"Muji Hyoga!"
The ice-blue breath spewed from Yamato's mouth. This Muji Hyoga contained four years of her training; from having the power akin to an air conditioner's cool breeze to now possessing a frost capable of sealing away infernos, she had put forth a great deal of effort.
To be precise, it was torment. From young Ka and Emboar's flames to Kaidou's Hot Breath, she had been forced to constantly break through the limits of that sweltering environment every day.
The small river ahead had long dried up, the arch bridge above consumed by flames. Only under the cover of Muji Hyoga did the burning flames finally extinguish, but what met the eye were merely more corpses.
And the majority were children's corpses, many of which had become unrecognizable. The flames burned so fiercely because these bodies had become the kindling for the fire.
"These people...."
At an age when they should be growing happily, they encountered the greatest misfortune of their lives. They lived in a monastery, which also served as a school in Freyvans. After their parents succumbed to the Platinum Lead disease, they were taken in by the nuns of the monastery.
Unlike Carmel, who wore the guise of a nun to engage in trafficking, this was a genuine nun, though she fell victim to the soldiers' deceit.
Some soldiers had promised to spare the children, falsely claiming that there was a refugee ship they could take to leave. This was a lie from the soldiers, who would not dare to act as such under the threat of the "infectious disease."
They merely used this as a pretext to concentrate them together, eliminating what they saw as the source of infection from the roots.
"Maria, use that to check it out."
"Alright, but Yamato, don't get your hopes up too high."
Fingers flicked, releasing several strands of web, enveloping the ground below and the victims within. The owners of these Pokemon Abilities mostly transcended their inherent powers.
Combining their abilities and talents, they all had similar developments. Babanuki's Gun-Switching Mode is the most typical of features, and Maria also had special applications for Galvantula's abilities.
Galvantula is exceptionally sensitive to the vibrations transmitted by its web. Even if unseen, it can discern the size and shape of its prey through tremors and is unaffected by natural winds.
Maria wouldn't catch insects or birds, so her development of the webs resembled Silk Pulse Diagnosis, using the webs to detect if someone still had life signs. Even the faintest breath or heartbeat would bring feedback from her threads.
Originally developed for patching gaps on the battlefield to catch anyone feigning death among the piles of bodies, it saved time from checking each individually.
However, now, Yamato thought of this ability's use. Sometimes, her mind worked well, though not always reliably.
The charred bodies didn't undergo detection—there was no need. Yet among the remaining corpses, she indeed found faint responses.
"Yamato, that nun is still alive; as for the others..."
Adults have much stronger constitutions and vitality than children do, so the nun was still alive, but her life force was also slowly ebbing away.
The ever-present crucifix had fallen to the side, nails clogged with mud. From the scratches left behind, she had been crawling towards the children beside her before she lost consciousness.
Fetching a small green pill from her pocket, that specially concocted life-sustaining pill by Nightin, it was exclusive to the Hundred Beasts, not for sale. A dual-usage drug for topical and oral application, it had extremely potent hemostatic effects, typically used alongside Queen's injections, only second to Resurrection Grass in life-saving capability.
"That should about do it, Maria, I'll have to trouble you once more."
Gunfire from afar had ceased, yet this wasn't good news. The silence meant the soldiers hadn't found new targets, also indicating that Freyvans was likely a city of death already.
When they arrived, it was already the end, and all they could do was wrap things up.
Yamato's request for Maria's help was to carry the person away. It wasn't that she lacked strength, but carrying an adult would greatly impede her movements, which wasn't an issue for Maria at all.
Maria was far larger than an average person. Whether carrying over the shoulder or cradling in her arms, it posed no problem. However, considering the patient's condition, she opted to enter Human-Beast Form, placing the nun on the spider's body.
Then, they continued towards the building ahead. It was Freyvans' hospital, where the fire had also begun to spread.
The hospital's scenes were equally unbearable. Some had been directly shot on their beds, some medical staff lay fallen on the floor.
However, there weren't many people here—the beds were mostly empty.
In truth, not everyone died from bullets; some succumbed to the Platinum Lead disease. When the disease breakout began, those individuals gathered here. If medical supplies had been ample, they might have survived a bit longer.
But with the neighboring country's blockade, hospital supplies rapidly dwindled. Without target-specific medications, many could only perish in agony, causing most who could still move to choose to escape.
Left behind in the hospital weren't many people, and almost none survived, only discovering a small girl inside a wardrobe.
Though unharmed, her life signals were weak, a symptom of the onset of Platinum Lead disease. Though the disease in Freyvans erupted mostly simultaneously, different constitutions caused varying impacts.
Yamato then had Maria take her away, continuing her search alone.
...
"Lord Arceus, Yamato is still in there."
"I know, let her try a bit longer, although it's already meaningless."
Besides Yamato, he couldn't detect any life signs inside. Those soldiers were professionals, leaving few like the nun with only a breath left.
The nun's condition was decent; Maria used webs for emergency bandaging, and the special drug had stopped the bleeding. The leftover bullet inside her required surgery later.
She had already regained consciousness once just now; as a nun, she naturally believed in the divine. She held firm that there was no despair in the world, and the light of salvation would certainly descend.
Thus, upon waking and finding herself on the back of a giant spider, she thought she had descended into hell.
As it was hard for her to accept at that moment, she sank back into unconsciousness...