We promised we'd reach Mega together, crush everything in our path, and fuse to become each other's wings (okay, maybe not the last part)—so why the hell did you fuse with someone else first?!
Zero really wanted to yell this out loud, but obviously, this wasn't the right moment for sarcastic remarks.
Things had already escalated far beyond "seriously bad." Going one-on-one against an Ultimate? Zero wasn't exactly shaking in fear right now, but this thing clearly wasn't your regular Ultimate—it was a monster wearing an Ultimate's skin but packing Mega-level strength.
Yet Zero quickly realized that this alien monstrosity wasn't able to wield all of its overwhelming power. Otherwise, at that first attack, he would've already been reduced to scattered data fragments.
Is Hajime's consciousness still holding the creature back?
Right now, the beast was composed of two conflicting wills—Devimon's unrelenting grudge and Hajime's desperate resistance. Zero doubted Devimon's resentment would have any mercy on him at all. In fact, if Devimon gained full control, Zero figured he'd probably be torn apart instantly.
Yet he wasn't. Even after fully forming, the creature hadn't immediately attacked; instead, it stood there roaring madly in place. Without even moving, its wild roar transformed into shockwaves visible to the naked eye, annihilating everything unfortunate enough to be caught within its radius.
The beast looked like it was caught in unimaginable agony. Suddenly, it flapped its twisted wings, soaring skyward, whipping up violent winds strong enough to carry its massive frame high into the air. After a sharp arc, it crashed headfirst back down with force akin to a meteorite impact, the thunderous crash sending tremors rippling through all of File Island.
Red light flickered violently in its eyes, rapidly filling them, only to vanish moments later—almost as if two different consciousnesses were wrestling for dominance.
Wait, isn't Kimeramon supposed to be a mindless, rampaging weapon of war? Since when did it gain a split personality…?
Then again, forming Kimeramon here and now was already an absurd development. Who could've guessed Devimon wouldn't just die peacefully, but instead would pull off this horrifying stunt after his supposed demise?
Kimeramon's situation looked extremely unstable. It'd even begun to completely ignore Zero and Rina, violently thrashing and torturing itself, repeatedly smashing into the ground and writhing in pain as though desperate to ease the chaotic torment within.
Forcibly merging multiple disparate data sets and abruptly powering up to Ultimate level had clearly exceeded what its DigiCore could handle, turning this overwhelming strength into a crippling burden.
Put simply, it was like a CPU running at maximum overclock without adequate cooling—it was literally frying itself from the inside.
Truthfully, if Devimon alone wanted to mess around like this and self-destruct, Zero wouldn't even bat an eye. But dragging Hajime into this reckless nonsense was absolutely infuriating.
"If you wanna die, can't you just do it yourself? Why drag someone else into your mess?!"
Despite his anger, Zero couldn't risk approaching the berserk Kimeramon right now. Who knew just how much of Hajime's consciousness still remained in control?
Last time he recklessly rushed forward, he hadn't even clearly seen how the beast moved before being sent flying—and that was with the other side clearly pulling punches.
If he went in again just as Devimon gained control, Zero figured he might as well prepare for immediate reincarnation.
Yet he couldn't just abandon Hajime. The only thing he could do was keep a safe distance, watching as the monster thrashed violently.
Kimeramon was essentially a ticking bomb—with the fuse already lit—leaving absolute destruction in its wake wherever it passed. Fortunately, its terrifying aura and oppressive pressure were strong enough to warn every nearby Digimon to keep well clear.
Besides, this area had been Devimon's castle—naturally, no Digimon's lair would've been built close by. Therefore, despite the rampant devastation, no unintended casualties occurred.
Thus, Zero and Rina maintained a cautious distance, helplessly watching as Kimeramon rampaged across central File Island, unable to think of any effective countermeasures other than simply waiting for it to exhaust itself.
After all, forced evolutions like this usually didn't last long. It'd probably calm down once it ran out of energy—so waiting, while hardly ideal, was better than rushing into suicide.
Yet reality cruelly proved things couldn't possibly resolve so smoothly.
Kimeramon's relentless rampage rapidly drained its stamina, destabilizing its forced evolution even further. Its movements gradually slowed, and the red glow in its eyes began to fade.
Just as Zero began feeling relieved, thinking Hajime might soon regain control, there was a saying that proved painfully accurate: "Don't celebrate too early."
The moment Kimeramon's eyes nearly cleared, the ground beneath it suddenly ruptured violently, several Black Gears bursting forth into the sky.
"Shit!" Zero instantly cursed aloud.
But it happened too fast—he'd been so focused on Kimeramon's condition that he had no time to notice or react.
Those Black Gears instantly flew into Kimeramon's enormous body.
Normally, Kimeramon's strength would've made it immune to Black Gear control, but the current situation was special. The Black Gears didn't need to fully control it—they only had to suppress Hajime's emerging consciousness, giving Devimon's resentment the upper hand.
At that moment, the nearly-extinguished red glow surged violently once again, completely engulfing Kimeramon's eyes!
Now, Kimeramon had truly become an uncontrollable, berserk monster. It immediately locked onto Zero and Rina, opening its massive jaws as a ball of searing red light began rapidly forming.
"!"
Zero didn't even hesitate, instantly stepping protectively in front of Rina. She raised her Digivice, but before they could even breathe twice, that blazing sphere of red energy erupted violently toward them—
Zero desperately shot flames from his jaws in a hopeless attempt at defense, though even he knew how futile it was. The blazing red blast effortlessly shattered his flames, hurtling forward mercilessly—within a heartbeat, already inches from impact.
At that instant, time seemed frozen—and from Rina's Digivice erupted a brilliant white light!
The dazzling white collided with the searing red; Zero braced for an apocalyptic explosion that would obliterate everything nearby—but unexpectedly, amidst the clash, a gigantic whirlpool suddenly manifested.
The vortex was pitch-black, yet dotted with countless vibrant lights, resembling a dazzling, surreal kaleidoscope. Before Zero could even react, an overwhelming force pulled him in—and the next second, his consciousness went utterly dark.
---
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