Favorite Villain Types

The alarm, once again.

"A second Wild Digimon is coming!" Megumi quickly announced. "I can't ... I can't do anything!"

The loud noises her fingers made as they struck the keyboard were the voice of her frustration.

"Damn it!" Yamaki repeated, this time not bothering to keep it to himself. "Locate"

"A third emergence has been identified, sir!" Reika interrupted with no little alarm in her voice. Two seconds of frantic typing only increased her preoccupation. "No, this ... this is a group! Multiple identical signals detected at a third location, sir!"

"The second Wild One has Realized!" Megumi announced before Yamaki could react in any way to Reika's earlier words. "The location ... oh"

"The third Digital Field has emerged," Reika continued, trying her best to return her voice to something resembling even and calm. "The location is on the map, sir."

Yamaki was already looking at the huge screen displaying a black and white map of the Shinjuku Ward, and at the three flashing red dots ominously announcing the danger to come.

Those three locations

"What is?" the director of Hypnos was completely stumped. This situation ... this arrangement ... it could hardly get any worse.

... What is this madness?

__________

It was a good demonstration of the atemporality of the game room.

Takato felt like he had spent a full hour in silence, tensely sipping his tea while stealing glances at the moody-looking Lucemon. Yet, in the real world, the bell announcing lunchtime had yet to ring.

Lilithmon, too, awaited in silence, only moving from her standing spot between the two players to refill Takato's cup, as the fallen angel had yet to touch his. It had long cooled down, unlike his bad temper.

Takato rolled his eyes. "I can't believe this" he muttered only to himself, though it would be fairly obvious to the other two that Takato said something.

He's being such a child ... !

If Lucemon expected Takato to take pity on him and try to fix things, he would be terribly disappointed.

" ... Lucemon ... "

The angel, with his head resting on his left hand and his eyes lost on one of the obscene stained glass windows, did not deign himself to answer.

" ... haa" Takato sighed tiredly. Seriously, this was not part of the deal. "Look, Lucemon."

The angel did not show any outward response, except for, maybe, his pupils searching Takato's face for a split second.

"It's not" Takato began, carefully measuring his words. "It's not like my opinion of you has changed, really. I'm not ... well, II mean, I'm not looking down on you or anything, really."

Lucemon's right eyebrow might have inched slightly upwards.

Takato's facial muscles strained themselves to make something vaguely resembling a smile at the same time blood slowly flowed under his cheeks, brushing them with its color.

"I mean, in this modern society, being tsundere is not really such a bad thing! I mean, with the whole, 'moé' culture thing and stuff"

"Takato, do yourself a favor and stop talking."

" ... Thank you," Takato eagerly replied before sighing in relief. That was embarrassingand stupid.

While he said the earlier words, Lucemon had turned his head to finally face his opponent directly. He no longer looked angry or embarrassed. If anything, he looked terribly bored.

Lilithmon would not mention it, but she could have sworn there was a deep disappointment in the child-like angel's azure pupils.

"Thank you," Takato repeated. "Seriously, let's just ... pretend nothing happened, okay?"

"Takato."

For some reason, the stern tone of Lucemon's voice made Takato perk up, not unlike his natural response to an angry mother, an angry teacher or an angry Ruki.

"Wha-what is it?"

"Let us begin."

That was new.

Lilithmon shuddered and took an unconscious step back.

It was that feeling again, the moment when the atmosphere in the room charged up with electrical tension right before the round's showdown. However, this time it was different.

It was darker, wilder ... like staring at the darkness within the open maw of a great predator.

The natural light emitted by Lucemon's throne of gold dimmed down

No!

It was being covered; blanketed by a terrible darkness that sent shivers down her spine, even from a distance.

Lucemon's 'aura', his very 'presence', was devouring the light in the small circular room.

Glancing at Takato, the demoness could tell that he, too, felt the sudden chill pouring out of the Avatar of Pride. Takato was sensitive enough to realize this was not the usual tension.

"Wha ... Lucemon ... ?"

"I swear on my pride I will answer with nothing but the absolute truth, in that it requires no further examination or proof. I reserve the right of choosing what and how to answer."

The words were like a hammer of truth on Takato's chest, and the boy actually flinched, firmly pushing his back against the tall seat.

Thunder roared again.

"As usual, I will ask first," Lucemon continued; his voice even and adimensional like the edge of the most perfect of Japanese swords. "What is the nature of my move, Takato?"

"Wha ... !" Takato's eyes widened. "What move? The next round hasn't even!"

A terrifying chill gripped Takato's chest like an iron gauntlet, spreading through his blood until it reached his brain and reduced his vision to a grey haze. His pupils danced over the game board, possessed by a minuet of madness, and soaked in unshed tears that refused to give Takato the relief that comes with their release.

He could not think, he could not breathe, he could not believe...!

But, it was not a matter of believing or not. It was there, plain to see, on the game board that shows nothing but the truth.

There were three new pieces on the board.

"Impossible!" Takato cried foul, suddenly standing up to loom over the table. "I never saw these pieces being placed"

"Indeed," Lucemon calmly retorted. "You never saw. Most likely because you were too busy looking down on your opponent."

"Wha ... ?"

Lucemon's eyes glowed, inflamed by a simmering anger.

"Your eyes are as shallow as your words and your attitude."

Takato did not understand ... most likely because he could not properly think at the moment.

Three pieces! Three new pieces in the game board! Three new threats to his world, and he had no idea about!

"Lilithmon!" he suddenly called out to their unofficial maid, who appeared almost as startled as Takato by this sudden turn of events. "You didn't see him placing those pieces either, right? Right!"

"We-Well ... no" Lilithmon admitted, looking down at the three white pieces she could swear were not there a moment ago. "I don't ... I didn't"

"There!" the boy loudly declared. "What trick is this, Lucemon!"

"Lilithmon is my piece, Takato," the angel tiredly replied, overtly rolling his eyes for good measure. "If I tell her to strip on the spot, she will do so."

"I don't need your cue to do that if I feel like it" the Avatar of Lust muttered quietly, knowing it was not a good time for that kind of comment.

"With the Hegemon's Sovereignty, I can make it so that Lilithmon ignores my move, even if her eyes actually saw it."

"Ugh" Takato fell back on his seat. He could say nothing against that, and he could not deny the existence of those three pieces.

The boy, feeling himself trapped further and further in a web of terror, clutched his head.

He didn't see it! He didn't see it, and now he had nothing!

"I repeat my question, Takato," Lucemon spoke, his voice carrying the might of the prosecutor, the hammer of the judge and the blade of the executioner all together. "What. Is. My. Move?"

It was horrible ... that coldness the gripping terrors which are ignorance, derision and hopelessness, encroaching upon the boy !

She could feel them, clearly, squeezing deep inside and making her tremble in fear, and she was not even the object of their assault.

Thunder roared one more time, as if rooting for the ruthless game master.

"I don't know "

Lucemon's eyes narrowed.

There it was again, Lilithmon noticed.

Disappointment.

" excuse me?"

"I don't know!" Takato cried out; his eyes tinged red from unshed tears. "I don't know! I didn't see it! I don't "

A strange sound, almost like a snarl, snuck past Lucemon's barely parted lips.

"Pathetic," the angel spat, and Takato flinched. "How disgustingly pathetic."

"When did you?"

"Saa, who knows?" Lucemon replied with a mild shrug. "Maybe while you were busy talking back at me, or maybe while you sipped your tea and pretended I did not exist. My hands can move very fast."

"That's" the boy, acting and looking like a scolded child, dropped his gaze to his knees. " not fair "

"Not. Fair?"

The tone of Lucemon's voice made it very clear that Takato had just said something extremely stupid.

"This, coming from the one who is supposed to be my equal?"

Lilithmon winced. So her liege did feel the previous round's loss after all.

"Throwing witty remarks at me, placidly drinking tea, chatting with the maids, all these years !" Lucemon's voice grew in intensity with every word.

"Do you really believe you're that great, Takato! Are you really as insolent as to presume you can be Lucemon's equal! Are you really as stupid as to believe you can afford to look away from the game board, even for one! Second!"

Takato had sunk further and deeper in his seat with every verbal attack.

Lucemon slammed his right hand on his armrest.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you, Matsuda Takato!"

As if dominated by the Hegemon's Sovereignty, Takato's head shot up to face the Demon Lord, in spite of the fear portrayed by his face and his eyes.

"I am Lucemon of the Maou! I am the Game Master! You're just a toy for my entertainment! A toy for me to abuse until you break! A morsel for me to savor before I devour you whole! A sweet aperitif before the grand main course that is your world! Your worth is measured by how long you manage to amuse me!"

His hand fell on the armrest one more time. It spoke pages of the throne's sturdiness, being able to withstand the might that could easily shatter mountains.

"I have no need for worthless toys, Matsuda Takato! Tell me if you are going to keep playing like a buffoon, so I can end this charade in this very moment!"

Hand struck chair one last time and, with that, the ferocious intensity of Lucemon's words receded to give way to threatening coldness.

"My move will now unfold, and you damn better show something amazing."

"Ah aah "

Lucemon's head leaned towards the table, and Takato finally turned his gaze away from those eyes smoldering with fury.

It hurt it simply hurt too much ! The anger, the fear, the shame !

Only the angel's eyes reflected his scalding emotions. Lucemon smirked, and it was cold and derisive, as expected of the evil tyrant of the Maou.

"Know your place, child."