Solo Leveling: Digispirit.

"You talked to me when I was lost in an unknown world," Halloween exclaimed as he stood up and pushed Vritramon’s tail away with the golden cane, to everyone’s surprise, especially Cha Hae’s. How could this small creature suddenly be releasing fluctuations of power comparable to her own or even higher?

Yet Pumpkinmon continued speaking. "You gave me food when I was hungry," he said with a smile as his green cloak began changing while he absorbed more data from the surrounding environment. "You searched for a way to bring me back home when I was lost."

"And not only that. When we finally got there, you didn’t abandon me. You went through everything with me. You helped me take back my home. You stayed with me when I learned that my friend had died, and after that, you went on adventures with me," Halloween continued as he slowly walked forward. His body began to grow until he reached roughly the size of a human, around 1.8 meters tall.

His transformation didn’t stop there. His green cloak changed into a pair of purple wings that folded around his body like a cape. Pumpkinmon’s ragdoll-like body transformed into something resembling an elegant suit, and from the surrounding data, an equally elegant hat formed over his head.

"You named me Halloween the Pumpkinmon. Well, now I’m Halloween, a real NoblePumpkinmon. And until you come back to your senses, I won’t back down."

Pumpkinmon had evolved. From Pumpkinmon into NoblePumpkinmon.

A Mega-level Digimon.

The same level Pumpkinmon had once thought existed only in myths. Somehow, he had become the first member of their group to reach it.

The enraged Vritramon immediately fired a blast of condensed fire from his fists. Halloween spun his staff and deflected the attack. The sheer force behind the blast still pushed him several meters backward, but he remained standing. Then Halloween started moving in a zigzag pattern, parrying and dodging Vritramon’s fire attacks as he rapidly closed the distance.

The moment he got close enough, Halloween swung his staff and struck Vritramon directly in the side, sending the massive dragon flying away.

Cha Hae couldn’t believe her eyes. Just what the hell was happening? She turned toward the black wolf standing beside her and asked, "What happened? How did the pumpkin change form?"

"That’s Evolution," Creed explained. "The final evolutionary stage we Digital beings can normally aspire to: Mega. It’s extremely rare. I didn’t even know Halloween had enough data to evolve."

For Cha Hae, that explanation was more terrifying than reassuring. This new creature, a pumpkin wearing what looked like an elegant suit, was releasing enough power to make her instincts scream. Could this thing possess the power of a National Level Hunter or higher? She couldn’t accurately compare the two systems (hunters rank and digimon evolutions), but the conclusion wasn’t unreasonable.

She had struggled against Vritramon. Vritramon was now struggling against Halloween.

It was only logical for her to think that way.

Inside Vritramon’s body, Takuya was still doing everything he could to regain control, but even he couldn’t hide how impressed he was. It had only been around a year or so in the Digital World, and Pumpkinmon had already reached Mega Evolution.

That was incredible.

Now that his friend’s life was no longer in immediate danger, Takuya could finally focus more completely on regaining control over his own body.

One step at a time.

First, he focused on his hands. He could feel his entire body. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that he couldn’t control it. He tried concentrating harder, but doing so wasn’t exactly easy when Vritramon was still fighting outside.

Vritramon’s tail swung toward NoblePumpkinmon, but Halloween caught it with both hands.

Then he began spinning.

The enormous dragon was lifted completely off the ground as Halloween spun faster and faster before finally throwing Vritramon away into the endless black space.

"That should give him some time," NoblePumpkinmon said. "If Takuya isn’t getting hit and his body isn’t constantly fighting, maybe he can focus on taking control. I saw him struggling inside the Digimon."

"Are you saying that thing isn’t Takuya?!" Cha Hae asked, looking even more worried.

"He is Takuya. It’s just difficult to explain. Some Digimon species have extremely strong fighting instincts, and sometimes those instincts become almost like another will. Takuya only recently evolved, so he’s struggling to control them. Until he does, we have to hold him back," NoblePumpkinmon explained.

"It’s the least we can do for him," Creed added as he stood up and stretched his body.

Once again, Cha Hae felt her entire understanding of reality changing. She was currently fighting alongside monsters, inside another dimension, against one of her own teammates who had transformed into some kind of dragon.

Again, she had to remind herself that this wasn’t the time to think about it.

Although...Didn’t the pumpkin just throw Takuya away?

Almost as soon as Cha Hae thought that, Vritramon returned.

Of course. He had wings. And if he had wings, he could fly.

In almost no time at all, Vritramon came crashing back down onto the floating island. The moment he landed, the entire island broke in half, and magma began spreading through the cracks. NoblePumpkinmon immediately raised his staff and summoned another gigantic pumpkin.

Then another.

And another.

Suddenly, multiple pumpkins appeared all across the battlefield, each one roughly the size of a semi-truck.

Vritramon looked around at them and ignited his flames. Then, in the next instant, the pumpkins exploded.

The explosions were enormous. More than enormous.

The combined blast was easily powerful enough to destroy a city.

Cha Hae barely had time to protect herself before the shockwave reached her. Even after bracing herself, both she and Creed were thrown away by the sheer force of the explosion.

"Was that a nuke?!" Cha Hae yelled as she landed on a distant floating island.

"A nuke? What’s that?" Creed asked. "It’s called an explosion," the black wolf added matter-of-factly. Cha Hae didn’t have either the words or the time to explain the difference.

Takuya had been right in the middle of those explosions. How the hell was he now?

At the center of the destruction, Vritramon was still flying. The floating island they had previously stood on had completely disappeared beneath him. Cracks covered several sections of his armor, more than a few, but he was still breathing.

And he looked angry. Very angry.

Creed rushed forward and struck Vritramon directly in the center of the chest, sending him flying toward another floating island. Using the recoil from the impact, Creed launched himself backward and returned to Cha Hae’s side.

"Oi! We’re trying to help him, not kill him!" Cha Hae yelled.

"He won’t die from that. But now his movements should be slower, and we’ll have a better chance to stop him without taking more injuries. That’s if—" Creed suddenly looked toward Halloween. "HEY! HALLOWEEN! CONTROL YOURSELF, YOU MORON! WE DON’T WANT TO KILL HIM!"

Halloween, who was still flying above them, simply gave them a thumbs-up.

"As idiotic as ever," Creed muttered as he rubbed his temples.

Then he jumped from floating rock to floating rock until he landed on the island where Vritramon had fallen. Cha Hae followed immediately, and both of them began moving toward Takuya.

While Vritramon lay on the ground, Takuya was in tremendous pain, still struggling to gain control. Vritramon’s desire to fight was still there, but the accumulated damage had forced that instinct to recede slightly.

Even then, all Takuya managed to move by himself was a single finger. His mind raced. He couldn’t understand why this was happening.

Then, from the corner of his eye, he saw everyone approaching. Despite the pain, his body started standing up on its own.

"Just why doesn’t this Digimon body... Digimon body?" The thought felt strange. Agnimon was him. So Vritramon should also be him.

But then why did he feel this overwhelming hostility coming from his own body? His mind was perfectly clear. The problem was that his mind and body were completely out of sync.

"Why is it like this? These should be my instincts. And I’m now connected to a fragment of the Firewall’s data... not only that, but AncientGreymon’s data too. Is this AncientGreymon’s aggression?"

AncientGreymon had been a protector. But being a protector didn’t necessarily mean being a pacifist. Then Takuya thought about Agnimon.

Agnimon.The Human Spirit. The reason and intelligence of the Ancient Digimon.

It was technically an Adult-level form, yet at the same time, it represented one side of the legendary Spirit. For the first time, Takuya tried something he had never attempted before.

He focused directly on his Digicore. Agnimon’s data should still exist there, even if he was currently in another evolutionary stage.

And for the first time, Takuya truly felt it.

His Digicore wasn’t merely warm. It pulsed. It was alive.

From there, Takuya felt a connection spreading throughout his entire body. For the first time, he could distinguish the different pieces of data existing within himself.

His entire body extended outward from his Digicore.

And then he understood.

That was why Vritramon felt like a separate entity.

Because, right now, it was.

That was the trial. He hadn’t fully absorbed Vritramon yet.

Takuya could see the data composing Vritramon surrounding his Digicore rather than existing inside it. That was why he felt like nothing more than a passenger. This wasn’t truly his Evolution yet.

Not completely. And for the first time, Takuya began to understand what a Digicore truly was.

It wasn’t merely a heart. It was the source of a Digimon’s power. The center from which everything else originated.

More importantly, it was something Takuya could consciously interact with. It wasn’t like a human heart, something that simply worked automatically regardless of his will.

His Digicore responded to him. So Takuya tried something, The warmth inside his core began to spread. And then he started doing the same thing Pumpkinmon had done countless times before.

He began absorbing data. Vritramon’s data.

It wasn’t easy. The data felt almost alive. It resisted him. But Takuya pushed harder. And absorbed it.

Piece by piece.

He still didn’t have control over his body, but now, for the first time, he could resist. Vritramon’s movements became stiff.

Everyone outside immediately noticed.

The dragon still attacked, this time turning toward Creed, who raised his arms and defended himself against Vritramon’s strikes. Eventually, Vritramon broke through Creed’s defense and prepared to deliver another blow.

But his hand trembled.

And stopped. For a single moment. Then the other fist slammed into the surprised Creed and sent him flying like a ragdoll. Vritramon suddenly stumbled.

His claws grabbed his own head. Then he slammed his head against the ground.

Once.

Again.

His movements slowly began losing their aggression. More and more. His breathing gradually stabilized. Then, finally, Takuya spoke.

"I’m okay."

Everyone immediately felt relief, he spoke for the first time. Takuya breathed heavily.

He had absorbed enough of Vritramon’s data to regain control over his body, but the process wasn’t finished. Flames began forming around him, only to be absorbed into Vritramon’s body moments later.

He was still Takuya. But the process looked painful. By this point, Halloween and Creed simply sat down in front of him, both looking completely relaxed.

Cha Hae looked at them in disbelief. "What are you doing?"

"It’s over. Everything depends on him now. We just have to wait. He’s integrating the data he lost during the fight," Creed explained.

"How do you know?" Cha Hae asked.

"Because that’s how we are. The difficult part is always at the beginning. Once he regains consciousness and control, there’s no real problem. Now he’s simply integrating the remaining data," Creed replied.

"They’re right." A playful voice suddenly came from behind them. Veemon.

"Oh? You decided to come back now that everything is over?" Creed asked.

Veemon simply shrugged.

"My role isn’t to intervene. I only had to make sure no one disturbed the process. If Takuya failed, well, that was on him. But he succeeded," Veemon replied with a bright smile.

At that moment, several notifications appeared on Takuya’s D-Scan.

However, he chose to ignore them. Instead, he looked directly at Veemon. "You said you’re here to supervise. But who sent you?" Takuya asked.

At that exact moment, another voice came from above.

"I have the same question." Everyone immediately looked upward.

"So answer me. What are you doing with these Digimon?" The one asking the question was a pink, knight-like Digimon.

And the instant Takuya saw him, a deep chill ran through his entire body.

Fear.

Pure, instinctive fear.