At the moment Cain abandoned that line of investigation, in another unknown region of the continent, several people were gathered together.
"The agreed time has arrived. The spatial blockade here has weakened a little, but the reduction is almost negligible... Could something have happened on Irene's side?" said one of them—a man wearing a mask that covered only the area around his eyes—after closing his eyes and sensing the surroundings.
The other was a middle-aged man dressed in a conspicuous short yellow outfit. He sat casually on a nearby rock and said indifferently, "With that arrogant guy Jacob over there, I don't think there will be too many problems. Maybe the initial estimate of the degree to which the spatial blockade would weaken was a bit inaccurate."
"Besides, we're very far away from them. Even if the spatial blockade has weakened, it will take some time before it affects us. We should simply focus on our own matters."
"And going a step further, even if something really has happened on their side, aren't we here? Aren't you here precisely as a backup plan?"
As he spoke, the man in yellow showed a mocking expression, clearly lacking much sympathy toward the masked man.
However, that person seemed not to notice the expression of the man in yellow and took out an enormous instrument from his storage space. If Cain had been there, he would have immediately recognized that it was identical to the one he himself had destroyed not long ago.
The mission of these two people was, in essence, the same as that of Irene and Jacob. The only difference was that, compared to them, their luck had been much better, as they had not run into someone like Cain who ruined their plans.
A gigantic spatial rift appeared dazzlingly, suspended in the air. The surrounding Pokémon felt an instinctive fear toward that rift and did not dare approach it.
Apparently, there were no League trainers nearby either, so no one interfered with their actions.
With the opening of the spatial rift, streams of black energy began to seep into the continent. After a brief flash, they disappeared as if they had lost their energy source. However, psychics with spatial affinity, or Pokémon with spatial talent, could clearly perceive that the spatial blockade across the entire continent was weakening.
Some particularly powerful Pokémon were even beginning to be capable of using short-distance Teleport.
All of this was due to the energy coming from that spatial rift.
...
Cain, of course, did not know what was happening in that unknown place.
Nevertheless, as a psychic with exceptional spatial talent, he could perceive with great clarity that the spatial blockade was gradually weakening.
Although the pace was very slow, he was now certain that this weakening was definitely related to the Sacred Church, and with an extremely high probability, to the spatial rift.
But the rift created by Irene had already been destroyed, and Cain had not perceived any intense spatial fluctuations within a nearby range.
That left only one possibility: somewhere very far away, beyond his range of perception, there were other people opening spatial rifts, and no one was able to stop them.
Cain did not mention any of this to either Lance or Steven, but the pressure in his heart increased considerably.
Who benefited the most from the weakening of the spatial blockade?
Without a doubt, the Sacred Church, which had been planning all of this for a long time and possessed numerous powerful psychics!
Without the League knowing, the Sacred Church could wait until the spatial blockade weakened sufficiently and then force their way into the continent without being detected.
Once inside—whether to plunder resources, take away the people who had cultivated there for twenty-five or even fifty years, or completely eliminate Cain's group—everything would be pure benefit to them, with no downside at all.
The most serious scenario would be the complete elimination of Cain's group. That would constitute a devastating loss for the League, delaying its development by at least thirty years.
And those thirty years would be the period of explosive growth for the Sacred Church.
If the true controller of the Sacred Church acted with sufficient subtlety, they might even infiltrate the League during its period of talent scarcity and, after accumulating strength, change the owner of the entire League without shedding a drop of blood.
Although Cain knew he was thinking far ahead, if he were in the position of the true leader of the Sacred Church, he would undoubtedly act exactly this way. In that case, not only the League, but even the entire Pokémon world could easily fall into their hands.
With that pressure growing even heavier inside him, Cain only wanted to move as fast as possible and find Phoebe and Wallace. If they could also reunite with Cynthia and Diantha, there would still be a chance to fight. Otherwise, they would have to find a hidden place to hide and wait for this experience to end as soon as possible.
Cain gently patted the scales on Salamence's neck.
Salamence could clearly sense its trainer's anxiety and stopped conserving energy, accelerating the beating of its wings even more.
In any case, Cain did not lack Pokéblocks or valuable materials. As long as Salamence flew fast enough, even feeding it Pokéblocks continuously would not be a problem.
Before, Cain had not been in such a hurry, so for safety he preferred to fly at low altitude while searching for the others and training his Pokémon. But now, every further weakening of the spatial blockade meant greater pressure for him.
At times, he even envied Steven and Lance, who could not sense the weakening of space and did not have to bear such pressure.
They did not share Cain's pessimistic mindset, always analyzing things from the worst possible scenario, so their emotional burden was lighter.
Being pessimistic was sometimes an advantage, but at other times it became a flaw, causing one to hesitate excessively out of fear of the worst outcome.
Cain knew perfectly well that he had this tendency, and he also understood how much it could affect his judgment. That was why he always forced himself to make quick decisions, avoiding falling into a mental dead end—which, in the end, was also a kind of good fortune.
Seeing Cain's somber expression as he silently accelerated Salamence's flight, Steven and Lance glanced at each other. Although they did not know what had happened, something capable of putting Cain in that state was clearly no trivial matter.
Neither of them asked anything. Both signaled their Pokémon to increase speed to catch up with him.
(End of chapter)