Marcus picked up the three Poké Balls from the ground with a gloomy expression. When he saw the Pokémon inside, his already dark face became even darker, like coal.
As the person in charge of the mission, even though Number Two had been Tony's subordinate, Marcus knew everyone well. He knew the level of each person and their signature Pokémon: for example, Number Two's was Delphox, Cain's was Gengar, and so on.
Holding Number Two's Poké Balls, Marcus glared furiously at Number Four lying behind him. At that moment, he understood why Tony had exploded as soon as he returned: he had already confirmed that the killer of his subordinate was Number Four.
The reason for his long absence was that he had gone specifically to inspect the place where Number Four lived.
If finding traces of his psychic energy at the site of the explosion could be considered a coincidence, then discovering these three Poké Balls in his residence definitively sealed his guilt.
A powerful psychic force erupted from Marcus's body. Although not as strong as Tony's, it far surpassed that of Number Four, who had already lost all ability to resist after the previous attack.
Marcus's psychic power fell upon Number Four like a ten-ton weight. From merely lying on the ground, he was smashed into the earth, forming a small crater. He lay there like a dead dog, unable to speak, and even his already limited vision was completely blocked.
Number Four violently spat out a mouthful of blood, but did not react. He only continued staring desperately in Cain's direction; even though he could not see him, his gaze was fixed on that spot.
With events having reached this point, he finally understood everything.
He had fallen into Cain's trap.
Cain had taken him along to kill Number Two, promising him great benefits and making his reason waver in the face of such rewards.
After killing Number Two, Cain took advantage of the moment to leave behind his own traces of psychic energy on the battlefield. Then, before reaching the mountain, he changed the location of the Poké Balls that Number Four had buried and returned them to his residence, with the sole purpose of framing him.
Even... even in the battle against Number Two, when he had clearly made his Weezing dodge Delphox's final attack, the great explosion still occurred. All of it was to seriously injure him and allow Cain the chance to touch the Poké Balls, so that he would know where they were hidden.
Everything had been Cain's plan... or, from Number Four's perspective, Bartram's plot.
The only thing he did not understand was why Cain had framed him. Was it for the rest of the Poké Balls?
Cain watched everything in silence from the side, his face hidden behind a thin layer of psychic power, completely impassive, as if it had nothing to do with him.
Number Four's final conjectures were not entirely wrong.
From the moment he agreed to go with Cain to surround Number Two, he had already fallen into his trap.
The great explosion had been caused so that Cain could touch the Poké Balls without using psychic power, which would have left obvious traces.
But Cain did not rely solely on psychic power. In a world of high technology, marking the location of a few Poké Balls was absurdly easy.
After the two of them left, following Cain's instructions, Brad and Catherine carefully left traces of their psychic power according to the plan.
Although during those days Cain was almost always together with Number Four, watching each other, he still had two subordinates he could direct at any time.
After the group headed for the mountain, Catherine, following the plan, dug up the Poké Balls hidden elsewhere and reburied them in Number Four's residence. As long as the inspection was thorough enough, the recent marks of disturbed earth would be obvious, leading straight to the three Poké Balls that Cain wanted them to find.
Why three? Because three were enough. The rest, although not of much interest to Cain, still had value.
In fact, Cain had already planned it out: if Number Four were exposed and tried to drag him down with him, Cain would defend himself with all his strength. There was no evidence against him. Marcus could accept the execution of a guilty party with irrefutable proof, but he would never allow an "innocent" person like Cain to be implicated without evidence, even if there were suspicions.
Cain had even considered using some drug to temporarily disable Number Four's ability to communicate.
But the development of events was even smoother than expected. Tony's psychic power was so terrifying that it quickly uncovered everything Cain needed to be brought to light.
Cain also had contingency plans: if his identity were exposed or Number Four managed to implicate him, Brad was waiting at a certain point at the foot of the mountain, ready to help him escape. However, that would have meant losses that were hard to accept.
Fortunately, Tony's madness gave Cain great help. It completely rendered Number Four useless. In his current state, he was not only incapable of dragging Cain down with him, but could not even communicate through psychic power.
As long as Number Four died, Cain's plan would be seventy percent complete.
Although his immediate death would not cause too many problems for the Sacred Church, the conflict between Marcus's and Tony's factions had already officially intensified. Moreover, Tony still had a heavy card that he had not revealed, but it was impossible to hide it forever.
Once the cause of Number Six's death—already prepared by Cain—was made public, the Sacred Church, whether it wanted to or not, would fall into chaos.
Everything had been planned.
Thus began the internal war of the Sacred Church.
(End of chapter)