Julian had suppressed the levels of these three Pokémon from the Champion tier to Pseudo-Champion, but this wasn't just a simple suppression of their strength—it was an all-around suppression, which naturally included their physical attributes as well.
Pierce's three Regis were already quite powerful to begin with, and each of them had used an Ultimate treasure.
With all three attacks striking Zeraora simultaneously, it was only natural that it hurt.
And Zeraora wasn't a Steel-type Pokémon, so its own defenses weren't particularly high to begin with.
"Mage!"
Seeing the pained expression on Zeraora's face, Magearna let out a soft cry, and a glow radiated from its body, linking it with Zeraora.
The moment the connection formed, Zeraora immediately felt half of its pain disappear.
[Pain Split: Combines the user's HP and the target's HP, then evenly redistributes them between both sides.]
Simply put, this move was about sharing the damage.
Under the effect of Pain Split, half of the damage dealt to Zeraora by the three Regis was transferred to Magearna.
Magearna was both a Steel-type and Fairy-type Pokémon, so its defenses were naturally much higher than Zeraora's.
This amount of damage was completely within its ability to endure.
"Zera~"
Zeraora nodded toward Magearna.
Even without Pain Split, those three attacks wouldn't have knocked it down, but pain was still pain and it wasn't a masochist like Kingambit.
It certainly didn't enjoy being hurt.
Meanwhile, Regice, having been struck by Zeraora's Plasma Fists, had collapsed to the ground and was now struggling desperately to stand back up.
A flicker of surprise crossed Zeraora's eyes—the opponent actually hadn't been one-shotted by its attack.
"Sal!"
A Dragon Pulse suddenly shot forth, striking Regice just as it managed to stand, knocking it down once more.
This time, it did not rise again.
"Zera!"
Zeraora looked at the kill-stealing Salamence with clear annoyance.
Salamence bared its teeth in a grin—the thrill of stealing a kill was truly satisfying.
Pierce recalled the defeated Regice and said helplessly, "No point continuing—I surrender."
Regice had already been defeated. So how were the remaining two Regis supposed to fight Julian's three Pokémon?
His opponent's overall strength had already been superior to begin with, and now they also held a numerical advantage.
The outcome was obvious.
There was no point continuing the battle.
It was just a pity that he hadn't even gotten the chance to use the three Regis' combined move. But even if he had, it wouldn't have mattered much, because the combined move could only target a single Pokémon.
And once the combined move was used, the three Regis would be completely drained of strength. And at that point, defeat would be inevitable.
Pierce conceded, and with that, the battle was over.
"Mage..."
Magearna looked at Registeel with clear reluctance. It hadn't even defeated its opponent yet, and the opponent's trainer had already surrendered.
How spineless.
Its gaze toward Pierce now carried a hint of disdain.
Zeraora and Salamence also felt unsatisfied. They had finally found opponents worth fighting, only for the battle to end before they could fully enjoy it.
"Alright, alright. Next time, I'll let you have a one-on-one match with it," Julian said, walking up to Magearna with some amusement as he looked at its puffed-up, indignant expression.
A sulking Magearna was quite a rare sight.
"Mage~"
Magearna shook its head. It had already experienced what battling felt like, so if it wasn't necessary, it would rather not fight anymore.
Its battlefield wasn't here—it was with Slowking-sensei.
After checking the time and seeing that it was already close to eleven o'clock, Magearna suddenly cried out, and then hurriedly ran toward the house.
It needed to start preparing lunch.
Today, Slowking had gone out to teach a class, and Love had accompanied Tina to the shopping mall.
Cooking on its own wasn't a first for Magearna. Even when Slowking and Love were home sometimes, they would still let Magearna cook by itself for the family.
Watching Magearna hurry off, Julian called out, "Magearna, make extra for lunch—Pierce will be eating here too!"
"Mage!"
Magearna's response echoed back from the distance.
Since it was already mealtime, Julian naturally intended to keep Pierce for lunch.
"Tonight we'll go out somewhere and have a proper meal while catching up. For lunch, eat at my place first. You haven't tasted Magearna's cooking yet, so this is a good opportunity."
Pierce nodded. The military had given him a year to challenge the Gyms, and now he had already finished challenging them all, with three months still remaining.
Naturally, he planned to spend that time traveling, seeing different places, and catching up with friends.
Otherwise, once he returned to duty, who knew when he'd get another vacation.
From beginning to end, the battle had lasted a little over half an hour.
"Not bad," Julian patted Pierce on the shoulder. "At this rate, in ten years at the shortest—or who knows exactly how long—you could become a Champion."
Although he had held back, the fact that Pierce had managed to fight him for half an hour already proved that his strength was considerable.
Hearing Julian's words, Pierce chuckled and said, "What kind of thing is that to say—'who knows exactly how long'?"
"Then I'll take that back. At the longest, eleven years—and you'll definitely break through and become a Champion," Julian immediately corrected himself.
The gap between Peak Pseudo-Champion and Champion was enormous.
On Drakoria's Elite rankings, the top ten were all Peak Pseudo-Champions. Some of them had remained at that level for decades without breaking through to Champion.
So the vast majority of Peak Pseudo-Champions spent their entire lives stuck at that stage.
Which one of them hadn't been a dazzling genius in their youth, praised as a prodigy? Yet most of them ultimately remained trapped at the Peak Pseudo-Champion level for life.
"That's more like it," Pierce nodded in satisfaction.
He wasn't even a late-stage Pseudo-Champion yet. So becoming a Champion was still far too distant for him.
Right now, he should be thinking about how to reach the late-stage of Pseudo-Champion level first.
As the two chatted, they arrived at Julian's home.
Magearna was busy in the kitchen, but still poured Pierce a cup of tea.
"Magearna, this tea is amazing!"
Pierce wasn't much of a coffee fan—he preferred tea.
So the moment he tasted it, his eyes immediately lit up.
The tea itself was a type of treasure, something even the finest teas available on the market couldn't compare to.
Combined with Magearna's exceptional tea-brewing skills, the taste became even better.
"Mage~"
Magearna now felt that this human wasn't so bad after all—at the very least, he had good taste.
In a good mood, it returned to the kitchen and continued preparing lunch.
"Hoo..."
Watching Magearna leave, Pierce couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.
Then, looking at Julian with a degree of admiration, he said, "You're really something. Having Slowking wasn't enough—you went and raised another little steward as well."
Just now, the look Magearna had given him carried an immense amount of pressure.
"I dare you to say that in front of Slowking."
Julian cast him a sideways glance, reached out to pour himself a cup of tea, and conveniently topped off Pierce's cup as well.
"Wait until I finish drinking before refilling it. Otherwise the flavor changes," Pierce hurriedly said.
Drinking tea involved far more attention to detail than drinking coffee.
As for all those intricacies and customs, Julian didn't understand them at all.
*****
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