The green and black vortex of Dark Rondo shrieked in Zero's palm, tearing chunks of stone from the floor just by proximity.
He laughed, a harsh, grating sound that echoed off the curved walls of the control spire.
"Say goodbye to your pets, boy!" Zero threw his hand forward, unleashing the compressed wave of annihilation.
Ace didn't flinch.
He raised his D-Tector, gripping it tight. "You have a lot of raw power, Zero. But you're missing something crucial."
He tapped the center of the glowing screen.
"Synchronization. Jogress Evolution!"
The D-Tector erupted like a supernova!
The violent dark magic tearing across the room slammed into a sudden, impenetrable wall of holy light.
Zero squinted, shielding his eyes as the green-and-black energy simply dissolved against the expanding barrier.
Behind the light, Angemon and Ankylomon didn't retreat.
They dissolved into twin streams of pure binary code—one a brilliant, blinding gold, the other a deep, sturdy earth-brown.
The two data streams spiraled around each other, intertwining and fusing in a massive, hovering digital ring.
Angemon! Ankylomon! Jogress Digivolve to...
The ring shattered, sending a shockwave of ancient, holy pressure through the chamber.
The heavy brass doors groaned on their hinges.
When the light faded, the being that hovered between Ace and Zero didn't look like a vicious monster or a shining knight.
It looked like a relic from a forgotten age!
It had the shape of an ancient, silver clay figure, adorned with golden armor plating across its chest and shoulders.
Two pristine, angelic wings sprouted from its back, keeping the heavy, metallic body afloat.
Its face was a smooth, expressionless silver dome with two hollow, unblinking eyes that burned with a quiet, terrifying intensity.
Shakkoumon!
Zero lowered his arms, staring at the bizarre, teapot-shaped angel.
The chaotic bloodlust in his red eyes flickered into sheer confusion, followed quickly by insulted rage.
"A clay doll?" Zero sneered, dark magic flaring around his fists again.
"You block my attack, build up all that light, and summon a fucking flying pot? You're mocking me!"
"Try breaking it," Ace said, stepping back to stand beside Wendy.
Zero roared, launching himself across the room.
He didn't bother with a ranged attack this time.
He closed the distance in a heartbeat, his fist wrapped in a dense, swirling sphere of destructive magic that could level a mountain.
He slammed his fist directly into Shakkoumon's silver face!
CLANG.
The sound echoed like a massive church bell.
A shockwave rippled out from the point of impact, cracking the stone floor beneath them.
Zero's smirk vanished.
Shakkoumon hadn't moved an inch..... It didn't even tilt its head.
The dark magic that had erased solid rock just moments ago fizzled out against the Digimon's Chrome Digizoid shell, leaving nothing but a faint wisp of smoke.
"What?" Zero gasped.
He pulled his fist back, his knuckles were bruised and smoking.
Before he could jump away, Shakkoumon's hollow eyes flashed.
A searing, high-temperature beam of red light shot from its gaze!
Justice Beam.
The laser hit Zero point-blank in the chest.
The dark mage screamed as the holy energy burned right through his magical defenses, launching him backward.
He crashed through a heavy stone pillar, tumbling violently across the room before slamming into the far wall.
"Ace-san..." Wendy whispered, peeking out from behind him. "How... it didn't even chant a spell."
"Shakkoumon is an Ultimate-level Digimon born from a fusion of ancient earth and holy light," Ace explained, his eyes tracking the dust cloud.
"Its armor is near-impenetrable, and its attacks are designed to purify evil. Against someone like Zero, it's a hard counter."
Zero staggered out of the rubble, coughing up blood.
His pale skin was scorched, and the chaotic magic swirling around him was starting to falter, sputtering like a dying engine.
The arrogant smirk was gone, replaced by a desperate, animalistic fury.
"I am Zero!" he roared, blood dripping from his chin. "I erase everything! I will not be humiliated by a doll!"
He slammed both hands together.
The entire control room darkened as all the shadows in the spire rushed toward him, coalescing into a massive, jagged sphere of pure black energy.
It was a localized black hole, tearing the floorboards and debris into its center.
"Genesis Zero!"
He hurled the massive sphere of erasure magic.
It chewed through the air, leaving a trail of distorted space as it barreled toward Shakkoumon.
The Digimon didn't try to dodge.
The golden plates on its waist suddenly slid open, revealing dark, hollow chambers within its metallic body.
"Kachina Bomb."
With a rapid, mechanical thumping sound, dozens of red, glowing clay discs shot out from Shakkoumon's waist.
They didn't fly in a straight line, instead, they tracked the dark magic like heat-seeking missiles.
The discs slammed into the Genesis Zero sphere.
Instead of exploding with fire, they detonated with bursts of pure, neutralizing holy energy.
The explosive barrage ate away at the dark sphere, tearing it apart layer by layer until the ultimate spell simply collapsed into a harmless shower of black sparks.
Zero fell to his knees, his arms dropping to his sides.
He stared at the falling sparks, his mind unable to process the absolute failure of his strongest magic.
"No... it's impossible," Zero muttered, his voice shaking. "Nothing survives that. Nothing."
Shakkoumon floated forward, closing the distance with eerie, silent grace.
It hovered right above the broken guild master, its unblinking eyes staring down at him.
Zero looked up, raising a trembling hand to cast one last, desperate spell.
Shakkoumon's eyes flared crimson one last time.
The Justice Beam fired at point-blank range, striking Zero squarely in the chest!
The blast slammed him into the stone floor, cratering the ground beneath him.
A final, blinding flash of light filled the room, accompanied by the agonizing scream of the dark mage.
When the light faded, the room fell dead silent.
Zero lay motionless at the bottom of the crater.
His dark magic was gone.
His robes were singed, his eyes rolled back in his head. The monstrous alter-ego of Brain had been thoroughly, effortlessly dismantled!
Shakkoumon floated back toward Ace, the golden plates on its waist sliding shut with a soft click.
Ace let out a breath.
He walked past the defeated dark mage, his boots crunching on the shattered stone, and stopped in front of the massive, glowing black lacrima at the center of the room.
The control sphere was still pulsing.
The grinding sound of Nirvana's massive legs echoed up through the floorboards.
"The shitstain is knocked out," Ace said, narrowing his eyes at the console.
"But this thing is still moving. We need to figure out how to shut it down before it reaches Cait Shelter."
---------
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator