Several hours passed. The resources around Axel were completely exhausted, and his expression once again turned painful.
He could clearly feel that he was just one final step away from breaking through his trait and turning it into a supreme trait, yet that step simply could not be taken.
At present, his mental sea had already stopped expanding, boundless as it was. As long as the tiny cracks along the edges were fully repaired, the metamorphosis would be complete.
But within this vast ocean, there was now almost no mental power to be seen at all, like a dried-up world.
With no other choice, Axel let out a sigh and looked toward the still-unconscious Indigo Orb and Crimson Red Orb.
The reason he had just sent the Black and White Dragons away was not because he lacked a backup plan.
That backup plan was precisely the two orbs inside his mind.
From the moment the two orbs entered his body, he had known that their essence was actually mental power as well. Otherwise, there was no way they could have so easily entered his consciousness sea.
The reason he hadn't chosen to sacrifice them earlier was simply so that he could later use the orbs to control the powerful gods Kyogre and Groudon, preventing them from becoming puppets in the hands of the Aether Foundation and Pryce.
Now that it had come to a critical moment, Axel naturally would not continue holding back.
"Let's start with the Indigo Orb. It did seem like this guy struck first earlier."
"And the Crimson Red Orb was pretty cooperative just now. Unlike the Indigo Orb, I won't feel bad losing it..."
With the target confirmed, Axel gathered the small amount of mental power he had left and manifested it within the mental sea.
The next instant, the still-unconscious Indigo Orb shot skyward and, under little Groudon's horrified gaze, plunged into the center of Axel's mental body's brow.
Psychic divine patterns surged over Axel's body, forming the symbol "α".
Within his nearly dried-up mental sea, a large cluster of blue points of light suddenly appeared. Those points rapidly condensed into mental power, manifesting as flowing water.
At the edges of the mental sea, the dense web of tiny cracks began to repair themselves, reinforcing Axel's sea of mental power.
"Roar~", Seeing this scene, little Groudon was so terrified that he couldn't even use telepathy, retreating again and again instead.
He could clearly feel that the aura of the Indigo Orb was growing weaker and weaker, on the verge of disappearing entirely.
'Is this man called Axel really not afraid of Kyogre?'
Axel cast an indifferent glance at the miniature Groudon and laughed unconcernedly.
Even if the Primal Kyogre of this world truly disappeared, he could always pull another one out of the dream world later. Was he supposed to just sit around and wait to die?
If the Indigo Orb wanted to live, the prerequisite was that Axel himself had to survive first.
Under the immense threat, the Indigo Orb finally regained consciousness. It stared in terror at its own dim, rapidly fading form, its voice trembling.
["My lord, big brother, great master, please listen to me before you absorb me!"]
["You, no, you can survive. I have a way. I really do!"]
Axel slightly halted his actions, balancing the mental power consumed by the cracks with the power he was absorbing from the Indigo Orb, and focused his consciousness on the orb.
"What way?"
If this orb truly had a solution, he was willing to keep it around for the time being.
The Indigo Orb hurriedly spoke, telepathically transmitting its words into Axel's mind in a torrent.
["I once saw other small worlds before. Their energy also leaked very quickly, but later on, a Pokémon that looked like a sun appeared there as well, and that world became much more stable."]
["I feel that your mental sea already has the embryonic form of a spiritual world, so I was thinking that these cracks are mainly because the world isn't complete yet."]
["If your world had a sun or a moon, maybe those cracks would heal on their own."]
["By then, you might even have combat power comparable to my main body, on par with a Legendary Pokémon. That's a good thing, great master!"]
Axel: "..."
'Damn it.'
Right now, he really wanted to greet the entire family of the Indigo Orb, then ruthlessly drain this guy dry.
'This counts as a solution?'
Yes, he was a transmigrator, but the way he transmigrated was world fusion, not crossing over from some weird cultivation world.
'Does this guy really think I know some Sun God Scripture?'
"That's a very good suggestion. Bring it up again in your next life," Axel coldly dropped that line and was about to continue draining the orb.
But before he could make a move, he suddenly heard a gentle voice with a hint of timidity by his ear.
["M-Master, what's wrong with you?"]
'Lillie?'
Axel recognized the voice immediately. However, he was at a critical stage right now, with all of his consciousness inside the mental sea, completely unable to respond to Lillie.
Even if he wanted to tell her not to worry, he simply couldn't.
["Are you okay, Master?"], Seeing that Axel didn't respond, Lillie seemed even more anxious.
She hurriedly tried to lift Axel and take him to find someone for treatment, but she couldn't move his body at all. With a soft whimper, she collapsed against him.
The little Cosmog that she had been keeping stuffed in her bag came into contact with Axel, squeezed between Axel and Lillie, and faint starlight filled the room.
Inside the consciousness sea, Axel's eyes suddenly lit up.
Even though he didn't have a sun or a moon here, he had stars.
If what Kyogre said was true, could he try accepting some of Cosmog's power?
The moment the thought formed, Axel's mental sea automatically opened up, and faint starlight appeared above the mental ocean.
Axel did not absorb Cosmog's power. Instead, he continued absorbing the Indigo Orb, using mental power to stabilize the starlight above.
As the starlight fell upon the edges of the mental sea, the cracks began to gradually heal on their own, just as little Kyogre had said, no longer consuming Axel's mental power.
A few minutes later, the cracks were completely healed. Axel casually tossed aside the half-dead Indigo Orb.
His mental sea had now completely become a spiritual world with mountains, lakes, oceans, and stars.
Terrifying mental power erupted outward with Axel at its center, spreading across the entirety of Mt. Chimney. Aside from the Black and White Dragons, all living beings, including Axel himself, couldn't help but fall unconscious.
A few seconds later, those Pokémon and people all eerily stood back up.
After being washed by Axel's violent mental power, they felt their minds cleaner than ever before. In everyone's heart, only one most important thing remained.
Strength, survival, or perhaps something else.
The entire Mt. Chimney fell into an illusion released unconsciously by Axel.
Lillie, who was closest to Axel and had received the greatest mental baptism, instead wore a confused expression. With her gentle personality, even after being washed by mental power, she still didn't know what she most wanted to do.
She looked toward the Black and White Dragons at the doorway, her expression conflicted, "Do you know what I want most?"
Reshiram grinned. Having monitored the entire research institute during this period, it had long known that Lillie often stared blankly at Axel's photos.
It had even been thinking about when to help bring Lillie and Axel together, and then have Lillie help bring itself together as well. And now, hadn't the opportunity arrived?
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