Holy War

by Griff4823

The sequel to "A Dragon in Shining Armour". The Royal Knights secured victory, and peace set over the continent, but it isn't to last. The autocratic Metal Empire, a team of amoral mercenaries, and a mysterious Digimon in the shadows; it's up to the Order of the Royal Knights to intervene. Can they stop things from spiralling out of control, all while dealing with their own issues?

17. Chapter 12 Part 2: On War

(Author's Notes: Here it is, the second part of Chapter 12. It's a long one! Make sure to get snacks and stuff first. R&R and enjoy!)

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Chapter 12: On War (Part II)

To the west of Saversburg, five figures raced across the grassy plains. Alphamon, Sleipmon, Duftmon, UlforceVeedramon, and Gaioumon made their way westwards to investigate this reported D-Brigade presence. The group ran down a hill and traversed onto more level terrain from that point on.

They headed towards the western border of the free city's territory, where the Metal Empire troops had been spotted. The Champion River made up that border. The river originated from another massive sky waterfall, which sent water flooding from seemingly nowhere. Even though it was kilometers away, it was big enough that they five Digimon were still able to see it.

Sleipmon led the group in a gallop, followed by UlforceVeedramon right behind him, with the other three trailing not far behind.

"So…" UlforceVeedramon asked between breaths as he jogged at a swift pace. "Why aren't we flying again? That would be faster."

Duftmon, who ran with his rapier hilted in his red waist sash, looked ahead at UlforceVeedramon. "The D-Brigade are said to be travelling up along the river. The terrain there is such that they would be able to see us approach from the air, but the hills and riverbank provide a sufficient barrier to keep them noticing us approaching from the ground," he explained.

"What are they doing here?" UlforceVeedramon asked. "They aren't thinking of attacking Saversburg, are they?"

"Highly unlikely. The most likely want to secure the bridge over the Champion River that connects Saversburg to the Mamemon Kingdom," Duftmon explained.

"I can agree with that logic," Gaioumon concurred as he jogged between Alphamon and Duftmon. "That's a strategic crossing if they plan on invading the Mamemon Kingdom."

"Okay…" UlforceVeedramon responded. He then looked over his shoulder at Gaioumon. "And what are you doing here again?" He grinned. "No offence. It's just weird to have the Council of Seven's advisor going scouting with us. It won't look good if things get messy."

"I am merely an observer," Gaioumon assured him calmly. "I won't do anything to put the Council in a compromised position."

"So, if they attack us?" UlforceVeedramon followed up, still jogging across the soft, bright grass.

"I will stay out of a potential fight for as long as it is possible. I'm sure you don't need an unknown quantity like me disturbing your cohesive tactics," the dragon samurai stated diplomatically.

"That's very thoughtful of you," Duftmon answered, gracefully dashing along. "However, we will survey the situation before we decide whether or not to attack."

Alphamon nodded. "We shouldn't rush into it. This might be better solved with words."

"They did attack us, remember," UlforceVeedramon pointed out. "I'm guessing that they think the time for words is over. If they really are manoeuvring to attack the Mamemons, telling them off won't stop that."

"I'm not closing off the possibility of a fight," Alphamon assured him. "Still, we're just scouting their forces, and we don't want to drag Saversburg into this. Perhaps we should wait for Tactimon and his army to arrive. The Saversburg military should be large enough to scare them off."

"If the D-Brigade is stubborn, they might still fight with Tactimon's troops. It might be less costly for us to make the first move," UlforceVeedramon countered.

"He has a point," Duftmon concurred. "It might be a good idea to act first."

Gaioumon raised an eyebrow. "You would make the first move? A risky move against a force as disciplined as the D-Brigade."

"On the contrary, it would be a surprise attack," Duftmon argued. "Provided they're still moving along the river, we should have the terrain advantage."

"Let's wait until we get there," Alphamon stated. "We can decide the best plan of action then." The black Royal Knight then looked ahead at Sleipmon, who had been quiet for most of the journey. "What are your thoughts, Sleipmon?"

Sleipmon looked over his shoulder. "Oh, uh… I'd like to avoid a fight if possible. …But if that's the only way we can protect the Mamemon Kingdom, then we should engage them, I guess," he answered, his voice sounding sheepish.

"Alright…" Alphamon replied uncertainly. He was a bit worried that he was feeling guilty about earlier.

Sleipmon's eyes turned to Duftmon. "Uh… Hey, Duftmon? Can we talk for a minute?" the centaur knight asked him.

Duftmon eyed him. "…Very well," he answered, although his voice and demeanour was still frosty towards Sleipmon.

The purple-haired cavalier slowed his gait so that he could match pace with Duftmon. He ran beside him at a light canter, his six hooves rhythmically pounding the grass as he went. "Uh… I'm sorry about getting upset at you earlier. My feelings just took over," he apologized, rubbing the back of his neck.

"So you should be," Duftmon responded, closing his eyes. "Royal Knights are supposed to have a united front in public. You undermined me in front of Tactimon and Gaioumon."

"Says the guy who undermines everybody," UlforceVeedramon muttered to Alphamon.

"I'm sorry," Sleipmon said with a sigh. "I really do trust you and your tactics."

"Good," Duftmon responded. "Because we may have to use them soon. I expect you won't have any problems following them?"

Sleipmon shook his head. "Of course not," he replied compliantly.

Duftmon nodded. "Then that's all that matters," he spoke, willing to put the personal matter aside in the name of their professional duties.

UlforceVeedramon smirked and looked over at the pair. "Now that you two are besties again, how much longer until we get there?"

"We will be there in about twenty minutes," Duftmon replied, rolling his green eyes. "Be patient, UlforceVeedramon."

"It's beyond those hills, isn't it?" Alphamon asked, gesturing towards elevated terrain in the distance.

Duftmon nodded. "Yes. Keep an eye out for D-Brigade scouts as we draw near," he advised.

"Okay, Duftmon," Sleipmon said, speeding up to take his place at the front of the group.

Alphamon observed him quietly. He worried that Sleipmon was trying to be too conciliatory. He had a tendency to do that after getting into disagreements. Sleipmon didn't like hard feelings.

Nevertheless, the group of five continued running for another twenty or so minutes. They finally stopped when they reached the base of a thirty foot hill.

The grassy mound had a slight incline leading up to the apex. The hill's crest continued on for five hundred meters, dipping and rising at points. It acted as a natural wall that one had to scale in order to get to the other side. Coming from the other side of the hill was the sound of rushing water. It was the tempestuous Champion River flowing downstream towards the southwest. Mixed in with the noise of sloshing liquid were voices. The tones were hushed, so that it was hard to hear them against the louder sound of the river.

"We've arrived," Duftmon said quietly. He hunched down and made his way up towards the top of the hill. As he approached the apex, he got down on his knees and elbows and poked his head over the crest of the hill to see what was on the other side.

On the opposing part of the hill was a steeper incline than the one he had scaled. It dropped down about fifteen meters at an almost forty five degree angle. Leading from the base of the incline to the edge of the river was flat ground, which spanned about fifteen meters wide.

The Champion River was a broad river with extremely strong currents due to its source, the heavy-flowing sky waterfall. It's impossible for most terrestrial Digimon to cross it without the use of a bridge, and it's extremely difficult for even aquatic Digimon to navigate its fierce currents.

Most interesting to Duftmon was what was between the river and the hill. Beneath the slope, on the flat grassland, was the D-Brigade force of fifty or more soldiers. They didn't appear to be marching. Instead, they were sitting around and setting up a makeshift camp. The majority of the soldiers were resting and eating field rations. They didn't seem to be setting up a defensive perimeter, which led Duftmon to deduce that they were only staying for likely half an hour at the most.

The tactician ducked his head down and gestured with his index fingers to the others for them to come and join him.

Alphamon was the first one up the hill, followed by UlforceVeedramon and Gaioumon. Sleipmon was the last one to make his way up the concealed side of the hill. He walked slowly and softly so that his heavy hoof falls didn't create too much noise. The five stealthily glanced over the top of the hill and observed the scene below.

"They appear to be resting," Gaioumon observed in a whisper.

UlforceVeedramon's crimson eyes narrowed and scanned the encampment. "There's around fifty of them… Seven Ultimate-level Digimon." He raised an eyebrow. "Including Raijinmon and Suijinmon."

"The Thunderclap and Waterfall Commanders?" Gaioumon asked, intrigued.

"What?" Alphamon asked, looking across the D-Brigade's ranks. He could see Suijinmon walking among his soldiers, making conversation with some of them.

Meanwhile, Raijinmon stood at the edge of the temporary camp, his hands folded behind his back, gazing up the river towards their destination. The bridge was in eyeshot. Suijinmon had sent the aerial scouts to sortie ahead and make sure the bridge was clear before they closed in on it.

Sleipmon frowned. "If both Commanders are here…"

"Then that means this really is an important operation," Alphamon concluded. He looked at Duftmon. "It seems you're right about their objectives; they want to capture that bridge."

Duftmon nodded. "It's the only logical conclusion, based on their movements, size, and composition," he explained.

"The first step towards invasion, it seems," Gaioumon added. "The invasion of the Mamemon Kingdom… and perhaps a gateway to Saversburg?"

UlforceVeedramon looked at the other Royal Knights. "If that bridge is so important, then we need to stop them."

Sleipmon turned his head to look at the cobalt dragon knight. "You think we should attack them?" he asked, a little sceptically.

"It may have to come to that," Alphamon answered pensively. "Ideally… I'd like to give them the chance to turn back peacefully."

"That would rather ruin any chance we have of ambushing them," Duftmon disagreed with a sideways leer.

"You want us to attack unsuspecting Digimon while they're eating?" Sleipmon incredulously asked. "But… We couldn't do that."

Alphamon frowned in thought. "There isn't much honour in that…" he agreed. "Plus, it would be a declaration of war."

"They declared war when they attacked our headquarters," Duftmon argued. "Sometimes practicality must trump doing the honourable thing."

"We only have circumstantial evidence for that, however likely it might be," Alphamon said with a sigh. "And is it worth compromising our values?"

"They are trespassing on Saversburg's territory with an armed force," Duftmon insisted. "How much more evidence do you need that they are aggressive?"

"Even so… This needs to be done cleanly. Wars aren't just won on the battlefield," Alphamon said firmly.

Gaioumon closed his eyes and nodded. "Alphamon does have a point there."

Duftmon turned his head up and away. "…Very well. I will just have to devise some tactics that account for this complexity." He gave a narrow, judgmental gaze in Gaioumon's direction. "Will you still be excusing yourself from these events?"

"I will watch from up here, if you don't mind," Gaioumon answered. "It should be fascinating to see your tactics in action."

Duftmon lowered his head from the apex of the hill. "Alphamon, if you are going to be making diplomatic overtures, approach from the north. Put yourself in between them and the bridge. You should be enough of a deterrent. If things go wrong, send us a signal and Sleipmon, UlforceVeedramon and I will race down the hill and flank them. They'll be pressed against the river and they'll be thrown into disarray."

"We will see how Suijinmon reacts," Gaioumon stated. "He was an impressive tactician in the Pirate Wars, if I remember correctly."

"He isn't up against rabble this time," Duftmon confidently asserted.

The Royal Knights continued to discuss their strategy. They were unaware of the finer details of what was happening down below.

---

"Alright, finish up. We're heading out in five minutes," Suijinmon told one of his subordinate officers, a MetalGarurumon. After turning away from the cyborg wolf, he trudged up to Raijinmon.

Raijinmon stood calmly at the right side of the field, glancing out of the corner of his eye towards the hill to his right. He looked forwards once Suijinmon stepped up next to him.

"They will be finished soon," the red cyborg assured him. "I know you are eager to get moving."

"Why do you say that?" Raijinmon asked him.

"Your posture is approximately 15% more rigid than normal," Suijinmon observed, his eyes gazing over at the golden-beige, humanoid cyborg. "Something is bothering you."

"You know me too well…" Raijinmon answered, reflexively lowering his shoulders. "Don't look…"

"…Don't look at what?" Suijinmon inquired for clarification, perplexed.

Raijinmon closed his eyes. "We have company…" he explained matter-of-factly.

Suijinmon was still for a moment. "…Where?" he asked calmly.

"The crest of the hills," Raijinmon answered, opening up an eye.

"Is it the Saversburg Army?" Suijinmon questioned him.

Raijinmon frowned in response. "…I'm afraid not… It's the Royal Knights…" he explained.

Suijinmon narrowed his eyes. "How…?" he inquired. "…How many of them?"

"I don't know. Perhaps they stationed themselves in Saversburg to be able to react faster." The Thunderclap Commander unclasped his hands and let his arms hang at his sides. "And there are four or five, from what I can tell. It's hard to tell if there are any more from this angle."

Suijinmon's large Accel Arms gripped the ground, the thick, metal claws digging into the earth gently. "…This is bad. They have the high ground and we're pressed up against the river. I knew I should have sent some of the scouts eastward instead of all to the bridge."

"We should speak with the Royal Knights," Raijinmon suggested, turning and looking at his comrade. "It looks bad, but if we stick to our story, we might be able to convince them that we got lost."

Suijinmon sent him a controlled look of incredulity. "Negotiate with the enemy, Raijinmon? Lord Chaosdramon would never allow it," he stated calmly yet firmly. "They are in league with the Mamemons against us. They've come here to attack us. This is a battlefield, not a negotiation room."

"It doesn't have to be," Raijinmon responded to the red Waterfall Commander. "It's as you said, we're at a disadvantage here. We don't know their battle strength. We need to be smart here."

"I am being smart, Raijinmon," Suijinmon stated emphatically. "It's the best strategic and tactical move. We can't fail here. We need to start as we mean to continue. More importantly… we need that bridge. It's the Mamemons' lifeline. We must complete our objective."

Raijinmon frowned, only semi-convinced by his logic. "Yes, but…"

"These are my soldiers, Raijinmon," Suijinmon said firmly, although in his low, gentle drone. "You said that you would defer to me on this mission, did you not?"

Raijinmon locked eyes with Suijinmon. "Retreat is a better option than failure."

"Then we won't fail," Suijinmon insisted, looking at Raijinmon carefully. "We will have to fight the Royal Knights sooner or later, Raijinmon. It's an unavoidable fact of this campaign. Do not let your will falter."

The Thunderclap Commander winced and looked forwards. "That isn't what this is about… I have no trouble fighting the Royal Knights. It's the practicality of engaging that I'm worried about," he responded. However, he sighed, the breath echoing against metal. "Very well. You are in full command here, Suijinmon. What do you want to do?"

Suijinmon closed his eyes and thought. "…Simple. When the terrain is unfavourable in battle, alter the landscape," he begun. He opened his eyes again and raised a heavy arm, signalling to his Darkdramon junior officer to come over.

The cyborg dragon man walked over and saluted. "Yes, Commanders?" he asked.

Suijinmon moved his four legs and two Accel Arms so that he could look at the Darkdramon. "Darkdramon, I need you to remain calm and act natural," he started. "We are about to be attacked from the hills to the east."

The Darkdramon's eyes narrowed and he struggled not to instinctively look. "We are?"

"Yes," Suijinmon responded. "I need you to prepare the troops, but in a way that doesn't arouse either panic or suspicion; we need to make the first move before the Royal Knights do."

"The Royal Knights?" the Darkdramon asked him, shocked.

"Not all of them, we believe," Suijinmon responded. "Strengthen our flanks and don't let them box us in. I will take care of the center."

"Yes, Commander," the Darkdramon obeyed, saluting and then turning around to start informing his junior officers of the situation.

"Are you positive about this, Suijinmon?" Raijinmon asked in a hushed voice, looking up at his comrade.

Suijinmon gazed at him, signalling his answer.

A soft chuckle escaped Raijinmon. "Very well…" he responded, folding his Blitz Arms across his chest. "Then I'm with you 100%."

"Thank you, Raijinmon," Suijinmon answered with a tinge of warmth in the cold abyss of his voice.

"I have always wanted to test my abilities against the Royal Knights," Raijinmon mused. "Let's do our best to crush them."

"For the Metal Empire," Suijinmon agreed. He then turned towards his subordinate, who was walking away. "One more thing, Darkdramon," the Waterfall Commander called out to him.

The Darkdramon stopped and turned around to face the massive, crimson cyborg. "Yes, sir?"

Suijinmon levelled an intense gaze with him, as the series of tubes protruding from his shoulders began to pump energy into his shoulder-mounted Mugen Cannons.

"Tell everyone to get behind me."

---

The four Royal Knights continued to crouch behind the crest of the hill as they finalized their plan. Gaioumon sat nearby, listening in.

"Does everybody remember their roles, should it come to that?" Duftmon asked.

Sleipmon, UlforceVeedramon, and Alphamon nodded. "I'll go now," Alphamon said in a hushed voice. "Before we're spotted."

"Good luck, Alphamon," Sleipmon told him.

"Don't forget that signal," UlforceVeedramon added, fidgeting with the configuration of his V-Bracelets.

"I won't," Alphamon assured him. He made his way down the east side of the hill before he stood up straight, so that he wouldn't be seen when he did so.

He began to walk along the hill northwards – the plan was for him to head north towards the bridge and then circle around to approach the D-Brigade camp from the north side. This would put him in between the D-Brigade and the bridge. Alphamon was a powerful and imposing Digimon, so it would be hard to try and pass him if they wanted to get to the bridge. Meanwhile, Sleipmon, Duftmon, and UlforceVeedramon would be strategically placed on the hillside overlooking the camp and the river. They would flank the D-Brigade if they needed to.

Alphamon started to walk along the hill. He made it only four steps before he suddenly stopped, as if an aura of foreboding suddenly washed over him. "…Do you sense that?" he asked the four, narrowing his eyes and looking over his shoulder at them.

Gaioumon instinctively reached for his Kikurin swords that were embedded in the nearby ground. "Yes…" he said in a near-hiss. He stood to his feet as well.

"So do I," Sleipmon said, walking up to the crest of the hill with a curious yet unsettled frown on his face.

UlforceVeedramon and Duftmon stood and poked their heads over the crest of the hill to see what was happening on the other side. They saw the D-Brigade beginning to move and organize themselves. At first, they assumed that they were just getting ready to start marching again. It was soon painfully clear to them that they were organizing into defensive formations.

Standing at the near edge of the D-Brigade camp was Commander Suijinmon. The bulky, quadrupedal cyborg was staring straight up at the Royal Knights. The four cannons on his shoulders were brimming with energy and they were aimed straight at the part of the hill where they were located.

"Mugen Cannon," Suijinmon rumbled.

Four, massive, energy beams tore from the cannon muzzles and surged towards the Royal Knights. UlforceVeedramon's and Duftmon's eyes widened when they saw the incoming blasts.

"Incoming! Scatter!" UlforceVeedramon urgently yelled to the others. He roughly grabbed Duftmon by the arm and began sprinting to the left as the light of the beam lit up the hill. Narrowing his eyes, Gaioumon followed their example and dashed after UlforceVeedramon and Duftmon as fast as he could.

"Alphamon!" Sleipmon called out to the black knight, galloping at full speed to the right, where Alphamon was.

Alphamon glowered and began running as well, well aware of the incoming beams due to their intensifying roar. Sleipmon quickly surpassed the bipedal black knight, but he offered his hand and pulled Alphamon onto his back.

The beams tore through the hill and emerged out the other side, vaporizing anything in their way. The hillside detonated in a billowing explosion of power and dirt.

The Royal Knights and Gaioumon just barely managed to avoid being caught up in the beam blast, though they were nearly knocked off their feet by the concussive wall of energy and heat that followed the attack. Dirt and grass rained down on them, and the two halves of the Royal Knight scouting force found themselves suddenly separated by a giant, U-shaped ravine where the beams had hit. The gap was a mess of collapsing dirt, scorched grass, and smoking ash.

When the lingering streams of energy finally subsided, the Royal Knights and Gaioumon stopped and turned around to observe the damage with shock.

"It seems we have been discovered," Gaioumon noted dryly.

Duftmon frowned irately at the fact that his plan had been compromised. He suddenly took on the glow of evolution. "Mode Change! Duftmon: Leopard Mode!" he called out. The tactician emerged on four legs in his more agile, feline form. "Alphamon! Take Sleipmon and charge them from the right! Ulforce, we'll attack from the left! Gaioumon, it would be in your best interest to help!"

"I will see if that's true," the dragon samurai calmly responded noncommittally.

"Let's go, Sleipmon!" Alphamon called out, still sitting on Sleipmon's back as both sides prepared to engage the other. "Let's keep them suppressed as we get into position!"

"Right!" Sleipmon agreed, galloping as he scaled the top of the hill. Upon crossing the apex, he began to gallop diagonally down the hill.

As soon as he and Alphamon went over the top, Duftmon: Leopard Mode and UlforceVeedramon did as well. Duftmon leapt nimbly down the opposite face of the hill while UlforceVeedramon flapped his wings and flew in front of him, gliding down the incline at great speeds.

Suijinmon watched as this happened. He glanced through the giant gap he created in the hill. "No reinforcements…" he murmured before turning his attention to the advancing Royal Knights. "It is as I thought: they are attacking in pincer formation. Hold those flanks and lay down a heavy base of fire! Ranged soldiers, fire!"

Raijinmon stood next to his large, crimson comrade, silently eyeing the four Royal Knights as they made themselves known. "I suppose there's no avoiding it now," he noted. He turned his yellow eyes to Suijinmon. "Shall I take the left and you the right?"

"Yes," Suijinmon said deeply as the sounds of gunshots popping, cannons erupting, and missiles howling began to fill the air. He took a few steps forwards and turned his body so that his cannons angled towards UlforceVeedramon and Duftmon as they zipped down the hill. "Make sure the center here is secure. We need to divide them if we are to turn the battle against them. They will likely try to close in on us and break our lines."

"I will do my best," Raijinmon responded, calmly stepping forwards in the opposite direction towards where Sleipmon and Alphamon were approaching from.

Suijinmon silently followed Duftmon and UlforceVeedramon with his eyes. As he did, plasma energy coursed into the barrels of his four shoulder cannons until their interiors glowed with the light of destruction. "Mugen Cannon," he spoke.

He unleashed a rushing stream of devastation from his cannons; a torrent fiercer than the river before them could ever hope to be.

The beams tore through the air towards the two knights. UlforceVeedramon looked out of the corner of his eye towards the sudden, surging, yellow light. "Shit!" he uttered as the beam fast approached them. "Behind me, Duftmon! Tensegrity Shield!" He brought up his left V-Bracelet, from which a pair of small beams emerged. The beams pulsed and brought up a dome-like barrier of transparent, interconnected triangles around him.

The beams slammed into the barrier, raging against it mightily. UlforceVeedramon let out a grunt of effort as he tried to hold against the blast, but his lack of footing caused him to falter against the extreme power of the attack. He was thrown back into Duftmon, both of whom were forced against the ground by the beams' sheer strength. The hilly ground outside of the shield was crushed and obliterated. Despite this, the Tensegrity Shield managed to withstand the attack, the beams straining and ultimately parting around it. As the beams faded, the omni-directional barrier smoked and flickered. This left the two Royal Knights surrounded by a smouldering, ring-shaped crater.

UlforceVeedramon winced and sat up, his wings pressing against Duftmon's side. "Jeez… Remind me never to do that again…" he muttered, slowly getting to his feet and retracting the barrier to allow it to regenerate. "That big, red guy packs a hell of a punch…"

"Simply dodge, next time," Duftmon advised him semi-irritably, standing up on his four legs and leaping into action again.

"You're welcome," UlforceVeedramon said with a grin.

However, the smile disappeared when the D-Brigade began to target him again, punctuated by bullets and shells landing in the surrounding crater. The dragon knights narrowed his eyes and flapped his wings, shooting up into the air at incredible speeds, leaving only a blue afterimage. He turned at a sharp angle and began moving in an erratic zigzag pattern towards the rows of D-Brigade forces, which were starting to have trouble aiming at him.

A Megadramon soldier scowled as he tried to aim his hand cannons at the sapphire blur. "Genocide Attack!" he called out, unleashing a barrage of organic missiles bearing arms and teeth. The missiles homed in towards UlforceVeedramon, but he was much too fast, so they passed by him and exploded into the hill. "He's too fast, Captain! I can't even track him! Should-!"

UlforceVeedramon suddenly appeared in front of the Megadramon, speeding past him and slashing his Ulforce Sabre across his chest. The Megadramon roared with pain as he burst into data. UlforceVeedramon, now in the midst of the D-Brigade's ranks, stopped in the air and looked down at the land-bound Digimon. "Shining V Force!" he called out.

A V-shaped beam streaked from the crest on his body armour. The ray surged down at an angle, slamming into the ranks of the D-Brigade below. The beam vaporized a handful of Commandramon and Sealsdramon, who had spun around to attack him. Soon, the entire line turned to fire on him, moving to fill the gaps left by their deleted comrades.

The bullets that the series of Commandramon fired at him were like weak paintballs against his Ultimate level body. However, UlforceVeedramon began to grow a bit concerned when a Tankdramon wheeled around and aimed his dual Blast Gatlings at him; he knew those would hurt if they hit.

"Blast—"

"Wolkenkratzer!" Duftmon: Leopard Mode called out as he agilely lunged from one spot on the riverbank to another in order to avoid the munitions that kicked up dirt all around him. His eyes flashed and a huge, twenty-foot pillar of bedrock suddenly burst from the ground below the Tankdramon. The rock was drenched in river water and earth, but it shot up right under the Tankdramon's tread, flipping the cyborg off of his treads and helplessly onto his back where he would be unable to fire.

"Thanks, Duftmon!" UlforceVeedramon called out to him.

"Hmph. Try to stay focused," Duftmon chastised him.

UlforceVeedramon grinned and swept down through the D-Brigade's ranks, slicing his Ulforce Sabre through any D-Brigade soldier in his path. Three Sealsdramons collapsed in his wake before he shot up vertically into the air to engage a Cyberdramon.

The purple Cyberdramon lunged his spear towards UlforceVeedramon. The cobalt dragon knight swerved to the side instinctively and closed in to drive his fist into his helmet. When the Cyberdramon was thrown back from the blow, UlforceVeedramon used the opening to drive his glowing Ulforce Sabre through the Cyberdramon's chest.

"Blockade!" Duftmon called out as he ran. He sped across the ground and cut along the front of the D-Brigades lines, slashing his neck and shoulder spikes along their chests, hands, and weapons. After having weakened the row of Digimon, he darted to the side as he neared the river.

"Wolkenkratzer!" Duftmon followed up as he began to circle around again, ignoring a shell that whizzed by his head and exploded some distance behind him. He made another pillar of stone erupt from the ground in the middle of the D-Brigade's lines. The rocky obelisk sent a few Commandramon flying into the air and fractured the formation of the D-Brigade's right flank.

Duftmon stopped and looked into the air at UlforceVeedramon, who sent another shimmering ray from his chest into the D-Brigade's ranks. "UlforceVeedramon!" he called out to him. "Focus on deleting the officers! Ignore the rabble! Their ranks will crumble once the command structure is fractured!"

Suijinmon, watching the situation on the right flank unfold, began to seethe with cold rage. "You call my soldiers rabble?" his voice asked quietly, narrowing his eyes. He began to walk towards the right flank, clenching the metal claws of his Accel Arms. "HiAndromon! Get your soldiers organized! Regroup near the center of the battlefield!" he ordered.

"Yes, Commander!" the HiAndromon responded. "Alpha Platoon, manoeuvre towards that gap! Beta Platoon, covering fire!"

"And please don't get in my way," Suijinmon told them, narrowing his eyes as he looked up at UlforceVeedramon, who was kicking a Gigadramon away. "Mugen Cannon."

UlforceVeedramon spun around in time to see Suijinmon's upper shoulder cannons fire two beams at him, one after the other. He grunted and flapped his wings powerfully, speeding out of the first beam's path. However, Suijinmon managed to follow his movements and fire a second beam in the direction he was headed.

The blue Royal Knight saw the second beam closing in on him and just barely managed to shoot downwards in time to pass under it. The beam shot overhead and careened into the sky. UlforceVeedramon landed on the ground and raised his beam blade. He knew that he was no longer dealing with small fry, but a very capable opponent.

A Sealsdramon took the opportunity to appear behind UlforceVeedramon and try to plunge a combat knife in his back, but UlforceVeedramon spun around drove his knuckles across the commando's snout.

When UlforceVeedramon turned around again, he was shocked to see how quickly Suijinmon moved. The giant, crimson Digimon swept his left Accel Arm towards him and slammed the massive, metal fist across UlforceVeedramon's face and upper body. UlforceVeedramon winced at the painful connection and was sent skidding across the grass on his winged back.

A MetalGarurumon X-Antibody, who commanded the support group of this D-Brigade contingent, turned his attention to UlforceVeedramon who landed nearby. He pivoted and aimed the linear beam cannon mounted on his right shoulder directly at UlforceVeedramon. The mecha wolf then fired a powerful, green laser at the Royal Knight.

UlforceVeedramon, aware of the danger around him, swiftly brought up the V-Bracelet that didn't contain an extended sword. "Tensegrity Shield!" he said, projecting a barrier around himself. This deflected the beam into the nearby river, casting a steamy spray of water upon impact.

He kept the barrier up as he stood to his feet so that he wouldn't be attacked in a compromised position. He suddenly retracted the barrier into his V-Bracelet and puffed out his chest, on which the V crest on his armour began to glow. "Shining V Force!"

A glimmering, golden ray pulsed from his chest and blasted into the MetalGarurumon X. Although the mechanical wolf officer's chrome digizoid plating protected against the beam, the force of the blast knocked him onto his back with a heavy crash. UlforceVeedramon utilized the opportunity to fly into the air over the rushing river in order to put some space in between him and the D-Brigade. He observed the battlefield and thought about where he should attack from.

He noticed that Suijinmon was no longer focused on him. Instead, he made his way towards the southern, downstream end of the river, where Duftmon and the two pillar of rock were.

Duftmon came to a stop on the grass and watched as the D-Brigade's right flank began to move up towards the massive cleft in the hill. The tactician frowned at seeing the forces move towards the center of the battlefield, which would ultimately cause Alphamon and Sleipmon to be separated from UlforceVeedramon and himself. That would be bad. He realized that the gap that Suijinmon had created in the hillside also gave the D-Brigade an escape route, which allowed them greater room to manoeuvre.

"You think that you can outmanoeuvre us?" Duftmon asked with a scowl, darting across the battlefield. With feline agility, he jumped around the explosions directed at him and leapt up the hillside that they had come down from.

Once Duftmon reached the edge of the hillside that overlooked the smouldering gap, he stopped and swept his tail out. "Eroberung!" he called out, unleashing several glowing energy globes from the ball on his tail. Eight of these golden spheres drifted down into the ravine, mining the chasm of dirt and effectively blocking the D-Brigade from moving through. "It won't be so easy to outflank us now."

"We won't be defeated," Suijinmon responded calmly. He continued to move towards the pillars of rock to the south that had blocked the D-Brigade's path. "Detonate those mines! I will secure the south of the battlefield." He raised his left arm up. Once lifted into the air, the mighty, mechanical arm began to crackle with energy. "Accel Arm!"

He brought the massive arm down, driving the mechanical fist into the ground. The sheer impact with the grass created a crater in the earth almost immediately. The ground before the hand then erupted from the shockwave beneath. The grass and dirt was ripped up in a subterranean blast that shot forwards towards the left rock pillar. When the shockwave reached the six-meter stone obelisk, it shot up the rocky crag and shattered it into millions of fragments.

Suijinmon then turned his attention towards the remaining pillar. He coiled back his right Accel Arm and threw a colossal punch straight into the base of the column. The strength of the punch was great enough to break clean through the pillar and cause it to collapse like a falling tree. Before the towering crag could hit the ground, Suijinmon reached out his enormous arms and caught it, lifting the rock off the ground.

Demonstrating his strength by hoisting the earthy column up, Suijinmon then glanced at Duftmon. He twisted his metallic body and swung the giant piece of rock, hurling it towards Duftmon.

UlforceVeedramon's eyes widened when he saw the column of rock fly through the air towards Duftmon. "Duftmon!" he tried to call out over the sounds of battle.

Duftmon: Leopard Mode was momentarily distracted by watching a Tankdramon attempt to shoot at his mines. He looked up and watched incredulously as the crag descended towards his position on the hillside. He glared and swept his tail out once again. "Eroberung!" he spoke, although he hunched his body down and prepared to pounce if his plan didn't work.

Several mines swept out from his tail and soared into the air to meet with the falling rock. The energy mines hit the pillar in various places along its length, and the momentum of the rock caused them to detonate. A series of explosions erupted in the air, and the stone column that he had created was blown apart before it could hit him. Shards and pieces of rock showered across the battlefield.

UlforceVeedramon breathed a sigh of relief, but his comfort didn't last long when he realized he was being targeted again.

"Grace Cross Freezer," the MetalGarurumon X-Antibody spoke, unleashing a salvo of missiles from his missile pod.

UlforceVeedramon shot to the side as the missiles tried to home in on him. He soared towards the battlefield in a non-linear flying pattern in an attempt to shake them off. As he did, his eyes lingered on Suijinmon. "He's so strong… but I'll have to take him down somehow. I'm a lot faster than he is," he noted.

In a daring manoeuvre, he took a nosedive towards the grass. He pulled up at the last second and caused the missiles trailing him to impact the ground and detonate behind him in an icy explosion. The dragon knight looked across the battlefield and tried to see Alphamon and Sleipmon. "I wonder how they're doing."

---

Sleipmon raced down the crater-ridden hill leading towards the D-Brigade-occupied riverside. The Metal Empire forces fired bullets, missiles, shells, and beams at him and Alphamon as he galloped. Sleipmon made for the northern flank of the D-Brigade, aiming to put them between the military contingent and the bridge.

As Sleipmon galloped, he outstretched his left arm towards the D-Brigade. Mounted on this arm was the large Muspellsheimr crossbow. Loaded in the weapon's fine, wooden breech was a giant, glowing crossbow bolt.

"Bifröst!" he called out, launching the incandescent arrow from his bow. The arrow soared through the air and into the D-Brigade's ranks, hitting a Perfect-class, combat-use Mechanorimon in the leg with stunning precision. The arrow tore through the robot's circuits and caused it to fall over with a crash, causing the Sealsdramon pilot to topple out of its cockpit.

Simultaneously, Alphamon rode on Sleipmon's back, his legs hanging over his left side so that he could face the D-Brigade forces. He used his wings to keep himself steady on Sleipmon's back. His palms faced the enemy and glowed with emerald power. "Digitalize of Soul!"

He fired a salvo of green beams from his hands into the line of the D-Brigade left flank, deleting two Commandramon and a Tankmon. As a team, Sleipmon and Alphamon served as mobile platform from which ranged attacks were launched.

They fired another volley of lasers and arrows into the D-Brigade forces, this time clipping a Gigadramon's wings and causing a virus MetalGreymon to crumple to the ground. Explosions blossomed up all around them, but Sleipmon was agile enough to avoid them. Unearthed dirt began to shift down the bank towards the grass, beneath his hooves.

Raijinmon stepped out from the D-Brigade's ranks, observing the two Royal Knights with an intense stare. He raised a hand into the air, ignoring a crossbow bolt that whizzed by his head and into the shoulder of the Tankdramon behind him.

"Elite officers!" he called out to the Ultimate-level Digimon among their ranks. "Out in front. This must be handled by Ultimates. The rest of you, provide covering and suppressive fire. Don't hit us."

"Sir!" voices rang out in obedient understanding.

A Darkdramon stepped out beside Raijinmon and began to pump dark energy into his Giga Stick Lance. Beside him emerged a mechanical wolf with a giant cannon mounted on its back.

"Z'd Hou!" the Z'dGarurumon howled.

Alphamon clenched his fists when he saw a burst of light emerge from within the D-Brigade ranks. "Sleipmon, incoming!" he warned him as a stream of destructive energy surged towards them.

"On it!" Sleipmon responded. He drove his hooves into the ground and vaulted into the air. He lunged off the hill and onto the flat ground beneath the hill as the beam exploded into the hill behind them. A rippling explosion emerged from the beam's impact and an intense shockwave blasted into Sleipmon and Alphamon.

Alphamon was thrown off Sleipmon but he spread his wings and righted himself in the air. Meanwhile, although thrown by the blast, Sleipmon landed on his hooves and quickly circled around to recover.

"Attack!" Raijinmon ordered the two Ultimates. He bent his legs and angled his upper body to aim the four batteries attached to his shoulders and the ring over his head. Electricity began to course through his form as he gazed up at Alphamon. "Elekugel!"

Four torrents of electricity coursed from the cannons and surged into the air towards the black knight. Alphamon glared as the beams crackled and shot towards him. He could instinctively tell how powerful they were, so he didn't fancy trying his luck by attempting to block them. Alphamon dove towards the ground as quickly as he could. He felt the river of electricity pass overhead as the sheer periphery of the beams threatened to knock him back.

The black knight maintained control of his flight and landed on the ground on a knee. "Digitalize of Soul!" He immediately brought up his hands and began pumping bursts of energy from his palms towards where Raijinmon had been.

Raijinmon narrowed his eyes and raised his pair of mechanical arms in response to the laser blasts shooting towards him. "Blitz Arm!" he responded. Bursts of electric energy fired from his mechanical arms, matching Alphamon's own blasts. The two contending salvos of energy flew into each other, some colliding and others bypassing and shooting towards their targets.

Both Alphamon and Raijinmon traded blows, the bursts pounding against their armoured bodies. Neither ceded the other an inch.

"Demon Stab!" the Darkdramon suddenly roared from the side of Alphamon. Alphamon turned his head and saw the Darkdramon flying towards him, his wings flaring and his lance poised to run him through.

Alphamon shot to his feet and swiftly darted to the side as the spear surged towards him. Due to his quick movements, the lance passed by him harmlessly. Once it did, Alphamon responded by grabbing hold of the base of the lance and the Darkdramon's arm. With a mighty push, he flipped the charging Darkdramon into the air and sent him crashing to the grass on his winged back.

Without taking his eyes off his two opponents, he raised his right hand to the side and created a magical circle vertically in the air. He reached into the spinning circle of light and Digi-letters, his hand disappearing momentarily. With a mighty pull, he withdrew his sword of light, the Seiken Gradalpha.

"Dark Roar!" the Darkdramon retaliated, launching a blast of ebony dark matter from his maw.

Alphamon swept his holy blade down and sliced through the darkness, parting the blast around him. No later than the blast faded did Darkdramon shoot towards Alphamon from the left and plunge his lance towards him. Alphamon flipped his blade around into an overhand position and transferred it to his left hand so that he could swing the side of the Seiken Gradalpha into the lance and parry it away from him.

Once the lance was deflected, Alphamon sliced his sword towards the Darkdramon in a horizontal slash. The Darkdramon hissed and ducked under the blade, just narrowly avoiding it. Although he managed to evade the attack, the sword was still holding against the shaft of his Giga Stick Lance. The cyborg dragon lashed his tail out hooked the back of Alphamon's knee with the blade at the end of the appendage. He then pulled, causing Alphamon's leg to buckle and for the knight to fall onto his back.

Alphamon crashed to the ground and the Darkdramon saw an advantage. He stepped over the Royal Knight and angled the tip of his lance with Alphamon's face. Energy coursed through the mechanized spear, causing a bright light to emerge before Alphamon's eyes. "Giga Stick Lance!"

"Digitalize of Soul!"

Before the Darkdramon could fire, Alphamon raised his free hand and blasted an emerald beam from his palm into the Darkdramon's chest. The dark dragon was thrown off balance by the heavy blow to his upper body. Alphamon used the opportunity to slash the Seiken Gradalpha out horizontally. The blade of light sliced across the Darkdramon's armoured shins, burning through the armour and hitting the scales underneath. The Darkdramon let out a snarl as his legs buckled from pain. On instinct, he fired the beam that had been charged in his lance, but was unable to aim properly, so the blast soared into the nearby ground and sent a blast of energy and dirt over the two Digimon.

The Darkdramon collapsed to his knees and glowered as Alphamon began to rise to his feet again. "Not yet," he hissed as darkness began to build up in his scowling mouth. "Dark Roar!"

A sphere of dark energy surged from his maw towards Alphamon, who quickly raised his right hand and fired a Digitalize of Soul beam from his palm. The laser pierced through the blast and separated it, but the smaller bursts of dark energy still slammed into Alphamon, pounding against his armour and knocking him back a couple paces.

Alphamon narrows his eyes as his armour smoked from the attack. He switched sword hands and began to walk towards the kneeling Darkdramon.

"Hyper Cannon!"

A Tankmon from the D-Brigade's left flank line fired a shell from his nose horn towards Alphamon. The munition directly impacted Alphamon's shoulder and exploded a burst of gunpowder and shrapnel.

Although momentarily nudged, Alphamon was ultimately unaffected and he continued to stalk towards the Darkdramon officer. He gripped his gleaming sword and raised his left hand, preparing to fire a beam.

The Darkdramon scowled as the Royal Knight approached him, with the clear intention of ending their duel. "I won't be defeated!" he shouted, putting all his willpower into lunging to his feet despite his wounds. He made a sudden dash towards Alphamon, thrusting his lance towards Alphamon's neck.

Alphamon, although taken off guard by this sudden burst of defiance, quickly levelled the Seiken Gradalpha and prepared to plunge it into the Darkdramon's chest to stop him. The Royal Knight began to duck and push his sword of light forwards as the Darkdramon drove the spear towards him.

To his surprise, the Darkdramon stopped in his tracks. The lance stopped several inches before Alphamon's head and Alphamon's sword had stopped several inches away from the Darkdramon's body. Alphamon looked up and noticed that there was glowing crossbow arrow piercing through the Darkdramon's Giga Stick Lance. The bolt stopped the Darkdramon's thrust and caused his mechanical lance to malfunction, evident by the intermittent flickering in the stylized eyes of the lance.

Alphamon glanced over and saw Sleipmon lower his Muspellsheimr crossbow. He gave Alphamon a nod before returning to his skirmish with the Z'dGarurumon.

The black knight returned the nod and lowered his sword. He rushed forwards and drove his fist into the unarmoured part of the Darkdramon's chest. The heavy punch drove deep into the Darkdramon's gut. The wind rushed out of dragon man's lungs and he lurched forwards, collapsing onto Alphamon's arm. He then dropped beside Alphamon, unconscious.

The leader of the Royal Knights then turned his attention to Raijinmon, who began to walk out to meet him.

"Very impressive, Alphamon. Your skills are all that I hoped they would be," the Thunderclap Commander spoke, striding towards him. He raised a Blitz Arm towards the black knight. "Let's see how you fare against a Storm Commander…"

---

Meanwhile, Sleipmon found himself in a fast-paced, hit-and-run duel against the Z'dGarurumon. Since they were both high-mobility ranged Digimon, they kept their distance and traded blows while circling each other like vultures.

"Z'd Hou!" the Z'dGarurumon shouted. He launched a linear stream of a rushing, yellow energy towards Sleipmon once he got a good lock on him.

Sleipmon vigilantly noticed the blast and he galloped into full gear once the beam stormed towards him. He managed to outrun the attack and the beam merely tore through the hill behind him, creating another deep rift in the damage-scarred ground. Sleipmon narrowed his eyes and ignored the blast behind him even as it swept through his hair and tail. He focused on aiming his crossbow at the mechanical, lupine Digimon who was running around nimbly. "Bifröst."

The Muspellsheimr's taut drawstring launched the bolt, sending the incandescent arrow speeding towards the Z'dGarurumon. The D-Brigade officer, however, leapt into the air to avoid the projectile, causing the bolt to merely graze the armour on his leg.

The Z'dGarurumon skidded to a stop as soon as he landed and turned his head to look at Sleipmon. He carefully followed Sleipmon's movements with his head, allowing the laser sights on his snout to lock on with the equine Royal Knight. After a few moments of locking on, he narrowed his eyes and prepared the various cannons and gun ports on his body.

"Fullmetal Blaze!" he called out, unleashing a mix of beam blasts and missile from his body towards Sleipmon.

Sleipmon turned his head as he galloped and noticed the salvo of attacks converging on him. He could tell from their angles that he wouldn't be able to outrun them if he tried. Instead he skidded to a stop on his six hooves, sending a wave of grass shooting up as he turned to face the barrage. Digging his hooves in, he swiftly raised the Niflheimr so that the red digizoid kite shield covered the front of his body.

The beams and missiles slammed into the shield and exploded violently. The grass and hillside around Sleipmon was torn to pieces within the squall of destruction. However, red digizoid was the strongest and most durable metal; the Niflheimr managed to withstand the savage blasts and leave Sleipmon unharmed.

The Z'dGarurumon watched the cloud of smoke and dirt carefully to see if Sleipmon survived. He took a tentative step closer and angled his back-mounted cannon to aim at the veil.

"Bifröst," Sleipmon spoke. From within the haze of smoke, he fired his crossbow. An effulgent arrow pierced through the cloud and sailed towards the Z'dGarurumon before he could react. The glowing bolt slammed into the cannon's base, slicing through wires and machinery.

The cyborg wolf quickly tried to retaliate. "Z'd Hou!" he howled, attempting to fire the affected cannon. To his dismay, the cannon ceased to fire and, instead, sparked and hissed. The Z'dGarurumon glared. "No!"

The smoke faded and revealed Sleipmon standing behind the shield. His crossbow was aimed through the arrow slit at the top of the Niflheimr.

The Z'dGarurumon snarled at this development and began to bolt towards the Royal Knight in a zigzag pattern. Using nimble movements, he managed to dodge two arrows fired in his direction. He saw Sleipmon move his shield for better crossbow manoeuvrability. The Z'dGarurumon used this opportunity to lunge at Sleipmon. His snout began to burn with explosive energy. "Blowback Bre-!"

Sleipmon dashed forwards and reared up, throwing his front hooves towards the descending officer. "Tactic Smear!" he uttered with a grunt. He drove his hoof into the Z'dGarurumon's face with a painful crack that jerked the wolf's head sideways. The Z'dGarurumon inadvertently opened his mouth and released the beam blast away from Sleipmon, instead causing it to swallow up more of the decimated hillside.

The Royal Knight then drove his other hoof into the Z'dGarurumon's metal chest, sending him flying backwards into the air. Sleipmon narrowed his violet eyes and pointed his shield at the cyborg Digimon. "Odin's Breath!"

The Niflheimr released a rush of frigid air, snow, and ice. The metal on the Z'dGarurumon's body slowly started to cake with ice and he became unable to move his legs. The ice thickened and began to freeze over the gun ports, as well. When the Z'dGarurumon hit the ground with a crash, he didn't get back up.

Sleipmon lowered his shield and sighed with relief. He began to feel the pressure again once bullets of various sizes began to ricochet off his shield and armour. A series of missiles landed nearby, prompting him to start moving once again.

---

From the top of the hill, Gaioumon watched as the battle unfolded. His calm, golden eyes scanned across the battlefield. He watched the Royal Knights trying to contain the D-Brigade and break their formations. The Royal Knights were a powerful force against this relatively small contingent of D-Brigade troops. However, the D-Brigade was highly disciplined, and whenever their lines seemed like they would break, Suijinmon was quick to seal the weak points.

The D-Brigade's tactician was a smart, powerful beast, and he was taking advantage of the fact that there were only four Royal Knights to contend with. He tried to turn the tables on the Royal Knights by using their numbers, discipline, and manoeuvrability to try to divide and conquer them. Duftmon wasn't going to let that happen, the samurai noticed.

Duftmon: Leopard Mode had used his Wolkenkratzer technique to create a stone barrier in the gap in the hill, containing the D-Brigade back near the river where he wanted them.

The leopard tactician raced up the crater-torn hill towards Gaioumon. He leapt up beside the dragon man and gave him an annoyed leer. "I do hope it is a good show, Gaioumon," he sarcastically said, making his agitation at Gaioumon's neutrality clear. "It isn't as if we are outnumbered or anything."

"I take it things are not going well?" Gaioumon asked him.

"You are a tactician, Gaioumon. You should know that battles are fluid," Duftmon told him dismissively, his eyes scanning the battlefield from the advantageous high ground.

Gaioumon smiled a bit. "I take it things are not going well in this immediate moment, then," he corrected himself.

"There are four of us versus around forty of them, now that their scouts have returned," Duftmon explained. "We have quality, but they have quantity on their side. That means we have to focus on many different objectives, both immediate and long term, at once."

"That puts each of you under a lot of pressure, as individuals," Gaioumon noted. "You must fight to the best of your abilities."

Duftmon nodded, his eyes darting back and forth around the battlefield; it was clear his mind working on many different things at once. "The right flank with Alphamon and Sleipmon is going well. They have taken down two Ultimate-level Digimon, but now Alphamon is contending with Raijinmon. However, UlforceVeedramon is having trouble handling the left flank on his own, now that he and Suijinmon have started fighting. I need to swap sides with Sleipmon so that he can reinforce UlforceVeedramon," he said, more to himself than to Gaioumon. "I will take his place on the right and begin blocking the north route to the bridge. If we could take out one or both of the Commanders here…"

Gaioumon eyed his fellow tactician. "Good luck, Duftmon."

Duftmon leered at him as he readied to run off. "Just don't—"

"Commander, there's another one up there!" a D-Brigade soldier shouted to Suijinmon.

Suijinmon slammed his Accel Arm's fist down towards UlforceVeedramon, who flew to the side to dodge it. "Eliminate him," Suijinmon told his soldiers coolly as his power ripped through the ground.

A Tankmon turned and fired at Gaioumon and Duftmon as they stood at the crest of the hill. The shell sailed past them, narrowly missing them. This prompted other soldiers to turn their attentions to them as well.

"Perhaps now you will help," Duftmon spoke, pouncing onto the stone crags that bridged the gap in the beam-made crevice.

Gaioumon drew his swords from the ground and connected their hilts to form a longbow. A slim string of light appeared between the tips of the two Kikurin swords. He pulled back on the drawstring and focused the swords' energies as an arrow. "It seems I need to," he mused calmly as he aimed his bow. "Purely out of self defence, of course…" He squinted his eye and targeted the Tankmon who fired at him. "Rinkageki."

He released the string of light and launched a shimmering arrow. The arrow shot straight down the Tankmon's nose cannon and out the back of his head, causing him to burst into data before he could react.

Suijinmon saw this and rumbled angrily. "Accel Arm," he spoke, slamming his fist in front of where UlforceVeedramon was standing. A shockwave coursed through the ground and nearly consumed the blue knight.

UlforceVeedramon managed to flap his wings and speed into the air in time to avoid him. "Shining V Force!" he called out as the V crest on his breastplate began to glow. A golden ray of holy light emitted from his chest and slammed into Suijinmon's large body.

There was an explosion upon contacted with the durable metal that encased his body. The superheated metal burned bright orange in the shape of a V, but the ray didn't break through the armour. Suijinmon glared up at UlforceVeedramon, who was hovering out of reach of his Accel Arms. "You are beginning to anger me, Royal Knight," he warned him, his words slow and seething. "Mugen Cannon."

Suijinmon fired all four of his cannons at once, sending four beams into the air. UlforceVeedramon was stunned at how close of a range that he fired at. He flapped his wings and became an azure blur as he zoomed to the side. The beams streaked into the sky and just narrowly avoided trapping UlforceVeedramon in their devastating folds.

UlforceVeedramon was well aware of his close call, though. He looked down at his feet at he flew; the metal of his boots were red hot against his scales thanks to the beams' proximity. The dragon knight gritted his teeth and looked at Suijinmon before glancing quickly around the battlefield. "I'm starting to feel the heat, guys," he thought to himself. "I could use a bit of backup."

---

"Wolkenkratzer!"

Duftmon: Leopard Mode lunged off the hill and onto the flat grassland north of the battle. Behind him, several stone pillars tore from the ground and rose into the sky.

Sleipmon, who was busy using his Odin's Breath technique to freeze a bunch of Commandramons' assault rifles frozen solid, turned around and looked up at the large rock features.

"Duftmon?" he wondered, firing a bolt into the treads of a Tankdramon before looking at the tactician. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Duftmon asked as he continued making a rock blockade from the hill to the river. "I am blocking their path!"

Sleipmon frowned and loaded another bolt into his Muspellsheimr crossbow. "But what about UlforceVeedramon?" he inquired, turning and trying to see across the battlefield where he could see UlforceVeedramon under heavy fire.

"You and I are switching places. Go and reinforce him," Duftmon told him curtly.

"What? Why aren't you doing it?" Sleipmon asked him as he raised his shield to deflect a salvo of Gatling bullets from the Tankdramon that he just attacked. When there was a break in the firing, he shot another Bifröst bolt at the Tankdramon. It tore through the Blast Gatling machine gun and rendered it inoperable.

Duftmon shot him a look. "Because your defence, aim, and strength are needed there," he told him urgently, decisively leaving certain admissions unsaid. "You said that you trust my tactics. Prove it to me now and reinforce that flank."

Sleipmon locked eyes with Duftmon for a moment. "Does he really care about helping UlforceVeedramon…? Or does he just want to win?" he asked, wondering the reason behind his words. Sleipmon frowned and shut his eyes at his introspection and doubt. "No… I can't think like that. I need to help Ulforce. Duftmon is putting his trust in me. I need to do the same with him."

Sleipmon opened his eyes and began to gallop. "Okay. I will," the large, six-legged Royal Knight told Duftmon. "I trust you, Duftmon."

Duftmon: Leopard Mode glanced over his shoulder and nodded as he finished bringing the last pillar up near the edge of the rushing river. "Good. Now, go and take down that Suijinmon by any means necessary! He will overwhelm us at this rate! Make sure you hold that flank at all costs!"

The crimson clad Royal Knight stopped in his tracks. Sleipmon's eyes grimaced. "'By any means necessary'? He wants me to delete him…"

The cavalier sighed and continued his gallop anyways. He charged along the base of the hill and raised his shield to bash away any attacks or Digimon who got in his way.

As he ran past the D-Brigade troops to the southern edge of the battlefield, a Sealsdramon daringly hopped onto his back. The Sealsdramon grabbed hold of Sleipmon's hair to steady himself, and suddenly tried to drive his combat knife towards the Royal Knights neck.

But before he could, the Sealsdramon was thrown off Sleipmon's back by an arrow. Sleipmon briefly glanced up to the top of the hill, to where a certain dragon samurai was standing. He reminded himself to thank Gaioumon later; he didn't want to have to stop to deal with these Digimon when UlforceVeedramon needed his support.

The Royal Knight focused his gaze ahead of him and continued his charge past the D-Brigade troops and towards UlforceVeedramon and Suijinmon.

---

"Elekugel!"

Four, thick beams of electricity surged towards Alphamon from Raijinmon's cannons. Alphamon sprinted across the grass and then pushed off to fly upwards in order to evade the crackling, static blasts.

Although he was able to avoid being hit, the beams sailed past him and annihilated one of the pillars that Duftmon had erected. This prompted the tactician to create a new one in his place. Duftmon, who had sweat dripping down his feline body by this point, looked over to Alphamon. "Alphamon! Keep the pressure on him!" he advised him.

"I know," Alphamon responded, panting behind his helmet. He turned around, his Seiken Gradalpha in one hand and a brimming, green aura in the other. "It's easier said than done."

"He's a mid-ranged fighter; close in on him," Duftmon told him, lunging away as a beam blast launched from the D-Brigade's tight formation tore up the ground he had been standing on. Once he landed, he glowered with annoyance. "Enough of this. Mode change! Duftmon!"

Duftmon: Leopard Mode shone brightly and shifted back into his regular, humanoid form. Duftmon glared and pulled up the Shoumetsu no Tsurugi rapier and swiped it down vertically. An arc-shaped beam swept from his blade and cut through the air. It tore through the D-Brigade's ranks, resulting in a few deletions and several injuries.

Alphamon flew towards Raijinmon and landed several meters in front of him. He glared across the scorched grass at the golden bodied Thunderclap Commander. "Why are you doing this? Why are you here?" Alphamon demanded, raising his palm threateningly as its gem brimmed with power.

Raijinmon calmly raised his fist towards Alphamon in response. "This is war, Alphamon. One that the Royal Knights are participants in," he explained matter-of-factly. "And it appears you have already figured out our objective here," the cyborg Digimon added, nodding past Alphamon to the stone columns behind him.

"You want to attack the Mamemon Kingdom," Alphamon said, narrowing his eyes.

"It is the Emperor's decision, not mine," Raijinmon responded, lining his sight down the length of his arm to aim. "His logic isn't unreasonable; the Mamemon Kingdom attacked us indirectly via hired mercenaries. And your Order aided them, Alphamon. We have to stand up for ourselves. Surely you can understand that."

"Not without evidence," Alphamon countered.

Raijinmon looked carefully at Alphamon. "PrinceMamemon admitted it personally. None of his actions since the event were that of innocence…" he pointed out.

Alphamon winced at his words. It was true that PrinceMamemon certainly made things seem bad for them. "All of this can be settled diplomatically. Stop this, Raijinmon! None of this is necessary!" Alphamon urged him.

Raijinmon closed his eyes in thought. "That is not a decision that I can make, even as a Storm Commander," he answered regretfully. "Please step aside along with your knights, Alphamon. I have no wish to fight you."

"I can't do that… Not if you intend to attack the Mamemon Kingdom," Alphamon responded with regrets of his own.

The golden cyborg opened his eyes and stared at Alphamon. "Then, with earnest, I have no choice but to crush you. Blitz Arm!" Blasts of energy surged from his fist towards Alphamon.

"Digitalize of Soul!" Alphamon fired back, launching his own beam from his hand into the oncoming shots.

The two bursts collided and blasted off one another, tearing up the ground beneath the point of impact.

Alphamon narrowed his eyes and sprinted across the grass in a diagonal approach, trying to circle around Raijinmon so he didn't run directly at him. As he ran, he kept Raijinmon suppressed by firing more Digitalize of Soul blasts in his direction.

A green beam ripped through the ground where Raijinmon was standing, decimating the earth and prompting him to leap to the side. Another blast tore across his bicep, singing the metal and sending a shockwave through his arm. Upon landing, Raijinmon narrowed his eyes and jumped away again, putting distance between Alphamon and himself. The Thunderclap Commander narrowed his eyes as he was nearly hit by another couple of blasts. He somehow managed to remain calm as two green lasers shredded the ground on each side of his body. "Very impressive, Alphamon," he complimented him. "I've always admired your combat capabilities. The best commanders are the ones who fight on the front lines with their subordinates. You are a model example of that."

Alphamon grunted and charged towards Raijinmon with his Seiken Gradalpha in hand. "I suppose I should thank you," he dryly responded, poising the droning blade of light back.

"No need. Elekugel!" Raijinmon's shoulder batteries lit up with glowing electrons. He unleashed four pillars of electric beams towards Alphamon. The coursed across the ground and burnt the grass beneath them as they closed in on Alphamon.

Acting quickly, Alphamon lunged into the air, spreading his wings and flying over the beams, gliding along them as they howled beneath him. Raijinmon wasn't finished; he angled his upper body back to make the torrents tilt up towards Alphamon. The Royal Knight noticed his and was forced to fly upwards to avoid being enveloped by them.

He watched as the attack finally dissipated, prompting the black knight to swoop down towards Raijinmon. He poised his sword to strike as he closed in on him.

Raijinmon narrowed his eyes and raised both of his hands. "Blitz Arm!" He unleashed a salvo of beam bullets that riddled Alphamon's body as the knight descended on him.

Alphamon winced at his body being blasted, but he fought against the impacts. He flew through the barrage with determination and descended on Raijinmon while bringing the Seiken Gradalpha down from over his head.

The beam sword descended on Raijinmon, who swiftly brought up his thick Blitz Arms and crossed them over his head to block the attack. Alphamon landed in front of Raijinmon and continued forcing the sword against his metal hands, trying to break through his guard.

"Daring… as well. Ambitious…" Raijinmon told him, calmly staring into the passionate eyes of the Royal Knight in front of him. "I have followed your… feats. Your leadership style has even… served as inspiration for my own."

Alphamon narrowed his crimson eyes and pushed down with his blade, the intense light whirring intensely against Raijinmon's glowing, resistant Blitz Arms. "If you're such a fan of mine, then why are you doing this?!" he asked him.

"Because it truly is a pleasure to fight against you," Raijinmon responded with a dark glint in his eye. "How better to measure my worth than by fighting against one of the best?"

"Worth isn't defined through battle!" Alphamon protested, giving a final push with his blade to see if he could break through Raijinmon's guard.

Raijinmon's feet dug into the ground due to fighting against the surge. "It is… when you're a Commander!" he fired back.

"What in the Digital World are you doing, Alphamon?" Duftmon called out from behind the black knight. "Attack him!"

"I am!" Alphamon retorted sharply.

"You're just standing there!"

Raijinmon took a split second to glance over Alphamon's shoulder at Duftmon, causing the cyborg to smile. "I see that you and your tactician are doing well… I would hate to anger him by hurting you, but I have a job to do. I am sure he will understand."

Alphamon looked at Raijinmon quizzically. "What?" he asked. Despite his confusion, he decided that now was the time to withdraw his sword. He retracted the Seiken Gradalpha and took a step back, angling the blade horizontally and thrusting forward towards Raijinmon's chest.

The Thunderclap Commander swiftly side stepped and angled his body so that the blade would miss him, although he still felt its heat against his form. Raijinmon took the opportunity to throw his metal fist into Alphamon's face, causing him to stagger back. Raijinmon moved in close and threw a punch into Alphamon's armoured gut before cuffing him across the face once again with his other fist.

Alphamon stumbled to the side but managed to catch himself and spin around to face Raijinmon with an adrenalized glare.

"Duftmon underestimates my short-ranged abilities. Little does your tactician know, I am quite proficient in close quarters combat," Raijinmon informed him, taking steps towards Alphamon.

Alphamon extinguished the Seiken Gradalpha in a flash of light, knowing the long blade would be difficult to use if Raijinmon intended to get in really close. "So am I," Alphamon responded, clenching his black gauntlets.

"Then this should be interesting…" Raijinmon answered. He coiled his Blitz Arm back and rushed towards Alphamon.

Alphamon followed suit and threw his own mighty punch towards Raijinmon. Their fists sailed through the air and connected with each other.

---

On the opposite side of the battlefield, UlforceVeedramon continued to contend with Suijinmon. He whizzed by the large, crimson quadruped, slashing his Ulforce Sabre along his bulky legs. The long, bluish-green beam sword sliced across the metal, causing a small gash.

Suijinmon whipped his heavy tail out, trying to club UlforceVeedramon with it as he passed him. Fortunately for the Royal Knight, he was quick enough to react to the incoming tail. He soared over it and shot upwards, stopping in the air and then turning around.

"Shining V Force!" UlforceVeedramon shouted, unleashing a blinding ray of energy into Suijinmon's back.

Suijinmon snarled and swept his arm out behind him in a fruitless attempt to hit UlforceVeedramon. He tried to turn around as fast as his cumbersome body would let him. Instead of turning around completely, the Waterfall Commander angled the top cannon on his right shoulder towards UlforceVeedramon. "Mugen Cannon," he spoke.

The cannon roared as a blast of energy hurdled towards UlforceVeedramon. The cobalt dragon saw the blast heading in his direction, prompting him to flap his broad, blue wings and shoot to the side. But to his surprise, he wasn't quite fast enough to avoid the blast completely. The beam managed to catch one of the pointed tips of his left wing, tearing against it and burning it badly.

UlforceVeedramon hissed in pain but he wouldn't let it hinder his flight. He sped around, leaving a blue and pink afterimage in his wake. As he circled to Suijinmon's opposite side, he noticed Sleipmon making his way towards him. He felt a twinge of relief underneath the sting of pain, both of which he was trying to put off to the side.

Suijinmon carefully watched the azure blur against the clouded sky. "Good. You hit him that time," he thought to himself. "Just keep following his movements. There are only so many angles and paths that he can safely attack you from. You're slow, so he'll try to attack you from the side and rear. He'll try to avoid the Mugen Cannons' field of fire. Good… You're starting to be able to predict his movements… Just focus and think logically…"

UlforceVeedramon stopped in the air in Suijinmon's blind spot so that he could hail Sleipmon, who was dashing along the base of the hill towards him. He made a hand gesture signalling the horse knight to cover him.

Sleipmon saw him and nodded, readying his crossbow and shield.

Suijinmon began to turn around to follow UlforceVeedramon's movements. "He'll either cut across my back, launch a ranged blast, or…"

"Dragon Impulse X!" UlforceVeedramon shouted, suddenly ripping towards Suijinmon as a blue aura surrounded his body. He shot towards Suijinmon from behind, flying at a downwards, diagonal angle. He streaked down from the sky like an azure comet.

"Commander Suijinmon! Look out!" one of the Waterfall Commander's Gigadramon subordinates called out. The cyborg dragon rushed into UlforceVeedramon's path and raised his mechanical Giga Hands to fire.

Suijinmon's eyes widened and he quickly pivoted to look out of the corner of his vision. "Gigadramon! Don't!"

However, the D-Brigade soldier already called out his Genocide Gear attack and fired a barrage of missiles towards UlforceVeedramon.

Sleipmon acted quickly, aiming his crossbow and firing a shimmering arrow towards the missiles. The bolt pierced through one of the missiles, causing it to detonate and take a few others with it. The rest of the missiles sailed towards UlforceVeedramon, detonating as soon as they came into contact with the draconic aura around his body.

UlforceVeedramon, however, shot through the explosions largely unaffected. With smoke and fire streaming behind his speeding body, the Royal Knight slammed into the Gigadramon. UlforceVeedramon's blazing power and shimmering beam sword tore through the dark dragon and reduced him to data.

Suijinmon glared at UlforceVeedramon balefully, knowing that he wouldn't be able to react quickly enough to stop him. The dragon man crashed into the Waterfall Commander like a meteor. The pressure of the knight's draconic power was great enough to cause Suijinmon's front legs to buckle. He grunted at the immense pain and pressure tackling into him. He felt something hot cut into his side, sending a burning feeling up his chest. Suijinmon collapsed forwards onto his heavy Accel Arms.

UlforceVeedramon passed by the Commander and landed on the ground in front of him, spreading out his wings and skidding to a stop amidst the wave of dirt that was thrown up from his collision. Once he touched down on the settling earth, he turned around to see how much damage he caused to Suijinmon.

The Waterfall Commander was still using his Accel Arms to support himself after the heavy impact. There was a gash leading from his back to his shoulder, created by UlforceVeedramon's Ulforce Sabre. Spark shot intermittently out of the wound.

Suijinmon pushed himself up on his arms and pushed his feet against the ground so that he was standing on all fours. He wasn't able to see it, but he could feel the damage in his back. His gold eyes slowly turned towards UlforceVeedramon.

"You start… by deleting my soldiers…" Suijinmon spoke, his usually steady voice now uneven. He clenched his giant metal fists tightly and took a slow, menacing step towards UlforceVeedramon. "And now-"

His eyes widened with rage. "-you dare-"

Suijinmon bolted towards UlforceVeedramon, raising his giant fists over his head. "-TO TOUCH ME?!" he roared.

UlforceVeedramon recoiled at his opponent's sudden rage and speed. He brought up his Ulforce Sabre up to retaliate, but Suijinmon's arm was already crashing down on him.

The dragon knight zipped to the right to avoid the Accel Arm, which smashed into the ground next to him and sent a shockwave rippling through the ground, powerful enough to send river water shooting into the air.

Suijinmon's eyes watched as UlforceVeedramon moved, his other Accel Arm already coiled back to strike. "Obvious!" he shouted, throwing his metal fist directly where UlforceVeedramon was flying.

The hefty Accel Arm connected with UlforceVeedramon painfully and blasted him away with the resulting shockwave. UlforceVeedramon was sent skidding across the dirt-laden grass. As his body impacted the ground, coughs were torn from his throat and his muscles aching from the savage punch.

Suijinmon narrowed his eyes and began to level his cannons with UlforceVeedramon's fallen form.

"Ulforce!" Sleipmon called out with worry from his place on the hill. He aimed the Muspellsheimr at Suijinmon and fired. The incandescent arrow zipped through the air towards the D-Brigade Commander and stabbed into the very edge of the scar on Suijinmon's back. Suijinmon thundered with pain and fury and arched his back.

The arrow only hit enough to cause Suijinmon pain, not impacting any vital structures further inside his body. Suijinmon was unperturbed. He angled his top left shoulder cannon towards Sleipmon, while the other three guns locked onto UlforceVeedramon. "Mugen Cannon!"

Sleipmon grimaced and brought up the Niflheimr shield. "Ulforce!" he called out to his friend as the beam impacted his shield, sending Sleipmon's hooves digging deep into the ground as the beam strained against his red digizoid shield.

UlforceVeedramon pulled himself up to a knee just in time to see the three beams rippling towards him. He glared and activated his barrier as swiftly as he could. "Tensegrity Shield!" he uttered, bringing up the shield around his body just in time for the blasts to hit it.

The beams tore against the beam viciously, splaying around it and annihilating the surrounding landscape in savage explosion. The barrier began to flicker at the sheer ferocity of the attack. UlforceVeedramon swore. He knew that he didn't give it enough time to regenerate completely from the last time. As the beams started to weaken, the shield gave way and UlforceVeedramon felt the blast crash into him.

He was thrown into the air from the explosion. Although bruised and charred, he managed to right himself in the air. UlforceVeedramon flew swiftly around the commander to attack Suijinmon from behind, where his cannons wouldn't be able to hit him. "Shining V Force!" he called out, his chest surging with golden power.

The beam slammed into Suijinmon's back, sending white hot pain shooting through him as it burned against the sparking gash on his back. UlforceVeedramon noted from his angry reaction that the injury was a weak spot that could end the battle. He looked over to Sleipmon. "Sleipmon!"

Sleipmon nodded and had an idea of what he was asking. The horse knight raised his Niflheimr shield towards Suijinmon. "Odin's Breath!"

A subzero blizzard blasted out from the shield and swept over Suijinmon, freezing the area around him. The ground beneath him began to freeze and a thick layer of ice crept up his four legs, freezing him to the ground.

UlforceVeedramon saw his opportunity. He flapped his wings a swooped towards him at high speeds, angling his Ulforce Sabre to stab into the breach.

Suijinmon sensed UlforceVeedramon approach from behind him. There was a glint in his eye during the two seconds that it took UlforceVeedramon to approach. "Not this time!"

Just as UlforceVeedramon was about to plunge his beam blade into Suijinmon's back, the machine Digimon slammed his tail painfully into the Royal Knight's side. UlforceVeedramon let out a surprised shout as he crashed to the ground.

Suijinmon turned his upper body and reached out his Accel Arms. He used his metal claws to grab hold of UlforceVeedramon by the right arm and the left leg. He squeezed tightly and lifted UlforceVeedramon up and into the air in front of him, eliciting a snarl of pain from the dragon knight. "It doesn't matter how fast you are now," Suijinmon told him, glaring at him.

UlforceVeedramon growled and struggled, kicking and punching Suijinmon's arms with his free limbs in an attempt to free himself.

"Ulforce!" Sleipmon called out with worry. He grimaced and aimed his crossbow at Suijinmon once again. He turned his body and looked down the stock of the crossbow. Sleipmon tried to decide where to aim his shot.

The pressure was mounting on him as he saw UlforceVeedramon struggle in Suijinmon's hold. The longer he waited, the more danger that Ulforce was in. He couldn't just fire anywhere on Suijinmon's body due to the thick armour encasing him. He had to actually hit somewhere that would wound him, disable him, or otherwise.

That "otherwise" began to enter Sleipmon's mind, as did Duftmon's voice. The tactician wanted him to delete Suijinmon. As he thought about it, a sick, nervous feeling began to swell up in Sleipmon's stomach. His bow began to wander towards Suijinmon's head.

There was a gap in the armour where his eyes were. He felt like he could make the shot from that angle. Furthermore, he knew he couldn't reach the wound on his back anymore. Sleipmon debated making the shot in his mind.

"Can I do it? …Can I really kill him? Should I kill him? Ulforce is in danger… But… There has to be another way. There's always other options. There was another way with Imperialdramon, even when that seemed hopeless… There just has to be…" Sleipmon thought to himself.

"Sleipmon!" UlforceVeedramon called out to him, looking over at the Royal Knight as he struggled, wondering why he wasn't firing.

Meanwhile, Duftmon flew in the air. He had released a Ernste Welle beam from his sword into the ranks of the D-Brigade and he now took a few moments to observe the battle. He saw that Alphamon and Raijinmon were still trading blows, both punches and energy blasts. Duftmon turned his attention to UlforceVeedramon and Sleipmon.

He was stunned to see UlforceVeedramon in Suijinmon's grasp and Sleipmon seemingly just watching. The tactician also noticed that the D-Brigade's right flank was overtaking them there. Duftmon narrowed his eyes and started speeding across the battlefield towards them. "Sleipmon! What are you doing?!" he demanded. "Shoot him! Delete him!"

Sleipmon grimaced and looked all over Suijinmon's body for possible targets. He considered shooting the wires on his Accel Arms, but he knew that it would take multiple shots to sever them all. "I'm- I'm aiming!" he called back, flustered.

Suijinmon realized that he was being targeted. He knew that he had to act quickly. The two cannons fixed above his shoulders began to angle down and point at the Royal Knight that he held in his claws.

Sleipmon saw this and the pressure that he was feeling intensified tenfold. Sweat rolled down his face and neck as he struggled to think of a solution that didn't end in him deleting Suijinmon. "What do I do? I don't want to kill him. Think, Sleipmon, think!"

When the two cannons finally stopped moving, UlforceVeedramon found himself staring down the barrels of two, giant Mugen Cannons. He tried desperately to yank his arm and leg free, but Suijinmon's grip was too strong. Energy began to build within the two cannons.

Sleipmon gritted his teeth. He knew he couldn't wait any longer. He aimed the Muspellsheimr and fired it.

"Bifröst!"

The bolt pierced through the air and soared towards Suijinmon with pinpoint accuracy. The bolt closed in on him, but sailed directly over his body. Instead of hitting Suijinmon's head, it cut through the wires of the two shoulder-mounted cannons that were about to fire at UlforceVeedramon. With the wires severed, the cannons could no longer fire, prompting Sleipmon to sigh with relief.

"What?!" Suijinmon demanded, angrily trying to activate the said cannons. He narrowed his eyes and gripped UlforceVeedramon's arm and leg tighter. "Very well… Accel Arm!"

To Sleipmon's horror, Suijinmon lifted UlforceVeedramon up before slamming him into the ground brutally. He released an explosive shockwave into UlforceVeedramon and the surrounding ground. The Royal Knight's howl of pain was drowned out by the giant explosion around him.

Sleipmon's face went pale as he watched the massive blast of concussive energy send a geyser of dirt into the air. His bow arm lowered and he stared into the cloud of dust where UlforceVeedramon had been harmed.

"…ULFORCEVEEDRAMON!" he cried out. Sleipmon leapt off of the hill and galloped full speed towards Suijinmon.

"Sleipmon! You fool!" Duftmon called after him with incredulous anger and frustration. "What are you doing?!"

Sleipmon ignored him and dashed towards the crater where UlforceVeedramon had been left.

With the cobalt Royal Knight taken down, Suijinmon used his arms to break free from the ice encasing his legs. Once he was able to move them again, he began to turn towards Sleipmon. Before he could react, Sleipmon was upon him, driving his front hooves forwards. "Tactic Smear!" the Royal Knight shouted angrily, kicking his hooves into Suijinmon's face.

Duftmon narrowed his eyes as the D-Brigade Commander fell backwards, stunned by the blow. "'Tactic Smear', indeed…" he muttered. "My tactics have never been smeared more."

With Suijinmon knocked backwards, Sleipmon used the opportunity to circle around and go into the crater where UlforceVeedramon had been slammed. A mixture of worry and relief washed over him when he saw UlforceVeedramon lying at the bottom of the crater, groaning with pain. "Ulforce!" Sleipmon said, going over to his side. "Are you okay?!"

UlforceVeedramon winced and looked up at Sleipmon. "Can't move… I think…! Argh! M-My leg's broken… and shoulder's… dislocated… I don't think I can stand… Rgh!"

Sleipmon winced. This was his fault. He knew it was. "I'll get you out of here, Ulforce!" he reassured him, bending down and gently picking him up. UlforceVeedramon snarled in agony at being moved. "I'm sorry!" Sleipmon told him, grimacing as he placed UlforceVeedramon over his back. "Try to hold on!"

Once he felt comfortable that UlforceVeedramon was secure, Sleipmon started to gallop away from Suijinmon, back towards the base of the hill.

Suijinmon narrowed his eyes and levelled his two lower shoulder cannons with Sleipmon and UlforceVeedramon. "Mugen Cannon," he spoke, unleashing two blasts after Sleipmon and UlforceVeedramon.

UlforceVeedramon winced as he saw the two blasts hurdling towards them. "Hard left!" he told Sleipmon with a growly shout.

Sleipmon obeyed and turned quickly to the left, running along the bottom of the hill.

Duftmon watched him with a twitching eye. "Sleipmon! What do you think you're doing?!" he demanded. "That flank is collapsing as it is! You're leaving it completely unguarded!"

"I have to get UlforceVeedramon to safety!" Sleipmon called out in response, rushing northwards along the hillside.

"They are overrunning the hill! They will outflank and overwhelm us at this rate!" Duftmon protested. "Then we will all be in danger!"

"I'll be right back! I promise!" Sleipmon replied.

"It will be too late by then! …Where the hell did Gaioumon go?!" Duftmon exclaimed, his eye twitching as he watched the D-Brigade take control of the southern area and begin to encroach on the hill. What he saw was the tides of battle turning against them. He felt a sinking feeling inside of him. "…I cannot believe this."

He was so distracted by the thought of losing the battle that he didn't notice a missile flying towards him until it was too late. An airborne detonation sent Duftmon flying through the air but he swiftly recovered with only a cut in his wing. Duftmon narrowed his eyes and flew after Sleipmon and UlforceVeedramon, realizing that he would be drawing fire all alone up there.

"Perhaps this can still be salvaged," Duftmon muttered, his brain working swiftly as he flew down towards the row of pillars he created. "Perhaps if the three of us keep our distance and maintain a ranged bombardment…" He glared deeply. "No… We are the Royal Knights. All we need to do is concentrate our fire and simply overwhelm them. We can wipe them out with our combined strength surely… We can trample armies underfoot…" He clenched his fists. He hated himself for talking like that. In Duftmon's opinion, his tactics should be enough.

Alphamon glanced over from his duel with Raijinmon. He was concerned to see UlforceVeedramon hurt and the other two Royal Knights consolidating behind him. He took this to mean things weren't going well.

Raijinmon stopped his attack of Alphamon, lowering his steaming Blitz Arms and panting. "Perhaps you should withdraw, Alphamon. Things don't seem to be going your way," he advised him.

The leader of the Royal Knights narrowed his eyes, but secretly considered his words. He wondered if they should or not. UlforceVeedramon was hurt and they were starting to be cornered. It was just a matter of if they could hold out until…

"Commence bombardment!" a voice rang out.

Alphamon looked up to the top of the damaged hill. Standing at its peak was a single Digimon, standing with a sheathed sword pointing down at the D-Brigade.

It was Tactimon.

The sky behind him lit up with a rainbow of colours. Attacks streamed over the peak of the hill: fire, beams, electricity, missiles, water… It was a full spectrum of firepower. Digimon emerged behind Tactimon over the crest of the hill and began raining devastation down onto the D-Brigade. Explosions tore across the level grassland between the hill and the river, sending destruction and disarray among the D-Brigade force.

"What?" Suijinmon demanded, turning around as an explosion erupted nearby. He glared up at indignation at the emerging mass of Digimon.

Raijinmon narrowed his eyes and braced himself as a missile landed in front of him. "Reinforcements from Saversburg?!" he asked with a scowl.

Tactimon extended his arm towards the Royal Knights to the north. "First brigade, reinforce the Royal Knights!" he commanded. Gaioumon walked up beside Tactimon and nodded down at the Royal Knights. As ordered, Digimon soldiers began charging down the hill, firing at the D-Brigade as they went.

Alphamon looked up at their reinforcements and smiled. Sleipmon sighed with relief as well.

Duftmon, however, was less happy about it. "I don't believe this is happening… I'm being saved by him?!"

UlforceVeedramon managed a pained smirk. "Don't… complain…" he weakly said.

Meanwhile, Suijinmon narrowed his eyes as he watched the reinforcements manoeuvre. "There's too many… It's impossible to defeat them…" he murmured. He raised an Accel Arm up. "Alright, team! Gather the wounded and retreat! We're leaving Saversburg territory!"

Raijinmon spun around to look at Suijinmon with incredulity. "Retreating?!" he asked, making clear that the idea of failure was unappealing to him.

"I'm not losing any more soldiers in a battle that we can't win!" Suijinmon told him. "We're pulling back, Raijinmon! And you're leading the soldiers out while I cover our retreat."

Raijinmon grimaced and looked away. After a few moments of thought, he sighed and nodded. "Very well," he conceded. "But what about the objective?"

"We won't leave empty handed," Suijinmon responded, aiming his two operable shoulder cannons. "Just get the team to safety."

"Very well," Raijinmon responded, picking up the unconscious Darkdramon and Z'dGarurumon under his arms. He then began dashing south along the river. "Follow me, soldiers! Back to the Metal Empire!"

The D-Brigade Digimon obeyed, marching after him. Suijinmon strode forwards after the last of his soldiers passed him. He made sure to put himself between them and the Saversburg Army and the Royal Knights. He narrowed his eyes, gazing into the distance, ignoring the beam that struck in front of him.

"Mugen Cannon."

He unleashed a final torrent of energy from two of his cannons. The beams were aimed not at the Royal Knights or their reinforcements, but something else. The power pierced through one of the stone pillars that Duftmon had erected to block them. However, that wasn't their target. The beams continued to surge into the distance and enveloped the bridge that they had planned to capture. The bridge was swallowed up in the folds of the blasts and obliterated, leaving the Mamemon side cut off from the Saversburg side.

"Objective complete," Suijinmon spoke, his cannons smoking as he turned around and followed the D-Brigade team away.

Tactimon watched from the hillside as the D-Brigade retreated down along the Champion River. "Hold your fire! They're retreating!" he called out to the military. "Secure the area."

The Digimon ceased their attacks and began to spread out across the landscape to ensure that the D-Brigade team wouldn't regroup and counterattack. As the battle ceased, Tactimon and Gaioumon both walked down the hill towards the Royal Knights.

Alphamon spun around and walked over to Duftmon, Sleipmon, and UlforceVeedramon. "Ulforce," he said, observing the injured Digimon lying on Sleipmon's back with concern. "Are you alright?"

UlforceVeedramon winced but tried to play it off with a smile. "Y-Yeah. Just feel like I got stepped on by a giant robot," he responded.

Sleipmon grimaced. "His leg is broken and his shoulder is dislocated…" he informed him, guiltily.

"What happened?" Alphamon asked.

"I will tell you what happened," Duftmon said, seething as he stormed up to Sleipmon. "This naïve imbecile is responsible for the D-Brigade gaining the upper hand and UlforceVeedramon getting hurt!" He glared up at the large horse knight. "You know best, don't you? You aren't even able to follow simple orders out of your misplaced sense of morality. There is no place for your bleeding heart nonsense on the battlefield!"

"Duftmon," Alphamon told him firmly, placing a hand on the tactician's shoulder to try to calm him. He looked at Sleipmon. "Is this true, Sleipmon?"

Sleipmon looked away in shame. "Yes," he responded, although after Alphamon saw his expression, he needed no other confirmation. "When Suijinmon had UlforceVeedramon in his grip, I thought I could find a way to disable him without having to kill him."

Duftmon glared at Sleipmon. "You still insist on doing things by half. This is what happens when you act that way in a battle."

Alphamon looked at Sleipmon with sympathetic yet firm eyes. His gaze hardened and he walked up to the equine Royal Knight. "Sleipmon… While you know I understand your point of view, that was extremely irresponsible!" he chastised him sternly. "I understand your aversion to killing, and I understand why you feel that way, but UlforceVeedramon could have been the one deleted." He gestured to the wounded Royal Knight on his back. "This wasn't a Commandramon you were fighting. It was Suijinmon – one of the foremost and elite members of the D-Brigade - you can see for yourself the damage that he's capable of. We're just lucky that UlforceVeedramon wasn't hurt worse."

Sleipmon winced and ducked his head. "I'm sorry, Alphamon… Duftmon…"

"Duftmon is right, Sleipmon," Alphamon explained firmly. "It's naïve to think that you can save everybody on the battlefield. It's a valiant struggle, but it's a futile one. I understand that you don't want to feel the guilt of killing, but what if UlforceVeedramon had been deleted? How would you have felt then?"

"Indeed. I fully agree," Duftmon stated, folding his arms.

As Sleipmon grimaced, UlforceVeedramon began to feel guilty for being the cause of the conflict. "Alphamon, it's fine…" he assured him. "I'll be okay."

"It may have been worse," Alphamon said resolutely. He locked his red eyes with Sleipmon's violet ones. "I'm just trying to make you understand, Sleipmon… In battle, you need to be aware of your priorites. The highest one, above all, should be to protect your friends. The rest comes after."

"I-I understand," Sleipmon answered, his eyes shut tightly as he bowed his head. He looked over his shoulder to UlforceVeedramon. "I'm so sorry, Ulforce…"

UlforceVeedramon forced a pained smile. "Don't sweat it, Sleipmon… I'll be f-fine."

Duftmon gave a sideways leer towards Alphamon. "Pardon me. The highest priority should be to achieve the battle objectives," he corrected him.

Alphamon turned towards Duftmon. "This is partially your fault as well, Duftmon," he told him.

"…What?" Duftmon asked incredulously, looking at Alphamon like he was crazy. "…How in Yggdrasil's name is any of this my fault?!"

"You should have sent me instead of Sleipmon if you wanted Suijinmon taken down," Alphamon said, folding his arms. "You should know by now that Sleipmon has trouble deleting Digimon. You shouldn't have assumed that he would be able to do that. You need to take these things into account."

"Are you honestly blaming me for the fact that Sleipmon was unable to follow my tactics?" Duftmon wondered in disbelief. "That is rich. I am the easy target, of course."

"Alphamon has a point," Tactimon said, striding over to them with Gaioumon. He stopped in front of them and rested his sheathed sword, the Jutetsufujin-maru, on his shoulder.

"Who asked you?" Duftmon dismissively quipped.

"You can't just force a Digimon into a role without other considerations," Tactimon explained.

"Sleipmon is an archer with incredible accuracy, mobility, and defensive capabilities. That's why I sent him over to reinforce that flank," Duftmon defended. "I made that correct tactical move."

Tactimon sighed and shook his head. "You obviously didn't, or else that flank wouldn't have fallen," he said, causing Duftmon to glare furiously at him. "Duftmon, you shouldn't have relied on a pacifist to kill. You need to take individual Digimon into consideration: their abilities, their preferences, their combat style, their likes and dislikes... A battlefield is a not a vacuum where tactics are the only input."

"Those things are irrelevant. Stop attempting to shift the blame off of Sleipmon for your own purposes," Duftmon protested.

Tactimon narrowed his eyes. "Furthermore, you five only went ahead as a scouting contingent. You shouldn't have attacked."

"They attacked us, you fool," Duftmon answered coldly.

Alphamon sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "That part is true," he admitted. "Thank you for reinforcing us, Tactimon."

Tactimon shook his head. "I suppose I should be thanking you all. This wasn't your battle, but it seems like you did all the hard work while we just came in at the end," he stated.

"You aren't wrong there," Duftmon muttered, folding his arms.

"They blew up the bridge," Alphamon noted, looking up the river. "I suppose if they couldn't capture it, destroying it has the same effect."

"Isolating the Mamemon Kingdom from the east," Gaioumon noted, closing his eyes and sheathing his swords.

"So it seems…" Tactimon agreed, gazing up the Champion River. "I don't know how quickly we can repair the bridge. Perhaps a week? It certainly reveals the Metal Empire's intentions."

Alphamon nodded. "I hope we can rely on your support."

"In the capacity that I am able," Tactimon assured him, although vague enough to avoid commitment. He turned his head towards UlforceVeedramon. "Your friend is hurt. You should bring him to the hospital in Saversburg," he suggested.

UlforceVeedramon stifled a moan and began to slide off the left side of Sleipmon's back so that he could try to stand. "N-No, I'm fine!"

"Ulforce!" Alphamon protested, walking over as UlforceVeedramon stood on his right leg and used his left arm to steady himself against Sleipmon. "You shouldn't do that. Let's get you to the hospital."

"No, Alphamon. I'm fine," UlforceVeedramon stubbornly insisted. "Let's head back to the castle. We can – ngh – c-catch the Locomon if we're fast…"

Sleipmon frowned. "You're in no shape to move."

"Sleipmon's right. Your leg is broken," Alphamon agreed, putting Ulforce's uninjured arm over his shoulders while wrapping his own arm around his waist to steady him.

"My wings are fine. I'll fly," UlforceVeedramon said.

Duftmon rolled his eyes. "Don't be foolish. You could pass out from the pain," he stated.

UlforceVeedramon winced. "Still, we need to get home to tell the others about this. I'm not holding you guys back," he said stubbornly.

"At least let one of our combat physicians relocate your shoulder and give you some numbing herbs," Tactimon offered.

"Numbing herbs will keep me from moving, so no," UlforceVeedramon stated decisively, gritting his teeth. "And even if my shoulder's relocated, there's still the pain in my leg, so let's just go. Duskmon can patch me up at the castle."

Alphamon sighed. "Your stubborn side is showing, Ulforce," he pointed out. He looked over at Tactimon and Gaioumon. "I guess we'll head to the Locomon station in Saversburg now. Thank you for your support."

Gaioumon nodded. "It has been an interesting experience."

"Of course… It was good seeing you all. I wish the circumstances were better," Tactimon responded. "We will be sure to aid you against the dark rift problem. Though, as for the Metal Empire… that's a different issue."

"I understand," Alphamon assured him, keeping hold of UlforceVeedramon.

Duftmon folded his arms and looked away. "Farewell, then. You obviously have duties to attend to as a general," he told him curtly.

Tactimon's golden eyes lingered on Duftmon. "…Take care, Duftmon…" he said with a trace of warmth in his voice. "Please, at least think about some of the things I said. Despite our differences, it was good seeing you too."

Duftmon closed his eyes. "Goodbye, Tactimon," he answered.

As Tactimon turned around and walked off, his cape fluttered behind him in the breeze. Duftmon began to walk as well, heading up the hill to go back to Saversburg.

"Goodbye, Gaioumon," Alphamon told the dragon samurai, preparing to follow Duftmon and readjusting his hold on UlforceVeedramon. "Thank you for your help."

"I could only do so much, with my precarious position," Gaioumon answered. "I will return to New Terminal and tell the Council of Seven what happened."

Alphamon nodded, then turning his attention to UlforceVeedramon. "And we'll wait until we get home to get you patched up, but I'll carry you if I have to, Ulforce. No complaints."

UlforceVeedramon smiled faintly. "F-Fine," he agreed.

Sleipmon grimaced as he watched Alphamon begin to walk with UlforceVeedramon, supporting him with every step. The guilt stung his heart. He knew that he was responsible for what happened to UlforceVeedramon, and it made him sick knowing that it could have been even worse.

He slowly trudged after the pair, his head bowed and pained eyes gazing into the ground. "I just wanted to do the right thing… but I ended up hurting a friend. Alphamon's right… It was irresponsible. But I… I hate killing… I don't know what to do…" Sleipmon thought to himself with grimacing eyes. "Have I really been putting my friends in danger for my own benefit? Am I that selfish…?"

Sleipmon turned his guilty eyes up to look at UlforceVeedramon as they made their way back to Saversburg and eventually Castle Albion. "I need to fix this… Somehow…"