Chapter 820: A Boomerang from 160 Years Ago
"The Lord of the Spirit World, huh? I didn't expect you to know such an incredible figure."
AZ crossed his arms over his chest, his face filled with joy, and said with a smile, "Regardless, Giratina is a Demon God who poses a massive threat to humanity. Its death is fantastic news for us."
A Renegade Pokémon that could hide on the other side of the world to peek and ambush.
The danger was naturally immense.
In this world, when it comes to the ability to lie in wait and launch sneak attacks.
Who the second best is might be up for debate, but the first is undoubtedly Giratina.
With Giratina dead.
It would be very difficult for other Demon Gods to ambush Kazuya and his party like they did a few days ago.
At most.
It would be that guy, the God of Space Palkia, crossing through space to suddenly appear in front of them with a Spacial Rend, but that wouldn't count as a sneak attack, rather a sudden assault.
After all, when Palkia discovered their exact location.
They would also roughly be able to discover Palkia's location.
"This is indeed good news, but with it comes even worse news."
Kazuya pursed his lips, his brow furrowed tightly.
The severity of the situation had reached a point where he didn't even have time to feel sad that his friend might have passed away.
"How so?"
"You don't understand the danger the Lord of the Spirit World faces by taking action, and what it means for this world if something happens to her..."
Kazuya shook his head.
And then relayed the words Cofagrigus had said before.
At the same time, he also shared his series of speculations with his companions beside him.
As the Lord of the Spirit World, once Yui took action, she would expose her location, thereby drawing Shadow's attacks, and would likely end up dead.
When that happens, the system of life and death in this world would collapse. The world would only have death, no new life, until all life completely disappeared, or unless the Spirit World chose a new Lord before that.
These things.
Kazuya believed Yui definitely knew in her heart.
But for her to take action.
Meant that Cofagrigus must have reached a desperate dead end at that time.
Others might not be clear, but Kazuya knew.
This Lord of the Spirit World, Yui, was different from past Lords of the Spirit World. She was an entity guided by the consciousness of a "good soul".
After all.
Yui was the one he and Cofagrigus personally placed on the seat of the Lord of the Spirit World back then.
Her heart harbored kindness and emotion. She couldn't just watch her only family member, Cofagrigus, die, so she would inevitably intervene at the end.
Emotionally speaking.
Kazuya hoped Yui succeeded in saving Cofagrigus and managed to hide him again.
But rationally speaking.
Kazuya knew that hope was likely slim.
If Yui had truly died, then this world could not rely on the "future." All survivors could only rely on the "present" to fight for a "future."
This generation of survivors.
Would be the last hope of this world.
The situation had become so dire that there was no turning back; it was a do-or-die scenario.
"What?!" x N
Everyone let out voices of shock carrying different meanings.
AZ was so shocked that his mind went completely blank upon hearing that no new babies would be born in the future.
As for Scizor and the others, they found it hard to accept the news that Cofagrigus might have "died".
Even Greninja, who had been quietly listening, was stunned.
The scene fell silent for a long time.
In the end, it was AZ who spoke first: "Regardless, let's resolve the current situation first. If things have truly reached this point, then I am determined to win this operation."
His expression was extremely serious.
They now had to fight this battle as if there was no retreat. They couldn't hold onto the wishful thinking of "there's always later" like they used to.
Thinking about it carefully.
This might not be a bad thing.
Since the beginning of the New Magical Beast Era, while the number of magical beasts drastically decreased, the number of survivors was also constantly dwindling. Conversely, the Demon Gods were still alive and kicking; the core strength of the dark side hadn't diminished.
Ceding five cities today, ten cities tomorrow, all for one night's peaceful sleep.
In the long run, the survivor faction was also committing slow suicide.
But now.
With their retreat cut off.
Perhaps it could inspire more survivors to rise up and fight back, trying their utmost to fight for a glimmer of survival.
Just like right now.
Five minutes ago, AZ felt that even if this plan failed and he couldn't successfully bombard Zygarde and Giratina with the Ultimate Weapon, it wouldn't matter.
But now, AZ felt this plan must succeed. With Giratina dead, the focus shifted entirely to Zygarde; this shot must be fired.
"How? What did you mean earlier when you said you want to use Their power to break the seal? Since when did the Ultimate Weapon have a seal?"
Kazuya snapped back to reality and looked at AZ.
Cofagrigus and Yui had already bought them a great opportunity; it couldn't just be wasted like this.
Since he currently had no ideas, he might as well try to help AZ complete his plan.
"...This traces back to 160 years ago."
AZ irritably scratched his head and sighed.
Everything had to be blamed on that unfilial descendant of his, Lysandre.
Back then, Lysandre acted like a lunatic, sniping the Kalos trio of gods everywhere, intending to activate the Ultimate Weapon even if it meant completely throwing the Kalos ecosystem into chaos.
But at that time, only AZ knew the exact location of the Ultimate Weapon.
In order to extract the location or blueprints of the Ultimate Weapon from AZ's mouth, Lysandre forcibly imprisoned AZ for several years.
Fortunately.
The AZ of that time was also neither fully human nor ghost.
His mental state was even crazier than Lysandre's.
Even while imprisoned, he didn't care. He completely ignored Lysandre, not even granting this descendant a roll of his eyes. So Lysandre's ambition never succeeded.
Later.
Lysandre's direct subordinate.
A young man named Alain betrayed Team Flare, deciding to abandon darkness for light.
To stop Lysandre's conspiracy, Alain and his companions launched an operation to destroy Team Flare's plot, which included the step of rescuing AZ.
At that time, witnessing the bond and Mega Evolution between Alain and his Charizard, AZ was deeply moved. He thought of his past self and Floette, and gradually regained his humanity.
He decided to help Alain fight against Team Flare!
However, for AZ, an ordinary immortal human without Pokémon.
He truly couldn't help Alain and the others in combat; he could only intervene from other angles.
For example...
Restricting Lysandre's targets in advance.
Consequently.
An idea that killed two birds with one stone formed in AZ's mind.
In Pokémon X/Y, it was stated that Lysandre's goal wasn't solely the [Ultimate Weapon], but also something called the [Master].
The Master.
Was another ultimate creation AZ developed 1000 years after creating the Ultimate Weapon!
In X/Y, it was merely mentioned in passing, a preliminary concept.
The true story only began to unfold in the Z-A version.
It was a device hidden within Prism Tower that could continuously generate and autonomously store natural energy.
It was created by AZ to atone for his sins.
A reversal device specifically built for Floette.
The reason it was called a reversal...
Was because the input and output of energy were reversed.
The Ultimate Weapon granted Floette eternal life by plundering the biological energy of the Kalos land and infusing it into her body.
The Master, on the other hand, shared this life energy with everyone through Floette's eternal life, allowing surrounding Pokémon to Mega Evolve.
However.
When creating the Master.
AZ kept an extra trick up his sleeve this time.
The Ultimate Weapon could be operated by anyone as long as there was energy.
But the Master, even with energy, couldn't be controlled by anyone without AZ's Floette—not even by AZ himself.
This was an exclusive weapon AZ built for Floette.
Lysandre initially didn't know this.
So he vainly attempted to obtain the Master and activate it simultaneously with the Ultimate Weapon to achieve better results.
And now.
Based on Lysandre's ambition.
AZ prepared to transfer the Master to the Azoth Kingdom, where the Ultimate Weapon was hidden, making the Master the Ultimate Weapon's protective measure, a seal.
Moreover, the protective effect of this seal was incredibly strong. Two thousand years of stored natural energy wasn't something Lysandre could forcefully blast open.
If Lysandre wanted to blast open the Master's seal, he could only use the power of the Ultimate Weapon or a god.
But if he couldn't blast open the Master's seal, Lysandre couldn't get the Ultimate Weapon.
It formed a closed loop.
This way.
As long as Lysandre couldn't find AZ's Floette.
He would get neither the Master nor the Ultimate Weapon.
Even if Alain's group ultimately failed, Lysandre would find it difficult to realize his ambitions.
This was AZ's scheme to kill two birds with one stone.
AZ's actions were witnessed by Floette, who had been secretly accompanying him.
The latter was deeply moved.
So she proactively revealed herself and reconciled with AZ.
With Floette.
AZ was able to open the Master seal during the Great Darkness incident later and bring the Ultimate Weapon out again to deal with the Demon God Diancie.
But now.
The stratagem AZ had devised against Lysandre back then had become a boomerang, hitting him right in his own face.
The world refreshed.
The Master and the Ultimate Weapon returned to their original locations.
And Floette had transformed into the Eternal Tree far away in Sootopolis City, unable to help AZ open the Master seal.
Therefore.
AZ's current situation was exactly the same as Lysandre's back then.
To open the Master seal, he could only rely on the power of the Kalos supreme god, Zygarde, and try to blast it open with brute force.
If he could.
Then AZ would obtain two massive weapons, the Ultimate Weapon and the Master, in one fell swoop.
If he couldn't.
Then they would just have to flee for their lives with all their might.
After all, the single-use Ultimate Weapon was used up three days ago. Rebuilding one would take at least three to five years, depending on the speed of resource gathering.
"..." x N.
After hearing the origin of everything.
The already quiet scene fell even more silent.
Could they blame AZ for this?
Of course not.
AZ was the great hero who saved Kalos one hundred and sixty years ago. He couldn't have predicted that the world would end up in this state today.
So there was nothing to say about this matter.
"...Without further ado, let's head to the Azoth Kingdom first."
Kazuya broke the atmosphere and looked at AZ and Greninja.
His companions were currently in a depressed mood, immersed in Cofagrigus's situation and unable to snap out of it.
And the Team Flare members were all plunged into despair because of the news regarding the Spirit World just now.
Among those present, only the two leaders, Kazuya and AZ, along with the lone wolf Greninja, could remain calm and rational.
They had to take the lead.
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