The screams from inside the cave died down, eventually replaced by a heavy, deathly silence.
The only things left were the occasional sound of shifting rocks and the nasty crunch of grinding bones.
SkullGreymon's rampage was basically over.
The leftover dark magic in the air flickered weakly, like a candle flame about to go out in a storm.
'Looks like the leftovers aren't even strong enough to match a Champion-level Digimon,' Ace thought to himself.
He glanced over at Garurumon, who was breathing a bit heavily beside him.
It was a living creature after all and its stamina was running low from constantly cleaning up the enemies that tried to escape.
"Garurumon, take a rest. Leomon hasn't fought yet, he can tag in for you," Ace said, patting his partner's sturdy arm.
Garurumon let out a low growl, understanding the order.
Ace felt the warm current flowing inside him.
Even though his "Digi-Soul" was still faint, it definitely boosted his physical fitness, reflexes, and even his sense for magic.
Thanks to the reward he got yesterday, he actually had some ability to defend himself now and wasn't totally useless without his Digimon like he was at the start.
But just as he thought things were finally settling down...
"ACEEEEEEEE!"
A furious scream, mixed with shock and anger, exploded like a thunderclap from the mountain path behind him!
Ace's heart jumped.
He knew that voice way too well! He turn around and saw three figures charging toward him.
Leading the pack was none other than Mirajane, who he had just split up with.
Her face was cold with rage, and her purple eyes were burning.
The dark magic she was suppressing felt like it was about to spill over.
Lisanna was right behind her, looking stressed and anxious. And held tightly by the scruff of its neck in Mirajane's grip was Kyubimon, dangling there like a naughty kitten.
Kyubimon looked like it was restrained by some weird power, unable to break free, letting out pathetic little whines.
Its beautiful white fur was dirty with dust, making it look pretty miserable.
How did they find him here?! And how are they capturing Kyubimon?!
In a second, Mirajane and the others were right in front of Ace.
Their intense pressure made the air feel heavy.
Garurumon immediately bared its fangs, stepping in front of Ace with a threatening growl.
Mirajane looked over the scorched, frozen, and bloody mess of the battlefield before locking eyes with Ace.
Her voice shook a little as she tried to hold back her anger. "Ace... You actually ditched us to go solo?! I knew you were acting suspicious back then. What the hell?"
Seeing Mirajane pointing fingers at him, Ace mentally cursed.
'Of course her brain decided to start working now.'
He glanced at the roughly handled Kyubimon. "Mirajane, I'll be honest with you! The Master was worried the Dark Guild would target you, so he paired me up with you."
He paused, his look sharpening. "I found a trace of the Dark Guild. I didn't ditch you because I doubted your strength. But was it wrong for me to let you—the stronger one—retreat with Lisanna while I stayed to crush the danger early?"
Lisanna quickly grabbed her sister's arm to cool things down. "Nee-san, stop! Ace, we were really worried about you. We realized you didn't take the path back to the guild, and then we felt a terrifying... magic spike over here, so..."
Mirajane looked a tiny bit embarrassed for a split second, but her anger quickly took over again.
"Lisanna, shut up! Who... who would worry about this jerk!"
She turned back to Ace. "You were the one sneakily trying to give us the wrong directions, and I caught you red-handed! Spit it out! How much have you been hiding?"
Suddenly, loud, messy footsteps and terrified screaming echoed from inside the cave.
A bunch of stragglers were scrambling and tumbling toward the exit, trying to escape while SkullGreymon was stuck inside the terrain.
"There are still enemies!" Lisanna yelled.
Mirajane's eyes went cold.
She finally found an outlet for her anger at the rookie!
She took a step forward, and her dark magic exploded around her like an erupting volcano.
"Darkness Stream!"
She shoved her hands forward, and massive amounts of dark magic turned into giant shadow claws.
Like demonic hands rising from hell, they howled as they swept toward the running dark guild remnants.
"No!!"
"The She-Devil! It's the She-Devil Mirajane!!"
The fleeing dark mages screamed and tried to defend themselves, but against that dense mass of dark claws, their shields shattered like glass.
The tearing force ripped through them easily.
As the giant claws swept past, blood sprayed everywhere, accompanied by the sickening sound of bones snapping! In a single hit, the runners and the enemies deeper inside the tunnel were wiped out like leaves in a storm.
The thick smell of blood filled the entrance of the mine.
Watching this, Ace's eye twitched.
He was screaming internally, 'Hey! Don't kill steal! That's all my experience and data energy! Don't you dare take it all!'
He could almost see the energy that should have gone to SkullGreymon getting vaporized by Mirajane's attack.
But he didn't have time to cry over the lost kills and data.
He quickly focused hard, pushing his will through the shaky soul link with SkullGreymon, doing everything he could to suppress its berserk mind.
'Come back, SkullGreymon! Return now!' he roared in his head, his Digi-Soul surging harder than ever.
But the moment he did that, a massive sense of danger washed over him.
Mirajane's powerful burst of dark magic was like throwing a match into a pool of gasoline.
"ROOOOAAARRR—!!!"
SkullGreymon let out an even crazier roar, pissed off by the provocation.
It sensed a strong, pure source of dark energy at the cave entrance and its destruction instinct locked onto Mirajane immediately!
The heavy, rapid thud of its footsteps sounded like war drums getting closer.
The whole mine shook violently as it was charging out at insane speed!
Voom—!
Just as its skeletal head started to poke out of cave, SkullGreymon's massive body froze.
The berserk energy clashed violently with its will, It let out a deafening, unwilling scream, thrashing its limbs and smashing the walls, sending rocks flying.
But under Ace's desperate command, its body finally started to fade, turning into a stream of dark red data and getting pulled back into the device.
The second SkullGreymon vanished, a huge boulder crashed down right where it had been standing with a massive booming sound.
The forest fell into dead silence, leaving only the sound of settling rocks and the smell of blood and dust.
Ace wiped the sweat from his forehead, panting a little.
Forcing a rampaging SkullGreymon back had put a serious strain on his mind.
Mirajane and Lisanna stared at the suddenly quiet mine with suspicious looks, then turned to the pale Ace.
Mirajane dropped her magic and frowned. "The Dark Guild is dealt with. Now, start explaining yourself."
Ace caught his breath and looked at Mirajane.
Instead of answering straight away, he asked, "Can we talk on our way back? About this 'Dark guild' and what they were plotting against you."
Mirajane's eyes narrowed, staring hard at Ace as if trying to read his mind.
Lisanna looked nervously between her sister and Ace.
For a moment, the air between them got heavy and tense.