Chapter 868: The True Face of Shadow
Watching Mewtwo carry that Heal Ball into the distance.
Shadow spat a curse, then sank to one knee, trembling all over: "Curse it... that damned dog..."
He had originally planned to eliminate Lucario and then rush here immediately to ambush Kazuya.
Barely ten minutes into the battle on this side.
He would have arrived.
By coordinating with Dialga's Power of Time, He would have been able to leave Kazuya buried in this soil forever.
Yet as it turned out.
Shadow had factored in the self-destruction of an Aura Brave.
What He hadn't factored in was the apocalyptic magnitude of human technological weaponry.
To the extent that He had been severely injured right at the start.
Only after recovering to the point where He felt confident He wouldn't be wiped out by an Aura Brave's self-destruction did He dare show Himself again.
The injuries weren't fatal.
Because that Lucario's Aura had been directed primarily toward "sealing," rather than "exploding."
An Aura seal.
This move kept Shadow's wounds from ever mending completely.
Even after summoning Ho-Oh and utilizing Sacred Ash, His state remained locked at a rigid threshold.
Roughly one-third HP.
This seal was incomparably tenacious, fully on par with the might of a god.
Lacking the power of Aura, Shadow might need decades to unravel it, and would likely be forced to remain in a critically wounded state for a very long time.
This left Shadow seething with fury.
Yet Dialga could not simply be abandoned.
He could only drag Ho-Oh along to rush in this direction.
Which ended up costing Him precious time.
Arriving at this battlefield, what met His eyes was grim.
Kyurem was dead.
The Icicle Plate had likely been seized.
Meanwhile, Dialga and Rayquaza were hanging by a thread.
Shadow didn't even have the luxury to hide His identity; He struck Kazuya with everything He had, battering him unconscious.
He knew.
Once that "father" of His awakened.
He would likely deduce Shadow's true identity.
The mere thought of facing that person without a mask filled Shadow's chest with suffocating irritation.
This feeling outweighed even the frustration of being bound by the Aura seal.
Yet considering that Dialga had been successfully preserved.
And that both Lucario and Scizor would be dead.
Shadow's mood improved a fraction.
He lifted His gaze toward the horizon.
That was the direction Mewtwo and Kazuya had fled.
Shadow turned His head to survey what remained by His side.
Rayquaza.
Heavily wounded.
Dialga.
Near death.
Ho-Oh.
Useless.
Dialga couldn't pursue.
Sending the other two would likely only end with Mewtwo butchering Them.
And as for Himself...
Shadow looked down, clenching His paw.
Half health.
The relentless void gnawing within His frame left Him entirely devoid of security.
He was terrified that if He gave chase.
He would be greeted by yet another Aura self-destruction or psychic self-destruction.
"No need to tear yourself up over it."
Right at this moment.
Scizor's voice drifted up from below.
Shadow looked down.
It was that friend and playmate from His youth.
"Before I draw my last breath, none of you take a step forward. Today, no one stops them from leaving."
Scizor was bathed in blood, his gaze unyielding.
Just as he had declared after being hunted by Kyurem in the Unova region long ago.
Even if there was a next time.
He would still choose this path.
"..."
Shadow looked down at him, saying nothing.
He was exhausted.
He had no desire to waste breath.
Lest this fellow, like that dog, start screaming about friendship and bonds before lunging in to blow Him to bits.
"Actually, I had another reason for staying behind."
Scizor's pincers snapped open and shut, then leveled straight toward Shadow: "I was afraid Master's heart would soften when raising his hand against you. So let me see if I can clean up this mess for him with my own claws."
His gaze bored into Shadow.
Though the figure remained wrapped in billowing black energy.
Scizor seemed to see right through to the eyes beneath.
"Oh? Quite confident, aren't you, Scizor?"
"Don't you know me best? Meowscarada."
Scizor pursed his mouth.
Shadow paused in mid-air, then swept an arm outward.
The dark energy encircling Her frame was sucked cleanly into Her body.
A figure clad in a dark cloak was revealed.
Shadow reached up, caught the hood resting over Her brow, and threw it aside, unveiling Her true visage.
It was indeed a Meowscarada, deeply corrupted by dark energy.
Yet unlike ordinary magical beasts and Demon Gods...
Though Her eyes were crimson and feral.
They remained luminous, sharp with intellect.
Looking at Her.
Scizor was not surprised: "Was it you who wiped out Team Cipher?"
"Correct."
Shadow nodded slightly.
One could only say.
A father truly understands his daughter best.
Just as Kazuya had told Volcanion in his previous life:
If any dark syndicate dared lay a hand on Meowscarada, they would only be digging their own graves, inviting absolute ruin.
Even if Shadow was merely a cloned byproduct of Meowscarada.
She had indeed brought ruin down upon Team Cipher.
"I have a question for you."
This came from Shadow.
"Ask, but don't count on an answer."
Scizor grinned, the disdain in his eyes laid bare.
"Time and time again, you throw your lives away without hesitation just to save a bunch of strangers who have nothing to do with you. You'd even cast aside your own companions and family for their sake. Is it worth it? Have you ever spared a thought for how those left behind feel?"
This question.
Seemed of monumental importance to Shadow.
As She spoke the words.
Dark red veins spiderwebbed across Her crimson pupils, rendering Her expression hideously ferocious.
Hearing this question.
Scizor's brow furrowed, his eyes studying Meowscarada intently.
Then he countered with a question of his own: "Have you ever heard of the Fallen Blossom God?"
"...Who?"
"League Calendar Year 100. A folk deity that manifested around the Orange Archipelago."
"Some backwater hedge god? Why would I know about that?"
Shadow stared at Scizor in bewilderment.
She had no clue why Scizor would suddenly bring up such a figure.
And hearing this response, Scizor nodded pensively.
Immediately followed by...
"Hahahaha!!"
He threw his head back in uproarious laughter, clutching his sides.
The stone hanging over Scizor's heart dropped completely.
This Shadow.
Was not the genuine Meowscarada.
Merely a clone with incomplete, fragmented memories.
She didn't even possess the memories of League Calendar Year 100, completely unaware that the humble god born in that obscure corner of the world was in fact the real Meowscarada.
In that case...
Scizor could put his mind at ease.
When Master faced Shadow in the future, his heart wouldn't waver.
Still...
Where had the real Meowscarada gone?
"What are you laughing at?!"
Shadow's eyes widened, bordering on a loss of sanity.
As a creature tainted by dark energy.
Her negative emotions.
Were equally vulnerable to its corruptive influence.
Prone to violent, volatile swings.
"I think it's not worth it."
Scizor shook his head, finally answering the question from earlier.
"Then why do it?!"
Shadow knitted Her brows tightly.
Scizor's answer was what She had wanted to hear.
Yet Scizor's actions were entirely beyond Her comprehension.
"Everyone has their own convictions. Perhaps in their minds, it is worth it."
"As for why I do it..."
"Because Master thinks it's worth it."
Scizor tilted his chin upward, the picture of absolute, unyielding certainty.
"Heh. Sure enough, you haven't changed a bit from back then. More of a dog than that Lucario ever was."
Shadow averted Her gaze, Her boiling emotions gradually subsiding.
She shouldn't have bothered asking this fellow.
Pointless.
She should have asked that dog instead.
She had just been startled and forgot to ask back then.
"What did you say?! You're asking for death! Enough talk! Let's go!"
Scizor flew into a rage.
Call him loyal to his Master.
He might feel a bit embarrassed.
Call him more of a dog than Lucario?
Unforgivable.
At the end of the day.
He had merely wanted to verify Shadow's true face.
Having confirmed this was an imposter.
Scizor's mind was at ease.
He had no desire to waste another word on a defective knockoff.
Scizor raised his claw, tossing a handful of Reversion Pills into his mouth without a second thought.
What would happen when taking Reversion Pills?
Scizor didn't know either.
After all.
He and Lucario were already in their permanent Mega forms.
Kazuya had never allowed them near Reversion Pills.
Terrified that accidental ingestion might trigger irreversible damage to their bodies.
Now, he could finally test it.
"Go."
Shadow glanced back at Rayquaza beside Her.
She had no desire to trade blows with Scizor.
Though She was confident She could wipe him out in short order.
Once bitten, twice shy.
Shadow could not be certain if Scizor had some trump card like Destiny Bond or Memento hidden up his sleeve.
She refused to shoulder that kind of risk.
Since She had already abandoned the pursuit of Kazuya.
Playing it safe was the wiser course.
If Rayquaza died.
It was still better than Her dying.
Besides, all these Demon Gods were destined for the slaughterhouse in the end anyway.
Rayquaza moved like an obedient marionette.
The moment Shadow's command fell.
It dragged Its battered frame forward, surging straight toward Scizor without hesitation.
Opposite It.
After Scizor swallowed seven or eight Reversion Pills in a single gulp.
The pupils within his eyes suddenly fractured.
Splintering into countless microscopic shards, densely packed, filling the entire eyeball.
Crack...
Squish...
Bones compressed, flesh surged out of control.
Scizor's frame began to warp violently.
A pair of gargantuan, semi-translucent wings burst from his back, while another set of steel pincers erupted from his waist.
What was even more bizarre...
Countless steel spikes burst from every inch of Scizor's body.
Like the stingers of a swarm of Beedrill, a sight that struck bone-deep dread into any onlooker.
Waves of blistering heat radiated from the crimson carapace across Scizor's form.
Billowing steam nearly blanketed the surrounding terrain in thick mist.
He lowered his head.
Those ash-gray eyes stared silently at Rayquaza, devoid of all emotion, his consciousness seemingly extinguished.
Boom!
A heavy stomp shattered the earth.
Scizor's silhouette blasted forward like an artillery shell.
Rumble——!!
An earth-shattering punch struck Rayquaza square on.
The sky god, over a hundred meters in length, was blasted clean into the distance by that single blow.
Crash, roll!
Rayquaza's massive bulk tumbled relentlessly across the terrain.
Azure scales scattered across the dirt.
From that one strike alone.
Rayquaza thrashed feebly against the ground, like a suffocating fish unable to right itself no matter how it squirmed.
The sight made even Shadow's eyes widen.
"Indeed. When dealing with these lunatics, caution is the only way. Good thing I held back."
She breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
Yet the relief was short-lived.
Within a mere five minutes, the already critically injured Rayquaza had Its head crushed clean off by the berserk Scizor, snuffed out of existence.
The God of the Sky.
Fallen.
And Scizor's gaze converged entirely upon Shadow at this moment.
Though he was equally battered and near death.
The current Scizor felt no pain whatsoever.
Until his actual death.
His combat state was functionally identical to full health.
Shadow's pupils constricted, Her scalp tingling with dread.
She glanced to Her side.
Ho-Oh.
"...Take Dialga and leave!"
Shadow gritted Her teeth.
She had no choice but to take the field Herself, charging straight toward Scizor.
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