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 spiraling out of control, all while dealing with their own issues?

106. Chapter 74: Deviation

(Author's Notes: Chapter 74 is here! The next chapter will be a (full-length) Interlude as we move into the fourth and final act of Holy War. Expect to see that in the next three or so weeks, hopefully. As always, read, review, and enjoy!)

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Chapter 74: Deviation

"Where do you think you're goin', Bugsy?"

GrandisKuwagamon stood stone-still. He felt the two sawed-off, steel, shotgun barrels nestle into his hair and dig into the back of his head. He felt his insides freeze up and a bead of sweat crawled down the side of his head.

In that moment, he felt the sudden chill of dread. All he could do was watch helplessly as Black WereGarurumon disappeared into the darkness, leaving him to his fate.

As the seconds ticked by, so did his life. He knew he had to do something. The longer that he waited, the more guilty he would appear.

"Three-eyes…" GrandisKuwagamon greeted, putting on his usual calm bravado. "Long time no see."

"Yeah! No shit! Hell, we all thought you were dead!" Beelzebumon announced with a darkly wry smirk, not moving his gun from the insect man's head even an inch. "And yet, here you are, all safe and sound. Funny that…"

"'Funny', yeah. I don't feel safe, somehow," he sarcastically noted, glancing back at the shotgun.

"Can't be too careful. There's been lotsa betrayals around here lately. Getting kinda hard to know who to trust, you know how it is…" Beelzebumon noted wryly. He tilted his head to look past GrandisKuwagamon, gazing down the corridor and into the open dungeon. "Oh, hey! Would ya look at that! Looks like somebody busted into the dungeon, killed all the guards, and let the Royal Knights go! Well, shit! What a thing to happen! …Say, you wouldn't happen to know anything about that, now would ya, bug?" he wondered with a goading grin, grinding his shotgun a little harder into his head.

GrandisKuwagamon's internal tension increased, but he remained externally calm and relaxed in response to the accusation.

"…Huh? Wait, there were Royal Knights here? Hey, I dunno what you're implying, but I just got here to find it like this. I thought it was pretty weird," GrandisKuwagamon attempted to lie.

"Yeah, damn. That's weird alright…" Beelzebumon nonchalantly played along. "But hey… Just for the fun of it… put your hands on your head, Bugsy."

GrandisKuwagamon bit back a scowl. It seemed like Beelzebumon wasn't as dumb as he looked. Feeling the cold steel pushing into the back of his head, he reluctantly raised his arms. He knew that if he tried to make any sudden moves, Beelzebumon wouldn't hesitate to blow his head off. He slowly placed his hands on the top of his head, allowing the long claws on his Gran Killers to cross and interlock.

"Y'see, when you say things like that, it hurts my feelings," GrandisKuwagamon offhandedly replied. "I'm not really feeling the trust here, Beelze. Is this any way to treat someone who's been helping you guys?"

"Help us? Nah. You seem like a guy who helps himself. And I can tell, cuz I'm the same way," Beelzebumon pointed out with a smirk. "Now, turn around – slowly."

GrandisKuwagamon scowled, realizing that Beelzebumon wasn't buying his act, and he reluctantly turned around. As he gradually pivoted in place, Beelzebumon moved with him. The Demon Lord made sure that he was standing behind the insect man with his gun at the back of his head at all times.

"Now walk," Beelzebumon ordered him.

As GrandisKuwagamon turned and began walking, he glanced back into the dark dungeon.

He knew that Black WereGarurumon wasn't coming back. After all, why would he? The wolf made it clear to him that he didn't like nor trust him. There was no way that he would risk his own life or that of the others to come back and help him. GrandisKuwagamon didn't expect him to – he was used to the mantra of 'every mon for themselves' from his mercenary days.

Yet, why did he feel a slight stinging inside of him? He had no expectations from the other Rooks to care about him. He was a newcomer and they hated him for the things that he'd done. So, why did he feel as though he had been abandoned?

GrandisKuwagamon realised why… This was the same feeling that he had felt when Blitzmon and Bolgmon used him as a decoy for the Royal Knights. It was a lonely ache… Maybe he hadn't expected much from Black WereGarurumon, but he had expected more from his childhood friends. He wondered why this kept happening to him... It had always been so easy to blame them, but now, in these prolonged several seconds with his panicked mind racing, he began to look inwards.

"I wonder why that is! Oh, that's right. Because they already found our hideout, ransacked all of our stuff, and made sure we can never go back there. All thanks to a certain, trigger-happy dumbass!"

"Try me, fat-ass! And since when did you make yourself our leader?"

"Yeah, yeah. When Bolgmon doesn't screw it up."

GrandisKuwagamon frowned as he reflected on his many insulting and needling words towards Bolgmon. He fleetingly wondered if that was what drove them to edging him out of the company… to using him as a scapegoat… and to trying to kill him.

He wondered if his sharp tongue was also the reason why he couldn't expect Black WereGarurumon's support. He had been trying to get a rise out of him all day… Maybe he had given him a reason not to help him. Maybe his actions gave both Black WereGarurumon and Bolgmon the perfect excuses that they needed.

GrandisKuwagamon looked down bitterly as he was forced down the hallway at gunpoint and forced to take a right turn down a branching corridor. He knew that he had made a lot of mistakes, but he wondered if more of his misfortunes were his fault than he realised. It had always been easier to blame his friends for their betrayal. But now he wondered… had he really been so blind not to realize the growing rift between them or how his words were being taken? He always thought himself a pretty perceptive guy, but had he really not noticed? Was he that dense? Or had he taken them for granted? Either way, he couldn't help but begin to think that he brought it upon himself.

"For someone with such a big mouth, you sure are quiet," Beelzebumon noted from behind him as he marched him down the corridor that he came from.

"Yeah? Well, maybe I don't wanna spook you and have you accidentally blow my head off," GrandisKuwagamon sarcastically replied, putting up a front to cover what he was feeling.

"Huh. Yeah, that'd be gross," Beelzebumon agreed. "Bug guts are so weird and jelly-like, ain't they?"

"Pretty much, though having a random eye on your forehead's pretty weird too. And what's with those wires on your back? D'you need to be plugged in to recharge or something?" the black scarab teased him, hoping that maybe he could make Beelzebumon lower his guard enough to escape.

Beelzebumon smirked but kept his shotgun in place. "Stop here," he told the bug, making them both stop in front of a dark doorway. He used his other hand to gesture to their left, towards the dark chamber. "Go in there."

GrandisKuwagamon hesitated for a moment, but he reluctantly turned and walked in with his hands still on his head. He made down a few steps into the dark chamber, which had the pungent aroma of fermented grapes. He held his breath, expecting it to be full of Demon Lords or torture devices or something.

When he walked in, he saw that there weren't Demon Lords or sadistic contraptions, but stacks-upon-stacks of barrels. He realised that the chamber in question was actually a cellar stockpiled full of kegs of wine. This wasn't quite the destination he was dreading.

"…Huh?" GrandisKuwagamon flatly asked, looking around at the racks of kegs and boxes. "A wine cellar? What are you gonna do? Half-drown me in a barrel of wine until I talk?"

"Mm… Nah. Why ruin perfectly good booze by contaminating it with a grimy bug?" Beelzebumon said with a teasing smirk. He finally lowered his shotgun from GrandisKuwagamon's head and held it more loosely at his waist, though still pointing it at him. He gestured with his hand over to a pair of two crates in front of them. "Sit."

GrandisKuwagamon hesitantly made his way over to the boxes and he sat down on the one on the left. "…Can I put my arms down now?" he dryly asked

"Eh. I guess so, but don't try anything. I've got an itchy trigger finger," Beelzebumon reminded him. The Demon Lord of Gluttony walked over to him and planted himself down on the box opposite from GrandisKuwagamon. He kept the Berenjena aimed at him as he watched GrandisKuwagamon slowly lower his arms to his sides.

"So… where'd you disappear to and what're you doing sneaking around here, Bugsy?" Beelzebumon bluntly asked him.

GrandisKuwagamon cautiously eyed the Demon Lord. Beelzebumon's three eyes gazed back at him with an outward display of informality, but the way they held his stare and seemed to penetrate him made it feel as though this was a subtle interrogation. He wasn't about to let his guard down.

"You mean at New Terminal?" GrandisKuwagamon asked with informal confusion. "Oh, that. Bagramon sent me on a secret mission. I just finished that up and I came back here to meet with—" He stopped, frowning as Beelzebumon suddenly stood up and approached him. "Hey, what are you—mmph?!"

Beelzebumon stuffed the twin barrels of the Berenjena shotgun in GrandisKuwagamon's mouth, preventing him from finishing his sentence. "Yeeeaaaah, I'd think real hard about bullshitting me, Bugsy," the leather-clothed Demon Lord advised him with a dark grin, wiggling the shotgun back and forth inside him and making sure that GrandisKuwagamon could taste the bitter metal. "I ain't an idiot, and it pisses me off when Digimon think they can pull a fast one on me. It never ends well for 'em. You're no exception."

GrandisKuwagamon let out a gasp as the shotgun was finally pulled out of his mouth. He carefully raised his Gran Killer to wipe some of the fallen saliva from his chin as he looked up at Beelzebumon. He saw the Demon Lord staring down at him with a sharp glare and he could see that he was absolutely serious.

"So, Bugsy… I'm gonna ask you one more time," Beelzebumon methodically told him. "And because I don't hate ya, I'll have a good, long think about what I'm gonna do next while you tell me the truth... Where've you been? And what're you doing? …Go."

GrandisKuwagamon let out a breath. As tempting as it was to lie, he knew that in some cases, it was better to come clean and tell the cold, hard truth. He had the feeling that he knew a little bit about how Beelzebumon's mind worked. He was pretty sure that he was being sincere right then, and that Beelzebumon would respect him more if he told him the truth, no matter how bad it sounded.

Then again… he hadn't exactly had great reads on other Digimon recently. Still, he knew that he had to take the chance.

"Okay, okay… No bullshit, three-eyes…" GrandisKuwagamon agreed with a sigh. "We last saw each other before New Terminal, right? You know what my job was and that I completed my mission."

"Yeah, you opened up them gates for us. Then nobody knows what happened to ya next," Beelzebumon answered, sitting back down again. "Most money was on that Alphamon iced ya."

"Yeah, well… I won't bore you with my history, but when I saw what the demons were doing to the city, I had a sudden flash of conscience. Weird for an amoral mercenary like me, I know… but it brought some heavy shit back and I suddenly had big regrets about what I was doing. I didn't want to be that savage mercenary who razed whole cities," GrandisKuwagamon sheepishly explained, though he wasn't expecting any sympathy from the demon. "That was what I was feeling after I opened the gates. It didn't exactly help that I was getting attacked both by the Order and by you guys either."

"Anyway… long story short, I was fighting some of the soldiers from the Royal Knights and then I got a laser in the chest that nearly ripped my guts out – and yeah, they were weird and jelly-like," he dryly mentioned. "I woke up in hospital after the battle and I was in the Royal Knights' custody. Well, I say that, but I was planning on surrendering to them anyways before I got attacked by the crazed dragon lady."

"…Yeesh. Sounds like all the shit hit the fan for you, Bugsy," Beelzebumon remarked with obvious amusement. He reached behind him and opened a nearby crate, fishing around inside it for something. "Fuck. Didn't know you were such a softie."

"I'm not," GrandisKuwagamon stubbornly maintained. He rested his arms on his knees and glanced away with a mixture of defiance and wistfulness. "At least, not usually… There's not a lot that I won't do for cash, but I do have lines I won't cross. It's not that I'm that sentimental… I've got pride in what I do – in everything that I've made myself as a mercenary. But that night, I crossed one of my own lines: I don't attack defenceless civilians. At least, I was complicit in it. It took a few knocks on the head to realise it, but that's why I knew I had to do something about it... I had to make up for my idiocy."

"No shit…" Beelzebumon replied, pulling a couple things out of the box behind him. "Well… I getcha, Bugsy."

GrandisKuwagamon frowned and eyed the Demon Lord suspiciously. "…You do?"

"Yeah, actually! …What? You think I just go around slaughtering randos? That I punt babies around like beach balls for fun?" he rhetorically asked with a laugh. "Just like you got shit you won't do, I got shit I won't do either."

"Really… I heard a lot of horror stories about stuff you guys did during the Heavenly War," GrandisKuwagamon answered, eyeing him with still a bit of distrust. "Now, I know how tales get blown outta proportion. I've got a reputation myself as the so-called 'Demon of the Deep Forest' who'll nab unsuspecting vaccine types who wander off-trail. That said… what I do know for sure if that you guys dropped a Sky Colony and wiped out a whole lot of places. I saw the damage with my own eye."

"Hey, I had nothin' to do with that," Beelzebumon responded flatly. "And I'm not just sayin' that; I own up to my shit. That ain't my style. The other Demon Lords cooked up that gutless scheme as a contingency plan while I was off fighting my ass off in the thick of it."

"Oh? You saying your hands are clean, Beelze?" GrandisKuwagamon asked him with an ironic grin. "I don't buy it. Take it from me. It's not so easy to wash your hands from all the blood and dirt that's caked on 'em. I'm in no place to judge, but that's why I know you can't avoid taking responsibility so easily."

"I ain't saying that. Look, I know I'm no saint, and there was a lot of heavy shit that went down in the Heavenly War. If I was ever convicted in a court of law, I'd probably have a record longer than the deli menu at a dinosaurs' barbeque," Beelzebumon explained with a shrug. "What I am saying is that I had nothin' to do with that specifically. Am I complicit? Probably, yeah. But I don't kill weaklings. What's the point? Killing weak Digimon or civilians who don't fight back pisses me off. Only weak and cowardly bastards do shit like that. Me? I only respect strong Digimon."

GrandisKuwagamon nodded with agreement. "You can only prove your own worth if you come out on top against the strong," he concurred, understanding the feelings of competition and pride that Beelzebumon was talking about. "It's survival of the fittest out here, after all. Being a Digimon is about adapting and striving to be the apex. That's what evolution is all about."

"See? You get it, Bugsy. You're not as dumb as you look," Beelzebumon remarked, pointing a finger gun at him. He grinned and pulled out a bottle of beer from behind his back. He held his arm out and offered the bottle to GrandisKuwagamon. "Here."

GrandisKuwagamon looked at the bottle with a mixture of surprise and suspicion. He hadn't exactly been expected to be offered a bottle of beer when he was supposed to be a prisoner. He eyed the bottle uncertainly before glancing up at Beelzebumon. Was this a gesture of… respect?

"You're giving me beer?" GrandisKuwagamon warily asked. "You trying to get me drunk so that I'm all susceptible or something?"

"What? You too good for my beer or something?" Beelzebumon teased him, making to retract the beer bottle. "Fine, then."

GrandisKuwagamon reached and took the beer from his hand. "It's not my favourite make, but a beer's a beer," he replied with a grin, using his Gran Killers to pop the metal cap off.

"Good. While you're at it, you can open mine with that ugly face of yers too," Beelzebumon told him, holding his own next bottle out towards him.

GrandisKuwagamon rolled his eye and leaned forwards, closing his pincers around the top of Beelzebumon's bottle and effortlessly popping the cap off.

"So, next question… How'd you go from being the Royal Knights' prisoner to being here?" the leather-clad Demon Lord wondered, tilting his bottle back and taking a swig from the alcohol.

"Basically, they gave me the offer to work for them instead, in exchange for a reduced sentence," GrandisKuwagamon explained, taking a drink himself.

"Cushy. Guess that's a pretty hard offer to refuse," Beelzebumon supposed. "So, they sent you here to rescue grumpy and the pipsqueak?"

"Yeah, basically. Me and a few others," GrandisKuwagamon confirmed, not seeing any point in lying considering that Beelzebumon probably guessed this all anyways. "They're long gone now, though. Bastards left me behind."

"Sucks for you," Beelzebumon answered with a laugh. "So, now that you're here on yer own, what's stopping ya from saying, 'fuck 'em' and coming back to work for us? Seeing as they left your sorry ass behind, they can't exactly blame ya for taking the opportunity to come back."

GrandisKuwagamon let out an exasperated sigh. Awhile ago, he would have been badly tempted. But now? He could think of two very good reasons. They were very close to his heart.

"…Honestly? Too much fucking drama," GrandisKuwagamon answered plainly. "I've already tried it and it didn't exactly work out. I've flipped back and forth so much that I'm having trouble remembering who's trying to kill me. Plus, I somehow doubt that you Demon Lords are more forgiving than the Royal Knights are… Nobody trusts an opportunist. I wouldn't survive past my next paycheck."

The black-shelled mercenary took a long, hard drink of the beer he was given. "…Nah. As much as I'm pissed off that they left me behind, I think I'm good where I am," he explained. "I got too much to lose."

"Sounded to me like you were a guy with nothin' to lose last time we met," Beelzebumon pointed out. "If they don't give a flying shit about you, what've you got to lose now? A slightly more cushy prison sentence compared to your freedom?"

GrandisKuwagamon smiled ironically and took another long, hard drink. "…My brother," he answered, a distant weightiness clinging to his words.

"…Eh? Your brother?" Beelzebumon wondered, taking another drink of his own.

"It's a long story, but basically, we were separated when bandits wiped out our hometown when we were kids. We both thought the other was dead... and we grew up believing that. After New Terminal, I found out my long dead brother's actually alive and working for the Royal Knights." GrandisKuwagamon smiled a bit. "No, I'm not kidding. You can't make this stuff up."

"…Fuck, you ain't shitting me, are you? You had a dead bro that ended up working for the guys who were hunting down your sorry ass? That's damn near lyrical," Beelzebumon exclaimed with half a laugh before taking another drink.

"You're telling me… Things are pretty rough between us right now because of the stuff I've done. That's why I gotta stick with them," GrandisKuwagamon explained. "That is, unless you plan to shoot me if I leave. In that case, it might be a different story."

Beelzebumon smirked and shrugged apathetically. "Meh. I ain't that desperate for your ugly ass. Sure, you're more fun than these sorry assholes, but I ain't about to force someone into doin' something against their will," he informed him. "I don't care what you do, Bugsy. Just as long as you understand that, if you leave, I fully intend on kicking your ass on the battlefield next time I see ya. I don't hold back for anyone, so unless you're too afraid of being pumped full of lead, you do whatever the fuck ya want."

GrandisKuwagamon smirked back at him. "Hey, that just made my mind up. The thought of finishing our fight from before is a good enough reason as any to fight with the Royal Knights. You got lucky that Bagramon stepped in before I could ram my Gran Killer where the sun don't shine."

"Hah! In your dreams, Bugsy," Beelzebumon cockily retorted.

The scarab chuckled a little. "Speaking of the Royal Knights… Don't you care that they escaped?" he wondered, noting that the Demon Lord didn't seem particularly bothered. He seemed more interested in drinking than he did chasing after them.

Beelzebumon shrugged apathetically. "Eh. Not really," he replied. "I never agreed with Barbie's plan to begin with. Them metal-heads aren't any good to me locked up or headless. I still wanna fight them, especially the skull boy."

GrandisKuwagamon eyed him curiously. "Even though it's better for the war if they're out of commission?"

Beelzebumon grinned. "Eh. We'll manage. I always land on my feet," he confidently replied.

"I doubt your friends will be so chill about it," GrandisKuwagamon answered before taking a swig from his bottle.

"They ain't no friends of mine," Beelzebumon replied with a dismissive shrug. "They can like it or lump it. I don't really care."

GrandisKuwagamon chuckled and gestured at Beelzebumon to give him another bottle of beer. He leaned forwards on his knees, relaxing a little more around the Demon Lord. "You know… you're a funny guy," he observed.

"Aww, shucks. Thanks, Bugsy! I guess I am pretty hilarious," the Demon Lord of Gluttony boasted as he tossed a bottle at GrandisKuwagamon.

GrandisKuwagamon rolled his eye and caught the bottle. "Not 'haha-funny', well, apart from your face and your clothes – those are pretty hilarious," he ribbed him as he flicked the cap off. "I mean, you're weird."

"Oh, well, fuck. I take it back then. You're an ugly, one-eyed jerk," Beelzebumon answered petulantly, folding his arms in faux-offence. "I bet you're lousy in bed too."

GrandisKuwagamon grinned. "I bet I've got more notches on my bed post than you do," he contended.

"Hah! You wish. My bed posts are so long, they reach from Cocytus all the way to the damn Sky Colonies," Beelzebumon laughed, drinking down another gulp.

The mercenary chuckled and took a long drink from the bitter ale as well. As his lips left the bottle, he eyed Beelzebumon carefully, sizing him up with interest.

"So… How'd somebody like you end up with the Demon Lords?" GrandisKuwagamon wondered, his smile evening out. "How'd you even end up in the Sky Colonies for that matter? You seem like you're better suited being a merc than with any of those zealous wackos."

"Fuck, Grandis. Now there's a heavy question…" Beelzebumon exclaimed with an exasperated sigh. After taking a long, purposeful drink, he placed his bottle down beside his crate and leaned back on his hands. "How long ago was that? Like – what? - a century ago? Bet you weren't even a digi-egg yet."

"That Exodus happened right around the start of the Third Cycle, didn't it?" GrandisKuwagamon asked, feeling a light buzz from the ale as he idly swirled the liquid around in its bottle. "Yeah, I guess you'd be a bit older than me, in that case, if you were already in the Sky Colonies. I'm old enough to have an X-antibody, even if I absorbed it from someone else."

"Oh, you're Generation-X, huh? No wonder yer so screwed up!" Beelzebumon said with a laugh.

"I'd have to be," the scarab replied with a chuckle of his own.

Beelzebumon tilted his head back and looked up at the cellar ceiling with thought. He was beginning to feel the mind-tingling, loosening effects of the alcohol as well. "But yeah, the Exodus happened after the ol' calendar snapped back to zero. Millie's attempt to destroy the world was the final straw for the Exodus bigwigs who were already pissed at the way things were. That was what made 'em decide to leave this piece-of-shit rock behind and go off to live in the clouds. Well, that and all the years of distrust and persecution."

"Yeah, well, not everyone gets to have a fluffy cloud colony to escape to…" GrandisKuwagamon muttered. "Those God-worshipping bastards couldn't have been that badly off if they could afford to build their own utopia. Try being an X-Antibody Digimon any time after the Death-X Invasion."

"Eh, I'd rather not, thanks. Who wants a load of ugly-ass crystals jutting out from everywhere?" the Demon Lord commented with a laugh.

GrandisKuwagamon stared at him with a faint smirk. "Still, I can't imagine you as a hymn-singing angel. Did you actually buy into all that 'God' crap? Or were you just there for the experience? I don't get it. You don't seem like the type. What's the deal?"

Beelzebumon scoffed and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Tch… I wasn't exactly front row in the choir, recitin' prayers off by heart. I wasn't one of the bigwigs in the Exodus either," the Demon Lord explained. He folded his arms and looked up at the ceiling with thought. "When I joined the Exodus, I joined on as a soldier. There weren't many of us at the time, but there was an understanding that we'd need at least a few fighters in case anybody tried to stop us from doing our own thing. I was one of 'em that had actual fighting experience… I had to. Growin' up on the mean streets of Shroud, you need to know how to knock some fucker on his ass when he tries to mess with ya."

GrandisKuwagamon laughed. "Come on, you can't walk a meter in Shroud without tripping over a drunken pub brawler. Doesn't exactly translate into military experience," he pointed out.

Beelzebumon grinned and shrugged. "I was a gun-for-hire fer awhile too. Freelance. All my life, I always been accused of having a big mouth, but I've always been able to back it up. Turns out I'm real good at fighting. Whether it's a bar fight, an underground fighting ring, or the thick of a battlefield, I wanna be there. I wanna get stronger - get more. Ain't nothin' like that rush. Except maybe real good sex. Y'know what I'm saying, Bugsy?"

"Yeah, I get it. That still doesn't explain how you went from being a merc to being with the Choir. It's kinda a drastic career change, don't ya think?" GrandisKuwagamon pointed out. "Did they hire you for security? I thought the Choir only did in-house. I didn't think they'd associate with us immoral thugs for hire. Isn't that some holy tenet or something?"

"Yeah, pretty much… How'd I end up with 'em?" Beelzebumon closed his eyes and chuckled. "Fuck, I dunno… I hit a low point. The world had just gone to shit with the Death-X Incident and then Millie's War. Most of my clients were dead, no jobs were comin' in, nobody wanted to associate with me, and I was struggling to make ends meet. This guy I knew – Pidmon, I think - came along an' helped me out. He was talking about how all this shit happened because Digimon had lost their way, following the wrong path and that Yggdrasil wasn't what we thought. He told me about this shiny new belief called the Religion of Light."

Beelzebumon explained with an ironic smirk. He shrugged his shoulder and took another drink of his beer. "And, you know what? He sold it well. I believed 'im. Or, at least, I wanted to. And I didn't have anything else going on, so what the hell? All that shit about the Exodus and building a utopia exclusively for true believers sounded just swell."

Beelzebumon placed his empty bottle down and let out an unbothered sigh of relief. "Just too bad he didn't live long enough to see it. Poor bastard got shivved a month before the Exodus was meant to leave. He was preaching the good gospel like he did, and I guess some Yggdrasilites didn't like that and mobbed him in the town square. So, that left me wondering what to do… What else was I gonna do? Not go? I already put that much into it, thought I'd might as well see it through. The Digital World didn't have much left for me, so I thought, 'What the hell? Can't be any worse than this place.'"

"Gotcha…" GrandisKuwagamon replied, eyeing him carefully. "…So… did you buy into all that?"

Beelzebumon leaned back and gazed up, his eyes growing distant with memory. "You mean, did I believe, Bugsy?" he asked, his voice becoming soft and reflective. "Yeah, I believed… Least I thought I did for a little while. Everything we were working towards? It all seemed to check out at the time. God spoke through the Three Great Angels, who told the rest of us what to do. I went along with it for awhile, played the part of a good, little soldier… Hell, I even worked my way up the ranks of the Powers. Ol' Slushy said I had the makings of a Celestial Commander."

"Hey, look at you!" GrandisKuwagamon lightly ribbed him. "So, what happened?"

Beelzebumon shrugged. "I dunno…" he explained. "All we did were drills all the time. The most exciting thing that happened to us was when some bird pirates tried their luck against us one time. But apart from that? Same shit, day in and day out. I felt like I was just goin' through the motions. Train, manoeuvres, reports, repeat. It was mind-numbing. It drove me nuts."

"So, it was just the boredom of routine?"

"Nah… It wasn't just that. That was just the first thing that got me wondering if this was me," Beelzebumon explained. "Everything in the Choir was like that. Organised down the smallest, most bullshit detail, especially in the Powers. You couldn't take a leak without filling out a form!"

Beelzebumon smirked cynically and tapped his finger on his bottle. "All the attention was on me. Everyone knew SlashAngemon was grooming me to be a commander cuz I was just so damn talented. Trouble was, I knew that being a commander in the Powers was 80% bureaucracy, 19% barking orders, and maybe 1% combat. Everybody was expecting me to tell 'em what to do all the time, and when it wasn't that, Slushy was telling me what to do. It was damn near oppressive. I couldn't be dealing with that shit. I didn't want any of it," he said, casually sweeping his hand out. "I guess I was naïve, thinking that the soldier's life was for me. So, I decided, 'fuck it'. I handed in my resignation papers and quit the Powers. The upside was that I got to tell Slushy what I thought of 'im."

"Hell of a decision," GrandisKuwagamon stated. "As fat of a paycheck that that sounds, I can't say I disagree with it though. What'd you do next? Are you even allowed to be unemployed in the Choir?"

"Eh. They got alms and shit, but everyone's still expected to 'contribute to society'," Beelzebumon answered with clear sarcasm. "As for me, I decided to open up a bar. My contribution was gonna be giving the good devotees of the Choir a hand-picked selection of quality booze. I wanted to provide a place where angels could unwind and take the sticks out, have a few drinks and maybe even talk about stuff that they weren't allowed to on the job. It was still the early days of the Choir, see? So I just about got away with it, though I definitely rubbed some angels' wings up the wrong way."

"It wasn't one of those milk bars that I hear about?" GrandisKuwagamon wondered with a teasing smile.

"Tch… It was the real deal. At least until the Virtues really became a force to be reckoned with in the Choir," Beelzebumon explained, not bothering to hide his scoff. "Then it all changed."

"The Virtues?"

"Yeah… The theo- whatchamacallit… - 'theological wing' of the Choir. They interpret God's doctrine and try to enforce a standard of morality and shit like that. Essentially, they decide what's right and what's wrong. And they decided that drinking stuff that messes with your head and causes you to do the sins is wrong," Beelzebumon said with a big roll of his eyes. "Alcohol was banned in the Sky Colonies, but I was gettin' sick of being told what to do, so I kept buying the stuff from the Digital World whenever we arranged for trade stops. That really put me on the Virtues' radar."

Beelzebumon chuckled and tossed his bottle of beer up into the air, skillfully enough not to lose a drop of the liquid and then deftly catching it. "I started gettin' more and more visits from Vice Squad." Upon seeing GrandisKuwagamon's confused expression, he elaborated. "Basically the Fun Police. They're the part of the Virtues and they make damn sure that the laws about morality are upheld. They deal with sex, drugs, gambling, art, entertainment, stuff like that. They didn't like me selling booze and letting people debate theology on my premises, so they'd come in, scare off my customers, and confiscate all my booze and dirty paintings. I'd keep gettin' more and they'd keep coming back."

"How'd you keep getting away with that?" GrandisKuwagamon wondered with a comfortable buzz.

"I was this big, famous, ex-commander so that kept 'em scared for awhile. I only got a few stern talking-to's and strong suggestions. As I kept telling 'em where to shove it and as they got braver, eventually they decided they had enough and shut me down," Beelzebumon answered. "They came down pretty hard, so when I opened somewhere else, I had to put up a front of being a squeaky clean milk bar. I was pretty pissed off at that point, so I went full into the smuggling racket using my old connections back on the ground."

"You don't say. And the Demon Lords? How'd you end up with them?"

"Lucy always used to hang around at my bar. He looked young and innocent, but he was smarter than most angels in the Choir. He was straight-edge to the core, so the bastard never paid me anything, but he liked using my place as a venue to debate religion and philosophy after the other salons got shut down. Dede was often with 'im, then Lili, Levi, Barbie, and Belphe all came along, and pretty soon my place was an underground bar for disgruntled angels who were pissed off with the Three Great Angels, God, and the Choir," Beelzebumon explained.

"Me? I was pretty done with the Choir a long time ago. The shine wore off, and for a place that floated in the sky, the damn Colonies felt like they were being crushed into the ground under the weight of their own rules, bureaucracy, and self-importance. I didn't care about 'em anymore. I wanted something different," Beelzebumon informed him, looking GrandisKuwagamon in the eye. "So, when they started talkin' about rebellion… sounded like a hell of an idea to me. It sounded fun!"

Beelzebumon laughed and placed his empty bottle of beer down with the others. "See, Bugsy? I never cared about the Demon Lords' high-flying plans or ideals. I just want to enjoy myself, and the Choir wouldn't let me, so I ended up with these guys. They were my only real way out, but lemme be crystal clear: I don't have any regrets. I get to do whatever I want, fight whoever I want, and I get to stick a finger up at God and the Three Lame Angels at the same time. I get to become stronger and consume more of what I want. Hell, if it weren't for the Rebellion, I wouldn't have this sick form, my killer ride, or these awesome guns. I wouldn't have been able to fight strong guys like Dukemon either."

Beelzebumon stood to his feet and stretched. "Yup. I'm perfectly happy to tag along with their plans just so long as they don't get in my way," he grinned and toothy grin down at GrandisKuwagamon. "At the end of the day, nobody tells Beelzebumon what to do. Nobody."

GrandisKuwagamon looked up at Beelzebumon as the Demon Lord stood to his feet. He began to remember his situation and his unease started to return as he worried that Beelzebumon might change his mind. Not wanting to be caught sitting down, he tentatively began to stand up. "You're a refreshingly uncomplicated guy, three-eyes," GrandisKuwagamon joked, standing up straight uncertainly as he gauged Beelzebumon's next move. "After all that, you're basically just a hedonistic bastard. I respect that."

"Aww, thanks, Grandis!" Beelzebumon answered with a laugh.

"So, no regrets at all about going up against the Royal Knights?" GrandisKuwagamon wondered. "There's a lot more of 'em than there are of you."

"Are you kidding?! Picking a fight with the Royal Knights is the best decision I've ever made!" he exclaimed with a devilish smirk. "Especially Dukemon… Damn, I'd tussle with his lance any day."

GrandisKuwagamon eyed him with amusement. "Dukemon? Why him specifically?"

"He's the bastard who beat me in the Heavenly War," Beelzebumon responded. "Besides, you've heard the rumours about him, haven't cha? About that other side of him? He sounds like he'd be extra fun to tango with… just gotta break down his walls enough first." Beelzebumon let out a big, drunken stretch and pushed his hips out. "Mmm! Yeah, I'd love to get inside him and see what the bastard's like when he's not pretending to be some noble, dignified Royal Knight. I look forward to making him my bitch."

GrandisKuwagamon laughed incredulously. "I can't tell if you want to fight him or fuck him," he remarked.

Beelzebumon wiggled his brows. "Ideally both, but I'll take one or the other. I ain't greedy."

Beelzebumon chuckled and started cracking his knuckles. "So, Bugsy, which side d'you want it?" he casually asked him.

"…Huh?" GrandisKuwagamon blankly wondered.

"Well, I gotta hit ya, right? If you go back without a scratch on ya, they're gonna be suspicious and think you switched teams again. And I'm not havin' you saying you could escape me without taking a licking; I've got a reputation to uphold!"

"Oh… Yeah, good idea," GrandisKuwagamon replied, realising that he had a point. He was a little surprised that Beelzebumon was even offering to do that for him, but he assumed he'd just take any excuse to punch somebody. "Whatever's fine. Just let me—GAH!"

Before GrandisKuwagamon could finish talking, Beelzebumon landed a mean right hook across the scarab man's jaw, right below his pincers. GrandisKuwagamon toppled over the nearby crate and crashed onto the floor.

"Damn it! Fucker," GrandisKuwagamon swore, sitting up and putting a hand to his face as blood began to form on the corner of his lip. He grumbled as he pulled himself up to his feet. "…Thanks."

"My pleasure, Bugsy!" Beelzebumon exclaimed a little too eagerly. "That felt pretty good. I feel a lot better now!"

"Glad to be of service…" GrandisKuwagamon mumbled sarcastically. He glanced towards the door. "So… I can really go?"

"Scram. I ain't stopping you," Beelzebumon exclaimed, stuffing his shotgun in his ankle holster. "Better not drag your feet, though. Someone will get wise soon."

"What about the other Demon Lords? What're you gonna say happened?" he asked.

"Hey, I won't tell 'em if you won't," Beelzebumon replied. "As far as I'm concerned, I didn't see a thing. I was just enjoying myself and getting nice and drunk. Not my fault security around here sucks."

"Yeah… Okay," GrandisKuwagamon responded, readjusting his Gran Killers as he watched Beelzebumon looking down at his foot and the empty bottles of beer. After a moment, he turned around and walked to the door of the wine cellar. "Well… See you around," he said, glancing over his shoulder at the affable Demon Lord.

"See ya around, Bugsy," Beelzebumon told him with an affable grin.

GrandisKuwagamon nodded. Knowing what that meant, GrandisKuwagamon stepped out into the hallway and began bolting down the corridor.

Beelzebumon made no effort to follow the mercenary as the bug disappeared into the dark. He knew he'd be gone without a trace within a half a minute. The Demon Lord of Gluttony just let out a short chuckle.

"Heh… Better hope I don't have to kill ya. It'd be a waste of a drinking buddy."

---

Meanwhile, GrandisKuwagamon banked around the corner and raced down the corridor leading to the dungeon. As soon as he reached the dungeon, which was expansive enough for what he wanted to do next, he slide evolved into his GranKuwagamon form. Wasting no time, he quickly sliced a spatial rift open with his pincers and proceeded through it.

He emerged from the rift several meters outside of the castle exterior. Once he was outside, he took the opportunity to survey his surroundings. He couldn't see any guards nearby. It was clear that the alarm hadn't been raised yet. Before he could be seen, he swiftly returned to his GrandisKuwagamon form which was a lot more inconspicuous.

"Okay, better get out of here," the mercenary thought to himself as he quickly took in his surroundings. He saw that he was in the front grounds of the castle, not far from the castle courtyard to his right and the road leading in past the cathedral and the barn. He knew he had to avoid that area at all costs, as it would be the most guarded.

GrandisKuwagamon looked over and scanned the courtyard. He could see movement in the dark, lit only by a couple oil lanterns. "Crap…" he thought, ducking down into a crouch to reduce the amount of his visibility.

He looked up and down the road. He could see several figures moving away from the gothic cathedral further down the road. He didn't know what they were doing at a place like that at this time of night. More pressingly, they seemed to be heading back towards the castle.

Then, GrandisKuwagamon noticed something else on the road. There was a Devidramon-drawn carriage making its way down the same road towards the castle courtyard. He watched as the carriage passed the group of figures and came to a stop right beside the fountain in the middle of the courtyard.

He internally swore; it was as if they were all converging at once. He knew that he had to get out of there before the alarm was sounded about the Royal Knights' escape. As soon as that happened, the castle would be buzzing like somebody threw a rock at the Royal Base. GrandisKuwagamon knew that he had to go immediately. He wouldn't be able to fight the Demon Lords, nor an entire castle of swarming guards.

He didn't wait around to see who came out of the carriage. GrandisKuwagamon stood up and began sprinting across the field, back towards the ruins. He didn't want to risk anybody hearing his wing beats, so he travelled on foot for the short term. As he ran, he summoned a gentle mist behind him to cover his retreat.

GrandisKuwagamon wasn't sure how long he had been inside with Beelzebumon, but he hoped he might be able to catch up with the others. He'd use spatial rifts to travel if he had to. He just knew that he wasn't waiting around to see what would happen when the Demon Lords realised their prisoners escaped.

All he cared about in that moment was escaping. So, without looking back, GrandisKuwagamon raced off into the night.

---

The carriage doors opened. A pair of blue and yellow boots appeared from within and dropped down to the stone bricks below.

Blitzmon stepped out of the carriage and stepped onto the courtyard of Castle Nocturne.

With a suspicious squint, he gazed into the night, inspecting the field in front of the castle. He could have sworn he saw a faint silhouette moving in the darkness, but there was nothing there. He thought perhaps it was just his reflection in the carriage window catching his eye.

"Something wrong, Blitzmon?" Bolgmon wondered, ambling his way backwards out of the carriage after him in his own Blitzmon form.

"Nothing. Just a play of the light," Blitzmon responded, immediately turning his attention back towards the carriage. "Get the box and don't drop it."

Bolgmon slide-evolved back into his regular Bolgmon form and gathered the heavy, magically-sealed reliquary in his cannon arms. Having had enough time to rest from the long journey, he was able to carry it with relative ease once again. "I can't wait to never set my eyes on this frigging thing ever again," he murmured, looking down at the cumbersome, stone box.

"Don't complain. We're getting good money for this," Blitzmon reminded him. "For a relatively simple job, the cost-benefit is highly favourable for us."

"You call that relatively simple?" Bolgmon complained.

"Quiet," Blitzmon said to him. He turned and looked down the road that led away from the castle, where he saw two figures walking towards them. "Bagramon's here."

Bagramon made his way down the stone road, his white robes dully glowing like pearls in the moonlight. Walking next to him was Lucemon, who seemed to command grace and attention as he strode with absolute confidence.

"Blitzmon, Bolgmon," Bagramon greeted the two mercenaries. "I heard that you were just arriving."

"Apologies for the delay," Blitzmon answered with a curt nod of the head. "We were held up by the strife in Dark Point. It was hard getting a ride up here."

"That is most understandable. Lucemon and I have only just returned a couple of hours ago ourselves, so there is no issue," Bagramon explained, coming to a stop in front of them. His organic eye immediately trailed down to the large receptacle in Bolgmon's arms. "Is this it?" he inquired with interest.

"It is," Blitzmon confirmed. "In the whole and untarnished."

"Good… Well done," Bagramon spoke, placing his organic hand on the lid of the box and tracing his fingers along the grooves of the runes. "Bring it to my library."

"And what is that, exactly, Bagramon?" Lucemon wondered, eyeing the stone box with detached scrutiny. He glanced at Bagramon with sharp, curious eyes, secretly annoyed that he was at a disadvantage with regards to the object. "Do inform me…"

Bagramon glimpsed at Lucemon out of the corner of his eye. He had not mentioned the Orb of Yang or this secret mission to Lucemon or any of the other Demon Lords. The only other one who knew of it was Wizardmon. It was true that he intentionally kept this information from the other Demon Lords, but, at this point, he did not mind that Lucemon now knew. After all, he knew that he would need to tell him eventually.

"This, Lucemon, is an important relic that is a vital key to unlocking the door to the Kernel," Bagramon calmly informed him as he walked up to Bolgmon and the reliquary in his arms.

He carefully opened the heavy stone lid using his sturdy, wooden arm. Inside the box was a sphere that was wrapped in a special cloth. As soon as the lid was removed, an overwhelming pressure began to emanate from the box that began to make Bolgmon feel sick.

"This is the Orb of Yang," Bagramon explained, carefully placing his hand on the covered sphere.

Lucemon's eyes widened just slightly with momentary surprise. "The Orb of Yang… One of the two orbs that Huanglongmon created to stabilize the world after… he was sealed away," he answered, seeming to know all about it already. "You believe that this vestige of the golden lizard's power is necessary to access the Kernel?"

"Yes. I am as near to certain as I can be," Bagramon responded, removing his hand from the concealed orb and placing the protective reliquary lid back on the box. "There is no circumstance in which either Yggdrasil or God will allow us access to the Kernel. The countermeasures that we witnessed in the Arcane Ruins were proof of that. In order break through their sophisticated security system, we will likely require an overwhelming shock."

At Bagramon's words, a dark smile crawled onto Lucemon's face and he nodded with agreement. "Your logic is sound…" he concurred. "And what of the Orb of Yin?"

"I am confident that only one of the pair will be necessary for our purposes," Bagramon answered. "The two orbs co-exist in balance with one another. The removal of one orb will be enough to throw the Digital World's balance into disarray. I cannot predict what the effect that the removal of both orbs would be – either they would have a negating effect on one another or, more likely, they would create a world-wide cataclysm."

"Oh, really… Is that so?" Lucemon inquired with a note of intrigue tracing his curious words.

Bagramon eyed the Demon Lord of Pride. "I can only speculate… Though, the point is moot as I am presently unable to ascertain the whereabouts of the Orb of Yin. The only leads I acquired during my research point either to Iliad in Colossus or a vague reference to Eniac. I opted to only put my efforts into tracking down the Orb of Yang, which proved a little easier to find based on my leads," he answered dissuadingly.

"Most fascinating," Lucemon answered. He turned to Blitzmon and Bolgmon, shooing them towards the castle with a dismissive flick of his hand. "Bring that inside."

"Go on ahead, Bolgmon," Blitzmon instructed him. He looked at Bagramon specifically. "I will wait for you at the entrance. There is something that I need to discuss with you."

"Very well, Blitzmon. Thank you," Bagramon responded, nodding as the two insect mercenaries began walking towards the castle with the reliquary in hand.

Lucemon waited for several seconds, eyeing the two mercenaries out of the corner of his eye with an air of haughty disdain. As soon as he was fairly confident that they were out of earshot, he cast his superior eyes onto Bagramon.

"Bagramon… How long do you intend on associating with the likes of those temporal lowlifes?" Lucemon bluntly wondered, making no attempts to hide his feelings on the matter. "And that other company of glorified bandits whom you hired? Are they really necessary now that our ranks have grown so substantially with true believers?"

"They are necessary to me, Lucemon. They still have their uses," Bagramon calmly answered. He stared confidently back at the blond-haired fallen angel. "They are able to go places where our Nightmare Soldiers cannot. As for Kowloon Company, I deem them a necessary complement to our main army. If you are worried about the expenses, I am paying for their services out of my own pocket, so only I need burden myself with the responsibility of associating with them."

"That is not my concern," Lucemon casually answered, though it concealed an underlying layer of intent in his voice. "My concern is one of… loyalty."

Bagramon's brow furrowed in response to Lucemon's pointed words. "…Whose loyalty do you refer to, exactly?" he inquired suspiciously.

There was a silent moment, but Lucemon turned and smiled at Bagramon disarmingly. "Why, theirs of course. Who can truly trust the likes of such materialistic Digimon whose loyalty is solely governed by money?" he lightly posited.

Bagramon's tension eased a little bit. "Hm," he answered with a half-smile. "I suppose you have a point. By that same logic, do you ever have concerns about Barbamon as well?"

"Naturally. As someone who has spent the last half of a century warring in the Dark Area with him, I know how wily and duplicitous he is," Lucemon explained. "However, Barbamon is wise enough to know that his best chance is with us. Do those sub-celestial mercenaries think the same?"

"Perhaps, perhaps not. However, I believe that they can be trusted so long as they are paid. Whatever their selfish desires are, we will need them in the short term," Bagramon maintained, looking back towards the castle entrance where Blitzmon was waiting. "I have no worries. I will not make the same mistake as my brother."

Lucemon let out humming sigh and began strolling past the fountain, making his way towards the entrance of Castle Nocturne. "May I ask you something, Bagramon?" he wondered, flicking his locks of blond hair back as he cast an uninterested glance over his shoulder.

Raising his forked brow, Bagramon followed after Lucemon, attempting to walk up beside him. "Of course. What is it?"

Lucemon calmly walked ahead with his usual aura of disaffection. "Why did you neglect to tell me about the Orb of Yang?" he wondered without bothering to look back.

"Ah…" Bagramon spoke. He had a feeling that Lucemon might take issue with his secrecy, and on reflection, he realised that perhaps he should have mentioned it sooner. "I was still uncertain about whether or not the Orb of Yang would be necessary for our goals. Now I know for certain that it will be. I did not want to commit to anything before we were able to access the Records. However, just in case my theory proved correct, I wanted to have the Orb of Yang in my possession – and before the Devas or anybody became skittish and attempted to relocate it."

"I see... As long as that is the only reason…" Lucemon mused aloud. He looked back forwards, allowing his words to linger in the air.

Bagramon quietly eyed Lucemon's back as he followed behind the Demon Lord of Pride. He could sense the gentle warning that was slipped in between his nonchalant words. No doubt he was suspicious after Leviamon's betrayal.

"It is," Bagramon confidently answered, allowing no room for hesitation. "Actually, Lucemon, I was planning to inform you as soon as I received it. After all, I will require your help…"

"Oh?" Lucemon asked, tilting his head to the side so that he could look at Bagramon as the white-haired Demon Lord strode up beside him. "And what do you require my help with?"

Bagramon's hollow eye stared ahead vacantly, and he held his artificial arm out of the way of Lucemon as they proceeded. "Well…" he began carefully. "Just like I am the only one who can access the hidden secrets of the Yggdrasil Codex, there is something that only you can do…"

"There are many things that only I can do… What are you referring to, specifically?" Lucemon wondered, an impelling smirk resting on his lips.

The two Demon Lords walked in quiet tandem as they neared the gate. Bagramon went silent for a few moments as he deliberated the best way to proceed. "…Lucemon, did you access the data terminal that was in the second row, fourth column of the Archive?" he tentatively asked, although he was quite certain that he already knew the answer.

"Second row, fourth column… Oh. That one…" Lucemon insincerely mused. "Why, yes, as it happens. Given that it was one of the first several that Yggdrasil attempted to seal, I thought it might be important. It was quite the… eye-opening little piece of self-discovery for me."

Bagramon closed his organic eye as he neared the gate, beginning to slow just slightly. "…Then you should know why you are the only one who can do it."

"Hm." Lucemon smiled with unparalleled confidence as he walked straight up to the castle entrance. Bagramon looked over to see that Lucemon was pulling away from him, beginning to proceed ahead on his own.

The Demon Lord of Pride reached the dark threshold, stopping only just in front of it, his body half-dark with the shadow of the moonlight. He gazed forward dauntlessly, ignoring the nearby Blitzmon and not bothering to turn around to face Bagramon.

"Yes, I am the only one," he declared with unabashed superiority. "It is fitting that I, the first to rebel, am the only one worthy enough to destroy that heathen vestige – that I am the only one capable of blazing the trail to God's domain."

Lucemon chuckled softly and began walking ahead, his body becoming fully enshrouded by the darkness of the castle. "I always knew that I was destined for great things. I always have been..."

Bagramon's eye lingered on him for a few moments. He quietly watched as Lucemon walked into the castle, and he allowed him to go off on his own. As soon as Lucemon's incongruous body disappeared into the dark, Bagramon stopped, coming to a halt just short of the threshold.

Without allowing for another word or thought on the matter, Bagramon turned away, immediately turning his attention to Blitzmon.

"Well, Blitzmon? What is it?" Bagramon inquired with a little more abruptness than he intended.

Bagramon caught himself, and he felt a little guilty about his emotions getting the better of him. He relaxed his shoulder and glanced down at Blitzmon. It was then that he noticed that the orange fabric of Blitzmon's jumpsuit was stained a dark, burnt red colour. "…You're hurt," he noted.

Blitzmon looked down at his wound which, while painful, wasn't giving him any immediate trouble. "It's nothing serious. Just surface-level," he insisted.

"Even so, you should see the castle physician and get that treated before it becomes infected. Tell him that I sent you," Bagramon instructed him.

"If it makes you feel better," Blitzmon apathetically agreed. "After."

Bagramon nodded. "What did you wish to speak about?"

"Bagramon, sir. It's about the last mission that you sent us on…" Blitzmon carefully explained to his client. "While we completed our objective successfully, it… did not go exactly according to plan. We faced several unexpected obstacles."

Bagramon frowned curiously. "I can see that," he noted, gesturing to the wound. "How so?"

Blitzmon paused. For a few moments, he deliberated on whether he should tell him. Part of him hoped that there was still a chance that he could change that Digimon's mind…

However, his cold, hard realism quickly quashed such sentimental thoughts, reminding him that such a circumstance was unlikely. He knew that he had to face reality, however much he would rather he didn't.

"I feel it necessary to inform you… GrandisKuwagamon is now working with the Royal Knights," Blitzmon explained, leaving no word spared as he arrived straight to the point.

Bagramon's nostrils flared with a quiet sigh, and he raised his hand to gently run his fingers through his scruffy, black beard. "I see…" he answered in a deep, calm voice. He had wondered where GrandisKuwagamon had disappeared to after he opened the door to New Terminal. "You encountered him?"

"Yes, he arrived not long after we fled the monastery. However, he was not alone… If it were only him, it would have made more sense, but… he arrived with a couple of Royal Knights," Blitzmon informed him.

"The Royal Knights were there? When was this?"

"All of this was about a week and a half ago. We were held up by the instability in Dark Point and the time it took to travel here," the beetle mercenary explained. "We encountered them the day after we raided the monastery for the Orb of Yang."

"The day after?" Bagramon questioned, stroking his beard as he pondered his words.

Blitzmon frowned and nodded. "That's just it… We stole the Orb near to midnight, but when they caught up to us at Murmuxmon's camp, it was only mid-morning," he explained. "There was no way that they could have learned about the attack after-the-fact and caught up to us so quickly."

Bagramon's hand stopped still. He went quiet for a moment as he considered what Blitzmon was telling him. "…Could it have been a coincidence? Perhaps they were there for Murmuxmon's army," he suggested, playing devil's advocate.

Blitzmon shook his head. "Unlikely… While I can't be one hundred percent sure, I'm pretty sure that they were there for us. Ko-… I mean TigerVespamon was with them. He was an acolyte who was there when we raided the monastery, and we left him restrained there when we left with the orb. We had an Angemon captive with us – the father of the monastery there. TigerVespamon would have come after him, and he knew that we stole the Orb of Yang. I'm almost positive that the Royal Knights tracked us down ahead of time. There would have been no reason for them to be at the monastery, and for them to have arrived there with GrandisKuwagamon of all people in tow…"

Blitzmon looked down with tight, cynical eyes. "No... For Grandis to arrive just as his long lost brother happens to be in peril…? There are trivial coincidences and there are big coincidences. In my experience, convenient coincidences are anything but. Only the naïve believe otherwise."

Bagramon's fingers slowly slipped through the sharp peaks of his beard before lowering his hand to his side. He did not react to the news of GrandisKuwagamon having a long lost brother, but the logic that Blitzmon was presenting made sense. "…Are you suggesting that somebody informed the Royal Knights of your plans?" he asked Blitzmon in a calm but lowering voice.

"Yes," Blitzmon answered. "I think they knew that we were there for the Orb of Yang…" He eyed Bagramon with veiled suspicion. "Bolgmon and I told nobody about our mission once we took it. It's a company policy of ours. This means that somebody else did."

Bagramon's organic eye narrowed slightly as he beheld Blitzmon's mildly accusing tone. "…I told nobody about the mission to steal the Orb of Yang, not even the other Demon Lords," he forcefully asserted. "If that is what you are suggesting, why would I sabotage the very mission that I am paying you for?"

Blitzmon's cool stare mellowed and he subtly backed off his accusation. He was fairly convinced by Bagramon's reaction, but he had to at least float the possibility. He leaned back against the wall behind him. "…Are you certain that nobody else knew?"

"I am positive. I have told nobody. Not Leviamon, the Demon Lords – or anybody else," Bagramon insisted adamantly. "The only ones who even know about my plans for the Orb of Yang are myself and—"

Bagramon stopped mid-sentence. His eye widened with horror as he remembered the only other Digimon who was privy to his plans. The one Digimon who he took for granted that he could trust. But… it couldn't be… Surely…

"…Wizardmon," Bagramon spoke, the vigor draining from his voice as he contemplated the unthinkable.

"…Wizardmon?" Blitzmon asked, standing up from the wall. "The guy who you sent to pay us and give us our jobs before?"

"Yes…" Bagramon replied with a deep frown, pondering intensely over the thought. "But… it can't be. I don't know why he would. Unless he told somebody else by a careless mistake…"

Blitzmon shrugged. "I don't know. He always seemed weak and skittish to me. It's hard to trust a coward…" he noted cynically. "Be careful with who you share your information with. You can never really trust anybody."

Blitzmon began to turn to walk inside, his cool, green eyes turning to Bagramon "…Anyways… I'll go check on Bolgmon and get fixed up now."

Bagramon stood in silence as Blitzmon disappeared inside the dark entrance of Castle Nocturne, leaving him to his thoughts.

It didn't make sense… He had expected disloyalty from the Demon Lords. In fact, he was prepared for it. He didn't bat an eye when he heard that Leviamon had gone off on his own. If Leviamon had somehow overheard him… that would make more sense than the alternative that Blitzmon provided. But he couldn't have… He had been so careful.

Bagramon's remaining eye hardened. He had to know for sure. He had to confront Wizardmon. He would be able to tell if he was lying. He needed to find out if he had let his guard down…

Bagramon strode forwards, following the two others into the castle. His white-cloaked form became enshrouded in the darkness as he walked into the midnight fortress.

---

UlforceVeedramon, Craniamon, Magnamon, Baalmon, Cyberdramon, Pipismon, Black WereGarurumon, and Wizardmon moved across the landscape as quickly as they could.

They escaped the region surrounding Castle Nocturne without detection, but they were unable to move speedily due to Craniamon's and Magnamon's injuries.

UlforceVeedramon helped Craniamon walk as quickly as he could, while Baalmon did the same for Magnamon. Cyberdramon ran at the front of group, directing the way forwards, while Pipismon flew behind him. Wizardmon panted with exhaustion behind the three Royal Knights, struggling to keep up, but desperate not to be left behind. Black WereGarurumon, meanwhile, brought up the rear. He ran with a guilty expression on his face, and every couple minutes he looked over his shoulder.

After almost forty minutes of hurried travelling, they were nearing the southern region of the Gloaming Fields, nearing the territory around the recently conquered city of Shroud. Knowing that they were still in hostile territory, they couldn't afford to look back. They counted themselves lucky that the entire army of Nightmare Soldiers hadn't come swarming after them. They were unsure if the Demon Lords had realised they had escaped yet.

Cyberdramon stopped and turned around, looking at UlforceVeedramon and Baalmon. He eyed Craniamon and Magnamon who both breathed heavy with faintly pained expressions on their face. "We're getting close to Shroud territory. Maybe we should have a break," he suggested.

"I'm fine. I can keep going," Craniamon insisted, not wanting them to stop on his accord.

"Craniamon's right. We're not in the clear yet," Magnamon agreed, although wincing with pain at his bruised body.

"We should at least take a minute or two to decide what to do," UlforceVeedramon offered, coming to a stop along with Craniamon. "Since we're getting close to Shroud, we're going to have to go around it again. It's probably crawling with Nightmare Soldiers."

Cyberdramon nodded and turned around. "It will take us awhile to get back to the camp, but it would be safest," the dragon man noted. Now that they had a chance to breathe, he looked around at the group. Right as he was about to speak again, he noticed something off… "Wait… Where's GrandisKuwagamon?"

"What?" Baalmon inquired, his three eyes frowning with confusion. He removed Magnamon's arm from around his shoulders so that he could finally turn around. "He was right behind Black WereGarurumon-…"

The group turned and began looking around. The mouthy insect was nowhere to be seen.

"Where did he go?!" Cyberdramon demanded, immediately turning to the uncomfortable-looking wolfman. "Black WereGarurumon, what happened? He was supposed to be right behind you! You were supposed to be keeping an eye on him!"

Black WereGarurumon rubbed the back of his neck and averted his eyes sheepishly. "…Uh…" he half-heartedly murmured.

"Come to think of it, I haven't seen him since we were in the dungeons," UlforceVeedramon noted with a suspicious frown. "I hadn't really been able to look until now."

"Damn it!" Craniamon exclaimed. "Did he betray us again? It was the perfect chance for him to escape…"

"After all that?" Magnamon asked. There was a sceptical frown on his face as he remembered GrandisKuwagamon's interactions on their mission together, particularly those with TigerVespamon. "…I don't know, Craniamon. He has too much to lose."

"I don't think he would either!" Pipismon piped up with a worried frown. "I really think he's changed."

"Then what happened to him?" Craniamon wondered.

"Tch…" Cyberdramon grunted, tightening his claws into fists. He wasn't sure what to think. He couldn't rule out the possibility, but he didn't think GrandisKuwagamon would. "Maybe there's another explanation…" he uncertainly considered.

Quietly, Baalmon eyed Black WereGarurumon perceptively, noticing his receding posture and his evasive mannerisms. The white robed demon man turned to face the werewolf Rook fully. "Black WereGarurumon? …Is there something that you wish to tell us?" he pointedly inquired.

"Er…" Black WereGarurumon stammered, his eyes nervously darting from side-to-side.

Craniamon pushed away from UlforceVeedramon and propped himself on his spear, gazing at the Rook with fearsome eyes. "…What happened?" he demanded.

Black WereGarurumon face tightened into a guilty grimace and his hand slid up to clutch the scruff of fur behind his head. "Uh… the thing is…" he began, his words reticent and heavy with shame. "I sorta… left him behind…"

Cyberdramon marched straight up to the wolfman, his snout scowling and his nostrils flaring. "You what? Why?!"

"Tell us what happened, Black WereGarurumon," Baalmon calmly urged him.

The black-furred wolf looked down. "…I went to go tell him that we were leaving. I called out and then he called back… But then I smelled something," he explained with a wince. "When I looked down the hall, I saw Beelzebumon standing right behind him, his gun to his head. So… I ran after you guys. I had to leave him behind."

"Beelzebumon was there?!" Craniamon demanded.

"So, you just left him?" Cyberdramon interrogated him with a snarl.

"He would've done the same thing!" Black WereGarurumon defensively maintained. "What was I supposed to do?! I couldn't fight a Demon Lord! We had a mission – to save Sir Craniamon and Sir Magnamon. We Rooks know that the mission's more important than anything else!"

Cyberdramon grunted. "Then why the hell didn't you say anything until now?" he accused him. "You should have told us!"

Black WereGarurumon grimaced and looked away shamefully. "…Because… our priority is getting the Royal Knights to safety! If we turned around and tried to fight him with two wounded Royal Knights, all the Demon Lords would have swarmed us and then we'd be completely screwed!"

Baalmon watched the black-furred wolf's mannerisms carefully. "While your words have merit… if you were to tell Karatenmon the same thing, would he find that they match the truth in your heart?" he calmly challenged.

Black WereGarurumon's eyes creased with guilt, his lips pulled up to reveal his tightly clenched fangs. "I… He… He was winding me up all mission! I never thought we could trust him to begin with! He was probably waiting for his moment to switch sides anyways! I probably did him a favour."

"You idiot!" Cyberdramon exclaimed, muscling up close to the werewolf's face and body. "What do you think is going to happen to him now?!"

Magnamon winced a little, but he turned and faced Black WereGarurumon directly. "Black WereGarurumon… For whatever GrandisKuwagamon might have done or how you feel about him… as Royal Knights, we can't leave our own behind," he explained with a gentle resolve. "He betrayed the Demon Lords when he surrendered to us. I don't think they would forgive that as easily as we have."

After a few moments of deliberation, Craniamon nodded. "…As much as I don't like him, he did come here to help us. I don't feel right about leaving him to his fate… When they realise that we've escaped, he'll be the one that they blame, you know."

Black WereGarurumon's eyes widened as he realised the likely truth in the Royal Knights' words. "I… I didn't think…" he stammered, grimacing tightly as he realised the repercussions of his actions. "I'm… I'm sorry, Sirs."

UlforceVeedramon folded his arms. He eyed Magnamon and Craniamon with turmoil. "…Black WereGarurumon has a point though…" he reluctantly noted. "We can't go back for him. You two are too injured. You wouldn't be able to fight even one Demon Lord in your conditions, let alone seven. Getting you two to safety is the priority… If you get captured again – if we all get captured – then what was the point?"

Magnamon's eyes tightened into a determined and fierce expression. "He risked his life to help us, UlforceVeedramon. I'm not leaving him behind to save my own scales," he stubbornly maintained.

"Yeah, I'm with Magnamon," Craniamon unyieldingly agreed. "What kind of Royal Knight would I be if I did that?"

His pent up frustration at the two getting the better of him, UlforceVeedramon spun towards the two knights with an irate glare. "Are you two listening to yourselves? It's because of your stupid prides that you ended up needing to be rescued in the first place!" he sharply rebuked them. "Are you going to run off again and put more people in danger again? What about the rest of the Rooks?!"

Magnamon and Craniamon both winced for a moment, and they paused before replying.

Despite a few moments of doubt, Magnamon's resolve returned and he gazed into UlforceVeedramon's eyes. "…I know, Ulforce. And that's why I can't let him suffer for our mistakes," he calmly maintained.

Craniamon slowly closed his fist, matching the golden knight's determination. "Yeah… Rule Seven of the Code. Strive to help those in need whenever possible," he resolutely agreed.

"Sir…" Black WereGarurumon spoke up, sheepishly raising his hand and looking over at the cobalt dragon knight. "…I want to rescue him too. I have a responsibility to make up for my mistake… I shoulda done more."

"Ugh…" UlforceVeedramon sighed, rubbing his horned head with frustration. "I don't exactly want to leave him behind either, but… I'm trying to be the reasonable one here!"

"If I might make a suggestion, Sir," Baalmon added. "This is a Rook matter. It would be best if you left this to the Rooks. It won't be easy, but we could attempt to infiltrate the castle while you escape with the other Royal Knights. Stealth is our skill set more than the three of yours."

"That won't be necessary," a voice called out from nearby, accompanied by distant, rapid wing beats.

The group all turned towards the voice. They were stunned to see the humanoid silhouette of a beetle approaching through the night.

"Bug?!" Cyberdramon exclaimed, stunned to see that it was actually GrandisKuwagamon.

"Yo. I'm touched by all your concern though," GrandisKuwagamon told them with a roguish smirk. He turned and looked down at Black WereGarurumon. "Especially you, mutt. I didn't know you cared!"

Black WereGarurumon folded his arms and growled a bit, looking away with embarrassment. "Shut up! I just didn't want to be blamed for your sorry ass getting tortured," he vehemently insisted.

"You're alive!" Pipismon yelled with excitement, flapping over to him. "Ooh, did you fight your way out?! Did you beat up Beelzebumon?!"

"Grandis?" UlforceVeedramon asked, blinking with shock. "You're okay… How'd you escape? I thought Black WereGarurumon said that Beelzebumon was right behind you."

GrandisKuwagamon landed amongst the group of knights and Rooks. When he did, he angled his head and gestured to his bloody mouth and swollen lip. "I didn't exactly get out unscathed. I knocked his arm away, but the three-eyed bastard got a lucky hit on me. I managed to make a break for it and duck into the wine cellar," he mostly lied. "I laid low for a few minutes, then I used my space-cutting abilities to escape. I've been looking for you guys since. I thought you were gonna leave me behind."

"Well, we're glad you're safe," Magnamon told him.

"Saves us having to rescue your sorry butt," Cyberdramon made sure to add, folding his arms.

"Yeah, well…" GrandisKuwagamon said with a shrug. "We'd better get going. They're probably gonna sweep the area soon."

Baalmon nodded. "Let's continue heading back to our camp, then," he advised them. "We will go back the way that we came before, if everyone is ready."

"Sounds good to me," GrandisKuwagamon agreed, walking towards Black WereGarurumon.

"Uh… Hey, bug," Black WereGarurumon sheepishly said. "…I won't pretend I like you, but… let's just draw a line under it, yeah?"

GrandisKuwagamon stopped and glanced at him. "…Yeah. Fine with me," he agreed. The beetle walked ahead, but took one last look over his shoulder towards the Gloaming Fields. "Come on…"

"I have a feeling it's all about to blow up back there…"

---

Bagramon marched down the stone corridors. His skeletal leg clacked against the hard floor with every second step.

The fallen angel moved with purpose and intensity, every step with the same effort that he would were he climbing up a mountain path. His eye grew tight and a bitter frown formed on his dark, bearded face.

He moved doggedly, unwaveringly. With the same resolve that he had when he pushed his smouldering, mutilated body through the Great Forest, Bagramon climbed the stairs towards Wizardmon's bedroom. With that same, unyielding glare in his eye that demanded to know the truth of the world, Bagramon resolved to extract the truth from Wizardmon. He needed to know…

Bagramon reached the floor with their bedchambers, and he marched straight down the hall single-mindedly. He passed the rows of doors until he reached the guest room that belonged to Wizardmon.

The Sage of Death stopped in front of room. He had hoped to see it closed. He hoped to see Wizardmon sleeping soundly in bed. However, those notions were swiftly dispelled.

The door was open.

Bagramon walked inside of the room and looked to Wizardmon's bed. It was empty. Wizardmon was gone. However, his possessions were still there – his books were stacked near his bed, his research notes scattered around his desk. The only things that were missing were Wizardmon's staff and Wizardmon himself. It made Bagramon consider that perhaps Wizardmon had just stepped out for a moment…

Then, Bagramon raised his head, his pointed ear twitching. He heard something – footsteps - approaching from down the hallway. Bagramon immediately turned towards them, hoping to see Wizardmon standing there.

Rather than the short, skittish mage, instead, Bagramon saw Beelzebumon walking unevenly towards him, an empty beer bottle in hand.

"Oh, heeeey, Baggy! I heard you were home!" Beelzebumon greeted with a smirk. "Did you see everyone already?"

"Beelzebumon…" Bagramon coolly acknowledged him. "Yes. Lucemon and I spoke with Barbamon and the others already."

"Oh, good! Because I got some bad news and it wouldn't make sense otherwise," Beelzebumon explained inebriatedly. "So… Don't freak out, but… turns out the Royal Knights busted free!"

Bagramon's eye narrowed into a cold and bitter glare that fixed right onto Beelzebumon. "…What?" he demanded.

"I dunno how it happened, but when I was makin' my way up from the wine cellar, I noticed that all the guards around the dungeon were gone and the doors were wide open! Not a single one a those prissy rust buckets in sight," Beelzebumon explained with an exaggerated sigh. "There was some blood around. Looks like somebody broke 'em out."

Bagramon slowly closed his fist, wood of his artificial hand creaking softly. "…I see…" he calmly responded, his voice not rising above its usual level.

"…You do?" Beelzebumon asked, cocking his head to the side. "You're takin' this pretty well."

"…Beelzebumon, did you happen to see Wizardmon around?" Bagramon slowly and pointedly inquired.

"Wizzie? …Yeeeeaaah. I did, come to think of it!" Beelzebumon mused, making a show of remembering. "As a matter of fact, I saw him hanging around the dungeon earlier, acting kinda shifty… Hey, you don't think he had something to do with it, do you?"

Bagramon quietly turned away from the Demon Lord. "Thank you. That will be all," he brusquely answered.

Beelzebumon side-eyed Bagramon with an amused grin, but he continued on past him, making his way to his room down the hall.

Bagramon walked inside Wizardmon's room. With a quiet and reserved aura, he walked straight up to Wizardmon's desk. He moved his organic hand across the papers… papers about pocket dimensions and ancient treatises about other worlds and speculative links to Yggdrasil.

As he ran his palm across the desk, his thumb became caught on a notch in the wood underneath the papers. Frowning, Bagramon swept the papers off with his hand.

When the papers went cascading off like fall leaves torn from a tree, Bagramon saw what was hidden beneath them: there was a magical circle carved into the desk.

A scowl of rage flashed onto Bagramon's face. "No!" he bellowed. In a rare display of fury, he brought his arm down and slammed his massive, wooden fist onto the desk, splitting it in two and causing the room to shake.

"…Wizardmon…" Bagramon whispered, his voice a thunderous whisper of rage and betrayal. "Why?"

Bagramon bowed his head over the shattered remains of the desk. Locks of his long, white hair, slid forwards past his horns, draping down from his bowed face.

He stood alone in Wizardmon's room, surrounded by nothing but silence for the final few minutes before the word of the Royal Knights' escape would send the castle into chaos.

For just a few moments, those quiet few moments, Bagramon reflected.

Things were different now.

Something had changed since they accessed the Records. Not just with him, but with those around him... Lucemon, Wizardmon… he felt a shift happening. With the gravity of what they had learned, he supposed this was not unexpected. He shouldn't have been surprised. For the world itself, and the lies that it was built upon, was opening up to him.

He slowly raised his head, his white locks of hair moving aside and revealing his gleaming crimson eye, raging against the darkness with fury and rebellion.

Knowing what he now knew… Knowing what he had lost and knowing what he was up against…

Now, more than ever, he was determined to see this through to the end.

And nothing – nobody – would stop him…