I am Blue. I’m direct.

　　The Boss (He) told me to crusade against the Pervert Party. I go.

　　Participant ID: NO.00018

　　Holder: Blues Williams

　　Gender: Male

　　Age: 34

　　Participant Identity: Blue

　　Digimon: UlforceV-dramon

　　Affiliated Guild: Order of Holy Knights

　　Confirm Login

　　[ YES ]

　　I walked into the company’s data server room, swiped my card to enter, turned around to close the door, and made sure it was locked from the inside. I took the equipment out of my backpack and plugged it in, then clicked the button on the left to login to the Midgard system.

　　Passing through the fire-wall and arriving at the rendezvous point, I imagined myself as a wooden post, standing in front of the castle gate for nearly two hours. The red guy never showed up. During that time, three groups of people entered the castle, each with a bountiful harvest. The prey they caught were all humanoid living Digimon, with a balanced ratio of males and females, all with quite good figures.

　　At first, I was even thinking: don’t these guys get tired of eating this stuff all day? Then a Datamon came over to pick a fight with me: “Hey, you! Who are you!? Private property, no trespassing!”

　　“I’m waiting for someone.”

　　“Waiting? For who? Do I know them?”

　　“Probably not,” I answered honestly. “He should be here any second. When you see him, you’ll know if you recognize him.”

　　Later, he harassed me for a while, insisting I leave. He didn’t think about how that could be possible—the mission wasn’t finished, the other teammate hadn’t arrived, and he wanted me to go away? No way.

　　“I see you’re refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit—”

　　I found him annoying, so I drew the sword from my bracelet and gave a light swing. He was cut into two pieces and vanished with the wind as ash.

　　“Whew, finally some peace and quiet.”

　　Hardly had I spoken when someone happened to come out of the castle and witnessed this scene, standing there stunned. I turned my head and looked carefully; it was a Meteormon.

　　Seeing his resemblance to Gotsumon, I called out to him and asked, “What’s your relation to Gotsumon?”

　　“I don’t know!” He shuddered, then turned back, pushed open the castle gate, and ran inside at full speed, screaming as he went: “Datamon is dead! Someone come quick—someone’s looking for trouble at the door!”

　　Afterward, a group of Myotismon and a group of Volcamon burst out of the castle, every last one looking ferocious, saying they were going to skin me alive and smash my armor to avenge their comrade. I was so deeply moved by the camaraderie they showed that I held back a little, didn’t use my best speed—and yet they still went ahead and died. It was quite ridiculous.

　　“What’s going on?” I was puzzled on the spot. “Why is everyone targeting me today? Looks like I’ll have to let that guy share some of the burden later. Good, it’s decided.”

　　After a while, the Guild Boss connected with me and asked, “Blue, I just caught a glimpse of your location. What are you doing standing in front of that castle gate alone?”

　　“Waiting for Red.”

　　“You’re in the wrong place.”

　　“The location you gave me is here; it’s correct.”

　　“Yes, the location is there, but—that’s the enemy’s stronghold.”

　　Holy crap! I knew there was a reason they were all targeting me—it turned out I had exposed myself. My bad, my bad.

　　In case he couldn’t find me later, I asked the Boss about the situation: “Why hasn’t Red arrived yet?”

　　“I just got in touch with him. He should be there any second. Wait a bit longer.”

　　“No,” I told him. “I have things to do.”

　　“What things?”

　　“Purging.”

　　With that, I raised the light sword in my hand, sliced open the castle gate, and drifted inside, starting an indiscriminate massacre of the inhabitants.

　　No one was innocent. No one would leave alive to tell the tale—especially not to Red. No one. As for the Boss, well, he’s the type who forgets things the moment they leave his mouth. Plus it wasn’t a big deal; he wouldn’t take it to heart. So no need to worry—even if word got out, it was never too late to silence them afterward.

　　Then, what happened in the previous part occurred. Red went to the dungeon, and I went to the rooftop.

　　The path to the rooftop was completely clear. Arriving at a large bell, a Piedmon suddenly hopped out from inside it, standing on a ball and nimbly twisting his body, showing off his exquisite sense of balance.

　　“Do you want to die?” I asked him.

　　“I don’t,” he answered unhurriedly.

　　“Then get off that thing. Stop dancing around in front of me.”

　　Saying this, I kicked his ball away. He made a powerful leap, flipping over my head and casually throwing down a white cloth, just big enough to cover my body.

　　He naively thought I would just stand there and do nothing, letting his white cloth cover me, after which I’d turn into a keychain dangling from his waist. Of course I wouldn’t let him succeed—and he could hardly succeed anyway, because I had already activated Ulforce. In my eyes, that cloth was falling at the speed of a snail on the ground—absurdly slow. I even had time to pinch together the four corners, re-fold it into a brand-new shape, and set it at his feet as a stepping stone before he even landed, then dash back to my original position, letting him believe I had been motionless the entire time.

　　“You—”

　　Seeing that I hadn’t disappeared and that the cloth, now folded into a flower shape, was under his feet, the look on his contorted face was beyond hilarious.

　　“The clown is always the one being played,” I told him. “If you want to cry, just cry. I’ll wipe your tears for you.”

　　“Aaaarrgh—!”

　　He was furious. He drew the four swords from his back and threw them at me.

　　“—Trump Sword!”

　　Similarly, the speed of the four swords was very slow—slow enough that his juggling couldn’t be fully utilized. He originally wanted to make it impossible for me to find the correct direction they were coming from, but to me, their disappearance was just them turning transparent.

　　If I were to expose his trick to his face, he might cry himself to death, so I made preparations in advance. I kindly picked up that cloth from earlier, wiped all four swords clean, and then tied the four corners of the cloth to the hilts of the four swords. I moved the whole assembly directly above his head, allowing it to drop. As it fell, I raised the sword in my hand, sliced through his waist, and sent him on his final journey.

　　After resolving it, Red rushed up from below to meet me. He told me it was strange—KingEtemon had done absolutely nothing and just stood there frozen. He had just charged in with his lance and finished the guy.

　　I thought about it and asked him, “Don’t you know there’s something called network latency?”

　　“I know, but dammit, that was too slow!”

　　“It’s not that he was slow; it’s that our network is too good.”

　　“Fair enough.”

　　“Pepsi’s network department has always been reliable.”

　　“Our Coke’s isn’t bad either.”

　　Then we both put on a face that said we wanted to kill each other, but aimed our weapons behind us. There was a bitch trying to sneak attack us from behind, but unfortunately, we had noticed her long ago.

　　“Just like the intelligence said,” Red raised his voice on purpose. “The club leader of the Pervert Party, Lilithmon, an alluring tramp.”

　　“Hahaha,” she let out a laugh at both of us like a maniac. “Calling me alluring, hmm… I admit it. After all, a person is beautiful like this all their life. Calling me a tramp, hmm… you’re the tramp! Your whole family are tramps!”

　　Her sudden change of face caught us off guard.

　　Red sighed and leaned in close to me without an expression, asking, “We both just got insulted by a tramp. I’m feeling very uncomfortable right now. What do you say?”

　　What else could be done? The old way.

　　“As if I’m comfortable,” I told Red. “Say no more. Beat her.”

　　We agreed instantly, but the next second, the opponent immediately chickened out.

　　“Wait, you… don’t come over yet!”

　　Too late. My fist had already swung out and had already touched her face. Her feet were off the ground, and she’d likely fall from the rooftop platform to the ground in a few seconds. If she was lucky, her face wouldn’t be ruined.

　　“What’s the rush?” Red asked me helplessly. “The new drink reception at The ‘Drink’ Bar doesn’t start for another seven hours. Even if you go now, you won’t snag a seat. Just give it up.”

　　What? The new drink reception is today? How could I be so uninformed?

　　“The old rule,” he suggested. “Whoever takes her down last doesn’t pay tonight; the other one treats.”

　　“Then I’d better hurry.”

　　“Don’t worry, I haven’t called start yet. Three, two, one… Start!”

　　What’s the difference? I’m already ahead!

　　“DO—NOT—ACTIVATE—ULFORCE—”

　　The time it took him to say those words was too long—long enough for me to vault over the castle wall first, spread my wings and fly down, reaching Lilithmon’s side. First, I cut off her right Nazar Nail that could corrode anything, then I tied her wings in a knot, helped her tidy her messy hair, and finally moved her over the nearby lake, waiting for her to fall into the water.

　　After waiting by the lake for a while, I finally saw Red.

　　“Yo, you’re here.”

　　“Why did you run so fast?” he said, panting. “Where is she?”

　　I turned my head and glanced at the bubbling lake surface. “Bathing. No peeking.”

　　“And yet you’re looking?”

　　“I have a taste for it.”

　　“No way,” his eyes widened. “You like her type?”

　　I nodded and told him, “Everyone has their hobbies.”

　　“Eww… hobbies. I’d say ‘pervert’ is more like it.”

　　“A pervert resolving a pervert—I’d say it’s just right.”

　　“Fair enough.” He leaned against a tree and asked me, “When do you plan to save her?”

　　“Not saving her.”

　　“Why? Didn’t you just say you like her? Turning your back so soon?”

　　“Not that.” I answered him. “I just accidentally let my ‘pervert’ side out. I wanted to see if a Digimon can drown in water. Look, she’s still struggling, but she’s almost…”

　　The words had hardly left my mouth when suddenly, an Ouryumon burst out of the lake and swallowed her alive, then dived back to the bottom with satisfaction. Before disappearing, it even turned toward us and let out a thunderous belch—thanking us for the feeding.

　　“This—”

　　“This… is it over?”

　　We said it in unison. Neither of us gave the other a reply; we just stood there, staring at the lake surface, hoping to see a flower bloom or something. After a while, Red broke the silence:

　　“I don’t know why, but I suddenly feel like drinking.”

　　I cast a vote of approval. “Old place, old specifications?”

　　“Let’s go!”

　　We hit it off once more and headed for The ‘Drink’ Bar. After greeting Red’s old friend Heath and exchanging a few pleasantries, we learned there were no seats left. We had to find two empty barrels from the warehouse in the back before we could sit down.

　　“What’ll the two Vanguards have today?”

　　The boss greeted us warmly and recommended we try the new style mixed by the new bartender. For no other reason than that the drink mixed by the newcomer wasn’t very expensive, and I’d been drinking the old specification for a long time anyway—it was time for a change of flavor.

　　“Here it is: the latest style, the ‘Super Big Crayon’. Remember to stir it before drinking for a better taste. Enjoy.”

　　It was a relatively expensive drink, with a slightly deep color—between brown and orange-red. It looked like coffee but wasn’t coffee; it was bubbling inside, and the taste was very familiar.

　　“Don’t you think…”

　　“Yeah, I have the same feeling.”

　　A silent understanding is what builds rapport.

　　I asked the boss, “Excuse me, what are the ingredients for this drink?”

　　He answered with a single word that instantly unsettled us both.

　　“Cola.”

　　“WHAT BRAND!?”

　　We both asked this question very loudly, making the noisy bar go silent for two or three seconds before it resumed its normalcy. Adding a few laughs to the rowdy crowd was exactly what we should do.

　　“You guys… seriously.”

　　The boss leaned in with a look like he was concerned for idiots and told us grumpily, “Dr. Pepper. What, you have a problem?”

　　No problem. Just felt a bit of a pity. We both felt that way. Between “Red and Blue,” there was never a need for verbal communication; everything was understood without words.