Chapter 32: The Crest of Miracles
Armageddamon landed on the street in front of the Empire State Building, looking at the four digimon that stood a block away.
"Why don't you run?" He snorted, looking with squinted eyes at them. Everybody was there, digivices and all.
"Because," Chris answered for everyone, trying to be the leader he had always wanted to be, "there is nowhere to run anymore. Our mission is to stop you and that's what we're going to do."
"Hah!" Armageddamon chuckled to himself for a few moments before finally regaining his composure. "You still think you can stop me." He took a few steps forward, but the digidestined held their ground. "I don't think you think that." He looked across the line again. "I think that you are here just so you can say you went down fighting."
"What's it to you?" Kristen yelled out from Megakabuterimon's back.
"Because I can feel your fear. It radiates from you, showing your true weakness." He held out his hand, palm open to the ground. "You can not hope to even come near me so long as any trace of evil is empowering you." He closed his fist quickly. "Devibomb!" Before the digidestined knew what was happening, blasts of dark energy ripped out of their digivices, devastating each of them. The blasts collided off of each other, blowing away the ruins of the buildings on the side of the street. When the darkness cleared, everybody lied on the ground, devolved. Armageddamon walked up until he was just a few feet away from them. "See? I'm not even trying and you don't stand a chance." He turned around, waved his hand over his shoulder, making the four digivices float after him.
"No… he can't do this." Joey looked up at his digivice, quickly flying away from him.
"I haven't even started, but your time is done." He stopped and turned around, a block away again, his back to the Empire State. "It is time to show you a small taste of my power." He waved his hand in a circle, causing the digivices to form a diamond; each one was a point: one on top, one on the left, etc. Dark energy began to flow into them.
"This looks like the end guys." Chris looked hopelessly at the four digivices, charging up in front of Armageddamon, aimed at the digidestined.
"I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough Chris." Agumon whimpered a bit, no longer trying to get up, but just lying on the ground.
"Ditto." Tentomon lied on the ground in the same semi-lethargic state as Agumon.
"Well, it was nice while it lasted…" Kristen looked, no longer shocked or scared or anything, at the digivices. Jennifer looked at the ground for a moment before whispering to herself.
"There is so much left to learn, but one more left to fight…"
"Goodbye, digi-fools." The digivices finally stopped charging. "DEMON STORM!!!" The digivices shook for a moment before unleashing four, fiery red blasts at the digidestined. The blast was huge; it wiped out the ruins along the side of the road, completely vaporizing them. Mixed in with the shot, were streams of darkness, that seemed to weave in and out. As it approached, an unusual, static field of data flew in from the south.
"No." I dived down from the air, floated between the digidestined and the approaching doom, grabbed hold of my digivice, and aimed it at the blast. The beam slammed into me, full force, curving in to focus on my digivice. I shook, my data becoming incredibly distorted from the force as it blew against me. I held the digivice tightly with both hands, determined to stop the attack that just kept coming from Armageddamon. "I won't let you hurt them."
"What the… what's happening?" Joey looked up at the blast, which was impacting what looked like a field of data in front of them. Jennifer looked at it for a moment and then looked back down. The Crest of Love was shaking and shining intensely. She thought for a moment and reached up to her head, grabbed hold of her visor, and lowered it across her eyes. It turned on by itself and showed my ghostly form, holding the shot as best as I could as I was slowly forced back.
"So… even after death you try to save them." Armageddamon could feel the presence of my presence. "I think I'll be taking your digivice now." He went to lift up his hand, but stopped in mid movement as I retorted.
"You can never hope to control mine Armageddamon. I have but one thought on my mind right now and that is to protect them. There is no darkness for you to control here."
"James?" Kristen looked at the field of data and then looked at Jennifer, who was slowly walking towards it. "Jennifer, what are you doing!? It could be a trap!"
"No, it isn't." She kept walking until she was right behind me. "James, how…?" She was in shock.
"Please, get out of here; I can't hold him much longer. Just run, forget about saving the world and just try to save yourself." Jennifer looked through the back of my head at the blast, becoming steadily more powerful.
"Before I go, there's one thing that I never got to say to you… back at the statehouse."
"Oh yeah? What's that?"
"I love you, too."
"What!?" I lost focus and turned around, the blast streaming clear through me. It hit Jennifer and the others head on, completely blowing their data apart in front of my eyes. My heart dropped. "NO." Armageddamon laughed hysterically at my terrible blunder.
"See James?" He didn't let up the blast. "The virtues that empowered you brought your downfall." I felt hate and rage build up inside me. I grabbed hold of my digivice, which was simply floating in the middle of the blast.
"No." The blast stopped, dissipated, but the digivices continued to float. "You're wrong." I waved my arm back and the digivices flew to me. Armageddamon did the same, but nothing happened.
"What's going on!?" He stared and growled as the digivices began to circle around me.
"These virtues: Love, Friendship, Courage, Knowledge, Hope, they're just the beginning. You see, there are many others." Lights began to swirl around me. I didn't know where I was getting this, but I just… knew. "Sincerity, Reliability, Light, Kindness, are some of the others you may know, but there are still more." More lights began to swirl with the digivices. I spoke in a voice that no longer seemed mine, like somebody was speaking through me. "Determination, Selflessness, Innocence; the list goes on Armageddamon." Finally, dozens of lights swirled about me along with the four digivices orbiting my own, which floated inside of me.
"Who are you?"
"Me? I am your match, your opposite." A deep voice echoed from within me.
"What? I am?" I spoke back to myself.
"Yes James, you are now. You became it just now." The same voice came out. It was very odd; I was arguing with myself out loud.
"Who are you?"
"I am the spirit of Azulongmon." I gasped.
"What are you doing?"
"We have decided to carry out one last mission…" Azulongmon waited a moment before continuing. "…and to finally pass away from this world."
"What!? Why!?"
"I grow weary of this!" Armageddamon began to grow impatient, but kept his distance from the spectacle, still willing to wait and see what happened.
"Because we have existed for thousands of years; it is time we passed on our tasks to another."
"Wait… you don't mean."
"Yes, I do." I looked around quickly. The digivices were charging up again, but with white light instead of darkness. "It is time that you lived up to destiny James. Long ago you wished for power to save this world, and now you shall have it."
"But why me!? I'm dead!"
"No longer." Blasts ripped out of the digivices, and the swirling lights came down in front of me, smashing into one another. I had just a split second to see the blasts of data coming from the digivices. They were the spirits, the spirits of the digi-gods. Azulongmon, Ebonwumon, Zhuquiaomon, and Baihumon all flew at me from the four digivices, slamming into mine.
"But I'm only human, I can't take this!" My data became highly distorted, waving in and out upon itself.
"Human?" My data finally came together, along with the data of the four digi-gods, reconfiguring me. I looked at my self for a moment, glowing all over with power. I looked up in front of me where the crests had finally stopped fusing. In front of me floated the Crest of Miracles. "No longer." I quickly reached out and grabbed the crest, my digivice exploding as I did. I don't mean that energy poured out of it, I mean the entire thing blew apart. A wave of energy came over me and the Crest of Miracles shined brilliantly. "DEITY DIGIVOLUTION!!!" A blast of light erupted into the sky, a blast of energy that stretched into space and on forever. Armageddamon watched, realizing what was happening.
"This can't be…" His gaze narrowed as I digivolved. It was a rush. The only way I can explain it is that it was like going down a rollercoaster at the speed of light. The power I had felt when I was Fuzenmon was nothing compared to now, as the power of the four digi-gods and the crests all came in upon me at once. I finally was able to see through the light a little and saw them.
"Show em' who's boss James!" Chris' digi-ghost yelled out at me from in front of me, but I couldn't acknowledge him while digivolving.
"We're all with you on this!" Kristen called out.
"Behind you one-hundred percent!" Joey's digi-ghost jumped into the air with a cheer.
"Kick his ass James so we can go home." Jennifer was the last to call to me as the light finally peaked. I didn't see Agumon or Tentomon and wondered where they were. The light finally collapsed in on me. I stood up and stretched.
"Deity Digivolve to… Archangemon."