The Master turned and walked into the golden ring of light, and as the golden ring vanished, her figure disappeared completely.
"Julian, why didn't you stop her? Even if Zekrom and Reshiram couldn't do it, don't we still have an even more powerful partner?"
Jirachi asked in confusion.
Under Jirachi's healing, Julian's injuries had already improved considerably. Hearing that, he shook his head and said, "Hoopa... is no simple opponent."
"I have a feeling this woman still has an even bigger trump card, and our partner needs treatment as well."
The very appearance of the golden ring meant that Hoopa had fully awakened. But since it hadn't appeared itself, Julian figured it was likely trapped somewhere.
Still the likelihood of stopping the Master wasn't very high.
Even if they had stopped the Master and killed her, the "Demon God" behind her would still exist, and that entity was the true mastermind.
If Julian killed the Master, Hoopa could simply find another human to take her place. Even if there were certain restrictions on who could serve this role, if it wanted to find someone, it surely could.
So it was better to let the Master go; at the very least, Julian had some understanding of her.
Another point was that his Pokémon were basically all in an injured state, and several of them were very seriously hurt.
Staying inside their Poké Balls wouldn't heal their injuries, but the Poké Balls could slow the worsening of their conditions.
But if he continued fighting the Master, who knew how long the battle would last?
The latter didn't care whether her Pokémon lived or died, but Julian did. His Pokémon were his family, and disregarding their lives was something he absolutely couldn't bring himself to do.
"Meta~"
While they were talking, Metagross had already returned.
"What about that Dragonite?" Julian asked.
Metagross shook its head. It could no longer sense that Dragonite's presence; it seemed the Dragonite had already vanished.
"Forget it then."
Julian shook his head. Perhaps that Dragonite had also been taken away by the golden ring.
It was a peak Pseudo-First-class Legendary Pokémon after all—with that kind of strength, the Master surely wouldn't abandon it.
"That Darkrai is gone too."
The moment the Godless Barrier shattered, Darkrai had already disappeared. And Julian had no idea where it had fled to either.
Otherwise, he would have liked to beat that guy up.
With the Master's departure, this battle could be considered concluded, but everyone understood that an even larger-scale conflict still lay ahead.
---
> "Count this woman lucky she ran fast, otherwise she'd have been surrounded and beaten to death by the Champions later."
> "Hoopa—does anyone know anything about this First-class Legendary?"
> "What was that golden ring ability just now? It could actually redirect the Twin Dragons' attacks."
> "Without even showing itself, that Demon God can already do this much. If it actually appears, just how strong would it be?"
> "Champion Walker should have stopped that woman. Why did he let her go in the end?"
> "The situation was unclear. Acting rashly wasn't an option."
---
The livestream chat buzzed with discussion.
The moment Julian uttered the name "Hoopa," the top brass of every nation immediately began investigating this Pokémon that had yet to appear but had already brought about a world-ending crisis.
If not for Julian, these nations would have been utterly unable to withstand the Master's thirty Champion-level Pokémon, let alone the Pseudo-First-class Legendary tier ones.
Pokémon of that caliber were no longer something that ordinary Trainers could stop.
And Julian's very existence was, in itself, an anomaly.
Earlier, the Unown inside Julian's body had blocked Hoopa's golden eyes, and the Master had said that Julian carried a great secret within him.
These words had naturally been heard by the leaders of every nation as well.
They had long known that Julian possessed a great secret. Otherwise, how could he have tamed so many First-class Legendaries, and even command them without paying any price?
You could perhaps explain capturing a First-class Legendary through personal charisma or incredible luck if you really wanted to.
But commanding a First-class Legendary without suffering any backlash—there was definitely something going on there.
"My dear grandson!"
"You brat!"
The voices of John and Jake rang out from the sky.
"Grandpa, Dad."
Julian called out as he looked at the two of them.
The two men each dismounted from Metagross and hurried over to Julian.
"As long as you're alright," John said softly.
His words carried a hint of helplessness. His grandson's enemies had become too powerful—so powerful that even if he had his Pokémon Self-Destruct, he wouldn't be able to help his grandson in the slightest.
Watching Julian being forced step by step into a desperate situation through the livestream while being unable to do anything himself—that feeling of powerlessness had continuously gnawed away at his heart.
For the first time, John felt that maybe his grandson didn't need to be so strong after all.
If only he weren't so strong, then he wouldn't be the one facing these things.
But now, whenever the sky threatened to collapse, Julian would always be the first person required to hold it up.
"You brat, from now on you'd better just stay obediently at home. One trip outside and I was almost scared to death," Jake said, still shaken.
Before this, he had always thought Julian was too much of a shut-in. Looking at it now, it seemed being a homebody was better—a homebody was safer.
Julian looked at his father somewhat speechlessly. The way he put it, it wasn't like he went around looking for trouble—trouble came looking for him.
But on second thought, it really had started with him deceiving the Master. As the swindler, getting beaten up by her did seem somewhat understandable.
As for the Master, she didn't seem to have suffered much loss.
She didn't feel any heartache over twenty-nine of her Pokémon dying, and she'd even gained a peak Pseudo-First-class Legendary Dragonite.
In a way, she might even have come out ahead.
"Grandpa, Dad, you two head back first. I still have something to take care of."
Julian's thoughts turned to Dragonite's injuries.
Dragonite's injuries were no longer something that ordinary treasures could heal, and he didn't possess a World-class healing treasure either.
The System Shop had them for sale, but he didn't have enough points.
Moreover, he wasn't even certain whether a World-class healing treasure could completely heal Dragonite.
So he needed to find Xerneas. That top-tier healer could definitely heal Dragonite.
"Is it because of Dragonite?" John asked.
He had seen Dragonite's injuries from the livestream as well.
One could say it was only half a step away from death. With injuries like that, forget healing—even just keeping it alive was extremely difficult.
"Mm," Julian nodded.
Because of the Frozen Heart, Dragonite was temporarily frozen in stasis. In fact, he didn't need to rush off to find Xerneas right away; he could completely wait until his own injuries were healed before going.
But he didn't want to wait.
He didn't want the Pokémon that had nearly given its life for him to lie there trapped in freezing ice.
"You have a way?" Jake asked.
"I have, but I'll only know if it works after I try," Julian said.
He wasn't sure whether Xerneas would be willing to help him, and on top of that, the other party was still in deep slumber.
He would have no choice but to forcibly wake it up.
Hopefully, Xerneas wouldn't be the type to wake up on the wrong side of the bed.
Or maybe he should find Mew and have it put in a good word for him first?
Julian's mind began to stir with ideas.
Weren't Mew and Xerneas good friends? If he had Mew go and smooth things over, surely Xerneas would be willing to do Mew a favor, right?
*****
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