Digital Hackers' Memories

Although she spoke in a very calm tone, Chen Ze could still hear immense pride in Ms. Xiu's voice.

"If it weren't for the emergency, this would be the one that's here."

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Is it the 'source' of everything?

Walking slowly to the strange robot from the Kamishiro Corporation, Renamon X stared at it, feeling the powerful digital waves emanating from its body.

After re-evolving into her Rookie form, Renamon X's perception abilities were greatly enhanced, and she was now certain that the strange robot was the "source" of all the incidents.

"source??"

Just as Youkomon X was pondering how to deal with the robot, a strange chuckle suddenly came from inside the robot.

"Haha☆, NAVIT is not the source of digital waves!"

With a strange tone, the robot, which had been standing quietly on the ground, suddenly started to move.

Immediately afterwards, the strange robot began to sway and tremble slightly, twisting in response to the changes in the surrounding data.

"NAVIT is at best a guiding device, a carrier that can be discarded at any time!"

Before the words were even finished, the robot, whose shape had become completely distorted and blurred, suddenly took a step forward, startling the fox spirit X into leaping backward to a safe distance of more than ten meters.

"I never expected to meet you here again, Youkomon?!"

Still maintaining that strange tone, the newcomer seemed to be intentionally reminding someone of something, deliberately emphasizing the pronunciation of the three words "demon fox beast".

"who are you?"

With her inner vigilance heightened to the extreme, Renamon stared at the robot that was reorganizing its own data, a sense of crisis even more deadly than when she fought Allosaurus X before surging into her heart.

“Oh, I forgot! For you, this should be our ‘first’ meeting.”

After the robot's data was deconstructed and reassembled, what reappeared in front of Renamon X was no longer the mascot named "NAVIT," but a very rare humanoid, Rookie-level Digimon.

Chi!

Like most Rookie-level Digimon, this "Digimon" composed of NAVIT's data and massive digital waves is less than one meter tall.

However, unlike typical Rookie-level Digimon, this petite and exquisite "Digimon" is covered in a tough layer of Digi-alloy, even though it is only at the Rookie level.

Moreover, a resilient golden alloy also wafts across several parts of this "Digimon," including the back of its head, joints, and shoulders.

Having such abundant and massive amounts of data, yet still maintaining a growth stage, completely violates the evolutionary rules of Digimon.

At least in Renamon X's understanding, any Digimon that can luxuriously use Digizoid, even the lowest grade Digizoid, for body modification, must be at least an Ultimate level Digimon.

"Nice to meet you. Please allow me to introduce myself."

Completely unconcerned about Renamon X's horror, the chibi-style "Digimon," holding a rose, gave a very elegant bow.

"I am the guardian of Yggdrasil, a member of the Royal Knights, and the king of all Knight-type Digimon—SwordEmperormon."

"Of course, you can call me Sword Emperor Beast NX now, it doesn't really matter."

Sword Emperor Beast, or rather Sword Emperor Beast NX, said with a light laugh.

The main body projects its will onto NAVIT and uses that massive digital wave to distort its original form, giving it abilities similar to those of a Digimon—this is what is known as "SwordEmperormon NX".

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PS: The chibi-style Sword Emperor Beast is the real queen!

Chapter Sixteen: Mental Degeneration

"Royal Knight? Sword Emperor Beast?!"

As a native of the Digital World, how could Renamon X not have heard of the Royal Knights?

Especially as one of the few Virus-type Royal Knights, SwordKingmon, with its extreme personality and cruel methods, has always been a being that all Digimon fear and avoid at all costs.

Even though the SwordEmperormon NX that has appeared at this moment is merely a clone temporarily reconstructed by SwordEmperormon using Digivice, it still possesses extremely terrifying power.

"It is I, my beloved Renamon 'Lady'!"

Upon hearing the wickedly humorous nickname from Sword Emperor Beast NX, Foxmon X was first taken aback, then involuntarily shivered.

Because in the stories and rumors she heard, the Sword Emperor Beast was generally only described as having an almost obsessive personality, but no one mentioned that it also had this "mischievous sense of humor" in teasing its opponents.

"If you really are SwordEmperorBeast, then why are you here as a Royal Knight?"

Making a wise choice to back down, Renamon X retreated while trying to distract Swordmon NX with words.

Regardless of why they were here, or when they started targeting me...

All of Reijou X's life experience tells her that leaving this place now is the best choice.

"Although I know you're stalling for time, I still want to answer your question."

It was obvious that Renamon X was using delaying tactics, but SwordGoldmon NX, who had its own ideas, chose to continue the conversation along those lines.

"Isn't it normal for a Royal Knight to appear at the 'border' between the real world and the digital world?"

"Or do you think that Allosaurus X was the only crisis?"

Seemingly intentionally guiding Renamon X to think about something, SwordEmmon NX continued to explain with a light laugh.

"When a 'conflict' arises between the digital world and the real world, that is when the Royal Knights must make a choice."

"As a Digimon, which side do you plan to stand on this time?"

Before he could finish speaking, Sword Emperor Beast NX seemed to realize something, and his expression suddenly froze.

"A stubborn beast? It seems I'm not the only one attracted by this 'contradiction'."

With a half-smile, Swordmon NX shook its head, knowing that its "test" had come to an end, and simply threw the rose in its hand towards Renamon X.

"Renamon! Let me see your choice!"

The next moment, the rapidly shooting roses suddenly bloomed, engulfing the fox beast that realized something was wrong and was trying to escape completely.

——Rose Fantasy!

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boom!

With a deafening roar, the precarious dome in front of Chen Ze finally collapsed completely due to its own weight.

"A fox beast?"

In the critical moment, Chen Ze didn't care about anything else and directly picked up the still unconscious Date Makiko. Then he saw the fox demon beast leaping out from the end of the tunnel.

Even though the other party had evolved into its X form, the familiar expression and gait allowed Chen Ze to immediately identify the fox beast as such.

"go!"

Having also seen Chen Ze and Sistermon, Renamon X, after confirming the other's "realism," suppressed the urge to close its eyes and whispered a reminder.

"What trouble have you gotten yourself into this time?"

Unlike Sistermon, who seemed to have sensed something, Chen Ze, who had complete trust in Renamon X, only had time to complain once before decisively carrying Makiko Date towards the tunnel exit.

"It's not like I provoked the Sword Emperor Beast."

"Affected by the attack of 'Rose Illusion,' Reijomon X, who was in a semi-comatose state, retorted instinctively."

Meanwhile, the fox spirit X, who was in the illusion, began to recall the various "adventures" that he and the other had experienced during this period because of Chen Ze's words.

It felt like reliving all of this period of time.

Youkomon X could even clearly remember the scene where Chen Ze deliberately added a "Hacker Survival Guide" to himself when he was on the fourth floor of Kowloon.

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"The third rule of hacker survival."

Chen Ze, who had just witnessed the battle between Angelmon and Leomon, said this in Kowloon, the fourth floor of Renamon X's "Illusion."

"Excessive curiosity kills not only cats, but also hackers who don't know how to control themselves."

However, unlike the real situation, Chen Ze in the "illusion" had a ferocious face and a harsh tone, showing no trace of the helplessness and sighs he once had.

Everything in the past has been maliciously distorted, and past memories are unrecognizable due to mental degeneration—this is the current situation of Reijumon X.

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"But this time it really has nothing to do with me..."

In the real world, Chen Ze listened to the fox spirit X's self-talk with some surprise. The slightly "aggrieved" tone made him realize that something was wrong with the other party's current state.

"A fox beast?"

You should know that, given the consistent personality of the fox spirit X, she would never use such a pitiful tone to refute him, as if she had suffered some great injustice.

On the contrary, the fox spirit X in Chen Ze's memory was certainly curious and somewhat self-destructive, but she was always elegant and calm.

"what happened to you?"

Sensing this, Chen Ze stopped in his tracks, while the fox demon X running in front of him suddenly lost its footing and fell to the ground without warning.

"This fox-like beast... its core data has been tampered with."

At that moment, Sister Beast, who had been silent until now, spoke up with a serious expression.

"This has led to her being unable to distinguish between reality and illusion; everything around her may appear 'fake' to her."

As if in response to Sistermon's words, Renamon X, who had fallen to the ground, was stunned at first, and then burst into tears in a weak manner that Chen Ze had never seen before.

"Is this also a result of illusion?"

With his eyes wide with disbelief, Chen Ze received a positive reply from the nun beast.

"Yes, her core data was modified, and her mind has therefore remained in an early childhood state."

Past memories and experiences were not erased, but the mind reverted to a childlike state...

Recalling Renamon X's earlier slip of the tongue about SwordEmperormon, Sistermon realized that the truth behind this "time vortex" might not be as simple as she had imagined.

[It seems that Sword Emperor Beast is tracing the 'origins' of this Fox Beast?]

If we follow this line of thought, then his father must have sensed some kind of crisis when he sent him here.

"Was this incident caused by the Sword Emperor Beast?"

Chapter Seventeen: The Valiant Nun Beast

"Hey, look who I've found!"

Under the wary gazes of Sistermon and Chen Ze, SwordEmperormon NX slowly emerged from the depths of the tunnel.

Despite her petite stature and small build, her overwhelming aura was genuine.

Without even much action, the tunnel, which was on the verge of collapsing, was "stabilized" again thanks to the arrival of Swordmon NX.

Of course, this "stability" is not physical stability or fixation.

Rather, it refers to the steel and concrete that were originally broken, which were completely transformed into the form of "data" under the erosion of digital waves.

As a result, the area within a radius of more than ten meters of SwordKingmon NX was transformed into a purely digital space and network world, completely isolated from reality.

"Sword Emperor Beast?"

As the mid-term boss of Digimon Adventure 04, Chen Ze was naturally able to recognize the appearance of SwordEmperormon.

Although the other party's form seemed somewhat different from the SwordEmperormon in the fourth season, the pink Digizoid and Renamon X's immediate mention of SwordEmperormon confirmed Chen Ze's identity.

"Why would a Royal Knight be here?"

Glancing at the fox spirit X, whose mind had completely regressed to that of a child, Chen Ze felt a surge of hatred in addition to his shock and anger.

Regardless of why the Sword Emperor Beast appeared here, it is an undeniable fact that it turned the Fox Beast X into its current state, so Chen Ze naturally wouldn't give it a friendly look.

"If I were you, I wouldn't be thinking about how to escape right now."

With a half-smile playing on his lips, Sword Emperor Beast NX immediately saw through Chen Ze's intentions.

For a qualified hacker, running away is never a shameful thing.

After all, the world is never short of strong people. A truly powerful hacker is one who can preserve himself and escape unscathed in any environment.

In fact, this is also why Chen Ze rarely participates in direct combat.

Unless absolutely necessary, Chen Ze never wanted to solve problems with brute force or violence.

Because that doesn't solve the problem, but rather the person or thing that created the problem.