"What kind of monsters are those things?!"
After pulling his sister Kari to a safer corner, Tai anxiously tried to comfort her, his gaze nervously locked on the battle raging nearby.
Even a child like Tai could clearly see Parrotmon's overwhelming power.
No matter how many fireballs Agumon spat or how skillfully Renamon flickered and struck, Parrotmon, soaring through the sky, countered every attack with an unwavering ease.
Despite their relentless assaults, the two Digimon couldn't even scratch the electromagnetic shield surrounding Parrotmon's body.
Yet, Parrotmon's every bolt of lightning forced Agumon and Renamon into frantic defense and desperate dodges, barely avoiding annihilation each time.
In fact, only a few seconds had passed since the fight began, yet both Rookie-level Digimon had already brushed with death multiple times.
The thick-skinned Agumon was managing slightly better, but Renamon—known for her agility—was far less graceful under Parrotmon's wide-area attacks than she appeared.
"Screee!"
Clearly, Parrotmon's seasoned battle instincts recognized this too.
Old grudges and new anger merged, and Parrotmon decisively chose Renamon as the point of attack. Its dense rain of lightning began deliberately blocking off her avenues of escape.
"Think I'm an easy target?"
A contemptuous sneer curved Renamon's lips, and with graceful ease, she instantly created three distinctly separate clones.
—Kohenkyo!
As the pinnacle of Renamon's illusions and magic, Kohenkyo had evolved far beyond a simple attack, becoming a technique focused entirely on illusions and decoys.
Theoretically, even an Ultimate like Parrotmon, unfamiliar with such sorcery, would find it nearly impossible to pinpoint Renamon's true form.
After all, all three figures visible were fakes; the real Renamon had already concealed herself like a hidden assassin, ready to unleash her most lethal strike on Parrotmon.
Crackle…
But unexpectedly, Parrotmon completely ignored Renamon's cunning illusions, and fierce electrical sparks once again gathered rapidly at its brow.
—Mjölnir Lightning!
Instantly, an immense electromagnetic field locked onto every living being within range, turning the torrential downpour of lightning into solid arcs of electricity.
"Screee!"
In that instant, Renamon grasped Parrotmon's ruthless intent—it planned to sweep the entire field clear, using wide-area devastation to end her life.
Agumon, momentarily allied with Renamon, had already lost its reasoning. But its primal instincts warned it clearly that Parrotmon could not be allowed to complete this attack.
Even if Agumon and Renamon survived, Tai and Kari, caught within the blast radius, certainly would not.
In Agumon's current mental state, it couldn't fully comprehend why it felt such a desperate urge to protect the brother and sister.
Yet its lingering rationality refused to let it watch their deaths. Even if it meant sacrificing itself, Agumon wouldn't hesitate.
"ROAR!"
With a lingering, reluctant glance back at the Yagami siblings, determination flashed through Agumon's eyes as it deliberately charged into the storm of lightning.
"Koromon!"
As if sensing Agumon's decisive sacrifice, Tai and Kari cried out simultaneously.
"Wheeeew!"
Kari, tears pouring freely, blew desperately on her whistle, as if that sound alone could pull Agumon back from the brink.
BOOM!
A blinding white flash illuminated the entire night sky, and Agumon—taking Parrotmon's attack head-on—let out an agonized cry.
Yet this time, the light in Agumon's eyes was neither fear nor rage, but a calm, firm resolve—a readiness to sacrifice itself willingly for the safety of its friends and family.
If Parrotmon is after me, Agumon thought, then if I disappear, will all of this end?
This was Agumon's truest thought at this moment.
"…"
Renamon stared silently at Agumon's noble act of self-sacrifice. Having entered the battle solely for her own calculations, she was surprised to find herself unable to regard Agumon as a mere beast any longer.
The greatest difference between a beast and a human lay precisely in this willingness to sacrifice oneself for others—a principle even Digimon universally recognized.
[Aren't you going to intervene yet?]
From within the void, the usually elegant Renamon howled in frustration, ignoring all decorum, as if shouting at some unseen presence.
[I don't know what you hope to achieve, but aren't you worried that I'll completely side with 'it'?]
After a brief silence, Mirei Mikagura's voice echoed calmly in Renamon's mind as she'd hoped.
[I've told you already: don't presume to understand matters beyond your comprehension.]
[My relationship with Homeostasis is not adversarial. Your threats mean nothing to me.]
At this point, Mirei Mikagura paused momentarily, then continued in a leisurely tone:
[Besides, 'history' isn't so easily altered.]
Before Mirei's voice had even faded, Renamon's eyes abruptly widened, staring straight at Agumon.
Then, something happened that astonished everyone present…
AGUMON—DIGIVOLVE...
The dormant power inside erupted outward completely, and vibrant green stripes began rapidly forming across Agumon's skin.
Immediately afterward, Agumon's already large body expanded massively, its muscles compacting into a denser, more powerful form.
Its skeletal structure optimized itself; claws and teeth grew longer, sharper, more ferocious. Horns slowly emerged from its skull…
Even the skin on its head began hardening into a rigid, exoskeletal-like mask.
Evolution was something ordinary organisms could never truly experience firsthand, usually requiring countless millions of years of trial and error before producing a genuinely viable structure.
Yet now, in Agumon's case, this evolutionary process—which should have taken millions of years—compressed itself into mere seconds.
Unlike the countless failed evolutionary paths, the newly evolved Agumon bore no trace of deformity. Instead, it radiated a majestic, domineering power.
—GREYMON!
"ROOOAAR!"
Modeled after the ancient tyrannosaur of prehistory and empowered by countless streams of network data, this was Agumon's newly evolved form.
Its towering body stood two stories tall, its mouth bristled with razor-sharp teeth…
Even compared to Parrotmon, the fully evolved Greymon wasn't inferior at all. In fact, it radiated a powerful aura capable of matching—and even faintly suppressing—Parrotmon.
Greymon VS Parrotmon!
With this, the battle entered its decisive, final stage.