Xerneas remembered it clearly: years ago, she'd bitten that human ghost's neck clean through.
That unique, icy feel of a Ghost Form—she could still recall it vividly even now.
She was certain he'd died then.
Otherwise, her blessing couldn't have returned to her.
And yet…
Staring at Elias by the tree trunk, Xerneas's mind went a little blank.
Her instincts insisted it was him.
But... why had he not only come back, but come back in a real, living human body?
And most crucial of all…
Why did he have another blessing on him?!
Xerneas stared at Elias, dumbfounded.
Yes—she could sense her own blessing again.
Just like back then.
This human, the one she had killed—whose blessing she had personally taken back…
had somehow revived, and her blessing had returned along with him.
She focused, feeling it carefully. It even seemed stronger than the one she'd recovered.
"…"
From her hiding place in the forest, Xerneas hesitated—clearly wanting to speak, yet holding back.
Her old suspicion surfaced again.
This human… could he really be connected to her?
After all, as the Life Pokémon, she didn't truly die.
Even if someone killed her, she could become a tree, grow for a few decades, and return as good as new.
Questions churning, she tried to speak to Elias.
On the other side hearing Xerneas's calm voice, Elias let out a relieved breath.
As long as she was willing to show herself, that was enough. He'd been worried this standoffish deer wouldn't recognize him—and wouldn't even give him a chance to meet.
"Xerneas. We can talk about everything later. But right now, I need your help."
He didn't have time to waste, so Elias went straight to the point.
Xerneas was about to demand answers, but those words made her catch.
She opened her mouth, resentment rising—yet hearing the urgency in Elias's tone, she ultimately deflated and nodded.
"What is it?" she asked coolly.
That mature female voice hit his ear, and Elias's eyes brightened.
Good. She'd chosen to help.
"Diancie and the others—you know where they are right now, yes?"
"I want you to stop them from capturing Yveltal. Break their plan to activate the Ultimate Weapon."
Elias laid it out plainly.
Xerneas would be faster than him through the forest.
And he had a feeling… she was probably already near Diancie.
At Elias's request, Xerneas snapped fully awake.
Right—she remembered Diancie bringing this up to her.
Back then, because she also wanted that ghost to be revived, she'd agreed.
But… now that this human was standing right in front of her, who exactly were they reviving?
And on the other side of that was the price of activating the Ultimate Weapon.
For one thing, if they fought Yveltal, the forest would inevitably be devastated again.
"I understand. I'll stop them," Xerneas said, nodding, her tone perfectly calm.
To Elias, though, it sounded a little too… unhurried.
"Xerneas, wait—Xerneas, are you still—"
He wanted to add a few more instructions.
But Xerneas seemed to have thought of something and simply ran off, cutting the connection short.
Did that deer really know what she was doing…?
Elias found himself oddly worried.
"Come on. We need to get there as quickly as we can, too."
With a helpless shake of his head, Elias took Delphox by the hand and spoke to Xerosic and Alain, who were waiting nearby.
"Yes, Mr. Elias."
...
BOOM!
BOOM!
RRRUMBLE—
Explosions thundered without pause from the brush all around them.
The large capture devices they'd set up fired one blinding beam after another.
And at the point where all those beams converged was Yveltal—once asleep, now utterly enraged by the sudden ambush.
Firelight flared in the sky, throwing a faint glow across Diancie's small face.
This time, she and Lysandre had prepared thoroughly. The heavy capture devices were only the first step.
She had many more layers of planning waiting behind them.
And yet… Diancie still furrowed her brows.
"Should I have asked Xerneas to help after all?"
She stared into the firelit center and murmured under her breath.
Diancie could sense it clearly: the blast zone looked like a storm of flame and sounded deafening—but Yveltal at the center didn't seem to be suffering much at all.
Its presence was still powerful. Only the occasional low, furious growl proved the beams were doing anything.
Back then, Elias had seemed to injure Yveltal beforehand with Life Energy.
With ordinary means, it would probably be hard to truly trouble the Destroyer.
Sure enough—
"ROAR!"
A few seconds later, Yveltal's heavy voice rolled out of the smoke.
Then a red shadow flashed. It beat its wings and shot upward.
The smoke was instantly torn apart by the gale and scattered.
"Yveltal." Lysandre, standing off to the side, narrowed his eyes.
He lifted a hand, as if to order his people to reacquire the target.
But before he could speak, Yveltal—provoked by the earlier attack—seemed to snap into a frenzy.
SHNK—
A razor hiss cut through the air.
No one expected Yveltal to unleash a wide-area strike so suddenly.
CRASH!
The capture devices that had been firing beams were sliced cleanly in half by incoming blades of air.
Diancie and Lysandre both looked grim.
They'd guessed the devices might not do much, but they hadn't expected them to be destroyed so effortlessly.
"Hmph."
Diancie snorted. She stretched out both small hands, then suddenly clenched them toward the figure in the sky.
WHOOSH—
A vast spread of pink diamonds manifested in midair, carrying tremendous force as they slammed straight into Yveltal.
DIAMOND STORM
Unlike years ago, now—even without relying on any external power—Diancie was confident she could take it down.
No matter what, this time she would activate the Ultimate Weapon and revive Elias.
It was her only goal… the only one she'd held onto all these years.
Failure was not allowed!
BAM!
The instant Diamond Storm struck its wing, Yveltal felt a sharp burst of pain.
It glared down at Diancie, bared its teeth, and—somewhere in the back of its mind—very much wanted to start cursing.
---
bonus chaps
100 stones → 1 bonus chap
200 stones → 2 bonus chaps
300 stones → 3 bonus chaps
and so on :3
100+ new chaps every week across all my TLs on the P website :)
hehe every 100 followers on either instagram or twitter = 5 bonus chaps...?
(for all ongoing tls)
website: wisetl.com
discord.gg/wisetl
patreon.com/wisetl
instagram: hanbaowise
twitter: WiseKingOfUruk_