Several days later, after visiting an old friend, Paul and Akari arrived at the ruined Spear Pillar atop Mount Coronet.
They walked to the edge of the vast shattered platform. There, Akari reached into her satchel and drew out the Azure Flute—a relic she had obtained long ago. Under Paul's steady and encouraging gaze, she raised it to her lips and began to play.
"Wooo~~~"
Golden notes shimmered in the air, rippling outward like light made sound. From the edge of the platform, glowing azure stairways unfurled, spiraling upward into the unknown heavens.
"So… should I go?" Akari asked, taking a deep breath as she gazed up at the path of light.
Paul nodded firmly. "Go—for both of us."
"Alright!"
Resolute, Akari stepped onto the radiant staircase.
Step by step, she climbed. Time felt distorted at once—fleeting and endless.
When she reached the final step, her vision blurred for an instant. Then she found herself in another world—an infinite sky where countless stars gleamed, the full moon casting silver light across a realm both beautiful and solemn.
At the stair's end lay a vast platform suffused with violet divinity. Yet it stood empty.
"No one…?" Akari murmured, walking to the center, searching for any device or seal that might summon the creator.
But she found nothing.
Then, without a sound—something appeared behind her.
A presence. A being that seemed less seen than felt.
Her heart trembled as if struck by an inner voice. Akari turned instinctively, and her eyes locked with Arceus.
At last, she beheld the Original One.
Its gray-striped body gleamed with sacred light, golden hooves shining like stars. Around its torso hung the Thousand-Arm Ring, set with four radiant jewels that pulsed with cosmic energy. It was magnificent—terrible and divine all at once.
For a long moment, trainer and deity simply gazed at one another.
Then—
"Beep-beep-beep!"
The Arc Phone Akari had carried ever since her time in Hisui burst into light, floating from her hand before crystallizing into a glowing Seal Relic—its core blazing with yellow-green radiance.
"ROOOOAR!"
Without warning, Arceus raised its head and unleashed a furious cry. Divine music—alien and discordant—shook the heavens.
From above, blazing fireballs rained down like falling stars, crashing toward Akari.
"What the—?!" Akari staggered, startled at the sudden onslaught. She dove into a roll to avoid the impact, hurling the glowing Seal Relic toward Arceus as she did.
"BOOM!"
The relic struck true. Yet before she could blink, another manifested in her hand. Breathless, Akari scrambled and hurled it again—dodge, throw, dodge, and throw in a desperate rhythm.
The fireballs fell ceaselessly, their blasts tearing craters across the platform. Even with her strength as a superhuman Hisuian descendant, Akari barely evaded each strike, her clothes scorched, her face streaked with ash.
But as the storm raged, her eyes sharpened.
"There's a pattern…" She realized, her body falling into the rhythm of evasion. "If I time it right—then I can fight back!"
"ROOOOAR!"
But Arceus had already shifted.
With another roar, it summoned an aura of sacred light. Countless shards of radiance—Judgment itself—flared like missiles, raining down with terrifying precision.
This barrage was sharper, faster—calibrated.
Akari rolled, scrambled, barely dodging the blasts. Just as she adapted, the fireballs returned—now falling together with Judgment.
Two divine assaults overlapped, covering the sky.
Akari was too slow.
One explosion caught her off guard. The blast hurled her across the platform like a ragdoll. She hit the ground hard, pain searing her body.
But she grit her teeth, forcing herself into a roll the instant she landed.
"BOOM!"
A fireball slammed down where she had been a second before. The shockwave blasted her off her feet again, flinging her meters through the air.
Stumbling and coughing, Akari forced herself upright, the Seal Relic still clutched in her trembling hand.
With a defiant cry, she hurled it with all her strength toward Arceus.
After several tense exchanges, Akari realized that Arceus rarely struck directly at its immediate side. Seizing the chance, she closed the distance, hurling the glowing Seal Relic again and again.
Once… twice… three times…
Just as Akari pressed the assault, Arceus vanished in an instant—reappearing at the far end of the platform.
"What?!"
Before she could close the gap again, light surged beneath her feet. A terrible premonition clawed at her heart.
One second later, the entire platform—save for the narrow ring around Arceus, erupted in towering flames.
At the brink of death, Akari hurled herself into the air. Her partner, Braviary, swooped down and caught her mid-fall, saving her from the fiery blast.
But Arceus' eyes flashed. At once, a strange force crushed across the battlefield—an overwhelming gravity. Every Pokémon except Arceus itself was bound to the ground. Flight was no longer possible.
Falling fast, Akari recalled Braviary into its Poké Ball. She knew full well, even Braviary's full strength could not harm the Creator.
She landed hard and instantly prepared another battle plan, pressing the Poké Ball's button.
But Arceus' gaze shimmered—and the Poké Ball froze, its mechanism sealed shut as if locked by divine will.
The ground glowed again. With no time to summon allies, Akari slammed her heel against the platform and sprinted forward, throwing another Seal Relic at close range.
She rolled through fire at the last possible moment, emerging just before Arceus and driving the relic against it in a desperate strike.
"ROOOOAR!"
Arceus lowered its head, bellowing. Dozens of blazing fireballs fell from the heavens, engulfing the entire area around it.
Akari's pupils shrank. She dashed for the edge of the battlefield.
But it's too late.
One fireball struck her, the blast throwing her across the platform.
When she staggered to her feet, Arceus was gone—only to reappear at the opposite end once more, already launching another attack.
Again Akari was struck, battered by the divine onslaught. Yet she forced herself upright, finding rhythm in the chaos, striking back between barrages.
But reality had no health bar. Every moment dragged like an eternity. Victory felt impossibly far.
The battle raged on: falling fireballs, searing Judgment, pillars of flame, storms gathering, vines lashing, torrents crashing, and thunder splitting the skies.
Each divine assault came faster than the last. With every teleport, every elemental barrage, Akari's body screamed in pain.
Finally, after one last instant shift—Arceus ceased its attacks.
Panting and near collapse, Akari's heart leapt.
Could it be… Arceus had reached its limit?
She rushed forward, Seal Relic in hand, ready to hurl her final strike.
But—
A violet light shimmered. Arceus vanished again.
When it returned, scattered illusory doubles appeared all around the platform, each radiating its own deadly aura. Flames lit beneath them once more, heralding another eruption.
The only safe zone was dozens of meters away, far beyond her broken body's reach.
If it had been the Akari of before, perhaps she could have escaped. But now, battered and near exhaustion, she could no longer run that far.
And worse—the clones…
Were they mere illusions, or true bodies?
She could no longer tell.
The feint was the last straw, breaking the edge of her endurance.
"Ahhh!"
Her cry tore through the night as the ground exploded. Pillars of fire surged skyward, swallowing Akari whole.
(End of Chapter)
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