"GRAAAAH!"
When the spatial crack opened, through it one could see one inverted floating island after another.
The Distortion World!
A black shadow emerged from that spatial rift. After exiting it, that Pokémon abruptly shifted from its Origin Form into another form.
Its battle stance!
The dragon of the underworld! Giratina!
The black shadow that burst forth from the Distortion World into the Pokémon world was precisely Giratina, the lord of the Distortion World, the dragon of the underworld who had always sought to bring the Pokémon world into its domain!
Upon seeing Giratina's arrival, the council elder's face finally lost the calm it had shown at the beginning. His expression had now become somewhat more serious.
He let out a long sigh. "Although I had long been prepared and had more or less assumed that such a situation could occur, I never imagined that in the end, the person subdued by Giratina would be you."
It was clear that the council elder's face was filled with regret, and in the gaze he directed at Kael there was also pity that was difficult to conceal.
"Don't look at me with those eyes. Since you know my identity, you should understand that for a first-tier legendary Pokémon like Giratina, it is impossible to resist. I am not that old man from the Hoenn region back then, who even knowing perfectly well that he was no match for Giratina, still went to seek death on his own, and in the end became something neither human nor ghost," Kael mocked.
Moreover, in his opinion, his relationship with Giratina was simply that of two parties obtaining what they needed, using each other; there was no such thing as one having subdued the other.
"Was it before you went to the Space-Time Continent? Did Giratina secretly contact you before you went there?" the council elder asked.
Because before going to the Space-Time Continent, there had been absolutely nothing strange about Kael. But after going there, among those who returned, he was not present.
Just as had happened with Cain not long ago, after searching many times without results, they ultimately chose to abandon the search.
And the people who entered afterward also did not find any trace of him. Since then, every time someone entered the Space-Time Continent, the casualty rate became higher and higher.
Now it seemed that all of that had a great deal to do with this Kael.
Kael showed an ambiguous smile, saying nothing more, and instead directly turned his head toward where Cain was.
"You must be Cain, right? Why not come out? There's no need to keep hiding. When you arrived, the old man had already discovered you."
Immediately afterward, Kael waved his left hand, and the special ability of the question-mark-shaped Unown that enveloped Cain suddenly dissolved, revealing his figure.
Cain noticed that the special barrier around him had dissipated, but he did not focus his attention on that. Instead, he fixed his gaze firmly on Kael, or more precisely, on his left hand.
On the back of that left hand was a tattoo shaped like an exclamation mark!
If Cain was not mistaken, that exclamation-mark-shaped tattoo should be one of the two most special Unown of all: the exclamation-mark-shaped Unown!
And it formed a pair with the question-mark-shaped Unown that he wore on his wrist.
When Kael had torn space open with a casual motion, Cain had already focused on the tattoo on his left hand.
Last time everything had been too rushed and Cain had not noticed, but now that he saw it, the shock within him was impossible to suppress.
"Young Cain, I imagine that before coming here you had already made a decision, right? How about lending my League a hand? After this, this old man will certainly reward you generously," said the council elder.
Although he did not look toward Cain, his voice clearly reached his ears.
Just as Kael had said, the council elder had already perceived Cain's presence even before he appeared. It was only that since Cain had not revealed himself, the elder did not know how to force him out. Kael, on the other hand, possessed that ability.
It seemed that they came from the same source.
At first, Cain's attention was still focused on Kael's left hand, but upon hearing the elder's words he was momentarily stunned.
Lend my League a hand?
It sounded as if the council elder had never truly regarded Cain as someone belonging to the League.
That meant that, in reality, the council elder had long known Cain's true identity, only for some reason he had never made it public.
Either he believed Cain's strength was not sufficient to affect the entire League, or he believed that until now Cain had not caused major losses to the League's interests, or perhaps he valued some particular quality or ability of Cain...
In short, the fact that the council elder knew Cain's identity and yet had not exposed it must hide a deeper meaning. Even the voice that sounded beside Cain's ear could only be heard by him, without the League personnel below noticing anything at all.
Although Cain did not know what the elder's purpose was nor why he was doing this.
But just as he himself had said, before coming Cain had already made a decision. Between the League and the Sacred Church, he would undoubtedly stand on the side of the League.
If this giant known as the League collapsed now and no force capable of replacing it emerged, then the entire Pokémon world would once again fall into the hands of each region acting independently. And that did not hold much appeal for Cain.
It was better for the League to continue existing as it did now; compared to other options, that was the most suitable.
Moreover, the enmity between Cain and the Sacred Church was not small. This time they had all come out of hiding; if they could be buried here, all the better. If they were to gain the upper hand, Cain would likely once again have to live a life of hiding everywhere.
On top of that, the Sacred Church was allied with Giratina, while Cain's Pokémon also had no small enmity with Giratina.
(End of chapter)