"Yes," Kael replied indifferently, nodding his head, as if what he had obtained was nothing valuable.
The pressure emanating from Giratina immediately surged, clearly excited, yet it did not even notice that Kael's expression and demeanor were completely different from before.
It did not notice because, at that moment, it was far too excited.
How many years!
Who knew how many years!
From the moment of its birth, it had always lived under the shadow of Arceus. It had always wanted to expand its world and increase its own strength, but it had never been able to do so.
It was not like Dialga and Palkia, the Pokémon that controlled time and space; those two creatures could strengthen themselves by absorbing the infinite energy that existed within boundless space, but it could not.
It only had two options: either absorb the energy of other Pokémon, or integrate more spaces and more worlds into its own Distortion World.
As a Pokémon that controlled the power of antimatter, in theory it should have possessed almost limitless growth potential, because it could absorb and assimilate the energy of all Pokémon with very few side effects.
But it could not do so, because of Arceus's explicit prohibition. If it dared to cross that line, Arceus would seal it once again inside its Distortion World. Perhaps not forever, but that kind of dull and empty life was something it did not want to experience again.
Therefore, it wanted to rebel. It wanted to devour the entire Pokémon world!
In that way, its Distortion World would expand instantly, and its power would also surge once again.
That was why, after escaping from its seal, it began frequently interacting with the Pokémon world. It wanted to find within it a representative, and through that representative slowly devour it piece by piece.
Naturally, before swallowing the Pokémon world, the ideal step would be to first absorb Arceus.
And then it learned that Arceus, for unknown reasons, was injured and hiding somewhere within the infinite expanse of space, licking its wounds. Upon learning that, it could no longer continue waiting.
Eliminate Arceus!
That was what it most desired to do now!
But Arceus was hidden, and finding it was not easy. As for forcibly absorbing the Pokémon world, that was out of the question. At present, there were too many powerful legendary Pokémon in the world, and there were also some trainers capable of opposing it. It could not do so.
It saw only one solution: find Arceus, absorb it, and then absorb the entire Pokémon world.
Only that would work!
And in order to summon Arceus, there was only one method: to do so through the special object that Arceus had left within the League.
That was why everything that had happened today had taken place. The Sacred Church and Giratina were allies, or rather, the very existence of the Sacred Church had been born under Giratina's influence.
The reason why the method of using psychic power within the Sacred Church appeared so ancient was also because Giratina had taught it to them. And those strange spatial abilities of theirs likewise originated from Giratina. It could be said that the Sacred Church possessed such a unique nature entirely because of Giratina's existence.
The Sacred Church had been able to hide for so long without being discovered also because it had always remained sheltered within Giratina's Distortion World.
Now that everything was finally unfolding as it desired, how could it not be happy?
In fact, in order to defeat Arceus, Giratina had even been willing to sacrifice one of its precious Griseous Orbs and send others to the Space-Time Continent to search for the eggshells left behind by the three legendary Pokémon when they were born there. If it absorbed the energy of those three shells, perhaps its power would rise another level.
Only, Cain interfered in the process, causing that plan to fail.
But it did not matter. Even now, Giratina still believed that it could defeat Arceus.
Because within the Pokémon world, Arceus would not be able to fight freely, while it would act without the slightest restraint.
In a situation where the opponent had to hold back out of fear of causing too much damage, it could still win.
That said, it needed Kael and the others to help contain those League trainers. That had been the plan from the beginning.
"Go! Summon Arceus!" Giratina said to Kael, in a tone that did not allow refusal.
Kael had not yet made any movement when the council elder spoke first: "Are you certain, Giratina? From whom did you hear that Arceus, the creator god, is seriously injured?"
Arceus seriously injured?
Upon hearing that information, Cain was also stunned, and then, almost instinctively, felt that it sounded somewhat absurd.
Arceus, the creator god, injured?
Even if it truly could be injured, as the creator god who coexisted with the Pokémon world itself, should it not be immortal as long as the Pokémon world did not disappear?
"It seems that between this Kael and Giratina, after all, there are certain cracks," Cain thought, reflecting silently. At this moment, the direction of this entire matter was very likely related to the survival of the League and the survival of the entire Pokémon world.
"Hm?" Giratina's tone darkened, and it turned its eyes toward Kael. This information had also been obtained from Kael's own words.
After all, since Kael acted in the Pokémon world as its representative, most news regarding that world depended on what Kael transmitted to it.
Kael, however, completely ignored Giratina's enormous eyes beside him. Instead, he continued to observe again and again the strange ornament in his hand, as if it were the greatest treasure in the world.
"Old man... back then... you told me about the function of this thing, didn't you?" Kael asked in a flat tone, without responding to Giratina.
Upon hearing that question, the council elder, who from beginning to end had remained unchanged no matter the situation, for the first time showed a clear reaction of shock, disbelief visible in his eyes.
"Kael?! Could it be that your objective was...?"
The council elder did not finish the sentence. At that moment, he saw Kael's body begin to tremble. At first it was only a slight trembling, then his entire body began to shake, and finally he could no longer restrain it. He raised his head with a crazed expression. His face, which until recently had still been quite handsome, was now completely twisted, distorted by a monstrous expression.
"Hahahahaha! Hahahahaha!!! So you did not lie to me back then! Then this thing really can...!"
Before finishing the sentence, he pressed his finger directly onto the white gem at the center of the pendant.
In the blink of an eye, that pendant transformed into a completely white and strange Poké Ball!
(End of chapter)