Theo turned slightly and pointed at Tyrantrum beside him. "I will send it out to compete against you."
Larvesta's gaze instantly locked onto Tyrantrum.
Although the opponent possessed a massive body, ferocious and domineering in appearance, with amber pupils flickering with a chilling and savage light, Larvesta merely swayed its antennae indifferently.
In its perception, the energy intensity radiating from Tyrantrum's body was roughly on par with its own.
At most, it was like the enormous Torkoal it had once encountered, the kind that emitted white smoke from its shell, only somewhat larger in size. On what grounds did it dare claim the battle would be decided in a single move?
It was simply the joke of the century.
Theo lowered his head and winked at Tyrantrum, his voice extremely low. "You understand the bet, right? Just one move. We have to take this little guy down in a single strike. Got it?"
Tyrantrum and Theo had long since reached a tacit understanding. Its large amber eyes rolled once in their sockets, and a deep, rumbling growl rolled from its throat to indicate that there was no problem at all.
"Then let's begin."
Theo stepped back two paces, leaving enough space between both sides.
The atmosphere of battle instantly tightened.
Larvesta hovered in midair, and the flames surrounding its body suddenly surged more fiercely, as though fanned by a powerful gust of wind.
The crimson fire burning across its body scorched the air, producing faint crackling sounds.
The Omega symbol on its forehead glowed with a dazzling red radiance, as if some invisible force were gradually awakening within it. It was clearly fully prepared.
At that moment, Tyrantrum suddenly lifted its head and let out a thunderous roar. Along with that roar, a sandstorm abruptly spiraled up around its body.
Yet this sandstorm was not violent. It resembled more a flowing curtain of sand.
It circled only within a radius of several meters around Tyrantrum, tightly wrapping its enormous body so that the movements inside could not be seen clearly.
Larvesta tilted its head slightly, a trace of confusion flashing through its blue eyes.
What was this dragon type Pokémon trying to do?
Was it attempting to block its line of sight with sand?
To conceal the trajectory of its attack?
Such trivial tricks were beneath its notice.
Larvesta stared fixedly at the center of the sandstorm, the flames around its body burning even more intensely. The fire nearly solidified into something tangible, ready at any moment to respond to any sudden assault.
Seeing this, Theo suddenly spoke in a casual tone, as though making idle conversation. "Larvesta, you must be quite formidable here on Mt. Chimney. I know quite a few powerful trainers have come looking for you, and they searched for a long time without finding you."
Metang immediately used its psychic power to convert Theo's complicated human words into fluctuations that Pokémon could understand, transmitting them clearly to Larvesta.
Larvesta merely cast Theo a contemptuous glance, lifting its head slightly as the flames on its antennae flickered proudly, as if to say that was only natural. As if those people were worthy of finding it.
"Have you always lived inside the magma?" Theo continued, his tone relaxed. "Have you ever run into a Magmar? Honestly, following me would not be bad. You would not have to struggle to find food anymore. I would raise you properly and give you good things to eat. I would also provide enough energy clusters for you, so you could evolve peacefully."
Larvesta shook its head forcefully, the flames on its antennae flaring several degrees higher, as if rejecting the idea vehemently.
It had long grown accustomed to a life of freedom. Whatever it wanted, it simply seized by force. Ruling Mt. Chimney was exhilarating. Why would it allow itself to be bound by a human?
Yet during this exchange, Larvesta gradually began to sense that something felt off.
The Tyrantrum concealed within the sandstorm had still not launched an attack.
Could it be playing some kind of trick?
Larvesta grew impatient. It let out a sharp cry toward Theo, its voice filled with urging.
Attack already. Stop wasting time here.
At that moment, the sandstorm surrounding Tyrantrum seemed to lose its sustaining force and began to dissipate.
As the grains of sand slowly fell to the ground, Tyrantrum's figure was revealed little by little.
"Larvesta, be careful. We are about to attack!"
Theo's voice suddenly rang out clearly. "Tyrantrum, use Stone Edge!"
Before his words had even fully settled, the sand that had been lingering around Tyrantrum seemed to be grasped by an invisible hand. Countless grains instantly condensed into five enormous chunks of rock.
These boulders were grayish black in color, their surfaces gleaming with a cold sheen. With shrill whistling sounds that tore through the air, they shot toward Larvesta like five cannonballs that had been prepared for a long time.
A powerful sense of crisis instantly seized Larvesta.
As the sandstorm around Tyrantrum dispersed, it clearly sensed that the energy within Tyrantrum's body had more than doubled compared to before.
It was all because of that human, chattering endlessly and disrupting its focus.
But at this point, Larvesta had no time left to think.
The massive rocks came roaring toward it with overwhelming force.
Larvesta let out a piercing hiss. Its entire body was instantly engulfed in blazing flames, transforming into a rapidly spinning wheel of fire.
With the amplification from the Omega symbol of Groudon on its forehead, the power of this Flame Wheel was several times stronger than usual.
The scorching heat wave nearly ignited the air itself as it surged forward with domineering momentum, crashing head on toward the gigantic boulders.
It refused to believe that this Flame Wheel, condensed from all of its strength, could not shatter those rocks.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A series of deafening collisions echoed through the valley.
Flames and stone clashed violently, and burning fragments of rock scattered in all directions like falling meteors.
Empowered by the Omega symbol, the Flame Wheel was astonishingly powerful and forcibly shattered two of the rocks. However, the remaining three enormous boulders followed in rapid succession at extreme speed.
Larvesta attempted to dodge, but the rocks were far too fast and nearly sealed off all of its escape routes.
In the end, with a heavy thud, it was struck solidly by one of the massive stones.
The flames covering its body dimmed instantly, as though doused by a bucket of cold water.
Larvesta flew backward like a kite with its string cut, crashing heavily onto the ground. It struggled a few times before finally lying still.
This Larvesta with the Omega symbol on its forehead was indeed extraordinary.
Even though it was doubly restrained by a Rock type move, it had still managed to withstand multiple impacts from Tyrantrum's Stone Edge after several Dragon Dances.
If Tyrantrum had not used Dragon Dance beforehand, taking it down in one move to win the bet would truly have been somewhat difficult.
The sandstorm around Tyrantrum completely subsided. It looked at the motionless Larvesta on the ground and proudly puffed out its chest.
Its thick tail swept lightly across the ground, and its expression could not have been more arrogant, as if to say, see, I told you one move would be enough.
Theo watched the scene with a knowing smile, entirely unsurprised.
Just now, he had deliberately chatted with Larvesta in order to stall for time.
Under the cover of the sandstorm, Tyrantrum had quietly used Dragon Dance several times, significantly boosting its attack and speed.
That final Stone Edge had been the full power strike it had been accumulating all along.
With double type advantage and the attack boost from Dragon Dance layered on top, it would have been strange if Larvesta had been able to withstand it.
(End of Chapter)
TN: Hey guys, sorry for not updating. I haven't been able to translate much because the website where I get my raws updates about two chapters a week, but don't worry, next week I will be able to update frequently because I just bought all the chapters up to the most recent in Qidian instead of waiting for the pirated ones because I got tired of waiting for it and I really like the novel. I won't be able to update since I'm gonna scrape the chapters for the week so that's gonna take a while. Anyway just letting you guys know that I'm not flaking again this week because I want to.