"Insane…"
Rationally, Chen Ze could understand Kei's desperation to avoid losing a partner—someone who was family.
Yet emotionally, Chen Ze found Kei's extreme, obsessive behavior unacceptable.
From a certain point of view, Kei's current actions were effectively negating the very meaning of Piddomon's existence—and also distorting the life of whichever Digimon might emerge in the future.
For a new life, there was no fate more tragic than bearing memories and responsibilities it was never meant to carry.
Of course, perhaps Chen Ze only felt this way because he hadn't yet experienced the crushing despair of true loss.
Maybe someday, if he failed to find a path back to his own past, or lost someone he genuinely cared about, he'd do something just as extreme. Perhaps even worse.
After all, the mere act of becoming a hacker suggested Chen Ze had a side quite similar to Kei's—just that his own madness hadn't revealed itself yet.
"…"
After a brief silence, Chen Ze decided to ignore the increasingly unhinged Kei, instead shifting his gaze back to Renamon, who was still battling fiercely.
This fight was vastly different from their previous encounter in the Black Market—no more playful teasing or one-sided taunting.
After consecutively absorbing human data, Meramon's fiery strength, and now Piddomon's angelic flames, this Eater (Enhanced Human Form) had clearly experienced a qualitative leap in raw power.
Even the debuffing effects of Chen Ze's earlier flood attack appeared to have faded completely, its evolutionary strength fully restored.
Moreover, perhaps due to absorbing fragments from IceDevimon and Piddomon, the Eater not only purged disruptive junk data interfering with its evolution but even gained strength comparable to—or possibly surpassing—them.
Coupled with its inexplicable "Spatial Shift" ability, Renamon, despite her sophisticated illusionary techniques and youjutsu, could no longer maintain her previous calm ease.
Crack… Crack…
Just as it had done when it instantly defeated IceDevimon, the Eater suddenly locked onto Renamon's true position and punched straightforwardly into empty air.
Then, directly behind Renamon, a blazing fist materialized from nowhere, targeting the critical spot at the center of her spine.
BOOM!
At this exact moment, Renamon was in the vulnerable interval between one attack and the next.
Distracted further by controlling multiple illusionary duplicates, she'd momentarily let her guard slip, completely missing the Eater's deadly ambush.
Under normal circumstances, given that Renamon's pure combat strength was weaker than Piddomon or IceDevimon, this lethal blow would have spelled certain doom.
However, unexpected events were exactly that—unexpected—because this time Renamon wasn't fighting alone.
"[PETIT FIRE]!"
At the critical instant, Chen Ze—seeing clearly what was unfolding—reacted decisively, shooting forth a pale-white fireball at the flaming fist.
"Pepper Breath" was originally a common technique among Agumon, hardly notable for its power among Rookie-level Digimon.
But after Chen Ze integrated his unique overload programming, this otherwise simple fireball transcended its limits, evolving into a dangerous, unknown flame.
In fact, this fire, dubbed "Petit Fire" by Chen Ze, had already helped him defeat formidable opponents multiple times before—and today would be no exception.
BANG!
Even though both attacks were flame-based, the Eater's fiery fist couldn't withstand the disruptive force of the Petit Fire, instantly exploding into meaningless data fragments.
Taking advantage of this distraction, Little Piccolo—who had been floating around Chen Ze like a remote weapon—swiftly entered the battlefield to relieve some of Renamon's pressure.
"…"
Renamon, slightly startled, quickly took control of Little Piccolo due to her partial permissions over its operations.
Crack!
In the next moment, the Eater, rapidly regaining composure, began writhing and repairing itself, swiftly reconstructing the arm reduced to fragments by Chen Ze's Petit Fire.
Swoosh!
Perhaps angered by Chen Ze's interference, or simply responding to its primal instincts—
The Eater, who had until now exhibited minimal direct aggression, suddenly lunged downward like a loosened arrow, generating a powerful sonic boom.
BOOM—!
Wave upon wave of sonic pressure instantly reminded Chen Ze and Renamon of the Parrotmon they'd faced in Hikarigaoka Park.
There was no longer any doubt: after absorbing so much data, this enhanced humanoid Eater had not only cleansed itself of chaotic data but had possibly approached the threshold of an Ultimate-level Digimon.
—Kohenkyo!
Without hesitation, Renamon—who'd experienced fighting Ultimate-level Digimon firsthand—immediately chose to conceal herself, just as she'd done against Parrotmon.
Hiding silently in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment for a lethal strike—this was Renamon's true fighting style.
However, the real issue this time was that, unlike their previous battle against Parrotmon, there was no Greymon here to draw the enemy's attention or tank its powerful attacks.
Renamon clearly realized this as well, and thus directed Little Piccolo forward to confront the Eater head-on.
"This isn't going to work," Chen Ze murmured quietly.
Though lacking substantial combat experience, the Agumon instincts within Chen Ze allowed him to clearly assess the battlefield situation.
In fact, even without those instincts, he could easily understand Renamon's predicament.
No matter how fierce or confident she appeared, Renamon remained merely a Rookie-level Digimon.
Even though her exceptional combat talent allowed her to fight above her level, that didn't necessarily mean she was stronger than IceDevimon or Piddomon.
At best, Renamon's specialized combat style enabled her to temporarily stall the Eater.
If it ever became a straightforward battle, she might fare even worse than IceDevimon, who'd been instantly defeated.
In other words, facing an Eater that had already dispatched both IceDevimon and Piddomon with bizarrely swift attacks, Renamon could easily follow in their footsteps if she made even a single misstep.
More terrifying than any previous opponent was the Eater's natural ability to assimilate and corrupt data.
Any data touched by the Eater would inevitably be absorbed, consumed—a natural nemesis to Digimon, who were entirely composed of data.
At this stage, the only thing capable of resisting such assimilation…isLittle Piccolo.
After a brief, intense moment of thought, Chen Ze focused his gaze on Little Piccolo, the entity created from the same origins as the Eater itself.
Though Little Piccolo was just a program Chen Ze had crafted using the Eater's source code, its purpose wasn't limited merely to resisting corruption or assimilation.
Rather, beyond the unexpected benefit of its "Eater resistance," Little Piccolo was essentially an artificial DigiCore—an external processing unit.
Especially in the hands of an imaginative hacker like Chen Ze, Little Piccolo's potential applications went far beyond what most hackers could even dream.
Initially, Chen Ze hadn't wanted to take unnecessary risks—but judging by the current state of things, it seemed not risking everything was no longer an option.
---
T/N: no more :p, by no more i mean no more chaps from me uhhh this lost vote if u wanna revive it just go to mah aptreon or something idk zzzzz
discord.gg/wisetl
patreon.com/wisetl