Five minutes. Five whole minutes had passed, and yet only now were Baihumon and Zhuqiaomon breaking through to the very center of the Knight’s castle; where Yggdrasil resided and oversaw the Digital World. Baihumon hissed in fatigue, finally allowing himself to drop the barrage of power he had assaulted the castle with as he saw the walls between the heart of the castle and the rest of the structure give out at long last. This had really taken far too long; were he and Zhuqiaomon really so out of experience with their own power that a simple fortification gave them so much trouble? He hissed again, dispelling the thought. It wasn’t important now. He and Zhuqiaomon had been conserving the majority of their power for the confrontation with Yggdrasil; should he have taken them by surprise during their assault, having enough power in stock to defend themselves would have been essential. As it was, though, Yggdrasil hadn’t reacted at all to their assault; even as the wall to the heart of the castle crumbled, entire moments passed and yet there was no sign of Yggdrasil aside from the ocean of wires and cables leading deep down into the earth below the castle. [b]“At the risk of tempting fate,”[/b] Baihumon began, speaking quietly to his brother as the Sovereign of the South began to gather flames about himself once more, readying a gigantic jet of flame to scorch the parts of Yggdrasil visible at present, [b]“This is going far too smoothly. Something’s wrong here.”[/b] More than anything, Zhuqiaomon wanted to just set fire to any part of Yggdrasil he could see, but Baihumon had a point this time. With the ruckus the two were making, Yggdrasil had to have noticed them by now, but no defenses had been established. No barriers, no counterattacks, nothing. The Phoenix of the South suppressed his murderous rage and gave his brother a nod. [b]“Fine.”[/b] He grumbled. [b]“We’ll do this your way.”[/b] Zhuqiaomon spread his wings, bellowing a summons into the sky. Seconds later, a white snake Digimon materialized on the ground, bowing down to his master. [b]“What is required of me, my lord?”[/b] Sandiramon hissed, his head bowed low. [b]“Scout the inside of the ruins. Report back to me on what you find.”[/b] Zhuqiaomon rumbled, doubtful that this servant would survive. In truth, he’d been looking for a new Deva to fill Sandiramon’s place, and he’d have to open that role first. [b]“As you command, Lord Zhuqiaomon.”[/b] Sandiramon rose, utterly unaware of his master’s contempt for him, and slithered off, descending into the fortress’s depths. Minutes passed, and Zhuqiaomon found himself utterly disappointed when Sandiramon returned alive. [b]“My lord...Yggdrasil was within the depths.”[/b] [b]“And he left you alive?”[/b] Zhuqiaomon asked doubtfully. [b]“Actually, it was as if he didn’t even notice my presence. He was merely floating in the chamber, unresponsive.”[/b] The Sovereign raised an eyebrow, giving Baihumon a dubious look before turning back to Sandiramon. [b]“Fine. You are dismissed.”[/b] And with that, Sandiramon dematerialized, teleporting back to his Sovereign’s palace. Turning to Baihumon, Zhuqiaomon gave an impatient huff. [b]“Well, brother? Are you satisfied now?”[/b] [b]“There’s definitely something wrong. Last I recalled, Yggdrasil was violent with his own underlings, let alone a servant of his sworn enemies,”[/b] Baihumon replied, ignoring Zhuqiaomon’s characteristic brusqueness. Baihumon wasn’t even going to bother sending a servant down to make sure. Quicker than Zhuqiaomon could have expected, the white tiger disappeared in a flash of blinding light down the shaft leading to Yggdrasil’s chamber, slashing at the mass of cable all the way down. Landing upon all four of his feet as he finally entered the chamber, he organized the eleven digicores he had on his person into a horizontal circular formation, the powerful orbs spewing out a spherical field around himself as he looked about. Yggdrasil was there, just as Sandiramon had said; the gigantic orb floated above what seemed to be an equally gigantic reactor, with the mass of cable from the shaft above connecting into the rim of the reactor’s frame. The orb itself hummed as it floated in midair, and seemed to wobble slightly upon its axis; but was otherwise stationary, with a dull opaque colour adorning its form. Baihumon stared for a moment. And then his forcefield receded and a gigantic white burst slammed into the orb before him. And again. And again. As soon as he heard the sounds of combat, Zhuqiaomon descended into Yggdrasil’s chamber himself and stared for a moment, mildly disturbed that Yggdrasil was simply taking Baihumon’s abuse. And then he joined in as well, covering his entire body in flame and ramming into the orb alongside his brother. Amidst the roaring flames and eruptions of silver and white, the orb that was Yggdrasil’s body could be seen to slowly crack; Yggdrasil offered no resistance as his body was slowly shattered by the two Sovereigns, and as their powers reached their peak in intensity and blasted up the shaft above to release a torrent of energy into the sky, a horrific crack rang out. Followed by the sound of glass shattering as the multiple pieces of Yggdrasil’s spherical body smashed into the floor of the chamber, followed by a dull thud as something dropped onto the surface of the reactor below. And yet Yggdrasil offered no response, even as his core came crashing down to the ground from its protective shell. Baihumon knew that even this level of punishment wouldn’t have killed Yggdrasil; the shell was a mere protective layer, and his core was ridiculously resilient in and of itself. The blasted computer wasn’t dead; but that didn’t seem to matter as his core laid inert and comatose upon the wreckage of its shell. Zhuqiaomon let loose a cry of rage and dove down, his claws lashing out at Yggdrasil’s core. He struck again and again, talons wreathed in flame. Eventually, a crack appeared in the orb, and Zhuqiaomon took the opportunity, jamming a single talon deep into in the crack and starting to pull. The crack widened, and the Sovereign of the South jammed more talons in, ripping the core in two as he did so. [b]“Die, you miserable wretch.”[/b] Zhuqiaomon sneered as he tore Yggdrasil’s core completely in half before pulling back and letting a gout of flame loose, incinerating it. [b]“Unbelievable,”[/b] Baihumon muttered, shaking his head in disbelief as the almighty computer was burned down to less than scraps of data under his brother’s rage, [b]“Bloody unbelievable. All that talk from Azulongmon, and this is all it amounts to.”[/b] The sheer heat of Zhuqiaomon’s flames began to consume not just Yggdrasil’s core, but the very data that composed said core. Zhuqiaomon increased the intensity of the fire, and Yggdrasil’s data itself was destroyed. No Digimon would load that data, not even the Sovereigns themselves. Had it been anyone else, the phoenix would have snatched the data up to add to his own power without a care, but his hatred of Yggdrasil was such that he refused to even touch his data. [b]“We’re done here.”[/b] Zhuqiaomon snarled vindictively, taking to the air once more. [b]“What now, brother?”[/b] [b]“What now? We gather the Tamers and make our case before Azulongmon steps in. I’ll take any victory I can get over that bloody reptile, and this is as good a place to start as any.”[/b] Baihumon’s tone practically sweltered with bitterness. Something had been amiss with Yggdrasil, and he’d be willing to bet every single one of his Digicores that Azulongmon had been aware of this somehow. [b]“Contact AncientIrismon and have her marshall as many of the Tamers as she can into the conference chamber. I’ll have AncientWisemon and AncientVolcamon do the same. Don’t bother with AncientGreymon; he’s always been more inclined to obey Azulongmon than he has been to obey you.”[/b] [b]“Feh,”[/b] Zhuqiaomon spat as they ascended to the surface. [b]“Never liked that fool anyways.”[/b] With that said, he expanded his consciousness, reaching out to the minds of the Ancients on the surface and calling to them, while Baihumon did likewise. [b][i]“Ancients, hear me! Your masters call! Gather the Tamers, and bring them to the domain of the West!”[/b][/i] ____________________ Hearing the signal from his master, there was a flash of light as AncientWisemon materialized nearby the site of the final struggle between Imperialdramon, Alphamon and Examon. As it was, he’d been waiting for that signal for about five minutes now. The situation he’d originally anticipated had tuned out, but he’d quickly re-adopted the desire to remove the Tamers from the battlefield if only to be able to be able to out-maneuver the damned monopoly that Azulongmon and his disciples had called over the Sovereign’s affairs. As AncientWisemon had observed, Examon and Alphamon seemed to be the joint leaders of the Tamers; or at least commanded enough respect amongst them that the distinction was purely arbitrary. If he were to sway them first, the others would be more likely to comply. [b]“Excellent work,”[/b] He began, as he descended towards the silent, contemplative form of the Supreme Dragon Emperor, his green form fluttering in the winds born in the aftermath of the intense final conflict, [b]“On behalf of Baihumon, Sovereign of the West, I confer upon you our highest commendations, and an invitation to the Domain of the Sovereigns for you and you comrades.”[/b] Meanwhile, Valdurmon rose from her perch at AncientIrismon’s urging. [i]“Lord Zhuqiaomon has commanded me to request that the Tamers gather, child.”[/i] AncientIrismon whispered in her mind, to which Valdurmon could only scoff. [b]“And I should heed this why? I will listen to your requests, but not anyone else’s. My choice to serve is mine alone.”[/b] Valdurmon said, blatantly refusing to move. [i]“...Very well. However, you may bring Zhuqiaomon’s wrath upon yourself. Keep that in mind, for I will not be able to save you if that should be the case.”[/i] And with that warning, AncientIrismon fell silent in her mind.