Palkia, Dialga, and Darkrai, all indulged in a heated battle, paused in the sky, their heads snapping down toward the mass of black flames.

An imposing figure walked out of those flames, with bloody eyes.

ShineGreymon’s armored body had gained patches of jet black. Tongues of black flames were lashing out from his back, becoming distorted, vile wings. In his hand, the dark Digimon wielded a massive sword made of those same black flames.

RESENTMENT.

The word became an overwhelming concept, drowning all senses, including those of the three Pokemon in the sky and... Agent Zero.

The doom radiating from ShineGreymon now, after stepping into the forbidden Ruin Mode, was such that it even sent a chill running down the Top-level 12th Floor Contestant’s spine.

With a bloody squelch, Zeus pulled his hand out of Red Sun’s chest.

However, before he could do anything else, ShineGreymon was upon him, leaving behind a trail of blackness that burned space itself.

A growl of utter madness escaped the Digimon as he slashed, and all Zeus could do was put his hands together to block it.

He soon learned that it was the most futile thing to do.

As Red Sun, with a hole in his chest, fell, ShineGreymon’s sword of black flames landed on Zeus’ hands and cut right through them like a hot knife through butter.

With his free hand, the Digimon grabbed Zeus’ face and threw him down.

A boom rang out where the Contestant landed.

ROAR!

Engulfed by his own madness, ShineGreymon let out a roar.

The black flames surrounding him intensified so much that everything around and under him began melting, becoming lava. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

The town was already disintegrating from the edges because of Palkia and Dialga.

Now, it began to melt from within, too.

Darkrai shot across space, the cyan glow in his eyes pulsating in anger. His eyes were so focused on the black-flamed Digimon that he even ignored the Space and Time Pokemon, who resumed fighting each other.

As Hyper Beams began annihilating the town behind him, Darkrai fired a massive Dark Pulse toward the Digimon.

ShineGreymon’s eyes snapped toward the Pokemon.

With a burst of black flames, he traced a long arc around the Dark Pulse and appeared behind Darkrai, raising the Corona Blaze Sword in his hands high.

The sword landed right into the Pokemon’s back and sent it flying hundreds of meters away like a black meteor, leaving behind a trail of blood.

ShineGreymon was about to chase the Pokemon when a shadow fell upon him.

As his head snapped up, he saw a black-red hammer, as large as a mansion, with many tiny thorns on it. The handle of the hammer was a string of flesh, going down where it was attached to Zeus’ shoulder, who had already regenerated.

"... What a nuisance..." Agent Zero’s sharp, grating voice rang out.

Suddenly, with a hum, his entire arm began gaining an unseen blackish tinge as he coated it with Armament Haki.

The blackness traced its way up to the massive Hammerfist and covered it, too.

Then, letting out a powerful grunt, Zeus brought the hammer down.

ShineGreymon instinctively tried to dodge, but dozens of mutated Pokemon came flying in and grabbed him from all sides, blasting him with attacks.

And Zeus’ Hammerfist, uncaring of his Brawlers, landed right on top of them and the Digimon.

Crack!

The massive hammer struck the earth, creating a hundred-meter-wide crater, with cracks surfacing all over the town.

Zeus retracted his arm and clenched and unclenched his clawed, metallic black fingers, feeling the numbness. "... Tough bastard..."

Suddenly, the hair on the back of his neck stood up.

Using all his agility, Agent Zero flew upward.

An armored hand shot out from the earth faster than him, though, latching onto his ankle.

As Zeus’ momentum kept taking him into the sky, it also pulled out the rest of the figure to which the hand belonged.

It was ShineGreymon, his entire body cracked and bloodied.

However, his red eyes carried a hint of clarity this time.

Zeus’ attack hadn’t just injured the dark Digimon; it had also driven away a great part of the madness that had been befuddling its mind.

Now, ShineGreymon knew what he must do.

With one thrust, the Digimon pulled himself up and wrapped his entire body around the 9 ft tall armored Zeus.

"... Why you..." Agent Zero cursed, sensing the doom.

Squelch!

Hundreds of metallic, fleshly tendrils shot out of Zeus’s back, passing right through Digimon’s body.

"... Haha..." ShineGreymon laughed, looking at Red Sun’s body from afar. "Perhaps... they will call you Black Sun now..."

Final —

Black Flames exploded out of ShineGreymon, becoming a storm.

A fiery heat scorched all and everything, even Palkia and Dialga, using Protect to defend themselves.

Then, at an alarming rate, all the storm of black flames converged back into ShineGreymon, his entire body radiating a blackness through the cracks and wounds.

For one last time, he looked at Red Sun, remembering Cam before... letting go.

— Shining Burst!

It was unknown what kept the explosion limited to a few hundred meters.

But, in that region, black, fiery bolts of lightning cracked around the ball of explosion, laying waste to everything.

Slowly, the blinding blackness receded.

Zeus’ scorched body fell and crashed on the glossy crater with a tink.

High in the sky, a digital anomaly took shape, becoming a Digi-Egg in the next moment.

A silence fell over the region... for a moment.

The ground shook, and dozens of mutated Pokemon and people rushed into the crater.

Thin, fleshly tendrils escaped Zeus’ scorched body and penetrated through their bodies, consuming them.

In no time, Agent Zero regenerated entirely, cracking his armored neck as he stood.

"How..." he thought aloud, craning his neck to look at the Digi-Egg that had almost ended him. "... futile."

It was none other than ShineGreymon, who had reverted to his original form, losing all evolutionary stages.

As the Digi-Egg fell, Zeus raised his clawed hand toward it.

A long, metallic, fleshly tendril, with its tip darkened with Haki, shot across space and went for the Digi-Egg... aiming to truly kill the Digimon.

Time seemed to crawl... frame by frame.

Then, shocking the living breath out of Zeus, an Angel appeared between the tendril and the Digi-Egg; an Angel with two massive white wings on its back.

The attack landed on the feathery wings and... bounced off.

"I..." A reminiscing voice rang in the ears as the figure turned around. "... do remember her last words."

A pale white-skinned Red Sun, wielding his revolver in his right hand and Digi-Egg in his left, stared down at Zeus with his red, demonic eyes.

"When the going gets tough..." The Humanoid Typhoon nudged his shattered sunglasses with the tip of his revolver. "... we — stay relentless."

****************

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