Chapter 30: I Have Never Changed
As LadyDevimon pondered, time slowly slipped away. The heavy silence stretched through the night and bled into the next day, yet she still could not find the answer she desperately sought.
Seeing the lingering confusion clouding LadyDevimon's expression, a sharp glint of displeasure flashed across Andromon's metallic eyes. He opened his mouth to reprimand her, but Mizuki's voice cut through the tense air first.
"Let's just start, Andromon."
"I'll leave it to you."
"...Alright."
Mizuki's seemingly abrupt words made the cyborg Digimon shift his mechanical gaze toward the young man. After everything that had transpired yesterday, Andromon was acutely aware of the deep, unbreakable bond tethering Mizuki and LadyDevimon together. Because of that, he simply could not believe Mizuki would turn a blind eye to his partner's conflicted state.
Did this mean everything happening right now was entirely within the human's expectations?
Just as that thought crossed Andromon's mind, he caught Mizuki's eyes. The young man's gaze was calm, gleaming with a deep, almost knowing depth.
So he had been seen through all along. Andromon's optical sensors narrowed, his gaze involuntarily sharpening.
In truth, during his conversation with LadyDevimon yesterday, Andromon had deliberately twisted a core concept. He knew perfectly well that LadyDevimon would risk absolutely everything for Mizuki. Yet, he had intentionally attributed her hesitation in battle to her innate distaste for fighting. His entire goal was to force her to shatter that weak, pacifistic mindset. After all, Mizuki's existence was far too critical to allow for any fatal mishaps on the battlefield.
But if Mizuki had seen through this psychological tactic, why hadn't he explained it to his partner? Did he want her to carve out the answer with her own two hands?
Andromon pushed the distracting thoughts aside. His internal processors whirred, recalibrating his focus. In any case, this was no longer his primary concern. Since Mizuki had made his decision, all the cyborg needed to do now was execute the task at hand.
"LadyDevimon. If you refuse to strike, then I will take the initiative."
The moment the words left Andromon's metallic jaw, his dark, mechanical palm began to spin at a terrifying velocity. The air shrieked as raw, powerful energy gathered into a deep blue, crescent-shaped blade of light.
"Spiral Sword!"
Caught off guard by the sudden assault and still weighed down by the confusion in her heart, LadyDevimon could not evade in time. The high-temperature energy blade grazed her side, tearing through the air and leaving a searing, burning pain spreading across her flesh.
"Tsk—"
Glancing down at the scorch mark on her body, LadyDevimon silently cursed her own carelessness. She immediately forced her wings to flare, snapping into a defensive stance.
"You wish to gain an advantage through aerial speed? A tactically sound decision."
Watching the fallen angel ascend into the sky, streams of green data code rapidly cascaded across Andromon's optical visor.
"However, I have already compiled sufficient combat data regarding your evasion patterns."
The heavy metallic plating on his chest slid open with a sharp mechanical hiss. Two familiar, fish-shaped warheads locked onto LadyDevimon's aerial coordinates.
"Gatling Missile!"
"Don't think I will let you toy with me like yesterday!"
Recalling how she had been completely outmaneuvered the day before, LadyDevimon refused to underestimate the deceptively small projectiles. She thrust her hands forward, decisively unleashing her signature technique.
"Darkness Wave!"
A massive, overwhelming swarm of pitch-black bat energy shrieked through the air, colliding head-on with the missiles. The Gatling gun barrels mounted on the warheads spun wildly, shredding a portion of the bats into fragmented data, but the sheer volume of the dark energy swallowed them whole.
Just as the two missiles violently detonated in mid-air, sending a shockwave of fire and thick smoke rippling across the battlefield, a blinding streak of white light pierced straight through the explosive cloud.
It was a Holy Arrow, crackling with divine lightning. Its target was precise and ruthless: Andromon's right leg, the sole organic part of his body that had not been heavily mechanized.
'Has she changed forms?' Andromon calculated instantly.
The projectile was incredibly fast, pushing the very limits of the cyborg's reaction speed. Yet, Andromon seemed to have anticipated this exact scenario. His thrusters had already engaged, initiating a high-speed evasive maneuver a fraction of a second before the missiles even exploded.
Because of that flawless timing, he narrowly sidestepped Angewomon's blinding strike.
"A clever tactic. However, it is still far too naive."
A scarlet flash, sharp and cold as a guillotine, swung down toward his neck, only to be violently repelled by a brilliant blue energy shield.
Looking at the towering cyborg blocking her strike, LadyDevimon—who had shifted back into her dark form for close-quarters combat—wore an expression of absolute disbelief.
"You reacted to that? How can a machine be that fast?"
"It is not that my speed is superior, but that your movements were calculated and seen through long before you made them!"
The high-speed rotating arm clashed violently against LadyDevimon's crimson blade. Showers of blinding sparks rained down around them, signaling that the skirmish had officially escalated into a brutal melee.
Realizing she was outmatched in raw physical strength, LadyDevimon attempted to break the lock and retreat. But Andromon had already finished charging his energy core.
"Spiral Sword!"
A point-blank energy blade erupted between them, instantly engulfing the space where the two Digimon stood. The sheer force of the blast shattered the ground, kicking up a massive cloud of debris.
As the dust gradually settled, LadyDevimon's heavily damaged silhouette emerged. She was panting heavily, her dark armor cracked and scorched.
In stark contrast, Andromon stood tall amidst the rubble, his metallic chassis completely unharmed.
"LadyDevimon..."
Watching the brutal exchange from the sidelines, Mizuki's eyes betrayed a fleeting flicker of worry. His jaw tightened, but he forced himself to remain rooted to the spot.
He knew this was a critical threshold for her. Since she had made the choice to master the volatile side effects of her Data Rewrite ability, she needed to forge a will of iron—one that feared no pain, no hardship, and no enemy.
Holding onto that conviction, Mizuki kept his gaze locked onto her struggling form. Though he stood in silence, his emotions, his unwavering trust, and his sheer willpower flowed through their unseen bond, washing over her like a steady, grounding tide.
However, before LadyDevimon could fully process the warmth of that connection, Andromon's relentless assault resumed.
"LadyDevimon, what exactly is going through your head?"
The cyborg's voice was cold, devoid of any mercy. "Allowing yourself to be distracted on an active battlefield. Do you treat this fight as a mere game?"
A heavy mechanical fist eclipsed her vision, growing larger by the millisecond. With no room to dodge, LadyDevimon crossed her arms over her chest, bracing for the impact.
Bang!
The kinetic force was devastating. The blow launched LadyDevimon backward like a broken doll. And before she even hit the ground, Andromon's chest plates slid open once more.
"Gatling Missile!"
Whoosh!
Leaving long, twisting trails of white exhaust in their wake, two missiles shot toward her retreating body. Anticipating that she might try to recover and take flight, the warheads activated their internal rotary guns, strafing the air around her with a relentless hail of bullets.
Da da da!
Trapped in the dense, suffocating barrage, LadyDevimon—whose combat specialty leaned heavily toward being a fragile, high-damage assassin rather than a defensive tank—had no choice but to summon her ultimate move just to survive the crossfire.
"Darkness Wave!"
But the moment she raised her hands to channel the dark energy, Andromon seized the fleeting vulnerability. His thrusters flared, closing the distance in the blink of an eye. He unleashed another point-blank Spiral Sword, the spinning blue blade viciously striking LadyDevimon squarely in the back.
"Ugh—!"
The agonizing strike broke her concentration. She let out a sharp cry of pain, the movements of her hands faltering just long enough for the defense to crumble.
Exploiting the opening, the two Gatling Missiles tore through the weakened swarm of bats and slammed directly into her defenseless body.
Boom! Boom!
Two violent explosions rocked the chamber. LadyDevimon's battered form was thrown violently through the air, crashing heavily against the cold, unforgiving floor. She skidded to a halt, her breathing ragged and shallow.
'LadyDevimon...' Mizuki's hands curled into tight fists, his fingernails biting into his palms.
He knew the truth. Andromon had actually pulled his punches during that last sequence. If the Ultimate Level cyborg had struck with lethal intent, LadyDevimon's fragile assassin-class data would have already been scattered, sending her straight back to the Village of Beginnings to await reincarnation.
But it was exactly because of that harsh reality that Mizuki knew he absolutely could not intervene.
In training, a wound was just a wound. It would heal. But out there, in the unforgiving wild, a single moment of weakness, a single unearned rescue, would inevitably lead to her permanent deletion.
This unspoken understanding was not Mizuki's alone. LadyDevimon felt it too. Through their bond, she sensed no disappointment, no pity, and no desire to abandon her. Instead, she felt a deep surge of warmth knowing he trusted her enough to let her fight her own battles.
And because of that trust, a bitter wave of guilt washed over her for failing to meet his expectations.
Heavy metallic footsteps echoed across the floor as Andromon approached her fallen form.
"Ultimately, you are nothing but a half-hearted amateur."
The cyborg looked down at her, his optical visor glowing with a chilling blue light. "LadyDevimon, why are you so incredibly weak? As an Ultimate Level Digimon, even factoring in the disparity in our combat experience, you never should have been reduced to such a pathetic state."
Then, the machine's tone shifted. The flat, emotionless synthesized voice suddenly spiked with genuine, stern anger.
"It is because you still refuse to change your fundamental mindset! You hate fighting? How utterly ridiculous. The very essence of life is a struggle."
Andromon raised his right arm, the rotary blade spinning to life with a deafening whine. "To survive in this world, one must struggle, bleed, and fight against an endless tide of trials. You, who despise the very act of combat, have violated the core principle of existence from the very beginning. Forget about protecting the people important to you. With that mindset, you cannot even protect your own life!"
As the harsh words echoed through the chamber, Andromon aimed his weapon directly at her. Brilliant, hyper-condensed blue energy began to gather around his arm at a terrifying speed. The sheer density of the power far eclipsed any attack he had used thus far.
"Let us put an end to this farcical battle with a single strike."
Feeling the suffocating pressure of the energy massing above her, LadyDevimon gritted her teeth. She planted her trembling hands against the cracked floor, desperately trying to push herself up. But the accumulated damage screamed through her data, anchoring her to the ground.
Was she truly going to face a humiliating defeat, just as Andromon predicted?
Just as despair threatened to take root, a familiar, steady voice drifted into her ears.
It was Mizuki. He had finally spoken.
Yet, it was not the frantic plea for her safety or the desperate words of encouragement she might have expected. Instead, his voice carried the calm, grounding weight of absolute certainty.
"LadyDevimon. Can you feel it?"
He spoke slowly, his tone gentle and melodic, as if reciting a quiet poem amidst the chaos. "Feel our existence."
"Yes, that's right. We have survived."
"We are indeed alive and well, standing firmly upon this earth."
"Whether it is the warm sunlight resting on our shoulders, or the cool wind blowing through the air... all of these sensations are absolute proof that we are alive."
LadyDevimon's crimson eyes widened. The words struck her core, shattering the suffocating fog in her mind.
Yes. They were still alive.
Andromon had declared that her pacifistic mindset stripped her of the right to survive. But what about the reality right in front of her? She was here. She was breathing. She was alive.
This realization did not mean she was simply going to reject Andromon's philosophy outright. Ultimately, the concepts of right and wrong were subjective, bound to the individual. Different lives, different experiences, naturally birthed different truths.
She didn't need to adopt his truth. She only needed to enforce her own.
Taking a deep, shuddering breath, LadyDevimon forced her battered body upward. Her legs trembled, but she stood tall, her gaze locking onto the towering machine.
A flicker of genuine surprise crossed Andromon's optical sensors as he looked at the stubbornly defiant Digimon. Yet, his voice remained as cold as steel. "What is this? Have you still not learned when to surrender? I told you, with your half-hearted mindset—"
"Half-hearted, huh..."
Just as Andromon prepared to swing the executioner's blade, a sudden, triumphant smile curved across LadyDevimon's lips. It was a smile of absolute clarity, as if she had finally grasped the missing piece of her soul.
Seeing that expression, Andromon's combat algorithms flared with a massive warning. Something was critically wrong.
Before his processors could even issue an evasion command, a sharp, paralyzing pain shot straight through his organic right leg.
"What?!"
Andromon looked down in shock. At some unseen point during the chaos, a dense swarm of shadowy bats had completely enveloped his leg, their fangs sinking deep into his exposed flesh.
His mind raced, piecing the sequence together. When did she do this?
Was it during that exchange just moments ago? When his Gatling Missiles had torn through her Darkness Wave?
He should have calculated it. The Darkness Wave that possessed enough raw power to detonate his missiles in their first clash had absolutely no logical reason to fail so miserably during the second. He had assumed she was simply too injured to maintain the output. But the truth was far more insidious.
Understanding dawned on him, followed quickly by a flash of dismissive disdain. "What exactly do you think these pathetic little bats can possibly achieve—Hm?!"
Suddenly, Andromon's internal servos locked up. A violent shudder wracked his massive frame as his motor functions completely flatlined. His optical visor flickered erratically, his face twisting into an expression of deep shock.
"My body... what did you do to my systems?!"
"Heh heh..."
In response to the cyborg's panicked demand, LadyDevimon merely let out a low, melodic chuckle. Her tone carried a hint of self-mocking amusement. "Devimon was actually right about one thing."
"Although I am technically a Holy-species Digimon at my core, I possess a rather terrifying talent for manipulating dark power."
So that was her trap!
The realization hit Andromon like a physical blow. The reason his mechanical body was completely paralyzed was because LadyDevimon had drawn inspiration from the Black Gears that had once driven him berserk. She had weaponized her own bats, injecting highly concentrated, virus-type dark data directly into his organic nervous system!
As a Vaccine-type Digimon, a localized virus injection would never be enough to permanently defeat him. However, the resulting data conflict was more than sufficient to trigger a temporary, catastrophic system error across his cybernetic framework, rendering him completely immobile.
As the cyborg stood frozen, utterly helpless, a blinding golden light washed over the chamber.
When Andromon's optics finally adjusted, the dark fallen angel was gone. In her place hovered Angewomon, her six white wings spread wide, radiating a pure, divine aura.
Drawn taut in her hands was a crackling bow of holy lightning, the tip of the glowing arrow aimed directly at the center of Andromon's metallic skull.
"Andromon. You have lost."
The cyborg stared at the lethal projectile hovering inches from his face. The irony was not lost on him; executing a point-blank ultimate attack was a brutal, pragmatic tactic she had learned directly from watching him fight.
"Perhaps you are entirely correct when you call me a complete amateur," Angewomon said softly. The helplessness in her voice was genuine, but the suffocating confusion that had plagued her since yesterday was completely gone.
"I hate battle. I detest pain and suffering. Even standing here right now, that fundamental part of me has not changed in the slightest."
Her grip on the bowstring tightened, the holy lightning casting sharp shadows across her porcelain face. "However, Andromon, you were dead wrong about one crucial thing. Even if my nature is soft, the moment Mizu's safety is threatened, I will gladly bet my life, my soul, and absolutely everything I possess to tear the enemy apart!"
"So, this 'contradiction' you spoke of? It never existed to begin with."
A deep, unshakable firmness anchored Angewomon's voice, ringing clear and true across the silent battlefield.
"Ultimately, despising the act of fighting, yet being willing to fight to the death for the sake of someone you love... those two concepts are not mutually exclusive, are they?"
"Not mutually exclusive... Perhaps." Andromon repeated her words slowly, his mechanical voice uncharacteristically quiet. A deeply complex emotion swirled within his artificial eyes as he looked up at the angelic warrior.
"But, LadyDevimon... or rather, Angewomon. What about the you standing here right now, aiming a lethal weapon at my head? How does that reconcile with the you who claims to hate fighting?"
"Even if you believe the two concepts do not conflict, a paradox still remains within your actions. And mark my words, this paradox will inevitably become the fracture point that causes you to lose your way again in the future—"
"No. There is no paradox."
Angewomon shook her head gently, cutting off the cyborg's warning.
She kept her eyes locked on her defeated opponent, but in her mind's eye, she was replaying the quiet, steady words Mizuki had spoken to her the night before. She remembered the unwavering warmth in his gaze—a gaze that had never once left her side, no matter how ugly or brutal the fight became.
Slowly, a breathtakingly pure smile blossomed across Angewomon's face, as delicate and radiant as a blooming narcissus.
She spoke softly, her words directed at the towering machine before her, but her heart entirely focused on the young man standing quietly at her back.
"The reason I throw myself into the fires of battle is never to prove my strength to anyone."
"I fight simply so that I will not be changed by this cruel world."
I have never changed. Not the me who utterly despises the cruelty of battle, nor the me who would gladly burn the world to ash to protect Mizu.
As her quiet declaration settled over the battlefield, her immaculate spirit seemed to pulse with life, shimmering under the ambient light with a brilliant, crystal-like radiance.
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