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The Raven Queen's cold fingertips brushed across Giek's panicked face.
Down from his cheek…
Along his jaw…
To his throat.
Her slender, alabaster fingers suddenly clamped down far too strong for someone with such a delicate arm. In an instant, she lifted the grown man clean off the floor by the neck.
"Gh… kh…"
A strangled gasp escaped Giek's throat.
He kicked and clawed desperately, but the hand around his neck felt like iron unyielding, merciless.
"An opportunity?"
The Raven Queen's voice was low, curt, and chilling. Yet her gorgeous expression remained soft, almost smiling, as if this violence was nothing more than a passing hobby.
She pulled him closer.
Giek felt her breath against his nose, warm yet suffocating.
Her dark-violet eyes shimmered beautifully, deep… and filled with abyssal killing intent.
"Heh."
Just before Giek lost consciousness, she released him.
Her melodic laugh, normally enchanting, echoed in his ears like a demon whispering from hell.
"—Haa… haa…"
He dropped to his hands and knees, gasping wildly, trying to reclaim every breath she'd stolen.
The Raven Queen crossed one leg over the other, arms folded beneath her chest, looking down at him with the same disdain one might show a stray mutt crawling in the dirt.
"The first time… and the last time. Understand?"
Her icy, razor-sharp voice forced Giek to jerk his head up and down repeatedly, tears and snot mixing on his face as he nodded.
"Good."
She idly twirled a lock of her silky dark-violet hair around one finger.
"With that settled, there's something else I need you to handle."
"L-Leader!" Giek's voice cracked.
"You're just… letting that Machop go?"
In his mind, everything was the escaped experiment's fault: Kael, Machop, and the entire disaster.
Hearing her abandon the pursuit felt unbearable.
He gritted his teeth. "We're just letting him run?!"
SLAP!
A sharp crack echoed through the study.
"Are you deaf?" Her voice sank, low and murderous. "Ignis City. Do you have any idea what kind of place that is?"
She leaned down, eyes narrowing.
"We barely have enough manpower to fill a town, and you want us to storm a Great City? Are you planning to drag the entire Phantom Order to the grave with you?"
Blood trickled down Giek's lip.
Shaking, he pressed his forehead to the floor.
He didn't dare speak he'd already realized how foolish his suggestion was.
Tap… tap…
Soft footsteps drifted away across the carpet.
The Raven Queen stopped before the massive floor-to-ceiling window behind her desk.
She looked up slightly, her violet hair sliding over her shoulder as she stared into the sky cloaked in heavy, iron-gray clouds.
Ever since the Cataclysm, the Pokémon world had changed beyond recognition.
Humans suffered most, whether it was the official Pokémon League or the criminal syndicates of the underworld; both were nearly wiped out.
In some ways, the underworld took an even heavier blow.
Before the Cataclysm, the League ruled over countless regions, overflowing with resources, talent, infrastructure, and public support. When the nightmare Pokémon emerged, they had enough order and unity to resist and survive.
But the criminal groups?
They had nothing.
Fragmented structures.
Secretive cells.
Betrayal at every corner.
When nightmare mutations erupted across the world, most criminal organizations collapsed instantly crushed beneath chaos and extinction, leaving only dust behind.
Most of the dark groups that exist today were only formed after the Cataclysm.
Small, desperate, scattered.
Even the Phantom Order, considered a powerhouse among the surviving syndicates, was insignificant compared to the League that had endured war, tragedy, and rebirth.
And now, the League focused less on chasing criminals and more on something much more urgent:
Protecting civilians, stabilizing cities, and containing the dangers of nightmare Pokémon.
Because of that shift, small evil groups spread through the wild like weeds, numerous but fragile.
The Raven Queen knew all of this intimately.
And to rise as a woman to the top of a major organization in such a hellish age… it proved her talent and ambition were far beyond ordinary.
This era was both the best and the worst.
And she had grand, audacious dreams.
One day, she would raise the Phantom Order to rival or surpass the Pokémon League itself.
But for that, she needed something the world would never willingly give her:
Power.
Ancient, divine, overwhelming power.
And in the Pokémon world, shortcuts to godlike strength were rare.
Very rare.
But they existed.
The Legendary Pokémon are those born from nature's laws and ancient myths.
Even corrupted by nightmare seeds, many Legends had resisted, sealing themselves away to slumber until recovery.
And the Phantom Order…
They held one such lead.
A trail pointing toward a Legendary Pokémon deep in an enchanted wilderness, a being of forests, wisdom, and overflowing life itself.
If they could seize its power, the Phantom Order would rise within decades, growing strong enough to challenge even the League.
For that singular goal, every action from now on would revolve around this sleeping Legend.
Pull back the claws.
Avoid reckless conflicts.
Grow quietly.
That was the new rule.
The Raven Queen stood motionless before the window, her violet eyes drifting upward as if she could see past the storm clouds, past the sky itself… to the silent silver moon beyond.
Her voice flowed like a sacred hymn:
"The Lord of the Forest…"
"The ancient wisdom that walks the earth…"
"The spring that nourishes all life…"
"Xerneas… where are you hiding?"
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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