Frontiers Unexplored

54) Blackened Sun

Takuya's first instinct was to ask how this had happened. 

He couldn't keep himself from staring at Erociamon after the transformation of Koji had drawn to a conclusion. Everything about his companion had fallen apart, and it appeared that he was only a hollow shell of his former self. It was sickening to see, and Takuya couldn't do anything but watch with wide, fearful eyes. This was far from being the Koji that he had come to know and care for. His grief over Koichi's death had shoved him over the edge, and only rage for Lucemon remained. 

"He combined the Spirits of Light and Darkness..." Izumi whispered from somewhere near Takuya. He wasn't entirely sure of where she was, but he didn't want to check for her precise location either. He didn't even know if he had the energy to try. 

"How is that even possible?" Saki questioned. For one of the first times since Saki had crossed paths with Takuya, they seemed clueless and confused. Their regular poise had fallen away, and Takuya could see Saki for the person that they truly were. Beneath their mask of detached stoicism, they were still a young child who was simply trying to survive. 

"It shouldn't be possible!" Bokomon cried out. "The Spirits should have returned to the Digital World if Koichi is truly gone, but the Digital World is gone... I assume that they went to the closest thing they could find to their host, and since Koji shares blood with Koichi..."

Bokomon's voice trailed off there, and Takuya understood that he didn't need to finish his explanation. Instead, the Warrior of Fire turned his attention towards Erociamon once again. Pulling the Spirits away from their vessels wasn't meant to be possible. Even when Takuya's soul had been lured away by the Dark Trailmon, the Spirits had remained part of him. It was because of the influence of the Spirits that he had become Flamemon. When Izumi fell into slumber, Zephyrmon's Spirit was the dominant force in her body, taking control of her motions as Izumi temporarily fell dormant. Their Spirits had remained attached heavily to them, but this was no longer the case with Koichi. 

It shouldn't have happened. Nothing of this nature should have been able to take place, and Takuya felt oddly nauseous out of nowhere. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that his sudden sickness had nothing to do with the overwhelming sensation of unleashing his fiery abilities a moment forward, and it was unrelated to the damage he had sustained from Lucemon's previous attacks. He couldn't believe that this was happening. It shouldn't have even been possible, but desperate times called for desperate measures, and the fusion of the Spirits of Light and Darkness was far from being stable. 

Light and Darkness. 

Lucemon's words echoed in Takuya's mind once again. The Angel of Hell had declared that he was the only one capable of combining the powers of Light and Darkness, and without the proper buffer and separation, fusing the elements would result in something volatile and destructive. None of them had expected something like this to happen, but Koji was suddenly fulfilling the prophecy of death and feral rage that Lucemon had foretold. 

Erociamon didn't seem to understand what he truly was, and he rocketed himself forward with the anger of a thousand suns. His hands flashed with the energy of both Light and Darkness, and the overwhelming glow of black and white was almost enough to steal Takuya's vision. The Warrior of Fire was left reeling as he hissed in pain and attempted to focus on the fight without completely losing his sense of focus. 

Erociamon was next to Lucemon before any of them had a chance to register what was happening. He reared one of his hands back before slamming it forward into the angel's shoulder, and there was a percussive explosion of sound that spread outwards. It ricocheted in Takuya's mind, and the Warrior of Fire found himself reeling with the raw strength of Erociamon's single blow. All of the previous attacks from the Legendary Warriors had been powerful, but they felt like nothing when compared to the atrocity of the blackened sun.