The ghostly claw suddenly pierced through the King's Shield.
Clang!
The metallic sound rang out.
Bang!
Smoke exploded as Aegislash flew back in pain.
The secondary effect of Phantom Force allows it to ignore Protect-class moves except for Max Guard.
Fortunately, after shielding, Aegislash's Ability triggered, raising its defenses. Combined with the shield blocking in front, it managed to offset a portion of the damage.
But it was still enough to cause Aegislash excruciating pain.
Li Xiang gritted his teeth. Mimikyu's startup speed was too fast. Other than using King's Shield and reverting to Shield Forme, he had virtually no choice.
If Aegislash knew Sucker Punch, he wouldn't be so passive!
But it didn't.
It was a real headache. That single move had put Aegislash at a disadvantage.
Fortunately, the opponent had also suffered an Attack drop due to the secondary effect of King's Shield.
"Taunt!"
Su Qian pressed her advantage. Li Xiang wasn't the only one in the world who could watch battle recordings.
The moment she spoke, the two nostril-like black spots on Mimikyu's lower body lit up with a starry glow.
A wave of indescribable malice surged toward the nearby Aegislash.
"Phantom Force."
Aegislash used its shield to cover its eye and quickly slipped into another dimension. Then, it reappeared a great distance away from Mimikyu, successfully dodging the Taunt.
Mimikyu had expected it to appear behind it, but seeing the landing point, it couldn't help but feel disappointed.
Just because I have Disguise doesn't mean you shouldn't get close!
It knew that Aegislash was worried about it using Disguise to tank damage and then counterattack.
On the other side, Li Xiang rubbed a Poké Ball, his mind racing.
Phantom Force might look very eerie, like Teleport, but it's really only useful for catching the opponent off guard.
For example, when the opponent is focused on attacking or is caught off guard.
Normally, it's often only used for retreating, and the landing point is very easy to spot.
After all, when one hole opens, another hole also appears on the field. Turning takes time, enough for the opponent to react.
There's another drawback.
The distance between holes is limited. You can't open one hole here and have another open hundreds of meters away.
At Li Xiang's level, it's usually within twenty to thirty meters. The farther the distance, the more energy it consumes.
Therefore, aside from the initial landing being too fast and abrupt, as long as you watch the opponent's movements, you don't need to worry about Aegislash being beaten by Mimikyu's Phantom Force.
Although Aegislash is indeed quite countered by Phantom Force, the Attack-lowering effect of King's Shield isn't just for show either.
On the other hand, the most troublesome part of fighting Mimikyu is its Ability.
Disguise.
In the games, it can block one hit for Mimikyu, even a Z-Move or a Max Move.
Here, it can't block everything, so it instead blocks a certain amount of damage before disappearing.
It's essentially a second health bar, or a shield.
Disguise has a naturally high floor. As for the ceiling, the current highest ceiling is Nangong Meng's, which took the full-powered output of Xia Chunyu's ace without any issue.
Very cheap.
Of course, when not holding a Focus Sash, its cheapness drops somewhat.
Back in Generation Seven, it was practically like having two lives.
Who could handle that?
And from Li Xiang's observations of various battles, Su Qian's Mimikyu definitely isn't as extreme as Nangong Meng's.
...But he usually doesn't have Xia Chunyu's offensive output either!
Regardless, breaking Disguise is still necessary, while both sides still have the chance to counter each other.
"Flash Cannon!"
A brilliant, bright silver light lit up from the blade. Aegislash spun rapidly, releasing a silver beam toward Mimikyu!
Pfft!
The beam hit a green shield.
Mimikyu charged toward Aegislash's position with Protect active.
Suddenly, it twisted its body.
Under the sunlight, its pitch-black shadow suddenly stretched out, slithering like a snake behind Aegislash, then erupted!
Countless shadow spikes shot up from the ground!
Shadow Sneak!
Clang clang clang!
Three consecutive metallic clashes!
Bang!
Smoke exploded.
Aegislash had used its shield in advance to block the shadow spike attack!
Mimikyu's position was in the shade, protected from the sun, giving its Shadow Sneak a naturally higher speed.
This is the effect the environment has on Pokémon. Many academic trainers rarely even utilize the field environment, let alone something like light.
This shows just how strong Su Qian is.
On its own, Shadow Sneak's power isn't high either, and Mimikyu's Attack had been lowered earlier. However, due to the type advantage against Aegislash, even blocked by the shield, the damage was still considerable.
Pain flashed through Aegislash's single, jewel-like purple eye.
First Phantom Force, then Shadow Sneak. Its condition was deteriorating rapidly!
Seeing this, Li Xiang didn't get nervous. Instead, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Because, the reason Aegislash didn't use King's Shield and tanked Shadow Sneak was that it also launched an attack on Mimikyu!
It, too, extended its own shadow!
The speed against the light was slower than with the light behind, but the shadow still appeared beneath Mimikyu!
A massive shadow greatsword suddenly shot up from the ground!
Bang!
An explosion!
Mimikyu was instantly engulfed in smoke!
It hit!
However, Mimikyu didn't stop at all. The moment the smoke appeared, it emerged from within it!
The only difference from before was perhaps that its usually upright head was now drooping.
This proved that Disguise had been successfully broken by the Shadow Sneak.
Mimikyu's invincible crutch was gone.
It seemed Aegislash's proactive "sacrifice" hadn't been without effect!
Su Qian frowned slightly, clearly not expecting Aegislash's damage to be this high. When she had watched three months ago, this Aegislash had been quite weak.
But Mimikyu's damage output wouldn't be low either.
"Phantom Force!"
Mimikyu slipped into the hole before it, then reappeared beside Aegislash!
A huge ghostly claw extended from under its somewhat tattered cloth, howling as it slashed down viciously!
The wind it caused sounded like a ghost's wail!
At this moment, Aegislash had two choices. One was to use King's Shield to tank the damage and lower Mimikyu's Attack, potentially trading blows evenly despite its own losses.
The second was to use a move and clash head-on. Mimikyu's Attack had been lowered, so its output might not match Aegislash's.
This meant Mimikyu would likely lose a direct move clash!
Disguise was already gone. Victory or defeat hinged on this move!
Aegislash's eye lit up. Instead of retreating, it advanced, charging toward Mimikyu with its heavy round shield raised!
Silver light gathered on the round shield!
And just as they were about to get within melee range, a second giant ghostly claw suddenly emerged from under Mimikyu's cloth!
This thing snaked around like a whip, trying to attack Aegislash from behind!
A backstab!
Aegislash's single pupil trembled. It had never heard of Mimikyu having this move before!
It had charged too recklessly. It was too late to change moves!
Behind it, Li Xiang also hadn't expected this situation. A second ghostly claw was clearly like Chao's Mega Evolution, a newly mastered power.
But no matter what, Aegislash was in crisis.
Time seemed to slow down at that moment. Just as everyone thought Aegislash was about to go down, silver light completely enveloped Aegislash's shield!
Iron Head?
Not at all!
Aegislash suddenly hurled its shield at the ghostly claw in front of it, like Captain America throwing his vibranium shield!
Bang!
The metallic sound roared and amid this deafening sound wave, Aegislash extracted its blade from the center at an eerily fast speed!
The rear ghostly claw landed on the inside of the shield, barely grazing past the blade!
Bang!
Another metallic crash!
Amid the swirling smoke, Aegislash flew backward, completely ignoring the shield it had thrown away!
Autotomize! Discarding unnecessary parts of itself to drastically raise its Speed!
A shield? Not needed!
Tailwind plus a second speed boost, moving so fast its body became a blur!
This round, you thought I was on the first level, you were on the second, but I was actually on the fifth!
I chose plan three!
At the same time, a battle cry suddenly echoed across the field!
"Sword, come!"
Li Xiang raised his arm high. Aegislash's massive blade hovered above his head!
Aegislash spread its two ribbons of cloth. Pitch-black energy gathered on them, forming ferocious and terrifying energy ghost claws.
It wrapped the ghost claws around the blade, forcibly transforming it into a pitch-black sky-piercing sword energy!
Shadow Claw? No, this is Shadow Sword!
"Phantom Force!"
Su Qian couldn't just stand by and watch Aegislash attack. For her, Aegislash actively discarding its shield was a good thing.
As long as she landed a hit first, she could definitely take it down!
She absolutely wouldn't use Protect. It might be fine against normal moves, but there's no way Aegislash's move could be blocked!
Inside the smoke, Mimikyu vanished.
Li Xiang remained unmoved. Amid everyone's puzzled expressions, he dramatically shouted a battle poem with immense momentum!
"Three thousand miles of sword energy raging, one sword's chill across nineteen lands! Fall!"
Status boost!
Aegislash's single eye flashed brilliantly. Without any hesitation, just like in every moment of practice, it leaned back, then crashed down behind itself!
One slash, Ashura!
Boom!
A dazzling flash and a deafening explosion sounded!
Even though it was a Ghost-type move, as it came down, it caused the stars to stir. Countless cross-shaped stars lit up, tearing through the air and shattering the ground!
High-speed air currents surged outward in all directions!
Whoosh!
What a terrifying slash. Even without using any Attack-boosting moves, its power was this frightening!
This sword strike, let alone Protect, even another Disguise couldn't withstand it!
Su Qian stood in the distance, an arm raised in front of her, knowing in her heart that Mimikyu absolutely couldn't block this move, but Aegislash's bizarre attack method also left her feeling very perplexed.
If she hadn't misheard, was Li Xiang reciting a poem?
What kind of fighting style is this?
Not far away, Li Xiang panted. Who knows why, but reciting a poem had tired him out. Anyone listening would think he was out of shape.
A vast amount of smoke enveloped the two Pokémon, but under the effect of the indoor fans, the smoke quickly dispersed, revealing the scene inside.
Mimikyu and Aegislash, both lying on the battered field with a huge gash, unconscious.
Both had lost the ability to battle.
Li Xiang: "Huh?"
Destiny... Destiny Bond!?