Only after a king had vanished could they finally reach the utopia that other kings had dreamed of, yet could never attain.
Garden of Avalon.
Calyrex reclaimed its power, restoring abundance to this once-barren land. The soil became fertile, and flowers and vegetables sprang from the earth like shoots after a spring rain.
The price was that the faith Calyrex had accumulated was steadily disappearing.
Yet it was all worthwhile.
Spectrier gazed upon the beautiful world of blooming flowers, and its memories gradually returned to a time long, long ago.
Perhaps the place where the king dwelled truly was a homeland where humans and Pokémon alike could live in peace.
Calyrex had regained so much power this time that neither Spectrier nor Glastrier would likely be able to escape again. Still, without Calyrex mustering it into service, Spectrier would still be robbing travelers outside Freezington.
Becoming a royal steed had opened up a much wider world for it.
Hikaru was equally astonished. The transformation of the Crown Tundra could only be described as earth-shattering.
From this day forward, Freezington would become a secluded and extraordinarily fertile land, isolated from the rest of the world.
The Arc Phone reacted.
Calyrex's eyes filled with amusement.
Although their hearts had been connected for a long time, there were always certain things they could not accomplish within the Dream World.
Now was the time to make their covenant.
[An extraordinary symbol has been detected. Trace its shape!]
[You obtained the Light Trail of "Calyrex—Glastrier and Spectrier"!]
[Calyrex, the King of Bountiful Harvests who rules the Crown Tundra, entrusts its power to the friend who guided and taught it. This bond shall remain forever engraved within its heart!]
Calyrex: Level 11, WIND/WATER/DARK Attributes, Warrior Type, Fusion.
Its form changes depending on the Fusion Materials used, becoming the King of Bountiful Harvests, the White Rider King, or the Black Rider King.
As the King of Bountiful Harvests, its ATK and DEF were both 1800. After Fusion, its ATK and DEF both became 4000.
[An extraordinary symbol has been detected. Trace its shape!]
[You obtained the Light Trail of "Eternatus"!]
"Huh? You have one too?"
Hikaru looked toward the Great Red Dragon lying weakly against a distant mountainside.
No one knew what Eternatus was thinking.
But they could sense one thing.
Gratitude for having its life saved.
Whatever else had happened, after the light of the Darkest Day was stolen, it had been Hikaru and the others who saved Eternatus. There had been a minor disagreement before that, but Eternatus would soon forget such unpleasantness.
The Great Red Dragon decided to respond to Calyrex's invitation.
After all, this king wasn't like that ancient dead spirit that constantly nagged in its ear and threw around so-called wisdom.
Whatever else might be said, both Eternatus and Calyrex were Pokémon.
And since they were both Pokémon...
"Have you decided to try understanding each other?" Hikaru asked telepathically. "Wisdom is a wonderful thing. You should always remember to use your super wisdom."
Eternatus whimpered and gave a low growl.
Ah... yes!
You're right!
The Great Red Dragon nodded!
My super strength is telling me that now is the time to use my super wisdom!
Hikaru couldn't help imagining Calyrex riding Eternatus.
"The Light Trail cards for Calyrex's beloved riding system are still missing quite a few mounts. Still, its friends and companions across the Crown Tundra..."
"No, wait. Calyrex riding Eternatus really would be a future no one ever imagined!"
Calyrex's enhancement was simple.
Whenever it rode another Pokémon, its new base stats would be calculated using its mount's base stats. Every stat except HP would then increase by twenty points.
As for HP, it was unclear whether Calyrex retained its own base stat or inherited its mount's.
Calyrex and both of its steeds possessed base HP stats of 100, so there was no way to tell.
But if Calyrex could inherit Eternatus's HP...
Hmm.
Psychic/Dragon typing, 140 HP, 105 Attack, 115 in both defenses, 150 Speed, and 165 Special Attack?
Pressure combined with Unnerve, plus access to a move like Recover...
That would make it even more obnoxious to fight.
Zamazenta intoned solemnly:
["Do not forget us. That mysterious symbol also appeared within our hearts, although we do not understand what it is."]
["But it must represent the bond between us."]
Zacian's gaze was gentle.
["A warm trail... Even here in the Crown Tundra, it brings an extraordinary sense of peace."]
The Arc Phone reacted.
[An extraordinary symbol has been detected. Trace its shape!]
[You obtained the Light Trail of "Zacian"!]
[You obtained the Light Trail of "Zamazenta"!]
Four cards could only be counted as four. Glastrier and Spectrier had no independent bond with Hikaru; their bond was with Calyrex.
Naturally, they couldn't be counted as separate units.
"That's right," Hikaru said. "In a distant region, these symbols are called Mark Slates. In an even more ancient era, they seem to have been known as Heart Slates."
"According to legend, after certain Pokémon and humans come to understand one another completely, slates bearing their marks are left behind. People preserve those slates and pass them down from generation to generation."
Hikaru crouched and stroked the approaching heroes of sword and shield.
The two kings possessed immensely powerful legs. A single leap was enough for them to cross mountains and rivers.
Their bodies were also far larger than those of humans.
But whatever else might be said...
They were still enormous canines.
As long as one avoided the areas covered in armor, the rest of their bodies were naturally soft and fluffy to the touch.
"The Rusted Sword was damaged as well, wasn't it? It should be reforged."
"I still have a little Rusted Iron Scrap left. If we combine it with feathers from the Corviknight, we should be able to forge a blade close to the original."
Hikaru touched Zacian.
She froze briefly, then nodded.
["I see... Even something corroded by time can shine once more. Thank you, Tool Meister. And thank you as well, your companion—the king's sword."]
["Will I be able to meet it again someday?"]
That improvised combination attack had been Zacian's first time attempting anything of the sort, but it had felt remarkably good.
The increase in power had been genuine. More importantly, Zacian felt as though she had established a connection with Aegislash.
It was the first time in several thousand years that she had experienced such a strange feeling.
Perhaps that emotion wasn't so unnecessary after all.
Zacian, the elder sister, then looked toward her younger brother, Zamazenta. Her eyes were filled with warmth and joy.
["My decision to restrain myself and allow you to leave this place was the correct one. When I heard of your dream, and when we sensed the appearance of the Dark King Soul, I had already formed an idea."]
["A sword can be deceived and made to harm the people. A shield cannot. A shield's purpose is protection. It is the guardian of the ideal land."]
["Do you remember the king of the people? Although our memories have grown indistinct, the one who was ultimately revered as king was the man who carried the shield."]
Why did Zamazenta's Pokédex entry alone mention a "king of the people"?
Why did the statue at the Budew Drop Inn depict only a single person, while the tapestries in the Hammerlocke Vault depicted two?
And why had the other young man who walked alongside Zacian—or perhaps had merely been chosen in an emergency—never been recorded in the Pokédex or remembered by history?
"Round Shield," Hikaru murmured.
"A round shield. It must have held an incredibly important place in ancient history."
The stories of Britain did indeed contain such a sacred shield.
They also told of a man who obtained the Holy Grail and could be called a king of the people.
In the story of King Arthur's death, two knights told one of the knights seeking the Holy Grail:
"There is a shield that only the greatest knight in the world is worthy of bearing."
In Le Morte d'Arthur, an unnamed knight dressed in white bestowed the sacred shield upon one of the Knights of the Round Table who sought the Holy Grail.
The shield was a weapon made in the name of Jesus. It possessed the power to heal its bearer completely, even after they had suffered grievous wounds.
The shield had once belonged to a king. Whenever the king entered battle, he kept it concealed beneath a cloth, unveiling it only when danger arose.
The moment his enemies saw the image of Jesus crucified upon the cross, they would lose without offering battle.
The Knight of the Round Table who raised the sacred shield, sought the Holy Grail, and ultimately ascended to Heaven was eventually hailed as the king of the people.
His true name was Galahad.
["I do not fully understand the stories passed down among humans, but I am no longer the same as I was in the past,"] Zamazenta said with a complicated expression.
["It seems my sister entrusted her destiny to me."]
["At last, I fulfilled it. Therefore, the person who could realize that wish and raise the shield..."]
["That person is you!"]
Hikaru stroked Zamazenta's shield.
"No, how could it possibly be me? I only raised the shield inside a dream. You're the true Hero of the Shield."
"Humans don't have the power to absorb metal! Besides, I'm hardly some desireless and selfless knight. My desires are enormous!"
"And although you call me a craftsman, I haven't reached the pinnacle of the profession. I could only forge those things because I happened to know which materials to use."
Hikaru could forge mythical items, but only when the location and circumstances granted him the necessary advantages.
In Pokémon Adventures, Henry Sword practiced the same profession. As the counterpart of Victor, the male protagonist of the Pokémon Sword and Shield games, Henry was a genuine Tool Meister.
While attempting to forge the sword and shield, he had once said:
["Until now, I've always been able to tell at a glance what something was made from and what form it would take once completed. I knew exactly how to forge it and bring it into its optimal condition."]
The only reason he had failed to forge the sword and shield was that he couldn't identify the mysterious metal from which they had been made.
That was only natural.
Meltan had never appeared in the world of Pokémon Adventures.
A Pokémon that didn't exist couldn't be found through a Mystery Box, either. During their Crown Tundra expedition, they had never opened the ruins of the titans. They could hardly expect the Legendary Birds to dig a box out of the ground for them.
"Without the Rusted Iron Scrap, things wouldn't have gone nearly this smoothly."
"So I still have a great deal to learn on the path of a craftsman."
Hikaru's self-assessment caused Zacian and Zamazenta to chuckle.
A moment later, their expressions turned solemn.
["For the sake of creating an ideal land that shall endure for another three thousand years!"]
["Here and now, I make this covenant with you,"] Zamazenta declared.
["And this covenant shall endure until the end of our lives,"] Zacian added.
——————
Sonia fiddled with her instruments. At last, her expression brightened with delight.
"It's over! The wormhole has closed, and every abnormal wavelength has vanished! Phew!"
She collapsed onto the ground.
"That scared me half to death... I never want to go through anything like that again! Exploring is exciting, but getting caught in a clash between monsters powerful enough to tear down mountains..."
"I-I'm just a helpless young woman with no fighting ability, okay?!"
"Becoming a professor is difficult," Hikaru said. "In the past, Professor Oak and the others personally conducted field research. They even encountered many unknown incidents while traveling to distant frontiers or secret islands."
"The title of professor isn't easy to earn. Still, you should have more than enough material for a paper after this. How are things going with Professor Burnet?"
Sonia's eyes gradually lit up.
"Oh! That's right! Professor Burnet wants the two of us to jointly publish a paper on Ultra Wormholes! Goodness, I'm actually going to coauthor a paper with a real professor!"
"This is a blessing in disguise! Maybe I'll be able to inherit my grandmother's position sooner... No, no, no! I should open my own research institute!"
"Professor Sonia... Ahem! I'm going to become a real professor!"
"Although... if I want to become a proper professor, I apparently need to know how to fight too. Should I find someone to help train me?"
Marnie looked around.
"There are grasslands everywhere... Is this what the Crown Tundra looked like long ago?"
"It's beautiful. Flowers are blooming in a land of ice and snow, and everything is covered in lush greenery. You hardly ever see a sight like this in a cold region like Galar."
"That's true," Bea agreed. "If the land changed this drastically, it's only natural that later generations would forget the legends."
Chairman Rose stared at the transformed landscape.
"Along with the king's history, the people of Galar also forgot this land."
"Compared with the crowded mainland, where industry advances with every passing day, this truly is an ideal homeland isolated from the rest of the world."
"Ah... I have an idea."
"The land of the Crown Tundra should rightfully belong to Calyrex and remain under its rule. Perhaps it could even..."
The Legendary Pokémon gathered before him had shaken the Chairman to his core.
This land was guarded by so many monarchs and legends. So long as the people of Galar could cast aside their own greed and darkness, it could remain peaceful and abundant forever.
Hikaru walked over to him.
"Perhaps it could even become the starting point for a new age of heroic legends. Isn't that what you were thinking?"
"Mm. I should have expected no less from you!" Chairman Rose's expression relaxed.
Ever since he had cast himself in the role of Galar's savior, this was the first time he had truly allowed his body and mind to relax.
"The new heroes... By that, I mean Trainers with potential and talent."
"After they overcome a succession of trials, I—or rather, the next Chairman—could recommend that they come to the Crown Tundra."
"They could undergo the trials and training of the Legendary Kings who rule this land, tempering their bodies and minds until they become stronger people."
"This could become a kind of Battle Frontier."
"Just like Master Mustard opening his dojo on the Isle of Armor. Now I finally understand what Mustard meant all those years ago."
"I also understand why he purchased that isolated island, and what the Pokémon known as Urshifu represents within our history."
"Everything is connected."
"The people of Galar lost the 'bear,' and with it, they lost their qualifications to be 'heroes.'"
"Over three thousand years, the kindness of the past and the determination that created this ideal land were gradually worn away."
"In the past, I would outwardly listen to others when they rejected my ideas, yet inwardly dismiss every word they said."
"I believed that only material prosperity could raise the spiritual character of the people. Once our resources were exhausted and life was no longer comfortable, Galar would become an impoverished and hostile land filled with extreme selfishness."
"But now, my heart contains only joy and gratitude."
"With these legends here, Galar's future will never become what I feared. Ah... I once argued against your words, but now I must offer you my most sincere apology."
Chairman Rose suddenly laughed.
It was another laugh that came from the bottom of his heart.
"There is still far too much that I do not know. Faced with everything in this world, there is only one thing I can say."
"I know nothing!"
"Worshiping human idols creates fanatical followers and selfish people with darkness in their hearts."
"But if the king they worship is a Pokémon—and the highest of kings at that—then the people could gather beneath the king's Round Table..."
"What a wonderful thing that would be!"
"You want Galar's newcomers to form bonds with Calyrex so that the king's legend will continue being passed down in this age," Hikaru said.
"But perhaps you could make the television advertising fees a little cheaper in the future."
"Wahahahaha—!"
The Chairman froze, then burst into laughter.
"Now that I think about it, Galar could have several new sites for trials! My mind is once again overflowing with development plans. I must write them all down and leave them for the next Chairman."
"The Crown Trial Grounds! Those who pass the king's test will be knighted as protectors of Galar."
"Does the Titan King possess its own trial as well? And Eternatus's trial could, exactly as you suggested, become the ultimate test of every Champion Cup."
"However, anyone who fails will undoubtedly feel frustrated. They will need some way to release those emotions. The knightly trials of the Crown Tundra and the Training of the Heart on the Isle of Armor are both necessary."
"Galar still possesses limitless potential! I'll write down all these plans and leave them for those who come after me!"
"That reminds me... I also need to apologize to my younger brother—the man who cut off all contact with me."
"As his older brother, I ultimately did something unforgivable."
"He saw the truth far more clearly than I did."
The Chairman looked toward Marnie and Bea.
"The same is true of both of you."
"Piers-kun's younger sister, your age and current strength are already more than sufficient to participate in the Gym Challenge!"
"Your performance today was outstanding. You successfully controlled a Dynamaxed Pokémon and were remembered by the king itself."
"This is the beginning of a heroic epic."
"Every hero begins growing while they are still a child."
"As an older brother, Piers-kun is far more qualified than I am. What would you think about your brother becoming the next Chairman?"
Marnie jumped.
"What?! Shouldn't Mr. Leon become Chairman? No, wait—I can't answer something like that!"
"Hahaha! It's merely another option to consider," Rose replied.
He then turned toward Bea, his expression becoming solemn.
"This may be the request of an incompetent and guilty man, but you truly have found excellent training companions, along with a teacher and friend who can guide you."
"Your match was magnificent!"
"You defeated Leon with all manner of unusual techniques... No, those were the results of your training, weren't they?"
"Greater strength, superior technique, and more accurate judgment."
"Whether Leon intends to reclaim his throne or not, until the end of next year's Champion Cup..."
"I shall entrust Galar to you."
Bea's expression was filled with regret.
"Chairman... I previously heard rumors that you might do something."
"That's why I thought that if I became Champion, I would be able to defeat any enemy. No matter what crisis Galar faced, I would be able to stand against it."
"But now I realize that my strength is still lacking in many ways."
"Even so, my wish truly did come true."
"So I won't allow Leon to return to his throne!"
"Because next year, I'll be even stronger than I am now!"
Bea looked toward Hikaru and nodded firmly. Then she began murmuring to herself.
"Although I specialize in raising Fighting-type Pokémon, a Champion needs a diverse team."
"I'll need to visit every Gym in turn and train with them!"
"Hmm... Before that, I think there's another matter I need to handle."
"I should return to Stow-on-Side."
Could such a young girl truly shoulder the responsibilities of Champion?
Chairman Rose spread his hands.
It wasn't that he doubted her.
"Don't worry about it. Leon also became Champion at the age of ten, and he continued growing from that day onward."
"After he defeated the previous Champion... once you sit upon that throne yourself, you will naturally understand what must be done."
"NO More Heroes. In other words, traditional heroes of the old era are no longer needed. New heroes will replace them."
"That is the eternal transformation of the age of heroes."
"Now then, Sir Hikaru, what do you intend to do next?"
"Hmm? Are those...?"
Sordward and Shielbert, both unconscious, were dragged over from the distance by Telekinesis.
Hikaru took an Odd Keystone carved from a gravestone and knocked it against their foreheads twice.
Dark soul fragments were pulled from the depths of their hearts. They transformed into ghostly flames and were absorbed into the Odd Keystone!
Marnie watched Hikaru's actions curiously.
"You're sealing the dark souls inside their hearts?"
"What is that fire?"
She touched her vest.
"Is there fire inside my body too?"
"Ghostly flame is the spirit itself," Hikaru explained. "But the flames appearing here are a special phenomenon caused by the Shadow Crystal."
"We already discussed that when we talked about Spiritomb."
"However, there is another legend that sounds absurd but is completely true."
"A human soul can be divided."
"And it isn't limited to human souls. The same can happen to certain Pokémon."
"According to one story, a king attempted to control a Legendary Pokémon, only to be sealed inside a ball by that very Pokémon."
"Another story says that a rampaging demon once appeared in the ancient history of Kalos."
"With one wave of its hand, it could summon endless mountains of gold and silver. With another, it could cause Legendary Pokémon to rampage across the land."
"A traveler possessing powerful magic approached the demon and created a bottle with a mysterious divine Plate."
"The bottle absorbed the demon's true power and transformed it into a child. The traveler then told it that it would have to spend the next hundred years learning discipline and restraint."
"Although the demon had been transformed into a child and remained mischievous, it gradually became friends with the traveler and realized the errors of its past."
"However, the portion of its power sealed within the bottle developed a consciousness of its own and waited for an opportunity to cause chaos."
"There certainly are a great many dangerous things in this world," Rose remarked. "Still, if it happened in Kalos, I suppose it isn't surprising."
"Humanity and the darkness of the human soul transforming into ghostly flames..."
"However, there haven't been 108 royal descendants here, so there aren't enough to create a Spiritomb."
"If the Shadow Crystal once influenced the people of Almia, then did someone also seal away their dark souls?"
Hikaru searched his memories.
"I believe so."
A powerful Spiritomb could be found inside the ruins where the Shadow Crystal had once been sealed.
Unlike ordinary Spiritomb, it possessed five Odd Keystones.
During its capture, it would leap back and forth between the five stones, making it incredibly troublesome to deal with.
That was why Hikaru had thought of using Spiritomb's power to seal dark souls.
The Ranger protagonist had once asked whether Spiritomb was the guardian protecting the Shadow Crystal.
Sven rejected that conclusion and ultimately deduced that the true guardian was Darkrai.
In that case, a Spiritomb with no Field Move capable of helping inside the ruins could only have been—
A collection of the human nature that had leaked from the Shadow Crystal.
Or perhaps a mass of dark souls that had once been sealed alongside it.
Did the existence of five Odd Keystones mean that five hundred people had once served the King of Almia?
————————
Far away on the snowfield, the ancient royalists caught in the aftermath of the earlier battle struggled to their feet.
Researchers, socialites, noblewomen—every one of them wore an expression of absolute terror.
Their leaders, Sordward and Shielbert, had been captured. Even so, the others planned to return to mainland Galar.
"The Crown Tundra is terrifying!"
"Our restoration has failed!"
"It doesn't matter! As long as we return to the mainland, we'll still belong to the upper class!"
With those thoughts in mind, they prepared to release their Pokémon and escape while no one was paying attention to useless people hiding in a forgotten corner.
Bzzzz—
A wave of psychic power suddenly swept in from beyond the distant woodland, forcefully snatching away the Poké Balls in their hands!
"Elegantly!"
"I shall capture every last one of you!"
"Now the so-called royal descendants and socialites will cease to exist as well!"
With an exaggerated flourish, Avery appeared a short distance away!
His psychic powers had returned to normal. He could no longer wield power on the level of Teleport or Psychic.
But his basic telekinetic abilities remained unchanged!
Making Poké Balls—or people—fly for a short distance was still perfectly manageable!
"A-Avery! You belong to the Psychic Gym! You're a subordinate of Mr. Sordward and Mr. Shielbert!"
"What are you doing?! Put us down immediately!"
"Don't you want status and authority?"
"Have you forgotten everything that happened before?"
Avery struck another dramatic pose and wagged one finger.
"Such things are no longer of any use to me, Avery!"
"I, Avery, shall travel to a new land where I can display my magnificent talents! A brand-new life awaits me!"
"Before I depart, I shall perform some volunteer work by capturing all of you and delivering you to the judgment seat!"
"I'm certain you socialites have conducted many secret transactions with the League Committee."
"But if every Gym Leader, along with both the former and current Champions, decides to strip away your status, even the Committee won't be able to protect you!"
Behind Avery, Hop climbed down from Genesect and scratched his head.
"Honestly, I still don't completely understand what happened."
"But that was incredible...!"
"Also, the three titans Mr. Hikaru summoned suddenly disappeared. They scattered like streams of light."
"What happened? Were they illusions, or something else?"
Most people couldn't understand the summoning method of the Light Trails.
How could Pokémon possibly cross the boundaries of time and space to reach a distant land?
After all, this was a unique summoning method from the Oblivia region. It had been passed down since ancient times, but no one in the modern era knew about it.
Hop jogged over to the others.
The moment he saw Chairman Rose, he froze.
"Ah! Y-You're..."
"Are you really Chairman Rose?!"
Rose smiled.
"You're Leon's younger brother. I know who you are."
"So you were the one who awakened the titan. Excellent. It seems there was another hero here."
"You appear to have been drawn into this incident by chance. But chance... Who can say whether it was truly nothing more than fate playing its tricks?"
"As expected of brothers. Both the elder and younger are remarkable young men."
Hop wanted to say more, but this clearly wasn't the time for enthusiastic greetings.
The Chairman was also exhausted, so Hop asked no further questions.
Instead, he handed Hikaru the Poké Balls containing Regieleki and Regidrago.
"That's everything returned!"
"And here are Ting-Lu and Chi-Yu. You lent them to me for protection earlier!"
["No matter what enemy we encountered, Genesect simply blasted it with a cannon before we had any opportunity to act,"] Ting-Lu complained.
["Although our own moves would also have defeated those opponents in a single hit."]
["So impatient... Far too impatient,"] Chi-Yu muttered.
Super Moose and Bubbles were deeply disappointed that they had never found an opportunity to enter battle.
They grumbled among themselves, insisting that the iron insect desperately needed to be weakened.
It had advanced technology and every dirty trick imaginable!
What kind of Pokémon switched Drives halfway through a flight?
That Dual-Drive System was blatant cheating, especially when Genesect already possessed so many elemental attacks!
Hikaru comforted the two Pokémon, promising there would be plenty of fighting for them in the future.
Off to one side, however, Pao-Pao was hissing at Zacian.
Exactly!
They were both weapons, yet Chien-Pao couldn't defeat the Sword King.
In that case, Ting-Lu—the strongest of the Treasures of Ruin—could surely defeat her!
How humiliating!
We're both swords, yet I was relegated to the lower seat!
What kind of hero fights Pao-Pao one-on-one?
Just wait until I bring Old Deer and Little Fish! Then we'll show you Steel types the meaning of dirty tactics!
"Well, well, Challenger Avery—"
"Ch-Chairman?!"
The two people who had helped cause this incident stared at one another.
Avery swallowed hard. He remembered insulting Chairman Rose in the past, and his expression became incredibly awkward.
Rose merely spread his hands.
"Being criticized by Challengers is hardly unusual."
——————————
After the battle ended, Sonia still needed to exchange research data with Professor Burnet.
She and Bea also returned to the area surrounding the collapsed cavern, hoping to search for the crimson, muscular mosquito.
If they could capture Buzzwole and send it to Alola, it would become an extraordinarily important research subject.
Unfortunately, the mountainside had collapsed. There seemed to be no way to reenter the ancient cave Hikaru had called the Max Lair for Dynamax Adventures.
Naturally, even while searching the surrounding area, Sonia insisted that Garganacl accompany her.
The snowfield remained cold, although it was steadily becoming more fertile. Garganacl didn't possess much body heat, yet merely having it stand behind Sonia made her feel warm!
Naturally, that had absolutely nothing to do with it blocking the freezing wind!
This white giant was simply incredibly reliable!
Everyone else finally relaxed.
Now that the crisis was over, there was only one thing left to do—
Eat!
They needed to restore their strength, light a campfire, and stew some vegetables.
Should they ask the king itself to do the cooking?
Meanwhile, Armarouge and Iron Valiant used sacred flames and Fairy-type energy to reforge the broken sword!
Having regained the divine power of the Sword King, Zacian happily held the blade in her mouth and swung it through the air with a series of whooshes.
Because the blade had been reconstructed using Rusted Iron Scrap, it also granted a 1.2-times same-type attack bonus.
However, it provided no additional resistances.
Only a tiny amount of the Rusted Iron Scrap remained, so it probably couldn't display the full power it possessed in ancient times.
["Phew. Isn't this already more than enough?"] Zamazenta complained. ["If the sword becomes even stronger than the shield, then Fairy/Steel will leave Fighting/Steel with no place at the table."]
["Even after learning Body Press, I'll still be overshadowed by my elder sister."]
["Isn't it only natural for Knights of the Round Table to be kept in check by the King of Knights?"] Zacian replied happily, wagging her braids.
So—
Knights of the Round Table?
Calyrex immediately became enthusiastic.
["Then I shall appoint all of you..."]
["As Knights of the Round Table charged with protecting Galar!"]
"That's a pretty good proposal," Hikaru said.
Chairman Rose nodded thoughtfully.
"Those who pass the trials of the Crown Tundra shall be known as Knights of the Round Table!"
"It has exactly the sort of ancient Galarian character we need!"
(End of Chapter)
[Get +30 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Zaelum"]
[Every 300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]