Asuka has been different since she's awakened. More frenzied, less calm and internalized. Now she rants in Japanese a lot, and she begins smearing green over her face more and more often, intimidating human and Digimon alike. Seth isn't sure what to make of it, but she's still diligent and by their side through battles, so he opts to let it slide. It's not like he hasn't gone through some mood changes as well lately.

Like the painful urge to course correct everything, whether it's under his control or not. Raw, the Digital World, everything and anything that continues to fall apart before his very eyes. It's so much pressure, it hurts. No one could imagine the sleepless nights, the headaches, everything he endures just to try to make things work.

And sometimes they do, his plans going so well, that he can't believe it. Then other times, things go so poorly that he just wants to curl up into a ball and never move again. But he's survived losses to Brock Lesnar, and losses to The Fiend, no matter how bloody and broken he was left after each match, and he vows not to give in to this as well. Grits his teeth, lifts his chin, and sets off into the Digiworld once more to face whatever may come their way.

But sometimes it's too much, they get hurt, and he has to suffer more guilt, more sleepless nights, even Buddy asking what exactly is wrong that Seth keeps greeting each morning looking worse than the night before. He has no easy answer for his acolyte because, in the end, Buddy isn't a digidestined, and he's not supposed to know about these things.

Seth doesn't want him to know about these things, opting to protect him instead of weighing him down with everything Seth has on his shoulders day by day. He closes his eyes and sighs, trying to find some degree of calm in his surroundings.

"Everything alright?" AJ asks and Seth glances over at him, vaguely surprised that he'd even ask. They've never exactly been friendly.

"Yeah," Seth mumbles. "Just thinking about Buddy. He knows something's up with me lately. I'm not sure how to handle it."

"Guess that's how it goes when you work closely with someone," AJ says. "The good brothers notice too, especially if I get beat up here, but I reassure 'em everything's good and they let it go for awhile. Guess you just gotta figure out a way to do the same for Murphy."

"Right," Seth sighs. He stares down at his hands and wonders if there's any point in asking Luke about perhaps Buddy becoming a digidestined. Although that does nothing to aid his guilt, and would probably, ultimately, only add to it if Buddy ever got into danger, which is a given in this world. Deciding to drop it, he looks around. "Everyone ready to go?"

They are, so to the digiport they go. The village they're placed outside of isn't truly a village. Just a few ramshackle huts grouped together here and there, no walls or other defenses to show where it ends and wildlife begins. Seth exchanges wary glances with AJ before marching forward, hand tense against his digivice. He approaches the first door he sees and knocks on it. There's a noise of surprise inside and he steps back to wait, blinking when the door is pushed open a minute later, revealing an anxious looking Terriermon on the other side.

"Oh, hello there," he greets the small creature. "We're the digidestined," he continues when Terriermon just looks up and blinks at them. "I'm Seth, this is AJ, Asuka, Kevin, and Lana." He indicates each in turn, then falls into an awkward sort of silence as the digimon continues just to stare at them, a strange look on its face. "Um, our digivices alerted us there was danger around here, do you know what that could be about?"

Terriermon swallows hard, then nods, a short bob of her head. "I do," she says warily. "Please follow me and I'll get our leader."

Seth shrugs at the others and follows her, the others close behind. She leaves them in a clearing before disappearing somewhere, and Seth turns in a slow circle, taking in more of those grim looking little huts. "A place like this really wouldn't take an attack of any sort very well," he says, not understanding what kind of danger could actually be here when the village is so weakly made. There are digimon lingering here and there, he sees them hanging around the huts, nothing really seems destroyed, there's just... a strange tension in the air, like those present are just waiting for something to happen. He's about to open his mouth to say as much to the others, urge them to keep their guards up, when things shift.

An angel type digimon is approaching and none of them can take their eyes off of him, overwhelmed by the pure aura pouring out of him, pressing down against their bodies, holding them in place. HolyAngemon: Priest Mode walks up to their small circle, serene, confident. "Hello, Digidestined," he greets them. Despite how calm he appears, there's a tinge of something in his voice, and Seth trembles, desperate to escape his presence, but there's no way to, his power leaving them all feeling pinned down and unable to do anything.

Outside of a few black buckles, and a golden device with a glowing blue center wrapped snugly around his wrist, Holy Angemon Priest Mode is white from the top of his head to the very tips of his toes, except for the shoulder length blond hair pouring out from his helmet. It only adds to his intimdation, and Seth closes his eyes against his, struggling to form a fist with his gloved hand. "Please-" he says, surprised by the sound of his own voice.

HolyAngemon Priest Mode also seems surprised, staring down at him. "You are able to fight my presence, I see," he says, a large paw reaching out and grazing the side of Seth's face.

Seth gasps and shudders, something about that touch sending something piercing and dark through his system. "You're not-"

HolyAngemon Priest Mode tilts his head, and hums. "Not what?" he asks. "Not holy? Not standing before you, pure as the driven snow?" This time when he touches Seth, it tears through him all the way to his very core and he cries out in agony, knees buckling. "That's right, my son. Kneel before me. I am here to rescue you from the torment you put yourself through." His hand chases Seth's face, determined to keep the pressure on, and Seth keens as he tries desperately to get away. "We do not need you, you taint our world, make the darkness here worse every time you return. You are not wanted. I am simply abiding by my fellow Digimon's wishes. I am ridding this world of your kind."

Seth wants to fight his words, prove him wrong, but the words won't leave him, each gasp for breath agonizing and shallow. He digs his hands into the dirt and tries to focus, tries to look over, check on the others, see what they're enduring, if it's anywhere near as horrible as the pain he's feeling delving all the way into his mind. "Sakuyamon," he chokes out. They hadn't had to deal with her for awhile, but this is seeming too convenient.

"Ah, I see you've met my co-conspirator," he says with a dark chuckle. "That's good, it makes the next step a little easier."

Seth fights to blink, wanting to clear his vision. "Next... step?"

HolyAngemon: Priest Mode doesn't acknowledge this, simply steps back from Seth and holds his hands out, the blue orb on his wrist fluctuating with power so sharp that it sends the rest of the Digidestined to their knees and sends Seth face first into the ground. "Ah, yes, that's more like it," he sighs, examining them as they struggle just to breathe under the force of this new power. "Unfortunately I cannot enjoy this for much longer, as I must move things along. Wouldn't want anyone to get impatient and take matters into their hands now." The orb pulses faster, sharper, and Seth tries to cry out in agony as his body is weighed down even heavily by the power exuded by it, but he can't find the oxygen or strength to do anything but lay there and watch in horror as HolyAngemon: Priest Mode lifts his hands and creates a gate right before them.

Where it goes, Seth has no clue, but he knows going inside of it would be a very bad thing. There's nothing he can do to fight it, however, his body limp against the ground, and then it somehow begins to draw them in. He can feel his body slipping, inch by inch, closer to it, and he thinks by the sounds behind him that the others are going through the same fate. No, he begs and pleads. Not this way, I don't want to- I don't want to die!

But there's nothing to be done for it, he has no control over his own movements, there's no way to fight the pull of this gate, and before he fully realizes what's happening, he's teetering on the brink, staring desperately up at HolyAngemon: Priest Mode. "In another life, I might have felt guilty for this," the digimon informs him coolly. "This is not that life, however!"

With one massive swipe of his arm, the weight pressing against Seth's body intensifies and his lips part in one last silent scream before he's swallowed up by the gate, disappearing into its depths.