Rowan answered Julian's call on speaker, so Julian's remark about Nicole sacrificing herself for love was heard by all four of them—including Bellsprout.
As a woman, Ember was so furious her face turned red, and she angrily shouted into the phone, "You scumbag!"
This woman actually took it seriously.
"Oh, that's Ember's voice. Why are you with Rowan? What about Asher?"
On the other end of the line, Julian was momentarily stunned upon hearing Ember's voice.
Right now, he still didn't know that Drakoria had formed a special four-person team just to rescue him, secretly sending them into Wyvernia.
It was just that they hadn't even acted yet—and Julian had escaped on his own.
Julian's words made Rowan instinctively glance at Ember and Asher—'I always felt there was something between these two back in the secret realm.'
At the same time, Ember also looked at Rowan and Asher—'So, male-male love is the real deal?'
Asher: 'So, these two are a real couple?'
Pierce took the phone from Rowan's hand. If he let them keep talking, the conversation would only get more outrageous.
"Julian, are you really okay now?"
Pierce was already convinced by Julian's earlier claim that he was fine. If he was in danger, he wouldn't be chatting like this.
"Pierce, you're there too? Is this a love triangle?"
Pierce's face darkened. Fortunately, he had already turned off the speaker.
"The four of us are in Havenburg right now. Where are you? We'll come pick you up," Pierce quickly asked.
Although he didn't know how Julian had managed to escape, it was obvious that Wyvernia would send people after him—so the four of them needed to regroup with Julian as soon as possible.
"I'm at a military base. Where are you? I'll come find you instead."
Julian didn't know the exact location of this military base—it was surrounded by mountains—so he figured it'd be easier for him to find them.
Pierce was taken aback. 'He'll come find us?' His tone made it sound like there was no danger at all around him.
Danger? What danger? This entire military base had been wiped out by Julian alone—there wasn't even a single living Rattata left.
"We're at the AS Headquarters building."
Although Pierce still felt it'd be better if the four of them went to find Julian, he still told him their location.
"Got it. Wait for me there."
With that, Julian hung up.
Just as the call ended, the entire military base suddenly blared with a piercing alarm.
'Everyone's dead—how is there still sound?'
"Meta~"
Metagross: "This military base is equipped with a self-destruct mechanism. It must have been activated."
Drawing from Stephen's memories, Metagross immediately understood what the alarm meant.
Many military bases and research facilities were equipped with self-destruct mechanisms—designed to prevent powerful invaders from taking control by resorting to mutual destruction.
It was just that this self-destruct system was triggered too late—everyone here was already dead.
"Let's go."
Julian said to Metagross.
Immediately, Metagross used Teleport to take Julian away. Within moments, they were already more than a hundred kilometers away.
BOOM!!!
Not long after they left, the military base erupted in a massive explosion. A tremendous amount of explosives detonated from below, completely obliterating the base into dust.
The blast was so powerful that the ground collapsed within a thirty-kilometer radius, and several nearby mountains crumbled.
The explosion was so loud that even Julian, over a hundred kilometers away, could hear the distant blast.
The tremors from the blast made residents in Havenburg think an earthquake had struck.
If there had been any survivors in the military base before, the self-destruct ensured absolute annihilation—no trace left behind.
---
Meanwhile, at the Blue House in Havenburg.
Havenburg was the capital of Wyvernia, and the Blue House served as the residence and workplace for all high-ranking officials.
At this moment, in one of the meeting rooms, over a dozen Wyvernian officials sat stiffly, their expressions varying—some calm, some furious, some terrified.
"The military base has already self-destructed, but the remaining security cameras captured footage of Metagross using Teleport to take Julian away," a staff member reported regretfully.
The man sitting at the head of the table nodded expressionlessly, then turned to the person on his right and asked, "Still no contact with Champion Andrew?"
"No."
He then looked to the person on his left: "And the reinforcements from Celestria—still not here?"
"They claim they've been blocked by Volkaria. However, they've already asked Babath to support us instead."
BANG!
When the man heard this, his fist slammed heavily onto the table as he roared angrily, "Like hell those bastards will help us!"
Though both Babath and Wyvernia were under Celestria's wing, the two had a bitter rivalry.
Each wanted to monopolize their "patron's" favor—and would gladly watch the other disappear.
Moreover, with Drakoria now taking serious action, Babath knew full well that if they intervened, Drakoria would probably take the chance to crush them too.
So they would never actually send reinforcements.
"Those Celestrian bastards… They've abandoned us," spat the third official on the left, his voice thick with resentment.
Blocked by Volkaria? If they really wanted to help, Volkaria wouldn't have been able to stop them.
"Keep trying to reach Champion Andrew."
Andrew was Wyvernia's Champion. As long as he remained, the nation still had a fighting chance.
The staff member nodded and immediately left, but less than a minute later, he rushed back in, his face pale with panic as he blurted out:
"Champion Andrew has been killed by John!"
BOOM!!
The words hit like a bomb, sending shockwaves through the room.
"Impossible! You're lying!"
Wyvernia's President lost all composure, grabbing the staff member by the collar with a savage glare, as if he wanted to tear him apart.
No matter what, Andrew was still a Champion.
John might be strong, but he was also just a Champion.
If a Champion wanted to escape, even another Champion would have a hard time stopping them—especially since Andrew had Landorus, a Legendary Pokémon, on his side.
"The message from the front line says… Champion Andrew's Landorus betrayed him."
If Landorus really had betrayed him, then Andrew's death at John's hands made sense.
The President knew exactly how Andrew had gotten that Landorus in the first place.
Who could have imagined that Landorus, who had seemed completely loyal for decades, would betray him at such a critical moment?
The President released the staff member's collar, his face filled with despair as he asked, "What about the army?"
"Completely wiped out!" the staff member said with difficulty.
If even their Champion had been killed by John, what chance did the remaining ground forces have? The only question was whether they had all been slaughtered or taken prisoner.
With Andrew's death, the outcome was already decided.
"Drakoria's Tenth Legion has officially crossed our border."
This news was no less shocking than Andrew's death.
Several officials jumped to their feet in horror, shouting:
"Is Drakoria really declaring all-out war on us?!"
*****
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