Sacrifices?

"I sensed darkness. Could the Dark Power be coming from behind these flames?" Mastermon said, bewildered and uncertain.

"Impossible. Darkness on the level of what we encountered outside could never pass through these flames. It couldn't even get close," Zheng Fan said. "The darkness you sensed was the aura of the Void. Does this passage lead to the Void?" Zheng Fan tossed the stone in his hand into the flames, where it was instantly annihilated.

"The Void? What sort of place is that? Why is the Dark Power there so strong?" Mastermon asked.

"The Void is where countless spaces are born. The universe we live in is nothing more than a tiny, tiny speck within it." Zheng Fan's answer was perfectly conventional, a standard textbook explanation. As for what the Void was truly like, perhaps only the greatest powers had answers of their own.

"The Void... if it's so vast, how did you learn about it?" After hearing Zheng Fan's description, Mastermon only had more questions.

"Because I'm not from the universe of the Digimon World. My home is in another universe within the Void."

"Zheng Fan, did you travel through the Void to reach the Digimon World?" Elderlymon asked curiously.

"No. Someone plotted against me and exiled me to the Digimon World," Zheng Fan replied.

"Exiled? Is that all our Digimon World amounts to in the eyes of your powerful people?" Mastermon's brows drew together, looking somewhat offended and angry.

"Mastermon, it isn't what you think," Zheng Fan hurriedly explained. "Exile means being unable to return, ever. They throw someone into a place even they know nothing about. Someone exiled like that will basically never make it home."

"Is our Digimon World a place no one knows about?" Mastermon seized on another flaw in Zheng Fan's wording.

"Yes. Relatively speaking. Whether it's our Buzhou, the Light Domain, or the Dark Domain, each possesses the coordinates of many universes. But none of the Three Great Domains knows the coordinates of the Digimon World." Zheng Fan looked as though he had been struck speechless.

Mastermon gave Zheng Fan a strange look and spoke.

Upon hearing Mastermon's words, Zheng Fan suddenly grabbed Mastermon. "What did you just say? Say it again, quickly."

Seeing that Zheng Fan's eyes had gone bloodshot, Mastermon did not struggle. "Dealing with you through random teleportation like that must have cost a great deal, right? Is your enemy really that powerful?"

"That's it. Mastermon, I've figured out where that Dark Power came from. Sacrifice. The forest outside was the sacrifice. Those sacrifices were what allowed the Dark Power to break through the flames." Zheng Fan grew more excited as he spoke.

"What is sacrifice?" Mastermon had heard another unfamiliar term.

"I'll explain once we're outside." Grinning, Zheng Fan took out the teleportation card, only to freeze when he saw that it had turned grayish white.

"Something's happened to Cardmaster Twister. We need to get out." Mastermon grabbed the stunned Zheng Fan and pulled him out of the cavern.

"I can sense the Night Dawn Sword's aura." Zheng Fan kept turning the grayish-white card over, probing it, his voice lifeless. "The Night Dawn Sword seems to have been badly damaged. The Sword Spirit is very weak."

Mastermon was about to offer some comfort, but did not know what to say. Too much specialized knowledge was involved, and this was hardly the time for explanations.

"MegaKuwagamon, Cardmaster Twister, what happened to you?" Back on the surface, Mastermon immediately spotted the two gravely wounded Ultimate Digimon. Both of MegaKuwagamon's arm pincers were gone, and cracks covered the bone-white shell. Nearby, nothing remained of Cardmaster Twister but his head, which rested against a card that was keeping him alive.

"I... was controlled by the darkness," Cardmaster Twister said softly. "I ambushed MegaKuwagamon. Then a sword came out of nowhere and blocked a blow for MegaKuwagamon. But MegaKuwagamon's counterattack also wounded me badly."

"Where is that sword?" Almost beside himself with rage, Zheng Fan pointed at Cardmaster Twister's head and roared.

"Zheng Fan, calm down. Cardmaster Twister can't hold on much longer," Mastermon urged.

Cardmaster Twister paid no heed to Zheng Fan's actions and continued at the same unhurried pace. "I never imagined the world was like this. I wasn't controlled by the darkness. I only wanted to... explore the truth of the world."

Zheng Fan immediately calmed down. Knowing that his anger would accomplish nothing, he listened carefully to Cardmaster Twister's final words.

As Cardmaster Twister spoke, his long, flowing hair slowly drifted down. The strands landed in Zheng Fan's hand and became a new card. "These are my final memories. I'll leave them with you." As his voice faded, Cardmaster Twister's head disintegrated into chaotic Data Energy, and the cards scattered across the ground turned to ash at the same time. Only the card formed from Cardmaster Twister's final memories remained in Zheng Fan's palm.

"MegaKuwagamon, where is that sword?" Zheng Fan put the card away and asked MegaKuwagamon.

Watching Cardmaster Twister die, MegaKuwagamon felt an indescribable sorrow. After pointing out where the Night Dawn Sword lay, MegaKuwagamon made no further move.

Following MegaKuwagamon's directions, Zheng Fan found the Night Dawn Sword. Visible cracks crawled across the blade, leaving it on the verge of shattering. Those were merely the blade's injuries. The Sword Spirit was weakened to the extreme, yet was still fighting, because the dark aura was spreading through the wounds in the blade directly toward the Sword Spirit.

A soft white light bloomed in Zheng Fan's hand. He gently brushed it over the blade, and the Dark Power coiling around it vanished into nothing.

"Master, you're here. That fellow wanted to ambush you." The Sword Spirit's voice was weak and gentle, utterly unlike the forcefulness it had shown while lecturing Matt.

"You're a Sword Spirit. You're a Sword Spirit. You're a Sword Spirit. Hurry and rest. You're too weak." Zheng Fan was so overwhelmed that he could barely speak. The Night Dawn Sword was a weapon he and Xiaoxiao had forged together. If it had previously been only a keepsake, now that it had given birth to a Sword Spirit, it was the equivalent of his and Xiaoxiao's child.

"Master, I gave myself a name: Xiao. It means that light is about to arrive." Murmuring, Xiao sank into a deep sleep.

"Xiaoxiao, did you see? I've finally taken my first step as a Sword Immortal. Did you see? Hahahaha... sob..." Cradling the sword, Zheng Fan shouted madly and laughed wildly, until at last he burst into tears.

"Tai, is that the really powerful Zheng Fan you told us about? Why does he look like a madman?" In the distance, Sora Takenouchi and the others finally finished their battle and saw Zheng Fan's crazed state.

"Sora Takenouchi, don't talk about Zheng Fan like that. Something must have happened to him." Tai was halfway through defending Zheng Fan when his expression suddenly changed as though he had seen a ghost.

"But it's true. How could a normal person have the power to fight Digimon?" Sora Takenouchi retorted, only to find everyone staring at her as though they had seen a ghost.

"Young lady, it isn't nice to speak ill of people behind their backs." A hand settled on Sora Takenouchi's shoulder, accompanied by a young voice. When she looked toward where Zheng Fan had been, there was no trace of him. Trembling, she turned her head and saw that the supposedly powerful Zheng Fan was standing right behind her.

"Zheng Fan, Sora Takenouchi didn't mean it," Joe Kido hurriedly said.

"Relax. I'm not that petty. But Mastermon, you're just going to stand there and watch them bad-mouth me?" Hearing Zheng Fan, Mastermon walked out with a chuckle. "You're all humans, after all. Well, how did that saying go? 'Use others as a mirror, and you can straighten your attire.' That should mean that watching other people dress tells you what you ought to wear, right?"

Tai and the others did not understand what Mastermon was talking about, but Zheng Fan stared at Mastermon as though he had seen a ghost. "How do you know that saying? That's impossible. Those were the words of Emperor Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty, and you've got it wrong."

"The Gate of the Digimon World connects to countless worlds. Back then, I guarded the Gate day and night, and learned things about countless worlds as well. Unfortunately, I've forgotten most of that knowledge," Mastermon explained.

"Do you mean you understood Cardmaster Twister's goal?" Zheng Fan asked in amazement.

The human children had not interrupted earlier, but when Zheng Fan mentioned Cardmaster Twister, Izzy Izumi hurriedly asked, "Zheng Fan, why hasn't Mr. Trist come over? And what about MegaKuwagamon?"

Mastermon's expression darkened. "Cardmaster Twister was corrupted by darkness. He's already dead."

"That's impossible." Izzy Izumi was about to argue, but Zheng Fan gently pressed his shoulder, and he collapsed.

"Here, we mustn't feel any negative emotions, such as anger or resentment. We can't even feel uncertainty. Otherwise, we might trigger another disaster." After giving this explanation, Zheng Fan told Tai and the others to leave the area quickly, regardless of whether they understood.

"I've never felt uncertain," Tai said. It was unclear whether he was reassuring the others or comforting himself, but none of the children showed any more negative emotions, making Zheng Fan nod repeatedly.

MegaKuwagamon was already waiting outside. Even if MegaKuwagamon cared only about personal interests, the Digimon World's destruction was still an unwelcome prospect. "Mastermon, these are all the Bitcoins." The Bitcoins were Ancestor Angemon's body, so naturally they shared the characteristics of Digimon. Each Bitcoin was the size of a basketball in MegaKuwagamon's hands, but shrank to the size of an ordinary coin in Mastermon's.

"I hope everyone who sets foot on this land can be happy and free of sorrow." Mastermon scattered the Bitcoins into the area that had already been marked out. They rapidly dissolved, and there seemed to be something strange added to the air.

"If I had any other choice, I truly wouldn't want to do this." With that, Mastermon turned and left.

"Is that it?" Matt asked in surprise. "Mastermon, my dad and his coworkers spend half an hour just on the opening remarks for their programs. Your ritual is already over?"

"All right. Don't bother Mastermon," Zheng Fan told Matt. "Mastermon is in a terrible mood right now."

Matt murmured an acknowledgment, though it was unclear whether he understood.