Chapter 200: The Next Challenger Is—
Gallantmon had fallen.
The noble knight collapsed before the matchless, overwhelming might of the Dragon Emperor, Examon. Yet, the devastated battlefield offered not a single fleeting second to mourn the fallen warrior. The shadow of the colossal dragon already loomed over the next challenger.
"So, it's me..."
Feeling that razor-sharp gaze lock onto him from high above the clouds, Mizuki remained entirely unfazed. As a loyal knight serving Yggdrasill, Examon's true target had always been him from the very beginning. The dragon's descent merely confirmed the inevitable. Therefore, the next course of action was incredibly simple.
"WarGreymon X, MetalGarurumon X, could you do me a favor?"
With Gallantmon's devastating defeat, the fierce clash between WarGreymon X and Kentaurosmon had ground to a sudden, temporary halt. Having retreated to Mizuki's side to regroup, the armored dragon and MetalGarurumon X instinctively turned their heads at the sound of the human's calm voice.
Meeting their questioning gazes, Mizuki voiced his immediate plan. "Could I trouble the two of you to take DoruGreymon and Breakdramon and leave this place?"
Before the two X-Antibody veterans could even process the request, DoruGreymon, hovering nearby, interjected with fierce defiance. "Lord Mizuki, I refuse to run away!"
The dragon bared his fangs, wings flaring. "I can stay here and fight alongside you!"
"I acknowledge your courage, DoruGreymon, but in battles like this, sheer willpower alone is not enough."
Mizuki cast a gentle glance toward the defiant dragon and the imposing Breakdramon beside her. Raising his right hand, he snapped his fingers with a crisp, echoing crack.
In the very next second, both DoruGreymon and Breakdramon stiffened. A sudden, invisible weight clamped down on their internal data cores, forcibly suppressing their surging energy. Brilliant rings of light enveloped them, rapidly shrinking their massive frames until they degenerated entirely back into their Rookie forms.
"What happened to my body?!" Dorumon gasped, stumbling over her own small paws.
"Your Digivolution speed was far too reckless, and your foundational data simply wasn't solid enough to sustain it," Mizuki explained, his tone even and instructive. "I compressed the excess data within your bodies. Once you have grown sufficiently and stabilized, my restrictions will naturally shatter on their own."
As he spoke, Mizuki scooped up the two bewildered little Digimon and unceremoniously stuffed them directly into WarGreymon X's metallic arms.
Holding the squirming Rookies against his chest armor, WarGreymon X finally grasped the gravity of the situation. "Lord Mizuki... are you ordering us to flee?"
"It is not running away."
Mizuki met the seasoned warrior's gaze, enunciating every single word with absolute clarity. "It is preserving the hope of the future."
He gestured casually toward the two small Digimon still struggling weakly in the knight's grasp. "Of course, you could choose to stay and fight to the bitter end. But these two children would most likely..."
Mizuki let the sentence trail off into the tense air, leaving the grim implication hanging. WarGreymon X understood perfectly.
In an instant, a turbulent storm of emotions welled up within the warrior's chest. Hot anger flared at the prospect of watching yet another companion face death alone. Bitter resentment gnawed at his own current powerlessness, mingling with the stinging humiliation of being forced to retreat from a battlefield. A chaotic multitude of feelings churned violently beneath his chrome-digizoid armor. He fully expected his own pride to detonate, driving him into a reckless frenzy.
Yet, against all odds, WarGreymon X forcibly swallowed the tempest. His golden eyes cooled, regaining their razor-sharp composure in the very next second.
This sudden, unnatural calm even caused MetalGarurumon X to freeze in momentary shock. However, Mizuki merely offered a faint, knowing smile; he had expected nothing less from a seasoned veteran.
"I understand."
Without offering a single word of explanation to his mechanical wolf companion, WarGreymon X tightened his protective grip on the two Rookies. The thrusters on his back flared to life with a deafening roar. As his solemn vow faded into the wind, he launched himself into the distance, tearing through the sky away from the epicenter of destruction.
Witnessing his partner's abrupt departure, MetalGarurumon X realized there was no time for lengthy farewells. He gave Mizuki a deep, respectful nod, his thrusters igniting as he pivoted and streaked after the retreating dragon.
Watching the two X-Antibody Digimon retreat, Magnamon, who had just managed to violently wrench his golden-armored head out of the cratered earth, let out a harsh, smug laugh.
"Foolish rebels! Do you honestly think you can escape the justice of the Royal Knights?" The golden knight spat dirt from his visor, his voice dripping with condescension. "Remember Gallantmon's pathetic end! Soon, every last one of you will meet the exact same fate—Ouch!"
His arrogant monologue was abruptly cut short by a sharp yelp of pain. Still heavily entangled and trapped by the jagged crystalline formations, Magnamon found his head ruthlessly shoved right back into the muddy soil by Belle's boot.
"Hmph, you talk way too much."
Glancing down at the struggling golden knight with utter disdain, Belle dusted off her clothes, clapped her hands together as if wiping away filth, and casually strolled back to Mizuki's side.
At that exact moment, the colossal crimson shadow blanketing the battlefield began to lower. The giant dragon descended from the high heavens, his massive wings churning the atmosphere into a localized hurricane.
The Dragon Emperor, Examon.
Despite emerging victorious over Gallantmon, the towering emperor had clearly not escaped unscathed. Deep, jagged fissures marred his crimson armor, leaking volatile streams of digital energy. As a Virus-attribute Digimon, Gallantmon possessed a distinct, innate advantage over the Data-attribute Examon. It was precisely because of these lingering, corrosive wounds that Examon had remained suspended in the upper atmosphere, forced to purge the viral infection from his systems. That brief window of recovery was exactly what had afforded Mizuki the precious time needed to orchestrate his allies' safe retreat.
Factoring in the urgency of his mission, Examon had clearly opted against a slow, methodical purification of his corrupted data. Instead, he had chosen a brutally crude and simple solution: amputation. He forcibly severed and discarded the infected portions of his own digital code. While this ruthless method drastically accelerated his recovery time, it came at a severe cost to his total mass.
As a direct result, Examon's current physical size had shrunk by more than half compared to his original, world-dwarfing stature. Yet, even in this diminished state, his monstrous frame still blotted out the sun, casting a suffocating crimson shadow over the ruined earth below.
"Kentaurosmon..."
Touching down upon the fractured ground with a seismic thud, Examon finally spoke his very first words since arriving on the battlefield. His draconic voice rumbled like distant thunder. "Are you truly just going to stand there and watch the rebels escape?"
"Sigh... as a fellow Royal Knight and colleague, is that really how little faith you have in me?"
Facing the Dragon Emperor's heavy scrutiny, Kentaurosmon merely offered a helpless, exaggerated shrug of his armored shoulders. "I have to admit, that accusation makes me quite sad."
"Kentaurosmon, I am in absolutely no mood to entertain your jokes!" Examon snarled, a warning plume of heat venting from his massive jaws.
"...Fine, fine." Sensing the genuine, boiling anger radiating from the dragon, the usually laid-back Kentaurosmon finally dropped his casual facade, adopting a rare sliver of seriousness. "I admit it. I intentionally watched those guys leave without intervening."
The centaur-like knight shifted his stance, his multiple hooves clicking against the stone. "But tell me, Examon, have you already forgotten the parameters of our primary mission?"
Kentaurosmon raised a hand, pointing directly forward. "To eliminate the 'Anomaly' that has encroached from the other world."
As he spoke the final words, Mizuki's calm, unyielding figure reflected perfectly within the knight's glowing visors. "He is our original, and only true, objective."
Listening to Kentaurosmon's cold, logical reasoning, Examon fell into a heavy silence. The dragon could not deny the absolute truth in those words. While the specific Digimon spirited away by WarGreymon X and MetalGarurumon X possessed unique and potentially troublesome data, they were ultimately insignificant gnats compared to the sheer, reality-warping threat posed by Mizuki's continued existence.
The Dragon Emperor mentally dismissed the fleeing targets. The tedious chore of purging rogue X-Antibody carriers could be executed at any given time. The absolute priority was to eradicate the human anomaly standing right in front of him.
Realigning his focus, Examon slowly turned his massive, horned head back toward Mizuki, his predatory gaze locking onto the tiny human.
In seamless synchronization, Belle stepped in front of her partner, raising her arms. The metallic clicks of her twin handguns echoed sharply as she aimed the dark barrels directly at the towering dragon's chest.
The suffocating atmosphere between the two opposing forces, already stretched incredibly taut, now teetered on the absolute edge of violent ignition. A single twitch would spark a catastrophic war.
Observing the lethal standoff from the sidelines, Kentaurosmon felt a sudden, helpless urge to sigh again.
'He marches all the way over here to interrogate me about letting a few stragglers escape, yet completely ignores Omnimon standing right over there?'
Kentaurosmon shifted his gaze toward the white paladin standing motionless on the opposite flank. Ever since Gallantmon's tragic death, Omnimon appeared to have been entirely hollowed out, stripped of all his fighting spirit and righteous conviction.
If it weren't for the terrifying, dense reservoir of holy data still radiating from his core, an outside observer would never believe that this slumped, dejected figure was actually one of the most feared members of the Royal Knights.
'Compared to my little lapse in duty, that guy's current existential crisis is clearly a much bigger liability to the mission, isn't it?'Kentaurosmon mused silently, shaking his head.'Examon, you really do play favorites when it comes to discipline.'
Of course, Kentaurosmon didn't harbor any genuine dissatisfaction or burning anger regarding the Dragon Emperor's blatant double standards. It was merely a dry, internal observation. After all, he was well aware that he had spent years carefully cultivating a reputation as the most laid-back and unreliable member among his rigid, overly serious peers.
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