As the God of Life, Xerneas took the uping battle extremely seriously—in some ways, its concern even surpassed Julian's.
After all, once the battle against Hoopa began, given Hoopa's abilities, it would very likely bee a war of gods. At that point, the number of humans and Pokémon killed or injured would be unimaginably high.
And if living beings died on a massive scale, the one who would be affected first would be Xerneas, the God of Life. The overwhelming resentment generated by widespread death would weaken its power.
If only a few million humans or a few hundred million Pokémon died, Xerneas wouldn't care in the slightest. After all, both human and Pokémon populations were enormous.
But it had a premonition that the death toll would be far greater than that.
And the greater the decline of life, the greater the impact on it. Since, it was the First-class Legendary who governed life.
Moreover, it had an archenemy—Yveltal, the First-class Legendary who governed death.
Life and death had always stood in opposition to one another, and the degree of hostility between Xerneas and Yveltal far exceeded that between Kyogre and Groudon.
Their enmity had reached the point where only one of them could survive.
Julian more or less understood what Xerneas was thinking and acknowledged its reasoning, but understanding didn't mean he would let it influence his decisions.
The future battlefield would most likely be in East Africa. Though as long as it wasn't Drakoria, Julian didn't particularly care where the battle took place.
So no matter how many humans or Pokémon died, Julian won't lose sleep over it.
To some degree, Julian's attitude toward life was one of indifference. He only cared about his own family and friends—the lives or deaths of others had little to do with him.
So Xerneas's attempt to sway him for the greater good was basically pointless.
"I'll do everything I can to defeat Hoopa."
Although he didn't care about the lives of strangers, his ultimate objective was still to defeat Hoopa—in that regard, he and Xerneas shared the same goal.
Xerneas wanted not only a perfect oute but also a process that was as close to perfect as possible. Julian, on the other hand, cared little about how that oute was achieved.
"When the battle breaks out, I will lend you my strength," Xerneas declared.
Julian looked at it and said flatly, "Just make sure you don't end up siding with Hoopa when the time es."
This time, Xerneas was visibly surprised and asked, "You know about Hoopa's abilities?"
"I know a little," Julian nodded.
As of now, no records regarding Hoopa had been discovered—or perhaps there simply were none. Julian only knew about it because of the memories from his past life.
Seeing that Julian genuinely seem to know about Hoopa's abilities, Xerneas became rather curious.
After all, even many First-class Legendaries knew nothing about Hoopa's powers.
The only reason Xerneas knew was because, during the ancient era, it had joined forces with several other First-class Legendaries to seal Hoopa away.
As a result, only those few First-class Legendaries that had participated in the sealing knew what Hoopa was truly capable of.
"If we can defeat Hoopa, I'll give you a great gift."
Xerneas revealed a mysterious smile, and before Julian could ask what kind of gift, the creature leaped away and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
"Tsk, trying to be mysterious," Julian muttered to himself.
He then turned to look at Regigigas, who was wolfing down large mouthfuls of its exclusive Pokéblocks, and his expression became somewhat odd.
He had left enough Pokéblocks to last Regigigas half a year, yet in just the brief time it had taken him to exchange a few words with Xerneas, Regigigas had already eaten nearly half of them.
Wasn't this a little too much?
No wonder it was a First-class Legendary capable of dragging an entire continent.
Julian had yet to witness that kind of strength firsthand, but Regigigas's appetite alone was enough to explain part of it.
"Whatever you do, don't fall asleep during this period. If you get bored, e find me over there," Julian said, pointing to the other side of the mountain.
He was genuinely worried that after eating and drinking its fill, this guy would simply lie down and go back to sleep. If that happened, its Slow Start Ability would effectively reset once again.
"Mm, I won't sleep," Regigigas replied in a simple and honest manner.
It was a First-class Legendary with a strong sense of responsibility. Since it had accepted Julian's food and had already promised to help him, it naturally intended to keep its word.
"Alright, I'm off then."
Julian mounted Arcanine and rode away from the temple.
As soon as Julian departed, the guards stationed around the temple immediately reported everything they had witnessed to their superiors:
"Champion Walker have awakened the slumbering Regigigas, and Xerneas, the Gof of Life, also appeared at the temple. The two conversed briefly before Xerneas departed."
---
Time flew by, and another three months passed.
Under the constant shroud of the black mist, more than half of the humans and Pokémon in East Africa had already been killed or injured.
Under the black mist, no matter how many people the various nations sent into East Africa, they all disappeared without a trace.
Moreover, as the black mist continued to thicken, munications were also severely affected.
Signals from outside could no longer enter the region, while signals from within could no longer get out as well.
Meanwhile, deep within a certain desert in East Africa, the Prison Bottle that sealed the Mischief Pokémon Hoopa was now covered in cracks, from which large amounts of black smoke was continuously pouring out.
The Prison Bottle was suspended in midair, bound by ten iron chains as thick as a human arm. And just like the Prison Bottle itself, these chains were also riddled with cracks.
Crack—!!
One of the chains suddenly saw its fractures widen drastically, and with a resounding bang, the chain broke pletely.
The shattered chain dissipated into intangible energy and vanished.
And as if triggering a chain reaction, five more chains snapped in quick succession, leaving only the remaining chains barely holding on.
"Soon... soon... The Great Demon God is about to emerge!"
Standing before the Prison Bottle, the Master, witnessing this scene, wore an expression of both madness and ecstasy.
Behind her stood several hundred members of Organization Y.
Every one of them was kneeling on the ground, gazing reverently at the Prison Bottle suspended in midair.
"The Great Demon God is about to awaken! And will lead us to create an entirely new world!"
"This world is filled with too much rot!"
"Why are some born into immense wealth and privilege, while others can only struggle their entire lives and barely earn enough to survive?"
"The powerful only bee more powerful, while the poor only bee poorer!"
"This world is sick; it needs healing! With the Great Demon God leading us, we will create a brand-new world—a world of true fairness!"
The Master shouted passionately.
The members below all wore excited expressions as they echoed her words.
If Julian had witnessed this scene, he would definitely have concluded that the Master had graduated from some motivational speaking academy—her ability to persuade people was truly something.
And her dream was extraordinarily grand. She actually wanted to create a perfectly fair world.
But such a utopia simply didn't exist.
Then again, Julian himself was the very embodiment of privilege—he had been born into immense wealth and status.
From that perspective, he and the Master—who sought to overthrow that very system—had been destined to stand on opposite sides from the very beginning.
*****
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