"Storm Wave!"
A complex, deep purple Magic Circle instantly unfurled and expanded before him.
At the center of the Magic Circle, violent air currents madly converged and spun, forming a tornado over ten meters in diameter in the blink of an eye. It stretched from the earth to the sky, possessing a terrifying suction and tearing force, as if it would pull in, shred, and annihilate anything that approached.
With undiminished momentum, it swept toward Agunimon to devour him.
"Child's play."
Agunimon didn't even move.
He simply raised his right arm, which was covered in crimson armor, toward Erigor.
With his fingers slightly spread, he clenched his fist in the air.
Several crimson fireballs, not flying in a straight line, instantly appeared around Erigor.
The fireballs didn't explode immediately but spun rapidly, releasing a high-temperature force field that interfered with and compressed the flow of air and magic around Erigor.
Erigor continuously swung his scythe with his right hand while with his left, one after another, smaller but more densely packed and swift purple tornadoes formed in the sky, closing in on Agunimon from all directions.
However, several highly compressed, crimson-gold fireballs, with faint dragon shadows swirling within, shot out in a fan shape.
They didn't attack the tornadoes themselves but precisely struck several key energy nodes of the tornadoes' rotation.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A series of explosions blossomed inside the tornadoes.
Although they failed to completely destroy the tornadoes, they successfully disrupted their structural stability, causing their rotational speed to plummet and their trajectories to deviate, revealing an opening.
Agunimon's figure flashed, passing through the gap.
However, Erigor did not give up.
Seeing that the storm encirclement was ineffective, a fierce glint flashed in his eyes.
He abandoned summoning more tornadoes and instead began to madly pour his magic into himself.
"Storm Mail!"
With him at the center, a visible, deep cyan torrent of violent air suddenly erupted in all directions.
This wasn't an attack but a compressed storm shield that clung to his body, flowing and rotating at high speed like tangible armor.
The howling wind distorted and tore the air within several meters of him, exuding a heart-pounding defensive power.
This was the ultimate expression of Erigor's defensive use of wind magic—Storm Mail, capable of deflecting, weakening, or even reflecting the vast majority of physical and energy attacks.
"It's useless! In the face of my 'Storm Mail,' your flames are nothing but a gentle breeze!" Erigor sneered, once again bringing Lullaby to his lips while swinging his scythe with his right hand, sending several wind blades at Agunimon to interfere.
Agunimon (Ace) paid no mind to the incoming storm.
His gaze swept over Erigor's "Storm mail" and then glanced down below.
Gatomon was nimbly using a large boulder as a foothold, darting around the edge of the battlefield like a bolt of white lightning, dodging stray wind blades and rubble.
Her eyes were locked tightly on Erigor in the air, seemingly looking for an opportunity.
"Gatomon, can you still hold on?"
The airflow near the ruins was exceptionally chaotic due to Erigor's large-scale magic.
"Mrow! No problem!" Gatomon's voice was slightly breathless but still firm. "This level of wind isn't enough to blow away my resolve! But... the Holy Ring on my tail is wobbling a bit... Ace, you better hurry up and deal with him!"
Hearing this, Ace recalled that the golden Holy Ring on the tip of Gatomon's tail was one of the symbols of her power.
If it was really blown off by this gale, it might be just like in the original story.
Agunimon stomped hard in mid-air, his body shooting forward like a reverse rocket, brazenly charging at Erigor, who was enveloped in the "Storm Mail."
He drew his right fist to his waist, furiously compressing the scorching flame energy.
"Pyro Punch!"
As the fist shot out, a faint dragon's roar could be heard.
A crimson-gold fist of condensed energy, like a meteor fired from a cannon, slammed viciously into the "Storm Mail."
"Hmph! You're overestimating yourself!" Erigor snorted disdainfully, not even interrupting his preparations to play the flute.
He had absolute confidence in his "Storm Mail."
However, in the next second, his sneer froze on his face.
The moment the crimson-gold fist made contact with the "Storm Coat," it wasn't immediately deflected or weakened. The fist seemed to contain a peculiar penetrating and concussive force, not just a simple flame explosion. On the surface of the fist, fine energy patterns resembling a fire dragon's scales flickered, fiercely grinding against, canceling out, and eroding the high-speed rotating storm.
Sssss!
A piercing sound of energy annihilation rang out.
The "Storm Mail" violently caved inward and fluctuated with the point of impact at its center.
Its rotational speed visibly slowed, and the deep cyan wind wall thinned.
Not only was its defensive power clearly weakened, but it was pierced by a single punch.
Erigor felt a scorching, tyrannical force transmit through the wind mail.
His flute-playing was interrupted, and he nearly bit his tongue.
"What?! This is impossible!" Erigor was both shocked and furious, his eyes filled with disbelief.
His strongest defense was on the verge of collapse from a single punch?
"Bastard! I'll kill you! Emera Baram!!!"
Thoroughly enraged and driven to madness, Erigor ignored his injuries and forcibly stabilized himself in mid-air.
His eyes were bloodshot as he unreservedly poured his remaining magic into his four fingers, pointing them at Agunimon.
Woom—!
A massive, straight torrent of wind, with what seemed like countless fine wind blades rotating at high speed inside, tore through space at a speed beyond the limits of visual capture.
Carrying the will to annihilate everything, it rushed toward Agunimon.
This was Erigor's ultimate single-target killing move, created by compressing and accelerating wind magic to its absolute limit—Emera Baram.
Agunimon's eyes were calm.
He chose neither to face it head-on nor to attempt a complete dodge.
The flames around his body suddenly contracted inward, and he began to spin rapidly like a top with his left foot as the axis.
During the rotation, the crimson flames were pulled and extended by the centrifugal force, instantly forming a horizontal fire tornado several meters in diameter, composed entirely of flames.
The tornado spun madly, drawing in the surrounding heat and air.
The wind blades of "Emera Baram" stabbed viciously into the fire tornado.
The piercing sound of friction and annihilation was cringe-inducing.
The fire tornado was constantly twisted and deformed by the impact of the wind blades, but the deflecting force from its rotation also continuously wore down and altered the blades' trajectory.
With one leg wreathed in blazing fire, Agunimon kicked apart the storm that had pulverized countless mages.
Just as the storm dissipated, at the very instant Erigor's strength was spent...
"Cat's Eye!"
Below, Gatomon, who had been waiting for the right moment, finally made her move.
Her eyes instantly seemed to become tangible, crossing space and locking onto Erigor, whose breathing was slightly disordered after just releasing his ultimate move and who was trying to grab Lullaby again.
Gazed upon by this stare, Erigor's body suddenly stiffened as if his soul had been bound by invisible shackles, his movements freezing for an extremely brief moment.
Although it was less than half a second, it was more than enough.
"Now! Card Swap!"
With a thought from Agunimon (Ace), his Digivice at his waist flashed with a stream of light, and a card depicting the majestic form of BanchoLeomon was instantly swiped.
"Load—Power of BanchoLeomon!"
A strange energy wave surged from the Digivice.
It wasn't a summon, but a temporary bestowal of a portion of BanchoLeomon's "data characteristics"—the essence of pure power bursts and fighting spirit slashes—upon a designated target!
And the target Ace chose was Gatomon below, who had just used "Cat's Eye" and was in the perfect attack position.