Chapter 131: The Dragon’s Domain Strategy

When Guilmon was on the verge of disappearing, Feng Xue realized that the very emergence of the Devimon was suspicious. He even lost Ruki to the IceDevimon because he was preoccupied with this issue. Yet, he never truly understood the purpose behind the numerous arrangements in the Dragon’s Domain.

It wasn’t until this very moment—when the Devimon’s digital crisis began to engulf the entire Digital World—that Feng Xue, through a sudden influx of information, finally grasped the Dragon’s Domain’s true intent.

They intended to forcibly awaken the Digital Reaper through the Digital Crisis.

Every living being harbors desires, and naturally, the rulers of the Dragon’s Domain were no exception.

However, the current Digital World was dominated by the Four Sacred Beasts. Since these Four Sacred Beasts inherently wielded authority over the Digital World, even the Seven Great Demon Lords found it nearly impossible to confront them beyond the Dark Area.

Yet, the Divine Dragon and Holy Dragon—peers to the Azure Dragon but confined to a small world—would never willingly submit to the oppression of the Four Sacred Beasts, including the Azure Dragon.

It was akin to two people identical in birth, education, and ability, where one owned a large corporation and the other merely worked for a living. If the latter was ambitious, he would strive to start his own business. But if the market was already monopolized by the first, and even attempts to go public were suppressed, would he not be driven to drastic actions?

Perhaps even overturning the table would not be unimaginable.

At this moment, the Dragon’s Domain was doing exactly that. Since the Four Sacred Beasts controlled the entire Digital World, they planned to use the Devimon’s Digital Crisis to directly awaken the Digital Reaper. Through the Digital Reaper’s formatting, the entire Digital World would be reset. The Four Sacred Beasts, as the holders of power over the Digital World, could not remain uninvolved. After the world was renewed, the Dragon’s Domain would boldly step onto the stage, carving out a vast territory in the Digital World now bereft of the Four Sacred Beasts’ dominance.

However, the Dragon’s Domain likely did not anticipate that the Digital Reaper would be brought back into the real world by human children. If not for a few capable scientists and several Ultimate-level Digimon supporting the real world, the Dragon’s Domain might have truly lost control. After all, the Digital World depends on the network world; if the real world were destroyed, the Digital World would instantly shrink, even collapse.

Why would the Devimon’s Digital Crisis awaken the Digital Reaper? To understand this, we must first comprehend what the Digital Reaper truly is.

What is the Digital Reaper? Simply put, it is an automated cleaning program akin to 360 Automatic Cleanup, capable of identifying and formatting junk programs.

In the early days, when the Digital World’s capacity was low—only a few gigabytes of network storage—the Digital World existed mostly in an immature state. The mature phase corresponded to the current Ultimate-level Digimon. Those who used computers before the year 2000 would recall the frustration of their hard drives filling up within days.

Hence, during that era, data needed frequent cleaning, essentially formatting.

For humans, this was merely space management, normal housekeeping to remove redundant data. But for Digimon living as data within the Digital World—an extension of the network—it was an apocalypse.

Because they were data themselves.

Moreover, one minute in the real world equaled one day in the Digital World. If humans cleaned their networks weekly, the Digital World faced a cataclysm every 27 years. (In the earliest stages of the Digital World, this ratio was even more severe—one second could equal a day or even ten days.)

As network technology advanced rapidly and storage capacity expanded, human cleaning intervals lengthened. If humans cleaned once a year, the Digital World’s cycle of destruction stretched to 1,440 years.

This allowed more Digimon to evolve. Yet, ancient species evolved too slowly to withstand the Digital Reaper. To accelerate evolution and gain strength against it, Digimon developed Ancient Armor—equipment that enhanced defense and eased evolution, greatly improving average combat power.

However, faster evolution meant increased data congestion, making the Digital Reaper’s awakening more likely.

By modern times—around the year 2000 of the Digital World—even ordinary computers held dozens of gigabytes, and the entire network’s capacity reached millions of terabytes. Under such conditions, the Digital Reaper was nearly sealed away. Even if traces remained in the Digital World, it existed only in dormancy.

Without signals of network congestion, this intelligent program would not activate. (Think of the Digital Reaper as an automatic cleaner that triggers only when network usage exceeds 70–80%, clearing redundant data to free space. Before reaching 80%, it remains dormant.)

For the Four Sacred Beasts, this Digital Reaper could be suppressed with some effort. As long as the Evolutionary Light didn’t flare chaotically, they could avoid awakening it. This was the main reason the Four Sacred Beasts sent AncientGarurumon into the real world. (The Evolutionary Light is essentially a surge of emotional data that rapidly increases a Digimon’s data, causing evolution. A few evolutions might be fine, but a mass simultaneous evolution would likely awaken the Digital Reaper.)

Yet, the Digital Crisis shattered this balance. What was the Digital Crisis? It was the high-density virus within the Devimon’s body. Virus-type Digimon were so named because their bodies consisted mainly of computer viruses, and Guilmon’s viral strain was especially destructive—akin to a malignant virus that not only corrupts files but also damages hardware.

Once this virus spread, it could annihilate the Digital World both in software and hardware.

At the moment when Devimon’s life was threatened, it could unleash the Digital Crisis, dragging the entire Digital World down with it. In the real world, this would be akin to every computer being infected by a devastating virus like the infamous "Panda Burning Incense" without any antivirus protection.

Yet, viruses are also data. So in the fleeting moment of Devimon’s existence, the explosive increase in viral data awoke the Digital Reaper. The Four Sacred Beasts’ suppression and sealing became ineffective; WhiteTigerDigimon had to expend all their strength just to temporarily contain the sudden eruption of the Digital Reaper.