Knights of the Digital World

"Moreover, there's the most crucial point. I was rushing everyone earlier because I was worried that the Four Divine Beasts wouldn't be able to hold on. But when I was with White Tiger Stream, he told me that the Infinite Dragon Beast actually had a chance to defeat him a long time ago, but he was just trying to capture him alive, which is why it's been delayed until now."

I suspect the Four Heavenly Kings have ulterior motives towards the Four Divine Beasts. The situation might not be as dire as I initially thought. The Azure Dragon Beast is the strongest among the Four Divine Beasts; three days shouldn't be enough to break it. In that case, we don't need to rush.

"Alright, you make the decision. You've always been better at this than I am."

Ahe scratched his head and gave up thinking.

"Alright, everyone has things they're good at and things they're not good at. For example, I can't play your harmonica at all. Hey, Ahe, why don't you play it for everyone?"

Taiichi offered a few words of comfort, then suddenly remembered Awa's zither playing and suggested it. The other children also chimed in, urging Awa to perform.

Ahe smiled and shook his head, then took out his beloved harmonica from his pocket, put it to his lips, and the next moment, melodious harmonica music filled the carriage.

The children and Digimon all closed their eyes, enjoying this rare moment of peace and quiet.

"Azure Dragonmon, give up! The power generated by your Digicore burning has been exhausted. Do you think you can still suppress me in your current state? I have surrendered. Let me leave the Digital World. I promise I will never come back!"

A somewhat exasperated voice rang out in the sky as the clown beast floated in the air. The swords stuck in the "magic box" on his back would suddenly disappear from time to time, cutting off several bolts of lightning, before being reinserted into the magic box.

"Piedmon, you started this fight. Now you say you're not going to fight anymore? What gives you the right?! Besides, everyone knows Piedmon is cunning and untrustworthy. Who believes your promise?"

The Azure Dragon Beast's voice echoed in the sky, carrying a strong sense of sarcasm.

The clown beast was both angry and anxious, yet helpless. He usually didn't care about his image, doing whatever he pleased. Now, when he needed it, no one believed him anymore.

The clownmon could only let out a helpless rage, directing its sword to slash wildly at the Azure Dragonmon, venting its inner fury.

Three days ago, after sensing Mugendramon's death, Piedmon briefly became withdrawn. However, his desire to survive led him to decide to escape, and he acted on it without hesitation.

However, Azure Dragonmon was no pushover. Now, Piedmon was in his territory, and the dark thunderclouds filling the sky were his advantage. Under Azure Dragonmon's entanglement, Piedmon couldn't find a chance to escape the Digital World. In fact, due to his mental breakdown, he was even more severely suppressed by Azure Dragonmon, suffering numerous injuries.

The only thing that Piedmon could be thankful for was that the power Azuredramon gained by burning its Digicore was soon exhausted. This allowed Azuredramon to return to its original strength, and it was even weakened because it had lost a Digicore, giving Piedmon a chance to catch its breath and slowly bring the situation back to a stalemate.

However, as time went by, Piedmon's sense of crisis grew stronger. He was constantly worried about the mysterious force that had interfered in the battle between the Four Heavenly Kings and the Four Holy Beasts, and had successively killed Puppetmon, MetalSeadramon, and Mugendramon.

Regardless of whether that force is a powerful individual or a group, their record of successively killing three Elite Four members is enough to demonstrate their strength and also instill fear in Piedmon.

The reason he's trying so hard to escape is because he doesn't want to face this mysterious force, right?

However, what angered Piedmon was that Azure Dragonmon kept hindering his escape. Under Azure Dragonmon's control, the sky was filled with thunderclouds, forming a massive barrier of lightning. Even if Piedmon were to focus on breaking through, it would take him quite a while, let alone with Azure Dragonmon harassing him from the side.

The Azure Dragon Beast didn't actually know why the Piedmon was so determined to escape. But one thing was always clear to him: he would never let the Piedmon have his way.

Although he couldn't defeat Piedmon, Azuredramon was very happy to see Piedmon's frustrated state.

Just as Piedmon was getting furious, several undisguised Ultimate-level energy fluctuations suddenly appeared and rushed towards the battlefield between Piedmon and Azuredramon.

The Azure Dragon Beast, unaware of who had arrived, temporarily halted its battle with the Piedmon, frowning and wary of the Ultimate-level being that had intruded into the battlefield.

Piedmon, however, had some guesses about these Ultimate-level monsters. Perhaps this was the mysterious power that defeated Mugendramon and the others? But it didn't seem particularly strong...

The clown beast was somewhat puzzled, but it still drew two sharp swords from behind its back, held them in its hands, and assumed a defensive posture.

Chapter 51 VS. Piedmon (Part 1)

"what?"

As the intruding Ultimate-level beings approached, the Azure Dragon Beast sensed the auras of several other Sacred Beasts from the auras they emitted.

This surprised the Azure Dragon Beast. Shouldn't the Black Tortoise Beast and the others be fighting with the other Four Heavenly Kings? What's with the aura emanating from these Ultimate-level beings?

But recalling Piedmon's previous unusual behavior, Azure Dragonmon immediately realized what was going on and burst into laughter:

"Pickeymon, you've been trying to escape because you're afraid of them? Have the other four Elite Four already been defeated? Killed by them?"

Piedmon snorted coldly. Since Azuredramon had made himself so clear, there was no need for him to play dumb. Suppressing his anger, he sneered:

"That's right, the other four Heavenly Kings have already been defeated. You four useless Divine Beasts certainly couldn't have done that. So, I've been worried that other powerful forces might get involved in our battle."

As for these guys, they weren't even sure if they were the ones who killed the Infinite Dragon Beast. Although they were all Ultimate-level, they were only average, not even reaching the highest level of Ultimate-level. How could someone with that kind of strength be a match for the Infinite Dragon Beast?

"That's because we have enough strength!"

Responding to Piedmon's question was an orange-yellow humanoid dragonmon. WarGreymon charged into the battlefield first, raising its sharp claws at Piedmon.

"You think you can take us? Ridiculous!"

The clown beast suppressed its sneer and its expression became a little serious.

After his life-or-death battle with MetalSeadramon, WarGreymon has grown significantly. Furthermore, being born for battle, even before reaching the level of a top-tier Ultimate level monster, he exudes an indescribable sense of oppression.

This sense of oppression wasn't very noticeable through energy sensing alone. Piedmon only started to take WarGreymon more seriously after seeing him appear before him and feeling a slight sense of danger. However, he still scoffed at WarGreymon's words.

WarGreymon remained unmoved and did not argue. Although it was Emu who defeated Mugendramon, wasn't Emu also one of them? Saying "we" was perfectly reasonable.

"WarGreymon, no need to waste words with him. Let's go! Finish him off and end it all!"

The blue steel giant wolf landed lightly next to WarGreymon, bared its large mouth full of sharp teeth, and let out a howl.

"Let's go! Starburst!"

The phoenix beast flying in from the sky was the first to respond, its four sacred wings flapping wildly, and golden particles that could purify evil descended from the sky.

The clown's face showed obvious disgust; he hated this sacred aura.

He doesn't want to run away anymore.

On one hand, it was because the Azure Dragon Beast made escape difficult. On the other hand, it was because he discovered that the children were not as strong as he had imagined.

"Megadramon died at their hands?" Piedmon didn't quite believe it.

Therefore, he wanted to weigh these ultimate forms himself!

"End the sniping!"

Piedmon raised its hands, unleashing a powerful, electrified shockwave that shattered the golden particles scattered by Phoenixmon. Then, Piedmon pointed forward, and two longswords from the magic box instantly pierced through space, embedding themselves in Phoenixmon's body.

"Ace Throwing Knife!"

Phoenixmon let out a mournful cry, and the next moment, the longsword disappeared from her body and stabbed towards WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon.

"Courage Tornado!"

"Absolute freezing air!"

WarGreymon spun rapidly, the swirling air forming a gust of wind that deflected the longsword. MetalGarurumon, on the other hand, unleashed a chilling aura around itself, freezing the longsword within.

The clown beast snorted coldly, beckoned with its finger, and was about to use its mental power to continue moving the longsword when it sensed the sharp and holy aura coming towards it. It raised its hand and threw out a handkerchief, covering itself and instantly shifting its position.

"A clown trick!"

"Heavenly Slicer Blade!"

With metal wings, arms that transformed into blades, and even its entire body covered in sharp blades, the blue angel swiftly passed through the spot where the clown beast had been standing, its sharp slashes carving a deep trench in the earth.

He is Slayermon, the form that Takeru and Patamon evolved into using the Arc Machine. He is a battle angel born to fight against all evil, and he exists because of Takeru's desire to share the burden with his older brothers and sisters in the team.

"You dodged very quickly. Your next strike won't miss!"

"Angemon said coldly. Due to the characteristics of its own species, Angelmon was filled with disgust and repulsion towards Piedmon, a being that was utterly evil.

"Hmph, even I, an angel, dislike you bunch of self-important birdmen. Just looking at you is an eyesore."

The clown beast grumbled as if it wanted to say something, then flicked its handkerchief and moved to a different spot. Where it had been standing, a golden javelin with a pair of small wings was now deeply embedded in the ground.

"Did you dodge it? Your reaction was really fast."

Angewomon, evolved from Hikari and Gatomon via Arc Machine, hovered in mid-air, flapping its golden wings. It spoke calmly, radiating an aura of light and holiness even stronger than that of Seraphimon.

"Another angel. Hmph, you angels pride yourselves on being beings of light and justice, but now you all resort to sneak attacks. Is this your justice as angels? It's truly laughable!"

The clown beast spoke in a sarcastic tone, but its expression became much more serious.

Most angel-type Digimon carry an aura of light and holiness, which greatly weakens him. With two angels around, his strength is only about 70-80% of its original power, or even less. With the assistance of Azumamon, he might actually suffer a crushing defeat.

Did Mugendramon also suffer a similar nerf and thus lose?

Piedmon suddenly began to believe WarGreymon's words.

Come to think of it, the previous Phoenixmon was also a Digimon with divine power; thankfully, I defeated her beforehand.

Piedmon instinctively turned around, only to see a humanoid Digimon with a lotus flower on its head and two staffs in its hands. The humanoid Digimon waved its staff in its left hand, releasing white spiritual energy that healed the wounds on the severely injured Phoenixmon.

Piedmon was speechless; his earlier surprise attack had been completely ineffective. Now that he was on guard, while his trump card, the throwing knife, wasn't entirely neutralized, it was clearly impossible for him to inflict serious damage on his opponent as before.

Before Piedmon could have much time to reflect, Slayermon declared righteously:

"What justice or fairness is there to speak of with a villain like you? All we need to do is defeat you! That is the greatest justice! Everyone, attack together!"

This is what they call a righteous brawl, right?

Chapter 52 VS. Clownmon (Part 2)

Upon hearing Slayermon's shout, Piedmon sneered and was about to unleash his innate skill, "Yin Yang Wei Qi," to mock these righteous allies.

But before he could speak, thunder roared in the sky, and dense blue-purple lightning poured down like a torrent. Accompanying this was the Azure Dragon Beast's loud laughter:

"That's right! Let's all attack together! What's the point of talking about justice with such a villain? Piedmon, prepare to die!"

Azure Dragonmon is now very happy. Piedmon usually speaks in a sarcastic and sarcastic way, and Azure Dragonmon has been subtly insulted countless times during their long battle, which has made him extremely annoyed.

What's even more frustrating is that Piedmon keeps bringing up the other Four Holy Beasts to distract Azuryomon. He spends all his time analyzing the weaknesses of the other Four Holy Beasts with Azuryomon, making everything seem wrong and no wonder they get crushed by the Elite Four.

Unfortunately, not all of Piedmon's words were nonsense, and Azure Dragonmon wasn't good at talking either, so he was always left speechless.

However, because the children participated in the battle, the other four Divine Beasts not only escaped unharmed, but also cooperated with the children to kill the Four Heavenly Kings.

This completely dispelled the worries that had been lurking in the Azure Dragon Beast's heart, and its affection for the children skyrocketed.

Therefore, upon hearing Seraphimon's shout, Azuryomon, who was already filled with murderous intent towards Piedmon, did not hesitate and was the first to respond.

"Azure Dragon Beast!"

Piedmon once again used the clown trick to move his position, his eyes blazing with anger, and roared the name of Azuredramon.

Can't this guy have any dignity as one of the Four Holy Beasts?! Just because someone tells you to join in, you automatically do? You should righteously refuse! Tell them this is your battle alone and they shouldn't interfere! Are you guys even any better than the current generation of justice?!

Of course, if you put Piedmon in Azurymon's position, he would definitely join in the attack—but he's not a bad guy, so it's normal for him to join in.

But the clown beast only had time to roar out that one word; all the other complaints were stuck in its throat before it could utter them, because the children's attack had already arrived:

"Gaia Energy Cannon!"

"Absolute freezing air!"

"Starburst!"

"The Holy Sword!"