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Although the nightmare attack incident had caused people to worry about the existence of an "evil god" and spawned numerous conspiracy theories, it did not affect the national competition on the other side of the world.
Five days later, at the end of Group A's round-robin matches, the Capital University team had won all three games and advanced to the semifinals.
August 10th.
There was no Capital University match today, but all team members, including Roy, still came to the venue.
The reason was simple.
Today marked the end of Group D's round-robin matches, and the final four teams would be determined.
After the games concluded, there would be a draw ceremony that all teams were required to attend.
At the same time, Group D was also home to the championship favorite—League University.
"Will we get to see Henry play today?" Philip muttered.
"The strength gap is too great—it's impossible," Elon analyzed while habitually adjusting his glasses. "In the previous two games, League University only needed to deploy their third-position player to win all matches. Even Porter, who occupies the second position, didn't need to take action."
Three players could secure victory.
This represented the totem-like strength of the two powerhouse schools: 'League University' and 'Central University.'
In previous competitions, unless it was a civil war between these two institutions, matches were typically one-sided crushing victories that weren't particularly entertaining.
Of course, fans of these dominant teams enjoyed watching such displays, but it wasn't very friendly to the rest of the division.
Fortunately, audiences and fans from other competition areas had grown accustomed to this reality, often saying that reaching the semifinals was already considered success.
After all, aside from the championship, the rewards for runner-up and top four finishes were identical.
This year's "Crown Tundra" expedition tickets made this even more relevant.
"But their opponent today is Stonecrest University," Philip offered a different perspective. "With Jaxon around, even if we can't see Henry play, we should at least witness Porter's abilities. In League University's lineup, Porter holds the second position and is the only son of an active Ghost-type Elite. Although he's not as phenomenal as Henry and Caroline, he's still a top-tier genius. He's only a junior, yet he already has five professional-level main Pokémon."
Unsurprisingly, after Henry graduated, Porter would likely inherit League University's captaincy, and there was a high probability he would pass his professional-level assessment this year.
However, this information came from last winter's regional games.
Porter and Henry had never battled publicly before, so no one knew their specific current strength, tactics, main Pokémon, or other details.
Speak of the devil.
Roy and his teammates encountered their old rivals from the same competition area in the player corridor—the Stonecrest University team led by Jaxon.
"Hey there, Jaxon," Elon approached with a smile. "Are you confident about winning today?"
"Hah."
Jaxon sneered, crossing his arms over his chest, disdaining to answer such obvious nonsense.
Even after losing, he remained so arrogant. Roy smiled and said, "Senior Jaxon, good luck! Force League University to reveal their trump cards, and when we win the championship, you'll deserve a third of the credit."
"???"
Jaxon's eyes widened as he stared at Roy in disbelief.
Could anyone actually say something like that?
For the past seven years, Stonecrest University had dominated their regional competition. With favorable draws that had never placed them in the same group as 'League University' or 'Central University' during group stages, they had secured semifinal positions every year.
This earned them recognition as the nation's third-strongest team.
But what about this year?
Simply because Roy had suddenly appeared and claimed the number one seed, Stonecrest and the others were directly placed in the same group as League University.
Top sixteen—their worst result in seven years.
Clearly, with Swampert breaking through to professional level, this was Stonecrest University's strongest team in recent years, yet this year's results were their most disappointing.
It was already sufficiently depressing and frustrating, but now Roy, the very culprit responsible, had come to rub salt in the wound...
Seeing Jaxon growing so angry that he seemed ready to challenge Roy to an offline battle, his Stonecrest University teammates quickly stepped forward to restrain their team leader and offer comfort.
"Brother Jaxon, forget it!"
"Roy has always been this cocky—we shouldn't take him seriously."
"Yeah, exactly."
"Besides, we can't beat him anyway!"
That last statement immediately silenced Jaxon.
Although he felt extremely upset, he couldn't find any grounds for rebuttal.
It wasn't just that he couldn't defeat Roy—any of Roy's three professional-level Pokémon that had appeared previously could single-handedly sweep through Jaxon's entire team.
This rate of progress was simply earth-shattering.
This guy was a genuine monster.
Better not to provoke him.
The final group match of the national competition began shortly.
In the first individual battle, League University gave everyone a surprise.
"League University's starting lineup—Position One: Henry."
As soon as this announcement was made, the enthusiasm of the entire audience ignited instantly. Cheers erupted continuously and didn't subside until Henry took the stage.
"He's starting first?" Elon expressed surprise.
"The captain got proven wrong," Philip chuckled.
"Well, this truly exceeds my expectations," Elon adjusted his glasses. "Thinking about it rationally, with group stages nearly concluded and semifinals approaching, Henry should appear to warm up and demonstrate master-level combat prowess."
"The captain got proven wrong," Philip repeated.
"It's normal to be incorrect in predictions—no one can be right all the time," Elon stated calmly.
"The captain got proven wrong," Philip continued repeating.
"..." Roy suddenly sensed murderous intent.
Elon grabbed Philip's shoulders, saying the two of them were going to the bathroom for a heart-to-heart conversation and wouldn't be watching the match.
"Serves him right—repeaters deserve their fate," Patrick showed no sympathy for his brother.
On the field, the match began shortly.
Henry's first Pokémon was a Haxorus.
This Haxorus had raised its ability values to the S-rank limit and mastered extremely violent high-level dragon energy.
True master-level combat power.
As for its opponent, it was merely a Pokémon that hadn't even broken through racial limitations—the match's outcome held no suspense whatsoever.
Roy's perspective and information network were no longer what they once had been.
This Haxorus, or rather, the advanced energy mastered by Henry, was no secret to Roy.
In fact, he had been in close contact with this high-level energy before.
That's right—it was with the Champion's Dragonite.
During the Illuminati incident, facing multiple Pokémon's coordinated Beat Up attack, the Dragonite had triggered an 'Outrage-like' explosive state and swept through the enemy forces with a single Draco Meteor move.
In retrospect, the Dragonite hadn't fallen into the chaotic side-effect state typically associated with Outrage at all.
Roy hadn't understood the significance at the time.
Not long afterward, he learned from Sebastian at the Promise Gym that this represented the Dragon Champion's signature technique.
"Perfect Outrage."
Outrage was a tremendously powerful dragon-type move that gained devastating power at the cost of the user losing their rational mind.
This outrage power itself operated within a very high-level dragon energy domain.
All of Frances's Pokémon had mastered 'Perfect Outrage,' enabling them to maintain the Outrage state for extended periods without losing their sanity.
Building upon 'Perfect Outrage' as a foundation, they integrated additional powers and elevated them to high-level energy.
Henry's Haxorus possessed the same capabilities.
"This is the benefit of specializing in a single type," Anya sighed. "Once you master one 'high-energy' breeding method, it can be applied to all your Pokémon."
Roy nodded in agreement.
High-level energy and specialized techniques that could be applied to a single Attribute undoubtedly greatly reduced breeding costs.
Conversely, a Trainer like himself with mixed Attributes in his team needed to consider each Pokémon individually, breeding each one's unique "high-level energy" and creating exclusive specialized techniques.
The more Attributes involved, the breeding difficulty increased exponentially.
Not only that, but overly complicated Attribute combinations made team battle coordination extremely difficult.
If Roy didn't possess the ability to connect all team members through 'Aura,' he would have struggled to resolve team battle issues even now.
Of course, once a multi-Attribute team overcame numerous obstacles and reached very high breeding levels, it would become remarkably comprehensive with no weaknesses.
Frances had lost to Avi in the Asian Championship largely because his opponent not only specialized in Psychic-types but also possessed deep knowledge of Fairy-types.
Fairy-types were known as dragon-type killers.
This represented the disadvantage of single or dual-type specialization—once you encountered natural enemies, your combat effectiveness would be severely reduced.
"How do you cultivate Perfect Outrage?" Patrick, who had relatively limited experience, asked curiously. "Could it be that you rely on willpower alone to overcome Outrage's side effects?"
"It's not that idealistic," Roy shook his head. "Have you carefully observed Henry's Pokémon? Haven't you noticed any abnormalities?"
Upon hearing this, Patrick carefully observed the ongoing match.
After Haxorus completed a one-against-four sweep, it clearly had energy remaining, but Henry still recalled it and released his second Pokémon to continue fighting.
It was a Dragonite.
Its strength was also at the master level, crushing opponents ruthlessly.
Unlike Haxorus's pure Dragon typing, Dragonite was Flying and Dragon dual-type, excelling in moves of both Attributes.
Therefore, Patrick immediately noticed the abnormality.
This Dragonite's dragon-type moves were far stronger than its Flying-type moves.
"Henry was born a commoner, but he chose the most difficult breeding path by specializing in Dragon-types. The reason is quite simple."
Roy slowly revealed a secret known only to professional-level Trainers and above.
He had also learned about this from Sebastian.
"The Power of Dragons."
"He was born with an awakened psychic ability called 'Dragon Power.'"
"Dragon Power can enhance the strength of Dragon-type Pokémon and greatly amplify the power of dragon-type moves. It's said that once Dragon Power is cultivated to its extreme, it can even help Dragon-type Pokémon eliminate their natural weaknesses."
"Perfect Outrage is a specialized technique that can only be mastered by people with Dragon Power."
Dragon Power had also appeared in the Pokémon world, even giving rise to a powerful Dragon clan because of this ability.
The strongest Dragon Power could eliminate weaknesses—essentially helping Dragon-type Pokémon overcome their fear of Ice and Fairy-type attacks.
Once they overcame Ice and Fairy-type weaknesses, they would become truly perfect dragons.
However, achieving this level of Dragon Power mastery was obviously extremely difficult.
Frances had worked hard for many years and had only managed to help his Pokémon overcome their Ice-type weakness.
Earth had numerous Dragon-type specialists. Whether Eastern or Western, trainers had a particular fondness for powerful creatures like dragons.
But only Frances had become the sole Dragon Champion in the past century.
Dragon Power was indispensable to his success.
Henry had undoubtedly inherited this remarkable power.