Dragonair cleared the smoke from the explosion with Twister.
The spiraling winds tore through the crater violently, scattering burning debris and leftover embers across the ruined battlefield. As the smoke finally dispersed, the result of Monferno's attack became visible.
Venomoth, Accelgor, and Weavile were hit directly by the powerful flames.
All three Pokémon lay defeated inside the crater, their bodies burned and broken from the massive blast. Even after seeing the explosion firsthand, Silas still felt slightly stunned by the sheer destructive power Monferno had unleashed.
Then he noticed something. Weavile's body was positioned in front of the others.
During the final moments before impact, Weavile had jumped toward the attack and used Protect, shielding its allies from the full force of the explosion. Without that intervention, Monferno's unstable Aura Sphere likely would have reduced both Venomoth and Accelgor to ash entirely.
The realization lingered in Silas's mind briefly. Even assassin Pokémon protected each other.
Meanwhile, the blue aura flames surrounding Monferno slowly began fading away. The energy dispersed into the air in waves before finally vanishing completely, returning Monferno to normal.
Or at least mostly normal.
Monferno's breathing had become noticeably heavier and his body trembled slightly from exhaustion. The aura-enhanced state clearly placed immense strain on him despite its overwhelming power.
Dragonair wasted no time lingering near the crater.
The moment the battlefield here stabilized, Dragonair immediately flew back toward Madam's ongoing battle. Psychic energy and explosions still erupted in the distance, making it obvious that the fight between Madam and Shin remained far from over.
"I took the liberty of recording Monferno's information during the fight."
Hermes' calm voice echoed inside Silas's mind.
"Later," Silas replied immediately.
Now wasn't the time.
The battle elsewhere was rapidly approaching its climax, and every second mattered.
Silas approached Micah cautiously while keeping Electabuzz and Monferno nearby. The younger ninja sat frozen near the crater, staring toward Monferno with visible terror in his eyes.
At first, Silas assumed the reaction stemmed from the overwhelming firepower Monferno had displayed moments earlier.
That assumption nearly got him killed.
Silas pulled out an escape rope, intending to restrain Micah before assisting Madam. The moment he stepped within range, a face suddenly appeared inside Micah's shadow.
Silas's instincts were too late.
Two detached ghostly hands burst from the darkness and grabbed him instantly. Before Silas could react properly, the hands ripped the rope from his grip and wrapped it around his body with frightening speed.
A second later, the body of Haunter rose from the shadow itself, laughing mockingly as it floated behind Micah.
"Damnit," Silas cursed internally. "I let my guard down."
He struggled violently against the restraints, but the rope tightened around him further with every movement. Panic surged through him despite his efforts to remain calm.
This wasn't a normal battlefield mistake.
He had approached an assassin trainer carelessly after assuming the battle was over.
Micah immediately recalled his nearly defeated Pokémon before retreating toward Shin's battle at full speed. Haunter floated close behind him while Monferno and Electabuzz pursued cautiously.
Silas gritted his teeth.
Now he had become the burden.
As they arrived at the main battlefield, the full chaos of the fight came into view.
Madam stood near the center of the clearing protected by Dragonair while her other Pokémon unleashed devastating combination attacks across the battlefield. Flames, psychic blasts, thunder, and steel attacks collided constantly, tearing apart the surrounding forest.
Gallade and Venomoth had only survived this long because of Teleport.
Every time Madam's side cornered them, they escaped instantly before retaliating from another angle.
Jolteon unleashed another devastating attack combination.
Thunder merged together with Shadow Ball, creating unstable black lightning that surged violently across the battlefield. The corrupted electricity struck Bisharp directly.
The steel-dark Pokémon collapsed immediately.
Its body convulsed violently while black electricity coursed across its armor.
"Miss Jenny," Micah shouted desperately, "if you don't stop, my Haunter will kill this kid right now!"
The battlefield froze.
Madam turned immediately.
The moment she saw Silas restrained beside Haunter, genuine horror crossed her face for the first time since the battle began.
Gallade seized the opening instantly.
Teleport.
The psychic swordsman appeared directly beside Madam with Psycho Cut already descending toward her body.
The timing was flawless.
But the attempt was doomed to fail.
Arcanine disappeared in a blur of motion before reappearing beside Gallade through Extreme Speed. The massive fire-type lunged directly into Gallade's attack path and clamped down with Crunch while simultaneously using Fire Fang.
Gallade screamed.
Its sword arm was bitten nearly completely off before the Psycho Cut could fully cleave through Madam. Even so, the attack still landed partially, carving a deep slash from Madam's shoulder down toward the center of her chest.
Blood splattered across the battlefield.
Gallade desperately attempted to Teleport away.
Nothing happened.
The dark-type energy from Crunch disrupted Gallade's psychic control entirely.
"Nidoqueen," Madam said coldly, "end it with Shadow Claw."
Nidoqueen moved immediately.
Shadowy energy engulfed both claws as the massive Pokémon charged forward with terrifying fury. Unlike the others, Nidoqueen looked genuinely enraged.
When a Pokémon truly cared for its trainer, allowing harm to come to them while it remained unharmed was one of the greatest disgraces imaginable.
Gallade fought desperately despite its condition.
Even missing one arm, it continued using Teleport in short bursts whenever its psychic power stabilized briefly enough to activate. Psycho Cut slashes landed shallow wounds across Nidoqueen's body as Gallade desperately tried creating distance.
But the battle had already shifted.
Silas noticed the pattern quickly.
Every time Gallade clashed directly with Nidoqueen, the force pushed it backward slightly. During those moments, Gallade consistently attempted the same maneuver—Teleporting beside or behind Nidoqueen immediately afterward to launch another surprise Psycho Cut.
Nidoqueen noticed it too.
This time, she was ready.
The instant Gallade vanished backward, Nidoqueen pivoted and swung Shadow Claw directly toward the predicted position.
The attack landed perfectly.
Gallade's remaining sword arm was severed instantly.
Then Nidoqueen used Taunt.
Dark energy engulfed Gallade completely, shutting down its ability to use Teleport.
For the first time since the battle started, true fear appeared on Gallade's face.
Nidoqueen showed no mercy.
Shadow Claw tore through Gallade repeatedly, bisecting the psychic fighter into bloody pieces before finally reducing the body into four separate sections scattered across the battlefield.
Micah started screaming something incoherent.
Before the words could fully leave his mouth, Arcanine appeared beside Haunter.
Crunch.
The ghost Pokémon vanished into Arcanine's jaws instantly.
Then came Fire Blast.
Flames erupted point blank, burning Haunter away completely while Silas stumbled free from the restraints.
Silas stared briefly.
Apparently this was one of Arcanine's favorite attack combinations for smaller opponents.
Skarmory attempted to salvage the situation.
The steel bird swooped downward, trying to grab both Micah and Shin for escape, but Dragonair intercepted immediately with Thunder Wave.
Electricity surged through Skarmory's body mid-flight.
The paralysis ruined its momentum entirely.
Nidoqueen moved before anyone could even issue another command.
Night Slash was unleashed. Dark energy flashed repeatedly across the battlefield.
Skarmory fell first, then finally Micah. The younger ninja barely had time to scream before Nidoqueen tore through him completely.
Silas felt a strange chill watching it happen.
Nidoqueen was easily Madam's most bloodthirsty Pokémon.
Its use of Night Slash felt less like combat and more like execution.
Shin collapsed backward in despair.
With Micah dead and Gallade destroyed, the older ninja finally realized the mission had failed completely.
"I bet you wish you had left us alone huh," Madam said coldly despite the blood running down her chest.
Shin swallowed nervously.
Then he began foaming at the mouth.
A few seconds later, he collapsed dead.
Silas frowned slightly.
"He carried poison," Madam explained calmly. "Ninjas use them to avoid interrogation."
She took the entire development in stride.
There was no triumph and no celebration.
Madam ordered Nidoqueen to gather the bodies into a pit before Arcanine incinerated everything with Fire Blast until nothing but ash remained.
The forest gradually fell silent afterward. The battle was finally over. Only then did exhaustion fully settle into Silas's body.
The adrenaline faded rapidly, leaving behind a lingering realization. They had just fought and killed human enemies.
Despite everything that happened, Silas found little guilt inside himself.
Morals had a funny way of disappearing when lives were at stake.
Apparently the aura Ho-oh sensed within Monferno explained why the legendary Pokémon had taken such an interest in him earlier.
That same aura allowed Monferno to close the power gap and win the battle.
Phoenix Forest itself was saturated with aura, allowing aura-sensitive Pokémon to grow far faster than normal inside the Blessed Land.
The battle had accelerated that growth even further.
Electabuzz had reached level 37.
Monferno had risen to level 39.
Madam spent the next three days recovering inside the lake.
The aura-rich waters dramatically accelerated healing, allowing the massive slash across her chest to close far faster than normal. By the end of the third day, only a faded scar remained.
During that time, Silas had Hermes document everything they encountered throughout the battle.
He remained especially curious about Monferno's sudden transformation.
"Flame Aura increases all of Monferno's base stats by twenty percent," Hermes explained. "This effectively grants Monferno a temporary enhancement comparable to a Mega Evolution. The boosted state also allows Monferno to imbue Aura Sphere with fire-type power, increasing the move's overall destructive output."
Silas absorbed the explanation slowly.
Hermes was especially useful during moments like this. The AI could gather fragmented information, battle data, environmental observations, and known Pokémon biology before constructing highly probable conclusions almost instantly.
That same process also allowed Hermes to determine proper recovery procedures for Froakie.
For example, Froakie needed to remain submerged in water mixed with dissolved Sacred Ash for a minimum of three days. The process itself sounded simple.
Acquiring Sacred Ash was the impossible part.
There were plenty of recovery fluid manuals available throughout the world, but obtaining the rare ingredients required to actually create high-quality healing solutions was another matter entirely.
Fortunately for Froakie, he had a trainer like Silas.