Chapter 30

While Naruto and Asura entered the fight, Takato and Arthur arrived in a dark forest. The whole place was dark except the moon shining above them to give them some light.

The trees were large and creepy.

There was cold wind that made scary noises.

They were millions of dark gazes watching them from the darkness of the forest while the duo just outside of it.

All in all, it was one of the scariest places that any of them had seen and was just out of a horror movie. Takato could imagine some witch, ghost or demon coming out of the forest.

Arthur was shaking when he heard the noise and saw the eyes.

"Takatomon, this place is scary." Arthur didn't like scary places and he had yet to overcome his fear of them.

It was a problem but he would mostly forget about it when he entered a battle. His battle nature took priority over his fears.

"Relax Arthur, I am here with you. There is just some rookie digimon that we need to win against, so cheer up and let's go meet him." Takato also didn't like this place and it was the first time for him.

Yeong knew that Naruto and Asura wouldn't feel anything from these places so she only gave them a digimon to face while Takato and Arthur got the full package to help them since there were many scary things in the digital world.

People had died from shock and fear.

"If you say so, Takatomon. I will walk ahead and smell out the enemy." Arthur gulped before nodding and looked at the forest.

Taking a sniff, he only sensed one being inside and it was stuck in position because of the program.

"This way!" Arthur locked on to the foe and starting running while forgetting his fear mostly. He was the type that focused on one thing too much that he almost forget about other things.

No matter how cowardly a Guilmon might look, its ferociousness will show when a battle starts.

Takato followed behind his partner while activating the Digi-barrier that was connected to Arthur. Unless Arthur lost the battle, this barrier would stand as it was connected to the partner digimon.

It was a normal procedure to activate the barrier when entering a battlefield or an enemy digimon could take the tamer out by surprise.

Takato had his barrier but he needed to make this a habit or he might get killed for his mistake. His powers would only work until the rookie level, after that he couldn't fight the digimon directly at all without putting himself in extreme danger.

It was possible to fight a weak champion alone but the chances of dying were extremely high, so the only time that would be necessary is when your digimon partner is down or your partner is a rookie.

Takato didn't think they would do that, as Naruto wouldn't be that crazy.

Within few moments they got out of the uneven terrain and arrived in a clearing where the moon was lighting up the area.

It was big as a normal Digimon battle arena for rookies and in the center was their target, frozen because the battle hadn't started.

It was a Dracmon.

Dracmon was a vampire/imp themed pale-skinned Digimon who wore a black mask with red and green eye markings on it. Embedded in its palms were a set of eyeballs whose irises matched the eye markings. Though it had wings, they were connected by a gold trinket and rest around its waist.

Dracmon was an Undead Digimon and. It was the Dark Area's most mischievous Digimon. For the sake of a prank, it would meet the challenge unflinchingly even if it was accompanied by some risk. Just like DemiDevimon, this digimon was extremely evil and dangerous.

It served under the Vampire King, GranDracmon.

It sucked blood from other digimon and could infect them with a virus. It had mind control abilities to brainwash people and digimon.

It could take control of weaker beings and make them serve its nefarious purposes.

It was demonic digimon that enjoyed evil deeds and found friendship, and such things disgusting.

It was a good actor so all tamers were warned to be cautious of this little monster.

Even after all these problems, Dracmon was a digimon that could be tamed unlike Keramon.

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Looking at the digivice, Takato could see all the information and see that it was level 20. Not weak and very strong for a level 1 digimon.

Guilmon was naturally stronger than Dracmon but that was if they weren't too far in levels. Fortunately, his partner was trained and armed.

In these few days he had trained extensively with Arthur and taught how to fight using his body more than his natural instinct could guide him.

He was covered in armor and his tail was a sharp weapon. He was armed with small guns and bombs.

For further support, Takato could give him wings and make him humanoid etc.

But this battle was purely one on one, since it would be rare in the digital world and the partner needed to know how to fight without support.

"Arthur, are you ready? This guy is bad news, don't listen to his words and don't look into his eyes. The eyes are on his hands, don't look at them. Okay?" Takato put his arm around Arthur and gave him simple warnings.

Arthur looked at Dracmon and could see the eyes. His natural instincts were flaring up as he was a Virus Buster.

"I understand, Takatomon. And, I feel really good. Can we start?" Arthur smiled as his eyes changed from the normal into a bestial dragon type.

He was barely holding back from gouging his foes neck.

It was the first time he had a met a Nightmare Soldier in a fight and Takato could see why Naruto had warned him about it.

His partner had aggressiveness problem and it was one thing you needed to fix about Guilmon before going further into the evolutions since each evolution added to the problem.

Guilmon could become highly aggressive and loose his mind if the Tamer wasn't careful about it. Each digimon naturally had aggressiveness so all tamers took time in the rookie form to build a strong bond and teach them to control it.

"Remember, don't act like a monster. What is our aim?!" Takato reminded him and asked with enthusiasm.

"King of all Knights!"

"And, is the King a monster?"

"He is a being of grace and skill."

"Good, now go and kill him." Takato smiled as he pushed Arthur forward while standing back with his digivice. It was hard for him to just watch.

With that push, Arthur walked forward with his eyes locked onto Dracmon and his tail swishing from side to side.

He had become strong enough to carry 100 KG armor without any problem. It didn't even feel like a burden as his physical limits had increased through the continuous training and healing.

He could lift up to 300 KG at this point but that would increase with time and benching 1000 KG wouldn't be anything special for him.

"Grrr" His eyes noticed the defenseless neck and he had the urged to chomp on it, make his foe bleed and eat him.

Arthur shook his head and the opponent finally came alive.

Dracmon shook his body and bounced in place before he took in the surroundings.

"Ooh, a freaking Guilmon." Dracmon exclaimed excitedly as he held his face and danced in place before his eyes landed on Takato.

"Che, a slave of the humans. How distasteful can you get, you are a shame to the royal Knights." Dracmon acted like he was gonna throw up and looked at him with distaste.

Arthur frowned and growled, as Dracmon was riling him up and touching his pride. He was a dragon type and those types had high pride.

Without any more hesitation, Arthur released a roar with his dragon spirit to cause fear and hesitation in his foe.

"Nah, nah!" Dracmon muttered as he smiled as he blocked his hearing instantly the moment Arthur looked like he was about to roar and release dark syringes towards him.

Arthur started charging and crashed through the attack without a problem while his claws were on fire.

Dracmon saw him coming and released his wings before taking flight and followed it up with a dark screech.

It was sharp and ugly.

Arthur responded quickly and his ears were blocked by the armor to avoid getting confused by the dark screech.

Locking onto his foe, Arthur released a fireball.

The fireball travelled in the air while Dracmon managed to dodge it and landed on a tree branch as he couldn't fly for too long without consuming energy.

"Hey, aren't you strong? Why don't we join together and get out of here. My boss is GranDracmon, you know. Oh forgot, you are a tamers digimon so you wouldn't who that is.

He is the King of Vampires and a being stronger than the Royal Knights and the Demon Lords. He has the biggest territory in the Dark area and he could make you stronger if you serve him. You could become one of his Chaos Dukemon; yes my master has a dark version of the Royal Knight serving him.

You could be another one, and can you really trust a human to get you there?" Dracmon spoke in a sweet and tempting tone using his silvery tongue.

He wasn't lying about anything.

GranDracmon was just that good. Fortunately, he wasn't really interested in causing chaos. Many top tamers had gone to visit him and learn about the secrets of the Digital world as he was one of the oldest beings alive.

He had existed before any of the Demon Lords and his power was unmatchable in a one on one situation.

"Grr, I am no one's slave. Arthur will become the King of all Knights, and your master will just be another target for me to defeat. Now die!" Arthur shook his head and released multiple fireballs while utilizing his gatling gun.

Dracmon wasn't expecting the attack so when he flew to avoid the fireballs, he was hit by the bullets.

The wings were torn and he crashed into the ground while screaming in pain.

"It hurts, you little bastard!" Dracmon screamed as he put his hands forward and released an illusion ray.

Eye of Nightmare: Casts a spell from the evil eyes on the palms of its hands which caused those who look into it to have their hearts completely dominated by Dracmon.

Arthur had already closed his eyes and let his sense of smell guide him. He could smell the blood and his aggressiveness was increasing because of the smell.

Like an armored truck, Arthur slammed into Dracmon and gouged him with the horns on his head.

Taking him for the ride, Arthur's tail moved and stabbed into his side while he charged a flame ball.

Dracmon screamed in pain as his insides were readjusted and he was bleeding from the inside.

"I am sorry. I am sorry. I beg you, please let me go. I won't do anything bad. I will be your slave, please." Dracmon begged for him to let go but Arthur didn't listen anymore and his tail dragged the foe of his horns, and he let loose the fireball from point blank.

"AHHHH" Dracmon screamed in horror as the fireball landed on his face and he continued to whimper as most of his body was heavily burnt.

The body landed few feet away from him and Dracmon tried to crawl towards Takato tried to speak but his throat was burned.

It was a horrifying scene for Takato and he closed his eyes while Arthur was still in the battle zone and stepped on the foes back before piercing his head with sharp claws.

With the death of the digimon, Arthur gave a roar of victory and devoured the data without any hesitation.

His level went to 15 directly and he grew in size.

"More, more" Arthur growled as his digital hazard starting shining and he shook his head.

"ARTHUR!" Takato ran towards him and commanded with force.

It wasn't the first time he had almost lost it but this time it was worse.

Boost from his armor, Takato crashed into Arthur.

Arthur was pushed to the side as he was tackled and glared at the target.

"Ta…Takatomon, sorry." Arthur snapped out of it as Takato's digivice shone to guide the partner out of the berserk state.

He still needed to overcome the dragon's rage and greed.

It was the greed for violence and data that had almost activated it fully.

"It's okay, it isn't your fault. We will get through this, so don't get sad on me okay." Takato smiled as he hugged Arthur after deactivating the armor on both their bodies.

With the digivice he made Arthur smaller and continued to hug him. He was disgusted by what he had just seen.

He had never thought that killing an evil digimon could look and feel so terrible. He wanted to stop Arthur from doing it but like a coward he had looked away.

He was responsible for it but wasn't brave enough to look. He felt disgusted by himself.

To make it worse he had been scared by what could have happened to Arthur. He had seen videos of Guilmon going wild and those were terrifying but he had confidence in Arthur but now he had almost seen it personally.

He was worried about both things.

Could he really kill digimon?

Could he risk Arthur going wild in the Digital world?

Should he ask Naruto to let him step out for some time?

While, Takato was scared and worried his partner wasn't any better. He was horrified by his deeds. He had almost attacked Arthur and those screams stuck to him.

He had just killed a digimon that had begged him for mercy.

It was a prey. It was evil.

But it felt terrible. Those screams were stuff of nightmare. He had become the monster from the horror movies.

He felt scared and hurt.

"Takatomon, it hurts. It hurts so much. I don't like this." Arthur called out from the pain as tears slipped out. He hugged Takato and didn't want to let go. He was scared of what he would see. He didn't want Takato to get scared of him and leave him.

"Don't cry Arthur, I am here for you. You are making me cry, so smile. Smile like always, we have won." Takato felt pain from hearing the hurt in his words. He had been worried so it must have felt worse for his partner.

He couldn't allow this pain to exist. It was resonating with his partner through their bond and it was making it worse for both of them.

Takato couldn't help but cry as he saw him crying. He hugged him harder and kissed him on the head to help him calm down.

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A.N Hope you enjoyed and comment.

These are character building moments. People can get unnerved by these scenes.