Anomalice (Mystical Travels Multiverse Novel)

Prologue

"It's been a while since we had peace and quiet."

Stroking Lovimon's head, Amanokawa Blues chuckled at his assistant as he sipped his coffee in Kagami's former workplace, a cafe nearby the lab. "That is true. With all the chaos that's happened, first with Keketmon, the new kinds of Chimera Digimon and Ismaya going to jail for 10 years... Honestly, it's been very tiring."

Kinmokusei Asagao laughed, her right hand rubbing Tukaimon while admitting, "Well, at least it's been sorta fun as well. I don't think I've ever seen Uju-nii so happy outside of Pneuach." 

Blues shrugged. He didn't really spend time with the other inventor but... "Why is he a trouble magnet, though? We already have Dan, Hiro, Keita, and somewhat Ruri and Kiyoshiro."

"Trust me, Aki-kun's been trying to figure that out," the brown-haired female said. She seemed to be blushing as well, talking about the guy she had recently confessed to. 

The somewhat heterochromatic [What does a robotic eye count as anyway?] teen chortled. That made three of them. "Haneul and I have been trying to figure that out too." 

"Still! It's nice to see everyone have a break outside of us mentally screaming Trauma Trauma, go away, come again another day, we just don't want to lose our soul, Trauma trauma go away," Asagao joked. 

"Fair, fair," Blues said while cracking a smile. Asagao was a good assistant too, even if he used to have his reservation about the other due to the December shenanigans her group had gotten into. [And Akira, oh the nerve of that man to claim back then that their Digilemma Digivice was better than his...! He still seethed about it to this day and made sure to prove it through the various upgrades he provided to the group.] Oh, and her penchant for somehow destroying all of his new DIM Cards. [He STILL needed to figure out HOW she did it.] Outside of those flaws, she was great and he was somewhat glad that the nine who had quite literally hijacked their Christmas cause of Pascatmon's machinations had intermingled into the group well. "Once this break is over, we should go back to studying the bits of the Fragmented Sin Codes, though." 

Ah, their latest research project. Blues had to admit that these two Sin Codes had intrigued him a lot. Not just because Melancholy and Hubris were not part of the Seven Deadly Sins, but because they were not the same as the original Codes that the new ones had, Lovimon included. The way they affected humans as well, how they worked fascinated him so. [Even if he still shuddered remembering how his... his friend had apparently hosted both at the same time. A whole new can of worms of its own.] Even after consulting with Wuliang's Aura mentor, Ichita, Jinhyuk and so many others, the way these Codes worked was still a mystery. How it had sustained, considering how Pascatmon had been weakened tremendously by it, was unknown. 

He had heard... rumours, though. Of a type of human immune to its affects... Due to their ability to defy fate, but also, for the sheer wrongness of their existence. He doubted they existed, of course, yet-

BOOM!!

Both of them shot up. That had come from the lab!

"Tukaimon!" Asagao grabbed out her Digilemma Digivice as the two ran out of the cafe. 

"Gotcha!" Tukaimon nodded, glowing in tandem with her Digivice. 

Tukaimon Digivolve to! 

Sethmon!

"Get on!" he roared at the two, and Blues adjusted Lovimon in his hoodie before the two were off. On the way, they spotted some other silhouettes headed for it as well. Blues didn't blame them, it had been LOUD even for him. 

As they touched down at the destroyed entrance, though, Asagao held her Digivice even tighter. "Blues... Do you sense it?"

"Sense what?" He looked over at her. 

"I sense it, Asagao, and I don't like it," Sethmon spoke up, and Lovimon seemed to shiver as wel-

S-Something in the rubble shifted. This something emerged; a woman with long white hair the colour of clouds reaching to her knees, purple and blue orbs staring at the crowd that had gathered. A yellow aura surrounded her. Pale skin, she stood at around Ismaya's height, she wore a snow white dress with red splotches and data on it...

Lovimon was Scarlettemon in a flash, growling at this new person who she deemed a threat to her precious Blues. 

But Blues' eyes had widened. Of all the things...! 

One thing that stood out to him? 

The ink black mark on her right hand. Engraved on it was a familiar symbol he had only heard about in rumors. 

"An... An Anomalice?..." he stammered quietly. This was...!

"A what now?" his brother looked back at him, Syncemon already at the ready.

"What's that?" Ruri asked him. 

"It's... it's a myth. I thought they weren't real..." He quietly spoke. 

"Existence is but a delusional word for reality. To exist means to have essence, but what if you have nothing but a hole?" the woman spoke, and Blues flinched hard. This voice...! She spoke normally, he knew, but the sheer malice wafting off her... He had only sensed it from a few people...!

"Who are you?" Metanoiamon was calm. The angelic snake was floating in the air while his Tamer, his friend was riding atop him. 

"And why did you attack the lab?" Haneul added. 

"To put an end... to this horrendous multiverse," she answ-

Ripples. Waves. It hit them all as his vision swam. He vaguely registered her disappearing, but he did notice the silhouettes that followed, one disappearing after she said, "Find the Ghost Game Miraculous and destroy all worlds." 

"Yes, Master Aesopia..." One side a hunter, one side a beast... It was...

As he fell to the ground, he heard Tianheng whisper, "No... This is... impossible... How did she..." 

"Jaltermon, destroy them all!"

Then, black. 

All the worlds could feel it. The ripples. The sheer malice...

Wuliang flinched. Ichita paled. Jinhyuk shivered. Leonidas shuddered.

At the Tree, Aruke looked up at a certain fruit, eyes soft as he watched it decay and fall to the ground, a blue substance being all that was left behind. 

"The Anomalice have made their return, I see..." he said. "Oh, Konju, if only you were around..."

But he wasn't. He was gone. Dead due to Haavik's mechanisms...

Instead, a familiar presence appeared behind him. "Fate Changer."

"Centuriomon." He didn't look back. "Are you going to chastise me?" 

"Why did you let Mona Artemision do as she pleases?" he asked. "How did she get out in the first place?"

"The erasure of worlds, the usage of the Fragmented Sin Codes, I would like to guess," he answered. "Is the Creator not going to do anything?" 

"The Mistress is struggling on her own in our time. You should have a bit more responsibility, Fate Changer and own up to your mistakes. This isn't her fault and she shouldn't have to deal with it." 

"I am aware, but to be honest, I can't do anything." 

"Then what!? Let our multiverse collapse in and of itself?!"

"No, of course not. I'm sure that the Dimension Keepers are already on it." 

He scoffed but just turned around. "Let's see, then, if those... Borrowed Actors, as you call them, will be fine."

It was only after he left that Aruke quietly sighed. 

He could only hope for the best now... 

"If only life was as kind as it was beautiful..." he sadly said.