"Kirlia, teleport us to the Tentacruel group," Aven said.
"Kir—"
Kirlia nodded, and the two vanished instantly.
When they reappeared, they were high above the Tentacruel tribe.
Kirlia stared downward, tense and alert. She was the only one left to protect Aven now—she dared not relax even for a second.
"Next is your turn. Come out, Tentacruel."
Aven opened a Poké Ball.
White light flashed, and Tentacruel appeared in the sea.
Its eyes widened upon seeing the large group of its own kind. Tears welled up instantly.
After searching for so long, it finally found its tribe again. But now was not the time for reunion. It quickly turned toward Dragalge, fully aware the danger wasn't over yet.
Splash!
The surrounding Tentacruel and Tentacool froze.
Through ultrasonic communication, they quickly learned that the two powerful beasts fighting far away were here… to save them.
Excitement rippled through the entire group.
They had been trapped for so long, far too many companions of theirs had been lost. They had longed for the chance to resist.
And now… that chance had arrived.
"Tentacruel, use Supersonic!" Aven ordered telepathically.
Tentacruel hesitated for a moment, but its loyalty to Aven overcame its doubt. It released Supersonic immediately.
The other Tentacruel and Tentacool exchanged looks, then committed fully.
The gemstones on their heads glowed brightly as countless waves of Supersonic flooded outward without restraint!
"DRAA!!"
The Dragalge instantly sensed something was wrong.
But it was too late.
A dizzying wave struck their minds like needles. Pain shot through their skulls, and one after another the Dragalge fell into confusion, attacking each other uncontrollably.
The Tentacruel and Tentacool suffered the same fate as their own confusion waves rebounded onto themselves.
A massive mix of overlapping Supersonics amplified the power to terrifying levels, engulfing friend and foe alike.
"Kirlia, it's up to you now!"
Kirlia nodded and immediately focused on an advanced level Dragalge.
Psychic power surged in her hands and unleashed a Psychic straight into its face.
The blast of mental force solidified into physical impact, smashing the confused Dragalge across the waves.
Dragalge was already weak to Psychic. Add a direct hit while its guard was down… it was instantly defeated, floating limply on the water's surface.
Aven swiftly threw a Poké Ball, capturing it mid-air with telekinesis.
Kirlia continued her assault, rapidly firing more Psychic blasts.
After training and meditating with Aven and with Azelf's guidance, she had already reached the Quasi-King level.
In mere moments, three more advanced-level Dragalge fell and were captured by Aven.
With Dragalge numbers rapidly dwindling, their horde grew weaker and weaker. Even if they broke free of confusion later, the Tentacruel and Tentacool would finally have the strength to fight back.
"Just like this… even if we still can't capture every single Dragalge, getting the Tentacruel and Tentacool rescued will no longer be a problem." Aven looked down below.
At the same time, psychic power surged around him, faintly laced with a shimmering rainbow glow, holding his body suspended in midair.
During this recent period, under the influence of Azelf's power, his psychic abilities had also risen at an astonishing speed. If one were to compare pure mental strength alone, he was no longer weaker than an advanced-level Psychic Pokémon.
Moreover, with Azelf's power acting as support, he could even erupt with a portion of Azelf's true might in an instant. Last time, using that power, he had teleported straight from Aspiration City all the way outside the Pokémon Domain.
If he used this power offensively or defensively, he felt he could unleash an attack on the level of a King-level Pokémon—or withstand a strike from a King-level Pokémon. Of course, the energy consumption on his part would be terrifying.
"DRAAAA—"
Far in the distance, the Dragalge leader was still battling Lilligant.
From beginning to end, the Dragalge leader had been completely suppressed; one could say this entire fight had been suffocatingly miserable for it.
Throughout the battle, it repeatedly dove into the sea to evade attacks, but no matter what it tried, Lilligant locked onto it with absolute precision.
And as for its offense—Lilligant, able to fly with the help of Mothim, evaded everything with ease. In some sense, the Dragalge leader was essentially fighting two opponents at once!
"Draaaa—!"
Just then, it suddenly heard the continuous, overlapping roars of its companions coming from afar.
It turned its gaze—and just happened to see one of the Dragalge getting blasted away by Kirlia, slammed heavily across the sea's surface where it lay motionless.
"DRAAAAAA!!"
Seeing this scene, the Dragalge leader erupted in fury.
Its eyes instantly flushed a bright, blood-red shade, and the dragon-type energy in its body surged violently!
Since it couldn't win in a normal state, it chose to forcefully detonate its power—terrifying energy waves exploded outward in a sweeping blast!
"DRAAAAA!"
Letting out another furious bellow, the Dragalge leader opened its jaws and rapidly gathered a sphere of dragon energy, the power continuously accumulating.
"Lilli!"
Seeing that, Lilligant didn't dare relax for even an instant. She swiftly summoned the power of nature around her, condensing it into her own energy sphere.
BOOM!
The two spheres collided fiercely in midair.
Dragon-type and Grass-type energies violently clashed. After a moment of deadlock, the Grass-type energy eventually overwhelmed its counterpart, leading to a massive explosion.
But the instant the blast occurred, the Dragalge leader's silhouette shot forward—charging directly through the explosion. Water energy spiraled beneath it as it lunged at Lilligant with astonishing speed!
"Moth!"
Behind Lilligant, Mothim sensed the incoming danger and frantically beat its wings.
But the Dragalge leader was far too fast—its body had fused entirely with the water current. In the blink of an eye, it had reached Lilligant.
"Lilli—!"
Lilligant's eyes narrowed. She raised her hand and unleashed a blizzard of razor-sharp petals that crashed into the charging Dragalge.
But the Dragalge leader had abandoned all defense. Its blood-red eyes showed no hint of pain—it forced its way through the petals, water crashing forward as it slammed violently into Lilligant, sending her flying!
Countless petals scattered in all directions, blown apart instantly. Lilligant tumbled backward, and only through Mothim's full effort was her body steadied—preventing her from falling into the sea.
If she really fell into the ocean, it would be extremely dangerous. In the water, Lilligant would struggle even against an advanced-level Dragalge, let alone this leader.
"DRAAA!!"
At the same time that the Dragalge leader detonated into a frenzy, the three quasi-King level Dragalge suddenly went berserk as well, their dragon roars shaking the air.
Next came the ordinary Dragalge. As if the frenzy were contagious, the entire swarm erupted—furious roars filling the battlefield as dragon-type energy exploded from their bodies!
"This is… Outrage!" Aven's expression changed.
Outrage—an all-out dragon move that forcibly pushes dragon-type energy to its limit, unleashing overwhelming power at the cost of losing one's reason.
Once in Outrage, a dragon Pokémon completely loses its sanity but the power it gains is enough to push its strength to a terrifying peak in a short time.
Much like Nidoking's Thrash, they are left only with raw, primal aggression, attacking everything nearby without a shred of restraint, completely ignoring the damage their own body takes.
And now, already pushed toward confusion, these Dragalge had no restraint left—they unleashed every last drop of strength.
With that, the pressure on Lilligant, Froslass, and Kirlia skyrocketed. All three were suddenly struggling to hold back the berserk swarm.
"Kir…"
Kirlia's face turned grim. Through sensing emotional energy, it felt the violent madness spreading through the battlefield.
Aven frowned. "This is bad… the casualties will be heavy."
The weaker Tentacruel and Tentacool were under the most pressure with many had already fallen, the sea surface littered with their bodies.
Seeing this, Aven quickly threw out Poké Balls to collect every fallen Tentacruel and Tentacool he could. In this situation, saving even one more was better than nothing.
But his movements quickly attracted the attention of a few Dragalge. Their blood-red gazes snapped toward him.
A moment later, water spiraled around them and their bodies shot upward—charging straight toward Aven high in the air!
"Kir~ lia!"
Kirlia's focus was entirely on Aven.
In an instant, its figure vanished—it teleported directly in front of Aven.
Then it teleported again, taking Aven with it and escaping the Dragalge's attack range, rising far higher into the sky.
Looking down, they saw many Dragalge breaking free from their confusion and attacking the Tentacruel alongside those in Outrage.
"…Still not enough. At this rate the casualties will be too great." Aven's voice was heavy.
Not only here—the distant battles of Lilligant and Froslass were also being overwhelmed.
The Tentacruel group couldn't hold out at all, and Aven could only watch as they were being struck down one after another.
"As expected… I'm still not strong enough." His fists clenched tight.
(End of Chapter)
TN: Sorry for the late update. Was too busy working and got home late.