Chapter Ninety-Seven: Crisis

“What is it, little beast? Still thinking about that day?” Rika asked when she saw Feng Xue sitting listlessly in the corner, staring blankly into space.

“Mm.” Feng Xue gave a small response, then sank back into his daze.

The culprit behind all of this was the thing that had swallowed Guilmon that day.

After following Rika into the sewer, the four of them quickly found that hemispherical white mass, as though built from irregular geometric shapes. If one were to examine it through technology alone, one would discover that it was composed entirely of chaotic data, to the point that if a Digimon took a bite out of it, its next evolution would almost certainly turn into some kind of sudden mutation.

As for the rest of it—D-Ark opening the path, Guilmon forging a road of light, and so on—there was nothing much to say.

But Feng Xue discovered a very serious problem, and it was also the reason he had been sitting there dazed for so long: the tentacle-like, vine-like substance that had trapped Guilmon inside the white mass was not the same thing as the white mass itself.

And Feng Xue knew the aura of both substances.

Or rather, he knew what they represented.

The origin of the white mass was, in a sense, one of Nightmare Soldiers’ home grounds: the Dark Area.

The Dark Area is the “graveyard of deleted data,” a place where pure darkness and negative energy are formed. But deletion does not necessarily mean death. Just as deleted files on a computer can still be restored by recovery software, the data itself may remain intact. Because of that, the Dark Area has long served as one of the great Digimon experts’ methods for dealing with vicious Digimon that cannot be killed yet cannot simply be left alone. Over time, the Dark Area became the largest prison in the Digital World, a prison for the most dangerous and wicked Digimon.

The Dark Area itself had the function of drawing in “deleted” data, so Guilmon, whose data had become unstable after going so long without replenishment, being pulled away was perfectly normal.

But those vine-like tendrils were anything but normal.

Because Feng Xue smelled the thick scent of dragons on them. Not dinosaur dragons, nor giant dragons, but pure Dragon Factor.

If something could stand against the Dark Area and was made almost entirely of Dragon Factor, then its origin was obvious.

The Dragon’s Domain.

The moment that name surfaced in Feng Xue’s mind, panic stirred in him.

The Digital World of the third series was similar to the ancient Digital World: a digital world first created by humans. In that world, even Yggdrasil had no power to interfere. Ecologically, with the Four Holy Beasts in control, it was even closer to the primordial age before Lucemon was born.

But none of that could be used as an excuse for the appearance of the Dragon’s Domain.

What was the Dragon’s Domain?

It was the place where Dragon-type Digimon gathered. Nominally, it was ruled by the Four Great Dragons, but because Azulongmon was one of the Four Holy Beasts and Megidramon carried the mark of the Digital Hazard, meaning that if it ever appeared it would either be sealed away or forcibly de-evolved, the Dragon’s Domain in truth had only one ruling couple: Goddramon and Holydramon.

And for some reason, the Dragon’s Domain had always kept itself apart from the world. It had not even shown itself when the Digimon Reaper appeared. Feng Xue even suspected that it existed in a branch world of its own, one that could evade the Digimon Reaper. Otherwise, how could such a world-ending catastrophe have appeared without them so much as showing their faces? Thinking back, in the Burst Evolution episode, the ones who came were all newly evolved Digimon or lone grassroots fighters. Not a single formed legion appeared: neither Nightmare Soldiers, nor Jungle Troopers, nor the Dragon’s Domain, nor the Royal Knights.

In other words, these large organizations all possessed their own miniature worlds, allowing them to avoid the Digimon Reaper’s world-ending purge. Perhaps that was the true reason they had been able to accumulate such terrifying numbers of Ultimate-level Digimon.

But Feng Xue’s daze was not caused by these thoughts alone. The real issue was the Dragon’s Domain’s involvement.

Why would the Dragon’s Domain help the Dark Area deal with Guilmon?

No. Feng Xue realized he had fallen into a misconception. Those tendrils from the Dragon’s Domain were probably not there to assist the Dark Area at all, but to protect Guilmon.

That’s right. The Dark Area was a massive prison. Even if only a tiny part of it were projected into reality, it would still remain connected to its source. If Guilmon were absorbed into the Dark Area, there would be absolutely no chance of his ever leaving. Those tendrils had been there to keep him from being truly swallowed by it.

If that was the case, then Guilmon must have held tremendous significance for the Dragon’s Domain.

And the only thing Feng Xue could think of that would give him such significance was Megidramon.

In other words, in the third series, Guilmon’s evolution into Megidramon was not simply caused by the emotional shock of Leomon’s death on Takato—or rather, not entirely. What if the Dragon’s Domain had played a hand in it?

Feng Xue had clearly noticed that when Guilmon left, those tendrils transformed into data and were completely absorbed by him.

After absorbing such a high concentration of Dragon Factor, Guilmon showed not the slightest change. Clearly, those factors had not taken effect at the time. So when would they take effect?

Probably at the point in the original story when he evolved into Megidramon.

Still, even if Megidramon was one of the Four Great Dragons, his significance to the dragon species was not especially great; if anything, he was more dangerous than useful. And in the original story he only evolved for a short while before reverting, never again becoming Megidramon afterward. Had the Dragon’s Domain’s plan failed?

Not necessarily. Perhaps the Dragon’s Domain had intended from the very beginning for Guilmon to evolve only that one time.

Then what was the purpose of that evolution?

Digital Hazard.

That phrase suddenly surfaced in Feng Xue’s mind.

Though it had merely been Takato’s doodle, the Digital Hazard symbol it represented did indeed exist, and when the Digital Spirits constructed Guilmon, they faithfully etched that danger into him.

And that red symbol of danger represented not only unmatched power, but also destruction.

Because of this, every appearance of Megidramon in Digimon history had been fleeting. He was either quickly defeated, or vanished or de-evolved for some unknown reason.

From all of this history, Feng Xue could smell a thick stench of conspiracy.

Yet after pondering it for days, he still had no clue.

There was simply too little information. Feng Xue could not even understand what the Dragon’s Domain wanted with Digital Hazard.

Or rather, what use Digital Hazard had beyond its own danger.

But when he finally snapped out of his reverie, he discovered that Rika was gone.