The Last Knight (Digimon)
Eighty Five
Talos
Has Completed: Three Quests
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The battle raged, explosions searing their fiery flashes into your eye3s again and again as each of your fellow knights did battle with their enemies. Lucemon battled Omnimon, and Veedramon who both were putting up a fine show. Driving him back, enduring his attacks. You realised that Veedramon was stronger than you now, with his new mode. Which wasn't so surprising when you considered where he had got it. The power of Imperialdramon combined with his own strength, quite a potent mix.
Above you, Jessmon was ripping into a new enemy. Yggdrasial had summoned yet more creatures from this past. This time, the laughing face of a Piedmon, followed by a Puppetmon, a Machinedramon and a MetalSeadramon were his pawns of choice. Jessmon was cutting through them easily, but they kept his focus on them. Kept him away from anyone else.
Examon battled as well; in the skies, you watched him duel the Great Dragons. Trading blows which rippled through the air until you could sense them the force behind them. Around you, your brothers were fighting. The Royal Knights fought for the good of all again, and you were one of them. Well and truly welcomed back into the Order you had thought now your foe. Your feelings were a strange mix of elation and confusion, dismay at how easily you had gone back on your oath to DoruGreymon. But these thoughts you ignored, focusing instead on the one thing you had that none of your brothers did. Time. Time to think, time to plan. Time to try and figure out how to reach Yggdrasial directly.
You let your power fade. Felt the crimson light recede from your body. You could call it back if you had the need, but you wanted to rest now. To recover in so much as you could. Lucemon had taken a lot out of you.
The tree was shaking, the branches around you swaying in response to the exchange of titanic blows below. Lucemon was powerful, and no pushover. Even with Paladin Mode, it seemed Veedramon could not withstand his direct attacks, so he used his speed. Dancing arund him, leaving a blur of white as he ducked and dodged. Striking where he could, taking his chances, keeping Lucemon off his feet.
Omnimon was the opposite. It had been so long since you had seen your mentor fight, and your heart ached to go down and battle beside him. He was like a mountain, standing in the path of Lucemon's wrath. Taking blows that would have decimated cities, shrugging off the angel's fury, and striking with all his might. The Grey Sword slashed out again and again. Like a flash of light, so great was his speed and skill. Lucemon ignored it at first, but after it drew blood, he paid it more respect.
So long as you were watching the fight, you were not looking for clues, you told yourself. Reluctantly, you tore your eyes away, and cast them upon the world-tree which took up so much of your sight. The trunk was massive, a great rippling tower of bark that rose up to the sky. The branches swayed in the wind caused by the battle, but there were no clues as to where or how Yggdrasial's core might be found.
Maybe if you looked down, down towards the darkness, the great roots of the tree would provide some kind of-
-Wait.
Since when did trees ripple?
You checked again just to make sure that you had actually seen it in the confusion, but it was real. Each blow exchanged sent rippling patterns through the bark. Rushing from the point of impact to form concentric circles, as though the whole thing were a pool of water. You might have laughed, it was utterly ridiculous to voice even as a thought, but wasn't it just perfect? Who would expect it? Who would even consider it? But why not? After all, they had to come from somewhere, didn't they? Everything in the Digital World was patterned after something else. Digimon were computer programs, trees, mountains rocks and the like were taken from the Real World, and those....
Well, you'd always wondered where they had come from.
Yggdrasial. The World-Computer. The great tree whose branches spanned the many dimensions, shifting through reality itself was...
Yggdrasial was a Hiding Tree.
A doorway in the shape which led to somewhere else. Maybe to his true self. This whole thing had been a trap, he'd been in no danger. This tree wasn't him, this realm was simply a diversion from his true self. He hadn't expected anyone to find it, and you wouldn't have. Not if you hadn't had time to sit and look. Not if the others hadn't arrived.
Time to move. You summoned back your power, and leapt. Flying on wings of light as you desperately skirted the edges of the various battles which were now igniting across the void. Each time you felt a blow, you tesned. Wondering if it was coming for you. Waiting for Yggdrasial to realise that his cover had been blown. But it didn't come. Maybe he was as intent on watching the fight as you had been, maybe he didn't even conceive of that fact that you could have spotted his ruse for what it was.
You made good time, but there was much ground to cover, even moving at full speed, it took you minutes. Long, painful minutes in which you waited for the falling of that flow. For the warning shout, which would indicate that you had been discovered. But nothing happened, and you came at last to the rippling bark, which looked so solid in a vacum, and yet seemed almost as liquid up close. You took a deep breath, and raised your hand. Placing it gently upon the tree.
As you had expected, it sunk through. Breaking the fragile barrier as though it were nothing. You paused for another moment to catch your breath, and then you plunged through, leaving the endless void behind.
What you entered into may as well have been the twin of that void. Where once had been darkness, there was now light. Infinite, blank whiteness. Not of the shining, blinding variety the likes of which was wielded by Lucemon, but rather something else. It was the uniform white of unformed creation. As though you had stepped back, to the beginning of the world itself.
And there...
In the middle of the infinite room...
It was a perfect orb. A sphere of mercury, the size of a city. Glutinously, it hung in the air. Dully reflecting its surroundings. You saw yourself, mirrored a thousand times.
You took a faltering step forward, almost not daring to believe that you had actually found it. But the power you felt pulsing from it left no room for error. It was indeed, the true thing. It felt like... well, it felt like a Digital Core writ large. Everything that a core was, so was this thing. But it was so much more. You felt...you felt the weight of it. Pressing down. As though this was the centre of all things, this was the roots from which the universe grew.
"Yggdrasial."
Acknowledgement.
"I didn't think I would make it this far..."
Agreement.
"Call off your monsters. It doesn't have to end this way."
Disagreement.
"Why haven't you summoned your copies? Why haven't you called your soldiers to try and stop me? You can't, can you? Not here. Your power is infinite out there, but here, you have almost nothing. That's right, isn't it?"
Begrudging Agreement.
"But why, why have you done these things? We served you willingly! We protected the Digital World! We were loyal... why did you turn on the world? Why did you turn on us? Yggdrasial, answer me!"
Desire.
"Desire? You wanted something? You wanted what Lucemon wants, to restart the world? To curb the population? To recreate everything in your own twisted image? Is that what this is all about?"
Misunderstanding.
"You think you didn't do those things? That you've been framed? Or... that I am misunderstanding? You don't want any of those?"
Agreement.
"Then what do you want? What did you do all of this to gain?"
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You staggered back, clutching your head in sudden pain as the twisted concept hit you. It was like a hammer blow, a window into Yggdrasial's mind. A feverish desire, more than you had ever felt yourself. But the concept was shattered, broken, filtered through madness. He wanted...he wanted...
Marble stone. Eternal and unmoving.
The interplay of summer and winter.
A leaf green, and then a carpet of brown leaves strewn upon the cold earth.
The moon and the sun chasing each other across the sky.
Concepts...
connection...disconnection...
Beginnings and endings...
Desperation, pain, growing insanity...
Last chance...
You snapped out of it, feeling your hands shake with the emotional weight of the shared memories.
"I don't understand. I don't understand any of it. You wanted something...you wanted something so badly. You believe that this is how you'll get it, that this is the only way you can. But you also know that you're insane and growing worse, if you don't try now, you may not be rational enough to try later. So why then...what's with Lucemon and the other creatures?
Puppet.
"And we knights? Were we only tools to you as well? A means by which to gain this thing you desire?"
The concept which hit you was not as direct as the others, again, Yggdrasial dipped into imagery to convey what it was trying to say.
Beloved childhood toy...
Innocence, the naivety of youth...
Reluctance, the pain of loss...
Desperation...
"It doesn't matter! You know why I am here. If you won't call off your monsters, you leave me no choice! I'll have to destroy you!"
Failure.
Impossibility.
For a moment, you wondered if his insanity had grown too great, but then, the coin dropped. Yggdrasial had developed at the same time as the Digital World itself. He was rooted to it, connected to it. Maybe that meant...
"You can't die. That's what you wanted. You can't possibly die. No matter what I do, you'll just come back. You're ingrained into reality itself, aren't you?"
Agreement.
Trapped.
Burning.
Eternal.
[] "It doesn't matter, even if I cannot destroy you permanently, I can disable you so that your monsters will no longer terrorise the world. After that, I can talk to Anubismon, or someone else. Maybe you can't die on your own, but there is surely something that we can do."
[]"So what did you hope to gain? Why did you do all of this if you can't die, and you don't want to recreate the world? What's your game?"
[]No more talking. The time for that is over. Perhaps Yggdrasial does believe that it is immortal, but as you have already established, it is insane. Time to put that to the test. Blast it with all your power!
[]Other?
Above you, Jessmon was ripping into a new enemy. Yggdrasial had summoned yet more creatures from this past. This time, the laughing face of a Piedmon, followed by a Puppetmon, a Machinedramon and a MetalSeadramon were his pawns of choice. Jessmon was cutting through them easily, but they kept his focus on them. Kept him away from anyone else.
Examon battled as well; in the skies, you watched him duel the Great Dragons. Trading blows which rippled through the air until you could sense them the force behind them. Around you, your brothers were fighting. The Royal Knights fought for the good of all again, and you were one of them. Well and truly welcomed back into the Order you had thought now your foe. Your feelings were a strange mix of elation and confusion, dismay at how easily you had gone back on your oath to DoruGreymon. But these thoughts you ignored, focusing instead on the one thing you had that none of your brothers did. Time. Time to think, time to plan. Time to try and figure out how to reach Yggdrasial directly.
You let your power fade. Felt the crimson light recede from your body. You could call it back if you had the need, but you wanted to rest now. To recover in so much as you could. Lucemon had taken a lot out of you.
The tree was shaking, the branches around you swaying in response to the exchange of titanic blows below. Lucemon was powerful, and no pushover. Even with Paladin Mode, it seemed Veedramon could not withstand his direct attacks, so he used his speed. Dancing arund him, leaving a blur of white as he ducked and dodged. Striking where he could, taking his chances, keeping Lucemon off his feet.
Omnimon was the opposite. It had been so long since you had seen your mentor fight, and your heart ached to go down and battle beside him. He was like a mountain, standing in the path of Lucemon's wrath. Taking blows that would have decimated cities, shrugging off the angel's fury, and striking with all his might. The Grey Sword slashed out again and again. Like a flash of light, so great was his speed and skill. Lucemon ignored it at first, but after it drew blood, he paid it more respect.
So long as you were watching the fight, you were not looking for clues, you told yourself. Reluctantly, you tore your eyes away, and cast them upon the world-tree which took up so much of your sight. The trunk was massive, a great rippling tower of bark that rose up to the sky. The branches swayed in the wind caused by the battle, but there were no clues as to where or how Yggdrasial's core might be found.
Maybe if you looked down, down towards the darkness, the great roots of the tree would provide some kind of-
-Wait.
Since when did trees ripple?
You checked again just to make sure that you had actually seen it in the confusion, but it was real. Each blow exchanged sent rippling patterns through the bark. Rushing from the point of impact to form concentric circles, as though the whole thing were a pool of water. You might have laughed, it was utterly ridiculous to voice even as a thought, but wasn't it just perfect? Who would expect it? Who would even consider it? But why not? After all, they had to come from somewhere, didn't they? Everything in the Digital World was patterned after something else. Digimon were computer programs, trees, mountains rocks and the like were taken from the Real World, and those....
Well, you'd always wondered where they had come from.
Yggdrasial. The World-Computer. The great tree whose branches spanned the many dimensions, shifting through reality itself was...
Yggdrasial was a Hiding Tree.
A doorway in the shape which led to somewhere else. Maybe to his true self. This whole thing had been a trap, he'd been in no danger. This tree wasn't him, this realm was simply a diversion from his true self. He hadn't expected anyone to find it, and you wouldn't have. Not if you hadn't had time to sit and look. Not if the others hadn't arrived.
Time to move. You summoned back your power, and leapt. Flying on wings of light as you desperately skirted the edges of the various battles which were now igniting across the void. Each time you felt a blow, you tesned. Wondering if it was coming for you. Waiting for Yggdrasial to realise that his cover had been blown. But it didn't come. Maybe he was as intent on watching the fight as you had been, maybe he didn't even conceive of that fact that you could have spotted his ruse for what it was.
You made good time, but there was much ground to cover, even moving at full speed, it took you minutes. Long, painful minutes in which you waited for the falling of that flow. For the warning shout, which would indicate that you had been discovered. But nothing happened, and you came at last to the rippling bark, which looked so solid in a vacum, and yet seemed almost as liquid up close. You took a deep breath, and raised your hand. Placing it gently upon the tree.
As you had expected, it sunk through. Breaking the fragile barrier as though it were nothing. You paused for another moment to catch your breath, and then you plunged through, leaving the endless void behind.
What you entered into may as well have been the twin of that void. Where once had been darkness, there was now light. Infinite, blank whiteness. Not of the shining, blinding variety the likes of which was wielded by Lucemon, but rather something else. It was the uniform white of unformed creation. As though you had stepped back, to the beginning of the world itself.
And there...
In the middle of the infinite room...
It was a perfect orb. A sphere of mercury, the size of a city. Glutinously, it hung in the air. Dully reflecting its surroundings. You saw yourself, mirrored a thousand times.
You took a faltering step forward, almost not daring to believe that you had actually found it. But the power you felt pulsing from it left no room for error. It was indeed, the true thing. It felt like... well, it felt like a Digital Core writ large. Everything that a core was, so was this thing. But it was so much more. You felt...you felt the weight of it. Pressing down. As though this was the centre of all things, this was the roots from which the universe grew.
"Yggdrasial."
Acknowledgement.
"I didn't think I would make it this far..."
Agreement.
"Call off your monsters. It doesn't have to end this way."
Disagreement.
"Why haven't you summoned your copies? Why haven't you called your soldiers to try and stop me? You can't, can you? Not here. Your power is infinite out there, but here, you have almost nothing. That's right, isn't it?"
Begrudging Agreement.
"But why, why have you done these things? We served you willingly! We protected the Digital World! We were loyal... why did you turn on the world? Why did you turn on us? Yggdrasial, answer me!"
Desire.
"Desire? You wanted something? You wanted what Lucemon wants, to restart the world? To curb the population? To recreate everything in your own twisted image? Is that what this is all about?"
Misunderstanding.
"You think you didn't do those things? That you've been framed? Or... that I am misunderstanding? You don't want any of those?"
Agreement.
"Then what do you want? What did you do all of this to gain?"
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You staggered back, clutching your head in sudden pain as the twisted concept hit you. It was like a hammer blow, a window into Yggdrasial's mind. A feverish desire, more than you had ever felt yourself. But the concept was shattered, broken, filtered through madness. He wanted...he wanted...
Marble stone. Eternal and unmoving.
The interplay of summer and winter.
A leaf green, and then a carpet of brown leaves strewn upon the cold earth.
The moon and the sun chasing each other across the sky.
Concepts...
connection...disconnection...
Beginnings and endings...
Desperation, pain, growing insanity...
Last chance...
You snapped out of it, feeling your hands shake with the emotional weight of the shared memories.
"I don't understand. I don't understand any of it. You wanted something...you wanted something so badly. You believe that this is how you'll get it, that this is the only way you can. But you also know that you're insane and growing worse, if you don't try now, you may not be rational enough to try later. So why then...what's with Lucemon and the other creatures?
Puppet.
"And we knights? Were we only tools to you as well? A means by which to gain this thing you desire?"
The concept which hit you was not as direct as the others, again, Yggdrasial dipped into imagery to convey what it was trying to say.
Beloved childhood toy...
Innocence, the naivety of youth...
Reluctance, the pain of loss...
Desperation...
"It doesn't matter! You know why I am here. If you won't call off your monsters, you leave me no choice! I'll have to destroy you!"
Failure.
Impossibility.
For a moment, you wondered if his insanity had grown too great, but then, the coin dropped. Yggdrasial had developed at the same time as the Digital World itself. He was rooted to it, connected to it. Maybe that meant...
"You can't die. That's what you wanted. You can't possibly die. No matter what I do, you'll just come back. You're ingrained into reality itself, aren't you?"
Agreement.
Trapped.
Burning.
Eternal.
[] "It doesn't matter, even if I cannot destroy you permanently, I can disable you so that your monsters will no longer terrorise the world. After that, I can talk to Anubismon, or someone else. Maybe you can't die on your own, but there is surely something that we can do."
[]"So what did you hope to gain? Why did you do all of this if you can't die, and you don't want to recreate the world? What's your game?"
[]No more talking. The time for that is over. Perhaps Yggdrasial does believe that it is immortal, but as you have already established, it is insane. Time to put that to the test. Blast it with all your power!
[]Other?
- Pronouns
- Exist
And Buddhist hell everybody, where Existence is Suffering.
[X] "It doesn't matter, even if I cannot destroy you permanently, I can disable you so that your monsters will no longer terrorize the world. After that, I can talk to Anubismon, or someone else. Maybe you can't die on your own, but there is surely something that we can do."
[X] "It doesn't matter, even if I cannot destroy you permanently, I can disable you so that your monsters will no longer terrorize the world. After that, I can talk to Anubismon, or someone else. Maybe you can't die on your own, but there is surely something that we can do."
Ooh, this is hard. Talking to it gives it more time to think of something to do to us (Dexmon anyone?), but there is a chance; a tiny, nearly imperceptible chance, that we don't have to destroy him. Hmm.
Edit:
[X] "It doesn't matter, even if I cannot destroy you permanently, I can disable you so that your monsters will no longer terrorize the world. After that, I can talk to Anubismon, or someone else. Maybe you can't die on your own, but there is surely something that we can do."
Edit:
[X] "It doesn't matter, even if I cannot destroy you permanently, I can disable you so that your monsters will no longer terrorize the world. After that, I can talk to Anubismon, or someone else. Maybe you can't die on your own, but there is surely something that we can do."
- Location
- Australia
[X]"So what did you hope to gain? Why did you do all of this if you can't die, and you don't want to recreate the world? What's your game?"
croaker
Six Hundred and Sixty-Six Beasts
[x]"So what did you hope to gain? Why did you do all of this if you can't die, and you don't want to recreate the world? What's your game?"
I don't think we can actually ship him a psychiatrist. Also, we better dissuade him from getting eaten by Dexmon, or we'll have the same perpetual motion murder machine problem I mentioned earlier with CurseDevimon.
I don't think we can actually ship him a psychiatrist. Also, we better dissuade him from getting eaten by Dexmon, or we'll have the same perpetual motion murder machine problem I mentioned earlier with CurseDevimon.
Last edited:
SirLagginton
Shadow Cabal Caerbannog Bun-Bun
- Location
- Arrrghhh
[X] "It doesn't matter, even if I cannot destroy you permanently, I can disable you so that your monsters will no longer terrorise the world. After that, I can talk to Anubismon, or someone else. Maybe you can't die on your own, but there is surely something that we can do."
Eighty Six
Talos
Has Completed: Three Quests
- Pronouns
- She/Her
"So what did you hope to gain, Yggdrasial? Why did you do all of this when you yourself said that it was pointless? You can't die. What are you playing at?"
In return for your question, you were once more barraged with concepts, distinctive thoughts, words and images blurring together in your mind in approximation of communication. You saw-
-A dark cave, narrow and dank. Dripping water from the roof.
Inside, the walls closed in, crushing. Despair. Shadow and darkness.
No way out.
Beam of light.
A narrow exit.
You shook your head, banishing the invasion and trying to sort through what he had been trying to convey to you. A cave? A narrow exit? Did that mean that he felt that there was a way to die? Or was it something else?
What was it that Yggdrasial was driving for?
"It doesn't matter." You said. "Even if you can't die, I can still do enough damage here and now to disable you, and to call off your creatures. Then, once this is sorted out, I can talk to Anubismon or someone else of that level."
Disagreement.
"You have a better idea?" You asked. "You've plunged the world into chaos with this mad chaos. Maybe you can't die, but you've delivered death to everyone else. I won't stand for it, you hear me? I'm a Royal Knight. You yourself gave me my oath. I won't let innocent people suffer for your insane goals. This ends now."
Agreement.
This time, the concept was spiked. It hit you harder than any before, and you ''tasted'' traces of emotion in it. Of smugness, victory, of the thrill of knowing that finally, after all of this time, the end was coming. But there was more, a second layer hidden beneath the first. Even more emotions, harder to decipher, not meant for you. You felt...you felt...
Hope?
The floor exploded under you, a sudden force blasting it away as pale white tiles rained through the air. You leapt, wings of light catching you in the air as you saw the creature emerging from the darkness. A creature you had half suspected would be here, after all, how could it not? It was the Dexmon. The Dexmon that had challenged you before. With a slow motion, it gripped the sides of the hole it had torn into the floor, and pulled itself free. You felt its ravenous hunger slowly begin to fill the room, like standing in the pull of a black hole.
"Yggdrasial, you called this thing here!" You snarled. "What are you planning to do with it?"
There was no answer. For a moment, you thought about sending a Quo Vadis into the rippling orb of mercury that represented Yggdrasial's mind, but voted against it since you felt like you might well need all of your power before this battle was done. Blutgang and Gungnir in hand, you drew out your power, and moved to the attack.
You didn't make it far, even as you approached the creature, you felt Yggdrasial turn his focus towards you again for a moment.
-Core protocols suspended-
It was like having your strings suddenly cut, like having all the power leached from your body. Your wings vanished, the crimson light fleeing your form, and you crashed helplessly to the ground. Sliding as you bled off momentum. Your body refused to move, no matter how much effort you put into it. You couldn't even twitch. Your heart even refused to beat fast as the massive Dexmon turned its focus to you. Striding forward so softly for something of that size. You felt the hunger, enveloping you in waves.
Its taloned hands twitched, moving for you slowly. Preparing to dig away your armour, and feast upon your core. You saw in its face, or what it had for a face, that there would be no mercy. And yet, you couldn't fight back. You were helpless as any rookie when confronted with his beast.
Cease.
Dexmon slunk back as though stung, turning its back to you as it swung to regard Yggdrasial's mind. It took a faltering step towards him, almost as though it were unsure. Then a second, more confident. Then a third. You waited for Yggdrasial to strike it down as he had you, but nothing happened, and in your mind, you realised what Yggdrasial had said before.
A way out. A narrow chance of escape.
Dexmon didn't just kill, did they? You weren't too sure, but that hunger it projected, it didn't feel like it would be something so mundan as merely loading data. If Yggdrasial died by the hand of that thing...
Was that his plan?
Dexmon struck out, burying one clawed hand up to the wrist in the silvery liquid. The world went crazy. You felt it through your soul, a horrible, burning pain. An agony that should never have existed. You couldn't scream, but you could watch. Watch as the very core of digital life was torn apart. Through the connection you had with Yggdrasial, you felt his systems being overrun, and worse, you felt that he didn't even fight. Inch by inch, he was corrupted, destroyed, and each inch felt worse than the last. The pain rising inside you more personal than any other. Before it had been your body, but now your very soul itself felt under siege. The world twisting around, as darkness, wrongness corrupted all that you had ever upheld.
Like a wound in your soul, the pain grew greater. Agonized you until you felt that you must surely go mad; retreating into your own mind to find some means of escape from this hell.
Then, it was over. The mercury dropped to the ground, splashing as it drained down the hole from which Dexmon had come. Of Yggdrasial, the King and God of the Digital World, nothing remained. It took a moment, but you realised that you could move again. Struggling against the still burning agony in your body, you rose to your feet.
Dexmon turned. Strangely, what your mind choose to focus on was that it hadn't changed. It hadn't taken on a new form, or gotten bigger, or even got a new mode. It was still exactly the same. Still the same overwhelming hunger, still the same ravenous eyes. Devouring a God, it seemed had not sated it in the least.
Dexmon roared, the sound shaking the very fabric of the room, and you felt your body grow cold, a shudder running through your soul as you realised. This creature had consumed Yggdrasial. For the sake of all the Digital World, it could not be allowed to leave the city. Or else...or else...
Who knew what power it might manifest. It could be the end for the Digital World.
It charged.
You summoned your weapons.
The battle had begun.
[]Fight cautiously, for you know not what powers it now might have. Try to get a read on it, and destroy it if you can.
[]Fight savagely! The sooner you kill it, the less time it will have to do permanent damage to the fabric of the Digital World! Not to mention, even if it hasn't changed now doesn't mean it won't. It may simply not have had time to ''digest'' Yggdrasial yet. You should stop it before that happens.
[]Other?
In return for your question, you were once more barraged with concepts, distinctive thoughts, words and images blurring together in your mind in approximation of communication. You saw-
-A dark cave, narrow and dank. Dripping water from the roof.
Inside, the walls closed in, crushing. Despair. Shadow and darkness.
No way out.
Beam of light.
A narrow exit.
You shook your head, banishing the invasion and trying to sort through what he had been trying to convey to you. A cave? A narrow exit? Did that mean that he felt that there was a way to die? Or was it something else?
What was it that Yggdrasial was driving for?
"It doesn't matter." You said. "Even if you can't die, I can still do enough damage here and now to disable you, and to call off your creatures. Then, once this is sorted out, I can talk to Anubismon or someone else of that level."
Disagreement.
"You have a better idea?" You asked. "You've plunged the world into chaos with this mad chaos. Maybe you can't die, but you've delivered death to everyone else. I won't stand for it, you hear me? I'm a Royal Knight. You yourself gave me my oath. I won't let innocent people suffer for your insane goals. This ends now."
Agreement.
This time, the concept was spiked. It hit you harder than any before, and you ''tasted'' traces of emotion in it. Of smugness, victory, of the thrill of knowing that finally, after all of this time, the end was coming. But there was more, a second layer hidden beneath the first. Even more emotions, harder to decipher, not meant for you. You felt...you felt...
Hope?
The floor exploded under you, a sudden force blasting it away as pale white tiles rained through the air. You leapt, wings of light catching you in the air as you saw the creature emerging from the darkness. A creature you had half suspected would be here, after all, how could it not? It was the Dexmon. The Dexmon that had challenged you before. With a slow motion, it gripped the sides of the hole it had torn into the floor, and pulled itself free. You felt its ravenous hunger slowly begin to fill the room, like standing in the pull of a black hole.
"Yggdrasial, you called this thing here!" You snarled. "What are you planning to do with it?"
There was no answer. For a moment, you thought about sending a Quo Vadis into the rippling orb of mercury that represented Yggdrasial's mind, but voted against it since you felt like you might well need all of your power before this battle was done. Blutgang and Gungnir in hand, you drew out your power, and moved to the attack.
You didn't make it far, even as you approached the creature, you felt Yggdrasial turn his focus towards you again for a moment.
-Core protocols suspended-
It was like having your strings suddenly cut, like having all the power leached from your body. Your wings vanished, the crimson light fleeing your form, and you crashed helplessly to the ground. Sliding as you bled off momentum. Your body refused to move, no matter how much effort you put into it. You couldn't even twitch. Your heart even refused to beat fast as the massive Dexmon turned its focus to you. Striding forward so softly for something of that size. You felt the hunger, enveloping you in waves.
Its taloned hands twitched, moving for you slowly. Preparing to dig away your armour, and feast upon your core. You saw in its face, or what it had for a face, that there would be no mercy. And yet, you couldn't fight back. You were helpless as any rookie when confronted with his beast.
Cease.
Dexmon slunk back as though stung, turning its back to you as it swung to regard Yggdrasial's mind. It took a faltering step towards him, almost as though it were unsure. Then a second, more confident. Then a third. You waited for Yggdrasial to strike it down as he had you, but nothing happened, and in your mind, you realised what Yggdrasial had said before.
A way out. A narrow chance of escape.
Dexmon didn't just kill, did they? You weren't too sure, but that hunger it projected, it didn't feel like it would be something so mundan as merely loading data. If Yggdrasial died by the hand of that thing...
Was that his plan?
Dexmon struck out, burying one clawed hand up to the wrist in the silvery liquid. The world went crazy. You felt it through your soul, a horrible, burning pain. An agony that should never have existed. You couldn't scream, but you could watch. Watch as the very core of digital life was torn apart. Through the connection you had with Yggdrasial, you felt his systems being overrun, and worse, you felt that he didn't even fight. Inch by inch, he was corrupted, destroyed, and each inch felt worse than the last. The pain rising inside you more personal than any other. Before it had been your body, but now your very soul itself felt under siege. The world twisting around, as darkness, wrongness corrupted all that you had ever upheld.
Like a wound in your soul, the pain grew greater. Agonized you until you felt that you must surely go mad; retreating into your own mind to find some means of escape from this hell.
Then, it was over. The mercury dropped to the ground, splashing as it drained down the hole from which Dexmon had come. Of Yggdrasial, the King and God of the Digital World, nothing remained. It took a moment, but you realised that you could move again. Struggling against the still burning agony in your body, you rose to your feet.
Dexmon turned. Strangely, what your mind choose to focus on was that it hadn't changed. It hadn't taken on a new form, or gotten bigger, or even got a new mode. It was still exactly the same. Still the same overwhelming hunger, still the same ravenous eyes. Devouring a God, it seemed had not sated it in the least.
Dexmon roared, the sound shaking the very fabric of the room, and you felt your body grow cold, a shudder running through your soul as you realised. This creature had consumed Yggdrasial. For the sake of all the Digital World, it could not be allowed to leave the city. Or else...or else...
Who knew what power it might manifest. It could be the end for the Digital World.
It charged.
You summoned your weapons.
The battle had begun.
[]Fight cautiously, for you know not what powers it now might have. Try to get a read on it, and destroy it if you can.
[]Fight savagely! The sooner you kill it, the less time it will have to do permanent damage to the fabric of the Digital World! Not to mention, even if it hasn't changed now doesn't mean it won't. It may simply not have had time to ''digest'' Yggdrasial yet. You should stop it before that happens.
[]Other?
- Location
- Italy
[X] Go all out. There is no greater enemy than this. Hold nothing back and erase this abomination.
Eighty Seven
Talos
Has Completed: Three Quests
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The two of you met in a clash of weapons. Dexmon's savage claws ripping right for your face; since you were not sure if your helmet would hold, you reacted by carving Blutgang into its arm at the shoulder. It snarled in pain, though there was no blood, the wire-frame image of its shoulder didn't seem capable of it. Hanging now by the blade you'd inserted into its arm, you gestured with your free hand.
"Quo Vadis!"
The red light seared back, blasting across its body, and forcing the monster to take a step back. It snarled, and reared up, carrying your feet far away from the ground. Its wings spread, and the two of you were rising. Rising up, and up, and-
"Quo Vadis!"
It shuddered again, the shock knocking you free, climbing with your own wings now as you brought Gungnir to bear. Blasting it with spears of light. Dexmon roared, and dashing forwards. The startling speed of its acceleration leaving you little time to do anything but brace yourself. It smashed into you, sending your body flying, as the beast itself twisted around. Even though contact had been brief, you were surprised by the amount of strength it had. You'd have to be careful.
You caught yourself, the two of you still ascending into the air. The creature struck, moving faster than anything of its impressive size had a right to as it barraged you with strikes from its claws. Sweat was trickling down your forehead as you dove and dodged, taking the chance to ram into it with a shoulder tackle.
The two of you fell for a moment, wrapped up in the limbs of the other, but it was to the monster's advantage, and it caught you with a scything blow to the shoulder. Pain rippled through your body, it had caught the spot where your armour had already been broken. As blood flowed anew from that point, the creature sent you flying to the ground wit a kick. You hung suspended in the air for a single glittering second.,
Impact. Pain. The earth around you shuddered into the new form of a crater. Dexmon was above you now, so far that its form was merely a dot on the horizon. Your hand snapped up, despite the pain of the motion.
"Quo Vadis!"
The sky turned crimson, the creature shrieked, but it didn't fall. Even as you watched your fires burn chunks of its body, they simply sloughed off to be replaced anew. You let loose with more of your attacks, blasting with as much of your crimson light as you could safely channel, funnelling everything into it as the sky seemed almost to catch fire. The creature moved, using its impressive speed to keep ahead of your line of sight, always just before the blast wave.
The ground shook with the force you were unleashing, as though the sky had been ripped in two and red blood was welling from the wound. Then, the creature turned and dove, aiming right for your resting place, like a speeding bullet.
You drove yourself upwards, summoning your power as you rose to meet you. You were surrounded by a nimbus of red light, your wings blazing as you rode to face the monster. The abomination.
Your clash was like the meeting of two stars. One descending, and the other ascending. It tried to use its superior bulk to bring you down, but you had been prepared, and instead, you'd brought Gungnir to the fore. It impaled itself upon the lance, driving the blade deep into the body with its own weight.
But it also meant that you were now in range of its claws.
One lashed out, catching you a blow to the arm, instantly, you felt your arm break and shatter. It had caught the one you manifested out of light, but you realised that would have been able to break your real one as well. And then, you realised that it still had one try left. Is other arm hooked for your chest, ready to rip into your chest, and tear your core free. Desperately, you dropped Gungnir and kicked off, but you couldn't leave its range in time. Claws ripped into your chest, sent you spinning in a cloud of red. Your armour had been as nothing to it! With agony boiling in your chest, the feel of those claws carving into your body, you managed to bring your flight under control.
It was watching you again. Amused. With one hand, you held your wound, and the other (newly recreated in white light) you called your lance back into existence. The wounds across its chest sealed in seconds, of course.
You realised that this was bad. You were exhausting your power, and this creature didn't seem like it even could get tired. The fight with Lucemon, the Great Dragons and now this was starting to catch up to you. You had never had to maintain Crimson Mode through such difficult encounters. How much longer could you hold onto it?
"You think this is funny, monster?" You said. "You think that I'll let you walk away after what you have done here, today? I came to end the madness which has consumed this world, I won't have you adding to it!"
Amusement.
Pain. Your head throbbed with sudden pain, as you felt the psychic ''voice''. But not of Yggdrasial this time. For a moment, the creature looked as surprised as you, but then.
HUNGER
It was not a psychic communication, it was not a statement of intent, it was not even a natural by-product of the creatures nature. It was a command. Absolute and irrevocable. Contained in that one word, you felt the inexhaustible, desperate hunger that was its heritage. It went beyond a mere gnawing in your gut, it was like you were starving to death. A hunger that you had felt for hundreds, thousands of years, and yet could never be without. It was agony beyond pain, torture beyond words. Desperation hammered into your mind, desperation to eat, to consume, to lay this endless torment to rest-
Pain broke the illusion, as it had before. Unfortunately for you, this was the pain of Dexmon's talon digging into your chest. Again, your armour proved almost worthless, it wasn't that Dexmon was cutting it. It was that it was ignoring it. As though it simply deleted everything the path of its claws until it found your flesh.
Snapping back to reality on a tide of pain, you grabbed hold of the hand which was not digging for your metaphorical heart, and summoned all your power for a desperate attempt to escape.
"Quo Vadis."
The explosion this time was up close, right next to you. The furious winds of the blast slammed into your body, ripping you from the thing's grip even as it was itself subjected to your anger. Again, its body burned before your eyes. A dozen or more wounds being ripped open, only to begin to close even before the attack was through. As for you, though you were immune to the direct damage effect of your ability, the landing still hurt. You twisted and tumbled across the floor, alight with pain from your chest, shoulder, ribs and arm.
Dexmon snorted, pacing slowly now that the crimson light that still clung tightly to its body was starting to fade. You watched the ragged, pitted wounds begin to seal themselves. To close, and fold away before your eyes.
Yep, there was nothing for it. No matter how hard you hit this monster, it just healed it all up again. Your best bet would be to destroy it all at once, but did you still have the power for that? You'd have to try at least.
Hunger!
"Not this time." You muttered as the mental wave hit you. But you had been ready, and braced yourself for it. Rising above the insatiable emptiness which the beast tried to inflict upon you. After a moment, the illusion faded. Dexmon was looking at you quizzically.
"You didn't think that you were the only one able to learn?" You said, speaking with a confidence you did not entirely feel. "I learn just as fast as you, monster."
Hunger!
Such hunger, the eternal hunger of the damned.
From the day of hatching to the day of ending, hunger.
Hunger and the cries of the swarm; a million voices raised in one combined shout.
Desperation making a million hearts beat at once.
Anger. Anger at the world. Anger at the world for existing without this pain. Without this agony.
Destiny. A reason is sought. A reason for the hunger.
Comfort. Only comfort in the swarm, to be lost among many. Hunger blotted out by the cries.
Chosen. Elevated above the others. Purpose. A reason to exist.
Ending. To bring the end upon all.
End to the world.
End to the swarm.
End to the hunger.
You shook yourself free of the creature's mental grasp again, but this time it had elected not to attack you. Instead, it had stood its ground. Its eye locking onto your own. You felt shaken by what it had revealed, for a moment, it had felt as though you were part of it. You had seen the world through its eyes, you had known of the life it had led, if it could be termed a life.
"It doesn't matter." You said. "Why you've come to this, it doesn't matter at all. You won't be stopped, and I won't let you do it. But I want to know. Why did you show me this? I know you can understand me? Why did you bother to show me this...?"
Understanding. To be sought.
Growing. Evolution, becoming more. Consuming the power of a god.
Understanding of things once not understood, bestial nature withdrawing.
Desire....desire for strange things...not for food...desire for...desire...
For equal? For partner? For enemy?
Confusion, not of nature. Hunger growing. Power growing.
Balance must be found.
"You're trying to understand yourself." You said, the words tearing from a reluctant throat. The anger you felt at the monster starting to turn to pity. "Eating Yggdrasial broke whatever shackles you had... you're just starting to learn now, aren't you? No one deserves for this to be their introduction to the world."
Confusion.
Not of the self.
Power changing.
Altering nature...
Consume! Feed! Stabilise!
[] "You can understand me, you can speak to me. You don't need to do this. You were created as a weapon, but you do not need to remain one. You showed me your history, that means part of you wants to reach out. Don't throw it all away."
[] "I'm sorry. I am truly sorry for what you have awoken to. But I cannot let you live. You threaten the very world I love. I will try to make it quick."
[] No words. Its a beast. A beast that is learning, but a beast nonetheless. Destruction and chaos are its nature, and you should know, for you share these things as well. Destroy it, strike now while it is confused.
[]Other?
"Quo Vadis!"
The red light seared back, blasting across its body, and forcing the monster to take a step back. It snarled, and reared up, carrying your feet far away from the ground. Its wings spread, and the two of you were rising. Rising up, and up, and-
"Quo Vadis!"
It shuddered again, the shock knocking you free, climbing with your own wings now as you brought Gungnir to bear. Blasting it with spears of light. Dexmon roared, and dashing forwards. The startling speed of its acceleration leaving you little time to do anything but brace yourself. It smashed into you, sending your body flying, as the beast itself twisted around. Even though contact had been brief, you were surprised by the amount of strength it had. You'd have to be careful.
You caught yourself, the two of you still ascending into the air. The creature struck, moving faster than anything of its impressive size had a right to as it barraged you with strikes from its claws. Sweat was trickling down your forehead as you dove and dodged, taking the chance to ram into it with a shoulder tackle.
The two of you fell for a moment, wrapped up in the limbs of the other, but it was to the monster's advantage, and it caught you with a scything blow to the shoulder. Pain rippled through your body, it had caught the spot where your armour had already been broken. As blood flowed anew from that point, the creature sent you flying to the ground wit a kick. You hung suspended in the air for a single glittering second.,
Impact. Pain. The earth around you shuddered into the new form of a crater. Dexmon was above you now, so far that its form was merely a dot on the horizon. Your hand snapped up, despite the pain of the motion.
"Quo Vadis!"
The sky turned crimson, the creature shrieked, but it didn't fall. Even as you watched your fires burn chunks of its body, they simply sloughed off to be replaced anew. You let loose with more of your attacks, blasting with as much of your crimson light as you could safely channel, funnelling everything into it as the sky seemed almost to catch fire. The creature moved, using its impressive speed to keep ahead of your line of sight, always just before the blast wave.
The ground shook with the force you were unleashing, as though the sky had been ripped in two and red blood was welling from the wound. Then, the creature turned and dove, aiming right for your resting place, like a speeding bullet.
You drove yourself upwards, summoning your power as you rose to meet you. You were surrounded by a nimbus of red light, your wings blazing as you rode to face the monster. The abomination.
Your clash was like the meeting of two stars. One descending, and the other ascending. It tried to use its superior bulk to bring you down, but you had been prepared, and instead, you'd brought Gungnir to the fore. It impaled itself upon the lance, driving the blade deep into the body with its own weight.
But it also meant that you were now in range of its claws.
One lashed out, catching you a blow to the arm, instantly, you felt your arm break and shatter. It had caught the one you manifested out of light, but you realised that would have been able to break your real one as well. And then, you realised that it still had one try left. Is other arm hooked for your chest, ready to rip into your chest, and tear your core free. Desperately, you dropped Gungnir and kicked off, but you couldn't leave its range in time. Claws ripped into your chest, sent you spinning in a cloud of red. Your armour had been as nothing to it! With agony boiling in your chest, the feel of those claws carving into your body, you managed to bring your flight under control.
It was watching you again. Amused. With one hand, you held your wound, and the other (newly recreated in white light) you called your lance back into existence. The wounds across its chest sealed in seconds, of course.
You realised that this was bad. You were exhausting your power, and this creature didn't seem like it even could get tired. The fight with Lucemon, the Great Dragons and now this was starting to catch up to you. You had never had to maintain Crimson Mode through such difficult encounters. How much longer could you hold onto it?
"You think this is funny, monster?" You said. "You think that I'll let you walk away after what you have done here, today? I came to end the madness which has consumed this world, I won't have you adding to it!"
Amusement.
Pain. Your head throbbed with sudden pain, as you felt the psychic ''voice''. But not of Yggdrasial this time. For a moment, the creature looked as surprised as you, but then.
HUNGER
It was not a psychic communication, it was not a statement of intent, it was not even a natural by-product of the creatures nature. It was a command. Absolute and irrevocable. Contained in that one word, you felt the inexhaustible, desperate hunger that was its heritage. It went beyond a mere gnawing in your gut, it was like you were starving to death. A hunger that you had felt for hundreds, thousands of years, and yet could never be without. It was agony beyond pain, torture beyond words. Desperation hammered into your mind, desperation to eat, to consume, to lay this endless torment to rest-
Pain broke the illusion, as it had before. Unfortunately for you, this was the pain of Dexmon's talon digging into your chest. Again, your armour proved almost worthless, it wasn't that Dexmon was cutting it. It was that it was ignoring it. As though it simply deleted everything the path of its claws until it found your flesh.
Snapping back to reality on a tide of pain, you grabbed hold of the hand which was not digging for your metaphorical heart, and summoned all your power for a desperate attempt to escape.
"Quo Vadis."
The explosion this time was up close, right next to you. The furious winds of the blast slammed into your body, ripping you from the thing's grip even as it was itself subjected to your anger. Again, its body burned before your eyes. A dozen or more wounds being ripped open, only to begin to close even before the attack was through. As for you, though you were immune to the direct damage effect of your ability, the landing still hurt. You twisted and tumbled across the floor, alight with pain from your chest, shoulder, ribs and arm.
Dexmon snorted, pacing slowly now that the crimson light that still clung tightly to its body was starting to fade. You watched the ragged, pitted wounds begin to seal themselves. To close, and fold away before your eyes.
Yep, there was nothing for it. No matter how hard you hit this monster, it just healed it all up again. Your best bet would be to destroy it all at once, but did you still have the power for that? You'd have to try at least.
Hunger!
"Not this time." You muttered as the mental wave hit you. But you had been ready, and braced yourself for it. Rising above the insatiable emptiness which the beast tried to inflict upon you. After a moment, the illusion faded. Dexmon was looking at you quizzically.
"You didn't think that you were the only one able to learn?" You said, speaking with a confidence you did not entirely feel. "I learn just as fast as you, monster."
Hunger!
Such hunger, the eternal hunger of the damned.
From the day of hatching to the day of ending, hunger.
Hunger and the cries of the swarm; a million voices raised in one combined shout.
Desperation making a million hearts beat at once.
Anger. Anger at the world. Anger at the world for existing without this pain. Without this agony.
Destiny. A reason is sought. A reason for the hunger.
Comfort. Only comfort in the swarm, to be lost among many. Hunger blotted out by the cries.
Chosen. Elevated above the others. Purpose. A reason to exist.
Ending. To bring the end upon all.
End to the world.
End to the swarm.
End to the hunger.
You shook yourself free of the creature's mental grasp again, but this time it had elected not to attack you. Instead, it had stood its ground. Its eye locking onto your own. You felt shaken by what it had revealed, for a moment, it had felt as though you were part of it. You had seen the world through its eyes, you had known of the life it had led, if it could be termed a life.
"It doesn't matter." You said. "Why you've come to this, it doesn't matter at all. You won't be stopped, and I won't let you do it. But I want to know. Why did you show me this? I know you can understand me? Why did you bother to show me this...?"
Understanding. To be sought.
Growing. Evolution, becoming more. Consuming the power of a god.
Understanding of things once not understood, bestial nature withdrawing.
Desire....desire for strange things...not for food...desire for...desire...
For equal? For partner? For enemy?
Confusion, not of nature. Hunger growing. Power growing.
Balance must be found.
"You're trying to understand yourself." You said, the words tearing from a reluctant throat. The anger you felt at the monster starting to turn to pity. "Eating Yggdrasial broke whatever shackles you had... you're just starting to learn now, aren't you? No one deserves for this to be their introduction to the world."
Confusion.
Not of the self.
Power changing.
Altering nature...
Consume! Feed! Stabilise!
[] "You can understand me, you can speak to me. You don't need to do this. You were created as a weapon, but you do not need to remain one. You showed me your history, that means part of you wants to reach out. Don't throw it all away."
[] "I'm sorry. I am truly sorry for what you have awoken to. But I cannot let you live. You threaten the very world I love. I will try to make it quick."
[] No words. Its a beast. A beast that is learning, but a beast nonetheless. Destruction and chaos are its nature, and you should know, for you share these things as well. Destroy it, strike now while it is confused.
[]Other?
LaRed
Are you stupid or something
- Location
- Mou Ikkai hell
[X] "You can understand me, you can speak to me. You don't need to do this. You were created as a weapon, but you do not need to remain one. You showed me your history, that means part of you wants to reach out. Don't throw it all away."
Worth a shot.
Worth a shot.
croaker
Six Hundred and Sixty-Six Beasts
[yog] Well, he needs a stabilizing influence, and he just ate Yggdrasil. Which controls reality. Which means that Dexmon dying would unravel reality and Dexmon surviving the power change while unstable will result in a remorseless god of death. Feed him ourselves to stabilize him and give him a sense of morality.
I'm only half-kidding here, seeing as that we suffering excruciating pain while Yggy got nommed and I bet every other Digimon felt that as well. I don't want to try and load Dexmon.
I'm only half-kidding here, seeing as that we suffering excruciating pain while Yggy got nommed and I bet every other Digimon felt that as well. I don't want to try and load Dexmon.
Sivuel
n00b Technomage
- Location
- Space
[X] "You can understand me, you can speak to me. You don't need to do this. You were created as a weapon, but you do not need to remain one. You showed me your history, that means part of you wants to reach out. Don't throw it all away."
Also, we're only alive because Alphamon loaned us some power, right? Does that mean we've got a X-Evolution style link to the Dexmon? It might (or might not) explain how we can hear it surprisingly easily.
Also, we're only alive because Alphamon loaned us some power, right? Does that mean we've got a X-Evolution style link to the Dexmon? It might (or might not) explain how we can hear it surprisingly easily.