Facing the Dark Sonata, Larry chose to stay cautious and let Gengar attack in its mega-evolved form. A tiny black dot appeared in front of Mega Gengar, quickly expanding into a massive energy ball.
This black sphere gave off an ominous vibe, looking like a mass of death aura condensed into one. The energy ball spun counterclockwise, whipping up a fierce wind as it charged, this was a Ghost-type move: Shadow Ball!
The black and purple sphere shot forward at lightning speed.
Boom!
With a massive explosion, the exhausted black shadow had no energy left to resist Mega Gengar's Shadow Ball. It was completely defeated. The death aura that still lingered in the air were sucked into Mega Gengar's stomach, vanishing without a trace.
The experience bar kept steadily advancing... until it finally reached the end! Thanks to Dark Sonata, after absorbing countless death aura, Gengar had transformed into a formidable Pokemon.
This Mega-evolved Gengar now possessed strength on par with an S+ rank. Watching this unfold, Morel and the others waiting in the back were stunned once again. Just like Ging had been that day, they all shared the same thought: 'Could Larry's Nen beasts really have a second form?'
Even Menchi, Larry's partner, was taken aback, her beautiful green eyes shining with curiosity. She hadn't known about this second form before. Their expressions grew more complex, as they all focused on one key idea, if all of Larry's Nen beasts could evolve like this, then what did that mean?
Lost in thought, Morel couldn't hide his shock. He quickly grabbed his big pipe, ready to take a couple of deep puffs to steady himself. To travel alongside Larry, one needed a strong heart; otherwise, the endless surprises would be overwhelming.
"The strongest in the world, he truly deserves the title!" Morel exhaled a cloud of smoke and gazed toward Larry's back with deep admiration.
The others nodded in agreement, sharing the same sentiment. Only Menchi looked even prouder; to her, Larry was an all-powerful being, and she had always believed that.
Unlike those watching, Larry himself felt puzzled. Even after defeating Dark Sonata, the gestation bar in his mind remained frozen, refusing to budge.
Why? He had expected that one of the two new bars would correspond to the Demon Realm, specifically to the Devil Cicada native to that realm, this was how he imagined the Devil Cicada would be born.
The other bar likely related to Dark Sonata within the Demon Realm, which explained his urgency to resolve the black shadow. But things hadn't gone as planned.
Despite overcoming Dark Sonata, the progress bar suddenly stopped at exactly one-quarter, as if it had been divided into four equal parts. Wait, divided into four parts? That number, four, reminded Larry of the Dark Sonata.
According to legend, the Dark Sonata is a musical piece composed by the Demon King, split into four movements: flute, harp, piano, and violin. The number of sections on the bar perfectly matched that.
Since the violin segment, the last of the four, had just appeared, it made sense that the bar only advanced a quarter before stopping. This meant that to fill the entire bar, Larry would need to collect all four parts of the Dark Sonata.
Though there were no other clues, this was the only explanation that made sense. This was by far the most challenging Pokémon Larry had ever come across.
Most people would never encounter a Dark Sonata in their lifetime. And even if they were "lucky" enough to find one, the outcome was usually death. Now, this progress bar demanded the collection of all four parts of the Dark Sonata, which made the task incredibly difficult. But for Larry, the real challenge wasn't battling the Dark Sonata, it was finding and acquiring them in the first place.
Still, this tough requirement also spoke volumes about the power of the Pokémon involved. With such strict conditions, the Pokémon to be bred couldn't be ordinary. It had to be something special, perhaps a legendary or mythical creature. One with abilities tied to music or singing that could be used both offensively and defensively.
This made Larry think of one Pokémon in particular that fit the description perfectly: Meloetta, the mythical Pokémon known for its musical powers.
If it really was Meloetta, then the harsh breeding conditions made sense. Collecting the entire Dark Sonata to breed such a Pokémon would definitely be worth the effort. Plus, the Dark Sonata's deathly presence could even help strengthen Gengar, adding another layer of benefit.
To take his mind off the Meloetta he hadn't caught yet, Larry noticed two things lying on the ground. These objects had fallen after Gengar devoured the shadow. One of them was slightly bigger but looked very strange, so strange that just looking at it made your scalp tingle.
'It was a mummy!' Larry wasn't sure how long it had been since its breath of life was sucked away, but the entire body had dried up, turning into a shrunken, skin-and-bone figure much smaller than a normal person. This confirmed his earlier guess: the mummy must be the one who played the Dark Sonata and was likely a crew member from the broken ship. It had been used as a vessel before, becoming the body of the Dark Sonata and leading to the shadow's birth.
Though the mummy was gruesome and had no other function besides confirming Larry's theory, what caught his attention even more was the other item. It was a piece of yellowed paper covered in crooked musical notes, and just looking at the writing, you could sense a strong, almost maddening energy. Larry realized this must be the legendary Dark Sonata.
At first, he thought the Dark Sonata might be some kind of special item that required aura input to reveal its contents. But after thinking it over, he found that unlikely, if only nen users could see it, then Melody's friends and the crew would have to be nen users too, which seemed improbable.
The paper itself was made from an unknown material, tough, almost indestructible, and far from fragile like regular paper. So, the Dark Sonata wasn't useless; it could still be valuable in certain situations.
For example, if Larry found himself surrounded by enemies, he could pull out a violin and play it. Besides the chance of summoning Meloetta, gathering the complete Dark Sonata came with other benefits that Larry was only beginning to understand. It's said that if all the Dark Sonatas are gathered and played together, something unexpected will happen.
Larry was still very curious about this. "Gengar," he called out.
After completely absorbing the shadow, Gengar transformed into its Mega-evolved form and came to Larry's side. Having consumed the shadow, Gengar seemed to have taken in more than it needed, as a strange black mist kept drifting off its body.
Its bright red eyes fixed on the Dark Sonata in Larry's hand, clearly showing a strong desire for it. "Gen-ngar?" Gengar asked.