Author's Note: I'm back! Writing this from the living room of my new apartment. Got everything in, but I'm sure I'll be tweaking the organization as time goes on. I also finally got to enjoy my new copy of Reunion and pre-ordered Determination, so it's been a good day for Digimon all around for me.
I'd also like to thank cassjo for following this story while I was away! Always nice to see that people care about my story. Anyway, on to the latest chapter!
Omegamon found his Omega Sword once again countered by the same attack from his past counterpart. Ever since Lucemon's control had strengthened over the ancient Royal Knight, Omegamon had been forced to rely on his upgraded attacks just to keep up- the standard Transcendent Sword and Supreme Cannon weren't enough anymore. However, despite being able to match his predecessor in terms of pure power, Omegamon was at a distinct disadvantage. Omnimon now seemed to be one step ahead of him in the battle, always predicting Omegamon's attacks and the method he would use to try and defend himself. Clearly, the older Royal Knight wasn't able to completely hold back the Omega inForce anymore, and that meant Omegamon now had to deal with a clairvoyant opponent as well as a strong one.
To this point, the best strategy Hideto had found was to rely on clashes of Omega Sword attacks. With the enemy able to read all of Omegamon's moves before he could make them, any attack was dodged or countered. However, in the case of an Omega Sword, Omnimon's preferred method of countering was to cross blades with Omegamon rather than dodge in another way. While this prevented the Omega Sword from ever directly hitting its target, every time the two blades crossed a mini explosion went off from the excess fire energy, dealing a little damage to both combatants. It was an obvious flaw in Omnimon's fighting style, to the point where Hideto was sure it was intentional. However, he wasn't going to turn aside a chance for mutual damage, especially since Omegamon had the advantage of healing- either through the healing team or Infinite Jogress.
However, just as Hideto was confident in his current battle strategy, Omnimon switched up his pattern. Omegamon charged in with his Omega Sword once again, only to withstand a blast from his counterpart's Omega Cannon. Luckily the blast was weakened by colliding with the flaming sword first, but it was still powerful enough to knock Omegamon to the ground. Luckily Ophanimon turned her attention to this fight quickly and was able to heal the damage, but the fact remained that the current strategy was no longer working. He would need to find a way to continue dealing damage in order to win that fight, but to do that, Hideto would need to come up with a counter for the Omega inForce- something that he had just found out about during this current fight.
As Omnimon and Omegamon continued to volley attacks back and forth at each other, Hideto forced himself to turn away from the fight itself and focus specifically on the problem. He was the second ranked V-Pet player in the world for a reason, and you couldn't be best friends with Neo Saiba without being able to quickly adjust to seemingly unbeatable strategies. The Omega inForce was formidable, but it couldn't be infallible- or else Omnimon wouldn't feel so much shame over not being able to stop whatever this Great Schism was. So either it was possible to set up a trap far enough in advance that Omegamon couldn't escape it, or there was some other limitation to his ability to see the future.
However, as he thought this, Hideto realized he may be getting ahead of himself. Omegamon just said the Omega inForce allowed him to read an enemy's moves before the enemy could make them. While this could be knowledge of the future, it could also be as simple as reading the opponent's mind. And if that was the case, Hideto had a simple enough strategy to counter it. It would only take a little adjustment to his Digivices and a bit of faith in Omegamon to be able to pull off something he had never tried before. Hideto sent off one more command to explain the basic premise of his plan to Omegamon, but from there assumed radio silence as he set up his Digivices for the next move.
When Omegamon received the command, he had a hard time processing what benefit could come from it. However, he had faith in Hideto, and unlike when they had been fighting under Daemon he had no doubt that what they were doing was the right thing. However, all the conviction in the world didn't make his task any easier, especially since Omnimon took the offensive and charged in with his Omega Sword. Omegamon was suddenly much more sluggish, barely managing to bring his Transcendent Sword to block the attack and completely failing to ignite the blade. As such, he was driven back by the blast and took a fair amount of damage, but the payoff was clear when Omegamon's left arm suddenly snapped up and blasted Omnimon with an icy blast. The move was significantly weaker than even a normal Supreme Cannon, but the important thing wasn't the power behind the attack, but rather the fact that the attack hit.
Though Omnimon didn't have full control of his emotions, his eyes widened a bit in shock as he started shaking the snow off of himself. That last attack had found a way to slip past his Omega inForce, leaving him no warning. His younger counterpart seemed just as surprised at what had happened, but Omnimon knew he needed to press this sudden change. He charged in again with his Omega Sword, and once again Omegamon sluggishly raised his Transcendent Sword in an attempt to block. However, just before the ancient Royal Knight could cross blades with his counterpart, Omegamon suddenly vanished in a strange array of gridlines. Omnimon didn't have time to ponder what this could mean before a glowing blade burst from his chest. A split second later, a voice behind him called out "Omega Blast!"
The massive burst of light emitting from the sword was the last thing the Royal Knight saw before he burst into data. With that threat out of the way, Hideto sent two identical messages to his partners: "Great job, guys. You can go back to working together now." Almost immediately, Omegamon's body seemed to relax as the two minds inhabiting his body returned to working on the same page. Hideto had theorized that Omnimon wasn't using the Omega inForce to see the future so much as he was using it to read his opponent. However, that left one fatal opening- if Omegamon didn't know what he was doing, there would be no way for Omnimon to read it. To test this, Hideto had started giving Warg and Melga orders separately and relying on them not to communicate with each other. Warg took care of the main body's movements, but Melga was able to wrest control to launch the Supreme Cannon that finally landed a hit. Since Warg was the main mind controlling the body and hadn't known about the attack, Omnimon hadn't known it was coming either.
Of course, relying on two minds in one body would only work as long as Omnimon didn't know that was the nature of the opponent he was facing. Once Hideto knew his strategy was working, he had to go for the finishing blow- and Omnimon had obliged by rushing right in to Omegamon's Partition. Melga had pulled it off at the perfect time, and by the time Omnimon could try to locate his enemy it had been far too late. With his opponent defeated, Hideto was prepared to turn to the other battles and see who most needed his help when a new arrival at Omegamon's side drew his attention. Because he hadn't been paying attention to the other fights, Hideto wasn't sure if this Cherubimon was Willis's partner or Suzie, but as soon as the Cherub Digimon spoke it was obvious who she was.
Omegamon looked a little wrong-footed as Suzie started yelling at him for killing Omnimon when she had just flown all the way here to recruit him to their side, but Hideto just tuned out her complaints and turned to Sakuyamon. Since Rika was the only person who wasn't focusing on one particular fight, she had taken the role of helping the healers dedicate their attention to where it was needed most. Hideto barely had time to finish asking before Rika quickly made her choice. "Send Omegamon to help Takato. You're the closest one to him, and he needs the help." Hideto sent the order immediately, and then started scanning the walls of Mask's Square trying to find where Takato was fighting the other Gallantmon.
Immediately, he could see why Rika was so quick to send him to help Takato. When he had been demonstrating the power of Crimson Mode against Neo, the advanced form had given off all the splendor expected from a Royal Knight. Now, his wings had faded away, his weapons seemed to be on the verge of flickering out of existence, and his armor was broken off in places. While Gallantmon X also bore some scars from the fight on his armor, he clearly was in much better shape than his opponent. Whereas Takato was struggling to stay on his feet, Gallantmon X carried himself as if he hadn't taken any damage at all. Hideto knew this could all be an act- Omegamon never let the damage show as a means of psychological warfare as well- but in this case, it certainly didn't seem like Gallantmon X was hiding his injuries.
Omegamon was doing his best to get over to Takato's side as soon as possible, but Hideto noticed the Royal Knight was moving at a much slower speed than normal. He didn't even need to see the scan results to know the cause- Omegamon hadn't had much practice with Omega Burst, and some of the energy from the Omega inForce must have redirected back on himself. It wasn't nearly as bad as the brief experimentation with All Delete had proven where Warg had been put in a near-death state, but Omegamon's energy levels were still taking some time to recover. While he was normally a fairly fast Digimon, Suzie had no trouble outrunning Omegamon as she tried to get to Takato to help save her fellow Tamer.
Unfortunately for Takato, Suzie was still too far away to help immediately, and even with all the attention he was getting from the healing team he knew he wouldn't be able to stay in this fight much longer. While any wounds beyond things like destroyed armor and shields were easily fixed, nothing seemed to be helping Grani. The ark was quickly losing all of the functions that separated it from a simple program, and no matter how much the healers tried they weren't able to counteract the loss of energy this inflicted. Takato knew he might only have seconds left of being able to fight, so it was time to take desperate measures.
With no other options, he began focusing all the energy he had left into his Gungnir. Blutgang quickly faded away, and even his armor faded from its brilliant crimson back to its original white. However, Takato didn't care about any of that, instead trying to infuse all of his strength into one final attack. Grani was about to die, but he could at least leave this world by helping to save it. With all of his energy poured into the divine lance, Takato felt like he was attacking not so much with his own power as he was attacking with Grani's very essence. When he could give no more energy into the attack, he called out "Quo Vadis!" He hurled Grani's final gift at the ancient Royal Knight, and prayed that it would be enough to end the threat so the others could focus on Lucemon without having to deal with Gallantmon X.
Normally, Quo Vadis was an even stronger version of Crimson Light, and as such Takato had never tried to use the attack due to its sheer destructive power. Since a normal Crimson Light had been strong enough to shatter Mask's Square when Piedmon had only had to maintain one layer of it, using the attack when Mask's Square was key to the DigiDestined's success was a huge gamble. However, due to the failing power of Crimson Mode, the attack was much smaller than it should have been, which allowed Takato to focus it on a much smaller area. Instead of a giant blast cloud, the burst of light was only slightly bigger than Gallantmon X was, and nothing outside of that sphere was being damaged. Takato allowed himself to fall to his knees with a sigh of relief, thinking the fight was finally over. He was proven painfully wrong when a blue beam shot out of the remains of the attack and headed right towards him. Takato didn't have time to react to the blow, but before it connected he felt a slight pushing sensation and fell to the ground as a human. While the landing was painful, it wasn't nearly as painful as seeing the price of his safety- Guilmon was still floating where they had been standing as Gallantmon, with Gallantmon X's lance plunged straight through his chest.
A second later, Takato's partner was nothing more than stray data. Takato could only stare blankly at where his partner used to be, not even noticing that Gallantmon X was walking towards him. The Royal Knight had clearly taken damage from the last attack- his left arm was missing- but Takato was beyond the point where he could pay attention to his surroundings. When Leomon died, Takato had instantly flown into a berserker rage. Jeri had screamed in despair, and then fell into a dangerous self-loathing that made her easy prey for the D-Reaper. That had all been before the Tamers started Biomerging with their partners, however. While Takato had occasionally felt some of Guilmon's pain through the link all humans had with their partner Digimon, after Biomerging the two were much more inexorably linked. Takato had felt a part of himself die just now, and he wasn't able to handle it. He completely shut down, to the point where he didn't even feel it when Gallantmon X kicked him in the chest, breaking several ribs. He wasn't even aware of the reason he was blacking out, as to him there wasn't any difference.
However, one person who did notice this was Suzie, who arrived on the scene just in time to see Takato hit the ground after being kicked by the Royal Knight. The nine-year-old had always tried to listen to her older brother's teachings about violence not always being the best solution, and had developed an even more pacifistic style than Henry as a result. As such, she hadn't really tried to use the full force of Cherubimon's lightning in combat. She still didn't feel comfortable using it as a direct attack, but she knew she had to stop Gallantmon X before he could hurt Takato any further. With that goal in mind, she called down her Heaven's Judgement attack, creating a wall of lightning between the Royal Knight and his helpless victim. She then moved the lighting towards the knight himself in an attempt to herd him away from Takato.
Unfortunately, her plan worked a little too well. Gallantmon X's attention was drawn away from Takato- but it was now focused solely on the Cherub Digimon that had interrupted his fight. And with one arm already gone, the Royal Knight was not inclined to play with this opponent. He unleashed his Sieg Saber at Cherubimon, and Suzie found herself frozen in place as the giant lance extended towards her. However, the lance hit her in the shoulder instead of the chest, and as she fell to the ground she heard Omegamon call out, "Omega Cannon!" The white-armored Royal Knight had arrived just in the nick of time to redirect Gallantmon X's attack from being a fatal blow with his Transcendent Sword, and now he was making sure the enemy knight would not have another chance to attack again. The energy blast obliterated the already weakened opponent, giving Omegamon time to look after his companion. Lopmon was unconscious but not in danger of deletion, and Suzie seemed to be physically unharmed. Before the Holy Knight could even ask if she was alright, however, the entire world seemed to be filled with the sound of breaking glass, and Mask's Square crumbled out of existence…
Willis was surprised at just how long his partners could keep up their attacks. Back on Folder, MegaGargomon had occasionally fired off every round in his arsenal, but the months of training seemed to have increased his ammo stores as well as his familiarity with his Mega form. Not to be outdone by his twin brother, Cherubimon had also called down more lightning than Willis had ever seen in one place before. Eventually, though, exhaustion and a need to reload set in, and the various explosions and thunderclaps finally calmed down in order to see the result of the barrage. At first, it looked like the attack had done absolutely nothing, as Crusadermon was standing unharmed in the same position BanchoLillymon had first trapped her in. However, the Fairy Digimon then let out a little laugh and released the effects of her Absolute Territory.
As soon as the energy field keeping the Royal Knight locked in place fell, so too did the remains of Crusadermon's armor. It fell to the ground in pieces, and the visor caved in to reveal there was nothing left of the proud Royal Knight inside the pink armor. MegaGargomon and Cherubimon looked taken aback at the result of their combined attack- they had meant to destroy the Royal Knight, but usually when Digimon were destroyed they left nothing behind. Seeing the discarded armor remaining after its wearer had been destroyed was a disquieting reminder of just what was required of them when fighting a war. The two Digimon closed their eyes and bowed their heads at the somber reminder- only to snap them open when BanchoLillymon started screaming.
The fairy Digimon found herself trapped within a cocoon of glowing pink wires that easily cut into her with the slightest contact. However, what drew her attention more was the source of the Laser Lattice attack than its actual effects- the attack was coming from Crusadermon's discarded right gauntlet. She had just enough time to wonder how the Royal Knight had set up an attack from beyond her death when the netting flashed a bright pink and BanchoLillymon was forced back down to her Rookie form. Almost immediately, the wires stopped cutting into her and instead bound her tightly in midair so she couldn't move. Floramon's eyes widened as she realized what this must mean- the Royal Knight wasn't trying to destroy her. Instead, she wanted to make the Plant Digimon suffer.
Floramon started to cry out a warning to her two comrades, but by that point it was too late. While Crusadermon's right gauntlet remained on the ground maintaining the Laser Lattice attack, the rest of her armor shot towards MegaGargomon. While Crusadermon had been a highly agile opponent, her armor took it to a whole new level- appearing right in front of the giant mechanical Digimon before anybody had a chance to realize it had moved. MegaGargomon burst into data a short moment later, not even knowing how many hits the armor had landed on him within that moment. Taking out the more defensive of the two remaining fighters with repeated blows of the Fist of Athena attack seemed to calm some of Crusadermon's rage that had animated her armor, but that just meant she was at a point where she was calm enough to toy with her next opponent instead of killing Cherubimon outright.
The Cherub Digimon wasn't about to let himself be easily defeated by a discarded set of armor, but there was very little he could do to hit his opponent. Crusadermon's lingering will was fast enough to dodge most of his lightning, and even if he did manage to hit it the armor would break apart- and then be able to form right back together. It looked like the only way to defeat it would be to completely destroy the armor- whether in one shot, or piece by piece. Still, the armor had managed to survive repeated blasts from his Heaven's Judgement and his brother's bombardment, so Cherubimon wasn't sure he had the level of destructive power needed. If he had time to charge up for a while he might be able to manage it, but focusing his power into an attack was difficult when Crusadermon's armor would hit him with a single cut of Spiral Masquerade every few seconds.
After the latest attack, Cherubimon knew he would have to get inventive if he ever wanted to make any headway in this fight. He called down another Heaven's Judgement attack- but this time he directed the lightning at himself rather than another target. The cost of the attack was severe, especially considering his current state of damage, but eventually he managed to work the lightning from offensive strikes into a suit of armor of his own. Crusadermon's armor came in for another attack, but this time Cherubimon could easily see it coming and dodged out of the way. It had been a risky gamble, but Cherubimon's plan had worked- by cloaking himself in lighting, he was supercharging his body- and more importantly his nervous system, allowing him to process information more quickly and react appropriately.
Still, even with the sudden boost in his skills Cherubimon knew he had a limited window in which to make it work. The element of surprise would wear off quickly, and even at his new level he wasn't sure how he would stack up against Crusadermon's armor at its full power instead of when it was trying to draw out the fight. Luckily, Cherubimon noticed a rainbow glow off in the distance, and immediately knew what he needed to do to end this fight. He rushed over to where Crusadermon's gauntlet was keeping Floramon trapped and slammed his palms down on the armor fragment, channeling most of the power of his aura into the blow as well. The gauntlet was vaporized in the explosion, but the attack had worked a little too well- Cherubimon had little control over the power he used, and the resulting explosion used up most of his aura and blasted Floramon away instead of gently freeing her.
The Mega level winced at the clumsiness of his rescue attempt, but didn't have time to even check if Floramon was okay. In the last moment before his aura faded, he hurled what was left of his electricity towards the feet of Crusadermon's charging armor. It was an attack that the Royal Knight would have been able to dodge even before becoming disembodied armor, and it easily rose above the Lightning Spear. However, this just caused Cherubimon to smile as he reverted back to Lopmon and fell to the ground. Well before he could land, the armor was completely swallowed in a rainbow prominence. The massive blast of energy vaporized the remains of the Royal Knight, leaving Lopmon to let out a sigh of relief. He went to help Floramon get up, and by the time the Plant Digimon had recovered from being blasted away Varodurumon had made her way down and landed next to them.
Floramon was quick to thank the Burst Mode Digimon for saving them with the Aurora Undulation attack, though the small Digimon seemed dejected that she was no longer able to help in the battle. Lopmon tried cheering her up by telling her the healing squad would be getting around to them soon enough, but Floramon just shook her head. After all, while Lopmon was capable of going to the Mega level thanks to Willis's Crest, Floramon had only been able to Digivolve past Kiwimon thanks to the power of the Digimental. Varodurumon seemed ready to make her own attempt, but the sound of breaking glass interrupted everything. The two Rookie Digimon looked around in shock as Mask's Square shattered, but Varodurumon didn't notice any of that. Instead, she could only focus on a feeling of dread as she suddenly reverted back to Phoenixmon. "Oh no, Sora!"
BeelStarrmon groaned as she struggled to maintain her hold on Dynasmon's wyvern form. Sure, the Royal Knight was taking damage from his continued attempts to push through compacted space, but the continued effort of trying to warp him away was really taking its toll on her. Even with the support of whoever happened to be healing her at the time, she was starting to wonder if she'd be able to see this fight through to the end. This current contest of wills stretched on for what seemed like an eternity before Dynasmon's wyvern form finally dissipated. The Royal Knight was always quick to recover after these sessions, so the Demon Man Digimon quickly warped away before the dragonic warrior could resume attacking her.
Luckily, this giant version of Mask's Square retained some of the geographic features of the original surrounding landscape, including the cave BeelStarrmon had found and turned into a sort of base of operations for her and Beelzemon to use as a safe haven between runs harrying the Royal Knight. Unfortunately, she hadn't had as much time to enjoy the space as she would have liked recently. At first, Beelzemon had taken turns with her to provoke Dynasmon into using his Breath of Wyvern, but recently the Demon Lord had been forced to spend all of his time in this cave as he prepared what he hoped was the one attack in his arsenal that would be able to destroy the Royal Knight for good. Judging from the mass of tentacles she had to swat aside just to approach him, however, he wasn't quite ready to use it.
"So, I know I give the impression I'm into some freaky stuff, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to draw the line at tentacles. You just about ready to go with this attack yet? It can't be that hard to subjugate the Chrysalimon data to your will. After all, you've already killed them once- how much harder can it be to beat them again?" Beelzemon just grunted in pain, but seemed to regain enough control to speak after a few seconds. "I can't exactly shoot my way through the data within me. When it's just one Digimon's data, I can handle it no problem. Get a little over 100 working as a sort of hive mind, and it's a lot more difficult."
BeelStarrmon was interested in how this whole process even worked, but Beelzemon clearly wasn't in the best state to describe how data absorption manifested as a power of a Demon Lord. Of course, time was also a luxury at this point, so she likely wouldn't be able to get answers even if Beelzemon wasn't writhing in pain with countless tentacles shooting out of his back. Somebody had to go out there to make sure Dynasmon didn't start attacking anybody else, and from the looks of things it was still going to be her. Rolling her eyes, she decided to just brief her partner on the situation before heading out.
"Listen, I know what you're doing isn't easy, and you're under a ton of pressure as it is. But if you could find a way to get this process done quickly, I'd really appreciate it. We've done a pretty good job of expanding the cracks in Dynasmon's breastplate, and I think they are big enough for you to worm a couple of those tentacles in and do your thing. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to wall him another time. For every time his wyvern attack fails, the next one comes in harder, faster, and longer lasting. I'm starting to lose my ability to keep up with him. It's also affecting my ability to warp- so I'm not sure how long I'll be able to outrun him either. I'll buy as much time as I can, but I'd appreciate it if I'm around to see the payoff."
Not wanting to give Dynasmon any more free time, BeelStarrmon warped out of the cave before Beelzemon could even respond. She had always made sure to cluster her first appearance point on leaving the cave in a small area to prevent Dynasmon from being able to triangulate the position of the cave by keeping track of the first place she appeared after hiding from him, and now that precaution had proven to be worthwhile. When she appeared back outside of the cave, she was floating less than ten feet behind the Royal Knight, who luckily had his back turned to her. This gave her time to reset her dimensional zone before she announced her presence to the Royal Knight by crying out, "Double Impact!"
The borrowed Berenjena was now working for her as well as it had for Beelzemon- which meant the bullets barely expanded the cracks radiating through the back of Dynasmon's armor. However, they did get the Royal Knight's attention, and in a way BeelStarrmon knew was less likely to anger the Royal Knight enough to use his Breath of Wyvern attack right off the bat. While attacks certainly annoyed Dynasmon enough to make him chase after whatever had hit him, he didn't seem to mind it as much as he did when someone insulted him or his master Lucemon. And while BeelStarrmon had happily exploited the emotional weakness earlier, now that she wasn't confident she could hold out against the Royal Knight's full fury she was glad for the ability to take things a little slower.
Unfortunately, even though Dynasmon wasn't using his Breath of Wyvern, he seemed to be just angry enough that he was pushing his speed and the ferocity of his attacks to a new level. Instead of chasing after her and trying to get her with his Dragon Thrower he called out "Dragon's Roar!" and fired the same energy he usually kept in the palm of his hands at her from a distance. From the looks of the attack, it would be just as devastating to be hit by one of these blasts as it would to be caught in the Royal Knight's grasp, so BeelStarrmon made sure she focused on dodging the blasts. Unfortunately, since Dynasmon wasn't slowing down for things like self-preservation while the Demon Man was, the Royal Knight was quickly closing in on her.
BeelStarrmon found herself missing her usual guns as she tried using the Berenjena against the charging Dynasmon. With her normal bullets, she didn't have to expend any extra power to ensure they homed in on their intended target. While she could easily warp space to alter the path of the Berenjena's shots as well, it took a little more focus than she was used to- and with Dynasmon chasing after her she knew splitting her concentration like that was too great of a risk to take. And since she wasn't sure what the Berenjena's ammo limit was, she was being a lot more conservative with her shots than was typically her style. Of course, the various blasts weren't really doing any noticeable damage, but BeelStarrmon felt a little better about her situation if she at least got some hits on an opponent regardless of how little they actually accomplished.
Hoping to get a little more breathing room after a few too many close calls, BeelStarrmon warped away behind Dynasmon. However, as soon as she appeared an explosion went off above her and sent her crashing into the ground. Looking up, she saw Dynasmon had spread his Dragon's Roar attack in all directions around him, letting her realize how he had managed to hit her. She started to pull herself up, but stopped and smiled when she saw a familiar sight half buried in the dust around her. To make things even better, Dynasmon was currently charging her. She didn't want him able to dodge the surprise attack.
"Well, I have to admit you're smarter than I originally gave you credit for, Dynasmon. Launching your attack in all directions as I teleported is an effective counter. But I also suppose I should be thanking you for knocking me down here." Now that she judged the Royal Knight was close enough, she snapped her fingers and warped space just enough that the half-buried weapon suddenly appeared in her hand in time for her to call out, "Corona Blaster!" Unlike her attempts before where the weapon refused to work, this time around BeelStarrmon got the satisfaction of seeing the red blast slam into Dynasmon and knock the Royal Knight backwards. The Royal Knight responded by shooting off a Dragon's Roar, but the blasts went wide of their mark when BeelStarrmon blasted him again.
Unfortunately, BeelStarrmon's luck didn't hold out. Her third shot with the blaster was intercepted by an all-too-familiar white aura. BeelStarrmon quickly tried resetting her dimensional field to make it easier to warp away, but true to form Dynasmon had gotten even faster than usual this time around. She got the field reset, but by that time the wyvern was too close to just warp herself away. Gritting her teeth, she once again began to warp the wyvern away, hoping against all odds she would be able to outlast the Royal Knight one more time in order to earn another reprieve.
However, BeelStarrmon was shocked when the wyvern dissipated after only a few seconds. Dynasmon was still within the range where she needed to try and hold him back, but instead of blindly trying to crash through her wall he was now laughing in her face. "Dragon Collider!" The seemingly errant shots he had fired at BeelStarrmon upon her second blast revealed their true purpose as each released an explosion on the scale of a small nuclear warhead. BeelStarrmon was unable to warp as long as Dynasmon was that close to her, trapping her between the blast and her own wall of distorted space.
Dynasmon's copy allowed himself a few seconds to revel in his victory, but those few seconds proved to be costly. He felt a stabbing pain in his back, which was quickly followed by others throughout his whole body. He heard Beelzemon's voice call out "Data Crusher!" and all feeling in his body was replaced with a tingling sensation. Beelzemon put all his focus into the attack, not even bothering to gloat or rage against the Royal Knight. Chrysalimon's attack was designed to destroy the very data that made up an enemy, but his own experience letting the Champion levels attack him in the Digital World had shown they weren't strong enough to completely erase a Mega level, even in vast numbers. Because of this, the Demon Lord was giving the attack a different goal. He was using his own power to boost the effectiveness of the dozens of Chrysalimon within him in order to break Dynasmon's data apart without destroying it completely. This still meant there was stray data left of the Royal Knight- but any Digimon from Beelzemon's world knew exactly what to do with the fragmented data of a defeated opponent.
Once he had absorbed every trace of Dynasmon's data, Beelzemon finally allowed himself to focus on other things. Glancing at the crater left by Dynasmon's last attack, he was surprised to see a small figure at the edge of the blast radius. He dismissed the Chrysalimon tentacles as he flew down, and was surprised to see an Impmon passed out on the ground. He was even more surprised when he picked up the Rookie level and her pink eyes fluttered open. "Huh, I can't believe… I'm alive…maybe I can call myself… the Immortal. Man, I'm awesome…" She immediately passed out again, but Beelzemon was convinced she would be fine after some rest and treatment from the healers. He was planning on waiting for the healers to do their work, but the sound of shattering glass stopped him. As Mask's Square crumbled, he knew he would have to rush in to battle right away. He was too far away to make out details of who was fighting where, but he flew to the closest group he could find. On the way, his right hand shifted to be covered in a white gauntlet. Lucemon's copies may not have had souls of their own, but they still had data to absorb- and Beelzemon knew exactly how to thank Lucemon for the gift. It was time to show him what happened when he attacked the friends of another Demon Lord…
Author's Note: Well, I feel like this chapter added more bad news than good news. Again, I was forced to juggle so many different fights at the same time, and the breaking of Mask's Square is such a big event that I had to work it into the timeline of every fight. With how key Mask's Square was to the DigiDestined's strategy, things obviously aren't going so well there.
That's all ignoring how each of the individual fights went. While Omegamon is doing pretty well for himself, Guilmon and Willis's MegaGargomon are dead, and Takato, the two Lopmon, Floramon, and BeelStarrmon are all seriously injured or otherwise out of the fight. I know I've been picking on Takato a lot, but it's not because I dislike him or any of the Tamers- I am a huge fan of how he expanded the typical mold for goggleheads. However, due to the nature of Crimson Mode, he just wasn't a good match for the ancient Gallantmon X since he couldn't maintain his augmented state. Plus, having an Omnimon kill a Gallantmon in a world with the X-Antibody was just something I couldn't pass up.
Of course, there are still little glimmers of hope even in this darkness. One of the key things I wanted to showcase in these Royal Knight battles is that it isn't always down to pure power on who will win a fight. There are very few cases where the DigiDestined can equal the power of their opponents in these matches, but they can still win by pulling off unexpected strategies- whether it's Omnimon X not knowing the nature of Jogress, Gallantmon X being taken by surprise after focusing on Takato and Suzie, or Dynasmon not knowing that Beelzemon absorbed the data of a Digimon that can break apart other Digimon. Obviously factors like these will be key to even survive against Lucemon.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I should be getting back to a more regular schedule with the daily updates.