According to history and story of elders of Michina Town, Aven had heard the legends of Arceus and the Jewel of Life.
According to legend, when a meteor impact caused the land of Michina to wither, Arceus extracted part of the sixteen life sources from its own body, fused water, grass, and earth with lightning, enhanced them with dragon power, and created the Jewel of Life—restoring vitality to Michina.
Aven had thought Arceus had reclaimed the Jewel of Life long ago. He never expected that this gem, containing both the Creator God's power and immense life energy, had been left behind and sealed within the Grand Priest's staff.
This was clearly something even the Shiny Hoopa Unbound had not anticipated. Watching the Jewel of Life's power continuously flow into the Tree of Life, Hoopa Unbound's expression turned hideous.
It had emerged from its seal, answered the call of Dark Matter, and come here to guide Dark Matter in draining the Tree of Life's final power, initiating the destruction of this world.
The Tree of Life was on the brink of destruction—so why did this human had to appear here? Why did he possess the Creator God's energy? How had everything turned out like this?!
Crack! Crack! Crack!
As the petrification on the Tree of Life's surface shattered piece by piece, threads of green began to emerge.
The next moment, Xerneas' distant figure transformed into a beam of green light and merged into the Tree of Life. Upon its once-withered branches, leaves began to grow rapidly, radiating seven-colored light.
Instantly, a powerful green radiance burst from the Tree of Life, completely dispersing the Dark Matter's energy!
And the moment the leaves fully bloomed, Xerneas, now glowing with seven-colored light—reappeared from within the Tree of Life.
After fully absorbing the Jewel of Life's power, the Tree of Life had completely awakened. Seven-colored leaves adorned its branches, life energy pouring forth endlessly.
Before it, a Golden Ring floated slowly, firmly restrained by Xerneas' power. Though it trembled violently in resistance, it could not escape at all.
Suddenly, Xerneas' power condensed into a pink beam of light, instantly shattering the Dark Pulse launched by the Shiny Hoopa Unbound from afar!
"The God of Life, the God of Life has fully revived!" Mira cried out excitedly. Xerneas was the deity worshipped by her people, finally returning after endless ages!
"Damn it! How could this happen?!" The Shiny Hoopa Unbound's face darkened terrifyingly.
In the next instant, it launched another attack—only to have it blocked again by Xerneas. Under the protection of overwhelming power, not even a ripple was stirred.
Seizing this opportunity, Aven collected the Golden Ring restrained by Xerneas into the Prison Bottle and immediately aimed it at the Shiny Hoopa Unbound.
"Kehehe… trying to seal me just like that? It won't be that easy!" Hatred twisted across the Shiny Hoopa Unbound's face.
Its figure suddenly rushed into the Dark Matter, allowing itself to be completely swallowed as the Dark Matter churned violently.
After the Shiny Hoopa Unbound was fully consumed, the Dark Matter suddenly began collapsing inward, rapidly imploding toward its center. Space twisted violently—and then the Dark Matter vanished.
Moments later, Hoopa Unbound's figure slowly reappeared at the point of collapse. Compared to before, its entire body was pitch black, dark energy flowing endlessly across it.
The Dark Matter had fused completely with Hoopa Unbound, making it seem as though it now contained all the malice of the world itself—becoming the very embodiment of the world's evil!
"I can feel it… how powerful I am now!" The Shiny Hoopa Unbound looked down. In this moment, it was both Hoopa Unbound and Dark Matter itself!
At that instant, Xerneas launched an attack. Fairy Aura expanded instantly, and a powerful pink energy beam blasted straight toward the Shiny Hoopa Unbound.
Seeing the attack that had previously driven it back, the Shiny Hoopa Unbound condensed dark energy in its hand and unleashed Dark Pulse once more!
BOOM!
This time, when the pink beam collided with Dark Pulse, it was completely suppressed and forced back!
The same attack had produced the opposite result after Hoopa Unbound successfully fused with Dark Matter. Dark Pulse now held absolute dominance.
Dark Pulse was already a Dark-type move, and with Hoopa Unbound now incarnating the world's darkness, its power had reached an extreme. At this moment, Xerneas seemed as though it were battling the entire world itself!
Even as the God of Life and the incarnation of the Tree of Life, Xerneas could not suppress the aggregated darkness of the entire world!
"Is there really no way?" Aven clenched the Prison Bottle. Although it could seal and suppress the power of a Hoopa Unbound, it had no means to counter the power of Dark Matter.
"Let everything in this world… return to nothingness!"
Hoopa Unbound roared, its voice now layered with an echo—the second voice belonging to Dark Matter itself.
As the embodiment of the world's evil thoughts, Dark Matter possessed an eternal will. In a sense, the Shiny Hoopa Unbound had been created by it from the very beginning. Now that they had reunited as one, they sought to utterly destroy this world!
As Hoopa Unbound's power was driven to its peak, the entire Void World began to roar violently.
Above the Void World, space twisted incessantly, faint ripples spreading outward again and again, as if the fabric of reality itself were being torn apart.
Soon after, in the sky above the world, a scene like a mirror suddenly appeared—blue skies and white clouds, with forests reflected upside down within them.
Vaguely, within the sky's reflection, they could see the withered Tree of Life, the battle between Dark Matter Yveltal and Zygarde, and the forests that had been turned to stone.
Clearly, what was being reflected in the sky was the real world itself. As space continued to distort, the real world and this Void World began to overlap, as though they were about to fuse into one!
"Hahahaha, let the world return to nothingness!" Hoopa Unbound's voice rang out once more, overlapped with the echo of Dark Matter.
Under the power of Dark Matter, the two worlds were indeed on the verge of merging—and when that happened, whichever worlds came into contact would inevitably be destroyed!
This destruction would begin in the Kalos region, and might even spread to other parts of the world, until the entire world was reduced to ruin!
"What do we do now?" Mira clenched her fists tightly.
They had finally revived Xerneas, yet the true crisis was only just beginning. Even with Xerneas' power, it seemed impossible to stop what was coming!
"This is the manifestation of all the world's malice," Xerneas said solemnly as it looked up at the changing sky. "Only a power of equal magnitude can defeat it."
Then, it turned its gaze toward Aven and spoke through telepathy: "Now, only you can save this world—the bearer of the Creator's power."
In response to Xerneas' words, Aven appeared as though he had already prepared himself. "Yes… now we can only try. Willpower, emotion, knowledge, and the power of the Creator God—I hope they can create a miracle."
He stepped forward a few paces, stopping beside Lilligant. "The power of Pokémon, the power of humans, and… the power of hope. I believe that the light in this world will always be far greater than the darkness!"
"Lilli!"
Lilligant turned her head and met Aven's gaze. Then, a relaxed smile suddenly appeared on her face.
Her small face flushed slightly as she moved closer to Aven and reached out to hold his hand. In that instant, a profound sense of reassurance filled her heart.
Gently closing her eyes, countless memories flashed through her mind—the days spent with Aven, from when she was still a Petilil, growing together step by step, until finally reaching this very moment.
Along the way, they had experienced so much together, and they had made tremendous efforts to change this world. Just as Aven had said, this world would surely become more and more beautiful!
"Now, please lend me all of your strength," Aven whispered. "I believe there must be light in this world!"
Not only Lilligant—Froslass and Gardevoir exchanged glances and moved to Aven's side as well. They too recalled the past, filling their hearts with hope.
(End of Chapter)