Chapter 287: Mammon's Absolutely Thrilled! The Lake Guardians' Blessing!
"So you really do know of his existence."
Uxie's eyes, brimming with wisdom, gazed at Mammon with calm, unfathomable depth. This human... is different. He carried nature's blessing upon him — and more importantly, Uxie could sense a great many presences woven into him.
Giratina? Cynthia and Caitlin turned the name over in their minds, but neither had ever heard it before.
Mammon really is unusual, Cynthia thought, her clear, beautiful eyes flicking over to him. How could he not be, given how pointedly Uxie was addressing him — reeling off cryptic pronouncements directed squarely at him.
"Sure, so what? Giratina's only real target is Arceus and the twin gods of space-time. None of my business." Mammon answered easily, finding Uxie's whole approach a little funny. No question — Uxie was hinting that Giratina might soon manifest itself in the world, but why would that concern Mammon in the slightest? Giratina wanting to rebel against and challenge Arceus was straightforward canon.
Giratina's very existence was, in fact, exceptionally mysterious within the Pokémon world, having been banished to the broken world by Arceus from the very start. What little was known about it came almost entirely from Plate inscriptions:
The Zap Plate: A violent splinter, capable of calling down thunderous wrath.
The Iron Plate: One who fills the world's reverse side, able to reshape the very form of living things.
The Fist Plate: When the world's reverse side falls into chaos, rifts through space and time are born.
The Ghost Plate: Its violent splinter, granted dominion over the world's reverse side.
"Splinters of Arceus" was the collective term for Palkia, Dialga, and Giratina — since Arceus's creation of the Creation Trio had, at its root, been for the sake of the world's "matter." In practice, though, only the twin gods of space-time and the Lake Guardians had gone into shaping the world's "front" — "heart" bound to "matter," and the world took form from that union. Giratina, as the embodiment of "antimatter," had been consigned by Arceus to the reverse side of the world instead — a shattered realm with no distinction between heaven and earth, where neither time flowed nor space held steady. Giratina had remained there ever since, on the far side of that broken world, quietly watching the world it had been cast out of.
And perhaps it was precisely this "unfair" treatment that had bred Giratina's desire to rebel.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus had already made this explicit — as the "Renegade Pokémon," Giratina's target for rebellion was Arceus itself. So when Akari was sent back to the Hisui era by Arceus, Giratina had made its move too. It had chosen Volo, granting him a Plate, joining forces with him to drive Dialga and Palkia into a berserk rage using its own power, hoping to exploit the chaos of their fighting to tear open a rift into Arceus's own dimension.
Volo, wanting to meet Arceus; Giratina, wanting to challenge Arceus — an oddly fitting pair, honestly. Well — except after Volo's betrayal and subsequent self-destruction, forget ever meeting Arceus; neither Volo nor Giratina had even managed to get past Akari. No helping it — Akari really was just that terrifyingly strong.
But this whole plot thread made one thing clear: Giratina's desire to rebel against Arceus ran genuinely deep. Deep enough that, the moment Arceus had chosen Akari, Giratina had immediately sensed its opening and picked Volo as its own agent in the human world. And Volo really had been formidable — arguably the single strongest figure in all of Hisui, second only to Akari herself.
Speaking of which...
Mammon fell into thought. Wait — aren't I at least as strong as that bastard Volo? Why hasn't Giratina picked me instead? Was it because this world's Arceus hadn't chosen a human of its own, so Giratina had never had cause to act? If Giratina ever did choose him, Mammon figured he'd genuinely be thrilled — Giratina's raw strength was truly on another level, unquestionably one of the single most elite Legendary Pokémon in existence. I mean, this thing could go toe-to-toe with its own "brothers" Dialga and Palkia and even dare to challenge Arceus itself. Just for that nerve alone, Mammon respected Giratina. Though — it really was just nerve. In front of Arceus, Giratina was strictly on the receiving end of a beatdown, with zero genuine capacity to actually fight back.
At the thought, Mammon's gaze slid over to Cynthia with an odd glint.
"What is it?" Cynthia, still puzzling over what exactly Giratina was, caught the look immediately, tilting her head in confusion.
"Cynthia, is there someone named Volo somewhere among your ancestors?"
"...I've never really looked into it. I could dig through the family records sometime, I suppose. Why the sudden question?" Cynthia looked thoroughly baffled.
"No reason, just thought of it out of nowhere." Mammon shook his head.
In truth, though — Volo, the antagonist of Legends: Arceus, very likely was Cynthia's own ancestor. No coincidence about it, either: Volo and Cynthia looked strikingly alike, and their teams overlapped to an unsettling degree — aside from a single Hisuian Growlithe, all five of Volo's other Pokémon matched Cynthia's own mainstays exactly. Combined with the near-identical appearance, this practically screamed intentional connection. And then there was Cynthia's own love of knowledge, mythology, and ruins-exploration — her family background fit the same mold. Wasn't that basically Volo's exact profile, transplanted whole?
Cynthia: "..."
"Human. If Giratina drives the twin sovereigns to a berserk state, you will be endangered as well."
Seeing the two of them finish their exchange, Uxie cut in with its cool, detached telepathy.
"Sorry, you've got the wrong guy." Mammon let out a cold laugh. Trying to guilt-trip me, huh? Asking for help was fine — but you couldn't just make empty appeals without offering him a single upside, could you? Who taught these three how to ask a favor properly? Honestly, Mammon thought the Lake Guardians were kind of pathetic — weak enough on their own, sure, but after living this long, had they really not picked up a shred of social tact? And they were supposed to represent "the heart"? Even Regigigas had better manners than—
"So—"
Uxie clasped its two forepaws together, striking a pose of prayer directed at Mammon, and Mesprit and Azelf on either side mirrored the gesture in perfect unison.
"O human of boundless feeling — may your life ever be free of sorrow. May the great deity's blessing shelter you, that you never be troubled by emotion, and find joy eternal."
As the prayer echoed, a faint red glow lit Mesprit's body, its resonant, gender-neutral telepathy ringing out — and the words Mammon had just been about to fire back caught in his throat.
"O human of unbending will — may your convictions stand forever unshaken. May the great deity's blessing shelter you, that you never falter, and courage walk always at your side."
Azelf's telepathic voice, distinct from its sibling's, rang bold and bright, brimming with fearlessness.
"O human of oceanic wisdom — may your intellect shine ever brighter. May the great deity's blessing shelter you, that you never know impatience or haste, and may wisdom's light guide your every path forward."
Uxie closed the incantation with its own cool telepathy.
As the blessing finished, the light surrounding the three Lake Guardians slowly dimmed and faded, three pairs of eyes settling on Mammon.
Mammon fell into deep, contemplative silence. The mood hung still for a moment.
"Giratina's temperament is volatile and violent! A Pokémon like that has absolutely no business coming into this world!"
Mammon's tone rang out with genuine gravity.
"You three really do have an eye for people!"
"I, Mammon — the man of richest feeling, purest resolve, and most exceptional wisdom this world has to offer — obviously could never stand by and let something like this happen!"
His voice carried real volume now. He mentally retracted every uncharitable thing he'd just thought about the Lake Guardians being pathetic and stingy. Pathetic? Where were they pathetic? The Lake Guardians had given humanity the gift of the "heart" itself — so generous, so selfless, so beautiful. Team Galactic honestly deserved to die for this. Capturing, caging, and draining the power from creatures this precious — were those people even human? Disgusting! Even his own Team Rocket would never stoop to something like that!
Mmm — and the Lake Guardians really were praying for him, weren't they. Three of the "Six Gods" from the very dawn of creation, blessing him personally — even Mammon found the sheer honor of it almost too much to handle.
This feels incredible!!
Cynthia: "..." She found it genuinely hard to keep a straight face — so this is the sort of thing that actually gets to Mammon, huh.
Caitlin: (°—°)
"Then we'll ask this of you, human." Hearing all this, Uxie's normally cool, distant voice seemed to relax noticeably.
"You really are a wonderful human, Mammon~" Azelf's telepathy fairly beamed with delight.
"Your romantic life is surely bound to go smoothly, exactly as you wish." Mesprit blinked, giving Mammon a knowing, teasing look — as the Legendary embodying "emotion," Mesprit felt it had every right to weigh in on such matters.
"Thank you. Actually, I do have one small request — could you three help me out with something?"
Mammon's grin was radiant. Having just been showered with such lavish praise from the Lake Guardians themselves, he was thoroughly, deeply satisfied. Felt incredible. Sure, these three might be a little weak in raw power, but their standing alone carried real weight — and honestly, they were surprisingly good at this whole flattery thing.
"If it's within our ability to help." Uxie nodded, its two tails swaying gently — its tone remained even, but the improved mood was obvious.
"Once everything's settled, could you three do that again for me?"
"?" A question mark practically materialized above Uxie's head, the embodiment of wisdom momentarily stumped. What did he mean?
"That prayer, just now. Could you do it again, for me specifically?"
Mammon's smile was the picture of innocence.
"We could, certainly — but why?"
Uxie was thoroughly puzzled, its wisdom entirely unable to guess at Mammon's motive here.
"That would be absolutely wonderful. That whole scene just now was such a rare thing — I want to record it. My children will surely be proud of me someday, seeing something like that."
Mammon's tone was the very picture of sincerity. No helping it — he genuinely, thoroughly loved this "gift" the Lake Guardians had just handed him. Something to be savored again and again, honestly.
The Lake Guardians: "..."
Spear Pillar, Mt. Coronet.
An ancient shrine ruin, long since collapsed into rubble, its towering stone pillars standing like a forest of spears against the sky. Cyrus had already arrived here, a handful of Galactic members in tow.
"Heh heh heh~ hahahahaha~!!"
Taking in the scene around him, Cyrus finally threw both arms wide and let loose a wild, triumphant laugh. It was coming — his era was finally about to begin! Once he summoned Dialga and Palkia here, he would become this world's very god!!
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Inkshaper
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you