Jona had no intention of fighting Shiro here.
The underground space was far too restrictive. It was filled with materials specifically designed to suppress Psychic-type Pokémon. If the battle got out of control, it could easily damage the teleportation devices.
The situation was already chaotic. Trainers everywhere were either fighting or trying to escape. One careless move could drag numerous people into the crossfire. That was especially true for the trainers on both sides. If they kept fighting and League trainers or hunters ended up dying from stray flames or falling ice, then what would even be the point?
Besides... wasn't the person in front of her a League Champion? How could he care so little about the League trainers here?
Of course, those were only secondary reasons. The real reason was that Jona wasn't confident she could defeat him.
Otherwise, she would have already taken the Unown.
She tightened her grip around the short dagger. 'If I have to fight... then so be it.'
"Moool!"
Unown Moltres let out a loud cry high above. The cloak of flames wrapped around its wings rippled in the wind as waves of scorching air rolled forward under its precise control and swept toward Articuno A.
Standing on Articuno A's back, Shiro took a slight step backward. Psychic energy briefly distorted the space around him and he instantly teleported to the open ground below.
When two Legendary Pokémon were fighting, ordinary humans had no place standing above to watch.
"Articuno, Blizzard!"
As soon as he gave the order, Shiro's hand closed around the hilt of his knife.
At the same moment, the silver-haired girl rushed straight toward him with her blade lowered, as if she had already expected him to return to the ground.
Jona's eyes were as sharp as an eagle's. The white gleam reflecting from her dagger resembled an eagle's beak. In front of her black cloak, the blade shifted through strange angles without pause. Within only seconds, the distance between them had shrunk to barely three meters.
A chilling flash of steel swept toward Shiro, making his forehead go cold.
He leaned back slightly while stepping to the right. As his body twisted sideways, his short blade slashed upward with tremendous force.
With his strength, the strike could have cut an ordinary person clean in half without slowing down.
Yet Jona's thrust changed speed and direction again halfway through. The tip of her dagger landed precisely against the side of his blade, gliding across it and redirecting the attack. Then it slid upward along the knife and went straight for his throat.
Shiro's pupils widened slightly. Dropping his waist low, he flicked his knife upward just in time, narrowly avoiding the strike while forcing Jona backward.
Their weapons met for only an instant before both of them immediately leaped back and widened the distance again.
Shiro's muscles tensed as his eyes never left Jona for even a moment. He watched every tiny movement she made.
After only one exchange, he realized that she possessed incredible battlefield experience and exceptional skill. In terms of pure combat technique, she was probably even better than Koga from Team Rocket.
The last time he had defeated Koga so easily, it had only been because of Psychic powers.
This time would be no different.
Without holding back, a faint glow lit up Shiro's eyes. Under his extremely precise Psychic perception, everything around him became strangely quiet and sluggish, as though time itself had slowed.
If it were only a contest of skill, he truly wasn't her equal. But combat wasn't decided by technique alone.
The moment Hunter J chose to redirect his knife instead of meeting it head-on, he had already realized that her physical strength was far below his own.
Maybe it was because of biological differences. Maybe it was because her training focused on speed and assassination… It didn't matter.
He had already found the easiest way to defeat her.
Without the slightest hesitation, he drove forward. His knife swept upward like a crescent moon, tracing a curved arc through the air. The blade twisted again at an odd angle, making it impossible to tell where the next strike would land.
Jona's expression darkened as she recognized it to be exactly the same technique she had used moments ago.
It was the inherited frontal combat blade technique of the Sootopolitans, passed down through generations. It was meant to be used after an assassination failed, relying on incredible speed and unpredictable angles that made it impossible for an opponent to judge the direction of the attack.
'He copied it after seeing it once?' Jona couldn't hide her surprise.
He clearly specialized in overwhelming strength... yet his talent for close combat was terrifying.
Still, imitation was only imitation.
Her figure blurred into motion. With one hand, she swung her dagger in light feints. Every strike was simple and efficient, yet to the naked eye they resembled fluttering butterflies that dazzled anyone watching.
A sharp light flashed through Jona's eyes as she spotted an opening and lunged forward.
As long as she could kill the Galar Champion disguised as a hunter before her, those four Unown would become hers. Then with eight Unown in her possession, she would undoubtedly become the next leader of the Sootopolitans.
The distance between them rapidly disappeared. In just a short time, they were only a little over three meters apart. At that range, a single swing was enough for either weapon to strike its target.
Swoosh!
Shiro suddenly whipped his arm forward. A sharp sound split the air as the silver blade flashed brightly.
He had thrown the weapon with pure brute force. There was no technique behind it, but raw strength alone was more than enough.
Jona's eyes widened in shock. Her vision was filled with nothing except the flying knife. As she charged forward, she had no choice but to change her movement and raise her dagger to block the unexpected attack, knocking the blade away.
Clang!
Metal struck metal with a crisp ring.
Simultaneously, a powerful hand clamped tightly around her wrist. The grip was so strong it felt like an iron vice digging into her flesh.
"Got you..." Shiro muttered with a faint smile.
The smile vanished in an instant, replaced by a cold expression. He stepped forward again and drove his knee upward in a powerful front kick.
The air exploded with another cannon-like boom, causing Jona's expression to change drastically. She hurriedly pushed off with the arm he was gripping, twisting her body sideways into the air.
Even so, she was still a fraction too slow. The edge of the kick scraped across one side of her waist and lungs. The sound of cracking bones followed as blood surged into her throat.
Boom!
Carried forward by momentum, Shiro paused for only an instant before slamming his right foot back onto the ground, crushing loose stones beneath it and sending dust flying.
Without hesitating, he spun around and swung his arm. Still gripping Hunter J, he treated her like the weight of a pendulum and smashed her toward the ground.
Jona had only just forced the blood back down her throat when her body accelerated violently downward.
With no other choice, she desperately shifted her dagger and drove it into Shiro's arm.
A sharp pain shot through his forearm, yet he refused to let go. Blood flowed freely as the dagger stabbed wildly, but he still slammed Jona into the ground without slowing down.
Boom!
Dust burst more than half a meter into the air as Jona's body bounced upward like a spring. Her vision blurred for a brief instant and her mind fell into a daze.
Ignoring the blood pouring from his forearm, Shiro coldly stepped forward and launched a fierce kick, intending to finish Jona with one final blow.
"Saaalaamence!"
A brilliant red light erupted as the Poké Ball at Jona's waist automatically burst open. A massive figure emerged in an instant and charged toward the enemy with an enraged roar.
It was a Salamence.
Its blood-red wings spread wide in fury like twin full moons.
Shiro had expected this. Taking advantage of the moment, he snatched the dagger from Jona's hand, quickly retreated several steps, and retrieved his own short knife from the dust.
"Saaalaa!"
Salamence's massive blue head resembled that of a giant lizard, but it radiated overwhelming power.
Its Elite-level strength was on full display as its enormous four-meter body closed in before him.
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