Welcome back once more, my friends. Is till have to say; I am thoroughly surprised by the positive reception this story has received. It tickles me that so many people could enjoy something I would considering particularly niche in nature.

That said, let's tackle some reviews! There wasn't that many this time around, so it should be a quick round!

wolfking: The Cabal's goal is actually what shall be discussed here. As if the leader of Zaxon would stiff someone on a paycheck! And I'm not commenting on appearing/not appearing characters at this time.

Mr. X: I noticed this before, but you are a rather big fan of Touma claiming literally any/every girl he encounters, huh? No disrespect intended, it just seems curious; most people, even Harem-route supporters, are at least a little picky about who the unlucky Kamijou winds up with.

whwsms: Could also splash "Professional Home Cook" onto his repertoire too; apparently he is very skilled at cooking. He cooks, cleans, shops, his status as an esper (even a level zero) supplies income as well as a home to live in... Hell, maybe the person with true wife potential in To Aru might actually be Touma himself!? Well... there's still Itsuwa at least! Accelerator drops by to have fun... he tells other while being tsun-tsun and unable to admit he came to help someone he considers a friend. Let's just say that a certain someone in charge of Academy City is very aware of what's going on... heheheh...

Guest (1): Touma's though process in calling upon Accelerator and the results of that... are actually being discussed here. Hopefully it'll be entertaining!

MrQuestionMark: Voluntary due to promises of money before noticing eh was being conned... far for the course, wouldn't you say? Yeah... this one was more of a build up to this one, I will admit. Have to pace things accordingly. Glad your enjoying how all these puzzle pieces are fitting together!

WilliamZ0: Yuugo sure does know how to pick them, huh? Yeah; I'm trying my best to make sure things sync up well with the game timeline, which I can infer takes places over the course of at least several weeks or at most several months. With plenty of moments where we don't know what happened in-between some scenes, I'm trying to take advantage of those timeline gaps to put stuff into. As for when Dorugamon will digivolve next... I'm going to keep my lips sealed... but we'll be seeing another Ultimate level digimon this chapter... a fun one I don't see used in a lot of Digimon media. Sorry of the last one seemed a little dull... hopefully this one helps that issue!

With that done... enjoy!


"A-Accelerator!? You really showed up!?" Touma stuttered out.

"…So you sent that bullshit to me with the idea that I wouldn't come to help you out? You're pissing me off, fucking hero." Accelerator spat.

The sudden appearance of the number one esper was disruptive to say the least, and the fact his appearance involved annihilating Hiraku's lone digimon in a single attack only made the surprise worse.

The side of Machina Revolution was stunned. In fact, they only snapped out of it when they discovered that Keisuke had made use of the event to make quick work of their respective digimon with the shock serving as a convenient distraction.

"S-shit! They got us!" One of the magi shouted.

"This is bad…!" Another spoke.

"…Not bad, Keisuke." Ryuji commented. The newbie hacker could only laugh and rub his head, not expecting praise.

"…I have to ask…Erika-san, did you know he was coming…?" Touma spoke.

"I did; his user ID matched the one you sent a message to, so I decided to leave it as a surprise." The sullen girl replied.

"E-even my private messages have been infiltrated…!?" Touma cursed.

"You've got to be kidding me… what kind of shitty luck is this…!?" Hiraku spat.

"That's it; this fight is over." Ryuji stated. "What do you have to say now? You were really hyped up before." The stoic male turned his attention over to the wind mage.

"…Rubbing it in now huh…?" Hiraku spoke. "…Well the joke's on you…! I said I'd fight until the end, even if I had to take you all on myself… and that's exactly what I intend to do!"

A burst of air came from Hiraku's feet and he was launched himself like a cannonball. He wasn't going to go quietly, and made that clear by propelling himself toward the group, ignoring their digimon entirely.

Unfortunately, he picked the wrong target to attempt to take by surprise. When his charge ended, he was right in front of Accelerator with a whirlwind wrapped around a chambered fist.

Accelerator's reaction was simple.

"…What a waste of time."

He spoke those words as Hiraku threw his punch, only to have the whirlwind around it suddenly dispelled and have it come flying back into his face, the fist reflected perfectly.

"Pbfeh!?" Hiraku was launched by the impact, spinning in the air with his limbs flopping around aimlessly, before landing hard on his side in the middle of the circular area.

"…That's right, esper abilities work in EDEN." Touma blinked.

"I demand an explanation before I send you flying like him." Accelerator replied.

"S-shit… the boss is down in one shot, just like his digimon…!" One of the magi spoke. "Even if we could fight them with magic, that kid just took out Hiraku and his magic without moving once…! I think it's safe to say we're doomed here…!"

"M-maybe we can throw up a diversion and grab him and run behind the firewall…!?" Another one stated. A low growl behind them however answered that question.

As Ryuji's Cyberdramon suddenly appeared right behind them, with the look very close to a grin across his face.

-10 Minutes Later-

"…So what you're saying is… you fucking lied to me?" Accelerator spat.

"I-I get it, n-now stop glaring at me!" Touma shouted. The explanation didn't take long, but Accelerator became clearly irritated when the real reason he was called out was revealed. "H-honestly… I expected you to say, "Fuck off," or something if I tried to get your attention normally… but I figured that if I faked being in trouble it might increase my chances of getting you to show up… and even then I really doubted it…"

"And what makes you say that?" The number one looked less than amused.

"It's because you're… em… y-you're…" Touma trailed off as Accelerator's glare intensified. "…Y-you're right, I'm in the wrong… should have told the truth…"

"…Well, you're not wrong; I wouldn't have shown up otherwise."

"S-so my assumption was right from the start!?" Touma shouted.

"Hey, keep it down; we're trying to interrogate someone here." Ryuji called out. He then turned his attention back to his captive… Fukutsuwa Hiraku.

His allies had their accounts deleted, and they went the extra mile above and damaged the programming of their respective Digivices to render them inoperable.

Making a new account after a deletion was not hard, but it was time consuming… even more so with a broken Digivice. In a situation like that, they would have to buy another just to warn their allies of the incoming danger, and that's assuming they memorized their associate's usernames.

The possibility of any of them being in the same building as their peers however was also a possibility, but this was simply the best they could do without physically assaulting them, which was currently impossible.

"Interrogate all you want; I'm not telling you shit." Hiraku stated. He spoke boldly, but he was tied up on the ground and incapable of moving. Even his feet were bound, so his only method of escape would be to crawl like a worm.

Not that Ryuji had any intention of letting him try it.

"…Could drop him high up enough the ground that it hurts like hell but doesn't destroy his avatar." Accelerator recommended.

"Erika already suggested that." Keisuke stated.

"You don't say…?" The number one replied. "Hey hero; who the hell was the one who wanted to know about me?"

"…That would be Erika." Touma replied. "I guess I could add you to the voice chat… just wish I knew how…"

"I already did a long time ago." Erika suddenly spoke.

"F-feh… shown up again…!" Touma cried out.

"Not that hard to do." Accelerator added.

"You stay out of this!" Touma shouted.

"So; what did you need me for?" The number one turned his attention to the groups absent observer.

"I didn't; I just wanted to confirm rumors about your head injury, and Kamijou thought it might make more sense to see you in person is all." The sullen girl stated.

"…So it was his idea in the end after all." Accelerator concluded.

"I-I do not appreciate being tag-teamed like this!" Touma shouted and then began to sulk. "Such misfortune…"

"It's your fucking fault; you reap what you sow." Accelerator replied.

"I know! That's what makes it hurt more! I was just trying to be helpful, damn it!" Touma cried out.

"…Well, you got the stuff you wanted, right?" Accelerator asked.

"More or less. I can get the reading that you are connected to some kind of outside network from here, but I can't interface with it… that covers everything I needed to know." Erika answered quickly. "Everything else I can infer from what I have heard about you."

"…That so?" Accelerator stated. "So you don't need me anymore then?"

"Yeah, sorry again about dragging you out here." Touma replied. "You can head back if you need to. Thanks for picking us up out of that tight spot though…"

Accelerator paused for a moment, seemingly thinking it over.

"…I'll stay." The number one crossed his arms. "I don't want to try and take a nap only to get woken by you crying about, "I need help! For real this time!" so I'll stick with this for a bit."

"C-come on… I wouldn't do something like that…" The unlucky Kamijou rubbed his neck nervously.

"Exactly; you wouldn't. You never ask for help even if you're about to fucking die; that's why I hauled my ass out here… because I fucking figured that if shit was bad enough for you to willingly ask for help, let alone ME of all people, that it must have been really shitty." Accelerator spat.

"I-I get it! You don't have to keep guilt-tripping me!" Touma replied.

"I'll be holding this over your god damn head for a while; reflect on your actions you piece of shit." Accelerator added.

"…Accelerator-san is… not who I expected when I first heard about him…" Keisuke stated.

"You can tell those two are close friends, though they might not act like it on the surface." Ryuji stated. "I get the distinct vibe that he wouldn't do something like this for someone he didn't at least somewhat care about… they must have been through a lot together."

"Think so?" Keisuke crossed his arms.

"Trust me; that's how it is." Ryuji smiled lightly.

"Any luck with pulling information from the loud captive?" Erika spoke over the voice chat.

"No dice; this guy is a dry well. We won't be getting anything out of him." Ryuji replied.

"Damn straight! As if I'd sell out my comrades! You'd have better luck trying to knock a meteor back into space by punching it!" Hiraku proudly proclaimed.

"…Well then, that makes him expendable." Erika stated.

"More or less; expendable it is." Ryuji nodded in agreement. Hiraku couldn't hear Erika, but he could understand Ryuji clear as day, and his face promptly stiffened.

"G-g-go ahead! Kill me! I still won't talk! Y-you'd just be killing off your only source of information! That I will not give away under any circumstances!" The wind mage shouted.

"…You're trying to stop us from getting rid of you, yet reaffirming we have no reason to keep you around…" Keisuke sighed. "You're bad at this, aren't you?"

"Listen here you little-" Hiraku began to shout, but paused midsentence.

Because a certain someone grabbed ahold of his head.

"Expendable? Hardly… after all," Accelerator began to grin. "He could make the most wonderful meat shield…!"

"M-m-meat shield!?" Hiraku sputtered. "How dare you! I am Fukutsuwa Hiraku, of Machina-"

"Do you intend to tell us anything of value?" The number one interrupted.

"Of course not! Didn't you hear me!? I won't tell you a god damn-"

"Meat shield it is then." Accelerator grabbed the wind mage by his bindings and heaved him over his shoulder, despite Hiraku's repeated cries to put him down.

"…Are we going to let him do that?" Keisuke asked.

"…Do you want to try and stop him?" Touma asked flatly.

"Well… no…" The Hudie Hacker rubbed the back of his head.

"We should get moving." Ryuji commented. "We did what we could to stop the hackers we defeated from sending a report, but there is a possibility of one of them being next to another member physically outside of EDEN. We should move assuming they know we're coming. Erika; how is that firewall?"

"Already down; Wormmon disposed of it." Erika stated.

"Hehe… it was easy…" Wormmon was suddenly on Keisuke again, but this time he was on the Hudie Hacker's shoulder.

"You shocked yourself forty-two times; I kept track." Erika stated.

"D-don't tell them that! I was trying to sound cool…!" Wormmon cried out.

"Well… let's stop wasting time and move… who knows what Machina Revolution is up to deeper in the server." Touma suggested.

With little else to keep them, the group began to move deeper into the heart of Machina Revolution's private server. It appeared that Hiraku and his crew were the only members that were dispatched to deal with the group's intrusion, so aside from a few traps here and there, the trip was mostly uneventful.

Aside from Hiraku generally being loud and obnoxious of course. It was clear that he had little intention of allowing them to use him either as a shield or as a guide, and constantly struggled and fed them wrong information the entire way.

At least until Accelerator got fed-up with him, broke off a piece of the server and stuffed it into his mouth to silence him.

They eventually came to a large circular area, much like the previous room, but this time there was no exit. It was clear that it was the last room in the depths of the server, and the fact it was rather largely populated by people made it clear that this was where they needed to be.

"Alright, so we're here… what do we do now?" Touma asked.

"Hide yourselves and try to blend in. I doubt you'd do well if you just marched in and fought them all at once." Erika said.

"…Speak for yourself." Accelerator replied.

"True; after what we saw, he could probably do it…" Ryuji began. "…But even if we won, we'd get nothing out of it. Hackers can always make new accounts even if we manage to perform a surprise mass delete. To fully squash them, we need to find out what exactly they are trying to do so we can properly counter them. Taking down their leader will demoralize them, but the idea of us being fully aware of their plans and able to defeat them at any turn will crush them entirely. Bonus points if we can halt their whole plan at the same time."

"…Not bad; you done jobs like this before?" Accelerator asked.

"Been a hacker here on EDEN even before digimon became a thing; I've run jobs like this more times than I can count." Ryuji answered. "Turf wars were a thing back then, and they are a thing now; the only difference is the tools we use to fight each other."

"…Alright then old man, I'll let you call the shots. Let's see what an old hacker can do." Accelerator commented. Ryuji smiled for a brief moment.

"Keisuke; we'll be using transparency. Show Accelerator how to do it and… well…" The stoic leader trailed off. "…Think you can just do it for Kamijou? I feel like trying to teach him would be a waste of time…"

"Yes, yes. Kamijou-chan can't hack for shit, ha-ha…" Touma groaned.

"You're wasting your time; the moment they find you, they'll- ow! D-did you just hit me in the back of the knee!?" Hiraku, who was still being hoisted over Accelerator's shoulder, shouted loud. The group was lucky that they decided to hang back so far; otherwise, the enemy more than likely would have heard the brash mage.

"You know, I thought we had the understanding that you'd behave yourself when you spat out that chunk of garbage data… but maybe I need to tear out your tongue instead…" Accelerator replied. Hiraku, not wanting to know if it was possible to remove the human tongue in cyber space, immediately slammed his mouth shut.

"…Old habits die hard I see." Touma stated. "Well, I guess we'll be stepping into the last stage of this soon… you ready?"

"No reason not to be; the chances of these fucks being able to do anything to me is right around zero." Accelerator replied. "…Fair warning though; I can't use the wings here in EDEN."

"The wings…?" Touma replied with a puzzled expression. "…Any reason why?"

"Only manifests on me physically, not on my avatar… I don't think EDEN has the processing power to deal with them. If I tried to force it, I'd probably fucking crash the whole service." Accelerator replied. What he was referring to were a set of angelic wings that Accelerator could manifest at will, which on top of a boost of power, would allow him to alter vectors at a distance rather than intimately close to his body.

"…How about your network connection? Is everything good on that front?" Touma asked.

"Should be fine; it's incompatible with EDEN so chances of it being hacked somehow isn't even a factor. No one is going to be dicking with my ability with it anytime soon." The number one replied. "We done? The sooner we make these fucks question life, the better."

"Sorry about that… hey Amazawa-san, we're ready whenever you are." Touma stated.

"Got it, Kamijou-san. I'll set everything up as fast as I can." Keisuke began to work with his console. After everything was set-up, the group weaved through the crowd of people to approach the center. There, the goal of their mission was on full display.

Samson Ainsworth. He stood in place, supervising his subordinates as they worked.

The magicians' tasks appeared to be two-fold. One: prepare a magic circle and two: cart digimon into the circle. The unusual part however was with the digimon themselves; each one appeared to be gravely injured, missing pieces of their bodies in some cases.

The names of the respective digimon were as follows: Kabuterimon, Greymon, Angemon, Airdramon, Devimon, Kuwagamon, and Monochromon. There were even two ultimate levels in the mix: BlackMetalGreymon and SkullGreymon.

The last one being carried in was a Garurumon; the very same one from the previous day.

"…Just what are they trying to do here?" Touma whispered. Before anyone could answer however, Samson began to speak.

"My brethren… my friends; I know we all share a single goal, but I feel that I must humbly thank you all for your service regardless. Without any of you, none of what we are about to achieve would be possible." The leader spoke, walking outside of the circle as the magi finished their work.

When the circle finished, it began to glow.

"Our wish is a simple one; a seemingly endless quest for true paradise. One where all can be content and exist in a world without despair. But the state of the world is a fickle one… here and now, the world is such that in order to make any kind of reasonable change, one must have insurmountable amounts of power… but today, we make our first step to acquire that power we so desperately need."

Samson held out his hands toward the circle as it began to glow brighter. Those few magi still in the circle backed out at this point, ready to see their work pay off.

"We all have sacrificed so much for this day, and today will not be the last. But this is our first step towards a world were all sacrifices will end!"

A bright light enveloped the circle, as well as the digimon contained within. It lasted for about a minute, but what appeared when the light faded away was truly terrifying.

It was like all the digimon in the circle had been patched together. It had the head of Kabuterimon, the eyes and hair of BlackMetalGreymon, and the body and lower jaw of Greymon. Four wings were on its back with two from Airdramon and two from Angemon. The monstrosity had four arms, the top two belonged to Devimon, while the lower left arm belonged to Kuwagamon and the lower right arm belonged to SkullGreymon. To finish it off, it had the legs of Garurumon, and the tail of Monochromon.

The beast roared loudly, but did not lash out against anyone particular. Though the act performed was indeed a forced digivolution with the merger, it appeared that Machina Revolution had finally figured out how to do it without sending the digimon into a frenzy.

"This is our first step; our creation! Kimeramon!" Samson announced. "Ones so broken to pieces by this horrid and broken world have formed together once more; patching each other up along the way, and have become stronger than any of them ever could be individually! Lives formerly doomed to vanish have banded together to fight against the state of the world! However, this not the end for them; it is a new beginning! As we grow and evolve, so will he, until there will be no one who can stop us! This is simply the beginning as the brave and noble souls guide us to the path to forging Paradise!"

Though there were some confused whispers within the crowd at first, by the end the magi were more than impressed, cheering loudly in celebration.

"…So these guys are just a bunch of fucking loons then… fun." Accelerator spat.

"I've heard stuff like this before… are all cabals like this?" Touma sighed.

"Well, it seems the "key" to their plans is that digimon they forced together… delete that and all their plans go up in smoke." Ryuji stated. "We ready?"

"Been ready." Accelerator grinned lightly. However, as he began to move, the load he was carrying suddenly became much lighter.

Hiraku had broken free from his binds and shot up into the air with little warning. Judging from how he did it, he could have broken free at any time.

In other words, he was staying with them so we could potentially ruin their plans.

"Hey! Everyone! We have intruders!" Hiraku then launched a blast of wind straight down towards the group. Though Touma was able to deal with it rather easily, the true purpose of the attack wasn't to do damage.

Its goal was to reveal them, which the sudden torrent of wind most certainly did as their transparency suddenly vanished.

"Shit…!" Ryuji cursed, calling his Cyberdramon to his side.

"Ah… I see that we have guests today." Samson smiled lightly as he turned to face the group. "Titamon, our new associate is still very fresh; please tend to our unexpected company in the usual manner in his stead, won't you?"

At his word, the massive Titamon appeared, brandishing its large bone sword and turning towards the group.

"And that goes for the rest of you too; don't want to look inhospitable, now do we?" Samson added. Just like before, the respective magi began to call out their digimon as well.

"We're more than a tad bit outnumbered here…" Keisuke commented as his partners manifested around him.

"Might be time for our secret weapon then?" Ryuji commented. In response, Accelerator clicked his teeth.

"Well, I suppose the stealth portion is over now huh…?" The number one tilted his head to the side, popping it in the process. As he did so, his Dracmon suddenly appeared, hanging off his shoulder.

"H-hold on there boss, you don't intend to challenge a Titamon, do you!?" The little vampire asked.

"…Hey, another talking digimon… friend of yours?" Keisuke looked over his shoulder at Wormmon.

"I-I don't know him…" The little bug digimon replied in a worried tone, clearly concerned about the hostile environment they were in.

"What's so special about him? All I see is a green giant about to get his shit pushed in." Accelerator didn't sound amused.

"But he's Titamon! One of the arch enemies of the Olympus Twelve! One of the big baddies that terrorize the digital world!" Dracmon stated.

"…That so?" Accelerator smiled briefly. Not long after, his two other digimon, Darkdramon and RustTyranomon, appeared behind him. "Then sit back and watch… I'll show you what real strength looks like!" The two mega levels then began to attack, but not Samson's Titamon.

Accelerator himself charged ahead as his Dracmon leapt off his master's shoulder out of fear, and engaged the green titan head on. Titamon swung its blade down, but just as it made contact with the number one's body, the sword was shot straight back and the force sent the behemoth flying cross the area, smashing into the wall.

However, Titamon was far from finished, quickly moving to challenge Accelerator yet again. From here, chaos ran rampant as Accelerator's digimon went on a rampage, providing cover for the group.

The members of Hudie made their way for the exit, assuming that since they were discovered, the mission was impossible. During this, Hiraku flew down into the crowd and made his way toward the back, pulling a few magi aside as he did so.

"H-hey, what's the big idea!?" One of the magi shouted. "You can see what's going on! We need to get out there and fight!"

However, Hiraku shook his head.

"Yeah, but fighting isn't going to do shit unless we can take down those mega digimon… and to do that, we at least need one of our own. The boss' Titamon would work, but he's busy dealing with that white-haired guy." He said. "That's why I lifted you guys off; my usual crew got ejected from the server and can't come back, but you guys I remember being good with hacking… not ideal, but we don't exactly have time to be picky about it."

"So… you want to take down the guy who's turning Titamon into a ragdoll? Are you nuts!?" Another mage shouted. However, Hiraku began to smirk.

"I happened to hear something fun while I was captive," The wind mage began. "Turns out, that guy is getting his power from an outside network. Supposedly it's not compatible with EDEN, but I say we give it a ballsy shot anyway and see what the hell happens!"

"Think… that could work?" The first mage asked.

"One way to find out. You guy's are better with the technical stuff than I am. First, let's see if we can find the damn thing. With all the chaos right now, I doubt anyone will notice." Hiraku ordered.

The small band of magi glanced back at the chaos unfolding before them before nodding in agreement, opening up their console and beginning to type away.

"Lot of stuff to sift through…" One spoke up. "…Hold up, I found something."

"What do you got?" Hiraku asked.

"Got a network set-up… can't tell what tis connected to but… holy shit; it's just a mass of ones and zeroes... I can make heads or tails of this…"

Something along those lines was exactly what Hiraku wanted to hear, however. He might have been playing the fool for most of his captivity, but he heard something very important.

The network Accelerator was connected to was incompatible with EDEN; a nonsensical mass of binary code definitely felt like how it'd look if that was the case.

"Alright; don't worry about editing the code; all I want you to do is cut the line to the network off." Hiraku stated. "Do that, and I think we'll see something magical." He stated with a smirk.

During this, Accelerator was still engaged in combat with the mighty Titamon. With his ability, knocking around the green giant was rather easy, but each time the monster went down, he got right back up, angrier than ever.

Even if Titamon couldn't hurt Accelerator at all, his endurance was nothing to laugh at. If the situation at hand were to be constrained to the thirty-minute timer on his battery in the real world, Titamon might actually have been able to stall it out with stamina and tenacity alone.

However, something happened. Accelerator's mind suddenly grew hazy as he lost his balance. The sensation was very similar to those few instances where his battery did run out and he was cut off from the Misaka Network entirely.

"What… the hell…!?" The number one could barely speak. He cursed; someone must have been able to get into the Misaka Network somehow. Though the network would reconnect to him as soon as possible, how long that would take to reestablish a connection was unknown; no one had been directly able to sever it before.

All Titamon saw however was that his opponent had suddenly lost his footing, and the warrior he was intended to capitalize on it. He hoisted his massive blade over his head and swung it down.

The blade was suddenly deflected when Darkdramon slammed its lance into the side of it full force; the dark digimon likely noticed its partner's sudden loss and went to support him. Darkdramon spun after the impact, slamming its tail into Titamon's head, sending him back.

The green giant was far from finished however, and quickly raced to engage Darkdramon directly.

"Yes! That's the result I was going for!" Hiraku shouted. "If one mega is preoccupied, we can overwhelm the other with sheer numbers alone! Not to mention wreaking that little shitheads face!"

"We got a problem; the network is back. I'm severing it whenever I can but it's reconnecting faster and faster." The hacking magi stated.

"That's fine; share around the network; with everyone on duty we can intercept it at will." Hiraku grinned. "Come on; let's take these punks down!"

"Sorry; I can't let you keep doing that to the boss."

The voice came from Hiraku… to be particular, his shoulder. Only now did he notice an odd weight on his cloak.

Accelerator's Dracmon was hanging off Hiraku's cloak.

"…What the fu-"

"Undead Fang." Dracmon suddenly bit down on Hiraku's neck.

"GUUUUAAAAAHHHH!?" The wind mage reached for Dracmon's head to pry him off, but to no avail. "G-get him off! GET HIM OFF!"

"W-what do you want us to do!?"

"I don't know; blast him or something! It really huuuuurrrrttttsss!" Hiraku danced around, trying anything he could; the pain was so intense he couldn't concentrate enough on his magic to do so himself. Eventually, one of the magi was able to get a clean shot off and struck the little vampire digimon, sending him flying into a wall.

"G-guh… oww…" Dracmon rubbed his head.

"Damn straight it hurts! How do you think I feel you brat!?" Hiraku spat.

"Well duh; if it didn't hurt there wouldn't be much of a point!" Dracmon shot back. "You're just lucky the boss frowns upon the whole "dominating people's soul" thing, otherwise I'd have you guys dancing in the palm of my hand!"

"You little… you know what happens to you now, right!?" Hiraku shouted again as whirlwinds began to envelop his arms.

"…Yeah, I do." Despite his apparent acceptance of fate, Dracmon began to snicker.

"Oh Yeah? What's so funny!?"

"The dancing around you did with me hanging off of you got ahold of the big guy's attention." Dracmon answered in a rather happy tone. The wind mage began to retort before a loud metal slam was heard. The sound wasn't unusual due to all of the fighting, but how close it appeared to be however was.

Hiraku slowly turned around to find RustTyranomon standing right behind the group of magi, the distinct breath of rust emanating from its large maw.

"…Oh no…" Was all Hiraku could say as RustTyranomon's rampage began anew, this time by decimating Hiraku and his men.

In addition, without anyone else to disrupt it, the Misaka Network came back online without a hitch. Accelerator clicked his teeth upon fully realizing that he was back to normal. His gaze turned to his partner, Darkdramon, as it fought the mighty Titamon.

"…That's it; these pieces of shit crossed the line. I'm ending this now!" He spat before suddenly shooting off towards the clash of the two mega level digimon.

During this, the two Hudie Hackers and the unlucky Kamijou were slowly fighting their way through the crowd with their digimon on hand. With RustTyranomon back on the rampage, it appeared that they finally had the break they needed to escape and made for the exit.

However, much to the two Hudie hacker's surprise, Touma broke off from them and ran towards the middle of the room instead… straight towards Samson.

Kimeramon appeared to be docile at the time and made no moves to get involved with the ongoing conflict, nor to attack the approaching Kamijou. His Dorugamon let out a low growl, but otherwise stayed by Touma's side, not opting to attack either Kimeramon or the Cabal Boss before them.

"…Oh? Seeking me out personally?" The cabal boss spoke. "I must say… you've gone to great lengths to meet with me again… what is it that you need from me?"

"Answers," Touma answered briefly. "What does a magic cabal want with EDEN? Attacking people… making monsters like this… just what the hell are you doing?"

"Crafting this "monster" as you call it was the only way left to save them." Samson replied. "It was either that or leave them to die, so we saved them. As for our aggressive actions… we do not perform these acts for our own joy; quite the opposite. In truth, we have no interest in harming or taking lives, digital or real, but it is simply the only path we have ahead. One must do what one hates to proceed in this trial known as life."

"Don't tell me this entire set up is the whole "The ends justify the means," argument? Hurting people because you think in the end it will all work out?" Touma glared, not liking the way the conversation was going.

"Of course; you speak as if we are harming them in the real world. Everything here is just accounts and data; even if I cut one in half they would be perfectly fine outside of EDEN. Of course I understand that some people are tied heavily to those accounts for business, but that is a small price to pay on the path to paradise, is it not?"

"What the hell does that even mean!?" Touma shouted.

"It means we intend to make a perfect world." Samson replied. "This one is rotting away with rampant sin and suffering amongst its people; countries war and oppress their people, capitalism and greed rules the world… everyone is simply existing, rather than enjoying their limited time here on earth… I intend to change that. I will create a paradise for all to enjoy… I will save them from themselves! Is saving lives not praiseworthy?"

"You…! You're just forcing your viewpoint down on everyone!" Touma shouted.

"It must be difficult to perceive… isn't it? Surely, your life is far from perfect, correct? If rumors are true, the life of the Imagine Breaker must truly be nothing but suffering, day after day without remorse." Samson answered.

Touma bit his lip as the cabal boss continued.

"There are many cases like yours… some better and worse, but cases nonetheless. And here… right here in EDEN… is the key to fixing all of that… allow me to show you the power of our determination!"

Just then, Kimeramon roared out again loudly, turning its attention to the unlucky Kamijou, clawing at him with the longer Devimon hands it possessed. Touma was only able to avoid the attack simply because he was just narrowly out of the monstrosity's reach and managed to jump back just in time. Dorugamon did the same, though with much more distance made due to his much stronger legs.

"Y-you've got to be kidding me…!" Touma grit his teeth.

"Of course; his natural weakness is Imagine Breaker; one casual touch and the digivolution will be negated." Samson called out. "But if you do so, it will revert all of the digimon to their prior state… you'll be dooming them to die in their horribly crippled bodies. Can you do that?"

Kimeramon reached for Touma again, and this time the spiky-haired teen jumped back rather than casually back stepping. He hesitated for a moment, as his natural response to the current situation would be to defuse his opponent by negating the magic holding Kimeramon together.

However, it was what Samson said that made his resolve falter. Imagine Breaker would negate the fusion, but without that, the digimon that currently formed Kimeramon would surely die in their fatally damaged states.

Would it be a mercy? Of course it would be; the creature before him was truly a manufactured monstrosity against the natural order, even amongst digimon, and the fact it would be serving a cabal boss made that fact worse.

But to save them, he would have to kill them. It would indeed save them from the pain of their existence but to openly and knowing end another living beings life…

…Was simply something Kamijou Touma could not bring himself to do. He was a person who never condoned killing unless it was absolutely necessary, and even then, the thought of causing death made a knot in his stomach.

There were hackers that thought of digimon as just programs, but after interacting with his own so frequently, it became clear that they were far from that. They were digital, but they were fully alive and intelligent.

Even to save his own life, he couldn't take theirs.

However, Kimeramon did not act on the same line of logic. He reached out and clawed at the unlucky Kamijou several times, ultimately trying to crash him with the palm of one of its hands.

But when the monster did so, it began to howl in pain; Dorugamon had ran around while the monster was busy attempting to attack the unlucky Kamijou and bit one of the monsters hands. Kimeramon screeched as the smaller digimon clung to the massive monster's hand, only letting go when Kimeramon reached for him, and retaliated by firing off an iron ball into the side of the behemoth's head.

Kimeramon was less than amused however, roaring out and batting the beast digimon with the back of its hand, sending Dorugamon flying into a wall.

The difference in power was very clear, but Dorugamon stood back up to fight yet again regardless. Kimeramon wasn't interested in a fight however, and made that abundantly clear as energy began to gather in the palms of all four hands, taking aim for the beast digimon.

Just as the attack would fire however, the other monstrosity in the room, Titamon, crashed into it, making the attack to misfire and strike the walls, causing rather large explosions on contact and scattering those who were around it.

"Big guy is tough… but I'm not exactly the kind of fucker you can just roll over with raw strength, you piece of shit." Accelerator spat.

"You…" Samson frowned. "I don't take kindly to you roughing up my companion… nor tossing him into my creation, either."

"Then do something about it you piece of shit." Accelerator grinned. Samson's eyes narrowed as he appeared ready to join the fight himself, one of his arms beginning to emit a pink glow.

However, it was Kimeramon who attacked first. The monstrosity pushed off the fallen Titamon and opened up its mouth wide; a large blast of energy erupted from the creature's maw, flight right toward the number one esper.

Accelerator however batted the attack away, knocking it toward Samson. The cabal boss began to show mild irritation as he moved to dodge the attack. Titamon once more rose up and let out a mighty shout before charging at Accelerator for a second round.

A beam of electricity however halted its advance as it crashed into his chest with enough force to send the mighty titan flying. Kimeramon turned to find RustTyranomon shifting its attention from the magi and focusing on them, charging straight toward the monstrosity. Their arms smashed into each other, with Kimeramon being able to hold off the mega level machine surprisingly well, even managing to push the metal dinosaur back.

However, the assault wasn't over as Darkdramon came from above, stabbing the large lance-like weapon attached to his right arm into the monster's back.

Touma froze in place; that move didn't look like one meant to subdue.

"Accelerator! What the hell are you doing!?" He shouted.

"Something you're too fucking scared to do." Accelerator spat. "Darkdramon! Dark Roar!"

Darkdramon's lance began to glow a distinct purple, especially near the tip. Kimeramon roared out, pushing back against RustTyranomon but to no avail. Its remaining arms couldn't reach behind itself, and the flapping of the monster's wings did little to discourage the armored dragon, much less stop the attack.

After a moment, a large purple beam erupted from the lance, tearing through Kimeramon's body, leaving a gaping hole in the monstrosity's torso. Darkdramon leapt off its back and RustTyranomon stepped back, and the manufactured digimon slumped to the server floor, its limbs limp.

"Kimeramon! NO!" Samson shouted. He began to run after to the battlefield, but a piece of the server flew towards him, slamming into the ground in front of him.

Accelerator was grinning at him, standing in his triumph. The cabal boss turned to his Kimeramon, only to see the beast's body begin to dissolve into pure data before vanishing completely. His creation had been killed and was forever lost.

Samson's next act was swift.

He lifted up his glowing left arm, and used it to cut off his right. The surprise caused by this sudden self-mutilation couldn't even escape Accelerator's normally calm face. However, the act itself wasn't the only reason for that.

Despite Samson's body being just an EDEN Avatar, blood began to gush from the wound.

"What the hell…?" The number one spat.

"Don't think for a second… that I'll let you get away with this!" Samson aimed his stump of an arm towards Accelerator. The removed arm suddenly turned a bright pink and shot back up to the stub, before transforming into a large blast of energy, racing toward the number one.

It appeared to be that the cabal boss was finally showing off his own magic.

"Sacrifice is how one proceeds in life… whether they sacrifice their food, their money, their time… or their body! The sacrifices I make will lead to grand miracles that none of you could even comprehend!" The blast continued on its path towards Accelerator, who simply frowned.

As the attack would reach its target, Kamijou Touma stepped in the way with his right hand outstretched. Imagine Breaker did its work and blocked the attack, negating its existence on contact.

"…Imagine Breaker…! Even the miracles crated through sacrifice aren't enough to overcome it…!?" Samson spat.

"…I'll have you know, I've touched a miracle before." Touma shot back. "A true miracle; one that really did save lives, and there was nothing my Imagine Breaker could do about it or the other miracles it spread… fake miracles like yours are just illusions for me to rip apart, you god damn con artist!"

Samson was about to retort when he noticed something odd.

Accelerator was no longer in sight. Just as he noticed however, a voice came from below him.

"Keep an eye on your enemy you son of a bitch!" Accelerator was crouched down in front of him, but quickly rose up and punched the cabal boss in the stomach. His vector change did the rest as Samson was launched across the room like a cannonball, slamming into a wall and hitting the ground, seemingly incapacitated.

A small pool of blood began to appear under the cabal boss' severed arm.

The magi's reaction was immediate.

"S-Samson lost! What do we do now!?"

"E-everyone, stay away from that white haired monster! Get away!"

"Someone grab the boss and let's get out of here!"

Most of the voices were among these terms with minor changes. Hiraku flew to Samson's side, as others, though the wind mage was the one to heave Samson over his shoulder, while the rest began to construct rifts to evacuate the server.

Hiraku turned and shot Accelerator and Touma a glare before diving into a rift himself.

Though a few magi were unconscious across the area, most of them had fled, and the server was left empty.

"…Looks like they abandoned their friends…" Touma commented, looking around at the few incapacitated members lying around. His Dorugamon walked up and nuzzled his partner's side for a moment, and Touma began to pet the beast digimon's head.

"Cut and run; sometimes its best to save yourselves… not exactly a honorable thing to do, but if you're scared to fucking die, you do what you got to do." Accelerator shrugged. A few footsteps could be heard, and it was revealed to be Ryuji and Keisuke, running up with their respective digimon.

"I saw that you sent the boss flying… good work." Ryuji stated.

"Holy… Accelerator's digimon are tough… they took on so many of those guys' digimon and still stood up to that Titamon and Kimeramon…" Keisuke crossed his arms.

"Of course; even if those fuckers managed to cut off my network, it doesn't matter when my boys are around. I raise the best, after all." Accelerator replied, seemingly rather proud of his two companions.

"That's right! The best of the best, the tough of the tough! Only the top dogs are allowed in his roster!" Dracmon suddenly appeared, sitting on the number one's shoulder.

"Says the one rookie I own." Accelerator spat.

"But I'm the strongest rookie! You know that, right!?" Dracmon countered.

However, Accelerator simply looked away.

"W-why are you looking away so dismissively! I-I'm strong right!?" Dracmon continued to pester the number one, but to no avail.

"…So, are you guys ok?" Touma shifted his attention to his other allies as the little vampire digimon continued to annoy his partner.

"We're fine; we're really experienced with scraps like this… not so cool with the numbers disadvantage, but we ran back to the entrance and bottlenecked them there. Lasted out just fine until they decided to run off." Keisuke answered with a nod and a smile.

"More or less. I'll get ahold of Zaxon and have them send some people to pick the ones they left behind here up… though I think they'll be as adamant against talking as the loud one was... "

"…That's right; he was really determined… he flew straight up and attacked us too… didn't look like a digimon attack… and they fused that digimon together on top of that…" Keisuke frowned.

"H-haha! That's probably just some programming trick! Hackers can make their own programs up to do stuff like that if they really wanted, right? I-I mean, digimon do that kind of thing all the time, you know?" Touma spoke quickly.

"That's true… but still…" Keisuke seemed less than convinced. Ryuji was the same, but he didn't vocalize it.

Accelerator narrowed his eyes. It was clear that those two were unfamiliar with magic, and it was also clear that the men and women they were facing were using it.

But in the end, if the hero decided that it'd be best if they didn't know, then he didn't have anything else to say on the matter.

"Job's done, right?" Accelerator asked.

"That's right; their plan was shattered and it looked like their boss was put through the ringer. That should be enough to keep them quiet for the next week or so." Ryuji commented. "How are things on your end, Erika?"

"Just fine. There was an oddity with the data from that Kimeramon when it died, but it's left the server since then." Erika stated. "It's probably nothing."

"In that case; I'm going home. I don't care about whatever agreements you had for payment; I could care less." With that, the number one esper began to make his way out of the server.

However…

"…Hey, hold on." Touma spoke up as his Dorugamon vanished into his Digivice. "…I want to say thanks for that back there… I probably could have taken care of it with my right hand but…"

"I get it; pulling your ass out of the fire is nothing new." Accelerator simply kept walking, waving off the unlucky Kamijou. "You're not a killer, and that's fine. Better that way. Next time though… you better be fucking serious when you swallow your pride to ask me of all people for help… am I fucking clear?"

Accelerator continued his march to leave, and with little else to do, the rest of the group left as well. The mysteries surrounding the unlucky Kamijou didn't vanish for the Hudie crew; in fact, this little adventure simply gave them more questions with no real answers.

But at the very least, with Machina Revolution subdued, with the Demons soon to follow, EDEN felt just a little bit safer.

For the moment.

-Unknown Location-

In one of the many servers in EDEN, several pieces of unknown data began to soar in various streams. They were small enough to avoid being seen unless one was hunting for them, but due to the fact no one knew what they were or that they existed, little cared about a few blips of data.

Eventually, these data bytes began to converge onto one another. Many formed together, taking the shape of a bright blue ball hovering in the air. It began to fly around in random directions, as if it was testing its own limits, and after a moment, it began to fly up into the air.

Before it could reach the cyberspace sky however, it was completely devoured.

An Eater leapt from a floor above, colliding and coiling around the sphere of data until there was nothing left, as was their nature. Data was simply something to be consumed, regardless of its form.

The Eater turned to slither away when its body suddenly began to shift and twist. Parts of it began to change color, tentacles forming together and separating; it was as if the monster's entire state of existence was in a state of chaotic flux.

However, just as quickly as that began, it ended, and the Eater returned to normal. Its mechanical eye began to look around before it resumed its pre-decided path.

Though the monster appeared to be a little bit more twitchy than usual…


Here was our first major encounter with the Magic Cabal known as Machina Revolution. We got a little insight into their goals, how they conduct themselves, and even into one of their plans.

With their leader still running around, even if their plot at the moment was foiled, they'll still be up and around for awhile. We still have plenty to dig into.

I hope you all enjoyed. Please, review at your leisure; I still enjoy feedback.

Have a good day, my friends!

Sincerely,
ArmoredCoreNineBall, your friendly (not)robotic (not)overlord (possibly)person who occasionally writes things.