Chapter 82: A Dire Return

Statuedramon

Mandala City

 

“Who wants to go next?” I asked.

“You think you’re so tough; why don’t you try fighting all of us at once?!” Lupinemon asked.

“I’d be happy to!”

“That means you as well, Lilithmon,” Machinedramon said.

“I—I knew that!” Lilithmon stuttered. “Then…that means Sephyrus, too!”

“Of course, milady,” Sephyrus bowed.

“And where’s Michalis?!” the female Demon Lord asked.

“I’ve sent him out to find Cherubimon,” Sephyrus replied. “He’s never been good at finding things, so I doubt he’ll be successful…”

“Don’t talk about my son that way,” Lilithmon said defensively.

“Are you guys ready yet?” I asked. “Because I’d like to begin…by destroying the lot of you!”

“Big words from such a short Digimon!” Lupinemon said. “I’m ready whenever you are!”

“Have at you!” I brandished my sword. Bathed in the refracted light the flittered down from the ocean, it looked capable to repel the very evil that lurked in the depths of even Lilithmon’s heart.

“Breath of Wyvern!” A large, dragon-shaped aura flew over my head and struck the advancing Digimon, creating an explosion that sent dust flying into the air.

“Statuedramon!” Thomas said. A chill went down my spine. Never once in my life had I ever heard his voice sound that strict. “You heard BlackGaomon…you were ordered not to come here.” Through the smoke cloud, I could see him standing at the entrance of the sunken city next to Zelda and Dynasmon.

“Oh, Statuedramon, you aren’t hurt, are you?!” Zelda ran through the dust cloud and placed her arms around me. “They haven’t attacked you, have they?”

“…No, I—I’m fine,” I said.

Zelda looked at me; her blue eyes were filled with concern. “Oh, thank the goddess! Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay!”

She…was that worried about me? Thomas and Dynasmon began walking over to us. Thomas…you sure lucked out finding a girl this sweet. The dust cloud cleared, and the opposing Digimon were staring us down.

“BlackGaomon told us not to go because we don’t stand a chance against them,” Thomas said. “Next time…listen to orders when they are given, and obey them when you hear them.”

“..Yeah…I’ll do that,” I said. The loud echoing of Machinedramon’s footstep interrupted us.

“I grow weary of this; I will just destroy you all!” Machinedramon shouted. The cannons on Machinedramon’s back began to glow. “Giga Cannon!”

“Get behind me!” I yelled, and just as Machinedramon unleashed his attack, I held up my shield and absorbed the cannon blast. My sword attack took on a bright silver glow as I attacked Machinedramon in return. Machinedramon was left standing, many pieces of his mechanical body short-circuiting and hanging on by a few wires. I leapt up and hacked away at him a few times with my sword, and Machinedramon was no more. “Well…as long as we’re here, why don’t we finish up?”

“No,” Thomas said. “BlackGaomon gave us an order…and I intend to follow it through.”

“Meaning you don’t want to fight them.”

“Not as we are now,” Zelda said. “Without Apollomon and Seraphimon, we don’t stand as good a chance of defeating Lilithmon!”

“…Let’s go, Statch,” Thomas said.

“Well, then; if you have no desire to fight, then I’ll gladly step in!” Lupinemon said, lunging through the air at us.

“Dynasmon!” Zelda cried.

“Leave this to me, milady,” Dynasmon said. “Dragon’s Roar!” Dynasmon charged energy in the palms of his hands and rapidly punched Lupinemon to the ground as Thomas ran over to her and slit her throat with his sword. Lupinemon fell to her side, dead.

“I don’t think we need their help,” I said. “We seem to be doing just fine without—”

“Statch, come on!” Thomas grabbed my wrist and dragged me away from the other Digimon.

“What’s the big deal?! I killed two of them all by myself, and I’ll bet I can—”

“Not against DeathPhantomon,” Thomas said. “He doesn’t fight like other Digimon, remember? He attacks the opponents’ spirit, not their physical body! We can’t fight someone like that!” Thomas and Zelda forcefully dragged me over to one of the city’s Blue Tiles, and in an instant, we had left Mandala, arriving at what seemed to be an empty bar in Yew.

“Okay…I’ll admit DeathPhantomon would’ve been pretty difficult at first, but I really believe I can beat that guy!”

“You don’t understand!” Thomas sighed. “There is no winning against a Digimon that fights like that…not with brute strength, at any rate, and certainly not with your usual way of doing things. To defeat DeathPhantomon, we’ll need to formulate some sort of strategy.”

“…Okay. Fine. Let’s just go back to the villa, all right?”

Thomas nodded in agreement, and the three of us set off.

Sephyrus

 

“The nerve of those pests!” Lilithmon fumed.

“’Twas quite the inconvenience, eh wot?” DeathPhantomon asked in an amused voice.

“What are you still doing here?!” Lilithmon asked. “GO AFTER THEM! Don’t let them get away!”

“Of course…milady,” DeathPhantomon said mockingly, cackling to himself as he hovered away.

“…Sephyrus. Have you any idea when Michalis might be back?”

“Right now!” Michalis said excitedly, running up to us from a Blue Tile. “Did I miss anything?”

I turned to face the boy. “Hydramon, Machinedramon, and Lupinemon were all killed,” I said. “DeathPhantomon remains still, but otherwise, you haven’t missed much.”

“What about you?” Lilithmon looked at Michalis. “Were you successful?”

“Successful with what? Oh, right; Cherubimon! No, I couldn’t find him, mother,” Michalis said. “Not even the slightest clue, I’m afraid…”

Lilithmon let out a weary sigh.

“Do not worry, milady,” I said. “He’ll show up soon.”

“I hope you’re right, Sephyrus,” Lilithmon said.

Thomas Kasuto

Saias’s Villa

Living Room

30 Minutes

 

I stood with Zelda in one corner of the room, watching BlackGaomon pace back and forth. “…I suppose I oughtn’t be surprised by what you did, Statuedramon,” he said to the same-heighted Rookie sitting before him on a sofa. “That’s just how you are as a person…and there’s nothing that can be done about that.”

“I guess not,” Statch said. “So…can we go back and fight them, then?” I glanced from Statch’s eager face to BlackGaomon’s, which looked impatient.

“Absolutely not!” BlackGaomon snapped. “Not without a plan, at least; DeathPhantomon is one of the strongest members of the Order of the Enchantress. He can lock his enemies in eternal nightmares. He can change the opponent into a spirit who cannot come in contact with anything, only to be harmed by his scythe. He can change his shape. He cannot be defeated by conventional means, so we’ll need an unconventional plan for stopping him.”

“…I tried telling you the same thing earlier, Statuedramon,” I said. The Rookie shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes. “BlackGaomon, didn’t Apollomon give you any information on him?”

“The Digimon that killed DeathPhantomon before; didn’t he at least give a name?” Statuedramon asked.

“Don’t you remember? He told you it was a Flamedramon that did it,” BlackGaomon said.

“Right…a different Flamedramon from the one we know,” Statch said. “Hey, why don’t we just find the Flamedramon we know to kick his ass for us?”

“Would Flamedramon really be willing to do it?” Luna asked.

“If Zelda asks him to do it, he probably would,” Chrysania said.

Everyone in the room turned to look at Zelda, and after a moment, she reluctantly said, “…Well…Flamedramon was one of the Marked when he was a Human,” she explained. “When we traveled together last year, the way he spoke to me…his voice sounded as though he couldn’t refuse a favor from me…”

“And, of course, that’s only assuming we actually know where Flamedramon is,” BlackGaomon added. “Zelda…if we were to hypothetically find him, do you think you could convince him to do what we want?”

“I…I don’t like taking advantage of other people’s kindness, but I’ll try…”

“Well, try not to think of it as simply ‘taking advantage of his kindness,’” Luna suggested. “Think of it as asking for his help to protect Arcadia. I guess that does sound kind of odd, asking for help from a Digimon who once wanted to do the exact opposite, though…”

“Does Zelda know where Flamedramon might be?” Chrysania asked.

“No. Nobody’s seen or heard from him since he helped us fight Lilithmon a few weeks ago,” Zelda said. “It’s the same with Abigail, too.”

“Maybe we don’t need Flamedramon,” Statuedramon suggested. “If a Flamedramon was able to defeat that DeathPhantomon, then maybe all we need to do is set him on fire or something!”

“…You know…that may not be a bad idea,” BlackGaomon said.

“I wouldn’t count on that working,” I said. “Remember what Apollomon said; DeathPhantomon is capable of changing himself, just like BioPremenitmon. I wouldn’t count on the same tactic working more than once, especially for a Digimon as clever as that.”

“Yeah, but—” a knock on the front door interrupted Statuedramon. BlackGaomon walked over to it and opened it, gasping in surprise.

“Apollomon?!”

The tall Mega Digimon walked with a limp into the villa.

“Apollomon, what are you doing back here? Did you find Seraphimon already?” Luna asked.

“And where are Dianamon and Pheragas?” Statuedramon asked.

“…They…they’re dead…”