Chapter 725: The Soul-Heart Stolen
In the blink of an eye, two years rushed by.
Kazuya's frequency of heading to the surface gradually decreased, and he subconsciously began to extend the duration of his "meditations."
He figured that if Florges didn't specifically wake him up, he might close his eyes and half a year would pass before he opened them again.
It was on this day.
Volcanion, the Guardian of the Nebel Plateau, came down.
He told Kazuya.
Recently, a large number of hunters from the Azoth Kingdom had been frequently entering and exiting the Allearth Forest.
They didn't make much commotion.
In fact, their actions seemed somewhat sneaky and secretive.
As if they were searching for something.
It was unknown how long they had been searching, but Volcanion had only recently confirmed that there was something wrong with this group of people.
Previously, He just thought they were an ordinary hunting squad planning to hunt Magical Beasts in the Allearth Forest.
After all, such things were quite common in the era of Magical Beasts.
However.
This group of people frequently appeared for two or three consecutive months, and they never hunted. They simply wandered around, observing the terrain, and returning empty-handed every single time.
This made Volcanion feel something was amiss.
He initially suspected they were people from the other two kingdoms, preparing to infiltrate and pull some dirty tricks targeting the Azoth Kingdom.
So He deliberately lured a patrol squad into encountering this hunting squad.
And as a result of that encounter!
Volcanion found out that this hunting squad actually came from the Azoth Kingdom.
This completely threw Him off.
His brain instantly overloaded, entirely unable to understand what was going on.
He felt it was necessary to let Kazuya know what exactly was happening and analyze it properly.
Hearing this, Kazuya couldn't help but frown.
There were no rare products in the Allearth Forest.
Azoth had been neighbors with the Allearth Forest for decades, they should be well aware of this point.
Especially those hunters who frequently entered the forest; they should understand this forest even better.
So.
What exactly was in the Allearth Forest.
That would make a group of hunters abandon their livelihood and search for at least two or three months without finding it?
Did they not need to eat?
No.
Someone must be hiring them to do this.
Kazuya pondered for a long time.
He decided to personally make a trip to Azoth.
It was also a good chance to take a short break.
And look at the scenery along the way.
Upon arriving at the Royal Palace of Azoth.
Kazuya didn't go looking for AZ first. Instead, he personally used Teleport to reach the back garden and stared at the Ultimate Weapon for a long time.
After observing it for a while.
Kazuya didn't discover any abnormalities.
It seemed no changes had occurred compared to two years ago.
The Ultimate Weapon still looked like a tightly closed flower bud, seeming far from blooming.
"Looks like it might not be related to the Ultimate Weapon. Am I overthinking it?"
Kazuya raised a hand and massaged his temples.
He had a premonition that this matter might be related to the Ultimate Weapon.
But it seemed he had guessed wrong.
It wasn't a big deal.
Even Future Sight wasn't accurate all the time, let alone a vague and ethereal premonition.
"Kazuya?"
XY's voice came from the side.
He happened to come to the back garden to inspect the Ultimate Weapon, and then saw Kazuya there.
Caught red-handed, Kazuya didn't panic: "XY, it's been two years. You look like you've matured quite a bit again."
He calmly turned around and locked eyes with XY, who looked full of majesty.
No matter how many times he looked.
Kazuya felt that XY, both in appearance and temperament, fit the role of an "Emperor" much better.
Perhaps influenced by the knowledge that the "Boss of Team Flare is Lysandre," Kazuya felt that his ancestor, XY, must also be a boss of some sort.
"Matured my foot, you clearly just want to say I look older. But you, you haven't changed at all. It's been like this for over a decade, and the same goes for the other Magical Beasts."
XY responded with his arms crossed over his chest.
He had always spoken this directly.
Moreover, XY wasn't like AZ, who would learn from Kazuya to say "Pokémon."
XY had always used the term Magical Beast.
From this point, one could also see his slight attitude towards Pokémon.
He was probably the kind of character who always upheld the idea of "those who are not of our kind are sure to have a different heart."
"A Pokémon's lifespan is influenced by its type and strength. It's perfectly normal for a Psychic-type Pokémon like me to live a long time. Are you envious?"
Kazuya smiled, pursing his lips.
"A little bit, perhaps. But I don't have any strong obsessions regarding lifespan. Sometimes I feel dying earlier might not be a bad thing..."
XY fell silent for a moment after saying this, then walked over to Kazuya's side. "Why are you here? You must have sneaked in using some special power, right?"
"Mhm."
Kazuya nodded, not denying it.
"You aren't the kind of unreasonable Magical Beast... Did you discover something? Is it related to the Ultimate Weapon?"
XY wasn't angry at all; instead, he sensed something was wrong from this.
"I don't know either, that's why I came to investigate... I have a question to ask first."
"Speak."
"Do you know if there is anything special in the Allearth Forest?"
As the mastermind behind the Azoth Kingdom.
XY definitely knew quite a few things.
"Special things?"
XY fell silent after hearing this.
He pondered for a very, very long time.
Only then did he speak: "If there's anything special, it would only be those two Magical Beasts."
"Those two Magical Beasts? You mean, Xerneas and Yveltal?"
Kazuya's eyes widened, a flash of realization hitting his mind.
"Yes. The location where they disappeared back then was in the Allearth Forest, the same place they appeared. Many people saw it."
XY nodded quietly.
Subsequently.
Kazuya's expression darkened.
At that time, he and the other Pokémon were hiding underground. While evading the Oblivion Wing, they also missed this crucial piece of information.
He truly didn't know that Yveltal and Xerneas were still slumbering in the Allearth Forest.
It seemed.
His premonition hadn't been wrong after all.
Kazuya was now somewhat suspicious.
An ambitious guy had emerged in the Azoth Kingdom.
And seemed to be planning to use the Ultimate Weapon to achieve some of his own goals.
For this reason.
This guy needed to send people to find the locations of the Kalos twin Gods.
After all, if he wanted to activate the Ultimate Weapon.
Finding those two guys was an absolutely essential step.
The first person that came to mind was that Jax he saw two years ago.
Mainly because...
In all of Azoth.
He was the only character Kazuya knew who had expressed an intention to activate the Ultimate Weapon.
As for the others.
Both AZ and XY were figures who strictly prohibited the activation of the Ultimate Weapon.
So Kazuya could only think of that guy.
Moreover.
The people who knew that the condition to activate the Ultimate Weapon required the "energy of the Kalos twin Gods"...
Should only be those mysterious scientists who participated in the creation of the Ultimate Weapon, right?
There were only about a dozen of them in total.
"Recently, a hunter squad from the Azoth Kingdom has been frequently entering and exiting the Allearth Forest. It's been going on for at least two or three consecutive months. They aren't hunting, but seem to be looking for something."
As an exchange of intelligence.
Kazuya told XY the situation he had learned, while also sharing his own speculations.
XY was still trustworthy.
After all, he was the first person to try and dissuade AZ from building the Ultimate Weapon.
"...So, you suspect someone in the research team is secretly deploying forces to find those two Magical Beasts?"
XY instantly figured everything out.
Although he felt Kazuya was being a bit too sensitive.
But thinking about the consequences of activating the Ultimate Weapon, he felt it was indeed necessary to be sensitive about this matter.
Furthermore.
There really didn't seem to be anything rare in the Allearth Forest that couldn't be found after two or three months of searching.
XY didn't think he was just ill-informed.
He trusted his own judgment.
Therefore.
XY's expression also became grave.
"That's right."
Kazuya nodded.
The scope had already been narrowed down to the research team.
Just a dozen or so people.
With a slight investigation.
It would be very easy to find out who exactly was pulling these strings.
"I understand. Make yourself at home for now; I will come find you this evening."
Leaving a single sentence, XY turned and walked away.
His style of doing things was indeed resolute and swift.
With such a character holding the fort, it was truly difficult for the Azoth Kingdom to have any major problems.
Watching XY leave, Kazuya exhaled heavily.
He hoped his guess was wrong.
Evening.
"Your guess wasn't wrong."
The sentence XY spat out made Kazuya's face darken.
Coming along with him was his older brother, AZ.
At this moment, AZ was scratching his head with a guilty expression: "I'm sorry, I really should have listened to you back then. The Ultimate Weapon should never have been built."
"What use is saying that now! What the hell were you doing back then?!"
XY scolded him.
"Now is not the time to talk about this. Who did it?"
Kazuya spoke up, interrupting their argument.
"Jax."
AZ spat out a name.
"It really is that guy."
Kazuya sighed.
It seemed Jax was different from XY; he was an extreme radical, just like his descendants.
"Where is he?"
"He already left Azoth a month ago. He told me then that he wanted to go to the border to search for special materials."
AZ looked as if he was constipated.
"It's not a big problem, we just need to dismantle the Ultimate Weapon now."
XY waved his hand, stepped forward, and knocked on the outer shell of the Ultimate Weapon.
"Oh? Can you do that?"
Kazuya's eyes lit up.
He originally thought a creation like the Ultimate Weapon couldn't be dismantled once it was built.
"Of course. The Ultimate Weapon isn't the core; the Soul-Heart is. Dismantling the Ultimate Weapon isn't difficult. I can do it by myself."
Having said that, XY immediately planned to take action, then turned his head to look at AZ, "Aren't you coming over to help, you bastard?!"
"Sigh... XY, don't waste your effort."
AZ sighed heavily.
His younger brother's ability as a King was indeed stronger than his, but in the field of mystic science, he was still far behind.
"What do you mean?"
"You said it yourself, the Ultimate Weapon isn't the core. If you can dismantle it alone, Jax can certainly rebuild one by himself."
AZ stepped forward and pointed at the Soul-Heart stuck inside the flower bud, "The Soul-Heart is the core. Without the Soul-Heart, the Ultimate Weapon is just an empty shell."
"Then we take out the Soul-Heart."
XY shifted his target.
"Taking out the Soul-Heart is naturally the right thing to do, but..."
AZ pursed his lips, not finishing his sentence.
He began to operate the Ultimate Weapon himself.
"But what?"
XY asked.
"But, if you could think of it, how could Jax not have thought of it? That guy has probably been planning all this since two years ago. He must have considered everything."
Kazuya finished AZ's sentence.
"..."
XY fell silent and said no more, simply stepping forward to help AZ retrieve the Soul-Heart.
About two hours passed.
The "Soul-Heart" was finally taken out.
After another full hour of various tests.
They finally confirmed.
This was not the real Soul-Heart.
It was merely one of the countless failed products they produced when creating the Soul-Heart.
The real Soul-Heart.
Had already been stolen long ago.
It just hadn't been discovered until now.
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