Digimon: The Child of Miracles

...

My eyes remained completely closed as I let my mind wander in the darkness listening to every noise coming from the castle with a precision that would surely terrify any of my troops who caught wind of the range of my sense of hearing.

Outside the castle I could hear the rain crashing against the stone of my castle, distant lightning thundered like a symphony of drums that mingled with the cold air resulting in a terrifying and eerie cacophony.

Suddenly my ears twitched slightly as I heard a quick but familiar flutter of wings outside the great throne room along with a commotion.

'Looks like my star informant is in a hurry...' I thought with boredom as I counted in reverse until my informant came through the door.

Pam!

"L-Lord Vamdemon! I have an urgent report!" The familiar shrill voice made my ears twitch with slight displeasure.

I opened one of my eyes which quickly focused on the small round figure dressed in a silly dark blue suit. My ears clearly heard PicoDevimon's breathing stop for a full second before my raised eyebrow snapped him out of his trance.

"H-He... Ahem! A-According to several reports from our troops in the southern continent, the Chosen Children have reappeared after losing track of them during the battle of the Etemon forces at the Colosseum!" PicoDevimon stuttered nervously, I couldn't tell if he was trying to catch his breath from his frantic journey here or if he was trying not to die of fright he hummed thoughtfully. "A-apparently some of the Chosen Children went straight to towards Etemon's main base of operations while decimating his troops. Etemon himself seems to have left the base to directly engage the Children and, according to our reports, quickly overpowered them before new reinforcements arrived which put him in a difficult situation among all the Chosen Children against Etemon-"

"Etemon is still alive?" I asked directly as I opened both eyes and straightened up on my throne. In my mind I was cursing Etemon's stupidity.

"N-No my Lord" The little bat confirmed my fears with a shudder. "Etemon faced the Chosen Children in a fairly even fight considering he was outnumbered, but they were not the cause of his death."

That made me pause for a split second. "If it wasn't the Chosen Children, then who was it?"

"T-The cause of his death was the newly registered Digimon Perfect, SkullGreymon!" "Y-Yet! It seems that both SkullGreymon and Etemon were eliminated simultaneously as a result of their confrontation!"

I remained completely silent as my mind recreated the scene described in various ways. It was clear that the report was not accurate, in fact, it was a rather poor report, but it was a fair price to pay as long as the Chosen Children didn't find out that I was watching them from a distance. After all, I didn't want that silly prophecy the children were bringing with them to ruin our plans.

The nervous sound of gentle flapping reminded me of the existence of PicoDevimon, which I quickly dismissed with a simple wave of my hand. "Good job, you may return to your post. Keep me informed of any moves the Chosen Children make."

"Y-Yes my Lord!" Letting out a shriek, the little masked bat quickly turned around before exiting the throne room in a hurry.

Once the doors closed, I was finally able to let out a tired sigh as I ran a hand over my face. I didn't know whether to laugh at Etemon's stupidity or get angry; I could understand the possible thinking behind his actions, but still...

"You can't change what is already written in piety. I thought you were smarter than this, I guess I overestimated your cunning, Etemon" I let out a sigh as I shook my head, a feeling of disappointment settling on my shoulders. "Despite this... slip up, I cannot deny that you were someone respectable, even if my respect stems from your wonderful conquest to the continent."

For the third time, I let out a resigned sigh as I rubbed my forehead.

Etemon may not have had troops as organized and powerful as I did, but his name undoubtedly instilled greater fear into the continent than mine. I had no doubt that his influence extended beyond the continent, the Net Ocean and the Folder Continent had possibly heard of the brutal tyrant who ruled the most dangerous continent in the Digital World with an iron fist.

Despite Etemon's antics and his lack of knowledge about commanding an army, he was a Digimon worthy of respect, even if only for his brute strength and semi-immortality.

He was... someone with potential.

"You had the power to rival me, despite my longevity, you had the opportunity to stand before me as an equal, and perhaps, a partner for our cause. But your arrogance didn't allow you to see the big picture, did it Etemon?" I muttered to myself as I summoned a glass goblet of thick red wine liquid. I took a long sip before letting out a satisfied sigh. "We are just big pieces on a gigantic board the size of entire dimensions, we are rooks, bishops, knight and pawns. No one is safe from this game played among the shadows, not you, not me, not the Divine Beasts, not the Dark Masters-"

Pronouncing that name made me shudder as I took a long swig at my drink.

"You were not a commander, but you were a king, or at least that's what I believed, but a king must be wise, a king knows what battle he can win and lose. And you didn't have that, Etemon" Cursing internally I took another drink.

'The Dark Masters fulfilled their role by eliminating the Sacred Beasts from the Map. Not counting the Chosen Children and their Digimons, the remnants former army of holy have finally been completely exterminated' I thought absentmindedly as I reflexively looked at my glass. 'With no Etemon on the Continent, and the sisters hibernating that means-'

I broke the cup spilling its contents into my hand.

'...That made me one of the strongest Digimons in the Digital World today.'

I looked at said hand with a sinking feeling.

If it had been the me of that time, perhaps I would be ruling the world and bending it to my pleasure and convenience. Perhaps I would spend hours and hours of my day making the existence of the other Digimons even more miserable and dreadful. Or maybe I would grow tired of it all and finally lay my DigiCore to rest and start over in another life.

However, contrary to what most of my subordinates thought, I had long since lost my pleasure in inflicting suffering on those beneath me, those thoughts of conquest and greed had long since vanished replaced by a layer of pragmatism.

Despite this, I was not hiding from the fact that I had used such tactics to keep my troops in check. Fear was always a good way to make the masses obey, as long as that fear was moderate.

In the end, it was all about balance.

And to our misfortune, the World was entering a critical stage of imbalance.

The simple fact that I am possibly the strongest Digimon today only underscored the decline of the Digital World's balance over the ages.

Nowadays it is extremely rare to see a Digimon Adult Digivolve into a Digimon Perfect. The most recent case I could think of, not counting that SkullGreymon, was Etemon itself.

This lack of strong Digimons was caused by the lack of Data and, consequently, the lack of new Digimons to consume.

The nature of Digimons could be summed up with one simple word: Evolution.

And it was this very nature within us, implemented in our DigiCores countless centuries ago, that was causing this inevitable decay of the World.

...it was this instinct that triggered the beginning of that event countless years ago...

Frowning I rose from my throne levitating slightly above the ground, approached the large window to one side and stared at my reflection for a moment.

I may be a mere chess piece, but knowing the cause I was fighting for and knowing that my Lord would take care of the rest after my inevitable death, I felt no regret or guilt at being a piece on this board.

The world needed a new balance, and I knew with certainty that my Lord would bring about this much desired balance.

Looking beyond my reflection, my gaze settled on the distant sun hiding in the distance giving way to the darkness of night and the mysterious but dazzling moon.

"The server continent is already lost. When the other Digimon Perfects learn of Etemon's fall they will take courage to challenge me in combat and..." I muttered to myself as I closed my eyes. "That will be all."

I held myself completely still as I pondered my impending fate.

Letting out another sigh, I summoned another object out of nowhere.

This time, it was a fuchsia-colored plaque with a strange engraving of a flower.

The Crest of Kindness.

"At least, I won't leave without leaving you a gift, Chosen Children."

...

A/N: Officially begins the Vandemon Arc with this little glimpse into the mind of our favorite villain!

Also with a new cover!

About the delay in posting, my pc basically died and I lost everything on it. I still have no idea what happened, I just turned it on and everything was corrupted, the damn windows defender didn't work and the recovery points were deleted.

So yeah, chapters and stuff I was preparing went straight to the trash. Just today I am getting my pc back after a technician checked it and reinstalled windows from scratch because it was simply impossible to fix anything.

Salty never gets a break.

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