"You're the one who brought us to this world—the puppetmaster, aren't you?"
Facing the swirling chaos of colors before her, Renamon's voice was steady, her tone full of certainty.
First came the inexplicable deletion of parts of her memories, and then the deliberate guiding into this abnormal, deep network space—everything the unknown mastermind did served only one purpose: concealing their presence from Homeostasis.
In other words, even if this mastermind wasn't Homeostasis's enemy, they certainly weren't its ally.
"Do not try to grasp the unknown using your current logic."
An eerie, overlapping voice echoed, and the colorful chaos abruptly drained away, leaving only stark black and white—like some incomprehensible power had stripped the world of its hues.
Whoosh!
In the next instant, a vortex to an unknown space-time burst forth, and from within it emerged a Digimon radiating both darkness and light.
She was a supreme angel with twelve mighty wings extending from her back. Yet the clear division of her body down its center into perfect halves of black and white showed she was no mere angel.
Simultaneously bearing the identities of both angel and demon, and yet capable of harmonizing darkness and light through a heart of pure intention—such a being could only be the Tactician from Another World, Mastemon, a creature impossible to achieve through normal digivolution.
Yet it wasn't the reality-shattering power Mastemon radiated that stunned Renamon.
"A human?"
Renamon's eyes widened in disbelief. Standing calmly in the palm formed between Mastemon's intertwined hands was a girl, whose presence startled Renamon far more deeply than the legendary Demon Lord herself.
Because the one who had just spoken wasn't Mastemon, the mythic Tactician from Another World, but this unknown entity in the shape of a human girl.
Indeed, despite possessing a "human girl's" form, she wasn't exactly human—but neither was she purely a Digimon.
"Human? What an unpleasant tone you use, as if I'm somehow not human."
Adjusting the glasses resting on her nose, the girl dressed in a sleek, monochrome business suit sounded calmly displeased. Her tone was flat, yet with a subtle tremor betraying her irritation.
"My name is Mirei Mikagura. Of course, you can just call me Mirei."
Unlike Renamon's cool elegance, the girl called Mirei Mikagura seemed innately indifferent, incapable of strong emotional displays even when angry.
But Renamon could pierce through her facade to glimpse her true nature. This Mirei Mikagura was unquestionably ruthless—someone dangerous, brimming with a dark sense of humor and formidable resolve.
Forget everything else; the fact alone that an Ultimate-level Digimon who had shattered the boundary between angel and demon would obediently follow her commands was more than enough evidence.
"I don't care what you are. I only want to know why you've brought me here."
Renamon made no attempt to hide her emotions despite Mirei's intimidating strength. She knew clearly that for someone as purposeful and powerful as Mirei, neither compromise nor weakness would alter her plans.
Besides, Renamon had never intended to compromise with anyone, for any reason—it simply wasn't her nature.
"Still so prideful, even after becoming like this?"
Mirei spoke in riddles Renamon couldn't grasp, yet she didn't dwell on the Digimon's provocations. Instead, she observed Renamon with quiet fascination.
Although the dispassionate interest in Mirei's gaze made Renamon shudder slightly, it at least meant that Mirei had no intention of killing her.
"Rest assured, I'm merely an inconspicuous observer. I have no plans to interfere with the world's development."
Giving a half-truth in an offhand manner, Mirei casually flipped through a folder she held, pausing to tap lightly on a particular page.
"However, until 'Fate' officially activates, your existence is... redundant."
Renamon narrowed her eyes slightly. Mirei's words weren't meaningless; they surely concealed something crucial.
"You don't want me going to Cyberspace EDEN?"
After brief reflection, Renamon recalled clearly why she and Chen Ze had originally entered this world—to break past the confines of their previous network and travel directly to the origin of Cyberspace EDEN: Japan.
Even during the previous network explosion, she seemed deliberately guided into this space, which prevented her detection by the "God" Angemon had mentioned.
In other words, Mirei Mikagura might not want her to reach Japan in their original timeline—but neither did she intend Renamon to die in this unknown, alternate timeline.
"As I said earlier, don't presume to understand something you've never encountered."
Shaking her head lightly, Mirei's lips curved into a faint smile—as if she took pleasure in Renamon's confusion and inability to receive clear answers.
"As a Digimon, your current self is adequate."
"But merely being adequate isn't enough. You shoulder a far more important destiny."
Renamon gave a thoughtful glance toward Mastemon behind Mirei. She chose not to dwell on that matter further, turning instead to an even sharper question.
"Who am I?"
At first hearing, it sounded as though Renamon had somehow lost her mind.
Yet Mirei seemed to grasp the deeper implication instantly, and for the first time, genuine surprise surfaced in her expression.
"Who are you? You're merely a Digimon who found yourself accidentally drifting into the network world."
With an inscrutable smile, Mirei responded to Renamon's pointed question with the most generic explanation possible—one that applied to nearly every Digimon who appeared on the internet.
Indeed, this was how most Digimon came into existence online. A small fraction would even make contact with humans and thus affect the physical world.
"That answer truly lacks sincerity."
Renamon wasn't foolish enough to miss Mirei's evasion, nor was she particularly surprised by it.
Because unlike other Digimon who drifted randomly into the human internet, Renamon's arrival in Chen Ze's computer hadn't been "accidental."
She could faintly remember hunting and living in the Digital World, but why she ended up in the human world and emerged from Chen Ze's computer remained a frustrating blank.
"Then allow me to change the question again: Why did you send me into this world?"
Renamon had already realized this world wasn't simply the "past" of her original one, because the Digital World she remembered certainly had no entity called "God."
King Drasil alone ruled the Digital World, and beneath him stood the thirteen Royal Knights, eternal guardians of its balance—this was the unchanging truth of Renamon's Digital World.
"To witness the birth of a new history—how about that reason?"