'Hahahahaha!'
Articuno A burst into wild laughter.
'B! I'm the true leader of the Unown!'
The silent Unown B finally lost its composure. A wave of anger rose from deep inside and completely consumed it.
Unown A only got lucky by finding a powerful human. An idiot like that, who never thinks about the bigger picture and can't even tell what's important... why should it be luckier than it?
'A, you fool! If it weren't for you, He wouldn't have become what He is today.'
Unown B couldn't hold back any longer.
Unown A's eyes also turned red. 'He's already the god who rules over everything. With that kind of power, instead of making the world better, He ended up falling into... this. How is that my fault? He brought it on Himself!'
'Besides sleeping every day, have you ever reflected on your own mistakes?' Unown B shot back.
'I reflected—'
"A."
Shiro spoke up just in time.
Unown A immediately shut its mouth. If Shiro hadn't stopped it, it would have started cursing without restraint.
Although Shiro was curious about Arceus' current condition, it had nothing to do with him right now. Hunter J was still the priority.
"Even though we've reached an agreement, I don't trust you," he said expressionlessly.
Jona's eyes widened. Her already pale face flushed with an unhealthy shade of red.
"What are you planning to do?"
She had been completely unprepared. Fear crept into her voice as she hurried to explain, "You already know my true identity. You don't need to..."
"What if you're lying to me? What if you don't disguise yourself as Saturn and infiltrate Team Galactic, but instead run away?" A trace of coldness appeared in Shiro's eyes. "I can't trust you."
Cold sweat instantly formed on Jona's forehead.
Who could honestly say she had never thought about doing exactly that? Even if she hadn't before, hearing him say it had certainly planted the idea.
"So, I need some insurance." Shiro waved at Articuno A while speaking.
Unown A immediately released a few strands of psychic power, which flowed into the bodies of Unown B and H.
"These psychic threads won't affect them in any way. I just don't want them disappearing for no reason." He paused before continuing, "And you know A can use them to keep track of their condition."
Seeing this, Jona actually relaxed.
The Unown were only being monitored. Compared to everything else, that wasn't difficult to accept.
"And there's one more thing."
Shiro spoke slowly. "Have B and H swear an oath to the world's origin that you, Jona, will obey our agreement under their witness. If anyone breaks it, they'll carry out the punishment themselves."
He had considered using mind control or having Unown A place a psychic restriction on Hunter J.
The problem was that Unown A knew all those techniques, and Unown B knew them as well.
Even if Hunter J were controlled now, once Unown B recovered its strength, it could simply remove the restriction. That would make the whole effort meaningless.
However, Unown A had told him about a much simpler method.
The world's origin carried the rules that governed the world and possessed the power to enforce oaths. More accurately, it enforced them on those who possessed power.
Hunter J swearing an oath herself would accomplish nothing, but the Unown could.
As long as Unown B and H made the oath, they would be forced to obey it. If they ever broke it, the world's origin would compel them to continue honoring it.
With Hunter J carrying these two remaining Unown, it was no different from carrying two ticking time bombs.
Seeing that Jona was still frozen in place, Shiro repeated himself.
"An oath?" Confused and uneasy, she looked at the two Unown floating above.
Unown B remained calm and simply explained the consequences to her.
Jona had never imagined such a method even existed. She stared blankly for a moment with her mouth slightly open. But in her current situation, she had no room to refuse, so she could only agree.
Two minutes later, both Unown B and H completed the oath to monitor Jona's actions.
"Very good." Shiro nodded in satisfaction and stepped aside. "You may leave now."
Even then, Jona remained on full alert. She couldn't be sure whether this suspicious and unpredictable man would suddenly attack again.
Only after the two Unown beside her recovered a little and activated their psychic power did all three vanish from the hall in an instant.
The temple wasn't exactly empty. Several Unown still floated there, glowing brightly.
Shiro's gaze shifted toward Unown C at the center of the temple.
Now, this was the only Unown left unresolved. Then again, perhaps it didn't need to be persuaded at all. Just as Unown A had merged with the other three Unown before, Unown G could simply force Unown C to merge as well. It didn't require much consciousness anyway.
Being stared at so intensely made Unown C's entire body stiffen. Its psychic senses filled it with a strong feeling of impending doom.
'You... what are you trying to do?'
'No. The real question is, what are 'we' going to do?' Articuno A replied with a sinister grin.
"..."
A short while later...
Unown G stretched slightly in midair before looking back at the three Unown trailing behind it like the tail of a snake.
Unown C, Unown L, and Unown M were all lined up behind it… it certainly felt a little strange.
But that strange feeling quickly disappeared as a surge of power flooded through it.
It forcibly put the consciousness of the other three companions into a deep sleep before absorbing their power. The process was no different from willingly merging with conscious partners, so the resulting strength was exactly the same.
The only difference was that if all four Unown remained conscious and shared the same thoughts, then even after being defeated, they wouldn't rapidly lose their power from falling apart.
Like what happened at the Hunters Guild headquarters. If Unown A had been the one shattered back then, Unown A would probably have had to gather each of its companions one by one. That would have been a far worse situation.
Inside Snowpoint Temple, Shiro sat in the center. After observing Unown G for a while, he asked, "Can the two of you merge again now?"
If the current Unown A and Unown G merged together, they would become eight Unown. Four of them already possessed Master-level strength and could transform into the Legendary Birds. Perhaps eight of them would bring even greater surprises.
In the air, Unown A and Unown G exchanged a glance before slowly moving toward each other.
Their psychic energy spun rapidly like a whirlpool as the two gradually fused into one.
Unown G moved behind Unown A, making it resemble an even larger snake with a long tail.
[Name: Unown (A, G, F, Y, P, L, M, C)
Type: Psychic
Level: 79 (Master)
Ability: Levitate
Held Item: None
Moves: Light Screen, Reflect, Psycho Cut…]
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