It was a wall made of stone.
Smooth and level, it had been built from an unknown black stone.
On the wall, lines outlined the clear silhouette of a Pokémon.
It was a Pokémon soaring through the sky with its wings spread wide.
It looked somewhat like an eagle, a supreme aerial predator.
Its enormous wings stretched open as though they could blot out the sky.
The outer edges of its wings were black feathers.
The inner sides were red skin wrapped in black patterns.
A long tail trailed behind it.
Its entire posture formed the shape of a capital letter "Y."
That striking and unmistakable appearance
made Shiko certain of his guess at once.
The exterior of the entire ruin had been so rough and crude,
yet this mural before him was exquisite.
It confirmed and explained everything.
The master of this ruin, the being worshipped and enshrined here,
was indeed Yveltal.
The moment Shiko's gaze
met the cold eyes of Yveltal in the mural,
this empty, dim space
suddenly erupted with dense and powerful black energy.
It was filled with an indescribably terrifying aura and crushing pressure,
like the very breath of extinction and death itself.
Wrapped in that black energy,
the Yveltal in the mural
actually began to move, little by little.
Shiko's vigilance instantly rose to its peak.
The energy spilling out through this place
was enough to make even him feel a chill in his heart and numbness crawl across his scalp.
However,
when he carefully sensed that energy,
he found that he did not feel fear.
On the contrary,
deep in his heart,
there was even a trace of excitement and anticipation.
Yveltal's movements slowly came to a halt.
It seemed that this really was only a mural after all.
The black energy rampaged through the chamber,
crashing wildly as though searching for an outlet.
Standing there,
Shiko quickly became its target.
A vast amount of chaotic dark energy
surged and gathered madly,
then all of it came hurtling toward him.
His shining alloy armor
was instantly wrapped up tight in darkness.
This energy, carrying such an intense aura of death,
was no exaggeration.
If any other Pokémon were tainted by even the slightest trace of it,
their life force would be corroded clean away.
They would die in an instant.
Even Third-tier and Second-tier Legendaries would have difficulty escaping such a fate.
Only beings like Yveltal itself,
existences standing at the summit as First-tier Legendaries,
could resist the erosion of that deathly aura.
But—
WarGreymon was also a king at the very peak.
Shiko did not choose to resist.
He even decisively absorbed that dark energy instead.
He could feel that deep within his body,
every single cell was craving that power.
WarGreymon's body
was like a boundless abyss releasing an immense suction force.
Before long,
all of the black energy filling the underground chamber
had been completely absorbed by Shiko.
An indescribable sensation spread throughout his entire body.
Shiko raised his hand
and stared at his Dragon Slayer armguards.
The armguards, which had originally shone with dazzling golden light, had changed somewhat.
Their brilliance had been drawn inward,
becoming more like a muted matte finish.
The alloy claws now felt even sharper than before.
This terrifying, death-like aura
did not seem to bring him any negative effects at all.
Instead,
it had actually strengthened him again.
Shiko thought to himself in secret.
[New mission is being issued. Please wait...]
[New Mission: Absorb 100% of the Dark-type law and fulfill the requirements for a new form, BlackWarGreymon!]
...
That abrupt electronic voice rang out inside Shiko's mind.
He hurriedly opened the evolution tree on the system panel.
Sure enough—
on WarGreymon's evolution tier,
there really was another branch.
It had the exact same appearance as WarGreymon,
yet black energy swirled all around its body.
It was none other than BlackWarGreymon.
An equally powerful being,
a proud dragon warrior who carried out his own justice.
Shiko's heart surged with excitement.
At the WarGreymon stage, gaining one more form
was unquestionably a tremendous boost for him.
And on top of that,
according to what the evolution tree revealed,
once he mastered the BlackWarGreymon form,
he would also gain an additional new form
in the next stage of Omegamon's evolution.
Without any hesitation at all,
Shiko accepted the mission just like that.
In his eyes,
obtaining 100% of the Dark-type law was no big deal at all.
Back when he had still been GeoGreymon,
he had been able to absorb and master 100% of both the Steel-type and Dragon-type laws.
Now that he had already stepped into the realm of a Second-tier Legendary,
was he really supposed to fear something as minor as gathering this bit of energy?
Thinking about it,
it was no wonder he had felt that craving for dark power
rising from the depths of his soul.
So it was because the BlackWarGreymon gene was at work.
As Shiko thought this over,
he slowly stepped forward, drawing closer to the wall.
The closer he got,
the stronger the pressure from that Yveltal mural became.
A nearly tangible force pressed down on him,
making even his footsteps
grow heavy and sluggish.
It was only a painting—
and yet it was this strong?
He frowned, finding it difficult to understand.
Enduring that immense pressure, he walked up to the wall.
Then he raised his head and examined it carefully.
Only then did Shiko realize that something was wrong.
The black stone on the wall
was not naturally black.
It looked more like it had been stained afterward.
The darkness had seeped in deeply,
almost penetrating through the entire stone.
And on top of that,
it was wrapped in dense dark energy as well.
Could it be...?
A bold guess suddenly rose in Shiko's heart.
He slowly stretched out his hand
and pressed it hard against the wall.
The black coating attached to the stone
was shaken loose by that sudden action and began to fall away like dust.
Then,
as if some mechanism had been triggered,
large patches of black from the wall were blasted up into the air.
They connected together,
forming streams of spreading energy.
And then,
they crazily surged into Shiko's body.
(End of Chapter)
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