"What's this?" Seth asked, his mocking smile never leaving his face. Yet, his
eyes narrowed slightly, showing a glimr of caution.
The spatial tear above them didn't just expand, it began to actively consu the
sky. A terrifying, gravitational suction force erupted from the black void,
tearing the clouds apart and attempting to drag everything within the barrier
into its depths.
The Red Knight sat atop his Corviknight, entirely unbothered by the violent
winds whipping around him.
"Did you honestly believe the prodigies on the ground were our primary objective
today, Williams?" the Red Knight asked, his tallic voice echoing with a dark
finality. "They are rely a bonus. You, my friend, are the real target."
Seth didn't reply, his gaze fixed on the expanding void.
"You have been a thorn in our side for too long," the Red Knight continued. "The
Emperor himself demanded that Seth Williams be taken care of, no matter the
cost. I admit... at first, I questioned the decree. Why expend so many resources
for a re Elite 4-level trainer? But now..."
The Red Knight looked at the majestic, blood-red form of ga Salance.
"Now, after witnessing your true strength, I understand the Emperor's wisdom. If
a monster like you were allowed to grow any further, you would truly beco a
catastrophe for the Kingdom."
The suction force from the rift reached its peak, pulling at Seth's coat and
threatening to drag his massive dragon into the abyss.
ROOOOOOOAR!
ga Salance didn't budge an inch. The draconic aura surrounding him flared,
creating a dense, physical gravity field that completely anchored them in the
sky. The sheer pressure of the Champion-level beast effortlessly nullified the
spatial pull.
"If this was your trump card," Seth said, his tone dripping with condescension,
"I hate to break it to you, but it is failing."
The Red Knight didn't respond with anger or panic. Instead, he let out a long,
resigned sigh.
"I know," he said quietly.
Without another word, the Red Knight reached beneath his crimson cape and
withdrew a jagged, obsidian dagger.
Seth's eyes widened. "What are you--"
With a sickening crunch, the Red Knight drove the dagger directly into his own
heart.
He didn't scream. He simply gripped the hilt, staring at Seth as a violent,
blinding surge of psychic energy began to pour from the fatal wound.
"You are too strong... to be forced into the rift by ," the Red Knight choked
out, blood spilling past his visor. "So... I must bring soone else who can."
Seth was genuinely confused for a fraction of a second, but then the sheer
volu of psychic energy leaking from the dying man began to warp the very
fabric of reality around them.
This was one of the darkest, most forbidden arts of the Ancient Kingdom.
Every high-ranking Knight had a teleportation seal carved directly into their
heart. Once broken, the seal used the user's remaining life force as fuel to
instantly swap their physical location with another designated target. The
greater the distance between the two swapping places, the more life force was
required.
In this case, the distance crossed dinsions. The cost was the Red Knight's
life.
"I am replaceable," the Red Knight whispered, his physical form beginning to
disintegrate into black ash. "Taking you down... let that be my final badge of
honor."
The Red Knight vanished completely.
In the exact space he had occupied just a millisecond before, a new figure
materialized.
He was clad in pitch-black, masterfully forged armor that seed to absorb the
light around it. A dark, ragged cape billowed behind him, and the aura radiated
by him was equally as nacing.
The Black Knight.
The instant this man appeared, the flawless, eccentric facade Seth Williams had
maintained for years shattered completely.
His warm smile vanished. His calm, calculated composure evaporated. The sheer,
unadulterated hatred that flooded Seth's eyes was terrifying--a raw, burning
fury that had been suppressed for over a decade.
"So..." Seth's voice trembled with a murderous, suffocating rage. "...you
finally showed up."
---
Down on the rocky plateau overlooking the ocean, the battle was reaching a fever
pitch.
"Charizard, Dragon Claw! Keep them back!" Blaire commanded, her voice ringing
out over the clash of elents.
Her Charizard roared, its claws glowing with vicious green energy as it parried
a Stone Edge from an incoming Aerodactyl, then spun to block an Iron Tail from a
massive Aggron.
Despite having just broken through to the Pseudo-King level, Charizard was
struggling. The newly arrived Ancient Kingdom commander hadn't held back,
summoning two more Pseudo-King level beasts, an Aggron and an Excadrill, to
support his Aerodactyl. It was a brutal three-on-one assault.
"You can do it, big guy! Burn them up!" Belle cheered from the sidelines, her
tiny fists pumped into the air. Captain Sparky stood fiercely in front of her,
ready to intercept any stray attacks.
Blaire wiped a streak of sweat from her brow as she smiled, but then, a sudden
chill ran down her spine.
She looked up.
Through the translucent black barrier separating the sky from the ground, she
saw the massive spatial tear expanding violently.
"What's the matter, girl?" the armored commander mocked, noticing her distracted
gaze.
"Are you worried about your father up there?"
Blaire snapped her attention back to the commander.
"If you aren't, you should be," the commander sneered, crossing his arms. "Our
goal today was never you, or any of the other prodigies on this island. Your
father was the only target."
"Oh?" Blaire smiled dangerously.
Knowing exactly what kind of monster her father was, she wasn't actually worried
about his safety. Still, having lost her mother, the sheer audacity of this
grunt infuriated her. The pressure she released spiked, her fiery, punk nature
blazing to life.
"You think you lot can take on my dad?" Blaire laughed, shaking her head. "I
haven't heard a worse joke all day. As annoying as he is, the old man is crazy
strong, you know. Why are you after him anyways?"
The commander chuckled darkly. "He has been a massive thorn in our side ever
since a certain incident years ago. He's been hunting our operatives
relentlessly."
The commander shrugged casually, as if discussing the weather. "It's really his
own fault. If he hadn't gotten so worked up over his wife dying in that skirmish
against our Kingdom, none of this would be happening."
The mont he uttered those words, the world seed to stop.
Despite the intense heat radiating from Charizard, the air felt cold and
murderous, as if winter had descended on the plateau.
Blaire slowly lowered her sunglasses, exposing eyes that burned with an
absolute, world-ending fury.
"You are telling ..." Blaire's voice was a terrifyingly quiet whisper. "...you
people are responsible for Mom's death?"
For as long as Blaire could rember, her mother's death had been explained as a
tragic, wild Pokémon accident during an expedition.
"Big sis?" Belle asked, her usual boundless energy faltering as she saw the
terrifying look on Blaire's face. "What is that bad man saying?"
Blaire took a deep breath, forcibly softening her expression for just a fraction
of a second as she looked back at her little sister. "It's nothing, Belle. Don't
worry about it. Stay behind Sparky."
She turned back to the commander. Her mind was a whirlwind of rage and betrayal.
'So that's why the old man was acting strangely today. That's why he hosted this
event. Why didn't he tell this?!'
The commander noticed her trembling shoulders and laughed.
"Did I touch a nerve?" he mocked gleefully. "Well, don't worry, little girl.
I'll soon let you et her. I like family reunions, after all. Aren't I kind?"
Blaire let out a low, dark chuckle.
The fury rolling off her was palpable. Charizard felt his trainer's pure,
unadulterated rage and responded in kind. The fire on his tail erupted into a
massive pillar of flas, matching Blaire's murderous intent.
He roared, entirely uncaring that he was surrounded by three Pseudo-Kings.
"Kind?" Blaire said, reaching up to the thick, spiked tal collar around her
neck. "I'll show you kind."
She grabbed a hidden clasp on the collar, revealing a perfectly polished, swirling Key Stone.
"Charizard," Blaire commanded, her voice echoing with lethal promise. "Let's
show them our burning passion."
She pressed the stone.
"ga Evolve!"
A blinding pillar of prismatic light erupted from Charizard,
completely engulfing the rocky plateau in the radiant glow of ga Evolution.
-------------------------------------
Character images available on Patreon (free access).
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