Digital Hackers' Memories

After a brief silence, Astarmon once again spread its demonic wings and murmured like a true demon.

"People always change, just like Patamon."

Seemingly aware of Astaroth's decision, Keisuke, paralyzed from the waist down, smiled.

"Go and stop them! I will always fight alongside you!"

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

boom! boom! boom!

After smashing through several walls, the Matadormon, having barely recovered some of its fighting power by absorbing human blood, turned around without hesitation and prepared to leave this dangerous place.

Having fought Arkadimon for so long, Matadormon had long since realized how terrifying its opponent was.

Even with blood-sucking, Matadormon cannot fully recover from any wounds torn by the tentacles on Arkadimon's arm.

It's a terrifying tactic that transcends the superficial appearance of matter, attacking the opponent directly at the level of data and concepts.

In other words, even if Matadormon has super regenerative abilities, it will only get weaker and weaker when facing Arkadimon, and it simply cannot use its super regenerative power to wear down its opponent.

"Stop it!"

However, as a hacker with extensive combat experience, Ryuji immediately saw through Matadormon's intentions.

Without any hesitation, Arkadimon, pushing its fighting instincts to the limit, suddenly stretched out its arms like two agile giant pythons, gripping Matadormon's arms tightly.

Click!

In an instant, Arkadimon's veins bulged like tree roots, forcefully dragging Matadormon to prevent it from leaving.

As a price for stopping Matadormon, two of Arkadimon's tentacles were severed, and the other party's ten sharp fingers seemed to intend to continue severing its two arms.

Even so, Arkadimon still showed no intention of letting go, instead using even stronger force to pull its opponent towards itself, seemingly intending to resolve the battle in this way.

"Don't underestimate me!"

Clearly enraged by Arkadimon's almost contemptuous attitude, Matadormon seemed to revert to the sensitive and insecure Nogi Yu, and even his tone became agitated.

In the blink of an eye, the two Digimon collided once again, and this time the impact was far greater than ever before.

Boom!

With a deafening roar that seemed to pierce through the entire building, the ceilings above the fifth floor were smashed open by brute force.

Thus, the battle between Arkadimon and Matadormon shifted from indoors to the rooftop.

Chapter Forty-Five: The Domain of Vulcanus

On a street near Shibuya Central Hospital.

"Those are... Digimon?"

They had only been out of the hospital for a short time when Erika and Keisuke noticed the sudden power outage in the area.

Erika, in particular, with her exceptional intelligence, noticed the Digimon falling from the sky and immediately thought of the huge hole that had appeared over Tokyo a few days earlier.

It was after that day that Digimon began to appear frequently in the real world, causing serious personal and property losses to Japanese people living in the Tokyo area.

It is said that what emerged from the cave that day was not only ordinary Digimon, but also a colossal dragon whose size was beyond description.

Although the giant dragon, which seemed to have fallen from another world, did not cause any further damage, it remained on the top floor of the Odaiba Building, forming an alternate dimension that resembled a distorted space.

To this day, the Japanese military and various forces are trying to find ways to break through that distorted space and locate the terrifying Digimon known as the "Dragon Emperor".

That colossal creature, which transcends ordinary concepts and can cause natural disasters simply by its size, is a threat even if it only occupies the top floor of a building in Odaiba.

There is no doubt that a similar "digital gate" is forming over Shibuya at this moment.

Or more precisely, because Arkadimon forcibly tore through spacetime to appear in the human world, the already fragile "dimensional wall" has gained even more cracks and gaps.

Having personally experienced the incident a few days prior, Keisuke and Erika naturally understood the danger involved.

If these cracks and holes are allowed to continue to expand, they may not form a "digital gate" of the scale it was a few days ago.

It's not impossible that a small tunnel, large enough to accommodate even ordinary Perfect Level beings or Ultimate Level beings, could exist.

"Wait, what is that?"

Just as Erika was in shock, Keisuke, whose eyesight had improved, noticed the key to the incident—Kamishiro Central Hospital.

Two Digimon were fighting in the twilight of the night, battling from the sky into the hospital and then from the hospital to the rooftop. Wherever the two Digimon struck, walls collapsed and there were loud crashes.

Even from several streets away, Keisuke could clearly hear the noise coming from the Kamishiro Central Hospital.

"elder brother?"

Keisuke's reminder made Erika notice the battle taking place at Kamishiro Central Hospital.

Furthermore, the observant Erika noticed another detail that Keisuke hadn't noticed: the man standing on Arkadimon's shoulder, directing the battle.

After spending a long time together, Erika instinctively concluded that the man directing the battle was her brother, the leader of the Butterfly Sect who had been missing for several days—Ryuji Mishima.

"Is that the eldest brother?"

Keisuke quickly shifted his gaze and noticed the man standing on Arkadimon's shoulder.

Unlike Erika, Keisuke was unsure of the man's true identity, just as he couldn't understand the certainty in Erika's tone.

"Yes, that must be my brother!"

Even though she didn't know what had happened to Ryuji, Erica couldn't help but feel happy the moment she saw him appear.

—My brother didn't abandon me; he was just making some kind of effort behind my back.

With this belief, Erica disregarded her own physical weakness and pulled Keisuke along as they ran towards the Central Hospital of the Times.

Is... really my older brother?

Keisuke glanced at Erica, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back. He had a feeling that something was off about the man standing on the shoulder of the Arkadimon.

Even if the other person really is Ryuji, it must be another side of Ryuji that I don't know.

Keisuke didn't believe Erica was unaware of this; she simply selectively ignored the incongruity.

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

click!

When Erika and Keisuke ran back to the entrance of Kamishiro Central Hospital, intending to continue upstairs...

Before everyone's eyes, a humanoid Digimon with black wings suddenly burst through the window and unfurled its pair of jet-black demonic wings.

tumultuous!

The next second, this Digimon, who looked like a noble young master, flew directly from the fifth floor to the rooftop, attracting the attention of Erika, Keisuke, and all the humans.

Time and space reversed!

A continuous stream of dark power gushed out from Astaroth's body like a fountain, then transformed into a barrier like black mist that enveloped the entire Kamishiro Central Hospital.

Under this evil and dark force, the order of time and space is reversed, and the boundary between truth and falsehood is blurred.

Originally located in a specific area of ​​the lower space of EDEN, it was forcibly pulled into the real world by the power of Astaromon, and its original location was replaced by the Kamishiro Central Hospital.

Astaroth was one of the seventy-two demons of Solomon, a powerful demon who held a dragon of hell in his right hand and possessed the power to travel through time and space.

Astamon, born from His data, naturally also inherited His "divine right" to travel through time and space and roam freely between existence and non-existence.

In fact, this is why Astarmon was able to quickly figure out how to appear in the real world after the "dimensional wall" malfunctioned.

Compared to other Digimon that appeared in the human world due to various coincidences, Astarmon, like Chen Ze and Renamon X, is a Digimon that has mastered the ability to fully digitize.

At this moment, Astaroth is simply using its "divine authority" to the fullest extent, pulling a certain area of ​​the lower space of EDEN into reality, temporarily covering the location of the Divine Era Central Hospital.

In this way, as long as the power of Arkadimon and Matadormon does not exceed the limits that Astarmon can withstand, they will not cause substantial damage to the real world outside of the Gods Central Hospital.

As for the doctors and patients who were also transported to the distorted space, Astaromon could only say that there was nothing he could do to help them.

At the very least, in this distorted space replaced by Astarmon, as long as those humans don't move around carelessly, they are unlikely to be affected by the battle between Arkadimon and Matadormon.

Because this space is just like the real EDEN network, it has no limitations of distance and time, only the capacity to carry data.

Without the help of hacking techniques, an ordinary human being would only stay in the same place even if they walked for a year, and would never be able to leave their original room, just like a file placed in a folder.

This is the source of Astarmon's confidence; within this replaced data space, it is the only "god" with administrator privileges.

Chapter Forty-Six: The Rising Evil God

On the rooftop of the replaced Kamishiro Central Hospital.

When Astarmon officially appeared, Arkadimon and Matadormon, who had been locked in fierce combat, strangely fell silent.

Astarmon looked closely and realized that the two Digimon hadn't suddenly stopped fighting; rather, the battle was almost over.

Matadormon was already inferior to Arkadimon in terms of raw strength, and after being forcibly taken to the rooftop, it naturally became weaker and weaker without the support of "blood vials," putting it at a complete disadvantage.

In contrast, Arkadimon's growth rate is terrifying, and this growth is not limited to strength and stats.

From initially fighting purely on instinct, to later learning the Eight Extremes Fist of Armored Dragonmon, and finally even having Matadormon's proud "Martial Dance Solo Technique" imitated...

Arkadimon's growth is all-encompassing, from pure strength to combat skills and even combat experience; it is growing at an astonishing rate.

Judging from its current performance, it's hard to believe that Arkadimon has only been around for a few days.

"A troublemaker?"

Turning his head to look at Astaromon floating in mid-air, Ryuji, who hadn't expected anyone to interfere in the battle, spoke up.

"Arkadimon, take this guy down too!"

His calm tone revealed a deathly indifference; Ryuji, whose mind had been completely influenced by Arkadimon, didn't care why Astaromon had appeared.

At this moment, everything Ryuji does is an excuse to achieve his goal of "feeding Arkadimon".

Whether it's hostility towards Digimon, hostility towards Zaxom, or even those invaders who are also made of data...

Under Arkadimon's influence, Ryuji, whose mind has been completely corrupted, would have found other excuses to hunt Digimon even without his previous experiences.

Arkadimon needs sufficient data to grow, and this is the driving force behind all of Ryuji's actions.

"Pathetic fellow."

Keisuke's goal is to prevent these two nearly insane Digimon from causing more casualties, and Astarmon naturally takes action with the same objective in mind.

However, unlike most people, in Astarmon's eyes, there is no possibility of "dissuading" madmen like Matadormon and Arkadimon.

Or to put it another way, as long as you take down both of them, you can also accomplish the task that Keisuke gave to Astaromon.

Da da da……

With that thought in mind, Astarmon didn't waste any words and raised the "Golden Salmon" in his hand to start firing fiercely.

At that moment, the surging black mist transformed into tangible flames, then rushed into the "Golden Salmon's" magazine like birds returning to their nests, turning into real bullets.

—Hellfire!

Knowing Arkadimon's characteristic of "injury upon contact, death upon touch," Astarmon had no intention of engaging in close combat whatsoever, and its frenzied fire serpents directly enveloped the entire rooftop.

Utter madness, utter insanity...

As one of the most outstanding creations of the Vulcanus, "Golden Salmon" may not have the same level of damage as "Eggplant", but it has its own unique characteristics.

The special ability of "Golden Salmon" is to materialize and solidify the hellfire of Astaroth, thereby creating "infinite bullets".

Most importantly, as an extension of Astarmon's power, the bullets made of hellfire possess independent will and can automatically track enemies.

This capability is generally reserved for the bio-missiles of the Steel Empire, but it was bestowed upon the "Golden Salmon" by the Craftsman God—Vulcanus—in a way that was both enchanted and deified.

With the automatically tracking bullets combined with the hellfire that burns away all sins, even an evil god like Arkadimon had to temporarily avoid its sharp edge and dodge the bullet attacks at an extremely fast speed.

Unfortunately, the karmic fire bullets, possessing their own will, swarmed like bees leaving their hive, somehow managing to trace an arc of over ninety degrees in mid-air before shooting at Arkadimon once again.

"howl!"

At the critical moment, Arkadimon, which had never made a sound since its birth, suddenly roared, and a terrifying and evil aura instantly covered the entire area.

Impacted by this undisguised evil force, the originally data-driven space seemed to have been eroded by some kind of virus, and began to show a blackness that did not belong to it.

It was an ultimate darkness, a kind of annihilation capable of destroying everything...

Under the influence of this dark force, Astaromon's bullets were broken down into the most primitive 0 and 1 data before they even touched the target's body.

"It actually has this kind of 'absolute defense' ability?"

Despite being only a Champion-level Digimon, Arkadimon's understanding and control over data has reached a level that even ordinary Ultimate-level Digimon do not possess.

Even an Astarmon of similarly extraordinary power could not break down an enemy's attack into raw data for neutralization.