The Crystal Tower shattered completely in the explosion, scattering powdery crystals across the sky. The entire structure was flattened into ruins. Within a radius of one kilometer, not a single blade of grass remained. Only a barren wasteland.
Mewtwo's figure slowly emerged in the open space, accompanied by a nearly exhausted Ash and his partners. At the critical moment, Mewtwo had used Psychic to pull Ash, his Pokémon, and Molly away from the blast zone. Without the Distortion Space blocking it, its Psychic power could directly envelop Molly.
As for Charon and Saturn, Mewtwo hadn't bothered. If it had been Ash, he might have taken them along too. But Mewtwo didn't have that kind of generosity. Even though it had turned over a new leaf, its hatred for organizations like Team Galactic came from the bottom of its heart.
To toy with the lives of Pokémon and manipulate their consciousness. Death ten times over would not be enough.
So when leaving, it hadn't taken Charon at all. Saturn's side still had the Distortion Space intact, so he might have survived. But Charon was definitely in a bad way.
Ash slumped on the ground, his face full of exhaustion. Next to him, Molly slept quietly, her breathing steady.
"Is Molly alright?" Ash didn't even have the strength to probe her condition, so he could only ask.
"She's fine. But look at you." There was a hint of complaint in Mewtwo's tone. "Still being so reckless. If I had been a fraction of a second slower, not only Molly, but you might have vanished in that explosion."
What Ash had done was simply too reckless. He'd used up everything to unleash that Aura Sphere. While it had indeed broken the Distortion Space, the aftermath was enough to heavily injure a Champion Peak Pokémon. In Ash's depleted state, surviving the shockwave on his own was impossible. If Mewtwo hadn't stepped in, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Ash turned his head and looked at Mewtwo, the corners of his mouth curling up. "That's why I trusted you. I knew you wouldn't let anything happen to us."
"Pika-pi." Pikachu chimed in weakly from the ground.
"Oh boy, this nearly killed me. When we get back, I want to eat something good." Gengar lay flat on the ground, making its demand known.
"Yeah, yeah. Extra food when we get back. A huge feast." Ash responded with a tired smile.
The cheerful atmosphere lasted exactly one second.
A terrifying pressure descended from above, and every smile vanished from Ash and his Pokémon simultaneously. They all looked up.
Charon and Saturn stood atop Giratina's head. Charon looked disheveled, but he wasn't seriously hurt. Saturn's expression remained cold, though his composure couldn't quite hide the look of someone who had just swallowed something deeply unpleasant.
He truly hadn't expected that even Giratina's Distortion Space couldn't withstand the attack of a single human. He'd heard that the person who blocked Team Galactic's Orange Islands plan was a powerful Aura user, but no matter how powerful a human was, contending with a deity's authority should have been impossible. A Distortion Space created by Giratina using its residual Divine Authority, broken by a human? That was the stuff of fairy tales.
And yet it had happened right in front of him.
"To execute this plan, the Master even lent us Giratina. It's the only reason we could infiltrate undetected." Saturn's cold words were directed at Charon. "If we fail again, we'll be returning to the Master without our heads."
In terms of rank, Charon was technically equal to Saturn among Team Galactic's four executives. But his previous failure at the Orange Islands had infuriated Cyrus, and Cyrus had spent a massive price to extract both of them from League custody. Another failure here would destroy whatever credibility Charon had left.
"I know." Charon took a deep breath and looked at the sky. "It's not completely finished, but it's reached a usable state."
A completely pitch-black figure slowly descended from above. Dense Power of Death wrapped around its form.
Yveltal. The god of destruction.
The expressions on Ash and every one of his Pokémon, including Mewtwo, turned grim.
They had successfully rescued Molly. But they had failed to stop Yveltal from taking form. Judging from the aura radiating from it, it possessed at least god-level power.
Species: Yveltal (Phantom)
Gender: None
Type: Dark / Flying
Level: High god-level
Ability: Dark Aura
Divine Authority: None
Moves: Oblivion Wing, Sky Attack, Dark Pulse...
Stats: Attack A(A), Special Attack A(A), Defense A(A), Special Defense A(A), Stamina A(A), Speed A(A)
A phantom of Yveltal. This was not the real Yveltal.
But its power had already reached god level. Although it lacked Divine Authority and had all stats at only A-grade, making it worlds apart from a genuine god-level being, it was still High god-level. Even if it couldn't unleash the full power of that tier, it could at least output at Mid god level. Combined with Giratina nearby, even Mewtwo would struggle against both at once.
Saturn lowered his gaze, looking down at Ash through the slowly healing spatial barrier.
The young man's jacket was in tatters. His bare arms were covered in fine cracks, the marks left by overloading his Aura. His skin didn't bleed. The blood was vaporized by residual energy the moment it seeped out. He sat on the ground, hands bracing against the shattered earth, chest heaving violently.
Every one of his Pokémon had also lost their combat capability.
The Key Stone on Ash's wrist had shattered into two halves. The stone that had carried countless Mega Evolutions had finally reached its limit after releasing six simultaneously.
Saturn watched all of this, and his expression finally changed. "The kid has nothing left. In the end, he's only human."
His voice was quiet but exceptionally clear in the silent crystal ruins. The shadow of failure in creating Yveltal had also dissipated. Although they hadn't managed to produce the true god of death, they'd created a functional imitation. Coupled with Team Galactic's technology, it could still serve its purpose.
And Ash's exhaustion presented a prime opportunity. An opportunity to eliminate Team Galactic's greatest enemy.
Saturn raised his hand and pressed downward.
Giratina's six ghostly black wings spread open, and the rules of the Distortion World spread outward like a tide. The air grew viscous, and light began to refract at impossible angles. In Ash's field of vision, his own hand was stretched and shortened. Up, down, left, and right ceased to mean anything.
The entire battlefield was locked down. Giratina's Divine Authority was suppressed, but it could still use a small portion. Sealing off a space this size barely required any of its authority at all.
"You can't escape this time." Saturn's voice was frigid.
He would no longer leave any chances to the boy who had repeatedly ruined their operations. Team Galactic's greatest threat had to be eradicated today.
Giratina struck first. A dark purple Shadow Ball condensed in the ghost dragon's enormous maw, tracing an arc that defied the laws of physics, and slammed toward Mewtwo. Within the Distortion World, even the battle moves felt wrong.
Mewtwo crossed its arms, and a pinkish-purple barrier opened in front of it. The collision rippled in rings within the distorted space, and Mewtwo retreated half a step in the air. This level of attack was nothing. But before it could steady itself, phantom Yveltal had already swooped down.
A dark-red halo of Dark Pulse shot from the wingtips of the death god's phantom, winding like five chains toward Mewtwo's limbs and neck.
Blue light flashed in Mewtwo's eyes. An azure Aura Sphere condensed and formed, colliding with the five Dark Pulses. Four were cancelled out. The fifth broke through and struck Mewtwo's body.
Mewtwo let out a muffled groan, its figure rolling twice in mid-air before barely coming to a halt. The wound glowed with an ominous blackish-purple luster. Dark-type energy was eroding its strength continuously.
One Giratina was already enough. Adding a Yveltal, even a counterfeit one, made things genuinely dire. Especially since the phantom was Dark-type. Psychic attacks were ineffective against Dark-types entirely, which was why Mewtwo had been forced to use Aura Sphere, a Fighting-type move, to defend against Dark Pulse.
"Giratina, pin it down." Saturn ordered. Seeing the two-on-one gaining ground, he had Giratina entangle Mewtwo completely.
Giratina's black wings stretched wide, and the laws of the Distortion World wove an invisible cage around Mewtwo. Mewtwo attempted Teleport, but the spatial coordinates were completely scrambled.
Every direction it jumped led back to a position Giratina had preset. Playing with spatial power in front of the ruler of the Distortion World was pointless.
Fine. If Teleport didn't work, brute force would.
Mewtwo extended one hand, and a pitch-black sphere slowly formed. Psystrike.
Giratina intensified the spatial distortion around Mewtwo, pressing in from all sides. It could at most delay Mewtwo slightly. But that was enough for Saturn.
"Yveltal!"
Mewtwo reacted instantly. It knew what Saturn wanted. Disregarding the risk of backlash, it blasted out Psystrike before it was fully charged.
The exploding energy cracked the Distortion Space wide open, but with insufficient charging time, it failed to shatter the cage completely.
On the other side, Yveltal flapped its wings and ascended. Its wings spread fully, and a blood-red light spread outward from the core of the wing bones, dyeing the entire pair of wings a burning crimson.
Oblivion Wing. Yveltal's signature move. Also known as the Death Wing.
Any existence touched by it would be forcibly petrified, their soul sealed within a withered shell.
Yveltal locked onto Ash. The light condensed into a crimson beam at its wingtips, and it plunged vertically downward, carrying a killing intent that reaped all vitality.
Ash raised his head. His eyes reflected the patch of red light growing closer and closer. His arms were heavy. Every shred of power in his body had burned away in that colorful Aura Sphere. He didn't even have the strength to stand.
He hadn't expected to fall in a place like this. He hadn't become a Pokémon Master yet. He hadn't become the strongest in the world together with his partners. He felt so unwilling.
A golden light flashed from beside his feet. Pikachu sprang out.
The electrical energy in his cheek pouches had depleted to the point where sparks were barely visible. He squeezed out the very last drop of energy in his body, firing a Thunderbolt at Oblivion Wing.
It had no effect whatsoever.
Pikachu propped up his exhausted body and spread his arms wide. Even if it meant death, he would protect Ash until the very last moment.
Ash reached out, squeezed out the very last shred of strength in his body, and scooped Pikachu into his arms. He turned around, arching his back, using his own body as the final shield to protect Pikachu within his embrace.
"Pika-pi!"
"Don't worry, Pikachu. I'll protect you. Once Mewtwo breaks free from the Distortion World, it'll get you all out of here."
He hugged tighter. He wanted to leave the last chance of survival to Pikachu.
"Get away from him!" Watching the breath of death closing in on Ash, Mewtwo's entire body erupted with Psychic power far exceeding its normal limits, driven by pure rage.
The Distortion Space shattered completely.
But Mewtwo was still too far away to reach Ash's side in time.
Just as Mewtwo was in utter despair, the sky above the distorted space cracked open.
A pitch-black shadow carrying emerald-colored radiance plummeted straight down from above the clouds. The emerald-green light violently collided with Oblivion Wing, and the immense force instantly blasted the death beam into nothing.
Ash and Pikachu were blown away by the shockwave, but the anticipated pain of hitting the ground never came. They landed on a figure exuding a gentle aura, and emerald-green light lifted and supported them.
When Ash's gaze fell upon that figure, his tense expression finally relaxed.
About time.
Rayquaza.