WarGreymon flew over to stand beside Tai, and the BraveBeasts joined them. The three exchanged a look and nodded.
Below, Millenniummon beat at the flames consuming it, but to no avail—the Crimson Lotus Flame only burned hotter. It had thrown up an energy barrier around itself, yet the longer the fire raged, the more power it devoured. Sooner or later, Millenniummon would run dry—and that would be the end of it. And that was assuming Tai's side didn't attack again. In truth, they were poised and ready to strike.
WarGreymon retracted the Tyranno Sword and Tyranno Cannon, then swept both arms in arcs, sketching rippling waves of energy. With each motion, the waves coalesced, shaping into a dragon-headed surge. He slashed his arms forward with a shout: "Dragon's Breath!" The dragon-shaped shockwave howled straight at Millenniummon.
The BraveBeasts once more traced esoteric sigils before their chest. Power rippled outward, enclosing them and edging their outline in bright light. The gathered radiance spun clockwise around their hands like a mysterious galaxy. "Termination—Rupture." They thrust the orb away.
Around Tai's blade, red energy rose and began to circle the Sacred Sword: Genesis Edge, spinning faster and faster until the air itself hissed. "Gravity Wave." At his voice, the rotating band peeled off the sword and speared toward Millenniummon.
A white energy sphere, an orange-red dragon shockwave, and a crimson energy blade shrieked in from three directions, hissing as they tore the air.
Wreathed in fire, Millenniummon sensed three massive forces closing. It looked up—three streaks were already upon it.
"Infinity Cannon! Burst Missiles!" Millenniummon unleashed everything it had, while all four claws lunged to snatch and smother the incoming attacks. It knew it was probably futile—but it would not wait to die.
Boom! WarGreymon's Dragon's Breath obliterated the Infinity Cannons on Millenniummon's back, wringing a roar of pain.
The BraveBeasts' Termination—Rupture smashed all four claws to shards.
In that instant, Tai's Gravity Wave reached Millenniummon.
Sssk! Millenniummon stared down, stunned, at the energy blade buried in its chest. It lifted its gaze toward Tai and the others, jaw opening to speak—but there was no time. The blade detonated, blowing a gaping hole straight through its core.
The Crimson Lotus Flame surged through the breach, flooding inside and burning outward from within. In moments, Millenniummon's gigantic body crumbled to ash and was gone without a trace.
Tai and the others exhaled in unison, traded looks—and grinned. After all that effort, Millenniummon was finally down. For the BraveBeasts especially—after so long wrestling it in the Dark Ocean—this was liberation.
But at the spot where Millenniummon fell, a knot of black mist began to seethe. The BraveBeasts noticed first and frowned, staring. The haze twisted—and changed rapidly.
"Hm?" Seeing their gaze, Tai followed it—and spotted the warping black mass.
Confusion flickered over his face, then vanished as his expression hardened. He'd realized what it must be: the spiritual Digimon hidden in Millenniummon's inner world—its mind-born avatar forged from its dark heart. Moon=Millenniummon.
Moon=Millenniummon had no fixed form. It often adopted a crystal-like shape, but hatred and rage could warp its appearance. As a spiritual being without substance, physical attacks could not touch it. To defeat Moon=Millenniummon, one had to first destroy its true body—yet even then, the slain main body would separate and transcend time and space to revive again. Its finisher, Death Crystal, lacked physical force but was said to sever an enemy Digimon's heart.
Sure enough, the black vapor quickly condensed into a rhomboid crystal, within which hovered a small Digimon—two-headed, pitch-black, like compacted shadow. Compared to Millenniummon's former bulk, this body was tiny.
"Dragon's Roar!" WarGreymon hurled twin cerulean energy orbs to test it.
Against Moon=Millenniummon's crystal, the blue spheres were titanic.
Whoosh—the orbs passed cleanly through the crystal as if through smoke, splashing into the sea behind and throwing up walls of spray.
Tai and the BraveBeasts met eyes. Both saw the same gravity there: this foe—smaller than Millenniummon, but more adept with time and space—wouldn't be easy.
"Plasma Shot!" Tai's hands spat volleys of spherical plasma bolts at Moon=Millenniummon.
The small, crystal-housed body weaved among them, leaving afterimages as it slipped through every gap. The shots hammered the sea, raising countless waves—and achieving nothing.
Even so, something nagged at Tai: Why was Moon=Millenniummon only dodging, never attacking? Unless—
His eyes snapped to the water beneath it. There—just as he feared—a black conduit ran down to the place where Millenniummon had died.
No time to warn the others. Tai swept the Genesis Edge and slashed a gigantic arc straight at the conduit under Moon=Millenniummon.
Ssst! The blade-wave sheared the tube apart. Exposed, Moon=Millenniummon lifted its gaze and shot Tai a look of pure hate. Before the BraveBeasts' incoming fire could land, it scored a slit in space, slipped through, and vanished into the Dark Ocean.
"Damn it." Tai slashed the sea in frustration, parting the surface with a single stroke. "It got away."
The BraveBeasts nodded. "Yeah. It bluffed us. We thought it was out of juice, but it was siphoning Millenniummon's remains. We missed our best shot. Next time won't be this easy."
"Forget it." Tai let out a long breath toward the sky. "At least Millenniummon's gone. Moon=Millenniummon won't be able to act without a long recovery. We've earned a decent stretch of peace."
"True. Let's get out of here. I've seen enough of this place," the BraveBeasts said.
"Mm." Tai nodded and opened a Transfer Gate, stepping through first.
The Dark Ocean fell quiet again. Waves rolled as always. Look closely, though, and you could see a small fragment of Millenniummon's body bobbing on the surface. A gray Digimon with one red wing and one black wing surfaced, saw the coast was clear, snatched the shard that Moon=Millenniummon had missed, and sank into the depths.
Tai had barely stepped from the gate when Datamon hurried up to meet him. "Tai—bad news."
Tai sighed. He'd just watched Moon=Millenniummon escape; what could be worse? "What now?" he asked, drained.
"The Four Sovereigns struck the moment you and WarGreymon left. We were unprepared. On the Digital World's continent, most of the Digimon aligned with us were wiped out. We stabilized the situation only after mobilizing the army, but they've already seized a sizable portion of the Digital World."
Tai frowned. "That fast?"
"They hit multiple locations at once. We kept only a token force on the continent, and they exploited it."
"Did Chaos Megidramon sortie?"
Datamon shook his head. "I kept it here to guard Tai City. Losing the continent wouldn't cripple us, but Tai City is our base—we can't risk it. And the Four Sovereigns are split up. If they just keep dodging Chaos Megidramon, we'll never pin them down, and things could get worse. Better to hold the capital."
Tai nodded, then let out a cold, humorless chuckle. "They don't know when to quit. I planned to let them walk away, but if they're so eager to die, I won't be gentle. Looks like war again. This time, we end it for good."
"Yes, Tai." Datamon withdrew to relay the orders.
At Tai's command, Tai City roared to full speed. Production lines thundered to life, rolling out ranks of mechanical soldiers. Warships, holds packed with troops, steamed for the Digital World's continent. Transfer Gates irised open as file-straight columns of mechanized units marched through and deployed to the front against the Four Sovereigns.
In the skies, countless flying Digimon took wing toward the mainland. At the harbors, the Deep-Sea Savior Corps surged from their berths and knifed through the water for the front.
The Four Sovereigns got word and dispatched their own legions. In the newly rebuilt Digital World, the first great war was about to erupt—a battle to decide who would rule.
The curtain of war was rising.
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