Chapter 118: The Vigorous Beast

“What, you managed to shake off that lion?” Rika sprawled casually on the tatami, eyeing Feng Xue with amusement.

“Yeah. Juri’s chasing that guy all over heaven and earth right now. As if he’d have the time to fight me.” A wicked smile crept across Feng Xue’s face. “Though I have to say, he’s surprisingly innocent in that regard. One little girl has him completely at a loss.”

“Hmph!”

Who knew which nerve Feng Xue’s offhand remark had touched, but Rika responded with a cold snort, then hurled a ton of eye-rolls at him.

Feng Xue was not offended. After all, Rika was already eleven, an age when her first period was drawing near. A slightly bad temper was perfectly normal.

Thinking of that, Feng Xue finally realized why the chosen children and Tamers throughout the various Digimon series were always elementary-school students. Never mind anything else—if a group of girls went to the Digital World, how would they deal with sanitary pads?

Then again, perhaps Feng Xue was overthinking it. After all, protagonists never need to use the bathroom.

Although Feng Xue had accumulated enough data for an upgrade—or rather, an evolution—he still needed an opportunity.

Generally speaking, the vast majority of Digimon could reach the Champion level so long as they did not die. By the same token, most of them would eventually grow old and die at that level.

Any Digimon capable of reaching the Ultimate level was a prodigy among prodigies. That was the meaning of the word “ultimate.”

Ultimate meant having no shortcomings and no fatal weaknesses.

Aside from KingSukamon, which had forcibly piled up dozens or even hundreds of times its normal amount of garbage data to become an Ultimate, and aside from those that evolved through outside forces such as Crests, Ancient Armor, emotional energy, Digivices, the Digimon Empire’s modification surgeries, or the sacred weapons of the Four Sovereigns, nearly every Ultimate had evolved from a Digimon that had honed its mind, technique, and body to the utmost limits.

Had Feng Xue polished his mind, technique, and body to their limits?

In his own estimation, he had. For one thing, his collection of self-created techniques alone already filled an entire list. A thousand years of training had brought him close to the realm of shooting without conscious thought. Devimon’s physical constitution was already excellent, and with the addition of Ripple Breathing and Blood Dress catalysis, he had long since reached the pinnacle of his species.

That left the mind.

Digimon did not actually require much in the way of mental cultivation. Otherwise, how could creatures like Puppetmon ever evolve?

What Digimon called the “mind” was, in truth, emotion.

Once emotions were compiled by the Digital World, they generated vast quantities of data. Unlike ordinary data, this kind possessed the power to drive a Digimon’s evolution.

Whether Crests, Ancient Armor, Digisoul, Spirit Evolution, or even the evolution cards from the third series, all of them were, at their core, manifestations of this emotional power.

And Feng Xue currently lacked emotions strong enough to bring about evolution.

It was not that he did not want them. He simply could not reach that threshold.

For that reason, Feng Xue yearned desperately for a great battle—one that would allow him to break through the limits of the Champion level.

However, that day was not far off, because Feng Xue soon encountered a scene that seemed to have appeared in his memories—

Just as Rika was leaving school for home, she encountered Henry Wong in front of a shop plastered with posters of the twelve zodiac animals.

“Was it really all right to leave your grandmother behind like that?” Feng Xue floated behind Rika, asking with a teasing expression.

“There are things we ought to do, and things we are capable of doing. And right now, there is something only we can do!”

Rika delivered the somewhat convoluted yet meaningful line, leaving Feng Xue momentarily stunned.

At some point, the girl had transformed from a stubborn tomboy who knew only how to charge ahead into someone who seemed aloof and heartless, yet was actually quite gentle.

“What are you staring at?” Rika glared at Feng Xue.

Just then, she noticed two Digimon card players—both still outsiders to the story—trying to take advantage of Juri’s inexperience and trade her rare cards for common ones. Rika immediately “stepped forward.”

That is to say, she taught Juri how to play cards.

Well, playing cards was also a part of battle. If you did not like it, then do not play.

Wait. That last line seemed to have pushed the author’s alignment toward lawful evil.

…

As evening fell and everyone prepared to head home, a figure with round eyes and a huge mouth appeared.

“Makuramon…”

Feng Xue silently noted that the plot had begun, while cautiously watching Makuramon’s human form. In the original story, that fellow had only stolen Calumon and sabotaged the extermination plan, but that did not mean he would refrain from attacking humans in reality.

If Makuramon merely intended to rob Calumon, Feng Xue would follow the original plot and fight Vikaralamon. But if the bastard dared lay a hand on Rika, he should not blame Feng Xue for treating him as a ladder to evolution.

Unfortunately, Makuramon was in human form, and the Tamers—who were only elementary-school students—could not catch up with him.

Then, in the midst of the pursuit, the ground suddenly began to tremble.

“An earthquake? In that case…” Feng Xue seemed to sense something, yet at the same time, it was as though he had discovered nothing at all. He could only feel that something had intruded upon the range of his perception.

“There’s a Digimon!” Terriermon was the first to identify it.

By then, Makuramon’s human form had vanished without a trace. After a brief discussion, the three of them followed the path Feng Xue pointed out and headed toward the park.

“This is the place. It looks like it hasn’t materialized yet.”

Feng Xue stared solemnly at the clearing amid the bushes. The Digimon had not yet descended, but he could feel an enormous mass of data surging out from somewhere. By now, the entire forest had been enveloped by it.

“The source of the data seems to be underground.” Feng Xue frowned. There was something strangely familiar about it.

“Is it the Dark Area? So the Four Sovereigns really are sending Digimon to the real world through the Dark Area?”

Following the flow of data, Feng Xue discovered that it seemed to be pouring out from beside a manhole cover.

“So it’s in the sewers…”

Although he had identified the source of the data, Feng Xue had no way to cut it off. He was only a Champion, after all; he could not influence the Dark Area in the slightest.

Yet just as Feng Xue was considering what benefits the Dark Area might bring him, the enormous stream of data suddenly contracted. Along with a bank of fog far larger than anything that had come before, a colossal figure descended—

It was a gigantic, shaggy mountain boar, so enormous that it could scarcely be taken in at a glance, as though it had stepped straight out of a live-action monster film. It stood even taller than the surrounding commercial buildings—at least thirty or forty meters—and combined with its blood-red eyes, it gave rise to the unmistakable impression of a monster attacking the Shinjuku district.

“Where is it going?”

When the giant boar began to move, the Tamers had no choice but to get out of its path. Even without attacking, its terrifying bulk reduced everything in its wake to ruins. This boar was known as Vikaralamon.

“Let’s fight!”

The Tamers exchanged nods. In the blink of an eye, Terriermon and Guilmon had already evolved to the Champion level.