Matt collapsed to his knees, the sharp rocks beneath slicing through his clothes and scoring vicious and deep looking wounds down into his knee caps. Wounds that would have bled freely were it not for the over abundance of blood around him already. Two tear wet hands covered his eyes, bloodshot almost enough to match the redness of the infernos that inhabited this place. One of those hands fell to the floor as Matt leaned his weight on it, a small rock cutting itself a shallow path through the skin unnoticed. Slowly and almost idly he picked the piece of gravel out of his blooded hand, a small and detached part of his mind noting that he should be feeling pain from the wound.
Tears streaked down his face, mingling with the blood that was air to form little globules of lighter patches of blood in front of his eyes. Through the haze of tears and blood he saw the all consuming blaze directly in front of him flicker as its fuel, or maybe its will, was exhausting itself. Patches of blood shone through as gaps appeared here and there, quickly being covered up by the roaring torrent of flame, but even more showing up just as quickly.
The blaze gave one final burst of energy, forcing Matt to cover his face with his arms and turn his back on the conflagration once more. Unseen to his weeping eyes a deep red colour overtook the column, the ground turning black as it charred and fused together. In less than a blink of an eye and a whimper the flames raced upwards, being replaced with nothing as no more fire issued itself from the base of the pillar.
Matt turned his body and head back around to face the now shallow crater where the little Eden, and Mimi, had been. Rocks had melted, has flowed, had fused together. The ground had become a single sheet of shining black as smooth as glass and almost as reflective as a mirror. His face stared back at him, distorted in the concaved surface into a grinning and leering monstrosity of hatred and fury. In the centre lay a very blackened and burnt skeleton, far too small for how tall Mimi had been in life, but shrunken to almost half of her size in the intense fires of death. Cracks and fractures splintered along the whole surface of the charred remains, while the skull managed to somehow retain the final moments of burning agony in its heart wrenching expression.
A single harsh sound slowly intruded its way into Matt's shell shocked and numbed consciousness, a deep and guttural laugh that grated against his nerves like glasspaper. Another followed, and then another. Quickly it dawned through the fogged state of grief what the sound was, and where it was coming from. Equally quickly he turned his head around, aiming it at the towering monster, his glare trying to burn through its head like the fire had burned through Mimi's body. His lips opened slowly, the last of his tears going inside his mouth as his eyes dried and the grief started to disappear to be replaced with a strange nothingness that bit by bit washed over him as he opened his mouth again.
"No…."
"It's not true…."
"You didn't kill her…."
"Did you?"
The creature laughed again, its maw opening wider as it leaned backwards and laughed harder in response to Matt's timid and slow words coupled with his brave and accusing glare. The image of the giant in full blown laughter was even worse than of it normally Matt decided instantly as rows of sharp and blood stained fangs were fully revealed and pointed in his direction. Blobs of spittle and saliva slowly rolled down them, randomly dropping off or throwing out a drip of blood encrusted spit into the ground. Lazily the coal black eyes flickered towards him, regarding the miniscule looking human below them. The bellowing laughter slowed and then finally crawled to a stop as the hideous bestial face also turned towards him.
"Why would I lie to you? You abandoned her, fled in your weak fear and I added another skull to the throne of the Blood God."
The insult or taunt, whatever the words were meant to be failed. The emptiness inside Matt disappeared as it was crushed under a torrent of anger. An almost blind red rage descended upon him, only the fact that the world was already tinted red stopped his vision from literally clouding with it because of his anger.
"No! I didn't abandon her! I'll avenge her death, I'll kill you, you murderer!" Matt screamed in defiance as he leapt to his feet. The creature stared at him incredulously and took a single half step back in surprise at the venom in the boy's voice, the height difference between them shrinking marginally each second as they continued to watch each other, one in surprise and one in anger.
"You killed her. Now I'll kill you!" A deep purple glowing sword appeared in Matt's hands, a broadsword perfectly balanced and sized for him. Feeling the weight in his hands, his eyes started to move down, widening slightly in surprise when he saw the sword there which had now changed into an equally perfectly balanced katana, now shining from inside itself with a dark blue colour. A slight smirk touched his face for a second as he suddenly felt how to use the weapon as though he had trained with it for years. He hefted the blade in one hand and twirled it about, instinctively testing the balance before realising what he was doing.
The monster continued to stare at the boy, not appearing to react at all to the shining sword that he was now wielding with what looked like an expert's ease. A single arc of blue light hung in the air for a second or two as the sword slashed out, a single brief screech of metal on metal shrieked out as sword struck armour. A dull red glow emanated from the gouge in the armour plating covering the creature's arm. It looked down at its arm, then at Matt with a lethal stare, its attention now firmly on the insolent boy.
"Foolish human. You can not kill a Greater Daemon!" Its wings spread out to their full span, a gust of hot air blew around them as they beat against the sky, slowly raising the armoured figure above the ground a few feet before it rocketed upward at least fifty times that height. "You can not even reach me now, little human. How do you hope to kill me, fool?"
Matt stared upwards at it, eyes filled with hatred. Fire erupted out of the ground in small sporadic gouts, as if responding to his anger and reflecting the fire that shone deep within in his eyes. The creature laughed again, louder than before, its great fanged maw showering the ground in saliva that sizzled on contact with the volcanic ground. "I'll kill all your friends as I did that pathetic girl. Only then will I let you die!"
It tilted its body and drew its axe arm back slightly, the new instincts in Matt telling him that it was going to swoop down at him, intending to obliterate him in a single swing of the giant axe. Matt kept staring, the fire still reflecting in his eyes as he saw the wings still and fold in against the monster's back. What must have been thousands of kilos of weight barrelled down towards him as the axe drew back fully.
Matt threw himself to the ground and rolled as the axe careened through the space he had just been standing in. He jumped up, facing the creature's relatively unguarded back and thrust the sword at it as hard as he could. Blue sparks showered away as metal screeched against metal before the sword glanced off of the black armour, skulls leering at him from within it as it did.
It turned around, having felt and heard the sword glancing off the back of its armour. A slash of pain echoed through its body. Another rapid attack with the sword tore through its totally unprotected wing, eliciting a roar of rage from its bestial face as it faced Matt. The axe swung around, swiping through the air at neck height for Matt. The new instinct kicked in once more and he ducked, feeling the currents in the air try to push him over as the axe passed mere inches above his head.
A massive crack reverberated through his ears as the massive whip smashed down to his side, hurtling the blood around them both away and letting true air back in for a little while at least. He staggered backwards, away from the whip that was now recoiling before noticing the axe hurtling at his chest.
You can't dodge this. The new instinct told him morosely.
Block it.
He raised his sword, eyes caught on the blue line of light that trailed behind his sword for a fraction of a second before his eyes locked back onto the incoming axe. The two met with a jarring force that threatened to knock Matt out as he was thrown backwards by it. He shook his head to clear it, noticing that the axe and its wielder had also backed off a step or maybe two.
"You fight well, for a human. But no more toying with you. Now your skull shall be added to the skull throne! Blood for the Blood God!"
It snarled, its face changing into an even more feral half dog and half human state. It hefted the massive axe in its right hand, swinging it around its gauntleted fist like a mace. A blur of pitch black, dull reds, and bare metal replaced the axe, moving far to fast for Matt to see it as anything clearer now. The spherical blur sped towards his face, forcing him to duck as it hurtled towards him.
It stopped. It drew back.
The other gauntleted fist rocked towards him, smashed him in the face, and hurled him backwards to the ground. Jagged rocks lacerated his back as he slid along the rough ground. Blood oozed out of his back onto the already bloodstained rocks. Blood flowed freely out of his crumpled nose. He lay there immobile on his back, a spat of coughing wracking his body, several blood covered fragments of teeth exploding out of his mouth as he did.
The coughing subsided, replaced with a groan as he raised his head up to look at his opponent. A flash of all encompassing metal loomed in front of his eyes for a fraction of a second.
Bone cracked.
Matt felt his body lifted up and thrown away by the side of the axe that hit him. Speckles of colour swam in front of his eyes as blackness tried to encroach on his vision. Time seemed to stop as his body finally registered the massive damage he'd taken. Blood poured out of his broken body in at least a hundred places. Skin had been pierced. Bone had been shattered. Ligaments had been torn. Muscles had been bisected. Not a single place on him should have been pain free. But not a single place of him felt pain as the blackness covered his vision, white now encroaching on that as the black had those eternal moments beforehand.
You are just human…. It was the same voice that had helped him during the fight. His mind flickered back into action, concentrating on the voice, looking for more help. Looking for a way to escape obliteration.
He is a Greater Daemon….
You could not hope to win on your own….
Matt's mind listened to the words, absorbed the words, and accepted them as an irrefutable truth. There was no way he could beat that monster. There was no way he could avenge Mimi. The entire fight against the monster had been in vain. The entire thing had just been a lesson in pointlessness.
But you do not have to fight on your own….
Yes. That was his way out. He could fight as a group. They had fought together before. Him and Gabumon. And all the others as well. Tai and Agumon. Izzi and Tentomon. Sora and Biyomon. Joe and Gomamon. And Mimi and Palmon. His mind drifted back towards Mimi, drifted back towards the brutal immolation of her that he'd seen. Anger tried to flood his mind once more, but only a surreal peacefulness could enter his shutting down mind.
But they are not here….
Only I am here to help you….
As I already have with telling you how to avoid the daemon's blows….
I can help you more….
If you let me….
A flash of acceptance passed through his mind towards the voice. A purple haze descended over his body, torturous pain descending with it. A small shriek of agony escaped his blood filled throat as his body repaired itself. Bones knitted themselves together, grating against nerve endings with each sped up millimetre of recovery. Ligaments and tendons snapped back into place with whip cracks of pain. Broken muscles stretched out to where they should be, fusing back together in the white hot searing feeling of pain. Skin replaced itself where the many gouges, lacerations, and punctures had been, each piece tearing at his body as it reformed. A quick fit of coughing once more wracked his throat, expelling the blood from within his lungs. Finally, his body fully repaired, his eyes snapped open.
A flash of metal glinted in front of his face and he rolled to the left, shards of rock showering over him to no effect as the axe smashed straight through where he had been lying comatose less than a second before. Quickly he leapt to his feet, as the purple haze contracted itself around him, forming itself into full chain and plate mail armour that glowed with the same purple light. Almost instantly it changed from purple to the same shade of blue as Matt's sword, morphing into what looked like samurai armour at the same time, all before Matt had a chance to look at it.
He started to raise his sword upwards, ready to defend himself before noticing that the daemon was still pulling its axe out of the ground and its whip was in its left hand, the side farthest away from him. He darted forward, nearly a blur of motion with his new almost supernatural speed. Arcs of blue light flickered around in front of him as he lashed out at the daemon's axe arm with his sword. A flurry of short sharp screeches greeted his ears as the sword made shallow cuts into the armour before being deflected away.
He jumped back as the axe was finally wrenched free of the rocks imprisoning it, bringing his sword up automatically and blocking the lash of the whip that had been aimed at his head. I can't pierce that armour…. And I'll never hit its head…. There must be a way through, but what…?
The axe swung round at him again, the blade slicing through the air with an audible hiss. He added his second hand to the sword, gripping it in both hands and planting his feet wide apart, ready to half parry and half block the blow. The blades collided and forced him backwards across the ground several steps until the axe's momentum had been stilled. An angry snarl came from the daemon's mouth as it pulled its axe back for another swing.
Matt darted in with ease, his new found speed aiding him greatly as he struck out with his sword, plunging it with both hands into the armoured arm again. Smoke sizzled up around where he held the blade, trying to force it in as the air vibrated in loud protest. A flash of movement out of the corner of his eye forced him to dive to the floor, rolling to his left as the whip smashed into the ground, shattering rock and spraying it up in a short lived fountain.
He stood up quickly, spinning on the spot to face his opponent. He looked and saw its back, and unshielded wings. He sliced the sword at them even as the daemon turned around to face him. Blue light arced through the air in a semi circle before he drew his sword back, having missed the black leathery wings by mere millimetres.
It cracked its whip into the ground four times in rapid succession, raising up four plumes of shattered rocks in between Matt and itself. It opened its maw and roared at Matt before speaking in its harsh tones while accidentally flicking bits of hot saliva over him. "You are annoying me! Why do you not just die?"
Matt concentrated on the daemon, refusing to give into the taunt and reply, needing all the concentration he could possibly muster if he was going to pull off this next move without dying. Patiently he waited until the axe was inevitably raised up, ready to attempt to strike him down once more. He sprinted forward and leapt upwards, extended the sword in his hand as he did so. A shrieking hiss echoed out as his sword hit the armour underneath its arm, scratching a slight gouge upwards until it lodged in the armpit area. Blue and black smoke wisped out as the sword bit through the weaker armour, before sliding through with ease.
The arm started to come down, elbow bent and ready to crush his skull if he stayed in place. He pulled his arm down, retracting the sword which now had dribbles of black ichors running down it and then fell to the floor leaning away from the daemon, doing a backwards roll and then jumping to his feet when it was done.
His hands flew to his ears as the world was filled with noise. He didn't realise the beast could roar so loudly. It had just stared at its arm and the slowly building drips of blackness beneath it, and then just roared. He stepped backwards, trying futilely to get away from the noise. His sword vibrated in his hand, perhaps eager for more now that it had spilt blood and tried to stretch itself towards the daemon.
The roaring subsided and the daemon looked at Matt, daggers glaring through him in both its eyes and snarl. It snapped its axe backwards and then extended its arm straight towards him while opening its gauntleted hand. The axe rocketed out, completely absorbing Matt's wide eyed attention as it spun, sliced, cleaved, and eviscerated its way through the air. His body leapt to the left, his right arm extending out to the right, holding the sword out to absorb what modicum of the blow it could.
The shock jarred through him, destroying what control he had hoped to exert over his landing. Sword and axe flew away as his arm was wrenched backwards, his body tumbling to the ground where it crashed landed with a thud on the rocks which could no longer attack him thanks to his armour.
He placed one hand on the ground and hefted himself to his feet, eyes quickly scanning around to find the daemon and his sword. The daemon was the easiest to spot, walking leisurely towards him with its whip coiled in its left hand, its right hanging down limply from its shoulder. Almost as quickly he found the sword, lying on the rocks eight or nine metres behind him. He stole one more glance at the daemon before sprinting towards his sword, diving the last metre or two with his hand outstretched to grab it. He rolled to a crouch and looked up in time to see the whip hit him. A dull pain echoed through his entire left side as it collided with and was turned away by his glowing armour.
He put his left hand to his side, while planting the tip of the sword in the ground and using it to lever himself unsteadily upwards to his feet. He pulled the sword out of the ground and held it ready, his other hand still clutching his aching side, his mind dreading to think how easily it would have killed him had it not been for the armour.
He charged headlong at the daemon, catching it by surprise. The whip struck down at the ground too slowly, striking the ground behind him and he dived around its left leg, quickly pirouetting to face its back once more. I might not be able to hit his face… but the back of the head should be easier.
He crouched down and leapt up with all the strength his legs could muster. His right arm pulled back and then thrust forwards. Metal bit into the daemon's flesh. Smoke and sparks showered outwards as the sword plunged inwards. The daemon stiffened straight almost instantly, its hands opening in spasms, forcing it to drop the whip to the floor before it to crumpled to its knees, wrenching the sword loose of its neck as the body fell.
A bellowing roar sounded from the daemon's throat as black ichors poured out of the gaping wound in its neck. Gurgling sounds overtook the roar and it finally quietened as it body fell completely to the ground, its face smashing into the rocks with a booming crunch.
Matt looked at the fallen daemon and smirked. I did it…. I actually did it!
A groan suddenly sounded. The daemon rose to its knees once more, effort visible from the way its body shook. Slowly it planted first one foot on the ground, then the other, finally standing up and then turning to face Matt. "You… thought you… could kill me?"
Its breath came in ragged bouts, gasps almost. It picked its axe up from the ground, strength apparently returning to its body and took to the sky again. Its damaged wings beat hard against the air, flying far into the horizon. Matt stared in shock at the shrinking dot in the sky, barely noticing as the blood turned back into the air it should have been and the ground became grassy, the jagged rocks being replaced with a multitude of pleasant flowers.
A figure far above watched with interest and chuckled quietly to itself, making absolutely sure to keep almost silent, despite the fact that it knew it was invisible to anything that might have looked its way. Almost with a sigh the figure waved one arm lethargically and looked as the blackness descended from all directions, swallowing up the world around them and destroying it in seconds.
Matt sat up, staring straight ahead. He saw the others staring at him. He felt something wet on his forehead and reached one hand up, pulling away a piece of drenched fabric when he pulled his hand back.
"You're back!" TK shouted happily as he saw his brother wake up after being asleep with a fever for so long.
"Yeah…. I'm back bro." He replied getting unsteadily to his feet.
"Glad you're better Matt. Joe said you had a bad fever. You slept for nearly two days." Tai said, his face showing both sadness and joy towards Matt at the same time.
"Thanks Tai." Matt said as he looked around for Mimi. Please say this was all a dream. He thought. All it would take to know was for Mimi to be there, safe and sound. He looked around once more to be sure. She wasn't there. It hadn't all been a dream.
"You really should rest Matt. After how hard we all ran, and then with that fever…. I'm surprised you can walk to be honest." Joe said with concern in his voice as he passed some food to Matt. "Here, eat it. You need all the strength you can get."
Tai walked slightly to one side, so he was facing all of them "Guys, we need to fight that thing. If we don't it'll pick us off one by one. What do you say?"
He watched them for their response. Nods and a general agreement for his idea came back. They knew that they had to get this thing before it got them. Only Matt remained silent, looking at Tai, leaving his food untouched while he did so.
"What about you Matt?" Tai asked, looking back at him carefully.
"We are going. Not to protect us though. To avenge Mimi." Matt said quietly as he turned away from them to hide the tears forming in his eyes.
"Don't pretend not to care Matt." Sora said. "We've all cried over Mimi. But we need to get this thing now. If we spend time to wallow in our misery we might never get it."
"I- I guess you're right. Thanks Sora." He said with a smile as he managed to brush the tears back. "We need to go now."
He stood up and scoffed down his food quickly, heading towards Izzy, presuming or hoping that he knew where they would need to go. He didn't quite make it before being interrupted. The computer started beeping and Izzy tapped away at a few keys "We've got a message from Gennai."
A few more keys and he brought the mail from Gennai up on the screen and they all gathered round, careful not to crows Izzy and his computer too much this time.
"Digidestined. I have some news that may be important." Gennai's voice said from the speaker. There was a pause.
"And that news would be?" Agumon asked.
"Oh yes, almost forgot to tell you what it was. Some kind of force field has been activated around Digiworld. Every portal has been shut down as far as I can tell. So these… things are trapped here. You must destroy them. The damage they are doing is immeasurable."
"Daemons." Matt said simply.
"What?" TK asked.
"Daemons. At least that's what the one in my dream called itself. A Greater Daemon." Matt replied.
"That was just a dream though, surely?" Sora asked
"No. It was too murderous. Too real to be a dream."