Impmon's evolution

"Hah...

Hah..."

In the darkness, relentless panting shattered the silence of this space.

Following the sound, one could see a figure with dark purple skin running without pause.

What exactly did that guy do?

Who is that Digimon with data identical to mine?

Impmon panted heavily, his feet never stopping, as he wondered who the Digimon pursuing him was.

And what exactly had Mo Yan done?

From what Impmon could observe and sense, this place was neither the human world nor the Digital World, nor was it any of the domains Mo Yan had once explained to him.

The entire place was pitch-black, so dark that he could not have seen his hand in front of his face.

Yet he could somehow see the path beneath his feet, as well as the strange Digimon pursuing him.

"Hahaha, what are you running for?

Face me, you bastard!"

A wild, arrogant voice came from behind Impmon.

Listening closely, both its tone and timbre were identical to Impmon's.

Only this Digimon seemed to have an even nastier disposition than Impmon.

In fact, he seemed downright deranged.

"Tch, catch me if you can!

Quit running your mouth!"

Faced with the other Digimon's taunts and questions, Impmon snapped back without giving an inch.

But anyone could hear the lack of confidence in his words.

"Heh, is bluffing all you can do now? You poor, cowardly version of me."

The arrogant voice rang out from the darkness again.

This time, however, the information contained in those words left Impmon stunned.

"Me!? You!?

What the hell is going on?"

Impmon stopped dead and turned to face the figure.

"What else could it be?

I'm the you born from the fear and darkness in your heart!

Hahaha..."

The figure stopped as well, his tone contemptuous and his expression growing ever more crazed.

"You bastard!!!"

Faced with such blatant mockery, Impmon immediately fired a Dark Night Flame at him.

Bang!

The figure merely waved a hand, scattering Impmon's attack.

"Tsk, tsk...

What a feeble attack. After all that training and studying, this is all you've learned!?"

After dispersing the flames, the figure launched into another vicious tirade, mocking Impmon.

But Impmon had already achieved his goal.

The scattered flames illuminated the figure's appearance.

He looked almost exactly like Impmon, with only a slight difference in skin color.

Impmon's skin was dark purple, while the figure's was black.

"You're just a fake! Who are you to talk big?

Who asked you to judge the results of my training?"

Although he did not quite understand what was happening, Impmon would never swallow his anger and let himself be mocked.

"A fake!?

I am you, and you are me.

No, once I defeat you, I'll be myself!"

Dark Impmon pointed first at himself, then at Impmon, his expression crazed with excitement.

"You think a fake like you can replace me?

Quit talking out of your ass!"

His gestures and words struck a nerve, infuriating Impmon.

With that, Impmon seized the initiative and attacked again.

Fist-sized dark night fireballs shot toward Dark Impmon one after another.

"Weak! Weak! Weak!

So pathetically weak. Someone like you doesn't deserve to exist in this world!"

Dark Impmon kept up his trash talk as he countered Impmon's dark night fireballs with identical dark fireballs.

"What do you know, you bastard!"

As he spoke, Impmon raised both hands and formed an enormous dark night fireball.

Then, with an overhead throw, Impmon hurled it at Dark Impmon.

"What do I know!?

At least I wouldn't have run away when Xiao Ai and A Zhen fought over me!!!"

Mirroring Impmon's movements, Dark Impmon hurled an equally enormous dark fireball.

"Xiao Ai, A Zhen..."

The firelight illuminated Impmon's face, his expression unreadable.

Xiao Ai and A Zhen were the first human friends and companions Impmon had met, and they had given him a wonderful time.

But the children's possessiveness over the things they loved had led Impmon to witness them fighting over those things.

That was also the first time Impmon had realized how frightening humans could be.

Their individual desires gave rise to conflict.

No matter how close and loving they had once been.

Seeing the teddy bear torn apart, Impmon had imagined himself in its place.

Then, driven by the fear in his heart, Impmon had fled from the two children in a panic and begun wandering alone.

During that time, Impmon would sometimes think of them.

But the feeling of being torn apart himself followed him like a shadow, constantly creeping into his heart.

"What! Do! You! Know!"

The wound that had only just begun to heal was torn open again, and Impmon spat out each word.

With that, Impmon's attacks became ferocious and swift.

"You say I don't understand?

That's the very reason I was born!

And you ask what I know!!!"

Following Impmon's roar, Dark Impmon roared back.

Then Dark Impmon darted straight up to Impmon and engaged him in close combat.

Impmon could not have asked for anything better.

He clenched both hands into fists, flames rising from them.

Then he charged forward to meet him.

For both of them, it seemed that only the solid impact of fists against flesh could vent what they felt at that moment.

For a time, they fought in a deadlock, both covered in wounds.

Elsewhere, Wizard Mo Yan sat upright in the void, holding the Crystal Ball in both hands.

Within the Crystal Ball, Impmon's every movement was clearly displayed.

When he saw Impmon turn to confront the darkness within his heart, Wizard Mo Yan looked pleased.

Wizard Mo Yan had created this Dark Impmon by extracting the memories buried in Impmon's heart that he refused to recall, then copying Impmon's data.

Thus, he could be considered another side of Impmon.

"Only by overcoming the fear and uncertainty in your heart can you have a bright future full of possibilities."

Watching the battle inside the Crystal Ball, Wizard Mo Yan murmured to himself.

If Impmon had still been a Digimon of the Digital World, never having encountered human children or been influenced by the power of their hearts...

Wizard Mo Yan would have had an easier time teaching him.

After all, the more "pure" a Digimon was, the purer its thoughts would be.

The light within human children's hearts could indeed catalyze a Digimon's evolution, but it could also "taint" a Digimon's heart, causing it to lose its "purity."

That was why he had arranged all this.

Of course, Wizard Mo Yan also had another purpose.

First, he wanted to test his current power and see just how much his "magic" could accomplish.

Second, he wanted to expand his use of the Four Elements Crystal Ball.

Now that he had evolved to Ultimate and gained greater power...

Wizard Mo Yan intended to catalyze the four elements data within the Crystal Ball, accelerating the birth of the microcosm inside it.

Impmon was currently inside the Crystal Ball.

That dark space where everything around him was somehow still visible was the "chaos" Wizard Mo Yan had created based on his own understanding.

But this step had also consumed a vast amount of the data Wizard Mo Yan had extracted from the Data Vortex.

So much so that the Dark Angemon created by Mo Yan's main body still had to use "light-dark balance" to absorb the power of light before he could achieve a balance of light and darkness with Flame Angemon.

"Good thing I set aside some of the Evolution Light's power beforehand."

Noticing that Impmon's resolve had reached a state of completeness, Wizard Mo Yan conjured a ball of white light in his hand.