"Th–that's Baxcalibur…?" Leon murmured. "A Pokémon from Paldea?"
Gast floated nearby, holding Jason's Rotom Phone and filming. "If I don't record this and post it, it's a crime."
Up in the sky—
Eternatus finally recovered from the combo barrage.
It snapped.
As the very source of Dynamax, when had it ever been bullied like this?
The core in its chest began flashing like mad, purple energy pooling in its jaws.
"ROOOAR!"
It opened its mouth and blasted out a thick, violet column of toxic sludge.
Sludge Wave.
With Dynamax energy boosting it, that toxic column became a storm of poisonous rain, carpeting every possible dodge line around Jason.
The highly corrosive sludge splattered onto Jason's dark grey scales, hissing and smoking as it ate at the surface.
But Jason didn't dodge at all.
He kept charging, plowing straight through the poison rain.
"That's it?"
He let out a cold laugh.
Sure, the sludge was corroding his hide—but Baxcalibur's naturally thick bulk, plus the doubled HP from Dynamax, made it feel like a bad back scratch.
Poison wasn't even a weakness against Dragon, and with armor-like scales this absurdly hard, it was basically a hot shower.
"Then taste mine!"
Jason broke through the toxic downpour and closed the distance in a blink.
The red axe-like fin on his back suddenly flared with a blinding light.
Glaive Rush.
Baxcalibur's signature move—massive power, with the downside that you take double damage next turn.
To Jason, that was simple.
Trade HP.
He had the bigger bar—what was there to fear?
He twisted around, back to the rear, turning himself into a living cannonball. The red dorsal blade became an unstoppable edge as he slammed into Eternatus's chest core.
CRACK!
This hit was even nastier than the one before.
The hard bony plating over Eternatus's core actually spidered with fractures.
The pain pushed Eternatus into total frenzy.
It flailed with its claws, trying to grab Jason—
But despite being enormous, Jason moved freakishly well.
Using Baxcalibur's body structure, he started throwing out wrestling moves in midair that made no sense.
Shoulder throw.
Chokehold.
Knee strike.
"Hold still! I'm taking this rib off!"
Jason climbed onto Eternatus's back, both hands clamped around one of its ribs, trying to pry it outward.
"ROOOAR!"
Eternatus thrashed and rolled in the sky, trying to shake him off like gum stuck to a shoe.
The two titans brawled from high altitude down into the low clouds, then rammed back up through the cloud bank.
Every collision triggered a small quake.
Hammerlocke's citizens huddled in shelters, listening to the thunder above, convinced the apocalypse had come.
"Too weak! Too weak!"
Eternatus was looking at Jason now.
It wasn't just angry.
It was panicking.
It realized: if it stayed like this, Jason would literally dismantle it piece by piece.
So it had to evolve.
It had to become the ultimate form.
Eternatus suddenly stopped struggling.
It hovered in place, letting Jason's fist slam into its face.
Then its chest core erupted with a horrifying suction.
Not just pulling free-floating energy anymore—this was dragging Dynamax particles straight out of Galar itself.
The light pillars on the ground started to go out.
All energy flowed upward.
Jason felt something was off.
He released his grip and backed away.
"Yup. Looks like the big boy is coming out."
Eternatus's body began to break apart.
Those purple bones melted and rebuilt inside a violent glare.
It grew even larger, and its shape changed completely.
The dragon outline vanished.
In its place: a gigantic spiral structure.
Its lower half coiled into a base while the upper half extended into five massive tentacle-like limbs—like a world-covering hand.
Eternamax.
Eternatus's final form.
In this state, its total base stats hit a ridiculous 1125.
And its defenses—both of them—shot up to 250.
Meaning it had become a literal, unbreakable wall.
"Okay, this is kinda cheating," Jason muttered, staring at the thing that laughed at biology.
This wasn't the bone-dragon he'd been punching into squealing noises anymore.
It floated in the void, its presence alone warping space.
It didn't even need to attack; existing was enough to wreck the environment.
"Vmmmm…"
The sound wasn't a roar now, but a deep, hellish hum.
The massive "hand" opened slowly. At the tips of its five limbs, doomsday energy began to gather.
Jason tested it with an Ice Beam.
White frost slammed into Eternatus—
…and nothing happened.
No scream. No recoil. Not even a patch of ice.
The beam hit an invisible force field and bounced off like it had struck glass.
Jason frowned.
He didn't believe it. He surged in again, raised a huge fist, and smashed at the core with everything he had.
THUD!
The recoil numbed his arm.
Eternatus didn't move a millimeter.
Its defenses had climbed into the realm of "what even is this."
Above Hammerlocke, the purple vortex expanded until it covered the whole city.
Eternamax Eternatus hung in the sky like a wicked god, its massive hand churning space with slow, lazy motions that made the air buckle.
Jason floated in midair, standing on a slab of alloy steel Iron Valiant had cut loose for him.
He'd already tried a full round of attacks—Ice Beam, Dragon Pulse, even a point-blank Icicle Crash.
Embarrassing result.
Everything hit that spiraling body and left nothing—not even a scuff. That invisible energy barrier filtered both physical and special damage out completely.
This was what stat-check despair felt like.
Defense 250, plus a health bar that looked like a prank. Eternatus wasn't something you beat with "normal" one-on-one anymore.
"That skin is ridiculous."
Jason dropped his transformation, returning to his pink Ditto blob form. He lay on the floating metal plate, staring at the smug final-boss monstrosity with pure disgust.
"This is the kind of stat monster designed purely to grief players. You can't burst it, you can't outlast it."
Down below, Leon looked close to breaking.
He stared at the monster that invalidated every attack and clenched and unclenched his Poké Balls, like he didn't know what else to do. As Champion, he'd never felt so powerless. Charizard was down, and his other Pokémon didn't even qualify to take the field at this level.
"Jason!" Leon shouted, voice torn apart by the wind. "Retreat! We need a new plan! This thing can't be beaten like this!"
"Retreat?"
Jason glanced down at the ash-faced Champion.
"Retreat where? One Eternabeam and it can slice Galar in half. Then you'll be homeless."
He looked back up.
Eternatus was done playing cat-and-mouse. Dark red orbs were forming at its tentacle tips—condensed Dynamax energy. If those dropped, Hammerlocke would be erased off the map.
"Alright. Enough stalling."
Jason wriggled, and inside him, two "scrap metals" that had been quiet for a while began shaking violently—responding to the presence of a hated enemy.
"I know you're excited, but chill for half a second."
He extended two tendrils deep into his body.
"Come out. Time to work."
With a sharp tug, two golden streaks exploded out of him:
[Rusted Sword]
[Rusted Shield]
Jason hurled both high into the air.
They traced two arcs through the red sky—golden light so bright it cut through the crimson haze.
"Hey! You two up there!"
Jason planted his "hands" on his hips and yelled into the void.
"Get up. It's time to fight!"
The amplified shout rolled across the battlefield.
At first—nothing.
Only howling wind. Only Eternatus charging.
Leon watched the sword and shield fall, heart sinking. Was the legend just a story? Had the two heroes truly vanished?
But at the instant the two relics were about to hit the ground—
"Awooo!"
A wolf howl split the heavens.
Not from the earth—from nowhere. It pierced clouds, pierced the storm, and detonated inside everyone's bones.
Then a second sound—deeper, heavier, like a fortress speaking.
The falling sword and shield stopped midair.
Their golden light surged, becoming two miniature suns.
Then the light peeled away.
Two figures appeared out of empty space.
On the left: a blue-armored wolf with a newly restored golden blade clenched in its jaws, ribbons snapping in the wind.
Zacian.
On the right: a red-maned wolf whose shield had become a shining wall fused to its body, planted like an unmovable bastion.
Zamazenta.
Not the hazy forest illusions.
Real bodies.
Real legends.
"Finally decided to come out," Jason grinned. "Told you my alarm clock service was reliable."
Eternatus recognized them too.
Three thousand years ago, these two had beaten it senseless and sealed it underground as a "battery" for a thousand years.
Enemies met—instant rage.
Eternatus roared, abandoned the city-targeting blast, and swung its five limbs toward Zacian and Zamazenta.
BOOM!
Five massive purple beams fired at once—
Eternabeam.
Each beam carried enough power to erase a district. Air ionized along their path, leaving charred vacuum streaks.
Zacian didn't move.
It just lowered its body slightly, eyes locked upward.
Zamazenta moved.
With a low growl, it stepped forward. The golden shield flared and a radiant barrier rose.
Behemoth Bash.
Not just a counter—an absolute defense.
The five beams smashed into the barrier.
The explosion-light made everyone shield their eyes. Shockwaves blew the clouds apart.
But the golden barrier didn't budge.
Zamazenta didn't retreat an inch. It pinned the damage to itself like a nail holding the world in place.
"That's the Shield King," Jason commented. "Way sturdier than certain Champions who only know how to yell slogans."
Leon could only give a bitter smile. He had no comeback.
The moment Eternatus's volley ended—
A blue lightning streak tore through the sky.
Zacian moved.
So fast it wasn't "fast"—it was untrackable. Only a blue streak, bending and cutting across the air.
The blade in its mouth ignited with blinding white light.
A move built specifically to slaughter Dynamax monsters:
Behemoth Blade.
Zacian flashed in front of Eternatus.
Compared to that massive spiral body, Zacian was tiny—like a mosquito.
But it carried a sword that could cut the world.
CLANG!
A crisp sound like metal snapping.
Zacian carved a massive Z-shaped trail through the air.
Eternatus's invisible force field—its "unbreakable" barrier—split like thin paper. The cut was clean and smooth.
The barrier shattered into scattered sparks.
Eternatus screamed.
Its defenses had been breached.
System-level defenses dropped hard.
"Beautiful!" Jason's eyes lit up.
This was the opening he'd been waiting for.
Boss fights had mechanics too. Before the shield breaks, you're scratching paint. After it breaks—
That's damage time.
"Now it's my turn."
Jason inhaled, and the pink blob began to convulse again.
The Dynamax Band's glow had dimmed, but the energy inside him spiked to a peak.
Rebuild.
Reshape.
Once more, the dark grey beast returned—
Baxcalibur.