As time passed, Coral could feel this pain growing more and more severe.
As if it had no limit at all.
After a round of torture—
"The jade pendant… it's the key… an imitation jade pendant modeled after the incarnation of the Ancient Jade Fish… you have to find the shrine… only then can the sealed gate be opened…", Coral spoke incoherently, almost squeezing the information out by instinct alone, begging only for Axel to stop tormenting her.
"Where is the shrine?", Axel pressed, the belt in his hand still hanging in the air, giving Coral an immense sense of pressure.
"I don't know the exact location… I really don't know!"
Axel stared at her for a few seconds, confirming that she had already been pushed past the brink of collapse and could no longer be hiding anything.
"Nihilego, that's enough. Take her with us and come along with me for now," Axel waved lightly toward Nihilego and took the jade pendant with him as he left the room first.
When Axel walked out, Briar, who had been hiding far away at the other end of the corridor, finally came over to his side.
Just hearing a few of those screams earlier had made her scalp tingle. She couldn't help but hide at the other end of the hallway. It was hard to imagine how Coral had managed to hold out for so long.
She pointed at Coral, whose head was being held by Nihilego, and asked Axel, "Should we have Officer Jenny lock her up?"
"No need," Axel shook his head lightly, "I already got it out of Coral just now. This jade pendant is the key to opening the seal where the Ancient Jade Fish is located. We just don't know the exact location yet."
"Let's take her with us for now and see if her companions come to rescue her. When they do, we can ask them where the place is."
"Alright then," Briar gave Axel a thumbs-up, secretly sighing at how satisfying it was to have overwhelming strength.
Normally when dealing with such powerful villains, the various factions would act cautiously, afraid of causing upheaval.
But Axel was different. He was alone, and he also had the support of the various forces of the League. No matter what kind of plan he wanted to use, he could carry it out.
"But today's history class got delayed, and now it's already four in the afternoon."
Briar felt a headache coming on. Penny had asked her to help Axel get at least a passing grade within three days.
They couldn't seriously let Axel hypnotize the Metagross supervising the exam, could they?
Briar thought for a moment, "Let's forget about this afternoon. Tonight I'll go to your dorm and tutor you."
"Then thank you, Teacher Briar!", Axel agreed immediately.
History class was secondary anyway. What Axel really wanted was to talk with Briar again about the four Ruinous Pokémon.
If they managed to find some clues, wouldn't that mean they wouldn't have to wait for the Exploration Team's "Calabash Brothers" to come rescue Coral?
———
After parting with Briar, Axel didn't return to his dorm to wait.
He remembered that in the plot of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the four items, Cauldron, Sword, Jade, and Tablets, weren't actually the key to opening the shrines.
In the game's storyline, if you wanted to find the four Ruinous Pokémon, you had to complete the history course and then find the history teacher named Raifort.
At that time, Raifort would give a quest, asking the player to search for and pull out certain stakes.
Every time eight corresponding stakes were removed, a matching shrine would appear.
The only problem was that if the eight stakes were the real key to finding the Ruinous Pokémon, then for now Axel still couldn't guess the function of the jade pendant.
———
By the time Axel settled Coral in the dorm and returned to the teaching building, Raifort had just finished her class and was walking toward the stairs with her books.
"Teacher Raifort!", Axel hurried forward a couple of steps and called out to her.
"You are?", Raifort blinked, then suddenly her eyes lit up.
"You must be Mr. Axel!"
"Penny told me about you. She said you wanted to choose between me and Briar as your history teacher. I thought I had already been eliminated, so I didn't expect to have the chance to meet you."
"Cough! Cough!", Being exposed face-to-face like that made Axel a little embarrassed.
But when he thought about how cool the four Ruinous Pokémon were, he still thickened his skin and explained.
"There's no such thing as eliminating anyone. You two are both leading figures in the academic world. How would I have the qualifications to choose?"
"I just want to learn knowledge from more teachers. So may I ask you a few questions?"
Raifort smiled and nodded, showing no intention of exposing Axel's excuse.
As a pure scholar, one of the most basic traits was to discard most feelings of jealousy.
"Let's talk in the office."
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