45. Armor Evolution

After concluding the serious topic, Tai's expression relaxed once more. "However, although the Digivice has helped me a lot along the way, sometimes I wish I could be like you, able to use the Digivice to make Zero evolve."

V-Mon, standing nearby, puffed out his chest with a hint of pride upon hearing this, "The evolutions between me and Daisuke go far beyond that."

"Aside from directly evolving into V-Mon EX through the D-3 Digivice, I can also harness the power of Digi-Caste- no, Digi-Eggs to evolve into different forms."

"Digi-Eggs?" Tai asked with keen interest.

"Right on time, let Senior Tai of this world witness it!" Daisuke said, full of enthusiasm.

Before he knew it, he had come to regard the peer-aged Tai before him as a respectable senior.

"V-Mon, Armor Digivolve!"

As Daisuke and V-Mon shared a single thought, a power of courage, intimately familiar to Tai, emerged between the two of them.

Under the influence of this power, V-Mon's stature grew taller, his limbs became sleeker and better suited for close-quarters combat, and flame-like patterns appeared across his body.

"The burning courage, Flamedramon!"

Daisuke rubbed his nose smugly, "Heh heh, this is the form I and V-Mon evolved into after inheriting Senior Tai's Digi-Egg of Courage."

Tai nodded, "Is that so? So in that world, I am also the bearer of the Crest of Courage."

He was not particularly surprised; after all, even though he now possessed three crests, the one he wielded most smoothly and with the highest synchronization rate remained the first one he had ever obtained—the Crest of Courage.

It felt as though it had been custom-made specifically for Tai.

"In addition to that, there is also Lighdramon, who evolves through the Digi-Egg of Friendship from Senior Matt!"

As deep blue light flared over Flamedramon, his previously bipedal, fighter-like stance instantly transformed into a quadrupedal one.

"The steadfast friendship, Lighdramon!"

"To be able to transform into so many forms, Armor Digivolution is truly fascinating!" Just watching was enough to make Tai's hands itch with eagerness.

If only Zero could Armor Digivolve as well.

"Never mind, let's focus on the business at hand for now." Tai shook his head, redirecting his attention to the strategy against Parallelmon.

After all, this was his first battle against a Mega-level Digimon, so he needed to conduct a proper pre-battle meeting.

V-Mon's Armor Digivolution, with its ability to freely switch forms, provided Tai with numerous tactical ideas.

"Daisuke, with your help, we will definitely defeat Parallelmon!"

Tai clenched his fist tightly, a brilliant, spirited look in his eyes.

Daisuke was momentarily stunned. He found that this Senior Tai always looked radiant when discussing topics of battle, possessing a fighting spirit that the Senior Tai in his own world—who had already become a junior high school student—seemed to lack.

At that moment, the Digivice finally completed the decryption of Parallelmon's data.

Tai began to browse through it.

This decryption had taken a considerable amount of time. Although Parallelmon was a Mega-level Digimon and the volume of data within him was immense, this was simply too massive. Even for Ultimate-level data, the Digivice could finish decoding it in a very short time, yet Parallelmon had taken nearly a thousand times longer.

Tai felt there must be some secret hidden within this guy.

"Th-This is!"

However, upon seeing the feedback displayed in the Digivice, Tai's expression shifted dramatically.

Daisuke leaned in out of curiosity, "What is it? What is it?"

Immediately afterward, he saw a long list of names on the Digivice screen.

"Miyako Inoue, Iori Hoida, T.K., even Kari is here!"

"These are all the names of my partners! Could it be that they have all been absorbed by Parallelmon?!"

Daisuke instantly recalled the final scene before arriving in this world, where his partners had pushed him out of the path of Parallelmon's attack.

It must have been at that exact moment that they protected him, while he alone was absorbed by Parallelmon...

"Damn it! Damn it all!"

Daisuke shouted angrily. Originally, he had harbored a slight resentment because his friends had pushed him away.

But now, realizing that they had done so to protect him, his heart was instantly flooded with guilt and rage over having misunderstood his friends.

Tai looked at the name of Hikari Yagami projected on the Digivice and said nothing, though his gaze at that moment grew chillingly dark.

At that very moment, a torrent of data composed of zeros and ones suddenly surged before Tai and Daisuke.

Accompanied by an eerie sound effect, the data stream began to assemble, transforming into the shape of Parallelmon.

Tai stood up from the ground, and Zero came to his side.

He stared fixedly at Parallelmon, a suppressed, white-hot fury burning in his eyes.

"Parallelmon, you've grown far too impudent..."

Daisuke wiped his face, brushing away the tears that had fallen unawares, and pointed angrily at Parallelmon, shouting, "Lighdramon, take that bastard down!"

Lighdramon possessed incredible speed. Like a streak of lightning tearing through the air, his form closed the distance to Parallelmon in the blink of an eye.

The three spikes on Lighdramon's back, resembling lightning rods, sparked with blue electricity.

This was his signature move, boasting power comparable to that of an Ultimate-level: "Blue Thunder!"

Just as the attack was about to land, Parallelmon's figure suddenly vanished.

"Where did he go?!"

Daisuke looked around frantically, but could no longer see any trace of Parallelmon.

The next moment, Parallelmon suddenly reappeared directly behind Lighdramon, the single eye on his head glowing as he unleashed his signature move—a claw-shaped energy attack: Absorber Strike.

Daisuke immediately issued a master-class command: "Dodge quickly, Lighdramon!"

Fortunately, Lighdramon's agility was nothing short of extraordinary. With a burst of his four legs, his trailing afterimage flashed away like a bolt of lightning, dodging the attack by a hair's breadth.

"Tai, even I couldn't catch his movement trajectory." Zero was equally shocked by this movement speed, which rivaled instantaneous teleportation.

"No, perhaps it really is teleportation?" Tai mused, supporting his chin with his hand.

"Parallelmon is a Digimon capable of freely traveling through parallel worlds, and he was even able to bring Daisuke from a future timeline into this world. In that case, he could easily travel to another world the moment he is attacked, and then return to this world at the exact location and time he desires, thereby achieving an effect identical to teleportation."

Daisuke gasped in admiration, "Th-That's amazing, Senior Tai! To be able to analyze the opponent's ability so quickly."

"It's just an unsubstantiated guess, after all," Tai shook his head, then said with quiet confidence, "Though my guesses hardly ever miss the mark."

"But even if we've figured it out, how are we supposed to counter an ability that's practically cheating?" Daisuke blinked. Teleportation and the like felt entirely like a cheat code.

Having run out of ideas, Daisuke pinned all his hopes on the omniscient Tai.

"Isn't that simple?" The corners of Tai's mouth curled upward.

The light of the Crests of Courage and Sincerity began to shine brightly across Zero's body.

Overload combined with the power of the Crests—although he had not evolved, the power surging through Zero's body had long since surpassed the limits of the Champion level.

The combined power of Tai and Zero; this was their ultimate form!

Zero's speed far outstripped even Lighdramon's. In Daisuke's eyes, Zero appeared right before Parallelmon with a swiftness virtually indistinguishable from instantaneous movement.

"Since it's an ability, it requires time to activate. No matter how fleeting that moment may be, it's enough! We just need to strike and interrupt him before he can activate it!"