Chapter 48: On Behalf of All Life

Thomas Kasuto

Mandala

 

BioBeelzemon grinned down at us. The tall Bio Hybrid was easily the tallest among us, and had his shotgun aimed right at me. I glanced behind; Irene was nowhere in sight. It was just Zelda, Statuedramon, Flamedramon, and me.

Against a monster like this…Well, I’m just glad Irene won’t get caught up in all of it. But now, to keep Zelda out of it…and safe from all harm…

“Now, which of you wants to die first?” BioBeelzemon asked.

“Hey, wait for me! I’m not letting you keep all the fun of killing these losers for yourself!” a voice from behind the Bio Hybrid wheezed.

“…Adrian, if you don’t want to be left behind, then you should walk faster!” BioBeelzemon snapped.

“Don’t order me around, mama’s boy! You’re still a newbie, after all!” Adrian retorted. “Bio Hybrid DNA Charge! Bio Hybrid Digivolve to, BioArbormon!”

“…Well? Aren’t you going to join in the fight, Sephyrus?” BioBeelzemon asked.

“No. It is not yet time for me to reveal my true form,” Sephyrus said. He was standing far away from the rest of us, quietly observing. “Trust me; you’ll know when it’s time.”

“Whatever you say, old man; Double Impact!”

“Blockade Seed!”

“Everyone, get behind me!” Statuedramon yelled, holding up his shield. Flamedramon crouched behind the shorter Rookie, and I backed up a few steps to join them after protectively grabbing Zelda to shield me behind both Statuedramon and myself. “Dimensional Shield!”

“All right; get him, Adrian!” BioBeelzemon said. Neither Digimon attacked.

“What?!” Statch gasped.

“We knew you would do that, lizard! Roundhouse Punt!” BioArbormon’s legs detached themselves as he kicked Statuedramon’s arms. The Rookie Digimon’s sword and shield flew out of his hands, far out of his reach. “With your sword and shield gone, you’re useless! You aren’t going to kill us the way you almost did Magnus!”

“Fire Rocket!” Flamedramon leapt through the air and charged into BioArbormon. The attack had taken the Bio Hybrid by surprise and had knocked him unconscious. The body of Arbormon vanished, leaving Adrian’s behind. “Well, that wasn’t very difficult.”

“Yeah, defeating Adrian usually isn’t,” BioBeelzemon admitted. Taking his shotgun in hand, he aimed them at Flamedramon.

“Come forth, Leomon!”

“Fist of the Beast King!” Leomon unleashed a flaming lion’s head from his fist, which struck BioBeelzemon on the side of the head.

“Is there anything you’d like to say to me now that my back isn’t turned?!” BioBeelzemon asked.

“Beast Sword!” Leomon ran up to the Bio Hybrid and slashed him across the chest with his sword. Blood came spilling out of the wound the Digimon Spirit inflicted on the Bio Hybrid as he tried steadying himself.

“No…damn it…how could I have lost?! And to a Champion level…”

“You are not as powerful as you think. To have power is not to be strong. Your power was given to you, and as long as you seek your power within others, instead of yourself, then you will never be strong,” Leomon said.

“You don’t know anything! Darkness Claw!” As BioBeelzemon fell to the ground, tightly clutching his bleeding chest, he thrust his free claw into Leomon’s stomach before the Bio Hybrid fell the rest of the way to the floor. Beelzemon’s body vanished, leaving Michalis’s body behind, unconscious, but alive.

Interesting…his clothes are soaked in blood, and yet…he doesn’t seem to be bleeding anymore…and it seems as though he’s still alive, too…

“Leomon, are you okay?!” Zelda asked.

“I am fine; do not be concerned, my lady, for I am only a Spirit,” Leomon said.

“Quite an amazing display of fighting prowess,” Sephyrus said, slowly walking up to us. “There aren’t very many people who can stand up to Michalis and Adrian and defeat them this quickly. I’m honestly quite impressed.”

“Stay back…Zelda,” Leomon said, breathing heavily.

“But now…it is time for you to be destroyed…once and for all!” Sephyrus pulled a grey Bio Link Digivice from his priest’s robes and placed the palm of his hand over it. “Bio Hybrid DNA Charge! Bio Hybrid Digivolve to, BioPremenitmon!” The Digimon Sephyrus became looked at us, his eyes glowing an eerie bright yellow. 

So…this is what Saias fought the night we all thought he was killed…

“You may have defeated Adrian and Michalis with relative ease…but just know…I am the oldest and the most powerful of all the Bio Hybrids!” BioPremenitmon said. “And once you are all defeated…every last ounce of your quintessence will go straight to Lady Lilithmon!”

“Why?!” I suddenly blurted out. “Why are you searching for quintessence?!”

“…That’s a stupid question. Why wouldn’t we? If enough is gathered, it can make a person all-powerful, immortal even! We’d be fools to pass up an opportunity like that!”

“He’s gone mad,” Leomon said. “I’ll have to take care of him myself!”

“Wait, Leomon; don’t! You’re injured,” Zelda said.

“Do not fear for my safety, Zelda; Leomon is on the job!” Leomon said as he began to glow with the light of Digivolution. “Leomon Digivolve to, SaberLeomon!”

“So, it is you who wishes to be first in a line of fools? So be it,” BioPremenitmon said.

“Howling Crusher!” SaberLeomon pounced toward the lizard-like Digimon, his claws extended. BioPremenitmon, however, sighed, and before SaberLeomon landed on him, BioPremenitmon raised the golden ankh in his hand and flipped the large beast over onto his back.

“Unlike the other Bio Hybrids, I am not to be taken lightly,” BioPremenitmon said. “Golden Ankh!” BioPremenitmon’s ankh emitted a blinding ray of golden light from it on SaberLeomon; the enormous Mega roared in pain, and I could almost hear his fur sizzling under the intense light. “This light…if one basks in it for a long enough time, they will eventually come to leave this plane of existence…your soul will be pulled from your body, and you will eventually be reborn as another…Such is the miracle of life.”

“Twin Fang!” SaberLeomon quickly got back up to his paws and rammed his head down onto BioPremenitmon’s body; however, the smaller Digimon stopped the beast simply by holding his hand up.

“It seems you’d rather stay the way you are now. I understand,” BioPremenitmon said. “Claw of Phantasms!” Both of the Bio Hybrid’s hands seemed to turn invisible, but at the same time, they were as clearly visible as the rest of his body. BioPremenitmon raked his claws across SaberLeomon’s face. The beast immediately stopped trying to maul BioPremenitmon and instead began to look around the city, a confused expression spreading across his furry face.

“SaberLeomon, what’s wrong?” Zelda asked. SaberLeomon ignored her, and when a collapsed marble column came into his view, he immediately pounced on it, clawing and biting it with all of his might. “What did you do to him?!” she asked tearfully.

“My attack, in addition to inflicting physical damage, makes all those struck by it delirious; they see things that aren’t really there,” BioPremenitmon explained. “The more times one is hit with the attack, the more intense the illusions are, and the more dangerous and painful they can become, up until the point that the illusion kills them…in their minds, whatever they see kills them…In some cases, I’ve noticed this can lead to one’s actual, permanent death. Of course, SaberLeomon is only a Digimon Spirit, so nothing terribly bad will happen to him…”

“But…he can still feel pain,” Zelda said tearfully.

“Yes, I suppose he can, can’t he?” BioPremenitmon asked. “Very well; I’ll end this. Shadow Evolution!” BioPremenitmon’s body became covered in shadows, and in a split second, his form changed into that of the Exalted Knight Gallantmon, the shadows nowhere to be seen. “Well, won’t this be ironic? Sent back to the plane of existence where Digimon Spirits dwell in by the very Digimon he replaced; Final Elysion!” SaberLeomon was completely shrouded in a beam of light coming from Gallantmon’s shield. Gallantmon’s attack finally ended, and SaberLeomon had vanished. “Who’s next?”

Apollomon

Yew

 

I slowly opened my eyes. I was still surrounded by thick, roaring, flames.

BioBlackWarGreymon…where is he?! I looked around and soon found the Bio Hybrid standing above me, breathing heavily.

“You…you are still alive,” he said. He looked as though he were on the verge of collapsing. “Why won’t you…stay dead?!”

“I’ve got something I’m fighting for,” I replied. “I fight…to keep my family, Lachesis, safe. That means out of prison…and away from a firing squad…Saias. You only fight for yourself…that is why you will not win.”

“You’re wrong…you’re wrong!” he shouted. “I fight…because the world needs to recognize what it has done for far too long to the Marked! Everyone needs to pay for what they’ve done to us!”

“…I see. At first, I thought you were just fighting for your own benefit when you said that…but now I understand. You fight on behalf of all Marked…like Zelda,” I said. “But what you are doing…is nothing more than senseless revenge…you’ve turned into Flamedramon, Saias.”

“I don’t care what everyone else thinks of me, so long as I can make the world a better place for the Marked…even if it means destroying everyone who isn’t Marked!”

“I can’t let you do that, Saias.”

“You can’t let me?! Who ever said I was asking for your permission?!”

“For all life on Arcadia…for Humans…for Digimon…and for the Marked…I will stop you! Solblaster!”

“Terra Destroyer!”