At the moment Kael used the Origin Ball, Arceus had already perceived it.
That was why, when the council elder saw that the Origin Ball had been taken, he did not actually feel that worried. What he felt instead was surprise at Kael's plan.
If Kael had not known so little about the Origin Ball, that Poké Ball which had never been revealed to the world, then this time he truly would have succeeded.
And then, a trainer who controlled Giratina, the dragon of the underworld, and at the same time dominated Giratina's Distortion World, with his own power alone would have been capable of turning the entire Pokémon world upside down.
And that was precisely what the League did not want to see.
But no matter how much Kael had calculated, no matter how many factors he had incorporated into his plan, he never imagined that the problem would arise precisely at the most fundamental point.
The council elder had indeed said that the Origin Ball could capture Pokémon at the level of first-tier legendary Pokémon, but he had only said that it could capture them.
Because the true function of the Origin Ball was related to the greatest secret of the Pokémon League, the secret of each and every one of the League's presidents, the elder had never revealed to Kael the true mystery of the Origin Ball.
After all, even he, at that time, could not have imagined that Kael had already set his sights on Giratina since then, nor that someone destined to become the next head of the Drako family would betray the League and his own family simply to pursue extreme power.
At this moment, both Kael and Giratina were influencing each other, and their consciousness was in a highly unstable state. But Giratina, in the end, was still far stronger than Kael, so little by little it was beginning to gain the upper hand in their clash of wills.
However, none of that mattered anymore.
Because Arceus had appeared!
Seeing that ray of sunlight descend from the sky, it felt as if hope had arisen within a world plunged into darkness.
In reality, Arceus was indeed injured, and that injury was almost impossible to heal.
Because one of the main reasons Arceus was truly powerful was due to the Plates it possessed, those Plates that represented the great attributes and could be considered supreme treasures of the Pokémon world.
Only, over the years, those Plates had been lost one after another for various reasons. Although it still retained part of them on its body, the difference compared to its peak state remained quite large.
Therefore, saying that the current Arceus was injured was not truly incorrect.
After all, the reason it had remained in deep slumber all these years was precisely to recover the power lost after the disappearance of the Plates. That was also why Arceus had not appeared in recent decades.
With a single glance, it understood the current condition of Kael and Giratina.
The council elder and Magnus almost simultaneously placed their right hand on the left side of their chest and bowed deeply toward Arceus. Cain, half a beat slower, also imitated their gesture.
This was the true great existence of the Pokémon world.
Arceus paid no attention to Cain or the others. It simply stared at Giratina and the Origin Ball for quite some time.
Although it made no apparent movement, within Cain's mind appeared a long sigh.
"Ah..."
It was a very clear feeling of disappointment, as if it were looking at someone who had failed to meet its expectations.
Then, from Arceus' body emerged a white light that illuminated the Origin Ball still tightly held in Kael's hand. The black and gold strands that had previously stained the upper half of the Origin Ball seemed to turn into smoke and were dispersed one by one.
And as that energy was expelled, Kael's hand, which had been tightly gripping the Origin Ball, gradually loosened. The Origin Ball fell from the air, descending gently like a feather, until it slowly floated in front of the council elder.
When it touched the ground, a white flash passed across its surface, and it once again returned to the form of the original ornament.
Only then did Kael and Giratina completely regain their clarity.
As soon as Giratina recovered its senses, it immediately wanted to cause trouble for Kael, but at that moment it felt that aura it hated so much, a presence that felt oppressive just to perceive. It looked upward and met Arceus' disappointed gaze. Its body and heart trembled involuntarily.
It did not know why, but when Giratina saw Arceus looking at it like that, it felt as if it had committed an extremely grave mistake.
And not only Giratina. Kael also stood frozen, staring blankly at his own hands, while within him arose an emotion of regret that even he himself could not understand.
What he did not notice was that, at the same time Arceus expelled Giratina's energy from the Origin Ball, some strands of black mist were also emerging from his own body.
Only now did Kael remember what his original thought had been when he first wanted to approach Giratina: his purest and most primitive idea had been to capture it in order to make the Drako family even more powerful and strengthen his own strength as well, thereby making the Pokémon League even stronger.
It was just that, at some point, after spending time with Giratina, he had forgotten that original purpose. What remained was only the obsession that he must capture Giratina, and he completely forgot all the plans he had imagined after achieving it.
That too was one of the traps Giratina had planted within Kael. After spending so much time with him, of course Giratina had not remained idle. It had gradually awakened the deepest darkness within his heart, shaping him silently all that time.
In fact, it was enough to observe Kael's Pokémon to see this somewhat clearly. Both Latias and Latios were extremely kind Pokémon. A trainer whose heart was filled with malice could, at most, subdue them by force, but could never truly capture them. Kael had already captured those two Pokémon even before seeking out Giratina.
Long ago, Kael had also been, like Steven, an extraordinarily kind person.
Otherwise, why would the council elder, who could indeed perceive a trace of darkness in Giovanni and therefore remained somewhat wary of him, not have distrusted Kael? Why would he even have revealed to him the existence of the Origin Ball?
(End of chapter)