of destruction, likely from their movement.

“Far as I’m aware, this is where they were,” Kappa started, “Parasimon was in a pretty bad state after his fight with your friend, and some weird crystal shit started growing on him. I guess they moved somewhere else whilst I was gone.”

Through Examon’s eyes, Zei surveyed the area, but noticed something off about how Kappa described what he allegedly saw. She couldn’t put her finger on it and he didn’t appear to show any signs of hesitation, but something about his explanation didn’t roll off in her mind. She looked back on the ground around her, noticing dirt marks from sudden movements and possible explosion, but no indents that would otherwise confirm Kappa’s story about crystals growing out of Parasimon’s body for unknown reasons. “Be careful. I have a sinking feeling about this,” she warned the fused group.

In response, Examon nodded and spoke up to their ‘friend’.

“You sure about that? Seems a little convenient to me.”

“Tch,” Kappa hissed, before continuing with, “Excuse me for not being omnipotent like those fucking Ancient Spirits. Dad might have woken up and headed off somewhere, I don’t know. God only knows where Sleipmon and Darkdramon headed off to.”

Standing still, Kappa seemed to expand his own senses as Examon had done earlier, and after a delay of about five seconds, smiled and withdrew his spear from the hammerspace in which he had stored it.

“That way, I think,” He said, pointing over to the west with his spear, “A few kilometers, probably.”

With that, he spread his wings to lift himself into the air again, and headed in the direction he had pointed.

Examon glared at him for a few seconds before he did likewise, hoisting himself up into the air and slowly following after him.

While Examon carried them to the location Kappa had pointed, Dorumon quickly felt something stirring within her. It felt as if she was slowly starting to fade away, then quickly expanded to feeling pushed back as if she was being pulled again.

Zei felt it as well, but unlike Dorumon, she felt herself being pulled towards Alphamon.

The female Mega realized that their fusion time might be up soon, though she didn’t know when, and turned to Examon and Siggy. “I think time’s almost up.”

“It feels like forever since we fused,” Siggy muttered randomly, obviously disorientated and undergoing some kind of sensory confusion due to the sensation in the mental link.

Examon was too focused on Kappa for him to really pay much mind to the others; but as he moved further onwards behind Kappa, he began to feel the same sensation as Dorumon and Zei, the feeling of being pulled towards Siggy.

A few minutes passed, and Kappa descended once more. Following suit, Examon also descended, and began to look around.

“I still don’t see them anywhere, you asshole,” He started, calling his spear and raising it up to point at Kappa-

Before it disappeared in a flash of light.

“It happened quicker than I thought it would happen,” The Orci said in a dubious tone of voice as he watched the spear dissipate into the air again, “Though I’m not complaining; certainly makes things easier for me.”

“What the f-” Examon began, before his words were cut off by a flash of light enveloping his body.
In a few seconds that felt like eternity, he felt his body be torn in two, down to mere fragments of data that began to rearrange themselves. The sensations of Zei, Dorumon and Alphamon, strong just a few moments before, were now completely gone; and as the light cleared and his senses returned to him, he realized why.

“No hard feelings or nothing, you’re just a whole lot more manageable like this,” Kappa snickered towards Examon Mordred and Alphamon, now both separated into their own separate bodies once more.

“I knew it. Once a bastard, always a bastard,” Alphamon said with a hint of tranquil fury in her voice, still disoriented and recovering from having her body and mind altered. From how she acted and spoke, she seemed to have finally rid off the Hazard side-effects. “I’d say we finish this now, Kappa.”

“Finish what, exactly? Deal’s still on, dumbass,” The Orci snarked back, shrugging his shoulders as he returned Alphamon’s show of defiance with the shit-eating grin to end all shit-eating grins.

Though anger stirred in her, Alphamon finally had her more rational mind back to not jump into battle straight away. Looking at Examon Mordred, she asked, “Any suggestions?”

“I’m going to goddamn kill you,” Examon Mordred said, the disorientated Mega not even paying attention to Alphamon as he glared at Kappa.

“Yeah yeah, you’re a psychopath, I get it. You want me to take you to the remaining Knights or not? Again, deal still stands~”

This time, Alphamon decided that, if there was a time she should act on her own, it was now. Standing in front of Examon in a protective stance, she said to Kappa, “Lead us, but any funny business and you can say hello to my sword.”

“This way, Mr and Mrs Psychopath,” Kappa snarked back, offering the two a sarcastic salute as he lifted himself into the air again and headed back the way they’d came. Evidently, the Orci had lied to them in order to stall time until they defused.

“... I can’t fucking believe it,” Examon Mordred growled, evidently tired and pissed off as he turned to Alphamon, “Are we actually going to follow this guy?”

“Either that or blindly searching for them ourselves. Given that we’re in this position, he would feel a lot safer, not to mention a lot more confident, so I doubt that he would squander the chance. You do realize that I still have your back, as incompetent as my leadership skill was, right?”

“Yeah,” Examon simply replied, evidently too stressed to give a more developed reply as he took into the air after the Orci ahead of them once more.

“No hard feelings, right?” Kappa fired back towards them, “Just figured letting a psychopath with that much individual power near the others wouldn’t exactly be the best decision I ever made.”

“I will break you, little man.” Examon replied.

“My point exactly,” The Orci snickered.

“Easy, Examon,” Alphamon said to try and defuse the situation, though aware that it’s useless to begin with. Turning to Kappa, she said, “All things considered, I’m surprised that you seem insistent on keeping your end of the deal.”

“What can I say? I’m a mon of my word,” Kappa replied, before the group descended back into silence.
________
"Oh, give over," Wisemon snarked towards EmperorGreymon with a roll of his golden eyes as his appearance caused the Mega to jump in his skin, "You firespitters haven't got much room to talk here."

Watching the Rookie drift over to his comrade, the Ultimate expanded his senses; and sensing Baihumon still nearby, he prepared to rise into the air towards his direction before he was cut off by EmperorGreymon's further reply to him.

"After her little ordeal earlier, I suppose she would be. I hope he gets back to her soon," Wisemon replied, strangely warmly, before he drifted up towards where he could sense Baihumon.

There was something... out of the ordinary in the signal he could pick up. Something only he would sense, amd as of that, something that intrigued him all the more.

“So there’s this guy; big, black and red motherfucker with two swords for hands- fuck only knows how that’s supposed to work- and we’re fighting. Well, supposed to be fighting anyway.”

Figuring some conversation would break the tension between the group a little, Alphamon had attempted to strike one up with some warstories. A couple rounds of Imperialdramon and Omnimon later, the topic had moved into Kappa’s hands.

“Fucker seemed more interested in mouthing off than he did fighting; I mean, hell, I rammed a goddamn spear through his chest and it didn’t shut him up for a second.”

“... The fuck?” Examon asked, having paid attention to the story the moment BlackWarGreymon had cropped up in it at the beginning.

“You’re asking me,” Kappa replied, “Seemed to think he was the next coming of Huanglongmon or something. Either him or his pet meatsack thought he was, anyway; that fucker never shut his mouth either.”

“Fucking Ancients,” Examon muttered as he spat something out to the ground far beneath him, “Fuck them and fuck the Sovereigns.”

“Hear hear,” Kappa replied, before he focused his eyes and peered into the distance again, watching as their destination grew closer.

“Well, here we go,” He called back to Examon and Alphamon, “For real, this time around.”

“It’s about time we finally end this charade. It’s been dragging on for way too long and I’m not exactly fond of long-winded stories,” Alphamon replied, a sense of relief now building up inside.

“It feels like we’ve been here for YEARS. And I feel like half of those were just against fucking Imperialdramon,” Examon groaned in kind.

“Nope, just a day or so. Goddamn fast turnaround for a war, if I say so myself,” Kappa replied too, before he went in to descend, “Then again, I’m technically only a few hours old, so the fuck do I know?”

“On the bright side, at least it’s going to end soon and we all could focus on a different kind of war once the dust settles. Not that I look forward to that, but at least it wouldn’t be as long,” Alphamon chimed in and carefully navigated her way closer to the ground.

--

Kappa was taking a long time. An awfully long time. Sleipmon had already begun to consider trying to find Kappa himself on the off-chance that he had been obliterated. He looked to Parasimon - or maybe what was left of Parasimon at this point. Kappa seemed convinced he could be salvaged. After that fight, Sleipmon doubted it. Even the more powerful Knights would be dead and Parasimon was a bit of a mistake in the first place.

Something cracked. A sudden, sharp sound that Sleipmon only noticed since he so on edge.

“dijvouerhpbuhwepuvpiybiyyvouv.”

The incomprehensible noise reverberated outwards amongst the sounds of cracking, at first faint, and then increasingly higher and higher pitched as the cracking sounds began to die down a little.

Across the surface of the crystalline mass nearby Sleipmon, thousands of millions of hairline fractures could be seen to web out. The process paused, as the incomprehensible noise rose in pitch and the sounds of cracking became more and muted, before it paused entirely. The cracking sounds faded out entirely, and the noise grew to the highest pitch before stopping very abruptly.

The crystal seemed frozen in time and space, and so did everything around it.

The surface shimmered, suddenly and in a way that broke the sense of cessation around it.

And then it ruptured outwards in one single instance that coated the cave with black slime and glistening shards of crystal.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH,” the wriggling mass of black flesh and sinew that had been within the crystal shrieked, in a voice that was at first high-pitched and demonic before it descended into a deeper, lower tone of pain and rage, as it was exposed to the world around it.

Four gigantic arms twitched like those of a newborn baby as Parasimon found himself far from where he had fought BanchoLeomon, as he laid on the stone floor of the cavern with his senses torn asunder. His many eyes blinked, his jaws swung wide open in a large arc before closing suddenly. The process repeated several times until his breath became stable, and he closed his eyes.

He coughed several times, fluid leaking out of his jaws as he did so. He took in another deep breath, before-

“Wh-where the hell am I?” He thought aloud, still barely cognizant of his surroundings aside from the basic fact he had been moved as he lay on the floor of the cavern.

“Still among the living. Which Demon Lord did you piss off, you can’t even die?” Sleipmon kept his tone light, even if he was certain that his shock at Parasimon’s miraculous revival was plain on his face. He glanced at the black slime dripping off his arm plate and flicked it off as best he could. Good thing he had Red Digizoid, he decided as he looked at the crystalline splinters embedded into the cavern walls.

Parasimon didn’t even bother with a sharp reply- his senses were returning, but there was nowhere near enough presence of mind in him to do anything more except comprehend that he was alive and that Sleipmon was here. He blinked several more times, at that point becoming conscious that he had eyes again. His memory was clearing up, and he also became conscious of the fact that they’d melted right out of his skull from being exposed to the sheer heat of Brahmastra Kundala.

Brahmastra Kundala. BanchoLeomon. That bullshit gigantic energy beam that he’d been blasted with. Resolution. Determination. Life. Death.

It all hit Parasimon out of nowhere with the force of the explosion his clash with BanchoLeomon had created.

“... What even HAPPENED?!?” He asked with a deep gurgling groan as his memory flooded back into his head, as the sudden shock jump-started the return of his faculties and made him at least partly cognizant once more.

“Ok. So crystals fix your eyes. Not your brains. Got it.” Sleipmon wracked his own, trying to figure out the best way to fill in Parasimon on the events he’d missed and how to tactfully explain to him that Imperialdramon, along with a Parasi-spawn, had gotten blasted to egg-sized data chunks by the combined might of Alphamon, Examon, Dynasmon, MirageGaogamon, Dukemon, and Seraphimon. “So, first thing. After you became a crystal, Kappa saved you from being smashed by Bancholeomon. That’s probably a thing you should know.” And from there, Sleipmon recapped the events leading up to the end of the massive battle.

“... We’re the only two left,” Was Parasimon’s only response, after a long, pregnant pause. He’d stopped blinking now, and his eyes were wide open and empty as he stared up at the ceiling of the cave, “The only two left, and against the Sovereigns.”

His voice was as empty as his eyes. At last, after so many long years and a few days of realization, there was nothing left. Hopelessly outgunned and the last of the Sanctum ready to protect Yggdrasil.

It was over. He was as good as dead, and Sleipmon and whatever of his children that remained too.

Sleipmon frowned, looking to the cavern’s exit. “When Kappa gets back, we’ll probably have to make a decision. Either we flee, regroup, and try to fight again, or we fight the hopeless battle now.” Sleipmon wasn’t fond of either idea. Once they fled, it’d be nigh-impossible to ever fight back. Both sides would rest, but theirs didn’t stand a chance against the Sovereigns, and what would keep them from destroying Yggdrasil in their absence?

Staying, however, meant their demise. Pure and simple. What was really being considered was when they wished to die.

“Either way, it’s hopeless, isn’t it?” Parasimon replied, his eyes and voice still empty.

With a great effort, his massive legs moved, pulling up and pushing into the ground as he tried to get back to his feet. The cave was large, but only enough for him to crouch as he tried to gain balance, only just enough for that as he teetered about. The black ocean strewn across the cavern rippled as he did so- before it suddenly began to recede towards him, flowing into his legs and pulling the shards of crystal back into his body as it went. Within a few moments, there was only one large black puddle amassed around his crouching form as most of the fluid had been absorbed.

“What do you suggest we do?” He asked quietly, making absolutely no mind to his rank as he spoke to the other Knight, “What do you WANT to do?”

Sleipmon sighed. What did he want to do? He wanted to go back, before all this fighting started, find a way that didn’t end in the loss of his friends and the being he respected most. He wanted to start over, far away from this scorched battlefield in a place where no one, least of all him, would remember the Royal Knights.

“For now, just wait for Kappa. I don’t think there’s much else we can do. He may have gotten help for us.”

He wanted to lie until it felt real and made them both ready to take on the gods themselves.

He knew none of it would happen. But he wanted it to.

Parasimon pondered, for a moment. He just took in Sleipmon’s words, and pondered.

And then, as the last of the black ocean drained into his feet and the crystals disappeared along with it, he decided.

“Find Kappa and Darkdramon and go,” He said in a more resolute tone, as he called his lance and took towards the exit of the cave. If one was to look, crystals gathered around his lance and around the floor as he gripped it and stepped. “That’s an order. I’ll see what I can do with this situation here.”

“Such as getting shot down?” Sleipmon rose to his hooves, the cave barely large enough for him. “You literally woke up about five minutes ago after a battle so draining it somehow turned you into rock candy, and you think you’ll be able to waltz out there and do anything?”

“I can stand my ground, and I can buy time,” Parasimon replied in the same resolute tone, “As the last remaining Knight of the Sanctum, I’m the effective commander of the Royal Knights. I’m the only one of us who has a duty to remain; and I don’t know about you, Sleipmon, but I’m tired. Very, very tired.”

He reached the entrance of the cave, squinting as he stepped into the light.

“I have nowhere left to go, Sleipmon. All I have left to do is make time for Yggdrasil, yourself and the others to make it out. At least it seems I’ll be able to be of some use to someone at long last.”

It was time. He would go and face his death. He was ready.

Sleipmon huffed as he trudged towards the cave entrance. “Think about it, Parasimon. Kappa is expecting us here. If we go, we won’t find him. If he’s not coming back, I can’t move Yggdrasil by myself. If nothing else, we need to wait for Kappa-” It was then that a dot in the sky caught his attention. He blinked and squinted. “Actually, that may be him...” No, the figure was too big. “Now?” It - no, they were getting closer.

And Sleipmon knew who they were.

“Oh. We’re fucked. It doesn’t matter anymore, we’re utterly fucked.”

“Go. Get Kappa and go,” Parasimon said in return, taking his lance and stepping right out of the cave towards the figures in the distance.

Towards Alphamon and Examon.

Towards death.

War Capidramon squinted his eyes slowly. Why did this Digimon know who he was? It took him a second to realize why the small one had been unsure, and he thus tapped his blue helmet with his free hand and nodded.
"Y-yes," he replied, unsteadily, "Do I know you?"
It was then that a large red figure appeared flying over head. Jordan sensed it when it was near- part of it raging and wild, if not vaguely familiar, part of it cool and calm, but rather alien. He saw the being descend, and begin addressing the Guilmon within his hands. A look of suspicion passed over the Mega's face, but as he was not attacked on sight, he did not act. What the figure said, however, was altogether different.
"This is Gallantmon?" he pondered aloud before swiftly turning to look at the new visitor, "How do you know Gallantmon?"
After what seemed like an eternity of inward confusion and delay, the Mega shifted as the other Mega took both the Patamon that had been Seraphimon, as well as Guilmon, which had apparently been Gallantmon. With the rather rapid passing and information of a certain Eldritch Mage, he gave the Dragon aside him a curious look.
"ShineGreymon..." he wondered aloud, "Is that not the apprentice of a certain UlforceVeedramon?"
It was then that a powerful wind blew past, as though indicating some great event going on nearby, in the direction from which the EmperorGreymon had come. In the distance, War Capidramon saw a pair of vaguely familiar silhouettes, and one less than familiar, seeming to go in that same direction. Leaving the Rookies in the possession of UlforceVeedramon's Junior, he began to travel towards the familiar forms. With a snap of his fingers,the phantasmal energy flowed forth, and condensed into the form of Zero Arms: BYAKKO, which growled slightly as it gave a lazy glance to EmperorGreymon behind, before allowing WarCapidramon to mount, and the two darted off towards the large Megas in the distance.
After mere moments, the traveling trio was reached, with a rather sinister looking form in tow. In one motion, the Rodent Warrior dismounted his astral steed and approached the two Titan Megas, his spear materializing in his hand as he approached.
"What happened?" he asked, more out of a need to know that the situation had been neutralized than an actual investment in the situation, "Things went... well?"
Even as he said this, the Mega gave a suspicious glance to the Orci like creature beside them, which seemed to be leading them in some way.

“‘Sup?” Kappa lazily intoned towards the newcomer as he arrived, asked questions and began shaking his spear about, “Sorry, didn’t catch your name. RoadKilldramon, right?”

“WarCapidramon,” Examon muttered, shooting the Orci a foul look, before he took a good, solid look around his surroundings.
“So, Parasimon and Sleipmon are up in that cave, right?”

It wasn’t difficult to twig upon the cave in question; among the various holes in the nearby rock face, there was one that was practically a wound in the earth, with a large mouth that would allow a titanic lump like Parasimon to enter and exit with relative freedom.

“Yup,” Kappa replied, completely ignoring WarCapidramon and whatever reactions he might have had to what he said, “He was out cold the last I knew, but for all I know, might be awake now. Might want to approach with caution; God only knows how he might react if you don’t.”

“It would’ve been nice if you could give that warning beforehand. Looks like he’s about to say hello,” Alphamon replied, noticing something glinting in the distance near the gaping mouth of the cave. Looking down at WarCapidramon, she lowered herself to look at the Mega eye to eye, or at least as equal as her size would allow her. “Everything is fine, WarCapidramon. It’s about time we wrap things up.”

Examon would have added something on to Alphamon’s remark, but as it was, he saw the distant glint too; and for a moment, he flinched, bracing the Omni-Shield-

Before the world around them exploded in a sickly orange half-light.

“COME ON, THEN,” The harsh, strained voice of Parasimon just about roared at them as he suddenly revealed himself a short distance of a few hundred meters away, “You came here to end this, right? So let’s fucking end it.”

With a gesture, he pulled his lance back towards him, the polearm rushing back from having collided with the Omni-Shield, entering the insectoid abomination’s hand as the orange glow of the shield faded.

In his hand, the lance changed, the tip expanding into an array of cannons as it had done before. Parasimon’s four arms flexed, filling with strength as the very tips of the vicious claws on the end of each glinted in the sunlight. And across his body, streaks of crystal webbed out from his torso as he seemed to be filled with an ever-more terrible power.

“Parasimon, we’re here to end this, but not like this.” Alphamon’s calm voice belied her readiness at having to kill Parasimon if necessary and her subsequent reluctance in doing so.

“Better start talking, then,” Parasimon growled in response, readying his transformed lance as he slowly began to approach.
In response, Examon glared at the insectoid abomination and took out his own lance; but as Parasimon slowly approached, he stood by Kappa, WarCapidramon and Alphamon, not moving but rather standing his ground.
“Might wanna hurry this up,” He hissed towards Kappa and Alphamon, conscious of the fact that Parasimon needed to be neutralized as quickly as possible.

“The Sovereigns have confirmed it. Yggdrasil is long gone,” Alphamon spoke up, aware of the urgency while trying not to be forceful to a Digimon that was still after their heads. “All this time, Imperialdramon has been serving a defunct machine. Now that he’s gone, I want to bring this charade to an end without anymore life lost, both on your side and ours.”

At this Parasimon froze.
“... What.” Was his only vocalization at first, less a question and more a statement of blunt disbelief.
Yggdrasil… was gone? Dead? He’d been killed? He hadn’t been there to stop it?
His grip tightened around his lance, and a palpable aura of wrath began to emanate from his body as the crystalline growths expanded further.
“... Don’t you fucking dare,” He hissed after that pause of a few moments, his troubled mind struggling and unable to comprehend or accept what he’d just been told, “Don’t you fucking dare lie to me, you goddamned deserter.”

“They’re telling the truth,” Kappa added himself, suddenly conscious of the fact that Parasimon was glaring at him along with the other three members of his party, “Yggdrasil’s dead, Parasimon. He’s been dead for a very long ti-”

“Be quiet,” Parasimon snapped at the Orci, cutting him off viciously as his glare intensified, “What the hell were you thinking, Kappa?!? Handing me and Sleipmon over to the enemy?!?”

“As diabolical as he is, your son isn’t putting you into the hands of death, Parasimon. He wouldn’t have bothered waiting for me and Examon to separate before delivering us to you if he wanted to see you dead.” The former Knight of the Empty Seat could see why Parasimon would respond with such denial since they were essentially telling him that he had served what amounted to a digital corpse. “Yggdrasil is dead… long before I even left, Parasimon. Hate me all you like, as do many others, because I deserve it, but I know you want this to end as much as we do.”