🎆 Happy New Year! 🎆
Thank you all for the amazing support throughout this year. 💙To celebrate the arrival of the new year, here is a special New Year code:
🎁 Code:NewYear: F3B16
📅 Code validity:
Start: December 30, 2025 at 11:55 p.m.
End: January 2, 2026 at 11:00 p.m.
Enjoy it and let's start this new year strong. 🚀✨Here's to an amazing 2026! 🎉
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"Oh? Well, I'm interested to see what you're capable of." Cain's voice carried a mocking tone.
That Gengar was not a Pokémon of Alva's own, but rather an inheritance left to him by his father.
Alva was about to order Gengar to attack, but he didn't expect Cain's Gengar to be even faster.
In an instant, it appeared behind him.
Cain's Gengar had absorbed the energy of Giratina, the dragon of the underworld; at that moment, the concentration of ghost energy within it was completely incomparable to that of Alva's Gengar.
So, without the slightest struggle, it subdued it directly.
After all, among ghost-type Pokémon there also existed direct counters.
Even more so when Gengar was completely at an advantage.
Alva watched with a gloomy expression as the greatest trump card his father had left him was unable to show the slightest resistance before that man's Gengar.
"Do you know when is the most miserable moment for a person, especially for a man?" Cain asked, now without so much mockery.
He valued Alva's capability; otherwise, he wouldn't have sought him out.
Alva listened to Cain's words and was surprised, not understanding how the subject had changed so quickly.
But Cain wasn't in a rush, he pulled a chair and sat down calmly.
Then, Alva saw how that chair he had prepared with hidden mechanisms, in front of Cain, seemed to have lost all usefulness.
"When is that moment?" Alva asked, now having understood.
Both in the power of Pokémon and in the arcane science he mastered, he couldn't cause the slightest threat to the man before him.
If this one could appear here directly, it meant he knew his identity.
And if he hadn't eliminated him on the spot, it was because he hadn't come to kill him, though for now Alva didn't understand his intentions.
Thinking of this, Alva set aside his golden scepter and, from among the piles of materials and tools, pulled out two glasses.
From somewhere, he also took out a bottle of liquor.
He gestured to Cain to ensure he didn't object, poured two cups, and handed one over, while he held the other himself.
To show the liquor had no trick, Alva downed his in one gulp.
He had no other choice; drinking gave him some courage. At that moment, he still lacked composure: before a Cain with unknown intentions, he could only resort to alcohol for bravery.
That way, even if he died, it wouldn't be with fear.
This time it was Cain who was surprised.
Of course, he understood Alva's gesture.
He was using liquor as a boost of courage.
"This guy... not bad."
He smiled, took the cup, but didn't drink.
Alva poured himself another glass.
From the way he drank, surely since his father's death he had turned to alcohol quite often.
With two drinks in him, his courage grew a little; now he could look at Cain without trembling.
Maybe it was just psychological.
"Of course, it's at the moment when a man fights for his cause, still without reaching success, while being ridiculed and rejected by everyone." Cain lifted the cup to his lips and tasted just a sip.
The liquor was strong.
But he had no problem with it.
Hearing those words, Alva's heart shook violently.
That phrase described exactly what he was living through at that very moment.
"But remember this: the first to fatten doesn't count as fat; the one who fattens in the end is the one who topples the bed. Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west... never underestimate the humble youth." Cain exhaled alcohol breath as he pronounced that maxim.
It had been so long since he drank, he had almost forgotten its taste.
Since his rebirth, he hadn't touched liquor; today was the exception.
"The first to... fatten? The one who... fattens later?" Alva was baffled by his words, unable to understand.
Cain sighed with a touch of helplessness.
"How is it possible that with so little alcohol my tongue already trips?"
"Anyway, just remember the last part: never underestimate the humble youth!" Cain said.
"Never underestimate the humble youth...?" Alva repeated quietly.
"Eh... I don't think I'm that poor, and I'm not exactly a youth either." Alva couldn't grasp the essence of what Cain was saying.
A few black lines seemed to appear on Cain's forehead.
"Ahem, ahem... it's just a metaphor, a way of expressing it."
With that stumble, the enigmatic image he had worked so hard to build almost collapsed.
"Forget it, let's get straight to the point."
"Mr. Alva, are you satisfied with your current life? Is it necessary to surround yourself with so many mechanisms just to sleep peacefully? Is it only by having this Gengar close that you can feel secure?" Cain calmly crossed his legs.
A triple question that smelled like a verdict.
After hearing him, the atmosphere of the room, which had felt light, turned silent.
The only sound was the ticking of the mechanical clock on the wall.
Alva's face darkened once more.
As if carrying a weight in his chest, he poured another glass and drank it in one gulp.
Liquid courage.
"Whatever it is you have to say, say it directly. Someone capable of finding me so easily, of disabling my mechanisms so quickly, and with Pokémon so powerful at his side... There is no such person as you in all the Azoth Kingdom. Tell me, who are you and what do you want?" Alva stared at him as if trying to pierce into his very core.
Pa pa pa pa!
Cain applauded.
Demeanor had to be maintained; even if it was an act, depth had to be shown.
"Very simple: I've come to help you." He declared without beating around the bush. And added: "As for my identity... it's true, I'm not from the Azoth Kingdom. But I assure you I know this country better than you yourself, from its customs to its arcane science, and even... the scientific genius Nikola."
"Help me? And how would you help me? In what exactly?" Alva sneered.
"After all, you're an outsider. Do you not know that my father was the prime minister of the Azoth Kingdom? I inherited his noble title; right now, my position and my wealth are the highest in the kingdom. What could I possibly need your help for?" As he spoke, the smile on his face grew wider.
"Really?" Cain replied with an ambiguous smile, filled with obvious irony.
"Stop deceiving yourself, Alva. Everything you have now is nothing but because of your father. Don't tell me you don't know. Within the Azoth Kingdom you're nothing but a joke. Many ridicule you in secret, and not a few covet your position as prime minister."
Cain showed no mercy and tore open Alva's most painful wound, exposing it to the light.
"..."
Alva's face turned red. Maybe he wanted to refute, but couldn't find the words; maybe it was rage; or simply the effect of alcohol.
Who could know?
Silence once again reigned between the two.
A long while passed.
"Then, what can you give me?" Alva asked with difficulty.
"Power! Position! Recognition! And... Respect!" Each word Cain uttered struck like a shot to Alva's heart.
Alva's face grew complicated.
Those were precisely the things he needed most deep inside.
The power tied to rank, and the respect of all the subjects of the Azoth Kingdom.
"And what would I have to give in return?" Alva asked.
There was no such thing as help without motive; that was the first lesson he had learned after his father's death.
"Loyalty!"
(End of chapter)