Chapter 559: Then I

The entire battlefield froze completely.

The supreme Creator God Arceus was tightly sealed by countless resentful spirits and Divine Beast might, while divine authority roared and Stone Tablets thundered.

At the moment Arceus was fully suppressed, a figure materialized out of thin air in the sky.

He arrived silently and calmly, as if he had been standing here all along, never having left a fraction.

"Black Arceus…"

Sakaki stared intently at the pitch‑black divine silhouette, his voice involuntarily tinged with excitement and tremor.

"Ma Shu Mu!" Huo La said in a deep voice.

At this moment Sakaki's mind was wholly fixed on Ma Shu Mu, filled with long‑held wishes and obsessions, and he didn't hear Huo La's voice at all.

Ma Shu Mu's indifferent gaze slowly swept the arena, passing over the tightly suppressed, once‑majestic Arceus, then over the tense Sakaki, and finally landed precisely on Huo La.

No sound spread outward; a voice that only Huo La could hear resonated deep within his heart.

"Long time no see, Huo La. You truly have taken step after step to reach this point."

Huo La sighed inwardly, with a hint of helplessness and surprise: "Why did you wait until now to appear?"

"What do you mean I appear only now? I've always been here."

Ma Shu Mu's voice carried a slight complaint, yet Huo La clearly caught a trace of unmistakable weakness and fatigue.

"From the very first second of your battle, I've been using Sheer Force to stabilize this world."

"Do you really think that, with a horde of top‑tier Divine Beasts fighting to the death, this world could hold steady until you breach the Antimatter World?"

"Had I not covertly underwritten and upheld the world's foundation, the world would have collapsed to zero as soon as the initial chaos erupted."

Huo La's mind jolted, instantly grasping all the hidden truths behind it.

"So? Now that you appear, are you planning to clean up this mess?"

"No." Ma Shu Mu's reply was crisp and decisive, directly negating it in Huo La's heart.

"I can no longer hold on, nor can I resolve it." His voice sank to the deepest bar, laden with endless fatigue and resignation.

"From now on, you must rely on yourselves."

"Rely?" Huo La's pupils contracted sharply, his heart filled with shock and absurdity, "We exhausted all our strength to reach this situation, and you tell us to rely on ourselves?"

"You can."

Ma Shu Mu's tone was unusually resolute.

"In the Hisui battle back then, by leveraging Regigigas, Mew and a host of Pokemon, I was able to forcibly wrest the divine corpse from its hand."

"Now your support is far stronger than mine was, and Arceus has no true body; the form before you is merely a temporary vessel it seized, not its original shape. You have full ability to end all this, provided you do as I say."

Huo La felt a stir: "Do you have a way?"

"Yes. The key to breaking the deadlock lies on that final Stone Tablet in your hand."

Those words instantly enlightened Huo La, and memories flashed rapidly through his mind.

It was the final Stone Tablet he had obtained from Regigigas.

During the Hisui battle, events shifted too quickly, Arceus reacted too fast, and it hadn't had time to reclaim that final Stone Tablet.

"Back in my Hisui era, I already foresaw today's outcome together with Regigigas and Mew."

"I deliberately entrusted this most crucial Stone Tablet to Regigigas for safekeeping, and also kept Mew hidden in this Antimatter World for years, never stepping into the rules of the present world, while leaving a genetic fragment there."

Huo La felt a massive shock; a bone‑deep clarity swept his entire body!

Mew's preserved genes in the present world, Sakaki's Mewtwo bred from those genes......

So from the start, Mewtwo's birth was part of Ma Shu Mu's plan!

"Don't look at me with that gaze," Ma Shu Mu said softly, "I've done nothing but what I was meant to do from start to finish."

"Had it not been for layer upon layer of groundwork and step‑by‑step scheming, we'd never have had a chance. The Stone Tablet in your hand is called the Pure Empty Stone Slab, also known as the Normal-type Plate."

"It is the source of all attributes in the world; though it appears ordinary, it can encompass myriad laws and bear everything."

"Using its own way upon its own body. Because it is the most ordinary origin, it is also the only entity capable of containing Creator God Power." Ma Shu Mu's voice rang out, each word landing clearly in Huo La's heart.

"All you need is to use this Pure Empty Stone Slab to absorb Arceus's primordial divine power. When that moment arrives, the supreme Creator God will become a lamb for you to dispose of at will."

Huo La heard this and merely scoffed, his eyes heavy with solemn disbelief.

"That sounds easy. Do you think Arceus would obediently let me approach?"

He looked up at the Creator God, still tightly suppressed by countless resentful spirits and Divine Beasts, its surrounding Punishment Light Shard still flashing with multicolored attribute light, the Intimidation overwhelming.

"I'll stabilize it for you," Ma Shu Mu said, his tone unusually firm.

Huo La clenched his teeth, remained silent for a moment, and finally asked the question that weighed heaviest on his mind.

"What about Sakaki? The promises you made to him earlier—are you truly planning to fulfill them?"

Ma Shu Mu flinched slightly, instantly perceiving Huo La's concerns, and a cold edge rose in his inner voice.

"I only need him to lend his strength, to help us complete this final move of the game."

"I am now burnt out, unable to hold on much longer. Yet even so, I will never hand the Creator God's authority to Sakaki."

"His ambition is too great, his temperament too obsessive; once he wields Creation Power, the tragedy of today's world's annihilation would simply replay. He could certainly do such a thing."

"So how do you intend to deal with him?" Huo La asked in his mind.

Ma Shu Mu was silent for a moment, his tone carrying an elusive hint.

"Are you really this kind‑hearted?"

"Heh," Huo La chuckled lightly, shaking his head, "I'm not soft‑hearted; I'm just worried about variables. Mewtwo is too troublesome."

"Rest assured."

Ma Shu Mu's voice rose again, bearing a calm as if dust had settled.

"Hasn't he always been obsessed with reaching the place we came from? Then I shall grant his wish and send him there."