BOOM!
An explosion—a thunderous roar.
Flames shot into the sky, smoke billowed.
From afar, amidst fire and smoke, a massive centaur clad in crimson armor stood tall and proud, exuding a majestic aura.
It was Kudamon’s Mega form—Sleipmon, one of the Royal Knights.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a red laser beam shot out from the ruins of a burning structure. The attacker was a mechanical Digimon with a purple metal shell—Gizmon: AT.
In the blink of an eye, the laser swept across Sleipmon’s body with incredible speed!
However, the beam, which could normally reduce a Digimon to pure life energy and prevent rebirth into a Digi-Egg, left not a single scratch on Sleipmon!
Sleipmon’s armor wasn’t made of ordinary metal but Chrome Digizoid—a high-strength material in the Digital World.
Moreover, Sleipmon’s armor was made of red Chrome Digizoid, a high-purity, high-hardness type. Even if the laser were ten times stronger, it still wouldn’t pierce it.
“Hmph, an attack like that is useless against me, Sleipmon!”
Sleipmon’s eyes widened with fury. With a fierce swing of its right hand—on which it wore a giant shield shaped like a horse’s face, bearing a horse-head emblem—it struck.
Sacred Shield Niflheim.
A named shield is never ordinary.
Sleipmon could use this Sacred Shield to control the weather, conjuring blizzards of extreme cold to trap enemies in ice. Even the fellow Royal Knight Gallantmon couldn’t escape from it.
The technique was called Odin’s Breath.
Suddenly, Sleipmon used the shield as a melee weapon, slamming it into the Gizmon: AT that had fired the laser. The shield’s chilling aura instantly surged forth.
A layer of ice quickly formed over Gizmon: AT’s surface, then shattered it into pieces.
A Gizmon: AT, usually impervious to ordinary Digimon, crumbled like brittle clay in Sleipmon’s hands!
Such was the power of a Royal Knight.
One word: overwhelming!
The shattered Gizmon: AT transformed into a Digi-Egg the next moment. Though artificial, it was still a Digimon and thus returned to a Digi-Egg upon death.
Yet, for a Digimon engineered to be a Digimon slayer to end up as a Digi-Egg—how ironic.
The most effective weapon against a Digimon is another Digimon.
Seeing this, Sleipmon felt mixed emotions. Its hatred for Kurata grew deeper. Enraged, it roared, “Kurata! Where are you?!”
It had attacked Kurata’s base based on Kouki’s provided coordinates, but only Gizmon: AT units had shown up. Not a single human.
Kurata had fled!
Sleipmon was furious—two days of effort wasted.
Had it listened to Sora and acted unhesitantly, things might have turned out differently.
“Sigh…”
Now, the best chance was gone—such regret.
Meanwhile, two kilometers away—
Kurata, holding a pair of binoculars, calmly watched as Sleipmon destroyed the base he had spent years building, unbothered.
He had already relocated the important assets. The base was now just a shell with some mass-produced Gizmon: ATs. Its destruction didn’t matter.
In fact, he was relieved.
“Oh my, how terrifying! I didn’t expect DATS to have such a powerful Digimon… I underestimated them.”
Kurata had thought DATS was just a bunch of amateurs playing pretend; he never expected such a secret weapon. Had he remained at that base, he’d likely be dead by now.
Still, since he was alive, it seemed fate was still on his side.
“Hehhehheh…hahaha—!”
As Kurata grinned, a voice came from beside him, “You should thank me.”
He turned to see a cocky blond young man—Kouki.
After reverting to his scumbag self, Kouki had told Kurata everything about his time at DATS and his undercover role. Thanks to that, Kurata could relocate everything within half an hour and avoid total destruction by Sleipmon.
Kurata was speechless. “You’re the one who exposed me… and you still want thanks? Shameless…”
Though disdainful inside, he still showed gratitude outwardly.
After all, Kouki was still useful.
“I really should thank you, Kouki. As a reward, I’ve decided to implant you with my strongest Digimon.”
Kurata’s strongest Digimon was Belphemon—his ultimate trump card. There was no way he’d give that to a brute like Kouki.
Instead, he planned to give Kouki Darkdramon—the strongest Digimon he had besides Belphemon.
“Awesome!”
Kouki sneered, eyes fixed on the distant Sleipmon, muttering, “That pathetic Kudamon who dared control me… that b*tch Angewomon who dared threaten me… once I gain the power of the strongest Digimon, none of you will escape. Not one!”
Kurata narrowed his eyes slightly—he was thinking the same thing.
But he had a broader view; the reason things had gone so awry was all because of that unusual Angewomon.
If it weren’t for her escape, if it weren’t for her going on TV, if it weren’t for her interrogation of Kouki and stirring up Kudamon—their situation wouldn’t be like this.
It was all that Angewomon’s fault.
The root of all evil!
A flash of cold light appeared in Kurata’s eyes, though he was glad that the manipulative Angewomon was only an Ultimate-level. All he needed was a chance, and he could eliminate her.
‘…No, better to capture her alive.’
That Angewomon still held bigger secrets.
Kurata said, “Let’s go—to the Digital World.”
Kouki was surprised. “Why go to the Digital World?”
Kurata sneered. “Now that the higher-ups have authorized DATS to mobilize, it means they’ve decided to cut ties with me. I can’t stay in the human world—for now. Unless you want to be hunted.”
Originally, he had planned to keep exploiting human resources to hunt Digimon, collect life energy, and raise Belphemon to its perfect state, then use Belphemon’s power to rule the world.
Albeit, plans couldn’t keep up with change, so he had to adapt.
Kouki suddenly understood. “You were betrayed… no wonder you killed your entire guard team.”
Kurata smiled faintly. “Gizmon may not be agile, but they won’t betray me. Humans, on the other hand…”
The guards were assigned by the higher-ups and doubled as spies. Now that those higher-ups wanted to dispose of him, there was no reason to keep those who knew too many secrets.
So, not long ago, Kurata revealed his true nature and ordered the Gizmon: AT units to wipe them all out.
…
Before dawn, Sleipmon flew back to DATS HQ and devolved to Kudamon.
Everyone already knew the outcome of the operation—Sleipmon had searched the base all night, turning over every stone, but still couldn’t find Kurata.
“No Kurata, no Kouki. My plan must’ve failed and exposed everything,” Kudamon said, dejected.
If only they’d acted immediately after getting the evidence—everything wouldn’t be like this.
Sora stepped forward, “Don’t be discouraged, Kudamon. It’s just a bit of wind and frost.”
— The end of the Chapter–
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