‘Will Kouki’s transformation continue indefinitely? Will he always remain a good person?’
After much contemplation, Sora decided to ask directly.
Kudamon was not a secretive being, so as long as it was not something confidential, he should be willing to answer.
Upon hearing the question, Kudamon smiled slightly. ‘Are you worried I’m changing his free will? As expected of Angewomon!’
As a Holy-type Digimon, it was natural to be impassioned and have such concerns.
“Once the spiritual energy I left in his body is depleted, he will return to his original nature. However, that will take a long time.”
“So there’s such a limitation…” Sora breathed a sigh of relief.
She was actually a little worried Kudamon might use this trick on her… Losing her current eccentric personality would be dreadful!
Pursuing the path of holiness was fine, but if her personality became normal, that would be too boring… But since he would eventually return to normal, there was nothing to fear.
A while later, at 8 AM—
Thomas and Yoshino arrived at the command center one after another to clock in for work.
Seeing Sora, they both greeted her.
“Where’s Marcus?” Sora asked curiously.
Yoshino replied, “He had to go to school. He’ll report in after class.”
Unlike the protagonists of the earlier Digimon series, who were usually elementary school students, the protagonist of this fifth series—Marcus Damon—was a 14-year-old second-year middle school student, the same age as Yagami Taichi and the others from their second season.
“What about you two?” Sora looked at Thomas and Yoshino.
She watched little of the fifth series, and aside from the famous “Marcus Beats Digimon” meme, many details were fuzzy in her memory.
“I’ve already graduated,” Thomas replied.
Although he was the same age as Marcus, he had already graduated from the Royal Academy of Stockholm. A genius, he was also a world boxing champion, making him both intellectually and physically exceptional. His rational personality had earned him the title of the best DATS member in history—A classic high-IQ second lead.
“I… also graduated,” Yoshino said sheepishly.
That said, she hadn’t graduated from university but… from high school.
She had no intention of attending university; working at DATS was equivalent to securing a government job, and if they successfully resolved the Digimon crisis, she could transfer to the police department later—A true working-class mentality.
Sora chuckled, “So, in the end, only Marcus is still in school.”
The one who loved fighting the most was the only one still in school.
That was quite the irony.
Just then, Miki Kurosaki called out, “There’s a Digimon signal in Area K1!”
Thomas said, “I’ll handle it.”
Grabbing his Digivice, he left their routine mission—wherever a Digimon appeared, they would go, defeat it, and return it to a Digi-Egg. Then, according to the protocol, these Digi-Eggs were to be sent back to the Digital World.
Nevertheless, considering the unstable factor being Kurata, sending them back immediately was unsafe. So Kudamon had instructed DATS to temporarily store the Digi-Eggs until Kurata was dealt with, then send them back in one go.
‘As expected of an early-series protagonist team,’ Sora thought.
At this stage, their partner Digimon could only evolve to the Champion level. Without Ultimate-level combat power, they could only take a supporting role in the upcoming operation against Kurata.
Sora was no exception; she had to stay back.
Her combat strength was not enough to participate in the mission against Kurata either.
Though a bit regretful, as long as Kurata was eliminated, whether she personally took action or not didn’t matter.
“I’ll head back to my dorm for now.”
With nothing to do in the command center, Sora bid farewell and returned to the room that DATS had assigned her.
“Full-Body Takeover: Vamdemon’s Soul!”
With a flash of magical light, Sora transformed into the Blood Queen.
Previously, she had only used the souls of Vamdemon and SkullSatamon during battles. In contrast, she playfully used Gatomon’s soul in daily life, which made her mastery of Gatomon’s abilities the highest among the three.
She had even unlocked Gatomon’s latent potential, granting her tenfold flexibility.
It was this enhanced flexibility that had allowed her to defeat Bio-Quetzalmon last time.
“If I maintain the Blood Queen form for an extended period, even if I don’t unlock a new ability, I can at least fully adapt to this power and achieve maximum efficiency,” Sora muttered, explaining her reasoning to Angewomon.
…
Meanwhile, Kouki had already contacted Kurata.
Kurata did not doubt Kouki’s claim of “wanting greater power.”
After all, that was Kouki’s nature. He had originally become a Digimon Hunter for the sake of strength and battle. So now, after being defeated and humiliated by Tyilinmon, it was only natural for him to desire greater power to seek revenge.
Thus, Kurata sent people to bring Kouki to him.
As soon as Kouki got out of the vehicle and saw Kurata, he felt a rush of excitement.
‘I actually got this close to the big villain so easily! But now isn’t the time to take action. I need to gather evidence first.’
Kurata, seeing Kouki’s intense gaze, mistook it for a hunger for power and chuckled. “Relax, Kouki. Don’t be so impatient, you’ll soon get the power you crave.”
Everyone had a Digisoul, but activating it required talent.
Among Kurata’s subordinates, only Kouki, Nanami, and Ivan had successfully awakened their Digisouls.
Others, including Kurata himself, could not.
Instead, Kurata relied on technology to use a synthetic version, which he called “Artificial Digisoul.”
Functionally, it wasn’t inferior to natural Digisouls, but it was inconvenient to use and required an external storage device.
Thus, the three Digimon Hunters who had naturally awakened their Digisouls were valuable assets, and Kurata was willing to grant them nearly any reasonable request.
“Relax?”
Kouki wasn’t looking for power—he wanted evidence, specifically, proof of the Space-Time Oscillation Bomb.
Feigning anger, he declared, “Send me to the Digital World! I need to vent my rage through battle.”
Kurata raised an eyebrow, sensing something odd.
But as a genius, he was also highly self-confident—even arrogant.
So, he dismissed Kouki’s behavior as nothing more than battle-induced frustration.
“Go ahead and have some fun.”
Kurata took Kouki to the storage facility for the Space-Time Oscillation Bombs, retrieved one, set it up, then led him to an open area and casually tossed the activated bomb.
Boom!
The explosion wasn’t loud.
In fact, to human ears, only the sound of the bomb’s metallic casing shattering could be heard. The real effect of the Space-Time Oscillation Bomb occurred beyond the range of human hearing.
After the explosion, a golden ring appeared in the air.
Within the ring was a pitch-black tunnel, occasionally streaked with green patterns—its destination unknown.
A gateway to the Digital World!
Kouki had a hidden camera on his belt, recording everything.
He transmitted the footage to DATS headquarters.
At 3 PM—
Marcus and Agumon S arrived at the command center.
The moment they entered, Miki Kurosaki exclaimed, “We got the evidence!”
Marcus shuddered. He had no idea what was happening, but his instincts told him—a storm was coming.
— The end of the Chapter–
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