On the Castelia Plains, three forces arrived almost simultaneously.
Prince Landon looked toward his third brother, riding atop Kyurem, then at the empty sky behind him. His voice was low and heavy as he spoke.
"When did my third brother become so arrogant?" Landon said coldly.
"Do you really believe you can contend for that position with only your own strength?"
Lucien slowly shook his head.
"I am enough on my own."
"Hmph. Arrogant."
Before Lance could finish speaking, a deep rumbling sound rolled in from the distance.
"His Highness is not alone!"
Everyone was startled and looked up.
A gray-blue banner surged over the horizon, and behind it came a vast, advancing army.
That force swept onto the Castelia Plains, forming a three-way confrontation with the other two royal armies.
At the forefront stood Geralt, mounted upon the Haxorus. Behind him followed fifty thousand soldiers and Pokémon, all bearing the insignia of Lucien City.
"Your Highness Lucien, we arrived too late!"
The soldiers behind Geralt were brimming with fighting spirit.Unlike before, this time they had come of their own will.
As subjects, they could not allow His Highness to face this battle alone.
Everything, for Lucien's beliefs.
Everything, for their families living in Lucien City.
"Geralt?" Lucien looked momentarily surprised at the newcomers.
"Your Highness Lucien," Geralt said firmly, "we are willing to serve you!"
Territory after territory had already submitted. Everyone knew the final battle between the three princes would take place here, on the Castelia Plains.
The moment the news reached Lucien City, they had rushed out without hesitation.
Geralt let out a quiet breath of relief.
Fortunately… they had arrived just in time.
Prince Landon stared at the army before him, his thick brows furrowing deeply. He snorted coldly.
"Hmph. Traitors!"
"All troops, heed my command!"
"Attack! Kill the traitors!"
"Charge!!"
With a thunderous roar, Landon's three hundred thousand troops surged forward in a full-scale assault.
Seeing this, Prince Lance let out a quiet sigh.
"Gentlemen," he said calmly, "advance."
"Let our will be known to the world."
The moment his words fell, the countless Pokémon beneath Reshiram moved in unison.
War cries pierced the heavens. Dust and snow erupted together, churning into a vast white storm that swallowed the battlefield.
Lucien watched the scene calmly.
Seeing his two brothers make their choice, he simply sighed and shook his head.
"There is no need for any more sacrifices."
"Kyurem."
"Yes."
Kyurem lowered its gaze toward the battlefield below. Its deep, ancient voice echoed across the land.
The next instant;
An overwhelming, primordial aura burst forth from its body.
The atmosphere of the entire world seemed to shift.
Zekrom and Reshiram trembled as they sensed it, their expressions paling in shock.
Before the soldiers below could even react, an extreme cold swept across the battlefield.
Crack—!
Ice surged upward from the ground.
Feet. Legs. Torsos. Arms. Weapons. Helmets.
In the blink of an eye, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and Pokémon were frozen solid, locked in place like statues of ice.
The battlefield fell into absolute silence.
Geralt and the others stared in disbelief, swallowing hard.
A dragon…was this the true power of the dragon called Kyurem?
High above, Prince Landon snapped his head upward, his gaze locked onto Kyurem.
Prince Lance, too, looked on in shock.
"There is no need for so many innocent people, human or Pokémon, to be dragged into the conflict between the three of us," Lucien said calmly to his brothers.
A flicker of fear flashed through Landon's eyes. But as a king, he steadied himself and spoke in a deep voice:
"Zekrom, proclaim our beliefs to the world!"
Lance closed his eyes.
"Reshiram," he whispered softly, "to fulfill our wish… give it everything you have."
"We have sensed your beliefs."
Light ignited in the eyes of Reshiram and Zekrom.
Human belief surged and amplified their power. Their tail turbines roared to life, one spewing azure lightning, the other crimson flames.
In an instant, the two dragons entered an overclocked state.
Their auras swelled dramatically, their power clearly rising to an even greater level.
On the ground, Geralt and the others grew tense.
Reshiram and Zekrom had grown stronger, yet Kyurem remained unchanged.
"Your Highness…"
"Is this, the blessing that human belief grants Reshiram and Zekrom?"
Lucien watched the scene calmly.
"Then let me see just how vast your belief in changing this world truly is."
"ROAR!"
With a thunderous dragon's roar, Zekrom unleashed a massive barrage of intersecting lightning bolts, launching a devastating assault at both Reshiram and Kyurem at once.
BOOM!
Rolling dark clouds swallowed the sky as deep-blue lightning tore through the heavens, nearly covering the entire firmament in crackling arcs of destruction.
Facing the onslaught, Reshiram spread its pure white wings.
The temperature of the surrounding air surged sharply. Wisps of flame spiraled around its body, rapidly condensing into a massive, blazing fireball above its head.
The fireball met the lightning head-on.
Two completely different forces collided, and the resulting shockwave was even more terrifying.
BOOM!
A colossal explosion tore through the sky, splitting the heavens in two, half bathed in searing red, the other drowned in electric blue.
At the same time, Kyurem released an overwhelming wave of extreme cold, its icy breath spreading outward and completely neutralizing the remaining lightning.
Zekrom and Reshiram shot upward, their massive forms spiraling higher and higher, transforming into two streaks of light that crossed the sky like shooting stars before colliding violently once more.
Lucien did not immediately send Kyurem into the fray.
He simply watched.
The power of Legendary Pokémon was truly terrifying.
Only now did he fully understand how the Dragon Vein of the Unova region had once been destroyed.
At this moment, Lucien felt an overwhelming sense of relief that he had chosen to walk his own path.
Otherwise, with the unchecked power of Zekrom and Reshiram, the devastation inflicted upon this land would have been far more catastrophic.
"Kyurem," Lucien said in a low voice, "reclaim your true power."
"Mm."
Kyurem gave a slight nod, its gaze fixed on the two clashing figures high above.
The next instant, its massive body moved.
It vanished, transforming into an ice-blue afterimage.
An unimaginably terrifying power erupted from its core, sweeping outward like a roaring storm, spreading in every direction.
Frozen World.
In just a few breaths, the entire Castelia Plains were sealed in ice.
This was Kyurem deliberately restraining its strength.
If it were to release its full power, perhaps half of Unova would be frozen solid in an instant.
In midair, Reshiram was the first to be affected by that overwhelming power.
Its massive body shuddered, and a thin layer of frost crept rapidly across its white scales.
Sensing the danger, Reshiram erupted with searing flames. Blazing heat surged outward, instantly melting the ice that clung to its body.
But Zekrom was not so fortunate.
Before it could even react, its enormous dragon form was sealed in solid ice, then hurled downward like a meteor, crashing violently onto the plains below.
Reshiram was stunned.
What was happening?
Both it and Zekrom had clearly absorbed the amplified power of human belief, so why were they still utterly suppressed by Kyurem's physical form?
Before Reshiram could think further, Kyurem's colossal body was already upon it.
Wings bristling with jagged ice spikes clamped tightly around Reshiram's body. An irresistible force surged forth, as if trying to pull Reshiram apart and absorb it completely.
Kyurem was attempting to devour it, to reclaim its power.
Realizing this, Reshiram struggled violently.
Prince Lance, riding upon Reshiram's back, felt the dragon's panic. His expression darkened as he looked up toward Lucien, who stood calmly atop Kyurem.
"What have you done?!" Lance shouted in shock.
Lucien simply shook his head.
"Second brother… haven't you realized it yet?"
Lance froze for a moment, then asked instinctively,
"Realized what?"
"The so-called beliefs you and our eldest brother cling to," Lucien said calmly, "are nothing more than justifications for fighting over the throne."
"Since the day this war began, countless humans and magical beasts have lost their homes, and their lives."
"Is this the 'liberation' you claim to be pursuing?"
Lucien's gaze was steady, unflinching.
"Can't you see it? If this war continues, how many more humans and magical beasts will be buried on this land?"
Lance clenched his teeth.
"All of this is a necessary sacrifice!" he shouted.
"When the war ends, no one will enslave magical beasts on this land ever again! That is the world I intend to create!"
"So this is the path you chose?" Lucien replied firmly.
"No. You're wrong."
"Humans and magical beasts are both inhabitants of this land. Even I cannot guarantee complete separation between the two, unless only humans are left alive."
"That won't happen!" Lance protested, but his voice wavered.
"The dragon veins have already been thrown into chaos by your struggle with our elder brother," Lucien said gravely.
"If this continues, the dragon veins will collapse entirely."
"And when that happens, the disaster that follows will not spare either humans or magical beasts."
Dragon veins… collapsing?
Lance's pupils shrank.
As a royal, he understood all too well what the destruction of dragon veins meant.
At that moment, the foundation of his belief cracked visibly.
Lucien extended his hand toward Lance, and toward Reshiram.
"Second brother," he said quietly, "leave the rest to Kyurem and me."
"Your ideals do not conflict with mine."
"You've been to Lucien City. You've seen humans and magical beasts living together."
"As long as both races exist, conflict is inevitable. That much cannot be changed."
"What we must do is guide them, help these two entirely different races coexist, merge, and shape a better world together."
"A better world…"
Confusion flickered in Lance's eyes.
Scenes from his visit to Lucien City resurfaced in his mind.
He hadn't studied them carefully at the time, but he remembered clearly how freely the magical beasts there lived.
How peaceful they seemed.
Slowly, an unfamiliar thought surfaced.
Perhaps… Lucien was right.
Lance looked at the overwhelming Kyurem before him and gave a bitter smile.
"Then why tell me all this?" he asked softly. "You could have simply devoured Reshiram and me."
Lucien met his gaze.
"Because what I seek is not domination," he said slowly.
"It is recognition."
"I want you, and Reshiram, to acknowledge my ideals."
"Kyurem and I will create a world more suitable for humans, and a world more suitable for magical beasts."
"There will be no oppression. No war," Lucien said calmly.
"Whether human or magical beasts, everyone will be able to live freely and happily, working together, growing together, living together, and fighting together."
"Does such a world… really exist?" Lance asked softly, almost unconsciously.
"I promise," Lucien replied.
"..."
Lance fell silent. After a moment, he shook his head and let out a helpless, wry smile.
"Third brother… you've truly grown up."
In the next instant, a dazzling white radiance erupted from Reshiram's body.
Pure, blazing energy, both pristine and scorching, flowed steadily into Kyurem.
As Reshiram's will merged into it, Kyurem finally began to recover its original, complete power.
Bathed in light, Kyurem's form rapidly transformed.
Its upper body straightened as it rose onto two legs.
The icy horn on its left side dissolved, replaced by soft white fur resembling Reshiram's.
For the first time, pupils ignited within its eyes, burning with flame-colored light.
Its left forelimb transformed into a wing-like appendage similar to Reshiram's, while its right forelimb became a mirrored construct of pure ice. Its original wings folded neatly into its shoulders. White downy fur spread along its collar and back.
The ice encasing its tail shattered completely, revealing a white, heat-generating organ, identical in nature to Reshiram's blazing tail.
Buzz!
A strange, resonant hum echoed through the sky.
In a flash of light, Reshiram's form vanished entirely from the world.
In its place stood a Blaze Kyurem, a being that had foreseen a true future shared between humans and Pokémon, and had chosen to safeguard it.
Lance felt the pressure around him vanish all at once.
Just as his body began to fall, a pair of warm, powerful hands reached out from the white light and firmly caught his arms.
Lance opened his eyes.
Lucien was standing before him, his gaze unwavering.
"Second brother," Lucien said solemnly,
"I will fulfill your wish."
"Leave the rest to me."
Lucien raised a Poké Ball. A flash of white light burst forth, and Dragonite emerged into the sky.
Under Lucien's guidance, Dragonite gently carried Lance back down to the ground.
At that moment, a massive bolt of lightning tore through the heavens.
With a deafening roar, Zekrom, which had been frozen solid, finally shattered the ice restraining it and surged back into the sky.
Prince Landon stared in disbelief at Lucien and the newly transformed Blaze Kyurem. His thick brows were drawn tight, his eyes filled with shock and confusion.
"What… what have you done?!"
"Brother," Lucien said calmly, "it's time to end this."
"End it?" Landon roared. "Impossible!"
He refused to accept it.
His three hundred thousand troops still stood ready.
His ambitions remained unfulfilled. His ideals had yet to be realized.
How could it possibly end like this?!
"Third brother," Landon growled, fury blazing in his eyes,"since you insist on interfering in this war, don't blame me for showing no mercy!"
"Zekrom!" he roared.
"Give me all your power!"
Sensing the overwhelming resolve of the human it had chosen, Zekrom's turbine engine flared brilliantly, its blue light burning brighter than ever before.
BOOM!
The sky itself responded.
Countless dark clouds gathered from all directions, each one swelling with terrifying thunderous energy.
...
You can support me and read chapters ahead @Keepsmiling 818 p@reon