"Garde! Voir!"
After successfully completing Mega Evolution, Gardevoir floated quietly in midair. Waves of terrifying energy radiated outward, causing the surrounding air itself to twist and distort!
She could clearly feel her own power now. After Mega Evolution, her strength had stepped directly into the Guardian Deity level, and under the blessing of the will of all beings, that power continued to grow—faintly resembling the descent of yet another guardian deity!
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
Thunder still roared endlessly in the sky.
After returning to the heavens, Thundurus began gathering power once more, its body transforming again into lightning as it dove down from the sky.
Facing the oncoming lightning, Mega Gardevoir suddenly raised her hand. Waves of spatial energy spread outward, distorting the surrounding space.
In an instant, it was as if the entire world had been put into slow motion. Thundurus's speed—gained after turning into lightning—was reduced to a crawl, advancing only a tiny distance after a long time.
In contrast, Mega Gardevoir swiftly raised her hand. Psychic power condensed rapidly within her palm, compressing the surrounding space before being unleashed as a brilliant psychic beam. In the blink of an eye, the seven-colored light reached Thundurus and completely engulfed it!
BOOM!
As terrifying energy exploded, spiderweb-like cracks appeared in the surrounding space. A black hole formed in the battlefield, twisting and devouring everything within that region!
When the spatial chaos finally subsided, Thundurus's battered figure fell from the sky and crashed heavily onto the ground.
"This is the end. The old era should come to a close!"
Aven took a deep breath, raised the Poké Ball in his hand, and threw it with all his strength. The Poké Ball traced an arc through the air and struck the fallen Thundurus, instantly drawing it inside.
There was no prolonged struggle. The Poké Ball sealed shut completely, then was wrapped in Mega Gardevoir's psychic power and floated gently to Aven's side.
Three Poké Balls, each containing a guardian deity, each a Force of Nature, now hovered quietly beside Aven.
"It's fallen… the last one, Thundurus, has fallen too!"
The trainers on the battlefield watched everything in silence. Three guardian deity level beings had fallen just like that—and the ones who defeated them were not guardian deities, but ordinary Pokémon. It all felt utterly unbelievable!
"We won… we really won."
Only then did Mira come back to her senses. Her gaze fell on Mega Gardevoir floating in midair. The aura radiating from her felt strangely familiar, an aura Mira had only ever sensed from Azelf before.
"The Three Forces of Nature have fallen. We've won!" The knights of Aspiration City stood in stunned silence. Comparing the devastation the Three Forces once wreaked upon their city with the scene before them now felt utterly unreal.
"We won! We won!"
"Long live Prince Aven! Long live Prince Aven!"
The trainers of the Pokémon Domain finally reacted, erupting into thunderous cheers. All this time, Prince Aven had protected this land—so much so that even three guardian deities could not defeat them!
"We won!"
"But this victory does not belong to me alone," Aven said as he stood beside Mega Gardevoir. Through psychic transmission, his voice echoed in the minds of every person and every Pokémon present. "This is the victory of all trainers. This victory belongs to every one of you, and to every Pokémon who took part in this battle!"
After a brief moment of silence, the battlefield once again erupted into deafening cheers, voices crying out again and again:
"Long live Prince Aven! Long live the trainers! Long live the Pokémon League!!!"
…
On the high slope, the Grand Sorcerers wore expressions of utter despair.
Their faces were filled with disbelief. No matter how hard they tried, they simply could not understand how a territory they had originally imagined to be easily swept aside had managed to withstand the combined assault of three guardian deities.
And then there was the bastard, Aven, who had rushed back in time, his strength was simply overwhelming. He had actually relied on ordinary Pokémon to forcibly defeat guardian deities. Even if it was true that the Three Forces of Nature had already been severely injured, there was still no denying the terrifying power of those Pokémon. Power so overwhelming that it drove people into despair!
"Trainers… trainers!"
"Compared to the Three Lake Guardians, trainers are our true greatest enemy!"
The blue-robed Grand Sorcerer ground his teeth in hatred. When the number of magical beasts reached a certain scale, they truly could shake even guardian deities!
"We should return and rendezvous with the leader first. Even though we failed to capture Heatran, the Three Lake Guardians are already in our hands. What happens next will depend on the leader's arrangements!" The brown-robed Grand Sorcerer clenched his teeth. This operation could be considered a complete and utter failure.
No matter how unwilling they were to accept it, they had no choice but to face reality. Returning to the leader was now their only option.
Quickly taking out their Super Capture Rings, they began to communicate with space itself. Using the Capture Rings, they directly opened a passage to the Ghost World, their figures flashing as they were about to slip inside.
But at that very moment, an unexpected change occurred.
They suddenly felt themselves bound by an invisible force, and in the next instant, they were forcibly yanked back out of the Ghost World entrance!
Immediately afterward, they watched in horror as the Ghost World portal rapidly closed, and the three rings sank straight into the Ghost World, disappearing without a trace.
"What's going on?!" Terror involuntarily surfaced on all three of their faces.
The Ghost World, something they could previously traverse at will—had now rejected them, forcibly dragging them back out.
On top of that, they were now completely restrained by some unknown power, unable to escape at all. In an instant, they realized the truth—the enemy had arrived.
Their hearts sank heavily. Now that even the Three Forces of Nature had already been defeated, if they were held here, it meant that every possibility of escape had been completely severed.
At that moment, they suddenly felt the surrounding air grow cold.
Then, the shadows in front of them began to twist and distort, and Darkrai's figure slowly emerged from within them. Black mist coiled around its body as it stared coldly at the enemies before it.
"The Nightmare God… Darkrai!" Seeing the figure that appeared, all three of them sucked in a sharp breath. Reality was exactly as they had feared.
"DARK"
Darkrai was far too familiar with these three.
Back in Canalvein City, it was precisely these people who had commanded the Three Forces of Nature to defeat it, and then used the power of the black crystal to completely control it.
Now, the three of them had fallen into its grasp. If not for waiting for Aven to arrive, Darkrai would have wanted nothing more than to immediately deal with them, to vent the fury burning in its heart.
Fortunately, Darkrai did not have to wait long.
The space beside it suddenly twisted, and then the figures of Aven and his Pokémon slowly appeared.
"The three Grand Sorcerers… we've finally caught you," Aven said coldly as he looked at the culprits responsible for all of this.
If the Pokémon Domain had not accumulated enough strength to fight desperately, and if he had not arrived in time at the very last moment, the entire territory would have been wiped from existence.
Looking at these three now, his first instinct was to execute them on the spot. But after calming down slightly, he suppressed that thought. These people still had immense value—letting them die now would be far too merciful.
"Aven!"
Seeing Aven appear, the Grand Sorcerers gritted their teeth.
The law of the jungle applied here—victors were kings, and the defeated were criminals. Since they had lost, they knew exactly what awaited them.
"Hmph. This time, you won."
"But in the end, victory will still belong to the Sorcerers!"
The brown-robed Grand Sorcerer remained relatively calm, a mocking expression appearing on his face. The Sorcerer Organization was invincible!
They quietly gripped the Capture Rings in their hands. They were believers of the Demon God, blessed with the power of their Lord Hoopa. They had not yet truly lost!
"Victory belongs to the Sorcerers?"
"Before the final outcome is decided, no one can predict the result."
"Just like this time—before you came, you surely never imagined that you would lose. But the truth is, you lost miserably!"
"And you weren't defeated by other guardian deities, but by trainers and by a group of ordinary Pokémon you once regarded as nothing more than ants!"
(End of Chapter)