"Looks like we made it in time!" Mira let out a breath of relief as she looked at the roaring Groudon in the distance.
Eva nodded as well. "Now it's our turn. Let's give the power we gathered from Sinnoh to Lilligant."
The three Lake Guardians hovered in the air, nodding together as they swiftly flew to Lilligant's side. Blue, red, and yellow energy waves radiated outward, completely enveloping Lilligant.
Seeing this, Aven smiled as well. "And I still have the power of the Creator God here. Everything will merge into the power of the world!"
"Lilligant… Natural Reversion!"
As Aven's voice rang out, a powerful emotional energy known as bonds erupted from his body, forming a true bridge between him and Lilligant.
Gradually, countless golden, special wavelengths appeared around him, continuously flowing into Lilligant's body, causing golden light to shine from it as well.
At the same time, the power of the three Lake Guardians and the Creator God's power within Aven surged into Lilligant, completely shrouding it in radiant golden light.
"Lilligant!"
Lilligant's expression was solemn and focused.
It closed its eyes and instantly felt the consciousness of countless living beings flooding into its mind.
This state was extremely familiar to it. Back when it had defeated Yveltal, it had entered a similar state. Now, with the aid of the Lake Guardians' power, it once again obtained the power of Sinnoh!
"Lilligant, wake Groudon up!" Aven said solemnly once Lilligant had fully inherited the power of the Sinnoh Continent.
"Lilli!"
Lilligant floated into the air, energy surging violently around it.
All of that energy then converged into a single mutli colored beam, which shot straight toward Groudon!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The entire space began to collapse under the sheer force of this power.
The colorful beam reached Groudon almost instantly, slamming directly into its abdomen and lifting its massive body into the air, hurling it violently backward.
BOOM!
Groudon crashed to the ground, kicking up towering clouds of dust as its enormous body sank deep into the earth.
When a powerful gust of wind dispersed the dust, Groudon lay motionless on the ground like a small mountain. Such an overwhelmingly powerful Groudon had been heavily injured by a single strike from Lilligant!
Rumble—rumble—rumble!
Suddenly, the ground trembled faintly as Groudon struggled to rise.
But in the next moment, another green light enveloped its body completely.
In an instant, Groudon felt an overwhelming sense of weakness. Its strength drained away rapidly, flowing outward from within.
The power contained inside Groudon transformed into faint green light, floating into the air before gradually dispersing into the surrounding void.
At that moment, the entire land seemed to come back to life. Earthquakes subsided, fissures began to heal, and green grass once again spread across the earth, restoring it with vitality!
"Grou… don…"
On the battlefield, a glimmer of awareness gradually returned to Groudon's eyes.
It scanned its surroundings in astonishment, before finally fixing its gaze on Lilligant.
"Groudon, it's all over now," Aven said calmly, standing beside Lilligant.
Groudon paused for a moment, then looked around once more and gave a slight nod. After that, it burrowed straight into the ground, disappearing from everyone's sight.
"It's gone…" In the air, the three city lords arrived beside Aven. They glanced in the direction where Groudon had vanished and finally let out sighs of relief.
The aura Groudon emitted was no weaker than that of the Creation Trio. They had truly feared that even gathering the entire power of the Sinnoh region might not be enough to defeat it.
"Yes. As long as Groudon returns underground, the entire region will soon stabilize," Aven nodded lightly, also breathing a sigh of relief.
If Groudon had fully erupted, the entire continent would have been destroyed, and handling the aftermath would have been far more troublesome. Now that Groudon had stabilized the land once again, the continent was saved.
Next, all that remained was to head deep into the continent and find the final Demon God to seal it away—then everything would truly come to an end.
"Lilligant~"
The natural energy around Lilligant returned to the land itself. It exhaled softly, withdrew from its Natural Reversion state, and came back to Aven's side.
"What should we do next?" Eva asked, looking at Aven.
Even the three Lake Guardians had left the Sinnoh Region to participate in this battle. It could be said that Sinnoh had gone all out. This operation could only succeed—failure was not an option.
"He will tell us the Demon God's location," Aven said, his gaze falling on the sorcerer leader, whose expression was now dark and grim.
Seeing that Groudon had truly been driven back, the sorcerer leader knew that his mission had completely failed, and what awaited him next would surely be death.
"I know what you want to do," he said calmly.
"But even if you stopped Groudon, so what? The entire world has already fallen under the shadow of destruction!"
The sorcerer leader's expression was eerily calm now. He stood up, spread his arms, and slowly walked toward Aven. "Go on. As long as you look into my memories, you'll see just how desperate your situation truly is!"
"Hahahaha! Come on, come on—face the despair of it all!"
Amid his maniacal laughter, Darkrai's nightmare power completely enveloped him, and everything fell into silence.
Soon after, Darkrai opened its eyes. Blue light flickered within them as it instantly projected the information it had obtained from the dream through an illusion.
The first thing that appeared was a massive tree that towered into the clouds. However, the entire tree was pitch black. Branches that should have been covered in green leaves were now completely bare, devoid of any life, as if they had been decaying for countless ages.
Yet the black mist constantly pouring out from the tree seemed to indicate that it was still alive. That mist behaved like a living entity, endlessly spreading outward, seeping into both earth and sky, shrouding everything in boundless darkness.
"What is going on with this tree?"
Looking at the towering tree within the illusion, everyone present was filled with shock. Even Uxie, the Goddess of Knowledge, found no information about this gigantic tree within its vast memories. Unconsciously, everyone's gaze turned toward Aven; even Uxie had to admit that Aven seemed to know more than it did.
"If my guess is correct, this is very likely the World Tree," Aven said with a grave expression.
(TN: This is the tree in Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon where Pokemon evolve, not the Tree of Beginning.)
"The World Tree?" Everyone was instantly taken aback.
"Yes. The World Tree can also be called the Tree of Life. According to legend, it is the incarnation of Xerneas."
Aven briefly explained what he knew about the World Tree. Naturally, this knowledge also came from ancient myths and legends—he himself did not know the actual truth.
"The Tree of Life… and Xerneas!" After hearing this legend, everyone looked once more at the nearly withered World Tree in the illusion, their expressions all changing.
Even though they did not know the exact situation, they could easily realize that if something were to happen to this tree, it would inevitably lead to catastrophic consequences. The entire Kalos continent would very likely face the danger of destruction!
"The World Tree… the World Tree…"
Just as everyone was preparing to head immediately toward the World Tree's location, a faint murmur from Mira suddenly drew their attention.
They saw Mira standing there blankly, one hand clutching her head, her lips continuously murmuring "World Tree," while tears kept streaming down her face.
"Azelf! Azelf" (Mira what wrong?!)
Seeing this, Azelf hurriedly flew to Mira's side and cried out anxiously, as it could clearly sense the chaotic emotions surging wildly within her mind.
"Mira, what happened?" Aven quickly stepped forward as well, asking Tsareena to use Aromatherapy to help calm Mira's emotions.
"I remember now… I remember everything."
"This tree truly is the World Tree, and it is also the guardian deity our tribe worshipped."
Mira raised her head and looked at the giant tree within the illusion. In that instant just now, her forgotten memories had completely awakened.
In a flash, images of her parents and tribesmen surfaced in her mind—of them worshipping the World Tree together—until the scene froze at the horrifying moment when endless black mist suddenly poured out of the World Tree, turning all her people to stone!
"I know where the World Tree is!" Gradually calming down, Mira clenched her teeth. She wanted to return to that place once more, to see her people again, and to save the World Tree that was on the brink of withering away!
"Alright, then let's set out immediately," Aven nodded.
(End of Chapter)