Chapter 135: The Shifting World Line

“Lord of Flies Bullet!”

Bullets bearing masks in the same style as Beelzemon and Beelstarmon burst from a barrel dozens of times smaller than themselves. They traced two magnificent arcs through the air as if guided by their own will, striking Horn Striker’s cables with perfect accuracy. Horn Striker, which had been grappling with the Judgemon form taken by Ryo Akiyama, let out a shrill scream and dissolved into foam.

“Rika?!”

At the delighted cries of her companions, Beelstarmon tossed her lustrous hair with seductive grace.

“You lot really can’t do anything without me, can you?”

“Honestly, I thought you were having too much fun in the Digital World to come back!”

Ryo Akiyama’s voice emerged from within Judgemon. For some reason, every time Feng Xue saw Ryo, he felt an irresistible urge to fire a shot at him. But then—

“Hurricane Barrage!”

“Hey, hey! Rika, what are you doing?”

With bullets spraying wildly in every direction, Judgemon had no choice but to leap about in a frantic tap dance.

“I was only thinking about it!” they said in unison.

The moment the words left their mouths, Feng Xue and Rika suddenly burst out laughing. Their body was, in effect, under both their control at once. If the two of them happened to have the same thought in the same instant, wasn’t this exactly what would happen?

“There’s no time! Hurry and rescue Takato!”

As expected of best friends—at a reunion after such a long separation, the only one who could still remember Takato was Kenta.

“Oh, right! Takato was captured… Feng Xue, can you do anything?”

“Of course. Who do you think I am?”

Feng Xue thumped her chest, making the two round mounds there bounce vigorously. Only after feeling that unfamiliar sensation did she remember that she had already become Beelstarmon.

“What are you doing?!”

Rika shrieked. Since they were in a state of mental connection, every sensation Beelstarmon experienced was faithfully reflected in Rika’s body. In other words, the flat-chested girl had just received an advance taste of the sensation of having enormous breasts.

“I’m still getting used to it, all right?”

Feng Xue gave an awkward laugh and slipped her two handguns into their holsters.

“Now relax and hand complete control over to me.”

As soon as Feng Xue finished speaking, the bubbles surrounding the Digital Reaper seemed to begin rippling. A great quantity of foam peeled away from its slime-like body and gathered in Feng Xue’s hands, condensing into a longbow of dark red that radiated an ominous aura.

“As expected, the Digital Reaper scatters all data apart. Once it reaches the real world, it converts matter into data before scattering and absorbing it. Still, that only makes things more convenient for me!”

Speaking smugly to herself, Feng Xue gently drew the red bowstring.

“Although a longbow can’t possibly match my Feast in terms of firing speed, if I’m only releasing a single shot…”

As she spoke, a dark-red arrow appeared in her hand, likewise condensed from data scattered by the Digital Reaper.

Beelstarmon drew the bow to its fullest extent, the dark-red arrow transforming into a streak of light as it pierced straight into the Digital Reaper.

“Feel the power of holiness and evil!”

With Feng Xue’s wild laughter, the place where the Digital Reaper had been struck seemed to have been gouged away. Judging from the way it writhed desperately yet failed to close the wound, it would probably be unable to repair itself for quite some time.

“Now!”

Feng Xue was the first to charge into the Digital Reaper’s domain. But then—

“Damn it! Its instinct to scatter data is still there!”

Feng Xue felt her body convulse. The next moment, Rika separated from Beelstarmon, while Feng Xue returned to the appearance of Beelzemon in Gale Mode.

Strangely enough, once Feng Xue separated from Rika, the sensation of data instability vanished. Or perhaps the Digital Reaper’s ability to scatter data only worked against Mega-level beings?

After thinking it over, Feng Xue understood the reason. When a Digimon entered the real world, its data transformed into something resembling protein, which then constructed a physical body. Since it was no longer data, the Digital Reaper could not interfere with it directly. It could only deal with such matter as it did with buildings in the real world—by continuously corroding it, converting it into data, and then scattering and absorbing it.

However, when a Digimon and a human underwent fusion evolution, the body was incapable of completing that transformation. As a result, the Digimon and the human had no choice but to enter a data-based state while in the real world. That was why, in the original story, they could not achieve Mega evolution after returning to reality. Only after Dobermon brought them the power of the Four Holy Beasts were they able to complete the process.

“Feng Xue, what are you spacing out for?”

Rika’s voice interrupted Feng Xue’s thoughts, and only then did he realize that he was still inside the Digital Reaper. This habit of suddenly drifting off really had to be corrected. A moment of distraction in battle could easily prove fatal.

“Isn’t that Takato? And Kenta and Culumon too. Wait—Piedmon has actually transformed into Chaos Form? Is that the godlike toy gun…? Hm?”

Feng Xue suddenly froze. He had actually seen Juri Katou.

“How is that possible?”

According to Feng Xue’s memories, Beelzemon had failed to rescue Juri in the original story, merely sending Culumon to her side. But the situation before him…

Could this Juri be a fake?

Feng Xue’s gaze suddenly turned dangerous.

“Are you really Juri?”

The words had barely left his mouth before Feng Xue felt foolish for asking. But Takato immediately helped smooth things over.

“Did Beelzemon run into a fake Juri too? Don’t worry, she’s the real one! ChaosPiedmon risked his life to save her!”

Though Takato said that, Feng Xue felt increasingly certain that something was wrong. The Juri before him seemed much more cheerful, entirely lacking the gloom that had settled over her after Leomon’s death.

Could it be that Juri had already moved on from Leomon’s death?

Feng Xue found that impossible. Given Juri’s personality, the death of Leomon—a Digimon who had felt like a father to her—was surely a pain beyond what she could bear. How could she have recovered so easily, especially when the one who had rescued her was Piedmon, the very one who had killed Leomon?

“Enough talking. Let’s get out of here!”

At Kenta’s command, MarineAngemon suddenly spat out a gigantic heart that enveloped everyone. The group then emerged from the Digital Reaper’s encirclement with ease, in stark contrast to how difficult it had been to enter.

Perhaps this truly was the might of a naturally born Mega-level Digimon.

Just as Feng Xue was preparing to launch a tentative attack, the corner of his eye caught sight of an unfamiliar Digimon in Juri’s arms.

It was a furry Digimon with nothing but a head and a tail. At the place where its head and tail met—what should have been its neck—grew a ring of material resembling the scarf of a Dragon King. It looked extraordinarily strange. Judging from its posture, however, it seemed to be in its In-Training stage.

“What is this…?”

Feng Xue racked his memory, but in the end, he still could not recall any Digimon like it appearing in the third season.