"It's coming... I have to endure it!"
Feeling that familiar sensation invading him, Ethan gritted his teeth hard and endured.
Little by little... Lucario's figure on the field continued transforming.
Just when Ethan felt that he was about to be unable to bear it any longer, the light enveloping Lucario suddenly burst into pieces.
Then, everyone saw that Lucario's body was covered in black stripes; the tips of its hands, feet, and the hair behind its head had turned blood-red, and more spikes had also grown on the backs of its hands and on the soles of its feet. It had taken the form of Mega Lucario!
And once Lucario successfully completed Mega Evolution, Ethan also felt his mind suddenly relax.
Mega Lucario once again connected their minds through the power of aura, allowing Ethan to recover part of his mental energy and, at the same time, using Mega Lucario's mental strength to continue maintaining the megaevolved form.
"Phew... phew... We finally did it."
Ethan patted his head and looked at Mega Lucario with a smile.
Just a moment ago, he had almost believed he would not be able to endure it, but at the final instant he remembered those nightmare scenes and, somehow, managed to hold on.
"Could it be that training inside the nightmare has made my mental energy increase a little more?"
That thought inevitably arose in Ethan's mind, and the more he thought about it, the more possible it seemed.
While Ethan continued reflecting, the entire field had already erupted into commotion!
"It evolved, it really evolved!"
"Lucario's third evolution!"
"Lucario can also have a third evolution!"
Seeing Mega Lucario's figure, the spectators were so excited they could barely articulate words.
"So it could still evolve..."
Lucas and the others were also stunned for a moment.
However, after already having gone through so many "surprises," their expressions remained relatively calm.
After all, Pokémon such as Rhyperior, Magmortar, Slowking, Steelix, and others had already previously demonstrated evolutionary forms that were not known before.
Among Ethan's Pokémon, many unknown evolutionary forms had already appeared, so now that a third evolution of Lucario emerged, they felt they could still accept it.
More than Lucario's evolution itself, what truly intrigued them was how Ethan had managed to make it evolve. That strange light that had emanated from his body moments earlier greatly awakened their curiosity.
Of course, all of that was based on them taking Lucario's Mega Evolution as a normal evolution. If they knew the truth, they naturally would not be so calm.
"Lucario, how do you feel?"
Once he recovered his spirits, Ethan looked at Mega Lucario and asked.
"Luucaarr!"
It was Lucario's first time megaevolving, so it felt enormous curiosity toward its new body.
Although it had not truly battled in that form yet, it could feel that its physical qualities, mental power, and aura power had all received a gigantic amplification.
"Then let's put it to the test in actual combat."
Ethan smiled faintly and turned his gaze toward Darkrai.
Whoosh, whoosh...
Opposite them, Darkrai's figure swayed with the wind.
At that moment, its gaze was extremely serious: from Mega Lucario, it could feel an enormous threat.
In the next instant, both Pokémon moved at the same time.
All of Mega Lucario's explosive energy concentrated in its hands.
Afterward, Mega Lucario condensed an Aura Sphere fused with mental power and launched it at Darkrai.
Seeing this, Darkrai also gathered the power of nightmares in its hands and fired the Dark Pulse move.
Boom!
In the air, both attacks collided.
And then, under everyone's incredulous gaze, the Aura Sphere move shattered the Dark Pulse move and struck Darkrai directly, sending it flying backward!
At that instant, the entire stadium erupted into commotion!
That was Darkrai, a legendary Pokémon!
And in a frontal clash, Darkrai's attack had been defeated!
"Even if it evolved...!"
"The increase in power is too terrifying!"
"If that Darkrai is Quasi-Elite level, then could it be that Lucario, after evolving, has directly reached the Elite level?!"
Even the guests in the box showed absolute disbelief in their eyes. None of them understood why Lucario's power after evolving had increased so much.
"As expected of Mega Evolution, the increase in power is truly terrifying."
"Mental power, aura power, and the leap in life level brought by Mega Evolution... In addition, after megaevolving, Lucario's ability also changed from Inner Focus to Adaptability."
"The effect of the Adaptability ability is that moves of the same type as the user increase their power even further on top of the original basis."
"With all these improvements combined, the power of the Aura Sphere move has risen several levels at once. So there is nothing strange about it managing to directly suppress Darkrai."
Ethan mentally analyzed Lucario's data after megaevolving. After all, that Mega Evolution could be considered accidental, and even he did not know whether they would be able to achieve it again afterward, so the information obtained in that battle was extremely valuable.
"What the hell is going on?!"
"Darkrai, attack with all your strength at once, use the power of nightmares!"
At that moment, the one losing his composure the most on the field was none other than Stefan, the so-called divine envoy.
In the previous battle, it had already annoyed him enormously that Darkrai had not been able to defeat the opponent in a single blow.
And now, to make matters worse, Darkrai was being suppressed by the Lucario on the other side, making him look like a fake divine envoy.
If Darkrai could not defeat that Lucario, then his presentation battle as a divine envoy was going to turn into a true mockery!
"Darkaaii!"
At that moment, Darkrai was also enraged. It felt that its dignity had been challenged.
Filled with anger, Darkrai once again gathered the power of nightmares and used its exclusive move, Dark Void, once more, intending to devour everything before its eyes.
Immediately, as the nightmare energy of the Dark Void move expanded, the entire field began to be enveloped in darkness.
But just as those shadows reached Mega Lucario, they abruptly stopped.
Then Mega Lucario was seen extending a hand forward. The power of aura surged frantically and transformed into an aura barrier, directly blocking the nightmare energy.
"This is another technique for using the power of aura. Projecting your own aura to create barriers or launch attacks!"
Seeing this, Ethan once again felt pleasantly surprised.
With Mega Evolution completed, the power of aura had also undergone a huge advance; that was one of the reasons why the Aura Sphere move had such monstrous strength.
(End of chapter)