Chapter 108: Evolution

“Is Keiren still not here?” Feng Xue struggled to fend off the venomous attacks of the Sandiro Beast. As the battle wore on, fragments of the storyline began to resurface in his mind. Without a Blue Card and faced with an opponent whose defense was incredibly strong—far surpassing that of a Gura Beast—only the fully evolved form’s venomous assault could hope to defeat this foe.

But it was more than that. The Sandiro Beast would not simply endure the three of their attacks passively as in the original animation. Although the subway station somewhat restricted its massive form, Feng Xue himself was equally constrained.

Its colossal, slender tail lashed through the air like a giant whip, nearly engulfing the entire space. While Feng Xue could evade attacks by phasing through walls, Ruki could not. As a mere mortal human, she was vulnerable—not just to the Demon Emperor Beast, but even a single strike from a mature-level Digimon (excluding the Snot Beast) could prove fatal.

After all, not every human is a powerhouse like Daimon; the notion of knocking out an Ultimate-level Digimon with one punch belonged only in myths.

“This won’t do!” Garugo Beast had joined the fray at some unknown moment, and Feng Xue finally realized where the plot had gone awry—

The Impmon!

In the original story, the Impmon stayed close to Keiren and alerted him upon sensing the Digimon battle. But now, having been driven away by Feng Xue’s own words, there was no one to notify Keiren. Everything depended solely on themselves.

“What a pain!” Feng Xue thought grimly as he watched Garugo Beast’s full-strength strike fail to faze the Sandiro Beast even slightly. His sense of danger deepened.

Garugo Beast was never known for overwhelming attack power; its strength lay in suppressive fire. When faced with a Digimon whose defense outmatched its offense, it was utterly helpless.

Blue Card! A flicker of hope flashed in Feng Xue’s mind, but such cards appeared at will—believed in, they manifested; doubted, they vanished—completely unpredictable. The only Blue Card bestowed by Shiguo was still in Akihabara.

“Baohoko!” The Sandiro Beast seemed tired of toying with them, opening its mouth to unleash a venom-coated halberd.

Though not swift, the halberd carried an unavoidable force, as if it had locked onto Feng Xue's data, stabbing straight at him.

“Card swap! Clone technique!” Ruki’s voice rang out, and Feng Xue felt his consciousness split in two. The halberd pierced through the clone, allowing Feng Xue to narrowly dodge the lethal strike.

“Now’s the time!” Sharp light shone from Feng Xue’s eyes as his tailcoat began to dissolve, transforming into streams of data swirling around him.

After all, Baohoko was a manifestation of the Sandiro Beast's power; even the Demon Emperor Beast couldn’t sustain continuous venomous assaults.

Seizing the moment as the Sandiro Beast launched its finishing move, Feng Xue sensed his chance to counterattack had arrived.

His Static Blood Armor shifted to Dynamic Blood Armor. Powerful data converged in his hands. The short bow unfolded, and a colossal arrow—ten times the usual size—materialized upon the bowstring.

This was Feng Xue’s ultimate strike. Unless he assumed his Perfect Holy Form, no technique could surpass this arrow.

The might of the Perfect Holy Form lay in its sacred glyphs, but as a spirit tethered to this world, Feng Xue had no way to condense such glyphs.

“Take this! Sacred Annihilation Arrow!” The digital world’s skill sound effect resonated as the glowing arrow shot toward Sandiro Beast’s wide-open mouth, still unclosed from unleashing Baohoko.

Yet...

“Too naive!” A commanding voice emerged from the Sandiro Beast, and Feng Xue glimpsed a faint smile in its ruby eyes.

“No good!” Feng Xue thought, realizing his mistake as the Sandiro Beast’s gaping jaws spewed forth another Baohoko. (Don’t begrudge the power—this is noted in the Digimon encyclopedia. As long as the Sandiro Beast has energy, it can spit out countless halberds. The original only showing one was the protagonist’s overpowered moment.)

The pale blue halberd clashed violently with the platinum Sacred Annihilation Arrow, their dazzling radiance flooding the entire subway station.

At that moment, Garugo Beast had no chance to intervene.

“Ruki, use the Evolution Card!” came Jianliang’s sudden voice.

“No, only Blue Cards can evolve into the Perfect Form,” Feng Xue thought, but he had no time to argue, as another glow formed in Sandiro Beast’s mouth—it was clearly capable of releasing Baohoko again!

“No, Feng Xue is already Mature level!” Ruki hesitated, only managing to dodge the attack with the clone technique.

“The Super Evolution Module lets a partner evolve once. Our Digimon are in the Growth phase, so they can evolve to Mature. Your Demon Beast is already Mature—it must be able to evolve into Perfect Form!” Jianliang’s voice was unwavering, and within that steadfastness, Feng Xue seemed to grasp something.

“Heart!” Yes, the power of the heart! In the Digimon world, the Tyrannomon series—be it the Arc Machines, Sacred Project, or Swing Machines—all transform the wills of the “Chosen Children” into data. It is this emotional data that grants such power.

In the third saga, the effectiveness of cards, whether for Growth or Perfect forms, heavily depended on this heart power.

With this realization, Feng Xue suddenly called out, “Ruki! Let’s go—I believe in my Tamer!”

This was more than encouragement; Feng Xue infused a subtle illusion, compelling Ruki to truly believe the card could evolve her.

“Alright!” Ruki nodded, and the card in her hand radiated a blue light.

At that moment, under Ruki’s hope, the card transformed into a Blue Card!

“Card swap! Network Evolution!”

A radiant glow enveloped Feng Xue’s body, but unexpectedly, he did not evolve into the Zombie Satan Beast as he had imagined. Instead, he transformed into a red-skinned fallen angel—

Phyllismon!

“How is this possible? The Demon Beast only evolves into Phyllismon when paired with Nightmon, right? Wait, Nightmon? Could it be...” Feng Xue suddenly recalled that Ruki had once used a Nightmon card. Perhaps the residual data from Nightmon had caused this evolution.

“Well, it’s fine. A fallen angel is still stronger than a zombie type!” Feng Xue waved his trident, unleashing a gray beam straight at the Sandiro Beast.

The petrifying light ignored the Demon Emperor Beast’s formidable defense. This “programming magic” of the digital world could imprison anything within stone.

However, this did not mean Feng Xue held the power to instantly slay the Sandiro Beast. The statue trembled constantly; in no more than ten seconds, the colossal creature would break free!

“Ruki!” Feng Xue shouted, and she responded immediately. A card instantly appeared in the Arc Machine’s slot—

“Card swap—Power Boost Upgrade!”

Data shimmered and gathered in Feng Xue’s hands, reforming his trident into a plain-looking longbow.

“This time, there will be no mistakes!” Feng Xue drew the bowstring, aiming at the trembling statue.

“Sacred Annihilation Arrow!”