Chapter 168: Conflict
[Final Elysion!]
A blinding beam of purified light tore through the devastated ruins, leaving a scorched trench in its wake. As the brilliant energy dissipated into the air, Gallantmon lowered his massive shield, Aegis. He gazed down at the unconscious, battered forms of WarGreymon X and MetalGarurumon X sprawled across the shattered earth. The holy knight shook his head, a faint sigh escaping his helm.
"Today's training ends here," Gallantmon announced, his voice echoing with metallic authority. "Take some time to process today's gains."
With a sharp flick of his crimson cape, the Royal Knight turned on his heel. He left them behind, his imposing silhouette cutting a striking figure against the dust-choked sky.
Once the oppressive pressure of the holy knight faded into the distance, DoruGreymon and Breakdramon crept out from their hiding spots behind the rubble. They approached the two fallen Mega-level Digimon with extreme caution, half-expecting the scorched earth to still be hot enough to melt their claws. The two X-Antibody carriers lay completely motionless, looking entirely like lifeless corpses.
"Um..." DoruGreymon nudged a piece of debris aside. "Are you guys okay?"
A heavy, rattling cough broke the silence. "...For now. Still breathing..."
Every single inch of his Chrome Digizoid armor was screaming in structural agony, yet WarGreymon X stubbornly dug his claws into the dirt. Drawing upon his monstrous resilience, he forced his head up and offered the younger dragon a strained, jagged smile.
His sudden movement, however, tugged at the data chains linking him to his partner. MetalGarurumon X jerked, his metallic jaw snapping open as a pathetic, high-pitched whine escaped his throat.
"Aow! Ow, ow, ow! Stop moving!"
WarGreymon X collapsed back into the dirt, turning his head to look at his thoroughly disheveled companion. The cyborg wolf's armor was dented, his missile pods jammed, and his golden wings bent at awkward angles. WarGreymon X could only shake his head in exasperation.
"Pull yourself together," he grunted, his voice laced with dry amusement. "You are a Mega-level warrior. Have some dignity. Don't lose face in front of the kids."
"Mega level or not, I don't care," MetalGarurumon X groaned, his optical sensors flickering dimly. "I just want to lie right here and rot. Don't move me."
WarGreymon X let out a breath of static. Out of sheer necessity, he had no choice but to indulge the dramatic wolf. After all, their data links were still partially synchronized, binding their movements together. If one moved, the other suffered.
Observing the absolute tragedy of their current state, a cold sweat broke out across DoruGreymon's scales. Previously, he had harbored a deep, simmering grudge against Gallantmon for his own brutal training sessions. Now, a terrifying realization dawned on him. The Royal Knight had been holding back. A lot.
If Gallantmon had unleashed even a fraction of the merciless devastation he just inflicted upon WarGreymon X and MetalGarurumon X, DoruGreymon knew with absolute certainty that his core would have been shattered in the opening seconds. This was no exaggeration.
The evidence was lying right in front of him. The legendary armor of the two X-Antibody Megas was completely shredded. Sparks of fragmented code bled from their joints, and their core Data Links pulsed with a sickly, unstable glitching effect. To put it bluntly, they were hovering on the absolute razor's edge of deletion.
While the dragons tended to the fallen warriors, Gallantmon crossed the battlefield, his heavy sabatons crushing the loose gravel. He stopped before a makeshift observation post.
Mizuki sat there, legs crossed casually. Seeing the imposing knight approach, the young man lowered the microphone he had been using to broadcast his highly unhelpful, trollish commentary throughout the spar.
"Thanks for your hard work, Gallantmon," Mizuki chimed, his tone light and breezy, entirely unaffected by the apocalyptic crater stretching out behind the knight.
"For the sake of this world, what does physical hardship matter?" Gallantmon replied.
Now that the heat of battle had faded, the Royal Knight's voice shifted, taking on a strange, melancholic weight. He planted the shaft of his holy lance, Gram, into the earth.
"WarGreymon X may be excessively blunt, but one thing he said was not wrong," Gallantmon murmured, his visor dipping slightly. "Our time is rapidly running out."
He looked up at the digital sky, a sky that felt more fractured by the day. "If only more of my colleagues among the Royal Knights could see the truth. If only they would stand up and support this path..."
His words trailed off, carrying a heavy, metallic exhaustion that seemed to seep straight from his Digicore.
Mizuki tilted his head, a spark of genuine curiosity cutting through his usual playful demeanor. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
"Gallantmon," Mizuki began softly. "If you do not mind me asking... could you tell me about your god?"
The atmosphere instantly plummeted.
"...Oh?"
The ambient data around the knight grew heavy. Beneath the cross-shaped visor of his helm, Gallantmon's gaze narrowed into a sharp, piercing glare. His grip tightened on his lance.
"What is your intent behind that question, human?"
Despite the crushing pressure radiating from the Mega-level entity, Mizuki did not flinch. He met the knight's scrutinizing stare head-on, his expression entirely open and devoid of malice.
"Purely a desire to understand the current situation," Mizuki answered smoothly. "After all, this directly concerns our subsequent cooperation, does it not? I prefer to know exactly whose shadow we are stepping into."
Gallantmon held the boy's gaze. He stared into Mizuki's clear, unwavering eyes. Even the jagged, glowing cracks of data instability spreading across the human's pale face could not diminish the strange, quiet purity that radiated from his soul.
Gradually, the hostility drained from the knight's posture. Gallantmon found himself staring, somewhat dazed.
Looking at this fragile yet unyielding human, he felt as if he had been violently pulled back into the distant past. A buried memory surfaced in his core. He vaguely recalled the avatar that Lord Yggdrasil once used to walk among them in the Digital World. It had possessed this exact same feeling—a presence that was beautiful, untainted, and deeply compassionate.
Truly... it had been an eternity since he had felt that warmth. Lord Yggdrasil had once been such a gentle, benevolent existence.
When exactly did the rot begin?
Why... why did everything have to turn out like this?
In the suffocating silence, the more Gallantmon dwelled on the past, the more violently his internal emotions surged. A tempest of grief, confusion, and suppressed rage boiled within his Digicore. Without realizing it, his gauntleted fist clenched tight enough to make the metal groan.
Fierce, untamed digital energy erupted from his body. The ground beneath his feet cracked, and the ambient air warped under the sheer pressure of his leaking aura.
By the time Gallantmon snapped out of his reverie, the area around him had been completely devastated. Loose rocks had been pulverized into digital dust, and deep fissures spider-webbed outward from where he stood.
Realizing the destruction his unchecked emotions had caused, a flash of deep guilt flickered behind the knight's visor. He immediately reeled in his aura.
"My apologies..." Gallantmon bowed his head slightly, his voice thick with regret. "I lost my composure."
"It is fine."
Mizuki waved a hand, casually dispersing the shimmering Energy Shield he had manifested to protect himself from the blast of pressure. He looked up at the towering, guilt-ridden knight and offered a gentle, understanding smile.
"A god who could be so deeply beloved by proud warriors like you must surely have been a very gentle existence," Mizuki said softly. "Though I do not know the full story of what happened, it is only natural to feel such deep heartache over such a drastic, tragic transformation."
"Indeed... this world was once incredibly prosperous."
A rough, grating voice drifted over from the side of the ruined battlefield. "And all of that prosperity was thanks to the benevolent Lord Yggdrasil."
Mizuki and Gallantmon turned toward the sound. Through the settling dust, WarGreymon X and MetalGarurumon X were slowly limping toward them. They were heavily supported by DoruGreymon and Breakdramon, using the younger dragons as crutches to keep their battered bodies upright.
Despite his horrific injuries, WarGreymon X's gaze was distant. Perhaps because he was recalling those beautiful, untarnished memories of the past, a deep sense of nostalgia softened the fierce warrior's eyes. Even with his face obscured by his heavy Chrome Digizoid helmet, Mizuki could clearly feel the warmth radiating from him. For a fleeting second, the dragon warrior was smiling, lost in a happier era.
However, that fleeting warmth was violently crushed by the cold, unforgiving cruelty of their current reality. Just like the apocalyptic disaster that had swept across the entire Digital World, the shift in his demeanor came without warning.
"But all of that is in the past," WarGreymon X growled, his voice dropping into a dangerous, gravelly register. "The current Lord Yggdrasil has already gone completely mad."
As the words left his mouth, a flash of pure, unadulterated anger ignited in the dragon's eyes.
Beside Mizuki, Gallantmon's armor creaked as his fist clenched tight once more.
"WarGreymon X..." Gallantmon warned, his tone dangerously low.
MetalGarurumon X keenly detected the volatile shift in the Royal Knight's emotional state. The cyborg wolf leaned heavily against Breakdramon and tried to defuse the escalating tension.
"Calm down," MetalGarurumon X urged his partner. "There might still be some fundamental misunderstanding in all of this. After all—"
"After all what?" WarGreymon X snapped, cutting him off instantly. "That He was once a gentle god?"
WarGreymon X had absolutely no intention of backing down. He turned his furious gaze upon his lifelong companion, his optical sensors burning with righteous fury. "Do not defend Him. It is not like you have not seen the tragedies with your own eyes."
He pushed himself away from DoruGreymon, standing on his own trembling legs.
"Every single Digimon," WarGreymon X snarled, his voice trembling with a mixture of grief and rage. "Every Digimon who was slaughtered right before my eyes—I remember their faces. I remember their screams, their bitter resentment, and their absolute confusion."
He took a heavy, staggering step forward. "Whether they were dissolved alive by the X-Program, or butchered at the hands of the Royal Knights, every single one of them, without exception, still held onto their trust and expectations for Lord Yggdrasil right up until their dying breath."
His claws scraped against his armor as his breathing grew ragged. "But... how did Lord Yggdrasil respond to their faith? How did that madman, that mad god, trample upon their very existence?!"
"Enough!"
Unable to endure the repeated desecration of his lord's name any longer, Gallantmon snapped. The Royal Knight lunged forward, raising his holy lance, Gram, and leveling its lethal tip directly at WarGreymon X's chest.
"Lord Yggdrasil is not an existence that the likes of you are permitted to disparage!" Gallantmon roared, his voice echoing like thunder across the ruins.
"That's right!" WarGreymon X spat back, a feral grin tearing across his face. "A wild Digimon like me, who clawed his way up the rogue path, naturally cannot compare to high-and-mighty executioners like you!"
Facing the lethal tip of Gallantmon's lance, WarGreymon X showed zero fear. Instead, he fearlessly raised his Dramon Killers, crossing the massive steel claws in direct confrontation.
"Do you know what it is like?" WarGreymon X roared, his aura flaring violently despite his broken body. "Every time I close my eyes, I am forced to relive those scenes of absolute slaughter! I hear them screaming!"
He took another step forward, pressing his chest dangerously close to the holy lance.
"So, there is—and has only ever been—one thing I want to do!" WarGreymon X declared, his voice dripping with lethal intent. "And that is to use my claws to tear open your throats! To rip justice from your corpses for all those dead Digimon!"
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