Chapter 95: Sword of the Storm

Thomas Kasuto

Yew

20 Minutes

 

Here lies Victoria,

A mother and swordswoman without peer.

Her beauty was matched only by that of her own heart.

 

I stared down unblinkingly at the grave that lay before me, just outside the military HQ that had burned down during Apollomon’s fight against BioBlackWarGreymon. Atop it lay a sheathed blade that had belonged to Victoria. Zelda placed a hand over my shoulder, snapping me out of my trance.

“…It’s…so hard to believe,” Statuedramon said quietly. “I really thought…she’d be staying with us forever in Lachesis…”

“Well, she’s not, okay?” I bent down and picked up her sword.

“…What made you think to get her sword?” Zelda asked.

“…Something happened to me…not long after I started training with her,” I said.

“You mean about the time your leg got injured?” Statuedramon asked. I nodded.

“What happened?” Zelda asked quietly.

“…It happened when we were training, in Valneva Province.”

~~~

“We’re almost done. Just a few more,” Victoria said.

“…Yes, mother.”

“Mother…no need to be so formal, Tommy,” Victoria laughed. “You can…call me mom…or mommy…” I held on tight to the sword she had given to me for my training. I carefully eyed the row of empty wine bottles sitting atop a wood fence. I swung once. At first, I thought I had missed, but… “Tommy…you…you really did it!” I had cleanly sliced through the five bottles, without any of them shattering. It had taken me many, many attempts; I had lost count of how many. “Oh, I’m so proud of you!” She picked me up, and hugged me. It was very tight; I couldn’t even breathe. But she was so warm, and it had been a particularly cold day, so I didn’t complain. “Just wait ‘til Statch hears about this; he’ll be so jealous!” She placed me down, and gazed into my eyes. “You’ve gotten so…skilled…in such a short amount of time.” She was crying tears of joy. At the time, I didn’t understand why she had gotten so emotional, but now I know…I was the same age as her son…Michalis. “Oh, wait right here! I’ll go get him!”

Victoria ran off, leaving me alone with five broken bottles of wine and a sword. I sat down on the fence, and I waited. I waited for about ten minutes, but still, she did not return. I sighed, and stood up. I looked up at the sky. I felt the temperature of the air rise steadily. I picked up my sword, and looked around. Nothing. A surge of flames rushed out from the forest and surrounded me. It was a lounge of Flarerizamon. They didn’t speak; they barely even stopped moving. One of them lunged out at me, and tore into my right leg with his claws. I fell to the ground. My leg was bleeding heavily, and the wound from the Flarerizamon’s claws burned; it felt like my entire leg was on fire. The flames closed in on me…which was when Victoria returned. She hit a Flarerizamon from behind, and instantly killed it. They all turned to face her. Two of them ran off, but four remained behind. They all rushed at her; she swung her blade, and killed another. She tried to attack the other three, but they had backed away, and they began attacking her from a distance. She wasn’t able to fight back as well as it seems she would have been able to, and she seemed like she was having trouble anticipating where they would attack. Another attack grazed past her leg, and she fell. The three Flarerizamon surrounded her, and out of desperation, she swung her sword…and all of a sudden, it began to rain. Neither of us knew what had happened; the sky was clear only moments before, but as soon as she swung her blade, a heavy deluge poured down on the Flarerizamon while the sword began to glow. With the three Digimon subdued, she ran and sliced through them, and killed them. As soon as they disappeared, the rain cleared up. We looked up at the sky; it was clear once again, as if it had never rained.

~~~

“It wasn’t until Wisemon described Susanoomon’s blades, what they could do, that I remembered what had happened on that day,” I said.

“You think this could be one of Susanoomon’s two swords?” Statuedramon asked.

“Who knows? It may have just been a coincidence,” I said. “But…if I don’t at least try, then we’ll never know.” I looked down at the lone grave. “I’m sorry…Victoria…but I’m going to need to borrow this. I hope you don’t mind…”

“She wouldn’t have,” Statuedramon said. “She would…be glad to help us in a time like this…right?”

“…Yeah…she would…” I let out a long sigh, giving the grave one final look before turning around and walking over to a pair of graves nearby. “…This…is where Saias and Lector are…right?”

“Yeah, Saias’s is right there,” Statuedramon said, reaching a hand into the mouth design on his shield and pulling a sword out. “Here you go.”

Taking the sword, I gently placed it down atop Saias’s grave. “..They…may not have been allies at the very end of it all…but they were still our friends,” I said. “Saias…who allowed us to stay in his house, even after his death, and Lector…he was the one to bury Victoria here…”

“We’ll stop them,” Zelda said. “For Saias, Lector, and Victoria’s sakes…and for Anna, and Neptunemon, too…”

“…Shall we get going, then?” I asked. “Let’s go home; Pheragas and the others must be getting impatient by now…”

Saias’s Villa

20 Minutes

 

“So, Belphemon’s really gone,” Luna said absently. All of us sat around the living room.

“And Neptunemon is gone as vell,” Pheragas added. He sighed gruffly, running his fingers across the blade of his axe. “And Apollomon still has not returned to us…”

“Damn it, where are they?!” Statuedramon asked.

“Maybe…do you think they’re fighting against the Order of the Enchantress without us?” Zelda asked.

“I find that unlikely,” I said. “Everything we heard from Wisemon, Apollomon knows. There’s no way…he would do this without the help of his friends…”

“But Dianamon, BlackGaomon, and maybe even Seraphimon are all with Mr. Apollomon,” Chrysania said. “There’s no way anything really really bad would happen to Mr. Apollomon that way!”

“So, vut do ve do now?” Pheragas asked. “Do ve vait? Or do ve disobey and take action?” With an unfamiliar unease, I noticed that the large man was looking at me.

“Why are you staring at me, Pheragas?”

“We want you to make that decision for us, Thomas,” Luna said.

I took a step back. “What?! Why me?! You and Pheragas have been here longer, either of you two should be the one to—”

“The two of us have talked it over, and we just feel like you’re better suited than us for being in charge until Apollomon returns.” Luna, sitting on a couch opposite from me, smiled and winked at me. I looked over at Pheragas, who nodded reassuringly at me.

“Ve ah at a loss of vut to do vitout a leader,” Pheragas said. “I…am incapable at making a rational decision in a critical situation…”

“Strategic planning isn’t really my thing,” Luna shrugged. “Soooo….I’m all for letting our Assassin boss us around.”

“Chrissy has faith in you, Tommy!” Chrysania said eagerly, smiling doe-eyed at me in the manner a younger sister would.

“This is…all very sudden,” I said. I looked at everyone in the room and into their eyes. All of them truly seemed all for having me as their leader.

“Ve vould have told you earlier, but you vere gone for so long,” Pheragas said.

“You’ve got a crafty mind, buddy,” Statuedramon said. “Remember when you tricked DeathPhantomon into revealing his weaknesses to you? That was…amazing…especially if you consider that DeathPhantomon himself is supposed to be a highly intelligent Digimon. You’re always the one Zelda and I come to when we want to know what to do; it’s gotten to where I do this without thinking, but now that Pheragas mentions it…you do seem to be the leader of our little threesome. We…need someone like you to guide us until Apollomon returns.”

“No, not someone like him,” Zelda said. “It has to be exactly him. I have faith in you, Thomas.”

“Go ahead...give me my hard, strict orders, Mr. Boss Man,” Luna said teasingly.

“Tell us vut ve vill be doing vile vaiting for Apollomon,” Pheragas said. “Do ve go after Lilithmon or not?”

“So…whatever I decide to do is what everyone is fine with doing, right?” I asked.

“Well, if you suggest something that would put Chrysania in danger, I’m afraid I would have to refuse,” Luna said. “I might even curse you.”

“Just give us guidance,” Statuedramon said. “Tell us what to do.”

I looked up and said, “…Okay. The only member of the Order that we can account for is SkullCaliphmon, in his desert castle. He is immortal under the light of the moon, but only while he stands inside his castle, which is filled with traps. We need some way to lure him out…”

“He doesn’t seem very bright; maybe we can just trick him out,” Statch suggested.

“Well, we can’t go now; by the time we get there, it’ll be night. That would make it harder for us to trick him out.”

“So, ve should go at night?” Pheragas asked. “Ven ve get dare, it vill be day; is dat vut you ah saying?”

“It would take a little more than a day to get to Primrose Village from here…It’s late afternoon right now…We wouldn’t have enough time to trick him out of his castle if we left now. Furthermore, we don’t know our way around the castle, and if we got lost in there, we might never get out. Maybe we ought to wait until Apollomon returns before going after him…What do you think, Statch?”

“Thomas, you’re the one in charge, remember?” Luna asked.

“…In that case…We wait…see what develops. If nothing happens in a week’s time…if Apollomon has not returned within that time…we will go to SkullCaliphmon’s castle. That should give us enough time to think of a plan of how to proceed with going about in his castle.”

“Dat is a good plan,” Pheragas said. “I knew you vould make a good leader.”

“Well, I’m not so sure about that,” I said.

“You want us to wait, right? That’s what we’ll do, then,” Luna said. “It is always better to wait and think of a strategy like you suggested than to foolishly rush in and get us all killed. That’s why you were chosen, Thomas, and not Statuedramon.”

“Hey!”

“Oh, come on, Statuedramon; even you have to admit that you do that,” Luna said.

“No, not that,” Statch said. “I…felt the ground shaking…”

“…No, not again…” Cautiously, I stepped outside onto the villa’s porch; far away on the horizon, I made out the figure of Hydramon slowly getting closer and closer. “Hydramon’s here!” Statuedramon and Zelda ran up behind me just as the Mega Digimon stepped onto the front lawn.

“Hey, you guys are looking lively,” Hydramon said. His three heads, all with eyes glowing yellow, looked down at me, tongues flickering occasionally, giving me an idea.

“…Rumor has it all of you heads aren’t on the best of terms,” I said.

“I’ll have you know that we are all the best of friends!” Hydramon’s right head said.

“Shut up; I do all the talking!” the center head yelled.

“How did someone like you get to be one of the most deadly Digimon in the history of Arcadia?” I asked.

“I’d bet he can’t even fight,” Statuedramon said. “They’d be too busy arguing to do any damage!”

“You shouldn’t judge us by how we heads interact with one another,” Hydramon said. I sighed.

“…Do you know what this is?” I asked, holding up Victoria’s sword.

“Ach, that is most definitely a sword, ya moron, ya!” Hydramon’s left head said.

“This is the sword that once belonged to my mother, Victoria, before she…before she was murdered,” I said. “This sword…is one of the two remaining swords from your fight with Susanoomon.” The three heads flinched backward, eyeing the sword with fear.

“…Yeah, that’s one of them, all right; I can tell from its stench,” Hydramon’s right head said.

“I told yeh we shouldn’t a’ come!” the left head said.

“Oi, I’m not in the mood for this,” the right head sighed. “The other heads thought I’d be best to go up…right. Oi, ’d they ever pick the wrong head for this one, then…”

“Are you going to talk or fight?” Statuedramon asked. “I bet you’re all scared; not that I blame you, having to fight someone using the same weapon that killed you five hundred years ago.”

“…Silence, Rookie,” Hydramon’s center head spat in an eerily calm manner. “Lernaean Inferno!”

All right; here’s my chance! All three of Hydramon’s heads reared up, with orange flames rising up from their mouths. I eyed each of them quickly and carefully as I jumped up, taking a swing at one of the heads with Victoria’s sword. The stricken head, the one on the right, coughed up flames as blood came spilling out the wound I inflicted. The other two halted their attacked and looked to see what was happening as I swung again, lopping off the head completely and watching it fall to the ground in a dead, bloody heap as blood poured out his open neck. The center head, which was the largest one and the one with the darkest scales, peered over at me as I wiped the blood from my sword. He almost seemed to be grinning.

“Don’t think this automatically means I’ve lost,” Hydramon said. “I’ve six more heads for you to deal with before I die for good!”

“Den allow me to help!” Pheragas’s huge axe flew through the air and struck Hydramon’s left head, cutting through it in a single, clean motion, and both weapon and head hit the ground at the same time. Hydramon’s remaining head quickly looked over at Pheragas as he walked over to his axe and picked it up out of the puddle of blood.

“How did you do that?!” Hydramon asked. “How could a mere Human with a regular weapon cut through my scales so easily?! The kid with Susanoomon’s sword, I can understand, but this?! Are you—”

“Dis is noting more dan an ordinary axe,” Pheragas said. “And I am noting more dan an ordinary man.”

“An ordinary man who can tear a tree out of the earth with his bare hands!” Statuedramon said proudly.

“Statuedramon, I keep telling you, dat was not a tree,” Pheragas sighed. “Dat was…oh, never mind…” Pheragas and I looked at the huge Mega as a crackling sound resonated through the air, as if from a fire. In the blink of an eye, four more heads popped out around Hydramon’s remaining head.

“Oh, thank the Goddess those two are dead,” one of the heads said. “I couldn’t take much more of their bitching!”

“Like you’re one to talk!” another head sneered.

“Yeah, that’s all we hear from you, after all!” a third head spoke up.

“Now, don’t you two start acting like you’re all innocent in all of this!” the first head snapped.

“WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP?!?!” Hydramon’s center head shouted. “AND YOU — WAKE UP!!!” the fourth and final head, which was drooped over the center head, shot straight up and looked around with half-open eyes.

“Aw, why’d you have to wake me?” the head asked. “I was having such a nice dream…”

“You can sleep all you want after we burn them!”

“Don’t you dare go tellin’ us what to do, now!” the second head said.

“Well, let’s get started, shall we?” I whispered to Statch.

“No, I wanna keep watching them; this is kinda funny,” Statuedramon said.

“Statuedramon…I order you to help me and Pheragas murder him.”

“Fine, fine…”

“And me.” I turned and saw that behind me stood Vajramon, with Zelda holding his Talisman close beside him. Next to her was Luna, shrouded in a golden light that obscured her body from view.

“We’re ready to help you with this,” Luna said.

“Lernaean Inferno!” With all of his heads facing a different direction, Hydramon spewed out limitless amounts of orange flames from his mouths in every direction.

“What the…he’s not even aiming at us!” Statuedramon said.

“You’re right,” I said. “He knows he doesn’t have much longer to live, so he’s just destroying as much as he can before he goes.” Hydramon’s flames burned through nearly everything around us; the lawn, the trees, even the pavement.

“If he had any sense of accuracy, he’d have hit our house,” Statch said.

“I’ll stop him before he gets that far,” Luna said. “Freezing Blizzard!” A chilling breeze escaped from Luna’s hands, freezing over four of Hydramon’s heads. The fire he had produced also suffered the same fate, freezing before shattering. Vajramon subsequently swung his two swords, firing off a Deva Blade which hit two of the heads, causing them to shatter as well.

“No! My brothers!” Hydramon looked on in horror as Statuedramon and Pheragas struck down two more of his heads until only his one, center head was left. My fingers tightened around the hilt of Victoria’s sword as I looked up at the enormous beast. The Digimon stared back, eyeing me carefully and with great spite in his eyes. “Herculean Slicer!” Hydramon’s tail shot down, striking my own sword just as I had begun to raise it higher.

“I wonder…how much longer will you last against this sword?” I asked. I glanced up, noticing the sky was beginning to darken as thick clouds hastened to cover it. Looks like the rumors about this sword were true.

“I don’t care!” Hydramon snapped. His voice was shaking from exhaustion, and it was reflected in his face as he continued to struggle against my sword. “You…you killed my brothers! You murdered Belphemon! You will all be destroyed!”

“…I guess there’s no avoiding it.” With a small effort, I pushed harder against Hydramon’s tail, slicing clear through it. The blade tip hit the ground in a puddle of blood. When Hydramon noticed, his face went blank with shock as I jumped up, aiming my sword at his final head.

“N—no way…” Hydramon howled. He roared in pain as I cut through the last head, separating it from his body. Both hit the ground, and both dissolved into nothingness. At that instant, rain began to fall from the sky, washing away the blood from the grass.

“…That’s two down,” I said to myself, wiping Hydramon’s blood off Victoria’s sword with my bare hands.

“Meaning dare ah ten left,” Pheragas pondered.

“And one more; Sephyrus is still working with them,” Statch added. “He might be just as dangerous as DeathPhantomon with his ability to turn into whoever he wants.”

“What now, Mr. Boss Man?” Luna asked.

“I believe it would still be best if we wait until Apollomon returns before we act,” I said. “But our plan remains the same; if he does not return within a week’s time, we will go after SkullCaliphmon, and during that time spent waiting, we will continue thinking of a plan.” I looked south, in the direction of the desert. Just wait, SkullCaliphmon…we will put an end to you and the others.

SkullCaliphmon

Cyprus Desert

2 Hours

 

I sat atop my sand and dust covered throne…as usual. I looked around my castle; sunlight shone through where the roof would be had I not demolished it ages ago, filling the room with its bright, nauseatingly luminous gleam. Oh, how I hated the sunlight…in that regard, I reminded myself of Myotismon. However, I needed the moon’s light to remain immortal, so this was a sacrifice that I was more than willing to make. I lifted my head and sighed. Man…I’m bored outta my skull just sitting here! But…I can’t leave; what if they find me wandering around outside the castle? I won’t be immortal…and they could very easily…no, what am I thinking? There’s no way a few Humans could defeat the Skeleton King! Lost in my thoughts, I failed to hear the footsteps of someone or something approaching me.

“I’m glad I was able to find you, your grace.” Had I a heart, it would have leapt out of my chest in surprise. Surprise and…happiness, I suppose you could say, upon recognizing the voice that had spoken.

“T…Tactimon? Tactimon…that is you, is it not?”

“Your grace, it has been far too long since our last meeting,” Tactimon said, kneeling before me. “Forgive me…I should have been at your side when you fought SlashAngemon all those years ago.”

“Don’t worry yourself about it, Tactimon,” I said. “So…what have you been doing these past five hundred years?”

“I have done nothing more than hone my skill with my blade, all while awaiting your return,” Tactimon said. “I knew you would be back someday, your grace, and it was only recently that I learned of your return. I knew this would be where you would come, so I came here as fast as I could when I heard of your arrival from the Dark Area.”

“How…noble of you, Tactimon,” I said.

“It was the least I could do for you, your grace. I would do anything you ask of me. You know that.”

“…Yes, I do. Tactimon…there are a few people attempting to keep us from keeping our freedom,” I said. “We deserve our freedom as much as they, and yet, they are trying mercilessly to take it from us.”

“They will be stopped!” Tactimon said indignantly, standing straight up.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you!” A tall and Human-shaped Digimon flew down through my open roof, landing next to Tactimon.

“Myotismon…what may I help you with?” I asked.

“Oh, surely you’ve heard?” Myotismon asked. “About Belphemon and Hydramon?”

“…What about them?”

“Seems like you haven’t been told yet. SkullCaliphmon…both Belphemon and Hydramon are dead.”

“What?!” I jabbed my sword into the ground.

“Belphemon was killed a few days ago by those Humans, and Hydramon fell a mere few hours ago.”

“…This…is not good,” I said. “They’re killing us off too quickly for us to retaliate, and with each death, the rest of us grow weaker…”

“You’re right. They need to be dealt with,” Myotismon mused. “But how…?”

“…Myotismon…do you think you would be capable of finishing them off?” I asked. “Horusmon told me their leader and Seraphimon were buried in a landslide in the Black Rose Mountains. Do you think you could—”

“I would be honored,” Myotismon said.

Heh. Guess the kid still looks up to me. Flattering.

“SkullCaliphmon, I will not let you down,” Myotismon said. “In a few days’ time, both those Humans and Yew will fall!”

“Yew? Why Yew?”

“I have to do something to get their attention, don’t I?” Myotismon shrugged. “Those Humans…just thinking about them makes my blood boil!”

“Yes. Let your anger grow…let it strike like lightning. Leave nothing of them.”

“I fully intend to.”