Chapter 246: The Emperor Has Fallen, The Heir Ascends
"Hurting people is bad. Please don't hurt Sister, okay?"
Yui seemed to sense what Will and the others were planning.
She was, at her core, a soul made of "good." Even though Big Yui hated her and wanted to kill her, she didn't want to hurt Big Yui.
This wasn't exactly a commendable trait. Pure goodness would get you killed sooner or later. Perhaps that was why the Vortex of Reincarnation had chosen the Evil Soul to be the Lord, keeping the Good Soul only as a spare container.
"Don't worry, we won't hurt your sister. We're just..."
Will trailed off, searching for the right words.
"...Just making sure your sister stays with you forever," Cofagrigus finished for him, grinning.
Will wanted to open a gate and leave the Spirit World. At the same time, he wanted to change Yui's situation so she could live a happier life.
Cofagrigus just wanted to stick it to the Lord of the Spirit World. After all, the Chandelure and Dusknoir were her minions.
Gengar also wanted to leave, and he wanted revenge for being trapped here for a thousand years.
The three of them put their heads together and decided: It was time for a change of management in the Spirit World.
If Dusknoir hadn't lied to them, this plan had a very high chance of success.
Right now...
Gengar had transformed into Will's shadow. Will was hiding inside Cofagrigus's stomach. And Yui was sitting timidly on Cofagrigus's lid as he flew them toward the castle.
"Are you sure you know where the Vortex of Reincarnation is?"
"Are you sure you can make her dazed?"
"Are you sure your stomach can make her lose consciousness?"
It was their first time working together. Will and the two Pokémon didn't exactly trust each other.
Not their character, but their abilities. Even though it was their first team-up, they strangely trusted that no one would betray the group. But they had doubts about whether the others could pull their weight.
Still, despite the doubts, they didn't stop.
If they failed, they failed. None of them were afraid of failure. Whatever the consequences, the three death-defying idiots could handle it. What they couldn't accept was retreating and going back to hiding.
They pressed on.
Half an hour later, Cofagrigus smashed through the castle's front gate.
Gengar: "Idiot! You should have snuck in and ambushed her!"
Will: "No! We should have sat down and talked, let Yui annoy her until she was distracted!"
Cofagrigus: "Cut the crap."
When a car is moving, only the driver controls the wheel. So no matter how much Gengar and Will protested, it was useless.
For Cofagrigus, smashing the gate was just step one.
BOOM!
Cofagrigus smashed through the ceiling above him, charging straight into the second-floor throne room where Big Yui was.
They faced each other.
"Sister... Mom and Dad love you very much!" Yui immediately opened her mouth and shouted.
She didn't know why she had to shout that, but Will had told her to, so she obediently did.
A scene that made Will and the others want to laugh out loud occurred. Big Yui's icy face suddenly twisted into an expression of disgust and nausea.
The next moment, purple light flared in her eyes. She raised a hand and grabbed at the empty air toward Little Yui. Little Yui was lifted by an invisible force and began flying toward her.
"Now!"
Will frantically slapped the inside of the coffin lid.
"I know!"
Cofagrigus didn't hesitate. He slammed headfirst into Big Yui again.
Big Yui's gaze sharpened. She casually swiped her hand. A Shadow Claw formed in mid-air and struck Cofagrigus when he was still two meters away.
"Hehe."
Cofagrigus grinned. His lid flew open, and he was knocked backward.
Will shot out of the coffin using Extreme Speed. In an instant, he was face-to-face with Big Yui. He could almost feel his beak touching her teeth.
But that wasn't the point!
VMMMMM!!
Ghostly blue light shot from Will's big eyes.
Big Yui, making eye contact, froze. Her pupils instantly lost focus and light.
Will's "deviant" Aura projection came in handy at this critical moment. This move might not be very effective on living creatures in the real world. But against a soul in the Spirit World, without a physical body? The effect was amplified tenfold!
Even the Lord of the Spirit World had to freeze for a second.
"Heehee."
Gengar's laugh echoed.
From the ground beneath Big Yui's feet, Gengar, who had been hiding as Will's shadow, surged up. Like a shark breaching the water, he swallowed Big Yui whole.
Legend said Gengar's stomach was a dimension to the Spirit World. That wasn't exactly false. Being eaten by a Gengar usually meant death, and death meant going to the Spirit World.
Although Gengar couldn't kill the Lord of the Spirit World by eating her, he could certainly make her lose consciousness for a short time.
Vmm~
Just to be safe, Will pressed his flippers against Gengar's stomach and used his Aura to seal it. With his current strength, the seal probably wouldn't hold, but it was a psychological comfort.
"Quick! Down there!"
Cofagrigus, who had been knocked back, flew over rapidly. He led the way, smashing through the floor.
BOOM!
They crashed through the first floor of the castle, revealing a massive, gray-white vortex swirling beneath the foundation.
Gengar quickly flew over the vortex and spat Big Yui into it.
"Yui, hurry!" Will urged, seeing Yui standing frozen in fear.
"Mhm!"
Yui clenched her fists and swallowed. She looked back at Will one last time, nodded firmly, and jumped into the vortex after her sister.
Both Yuis disappeared into the swirl.
The entire Spirit World began to shake violently.
Will, Cofagrigus, and Gengar ignored the tremors. They stood in the castle ruins, staring intently at the vortex below.
Their plan was essentially complete.
Now, it all depended on whether Dusknoir had lied to them.
"Say... what if the one who comes out isn't the little girl, but a Lord of the Spirit World with no weaknesses?" Gengar suddenly thought of a possibility.
Although the Lord had been quiet in his stomach, seemingly unconscious... he couldn't guarantee she wasn't faking it.
"Then we die," Cofagrigus grinned, unbothered.
"True," Gengar nodded casually.
"Hey, hey, I don't want to die!" Will facepalmed.
Not being afraid of death and wanting to die were two different things. If he could live, he'd prefer to be rescued.
As the three chatted, a massive figure flew toward them from the distance.
"Look at that nervous bear. Looks like he wasn't lying before."
"Yeah. He said the little girl was the Lord-Apparent, right? That makes her his second master. A blockhead like him wouldn't lie to his master."
"He's not going to fight us, is he?"
Will and the others watched the rapidly approaching Dusknoir.
Cofagrigus and Gengar prepared for battle. Will, unable to participate in a fight of this level, sat on the ground and kept staring at the Vortex.
But they were wrong. Dusknoir wasn't here to fight. Fighting now would be pointless. He just stood silently to the side, waiting for the result.
The Dusknoir clan had always been loyal to the Vortex of Reincarnation, not the Lord of the Spirit World. As long as the Vortex was fine, it didn't matter who the Lord was. They only obeyed the current Lord.
Only the Chandelure clan was loyal to Big Yui personally. But after being decimated by Cofagrigus over the decades, they didn't dare show their faces now. They were definitely hiding in the dark, waiting to see who won. If Big Yui was gone... they'd have to switch sides fast.
Time ticked by.
The Spirit World trembled constantly, feeling like it could collapse at any moment. The three Pokémon traded barbs and insults. Only Will paced back and forth anxiously.
Suddenly...
The gray-white Vortex began to boil.
Bloop~
A gray-white bubble was spat out of the Vortex and slowly floated up.
Everyone stared at it without blinking.
Pop!
The bubble burst.
A black-haired woman appeared, naked as the day she was born.
Yui's appearance was almost identical to Big Yui's. Her face was just as cold and expressionless.
But Will knew.
This was Little Yui.
Because her eyes had color and life. And her Aura was fluctuating with panic and confusion.
"Will~"
The moment Yui appeared, she looked for Will. Hearing that sweet, childish voice coming from a cool, mature face was... jarring.
"Yui! Come here, come here!" Will jumped up, waving excitedly.
Then, he watched as the now-adult Yui flew over.
"Will, look! I can fly~"
Yui scooped Will into her arms and rubbed her cheek against him. "You've become so small."
"You've just gotten bigger."
Will, feeling softness pressing in from all sides, didn't dare move a muscle. Even though everyone else here was a Pokémon... his soul was still human.
"My Lord."
Dusknoir spoke in a muffled voice.
He knew. The Emperor had fallen; the Heir had ascended.
And... it seemed it was partly his fault?
Whatever. Let the past remain in the past. As long as the Spirit World was safe.
"Eep..." Yui heard Dusknoir and quickly hid behind Cofagrigus, still holding Will.
"Hehe, little girl. You shouldn't be afraid of us anymore. We should be afraid of you."
Cofagrigus grinned. Getting rid of the old Lord had put him in a great mood.
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