Author's Note: I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do this chapter tonight. I ended up getting a pretty bad migraine this afternoon and wasn't sure if I'd be up to writing it. But I ended up recovering around 8:00, so I decided to give it a try. There's been a slight change in plans with this story. There was originally going to be an epilogue, but the conclusion to the big battle with Lucemon ended up being shorter than I thought it would be. So the part that was going to be the epilogue is now the final half of this chapter. In other words, this is it, the end of the story itself. I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.

Chapter 11: Beast of Revelation

The pillar of black flames that had exploded from Lucemon began to fade, and from it emerged horrifying creature. It was an immense dark-purple dragon with twelve wings and golden claws. It had no snout and a golden mask covered its eyes. The crests of the Seven Lords hovered above it, and in its front claws it held a massive black sphere. Within Ophanimon, Kari felt the same terror she felt when Dragomon emerged from the depths of the Dark Ocean, and she was not sure if she or any of the others would survive fighting the thing that was clearly Lucemon. With its transformation complete, the Lucemon Dragon reared back its head a breathed a wave of green flames at the team. Miraculously they were all able to evade the attack.

"How the hell are we supposed to destroy that thing?" Sakuyamon asked.

"There might be a way," HiAndromon answered in a calm and rational manner. "It appears this evolution was a last resort move for Lucemon. This suggests that while this form is powerful, it might have a critical weakness."

"Do you have any idea what that might be?" Alphamon asked.

"If I were to guess, I would have to say the black sphere that the dragon is holding. It doesn't seem to serve any purpose. If we destroy the sphere, we may end up destroying or at least disabling Lucemon."

"So how do we destroy the sphere?" Seraphimon asked.

"Justimon, if you would be so kind as to convert your arm to sword mode please?" HiAndromon asked.

Justimon complied and changed his mechanical forearm to an attachment with a red energy blade at the end. HiAndromon's right forearm changed to an identical attachment.

"I believe these blades should be powerful enough to pierce the sphere," HiAndromon explained. "Justimon and I can attack the sphere while the rest of you distract Lucemon."

"Very well. We shall do as you suggest," Alphamon agreed.

With their plan decided, most the team charged back into the battlefield. Justimon and HiArndromon hung waited for the right moment to strike as the rest of the team threw everything they had at the dragon. At one point the creature fired off beams of light from the crests hovering above it, which rained down on the battlefield and cause massive destruction to the temple. The team managed to survive the attack however and continued their assault. At last when the dragon's attention was focused on Alphamon, Justimon and HiAndromon charged in and pierced the black sphere held by the dragon with their blades. The sphere began to fade, and soon it revealed a larva-like creature with two red insect eyes and twelve gold-feathered wings.

"No, no, NO! Damn you all!" the larva shouted in a high and very shrill voice. "I will destroy you for this!"

"What the hell is that thing?" Marsmon asked.

"I see. That thing is the real Lucemon," Alphamon realized. "This dragon is some sort of shadow controlled by the larva. Without it the dragon is only a mindless beast."

"Then let's take out its brain!" Marsmon cried before lunging at the Lucemon Larva and knocking it out from between the dragon's claws.

The dragon then went of a berserk rampage and went began attacking wildly. The team members managed to get out of the way. At this point Alphamon unfurled his golden wings and rose into the air.

"Foul creature of the Digital World! I, Alphamon, shall put an end to thee!" Aplhamon proclaimed. "Digitalize of Soul!"

The sky above darkened and became covered by a magic circle of green light. From the center of the circle came the head of a massive white dragon. The dragon's head extended down into the battlefield and devoured the Lucemon Dragon. The head then retracted back into the circle and the sky once again became clear. The battle was not quite over however, as the Lucemon Larva was still alive.

"Die! Die! All of you shall die!" the larva shrieked as it began firing energy blasts from its stinger.

The larva then flew at Ophanimon, all the while firing off its weapon. Within Ophanimon, Kari felt sure that it was all about to come to an end. Suddenly Seraphimon charged in front of Ophanimon at lighting speed and slashed the larva in half with a sword blade extended from his right gauntlet. The two halves dropped to the ground and then dissolved into particles of data. The thing that was Lucemon was no more.

"Are you alright?" Seraphimon asked Ophanimon as he turned to face her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ophanimon answered as she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well done all of you," Alphamon said to the rest of the team. "Together we have saved both the Digital and human worlds. The battle is now over, so let us return home."

A bit later, Tai and the others were still waiting in the spot where they fought Megidramon. They soon saw Team Excalibur, the Tamers, and their Digimon approaching them. Immediately Tai and the rest ran up to them.

"So did you guys win?" Davis asked.

"We wouldn't be standing here if we didn't," Arthur pointed out. "It was a difficult battle though, but in the end we prevailed. The terror of Lucemon and the rest of Seven Lords is no more."

"Well then, I guess we should get out of here," Tai told the group, and with that they all headed for the nearest portal to the human world.

A week had passed since the final battle with Lucemon. T.K. and Kari were finishing up the move into their new apartment. It seemed like life was finally returning to a peaceful norm of some sort. As Kari finished unpacking the last box, there was a knock on the door. T.K. finished what he was doing and went to answer it. He opened the door to find Matt and Tai on the other side.

"Mind if we come in?" Tai asked.

"Of course not," T.K. answered as he stepped aside to allow the two to enter.

"Are you two settling in okay?" Matt asked as he and Tai stepped inside.

"We're doing fine," Kari answered. "So are you two here just to check up on us?"

"That's part of the reason why we're here," Tai admitted. "The main reason is to tell you that Matt and I are going to help Rika and Ryo return to their version of Earth, so we'll be gone for awhile."

"Why are you guys going with them?" T.K. asked.

"We just want to make sure they return home safe," Matt answered. "We'll try and be back as soon as we can."

"Well then, have a safe trip," Kari told the two.

"…Hey Kari? I'm really happy that you're back," Tai told her after a brief pause. "And I'm sorry that I blew up at you when you showed up with Team Excalibur. I can be a real idiot sometimes. I'm also sorry that I didn't rescue you from the Dark Ocean."

Kari nodded and gave him a reassuring smile. "I know you tried everything you could to find me. And while you may be an idiot every now and then, you're still the best big brother I've got."

The two siblings hugged after that, breaking apart again after a few moments.

"Matt and I should get going now," Tai told his sister. "The others are waiting for us."

"Take care," Kari told both Matt and Tai as they left.

With their brothers gone, T.K. and Kari sat down on the couch.

"We have everything unpacked, right?" Kari asked.

"Yep, everything's where it should be," T.K. answered

"Where are Patamon and Gatomon?" Kari asked after looking around the room for a moment.

"They went off for some alone time. Those two have really hit it off."

Suddenly Kari sighed and cuddled up next to T.K. Instinctively T.K. put his arm around her.

"You okay?" T.K. asked.

"I'm just so happy that it's finally over," Kari answered. "I can relax without having to worry about the Dark Ocean or the Seven Lords. There were a few times when I really thought I was going to die, especially when we were fighting Lucemon. But with you with me I somehow knew we would make it."

T.K. and Kari shared a long kiss after those words, breaking apart after a few moments.

"So what do you want to do now?" T.K. asked.

"Let's just stay like this for awhile," Kari answered, and with that, the couple relaxed on the couch in each other's arms and began to doze off.

PRIDE – END

Author's Note: So that's it, the end of Demon Crisis. I'd like to thank everyone for reading. This was a big project, but a fun one to do. There were quite a few thing in the Digimon franchise that I wanted to explore, like the Dark Ocean, Ryo's origins, and of course the Seven Lords. I'm not quite done with Digimon yet though. The next Digimon story I plan to do takes place in the Tamers world, and focuses on Takato and Jeri (you never will believe what I have in store for that tale). I also plan to do the origin story of Team Excalibur at some point, and I have a few other ideas for sequels.

There will be a delay in doing those stories though. I've been working on this project for so many months that I want to take a break from Digimon for a while and do other things. I already have two other stories going, plus a few ideas for some others. I will try and get back to the Digimon franchise soon though, maybe in a few months. So in the meantime stay tuned. And feel free to check out my other stories too.

Thanks again for reading, and please review and let me know what you think.

Update from 12/10/20: If you're reading this, it means the version of the story you've just finished has been updated since it was originally posted about eight years ago. By this point, Home by the Sea and all of the Demon Crisis books have now been edited. Like with most of those stories, this one only needed a little "cosmetic work". Nothing about the story itself has been changed. All I did was correct a few mistakes I should've gone back and fixed years ago, polished the dialogue so it read a little better, and tweaked or added a few details here and there. Actually I did make a significant change with some of the dialogue in the scene between Kari and Davis in Chapter 8.

I really wish I had made a lot of these changes years ago, but I was a different writer back then; just an eager newcomer to this site with probably too much enthusiasm and not nearly enough self-discipline. This editing project really has been a trip down memory lane for me. Anyway, if you're a new reader of this story, you can just ignore the little addition to this final author's note to the story. As for any returning readers, I hope the changes I've made weren't too much of a shock. Either way, I hope you enjoyed reading.

~The Count