Chapter 91: Zhao Jie’s Second Digimon (Please Subscribe)

“What do you mean, impossible?”

Even as he spoke, Zhao Jie did not stop moving. He closed his fingers around the thumb-sized black diamond crystal at once.

It felt cold to the touch, and beyond that he sensed nothing unusual.

But in the next instant, he realized something was wrong, because the digital energy at the center of his brow had slipped beyond his control and was now winding itself around that black crystal.

A thunderous roar erupted.

The moment the digital energy touched the crystal, a storm broke loose inside the center of his forehead.

In Zhao Jie’s perception, the faint strand of black qi that had always been eerily quiet suddenly turned into a savage flood-dragon, rampaging wildly through his mind.

“So there really was a sliver of Apocalymon’s dark power hidden inside his body.”

Apocalymon was a mysterious Digimon born from negative thoughts and the gathering of darkness; its digital genes contained nothing but dark power.

Gatomon recovered from her shock. Only this explanation could account for how the human before her had been able to take hold of Apocalymon’s shard of dark genetic code.

As for why a shard that could only be housed by a Digimon had ended up in a human being, she had no idea.

“Ah!”

Zhao Jie cried out in spite of himself.

He had no idea that what he had just touched was Apocalymon’s dark genetic code, much less that the black qi he had been unable to dispel all this time was also Apocalymon’s dark power.

Now, stirred by the black crystal, that strand of black qi had awakened and begun to ravage everything.

If it had only been a rampage, that would have been one thing. But this wisp of black qi was also growing thicker and stronger by the moment, even now contending with him for control over his digital energy.

“Such immense digital energy!”

Gatomon’s eyes lit up. She thought of a wonderful way to escape—becoming this human’s Digimon!

Though that meant giving up her freedom, she had no freedom to speak of now anyway.

With such vast digital energy, combined with the huge reserves she already possessed herself, perhaps she could succeed in reaching a super evolution!

By then, not only would these chains forged from digital alloy be unable to hold her, she might even be able to flee this damned place altogether.

The more she thought about it, the more excited she became.

The Holy Ring on her tail burst with radiant power, and under Gatomon’s control, that holy light surged into Zhao Jie’s body.

The idea was a good one, provided it could help this human endure the erosion of the dark power.

Digimon would have their genetic attributes altered by Apocalymon’s darkness, but as for humans, she had no idea.

This was also the first time she had ever seen a human carrying Apocalymon’s dark power.

“Whish.” “Whish.”

Light brought warmth and gentleness. As the holy power Gatomon sent into him entered the digital sea at the center of Zhao Jie’s brow, the control that had been slipping away from him once again returned to his grasp.

These were two old adversaries. For years and years, those two powers had been locked in struggle inside Gatomon’s body, and now the battlefield had shifted into Zhao Jie’s.

The struggle continued, and neither side could defeat the other.

“No, this can’t go on.”

After sensing the changes within the digital ocean in his brow, Zhao Jie’s heart grew anxious.

If they kept fighting like this, would he ever know peace again?

And this holy power wasn’t even his—it was being supplied by Gatomon. The moment she stopped, once the balance was gone, that dark power would surely rampage again.

He had to find a way to suppress it for the time being.

But how?

The question kept surfacing in his mind.

An evolution rune?

Looking at the evolution rune representing Agumon, Zhao Jie had an idea: could he infuse this dark power into the rune?

WarGreymon turning into Black WarGreymon?

That did not sound unacceptable at all.

The only thing he worried about was whether using this dark power would make him, like the Dark Etemon he had seen before, into something devoid of reason.

Rumble, rumble...

The dark power still raged on. Time waited for no one.

“Then let’s do it this way for now.”

Under Zhao Jie’s control, the evolution rune belonging to Agumon slowly rose, carefully drawing in a wisp of dark power.

After waiting several seconds, the Agumon evolution rune showed no sign of any problem, and Zhao Jie’s heart lifted with renewed hope.

At last, there was a solution.

“Hm?”

Outside, Gatomon sensed Apocalymon’s dark power beginning to recede and gave a soft cry of surprise.

She had originally meant to help this human neutralize Apocalymon’s darkness, but now it seemed unnecessary—he had already come up with a solution of his own.

Once the dark power had been fully absorbed by Zhao Jie through Agumon’s evolution rune, Gatomon’s holy power burst forth with all its might.

“What are you doing?!”

Zhao Jie opened his eyes and looked at the bound Gatomon. The dark power he had barely managed to rein in was already ready to erupt again at any moment.

“To make a contract with you, of course, and become your Digimon!”

Gatomon stared back with her big eyes, looking utterly innocent.

Hearing her words, Zhao Jie’s heart surged with excitement. This was Gatomon of the holy type—the one who could one day evolve into Ophanimon, one of the three great angelic leaders.

Unfortunately, he had already contracted with Agumon.

Zhao Jie looked at Gatomon with regret. “I’ve already contracted a Digimon.”

“Who told you that a human can only contract one Digimon?”

Gatomon blinked at his words and asked him back.

Huh?

No one had actually said that.

But every Digimon tamer he had seen only had one partner, and in his memories, Tai and the others were the same. He had simply assumed a person could contract only one Digimon.

“In fact, the number of Digimon a human can contract depends on how much digital energy they can hold. I’ve already checked yours, and you have more than enough digital energy to contract a second Digimon.”

Gatomon stopped moving and explained herself to Zhao Jie.

If nothing unexpected happened, he would become her master starting today, so it would be best to make these things clear.

“Oh, so that’s how it is!”

Zhao Jie looked at Gatomon in sudden realization.

If that was the case, then as long as he had enough digital energy, wouldn’t he be able to build his very own Royal Knights?

“Wipe the drool from your mouth. Are you going to make the contract or not?”

Gatomon cast him a disdainful glance. If she had had any choice at all, she would never have chosen to contract with this human, even if it killed her.

“Of course, of course—I’ll make the contract for sure!”

Zhao Jie nodded eagerly.

What a joke. A Holy Angel Digimon delivered right to his door—was he supposed to let her walk away?

They opened their hearts to one another, and before long the holy power gradually condensed within the sea of digital energy, taking shape as an evolution rune.

A contract with the second Digimon, Gatomon, was successfully formed.