"Dodge it and use Aura Sphere." Ethan's voice sounded calm and casual.
Then they saw Lucario's figure suddenly disappear.
When it reappeared, it was already behind one of the Gengar.
In its hands, the power of aura and mental energy fused into the Aura Sphere move, which pressed directly onto Gengar's body.
Boom!
With a loud roar, Gengar's figure was sent flying once again and crashed into the protective wall, losing the ability to battle.
After fusing the power of aura and mental energy, the power of Lucario's Aura Sphere move had been raised to the extreme.
At the same time, Lucario's already very high special attack ability was fully expressed through that devastating Aura Sphere.
Moreover, the move Lucario had used to dodge the attack was none other than the Teleport move.
Because its physical constitution was not especially strong, Lucario had a fairly notable disadvantage in mobility. But thanks to the Copycat move, Lucario had fixed the copy of the Teleport move almost permanently.
Before each battle, Lucario stored the Teleport move by copying it from Slowking, thus perfectly solving its problem of insufficient mobility.
"Is that really still a Lucario?"
"Let's not even talk about it mastering the moves Heal Pulse and Life Dew; on top of that, it has ranged attacks and Teleport..."
"Could this Lucario actually be a Gardevoir disguised in Lucario skin?" said a student from the medicine department uncertainly, because that Lucario's abilities were far too similar to Professor Moon's Gardevoir.
And not only that student: even Professor Moon was showing an expression of total disbelief at that moment.
Without a doubt, her feelings were extremely complex.
Although Lucario's skills resembled those of her Gardevoir, she knew that this Lucario was much stronger than her Gardevoir.
And not only in combat: during all this time, she had also witnessed Lucario's talent in the field of healing.
Aside from the fact that it still needed to perfect certain technical aspects, Lucario's control over energy was practically perfect, and that made its healing moves extremely powerful.
If Lucario continued perfecting its healing techniques, she did not doubt for even a second that it could even surpass her own Gardevoir in that field.
"Damn it, why can Lucario use Teleport?"
Seeing that, Captain Bennett of Arcaia City Pokémon University's team also showed an expression of total disbelief.
"Leave it to me! Gengar, use Shadow Punch!"
One of the university team members gritted his teeth and ordered his Gengar to attack.
Then they saw ghostly energy running through Gengar's body, wrapping around it completely as it shot forward.
Having further developed the Shadow Punch move, Gengar could turn its own body into the vehicle of the attack, executing a kind of shadowy charge.
"Getting close for close combat against Lucario?"
Ethan narrowed his eyes, and then suddenly smiled.
"Is it Destiny Bond?"
Just as he finished speaking, Lucario launched another Aura Sphere.
Boom!
With another great roar, Gengar was sent flying without exception.
Seeing that, Gengar's trainer immediately focused his gaze.
Just before, Gengar had already used the Destiny Bond move, and now he was only waiting for the move's effect to activate.
However, after waiting for a while, Lucario remained standing in the same place, with a calm expression.
"Destiny Bond... failed?"
Seeing that, the members of Arcaia City Pokémon University's team were completely bewildered.
But Ethan smiled faintly.
Since the Destiny Bond move was one of Cacturne's hidden cards, he had naturally researched that move thoroughly.
It was mainly a deep application of Ghost-type energy, and it also involved the transformation of ghost energy into life energy.
Life and death, life energy and ghostly energy: both opposed each other like light and darkness, but at the same time they were the most closely related forces.
Just like Litwick, being a Ghost-type Pokémon, could transform life energy into its own ghostly energy.
By the same logic, in theory, ghostly energy could also be reversed and transformed back into life energy.
Researching life energy from Ghost-type energy was also one of the important topics of Ethan's research.
Of course, that was already getting a little off topic.
The reason Lucario could neutralize the Destiny Bond move was precisely thanks to its mastery over life energy.
First, it detected through the power of aura the ghostly energy invading its body, and then canceled it using life energy.
Thus, Lucario had perfectly broken the Destiny Bond move.
"Another Pokémon has fallen."
"Now there are only two left."
Seeing the situation on the field, the students of Arcaia City Pokémon University swallowed.
And the most terrifying thing of all was that up to that moment, only Lucario had acted; the other four members of Ironvale City Pokémon University had not even had to lift a finger!
"Captain Bennett's Quasi-Elite-level Gengar is still left. We still have hope in this battle. If we can resolve the problem of that Lucario..."
One of the students tried to comfort the others, but from the expression on his face, it seemed clear that even he himself did not believe what he was saying.
Judging from the terrifying strength Lucario had shown, it was undoubtedly at the true Quasi-Elite level, and not just any ordinary one!
And, indeed, that was the case.
When Lucario fought with all its strength, even two Gengar facing it at the same time ended up falling defeated.
With the Teleport move, the power of aura, and overdeveloped mental energy, Lucario perfectly countered Gengar, defeating them one after another with the Aura Sphere move fused with mental energy.
Even Captain Bennett's Quasi-Elite-level Gengar only managed to endure a few more shots.
After successfully completing Mega Evolution, Lucario had already completely raised its life form.
In addition, both its mental energy and its power of aura had undergone a great breakthrough at that time.
When it was megaevolved, Lucario could even overpower Darkrai head-on. And now, even without megaevolving, its strength was still comparable to that Gothitelle who had swept the entire field together with Stefan back then.
"Hey, hey... don't you think this Ethan is a bit broken?"
"Does he really only have twenty years? He's too strong!"
After seeing that battle in which a single person swept all five opponents, the spectators suddenly felt a strange lack of excitement.
They had come expecting to see a spectacular battle, but it ended too quickly!
It was evident that Ethan's strength exceeded that of university students by far too much; victory had been completely decided from the beginning.
"So we won... that easily?"
"But I had already thought up a bunch of tactics against the opposing Gengar..."
Beside Ethan, Jason and the others showed rather helpless expressions.
Although winning was undoubtedly a good thing, for some reason they did not really feel happy.
In a battle in which they had practically not participated, they felt almost like mere spectators.
"Ethan's strength is truly impressive. In one-on-one, there is probably no student capable of defeating him. But this tournament is 5-on-5, and the Imperial Pokémon University team has three Quasi-Elite-level trainers this year..."
"Even Duskwell City Pokémon University's team has two Quasi-Elite-level trainers."
"Although Ethan is strong, if they really face him with numerical superiority and refined tactical coordination among several Pokémon, perhaps they can still defeat him."
At that moment, the professors from both sides were also discussing Ethan and this edition of the University League.
Judging from the current situation, the three great favorites of this season remained the same: Daleron Imperial Pokémon University, Duskwell City Pokémon University, and Ironvale City Pokémon University.
(End of chapter)