Although Zekrom asked the question aloud, it knew perfectly well what Kyurem was doing. It could feel its energy draining uncontrollably, funneled through invisible channels and devoured by the ice dragon.
"Zekrom!"
From a distance, N saw what was happening and shouted in alarm. He hurled a Poké Ball, and with a flash of light, a bipedal fox cloaked in purple-black fur appeared—
A King-tier Pokémon: Zoroark.
Connected by heart and mind, Zoroark instantly understood N's intent. In a blink, it leapt skyward, claws gleaming with black light as it slashed through the air toward the two dragons.
Thief, a Dark-type move.
The black flash swept across Zekrom. But the black dragon merely wavered in place, it was not "stolen."
Kyurem barely flicked its gaze. A Freeze-Dry beam shot out, and in the blink of an eye, the King-tier Pokémon shattered into glittering shards of ice.
Before a mythical Pokémon of such ancient power, a mere King-class opponent simply stood no chance.
Perhaps due to their shared origin, Kyurem absorbed Zekrom's electric energy without resistance. Alongside the red and blue hues of fire and ice, golden lightning now surged through its form, glinting across its body.
Suddenly, a terrifying surge of energy erupted from beneath the earth. A crimson blast, like magma forged into the shape of a sword, pierced skyward toward Kyurem—
Precipice Blades, Groudon's signature move.
The move roared toward Kyurem, poised to slice the skies. But just before reaching the dragon, less than a hundred meters away, it stalled, like a rocket losing thrust, hanging impotently in the air.
This shouldn't have been possible. With Primal Groudon's full power, especially augmented by Lucius's virus, Precipice Blades could have pierced the stratosphere, certainly enough to strike Kyurem, who floated just a kilometer above the ground.
But Arceus had dissolved the earth's vitality in this region through its rules, robbing the ascending blades of their momentum, cutting them off from their source of power.
A coil of black mist surged outward—Lucius.
He launched himself directly at Kyurem.
The gray dragon was clearly aligned with Arceus. There was no way Lucius would allow it to devour Zekrom without resistance.
After all, the original Kyurem came from the void of outer space, it wasn't a native lifeform of this world. Arceus wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice it later if it meant recovering lost energy.
Radiant light flared from Arceus's body, it became a sun upon the earth. Where its divine radiance fell, Lucius's shadowy mist was pushed back like darkness fleeing the dawn.
The Creator of All Things, undeniably divine. Even though Lucius's evolved Old One Virus had surpassed the mythical class by far, it still fell short of Arceus, who had once forged existence itself.
Rules could not destroy concepts, but they could repel them.
With Arceus's blessing, Kyurem's absorption accelerated.
Lucius withdrew, slipping back into Groudon's colossal body.
A shadow enveloped Primal Groudon's hundred-meter-tall frame, but its energy kept climbing ever higher.
The Continent Titan clenched its right claw and threw a punch through the air—
Focus Punch, a Fighting-type move.
The strike obliterated the air within its blast radius. A thunderous force detonated midair like a sonic hydrogen bomb.
An invisible shockwave slammed into Arceus, who stood before Kyurem. Golden light exploded outward as the impact shattered divine energy into snowflake-like fragments.
Black lightning crackled through the air, the fabric of space itself tearing apart in response.
Arceus had absorbed the blow. Groudon had not reached Kyurem.
And with that final delay, Kyurem completed its absorption of Zekrom.
In a blinding flash, ice, fire, and thunder converged, forming a massive orb of light in the sky.
After eons of separation, Kyurem had finally re-fused with Reshiram and Zekrom, becoming once more the complete Extraterrestrial Dragon.
Its form remained predominantly Kyurem's, but patches of black and white shimmered across its body. Dozens of red and blue energy tubes ran between its cylindrical tail and spine, carrying visible flows of fire and plasma.
The trinity fusion was exponentially more powerful than its dual forms. Not just a sum, but a transcendence of power.
As Kyurem stood complete, divine light gleamed once more in Arceus's eyes. A spatial wormhole opened before it, a gaping hole in the sky.
Through the rift, one could glimpse a warped reflection of the world, where earth and water flowed without order. The Reverse World.
Arceus had reabsorbed Palkia and Dialga, reclaiming dominion over space and time. Now, crossing dimensions was as easy as breathing.
Its form shrank to under ten meters and flew into the rift, directly entering the Reverse World.
Before vanishing, Arceus cast a beam of golden light over Kyurem, sheathing it in a protective barrier.
Kyurem remained behind, looking down upon Primal Groudon, who now bore the shadowy presence of Lucius.
It had received Arceus's command: hold the virus at bay.
Arceus was going to devour Giratina…
Lucius understood. Having reclaimed the power of time and space, Arceus's final act would be to consume its last avatar, the Renegade Dragon Giratina, now hiding in the Reverse World.
But Lucius wouldn't let that happen easily.
Far from Unova, high above the Kanto Sea, Yveltal suddenly sensed a call from the virus's core and vanished into spectral shadow using Shadow Force.
But this time, Celebi intercepted the distortion Yveltal left behind, tearing open a path into the Reverse World.
And through that breach surged an unprecedented assembly:
Xerneas, Zygarde, Ho-Oh, Fallen Lugia, Primal Kyogre, Black Rayquaza, Mega Rayquaza, and others, following Yveltal into the realm beyond.
The once-silent Reverse World now, for the first time in history, hosted nearly 90% of all Mythical Pokémon.
As the legends moved toward their fated clash, chaos erupted across the New Empire as well.
Everyone had known war was inevitable, but no one expected Unova to launch a full-scale assault within just three days of their declaration. And not with anything less than mythical-level Pokémon.
In a single day, major cities across all major regions were struck:
Viridian City in Kanto, the Orange Archipelago, Goldenrod and Ecruteak in Johto, Slateport and Mauville in Hoenn, Veilstone and Snowpoint in Sinnoh, and Lumiose City in Kalos—all fell under siege, many reduced to ashes.
Had it not been for the intervention of Leviathan and other legends, entire continents might have been wiped clean.
Such a crime could not be forgiven.
Although few yet knew what had transpired in Unova, cries for immediate retaliation echoed across every region—
Unova must pay the price.
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