"Hm?"
Still deep in thought, Mo Yan noticed Impmon watching him.
With a thought, he sent a DigiCore flying out of the barrier formed by eleven DigiCores.
Then an angelic apparition appeared beside Impmon, clad in gleaming white robes, wearing a crowned hat, and bearing a pair of wings.
Impmon, who lay on the ground with his hands behind his head and one leg crossed over the other, showed no surprise at all.
"Hey, doesn't splitting your attention like this affect your research into that thing?"
Impmon did not turn his head. His gaze remained on the Wizard holding the crystal ball as he voiced his concern in a roundabout way.
He had been concentrating on compressing Dark Night Flame when the enormous mass of data gathering overhead startled him.
Instinctively, Impmon assumed Mo Yan was responsible.
Sure enough, when Impmon put away his flames and looked up, he saw Mo Yan gathering vast amounts of data while constantly writing out digital script to form various spells.
Immediately afterward, the vast mass of data began to compress, and the various spells were incorporated into it.
Then a crystal ball appeared.
"It's fine. We have already set foot on the path we seek.
We-or rather, his consciousness-are now more like a collective consciousness.
Until the final evolution is complete, I will be us."
The angelic apparition sat beside Impmon, pointed at the Wizard in the sky, then at himself, saying things Impmon found rather difficult to understand.
"If that's how it works... if that's how it works, are you still you?"
To Impmon, turning one's consciousness into a collective consciousness was no different from going insane.
"Of course I'm still me. That cannot change.
Speaking of which, this current state of 'mine' is itself a subject 'I' am researching.
And in the end, 'I' will inevitably return to 'myself.'"
Gently fluttering his wings and shedding a few feathers, the angelic apparition spoke calmly of an inevitable outcome.
"What's with all this me and myself? You're going in circles! It's enough to drive a Digimon crazy!"
Impmon could not understand Mo Yan's actions at all. This fragmented consciousness was actually something he had chosen to research?!
In human terms, wasn't that called asking for death?
"You'll understand once you master magic, once you evolve."
The angelic apparition smiled faintly and said something that made Impmon's pupils contract sharply.
"What the heck!
I don't want to become that kind of Digimon!"
His words sent Impmon springing off the ground as though he had been electrocuted, shouting at the angelic apparition in panic.
Yet deep down, Impmon vaguely felt that he, too, would embark on this path of reckless research.
"Evolution and growing stronger always come at a price.
An increase in data represents many things.
So many that we have no choice but to change ourselves.
The only thing we can do is hold fast to our original resolve-to evolve!"
Unfazed by Impmon's shouting, the angelic apparition instead began making strange, cryptic pronouncements.
"I... I..."
His words struck Impmon's heart like a bolt of lightning, tearing at the false facade he wore.
"You haven't figured it out, have you?
You'll have to think it through eventually, Impmon.
Evolution has never been solely about gaining strength. We also need to find meaning in our existence.
Even if it's nothing more than a ridiculous conviction."
The angelic apparition turned his head, looking at Impmon from beneath his crowned hat with an inscrutable gaze.
"Meaning in my existence...
I... I don't know..."
As though he had remembered something frightening again, Impmon crouched down and clutched his head, fear creeping into his expression.
"Everything has two sides. You can't look at just one.
Besides, you have to give others time to evolve too, don't you?"
The angelic apparition reached out to stroke Impmon's head, his body radiating a soothing light.
At that moment, the angel looked very much like a charlatan.
As an angel, the angelic apparition naturally enjoyed cryptic pronouncements and guiding others.
He was no charlatan, but he certainly acted like one.
"Ai... Mako..."
Beneath the light, Impmon began recalling his past experiences.
A faint, elusive thought began to surface in his mind.
Perhaps he could go back and take a look.
Up in the sky, Mo Yan's research into the crystal ball had also reached a stopping point.
Composed of the four elements and incorporating a vast number of spells Mo Yan had mastered, the data within the crystal ball had reached an incredible equilibrium.
Under that equilibrium, the crystal ball's mass and hardness had also reached terrifying levels.
It would not be wrong to call it indestructible.
Attacks belonging to the four elements would not destroy the crystal ball. Instead, they would further strengthen it.
Only unconventional physical attacks of sufficient power could break through its defenses.
But merely breaking through the crystal ball's defenses was not enough. Its internal balance of the four elements also had to be disrupted.
Otherwise, the balanced power of the four elements within would rapidly repair it.
The repaired crystal ball would even have stronger defenses than before.
In the Digital World, very few Digimon attained exceptional mastery of both magic and physical prowess.
And Digimon who attained exceptional mastery in just one field had their own pride.
If they tried to destroy a crystal ball, they might well end up being taught a lesson instead.
At the same time, Mo Yan discovered that the four elements inside the crystal ball were constantly making minute adjustments to one another.
After a moment's thought, he understood why.
Because of the knowledge and worldview he had acquired in the past, Mo Yan had unconsciously incorporated that idea while creating the crystal ball.
That was why the four elements inside it kept making minute adjustments to one another.
Mo Yan surmised that once earth, water, fire, and wind reached some new equilibrium, an entirely new world would be born.
That, however, would probably happen far in the future.
Putting away the crystal ball, dispersing the barrier, and retrieving ten DigiCores, Mo Yan descended before the angelic apparition.
"I'm heading out for a while. Want to come?"
Glancing at Impmon, who had sunk into painful memories under the angelic apparition's guidance, Mo Yan addressed the apparition.
"I'll stay. This child still needs my care."
The angelic apparition glanced at Impmon, shook his head, and firmly declined.
"All right.
But be careful. Don't let your efforts backfire."
Mo Yan agreed to let the angelic apparition stay, but warned him not to push too hard and counsel Impmon into a breakdown.
"If worse comes to worst, I can still bring him back."
A wisp of white light appeared on his finger as the angelic apparition joked with easy confidence.
After a glance at him, Mo Yan turned and flew in a certain direction, paying no further attention to the apparition's thoughts.
Watching Mo Yan leave, the angelic apparition shook his head and dispersed the soundproof barrier.
Will this child still become a Demon Lord in the future?
In the angelic apparition's eyes, the Demon Lord data within Impmon's DigiCore was stirring.
Can I really disregard everything for the sake of evolution?
Or can any human, any Digimon, become an experimental subject for the sake of my experiments?
Has the influence of the Wizard data already become that severe?
The angelic apparition looked toward Mo Yan's destination, turning these questions over in his mind.
Meanwhile, Mo Yan continued flying through the air and drew close to his destination.
It was the building housing the Network Management Bureau established by Director Yamaki, where the Hypnos System had been installed.
Before you continue