Chapter 63: The Mysterious Ghost Type

"Whoosh!"

Aegislash took the initiative, launching a fierce attack. Waving its blood-red blade, it executed the Sacred Sword move.

[Sacred Sword]: A Fighting-type physical move. The user cuts down the opponent with a blade, ignoring the target's stat changes and dealing direct damage.

Sacred Sword was an exceptionally powerful move. Not only did it boast high base power without any negative side effects, but its most crucial trait was the ability to bypass the opponent's stat changes to inflict direct damage.

Just hearing the name revealed how formidable Sacred Sword truly was. Looking at the Pokémon capable of learning it, the first was the Samurott evolutionary line from the starter trio, which could only learn it via breeding. Next, among non-Legendary Pokémon, only Gallade and Aegislash could learn Sacred Sword by leveling up. Finally, it could be learned by the four Swords of Justice—Cobalion, Terrakion, Virizion, and Keldeo—as well as the Ultra Beast Kartana, the Legendary Pokémon Zacian, and the Mythical Pokémon Chi-Yu (Note: translated naturally per rules).

Looking at this roster of Pokémon showed the immense value of Sacred Sword. Almost all who could learn it were Legendary or Ultra Beasts; not a single one was weak. That alone commanded immense prestige.

In its Blade Forme, Aegislash already possessed exceptionally high attack power. Combined with the Sacred Sword move, it posed a lethal threat to any opponent.

Aegislash's massive blood-red blade, now cloaked in Fighting-type energy, slashed directly toward Long Yanning.

"Protect!"

"Roar!"

Kommo-o immediately raised the scales on its arms while enveloping its body in Normal-type energy, forming a glowing shield in front of itself to block Aegislash's onslaught!

Aegislash's attack carried immense momentum and terrifying might, forcing Kommo-o to use Protect immediately, completely unable to dare take the blow head-on.

"Kommo-o, use Flamethrower!"

Long Yanning possessed vast battle experience. She knew deeply that when facing a Pokémon like Aegislash, one must never engage in close-quarters physical combat; instead, ranged special attacks were mandatory.

This was because Aegislash possessed a signature, highly powerful move: King's Shield. It could fend off the opponent's attacks while shifting its own stance into Shield Forme, massively boosting its defensive stats while severely lowering the Attack stat of any opponent that made direct contact.

To be honest, such an overpowered Pokémon kept Aegislash a dominant force in competitive battles all the way until the introduction of Dynamaxing in Generation 8, combined with official base stat nerfs that finally knocked Aegislash off its pedestal.

Facing such a formidable Pokémon, the best countermeasure was special attacking. However, Aegislash's strengths also included its exceptionally stellar resistances: three immunities, eight resistances, and one quadruple resistance, with weaknesses limited only to Fire, Ground, Dark, and Ghost, and no quadruple weakness.

Pokémon blessed with such an exceptional Ghost and Steel typing were extremely rare; only two existed—Aegislash and Gholdengo. Speaking of Gholdengo, it was even rarer than Aegislash, and it seemed no one in this world had discovered Gholdengo yet.

Requiring 999 Gimmighoul Coins, such harsh conditions were simply too difficult to achieve in reality.

Returning to the matter at hand, among the moves Kommo-o had learned, very few could counter Aegislash. First of all, Earthquake was completely out of the question to avoid hitting allies by mistake, leaving Flamethrower as the only viable choice.

"Roar!"

Hearing Long Yanning's command, Kommo-o instantly filled its mouth with a massive ball of searing flames and unleashed a fierce torrent.

"Noivern, Shadow Ball! Attack Aegislash."

"Deino, Dark Pulse! Attack Aegislash."

Long Yanning issued simultaneous commands, ordering the special-attack-oriented Noivern and Deino to strike Aegislash, both using moves super-effective against it.

As for Gyarados and Haxorus, the two physical-oriented Pokémon, they focused entirely on dealing with Dusknoir. Meanwhile, although Ampharos was also a special-attack-oriented Pokémon, its movepool couldn't effectively strike Aegislash, so Long Yanning directed it to attack Dusknoir instead.

"Gyarados, use Dragon Dance!"

"Haxorus, Crunch, attack Dusknoir."

"Ampharos, Thunder Shock (Note: Ten Million Volts/Thunderbolt contextually), attack Dusknoir."

As Long Yanning's voice fell, aside from Gyarados which was busy executing Dragon Dance, the other Pokémon joined the coordinated assault. Ghost-type Shadow Ball, Dark-type Dark Pulse, and Ampharos's Thunderbolt were all unleashed simultaneously.

Haxorus, acting like a tank, charged violently toward Dusknoir to engage in fierce melee combat.

The scene instantly descended into chaos. The presence of six Pokémon gave Xia Yu a slight sense of relief. Even though the two evil-type (Note: referring to the ghost/sinister nature) spirit Pokémon possessed truly formidable strength, Long Yanning was no slouch either.

Observing the tense stalemate and glancing at his own three little Pokémon, Xia Yu decided against rushing into the fray.

With their current strength, a stray shockwave from any of those moves grazing Xia Yu's Charmander or Noibat would inflict severe injuries. At this point, the only constructive action he could take was to have Grovyle set up Grassy Terrain.

After a brief hesitation, Xia Yu decided to have Grassy Terrain used. After all, once Grassy Terrain was active, Long Yanning's six Pokémon could recover health, while the enemies had only two. He just wasn't sure if Grassy Terrain would take effect inside the Distortion World.

"Grovyle, use Grassy Terrain!"

As Xia Yu's voice trailed off, Grass-type energy surged over Grovyle's body, and it immediately executed Grassy Terrain. Verdant energy spread outward from its feet, manifesting across the ground and revitalizing the Pokémon standing upon it.

Seeing the battlefield transform into Grassy Terrain, Long Yanning turned her head in surprise. This move was relatively rare; she hadn't expected Grovyle to have mastered it.

"Boom!"

Simultaneously, all the attacks bombarded Aegislash and Dusknoir, erupting in a massive explosion. However, Aegislash immediately employed King's Shield, entering a guarded state that blocked everyone's attacks while shifting itself back into Shield Forme.

On the other side, Dusknoir found itself bogged down in a fierce melee against Haxorus. Facing a Haxorus of equal strength, compounded by Ampharos's assaults and Gyarados which had just completed its Dragon Dance setup, Dusknoir quickly fell into a disadvantage. It was definitely no match for the three Pokémon combined.

Once Dusknoir was eliminated, turning to swarm Aegislash would reduce the battle to a six-on-one situation.

Just as the tide seemed to be tilting in Long Yanning's favor, a sharp tearing sound suddenly echoed through the surrounding space. The fabric of the Spirit World was ripped open from the outside, tearing a wide gash.

"Oh?"

A voice filled with surprise issued from the rift, and a figure emerged. The person was completely draped in a raincoat and wore a face mask, concealing their appearance so thoroughly that their facial features were entirely indiscernible.

Yet, more striking than the person's appearance was the Pokémon by their side: Chandelure.

Normally, a Chandelure stood around one meter tall, but this Chandelure was nearly one meter eighty centimeters tall, floating beside the woman and casting its yellow eyes across everyone present.

A Chandelure with Elite-tier strength!

Xia Yu's heart sank. He immediately pulled out his phone and quietly placed a call. With the tear opened in the Spirit World, cellular signal had managed to punch through, allowing outgoing calls.

The sudden appearance of this woman made both Xia Yu and Long Yanning's hearts drop. This person was most likely the master of the two Ghost-type Pokémon—the mysterious Ghost-type Trainer.