"It worked!" Alva, upon seeing that scene, was overflowing with joy.
"Bzzz...!"
However, Magearna's body suddenly trembled. If Cain had not supported her with his psychic power, she would probably have fallen directly to the ground.
Cain's expression changed abruptly.
"Magearna!"
Immediately afterward, he cast an icy glance toward Alva, not concealing in the slightest the killing intent that had arisen within him.
Feeling Cain's gaze, Alva's heart skipped a beat. Even his breathing stopped for an instant, and abundant sweat burst from every pore of his body.
"M-Mister... Mister Cain, it is not as you think. Because this is the first time it has been activated, the energy consumption will be very large, but once it starts operating, the energy expenditure will decrease greatly. For the current Magearna, it will not even be faster than her own recovery speed," Alva said with a trembling voice, on the verge of tears, as he finished that explanation.
Cain immediately used the system to check the condition of Magearna's body and discovered that, aside from having consumed too much energy at once, there were no other problems.
Just as Alva had said, it was simply excessive energy consumption. With the special characteristics of the Soul-Heart, Magearna would be able to recover quickly.
Only after calming down did Cain have time to pay attention to what was happening around him.
When Nikola created this castle, he hid all the machinery inside its walls.
And not only in this castle, which served as the royal capital, but also in the enormous wall that completely surrounded the entire Azoth Kingdom. That gigantic wall, which appeared to be dozens of floors high, was likewise a fundamental part of the aerial fortress.
The place where Cain and Alva were standing right now was the absolute core of the entire aerial fortress.
Looking outside through the window, they could see how the line of the horizon was constantly descending. Or rather, the place where they stood was continuously rising, until all the machinery finished assembling.
Like Transformers, after a brief transformation, the former royal capital turned into a gigantic aerial fortress.
"Alva!" Cain called.
"Yes! Y-Yes... I'm here!" Alva responded immediately.
"How is this aerial fortress controlled?"
"Eh... according to Nikola's original design, after placing the Soul-Heart into the Holy Grail, the controller only needed to operate the Holy Grail in order to control the entire aerial fortress. It was very simple to operate."
"But now, after using the converter, the false Soul-Heart is no longer the key to controlling the aerial fortress. The key is..."
"Magearna!" Alva's expression gradually became more excited.
He had improved Nikola's design, transformed it into something more powerful and more rational, and this gave him a sense of superiority for having surpassed Nikola.
He continued: "That means that now, in order to control this aerial fortress, only a single thought from Magearna is needed!"
"Even! It can even be said that the aerial fortress has already become a part of Magearna's body!"
"The Magearna you see now is not, in fact, the true Magearna. In order for the Soul-Heart to be able to move more easily, Nikola created a body capable of containing its energy."
"Although that body is very powerful and can continuously grow stronger as the Soul-Heart becomes stronger, in reality the body that Nikola originally designed for the Soul-Heart was not this metallic shell with the appearance of a princess that she now has, but..."
"...but this entire aerial fortress!!!"
Upon hearing Alva's words, a spark of surprise appeared in Cain's eyes, because if Nikola had truly conceived the design that way from the beginning, did that not mean that the real Magearna was actually this gigantic aerial fortress, the largest Pokémon in the entire Pokémon world?
Even Wailord, which lived in the ocean, would be nothing more than the tip of the iceberg compared to this aerial fortress!
If such an enormous body could be freely manipulated, it would be something terrifying!
No wonder that when the Soul-Heart was placed into the Holy Grail, all of Magearna's memories would automatically be erased. It turned out that this was the true original body of Magearna.
Seeing even Cain show astonishment, Alva's excitement increased even more.
"But! But Nikola's design still had quite a few flaws! However, after my modifications, after this converter that I have created, Magearna not only does not need to reset, but she can also use both bodies, turning both of them into her support!"
Cain looked at Magearna.
"Magearna, can you make this fortress rise?"
Hearing that, Magearna was momentarily stunned, then closed her eyes and nodded gently.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
The entire fortress suddenly began to move. That enormous fortress, which seemed to weigh hundreds of tons, began to slowly rise with a single thought from Magearna.
"It moved! It moved!" Alva shouted excitedly.
Cain walked to the window and watched as the entire fortress separated from the ground and slowly ascended, higher and higher, until the clouds were beside them.
Seeing how the houses below became smaller and smaller, it was evident that they had already reached a considerable height.
Cain's lips curved into a smile.
"Magearna, test the weapon system. Show me what the most powerful weapon of this aerial fortress is."
Magearna nodded obediently, and all the machinery of the aerial fortress immediately began to operate once more. The sound of gears turning echoed continuously from within the walls.
If one were outside, one could see that at this moment, a massive metallic cannon slowly extended from the underside of the aerial fortress.
"Launch an attack," Cain ordered, the interest in his eyes shining even more intensely.
As soon as Cain gave the order, a violet energy began to continuously gather within the metallic cannon.
Even while inside the fortress, Cain could feel an incredibly dense energy fluctuation, as well as an aura of extreme danger.
The amount of life energy released by Magearna gradually increased, and at the same time, the energy accumulating within the main cannon of the aerial fortress became greater and greater.
(End of Chapter)