At the edge of his vision, the mountain fissure formed by the combined impact of the Mega Latios and Mega Latias siblings lay across the lush green mountainside like an ugly scar.
Dust and rubble were still trickling down.
Dead silence.
A heart-wrenching, terrifying dead silence.
After several long seconds, a figure emerged from that bottomless darkness, stepping out one pace at a time.
It didn't crawl, it didn't struggle; it simply walked out with such composure.
"Crack... snap..."
The crisp sound of snapping reached Ariel's ears with precision through the audio function of his binoculars.
That silver armor, which had once been so overbearing and had pushed the two Legendary pokémon to their limits, was now disintegrating piece by piece.
Complex hydraulic rods snapped, letting out a deflated hiss.
Precision energy transmission lines sparked their final electrical Embers before fading into darkness.
Heavy alloy plating burst from the joints, crashing heavily to the ground like discarded toy parts, kicking up circles of dust.
Beneath the armor was a body the likes of which Ariel had never seen.
The skin displayed a bizarre pale purple hue, shimmering faintly in the shadows.
The muscle lines were fluid to the extreme, without a single ounce of excess fat; every inch contained an explosive sense of power, yet appeared so harmonious and perfect, as if it were the Creator's most outstanding work of art.
Without the constraints of the heavy mechanical armor, its physique appeared somewhat slender, one might even say elegant.
But this elegance made Ariel's scalp tingle all the way down to the soles of his feet.
That armor was never meant to enhance Mewtwo.
It was Giovanni, that madman, who had placed a flow-limiting valve on this "god" he had created with his own hands!
A fuse!
A shackle to control its world-destroying power!
Now, the Mega Lati Siblings, using the most brilliant bloom of their lives, had personally... smashed this shackle.
They thought they had won.
But they had merely released an imprisoned, true beast.
Ariel's Adam's apple bobbed.
Mewtwo slowly raised its head.
Its gaze had no focus; it didn't look at the Latios and Latias Siblings in the sky, nor did it look at Ariel in the distance.
It just looked out, as if examining this world that felt foreign to it.
Then, an invisible ripple suddenly radiated outward with it as the center.
It wasn't sound, it wasn't light, nor was it a shockwave.
It was a type of... will.
A pure, untainted will that reigned over all.
Ariel's temples throbbed violently, as if an invisible needle had been ruthlessly stabbed into them.
The thoughts in his mind instantly became chaotic and viscous, as if his brain had turned into a lump of mush.
And this was merely the aftershock.
The ripple swept over the entire island and passed across the surrounding waters.
For a hundred miles around, all sounds fell silent.
The Arbok and Zangoose that were tearing at each other for territory just a second ago froze in their tracks, then simultaneously turned around, using all their strength to burrow into the deepest holes, shivering.
Beneath the sea's surface, a silent "great migration" was taking place.
One Gyarados after another, which had just been flaunting their power by kicking up waves, now acted as if they had seen a ghost; their massive bodies stiffened abruptly, and then they twisted their forms desperately, plunging toward the bottomless ocean trenches regardless of the cost.
In their eyes, there was no longer the usual ferocity and tyranny, only the most primal fear.
Sharpedo, Crawdaunt, Tentacruel... these overlords of the sea who usually ran rampant now felt a command from the deepest part of their genes, the descent of a natural predator from the very top of the food chain.
They abandoned their territories, abandoned their prey, and fled frantically toward the distance, toward the deep sea, toward anywhere that could take them away from that will.
The entire ecosystem had completely collapsed because of the awakening of a single creature.
The Mega Lati Siblings in the sky also felt this pressure.
Their purple bodies, which had just shed the light of evolution, circled uneasily in the air, letting out low, mournful cries.
They could feel that the opponent below, whom they had just "defeated," was emitting an aura that made their very souls tremble.
It wasn't just strength; it was... the crushing weight of a different level of existence.
Mewtwo finally made a move.
It slowly raised its right hand, three fingers spread, and clenched them tightly toward the calm sea surface in front of it.
There was no world-shaking roar, no flashy light and shadow effects.
The world seemed to have its mute button pressed.
The originally calm sea surface began to... flow backward in a way that defied the laws of physics.
The seawater receded frantically, revealing vast stretches of wet seabed covered in seaweed and shellfish.
Immediately after, a white line appeared on the distant horizon.
That white line rose and widened at a speed visible to the naked eye, its color turning from white to green, and from green to black.
Finally, it transformed into a wall of water connecting heaven and earth.
A hundred meters high, it blotted out the sun.
This wasn't some "Surf" skill, much less a Water-type move.
It was a massive tsunami forcibly pulled out by sheer, powerful Confusion!
This was a true natural disaster.
An attack capable of leveling islands and swallowing everything!
And the birth of this tsunami was merely due to a single thought, a single movement from Mewtwo.
With a simple clench of its hand, it had molded the entire ocean into the shape it desired.
"Holy crap!"
Ariel's curse was instantly torn apart by the howling gale.
The oppressive feeling brought by that wall of water was far more despairing than facing a hundred Gyarados.
The shadow loomed over, dragging the entire island into a doomsday-like gloom.
The air was thick with salty, fishy mist and a scent... called "death."
When gods fight, mortals suffer!
In a battle of this level, so-called Superior Trainers and so-called tactical masters were all just a joke.
The aftershocks, just the aftershocks of the battle, could take his life.
"Gyarados! Come out!"
Ariel didn't hesitate for a second; the moment the tsunami formed, he threw out his strongest meat shield.
With a flash of red light, the massive Gyarados appeared on the sea surface before him.
However, before it could let out its habitual roar, it saw that approaching giant wave that looked like divine punishment.
On Gyarados's fierce face, a rare trace of... utter Confusion appeared.
"What are you dazed for?! Use Dragon Dance! Then hold the line for me!"
Ariel's voice was hoarse; he gripped the rock beneath him tightly and roared at Gyarados.
This was his only choice.
Gyarados was a Water-type and Flying-type; facing such a tsunami, it couldn't resist head-on and could only use its affinity for water to blend into it.
This was the theoretically optimal solution.
As for whether they could survive... that was up to fate.
Gyarados clearly understood that now was not the time to show off; its massive body coiled in the water, a red light glowing on its body as its speed and attack power were instantly boosted.
It stared fixedly at that wall of water and let out a resolute roar, preparing to meet that irresistible impact.
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