Katsuhisa scattered the colorful flames erupting toward him, but he had no choice but to face the air explosion coming from his side. There was no room to dodge this move. He could only endure it.
Fortunately, although it hurt a little, it wasn't unbearable.
Just as he endured the air explosion and froze for a moment, a golden lightning bolt suddenly struck from the sky.
Katsuhisa gathered his strength and raised a fragile shield with all his might.
It wasn't that his strength was limited. It was just that at this moment, when his old strength had faded and his new strength had not yet emerged, this was all he could do.
The shield shattered, but fortunately, the lightning had already dissipated.
Katsuhisa stopped, breathing heavily as he looked at the three Pokémon across from him.
Ho-Oh, Lugia, and another one... Pikachu... How the hell is this thing so strong?
This Pikachu was a bit chubby, even with a slight bulge of a belly. But that didn't stop Katsuhisa from feeling wary of it.
Could those second-tier gods really defeat this Pikachu?
Katsuhisa was deeply doubtful.
The three Pokémon across from him were clearly weaker than himself. Yet he was being firmly held back here, and had even sustained some injuries.
Katsuhisa looked at Red, who was being protected by the other five Pokémon in the center. It was this young man before him whose presence had turned what should have been a one-sided battle into such a unpredictable situation.
Human trainers... what a powerful profession...
In fact... Red was also deeply moved.
He had always been clear that, given his reckless nature, the reason he had survived was not only because of his strength, high talent, courteous opponents, and powerful background, but also because...
His sheer luck.
If it weren't for his luck, Red would probably be dead by now. And this time was no different. If it weren't for Rope providing him with two extremely powerful allies who could threaten Katsuhisa to some extent on their own, he would have been finished about ten minutes ago...
As Red was reflecting on this, Katsuhisa casually fired an energy cannon toward Red's direction.
Red's Snorlax and Venusaur immediately sprang into action, one flashing white light on its fist, the other unleashing a Leaf Storm.
Both charged toward Katsuhisa's energy cannon. In an instant, Snorlax and Venusaur were repelled, and Katsuhisa's energy cannon dissipated.
Katsuhisa's face betrayed a hint of resignation.
Red nodded in agreement. Indeed, Katsuhisa's single move required both of his Pokémon to work together to fully block it, and there would still be moments of exhaustion in between. Therefore, two groups would need to rotate to defend themselves, with one Pokémon remaining mobile for support.
Ho-Oh, Lugia, and Pikachu, the highest-output Pokémon among all his Pokémon, were tied together, just enough to suppress Katsuhisa nearly perfectly. It could only be said that the help Rope had found for him was just right.
If Red had been given enough help, he might have been able to take down Katsuhisa.
However, according to Rope, there were simply no other hands available. Not every demigod is as indifferent as Weavile.
Many demigods have already been thinking about taking a shot at him.
In the end, they'll either die at the hands of their own kind or be erased by time. Rather than waiting to die like that, it's better to take a gamble.
After all, a life that can't progress isn't much better than death for them.
So in other places, many deities are surrounded and attacked by multiple demigods.
Speaking of which, Rope originally kept them around for mobile support. He didn't expect that his own mobile forces would be tied up so quickly.
Rope didn't know what to say.
All he could say was that he had a good plan, but so did the other side.
But what was even more touching was Ho-Oh and Lugia... They had never fought such a leisurely battle in their lives.
All they had to do was wait for the right moment and prepare their skills. The overall command could be left entirely to Red. And with teammates around, there was no need to worry about lack of coordination. Everyone followed Red's orders.
A trainer of Red's caliber, when it comes to commanding Pokémon, is truly as smooth as using one's own hands—no exaggeration.
It's like using one's left and right hands; there's no awkwardness at all.
Ho-Oh and Lugia finally realized that being commanded by a human trainer could be such a pleasant experience.
Both deities felt a slight stir of emotion. But it was only a slight one.
Compared to being commanded in battle, they still preferred their current lifestyle of waking up to roam and forage, then finding a place to sleep for three to five years, or even thirty to fifty years, whenever they felt tired.
The era when deities walked the earth had passed. And the lazy deities did not wish for that era to return.
They did not need the faith of humans and Pokémon. They were even more unwilling to be shackled by the progress of the world.
Therefore, deities would never truly exist in the world forever.
"Should we keep fighting? Honestly, I don't think Rope's main target is you."
Red, seeing that both sides had fallen into a standoff, immediately began to talk his way out of it.
"Look, you can't do anything to me now, and I can't do anything to you. By the time we're done fighting, I'm sure Rope and the others will have reached a conclusion."
Just as he was speaking, a loud explosion suddenly rang out from the sky.
It sounded as though the sky had been torn apart.
Red was startled by the loud noise.
Katsuhisa, on the other hand, remained relatively calm.
"That's impossible. Although I don't know why, Rope seems to have a strong desire to kill me. I don't think he'll let me go. And..."
Katsuhisa's eyes were indifferent, and his face was calm as water.
"I don't think you can really defeat me either."
"Although I suspected you might have a trump card, I have one too."
Red retorted without hesitation, after all, no matter what, he couldn't lose now.
Ho-Oh and Lugia understood this too, though they secretly hoped that if the opponent could really ramp up their power, it would only mean that Red hadn't fully unleashed his command abilities.
Red was well aware of the current situation. He knew exactly how much destruction this guy could cause.
His primary goal wasn't to surrender. Rope had no intention of capturing anyone this time.
First, he didn't think he could catch them, and second, he had no intention of leaving any survivors. What's the point of keeping someone who's committed such heinous crimes? To use them as a boss?
Katsuhisa didn't know what Rope was thinking.
But as he looked at the cracks in the night sky and the dawn light already peeking over the horizon, the light in his hands flared up again.
Then he charged toward Red.