The small, childlike figure swung down from above, wielding a ridiculously oversized iron hammer aimed directly at Zero.
Seeing this attack, Zero instantly grasped the situation and raised his Trident Revolver without hesitation. A deafening explosion echoed as the hammer collided with the weapon, sending sparks flying everywhere.
Considering this hammer had once failed to breach MetalSeadramon's Chrondigizoit-alloy plating head-on, the solid Chrome Digizoid cannon held up impressively. Yet, despite its durability, the sheer force of the strike knocked Zero from the air to the ground, unleashing a storm of debris.
"Who—?!"
Everyone else, including the Digimon Kaiser himself, was stunned.
At this point, the attacker landed neatly, finally revealing itself…
A human-sized puppet composed of finely crafted mechanical parts, dressed in blue suspenders, topped by a red toy hat, and gripping an iron hammer twice its own height.
Its appearance was hardly intimidating, even a bit comedic—but the sheer force it had shown by knocking Zero down immediately erased any doubts about its strength.
One of the Dark Army's Four—no, five—commanders, the ruler of the Forest Region: Puppetmon!
After landing its sneak attack, Puppetmon quickly flipped backwards twice, creating distance from Zero, who had already recovered from the blow.
"How interesting... You're the guy who beat MetalSeadramon, huh? Seems you've got some skill. But he's just the weakest of us Dark Masters—don't get cocky because you defeated him!"
Puppetmon proudly declared while casually resting the giant hammer on his shoulder. He then turned slightly, glancing back disdainfully at the flustered Digimon Kaiser behind him.
"Kid, Piedmon agreed to let you join us, but I never said you were qualified to stand equal with us. Sure, you did a decent job before this—but you're still far too green!"
The Kaiser's face twitched violently at Puppetmon's biting remark, but he couldn't retort. After all, without Puppetmon's sudden interference, Zero would have already annihilated his entire army.
"Watch closely, brat! This is the standard you should be aiming for in our Dark Army!"
Puppetmon sharply flicked the control threads in his hand. The heavily injured Digimon that had barely survived Zero's assault suddenly sprang upright, roaring ferociously, their eyes glowing blood-red, bodies visibly swelling with newfound power.
"!"
Zero immediately understood what Puppetmon was doing—using those puppet strings to forcibly overload these Digimons' DigiCores, temporarily boosting their power at the cost of inevitable death once the effect wore off.
"Now, that looks better. And next…"
Puppetmon gestured toward the sky. A dense swarm of shadows descended from above, darkening the clouds. Zero didn't even need to look up to understand the situation.
The moment Puppetmon appeared, Zero knew he wouldn't have come alone.
Indeed, various aerial Digimon—giant birds, insects, bird-beasts suited to the forest—began circling menacingly overhead.
Puppetmon clearly hadn't bothered bringing his slower plant-type subordinates, either due to mobility issues or confidence in the strength of these reinforcements alone.
Although Zero had decimated the Kaiser's troops moments ago, Puppetmon's arrival had once again tipped the numerical advantage significantly in the enemy's favor—and this time, the quality was obviously higher as well.
After all, the Kaiser's army had merely been hastily assembled, relying on Dark Rings and Dark Towers to artificially enhance their strength. They paled in comparison to the elite soldiers forged through countless bloody battles in the Dark Army's cruel crucible.
Seeing this, Wizardmon and Hajime quickly moved to join the fray, their Crests of Knowledge and Friendship shining brightly as they Digivolved, taking positions on Zero's left and right.
"You two handle the main forces..."
Zero glanced at his companions, then fixed his eyes firmly on Puppetmon.
"I'll deal with this guy!"
"Got it!"
No further words were needed. Both sides rapidly formed battle lines and charged headlong into one another.
This time, the scale of combat was far beyond anything before. In comparison, the previous fight had been little more than a one-man show by Zero.
Now, at last, it truly felt like a clash between equals.
Yet none of this mattered to the Kaiser, whose presence had been entirely eclipsed by Puppetmon's sudden appearance.
Zero's Trident Revolver clashed furiously with Puppetmon's explosive hammer, both evenly matched. Though Zero had the size advantage, Puppetmon's raw strength was actually superior.
And Puppetmon wasn't even known for his frontline fighting ability—if this had been any of the other Dark Masters, even MetalSeadramon whom Zero had previously defeated, they would easily dominate an Ultimate-level Zero in pure power alone.
"What's wrong? How much longer are you planning to hold back?"
With another crushing hammer blow, Puppetmon forced Zero into retreat. "If you're not going all-out, I might just get serious!"
In other words, Puppetmon had merely been warming up, nowhere close to showing his true capabilities yet.
Realizing this, Zero finally called out to Rina and Taichi:
"That's enough playing around—Rina, Taichi, I'm counting on you!"
"Understood!"
Rina clenched her fist, DigiSoul flames surging from her palm, swiftly enveloping her whole body. She slammed her palm onto the Digivice, fully injecting it with DigiSoul.
"[DIGISOUL, FULL CHARGE]—"
—OVERDRIVE!!!
RIZEGREYMON... MEGA DIGIVOLVE!
"What—?!"
The Digimon Kaiser, who had confidently believed his Dark Towers could suppress Megas, once again felt the painful slap of reality.
Back during the battle against Etemon, Zero had unleashed Mega-level strength with only the Crest of Courage, even before fully breaking through to Mega.
Now, having transcended the Ultimate barrier entirely, the Dark Towers stood absolutely no chance of suppressing Zero's true strength. From the very start, Zero had deliberately matched the Kaiser's words, proving definitively that, even at the same Ultimate level, strength wasn't just about sheer numbers.
But now, there was no longer any need to hold back—Zero finally released his full power.
Taichi raised his Digivice, shining brilliantly alongside the Crest of Courage. Completely enveloped by DigiSoul, RizeGreymon's form rapidly transformed into a towering, draconic warrior—
—SHINEGREYMON!
Without even a shred of hesitation, Zero unfurled his Glorious Wings and unleashed a Glorious Burst!
Gathering radiant energy into a brilliant golden wheel of pure destruction, he hurled it straight at Puppetmon.
Puppetmon swung his hammer to block the attack head-on. Unsurprisingly, he was struck dead-center, his small puppet-like frame spinning wildly into the distance.
As a Puppet-type Digimon, direct combat was his weakest area. Against a Mega-level Greymon specialized in brute-force battle, he had no hope at all.
But a single Glorious Burst, powerful as it was, still couldn't finish Puppetmon off completely.
Puppetmon crashed into the ground, kicking up a massive cloud of dust and debris.
As Zero prepared a follow-up attack, a massive tree suddenly erupted from the dust cloud…
…and then another… and another!
At visible speed, the entire battlefield was rapidly transformed into a dense forest.
But these were not lush, green trees. Instead, they were monstrous, gnarled, leafless things, their twisted trunks forming grotesque faces. Blue-white ghostly flames erupted from their branches, and thick mist rolled outward, creating the appearance of a haunted, fairytale-like forest filled with witches and ghosts.
"Oh-ho? A domain? As if I don't have one myself!"
Zero lifted his arm skyward. In response, brilliant golden sunlight pierced the skies, and the earth trembled violently as ancient, crumbling ruins emerged from beneath the ground.
The ruins forcibly carved out a space within the Haunted Forest, though the monstrous woods still encircled them tightly. The sun overhead dispelled the eerie ghost flames nearby, yet couldn't penetrate the deeper, thicker mist of Puppetmon's domain.
For now, both domains seemed evenly matched—but Zero wasn't worried at all.
His domain—the Glorious Shrine of Victory—was unique, built upon the concept of a "Path of Victory."
When first summoned, its area was always small, but as Zero continuously dominated the battle, his domain would gradually expand and grow stronger.
The first time against MetalSeadramon, he had barely summoned just the blazing sun. Now, he'd immediately summoned the ruins, proving the situation had improved greatly since then.
Since his domain was based on "Victory," naturally, battle was the only way to strengthen it—such was its special nature.
Zero drove his fist fiercely into the earth, and from deep below, fiery energy surged upward, gathering from every direction. He grasped something unseen, then pulled upward decisively—and in his hand appeared the shining, crimson-golden GeoGrey Sword!
Zero swung the blade horizontally, golden light slicing effortlessly through the monstrous trees.
But even as they toppled, shrieking horribly, new trunks quickly sprouted from the severed stumps.
Puppetmon's voice echoed ominously from deep within the forest:
"This forest will be your grave. Now... you'd better think carefully about your last words~"
---
T/N: shut up pinnochio
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