Yukidarumon

"Leomon, how are you doing?" Matt asked.

Leomon rubbed his hands together, regaining a little warmth. "Yukidarumon really is a monster. I'm never doing this again." With that, he drew the Male Soul Blade and shattered the ice around his feet.

This wasn't the first time Leomon had said that. No one took it seriously anyway. Otherwise, Leomon was strong enough to kill Yukidarumon outright. Why would he keep holding back against him?

Yukidarumon was a special kind of Digimon who could be classified as an elemental creature. For elemental creatures, home-field advantage was their greatest source of confidence.

Perhaps the Black Gear couldn't fully control elemental Digimon, or perhaps the low temperature affected its power. In any case, after being controlled by the Black Gear, Yukidarumon had only suffered a drastic drop in intelligence. His nature hadn't changed much. Otherwise, he and Leomon would have fought to the death long ago.

With the Night Dawn Sword on his back and Gabumon in his arms, Matt followed closely behind Leomon as they left the snow-covered area.

Once they left the snowy area, the Night Dawn Sword vibrated from time to time, reminding them that something very important lay within it. This made life miserable for Matt. After all, the Night Dawn Sword was the weapon of an Emperor Realm expert, and its first few vibrations had been calibrated to that level of sensitivity. Neither Matt nor Leomon had reacted at all. Now, every time it acted up, it dragged Matt on a wild rampage within a ten-meter radius. Even Leomon and Garurumon, Gabumon's evolved form, couldn't restrain the Night Dawn Sword together. Leomon's reluctance to use lethal force was part of the reason, but even if he had gone all out, he probably couldn't have stopped it.

So now Matt was once again being carried ten meters into the air by the Night Dawn Sword, flying about freely. Leomon and Gabumon calmly prepared food. After all, Matt was just an ordinary human, and he still needed to eat and drink.

It was nearly half an hour before the Night Dawn Sword finally put Matt down. Naturally, Matt couldn't stand being dragged around like this every day. Still, this torment was also a form of training. By now, he could just barely keep up with Leomon.

"Leomon, there's something I need to say," Matt said.

Leomon didn't answer, merely nodding to show that he was listening.

"Leomon, we're running out of time," Matt said. "The Night Dawn Sword is getting impatient. It might look the same every day, but I can feel its urgency." Matt was only an ordinary human, but he was involved in the arts. People always said artists were the most sensitive. Matt seemed to have an innate ability to sense what others were thinking through small, inadvertent details, even when the other party was nothing more than a sword.

Leomon felt that same urgency. After hearing Matt's words, he said, "I understand. Next time, if I can't destroy the Black Gear, I'll just kill Yukidarumon." His voice was calm.

Matt went pale at Leomon's words. For someone who had lived in peaceful times, the word "kill" was truly shocking. Garurumon had killed Seadramon, but there was a huge difference between humanoid and non-humanoid creatures.

"Leomon, didn't you say you and Yukidarumon were friends? We can still think of another way. Don't do something you'll regret just because we're in a hurry," Matt urged.

"Matt, it's all right. Your mission is to save the Digimon World. In that process, the lives of all Digimon are nothing more than insignificant specks of dust. That includes Yukidarumon and me." Leomon had developed this outlook from Zheng Fan's accounts of Buzhou's history and the Digimon's resistance during the Darkness Invasion. Otherwise, Leomon would have been nothing more than a young fellow with a few ideals.

"Besides, as his good friend, if I can't free Yukidarumon from the Black Gear's control, I might as well put him out of his misery. No Digimon with a will of their own could accept being controlled like this. Yukidarumon has already destroyed several Digimon settlements. If we can't save him now, he'll be just as heartbroken when he comes to his senses and learns what he's done."

"Is that what friends should do? Kill a friend so they won't be sad?" Matt murmured.

Hearing Matt's muttering, Leomon suddenly realized something. "Matt, don't overthink it. Zheng Fan told me that a true friend should either stop their friend from doing something they'll regret, or quietly wait until that regret comes and then help them make amends. We don't have time to wait, and I don't know how to help Yukidarumon make amends, so I might as well destroy him. That way, I'll be the one left with regret and sorrow, not Yukidarumon. I don't know how you humans think, but killing each other is certainly not what good friends are supposed to do."

Matt didn't reply to Leomon's words. He merely nodded to show that he had heard.

Early the next morning, Leomon and Matt entered the snowy area again.

"Absolute Zero Punch!" A wave of cold spread from Yukidarumon's fist. Although Matt no longer trembled all over as he had at first, he still had little strength left to move freely.

Yukidarumon was a Champion, Vaccine-type, Ice-type Digimon. His special move was Absolute Zero Punch, which could freeze any object solid.

Yukidarumon had no neck. His round head had two catlike ears, making him quite adorable. His black eyes and nose, as well as his red buttons, looked like decorations a mischievous child had added after building a snowman. Apart from his eyes and buttons, his entire body was snow-white. He was Yukidarumon, after all.

Unlike most humanoid Digimon, Yukidarumon had no fingers-or rather, he had only two. His entire broad palm was a single solid piece. This structure made the same punching techniques far more powerful in his hands.

Yukidarumon's Absolute Zero Punch was pure cold, capable of freezing an opponent solid directly. Of course, that absolute zero applied only to Champion Digimon, or rather, to energy at the Champion level. If a Mega Digimon used an attack with Champion-level energy, Yukidarumon could freeze that attack solid. Naturally, elemental advantages and disadvantages were another matter.

Leomon was certainly not a fire-type. In the area where he and Yukidarumon fought, frozen lion heads littered the ground. These were all Leomon's Beast King Fists.

Now was the chance. "Gabumon digivolve to... Garurumon!" Just as Yukidarumon turned, "Fox Fire!" Pale blue flames erupted from Garurumon's mouth, aimed straight at Yukidarumon's back.

A Black Gear was embedded in Yukidarumon's back. Half of it was inside his body, while the other half remained exposed. However, Yukidarumon had already frozen the exposed portion in ice. Until that layer was broken, they couldn't destroy the Black Gear.

The torrent of pale blue flame poured onto the solid ice on Yukidarumon's back. But Leomon wasn't much of a teacher. Under Zheng Fan's guidance, Greymon could already hit whatever he aimed at, whereas Garurumon's attack splashed everywhere. Not only did it make Yukidarumon howl in pain, but Leomon also had to dodge carefully. That went without mentioning the pits and hollows it burned into the snow.

Garurumon's Fox Fire was a kind of ice flame. An explosive Super Flame like Greymon's would erupt in an instant and leave its opponent half-dead. If it struck this snowy ground, it would leave a crater along with melted snow. Fox Fire's power, however, lay in its terrifying persistence. Seadramon's Water Breath was powerful, wasn't it? Yet because it had failed to defeat Garurumon immediately, Garurumon had successfully counterattacked with Fox Fire through the Water Breath. Ordinary Digimon couldn't withstand Fox Fire's relentless assault. And although Fox Fire burned at a high temperature, it was still a kind of ice flame. Just as it did now, the scattered flames left nothing but pits when they landed on the snow, burning away even the meltwater. Yet there was no burning or boiling at any point.

Screaming in pain, Yukidarumon actually forced himself to turn despite Leomon's attacks. Leomon showed no hesitation, seizing the opportunity to attack fiercely. Ice shards flew everywhere. Compared with Fox Fire's gradual melting, Leomon's barrage filled the ice with cracks.

This was an opening. Even Matt could see it. Garurumon took even greater care to hold Yukidarumon's attention.

But only after facing him head-on did Garurumon understand the pressure Leomon had been under. Unlike a plains Digimon such as Leomon, Garurumon was highly adapted to snowy regions, and his fighting strength hadn't diminished. Still, Yukidarumon's Absolute Zero Punch was not something he could withstand. Unless he used his full power, even Fox Fire would be frozen solid. But if he did use his full power, Yukidarumon could be killed at any moment. Ice and fire countered each other, after all. Once Yukidarumon caught fire, even Garurumon wouldn't be able to control it.

Under these circumstances, Garurumon narrowly evaded Absolute Zero Punch several times. But if they could keep this up, Leomon would soon break through the ice.

"Absolute Zero Punch!" Yukidarumon punched at Garurumon again. "Fox Fire!" Garurumon spat flames to hold Absolute Zero Punch at bay. Suddenly, Yukidarumon pulled back his fist. Noticing this, Garurumon immediately halted his attack and turned his head, sweeping Fox Fire past Yukidarumon's side. Unexpectedly, Yukidarumon used this chance to turn and punch Leomon in the chest.

Although Leomon had been on guard, Yukidarumon's punch was clearly an ordinary blow thrown on a sudden whim. It carried his natural chill, but that couldn't affect Leomon. Still, Yukidarumon's only aim was to knock Leomon back.

In that brief opening, Yukidarumon twisted his arm to an angle impossible for a human and delivered an Absolute Zero Punch to his own back. With a series of cracking sounds, the ice covering the Black Gear returned to its original state.

Yukidarumon suffered for it too. He had slowly formed the original ice layer using his own body temperature. Now that he had used his special move to create it, he was both the one expending the energy and the one taking the attack. Moreover, the absolute-zero ice was not only sturdier than ordinary ice, but also much heavier. Yukidarumon felt as though he were carrying an iceberg on his back.