"Calm down, Dragonite is fine."

  Julian's voice echoed deep into Mega Metagross's mind. The bloodlust in its crimson eyes gradually subsided, and crity began to return.

  However, because of Julian's reminder, Mega Metagross' tinuous offensive came to a halt, giving Spiritomb a ce to catch its breath.

  But Spiritomb had fotten one crucial detail—Akazam was still in the fight. The moment Mega Metagross paused its attack, Akazam’s Psychibsp;struck.

  Spiritomb’s opportunity to recover vanished instantly.

  Though Psychibsp;only restrained Spiritomb for less than half a sed, it was enough time fa Metagross to execute Meteor Mash.

  The move, shimmering with a rainbow glow, carved a deadly arc through the air, sending a chill down Spiritomb’s core. As the powerful Steel-type energy collided with Spiritomb, it exploded with overwhelming force, apanied by a tremendous impact.

  The ground shook violently, and tless cracks split the earth with a deafening rumble. Jagged rocks protruded upward, only to be swallowed bato the expanding fissures.

  Spiritomb let out a tragic scream as dark mist dissipated from its body in waves. It wasn’t until the energy of the Meteor Mash had fully faded that Spiritomb’s cries ceased.

  Its level also dropped from 81 to 78, officially falling to the Elite tier.

  Sensing its strength diminish further, the bck mist around Spiritomb's head morphed into ghostly faces. Each face expressed a differeie, sorrow, joy, despair, pleading, and other emotions.

  The ghostly faces transformed into shadows that surged toward Julian, Mega Metagross, and Akazam.

  Spiritomb: "Die. All of you, die."

  This appeared to be Spiritomb’s trump card. However, using this move caused its level to plummet further, from 78 to 75.

  The shadows resembled the attack Spiritomb had used earlier to pierce Dragonite. If they ected, they wouldn’t harm the body—they would target the soul.

  Mega Metagross instinctively rushed toward Julian, but was stopped by him.

  "Luega Evolve!"

  Julian called out Lucario and triggered its Mega Evolution immediately.

  This is also the first time Julian has used dual Mega Evolution in a battle.

  Upon Mega Evolving, Lucario’s level surged from 67 to 71.

  As the shadows closed in, Mega Lucario’s Aura fred up, f a barrier that intercepted them.

  While fending off Spiritomb directly would have been challenging, these shadows posed no issue fa Lucario.

  At the same time, both Mega Metagross and Akazam erupted with powerful psychiergy.

  Julian: "Kill it for me"

  Ohe shadows pletely vanished, Julian locked eyes on Spiritomb with an unyielding gaze, ready to end the fight.

  'If you 't be broken even after falling to Elite level, I'll take your st name'

  Mega Metagross and Akazam simultaneously unleashed Psyshock, while Mega Lucario hurled an Aura Sphere.

  The bined Psychic attacks shredded most of the dark aura surrounding Spiritomb’s keystone.

  The Aura Sphere hit the Odd keystone directly, but despite the iy of the attack, the keystone remained unscathed.

  "Meteor Mash!"

  Mega Metagross teleported in front of Spiritomb and brought down a Meteor Mash with earth-shattering force. The ground split open once agaihe Odd keystone did not break.

  "Keep going," Julian said coldly.

  If one punch wasn’t enough, then ten punches, a hundred pu would be crushed eventually.

  Meteor Mash had a ce of increasing attack power with each use, meaning that the lohis went on, the strohe punches became.

  Spiritomb was pletely out of options. Its dark mist had nearly dissipated, and its level had fallen all the way from pseudo-Champion to that of ae.

  Yet, despite the relentless onsught of Meteor Mashes from Mega Metagross, the Odd keystone didn’t craot even a speck of stone chipped off.

  Spiritomb: "You ot kill me."

  As long as the Odd keystone remained intact, Spiritomb could resurredefinitely.

  “Stop”

  Julian walked over, staring at the Odd keystone in disbelief. He didn't expect it would be this hard to break.

  By now, Spiritomb’s dark mist had pletely disappeared, leaving only its dormant Odd keystone behind. Without abs more souls, Spiritomb would remain in its deep slumber indefinitely.

  And as long as the Odd keystone was unbroken, it would ruly die.

  Even Mega Metagross couldn’t shatter the Odd keystone, so none of his other Pokémon would stand a ce either.

  Julian activated his Probing Eyes and examihe Odd keystoo his surprise, the information dispyed had ged.

  [Odd Keystone: A soul crystal born of the natural energies of the world, infused with wandering souls, f the unique Pokémon Spiritomb.]

  [Note: In its current state, the Odd Keystone be absorbed by Ghost-type Pokémon.]

  The Probing Eyes no listered it as Spiritomb but as an item—and a highly valuable o that.

  " be absorbed by Ghost-types..."

  Julian trusted the Probing Eyes pletely. Without hesitatioook out Haunter’s Poké Ball.

  Haunter emerged, ready to greet Julian with a Lick, but froze when it spotted the Odd keystone lying half a meter away.

  “This stone is for—”

  Julian expected Hauo stop mid-a, but before he could finish his sentes tongue had already shot out, nding squarely on him, and the sed a familiar feeling of numbness came up.

  "Meta~"

  Mega Metagross gave Haunter a disapproving look.

  This little troublemaker was alushing boundaries. Didn’t it know its trainer had a knack for attrag bad luck? Using Libsp;like that ractically a guaranteed paralysis.

  “Eat this stone.”

  Julian said irritably after shaking off the paralysis with a berry.

  Haunter seemed unfazed by his annoyand gleefully swallowed the Odd keystone in one gulp. After finishing, it smacked its lips, looking disappointed.

  Haunter: "Didn’t taste like much."

  Mega Metagross: "Ylowing."

  The moment Haunter devoured the Odd keystone, a bright light enveloped its body—the unmistakable glow of evolution.

  Julian's expression lit up with i. Haunter evolving into Gengar typically required a trade.

  However, it was also said that some Haunter could evolve naturally if they lived long enough or entered unique circumstances.

  As the light faded, a white Gengar stood before Julian, standing at about 1.7 meters tall. Its blood-red eyes, paired with its pure white body, gave it a strikingly cool appearaher than an eerie one.

  “Gengar—!”

  The newly evolved Gengar let out a pyful ugh as it ied its transformed body. It hadn’t even been a few days since evolving into Haunter, and now it was already a Gengar.

  The once weightless Haunter was now a solid Gengar, tangible and grounded.

  Gastly and Haunter, being gaseous Pokémon, practically had , but Gengar’s form weighed in at a solid 45.9 kilograms.

  This was an old joke among trainers: if a Haue a Clefable, it would turn into a Gengar.

  After all, aside from their color, Clefable and Gengar shared a striking resembn body shape, height, and even overall proportions—it was a parison that was hard to ignore.

  *****

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