A.N. Hello everyone! It has been awhile. In addition to the new chapter, I've polished and added some dialogue to the previous chapters. Nothing major but hopefully the reading experience is better now.
[…Ganges riverbed flows from the highest planet down to the Universe's lowest. Seers descend from Satyaloka by using the river's flowing waters, the most common form of travel used by the mystic-yogis...]
The audiobook narrator's double-speed voice coming from a computer was accompanied by constant sound rustling as Tactimon flipped pages in swift succession. Occasionally, he released one of his hands from the two books he had immersed himself with to write down annotations on vellum that would later be placed on top of a slowly rising paper pile in his study desk. Said pile was now reaching his shoulder's height, a fifth in line to be more exact.
Resting on the samurai's head were the lorgnettes Ophis had endowed him. The glass' ability to translate virtually any text had been an invaluable aid in speeding up his work of understanding the myriad of writings from old codexes to even older clay tablets he'd found. What would have taken years of work to translate could be achieved in an instant, something he was intensely grateful for.
The lorgnettes in question were taped to Tactimon's helmet to keep them in place and to free both of his hands (he had found the tape roll inside one of the bureaus Ophis had summoned). While the usage of tape was in poor taste, he hadn't found anything better, and so he had to settle for what was available. He, of course, would get a proper chain to replace the improvised bindings the moment he had the time.
While Tactimon's days mostly consisted of doing research, he would put the books aside and go outside to ensure no one had ventured near his temporal hide-out. He was doing these patrols at irregular intervals to make sure his patrols could not be anticipated, should he be observed. A bit excessive perhaps, but in Tactimon's line of work, you could never be too careful. Ophis had done well in choosing this place as he had yet to see anything that warranted his attention. Even the animals seemed to avoid this place, if any lived in this world that is.
He could have used Jatetsufujin-maru to summon souls of deceased warriors from inside the sword to work as sentries. The undead would easily cover more ground than Tactimon, letting him just focus on his research, but he had intentionally withheld from doing so. You see, without a seal limiting the sword's power, Tactimon was very much aware of how the blade was whispering its sweet and alluring words to him. It was easy to ignore at first, but the constant suggestion to pull the blade out from the scabbard and find someone worthy whom against they could experience the rush of battle once more started to hinder his work.
Just he and his sword against whatever the world would throw against them, nothing else would matter. How the blades would clash and blood be spilled as both the soul and body focused on the dance between life and death, where one's journey continued at the expense of the other. Tactimon could feel his blood start pumping.
Patience, my friend. There will come a time to reveal our savageness but it is not now, Tactimon reassured his other half and he could feel his precious blade grumble in dissatisfaction before growing silent, for a while at least.
To find someone worthy to test their might against was tempting indeed but much as his heart longed for a fight, Tactimon's duty to his master far outweighed his desire to draw blood. One of the first things he did after Ophis left was to dismiss Jatetsufujin-maru, which was now in an incorporeal form safely tucked away, making its influence less prevalent so the samurai could concentrate on the task at hand. No, better not to wake the slumbering beast, Tactimon had decided. He could manage guarding this place by himself.
For the past four days, this has been his routine: read, patrol, and try to appease his sword. No time was spent on eating or sleeping, for a perfect soldier didn't need such things to operate. At most, an hour of meditation to let his mind recover from studying all day would have sufficed, but because time was limited, he could not afford this if he wanted to have everything ready when Ophis arrived.
Let it be known that Tactimon was nothing if not resourceful; having a seemingly impossible task on a tight schedule was nothing new to him. To overcome this challenge, he had split his focus where parts of his mind were dedicated to a different task. As he was reading two books at a time and listening to documentaries played by the computer, while also sorting out and writing down useful information, one part of his mind was recuperating from all this. By periodically rotating the assigned tasks, he could ensure every part of his mind would get enough rest so his mind would continue to work optimally. Managing less than this would have been unbecoming of Bagramon's best Head Officer and Tactimon would hold himself to the same standards for Ophis.
Even when patrolling, Tactimon did not stop, his brain analyzing and weaving plans from what he had learned from the library.
While splitting his focus allowed the samurai to work longer and even more efficiently than he usually could, the technique was not without its flaws. Allowing only parts of his mind to breathe did not replace the need for proper rest, only postponing it. Should he work too long like this there was a danger of overexerting his brain, forcing it to shut down. Thankfully, Tactimon had estimated he could continue multitasking at this pace for another few days which was more than enough for him to get everything needed to be done.
Getting to the last page of one of the two books he was reading, Tactimon threw the thick work behind him, not sparing a glance. The fifth volume of The Native American Gods and their Legends landed upright on a bookshelf, filling a gap just its size left on the shelf.
In his calculations, Tactimon would need to move to the upper shelf, meaning he would have to aim a little higher next time.
Opening the next book 'How to Barter with Gods - from Roman Augurs to the Northern Noadis', Tactimon dipped his pen in inc, writing a few more notes in Digimoji before continuing reading. Should someone try and read his writing with a translator device, they would only see random words with no meaning as Tactimon was using one of the code languages he had personally developed for his troops in the Bagra Army. You could never be too careful after all.
Submerging back into his work, the samurai started to go over what he had already learned.
One of the first things he had wanted to know was if Digimon existed in this world as well. Not having found any mention of their species after going over half the library already was quite telling, as it was unlikely his species's presence would have gone unnoticed here. It seemed he was truly the last of his kind.
In the place of Digimon, a myriad of other gods and monsters walked on the many realms existing here. Interestingly, many of these beings bore a surprising resemblance to Digital World's inhabitants, many even having similar names. It was almost like he was back home.
Almost, he reminded himself.
On the surface, it would certainly seem like Tactimon had arrived at a world that mirrored his own, but the illusion was quickly shattered the more he got into finer details. In the end, the resemblance was just that, a resemblance; this universe was fundamentally different from his own. And yet he couldn't help but sense some sort of an underlying connection between his world and theirs.
The most apt way Tactimon could explain this was the time he was securing Art Zone's Code Crown for Bagramon. After taking over the capital, he had started his search and had come across a row of paintings depicting some local legend in one of the abandoned buildings. While every painting portrayed the same scene, they all managed to look unique, with every painter having used a different style in their work.
Our worlds, similar yet different,Tactimon mused as he remembered Ophi's words.
The reason for these weird coincidences, Tactimon believed, had to do with one thing that was constant in both universes: humans. He had learned that many gods and their belief systems in this world relied on humanity's faith. Some scholars had even published works claiming that it was the human imagination that had first birthed the mythologies into existence.
These uncanny parallels to Digimon had not gone unnoticed by him. The power that humans' hearts held and how it could affect reality seemed to have been carried over to this world as well.
He knew humans had the potential to overcome many hardships, even succeeding where Digimon could not. The samurai had seen this with his own eyes and records of his world spoke of human children who had left their marks on Digital World's history. Humans, for all their fragility and weaknesses, had the potential to produce miracles. But as far as he knew, these acts could only be achieved because of the bond humans and Digimon formed, where the two sides complimented each other. The chosen humans of this world seemed to have actualized their latent abilities differently. Here they wielded powerful weapons, could cast magic and command the forces of nature by training, special bloodlines, or just plain luck. The sheer difference in number and variety of individuals with these supernatural abilities had given him pause, even when he had expected something like this from Ophis' short explanation from before.
Just imagining facing one of those human heroes he had read about made him giddy.
If Hero Faction is filled with warriors like these- Tactimon cut himself before he could give any more consideration to the idea and focused back on the two books in his hands, ignoring Jatetsufujin-maru's alluring whispers of glorious combat, who had sensed its owner's feelings.
He really needed to do something about his sword.
Going back on the matter, perhaps the most notable proof of still existing human potential was the Sacred Gears, miracles that the God of the Bible had created for humanity. These Gears reacted directly to the wishes and desires of the user, evolving according to their will. Should the holders will be strong enough, their Sacred Gear could even achieve a state called 'Balance Break', a form that had the potential to break the balance of power in the world, the most powerful of them having the potential to slay Gods.
Evolving by just strongly wishing for it. Just like we used to, Tactimon longingly thought.
Oh Your Highness, if only you could have seen this, Tactimon sighed. He was glad he didn't possess tear ducts.
Here he was, the last vestige of a doomed world; a stain left to remind of a possible dark future, somehow given a second chance to see what the future held.
Having enough of feeling blue, he focused back on the primary target of his investigation: Great Red, the Dragon of Apocalypse, True Red Dragon God Emperor, Dragon Of Dragons, and the countless other monikers given to the creature. He had found surprisingly little information about the dragon considering it was common knowledge in the supernatural world that it, or he (as many referred Great Red), was the strongest in existence. Most historical texts had only a passing mention of Great Red's invasion of the Dimensional Gap. This had happened in the days of ancient, when gods were young and worlds were beginning to emerge and the dragon had stayed in the world between worlds to this day. Great Red was rarely sighted, most of these records coming from a god or dragon who had challenged them to a fight. In every encounter, Great Red had ignored the other party, content on just flying in the Dimensional Gap, even the one time a deity had directly attacked him.
This last incident had finally spurred most leaders of mythologies into action, forbidding their members from antagonizing Great Red for fear of the Dragon's wrath finally falling on them and the possible cataclysmic consequences that would follow. It was the first time in history that the different mythologies had come to an agreement, even if it was an unofficial one. To this day, the unspoken degree has been successfully enforced and Great Red has enjoyed its life in the Dimensional Gap undisturbed.
It seemed Ophis had been handed the short end if the only people to even humor her attempts to kill Great Red were the Khaos Brigade members. This would also make his mission more complicated as there would not be many who would be ready to help him on this endeavor, up-front at least. It would also paint a big target on his back, just like Ophis undoubtedly had, meaning he would have to use discretion, moving in the shadows.
Great Red, dragon born from Dreams and Illusions... What would happen, should it be somehow slain? Gods here were living embodiments of concepts, and their deaths or prolonged absences were known to affect the fundamental workings of the world. Would this world become similar to his own, where hearts no longer carried dreams? A world bereft of imagination and hope?
Tactimon did not want to find out the answer.
He was honor-bound to his master and he would see to it that Ophis' home was freed once and for all. But… perhaps it didn't need to end in the Dragon of Dragon's demise.
Ophis' exact wording for him had been 'dispose Great Red from the Dimensional Gap'. To achieve this objective, he only needed to remove the dragon from the void world and ensure it could pose no longer a threat to Ophis. This might not follow the spirit of their contract and Tactimon knew he was toying the line, but he also wasn't disobeying her order, the samurai reasoned. Perhaps, when the time was right, he would try to broach the subject with her.
But that was for the future. He could plan and prepare all he wanted in this hideout but if he wanted things to move forward, he would need to act. For all his ingenuity and power, he was but one Digimon and could not be everywhere at once.
In his previous life, there had been no shortage of evil Digimon willing to wreak death and havoc in the name of the Bagra Empire. Their army's ranks were additionally bolstered by countless Troopmon and other artificial Digimon whom Bagramon had brought to life, eagerly following their master's order. Fear was what had kept the soldiers of the Bagra Empire in line, and that had usually been enough. Few had dared to try and desert the army and the ones who failed were made an example.
Now? The situation was different. Tactimon had no military apparatus to enforce order nor could he rely just on his might to cow others under his master's rule. People, competent and loyal, would be required if he wished to fulfill his duty to his new master.
Finding competent subordinates would not be a problem for him. No matter the world, there were always criminals, assassins, and other filth willing to do the dirty deed for the right amount of money or coercion. While not an approach Tactimon favored, people like that had their uses. The downside for these easily formed allegiances was they could as easily be broken, and he knew the cost.
Dorulumon, Tactimon's right-hand man and one of the most promising warriors he had met and to whom he had foolishly placed his trust, had once leaked confidential information and deserted. The act ruined his perfect battle plan, costing him a victory. Thinking about the incident still managed to leave a sour taste in the samurai's mouth after all these years.
He would not have the same repeated here.
Tactimon doubted there would be many willingly joining him, his cause could said to be near impossible to achieve. He didn't have the charisma or the wisdom Bagramon had. He could lie and deceive what were his intentions, but doing it all the time came with a high risk of someone finding out the truth.
Did you face similar problems in your early days too, Xros Heart and Blue Fire? Tactimon wondered.
If those two groups could grow from a handful of Digimon and humans to a well-functioning army capable of threatening the Bagra Empire in under a year, surely one of the Three Head Officers could do the same as well?
No, he would not allow himself to be outdone by them. They had already defeated him once, he wouldn't allow them the satisfaction of victory again, even posthumously!
Throwing a book behind him, Tactimon reached for the next work, his hand grasping empty air. Looking to his left revealed the wooden desk's polished surface. It seemed he finished earlier than he initially estimated.
The library had provided him with a good general grasp of what to expect from this world, from history to economics and cultures to more specific matters, supernatural and mundane. Turning toward the computer's screen he sped the video even more while starting to browse through the rest of the computer files. While the device didn't have an internet connection, the files it had made up for it.
[…if the river is thousands of kilometers long, a perfect yogi can instantly travel from one place to another simply by stepping in the flowing waters…] continued the high-pitched voice of the narrator.
Throwing a piece of paper at his feet, Tactimon inspected how the talisman's inscription shimmered in dark violet, before erupting in flames and leaving a black spot on the melted snow. Seeing his attempt not working as intended, the samurai started to make some additional changes to the formula.
Tactimon had never been good at a high-level programming language, or magic, as it was more commonly called here. This was not because he was bad at math, he could quite effortlessly calculate and form the necessary formulas for the spells in his mind. The problems came when he tried to launch them. At most, the magic would try to pitifully sputter to life before dying, resulting in a puff of smoke.
Even you can't excel in everything, Tactimon reminded himself, his mood becoming sour. For the perfect soldier to botch casting even elementary-level incantations… simply embarrassing.
Him and magic not mixing was an unfortunate side-effect due to Tactimon's nature as Bagramon had explained him once. It was also something Lilithmon would poke fun at when she couldn't come up with anything better in their petty disputes comparing how many Code Crowns each Head Officer had collected. He, of course, was always ahead of the other two. Fond memories, but he digressed.
While Tactimon had little to no talent for casting magic, it didn't mean he couldn't use it. Direct spell-casting was not impossible but very time-consuming to get right. Hence, one of the few incantations he could say to be competent was a simple teleportation spell. It had taken Tactimon decades to master it, but it had been necessary. More than once it had allowed the samurai to step in time to assist his troops or allow himself a quick retreat from an unfavorable battle, a flexibility the Zone Transfer method lacked.
To overcome his limitation, Tactimon used components as the spell's focus. Like the tanegashimas' on his back that drew their energy directly from him, he was imbuing the vellums with his power to try and force the formula he had written on them to activate. While the magic still didn't work as intended, he had made good progress compared to the initial unfortunate explosions of the first batch. Normally, Tactimon wouldn't have needed to try his hand at spell crafting as Bagra Empire had Digimon designated for these kinds of duties but as the samurai noted once again, these were not normal times and he would need to adapt.
Throwing another talisman, its writing started to glow, the dark purple color more prevalent than previously. After disappearing, the vellum reappeared a short distance away on a wooden board that had a magical circle drawn on it.
Finally, a success! Tactimon silently celebrated as the world started to darken, the sun slowly disappearing behind the mountains.
And not a moment too soon, he smirked in satisfaction.
Tactimon would try experimenting a few more times, making final adjustments to ensure the formula worked perfectly. Seeing the fourth vellum appear on the magic circle in a row, he collected his equipment alongside the rest of the unused parchments and headed back inside. He was ready to go.
Leaving the outpost unguarded was risky, but he believed the rudimentary wards he had placed around the building would alert him, should an intruder decide to pay a visit to this corner of the world. With the constant snowing, any tracks left by him had been long covered, lowering the chances of someone discovering this place further.
He had a long debate about whether he should contact Ophis before leaving, akin to a nervous child who wasn't sure if they should disturb their parent from their work. In the end, he decided not to. His master had not prohibited him from leaving the outpost and this was to do with the preparations of his plans. To ask her would be a waste of Ouroboros Dragon's time.
Tactimon left a note on his desk explaining his temporal absence with a few of the talismans Ophis could write her message and send to him, should she come here while he was away.
After getting everything ready, he stepped outside to the courtyard, focusing on the familiar teleportation spell. Feeling the magic take effect, Tactimon's body was briefly engulfed in static before he started to fade away. A final flash of white noise was accompanied before the samurai disappeared completely.
On the seventh day, Tactimon rested while giving the final touches to his plan. Sitting next to his annotations, the combined paper tower now as tall as Tactimon, was a smaller one only a couple of pages long. While going over the document for the nth time, he felt a familiar presence arrive outside the building.
None of his wards had been activated.
Taking the lorgnettes from his head, Tactimon placed the glasses down by the golden chain attached to them. Getting up from the oak desk the samurai walked over to the entrance door and pushed it open, the door shoveling snow away in the process. The silver moon shone high in the cloudless starry sky, its white light making the snowy landscape glimmer in return. In the past six days, it had gotten significantly colder.
Standing before Tactimon was Ophis in her scant clothing, indifferent to the biting frost and snow, her two dull black eyes staring expectantly at him.
''Are you finished?'' A lone cloud of vapor was released from her mouth, the only indication he was talking with a living being, her pale skin not helping the matter.
''Yes Ophis, I have prepared everything ready for you. Please,'' Stepping aside from the door Tactimon beckoned her inside.
Ophis nodded and started to wade through the knee-high snow bank.
''Other faction leaders have been asking to see you,'' Ophis said to Tactimon as she reached the door.
''Is that so?'' he asked, not sounding surprised at all.
''I told them you did not want to be disturbed.''
''Thank you Ophis. However, I believe we will get acquainted soon enough.''
Those people should be more careful about what they wish for, Tactimon smugly thought, before reminding himself that he was getting ahead of things.
Getting inside the warm building, Tactimon followed Ophis and closed the door.
''I first want to express my deepest gratitude for lending me all these texts and materials. I have written down everything I need and am ready to return these to you. All the books are in the exact order you gave them,'' the samurai addressed his master.
''You can keep them,'' Ophis simply said.
Tactimon's first instinct was to refuse her as this was way too much for someone like him. But before he could form an eloquent protest she beat him as if sensing what he was about to say.
''You asked for books and information so you could learn how to kill Great Red,'' she said as if that explained everything.
While she showed no emotion, he got a feeling that Ophis would not budge on the matter. The only option left for the samurai was to bow deep.
''Thank you Ophis. Your generosity knows no bounds.''
Hearing this, the Ouroboros Dragon inclined her head, not understanding why she was being commended.
Rising back to his full height, Tactimon retrieved the small paper heap he had left on the desk, offering it to Ophis.
''Now then. I have prepared a presentation for you which is meant to explain my plan for ultimately freeing the Dimensional Gap. The notes you have will provide you with additional information,'' Tactimon said as he pulled out a blackboard.
Gesturing behind his master, he continued, ''This will take a while, so if you prefer, I have prepared a seat for you.''
Turning around Ophis could see an armchair between a stack of books. Instead of sitting on the comfortable leather, she opted to hop on one of the book piles.
Deciding not to correct her, Tactimon continued, ''Now, if any questions come to your mind during the presentation, please do not hesitate to interrupt me. I will do my utmost best to answer each one of them.''
''Ok,'' Ophis said and started to stare at Tactimon with such intensity it was starting to make him uneasy.
Doing his best to ignore his master's soul-piercing gaze, Tactimon began to write on the chalkboard.
''I have given a lot of thought to how the Khaos Brigade's operations could be improved even further. After careful consideration, I believe two things need to be done that would greatly benefit your organization in liberating the Dimensional Gap.
First is the establishment of a new division, which I will be referring to as 'Ouroboros Division' for now. The second part pertains to the overall structure in which Khaos Brigade operates… '' He started lecturing.
Ophis attentively listened to Tactimon explaining but after she realized no immediate solution for killing Great Red was going to be revealed, her aura subsided. Alleviated, the samurai continued going over the necessary steps needed to be taken to establish the groundwork for her new division. For the hour, Ophis passively listened to Tactimon's presentation, mechanically turning over to the next page of her document when he told him she would find additional information there. Otherwise, the dragon hadn't moved an inch, being still as a stone statue. The only indication she was even listening was the blinking of her eyes, which happened exactly twice, as per Tactimon's count.
He had gone to great lengths to make the presentation as informative and easily followed as possible, but because Ophis showed no expressions, it was impossible to gauge what she thought of it. He once tried to prompt an opinion from her to which she answered ''I trust in your judgment on this,'' not alleviating Tactimon's fret if the presentation was up to her standards.
''… and it is for these reasons I believe it would be beneficial for you if the other faction leaders are summoned to discuss more in detail concerning the matter. That is all.'' Tactimon finished, feeling oddly exhausted.
''I see. I will tell the other leaders to come to meet us in the base then,'' Ophis hopped off the stack of books and returned the sheet of papers to Tactimon.
''Thank you Ophis. I hope you found this worth your time,'' Tactimon's calm voice belied the restlessness inside him.
''I did,'' the Dragon plainly said.
While celebrations were going on inside Tactimon's head for a job well done, Ophis turned around, ready to leave.
''Should any questions or suggestions arise to you regarding the Ouroboros Division or other parts of the plan, I'm always ready to hear and answer them,'' Tactimon urged Ophis, seeing she was about to disappear again.
''Mmhm,'' Was his master's reply.
Just when Ophis was about to teleport, her eyes caught the books she had been sitting on and stopped. Resting on the top of the pile was a dictionary.
Inclining her head, Ophis became deep in thought before marching over to her improvised seat. Opening the thick tome she started to flip through its pages, all the while Tactimon silently observed her, intrigued by her action.
A few minutes passed before she turned back to face him, and Tactimon could swear he saw a flicker of something in Ophis' eyes.
''I, have a suggestion.''