Chapter 721: Ultimate Weapon Pro
After Kazuya returned to the surface, he immediately headed towards the Azoth Kingdom.
It just so happened that Floette had come to the Nebel Plateau to play, so she went back with Kazuya, followed closely by Volcanion and Diancie.
So many years had passed.
Surprisingly, the levels of Volcanion and Diancie hadn't changed much, while Floette had at least leveled up three to five times.
Although the factor of Floette being at a lower level and easier to level up couldn't be ruled out, the former two hadn't leveled up even once in ten years. It was obvious that they hadn't trained much at all, and had just played away these ten years.
Regarding this.
Kazuya didn't say anything either.
There was nothing much to say.
Between Volcanion and Diancie, one had no specific goal, and the other's goal didn't rely on combat strength.
They truly had no need to increase their levels and strength.
Walking slowly on the grassland outside Azoth.
"Kazuya, is there a need to be so careful of that... Ultimate Weapon?"
Volcanion looked at Kazuya beside Him with confusion, a hint of unease vaguely welling up in His heart.
They had known each other for ten years.
He realized that ever since Kazuya was still weak, he had been paying attention to AZ's research progress, with a level of attention barely any less than AZ's own.
Now, Kazuya's strength had grown so powerful that even Volcanion and Diancie felt somewhat powerless, yet he was still so wary of the Ultimate Weapon that hadn't even been fully developed yet.
This was obviously not right.
This made Volcanion feel extremely uneasy.
After all...
Kazuya was an Alpha Pokémon from the ancient era!
Regarding this matter.
Kazuya had never personally told Volcanion.
But...
When Kazuya told Him and Diancie the story of the Sun Tree earlier, didn't he practically tell them indirectly?
Diancie was a naive, silly princess who didn't think too deeply about it at all.
Volcanion also took several days before belatedly realizing the core of the issue.
Why would Kazuya know a story from tens of millions of years ago, and know it so well as if he had experienced it personally?
Why would Kazuya say the Sun Tree was his family, and why would he know that the Sun Tree's previous incarnation was a Florges?
Coupled with the fact that Kazuya always knew so, so many things. Despite clearly being around His age, he was like a walking Pokémon Encyclopedia.
It was terrifying to think about carefully.
Ultimately, Volcanion came to this conclusion—Kazuya came from the distant ancient era.
Moreover, for Kazuya to become family with that incredible Florges, he must definitely also be a powerful Alpha-level Pokémon!
Only in this way could it clearly explain all the unusual things that had always appeared with Kazuya.
Volcanion didn't seek out Kazuya to confirm this matter.
There was no need.
Kazuya had telepathy; he knew this better than anyone.
If He had thought of it, then Kazuya definitely also knew that He had thought of it.
But he didn't step forward to deny it.
This in itself was an answer.
Bringing the question back to the present.
For an Ultimate Weapon to make even Kazuya so wary, what kind of terrifying existence could it be?!
Could it be even scarier than Yveltal and Xerneas, who appeared ten years ago?
"Once the Ultimate Weapon is activated, plunging the life of the Kalos region into utter misery is just a matter of a blink of an eye," Kazuya said slowly.
How powerful was the Ultimate Weapon exactly?
Of course, he didn't know either.
Kazuya had never seen it with his own eyes.
His understanding of the Ultimate Weapon entirely came from "hearsay" and had never been verified.
But looking at the original story's setting, the Ultimate Weapon was indeed a very terrifying existence.
There were two main cases of proof:
Three thousand years ago: Its activation energy was the life energy of countless Pokémon. AZ used the Ultimate Weapon to sacrifice countless Pokémon lives, destroying everything in Kalos, and later even earned the title of "God of Destruction." A creation that could turn a human into a "God"—it goes without saying how game-breaking it was.
During the League era: Lysandre and his Team Flare tried to capture Xerneas or Yveltal, simply to use their energy to activate the Ultimate Weapon and destroy a portion of living beings to relieve the world's burden. As for the twin Gods themselves, they weren't highly valued by Lysandre.
This also indirectly showed that at least in the eyes of Lysandre, the evil boss of Kalos, the destructive power of the Ultimate Weapon was even more terrifying than the twin Gods.
The twin Gods couldn't make his ideal a reality.
But the Ultimate Weapon could.
Just based on these two points, Kazuya had to take this Ultimate Weapon thing seriously.
What was slightly fortunate was that the current Ultimate Weapon had some slight differences from the original story.
He didn't know if this difference was an inherent gap between "game and reality," or if it appeared due to the influence of his various actions.
Based on what Kazuya learned from Floette about the "Soul-Heart" two years ago.
The current Ultimate Weapon wasn't so utterly deranged as to use the life energy of countless Pokémon as its source.
This might be because Floette didn't die in a war, so AZ didn't go completely dark.
It could also be because Kazuya introduced the concepts of type energy and natural energy to AZ, keeping him from doing various messy research on his own, and steering his attention away from life energy.
Regardless of which factor it was.
The energy source of the current Ultimate Weapon had changed.
It had shifted to using natural energy as its source.
As of now.
This change could be considered a good one.
At least when the Ultimate Weapon is activated in the future, it wouldn't need to sacrifice so many Pokémon lives.
As for the rest...
That was the purpose of Kazuya's trip to Azoth.
"Even we can't block that kind of weapon?" Volcanion frowned tightly.
"If hit head-on, we probably can't block it. After all, that thing was originally made by AZ to deal with 'Gods'. However, if it's just the shockwave, there's a high probability it won't take our lives." Kazuya pinched his chin in thought for a moment, then waved his hand. "It's hard to say for sure; it should also depend on how much energy is accumulated. If the accumulated energy is low, maybe it can be blocked."
He only had a half-baked understanding of the Ultimate Weapon as well and couldn't give Volcanion an accurate answer.
But Kazuya figured his guess should be more or less right on the mark.
"Floette, that guy is building such a dangerous thing, aren't you going to try and stop him?"
"Hula!" Floette turned her head away angrily.
She and AZ had already argued countless times over this matter.
If stopping him worked, the Ultimate Weapon wouldn't have been born.
"Stop talking, we'll know once we take a look. As long as the Ultimate Weapon isn't activated, it's pretty much the same as it not being built."
Half an hour later.
The four Pokémon arrived at the Royal Palace of the Azoth Kingdom.
Learning of Kazuya's arrival.
AZ rushed non-stop from the basement to the surface, a smile hanging on his face from beginning to end. It seemed he couldn't wait to show his half-fellow-enthusiast Kazuya his results.
"Long time no see, Kazuya." AZ stepped forward and gave Kazuya a hug.
"It has been some years." Kazuya's face revealed an odd expression.
He felt... had the current AZ changed too much?
His last visit was already ten years ago.
That's right.
Ever since the day Kazuya suggested AZ not to build the Ultimate Weapon, he had never visited Azoth again, basically relying on Floette to pass messages to understand AZ's research progress.
It wasn't because of a falling out or anything.
It was purely because running between three places was just too tiring.
Especially when there was no need.
Just to check on the Ultimate Weapon's manufacturing progress, there was absolutely no need to make a special trip; asking Floette was enough.
After not seeing him for so long.
AZ's changes were quite drastic.
Simply put, he had gone from that gloomy youth back then to a cheerful uncle now.
Yes.
Cheerful.
This word perfectly described the current AZ.
Probably because he had successfully created the profound scientific achievement of his lifetime, AZ no longer had any major obsessions.
So now he was entirely relaxed, returning to that familiar appearance that Floette liked back then.
It had to be said.
The AZ in this state was indeed more reassuring.
In the original story, AZ activated the Ultimate Weapon because his eyes were blinded by hatred.
Now, this cheerful big boy in front of him ultimately had no reason to activate the Ultimate Weapon, right?
"Come, come! I'll take you to see the Soul-Heart and the Ultimate Weapon! You've been keeping an eye on it too, right? Haha."
AZ grabbed Kazuya's arm, pulling him towards the back garden in a few quick strides.
It was obvious.
He was truly eager to show off his great invention to someone else.
Kazuya was happy to oblige, taking big strides to follow him.
Volcanion followed closely by Kazuya's side, still acting in the role of the princess's guard.
Meanwhile, Floette and Diancie didn't care at all about those messy scientific products; they held hands and headed straight for the second floor of the palace, seemingly planning to return to the girl's bedroom for some girl talk.
Arriving at the back garden.
The first thing that caught his eye was an incredibly massive bronze device.
Its outer shape resembled a flower bud.
At the bulging center below, one could faintly see a metallic creation glowing with iridescent light—the Soul-Heart.
Kazuya could feel it.
The Soul-Heart was continuously and actively absorbing natural energy from the surrounding environment.
"This is the Ultimate Weapon?"
"That's right! When it 'blooms', it will probably look like the Eternal Flower in Floette's hand," AZ nodded excitedly.
He started to talk to Kazuya on his own, introducing everything about the Soul-Heart and the Ultimate Weapon.
"..."
After Kazuya listened to the details, he fell into a long silence.
The original Ultimate Weapon had two ways to activate:
Enough life energy.
The energy of the God of Life OR the energy of the God of Destruction; either one would do.
The current Ultimate Weapon still had two ways to activate:
Enough natural energy.
The energy of the God of Life AND the God of Destruction; both must be obtained.
How to put it...
It was now much more difficult to activate.
But the power after activation had also become even more terrifying.
Terrifying to the point where Kazuya suspected a single shot might turn the Kalos region into a desert.
It could truly be called the Ultimate Weapon Pro.
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