Jayr POV - Nasuverse, Moon, SE.RA.PH, Coliseum - 2030 AD
The battlefield is already trembling by the time Nero and I brace ourselves.
Groudon's roar distorts the air, and then the titanic shape is swallowed in a pillar of incandescent red light.
The pressure spikes so fast my nerves misfire, it feels like a tremor working through my bones, as if the beast is dragging the entire arena into sync with its heartbeat.
This is the Primal Reversion, the process that is said to restore Groudon's true powers as it absorbs the energy of nature to greatly increase its potential.
It has been described as an ancient form of Evolution, as it is similar but unrelated to Mega Evolution, both granting the Pokémon tremendous strength and power, but older, rawer, and far less civilised in its execution.
The magma plates across its body crack open like molten scars, light spills from every fissure, each one pulsing like a volcanic heartbeat.
Heat surges out in shockwaves that bend the air and pound against my skin.
So fast that the Coliseum's "underwater" projection begins to glitch as the deep ocean blues warp into shimmering gold, then flicker back again, as if reality has to renegotiate what temperature it should be.
Sand liquefies, the coral structures blacken, curl, and disintegrate, then the steam rising around Groudon becomes a curtain of boiling haze.
Nero stands taller, sword rising, flame answering flame. She tilts her head back with a grin only she could wear in a moment like this and says, "At last… a worthy spectacle!"
Of course, she loves this.
The red pillar collapses inward, as if pulled into the creature's core, and the full form of Primal Groudon steps forward.
It is Groudon reborn, larger, denser, a titan sculpted from continental wrath.
Primal Groudon's appearance is similar to Groudon's, but much larger in size.
Its dark red skin has deepened to a searing crimson. The spikes running along its sides and underside have turned pitch black.
The blades of its tail fan apart in jagged segments, the glowing yellow cracks between its armour plating look like living fault lines, and the Omega sigil stands bright on its arms.
Its eyes burn with red irises that feel ancient enough to remember the birth of continents.
Primal Groudon slams a foot into the ground, and the entire floor jumps under us.
My vision wobbles as local gravity ripples from the force and, at the same time, heat blasts out in another pulse, making the titan look like a mirage caught mid-stride.
Then it moves with speed much faster than what its colossal size should be able to.
Nero launches at the exact same moment, golden fire trailing behind her like a banner.
The collision is instant, violent, and bright enough to punch white streaks across my sight.
A shockwave tears through the battlefield as the coral pillars shatter into clouds of dust and plates of stone split along fresh seams.
Primal Groudon furiously swipes, each claw leaving a deep trench, molten at the edges.
Nero slips between them with elegant footwork that would look playful if the stakes were anything less than fatal, but even she cannot avoid everything.
In an instant, a flare of instinct hits me, a premonition acquired through years of fighting experience, the titanic Pokémon is about to land a killing blow.
So I quickly use our bond to tell Nero to activate her skill Invictus Spiritus: Thrice, Even Though I Welcome the Setting Sun, to save herself.
The second strike comes in a blur, heat, force, and raw destructive weight swallow her, making her form vanish inside the blaze, reduced to light. Her first life is gone.
Golden petals swirl from empty air, drifting together until her body reforms within them.
She kneels, head bowed as if finishing a grand entrance instead of recovering from death; it is as beautiful and theatrical as always, but also a hard reminder that this enemy can kill us, easily, if we are too careless.
Realising that, I say under my breath, "One down. Try not to make that a habit."
Nero lifts her head and flashes me a grin, fierce and unbothered, before she replies, "I do not fall. I simply rise more radiantly than before."
She rises with renewed fire, her sword burning brighter, her aura pushing against the heat like a second sun.
Primal Groudon huffs, a low rumble that cracks a nearby wall as steam curls off its body in thick ropes.
The arena floor, half glass and half molten rock, glows beneath its feet.
The clash is far from over; the air itself feels ready to split, even the simulated ocean above us seems to recoil from the heat.
And Primal Groudon lowers its stance again, claws carving lines in the ground as it prepares for its next charge.
Seeing all this, I smile wryly while thinking, 'The fight against Primal Groudon has only just begun, and Nero has already been forced to use Invictus Spiritus: Thrice, Even Though I Welcome the Setting Sun to save herself. This battle is completely on another level compared to the one against Run Ru and Elizabeth Báthory. On top of that, Galatea still has to make her move, and who knows what other nasty surprise Helena has in store for us. Maybe it is time for me to take a more active role in the battle... After all, our opponent is another Champion, so I just can't keep holding back my power. Too much is at risk.'
While I'm thinking that, Primal Groudon stomps forward again, drawing in light like a dying star preparing to roar, making me mutter, "Fine. My turn."
The next instant, I make the Spiral Cosmo within my body explode and throw a punch, releasing a pulse of compressed force to twist the shockwave away from Nero.
Sand and steam spiral upward, forming a shifting barrier between us and Primal Groudon's onslaught.
Then I dart in, sliding under a claw the size of a car, channelling my Spiral Cosmo through my arm until it hums with the weight of a pressured sea before I deliver a powerful punch against the titan's stomach.
The impact is powerful enough to send the titan skidding back several meters; it is just a little, but enough to make its eyes narrow.
Then the battle resumes with Nero and me attacking Primal Groudon together.
Primal Groudon surges forward again, claws dragging molten lines behind them, the heat rolling off its body feels like it is peeling the air apart.
Nero charges first, her stride cutting through the shimmering haze, her flames bending into a bright arc as she leaps, while I follow a heartbeat later.
Primal Groudon meets us with a roar that shakes the arena; the sound hits like a pressure wave before it swings one massive arm down, the claws long enough to split a hill.
Nero catches the strike on her blade, bracing with both hands, the impact drives her boots deep into the glassed floor, making cracks spider out under her, glowing orange because of the insane heat.
She twists, pivots, and slashes upward, her sword trails a crescent of gold that scorches across Primal Groudon's chest, but the titan Pokémon barely reacts, and it answers with a sweep of its tail.
The air snaps as it cuts through, fast enough to leave afterimages.
I lunge forward and plant my foot, channelling the Spiral Cosmo until my bones vibrate, then I punch the ground.
The shock kicks up a slab of stone that rises like a shield between Nero and the oncoming tail.
The tail smashes through it, but the moment of delay is enough and allows Nero to dart to the side with a quick laugh that sounds far too delighted for the situation.
Primal Groudon lowers its head, the magma lines along its jaw brightening before it unleashes a beam of searing heat that heads straight toward her. It is the Fire-type move Fire Blast.
In response to that, I don't think; I simply move.
I crash into Nero and carry both of us out of the Fire Blast's path as it burns a clean hole through the arena's invisible wall, making the whole Coliseum shake before the walls quickly reform.
The air left behind tastes metallic, like scorched iron.
Nero plants a hand on the ground and springs back to her feet while shouting, "Keep up, my Praetor!" As if this is all a performance meant for an audience.
Primal Groudon's body glows with the colours of lava, a clear sign that it is about to unleash its signature move, Precipice Blades, which makes me immediately warn Nero through our bond.
Then, as we both jump back, Primal Groudon stomps forward, making a series of incandescent, sharp stones coated with lava spring up from the ground and narrowly miss us.
Even so, the temperature spikes so fast that it feels like my skin is shrinking.
I funnel the Spiral Cosmo into my arm and rush at the beast again, and in response, the titanic Pokémon swings a claw.
I casually slip under, push off the ground, and drive an uppercut into its jaw as I spin upwards with some horizontal movement as well, while doing everything in my power to stop from shouting out, "Shoryuken!" Which I miserably fail as the sound of Nero loudly chuckling in my mind and her eyes full of mirth remind me.
Despite the absurdity of the situation, the blow sends a shock through the titan's body.
Its head jerks back, and a spray of molten sparks rains from its armour while its body is lifted off the ground.
At the same time, Nero doesn't waste the opening; she leaps high, sword raised, expression sharp and hungry.
She brings her blade down in a blazing arc that lands clean across Primal Groudon's shoulder, and the cut carves a glowing line that hisses like cooling metal.
Primal Groudon roars in pain as it crashes on the ground with such force that the ground heaves and pillars of fire shoot up all around us.
A pillar of fire is also about to erupt beneath us, so I grit my teeth and quickly force my Cosmo outward, shaping it into a twisting barrier that sends the fire curling around us instead of through us.
After a few moments of enduring the magma-like heat, the pillar of fire is gone, and Primal Groudon is upright once again, the cracks in its armour pulsing brighter while the heat is climbing toward a new peak.
Like that, the battle resumes and Nero and I fall into rhythm, me creating openings, her exploiting them in bursts of flame and steel, making Primal Groudon roar, frustrated that we're pushing it at all.
And the titanic Pokémon isn't the only one, as I sense that Helena's composure is slightly cracking as well.
It's small, a faint twitch near the corner of her eye, a tightening of the jaw, her voice, previously cold and monotone, gains a thin edge as she mutters like she's commenting on faulty equipment, "So irritating... Then I shall adjust variables once more."
She picks up and raises another Pokéball before she casually throws it in our direction, and when it bursts open, releasing the creature resting inside, the world shatters.
The ground detonates outward as something unimaginably massive rises.
A low, seismic rumble travels through the Coliseum's invisible walls, and for a brief moment, I think the system is glitching, no, refusing to process what Helena just did.
Because emerging from the Pokéball is an impossible, titanic figure.
It is a creature taller than the mountains, its body is a fortress of living stone and fury, its spines glow faintly, pulsing with buried fire.
He has a bulky body, a thick and short neck, large arms, jagged triangular dorsal fins that closely resemble the traditional maple leaf-shaped fins, and a crocodile-like head with a relatively long snout.
He also has a rounded head and thinner neck, a rough, bluish skin with a tree bark-like texture covering the entirety of his body, a very robust musculature, with his muscles visible through his skin and pronounced abdominal and pectoral muscles on his chest.
His legs are long and slim, while his feet are elongated and possess four claws.
His tail has a ridged underside and ends with a pointed spear-like tip.
He also possesses a pronounced hunch in his back and several spikes on the bottom of his chin that resemble a beard.
Every step he takes cracks the crust beneath him, releasing gouts of steam and flame.
His eyes burn with the cold brilliance and the fury of a dying sun.
This is the creature considered by many to be the first, true Kaiju, Godzilla.
Watching Godzilla's imposing shadow blot out the Coliseum's sky, I can't help but feel a little stunned and exclaim, "What...?! No way. That shouldn't be possible... A Pokéball shouldn't be able to contain that. A Pokéball shouldn't be able to bind something like him. It doesn't even make sense..."
Even so, Godzilla rises a hundred meters tall, transcending even Primal Groudon in sheer size.
He is like a living forest of metal-hard plant matter, and the sheer biological density crushes the seafloor beneath him while plates glow along his body like molten steel veins.
From Godzilla's presence, I sense a certain aura that I commonly associate with plant-based creatures like the Nymphs in my Soulbound Territory, making me instantly connect the dots and realise that the one standing in front of us isn't a regular Godzilla, but one that is considered by many its strongest incarnation, Godzilla Earth.
This incarnation of Godzilla is unique in that he originated from plant life rather than animal life.
He is said to be the "end result of natural selection on Earth" and has survived for 20,000 years as the largest and most powerful lifeform in the planet's history.
Godzilla Earth evolved as a result of this plant life incorporating the characteristics of various other organisms through the process of horizontal gene transfer, granting it extreme durability, heat resistance, stealthiness, and regenerative abilities.
This is, without any doubt, a titan on par with Primal Groudon in sheer power but with basically unlimited potential for growth.
His roar nearly deafens me while Nero flinches, not in fear, but pure irritation. "Another oversized reptile? And an unrefined one at that!"
In response, I warn her, "Be careful. This one power isn't anything less than Primal Groudon... In fact, he may be even stronger..."
Nero chuckles and points out, "I said unrefined, not weak."
Then the Titans attack.
Primal Groudon lunges first, dragging a river of magma behind its claws.
Godzilla Earth follows a heartbeat later, every step shaking the arena like a collapsing canyon.
His dorsal plates hum with rising electromagnetic charge, rippling the water-illusion in the sky above us.
Nero leaps to intercept, flames whipping off her blade in bright arcs, she angles her strikes to redirect their opening salvo rather than clash head-on.
Even she knows a direct hit from either of them would fold us in half.
I dart through the first wave of shock and heat, turning the Spiral Cosmo outward to bend the pressure up and away from the arena while thinking, 'If I let even one of these monsters dump their full weight into the ground, the whole place will crack open. That will make the situation much more annoying.'
Primal Groudon stomps in, claws carving molten trenches again, and Nero meets the attack with a high spin, her sword scraping one talon aside, but the second follows immediately.
I pull her back with a burst of force using my Telekinesis just as the claw tears open the space she stood in.
Godzilla Earth chooses that moment to enter the fray, his throat contracts, plates brightening, and a low vibration builds until the arena buzzes.
I recognise the attack too late as he releases a Super Oscillatory Wave, not a roar but a focused blast of resonance.
It distorts the air as it moves, shredding coral spires and punching a crater into the far wall.
Nero plants her feet and braces behind me as I flare the Spiral Cosmo into a barrier.
The wave hits like a falling mountain, my vision blanks for a second, my arms shake, and heat races up my bones, making me mentally complain, 'Damn... If they keep hitting this hard, I would be forced to don Crateris.'
When the pressure fades, Godzilla Earth is already moving. He swings his tail, and the Plasma Cutter effect kicks in.
The air crackles as a blade of superheated wind shoots toward us, and inresponse, I snap a slab of stone up from the floor, but the tail slices it cleanly, carving it into glowing fragments.
Nero surges past me then, bright gold and sharp intent, she takes the tail's aftershock head-on, rides it, and uses it to launch herself high.
Then she slashes across Godzilla Earth's snout, leaving a burning golden line.
However, the titan barely reacts, his Asymmetrically Permeable Shield flares, taking most of the strike's force and hurling Nero backwards.
She skids across half the arena, flips, and lands in a crouch with a sharp grin.
Primal Groudon crashes in beside his partner, heat pouring from every fissure in its armour, the air ripples, the temperature jumps again.
He charges another Precipice Blades and the ground erupts in a grid of molten spikes that force us to move, and fast at that.
I jump between the pillars, grab Nero by the wrist, and pull her through the collapsing field just before another set blasts upward.
Godzilla Earth steps into our escape route, his dorsal plates ignite, and a thin, brilliant beam fires from the shield around his body.
The charged-particle blast cuts a spiralling gouge through the ground toward us.
I slam both hands forward and twist the air, forcing the beam to arc upward where it punches a hole through the simulated ocean above.
Nero swings to my side, blade raised, fire snapping around her like a banner.
Two titans, one goal. Under Helena's control, they advance in perfect sync, heat, resonance, and raw mass closing in like a collapsing horizon.
And for the first time since this battle began, I feel it, 'If it continues like this, we might actually be in trouble.'
Despite all that, we are still able to push the two titans back, and Helena notices it too as her expression twitches again, not enough to break her mask, but enough to show some form of strain.
Then her voice cuts through the chaos, sharp and brittle, "Galatea. Assist them."
Under her command, the statue-woman finally makes her move. Galatea steps forward with serene poise, crossing the arena without a sound.
Even though Godzilla Earth's tremors don't disturb her balance, she raises her weapons, the big hammer and chisel, and suddenly the battlefield's geometry shifts as she rushes into the battle, approaching my Servant.
She strikes Nero once, twice, each blow perfectly measured to output as much damage as possible until Nero dodges the third while looking a little winded before quickly counterattacking while I focus on keeping Primal Groudon and Godzilla Earth at bay.
With Galatea's addition, the battle becomes even harder and more intense, but we don't fall back and continue to push back our enemies.
And that's when Helena decides she's done being passive, her eyes glow with a soft, eerie earthly brown light, the same colour as the power of her Blessing, while she orders, "Galatea. Use it."
In response, Galatea's marble skin cracks with light as the power of Helena's Blessing is infused into her, but she isn't breaking, she is opening.
The massive level of energy gathering in her makes me instantly realise that she is activating her Noble Phantasm, something that is quickly confirmed as she starts chanting, "Activate Aphrodite unit... O goddess, grant my wish. Infuse life into this sculpture through my love. What is engraved is my prayer for reunion. My divine chisel that carves in all directions... Pygmalion Chisel-Out!"
The next moment, Galatea's energy floods the arena, as her weapons turn into advanced mechanical wings, colored in white and light grey with some gold accents that strongly remind me of the Tallgeese's "Super Vernier" boosters, which attach to her back.
Then she materialises another chisel, one much bigger than the previous one, before Galatea's Super Vernier boosters activate and with the boosted speed, she flies up in the air and charges toward her target with absurd speed and momentum.
Seeing that, I immediately use our bond to command Nero to once again use her skill Invictus Spiritus: Thrice, Even Though I Welcome the Setting Sun to save herself and just in time, as the next moment, Nero is literally sent flying and engulfed in a storm of attacks with the boosted Galatea relentlessly hitting her from all directions while zooming around.
In the end, Galatea hits Nero one last time, crashing on the ground while generating a blinding explosion that releases countless life-like statues of birds who are then empowered by Helena's Blessing and start flying toward me.
Seeing that Nero has been "killed" again and that the situation is taking an unfavourable turn, I realise that it is time to get serious, so I gather my Spiral Cosmo around my fist that transforms it into a water-like energy that twists around my fist and yell, "Torrential Rain!"
Then I ignite my Spiral Cosmo and with a punch I release a massive amount of clear blue energy droplets in front of me at once that, almost like heavy rain, hit all the bird statues, making them crumble in an instant.
At the same time, Nero also revives in all her glory just in time to see me obliterate what remains of Galatea's Noble Phantasm, making her comment, "As expected of my Praetor. Only you can match the brilliance of my performance. But I won't allow you to overshadow me. It's time for the climax."
As she says this, we both look at each other and nod as our tacit understanding makes further words useless.
We both stop holding back so much as I send my Spiral Cosmo to Nero, who stabs her Aestus Estus into the ground while chanting, "Behold my talent! Listen to the thunderous applause! Here is the honour of the Imperium! Like a blooming flower... Opening! The Golden Theatre!! I shall offer this gift to a full moon... Dancing scatters the flowers, and cleaves open a star! Behold the supreme beauty... and praise it! Aestus Domus Aurea!"
Her voice echoes through the Colosseum, imperial and absolute, while golden light erupts around us.
The battlefield warps into her palace, the magnificent theatre she designed and constructed during her lifetime, sunlit marble, towering pillars, gilded balconies, all that manifests all around us overwritting the surroundings, trapping our enemies inside where they can't escape, constantly weakening them while empowering Nero and making sure that her attacks bypass all defence.
The next moment, Nero pulls out her Aestus Estus, which is then shrouded in flames like that of Mount Vesuvius, causing an inferno while rose petals would dance in the air.
With a triumphant laugh, Nero focuses on Galatea, but Primal Groudon stand in her way.
However, before the titanic Pokémon can do anything, I once again gather my Spiral Cosmo in my fist, which takes the form of an orb of water and launch it toward his target with a punching motion while yelling, "Tidal Wave Punch!"
The orb of water lands squarely against Groudon's jaw, pushing its head back a little, then I smirk and lightly mutter, "...Boom."
The next instant, hundreds of delayed impacts explode from the orb one after the other, exponentially growing in power and intensity with each delayed impact, which sends the titan skidding backwards, strikes a marble pillar, and collapses with a sound like a dying volcano unable to stand again.
Seeing that, I keep the smirk on my face while commenting, "As expected... Since Primal Groudon is a Fire- and Ground-type, a Water-type attack does the quadruple of the usual damage... It is natural that the result is a one-hit KO."
As Primal Groudon falls, I quickly focus on Godzilla Earth, whose plates ignite crimson before his entire body pulses with fury, taking the Scarlet Godzilla form.
Then, the red Atomic Breath builds in his throat, an attack that can level nations, and without wasting any time, he fires it.
The beam tears forward, warping the air and shattering the palace walls.
I breathe in, letting the Spiral Cosmo course through my body and explode as I gather a massive amount of energy between my hands, forming an icy blue orb of energy.
Then I shout, "Hundred Roaring Ice Fangs!" Releasing everything and generating a powerful and turbulent wave-like vortex of energy with countless ice spears withering, all of them with a temperature at absolute zero, that crashes into the Atomic Breath.
Steam, fire, and frost explode in a blinding storm. For a second, nothing exists, but white and red and roaring sound, but then my attack pushes through.
It slams into Godzilla Earth's chest, piercing and shredding his thick skin before quickly freezing the titan to the marrow.
Frost races across his body before his massive weight cracks and crashes against the ground. Godzilla Earth also falls, frozen still.
With the road clear, Nero smiles and chants, "Open the gate! The curtain to the solo stage draws! Behold my talent! Listen to the thunderous applause! Praise it! The Golden Theatre! Laus Saint Claudius!!"
Nero dashes forward and performs a slash that seems to create an effect of petals flowing with it, and with one clean, radiant strike, Nero cuts Galatea's core.
The statue-woman cracks like porcelain, light spilling out from those cracks.
The next moment, a bright red digital barrier divides the Coliseum into two parts, separating Nero and me from Helena, Galatea, Godzilla Earth, Primal Groudon, and all the other defeated Pokémon.
At the same time, I notice that their arms, legs, and torso are starting to gradually fizzle into blackness, a sign that SE.RA.PH has started to erase the loser.
They both watch this happening with calm, their expression neutral until Galatea dissolves completely.
Then, when Helena is about to follow, as her body is almost completely back, something breaks.
Her naturally narrow eyes widen, her breath catches, the cold mask shatters, revealing horror beneath it as she whispers in a confused tone, "What… what was I…?"
She then looks at me, really looks at me and says in a trembling voice, "… You stopped me. Before I could hurt more innocent people. Thank you."
Her body is nearly gone, but she uses all her willpower to force out one last warning, "Be careful… Jayr… of the Champion of Life…"
Her voice wavers for a moment, but she holds on, "Kang Yaling… she distorted my desire..."
At this point, a final flicker of relief crosses her face before Helena Harrison disappears, becoming motes of swirling ashes.
Nero stands beside me in the settling dust, her breath heavy, her golden palace fading away. Only silence remains as the second round of the Holy Grail War comes to an end.