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"As expected…"
Kael shook his head with a hint of helplessness.
He had briefly hoped that Pokémon capable of surviving in such a brutal environment might possess something special.
In the end, they were still nothing more than irrational Nightmare remnants, driven solely by the instinct to devour fresh flesh.
Disappointment flickered in Kael's crimson eyes.
"Shh! Shh! Shh!"
Filled with an obsessive hunger for blood, the five Alolan Rattata formed a hunting pack and charged forward at blinding speed, their movements so fast they nearly left afterimages in the air.
Acting purely on instinct, the brown-black figures crisscrossed along the ground, deliberately attempting to confuse their prey.
In less than three seconds, they closed a distance of nearly one hundred meters and reached Kael.
Their small limbs kicked off the cracked concrete, bodies launching upward in swift, precise arcs toward the towering dark-purple figure.
Each Rattata had a clear role.
One aimed for the throat.
One for the chest.
Two for the abdomen.
One for the lower back.
In their eyes, these were the weakest points of any Pokémon's body.
Their snow-white incisors gleamed sharply.
Against an average Pokémon, this coordinated strike would have been lethal.
Unfortunately for them—
Their opponent existed far outside the normal rules.
Kael's crimson eyes locked onto the charging Rattata.
The twisted hunger and madness in their expressions made his skin crawl.
The faint good mood he had regained vanished instantly.
He had no intention of dragging this out.
Kael calmly raised his left hand.
"Whoosh!"
The thick muscles of his forearm swelled explosively as his index finger pierced the air at a speed that shattered the sound barrier.
Five taps.
So fast they were nearly invisible.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
A blur of purple streaked through the air.
Five clouds of blood exploded outward mid-leap.
The Rattata didn't even feel pain.
Their brain cores were destroyed before their minds could register fear.
Their mangled bodies dropped lifelessly to the ground.
Kael flicked his finger, casually shaking off the sticky blood.
"Is there really no such thing as a normal Pokémon left in the wild?"
He sighed inwardly.
The spread of the Nightmare Seeds in this world was far more severe than he had imagined.
His thoughts drifted.
Given how deeply corrupted the world had become, what role did the legendary Pokémon play in all of this?
Had they resisted the Nightmare Seeds—
Or fallen under their control?
"Neither makes sense…"
Kael frowned.
If the legendaries were still sane, then beings like Xerneas, embodiment of life, or Ho-Oh, bringer of blessings, would never allow the world to fall into such devastation.
But if the legendaries were corrupted—
Then with their power to reshape continents and distort time itself, the world would already be completely destroyed.
Not left in this half-dead state.
"…Strange."
Kael didn't know it yet, but the legendary Pokémon he was pondering would one day appear before him in ways he could never have predicted.
"Boom!"
A massive sound suddenly echoed through the dead city.
The hollow impact reverberated between collapsed buildings, lingering long after the initial strike.
Kael froze.
He turned sharply toward the source.
Silence.
The ruins returned to their deathly stillness, as though the sound had never existed.
But Kael's expression darkened.
Though the presence was fleeting and extremely well-hidden, his heightened senses had caught a trace of it.
A residue of something foul.
Curses.
Malice.
Oppressive despair.
A concentration of negative emotions unlike anything he had ever encountered.
"Boom!"
The sound came again.
This time—
It was close.
Ice surged up Kael's spine, crawling to the back of his skull.
He shuddered, goosebumps erupting across his skin.
The first sound had been distant.
This one was right beside him.
A lethal sense of danger exploded in his instincts.
Kael's body reacted instantly.
Muscles hardened like stone, terrifying power coiling within them, ready to erupt at any moment.
Crimson light flickered in his eyes as his perception expanded outward.
Wave-based sensing spread silently through the air, mapping every movement within a hundred-meter radius.
Fighting-type energy and Ghost-type energy surged together through his veins, crimson and dark purple intertwining into a chilling pressure that distorted the atmosphere.
In less than half a second, Kael entered full combat readiness.
Stillness.
Calm.
The ruins remained silent.
But Kael did not relax.
His massive frame stood tense in the center of the street like a predator waiting to strike.
Every instinct screamed danger.
This was not imagination.
Something was coming.
Sand battered the skeletal remains of skyscrapers, rattling steel and concrete with harsh clattering echoes.
Pebbles rolled across the ground, threatening to break his focus.
Then—
The air shifted.
A subtle, unnatural fluctuation.
"It's here."
Kael moved.
His legs exploded sideways, his body vanishing from where he stood.
The next instant—
Impact.
BOOM—
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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