"Mr. Elias!"
Lysandre greeted him warmly in return.
That expression—like a Pyroar seeing its Trainer—almost made Xerosic's sunglasses crack from how hard he stared.
Previously, it was always Malva who handled Lysandre's meetings with Elias.
Xerosic had only heard a few offhand remarks from her—that their normally commanding boss turned into a completely different person around Mr. Elias.
At the time, Xerosic had assumed she was exaggerating just to mess with him.
Seeing it today, he realized… Malva had been underselling it.
"You. Go handle something else."
Noticing his subordinate was still present, Lysandre restrained himself and gave the order in a low voice.
"Y-yes, right away…"
Xerosic nodded repeatedly. If he stayed any longer, he feared he might get silenced.
But…
"Boss, about the Ultimate Weapon…"
He looked as though he wanted to speak but didn't dare, trying again to raise the earlier topic.
He'd been enthusiastically reporting progress earlier, but then Mr. Elias had suddenly arrived at the base, and Xerosic had been sent to greet him.
"We'll talk later."
Lysandre decisively waved him away.
Seeing his boss had lost patience, Xerosic could only swallow the rest and obediently scurry back to his lab.
"Mr. Elias, Yveltal's location has been fully confirmed."
Once his subordinate was gone, Lysandre led Elias toward his office, pulling out a tablet as they walked.
Elias glanced at the screen.
Half showed Yveltal's movements throughout the day.
The other half depicted a massive red bird asleep.
"Right now, Yveltal is in a state somewhere between sleeping and awake."
"So I had my people install cameras nearby, so we can track its movements instantly."
Lysandre pointed at the tablet as he explained.
Elias couldn't help feeling a flicker of surprise.
It sounded simple enough, but in practice, it wasn't easy at all.
While asleep, Yveltal unconsciously drained Life Energy from anything nearby.
Getting close enough to install cameras unnoticed required considerable time and effort.
"From what Xerosic said, you've made progress with the Ultimate Weapon research?"
Elias narrowed his eyes slightly as something occurred to him.
Lysandre clearly hadn't expected Elias to jump to that topic. He froze for a beat, then nodded honestly.
"Recently, we found someone's trail."
"If it's him, he might know how to activate the Ultimate Weapon without involving the two legendary Pokémon."
As he spoke, Lysandre's eyes narrowed faintly.
Combined with his already imposing frame and shadowy aura, he resembled a Pyroar locking onto prey.
Over these past few years, he'd grown increasingly like the head of a criminal organization.
No wonder Xerosic and the others were scared witless.
"Whose trail?" Elias asked, already having a guess but still curious.
"AZ. The King of Kalos from three thousand years ago," Lysandre replied.
AZ had been the creator of the Ultimate Weapon.
Legend had it that, in his desperation to revive his Floette, he'd constructed that terrible weapon without hesitation.
But in the end, Floette abandoned him, and he himself became unable to age or die, cursed by the weapon's influence.
Elias had even once jokingly asked Cogita if she was that Kalosian king.
After all, to him, Cogita was similarly untouched by time.
Back then, Cogita had shot him a disdainful look.
She seemed to hold that ancient Kalos King in absolute contempt.
"I didn't think someone really could live three thousand years."
Elias laughed softly, sounding genuinely interested.
Hearing that, Lysandre glanced at Elias beside him, seeming as if he wanted to speak but held back.
Over the years since they'd met, Lysandre had changed quite a bit.
But Mr. Elias didn't seem to have changed at all.
Hm…
After a brief thought, Lysandre quietly buried whatever he'd been about to say.
"AZ is exceptionally elusive. Few have ever encountered him."
"Team Flare only managed to track his movements because our reach has grown recently. Capturing him will still take time."
Lysandre spoke confidently—he clearly had a plan.
Elias nodded.
If it involved the creator of the Ultimate Weapon, there might indeed be a way around involving the two legendary Pokémon.
Unfortunately…
There wasn't enough time. For now, his only option was to use Yveltal to force Xerneas out.
Lysandre's progress would serve as backup once Elias was gone.
Elias weighed this carefully.
Since most reports reached Elias regularly anyway, the exchange between him and Lysandre went quickly.
And once Elias had the necessary information, the final missing piece of his plan clicked into place.
It would have to be within the next two days…
Staring at the sleeping Yveltal on the tablet, Elias's gaze gradually deepened.
Drawing out Xerneas to heal Diancie—he had to make it happen!
"Is it time to start your plan as well, Mr. Elias?"
After hesitating slightly, Lysandre asked cautiously.
Even after all these years, he still didn't know Elias's true intentions or goals.
But given how closely Elias had recently tracked Yveltal, it certainly involved the legendary Pokémon of death.
When Elias nodded, Lysandre unexpectedly felt a hint of nervousness.
"Mr. Elias, I'm going to temporarily halt our pursuit of AZ and the Ultimate Weapon."
After some consideration, he spoke in a low voice.
Elias looked puzzled.
Why abruptly stop such a major plan?
Before he could question it, Lysandre continued:
"If Yveltal is involved, your plan can't be something small."
"Team Flare only has so many hands. I'm sure you can make use of them."
In other words, he intended to help Elias first.
At Lysandre's offer, even Elias was caught off guard.
He was going to pause his own plans and lend Elias manpower?
For a moment, Elias almost suspected the lion's mane in front of him belonged to someone else.
Using the Ultimate Weapon to create a new world—that had been Lysandre's life ambition these past few years.
To achieve it, he'd invested massive amounts of manpower, resources, and money.
Once exposed, the Pokémon League would haul him in and hand him an ironclad life sentence.
Yet even with all that at stake, he was willing to pause everything temporarily just to help Elias?
Anyone who knew Lysandre even slightly would be stunned speechless.
Delphox had already slipped from her Poké Ball, gripping her wand and eyeing Lysandre warily.
She suspected this human had ulterior motives!
"No. You focus on your own work," Elias said, quickly snapping back and rejecting his offer without hesitation.
He had only a few days left to live. No matter what, the ending for him was death.
But for Lysandre, there was still AZ—a promising new lead.
If Elias's plan failed, AZ could become Diancie's last remaining hope for healing.
---
AZ: the Floette superfan from three thousand years ago.
T/N: hehehe sorrgeee well not really but i actually forgot about webnovel LMAOOOO anyway heres ur 4 chapssss
bonus chaps
100 stones -> 1 chapter
200 stones -> 2 chapters
300 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
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