"That Shadow's fighting style… is really unusual."
Su Bai watched the battle unfolding below, clicking his tongue in amazement.
The Apostle's cunning and underhanded tactics aside—after all, he wouldn't be surprised no matter how vicious a Sub-beast acted—the foul-mouthed Shadow was what truly caught his interest.
"This should be the owner of the voice Rotom picked up back then."
"I thought he was a bodyguard…"
"So this is why Rock is one of the Twelve Zodiacs?"
"Humans really do have some impressive tricks up their sleeves…"
Su Bai already had a rough understanding of the situation.
There was no doubt that the Apostle was extremely powerful.
However, judging from the severed arm, he had clearly been weakened by his battle with Articuno.
The last time the Apostle had fought Malene, he had been so exhausted because he was trying to stop her from self-destructing and destroying Giant Rock City.
And with the arrival of the Kanto Pokémon and the various functions of the Pokédex being unlocked, Su Bai's own strength had risen considerably as well.
He hadn't brought Diancie or Meloetta with him this time, but the Poké Balls containing Zeraora and Charizard were still on him.
An injured Apostle?
Su Bai wasn't afraid of one.
Since he could intervene whenever he wanted, it was probably better to wait and see what Rock could really do…
.............
"Actually… I really don't like this environment."
Amino clearly didn't take Rock seriously at all.
He spread his intact hand and complained, "You know, our Holy Race prefers places filled with dense death energy."
"But this place is saturated with that irritating…"
"Life…"
"Honestly, it makes me feel terrible."
As Amino complained, a spike of death energy suddenly materialized in the air and silently shot toward Rock's face.
Shadow caught it in one hand and shouted impatiently,
"You bastard! You're even sneakier than I am!"
"Rock, are you going to fight or not?!"
"What the hell are you standing around for?! I've had enough!"
Before the battle began, Shadow had seemed somewhat afraid of the Apostle.
But now, its violent nature had been completely unleashed.
Fear was clearly only a tiny fraction of the emotions it possessed.
Right now, there was only one thing it wanted—
To tear apart the underhanded bastard standing before it!
Rock glanced at Shadow.
His narrow, smiling eyes revealed almost no emotion.
For him, the fact that this Apostle wasn't rushing to launch a full-scale assault was actually a good thing.
Although he had successfully tracked Amino down, he still had no idea what the Apostle's true objective was.
Apostles were exceedingly rare, and these powerful Sub-beasts clearly preferred to remain in places saturated with death energy.
His grandfather—the previous Rock, and the previous "Snake" of the Twelve Zodiacs—had died while investigating a gathering place of Sub-beasts.
That was precisely why Rock had rushed all the way from the capital after discovering traces of an Apostle.
Amino clearly wasn't some straightforward brute, but information was information.
If he could pry even a little out of him, it was worth trying.
"Your arm…"
Rock slowly opened his mouth.
"Articuno did that, didn't it?"
"I'm curious. What exactly are you trying to accomplish?"
"Bang!"
Another spike of death energy was crushed to pieces by Shadow.
Ignoring Shadow's furious reaction, Rock calmly stared at Amino and waited for his answer.
"Oh… you mean this?"
Amino patted his frost-covered stump with his intact hand, as though he had only just remembered.
"Oh, right, right. A bird did this."
He shook his head reluctantly.
"That big bird was really something. And what a temper…"
"I almost ended up staying there permanently, you know?"
That wasn't the answer he wanted.
A trace of irritation slowly rose within Rock.
For someone who was normally calm and collected, such an emotion was extremely rare.
Amino was putting tremendous pressure on him. On top of that, Rock had to divide his attention to control Shadow, making it difficult for him to maintain his usual composure.
He took a deep breath and changed his approach.
"In your eyes… I'm already a dead man, aren't I?"
"If that's the case, why not answer my questions?"
"What are you planning to do to Articuno?"
"Why did you come here?"
"Or rather…"
"What are you planning to do to the Pokémon?"
Amino stared at Rock in surprise.
"Well, aren't you straightforward?"
"Now that I think about it, the appearance of these so-called Pokémon really is strange. Isn't it perfectly normal for me to investigate?"
He scratched his head with a simple-minded expression.
"That bird is called Articuno?"
"Not a bad name. It suits the way it looks."
"Speaking of which, I've never seen a creature that powerful before…"
"As for what I want to do to the Pokémon, of course I—"
"Wait."
A playful smile suddenly appeared on his face.
"Why exactly should I tell you?"
In an instant, death energy erupted from Amino's body.
It surged around him, rapidly forming into an enormous suit of armor.
His voice became muffled inside the armor, but the cruel emotion behind his words remained unmistakable.
"Wouldn't it be much more fun to let one of the Twelve Zodiacs die with a belly full of questions?"
With those words, Amino slammed both feet into the ground.
The earth trembled beneath him.
The enormous armored figure, as heavy and imposing as a tank, charged toward Rock at terrifying speed!
"Fuck!"
Hidden high in the trees, Su Bai—his body still glowing with a faint green light—swore at almost exactly the same time as Rock.
This bastard was obviously just messing with them!
If Su Bai weren't still curious to see how Rock would respond, he would have gone down there himself and beaten the hell out of this guy.
Even among alien beasts, this bastard was unbelievably infuriating!
In all the time Su Bai had spent in this world, this was the first time he had genuinely felt like beating someone into the ground.
His emotional fluctuations even caused the faint green light surrounding his body to flicker.
"Calm down. Calm down…"
Su Bai took several deep breaths before finally suppressing the urge to turn that irritating bastard into dust.
Then he turned his attention back to the battlefield.
Rock could still afford to stand there and ask questions.
That meant he hadn't revealed all of his trump cards yet.
The more Su Bai could learn about the Twelve Zodiacs—and these so-called Apostles—the better.
Even after spending so long in this world, what he understood was still only the tip of the iceberg.
And that was something Su Bai absolutely couldn't accept!
.............
"I knock your mother! Die, you bastard!"
"You fucking piece of shit! I'm going to tear you apart and feed you to the dogs!"
Amid Shadow's furious roar, the darkness in front of Rock rapidly condensed.
Under Rock's control, Shadow transformed into a towering figure roughly the same height as Amino.
A suit of armor made entirely from shadows enveloped its body.
"BOOM!!!"
A thunderous impact erupted the instant the two figures collided.
The two armored giants crashed into each other like a pair of massive trucks head-on!
For a brief moment, neither side gave an inch.
Then—
Crack.
A series of tiny breaking sounds began to emerge from Shadow's body.
The seemingly indestructible shadow armor instantly became covered in fine cracks.