After Lugia was eroded by Yveltal's power, its types changed to dark-type and flying-type. Consequently, Psychic-type skills had no effect on Lugia, but fighting-type skills shifted from being quad-resisted to having normal effectiveness.
At this distance, using Aura Sphere was the best and most natural skill for Mewtwo.
Fine energy patterns flowed across the surface of the deep blue Aura Sphere, emitting a heart-palpitating aura.
"Hah!" Mewtwo pushed her palm forward, and the Aura Sphere in her hand struck Shadow Lugia's chest like a meteor chasing the moon.
A dull impact thundered through the sky. Lugia's massive body flew backward like a broken kite, most of the dark energy on its surface dissipated by the power of the Aura Sphere as it let out a cry of pain.
It tried to flap its wings to steady itself, but it couldn't resist the Aura Sphere's powerful impact at all, falling straight toward the sea below.
With a loud "splash," Lugia's massive body crashed into the sea, kicking up waves dozens of meters high and creating massive ripples that spread outward.
The sea churned violently as countless currents surged up. A moment later, Lugia floated on the water's surface, its body twitching continuously. The dark aura on its body grew weaker; it had clearly suffered a significant injury.
Although Aura Sphere was neither Mewtwo's STAB skill nor super effective against Lugia, Mewtwo's current power was simply at a crushing level compared to Lugia. She had not only reached the Peak of the Divine Realm in level but was also in a state of MEGA Evolution!
Forget a suppressed Lugia—even if a normal Lugia were here, it would be no match for the current Mewtwo.
As Lugia fell, countless gazes turned toward Ash, who stood firm in the wind with a calm expression like a peerless master. Every gaze was filled with disbelief and shock.
If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, who would believe this was real? Mewtwo one-shotted Lugia? Such a thing wouldn't even be realistic in a dream!
Lugia was a Pokémon at the Peak of the Divine Realm level. Aside from the Creator God Arceus, who else could possibly one-shot Lugia!
"Champion boss, your Mewtwo is so strong?! To think she could even one-shot Lugia!" Ash's exclamation also echoed in his own mind. This wasn't the first time he'd talked to himself; the God-tier Booster skill allowed Ash to converse with the possesser while they were helping him fight, allowing him to learn more.
"My Mewtwo once challenged Arceus. Although she was beaten quite badly, she still put up a meager resistance. Among those at the Peak of the Divine Realm, she is a tier above other Tier 1 Gods, except for Rayquaza. After MEGA Evolution, she's in a league of her own."
"However, the reason Lugia went down so quickly isn't entirely due to Mewtwo's power; its own internal resistance also contributed to this outcome. Lugia is a Peak of the Divine Realm existence, one of the top beings in the world. Even if controlled, it won't be a puppet without doing anything."
Ash was stunned upon hearing this, then understood Champion Ash's meaning: "In other words, Lugia's consciousness still exists and is constantly fighting against that power?"
"Yes, Lugia is one of the top Pokémon in the world; it's not that easy to completely control. Even now, it's only temporarily suppressed. If Team Galactic doesn't have any follow-up methods, Lugia could break free from those shackles on its own."
Team Galactic's methods were indeed clever, but Lugia was no pushover. The Yveltal power they used to control Lugia was rootless, meaning once the energy was consumed, it was gone for good.
So when Yveltal's power was exhausted, they would have no way to control Lugia. To control a Divine Realm Level Pokémon, the consumption every second was terrifyingly immense.
Even with power of the same Divine Realm Level, the control time would definitely not exceed thirty minutes. As time passed and the power decayed, Lugia would regain more consciousness and eventually break free from that dark power.
So even if they left Lugia alone, it would eventually return to normal. However, if they did nothing—their side would be wiped out first.
Furthermore, this was only if Yveltal's power wasn't replenished. Would Charon, the mastermind behind this, not know that? That was obviously impossible.
If Lugia were taken by Charon, he would definitely take it back to modify it further.
Why did Charon covet the Shadow Lugia in Ash's hands? Because the Psychic-type within Little Lugia's body had been completely erased, turning it into a Pokémon with a brand-new type. However, the current Lugia, God of the Sea, only had its Psychic-type temporarily suppressed by Yveltal's power.
Team Galactic's current research wasn't enough to completely replace the God of the Sea's Psychic-type, which was why they needed Little Lugia as an experimental sample. Additionally, as a little deity who inherited the power of two gods, controlling and raising Little Lugia would provide a significant combat force for creating their new world in the future.
However, because they targeted Little Lugia, their entire plan was thrown into disarray. Otherwise, their plan to plot against the God of the Sea would have been very smooth and bound to succeed.
And now, the result of their designs on Little Lugia was—even Lugia, God of the Sea, was being thoroughly crushed in the water!
Charon tilted his head, his glasses nearly falling off completely; he was currently in a total daze.
Why was Lugia, God of the Sea, defeated so easily? Was this logical? Was there no justice left? Who on earth was that Pokémon called Mewtwo? Why had he never heard of it— "Wait... Mewtwo? I remember now. Isn't this the Pokémon created by Team Rockets? But Team Rockets' data showed that it vanished after reaching Champion-level. Why has it become so strong?!" Charon finally remembered where he had seen the name Mewtwo.
It was from the Team Rockets resources they had seized, which contained sparse data on Mewtwo. That data was top secret even within Team Rockets, but Team Galactic had obtained it nonetheless.
However, they didn't have much information, only knowing that Mewtwo was a Clone Pokémon created based on Mew's genes, with the goal of making it the strongest Pokémon in the world to help rule it.
Charon had scoffed at this. Although Mew was hailed as the ancestor of Pokémon, in truth, aside from its mystery, it couldn't compare to a real Tier 1 God in other aspects. Wanting to create the strongest Pokémon using Mew's genes? They were dreaming!
But now, with this terrifying Pokémon appearing before him, Charon realized that Team Rockets' research might not have been a dream. At the very least, this Pokémon named Mewtwo had reached the Peak of the Divine Realm in strength.
Charon naturally knew that Lugia's strength would drop after being controlled and transformed, but even with a drop, it should still have High-level of the Divine Realm strength. To be beaten like a dog by the opponent, what else could she be but at the Peak of the Divine Realm?
But—
"Hey—things aren't looking good, right? Should we hurry up and retreat with Lugia?" Jupiter swallowed hard, the thought of retreating rising once again.
This time, Charon didn't scold Jupiter. Instead, after less than a second of silence, he nodded. "You're right. We really should retreat. With our current strength, we have no way to oppose that fellow. Let's go back and regroup first."
Even Charon had to admit how strong Mewtwo was. Jupiter's failure really wasn't her fault. Facing such a monster, let alone two Initial God Domain Level beings who couldn't use divine position powers, even three who could use them would be no match for her.
However, what Charon didn't know was that the Mewtwo Jupiter had faced was actually only at the Initial God Domain Level—
While Charon and Jupiter were discussing how to retreat, the atmosphere on Cynthia's side was completely different. They had thought this was a crisis, even a certain-death situation. Facing an Initial God and a Peak Divine Realm Level Pokémon, they thought it was impossible to win unless they could pull out equivalent help.
Cynthia felt an unprecedented sense of powerlessness for the first time. As the sinnoh champion, second in the Masters Eight, and nominally the second strongest human, she had no power to resist when facing the top legendary Pokémon. This caused a craving for power to rise in her heart like never before.
However, in less than ten seconds, that feeling was crushed by the scene of Mewtwo crushing Lugia.
So it turned out all that dramatic stuff she was thinking was just her over-dramatizing things!
Cynthia felt like she didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and she silently threw away all those messy thoughts. However, her desire for power didn't change. After this incident, she might have to find a way to increase her strength.
"When did Mewtwo's power... become so strong?" Lorelei voiced her confusion while feeling delighted. Unlike Cynthia, she knew Mewtwo's situation.
Lorelei had been a witness to both Mewtwo's first battle with Ash and the second battle between Ash and Ash. While Mewtwo's progress from the first to the second time was indeed exaggerated, further improvement shouldn't have been that easy.
If Divine Realm Levels were that easy to raise, there wouldn't be so few Peak of the Divine Realm beings in the world. How long had it been since Mewtwo's battle at New Island? How could Mewtwo reach the Peak of the Divine Realm in a single bound?
Even with Ash's power added, it shouldn't even come close to the Peak of the Divine Realm!
"Was Mewtwo very different before?" Serena asked curiously.
She had no idea how strong Mewtwo's power was; she only knew that Mewtwo seemed to possess power far exceeding normal Pokémon. But as for how much it exceeded them, that wasn't something a white-belt newbie like her would know.
"Yes. Three months ago, she was only around the Initial God Domain Level. No matter how fast the improvement, reaching the Middle-level of the Divine Realm in three months should have been the limit. As for reaching the Peak of the Divine Realm—" Lorelei shook her head. Reaching the Peak of the Divine Realm in three months was pure fantasy; even Ash and Mewtwo couldn't possibly achieve that.
"Perhaps Ash used some kind of power to boost Mewtwo this time. That little guy always has some very strange methods for increasing a Pokémon's power; I don't know where he finds them," Cynthia said with a smile, not particularly concerned about Mewtwo's anomaly.
Or rather, she had already started to feel accustomed to Ash's various abnormal actions and situations. Even though she hadn't seen Ash much, she already felt very familiar with him. That one battle had been enough for her to understand that Ash was a very magical youth.
"That's true. That's Ash for you!" Lorelei was stunned for a moment by Cynthia's words, then nodded in agreement.
The name Ash alone was already a legend in the Pokémon world. Any unexpected power he displayed seemed to be within the realm of possibility.
Misty watched Ash in the distance with shining eyes, her gaze full of stars. This was the person she liked; no matter what happened, he would be the first to stand in front, and he never disappointed!
"It's time to end this, Mewtwo. Extract that power from Lugia's body," Champion Ash said in a deep voice as he looked at Lugia floating on the sea.
That strike just now hadn't caused Lugia to completely lose its ability to fight, but it had temporarily lost its power to resist.
Because that strike consumed the Yveltal power on Lugia's surface, it allowed Lugia's own consciousness and power to further resist it.
That was why the high HP Lugia became slumped on the water after this hit.
It wasn't that Lugia was heavily injured, but rather that Lugia's own consciousness was resisting Charon's control.
So now, facing a non-resisting Lugia, Mewtwo could completely use brute force to extract that power.
Mewtwo also nodded, raising her arm to act.
"Brat, you're stronger for now, but taking Lugia back so easily won't be that simple. Enjoy this great gift," Charon said coldly.
At the same time, he directly crushed a black orb in his hand. The moment the orb shattered, the slumped Lugia's crimson eyes suddenly widened as it let out a deafening scream.
"Skree!!!" The piercing sound spread in all directions, and the power within Lugia's body erupted!
At this moment, Lugia's strength returned to the Peak of the Divine Realm!
Champion Ash's expression also turned a bit more serious. "Detonating the dark power within Lugia all at once to shorten the control time while boosting its strength? Mewtwo, change forms!"
Champion Ash raised his wrist, and the key stone on his wrist glowed with a seven-colored light!
Mewtwo's body also burst with a brilliant light—it was the light of evolution.
Cynthia nearby and Charon in the distance were all stunned. It could still evolve?!
As the light slowly dissipated, a brand-new Mewtwo appeared before everyone. This Mewtwo was more than twice as large as the Mewtwo Y form, and her entire body looked full of muscular power.
This wasn't an evolution, but another form of Mega Mewtwo—Mega Mewtwo X!