Rope continues to charge forward, striking Arceus with a single blow, only to be forced back, then charging forward again in an offensive pattern.
Arceus is quite content with this situation. Although he must now divert his attention to suppressing and controlling those troublesome Plate clones, fundamentally speaking, the overall battle situation remains quite clear.
If Rope continues to fight this way, he will ultimately be defeated by Arceus's underlying strength and the world's support.
Do not assume that Rope is also someone chosen by this world, yet Arceus still holds the advantage.
Because, at its core, Rope is merely a firefighter, while Arceus is the standard embodiment of the world's chosen one. If, on the human side, the truly favored individuals are constantly changing due to various reasons, then the divine beasts remain steadfast.
Arceus was born as the world's representative, and he will remain so throughout his life. This is mainly because Arceus is not easily killed.
Killing Arceus in this world is no easier than killing Big Big Wolf in the world of Pleasant Sheep[1].
Fortunately, Rope has no intention of killing him. While there is conflict between them, it has not reached that level.
Within Rope's clenched fist, a small flame was burning fiercely. It kept expanding, but every time it touched Rope's palm, it would shrink back.
Thus, the flame kept solidifying, solidifying, and solidifying, quickly taking on a strange liquid-like state. Rope didn't stop there; he continued to add more flames, further intensifying and solidifying them.
On the surface, Rope showed no signs of anything unusual. He continued his seemingly futile attacks, appearing helpless.
The flame sword sliced through the shield, then deflected the incoming light sword. Arceus unleashed various attacks during his retreat, including Hydro Pump, Icicle Spear, Thunder, Shadow Ball, and others.
What a true offensive kaleidoscope! Tactical retreat.jpg
There are no limits to the tactics Arceus can employ. Though the intensity may not be fully up to par, the variety is undeniably impressive.
There's a reason why Arceus has so many offensive moves instead of just the usual three.
He's been sealed up, so he can't move his body, but his mind is still sharp. That's why this seal feels like a torturous imprisonment.
He hasn't been idle all these years. To keep his mind sharp and enhance his combat power, Arceus has been constantly devising new skills, strategizing new tactics, and exploring new abilities over the years.
This spirit is truly admirable!
Well, to be honest, he's just been bottling up his anger, wanting to give Al a good beating. But judging from the current results, all that time spent hasn't exactly been wasted, but it hasn't been particularly useful either.
Arceus, who has only fought three battles in his life, doesn't have enough combat experience to develop new combat techniques! Such things aren't something you can come up with on a whim or by just thinking hard.
Even anime protagonists need to think for a while to come up with a skill. Some even have to incorporate physics knowledge.
It can only be said that some things do require logic.
Arceus dares not use his full power. Because once Rope dodges it, Arceus will face Rope's counterattack.
And in this situation, Arceus has no reason to change his strategy! Because continuing this way, Arceus is certain to win; there's no need for him to complicate things for himself!
Though he still doesn't understand why Rope chose such a strategy. After all, this approach is clearly disadvantageous for Rope.
He heightened his vigilance, but did not say he would take the initiative to change the situation.
Rope also needed this low-intensity battle. It could only be said that he needed time to accumulate a powerful move that did not require much physical strength but took a long time to prepare.
This showed the gap in skill reserves between the two.
It should be noted that Rope was someone who had fought his way through. He had also watched so many anime, and he really had a lot of insight into the development of skills and abilities.
Just as the flames in Rope's hands turned into a solid form resembling gold, Rope suddenly swung his fiery wings backward and charged forward.
Arceus was startled; his senses were desperately warning him.
This meant that the move Rope had just used posed a life-threatening danger to him.
Yet Rope didn't seem to be exerting himself excessively while using this move.
It didn't appear to require much effort.
Rope, however, wore a serious expression. He had suddenly accelerated because Arceus would inevitably detect the current energy intensity of the skill.
Once the energy intensity reached this level, Arceus would definitely perceive it.
In theory, it should have been detected even before reaching this level, but since the energy increase was only incremental each time, it was like boiling a frog in slowly heating water. So when it reached Arceus's threshold, he finally reacted.
It wasn't exactly a flashy move or tactic. But it was indeed quite effective for underhanded schemes.
Arceus saw that his attempts to block it were ineffective. He simply activated his shield. The shield continued to thicken and took on a flowing appearance.
However, Rope didn't bother with it. When he charged forward to within 5 meters of Arceus's shield, Rope suddenly stopped, threw the nail-shaped solid flame in his left hand at Arceus's shield, and immediately ran far away.
Rope was helpless; after all, the skill he had been building up for so long was certainly powerful. However, due to the capacity of his palm, this thing was definitely not large, so a nail was the best form. A dart would also work.
However, as it was now, giving others the illusion that "this move must be a close-range attack," then throwing the nail and running away was indeed a good choice.
Arceus was fooled. He initially thought this move was a close-range skill, so he had already prepared to dodge or endure it.
But Rope's move was actually a ranged attack...
Though five meters isn't exactly far, it could still be countered with other methods, without needing additional defensive range.
But now, even if he wanted to change his defensive strategy, it was already too late.
So Arceus could only watch as the ball of flame exploded in front of him.
Rope had already fled long ago. He wasn't stupid; though he hadn't actually tested the move's power once, he had conducted a scaled-down experiment.
At the time, the solid flame was only about one-twentieth the size of the current one, but the explosion it caused was enough to destroy a small hill.
Quantitative changes can lead to qualitative changes. To be honest, even Rope didn't know exactly how powerful this move was, but he could still guess some things.
That is... Arceus wouldn't die here.
Rope muttered silently, "Arceus, you won't just fall like this, will you..."
But when the flames really exploded, he suddenly felt a little unsure.
Golden flames erupted from Arceus' position.
All the flames spread outward, and Rope could feel the intense heat from a distance. After all, this was Rope's own flame. If this flame could make Rope feel the burning sensation, it meant that if Rope were inside it, he might also suffer significant damage.
This is completely out of control...
Rope himself felt that it was a bit unreasonable.
In a sense, Rope's flames had gotten out of control.
From a distance, Rope watched the flames explode and eventually form a spherical sun-like shape. He swallowed hard.
This move was still slightly inferior to the strongest ultimate move he had envisioned, but even so, it was already beyond his imagination.
"I didn't intend for it to turn out like this…"
Rope felt a bit awkward.
He had only intended to subdue Arceus. But if this continued, Arceus wouldn't hold back and would fight Rope to the death…
So Rope couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.
Of course, Rope was feeling the headache, but everyone else watching the battle was speechless.
"Even from this distance, can I see two suns?"
Leon was stunned... What on earth was he looking at... The previous battle patterns were still understandable, and the clash of their powers was relatively clear.
After all, the intensity of their battle hadn't reached that exaggerated level yet.
But Rope's skill was something he truly couldn't understand...
"Dynamax Charizard... No, even if you gave those legendary Pokémon Dynamax and used Max Flare, it wouldn't have this effect..."
But he only thought about it for a moment before laughing self-deprecatingly.
How could he make such a comparison... It's not appropriate, is it?
"It's like the sun falling from the sky..."
Wallace looked at the exploding golden flames and spoke helplessly.
"But the sun is still there..." Steven smiled wryly, "If it were nighttime now, we might be able to observe a phenomenon like the White Night..."
"This power is beyond our comprehension..."
Alder said weakly.
"Damn it, why does Kanto always produce such monsters? And each one is more outrageous than the last!"
As the Unova Region Champion facing a shortage of talent, Alder was drooling with envy.
"If Blue and Red were still acceptable, then isn't this guy a bit too exaggerated? This isn't a Trainer! Is this guy some kind of hidden humanoid Pokémon?"
Alder wasn't alone; he was accompanied by his Elite Four subordinates, including the Psychic Elite Four Caitlin.
As a psychic so powerful that her abilities occasionally went out of control, she was also referred to as a "humanoid Pokémon." But now it seemed.
"So I really am just a normal human after all..."
Caitlin said with a touch of emotion. But she soon froze.
Her close friend, the Elite Four member Shauntal, noticed something was off and suppressed her urge to tease, asking, "What's wrong?"
Caitlin shook her head in confusion and said, "I just suddenly remembered that this is a phrase Rope often says."
The volume of their conversation wasn't low, so others naturally heard it as well. The entire conference room fell into silence.
You guys, do you have to set the standards for normal humans so high?
And the divine beasts are even more ridiculous.
"You guys say... is Solgaleo really that bright?"
"Yes, it is indeed that bright, but Solgaleo is not familiar with fire. Creating a small sun is no problem. Such an energy explosion is quite exaggerated."
The gods were all grimacing in pain. Everyone couldn't help but glance at Ho-Oh and Reshiram beside them.
These two are fire-type gods!
But the two of them first stared at the scene before them in shock. Then they lowered their heads in self-doubt…
Damn it, can what we're playing with really be called fire?
Reshiram's Blue Flare and Ho-Oh's Sacred Fire are already quite different kinds of flames. After all, one represents extreme heat, while the other embodies terrifying vitality.
However, they now felt that their flames would be effortlessly consumed by Rope's flames.
Seeing the two in such a state, everyone refrained from disturbing their mood...
After all, things were already bad enough.
The flames lasted for a long time, so long that Rope felt a bit helpless.
But eventually, they dissipated.
After they dissipated, Rope felt the lingering life force there and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
His move didn't directly kill Arceus, which was truly a stroke of luck.
After all, no one knew what might happen if an uncontrolled skill went out of control.
But just as Rope was about to breathe a sigh of relief that Arceus was unharmed, he suddenly felt his heart skip a beat.
A sense of foreboding arose in his heart. He looked over at Arceus, his expression solemn.
And this feeling wasn't just Rope's alone.
Lorelei and Lance both pressed their hands to their chests.
Lorelei gently rubbed the spot where her heart was racing, sensing something was amiss.
"Is something off?"
Whitley was also feeling tense. She looked over at Cynthia, seeking some reassurance. But Cynthia's expression was just as serious.
"The world... seems angry."
[1] Chinese animated television series that's extremely popular amongst school children