In the upper-left corner floated a deep-blue, whale-like creature with a white chin adorned by two protruding white spikes.
Crimson patterns covered its entire body.
Its eerie yellow eyes, set against pitch-black sclera, exuded an intimidating majesty without needing to display anger.
An inexplicable moisture filled the air—had this been outdoors, torrential rain would have already begun pouring down.
Its semi-transparent body emitted a yellow glow from within, with wing-like fins bearing a symbol resembling "" on its forehead.
The upper-right corner housed a Pokémon entirely encased in red, segmented skin, from which countless blinding rays of light emanated.
The darker undersides of its body appeared gray, with each of its four-clawed hands radiating intense heat.
Molten lava flowed across its form, waves of scorching air blasting toward the Dokumeians' faces.
The seams of its skin glowed with magma-like orange-yellow hues, and a circular "Ω" symbol marked the base of its arms.
The usually temperature-controlled space now fluctuated wildly between extremes.
One moment damp and chilly, the next unbearably hot.
The lower-left corner featured a technologically armored giant, its wings adorned with hexagonal red and blue patterns.
Meanwhile, the lower-right was occupied by a white, lion-like creature.
It possessed a bluish-gray nose and pale blue eyes, with the upper half of its face covered in a dark blue area.
Constellations shifted continuously across this region.
Four terrifying spectral entities in total!
The Dokumeians present stared fixedly at these four beings, their eyes filled with unconcealable terror.
Under the combined pressure of four SSS-tier Legendary Pokémon, Akira doubted they could muster any thought of resistance.
Even their exalted [Master], when faced with four SSS-tier Legendaries, could only kneel in submission.
"Well then, though I know you wouldn't dare consider rebellion~."
"But it's better to be safe."
With a casual wave of his hand, Akira spoke words the Dokumeians couldn't quite comprehend.
Instantly, the spectral form of a void jellyfish materialized midair, its countless translucent tentacles undulating slowly.
As if swimming through the atmosphere.
In that moment, realization dawned upon the Dokumeians, their expressions shifting dramatically.
Those gathered here represented the brightest of their kind.
Though initially, still reeling from the earlier terror, they hadn't grasped Akira's implication.But in the blink of an eye, they realized the truth.
This was an attempt to replace their consciousness.
Just like the other Dokumeians before them!!
They struggled to break free from the chairs, but the oppressive aura of four first-level gods was no laughing matter.
Just turn them all into individual [hosts]!
And don't even think about getting up easily!
Immediately, Nihilego accurately extended several tentacles, each pointing at a different Dokumeian.
After piercing, sections of the tentacles melted, forming lethal toxins that erased their consciousness.
Their bright eyes first dimmed, then after a few moments, lit up again.
However, what controlled these bodies was no longer themselves, but Nihilego.
Akira nodded in satisfaction.
Without Nihilego's help, he would have encountered many more troubles along the way.
Indeed, that trip to the V5 Immigration Hall had been a wise decision.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have obtained Nihilego.
Akira collected his thoughts and said calmly:
"Now, explain it to me."
"What exactly is that thing you proposed earlier to use against me?"
...
Inside the massive airship, In a hidden secret passage.
The lighting here was somewhat dim, and the passage itself wasn't very spacious, as if deliberately concealed.
Probably most Dokumeians didn't even know such a place existed inside the airship.
And this hidden passage would lead to what the Dokumeians had mentioned.
Akira walked quietly, with a Dokumeian leading the way and explaining as they went.
"That thing is actually a product of our research."
"It was originally inanimate, but through our development, it successfully gained sentience."
"This was supposed to be a good thing, meaning our experiment had succeeded."
"I remember how we spent an extremely long time on this research back then."
The Dokumeian explained bit by bit.
Akira frowned and couldn't help but ask instinctively:
"An extremely long time?"
"Just how long have you lived?"
Based on the Dokumeians he had captured earlier, their average lifespan was roughly a thousand years.
Occasionally, there were fluctuations, but nothing too exaggerated.
However, the answer from this Dokumeian made Akira doubt his ears.
"By your time calculations, it's been about three thousand years."
The Dokumeian answered without hesitation.
Such calculations were nothing for their super brains.
Even fragments of memories from long ago could be recalled with perfect clarity.
It was as if they had hyperthymesia, with astonishingly strong memories.
At the same time, they also possessed brains comparable to supercomputers.
Akira murmured, "Three thousand years?"
A full three times the lifespan of those other Dokumeians.
But why was there such a huge difference?
Glancing at the Dokumeian's enormous head, Akira felt he would need to spend more time investigating this later.
This race was indeed full of many mysteries.
But for now, he had more important matters to attend to.
Following the Dokumeian to the end of the passage, Akira saw only a tightly sealed door.
Without needing to be told, the Dokumeian very considerately began opening the door.
The process was surprisingly complicated.
First, it had to verify genetic information, and only after passing various indicators would the door open.
Now, Akira was even more curious about what lay beyond.
Even a bank vault doesn't have this many layers of security, does it?
The Dokumeian placed their hand on the massive door, still looking apprehensive as they warned before opening it.
"Please be extremely careful—its danger level is truly catastrophic."
The next moment, the double doors slowly swung open.
A flash of white light blinded Akira momentarily, and the first thing that entered his vision was—nothing at all.
Yes, the space inside contained absolutely nothing.
At least to the naked eye.
After a brief moment of stunned silence, Akira immediately activated [En], scanning the surroundings.
Almost instantly, an eerie presence appeared within his perception.
The shape of this entity was unnaturally perfect—perhaps the most spherical object he'd ever encountered, forming a flawless orb.
Except its size was enormous, roughly equivalent to a football field.
He could sense it contained an abnormally vast amount of energy, like a volcano on the verge of eruption.
It seemed capable of breaking free from its restraints at any moment, yet remained perpetually trapped behind that threshold.
As if it could never reach the shore of freedom.
"Explain," Akira demanded. "What is this invisible spherical thing?"
The Dokumeian gave a bitter smile before patiently explaining.
"This... was originally intended to replace our sun, providing the energy we require."
"You see, our species needs a particular type of energy to sustain our lives."
"And since this energy doesn't exist naturally here, we had to create it using available resources."
"Thus, this artificial [Sun] capable of generating our required energy was born."
Akira nodded thoughtfully before interrupting.
"Is this energy you're referring to capable of causing mutations in objects—even granting them sentience?"
The Dokumeian nodded vigorously.
"That's exactly it."
"Everything was progressing smoothly at first, and success seemed imminent."
"But at the final critical stage, we made some miscalculations that caused an energy overload."
"Of course, our inexperience played a role too—it was our first attempt after all."
"The result was this [Sun] undergoing mutation, developing its own consciousness and terrifying energy reserves."
"It stopped being the sustainable energy source we envisioned, becoming instead an imminent threat capable of mass casualties."
"From the moment of its birth, it killed many of our people using its extreme heat."
"We only managed to contain it in this chamber by using special materials and abilities."
"This door hasn't been opened since—until today."
Understanding dawned on Akira, who then asked another question.
"If I were to fight it inside the Secret Realm..."
"Do you think the Secret Realm would survive?"
The Dokumeian: ???
"Please don't even consider that! That thing's energy is practically infinite!"
"Otherwise we wouldn't have chosen to seal it rather than destroy it."
[Infinite energy, huh...]
Akira suddenly realized something.
It seemed he'd found another [Hope].
Just that this particular [Hope] happened to be terrifying.
He also finally understood why the Pokémon that emerged was Solgaleo.
Given that the Dokumeians were extraterrestrial beings possessing such an enormous artificial [Sun], It would've been strange if anything other than Solgaleo had appeared.
After a moment of silence.
Akira turned to the Dokumeian and said, "Have you ever thought about creating a [moon]?"
The Dokumeian: ???.