"[DIAMOND STORM]!"
Just as Piddomon was on the brink of total assimilation by the Eater, a golden shadow abruptly appeared behind them, launching a ghostly assault.
Swish swish swish—
Leaves sharper than any blade shredded the air, spiraling precisely toward the point where Piddomon was tangled with the Eater.
Rip!
One leaf, two leaves, three leaves…
Faced with Renamon's seemingly inexhaustible youjutsu, even an entity as mighty as the Eater was forced to retreat instantly, lest its limbs entwined around Piddomon be completely severed.
Even so, the swirling torrent of blade-like leaves still left countless wounds scattered across the Eater's body.
Although these wounds squirmed and healed almost immediately…
It was an undeniable fact that Renamon, a mere Rookie-level Digimon, had momentarily driven back this enhanced Eater—one strong enough to defeat IceDevimon and Piddomon back-to-back.
More importantly, despite the lethal sharpness of the leaves—
Surprisingly, they caused absolutely no harm to Piddomon, who had been at the very center of the leaf-storm. Renamon's masterful control was beyond question.
Whoosh!
Meanwhile, after being freed by Renamon's strike, Piddomon, with much of his data already corroded and absorbed, lost control of his wings entirely, plummeting helplessly toward the ground.
With his final conscious effort, Piddomon could only force his trajectory away from where Kei stood.
Crash!
A crater erupted upon impact, spiderweb cracks spreading across the platform from the spot where Piddomon landed.
Yet even now, the Eater's insidious corruption continued unabated—"death" was already upon Piddomon.
And this time, no one would use Holy Sacrifice to shoulder his inevitable demise.
"Patamon!"
Kei first glanced at the still-unconscious IceDevimon, then turned to the rapidly dispersing data of Piddomon. Grief overwhelmed him, plainly etched across his face.
As a skilled "Digimon Hunter" and Black Market merchant, Kei knew exactly what this dissipating data signified.
If the DigiCore was akin to a Digimon's heart, these scattering particles of data were undoubtedly its soul.
Once the data fully shattered and vanished into the digital ether, Piddomon would truly be gone forever.
After all, no matter how closely EDEN resembled the Digital World, it was ultimately still a human-created virtual space. The "rebirth mechanism" unique to the Digital World didn't exist here.
Other than exceptionally powerful beings who could overturn digital rules, Digimon who died in EDEN simply dispersed into residual data, becoming part of its ever-expanding network.
In other words, Digimon who perished within EDEN wouldn't even have the luxury of being reborn as Digi-Eggs.
"I refuse to accept this ending!"
A hint of madness flashed across Kei's eyes, his long-suppressed obsession—fueled by a lifetime of paralysis and helplessness—finally laid bare.
His physical limitations had instilled in him a desperate urge to control his own destiny.
So rather than silently accept Piddomon's complete disappearance, he'd gamble everything on the one-in-ten-thousand chance of bringing him back, even if only as a shadow of himself.
—Hacking Program: Data Retrieval.
Theoretically, upon Piddomon's demise, this trading platform would naturally integrate his scattered data, becoming a special domain permeated by angelic and fiery attributes.
Indeed, this was precisely how most unique digital spaces and anomalies within EDEN's Free Area were formed.
The stronger the fallen Digimon, the larger and more distinct the domain created after death.
In a certain sense, this was perhaps the only "proof" that Digimon who died in EDEN could leave behind.
Perhaps someday, when the Digital World emerged fully, this data might be reclaimed—
But until then, this fire-infused space would have been Piddomon's sole legacy.
Yet Kei's "Data Retrieval" program shattered this natural law.
Data that should have become a permanent part of the space instead rushed wildly toward Kei, violently colliding and fracturing along the way, irreversibly turning into corrupted, unusable fragments.
"This is…"
Chen Ze, also a hacker—and one whose form currently mirrored that of an Agumon—stared, stunned, easily recognizing Kei's intention.
Kei was forcefully collecting data that was meant to integrate naturally, heedless of the catastrophic damage he caused in the process.
A Digimon's data wasn't entirely memory, but memory was always contained within data—
Precisely why certain powerful Digimon, upon rebirth, might faintly recall their past lives.
What Kei was doing now was effectively destroying every bit of Piddomon's memories, purely to retrieve a tiny fragment of data, likely even less than what would compose a proper Digi-Egg.
"Have you gone mad?!"
Chen Ze couldn't comprehend Kei's actions at all. Even if Kei successfully retrieved Piddomon's fragments, would the creature reborn without memories truly be the same Tsukaimon he'd known?
"You're just erasing the final trace Piddomon could leave behind!"
"Even if you manage to use this data to craft a new avatar, or hatch a new Digi-Egg, it won't be Piddomon—it will have nothing left of who he was!"
In Chen Ze's understanding, memory defined identity. For someone like him, a transmigrator who'd lived twice, memory was irreplaceable.
A Digi-Egg lacking those original memories couldn't possibly be Piddomon's continuation—
It would merely be a fresh, unrelated life form.
Destroying all that Piddomon left behind, even destroying the slim possibility of a future rebirth, merely for a "stranger"…was that choice really "right"?
To put it another way—would you willingly accept having your life erased, your very existence obliterated, just so that a clone could live?
And furthermore, could Kei's forced data retrieval truly allow Piddomon's "rebirth"?
"As a Digimon, you'll never understand human feelings."
Still mistaking Chen Ze for a true Digimon, Kei replied bitterly, staring at the still-gathering streams of data with sorrowful eyes.
"Memories aren't just data and information. They're meant to be engraved in our hearts, carried with us to the grave."
"As long as he returns to me, what does it matter if he remembers or not?"
"Tsukaimon and I remember—and we'll share everything with him again."
---
A/N: Actually, this volume's title refers precisely to Kei, a hacker surviving beneath the dark web's surface. The tragic climax was planned long before this volume began—but it seems I still haven't quite captured the deep, tragic atmosphere I wanted.
T/N: 4 chaps meeting this weeks quota, i was too focused on something elseeeeeeeeeeeee ive been playing 7daystodieeeeeeeeeee
bonus chaps
100 stones -> 1 chapter
200 stones -> 2 chapters
300 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
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