Chapter 524: Melee

'Kneel and beg for mercy?'

Moltres turned its head to look at Julian standing on its back—this guy was really going for both physical and psychological blows.

But Moltres like it.

At the same time, it secretly felt relieved that it wasn't Julian's enemy right now.

As for Aso and Eguchi, when they heard those words, even the usually composed Aso roared in fury:

"Impossible!"

In any country, kneeling was always seen as something that trampled on one's dignity and pride.

And given the blood feud between their nation and Drakoria, Julian telling them to kneel wasn't just an insult to them—it was an insult to their entire country.

"Even if we kneel, you won't let us go, will you?" Aso said darkly, glaring at Julian.

Some time ago, Julian had been ambushed. Although Drakoria had confirmed that the attackers were from their country, they hadn't identified which family was behind it.

The ones who orchestrated that attack… were Aso's family.

Very few people in the clan knew this, and Aso himself only knew because he was the heir to the family.

Julian telling them to kneel now—clearly, it was just to humiliate them before killing them.

If they really knelt, and Julian actually let them go, then Aso would seriously think Julian was a complete fool.

"You got it right."

Julian nodded at Aso's words.

Let them go? Absolutely not.

If he didn't grind them into dust, he'd already be going easy on them.

Julian then turned his gaze to Eguchi.

"If you kill that guy, I'll let you go."

"Bastard!" Aso spat coldly.

This kind of divide-and-conquer tactic was always most effective in life-or-death situations.

"Eguchi, if we work together, we can definitely break out of this and escape."

"And Julian's teammates probably aren't here."

He whispered this directly in Eguchi's ear.

The grudge between Drakoria and their country ran deep. In such a situation, the other four Drakorian trainers wouldn't just stay hidden.

Even if a few were on lookout duty, at least one or two should've shown up—they'd never leave Julian to handle this alone.

After all, underestimating your enemy was how people ended up dead.

Yet the fact that Julian was still alone now probably meant only he was on this island—the other four Drakorian trainers were likely on different islands.

Julian had defeated the island's guardian and made it here—the others hadn't.

In an instant, Aso pieced it all together.

His earlier hesitation had been out of fear that all five Drakorian trainers were lying in wait.

But now, things didn't seem as hopeless as he had imagined.

With him and Eguchi working together, even if they couldn't defeat Julian, they should still be able to escape.

"Aso, when the time comes, seize the moment and run. I'll hold him off," Eguchi said with a resolute expression.

Compared to Aso, he and Ishida were less important. In life-or-death situations, both of them were expected to protect Aso at all costs.

Those were the orders straight from their nation's Champion.

As for whether they would actually follow through was another matter.

But for now, at least Eguchi was verbally expressing that he was willing to sacrifice himself, to buy Aso time to escape.

If Julian didn't have Moltres, the two of them still believed they might've stood a fighting chance.

But now, with a pseudo-Champion level Moltres helping Julian, plus his other Pokémon, their odds of victory were slim to none.

Click. Click. Click.

Julian sneered as he looked at the two of them.

As his Poké Balls opened, one Pokémon after another appeared on the field.

Lucario, Arcanine, Steelix, Aggron, Melmetal, plus Dragonite and Metagross in the sky.

All seven of Julian's main Pokémon had taken the field.

There was also a hidden Gengar, making it eight in total.

Metagross was level 78, Dragonite level 74, Arcanine level 75. The rest were all pseudo-Elite peak at level 70.

Aso's team had a level 78 Hydreigon, level 76 Altaria, level 73 Flygon, and a level 71 Ampharos.

Eguchi's team had a level 75 Magnezone, level 74 Steelix, and a level 71 Bronzong.

Altogether, the two had sent out seven Elite-level Pokémon. They originally had a few more, but in their earlier battle with Moltres, they were either heavily injured or killed.

And sending out Pokémon below Elite level was useless.

After all, not every Pokémon could beat an Elite while only being pseudo-Elite like Julian's.

"Meta!"

Metagross unleashed its aura without restraint.

Sensing Metagross's late-stage Elite aura, Aso and Eguchi's faces instantly turned pale.

From what they knew, wasn't Metagross only at pseudo-Elite peak? How had it already reached late Elite?

Could it have broken through in the secret realm?

"Go. Crush them."

Julian smiled faintly.

"Meta!"

Metagross directly took on Aso's strongest, Hydreigon.

Dragonite clashed with Altaria.

Arcanine locked onto Magnezone.

Lucario charged at Ampharos.

Melmetal squared off against Steelix.

Aggron faced Bronzong.

Julian's Steelix had originally wanted to face the opposing Steelix, but Melmetal snatched that opponent away. Now all that was left for it was Flygon.

Looking at the high-flying Flygon—

Steelix: "Come down here if you've got the guts."

This was now a life-or-death wild battle—no regulations, no restrictions.

For Steelix, which couldn't fly, going up against Flygon meant it was already at a natural disadvantage.

In official matches, there were height restrictions for Flying-type Pokémon.

You could fly, but not too high—if my moves can't even reach you, how is that a fair fight?

On Julian's side, one of his Poké Balls kept shaking.

"Fine, you can go—but take it easy," Julian said helplessly.

Kartana appeared. Because its injuries hadn't fully healed, Julian didn't send it out at the start.

But Kartana wasn't having that—how could it miss such a major showdown?

Decapitating enemies was its life's purpose, after all.

Without hesitation, Kartana zipped toward Flygon, blades gleaming.

Steelix: "So… I don't have an opponent now?"

Julian smirked. "Your opponents are those two."

He pointed at Aso and Eguchi.

In a no-rules wild, life-or-death battle, the fastest way to end the fight was to bypass the Pokémon and go straight for the Trainers.

Aso and Eguchi's faces instantly darkened when they heard that.

"You're welcome to send Pokémon to kill me too," Julian said casually.

Hearing this, the two nearly coughed up blood in anger.

He was standing on the back of a pseudo-Champion level Moltres!

Their main fighters were all tied up, and sending weaker Pokémon against him? That was just feeding themselves to Moltres's flames.

Steelix looked at Aso and Eguchi, grinning: "I like bullying the weak."

Then its massive body charged straight at them, scaring them into quickly throwing out more Pokémon—ten in one go.

Though all of them were below Elite level, they were still pseudo-Elites.

With the advantage in numbers and the chaotic nature of the battle, they actually managed to hold off Steelix for a while.

*****

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