Chapter 3: The Sacrifice
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon
"Thank you for informing me; although it was somewhat obvious, given that it just came crashing through our roof." stated Seraphimon, with a hint of sarcasm.
"My apologies sir," replied Holyangemon.
" Never mind that; do you know what we're up against?"
"Thus far I have counted two dozen Devidramon, minus the one I just eliminated. There were a couple of Darktyrannomon and a handful of Bakemon."
Seraphimon nodded to Holyangemon, but turned to the children before responding; "Are you alright?" he called to them.
The children were being helped up by their partners. They nodded weakly and brushed bits of broken glass off themselves. Hanae was sniffling and Labramon was licking her face trying to calm her down. Kioko had returned to her dazed state while Elecmon tried to get her to come to her senses. Seiichi, Ayame and Evan were muttering to each other. Ren had stood up by himself, ignoring Commandramon. Daichi ran up to Seraphimon, followed closely by Dracomon.
"What was that thing?" he asked.
"That was a Devidramon," replied Holyangemon, "they serve the Demon Lords as soldiers. I believe they have come here to stop our plan, or perhaps to target you children."
"That's a hell of a greeting. Anything we can do to help?"
"I do not believe that will be necessary, the castle guard should be able to handle an attack of this scale."
"You will all stay here with me until this is over," added Seraphimon, "Holyangemon please guard the door."
"Of course sir." Holyangemon then left through the main door, locking it behind him. Seraphimon then walked over to the other children with Daichi right behind him.
"You need not worry children; so long as you are with me, you shall be safe."
"Can Holyangemon handle all those enemies by himself?" asked Ayame.
"Again you needn't worry, the castle guard consists of several strong knights and they should be able to repel this attack. If anything comes into this room then Holyangemon or I shall handle it."
"Aside from the broken roof and the door, are there any other ways a monster could enter this room?" asked Hanae.
To answer Hanae's question, the wall behind the thrones shook. Seraphimon turned towards the wall and held both hands out in front of him. After several more blows a great black hand, tipped with crimson claws, punched through the wall, shattering the leftmost throne. The hand was soon followed by the rest of the creature; a great black monster with four glowing red eyes. It was the same type of creature that had fallen through the roof.
The creature clawed its way into the room and was followed by what appeared to be a pair ghosts. They didn't seem like much, resembling the type of ghost that one would see as a last minute Halloween costume, made from bed sheets. Seraphimon did not back down and instead drew a circle in the air with his hands. He called out 'Strike of the Seven Stars!' Seven glowing orbs appeared before him, swirling and looping around his hands. He thrust his hands forward, causing the orbs to fly at the intruders.
Three of the glowing orbs struck the Devidramon, and two struck each of the Bakemon. All three of the intruding Digimon were immediately destroyed. Seraphimon attempted to stand up after unleashing his attack, but staggered backwards. Evan and Ren ran forward and caught him on their shoulders, in order to keep him from falling over. They carried him over to the wall where he propped himself up.
"What's wrong?" asked Daichi who had followed after Evan and Ren.
"It seems that I'm not holding up as well as I thought I would be."
"Did that attack drain a lot of energy out of you?"
"It did, but normally it wouldn't be enough to cause such a reaction. It must have been something else.
"Now that you mention it, the stream of light that called me here came from you didn't it?" asked Dracomon.
"You may be on to something Dracomon. The first six of you were created from remnants of the data of the other Benevolent Masters. Dracomon was different though, as he was created directly from my data. Unfortunately, giving up that portion of data seems to have weakened me more than I thought."
"Are you going to be alright?" Asked Evan.
"I should be fine, if I have some time to recover. However, my life is less important than yours right now. I must make sure that you children are kept safe."
"That's no good mister Seraphimon," said Hanae walking up to him, "if you're hurt, then you should rest."
"I appreciate your concern, but it is misplaced. I shall be fine."
Just then the main doors burst open, coming free from their hinges. Holyangemon flew backwards into the room, landing on his back and sliding several feet. A figure appeared within the settling dust of the broken door.
"Sorry to disappoint, but you shall be anything but fine in short order."
When the dust settled the children were shocked to see the figure standing in the broken doorway. At first they thought they were looking at a double of Holyangemon. However; this figure's robes were pitch black, as were his wings. The cross on his helm was inverted, and he was carrying a massive, cruel looking scythe.
Holyangemon stood up and positioned himself in front of the children; "Why have you come here Fellangemon?"
"I would think that obvious," he replied curtly. "You and the last Benevolent Master were planning something against my lords. They kindly asked me to step in and put a stop to it."
"Leave now and you might make it back to your lords in one piece."
"You're hardly in the position to be making threats," said Fellangemon curtly. He glanced at Seraphimon, who was still propped against the wall and smirked. "I think I chose an excellent time to intrude, don't you agree?"
Holyangemon sneered at him with obvious disgust, "You're just a coward!"
Fellangemon ignored him and looked from Seraphimon to the children. "So your big plan to stop us is a bunch of kids and rookies?"
"Oh don't worry about them," said Holyangemon, drawing a sword from beneath his robes, "You'll meet your end at my hand." He then took the sword in both hands and charged Fellangemon.
"I don't think those kids are worth my time," retorted Fellangemon.
Fellangemon gave a wave of his hand, at which time three more Bakemon appeared. They snickered to each other and began to approach the children. Fellangemon then turned back to Holyangemon in time to parry his charge, catching the blade of his sword with his scythe.
"I hope that you may be able to provide me with some fun instead."
The three Bakemon snickered as the encroached on the children. The partner Digimon glared at the Bakemon, and then Dracomon stepped forward. The rest of the partner Digimon stepped forward from the children as well, forming a line between them and the encroaching Bakemon. The Bakemon's advance slowed, unsure of what they were up against.
"Come on guys, we can take them!" he called, gesturing for the others to follow his lead.
Dracomon roared 'Tiny Flame', spitting a small, blue-green fireball from his mouth at the Bakemon. Labramon followed with 'Sonic Bark', which unleashed a small shockwave through the air. Commandramon flipped the rocket launcher off his back and fired off a single round while calling out 'Mini Missile'. Lunamon emitted a beam from the crescent mark on her head and shouted 'Crescent Sparkle'. Coronamon thrust his hands forward, causing flames to shoot out of the amulets on his wrists while exclaiming 'Petit Prominence'. Elecmon's attack was "Thunder Strike" in which she shot a large lightning bolt from the base of her tail. Betamon spat out a stream of water that crackled; displaying an electric charge. The water muffled his calling out of 'Static Stream'.
All seven of the attacks struck the Bakemon simultaneously. The three of them let out a howl before completely disappearing. Fellangemon witnessed the destruction of the Bakemon and let out a sigh of annoyance. He then forced Holyangemon back with a powerful thrust. He turned to observe the other Digimon, whose amusement at defeating the Bakemon instantly faded.
"It seems like this isn't the kind of job for pitiful lackeys after all." As Fellangemon said this, he unleashed a wave of dark energy from his hand. The energy was aimed directly at Hanae.
What happened in the moments that followed seemed to take an eternity. Hanae screamed and covered her head, ducking down as low as she could while still on her feet. The partner Digimon turned and began to run towards her, but they weren't fast enough. Ren and Evan jumped in front of Hanae, but they were pushed aside by Seraphimon. As a result, he was struck in the back by the attack in its entirety. When the dark energy fizzled out, Seraphimon fell to his knees, his body shuddering visibly. Two of his golden wings fell to the ground and disintegrated.
Holyangemon became enraged and charged Fellangemon again, yelling loudly. Fellangemon sneered at him wickedly, amused at his foes anger. The two started grappling once more as the children gathered around Seraphimon. Hanae was crying, and had to be taken aside by Ayame. The Digimon joined their respective partners shortly after, although Commandramon was still being scorned by Ren.
"Is he going to be alright?" asked Ayame, who had left Hanae with Labramon.
"He seems pretty bad," replied Seiichi. "Although, I'm honestly not sure how badly hurt he is, since I don't know much about Digimon."
"He was already weakened as it is," added Daichi. "Who knows what taking an attack like that would do to him."
"Unfortunately, your thoughts on this matter are quite right," said Seraphimon gruffly. "That attack was more than I could handle at this point."
"Is there any way we can help?" asked Evan.
"I'm afraid that there is nothing you can do for me. That attack was the straw the breaks the camel's back, as they say. I am inevitably going to perish this day."
"Well this turned out better than I originally expected," interjected Fellangemon, who was still struggling with an infuriated Holyangemon. "My lords will be very pleased to know that they shall soon be freed from their imprisonment. I'll be sure to tell them right after I finish the rest of you off."
"I am afraid that your lords will get no such pleasure from my death Fellangemon," said Seraphimon, struggling to his feet. Another of his wings fell off as he got up. "I shall use what power I have left to give the children the time they need."
The children looked on in shock as Seraphimon floated into the air. They had no idea whatsoever as to what he was planning. His body began to glow with a brilliant white light. The light started as just an aura surrounding him, but eventually enveloped his body completely. His entire body seemed as thought it was made of light.
"What's going on?" shouted Kioko to the others.
"I am going to use the last of my strength to place a final seal on the place where the Demon Lords are imprisoned. I hadn't told you about it yet, but it is called the Dark Area. I only hope that this barrier will buy you the time you need."
"What are we supposed to do?" demanded Ren.
"I'm afraid that there is little more I can do to help you," echoed Seraphimon's voice. "Seek out the Keeper of Prophecies; he will be able to tell you what you must do."
With those last words the light that had engulfed Seraphimon erupted through the hole in the ceiling. The light shot across the sky into the distance. When the column of light faded, Seraphimon was gone. The children stared in disbelief at where Seraphimon had once been standing. In the background, the dull clangs of the fight between the two angel Digimon could be heard.
Revision Notes: No majors changes to this chapter; just some descriptive padding to round out the length. Then there's the usually grammar corrections (the first version didn't seem to like using commas to separate long trains of thought). There probably won't be too many major changes from now on, as the introduction was the only thing that really seemed out of place. I will keep you posted on any major changes that do occur.
