The power station had long since fallen into disrepair, its grounds completely overgrown with all kinds of vegetation.
On the branch of an ancient tree that had stood there for who knew how many years, Su Bai crouched quietly, his entire body faintly glowing with a green light as he watched the scene unfolding before him.
The moment Rock had nearly been ambushed by that pillar, Su Bai had already ordered Charizard to descend.
And to keep Rock from discovering him, he had concealed his presence with Grass-type energy.
With his mastery over Grass-type energy, Su Bai hiding among the branches was practically the equivalent of wearing a ghillie suit.
Unless Rock personally searched the area, there was no way he could possibly notice Su Bai's presence.
Given Rock's current situation, of course, there was no chance he would do something like that.
"This guy… is a Sub-Beast!"
Su Bai stared at the burly man standing nearly six feet four inches tall. His heart tightened, but at the same time, he felt a sense of relief.
If this man was a Sub-Beast, then all of Rock's strange behavior finally had a reasonable explanation.
Su Bai still didn't know how Rock had managed to track a Sub-Beast, or why he had needed to eat dirt…
But this was enough to prove that Rock hadn't come here for Zapdos.
Most importantly, Su Bai hadn't misjudged him.
And then, the information revealed by the burly man's words made everything even clearer.
"The Twelve Zodiacs… Rock is one of the Twelve Zodiacs!"
"But isn't this guy a Contract Master…? Interesting…"
"What a pity Old Zhu isn't here. If he found out that, as a city lord, he actually knew so little about what was really going on, his expression would be hilarious…"
The burly man was clearly a Sub-Beast. The frost crystallized around his severed hand made it easy to associate him with the severed arm found in Articuno's lair.
It seemed this Sub-Beast hadn't gotten the better of Articuno and had now come looking for Zapdos?
What exactly were these guys trying to accomplish?
Question after question swirled through Su Bai's mind.
When he saw the spear of deathly aura forming behind Rock, he instinctively wanted to move.
But the next moment, he forcibly suppressed that impulse.
"Wait… His guard still hasn't appeared…"
"And besides, one of the Twelve Zodiacs couldn't possibly be killed that easily…"
He still hadn't seen that mysterious guard who seemed to harbor such intense hostility toward Pokémon.
Humanity had survived in this extreme environment for so long.
The Twelve Zodiacs were among the strongest forces humanity possessed.
If one of them could simply be killed in an instant, humanity would have been wiped out long ago.
Although it was a little risky, Su Bai decided to wait.
There were too many mysteries surrounding Rock.
If he intervened before things became truly dangerous, he might miss his chance to uncover these secrets.
.................
Rock's narrow eyes made him look as though he were always smiling.
But in reality, his expression was extremely grim.
"My grandfather…"
"He died at the hands of an Apostle. From the sound of it, that must have been the Scorpion you mentioned."
"What a pity…"
"You're not that Scorpion!"
The shadow beneath Rock began to swell rapidly.
A blurry figure suddenly burst out of it.
In the next instant, Shadow's hand caught the spear that had been thrust toward Rock.
"Bastard! Bastard! Bastard!"
"Die! Die! Die!"
"Damn you! Don't you dare mention that damn Scorpion to me!"
Accompanied by a furious roar, Shadow seized the spear with its dry, raspy voice echoing through the air.
The next moment, the spear condensed from deathly aura was completely enveloped by the shadows extending from Shadow's body.
The Sub-Beast's probing attack was crushed into powder by Shadow!
Seeing the spear of deathly aura he had created shattered by this bizarre shadow that had suddenly appeared, the burly man didn't become angry.
Instead, he burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! Interesting! This is way too interesting!"
"Come to think of it, I've never killed one of the Twelve Zodiacs before!"
The next moment, his figure vanished from where he stood.
A massive crater appeared in the spot he had occupied.
Only when his hideous face appeared directly in front of Rock did his voice finally reach Rock's ears.
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Amino…"
"The Tenth Apostle!"
"I'll cut off your head and have a good time playing with it!"
As Amino spoke with wild arrogance, his fist wrapped in thick deathly aura was already hurtling toward Rock's face!
"Bang!"
A pitch-black barrier formed from shadows appeared in front of Rock, firmly blocking Amino's attack.
It was obvious that the punch carried tremendous force.
The shockwave produced by the collision erupted into a violent blast of air.
The vegetation growing throughout the power station was instantly swept up by the shockwave, filling the area with a rustling sound.
Amid the rustling of countless leaves and plants, Shadow's dry voice rang out, filled with boundless hatred.
"Bastard… This time, I absolutely won't lose again!"
"Damn you! Why aren't you that Scorpion?! Why?!"
"Go to hell!"
Amid Shadow's furious, hate-filled roar, countless spikes suddenly protruded from the barrier formed by its body.
In the blink of an eye, they shot out and retracted countless times!
"Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff!"
A dense barrage of piercing sounds rang out as the spikes ruthlessly stabbed into Amino's body!
In an instant, Amino's body was riddled with holes!
His movements froze.
The attack appeared to have been extremely effective.
Yet cold sweat suddenly poured down Rock's forehead.
"Shadow, run!"
At Rock's rare roar, his body suddenly melted.
The next instant, he strangely shifted sideways and reappeared in an open area some distance away.
"BOOM!"
The instant Rock emerged from the ground, a terrifying column of deathly aura suddenly shot into the sky from the spot where he had been standing moments before!
Within the pillar of deathly aura, Amino slowly stepped out.
His body was completely intact.
Other than the frost-sealed stump where his hand had once been, there wasn't the slightest trace of the countless wounds he had suffered moments ago.
An enormous amount of deathly aura had repaired his body in an instant.
Or rather…
He had deliberately allowed Shadow's attack to hit him.
An attack of this level was completely inconsequential to him!
"As expected…"
"An Apostle's regenerative ability is far greater than that of an ordinary Sub-Beast…"
Rock stared solemnly at the scene, his lips pressed tightly together.
Whether Sub-Beasts or Death Beasts, these creatures that survived by relying on deathly aura all possessed vitality that defied common sense.
Many human Awakened had been worn down and killed by precisely this damned tenacity.
Compared to them, human life seemed incredibly fragile.
With injuries like the ones Amino had just suffered, an ordinary human would have been long dead.
Yet this Apostle named Amino appeared to have been completely unaffected!
"You're very cautious…"
The burly man looked at Rock and revealed a simple, honest smile that matched his appearance.
But what he received in return was a curse from Rock under his breath.
This damned bastard had been using underhanded tricks ever since the battle began!
The pillar.
The spear from behind.
And that cannon of deathly aura hidden beneath the ground just now.
Not a single one of his attacks had been launched head-on!