All eyes were locked on the swirling smoke. Whether the hip-hop guy could withstand the attack would determihe course of the battle. No. 1 and No. 2, exhausted after p nearly all their remaining Nen into their ultimate move, could barely stay on their feet. They were spent—pletely incapable of tinuing the fight.

  A soft breeze rolled through the cavern, pushing the smoke aside to reveal a looming figure. The hip-hop guy was still standing. His bored breathing filled the air, heavy and ragged, like a beast on the verge of losing trol. Every step forward caused the cracked grouh him to creak and groan under his weight. "Hoo... hoo..." His chest heaved like a bellows, rising and falling with each strained breath.

  Now that the smoke had cleared, everyone could finally see the extent of his injuries. The explosion hadn't been enough to take him down, but it had left its mark. His dark skin had been scorched to a charcoal bck, his mouth the only trasting white against the burned flesh, teeth faintly visible through lips stained with blood. His clothes were in shreds, barely ging to his battered frame. Blood trickled freely from numerous wounds, staining the rocky floor beh him. But his body—his body had grown even rger. He now resembled a t bck bear, radiating sheer brute force, standing there with unwaveriermination.

  Larry silently assessed the situation, his eyes narrowing. ‘That attack just now… it had definitely reached B-level strength.’ Normally, an attack of that caliber should have been enough to put the hip-hop guy down food. His gaze shifted toward the gsses man, still sitting cross-legged on the ground, s down his face, his plexion pale as a sheet.

  ‘So that’s it…’ Larry mused. ‘He must have transferred a massive amount of the st sed to mitigate the damage.’ The hip-hop guy's resilience was impressive, but it came at a cost. He was nearing his limit, and it was only a matter of time before his body gave out entirely.

  Oher side of the battlefield, No. 1 and No. 2 stared in horror, their faces drained of color. The sight of the hip-hop guy standie their ultimate attack drained what little hope they had left. Before they could react, a wave of bck, writhing is surged forward, yering on top of each other like a living tide, blog the hip-hop guy’s path.

  His eyes soward Neguro. Neguro stood half-crouched on the ground, his hands spyed across the dirt with a smug grin pstered across his face. Wave after wave of is crawled forth from the shadows, their collective chittering filling the air like an ominous symphony. They swarmed toward the hip-hop guy iless droves.

  The leather-an, who should have been holding Neguro at bay, rawled on the ground, grievously injured, uo rise. “Gardevoir,” Larry muttered under his breath. His Pokémon’s gaze softened with uanding.

  Moments ago, whetle had been focused on the hip-hop guy, Neguro had seized the opportunity to unch a devastating assault on the leather-an. Even though she had only been distracted for a moment, that brief pse had been enough furo to strike.

  The truth was, Neguro had been holding back from the very beginning. He had masked his true strength, cealing his B-level abilities beh a facade of mediocrity. Throughout the fight, he had kept his output at a C+ level, matg the leather-an perfectly, lulling her into a false sense of security. Then, wheime was right, he struck with full force, taking her out in a single calcuted move.

  Larry sighed. ‘This guy’s a real piece of work.’ Neguro's strategy had been simple yet ruthless—he had used his two bodyguards as bait, drawing the siblings' attention away from him, all the while waiting for the perfeent to elimihe biggest threat first.

  Now, with the leather-an down, Neguro's arget was obvious. “Big sis!” The hip-hop guy's voice thundered across the cavern, his eyes burning with rage. His fists ched, veins bulgih his scorched skin. He didn't hesitate. With a roar, he charged forward like a runaway truck, aiming straight furo.

  Larry's eyes flickered with i. The hip-hop guy had finally reached the peak of his ability. But it came at a price—his body was already at its breaking point. Larry khat if the fight dragged on any lohe hip-hop guy wouldn't st.

  Neguro, oher hand, remained calm. He watched the charging figure with a predatleam in his eyes, his hands still pnted firmly on the ground. The swarm of is thied, growing into an imperable wall.

  Despite the hip-hop guy’s ragged breathing and the flickering aura surrounding his battered body, Neguro remained cautious. Instead of rushing in for the kill, he employed a methodical approach—keeping his distand slowly dragging the hip-hop guy to his absolute limit with relentless hit-and-run tactics. Meanwhile, the gsses man wasted no time. Seizing the opportunity, he rushed to the leather-an’s side, administering basic first aid in an attempt to stabilize her dition. Larry couldn’t help but sigh at how quickly the tides of battle had shifted. Moments ago, the siblings had the upper hand, but now they were on the brink of defeat.

  ‘Intelligehat was the real reason for their downfall. If the leather-an had known from the beginning that Neguro was hiding his true B-level strength, she wouldn’t have been so careless. In fact, Larry thought she shouldn’t have fought Neguro at all.

  ‘The smarter move?’ Let the hip-hop guy take on Neguro directly. With the gsses man providing support, the leather-an could have focused owo bodyguards. Neguro may have been stronger overall, but his Nen ability—Swarm of Rese—cked immediate high-impact damage. Its strength y in overwhelming numbers and the ability to absorb Nen from fallen enemies, gradually growing stronger over time.

  The hip-hop guy, with his endurance-based ability, could have turned Neguro’s attacks into fuel for his own strength. By abs the damage inflicted by the swarm, he would only grow stronger, eventually closing the distand finishing Neguro off in close bat. Oneguro was dealt with, the three siblings could have easily overwhelmed the two exhausted bodyguards.

  ‘But reality doesn’t work on hindsight,’ Larry thought with a sigh. A ck of information and experience had turned a battle they could have won into a desperate struggle for survival.

  In the midst of the esg fight, something stirred beh the fotten altar in the far er of the cavern. A mass of bck, gaseous energy quivered, sensing the chaoti signatures around it. It began to shift and pulse ominously.

  Suddenly, a familiar chime echoed in Larry's mind. "Pokémon successfully bred!"

  Larry’s eyes widened in anticipation. ‘Finally, it’s done!’

  Inside his mind, a rge ball of purple “gummy dy” floated in pce. Larry blinked in surprise. ‘No way... It’s Gengar?!’

  ***Species: GengarType: [Data Unavaible]Ability: [Data Unavaible]Strength Rank: B-Known Moves: Lick (Additional data unavaible)Description: Data insuffit. Further observation required to unlock full entry.***