The board was set. Even after the fierce three-way clash, Topaz had no choice but to join hands with Jing Yuan to face the three remaining Trailblazers.
Having dealt with the General many times in official matters, Topaz naturally saw right through Jing Yuan's disguise after fighting alongside him for so long.
"I really never imagined the great General of the Xianzhou would spend his hours playing video games," Topaz remarked with a wry shake of her head. To her, it felt as absurd as picturing Diamond sitting down to train a team of digital monsters.
"Haha, one must make the most of a rare break from duty," Jing Yuan chuckled. Since only familiar faces remained on the field and their local voice channel was muted on the public stream, he dropped all pretense of playing dumb.
"I have looked forward to crossing paths with you on the field for quite some time, General," Welt said, his calm eyes flashing with unmistakable fighting spirit.
Jing Yuan smiled warmly, leaning into the challenge. "And I have long wondered how the gap measures between a tournament Elite Four like yourself and our Luofu Champion, the Master Diviner."
Though both men wore relaxed, polite smiles, the four companions around them felt the air grow thick with tension.
"Salamence, Flamethrower!"
"Metagross, Rock Slide!"
With the two leaders opening the dance, the others picked their matchups. March moved to lock down Yanqing, while Dan Heng engaged Topaz.
Looking at Jing Yuan's Metagross, Welt let out a quiet breath. Had team needs not dictated his roster, he had considered raising a Metagross himself.
Jing Yuan commanded the creature with the exact defensive grit that Fu Xuan was famous for, backed by tactical reads that far exceeded her experience.
With Metagross boasting the resilient pairing of Steel and Psychic typing, Salamence had to rely entirely on its Fire and Dark moves to hold the line. Welt had spent long hours studying Fu Xuan's habits to prepare for this matchup, which gave him just enough insight to parry Jing Yuan's strikes.
Even so, holding ground was all he could manage. Under the General's layered rhythm, finding room to counter was nearly impossible.
Across the reef, Dan Heng and March had a much smoother time.
Dan Heng and Topaz fought to a complete standstill, while Yanqing was clearly new to the flow of battle. The young prodigy had not yet adapted his sharp sword skills to his Pokémon's timing. Gifted as the boy was, mastering an entirely different combat system in a few days was impossible, leaving his execution noticeably behind the veteran field.
"Dan Heng! March!" Welt called out.
The two Trailblazers reacted instantly.
They had practiced this emergency audible: whenever someone ran into an immovable wall, they would instantly collapse the field, turning isolated duels into a chaotic three-on-three brawl.
In a close-quarters scramble, individual battle sense and quick reflexes outweighed textbook positioning, limiting how much support Jing Yuan could extend to his teammates.
When it came to shared instincts, the Express crew moved like clockwork, far outmatching a temporary alliance thrown together on the fly.
"Slowking, Future Sight!"
March called down the strike. A dense sphere of psychic force began converging toward Yanqing. Nearby, Dan Heng and Welt threw themselves into the path of Topaz and Jing Yuan, pinning them in place to prevent any rescue.
"Salamence, Flamethrower!"
"Metagross, Steel Beam!"
Metagross gathered blinding white energy, unleashing a dense beam that punched straight through Salamence's stream of fire. Locked in the recoil of its own attack, Salamence had no time to bring up Protect.
Welt had his partner roll mid-air to take the blow along its armored flank.
The evasion gave Jing Yuan the split second he needed. Guiding the lingering energy beam with a flick of his fingers, he intercepted the falling sphere of Future Sight, triggering a tremendous mid-air explosion that shattered March's delayed blast.
Welt couldn't help but admire the read.
Topaz and Yanqing had zero team chemistry with each other, and the boy's inexperience made coordinated maneuvers difficult. Yet Jing Yuan turned himself into the living hinge of their squad, acting as the ultimate support and stepping in wherever his allies faltered.
His presence alone was neutralizing the Trailblazers' team advantage.
Seeing the stalemate dragging out, Welt met the eyes of Dan Heng and March. A silent, shared understanding passed between them.
Jing Yuan narrowed his eyes. Do they still hold an unplayed card in this corner?
In the next breath, March's Slowking wrapped Salamence in a flash of light, teleporting the great dragon directly behind Metagross.
Salamence unleashed a point-blank burst of fire paired with Slowking's Shadow Ball, scoring direct hits on Metagross's back before Jing Yuan could call a pivot.
Yanqing rushed in to peel, ordering his Swampert to fire a swirling Whirlpool at the two invaders.
Though his overall battle rhythm was green, the boy was remarkably sharp. He knew that to pin down a teleporting nuisance like Slowking, trapping the water around its feet was essential, as continuous damage would break the focus needed to bring up Protect.
Metagross weathered the burst, spinning to hurl a counter-barrage of Rock Slide.
Across the water, Dan Heng pressed Topaz with ruthless aggression, driving Gyarados into high-speed rushes to keep her completely pinned. Topaz poured all her focus into defensive parries.
Then, the trap snapped shut.
Instead of peeling away from Yanqing's trap, Welt and March completely ignored the incoming Whirlpool, pouring every shred of their firepower into Jing Yuan's Metagross.
It was an all-out trade, betting their survival to drag him down with them.
Jing Yuan read the danger, calling for an evasive dive. But in that exact heartbeat, Dan Heng broke away from Topaz, turning Gyarados's maw toward Metagross to cut off its retreat with a sudden strike.
Unable to slip the three-way pincer, Metagross was battered by three consecutive special moves. The creature collapsed into the surf, and the system instantly confirmed the double knockout, eliminating both Jing Yuan and his partner from the match.
Jing Yuan stared at his fading hands in utter disbelief.
Why had they targeted him with such reckless abandon? Was taking him down truly worth throwing away their own board state?
Topaz and Yanqing seized the opening without hesitation, unleashing their strongest strikes to wipe out Dan Heng and March, who had stepped into the line of fire to shield Welt.
Using March's sacrifice to clear his sights, Welt redirected Salamence's flames into Topaz, sending her to the sidelines alongside them.
Yanqing kept up the pressure, directing Swampert to press the lone survivor.
Though Salamence avoided an instant knockout, its wings were heavily battered by the spray. It could no longer soar into the clouds, limping along the surface of the water in a desperate hover.
With the dragon crippled and struggling for altitude, the final outcome seemed inevitable.
The exchange had happened so fast that the broadcast chat could barely process the eliminations.
In the commentary booth, Owlbert rattled off the play-by-play at lightning speed:
"March and Welt launched a sudden pincer on Luo Shi! The fire and shadow strikes land clean! Metagross retaliates on its last legs, while Yun Xiao rushes to peel with Swampert..."
"Dan Heng pivots on a dime to land the fatal blow, taking Luo Shi off the field!"
"Topaz answers the opening immediately..."
Owlbert spoke without drawing a breath, unwilling to miss a single millisecond of the trade. Beside him, Robin watched with wide, admiring eyes, not daring to interrupt the flow.
"Whew! The trade is complete! Yun Xiao stands as the final survivor!"
Owlbert finally took a deep breath, before pausing in sudden confusion. "Wait... if only one side remains standing, isn't the match already over? Does he still need to set the Heart of the Ocean on the pedestal?"
Owlbert wondered it, the audience wondered it, and Yanqing thought the exact same thing as he stepped onto the stone platform.
Only Jing Yuan, standing in the spectator lobby, paused with a sudden, knowing grimace.
I truly hope this is not what I think it is...
Down on the field, the moment Yanqing and Swampert placed the glowing jewel into the altar's stone groove, a massive blue shell burst from the water behind them.
A Blastoise lunged forward with devastating force, slamming its heavy armored frame straight into Swampert's back, knocking the partner cold in a single blow.
From beneath the stone ledge, Stelle scrambled onto the altar platform, soaking wet and covered in seaweed. Wholly unbothered by her messy appearance, she planted her boots on the stone, throwing her arms high into the air in a triumphant victory pose.
"Victory!"
30+ chapters are available now and daily updates!
@patreon.com/AgentTwilight