For They Shall Be Filled 21 B

For They Shall Be Filled

By: Vain

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Vain: Where's the Kaiser, Remy?

Remy: Je ne sais pas, chere.

Vain: Don't tell me that you're still mad at me!

Remy: Non, I read ahead.

Vain: Oh. Good. Mollified now?

Remy: Oui. M'I gonna get some action wit' dis Maddie femme?

Vain: . . .

Remy: Ask Ken 'bout de Kaiser. He was wit' him last. Oh, et FYI: he smelled like sewage.

Vain: Ken or the Kaiser? No, nevermind. I don't want to know . . . R&R PLEASE!

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~"What will you give me if I deliver Him to you?"

And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver.

-Matthew 26: 15

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Part Twenty-Two

Lord Damon shifted, admiring his new form in the digital sunlight. Arukenimon watched him with a smile of satisfaction adorning her small mouth.

"I take it you are pleased."

The robed Mega digimon regarded her coldly from beneath his cowl. Insect. Apparently, she still thought that she was dealing with a rookie—she would have to be taught otherwise. He looked away from the white-haired woman to the Child stretched out next to him.

The Child of Hope.

Damon regarded the blond and his Patamon intently as he compared the boy to his newly recovered memories. This boy . . . He has grown much. The Patamon can only digivolve to Magna Angemon: an Ultimate. Hmm. They present no threat to me or my power.

"Didn't you hear me?! I asked you a question. You really should pay more attention to your Master."

Master?

The cowled head turned back to Arukenimon. She is only an Ultimate. Yet she thinks that she means something to me? Hardly.

He turned back to the boy. No, this Child was no threat to him. Still, there was something tugging on the edges of his awareness—something potent. There were lines of Power running here. They were strong. He followed the lines he sensed with his eyes. From Hope . . . to Light . . . to . . . to . . . Kindness? Kindness? Kindness was not a Sacred Crest. Demon walked over to the dark-haired boy with a hidden frown. His eyes flickered to the Wormmon curled up on the boy's chest in a protective embrace and lingered there for a moment in contempt. A wormmon—the weakest of the virus digimon—the most cowardly.

Hmph.

Kindness. What is so special about you, Child? The former Digimon Emperor, repentant for your actions, yet spiteful and contemptuous of your own remorse. But no, that does not make you anything. Arukenimon wants you, too. But where are these lines of Power running to?

Damon focused his attention on the Child's Crest. This is . . . interesting . . . This Crest is weakened. It is most definitely the boy's Trait, but . . . It is incomplete. It is missing the Anti-Crest property. How is this possible? All Crests carry their Compliment dormant within the Crest . . . except this Child. And there are lines of Power running through the boy connecting him to the Sacred Crests . . . ? A halved Crest, a schism within the Child's soul, and lines of Power with the other two Sacred Crests: it all fits. Is it possible? And yet, there was a great darkness in this one's soul—it was an unnatural evil, something that was not his, but has merged with his soul to create something new—something familiar . . .

Arukenimon cleared her throat loudly at Damon. The foreboding creature's head snapped up, angry at being interrupted. He had been close to something.

"Are you even listening to me?!" the pale woman demanded, arms akimbo. "You have a job to do! The Brat Emperor is not your concern—Hope is your target. Or have you forgotten what he did to you?"

My target? She actually thinks that I should submit to her . . .? Damon turned away from Ken's limp body and approached Arukenimon. She was hovering expectantly over TK and tapping her pointed toes in aggravation.

Damon flowed over to her silently and raised a clawed hand over the sleeping Child's angelic form. The narrow woman resisted the urge to recoil in fear. Perhaps three strands had been just a bit too much. A Damon might be a bit more than she could handle alone. . . But she refused to let him ruin this. That simpleton could do it without trying. Granted, she had been the one to force Demideveemon to his highest digivolution, but she had not expected Damon to be so . . . incredibly strong. Stronger than her. And so fast, too.

Yet Damon was in her debt. If it weren't for her, he would still be a flying bowling ball.

Arukenimon just hoped that he appreciated that.

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"Light has received the Blessing?"

"Yes. Are you still displeased?"

"There is a saying on Earth in the land of America: This hurts me much more than it hurts you."

"I fail to understand the relevance."

"… Have you felt anything out of place yet?"

"It is nothing. Shifting temporal winds. What more did you expect? It is difficult to work across dimensions."

"And Gennai?"

"It is taking most of our energy and concentration to maintain the separations of body and spirit."

"…"

"I am sure that everything is fine."

"That does nothing to put me at ease."

"Come. The next test begins."

"Nor does that."

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