Seeing Lysandre's expression change, Axel instinctively clenched the Poké Ball of Eternatus in his hand.
Although he didn't know what had just happened, Lysandre seemed to have changed.
The current him was more like the underground emperor of Kalos that Axel knew.
Unfortunately, it was already too late.
Xerneas was already in hand; how could Axel possibly let it go?
"Rayquaza, use Thunder Wave, bind its movements!"
Rayquaza suddenly nodded, its body appearing beside Yveltal like a phantom, violent currents of electricity crackling around it, lighting up the whole world anew.
Yveltal was gathering its Dragon Dive when Rayquaza interrupted it, letting out a painful hiss.
"Thunderbolt!"
An even crazier thunderbolt erupted than before, and it seemed to pull at the very forces of nature.
Black clouds rolled across the sky, thunderheads rhythmically resonating with Rayquaza's movements, issuing booming roars.
After the thunderclouds formed, endless pillars of lightning hammered down like an apocalypse, thunderously striking Yveltal's figure.
After stacking many layers of Dragon Dances, Yveltal couldn't even follow Rayquaza's movements.
"Protect!", Realizing it couldn't break free from Rayquaza's combo, Lysandre finally used the Protect move, hoping to use that opening to escape Rayquaza's rhythm.
But at some point, a white Pokémon appeared in front of Yveltal.
Seeing that Pokémon, Lysandre's face instantly turned ashen.
"Mewtwo?"
Perhaps in this timeline, aside from Pryce, no one had experienced Mewtwo's terror yet.
But in the timeline Lysandre came from, almost everyone knew how terrifying Mewtwo was.
Especially him, Lysandre.
Because he was once a person who faced Mewtwo.
He instinctively wanted to make Yveltal give up Xerneas and escape first.
But it was already too late.
The instant Mewtwo appeared, it beckoned with a finger at Yveltal who was using Protect.
A strange rule wrapped around Yveltal's body, making it as if it forgot how to use other moves and could only use Protect.
Lysandre's mouth twitched for a long time; his heart burned with panic, he almost vomited blood.
Even thinking with his butt, he knew this wasn't something Mewtwo itself could do.
The only explanation was that Axel was directing Mewtwo's battle style.
His gaze fell on Axel, wanting to scold him, 'What the hell happened to you after you died once?'
But seeing Rayquaza already enraged beyond reason, Lysandre sighed and decided not to pile on more attacks.
'After all... I've taken everything.'
"Yveltal, don't be afraid. I actually intended for you to keep using Protect all along. As a god of destruction, the Protect move should be second nature to you, right?"
"Even if you use it repeatedly, you can definitely hold on for eight minutes... no, seven minutes and done!"
Yveltal was silent.
'I'm a damn god of destruction!'
'If I have time to learn Protect, that's already lucky, don't tell me it's supposed to be second nature!'
But since things had come to this point, Yveltal had no desire to complain.
Right now it just wanted to use Protect while it still could and leave this sorrowful place as fast as possible.
'Xerneas?'
'Sorry, really don't want it!'
Seeing Yveltal retreat, Axel blinked, not letting Rayquaza and Mewtwo immediately chase after it.
After all, Yveltal was undying, and this Lysandre clearly wasn't the Lysandre of this world, both of them were time-space travelers.
Even if they killed them, it wouldn't do much good; it wouldn't affect this world, or this time node. It was better to leave Rayquaza's energy and compete with Team Galactic for the Red Chain.
If they retreated and the system judged it as an escape, maybe he could quickly get a trait.
["Axel, we can't let them go,"] Rayquaza's roar suddenly came.
["That man has grievances with Aurient, having met him, we absolutely can't let him easily go. His power can be used to amplify your Pheromosa's strength!"]
Axel's eyes brightened, "Explain more?"
He had originally wanted to let this beaten-dog version of Lysandre go since he had already obtained Xerneas.
But if there were more benefits, he wouldn't mind squeezing a bit more gold out of this guy.
["The Black-and-White Dragons haven't recovered yet. Their current forms are more in line with that mysterious Dragon God.
They currently possess some odd powers that should be able to pull Yveltal's spirit out of its body."]
["Normally, dropped feathers don't contain rules or power."]
["But if Yveltal can't control its body, nor control the energy flow inside it, that's when we take the chance to pluck its feathers..."]
Before Rayquaza finished, Axel had already thought of it.
Yveltal's divine role is Destruction; Pheromosa's skill tree is almost fully invested in destructive power.
If he obtained that power, it would definitely make Pheromosa's strength skyrocket.
Axel took two orbs from his bag and without hesitation threw them at the Yveltal using Protect.
The specters of Zekrom and Reshiram appeared in midair, looking puzzled.
Wait, they weren't even fully restored yet and they were released?
'How is this any different from using child lab*r?'
They were about to complain when Rayquaza's majestic voice came from above.
["Pull its mental power out for me!"]
The two dragons shuddered, instantly remembering their current identities, flung aside the milk tea between their straws, and frantically nodded.
Feeling two more Tier-1 gods appear, Yveltal was already stunned.
He had lived in Kalos for countless years and had only seen three Tier-1 gods before, how come today four appeared around a "dead" person?
But he could feel Zekrom and Reshiram were also off; maybe they could be talked to.
["You..."]
BANG!
Before he could speak, Zekrom in spirit form passed through the Protect barrier.
An uppercut struck his jaw, giving Yveltal the sensation that his soul was about to leave his body.
Yveltal was instantly stunned.
Before he could react, Reshiram's body moved too.
'Damn Zekrom, as a noble dragon, you're so flirtatious?'
'Not even inviting me to join, but you still have the cheek to drink milk tea with me!'
He shoved Zekrom aside fiercely, then punched the same spot where Yveltal had just been hit.
The two of them were originally the spirit forces of the Unova dragon gods; now without restored bodies, all their power was in spirit form.
Almost every strike made Yveltal's soul and body separate a bit.
Under normal circumstances, Yveltal would instantly rip apart the spirit-state Black-and-White Dragons.
But the problem was, he could only use Protect now...
Finally, when Protect ended, Yveltal and his physical body separated.