Lysandre looked at the ruined village.
He walked toward the center, standing before the structure that rose in the middle of the place, and remained silent for a long time.
"This is the origin of your search. What you longed to uncover. That... the so-called Ultimate weapon from history," Cain said calmly.
"The Ultimate weapon...?" Lysandre repeated, his voice somewhat distant.
The stone column, similar to an obelisk in the center of the village, was the same weapon that, three thousand years ago, the legendary King of Kalos created. Its original purpose wasn't war, but to revive his most faithful companion: a Flabébé.
And yes, the Flabébé did come back to life.
But the king's heart became corrupted. He blamed the entire Pokémon world for the death of his partner. He turned the artifact into a weapon of mass destruction and unleashed chaos that nearly wiped out the entire world. Only Flabébé's departure made him come to his senses again.
That man was the legendary king of Kalos: AZ.
But the dream world Cain showed to Lysandre wasn't a reconstruction of the past. It was a reflection of the present—a possible future built upon current knowledge of the Pokémon world, using all the maps and regions registered in the system.
For Cain, who had lived through three lifetimes and had experienced the horrors of war firsthand, simulating a post-apocalyptic world was no challenge.
"This is the result of letting the world 'cleanse itself.' In the end, neither the guilty nor the innocent survived," Cain said, now standing beside Lysandre.
"Then... what should we do?" Lysandre was still shaken by what he had seen.
Cain was about to respond, when a ripping roar echoed across the sky.
A dragon-like Pokémon appeared, with six floating wings shaped like spectral ribbons, a grayish body, and reddish tips. It tore through the sky, leaving a gash behind that revealed a world even more devastated on the other side.
A world... destroyed.
That figure was none other than Giratina in its Origin Form, the dragon of the Distortion World.
Lysandre recognized it immediately, and understood what its appearance meant: this world—his world—had already been absorbed by Giratina's realm, reduced to just another zone within its empire of ruins.
"This level of destruction isn't caused by a few people. It's the masses—people who've lost their values—who push the world into the abyss. Whether it's the Ultimate weapon or Legendary Pokémon... they're all tools in the hands of those unworthy of wielding them."
After Giratina passed, cracks appeared in the ground.
From them, thick, twisted roots of a dark red color burst forth. Like the veins of a dying world, they wrapped around the few remaining structures, enveloping trees that began to wither instantly.
"Grrrhhh!" a deep, metallic roar echoed from the distance.
A colossal Pokémon emerged. Its body resembled that of a serpent, with red compound eyes made of hexagons, and black frill-like ornamentation around its neck resembling that of a frilled dinosaur. From its tail, five appendages extended like mechanical tentacles.
A half-organic, half-mechanical monster.
"Zygarde!" Lysandre cried out, shocked.
Cain looked mildly surprised—not by the Pokémon, but by the fact that Lysandre recognized it.
"That's right. The guardian of Kalos, the Pokémon that dwells in every corner of the region. According to legends, Zygarde appears when the ecosystem is under serious threat, using its power to restore balance. But... what happens when there's nothing left to restore?"
Zygarde roared again, immediately transforming into its Complete Form—the one said to be able to suppress both Xerneas and Yveltal.
But something was wrong. Zygarde seemed... disturbed.
And from the sky behind it, a figure flew closer, shaped like a giant "Y".
Yveltal!
From its chest, where the symbol of its form glowed, it fired a dark beam. Everything it touched turned to stone.
Below, motionless, lay a figure resembling a sacred deer.
Xerneas, the Pokémon that represents life itself, had fallen.
The god of life... was dead.
The Legendary Pokémon were unleashed. The world was collapsing.
In that dream, the Pokémon world was a symphony of ruins and despair.
Lysandre, unable to move, stared at Zygarde and Yveltal with hollow eyes—eyes that reflected absolute horror.
Because it felt too real.
Even Lysandre, with all his knowledge, had only ever heard of Zygarde, Xerneas, and Yveltal. He had never seen them.
And they weren't the only ones...
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The ground trembled once more. A hill rose from the earth, growing into a mountain, then into an active volcano.
Lava burst forth, and from it emerged a massive figure engulfed in flames.
Primal Groudon!
Its roar shook the air, as lava swept across the world, destroying everything in its path.
And on the horizon, riding atop the waves of a massive tidal surge, another beast soared.
Primal Kyogre!
The legendaries appeared one after another, as if sounding the final funeral march of the world.
Or perhaps... they were dragging the world into its doom.
"Yveltal... Groudon... Kyogre... Giratina... are they... all going to appear...?" Lysandre collapsed to his knees, murmuring the names of the legendary Pokémon with a broken voice.
There was no denying it.
The dream Cain had created was too realistic.
No one in the Pokémon world could create such an illusion—not without having seen all of these Legendary Pokémon with their own eyes.
But Cain was different.
Even if he hadn't met them in this life... he knew them all.
This dream was a world ruled by furious gods.
An apocalypse.
The final twilight of the Pokémon world.
(End of chapter)