"I said before that we shouldn't have rejected Drakoria. We should have simply agreed to their request. That way we could have sold a favor to both them and Julian."
A council member glanced at some of his visibly flustered colleagues, his sharp gaze lingering on a few of them.
"I know some of you are very close to Celestria, but don't forget—you are council members of Anglia. If you act on behalf of them, have you ever thought about what will happen to us?"
The faces of the few he was staring at immediately turned ugly.
Celestria had always maintained a very close relationship with Anglia, and the two nations even shared certain historical ties going back several centuries.
"Let's not talk about that now. What we should focus on is what to do next. Julian is about to enter our airspace."
What's done was done; even if they regretted it now, it was useless.
"Go to Advanced Secret Realm No.18 first. Julian's landing spot should be there. Tell the guards at the site not to make any hostile moves."
"Understood."
Anglia's Advanced Secret Realm No.18 was located in the southern part of the country.
And Julian's destination was indeed there.
Traveling from Drakoria to Anglia on Zekrom only took about ten minutes. In fact, it could have been even faster.
But Julian wasn't in a hurry.
After all, he wanted to give Anglia some time to react.
By the time he arrived at the entrance of Advanced Secret Realm No.18, more than a dozen people were already waiting there, nine of whom were the council members of Anglia.
The rest were members of the Anglian royal family.
Zekrom had already suppressed 99% of its aura, otherwise as a First-class Legendary, the pressure alone would have crushed them.
But even the remaining 1% of its aura was more than they could bear.
It felt as though a massive mountain was pressing down on them, making it hard to breathe, and their bodies slowly began to bend under that weight.
If this continued, all of them would end up on their knees.
Thud!
The first person fell to their knees.
Then the second.
And third.
In less than a few seconds all of them were down on the ground, they couldn't even lift their heads.
"Zekrom."
Julian spoke calmly.
Instantly, Zekrom retracted all of its aura.
Julian then jumped down from its back.
"Apologies, everyone. Zekrom is a bit unruly. You can all stand now."
With the corner of his lips slightly raised, Julian looked at the dozen or so people—figures who stood at the very peak of Anglia's power, and the anger in his heart was finally relieved.
'You refused to give me face earlier. Now look—your own faces are gone, and even your country's dignity has been dragged through the mud.'
"Champion Walker speaks truly, and being able to see the First-class Legendary Zekrom up close is our honor," one council member said with a smile.
Though he had just been humiliated by Julian—his expression remained calm, without even a trace of anger.
Julian observed the old man in front of him. He wasn't pretending; Julian really couldn't sense a flicker of anger from his aura.
That meant he truly wasn't angry.
Was this broad-mindedness? Or was it deep cunning?
If it was the former, Julian would really look down on him. Being humiliated like this without anger wasn't magnanimity—it was a lack of backbone.
If it was the latter, Julian would still look down on him. The man represented his nation, yet he had knelt before him. What was the use of such deep scheming then?
Though if he had risen in fury to confront him, Julian might actually have admired his courage.
"You two go have fun."
Julian said to Celebi and Jirachi.
"You should stay in the secret realm for a few days. Don't come out too quickly, okay?" Celebi said seriously.
It was worried Julian might enter and come out in just an hour—then it and Jirachi wouldn't have enough time to enjoy all the good food in Anglia.
"I'll be out by tomorrow."
Julian flicked Celebi on the forehead. He knew exactly what this guy was thinking.
The two little ones flew off.
Julian didn't bother saying anything more to the people in front of him. He simply turned around and entered Advanced Secret Realm No.18 behind him.
However, he left Zekrom outside at the entrance.
He kept it there in case these people tried something after he entered the secret realm. Although Julian believed they probably won't have the courage, it was still better to be cautious.
"Gen~"
As Julian walked in, Gengar emerged halfway out of his shadow. It pulled down its eyelid toward the group and gave them a taunting grin.
Only after Julian had fully entered the secret realm gate did the expressions of the dozen or so people shift—some angry, some cold, some hostile, but most of them simply looked bitter.
But the moment their eyes met Zekrom's gaze, all those expressions turned into fear.
Julian's grand entrance into Anglia, riding Zekrom with such fanfare, was impossible to conceal. It wouldn't be long before the domestic populace learned of this incident.
Perhaps spies from nations hostile to Anglia, as well as agents from Drakoria, were already covertly spreading the news at this very moment.
And as it turned out, their speculation was correct.
But the news wasn't only spreading throughout Anglia—it had already reached the people of many other nations as well.
The worst part was that someone had taken photos of them down on the ground, and the pictures had been uploaded directly to the internet.
When the people of Drakoria saw those photos, their sense of pride immediately surged.
---
> "The nine council members of Anglia, plus people from the royal family—all on the ground."
> "What did they even do to make Champion Walker this angry that he brought out Zekrom?"
> "No idea, but it must be their fault."
> "Champion Walker: It's not even New Year's yet. Why give such a big bow?"
> "Everyone, the people in Anglia are cursing Champion Walker online. Let's curse them back!"
---
A sense of national pride was the most basic sentiment among a nation's citizens.
Julian had actually been quite popular among the people of Anglia before.
But now he had done something that insulted their country.
Affection had its limits. If you were insulting my nation, how could I still admire you and call myself a citizen of Anglia?
Because of this incident, Julian's reputation within Anglia collapsed instantly.
It almost reached the point where everyone was condemning him, and their online platforms were filled with people criticizing Julian.
Occasionally, some citizens of Drakoria who lived in Anglia tried to defend Julian—but they were immediately overwhelmed.
However, before long, tens of millions of Drakorian users suddenly appeared on Anglia's internet platforms.
And then the online war between the two nations began.
When it came to insulting others online, people were really creative.
Streams of extremely colorful insults flew across the internet. After being translated by translation software, they made many Anglian citizens so angry they nearly coughed up blood.
But their learning ability was strong.
Soon enough, they also learned how to use those "mom-related" insults.
And thus, the battle escalated even further.
*****
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