Digital Hackers' Memories

However, Astaroth didn't come away empty-handed. At least it discovered that in addition to normal patients, the hospital seemed to be collecting some special EDEN-related patients.

For example, addiction to virtual sex, dissociative reality disorder, and hyperintellectual phenomena resulting from delving too deeply into the nature of virtuality...

For any disease related to virtual reality technology, corresponding cases can be found at the Kamishiro Group's Central Hospital.

Rumble…

Before Astaromon could explain its discovery to Keisuke, lightning flashed and thunder roared in the sky above the hospital, and the power supply in the area came to a standstill.

"what's going on?"

Not only Keisuke and Astaroth, but also the hospital staff and patients noticed the sudden power outage.

The patients emerged from their rooms and were greeted by a scene of dense thunderclouds and flashing lightning.

Under this near-catastrophic lightning strike, the artificial lights in the area went out at a visible rate until complete darkness descended.

"It's Digimon fighting!"

The battle-hardened Astarmon was the first to realize what had happened—a scene caused by a battle between Digimon powerful enough to surpass the Ultimate level.

Or more precisely, because Emperormon opened the Digital Gate a few days ago, the "dimensional barrier" between the Digital World and the Human World has long been unstable.

Especially for the EDEN network, which is situated between the digital world and the human world, the phenomenon of "dimensional barriers" being broken occurs from time to time.

When an incredibly powerful Digimon battles in the EDEN Network, the "dimensional wall" at its corresponding real-world location will shatter.

Although these broken "dimensional walls" cannot compare to the Digital Gate opened by Swordmon, occasionally some special codes are still caught in them and mistakenly enter the human world.

The Digimon that have been frequently appearing in the human world these past few days have mostly appeared in this way.

"Are Digimon fighting?"

With the help of a specially made wheelchair, Keisuke, who suffers from ALS, struggles to look up at the window and is shocked to see two figures, like streaks of light, fighting under the clouds in the dark night.

......................................................................................................

Rewind a few minutes to Nogi Yu's private terminal.

boom! boom! boom!

The battle between Arkadimon and Matadormon continues, but the outcome is already a foregone conclusion.

While the Ultimate-level Matadormon is powerful and has the added advantage of past battle experience, it still cannot compare to the evil god who is born with the duty of "destroying everything".

The sharp force of the punches tore through the surrounding air, and the eerie tentacles emitted a piercing shriek...

With each punch, the tentacles on Arkadimon's arms would actively attack, striking the opponent with a powerful blow from a bizarre angle.

Fierce yet unpredictable, direct yet agile – this is all that Matadormon has to say about Arkadimon's "Bajiquan".

This bizarre fist technique was nothing like the extremely powerful and yang Bajiquan that Chen Ze remembered; instead, it was closer to the demonic martial arts techniques in some martial arts novels.

However, this clearly distorted fighting style, under the continuous attacks of Arkadimon, unleashed unprecedented power and aggression.

Even the Matadormon, which degenerated from a powerful Ultimate level, couldn't help but feel dejected when faced with Arkadimon's relentless onslaught.

Matadormon acknowledges that this inexplicable Digimon possesses strange abilities, but its power and level are indeed only Champion-level.

It used the power of a Champion-level monster to forcefully create the feeling of an Ultimate-level monster. Rather than saying that the Bajiquan that Arkadimon learned was powerful, it would be more accurate to say that its talent was exceptionally terrifying.

【Walk! 】

Matadormon, whose survival strategy was to "survive," did not hesitate at all. After realizing that Arkadimon would only get stronger, it decisively chose to jump out of the EDEN Network and venture into the human world.

Matadormon refused to believe it. No matter how gifted Arkadimon was, it was impossible for it to chase after him to the human world, right?

After all, even with the lowered barrier to entry for digitalization, it's still not an ability that just any Digimon can possess.

Even Matadormon himself had only recently mastered the ability to digitize.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Another Clash Between Worlds

boom!

Just as Matadormon had predicted, after it decisively jumped to the human world, Arkadimon, which had been bombarding the world, suddenly fell silent.

"Disappeared?"

Staring incredulously at his virtual screen, this was the first time Ryuji Mishima had ever encountered a Digimon that had left the virtual network and jumped into the real world.

Even Ryuji Mishima, whose mind had been completely infected by Arkadi and had fallen into a state of paranoia, was momentarily stunned.

Even in the previous "Shinjuku sinkhole" incident, Lilacmon and the others only temporarily appeared in that subway station, which was between reality and illusion, by taking advantage of the special nature of the digital space.

But the current Matadormon is genuinely going to the human world, and it's not like other Digimon that are "passively transported".

"This address... corresponds to the Central Hospital?"

After pinpointing the last known location of the Matadormon, Ryuji Mishima, who had initially seemed somewhat dazed, suddenly erupted in fury.

Because Ryuji Mishima's mind was only infected by the dark power of Arkadimon, and was solidified into a certain obsessive and crazy state, but he did not forget his original memories and feelings.

On the contrary, in order to amplify the obsessive aspect of Ryuji Mishima's personality, Arkadimon even intentionally strengthened his memory of certain specific events.

Therefore, when Ryuji Mishima realized that the address that the Matadormon had jumped to was the Central Hospital, he immediately thought of Erika, who needed to go to the hospital today for a memory backup.

God knows whether the decision by the bullfighter to jump to the Central Hospital at this particular time was intentional.

The only thing that Ryuji Mishima was certain of was that even in his paranoid and insane state, he would never allow anyone to hurt his sister.

"Arkadimon!!"

Thus, sensing Ryuji's unprecedented and overwhelming rage, Arkadimon not only showed no tremor but instead revealed a cruel and excited smile.

That passionate emotion from humans was transformed into the driving force for Digimon to continue evolving through a special program called the "Digimon Catcher".

This ability is something that requires years of close cooperation between humans and Digimon to acquire.

Ryuji, who can be infected by Arkadimon, seems to have been born with this ability, and can communicate with the evil god called "Arkadimon".

However, compared to the tacit understanding and unspoken connection between them, Ryuji's situation was more like being unilaterally controlled by Akabane.

Arkadimon doesn't need Ryuji to determine the future direction of its evolution; it only needs the other party to provide it with ample and abundant negative emotions.

tear...

In an instant, the Arkadi Beast suddenly raised its body and grabbed forward with its bare hands, actually inserting its arms into the void and tearing out a visible spatial rift.

Beyond that spatial rift, one could vaguely see a wondrous and magnificent digital world and a perfectly uniform human world.

Isn't it just digitization?

Although Arkadimon has not yet mastered the ability to digitize, it is able to forcibly tear apart the "dimensional wall" and travel to different time and space by virtue of its evil god attributes.

Arkadimon came to the human world using this power.

Unfortunately, Arkadimon, who successfully crossed the "dimensional wall," ultimately could not escape the fate of being a BOSS and was sealed in the core of the Valhalla server by an even more powerful being.

After re-evolving into the Champion stage, Arkadimon, while not returning to its former peak state, still possessed some of the power it had at its peak.

Torn apart EDEN's firewall and forcibly entering the real world is what Arkadimon is doing right now.

With the "Dimensional Wall" weakened by Swordmon, Arkadimon doesn't need to be Digitized to do what Matadormon can do.

After all, compared to the real "dimensional wall," the EDEN firewall built by humans is far too fragile, so fragile that it is completely powerless to stop the Arkadimon from intruding.

"Chase after it! Kill it!"

Unaware of what Arkadimon's actions meant, Ryuji immediately issued an order after seeing the "reflection" of Kamishiro Central Hospital.

Silence!

In the blink of an eye, Arkadimon and Ryuji disappeared from Nogi Yu's private space.

Rumble…

As a result of Arkadimon forcibly tearing apart the EDEN firewall, the human world and the Digital World, now without a buffer, collided directly, producing a spectacular phenomenon of lightning, thunder, and flames.

This directly caused more rifts to appear in the "dimensional wall" between the two worlds, and many Digimon fell into them before they even realized what was happening.

Some of the luckier Digimon might be able to cross the "dimensional wall" by sacrificing some of their power.

However, many more Digimon were completely swallowed and distorted by those spatial rifts, becoming indescribable creatures that would forever wander in the darkness.

......................................................................................................

In the real world, in Nogi Yu's room.

As Matadormon was forcibly digitized and appeared in the human world, Yu Nogi, who was lying in bed wearing the EDEN device, was struck dumb and his eyes widened suddenly.

From his current perspective, his original self seems to have split into two, becoming two relatively independent individuals.

An individual named "Nogi Yu" lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, seemingly just an ordinary, unremarkable middle school student named Li.

The individual named "Bullmon" is different. It is an anomaly from the Digital World, a battle-hardened warrior, and a demon that feeds on blood and hunts down the strong.

Despite being completely different individuals, they share the same will and memories.

Nogi Yu is aware of the influence of Matadormon on her, and Matadormon is equally aware of Nogi Yu's inner desires.

They are the same "person," different facets of the same person, only these two facets are appearing simultaneously in the same world and at the same point in time today.

"Bullfighter Beast (Yu Nogi)..."

Lying on the bed, Nogi Yu and the bullfighter beast that appeared in the real world spoke almost at the same time. The eerie harmony and similar tone always gave people a creepy feeling.

However, before the two "people" who were of one mind could fully appreciate this feeling, Arkadimon, which was right behind them, tore through space and appeared above the Kamishiro Central Hospital, chasing after Matadormon, and engaged in a fierce battle with it.

Chapter 40: The Unity of Witchcraft and Martial Arts (Please subscribe and add to your bookshelf!)

On the fifth floor of Kamishiro Central Hospital, in Chen Ze's special consultation room.

"what's going on?!"

Despite the brief power outage, the hospital's backup power generation system activated automatically.

But the sudden darkness still startled Dr. Yamazaki, who was recording Chen Ze's physical data.

Before he could even push open the door to the consultation room, the screams and shouts of medical staff and patients began to fill the air, accompanied by the sounds of lightning and thunder ripping through the sky.

Rumble…

Amidst the flashes of lightning and the roars of thunder, faint sounds of fury and howls could be heard.

Just as Dr. Yamazaki was about to go out to see what was happening, another sound of glass and walls breaking came from outside the door, and this time it was so close that he could hear it clearly.

"Arkadimon! Kill it!"

The first sound coming from outside the door was a cold, aloof male voice, amidst the raging wind and rain, that carried the air of death itself.

"You want me dead? You're dreaming!"

As if in response to the other party's indifference, a near-manic, neutral voice roared in a low voice, accompanied by the shattering sound of glass falling to the ground.

Wow…

As if stepping on sharp glass, the almost manic, neutral voice didn't hesitate for a moment before turning around and unleashing a piercing sonic boom.

Unable to see the scene, Dr. Yamazaki could only imagine the two terrifying beings fighting right outside his door.

boom!

When Dr. Yamazaki realized the danger, the wall of the examination room near the corridor suddenly collapsed, and a shockwave rushed straight towards him.

As an ordinary person, Dr. Yamazaki had no way to avoid the visible shockwave and could only watch helplessly as he was about to become a victim of this battle.

"careful!"

At the critical moment, Chen Ze, who had just been lying on the examination equipment, suddenly lunged forward and tackled Dr. Yamazaki to the ground, thus narrowly avoiding the impact of the aftershocks.

Even so, the terrifying shockwave still pierced through the wall behind the two, revealing the entire city that had already fallen into darkness.

......................................................................................................

"careful!"

As Matadormon and Arkadimon crashed through the building's walls one after the other, slamming straight into the hospital corridor, Astarmon, who was prepared, disregarded the astonished gazes of those around him and exposed himself completely to human eyes for the first time.

"what is that?"

"Demon? Monster?"

"That's a Digimon? Then he's a hacker?"

……

With its stealth ability and electromagnetic barrier removed, Astarmon unfurled its bat wings like a demon, lifted Keisuke from the wheelchair with one hand, and retreated beyond the fighting range of Matadormon and Arkadimon at a speed exceeding human limits.