Faced with the impending Self-Destruct of the remaining fourteen Pokémon, Registeel, Regirock, and Regice positioned themselves in a triangular formation, surrounding the group of Pokémon about to explode.
From their foreheads, each fired a golden beam of light. The three beams instantly connected, forming a triangular prism that enclosed all fourteen Pokémon within.
BOOM!!!
The next second, the bodies of the fourteen Pokémon erupted on the ground like fireworks.
Normally, when even a single Elite–level Pokémon uses Self-Destruct, its power rivals that of a human nuclear weapon, with damage spreading for hundreds of kilometers and a core blast radius of twenty kilometers.
But now, fourteen Pokémon were self-destructing simultaneously—two of them at the early-stage Pseudo-Champion level, while the other twelve were all at the peak of Elite-level.
The power of their Self-Destructs continuously merging and stacking with one another.
This level of destruction—forget Champions—even a First-class Legendary would have to avoid it.
The combined sealing power of the three Regis was comparable to a single move from a First-class Legendary.
Under this seal, the force of the Self-Destructs was contained… seemingly successfully. But the explosion was only just beginning.
The merging and stacking of the explosions was not yet complete—the destructive force had not yet reached its peak.
With each additional fusion, the blast's power doubled. As the merging continued, the triangular seal began to swell, gradually expanding toward the shape of a sphere.
Tiny cracks began to form—some of which rapidly widened into massive fissures.
The triangular seal was now on the verge of collapse, as if it could shatter completely under the force of the explosions at any moment.
The indicator lights on the three Regis flashed wildly as their energy surged uncontrollably into the seal like a bursting dam.
They had to contain the Self-Destructs completely—if the seal broke, the compressed explosion would unleash power even more terrifying than if it had been released naturally.
That level of destruction wouldn't just obliterate the Ancient Giant Tree—it would wipe the entire forest from existence, and even half of the Ruin would be affected.
Sensing the overwhelming danger, the Pokémon living in the forest grew alarmed. The Ancient Giant Tree was their home, and now someone was trying to destroy it.
Dozens of Elite-level Pokémon flew from the forest to assist, using their own energy to reinforce the Regis' triangular seal.
Their combined energy was like a drop in the bucket compared to the seal's needs. However, upon closer inspection, a few of the smaller cracks on the seal did heal due to their efforts.
But cracks like these numbered in the thousands, covering the entire triangular seal—it was only a matter of time before they gave way.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!
Inside the seal, the Self-Destructs continued to merge. By now, three massive fissures had split through the seal, and a fourth was forming.
Once this crack fully appeared, the triangular seal would collapse entirely.
The indicator lights on the three Regis flickered rapidly, as if they were communicating.
The next second, the Ancient Giant Tree behind them began to radiate waves of green light, which then surged into the three Regis.
Bathed in this verdant energy, the three Regis' levels skyrocketed from 95 to 98, pushing them into the late-stage Champion tier.
As guardians of the Ancient Giant Tree, they could draw upon its power.
And the Ancient Giant Tree itself possessed a certain degree of awareness—it knew that if it didn't help its three "bodyguards" now, then once the triangular seal was shattered by the explosion, it would be the next to be blown apart.
With the Ancient Giant Tree's aid, the Regis' power surged. The triangular seal, which had been on the verge of bursting, began to shrink back down.
The cracks on its surface visibly closed.
Everything was moving in a favorable direction; if this continued, within a minute they could completely seal away the destructive force and neutralize the crisis—
—assuming nothing went wrong.
But of course, in situations like this, something always does.
Norman had been observing the entire time.
Seeing that the three Regis had actually managed to hold back the Self-Destructs of the fourteen Pokémon, he was slightly surprised. Then, with a faint smile, he turned to the five Electrode behind him and said, "Go give them a little push."
These five Electrode were personally trained by Norman, each at the mid-stage Elite-level.
Self-Destruct was an immensely powerful move—and most Pokémon would be left in a near death condition after using it. But some Pokémon had unique talents—not only was their Self-Destruct stronger than most, but the backlash was also less severe.
Electrode were one such species.
Their Self-Destructs were more devastating than average, and the backlash only left them severely injured rather than near death.
Because of this, many terrorist organizations and extremist groups kept Electrode in their ranks: Pokémon that were strong in their own right, and if they couldn't win a fight, they could simply blow themselves up.
After all, terrorists and extremists didn't fear death—but their enemies usually did.
Their mindset was simple—"You might stop me, but are you willing to bet your life on it?"
Of course, if their opponent somehow managed to stop them from using Self-Destruct, that was another matter.
The five Electrode rolled toward the three Regis. At this moment, the three of them were fully focused on maintaining the seal—and had no attention to spare for anything else.
They had no idea that five sneaky bombers had already positioned themselves behind them—
Two behind Registeel, two behind Regirock, and one behind Regice.
The three Regis' line of sight was blocked by the seal, so they couldn't see each other—let alone the Electrode hiding behind their backs.
BOOM!! ×5
A series of violent explosions erupted—but this time, they weren't from inside the seal, but came from outside.
Although thanks to the Ancient Giant Tree's power, the three Regis had temporarily reached late-stage Champion strength. But against five mid-stage Elite Electrode's point-blank Self-Destructs—
They were instantly blown away.
Without them to maintain it, the seal collapsed with a thunderous CRACK.
The pent-up energy of the Self-Destructs, now freed like an unchained dragon, erupted with unrestrained fury.
A storm of raw, violent power surged upward—obliterating over a dozen Elite-level Pokémon in an instant. Even the five Electrode were caught in the blast, reduced to nothing.
Registeel: "BLOCK IT!!"
The three Regis, though sent flying, quickly regrouped in a defensive line. If they couldn't stop the explosion, they had to atleast prevent it from hitting the Ancient Giant Tree head-on.
However, the earlier seal had already drained most of their energy, and the Electrode's ambush left the remainder in chaos.
If they forced themselves to unleash more power now, their bodies could suffer catastrophic damage—possibly even total collapse.
*****
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