Chapter 671: Internal War Among the Kings

"Danger prediction? No, the ability of Super Absol is Magic Mirror."

Baimu's expression changed slightly.

The Super Absol displayed its special ability to foresee disasters, sensing changes in sky and earth through the horn on its head, hence also called the Disaster Beast.

Under Hua Yue's deliberate cultivation, the horn further grew from a crescent into a second one, making the Super Absol even more sensitive to environmental shifts, allowing it to predict opponents' attack patterns.

This ability was neither an ability nor a move—it was an instinct inherent in the creature.

After several failed attacks, Boni swiftly switched.

Unexpectedly, the instant the Poké Ball's red light enveloped Dialga, the Super Absol shot forward as a dark blur and slammed down with a claw.

【Pursuit】!

Boom!

Smoke parted in the arena.

Baimu faintly saw Dialga's massive fangs twisted against the ground, and couldn't help touching his own teeth.

That slap was brutal!

Dark-type moves are just cruel.

The Pokémon sent out to replace Dialga was Abomasnow; its Snow Warning ability once again summoned hail. But due to its earlier heavy assault from Crustle, its overall condition had clearly declined.

As Hua Yue's ace, the Super Absol's sensitivity far surpassed other Pokémon, launching a direct Flamethrower at its face.

Without Aurora Veil for defense, how could the weakened Abomasnow possibly block a four-times super-effective Flamethrower?

It was naturally defeated by the Super Absol.

At that moment.

On the scoreboard, one Pokémon beside each trainer's portrait turned gray.

Yet in the aerial Rotom's camera shot, the giant screen revealed Boni's expression remained utterly calm as she calmly sent out her third—

Glaceon.

Boni kissed the ring holding the Key Stone; dazzling multicolored light enveloped Glaceon.

Hua Yue ordered the Super Absol to charge forward; its wing-like fluffy fur rapidly flapped, releasing black patterns composed of Intimidate aura.

But Glaceon was not frightened—it formed a pale blue light shield that blocked the Super Absol's claws.

The next instant.

Super Evolution ended; on the giant screen, Super Glaceon appeared to have a dislocated massive black jaw, a thick ice spike grown from its brow, and its breath unleashed terrifying cold air that turned the surroundings into a blinding white haze.

The Super Absol, seemingly wary of these frigid winds, swiftly retreated to avoid them.

The two Pokémon exchanged ranged attacks.

Perhaps influenced by its danger prediction ability, the Super Absol preferred enduring continuous hail damage rather than approaching Super Glaceon carelessly, persistently clashing its Dark Pulse against Super Glaceon's Blizzard.

The result was explosions scattering the clouds that dropped hail.

The passionate commentary made many spectators realize.

So Hua Yue's plan was this!

"One interference, not a single defensive change move has been used…" Baimu's focus rested on Hua Yue's commands; from the start until now, the latter's tactic had been attack, attack, and again attack.

Could he truly not use these two types of change moves?

Unlikely.

Inside the arena.

As the mist cleared, Super Glaceon suddenly unleashed a terrifying ice-blue energy beam, instantly engulfing the Super Absol, which had sensed danger and tried to dodge.

Unlike ordinary linear destruction beams.

Its destruction beam, shaped by its wildly opening and closing jaw, formed a massive fan shape.

Nearly a quarter of the arena was covered in icy light; almost every spectator's exposed skin felt the bone-chilling cold rising from below.

How immense the power!

A top-tier Normal-type move triggered by the Ice Skin ability—Blizzard was utterly insignificant before it.

Yet even this destructive force failed to defeat the Super Absol.

Smoke dispersed.

Inside the arena, it remained fully energetic; from the dissolving blue light particles around it, it was clear it had used Protect to block the assault.

"Offense is the best defense—but don't trust a Dark-type's words, right?"

Baimu tugged at his lip; while liking Dark-types didn't mean Hua Yue was evil, mastery of an attribute to some degree reflected the trainer's personality.

Hua Yue undoubtedly possessed a cautious, cunning heart wrapped in a rough exterior.

Saving the deadliest card for the critical moment.

Countless spectators gasped as the Super Absol charged toward the immobilized Super Glaceon, flames gushing wildly from its mouth—

Then blinding light engulfed the entire arena.

Baimu's heart instinctively trembled; unbearable memories from last night surged violently, his brain nerves began convulsing sharply, his lips twitching as if forming a strange smile.

He quickly covered his mouth.

Fortunately, everyone was captivated by the massive mushroom cloud rising in the arena; even Damalanchi nearby didn't notice his abnormality.

For the first time, his simulated memory—haunting him for nearly a year—produced a "aftereffect" response, convincing him to seal the self-destruct memory of Double-Edge forever, never to reactivate it.

And the violent explosion below the arena originated from Super Glaceon; its Ice Skin-triggered massive explosion was a blinding white light of destruction, completely ignoring the Super Absol's danger prediction.

After all, no escape could exceed the arena's boundaries.

This move symbolized Boni's personality—"Burning passion in ice," calm yet capable of sudden, fiery intensity.

No matter what schemes or tricks, none could stand before the Ice Skin ICBM.

Smoke cleared in the arena.

Absol and Glalie each lay sprawled on the ground, both rendered unable to battle.

Baimu shook his head; the Four Guardians had known each other for years, thoroughly familiar with one another's tactics and traits—just now, Hua Yue had merely tried to get lucky and take out Glalie before the big explosion, but the damage wasn't enough, and Glalie had still dragged her down in a final strike.

It ended in a draw.

Now both sides had only one Pokémon left, but a clear gap existed between the remaining Pokémon—for instance, Houndoom could not land a single hit on Dialga.

Hua Yue's Houndoom favored physical attack, but Boni's Dialga feared physical attack the least.

The first battle of the Champion League's Four Guardians ended with Houndoom being knocked out once again by Dialga's Body Slam.

"The gap beyond the ace..."

Baimu fell silent; the gap between Hua Yue's and Boni's main Pokémon mirrored his own situation all too closely.

Excluding the ace Pokémon, the remaining main Pokémon—aside from Salamence and Budew—suffered a severe power gap; Happiny was barely passable, and only barely so.

He needed to find a way to raise the strength of the other Pokémon.

He pondered deeply.

——

Not long after Hua Yue and Boni stepped down, Fu Rong and Shi Yuan Zhi took the stage in turn.

This veteran-youngster pairing reignited the audience's enthusiasm.

Both sides sent out their first Pokémon.

Umbreon faced Togekiss.

Just as in the previous round with Hua Yue and Boni, Fu Rong's battle style and traits were unmistakable—she relied heavily on status-altering moves.

Honestly, many of Fu Rong's tactics could be countered with Taunt.

But Shi Yuan Zhi's team seemed to lack any Dragon-type capable of Taunt, allowing Umbreon to slip past Dragon Pulse like a ghost, costing it half its HP to inflict a Curse on Togekiss.

He had no choice but to switch.

The effect of Curse could not be overcome by willpower; Shi Yuan Zhi could not let his Pokémon waste effort.

Immediately.

Baimu's familiar Pokémon—Desert Wing—appeared.

Umbreon, prepared in advance, clutched Will-O-Wisp and hurled it like a grenade at Desert Wing, smashing it the moment it emerged, before it could react, successfully inflicting a status condition.

Half HP for a status condition—was that a loss or a gain?

From the bright smile on Fu Rong's face on screen, it was clear she thought it was a win.

The battle intensified.

Though Will-O-Wisp lowered Desert Wing's physical attack, its special attack had never been weaker than its physical attack; Shi Yuan Zhi's hexagonal Pokémon were constants, never vanishing due to the opponent's changes.

The familiar Sandstorm and Quicksand.

They blocked the aerial Rotom's reconnaissance and severed the trainer's connection to their Pokémon.

Umbreon, neither fast nor skilled in Shadow Sneak, was naturally trapped within the Sand Tornado, unable to escape.

It skillfully unleashed Gravity.

In an instant.

A terrifying pressure descended upon the battlefield, affecting not only the Levitate-boosted Desert Wing, but also compressing the Sand Tornado that had once reached the sky.

All Umbreon had to sacrifice was the ability to use Ghost-type levitation; even if still trapped in the Sand Tornado, it at least drastically reduced the directions from which Desert Wing could attack.

The idea was beautiful.

But Desert Wing was not merely a pawn to be led by the nose—it unleashed Flash once again, the move that had once enraged Salamence, and as a streak of Bai Guang, Desert Wing retained terrifying speed even on land.

It blurred Umbreon's vision, rushed to its front, and struck its abdomen with a powerful Dragon Tail.

Boom!

The move landed.

Umbreon endured the brutal blow, barely holding back from being swallowed by the Quicksand wall behind it, swinging its fist to counterattack.

But before its fist could connect, it was already blasted into red light, flying out of the Sand Tornado and into Fu Rong's waist-mounted Poké Ball.

Simultaneously.

Another Poké Ball she had pre-selected burst open, and the sinister Revenankh shot straight into the swirling sandstorm.

Revenankh reacted swiftly—upon landing, it immediately extended shadowy limbs backward to evade.

But Desert Wing, long waiting, would not let it escape; despite being burned, its spiritual energy remained unbroken.

Ignoring that Levitate had been nullified by Gravity and that Quicksand would also damage itself, Desert Wing forced its way out of the Sand Tornado with Flash and slammed the solid-bodied Revenankh back into it!

Puff!

Revenankh, unable to resist the combined force of two Sand Tornados, was forced into a spin; Desert Wing, remaining outside, predicted its rotation path and unleashed a close-range Dragon Pulse!

Boom!!

Amid the violent explosion, the terrifying Sand Tornado collapsed, and the aerial Rotom immediately captured the scene and transmitted it to the giant screen.

The audience, through the commentator's half-inferred, half-guessed explanations, learned the situation inside the arena.

"This tactic is really cheap."

Baimu recalled his own disconnection from Dragonite, then looked at Fu Rong's sighing expression in the arena—he was surprised she couldn't break it...

Well.

Once this offensive was fully formed, breaking it was indeed difficult.

And Shi Yuan Zhi's Pokémon had maximum physical stats and willpower; disrupting its momentum was no easy feat.

Unexpectedly,

Revenankh was still standing—having taken a direct Dragon Pulse at close range and been battered by the Sand Tornado for a long time, it held on; Pokémon with over 100 in both Defense and Special Defense were truly formidable.

Fu Rong must have heavily trained it in these two areas.

Offensive capability?

"Power Split!"

Furong gave the answer.

Cofagrigus wrapped Desert Dragonfly in black tentacles, drawing off the attack and special attack it had built up day after day through training, and at the same time, when it was hit again by Desert Dragonfly's Dragon Pulse, it unleashed its second secret technique.

"Pain Split!"

Desert Dragonfly had already been tormented by the burn status for quite a while, so its stamina was honestly not in particularly good shape, but Cofagrigus, which had taken two Dragon Pulses in a row, was even less healthy.

The battle seemed to tilt back toward Furong's side a little—

On the surface, that was how it looked.

All Baimu knew that when the two Pokémon on the field were both at the brink of their stamina limits, in a contest of willpower, Cofagrigus had a very high probability of being unable to outlast Desert Dragonfly.

Unless it pulled off some massive outburst like Hydreigon had.

Furong seemed to understand this too, and even seemed to be wary of something else, so she gave up on continuing to switch moves to interfere, and let Cofagrigus use Double Trouble on Desert Dragonfly.

Desert Dragonfly dodged with Quick Attack; gravity was still on the field so it couldn't fly, and it didn't dare use Roost and give Cofagrigus another chance to use Pain Split to recover stamina.

Both sides were in a stalemate for a time.

Under normal circumstances, a Cofagrigus without any status conditions should be less afraid of dragging out the fight than Desert Dragonfly, since the latter would sooner or later fall to the burn damage.

But some things are just that wonderfully strange.

When the gravity field vanished, Cofagrigus tried to use Shadow Sneak to take out Desert Dragonfly, but never expected the opponent to suddenly burst forth with terrifyingly extreme speed, flashing to appear behind it, and slam both claws into the ground to blast Cofagrigus skyward with the power of the earth!

The entire arena erupted in shock.

All Baimu was equally astonished. "Scene replay!? Is this burst sequence fixed?"

The speed of that Quick Attack Desert Dragonfly had just used was unmistakably equal to the speed that had nearly defeated Hydreigon back then!

He had previously assumed this kind of sudden burst was a lucky, unrepeatable small outburst, but it turned out to be a fixed burst technique that Captain Shi Yuan Zhi had trained into it?

He'd look into it the moment he got back!

Thinking that Dragapult also knew Quick Attack, All Baimu couldn't help feeling a little restless.

On the field.

Cofagrigus had clearly lost the ability to battle; it couldn't even get off Destiny Bond, Desert Dragonfly's speed having utterly outstripped its reaction time.

Furong's helpless expression seemed to prove that her earlier "aggressive push" had been precisely to prevent Desert Dragonfly's burst.

She hadn't managed to stop it.

The gap between the top of the Elite Four and an ordinary Elite Four member was on full display.

Dusknoir entered the field again.

What greeted it was a Desert Dragonfly that had recovered some condition with Roost; this time Furong didn't dare to trade blows again, obediently using Mean Look.

Desert Dragonfly's combat power was largely tied to Quick Attack, and the earlier Power Split had not been undone by Cofagrigus's defeat.

Dusknoir took the chance to use Mean Look, preventing Shi Yuan Zhi from switching it out, and finally followed up with Trick-or-Treat and Ice Punch to take it down.

"Looks like its condition is back."

All Baimu noticed that every Elite Four member had a big heart — no matter how chaotic their rhythm became, no matter how unfavorable the situation, they never suffered a mental collapse.

This was also why they were often able to reverse a losing situation.

Altaria entered the field again; its swift Mist Guard blocked the Trick-or-Treat, but failed to block the gravity field Dusknoir put up again.

Having lost the ability to fly, it was forced to become a ground-bound chicken.