Chapter 781: Bone-Corroding, Heart-Burning Pain
After the three Regis used Explosion, they lost their vitality.
Regirock collapsed to the ground, black aura billowing out from its body, drifting into the air and disappearing.
As for Regice and Registeel, they sank to the bottom of the lake.
"Master!"
"Lord Kazuya!"
"Kazuya!"
Seeing Kazuya injured to protect a human, the five Pokémon, including Scizor, were all greatly shocked and rushed toward Kazuya's direction.
At this moment.
Due to the impact of Regirock's Explosion, Kazuya and Chloe had fallen onto the surrounding streets of Sootopolis City.
Because the vast majority of the damage was blocked by Kazuya's back.
Chloe's life was not in danger; she had only temporarily fainted from the intense impact.
As for Kazuya himself.
He couldn't see the condition of his back.
But judging from the continuous bone-corroding, heart-burning pain, the injury was likely severe.
"Ugh..."
Kazuya frowned tightly, a look of pain on his face.
A trace of red light would occasionally flash across his exposed azure pupil.
He could clearly feel his consciousness being affected.
Painful memories from the past continuously surfaced before his eyes. The negative emotions in his heart were being activated, amplified, thereby affecting his reason.
This was probably the effect of the shadow energy corruption.
Too terrifying.
"Kazuya!"
Skitty was the first to arrive at Kazuya's side.
She nudged aside Chloe, who Kazuya was protecting beneath him, and used her small body to prop Kazuya up.
"Oh, I'm fine, don't worry."
Kazuya's expression eased, he smiled slightly, and reached out to rub the little cat's head.
A gust of wind swept past.
Dragonite landed nearby, a look of worry on her face: "You don't look fine at all."
From their perspective.
Kazuya's back at this moment could be described as a bloody mess; basically, not a single patch of intact skin could be found.
And the most terrifying part was the black gas continuously radiating from the wound.
"The area of corruption is too large. Master, are you okay? You must keep your reason!"
Scizor raised his arm, looking at the wound on Kazuya's back, somewhat at a loss for what to do. Then, he cast a resentful glance at Chloe on the ground, "You shouldn't have saved that woman! What if you get corrupted by the shadow energy because of this? Could this woman's life possibly be more important than yours?"
Scizor was furious, speaking without mercy.
He didn't think he was wrong either.
So what if this human survived?
Did this human have the ability to save the world?
Anyway, in Scizor's view, his Master was the greatest hope of this world right now; even the lives of tens of millions couldn't compare to his Master's importance.
Lucario, who arrived shortly after, stood to the side.
Hearing Scizor say this, he actually felt a bit uncomfortable in his heart.
As an Aura Guardian, he could actually understand Kazuya's actions; if it were him, he would have done the same.
But Lucario wouldn't force others to share his thoughts.
After all.
If this kind of thought were in the majority.
Then there wouldn't be so few Aura Guardians in the world.
Moreover.
Looking at it rationally.
Lucario believed what Scizor said was actually not wrong.
So...
If he also did such a thing like Lord Kazuya...
Would that be considered correct?
A hint of confusion flashed through Lucario's heart.
He might become a minor saint because of this action, or he might become a sinner of the ages because of it.
So.
Should this be done?
"Do you think so too, Lucario?"
Kazuya cast a helpless glance at his disciple, then turned to look at the confused dog.
As for Mewtwo.
He arrived very quickly.
Right now, He was using Heal Pulse to treat Kazuya's external wounds.
However, even if the wound healed, the shadow energy attached to it would not diminish, which made Mewtwo somewhat irritable and anxious.
"I..."
Lucario lowered his head, a look of hesitation on his face.
However, this hesitation.
Was actually an answer in itself.
"Quality may have varying grades, but life has no distinction of size or nobility. Regardless of whether the person standing there at the time was a man, woman, old, or young, whether I knew them or not, whether she was useful or useless to this world, as long as it's an innocent person, I will save them."
Kazuya raised his hand. The gentle light of Aura appeared at his fingertips and lightly tapped the center of Lucario's brow. "If you hope to advance further on the path of Aura, you cannot feel confused about the beliefs you have held onto for so long. Aura resides within your heart; you must believe in your heart."
Only with a heart strong enough and a will firm enough could Aura reach further places.
So warm.
Lucario closed his eyes, quietly feeling Kazuya's Aura.
Its temperature was like the warm light of a summer day, causing Lucario to involuntarily space out.
He raised his own hand.
The ripples on his palm appeared, cold and lacking warmth or texture.
"Is this the gap... I am not yet worthy to call myself an Aura Hero..."
Lucario clenched his fist and bowed to Kazuya: "I understand."
He would save them.
Perhaps this action might affect saving the world in the future.
But if he didn't save the person in distress before him right now, then he would have no right to accompany Lord Kazuya toward the future.
At this moment.
Lucario's Aura seemed to evolve.
His originally ice-blue Aura light became increasingly pure, exactly like Kazuya's Aura—as deep as the ocean, as broad as the sky.
Seeing this.
Kazuya smiled softly.
He was still quite confident in his attainments in the field of Aura.
So he immediately noticed something was wrong with Lucario and offered him some guidance.
Looking at it now.
Lucario's comprehension was excellent.
His Aura had taken a step further.
"Big idiot Kazuya! Now is not the time to be talking about this! How do you feel?"
The only one who would call Kazuya that was Skitty.
The little one gently licked his back with her tongue, her eyes full of worry.
"Oh, didn't I say it? I'm fine. I'm not joking with you guys, this shadow energy really doesn't have much effect on me. Maybe it's not time yet?"
Kazuya propped himself up and stood, casually stretching his body.
He even performed a set of radio calisthenics under everyone's astonished gazes.
"What is going on?"
Seeing that his Master didn't seem to be faking it, Scizor tilted his head in confusion.
"It might be the influence of Aura. Aura has the effect of soothing emotional fluctuations within the heart."
"And the way shadow energy corrupts is by amplifying the negative emotions in a person's heart."
"I used to use Aura to weaken the influence of shadow energy on me, and the effect was decent."
"With Lord Kazuya's Aura, I imagine suppressing the influence of shadow energy is simple. And there's one more thing: I believe Lord Kazuya probably doesn't have many negative emotions in his heart to begin with."
Lucario explained from the side.
Every Pokémon has negative emotions in their heart.
Even if they don't have them right now.
Shadow energy would stir up those hidden negative memories within the heart, thereby amplifying negative emotions.
But if a Pokémon simply didn't have these negative things in their heart.
Then they might truly be immune to the corruption of shadow energy.
After the events just now.
Kazuya's image had been deified in Lucario's eyes.
So he believed.
Lord Kazuya possessed a strong heart that wouldn't generate many negative emotions, and coupled with Aura, the influence of shadow energy on him was minimal.
The other Pokémon listened.
And nodded, half-understanding.
They didn't have Aura either, so they didn't know if what Lucario said was right, so they could only believe it.
However, seeing that Kazuya really didn't seem to have a major problem, they gradually relaxed.
"As expected of Master!"
Scizor excitedly clenched his pincers.
This was simply a sharp weapon against shadow energy!
Sure enough.
Master was a deity reborn specifically to counter shadow energy!
"Hmph hmph, not bad, not bad. As expected of a child from our Peace Daycare."
Skitty also proudly patted Kazuya's arm with her little tail.
"Now is not the time to be talking about this. The effects of the Explosion have only just begun. Go quickly and save those survivors."
Kazuya waved his hand, signaling everyone to look around.
The impact of the three Regis' Explosions was not that small.
Even though they had tried their best to minimize the impact of the Explosions, it was still the self-destruct move of three second-tier Champion-level gods.
At this moment, the aftershocks of the explosion were propagating through the earth to all parts of the island.
Rumble—!
Everyone could see that countless fine cracks had already begun to appear on the surrounding rock walls, and some loose rocks were even starting to break off and roll down.
If the surface was like this.
The underground was probably unimaginable.
Those survivors hiding underground were probably all scrambling to flee outside right now, to avoid being crushed to death in a collapse.
This island might recover to its original state by tomorrow.
But those who died underground would not!
"Right! We have to act immediately. What about you, Lord Kazuya?"
"I'll stay behind and protect Kazuya!"
Skitty volunteered.
With her small build, even if she went to help, she wouldn't be able to do much.
"No, you go too!"
Kazuya nudged Skitty.
"Meow?"
Skitty twitched her ears in confusion.
"Go quickly!"
"Yes!" xN
Seeing Kazuya anxious, everyone sprang into action.
However, not long after running out.
Dragonite and Mewtwo turned their heads to cast a glance backward.
The longer a creature lives, the greater the negative emotions hidden in its heart.
These negative emotions don't just refer to "hatred" or "anger," but also include "regret" and "sorrow"...
The former can still be discarded, but how can the latter be avoided?
Therefore.
The longer one lives, the more one experiences...
The greater the pain of being corrupted by shadow energy, this is destined.
This was also why even Legendary Pokémon couldn't escape the fate of corruption.
"Not generating negative emotions in the heart" or whatever...
Can a being capable of such a thing truly be considered a normal creature?
As a Pokémon who had lived for over a thousand years, Dragonite knew this deeply, so she had doubts about what Lucario said.
As for Mewtwo...
He was simply pondering.
Does Aura really have such a great suppressive effect on shadow energy?
If it really was that great.
Why wouldn't Team Rocket study it?
However.
When Dragonite and Mewtwo turned their heads.
And saw Kazuya actually casually nodding off.
They felt they had overthought things.
Perhaps Kazuya truly couldn't feel the corruption of the shadow energy.
After all, he was the man who would save the world; being able to do this was acceptable, right?
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