Digital Hackers' Memories

Putting aside the special evolution phenomenon of jumping two levels at once, the anger that Beelzemon showed when Priestmon X was kidnapped made Yuuko Kamishiro suspect the relationship between Digimon.

Perhaps the relationships between Digimon are not limited to partners and companions; relationships similar to family and romantic relationships in humans also exist among them.

"That is... the gateway to the Digital World!"

Although they were also caught off guard by Blacktermon's sudden betrayal, Sistermon and her sister were at least experienced and immediately noticed the abnormal convergence of digital waves over Odaiba.

A similar situation occurred a few days ago, but this time the scale was much larger than the last time, so large that it exceeded the Sister Beast Sisters' comprehension.

"Are the Fragrant Beasts... planning to teleport the World Tree over as well?"

As if in response to the Sistermon sisters' question, the digital waves that converged over Odaiba formed a huge vortex at a visible speed and quickly expanded, covering most of Tokyo.

In a daze, a scene resembling the end of the world appeared in the real world.

Kaka...

The sound of the "dimensional wall" shattering echoed from Tokyo, from Japan, and even from Earth...

Whether or not they saw the giant vortex over Tokyo, all living things on Earth looked up towards the east.

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

Inside the EDEN network, in a park of broken copper and scrap iron.

As Takumi was chasing the trail left by the Fragrant Beast, he seemed to sense something and suddenly looked up at the sky.

Boom!

The next second, the entire scrap metal park was subjected to some kind of powerful invasion. The data originally used to construct this space was forcibly distorted and transformed into another unknown form.

"Royal Knights?"

Through this fragmented cyberspace, Takumi saw the Fragrant Beast kneeling on one knee on the Odaiba Building, and the enormous Dragon Emperor hovering behind it.

"That's...new?"

Opposite the two royal knights, Sanada Shinsuke, whose body was mostly twisted and deformed, was laughing wildly. In the process, his body had completely become an eroder.

tumultuous!

However, before Takumi could understand what that scene meant, a familiar light appeared in front of him, becoming the only "landmark" in this collapsed data space.

"Stop going any further!"

The voice was strangely gentle. When Takumi looked closely, he was shocked to find a boy who looked exactly like YUGO standing at the end of the darkness.

"Who are you?"

Takumi stared at the boy who felt so familiar to him. He was absolutely certain that it was not Yuko Kamishiro's data avatar, but a real human being.

"Have we... met before?"

This was clearly an easy question to answer, but the boy opposite him looked troubled.

"We've 'seen' it, but we could also say we haven't."

After a slight pause, the young man, considering the precarious situation, didn't keep the conversation a secret any longer.

"When you first logged into EDEN, I was the one who guided you to meet Yuko."

“And I am with you every time you encounter the corruptors.”

Upon hearing this, Takumi's pupils suddenly contracted.

"Are you the legendary 'Ghost Boy'? The 'Omen' who appears every time the Invaders appear?"

According to hacker lore, a ghostly boy in white always appears before the Invaders, though few can truly confirm his existence.

Takumi initially thought it was just an absurd claim, like an urban legend, but judging from the current situation, the rumor seems to have some basis in fact—it might not be without cause.

"Are you Yuuko's brother?"

It was only at this moment that Takumi finally realized the true identity of the ghost boy standing before him.

Aside from the slight age discrepancy, isn't this suddenly appearing boy exactly the same as Yuugo Kamishiro lying in the hospital bed at the Central Hospital?

Furthermore, YUGO is a data avatar created by Yuko Kamishiro based on her brother's image, so it's perfectly normal that the two look exactly alike.

"I am Yugo Kamishiro, but I am not just Yuko's brother."

A hint of sadness and nostalgia flashed in his eyes as Yugo Kamishiro continued in a rather low voice.

"Eight years ago, the five of us—me, you, Shin, Yuko, and Nokia—participated in the β experiment and became the first users of EDEN."

"In a sense, I can be considered the older brother of all five of you."

Although Yugo Kamishiro was trying to lighten the mood with jokes, Takumi's furrowed brows showed that his approach was clearly ineffective.

"Eight years ago? The beta test?"

Despite being completely unfamiliar with the words, Takumi inadvertently recalled some blurry images when he heard "Yugo Kamishiro" speak.

"Yes, your memories of the β experiment were erased by Yamashiro Kou."

With a wry smile, Takumi shook his head. "Yugo Kamishiro's" voice was still so gentle, but Takumi seemed to hear a deep loneliness and regret in it.

"Wait, you just said 'you guys'? What about you?"

Having keenly grasped the flaw in Yugo Kamishiro's words, Takumi couldn't help but feel an unconcealable fear and dread.

Takumi didn't know what he was afraid of. He just felt that he might have forgotten something very important, so important that even if he couldn't remember it, he still felt trembling.

"Your memory hasn't been erased?"

"Also, aren't you suffering from 'EDEN syndrome' and currently lying in the hospital?"

Chapter Sixty: The Corruptor Matrix

"In reality, 'I' am still lying in a hospital bed."

Without refuting Takumi's statement, Yugo Kamishiro continued in a tone full of emotion and regret.

"Because the 'me' from eight years ago did not return to the EDEN network, but remained in another world."

“I am currently inside the mother of those things that you call ‘corruptors’.”

During the process of being repatriated by the Royal Knights, due to some unexpected situation, the real Yugo Kamishiro was devoured by the Invaders and became the first patient of "EDEN Syndrome", thus terminating the β trial.

After this incident, Yamashiro Kei, one of the three giants of the Kamishiro Group and a genius researcher, chose to erase all his related memories and leave the Kamishiro Group as an ordinary person.

In a sense, even Kamishiro Satoru's "suicide" later was related to Kamishiro Yugo's coma.

"So, are you... really Yugo Kamishiro now?"

With his eyes wide open in disbelief, Takumi, who had almost become a patient with "EDEN syndrome" himself, naturally understood the subtext of the other person's words.

Given that his mind and body were separated for eight years, and that he was being devoured by the invaders, it's no wonder that Takumi had such questions.

Less than half a year after he was separated from his body, Takumi was already able to clearly feel the adverse effects of the "Data Body".

It's hard to imagine that Yugo Kamishiro, whose situation is even worse than his own, would remain completely unchanged.

Given that every time Yugo Kamishiro appears in the EDEN network, an Invader invades the area where he appears, Takumi even suspects that the "Yugo Kamishiro" in front of him has actually become one of the Invaders.

"I'm also curious about this: am I the real Yugo Kamishiro now, or just a phantom left behind by the Yugo Kamishiro of the past...?"

Without denying Takumi's guess, "Yugo Kamishiro" continued softly.

"But you can rest assured that I have no ill intentions towards you."

"The so-called 'eroders' can actually be seen as another form of 'data sharing'. Every piece of data that an eroder devours is shared with its kind through 'sharing'."

"That's why I always appear in advance where the invaders are about to appear, to warn the humans active in that area."

It was not the appearance of "Yugo Kamishiro" that caused the appearance of the Invaders; on the contrary, it was the imminent appearance of the Invaders that prompted "Yugo Kamishiro" to appear there as a warning.

Moreover, the more complete and larger the data of the soon-to-appear Invaders, the clearer the detached information that can carry the will and memories of "Yugo Kamishiro" will be.

Just like now, the fact that "Yugo Kamishiro" can appear in front of Takumi with such a clear will means that an unprecedented giant invader is about to appear in this area.

"The invaders originally had no 'matrix' because they were completely equal inside."

"Until the Invaders devoured the Digital World's host—the World Tree, the sheer volume of data created a convergence mechanism among the Invaders, similar to a 'platform'."

"This is an evolution, but also a weakness."

"The Corruptor's Matrix is ​​about to descend. You must pass on this message so that the Royal Knights know that the Corruptor's 'weakness' has been revealed."

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

"what's going on?"

Nokia, who was searching for the Royal Knights on the other side of the EDEN network, did not encounter "Yugo Kamishiro" directly like Takumi, but she also encountered a situation where the firewall was hacked and assimilated.

However, Nokia, true to her usual good fortune, appeared before Yuuko Kamishiro as soon as the network turmoil occurred.

"Yuko?"

Looking at Yuko Kamishiro with surprise, who hadn't participated in today's operation because she said she had something to take care of, Nokia seemed a little puzzled as to why Yuko was in EDEN.

"Wait, where is this place?"

Nokia blinked, seemingly unconcerned whether the other person would answer her question, and continued to ask her own questions.

"..."

The initial shock instantly turned into helplessness. Yuko Kamishiro realized that Nokia was indeed, as Fie had said, the biggest atmosphere destroyer.

With her around, she can sway any atmosphere and lead you in a completely inexplicable direction.

"This is a public area of ​​EDEN. You must have been brought here by the network chaos just now."

After a moment of silence, seeing that Nokia's style was going further and further astray, Yuko Kamishiro had no choice but to explain helplessly.

"Weren't you and Takumi at 'Scrap Metal Park'? What happened there?"

Reminded by Yuko Kamishiro, Nokia's thoughts returned to "serious mode," and she scratched her head somewhat awkwardly.

"I don't know what happened either..."

Nokia was telling the truth; she was very lucky to be thrown out of "Scrap Metal Park" when the internet was just starting to turmoil.

Therefore, Nokia was unaware of either the sudden transformation of the "Scrap Metal Park" or the battle that took place in this public area.

"However, it seems like something has invaded 'Scrap Metal Park'. Omegamon just sent me a warning."

As she said this, Nokia unconsciously glanced at her virtual screen; she had only just seen the warning Omegamon had sent her.

"It seems that the Infinite Dragon Beast's shot triggered some kind of chain reaction?"

She murmured something under her breath, then glanced at the still bewildered nun and beast sisters beside her and extended an invitation to them.

"You are Sister Beasts, right? You seem to know something. Can you tell me what you know?"

The Sistermon sisters looked at each other, and finally the older sister, the black Sistermon, spoke up.

"It was the Fragrance Beasts who opened the door to the Digital World."

He immediately refuted Yuko Kamishiro's previous guess, saying that the Infinite Dragon Beast's shot was just a coincidence.

Or rather, Mugendramon's attack only exacerbated the already dire situation; the root cause of all this was the aromamon's gathering of digital waves in an attempt to open the gates to the Digital World.

"'Scrap Metal Park' was originally a 'hole' connecting the digital world and the real world..."

"So after Fragrancemon opened the gate to the Digital World, that area became the first EDEN network region to be invaded."

Unlike the method used by Swordmon, which used the Valhalla server as a medium to open the door between two worlds using digital waves.

This time, Aromon did the opposite, directly using digital waves to forcibly penetrate the "dimensional wall" in the real world. As a result, the EDEN network between the two worlds naturally showed signs of being invaded.

The only question now is whether the invaders invading "Scrap Metal Park" are the Royal Knights' reserve forces—this will determine who the group's next enemy will be.

Chapter Sixty-One: The Beginning - Acquiring Power

On the expressway from Nakano to Odaiba in Tokyo, Japan.

hum!

The speeding silver-gray sedan was clearly not of any known brand, yet it displayed a speed that surpassed that of any race car.

This extreme speed even left afterimages behind it, and even the most advanced cameras in the human world could not capture the true appearance of this silver-gray sedan.

Theoretically speaking, there shouldn't be any human in this world capable of piloting this "steel monster" with flesh and blood.

Because this silver-gray sedan was not designed as a "speed king" based on human standards from the very beginning.

However, inside this "steel monster" that was clearly not made by any human, sat a well-built human woman.