[Snake Lord]: A ruler of a domain deep within the Dark Continent, commanding vast territories and countless subjects, possessing immense strength.
In the depths of the Dark Continent, there exist numerous powerful and bizarre entities, each often dominating a region and establishing its own kingdom.
Such creatures bear the suffix [Lord].
...
The Snake Lord's enormous eyes fixed on the wildly transforming Zygarde, its keen senses as a powerful being clearly detecting a sense of crisis!
But...
How could this be?!
A mere pitiful creature from a lake island—how could his abilities instill fear in it?
Even if it was only projecting a mere shadow of itself now, this shouldn't be happening.
Just as the Snake Lord was questioning its existence, a dark green light erupted, revealing the fully unveiled Zygarde within.
The current Zygarde bore no resemblance to the dog-like form from earlier. Its size had increased significantly, standing tall and proud like a Gundam.
Only the black and green patterns on its body indicated their shared origin.
Simultaneously, Zygarde's surface radiated a vast green light, forming a towering pillar that shot into the sky.
Even from a considerable distance, the spectacle was visible.
Now, Zygarde was brimming with its own cells—a true and complete Complete Forme Zygarde.
This was its battle-dedicated form, designed to fulfill its mission of safeguarding the Pokémon ecosystem by unleashing its full power in combat.
Each of its wings and tail possessed a "core" that functioned as a brain, capable of independent judgment and free transformation.
From the mouth on its chest, it could unleash high-energy blasts capable of annihilating everything, using force to suppress those who threatened the ecosystem.
And to the current Zygarde, the [Snake Lord] before it was precisely such an "ecosystem destroyer."
A target to be eradicated.
Witnessing the small dog suddenly transform into a terrifying giant, the Snake Lord couldn't help but widen its Snakeine pupils in disbelief.
How could this be?!
The shock in the Snake Lord's heart was no less than a human seeing an ant display strength surpassing mankind.
The Snake Lord's coiled body began to writhe, stirring up a violent storm in the air as its mountainous form loomed high in the sky.
Anyone else who saw this would likely collapse on the spot.
Forget reaching the Six Continents—with such overwhelming pressure, the Six Continents themselves would struggle to endure.
A mere whim from the Snake Lord could shatter the Six Continents, sinking them into the sea.
Akira glanced at the Pokédex's sparse description and felt that this so-called [Snake Lord] indeed had some power.
Even its current projection was close to SS+ in strength, suggesting its true form was at least SS+.
Moreover, with the Snake Lord's appearance, the progress bar for Zygarde's incubation in his mind advanced once more.
It seemed the depths of the Dark Continent were teeming with SS+-level beings, each wielding terrifying abilities.
Dominating their respective territories.
This was a good thing.
The higher the biological tier, the greater the potential for the Pokémon she could incubate.
Extending the thought further—could it be that each [Lord] represented a Legendary Pokémon?
At present, the Snake Lord seemed to embody Zygarde.
If even Zygarde had appeared, perhaps later she could incubate the Creator God Arceus, the Radiant One, or even Eternatus...
Hmm...
Possessing Pokémon of that caliber would mean absolute dominance.
Perhaps even tearing through space to reach other worlds wouldn't be impossible?
As Akira fantasized, the Gundam-like Zygarde took the initiative, its dark green light exploding violently.
The sleek and heroic mecha warrior exuded a futuristic aura, resembling humanity's ultimate trump card from a sci-fi movie.
Countless streams of light swirled around its body, brimming with boundless power. Every movement carried the potential for devastating destruction.
This was why Zygarde could reign as the supreme Legendary Pokémon of the Kalos region.
Unparalleled might!
This was the confidence that allowed it to safeguard ecological balance under any circumstances!
Zygarde clenched its fists, its body radiating a dazzling array of colors as the terrifying pressure of a Legendary Pokémon descended upon the Snake Lord.
The Snake Lord's pupils contracted sharply, feeling as if countless mountains were pressing down on its body, forcing it to descend involuntarily.
In an instant, as if the heavens had collapsed and the earth split apart, the Snake Lord's massive form crashed down—yet it didn't cause the catastrophic destruction one might expect.
Because at this moment, the Snake Lord was merely an illusion, or perhaps a doppelganger, without a true physical form.
Coiled on the ground, the Snake Lord raised its head high and suddenly opened its maw, spewing forth a jet of pitch-black gas.
Wherever the gas touched—be it flowers, grass, trees, soil, or rocks—everything underwent an eerie transformation.
The sinister, dark energy clung to these objects like a persistent plague, refusing to let go.
In the blink of an eye, they were engulfed by darkness, morphing into grotesque, Snakeine monsters that retained some of their original features.
For example, a tree tainted by the dark energy would transform into a massive python adorned with branches and leaves.
If a rock was contaminated, it would become a colossal Snake with a body forged from unyielding stone.
For a moment, it seemed as though anything in the world could be turned into a snake.
Akira was taken aback, having never encountered such an ability before.
This power was unlike anything he had ever seen.
The abilities Akira had witnessed before weren't devoid of eeriness—for instance, the Dark Sonata could manipulate human minds.
It could even purify souls, forming Soul Crystals.
Then there was Ai, the gaseous lifeform that thrived on desires, which could guide and devour emotions.
It could even craft monsters from different emotions.
Yet none were as bizarre as the power the Snake Lord was displaying now.
If he had to draw a comparison, it would be Nanika from the Zoldyck family.
Nanika's wish-granting ability was similarly uncanny.
But the Snake Lord's power gave Akira a distinctly Lovecraftian vibe.
Anything that came into contact with that dark gas would mutate, turning into all sorts of grotesque, snake-like abominations.
This seemed like a rule-based ability, similar to Nanika's wish-granting.
Merely touching it would turn the victim into one of the Snake Lord's subjects—twisted into various forms of Snakes.
Akira even suspected that the subjects within the Snake Lord's domain were all created this way.
He wondered if the other [Lords] also possessed similar abilities, capable of warping reality on a massive scale.
It seemed that at the SS+ tier, the abilities one possessed could diverge into terrifyingly distinct forms, even granting rule-based powers.
In the blink of an eye, a horde of bizarre snake-like creatures charged toward Complete Forme Zygarde, the surrounding forests and coral plains already reduced to ruins.
Only the area around Akira remained untouched.
Zygarde brought its hands together, gathering countless streams of multicolored light—mostly earthy yellow—into a single point.
Instantly, the light shifted from his body into the ground, creating rippling waves that spread outward through the earth.
In that moment, the land seemed to transform into an ocean, with towering waves surging toward the countless snakes.
Ground-type moves—Earth Force.
Zygarde let out a low growl, frantically channeling Aura into the earth, instantly filling the surrounding terrain with energy.
The next moment, time seemed to freeze in that instant.
"BOOM!!"
The earth violently exploded.
Countless chunks of soil shot into the sky, along with the snakes on them, all blasted into fragments mixed with the billowing dust.
Completely indistinguishable from one another.
"ROAR!!"
Even the Snake Lord suffered from this terrifying blow, its massive body writhing in pain, its entire Snakeine face contorted.
It couldn't remember how many years it had been since it last felt such intense pain.
Amidst the agony, the Snake Lord's eyes revealed a strikingly human-like mix of confusion and fear.
It simply couldn't comprehend how this tiny human could possess such overwhelming power!
This level of ability—perhaps not even a [Lord] could oppose it!
Did that mean these top-tier beings lurking in the depths of the continent were inferior to this insignificant frog in a well?
The Snake Lord's eyes seemed to spit fire, its pride refusing to accept such a devastating blow.
This was impossible.
It must have misjudged the opponent's strength because of this clone.
If its true form were here, it would never be in such a sorry state.
As countless thoughts raced through its mind, the Snake Lord's gaze turned vicious, and its massive body charged straight toward Don Freecss, its colossal form resembling the Midgard Snake, exuding overwhelming intimidation.
In comparison, Don Freecss's size was negligible—still just a small figure.
Yet the aura he radiated far surpassed the Snake Lord's.
In truth, Don Freecss's current strength far exceeded the Snake Lord's, even if the latter were in its original form.
The only reason the Snake Lord could withstand a single blow was that Don Freecss didn't want to cause excessive damage to the land.
Otherwise, one strike would have been enough to annihilate it.
Seeing the Snake Lord still daring to charge at him, Don Freecss's eyes flickered slightly.
With a light leap, his body floated into the air.
Then, like a cannonball, he shot toward the massive Snake Lord at blinding speed.
In an instant, Don Freecss transformed into a dark green meteor, his aura intensifying explosively.
The terrifying energy capable of affecting the entire region spread outward wildly!
Accompanying it was an overwhelmingly fierce assault!
Facing the horrifying Don Freecss, the Snake Lord felt an unprecedented sense of powerlessness for the first time, its heart sinking with dread.
...
Far, far away from the battlefield.
This was a land of death, where signs of life were scarce, and desolation stretched in all directions.
Yet, in this lifeless place, an unknown creature was now walking.
The creature was of moderate size but hunched over as it moved, its pace astonishingly fast.
Though its gait appeared normal, in the next instant, it would appear much farther away.
This was none other than Don Freecss!
Since parting ways with Akira and the others that day, he had continued his journey to explore the Dark Continent.
He planned to circle around the continent's edge to reach its western side.
Due to numerous delays along the way, he hadn't made much progress in the past month.
Suddenly, an overwhelmingly terrifying aura descended upon him, freezing his entire body and even disrupting his blood flow.
It was the most horrifying presence he had ever felt!
Even Akira's Aura Beast paled in comparison!
Gritting his teeth against the pressure, Don looked in the direction from which the aura had come, barely making out a faint green glow.
His breath hitched, and his mind went blank.
Judging from the direction of this aura, it was roughly in the same area where he had met Akira and the others.
If not exactly there, it was at least within that general vicinity.
But that area was at most a middle-tier zone—how could such a formidable presence appear there?
What kind of existence could possibly emerge in such a place?
At that moment, his keen spiritual intuition provided him with an unbelievable answer.
It was caused by Akira.
That was Akira's doing?!
...
At the foot of a volcano in the Dark Continent,
the violent tremors had also reached here, accompanied by an oppressive might that terrified all living things.
The rumbling sounds rose and fell incessantly, the earth churning like an earthen dragon, forcing the creatures above to flee in panic.
In a certain corner, a small group of people stood in shock, gazing at the distant battlefield.
They could only faintly make out an enormous Snake and a towering emerald-green pillar of light that dyed the sky.
A younger member of the group quickly spoke up under the pressure, "Father, we should hurry back! Something's gone wrong!"
Hearing this, another person nodded and signaled for the group to flee in a specific direction.
Their attire was peculiar, resembling ethnic clothing adorned with numerous circular patterns.
The language they spoke was not the common tongue of the Six Continents, but a unique dialect, almost like a local vernacular.
They moved swiftly, their actions practiced and precise, as if they had weathered many crises before.
They knew exactly what to do in such situations.
As they sprinted away at full speed, they soon arrived at a hidden location and disappeared inside one after another.
This was their dwelling place—the safest refuge they had.
Had Kurapika been present, he would have noticed that their clothing bore some resemblance to his own.
For these people were none other than the Kurta Clan of the Dark Continent.
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