The massive black lacrima pulsed in the center of the control room.
The grinding of stone beneath their feet was deafening, vibrating right through their boots and rattling their teeth.
Nirvana was still marching toward Cait Shelter, oblivious to the defeat of its master.
Ace walked past the smoking crater where Zero lay unconscious.
The monstrous dark mage wasn't getting up anytime soon, but the city he had unleashed was still a massive problem.
"Ace-san, the console is locked," Wendy said.
Her voice trembled as her small hands hovered over the ancient, glowing stone runes. "Brain sealed the steering mechanism. I don't know how to reverse it."
Ace walked up to the dark crystal.
He placed his hand on the smooth surface. It felt freezing cold, humming with dense, sickening magical energy.
"If we can't steer it, we'll just have to break it," Ace said, his eyes narrowing.
He looked back at Shakkoumon, the massive clay angel hovering silently nearby.
"Smash it."
Shakkoumon raised a heavy silver arm, gathering holy energy around its fist.
But before the ancient Digimon could strike, a sharp, piercing ringing echoed directly inside Ace's mind.
"Wait! Don't attack the main crystal!"
Hibiki's voice projected straight into their heads, strained, echoing, and urgent.
"Hibiki?" Ace tapped his temple, stepping back from the console. "Where are you?"
"I'm at the lower levels with Jura and Lucy. I've linked everyone's minds using my Archive magic. Listen to me carefully. The central lacrima doesn't power the movement. It's just a transmitter. The real engines are six separate, massive lacrima crystals located at the base of Nirvana's six legs."
"So we just gotta smash the legs?" Natsu's voice chimed into the telepathic network, echoing with his usual fiery enthusiasm.
"Easy! Point me at one!"
"It isn't that simple, Natsu," Erza added.
Her mental voice was steady, though she sounded exhausted.
"I passed one of the leg mechanisms on my way up the outer spires. It's heavily enchanted with ancient Nirvit magic. If we destroy one, the other five will immediately compensate and regenerate the broken crystal. We have to destroy all six at the exact same moment."
Ace glanced at Wendy, who let out a heavy sigh of relief.
They had a plan.
"Alright," Ace said to the empty room, speaking into the mental link. "Hibiki, do a roll call. Who's in position to take down the crystal?"
"I've got Lacrima Number One!" Natsu shouted, the sound of crackling flames audible even through the telepathy.
"I'm at Number Two," Gray's voice followed. "Juvia is with me. We're ready."
"I've arrived at Number Three," Erza reported, the metallic clink of her armor shifting accompanying her words.
"Lucy and I are standing before Number Four," Jura's deep, resonant voice rumbled through the link.
"I suppose that leaves Number Five to me and Sherry," Lyon sighed. "We just found it. It's heavily guarded by automated stone golems, but we'll clear them out."
"And I'm at the top," Ace said, looking down the sprawling, bottomless stone staircase that led into the dark bowels of the city.
"I can reach Number Six in a few minutes."
"That's all six," Hibiki confirmed. "I'll synchronize the countdown. You have exactly five minutes to reach your targets and prepare your strongest attacks. If even one of us is a second late, the whole system reboots."
Ace turned to Shakkoumon.
The massive clay angel glowed softly, separating and returning to the small forms of Patamon and Armadillomon.
"You guys did great today. Take a rest," Ace said softly, recalling them into the D-Tector.
He turned to Wendy and Carla. "Stay here in the control room. It's the safest place right now. Once those legs shatter, this whole city is going to collapse. Hold onto something sturdy."
Wendy nodded, wrapping her arms tightly around a thick iron railing near the console.
Carla hovered right beside her. "Please be careful, Ace."
Ace didn't waste another second.
He sprinted out of the control spire, vaulting directly over the railing of the winding stone staircase.
He used controlled bursts of energy to cushion his descent, dropping multiple floors at a time in a controlled freefall.
The wind howled as he plummeted through the ruined layers of the ancient city.
He passed crumbling residential districts, broken aqueducts, and massive stone gears that ground together with deafening screeches.
The dark magic permeated the air, making it hard to breathe, but his endless energy pushed the nausea away.
"Two minutes left," Hibiki's voice warned in his head.
Ace landed heavily on a crumbling stone bridge on the lowest tier.
In front of him, suspended in a massive cage of dark, twisting roots and ancient stone pillars, was the sixth lacrima crystal.
It was easily the size of a two-story house, pulsing with a sickening purple light that pumped dark magic directly down into the massive stone leg beneath it.
"One minute."
Ace took a deep breath.
Instead of calling upon his partners, he gripped his D-Tector tightly.
It was time to handle this final strike himself!
The device hummed, reacting to his surging willpower.
"Execute!" Ace shouted, swiping his hand across the scanner.
Rings of fractal digital code erupted from the device, swirling around his body in a brilliant tempest of fire and light.
"Spirit Evolution!"
The fiery data encased his limbs, forging crimson armor over his arms and legs.
A fierce, horned mask materialized over his face, and wild white hair flared out behind him.
He landed on the stone bridge, his boots scorching the ancient rock beneath him.
"Agunimon!"
Ace raised his gauntleted fists, flames bursting to life around his knuckles.
The heat he generated pushed back the oppressive chill of the dark lacrima.
"Thirty seconds," Hibiki counted down.
Across the sprawling, moving city, the Allied Forces prepared their final, desperate strikes.
At Lacrima One, Natsu ignited both of his fists, the flames burning so bright they illuminated the dark cavern.
At Lacrima Two, Gray shaped a massive ice bazooka over his shoulder, while Juvia poured her swirling water magic directly into the barrel to dangerously increase the pressure.
At Lacrima Three, Erza summoned her heaviest, two-handed broadsword, her sharp eyes locked dead center on the crystal.
At Lacrima Four, Jura raised his hands, the earth rumbling and forming a massive stone fist.
At Lacrima Five, Lyon and Sherry stood back-to-back, readying a combined assault to shatter the crystal and the golems guarding it.
"Ten seconds."
Agunimon dropped into a low, coiled stance.
He focused the intense, swirling flames into his right leg, causing the air around him to warp and shimmer from the sheer heat.
"Five."
The stone city let out an agonizing groan as it took another heavy step toward Cait Shelter.
"Three." "Two." "One."
"Strike!"
"Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!"
"Ice-Make: Super Freeze Arrow!"
"Heaven's Wheel: Blossom Strike!"
"Supreme King Rock Crush!"
"Blue Blaster!"
"Pyro Tornado!"
Agunimon launched himself off the stone bridge, spinning like a fiery drill.
His flaming kick tore through the air, striking the sixth lacrima crystal at the exact same millisecond the other five attacks hit their targets.
For a split second, time seemed to freeze.
Then, all six dark crystals shattered simultaneously.
A deafening, explosive crack echoed across the Worth Woodsea.
The sickening purple light fueling Nirvana flickered violently, strobed once, and then died out.
Without the lacrimas to power the ancient magical joints, the massive stone legs buckled.
Agunimon landed smoothly on the trembling bridge.
He reverted back to Ace in a shower of glowing data fragments just as the world violently tilted.
Ace grabbed a solid stone pillar, bracing himself as the ancient city began its descent.
Nirvana groaned, its ancient magic spent.
The colossal city crashed down into the forest!
It sent a massive shockwave of dirt, shattered stone, and uprooted trees blasting outward for miles in every direction.
The impact tossed Ace around, but he held his grip on the pillar, squeezing his eyes shut as dust and debris rained down in a blinding storm.
The violent tremors lasted for what felt like an eternity, the sound of tearing metal and crushing rock ringing in their ears.
Finally, the shaking stopped.
The horrific grinding of the stone legs ceased.
Ace coughed, waving the thick dust away from his face. He slowly stood up, brushing debris from his coat.
Aside from a few minor scrapes, he was fine.
He looked up.
The sky, previously stained a bruised, corrupted purple by the dark magic, slowly began to clear.
The dark clouds parted, revealing the very first, warm rays of morning sunlight filtering down through the canopy of the Worth Woodsea.
Hibiki's exhausted, breathless voice broke the ringing silence in their minds.
"Targets destroyed. Nirvana is down. We did it."
Cheers echoed faintly through the telepathic link.
Natsu's triumphant yell, Lucy's relieved sobbing, and Gray's tired sigh.
Ace let out a long breath, sliding down the side of the stone pillar to sit on the rubble.
He looked at the D-Tector in his hand as a genuine tired smile forming on his face.
'Yeah. It's over.'
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