"This defense is honestly a bit outrageously high…"
Staring at Arceus, who was surrounded by crackling Thunder yet looked as though it had barely felt a thing, Lucas could not help but frown.
For Arceus, type effectiveness was essentially meaningless, even though Arceus itself was originally a Normal-type Pokémon.
With its Plates, Arceus could switch attributes at will, rendering itself immune to certain elemental attacks, while its own typing would change accordingly with the Plate in use. Thunder naturally did not counter Arceus—but the truly absurd part was that even Thunder used by Primal Groudon was barely scratching Arceus at all… that was just way too ridiculous.
"According to the games, Arceus is a hexagonal warrior, but in reality it shouldn't be like that… right?"
Lucas's brows knitted tightly. If one were to judge Arceus based on its in-game base stats, then Arceus was a completely flawless hexagonal demon warrior with no weaknesses at all.
After all, Arceus's stat distribution was absurdly even—six attributes, each at a flat one hundred and twenty.
But Arceus's offensive power was already far beyond reason. If its defensive capabilities were also this terrifying, then the difficulty of this battle would skyrocket.
"Leaf Storm!"
Without continuing to dwell on it, Lucas immediately issued an order to Shadow Rider Calyrex.
The King of Bountiful Harvests, Calyrex, originally possessed the Grass type, but once mounted on its steed, that Grass attribute disappeared.
Shadow Rider Calyrex was a Ghost/Psychic type, and its signature move was also Ghost-type. Against Arceus wielding a Ghost Plate, it was completely ineffective. Thus, just like Primal Groudon, it could only rely on Grass-type attacks for long-range, peripheral harassment.
Shadow Rider Calyrex raised its arm, and a green storm of razor-sharp leaves swept forward, surging toward Arceus.
"Dragon Pulse."
Black Rayquaza swayed its long, magnificent draconic body as it charged straight at Arceus.
"Reckless fools, ignorant of true power!"
Arceus coldly fixed its gaze on the approaching Black Rayquaza, and an ice-blue Plate slowly rose from its back.
Once upon a time, it had held great affection for the Rayquaza clan, because they guarded this planet.
Meteors, extraterrestrial beings—Rayquaza would always intercept them on behalf of the world, preventing planetary disasters from occurring.
But now?
They were actually helping those traitors as well!
"Freeze into statue you worms!"
Arceus opened its mouth, and a horrifying ice storm instantly swallowed the sky. The ceaseless torrential rain froze mid-fall, transforming into dense hailstones.
The bone-chilling blizzard completely engulfed the incoming Leaf Storm and surged straight toward Black Rayquaza.
"Protect!"
Black Rayquaza halted abruptly, and a green barrier instantly formed in front of it.
It had personally witnessed what happened to young Rayquaza earlier—Arceus's Blizzard was simply too terrifying.
Despite Blizzard's freezing capability being far inferior to Ice Beam in theory, it had still frozen the smaller Rayquaza and slammed it to the ground in just a few breaths.
It was absurd beyond belief.
Even though Delta Stream eliminated Flying-type weaknesses, Ice-type attacks still countered Mega Rayquaza.
"Disappear, all of you!"
Above Arceus's head, ice-blue energy continuously condensed, forming an incomparably pure point of light that shot rapidly into the sky.
Judgment. Ice!
"Draco Meteor!"
Lucas took a deep breath and shouted the command to all Dragon-type Pokémon.
"ROOOAAR!"
Dragon cries of all kinds shook the heavens.
Mega Rayquaza, Eternatus, Zygarde, Palkia, Giratina, and many more.
Draco Meteors that seemed to contain the vastness of the stars continuously ascended into the sky.
BOOM!
Judgment detonated first at high altitude, ice-blue particles trailing faint tails as they streaked across the sky like shooting stars.
But following closely behind came even more dragon meteors!
The sky was almost completely covered as dense dragon meteors, like countless small falling asteroids, crashed down toward Arceus.
"…Michina…"
On a distant hill, Sheena bit her lip tightly as she watched the Draco Meteor barrage resemble a rain of meteors, then weakly closed her eyes.
Once this Draco Meteor landed, Michina would truly be finished.
But what could she do?
Lucas was attacking to defeat Arceus—how could she blame him?
She could only hate herself, believing that it was her own helplessness that had brought such catastrophe upon Michina.
"This is probably the most terrifying Draco Meteor in history… but…"
Caitlin frowned slightly, her beautiful eyes flickering with unease. It was just like a real meteor shower—terrifying to behold.
And there was no need to question its power. These Draco Meteors were unleashed by top-tier legendaries such as Dynamax Eternatus and Mega Rayquaza.
But would they actually work against Arceus?
"Probably not. Arceus's defense is just too outstanding. Besides, Lucas never intended for Draco Meteor to be the main offensive," Cynthia said solemnly, her gaze fixed unwaveringly on the sky.
Arceus's strength had already been displayed in full—being able to counterattack even while surrounded by so many legends said everything.
"This kind of attack is useless!"
Arceus raised its head slightly, blood-red eyes glowing as it stared at the falling dragon meteors.
It had no intention of tanking this head-on.
A massive surge of energy erupted, forming a platinum-white circular barrier that completely enveloped Arceus.
Rumble—rumble—rumble!
Dragon meteors continuously slammed into the barrier, deafening explosions resounding without pause.
Aside from those that hit, many dragon meteors and fragments of Judgment struck the land of Michina below.
The ground, forests, and mountains—all were hit.
For wide-area moves like Draco Meteor and Judgment, precise control of targets was nearly impossible.
Lucas paid no attention to what was happening below, his gaze locked tightly onto Arceus.
The torrential rain of the Primordial Sea continued to pour down, and because of the rain, the smoke from the energy explosions quickly dispersed.
Crack—crack—
A crisp sound like shattering glass rang out as the platinum barrier around Arceus fractured inch by inch, dispersing into points of light.
Lucas's eyes lit up—the barrier was broken!
"Hoopa!" Lucas shouted immediately to Hoopa Unbound.
"Hoopa understands!"
Already prepared, Hoopa spread its six severed arms wide, the golden rings on its wrists flying out.
"Bastard!"
Arceus's blood-red eyes filled with gloom as it scanned its surroundings.
One spatial golden ring after another sealed off almost all six directions—front, back, left, right, above, and below!
"You think this can hold me?"
Fury surged uncontrollably in Arceus's heart. What was this—closing the door to beat the dog?
A glimmer of white light enveloped Arceus as it shot toward a gap between the spatial rings at extreme speed.
With its speed, it could easily escape the encirclement before the next attack arrived!
Extreme Speed!
But a black shadow flashed by—Black Rayquaza's massive tail slammed down from above.
Breaking Swipe!
"Rayquaza!!"
Arceus roared with seething hatred.
Breaking Swipe collided violently with Extreme Speed, but after only a brief stalemate, Black Rayquaza's attack was blown apart, its entire body sent flying by the overwhelming force of Extreme Speed.
Arceus paused for an instant, preparing to pass through the gap between the rings.
But the next moment, two more dragon tails slammed toward it from either side.
Mega Rayquaza and Young Rayquaza!
Savage red light flickered in their eyes—both had clearly activated Outrage!
"You—!"
Arceus's blood-red pupils flared as it glared at the two dragons, but the howling wind told it everything—these hits were heavy.
There was no time to defend!
Breaking Swipe crashed brutally into Arceus's body, and the two tremendous forces knocked it straight back into the encirclement of spatial rings.
And at that very instant, attacks from all six rings descended simultaneously!
Arceus's pupils shrank.
BOOM!
An incomparably terrifying energy storm erupted outward, the shockwave spreading like a tangible wall. Even Mega Rayquaza and Young Rayquaza were blasted away by the sheer force.
The storm twisted into a massive tornado, spinning relentlessly as heaven and earth trembled!
"Eternatus's Dynamax Cannon, Zygarde's Core Enforcer, Kyogre's Origin Pulse, Kyurem's Fusion Bolt, Groudon's Precipice Blades, Dialga's Roar of Time."
Riding atop Reshiram, Lucas narrowed his eyes as he stared at the center of the explosion.
These attacks hitting simultaneously was no joke.
The shockwaves were so intense that even with Reshiram's energy shielding him, the fierce winds still whipped Lucas's hair and white robe violently.
But this was only natural—this was the combined strike of six ultimate attacks from his side!
Lucas firmly believed that even if the target was Arceus, this would definitely be a devastating blow!
Draco Meteor had merely been the opening feint to bait Arceus into defending—an open strategy.
The coverage of Draco Meteor was simply too wide, especially with so many top-tier Dragon legendaries releasing it together.
Arceus had no way to dodge—it could only defend. And once it did, the opportunity appeared.
The shockwaves gradually weakened as time passed, but no one could clearly see what was happening inside.
"It's injured—badly."
Reshiram's draconic eyes remained fixed on the scene as it spoke to Lucas in his mind after spotting Arceus.
It could clearly see that Arceus had suffered serious injuries.
"Mm. If it could still be completely fine after that, then there'd be no point in fighting at all," Lucas said with a slight smile, teasing Reshiram.
At this moment, Arceus looked utterly disheveled. Its once sacred, immaculate body was now covered in wounds.
Even its breathing had grown heavy.
Directly tanking those six attacks—no matter how powerful it was, that was still far too much.
"Hoopa's spatial rings really are a decisive weapon~"
Seeing this, Lucas couldn't help but click his tongue in admiration. The importance of Hoopa's spatial rings in this battle was beyond question.
Otherwise, even if they managed to find an opening, it would have been impossible to time it so perfectly and land so many legendary attacks on Arceus simultaneously.
(End of Chapter)