Elf: Starts with small diamonds, then mutates into Diancie.

"Hehehe, even if you left the void world from the Earth and Sky Mountains with the broken secret realm and escaped to this world that is still resisting, you didn't find that I am still attached to the stone that your soul has turned into, did you?"

"How does it feel to have your soul devoured by [us] after the bodies of countless years ago?"

"The last Pokémon of that world—Reshiram?"

Its tone was sometimes impassioned, sometimes somber, and sometimes sarcastic.

Unfortunately, there was no response to what it said, as if it were performing a monologue.

It wasn't annoyed, chuckled twice, and continued, "I never expected this, I never expected this. The White Dragon Reshiram, who used the extremely hot blue flames to kill countless of us [Void Shadows], has now weakened to this state."

"I swallowed the illusory light stone that was the embodiment of my soul, which allowed me to change my shape to resemble you. At the same time, I transformed from an intangible being that acted on instinct into your form, and gained wisdom and the ability to speak."

"All of this is thanks to two humans a few months ago, who brought us the source of our existence, a machine with a negative energy aura, and awakened me, and you along with them."

"The negative emotions of humans and Pokémon during this period have been delicious, and I owe a lot of credit to them for making me this strong."

"So what if you release them before I make a move?"

"It won't be long before humanity's inherent flaws and curiosity drive them to open Pandora's door and destroy themselves."

"All of this is thanks to you for bringing me into this world that even the Dark Matter Lord has been unable to conquer for so long, hahaha! Destroying your own world wasn't enough, you wanted to drag others down with you?"

The creature, who called itself the Void Shadow, seemed to have stirred the remaining will within the Light Stone with its words, and a weak male voice rang out—

"The...hero...will...utterly annihilate you...and your...master..."

The Void Shadow seemed to have been tickled, and it chuckled loudly: "Heroes? You mean the Rainbow Hero, the True Hero, the Ideal Hero, or the Wave Guide Hero, who are so highly regarded by your world? These pathetic fellows?"

"Or perhaps you are the true hero you found after coming to this world?"

The Void Shadow looked up at the sky, and three figures that had been attacked and disappeared turned into black dots, flying straight towards it from high above.

It said that the rats had run off to where they were hiding in the highest part of the sky above the secret realm.

No wonder these creatures, as an innate ability of the Void Shadows, were not found in the Lost Mist, which resembled their own tentacles.

"As expected of the true hero you chose, just like the previous generation—brave but reckless."

The Void Shadow has now taken on the shape of Reshiram, and can naturally use its abilities.

"Oh, right, I've thought of a fantastic entertainment!"

"I will sound the first horn for the Dark Matter to invade this world. Before that, as a pastime—I'll kill a true hero first!"

"Ah... my apologies, you haven't formed a contract yet. You should be the potential true heroes, hehehe—"

The Void Shadow looked mockingly at the Light Stone with three dents inside it, and brought with it gusts of foul wind as it rushed towards Su Hao and the others!

.......

...........

"It has spotted us and is flying straight towards us." The Articuno, carrying Su Hao and Diancie, immediately spotted the negative energy phantom at the top of the tower.

The situation was extremely urgent, and Su Hao and Articuno had already made a plan.

After they destroyed the Reshiram phantom formed from the mindless negative energy, Diancie and Articuno isolated the crimson mist near the former entrance to the Spiral Realm. Then, Su Hao opened the gate to the realm, preventing the Elite Four-level trainers from forcibly entering the Spiral Realm.

If the other party does not listen to advice, Su Hao will, as a last resort, reveal his identity as the Articuno God's Messenger and forcibly stop anyone coming to the Spiral Secret Realm.

Even the world's top champions are no exception.

Articuno said that as long as multiple Master-level Pokémon don't come, it will take down one Champion-level Pokémon at a time!

Then, we can invite Suigun to come and purify the crimson mist.

However, all of this hinges on defeating the currently unknown phantom of negative energy, preventing it from becoming an uncertain factor affecting the plan.

In short, let's get rid of the negative energy phantom first!

"The attack is coming!"

Articuno's stern voice rang out, and the Negative Energy Phantom opened its mouth and spat out a towering pillar of fire, black and red, the intense negative energy of which made the sensitive Su Hao extremely uncomfortable.

Unexpectedly, the waveguide's sensitivity to various emotions has this downside.

Articuno spread its icy blue wings and tilted its body, narrowly avoiding the pillar of fire. Then, it flew in a circling motion around the pillar of fire, approaching the phantom of negative energy.

During flight, Articuno was very careful to avoid coming into contact with attacks released by the negative energy phantoms.

This thing has all sorts of strange and bizarre abilities. Countless years of combat experience have taught it that it's best to avoid contact if possible.

"snowstorm!"

As they drew nearer, Su Hao pointed at the negative energy phantom in the shape of Reshiram and shouted loudly.

Articuno nodded solemnly, mobilizing its full power. Vast and boundless ice energy gathered, and a massive blizzard, which could be described as a natural disaster, indiscriminately attacked everything within the Spiral Secret Realm. Even the blood-red mist was frozen into unmelting ice or blown away.

We must go all out to deal with these guys!

The ethereal shadow, preparing to launch its second attack, was startled and exclaimed in disbelief, "God!?...Wait...!"

Before it could utter a word, the entire Spiral Realm, except for Articuno itself and Su Hao and Diancie who were under its protection, was completely frozen by the power of the gods, and strange ice sculptures were formed one after another.

At this moment, the entire Spiral Secret Realm seemed to have entered an ice age.

------------

Lugia.

Chapter 242 I got up, I finished it in seconds

Stepping into the spiraling secret realm of the Ice Age, howling winds whip up the unfrozen snow and ice on the ground, and countless ice trees and ice pillars form an ice-bound forest.

"Clap clap clap clap—"

The howling wind and blizzard filled my ears, and fine hail crystals mixed in with the blizzard, pelting the icicles like raindrops on banana leaves.

As expected of Articuno, which bears the name of the Ice God, it mobilized its authority to launch an attack and managed to transform the evergreen Spiral Realm into this state.

Hiss... This is terrifying!

"Huh? Did you guys hear anything just now?"

Su Hao looked around; he thought he had just heard a short syllable somewhere.

No, not at all.

"It's just the sound of a blizzard, your imagination."

Diancie and Articuno shook their heads; neither of the Pokémon heard anything strange.

"Alright... let's land at the top of the Dragon Spiral Tower first."

After searching in vain, Su Hao gave up on his previous thoughts, thinking it must have been an illusion.

Accompanied by a dragon-shaped ice sculpture formed from a phantom of negative energy, Su Hao and his companions landed at the top of the Dragon Spiral Tower.

The top of the tower was covered with a thick layer of snow, and there were scattered, collapsed pillars everywhere. If it weren't for the snow and ice covering it, it would probably look like a place of decay.

"So... let's execute the phantom of negative energy... shall we?"

Su Hao gracefully flipped off Articuno's back, then his expression froze—

"Ouch... It's so cold! What's below zero here?"

Under the speechless gazes of Articuno and Diancie, disregarding his image and manners, Su Hao slunk back to Articuno's back, where only it could provide him with warmth...

"Ahem... Let's deliver the final blow to the phantom of negative energy!"

After coughing a few times to cover his embarrassment, Su Hao spoke again in a dashing manner—

"Wait a minute, I want to do an experiment."

Articuno abruptly stopped Diancie's attack, lowering its head and speaking in a deep voice.

"?"

"?"

Faced with four pairs of questioning eyes, Articuno looked away and took a deep breath: "You said that even I can't completely destroy this thing, right?"

"Yes... there is such a thing."

Su Hao hesitated before speaking. Was Articuno going to...?

As Articuno said, Su Hao, who received the information from the system, told Articuno that even as the God of Ice, he could not completely destroy this... weak mid-stage Gym Leader level negative energy phantom.

However, Articuno seems to have other ideas.

"Listening to the voice of ice, I can be sure that this thing... the Negative Energy Phantom is a pure energy body, completely different from the physical bodies of the Dark Pokémon I fought before."

The Articuno closed its eyes, as if reminiscing about the ancient past.

"Battles with Dark Pokémon are more like a pure clash of strength. The fearless and emotionless opponents trade blows with us, and the negative emotions emanating from the ubiquitous negative energy are like a bone-deep poison. If you're not careful, you can be lured into the darkness."

"In that battle, we not only had to face a fearless army, but also had to suppress our own negative emotions, carefully preventing sadness, anger, annoyance, escapism and other negative emotions from arising, lest they become omnipresent sources of negative energy."

Su Hao glanced at the negative energy phantom ice sculpture, then sat obediently waiting for Articuno to speak.

Is this thing really that powerful?

Shouldn't we just buy it the moment we see it?

"However, apart from its appearance, which you described as resembling the divine beast Reshiram, this phantom of negative energy is far too weak; it's utterly vulnerable!"