Koshiro, his body entwined in a storm of data, ethereal and intangible, spoke to Joe before him without joy or sorrow.
"Hah? You? What I'm standing on is the Digital World's end, one of the Seven Great Demon Lords, Leviamon! What do you have to fight me with?" Joe, standing atop Leviamon's head, glanced at Koshiro and let out a scornful, cold laugh.
"Leviamon is indeed difficult to deal with. Its ability has the highest potential among the Seven Great Demon Lords. If allowed to continuously devour, even Homeostasis and Yggdrasil might not be its match." Koshiro stared at Leviamon, countless data models flashing before his eyes.
Each of the Seven Great Demon Lords possessed extremely unique and troublesome abilities. But what he faced now was not a naturally evolved Leviamon.
"This Leviamon under your command is merely a defective product, forcibly evolved through the emotional power of your envy, using the Apocalymon's mark as an index. It is still far from being the true end of the world." Koshiro gazed coldly at Joe. His expression held no mockery, simply stating a fact.
But it was precisely this kind of look that deeply pierced Joe's twisted self-esteem.
"What nonsense! My Leviamon is the strongest! You spout all that, but you still don't dare to attack first, do you? Leviamon, crush that arrogant bastard!" Joe waved his hand, pointing to where Koshiro hovered, roaring the command.
'Everyone standing in my way must die!'
Roar!
The crimson jaws expanded continuously in Koshiro's eyes. Larger than buildings, larger than city walls, larger than mountains.
After infinite expansion, the giant crimson beast's jaws loomed like a sky-blotting black cloud over most of Tokyo.
This time, however, the people in the city district did not panic or riot. They simply knelt silently, chanting the name of that deity from the bottom of their hearts.
'Koshiro. The Violet Abyss Demon God.'
'If it's him, he will surely save us.'
"Superficially powerful, but it's just virtual data composed of envious emotions. While your emotions exist, it might rival the true Leviamon. But when the emotions dissipate, it's nothing but a cute, miniature crocodile."
Standing under the sky-obscuring crimson jaws, Koshiro took a step forward and spoke lightly.
He raised his right hand gently. Countless data streams surged forth, emitting sacred beams of light akin to the Gate of Heaven, enveloping Joe and Leviamon.
Joe's pupils contracted sharply. He wanted to counterattack, but found the space around him had turned pure white.
'Where is this?'
Looking around, there was nothing but nothingness and emptiness.
At this moment, in the real world, Koshiro's eyes were shrouded in data and white light, his entire body suspended in mid-air. Behind him, an All-Seeing Eye slowly materialized.
"So-called envy is an impulse arising from dissatisfaction with oneself and admiration for others, a desire to replace them. This emotion has a relatively low decoding difficulty. Compared to cardinal sins like Sloth, Greed, or Wrath, the time consumption is much less."
Koshiro calmly analyzed while performing data modeling.
Currently, he was essentially a nascent form of Yggdrasil. In theory, he could manage to do everything the Digital World's host computer could do. Analyzing and decoding emotions happened to be one of Yggdrasil's core functions.
It was precisely because emotions could be decoded that the Crests held by the Chosen Children came into existence.
And from this, the Seven Great Demon Lords, symbolizing the sins, emerged, lurking in various corners of the Digital World.
The native Seven Great Demon Lords of the Digital World contained the original sins of the entire Digital World. The workload for decoding their emotions was immense. At his current level, Koshiro would need at least hundreds of years to possibly interpret just one sin.
But the Leviamon before him, and its master Joe, were much easier.
"From Joe's personal perspective, his envy is indeed extremely intense. But compared to the countless dark-hearted Digimon across the entire Digital World, the emotions they generate together, his is but a drop in the ocean." Koshiro looked at the crimson jaws and Joe, whom he had sealed in the void space, stating coolly.
In just a few minutes, the digital storm around Koshiro formed a small ball of light that flew into the void space where Joe was.
'It's over.'
Koshiro had fully interpreted the heart of envy belonging to Kido Joe. A 'Crest of Envy', shimmering with a faint black light, appeared in his hand.
Bzzzt.
The scene returned to the void space. Joe felt a flicker before his eyes, a sharp pain in his brain.
The next second, he found himself in an unfamiliar place.
"Where is this... kindergarten?" The sound of childish play reached his ears, scenes of children playing gradually coming into view.
Raising his hands, he saw only a pair of fair, delicate palms.
"Takeru, what are you dawdling for? Come play!" A cute little girl, lovely as a carved jade doll, ran towards 'Takeru' excitedly.
"Uh, yeah." Joe was led along dazedly by the girl.
His life, mediocre, incompetent, unnoticed, had been replaced! Now, he was Takeru. The one favored by destiny, the one beloved by all.
He watched as his parents divorced, he lived with his mother, was taken away by his French aristocratic grandfather, receiving the finest elite education.
He watched as Joe rushed about for him, as Taichi fought desperately for him, as Koshiro busied himself for the team. He watched as Joe stupidly scratched the back of his head, looking foolish.
He laughed. The same laugh as Takeru's, disdainful with a hint of scorn, arrogant with a touch of heaven-ordained pride.
So... the so-called envy was simply hating that one wasn't the other person. Truly exchanging lives, experiencing the life of the chosen son... he was even more wretched, even more disgraceful than Takeru.
Rumble...
The moment Joe immersed himself in Takeru's life, the terrifying crimson jaws covering Tokyo rapidly shrank.
Smaller than a mountain, smaller than a building, smaller than a rooftop. Finally, it turned into a dorky miniature crocodile, trembling incessantly in Koshiro's palm.
"It's over."
The void space dissipated. A happy smile hung on Joe's lips, his eyes tightly shut, his body convulsing continuously.
Koshiro looked down upon him from above, the color in his eyes consistently cold and rational from beginning to end.
The emotions of sin could erupt with powerful energy in a short time, allowing a worthless good-for-nothing to grow to the extent of devouring even 'Hope'.
"But in the long run, how long can Envy, Greed, Wrath, Gluttony, or Pride truly last?" The negative emotions of sin would gradually dissipate once the corresponding desires were satisfied, ultimately returning to nothingness.
"Only two emotions have existed throughout the long river of civilization, never fading." Koshiro picked up the miniature crocodile, left a final sentence, and departed without looking back.
"Courage, and Wisdom!"