The middle-aged man clad in black stared blankly at the Mega Tyranitar, utterly speechless for a moment. He simply felt it was all too difficult. Why did they insist on recruiting Aoki when he was perfectly fine? They had wanted to demonstrate the true application of psychic powers, to showcase the unique power of their Divine Religion.

Yet now, the alien space had been directly commandeered by Aoki, becoming his personal territory. To demonstrate the special power of the Divine Religion, he had endured the pain and used a precious Divine Power Stone to allow his Alakazam to undergo a special Mega Evolution. And now, Aoki had one too.

Furthermore, it appeared to be even more powerful than his own. At the very least, in terms of energy concentration, when Tyranitar underwent Mega Evolution, the energy became vastly more dense. It was all too difficult. It was genuinely too difficult.

A trace of bitterness flashed across the face of the middle-aged man in black, but it was soon replaced by a fanatical desperation. "Impossible! I refuse to believe it! You are using hypnosis to interfere with my perception! Alakazam, use Psycho Cut!" The middle-aged man in black was becoming slightly hysterical. However, Alakazam could truly feel the immense threat emanating from the Mega Tyranitar. Gritting its teeth, Alakazam summoned dozens of shimmering psychic blades simultaneously, which sliced through the air as they hurtled towards Tyranitar.

"Tyranitar, use Dark Pulse," Aoki said calmly. An aura saturated with malevolent energy suddenly erupted from Tyranitar's body, far more intense than before. Even before Alakazam's Psycho Cut could make contact with Tyranitar, a portion of its energy was eroded away by the surging wave of dark power. When the attacks finally struck Tyranitar, the result was completely different from before. Previously, Tyranitar would have needed to raise its arms and continuously retreat to defend itself, but now, Tyranitar did not defend at all and simply took the hits head-on. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel⸺fire.net

Bang—bang— The sharp psychic blades struck Tyranitar's body, but the impact was like hitting an unyielding diamond; Tyranitar did not budge an inch. Confronted with Tyranitar's Dark Pulse, Alakazam, which was floating in the air, was directly sent flying by the concussive force, tumbling several times across the ground.

"Precipice Blades!" The abdomen of the Mega Tyranitar had now turned a fiery red, making the "Ω" symbol less distinct when it used this powerful move. A sharp stone pillar, much thicker than any previous one, erupted from the ground. This time, the stone pillar carried a hint of searing magma within its structure. Bang— The Mega Alakazam, still lying on the ground, was struck by the Precipice Blades before it could even react. Boom!!! A deafening explosion echoed.

The attack was increasingly taking on the true characteristics and destructive power of Groudon's legendary Precipice Blades. The force of the explosion launched Alakazam high into the air. Perhaps this was also under Tyranitar's precise control; after the explosion, Alakazam was sent flying directly towards Tyranitar. At this moment, Alakazam's head was still spinning, its senses dazed. Its psychic powers were formidable, but its physical constitution was somewhat lacking. Even after undergoing Mega Evolution, the process had not granted Alakazam any significant enhancement to its physical durability.

Bang— Tyranitar caught Alakazam in its powerful grasp. Once again, Alakazam was held like a helpless little chick, possessing almost no ability to resist. Tyranitar's arm shook slightly, and the dark energy covering its body surged forward, overwhelming Alakazam. The last vestiges of consciousness within Alakazam completely faded, and it fell into a deep coma. Alakazam had lost the ability to battle.

Simultaneously, the Mega Evolution energy overflowed from Alakazam and dissipated into the alien space around them. Whether intentionally or not, Tyranitar felt that some of the Mega Evolution energy emanating from Alakazam had been absorbed into its own body. Aoki also noticed this occurrence.

However, Tyranitar did not display any abnormalities, and a scan from his internal system revealed no changes in Tyranitar's data. Therefore, he did not dwell on it. Perhaps the Mega Evolution energy had simply found a more suitable vessel.

The middle-aged man in black stared vacantly at Alakazam, which had now returned to its original form. He did not know how to express the complicated emotions warring within his heart. His face was ashen. He did not summon any other Pokemon to continue the fight. Alakazam was his strongest Pokemon, yet he had never expected it to be so thoroughly outmatched by Tyranitar. His greatest trump card had been Mega Evolution. Bang— Tyranitar then threw Alakazam down in front of the middle-aged man, where it lay motionless, like a puddle of mud.

Aoki frowned and glanced at the unconscious Alakazam. After scanning it with his system, he discovered that this Alakazam's physical condition was even poorer than before. It seemed almost... malnourished. "Does an inferior Mega Evolution process harm the Pokemon's body?" Aoki thought to himself. No wonder when he had first seen this Alakazam, he had felt its physical form was excessively weak. Yet, despite this, it had still carried an air of condescending arrogance. Now he understood.

The rock energy within Tyranitar's body stirred, and layers of sand slowly crept up the body of the middle-aged man in black, completely enveloping him until only his head remained free, rendering him unable to move anything else. Once Aoki was certain the man was securely restrained, he slowly walked over to stand before him. "I have a few questions," Aoki stated. "First, is the competitor Heba, participating in this League Champion Challenge, connected to your Divine Religion?" The first question Aoki asked was not about Mega Evolution, but rather about the recently prominent Heba.

Hearing this, the middle-aged man looked at Aoki with a complex expression. The roles of butcher and lamb had been decisively reversed. He chose to be compliant, showing no intention of resistance. He nodded. "Yes."

"Is he an official member of your organization? Does he possess psychic abilities? Can his Pokemon undergo Mega Evolution?" Aoki pressed. This was critical information, more important than understanding why this particular man before him could achieve Mega Evolution. Setting aside the man's own psychic talents for a moment, if Heba could also induce Mega Evolution in his Pokemon, Aoki would have to seriously consider the timing for publicly revealing his own Mega Evolution. Otherwise... with the recent discovery of the Fairy-type already causing significant waves, while the revelation of Mega Evolution would undoubtedly have a massive impact on the entire Pokemon world, for the sake of his own interests and safety, Aoki's current choice to be cautious was the most prudent.

The middle-aged man in black hesitated for a moment, but then chose to divulge the information. It was a typical mindset of not letting others have an easy time if he himself was doomed. "He was recently recruited. He's a latent psychic, his abilities hadn't awakened naturally. The Messenger helped him awaken them. But he definitely cannot perform Mega Evolutions. He'll probably receive such a reward only after he achieves a satisfactory result in this competition." The middle-aged man was very certain that Heba could not perform Mega Evolution.

The Divine Religion was extremely strict regarding the distribution of their Divine Stones. Only after passing numerous tests and completing missions of great importance would one be rewarded with the stones. Even he himself had only been rewarded three times in total. For this particular mission assigned by the White Messenger, successfully recruiting Aoki would yield two Divine Stones, and eliminating a listed genius like Steven would grant another. This was also the reason he had sought out Aoki so quickly; a mission rewarding two Divine Stones was exceptionally rare.

"Then how has his strength improved so dramatically?" Aoki was also curious about this point. A derisive sneer appeared on the middle-aged man's face. "Hmph, he is an ambitious one. He has been concealing his true strength all along. Otherwise, the Messenger would not have approached him in the first place. However, even with his hidden strength, he would not be as powerful as he appears now. The Messenger must have used divine power to enhance his Pokemon's capabilities directly. A fortunate fellow, indeed."