Seeing the expressions on Will's and Irene's faces, the dark-faced man felt his anger explode inside him, yet at the same time a trace of helplessness appeared.
There was no alternative. Although his strength and status were above theirs, Will and Irene, as the Black and White Messengers of the Sacred Church, answered directly to the bishop. He had the right to reprimand them, but not to punish them.
That was why, seeing the indifferent attitude of Will and Irene, he could do absolutely nothing.
If it had been at another time, he might have let it slide, but this time he was the main person in charge of the entire operation. Having subordinates who were so disorganized, like a pile of loose sand, without enough authority to enforce discipline, made coordinating them truly difficult.
For example, that relaxed man standing to one side watching the spectacle, along with several of his close associates, clearly showed an attitude of "this has nothing to do with me."
Except for his direct subordinates, who trembled in fear when they saw him furious, the rest of the people seemed more like they were enjoying the show.
When he accepted this mission, he had already anticipated that some people would not obey his orders. However, he thought the task was not particularly complicated; even without the group of the relaxed man, as long as he managed to subdue those already on this continent, he was convinced he could resolve the matter.
He appeared full of confidence and, through the special methods of the Sacred Church, gathered several members who had originally been stationed there.
Not only them: everyone gathered.
However, after painfully waiting for five days, of the six people responsible for watching over the area, only four appeared. At first, he thought the other two were farther away.
It was not until Will and Irene arrived calmly that, after listening to them, he discovered that the remaining two idiots had been eliminated by some youngsters who had just arrived from the Pokémon world.
In particular, there was a boy named Cain: both had died at his hands.
When he heard this news, the dark-faced man even thought that the League had discovered their plans and was ready to act. Otherwise, how could a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old boy defeat people who had lived there for twenty-five years?
One had to know that twenty-five years ago, all of them had been genuine prodigies of the League. The dark-faced man himself had participated in the mission to lure them into the Sacred Church. Back then, the church was still in its latent phase, and many members only knew the person who had recruited them.
In fact, not all of them had spent only twenty-five years there. To fulfill the objectives of the Sacred Church, some had even remained a full fifty years. Two of them had been personally recruited by the bishop and were extremely loyal.
Moreover, their power was terrifying, being one of the few hidden trump cards of the Sacred Church.
Even the dark-faced man did not dare give them excessive orders. Although he had seen them enter that place back then, fifty years could change far too many things, including, of course, their strength.
Of the four remaining who had spent twenty-five years there, two—the ones who carried out missions together with Will and Irene—did not return.
At times, the speed of the temporal flow in that place was tempting, but every time he saw people who had only "disappeared" for ten years reappear as elderly men, a chilling sensation ran down his spine.
"Six people, six Pokémon! Now two are missing! Who can tell me how those two useless fools managed to get themselves killed?" roared the dark-faced man, unable to contain his rage.
This plan had been orchestrated by the bishop for years; some had even accepted living in solitude for fifty years to complete it.
Watching one's time advance at a speed five times faster than others produced a fear that was difficult to suppress.
Because the faster time flowed, the closer one was to death.
Four people stood silently to one side. Two of them were elderly, with hair already gray, accompanied respectively by a Flareon and a Vaporeon.
The other two looked like a middle-aged man and woman, similar in age to the person in charge. At their sides were an Umbreon and an Espeon.
Adding the Leafeon and Jolteon that had fallen into Cain's hands, there were six fully evolved Eeveelutions.
Originally, the public only knew of five evolutions of Eevee, but it was unknown where the bishop of the Sacred Church had obtained the information about Leafeon, thus allowing the gathering of six people and six Pokémon.
The reason for using six Eeveelutions of different attributes was directly related to their main mission. The space-time barrier of Dialga and Palkia required six Pokémon of completely different attributes to be destroyed, and furthermore demanded that the energy between them be perfectly coordinated.
That was the main reason for choosing Eevee and its evolutions.
After all, they all came from the same evolutionary line and knew each other well. Added to the fact that they had lived together for at least twenty-five years and that their trainers had trained them jointly, only then could they reach that level.
But now, losing two Pokémon at once meant they could not break the barrier. To the dark-faced man, that was practically a fatal blow.
He could lose anyone: all his subordinates, even Will and Irene, or even the relaxed man himself, another pillar of the Sacred Church... none of that mattered.
As long as the mission was completed!
But now, that was no longer possible.
"Is there anyone here who has a Jolteon that is not in use? If so, step forward. Your opportunity has come," shouted the dark-faced man.
"T-this... sir... I have a Jolteon, but it's not my main Pokémon, its level is somewhat low," said one of his subordinates trembling.
At his signal, the man released his Jolteon.
It looked quite healthy, though it was obvious that it had been trained in a mediocre manner.
When the person in charge saw that it was barely at Initial Elite Four level, his face grew even darker. However, when no one else appeared, he could only resign himself.
At least, after testing it, he discovered that although its level was not high, its potential was acceptable. It was not comparable to the original Jolteon, but it could serve.
Fortunately, he had brought many valuable resources, and moreover, on this continent, resources were the one thing that was not lacking.
At first, the subordinate had been scared to death, but seeing the resigned expression on the dark-faced man's face, a wave of euphoria surged in his heart.
He knew that his Jolteon would be chosen as a substitute. Although it would never reach the level of the original, for him it was like winning the lottery.
In that situation, the person in charge had no other choice.
With Jolteon, there was still a solution, but Leafeon was a huge problem. He did not even know how it evolved, much less how to raise a powerful one from scratch.
The only positive thing was that there were quite a few Grass-type Pokémon in the area. Perhaps one of them could have good energy affinity with the Eeveelutions and serve as a partial replacement.
However, achieving a perfect combination would be extremely difficult. Otherwise, the bishop would not have insisted so much on using six Eeveelutions; he clearly knew how strict the energy requirements of the barrier were.
If he knew that all of this had gone wrong because of two idiots, even the calmest strategist would become furious.
(End of chapter)