At a single glance, Genjo recognized the Pokémon depicted on the mural.
That extreme, terrifying aura that made people shudder—
it could only belong to a first-tier Legendary.
Black feathers!
Red skin covered in black markings!
Enormous wings vast enough to blot out the sky!
There was no doubt about it.
It was the legendary Yveltal, known as the Wings of Ruin, a being said to possess the power to destroy the entire Pokémon World!
So this buried, long-undiscovered ruin underground...
had originally been built for this first-tier Legendary!
Once they understood that, everyone present felt their hearts pound in fear.
No one had expected that this operation, which had merely targeted the second-tier Legendary Mew,
would end up uncovering a secret of this magnitude behind the scenes!
Genjo slowly pulled his gaze away from the mural on the black wall.
In the darkness, he could clearly see that in front of the wall stood a towering altar.
The altar was badly damaged.
The surface of the stone bore obvious traces of erosion from age.
The entire altar looked like a giant letter Y collapsed onto the ground.
It had been built to a height of over ten meters.
Looking up from where he stood, he could not clearly make out the very top of it.
But since they were already here, Genjo naturally intended to find a better angle by climbing the steps.
So while the members of Team Dark still had not fully recovered from their shock,
he began walking forward once more.
He followed the stairs upward step by step,
and before long, he arrived at the top of the altar.
It was then that he discovered that at the central intersection of the three branches of the Y-shaped structure,
there was a stone platform.
Above it,
a pure black feather floated silently in the air.
It trembled faintly and continuously toward the outside.
The darkness within the entire underground space, dense to the extreme,
seemed to be emanating from this single feather.
This feather...!?
Genjo's expression grew even more grave.
His eyes remained fixed on the black feather without moving in the slightest.
Could it be...
left behind by Yveltal?
That thought surfaced instinctively in Genjo's mind.
This altar had once been Yveltal's domain.
And what had been left upon the altar
was a black feather.
Then most likely,
it belonged to that Pokémon.
As a top-tier first-tier Legendary,
even a single feather from its body
would contain tremendously powerful energy.
What was more,
this was a feather placed upon the altar.
It was bound to be even more extraordinary.
A series of detailed analyses flashed rapidly through Genjo's mind.
In the way he looked at that feather,
a trace of anticipation and greed surfaced unconsciously.
Even though he could already be considered to have barely captured the second-tier Legendary Mew,
how could someone like him
possibly not desire even stronger Pokémon and greater power?
As though bewitched, Genjo slowly stepped forward,
approaching the stone platform little by little.
Once he got closer,
he could clearly make out the feather's shape.
That unique Y-shaped form
confirmed the identity of its owner.
Without question, it belonged to the first-tier Legendary known as the Wings of Ruin—Yveltal!
Feeling the intense energy fluctuations and deathly aura spilling out from the feather,
greed showed in his eyes.
He coveted that power!
Its owner—
possessed a power even stronger than that of the second-tier Legendary Mew!
It could do more than overturn the entire Great Axia Alliance!
It could absolutely overturn the entire world!
He felt as though his heart were being summoned by some mysterious force.
Genjo slowly, tremblingly, stretched out his hand
toward that feather.
The instant his hand reached it,
he did not hesitate at all.
He decisively grabbed it,
clenching the feather tightly in his palm.
In the next instant,
he felt a tremendous power explode in his hand.
Scorching, burning pain and icy, piercing pain alternated as they spread across him.
Violent agony swept over his entire body.
Inside his mind,
his consciousness also began to blur.
The thick darkness before his eyes twisted and surged, and then slowly,
it took on the shape of an incredibly warped face!
The deep gaze of the Wings of Ruin stared at Genjo.
Man and Pokémon locked eyes for a single second.
In the next instant,
Genjo lost consciousness completely
and collapsed on the spot.
When he opened his eyes again,
he had already been brought out of the underground ruin.
The feather he had been holding in his hand had disappeared.
But his arm
had somehow turned into a deep, dense black.
On the inner side of his arm near the elbow,
there was a clear mark,
exactly the same shape as that feather.
Genjo's expression stiffened.
He could not help but repeatedly recall the final scene before he blacked out.
The Yveltal he had seen—
had it truly been formed from those black auras?
Or had it merely been a hallucination in his own mind?
Genjo lowered his head silently,
staring blankly at the feather-shaped mark on his arm.
He had the vague feeling that, somehow,
he had formed some deep and extraordinary connection
with that first-tier Legendary.
...
Inside Mt. Silver,
Shiko entered that rocky cavern.
The inner walls of the passage were an even brighter and deeper silver-white than the exterior of the mountain.
They radiated the sharp, hard sensation of dense alloy.
It was as though the entire passage
had been carved out from a gigantic block of metal.
A rich Steel-type aura surged and spread through the area.
That powerful energy
made Shiko feel a deep sense of familiarity and satisfaction.
Without a doubt,
this was absolutely the kind of dwelling Steel-type Pokémon would like best.
The deeper he went,
the denser that aura and energy became.
And accompanying them,
was a gradually heavier sound of breathing...
(End of Chapter)
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