Watching these bastards happily stuffing their faces, Zero felt his liver practically combusting with rage.
Fragments of memories from his gamer days were still tucked away in the back of his mind—and now, seeing this scene unfold, those dusty recollections surged back up from the depths of his consciousness.
He vaguely recalled a summer break spent passing the days with a handheld console—only for the cartridge's memory battery to die, wiping out an entire summer's worth of effort in an instant.
The soul-shattering despair he felt back then was still fresh in his memory.
Ever since that moment, save-file corruption became a rare but unforgettable event—each incident burned clearly into memory.
For a gamer, this was something absolutely intolerable. Seeing this Tsumemon and those Kuramon feeding on players' save data immediately ignited Zero's fury.
With one swift charge, the data within him surged forth, instantly evolving him into Agumon. Without hesitation, he spat a fireball!
The fireball crashed into the swarm of Kuramon and exploded on impact, flames and scorching wind scattering the enemy instantly.
In just one attack, several Kuramon and Tsumemon were GG'd on the spot, their data dispersing into nothing.
Though Zero was currently in Agumon form, the relentless battles he'd fought, plus the massive experience boost from defeating Devimon, had already elevated his strength far beyond what a typical Rookie-level should possess.
Just one small burst of flame now matched the explosive power of his GeoGreymon form's Mega Shot from his first evolution.
Having constantly faced powerful opponents, and not having had the chance to test himself since defeating Devimon, Zero himself hadn't even realized…
…Just how much stronger he'd quietly become.
Back in the arcade, Rina held her Digivice, a projection clearly showing the battle unfolding in the network world.
She ducked into a secluded corner away from prying eyes, tentatively clenching her fist and a brilliant flame-like glow instantly erupted in her palm.
Sure enough—even back in the Real World, the DigiSoul's power remained. Without hesitation, she pressed her hand firmly against the Digivice.
"…Zero-kun, let's finish this fight in one go!"
After all, the enemy was merely a swarm of Baby-levels and a single Rookie. With Zero's current strength advantage, this should be over in a flash. Rina didn't want to waste more time—especially since she had promised to meet a friend.
Zero also had no intention of lingering here in battle. Feeling the DigiSoul energy surge through the Digivice, Zero roared, immediately rays of blinding light enveloped him, and GeoGreymon emerged in full form.
Without wasting a single second, flames gathered in Zero's jaws. With a furious bellow, he released a roaring torrent of fire toward the swarm of Kuramon and the Tsumemon.
No longer just individual fireballs—this was a concentrated flood of flame. Zero's battle prowess had clearly made a qualitative leap.
The surging flames erupted into a towering fiery tornado, trapping the Digimon inside. As the tornado collapsed into a fierce pillar of flame, dozens of Kuramon died instantly, wiped clean without even a whimper.
But right then, from within the flames emerged a brilliant seven-colored light resembling a barcode pattern. Zero's eyelids twitched sharply.
"Wait, this is… Is that bastard digivolving?"
Having consumed a huge amount of data, the ghost-like distorted figure within the fire rapidly transformed—
TSUMEMON...DIGIVOLUTION!
In the next moment, the pillar of flame shattered violently. A Digimon appeared, its body covered in a hard red-and-white armored carapace, three pairs of slender legs tucked beneath its insectoid chrysalis form…
Witnessing this, Rina let out a startled gasp.
"It evolved at a time like this? But it's fine—even evolved, it's still just Champion-level…"
By now, Rina had a decent grasp of Digimon evolution stages. Since Tsumemon was Rookie-level, like Agumon, it should naturally evolve into Champion, equal to GeoGreymon.
But Zero's current strength already far exceeded normal Champion-level. Even if the enemy evolved, it shouldn't significantly change the battle situation.
However, Zero immediately shouted in alarm—
"No, wait, this guy is—!"
Before he finished, the chrysalis-form Digimon swiftly retracted its slender legs, rocketing straight toward Zero like a cannonball.
Its speed was so fast, ordinary human eyes could only catch a vague afterimage. Zero reacted instantly, just narrowly dodging aside.
Having missed, the strange Digimon twisted around, its mouth opening to reveal a black cannon muzzle inside. Accompanied by a sharp crack, a barrage of energy bullets fired straight toward him.
"That guy's not Champion-level… It just performed Warp Digivolution! It's an Ultimate-level now!"
Warp-Digivolved from Tsumemon, the Free-type Ultimate Digimon—
—INFERMON!
Not one of the three common attributes (Virus, Vaccine, Data), but a mysterious "Free-type." Tsumemon had devoured such an enormous amount of data in the network space that it directly accomplished a two-stage Warp Digivolution.
But still…
"…So what if you're Ultimate-level? You've messed with people's precious save files—now feel my burning rage properly!!!"
This rage was a completely heartfelt, authentic outburst. Instantly, Zero's body radiated a faint white glow. Although no Crest explicitly appeared, this was undoubtedly the power of a Crest triggered by his emotional surge.
And most importantly—this time, the power of the Crest wasn't triggered through Rina or the Digivice, but directly by Zero himself!
Lowering his head, Zero charged forward with his massive horns, shattering the incoming energy bullets head-on. Two stray shots slammed into his body, sending up only a puff of smoke.
This battle-hardened dinosaur had long since become a thick-skinned combat machine. Ignoring such minor "scratches," Zero charged forward with terrifying speed, rapidly closing in on Infermon.
Seeing this, Infermon quickly tucked in its limbs, trying to repeat its previous tactic—escaping like a human cannonball. But how could Zero allow it?
"Get down here!"
Leaping up, Zero swung his steel-whip tail fiercely, smashing down Infermon—who was just about to take off again—like swatting a fly.
Then, without giving his opponent even a moment to react, Zero gathered flames in his mouth and viciously bit down…
In that instant, Infermon's entire body was completely engulfed by the surging flames, countless streams of shining data bursting forth from within its body…
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