Wall of flames

"Have more of your Digimon arrived? Looks like this move was the right choice. You humans call it feeding troops in piecemeal, don't you?" Phantomon said happily, sensing Garurumon's arrival.

"It's Matt. Matt's here! We can definitely beat Phantomon now." Through his binoculars, Tai spotted Garurumon and Matt from far away.

Garurumon was fast. In the brief time Phantomon spent speaking, Garurumon had already appeared before everyone.

"Garurumon, go help everyone fight." Matt jumped off Garurumon's back as he spoke. Compared with Sora Takenouchi's dismount, his steady landing could only be described as graceful. Yet without any hair-raising moves, steady became unremarkable.

"Be careful, Garurumon. This one's an Ultimate," Greymon warned.

"No problem. Ultimate, huh? Try my new finishing move!" Garurumon intended to show off the moment the battle began. "Garuru Crystal Sword!" Despite taking the exact same stance used for Fox Fire, Garurumon shouted an entirely new name.

The Fox Fire pouring from Garurumon's mouth was no longer fluid, but had solidified completely. Under Garurumon's control, it took the shape of a sword-the Night Dawn Sword. Only the tip remained stable, however. Behind it, the blade crumbled during flight, and the hilt at the very back had reverted to Fox Fire before the attack reached Phantomon.

Form-based attacks essentially fell into two categories: those modeled on a species and those modeled on an individual. Take the tiger form of Xingyi Fist, for instance. Once one's understanding of the tiger form reached a certain level, the Tiger Fist would be bolstered by the imposing presence of the universe's tiger species. This applied within a single universe. If another universe had no tigers, Tiger Fist would be rendered useless.

The same Tiger Fist could also be cultivated by modeling it on an individual. Take the tiger king of the tiger species, for example. If someone studied the tiger king's form to practice Xingyi Fist, their punches would carry the tiger king's imposing presence. Because the subject of their understanding was that individual tiger king, once they understood it completely, they would become the tiger king. Differences in physique, cultivation paths, or the laws of different universes might distinguish them from the real tiger king, but they would still count as the tiger king. Although this method of cultivation could grant even mortals immense power, it was also the easiest way to lose oneself-a form of possession in disguise.

Finally, there were powerhouses like Pangu and Nuwa, invincible across all the heavens and worlds. One did not even need to follow them for years. As long as one yearned for them, even the lines of a child's imagination or the colors of a casual doodle could lead to an understanding of such mighty beings' wills. Using that understanding to perform form-based attacks might draw their attention. If someone was fortunate enough to borrow their power, a wave of the hand could shake heaven and earth and make ghosts and gods weep. Yet even setting aside whether such fortunate people existed, attracting one of these mighty beings' attention meant entering the sight of all of them. Without tremendous resolve, wisdom, and fortune, true freedom would be impossible.

Phantomon paid no heed to a Champion Digimon's attack, even if it was a little unusual, and merely sent out a streak of black aura imbued with corrosive power. Swinging the scythe took more effort by comparison. Unfortunately, Phantomon misjudged this Champion Digimon's attack. That defense was worthless against the sharpness of the Garuru Crystal Sword. A tenth of the sword's tip even pierced the darkness within Phantomon's body. Although Phantomon ultimately blocked the blow, that body was frozen solid.

"**Super Flame! Meteor Wing! Prickly Bump

Punch! Harpoon Vulcan! Mega Cannon! Fox Fire!**" Seizing the perfect opportunity, the Digimon immediately concentrated their fire.

Amid the dazzling finishing moves filled with light and shadow, a gray figure flashed past.

"Did we do it?" Greymon's voice held both joy and uncertainty, because their combined attack had been more effective than ever before. Phantomon's body had been pierced clean through, and they could see behind Phantomon through the hole in that chest. In truth, the inside of that body seemed to contain another infinitely vast universe, but now every star in that universe had gone dark.

That hollow universe was not the dark space shared by all Bakemon. That world of darkness could never have been destroyed by such feeble power. The hollow universe was Phantomon's small universe.

People often spoke of burning their small universe to unleash their strength, but for Bakemon, Digimon reborn after death, that small universe was the source of their second life. Phantomon was no exception. Every star in that small universe had perished, showing that Phantomon's injuries were beyond recovery.

"All of you... die!" Realizing those injuries were beyond recovery, Phantomon changed targets and lunged straight at the Chosen Children with a trail of dark clouds.

Phantomon saw only how sweet Sora Takenouchi's smile was, failing to notice the composure in her eyes. In terms of the number of battles fought against Digimon, Zheng Fan was the only human who surpassed her. Zheng Fan possessed overwhelming strength, while Sora Takenouchi had only Biyomon and her Digivice.

"Die." Sora Takenouchi extended her hand into Phantomon's path. A small, pearly-white object lay in her palm. The Digivice shone with beautiful light, and under its radiance, Phantomon became unable to move, capable only of wailing over and over.

But Phantomon was, after all, a powerful Ultimate Digimon, and kept releasing shadows to push out of the Digivice's light. Sora Takenouchi was no longer the only Chosen Child present, however. Seeing what she was doing, the others raised their own Digivices and aimed them at Phantomon.

In the end, Phantomon, an Ultimate Digimon, vanished at the hands of a group of weak humans.

"Zheng Fan, come sense it yourself. Why do I feel like the dark power in this cave has diminished?" Mastermon asked uncertainly, feeling the pressure drop sharply.

Hearing Mastermon's words, Zheng Fan placed a hand on the Barrier and sensed it. "You're right. The dark power has weakened. Could we go inside and take a look?" he asked uncertainly. Of everyone present, only Zheng Fan could completely ignore a moderate level of dark power. Although he sensed that it would continue weakening until it could no longer affect Ultimate Digimon, who knew what lay deep within the cave?

"A place like this is a threat to File Island, perhaps even the Digimon World. Let's go down and take a look," Mastermon said. By "let's," Mastermon meant only Zheng Fan and Mastermon.

"I'll go too." Cardmaster Twister felt some force compelling him to say those words. Was it a sense of justice?

Zheng Fan and Mastermon exchanged glances, each seeing distrust in the other's eyes. Cardmaster Twister had indeed been affected by the darkness earlier. Although everyone had tacitly agreed not to bring it up again, they could hardly feel entirely at ease.

Cardmaster Twister also knew something had gone wrong with him. He took out a card and handed it to Mastermon. "Take this. It's my teleportation card. I'm still clearheaded, so there won't be any problems."

MegaKuwagamon slammed a pincer into the earthen wall, reducing the barrier personally built there to rubble. The faint dark power still lingering around them was like a little exhaust gas: unpleasant, but harmless.

Faint dark power still drifted from the opening in its original location. The shaft plunged straight down. Zheng Fan dropped a pebble into it, but there was no response for a long time. Of course, that was normal in the Digimon World.

Zheng Fan jumped down first, releasing data energy to form a protective shield much like a shield of qi. A qi shield was not nearly as versatile, however. He adjusted the arrangement of the data energy, immediately making the shield emit a gentle glow. This was an ability of the Champion Digimon Fireflymon, which Zheng Fan had borrowed for his own use.

Mastermon could also fly, but flying required more effort. Instead, after falling a certain distance, Mastermon punched the side of the shaft to slow the descent, sending dirt and stones raining down over Zheng Fan's head.

Mastermon punched the wall again. Zheng Fan's ears twitched. "Mastermon, wait." As he spoke, he flew up to Mastermon's level.

"There's a hollow space nearby," Zheng Fan said, knocking on the wall.

No one in the Digimon World had ever tried this technique before. Mastermon flew up and down, knocking in different directions, and finally heard the difference in sound.

"The civilization of your homeland really is remarkable," Mastermon remarked, at a loss for words. The remark was sarcastic, however. A bunch of humans wasting their time on useless pursuits. Apparently, Mastermon still could not forget Izzy Izumi's plans to eliminate the effects of the Rainbow Fruit.

"Izzy Izumi and I aren't from the same place. Still, a large proportion of our techniques were brought to us by humans from the outside world," Zheng Fan said with feeling. Back when he attended Xiangyang High School, mortals had only trivial matters to deal with, which had left him wondering why all those great things had been created by mortals. Only after spending his days with Tai and Joe Kido in the Digimon World had he come to understand through them that even if mortals lacked power, the strength of wisdom was never inferior to that of people like him who possessed power. Though mortals could be accused of neglecting their proper pursuits, no living being across all the heavens and worlds had been pursuing the right things from the very beginning.

Mastermon aimed at the spot Zheng Fan had marked and threw a punch. Dirt and stones flew everywhere. Zheng Fan caught a stone and examined it, discovering that its essence was data energy.

In the Digimon World, data energy generally formed Digimon and everything related to them, while mountains, rivers, and the like were composed of information power. Although both shared the same origin, they served no purpose for one another. It was like how an earth cultivator could not recover power in a field, and the earth they created could not be used for farming or construction.

"It seems this place's environment was created by a Digimon," Mastermon said. Beyond the wall lay an enormous cavern. It was so vast that even the mightiest Fierce Beasts on that battlefield would have had enough room to stand within it.

In the passage at the deepest part of the cavern, new openings dotted the walls above, below, and on either side. Though smaller than the cavern itself, these openings would have made even MegaKuwagamon look slender.

Clearly, these openings were not passages. Streams of scorching flame spewed from them, reminding Zheng Fan of the Immortal Flame an elder had demonstrated in class years ago. Although he felt no heat standing there, he believed that the instant he touched those flames, he would be reduced to ashes.