After tossing the Sorcerer Leader directly into the ruined world, Aven recalled all the heavily injured Pokémon back into their Poké Balls.
He then had Tornadus, the fastest among them, carry everyone into the sky and fly straight toward the depths of the Kalos continent.
The Kalos region was vast, and the areas developed by humans were only along the coastal outskirts. The central region of Kalos was blanketed by dense primeval forests, inhabited by countless wild Pokémon, and remained a forbidden zone for humans to this day.
The Tree of Life was located deep within this primeval forest. As they continued to draw closer, they could already see, from afar, thick black fog hanging heavily over the forest canopy.
At the same time, the surrounding primeval forest had already been petrified, turning into a gray-white world. Whether plants or Pokémon, all were shrouded within it, transformed into cold, lifeless stone statues.
The moment they entered this area, large amounts of black mist surged toward them, attempting to petrify the group.
Fortunately, the Lake Guardians intervened. Brilliant, multicolored light blocked all the black mist outside, preventing them from being instantly petrified.
However, just as they resisted the deathly erosion of the black fog, the black clouds in the sky suddenly began to churn violently. A moment later, several crimson, eagle-shaped creatures completely engulfed in flames burst out.
"It's Talonflame. Everyone, be careful," Aven warned.
"Thun!"
The Thundurus beside him nodded, charging forward immediately.
Lightning erupted from Thundurus's body, streaking through the air and striking the Talonflame overhead.
Amid the chaotic dance of lightning, those Talonflame were torn apart—but to everyone's surprise, they did not leave behind charred remains. Instead, they transformed into masses of black mist and dissipated on the spot!
"These Talonflame are all formed from black mist!" Aven's expression darkened as he looked toward the distant sky.
At this moment, thunder roared and lightning flashed across the heavens. As if a hornet's nest had been disturbed, enormous quantities of black mist began to surge violently, then once again transformed into countless Talonflame that dove downward!
Moreover, flames spewed from their beaks just like real Talonflame, scorching half the sky with blazing fire.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Seeing this, Thundurus once again condensed lightning, striking in all directions and turning every Talonflame into black mist once more.
"What exactly is this black fog?" Eva frowned, turning her gaze to Aven.
Aven fell silent for a moment before saying, "It looks somewhat similar to the Gray Mist, containing an aura of death, but it's completely different."
"And within this black mist, there is also some kind of soul-like power, as if it were composed of countless souls, capable of freely transforming into Pokémon."
Upon hearing Aven's words, everyone's expressions changed. They could all feel it—this black mist was like a living entity, and the Pokémon it formed were no different from the real ones.
"This is dark matter."
"According to legend, dark matter is a form of negative energy born from the aggregation of negative emotions."
(TN: Bruh, another energy?)
At that moment, Mira suddenly spoke. This was a legend passed down within her tribe, and she had never imagined it would truly appear.
Although she did not fully understand what dark matter was, the idea of it being an aggregate of negative emotions meant that it indeed possessed something akin to a soul.
"Dark matter… an aggregate of negative emotions?" Aven nodded slightly.
His gaze shifted toward the depths of the forest. For such a special energy to even be able to erode the Tree of Life—it was truly terrifying.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The battle in the field continued unabated.
No matter how Thundurus attacked the Talonflame formed from the black mist, more and more of them kept condensing and launching fresh assaults.
"This won't work. The black mist can continuously condense into Talonflame—we can't wipe them all out!" Eva looked around and noticed that the surrounding black mist was also starting to churn.
At this moment, the black fog enveloped the entire sky. Even if Thundurus could eliminate a large area with a single strike, completely eradicating all the Talonflame formed from it was something that would take an unknown amount of time.
"We push through and head straight for the Tree of Life!" Aven said in a low voice.
Hearing this, Tornadus nodded. A tornado suddenly rose from the ground, enveloping them completely before sweeping rapidly toward the distance.
The Talonflame in the sky seemed to possess awareness of their own. Seeing the tornado closing in on the Tree of Life's location, they rushed forward one after another, crashing into the tornado in suicidal attacks.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Deafening explosions rang out continuously.
Although each Talonflame was far weaker than Tornadus, their sheer numbers were enough to shake the tornado.
Seeing this, Thundurus also began clearing the field. Lightning and raging winds swept across the battlefield, while Lilligant, Froslass, and Gardevoir—having recovered somewhat—joined in as well, unleashing attack after attack.
Despite encountering some resistance, the tornado continued advancing toward the Tree of Life, and at a fairly steady pace.
Witnessing this, the black mist in the sky churned even more violently. Immediately afterward, all the black mist rapidly gathered together, faintly beginning to form an enormous figure.
Suddenly, a cry like the call of a bird echoed through the air.
"SCREEEECH!"
Then, a figure Aven was all too familiar with appeared in the sky—it was Yveltal, the embodiment of destruction and death!
"This is… Yveltal!" Aven's pupils contracted sharply.
From the aura and energy fluctuations continuously radiating from it, the Yveltal formed from black mist in the sky was virtually indistinguishable from the real Yveltal!
"Everyone, be extra careful," Aven warned solemnly.
"Lilli~"
Lilligant also softly reminded them.
At the same time, it tried to enter its Natural Reversion state to fight.
However, the entire forest had already been petrified, the sky shrouded in black mist. The power of nature here had suffered devastating destruction, preventing Lilligant from entering the Natural Reversion state.
"Lilligant, you can't enter Natural Reversion?" Aven frowned.
At this moment, Lilligant was his strongest combat force. If it could not participate, their overall fighting strength would be severely limited.
Especially against the Yveltal before them—even if this Yveltal could not reach the true power of the real one, under the current circumstances it could still be considered a legendary-level existence!
Or rather, whatever was condensing Yveltal here was itself a mythical existence, possessing abilities extremely siMirar to Yveltal's. In such a case, it would certainly be able to fully unleash Yveltal's combat power.
Gradually, the Yveltal in the sky was completely formed. At the same time, the surrounding black mist instantly thinned, then all surged toward Yveltal's body.
"No matter what, if we want to get close to the Tree of Life, we have to defeat this Yveltal first!" Aven took a deep breath.
The three Forces of Nature and the Lake Guardian trio all nodded. Although nature here had been utterly destroyed, as long as they were gathered together, they could still lend power to Lilligant.
"Lilli~"
Lilligant inhaled deeply, green light radiating from its body.
Although it had just endured a fierce battle with Groudon, as long as the power of nature existed, it could continue fighting!
In an instant, ground, electric, and flying energies erupted from the three Forces of Nature, continuously merging into the most primordial natural energy and flowing into Lilligant.
Meanwhile, under the amplification of the three city lords, the Lake Guardian trio infused the power of all living beings' willpower, emotions, and knowledge into Lilligant. The collective will of nature intertwined endlessly with natural power.
Finally, Aven condensed the power of the Creation God. It was as if a new world were being created within the void itself, a brand-new world aura emerging upon Lilligant.
All energies rapidly converged with Lilligant as their vessel, turning every leaf on its body golden as it once again entered the Natural Reversion state.
As natural energy manifested around Lilligant, a cracking sound suddenly echoed from the ground beneath it.
Its light and agile body now seemed to carry infinite weight, crushing the petrified stone ground beneath its feet and restoring the stone-turned grass into lush green once more.
"The petrification… it's been lifted." Seeing this, everyone's eyes narrowed.
Clearly, these petrified things had only been eroded by deathly power. Powerful life energy was fully capable of removing the petrification and restoring them to their original state.
Supported by raging winds, Mira hovered in midair. Her heart trembled violently, hope appearing in her eyes as the image of her parents and tribesmen being petrified resurfaced in her mind.
If petrification could be undone by life energy, then could her parents and tribesmen also be restored?
Thinking of this, she clenched her fists, nervously watching Lilligant below and Yveltal in the distant sky, praying fervently that Lilligant would achieve victory and save everything!
"Lilligant, use Grassy Terrain," Aven said softly.
Natural energy surged continuously as Lilligant was enveloped in a green sphere of light. Its condensed Nature Giant form reached out and grasped toward Yveltal in the sky, instantly gathering immense grass energy mixed with ground, electric, and flying, willpower, emotion, and knowledge—like the full-force strike of nature itself!
Although the Yveltal in the sky was indeed powerful, it did not know Yveltal's strongest move, Dark Aura. Its entire body was engulfed by green light as the energy within the black mist was steadily drained.
However, even without the Dark Domain, Yveltal bore the power of dark matter. This power resonated perfectly with Yveltal's inherent destruction and death, still displaying terrifying strength.
As black mist surged from its body, it opened its mouth and unleashed Dark Pulse. The terrifying force condensed into tangible form, causing the entire space to emit groans of strain as it rapidly dispersed the surrounding green light.
At the same time, it gathered dark energy in its mouth and fired a beam toward Lilligant. Even though Lilligant was protected by its Nature Giant form, under the power of the black light, the green glow rapidly faded and began turning to stone once more!
(End of Chapter)