Chapter 176
Li Ning was defeated very quickly, but he didn't look disappointed at all. Instead, he
struck up a very familiar conversation with Lorze, as if hoping to pry Milotic's evolution
conditions out of him early.
Of course, Lorze wouldn't tell him. After agreeing to use his free time to help Li Ning
unlock his dual Abilities, the two temporarily returned to their respective school teams.
The second match right after that was Xue Yi and her Umbreon taking the stage. When
that mysterious and eerie black Pokémon appeared in people's sight, the crowd's
enthusiasm was ignited once again.
Although the audience's attention had mostly been seduced away by Milotic, it had to be
said that both Umbreon and Espeon had their own unique visual appeals. Owning one
would also be incredibly fantastic.
However, just when the audience was dying to know Umbreon's evolution conditions,
Xue Yi mimicked Lorze's earlier words: "Defeat her first. After you defeat her, Lorze will
tell you.
"
This made the audience grind their teeth in frustration, and they immediately redirected
their resentment back onto Lorze. It was all his fault for setting a bad example!
This led to Lorze—a contributor who had clearly discovered something wonderful for the
world—becoming the "dead fuckboy" that everyone wanted to beat up for keeping them
in suspense. They all fervently hoped he would get stomped in his next match.
But reality is always disappointing. Not only was Lorze not stomped along the way, but
he hadn't even encountered a single person who could make him feel pressured.
It couldn't be helped. It was probably the tournament organizers manipulating things
behind the scenes, intentionally setting him up against weaker opponents.
The Metropolitan Battle would last for a total of seven days, and for these seven days,
they were entirely relying on Lorze to carry the traffic. As long as the organizers weren't
stupid, they wouldn't put him at risk of elimination too soon.
You have no idea. During these past few days, whenever Lorze had a match, the
livestream would be packed to the brim.
But when the afternoon team matches began, and Lorze wasn't among the competitors,
the traffic would instantly plunge to freezing point.
It wasn't that the viewership was terribly low, but rather it was just about the same level
as previous tournaments.
After tasting the sweetness of the traffic Lorze brought, how could they tolerate that
"desolate" livestream?
If it weren't for the fact that the competitors got stronger the further they advanced,
making it impossible to find any weaklings, they would have loved to manipulate the
brackets to send Lorze straight to the finals.
If the finals could feature Milotic against Umbreon, the traffic would be an absolute killer!
Because of this, Lorze smoothly advanced all the way to the Top 8.
It was only later, when President Murong of the Trainer Association could no longer stand
it, that she put a stop to the organizers' behind-the-scenes manipulation.
She came here to see where Lorze's limits were, not to watch him go through themotions!
But even though she said that, President Murong still manipulated things a bit herself.
She directly swapped Lorze's Top 8 opponent for someone whose typing countered him.
Only then could she see his true strength.
When the audience saw the roster for Lorze's opponent in this round, they all became
excited. You're definitely going to crash and burn this time, right?
"Zhejiang Province Captain Wang Zhe versus Shanghai Special Guest Competitor Lorze!
Will both competitors please enter the arena and prepare!"
Wang Zhe's Pokémon was Sceptile, one of the Grass-type starters. Meanwhile, judging
from Milotic's performance over the past few days, she was clearly a Water-type
Pokémon.
Facing a type disadvantage, could Lorze still defeat the Zhejiang Province Captain, who
was considered one of the heavy favorites to win the championship?
"Researcher Lorze, to tell you the truth, I am also a ten-year veteran fan of yours. Do you
think you could spare some fan benefits for me~?" When Wang Zhe saw his opponent
was Lorze, his goal for the match seemed to have completely changed.
Mainly because just yesterday afternoon, their school team had lost to the Jiangsu
Province school team in the team battles, a team that should have been slightly weaker
than them.
The reason was that the guy named Li Ning had openly used a cheat during the match.
His Feraligatr clearly had the Sheer Force Ability, yet it unexpectedly activated the
Torrent Ability at the start of the match while at full health. In one leap, it became the
second main pillar of the Jiangsu team.
Facing an opponent who suddenly gained an extra ace, their school team was naturally
slaughtered.
Since that incident, whenever any Trainer looked at Li Ning, their eyes were filled with
shock and envy. They finally understood what the "Dual-Wielding Abilities" that
Researcher Lorze talked about truly meant.
That was a blatant cheat code! Who wouldn't want to be a hacker?
So now, any competitor facing Lorze would call themselves a "ten-year veteran fan.
" It
had become a meme, giving Lorze a massive headache.
Left with no choice, Lorze made a public declaration: "Regarding Dual-Wielding Abilities,
every one of you will have the chance to obtain it in the future. If you can't wait until then
and want to master it right now, there is only one path. Regardless of whether you are a
ten-year veteran fan or a fan since you were in the womb, from now on, whoever can
defeat me in an official tournament setting can ask me for this favor, free of charge.
"
As soon as these words were spoken, not only did Wang Zhe's eyes burn with passion,
but it also ignited the fantasies of countless competitors watching the screens.
"Then pardon my offense. Sceptile, this opponent is not simple. Give it everything you've
got from the start!" Wang Zhe was incredibly excited.
"Scep!"
Sceptile immediately activated the field magic—Grassy Terrain!
This was a field condition that provided continuous health regeneration and boosted the
power of Grass-type moves. Field moves were just as important as weather setters inweather teams, often serving as the core of a team's strategy.
"Grassy Glide!"
"Frenzy Plant!"
Grassy Glide allowed Sceptile to slide rapidly and continuously across the grassy terrain.
Combined with Sceptile's Unburden Ability, its normal movement speed already far
surpassed Quick Attack.
Very few Pokémon could even touch a Sceptile moving at such extreme speeds, and
they would usually just get chipped to death by a casual Bullet Seed.
And Frenzy Plant was one of the ultimate Grass-type moves. After receiving the boosts
from the terrain and Same-Type Attack Bonus (STAB), its power soared to a staggering
234. It was incredibly exaggerated, truly living up to his status as one of the strongest
among his peers.
However, such immense power came with a side effect. It would leave the user briefly
incapacitated due to exhaustion after use.
But this was where Grassy Glide's utility shone. Sceptile could utilize the sliding
momentum to perform unpredictable drifts while exhausted, allowing it to safely navigate
the vulnerable phase.
This was absolutely an incredibly powerful combo, and it was his ultimate killing move!
As a massive, flourishing tree emerged under Sceptile's summons, thick vines, thicker
than a human body, frantically erupted from the earth. They covered almost half the
battlefield, whipping wildly toward Milotic with overwhelming momentum!
In the face of these Frenzy Plants, Milotic's body seemed so insignificant. This was no
longer an attack that could be blocked by a mere Substitute. Lorze's proud
Substitute-boosting strategy wouldn't work against him!
"A decent combo. Can Lorze still block it?"
President Murong sat in the VIP section, watching the duel with absolute focus.
Wang Zhe was already a championship contender she thought highly of. Coupled with
his type advantage over Milotic, Lorze was finally in real danger this time, right?
President Murong wasn't the only one harboring this thought. Almost every spectator
was holding their breath, waiting for the final result. This concerned forcing Lorze to hand
over Milotic's evolution conditions after a defeat; everyone was extremely tense.
Goddammit, this is only a rookie tournament, not the World Championships. How could it
be this tense and thrilling?
"A nice move, but unfortunately, haven't you misunderstood the type matchups?"
Looking at the Frenzy Plants surging forward like they were blotting out the sky, Lorze
didn't even bother dodging. With a snap of his fingers, he had Milotic display a power
completely different from before.
Hail began to fall unnoticed, causing the surrounding temperature to plummet instantly.
A colorful, radiant barrier appeared around Milotic, forming transparent walls of light
around her body.
At the same time, as if singing a high-pitched aria, she summoned howling winds and a
blizzard. The two intertwined, forming a violent Blizzard cyclone that covered almost the
entire battlefield, blotting out the sky and the sun.
Xue Yi frowned slightly. This scene was far too familiar to her.You couldn't say this Blizzard cyclone was exactly the same as the one her Alolan Vulpix
used during the dojo challenge; you could only say it was a direct copy-paste!
When did that guy manage to steal this move too?
But the person frowning even harder was Wang Zhe. The moment he saw that Milotic
actually possessed Ice-type abilities, he instantly realized something was wrong.
With the appearance of Ice-type moves, the situation instantly shifted from him having a
unilateral type advantage to them mutually countering each other.
Fortunately, Blizzard only had a base power of 110, far inferior to his combo move. Even
if they both took the full brunt of each other's attacks, the one left standing should
logically be Sceptile, right?
Unfortunately, just as he was thinking this, a scene that made his pupils contract
occurred.
As the vision-obscuring Blizzard roared for over ten seconds, the originally flourishing
massive tree suddenly disintegrated. The frantically whipping vines seemed to have been
frozen solid, shattering across the ground with sharp cracking sounds.
Immediately after, Sceptile's silhouette swayed unsteadily within the Blizzard. Before
long, its stamina was depleted, and it collapsed to the ground, unable to rise.
As the Blizzard dissipated, Milotic stood there almost completely unscathed. She was
still wreathed in the triple protection of Aqua Ring, Aurora Veil, and Light Screen, which
managed to reduce the terrifying damage of Frenzy Plant by a whopping 75%.
Moreover, the power of her Blizzard was far beyond 110. With the boost from her
dual-wielded Adaptability Ability, its power had long since reached 220.
In other words, with both sides having similar move power, mutually countering each
other, and both tanking the full damage in a straight shootout, the final result was
inevitably a total victory for Milotic, who enjoyed a 75% damage reduction.
What's more, under the continuous healing of Aqua Ring, her health was going to be fully
restored very soon.
Is this your ultimate killing move?
Haven't you eaten yet? Can't you put a little more force into it?
Wang Zhe: "
"
...
Audience: "
"
...
President Murong: "
"
...
Looking at that Milotic who seemed perfectly fine, everyone fell completely silent.
How could anyone tank a full Frenzy Plant and be completely fine? What kind of hacker is
this?!
And that Milotic knew way too many moves, didn't she? How was she managing to use
so many moves simultaneously?
The power of that Blizzard didn't look right either. What the hell is going on here?!
Chapter 177
Theoretically, while there is no hard biological cap on the number of moves a Pokémon
can learn, the number of moves it can deploy simultaneously is strictly limited.
Generally speaking, throwing a Thunder Punch with the left hand, an Ice Punch with the
right, and launching a Fire Fang from the mouth is about the absolute maximum.It might sound like three basic skills, but executing them requires maintaining and
regulating three completely divergent energy types at the exact same time— a
staggeringly difficult feat.
However, with enough grinding and muscle memory, achieving that level of proficiency is
possible.
But what Milotic just did—maintaining the deep mental focus required for Coil, manually
manipulating a Substitute avatar, and then having that Substitute launch independent,
high-impact moves against an opponent... that was something utterly bizarre, practically
unheard of in competitive history.
It was the literal equivalent of writing a college-level exam with one hand while playing a
high-tier ranked match with the other, scoring an A+ and a Pentakill simultaneously.
Are you telling me that isn't completely broken?
The former example was essentially just a parlor trick; the latter was the literal definition
of perfect "Dual-Processing.
"
Perhaps this was exactly how Milotic managed to deploy Hail, Aurora Veil, Light Screen,
Coil, Aqua Tail, and Blizzard all within a single, seamless rotation?
No one knew whether this was an innate biological anomaly exclusive to Milotic, or if
Lorze had manually trained her to do it. If it was the latter, his talent as a Trainer was
monstrous beyond logic.
In reality, it was neither. It was purely because Lorze was running a literal hack~
.
Under the passive boost of his Telepathic Resonance mode, a partner's mental fortitude,
sensory perception, and precision control received a catastrophic multiplier. If Milotic
could normally manage three or four skills simultaneously, having that limit doubled by a
cheat code made perfect sense, right?
It made absolute sense!
The audience was left thoroughly demoralized. Even the Zhejiang Province Captain had
been crushed in what amounted to a one-sided slaughter. Was there anyone left who
could stop this Demon King?
Was there anyone left who could force him to hand over Milotic's evolution conditions?
If no one managed to beat him by the end, was he truly going to walk away without
revealing the secret?
Please, no! Doesn't that mean we camped this stream for seven days like total idiots?
Their only hope now rested squarely on the shoulders of the Captains from the Beijing
and Shanghai elite academies. Those two were generally considered a tier above the
Zhejiang Captain; maybe they possessed the firepower to overthrow the Demon King?
We need a Hero! Please!!!
President Murong could only shake her head with an amused smile. Originally, she would
have been perfectly satisfied just seeing Lorze secure a few wins. After all, she had
manually pulled his background file: born into poverty, he had only achieved financial
stability over the past six months. Factoring in the massive volume of time he spent
dominating the scientific field, how much time could he realistically dedicate to raw
combat training?
Yet, not only was he dismantling the research community, his combat mechanics hadn't
lagged a single inch behind. His excellence was bordering on incomprehensible.Before today, she would have sworn it was biologically impossible for a human to
dual-class perfectly as a top-tier Researcher and an elite Trainer. Lorze had violently
shattered her antiquated worldview.
Of course, this was a brilliant thing. It proved that China's new generation of blood had
finally been replenished.
To be perfectly honest, if Goddess Xue Tong hadn't manifested her terrifying Psychic
talents, China's talent pipeline over recent years would have faced a catastrophic
drought.
The reasons for the drought were complex, but they mostly boiled down to rigid class
stagnation and the sheer incompetence of certain entrenched bureaucrats.
Historically, China and the United States had maintained a perfect 50-50 deadlock on the
World Championship stage, with both nations trading gold medals evenly.
But ever since China lost to the US in the previous World Championship, the Americans
had secured a two-year win streak.
China hadn't lost because their Champion was inferior to the American counterpart.
Quite the opposite: China's Champion was marginally stronger. But the World
Championship was a 10-man team format; if the other members of the roster were
consistently out-scaled by the enemy, even the strongest Champion couldn't salvage the
collapsing frontlines.
Fortunately, Xue Tong was slated to join the upcoming World Championship, which was
guaranteed to snap the American win streak in half.
But relying on a genetic freak like a Psychic to single-handedly flip the geopolitical board
wasn't a sustainable long-term strategy. If the domestic talent development pipelines
didn't evolve, and the bureaucrats remained corrupt, who was supposed to inherit the
banner of the National Team Captain once Xue Tong crossed her 30s?
Were they supposed to bank their hopes on her little sister, Xue Yi, who possessed a
similar, yet dormant, special talent?
But looking at her current metrics, the younger sister clearly hadn't achieved the
catastrophic awakening her older sibling had.
Instead, President Murong saw a glimmer of true salvation in this teenage boy who
dominated both science and combat. Not only was his personal firepower elite, but his
engineered "Dual-Wielding Abilities" hack could be deployed to artificially buff his
teammates. This would permanently eliminate the agonizing scenario where their
Champion was vastly superior, yet the match was lost because the supporting roster was
too weak.
Consequently, President Murong harbored massive expectations for Lorze. It would be
ideal if he continued to scale as a combatant, but even if his Trainer ceiling stalled before
reaching the #1 Vanguard slot, his scientific contributions alone were enough to radically
alter China's current dilemma.
...
The tournament brackets rapidly burned through the rosters, reaching the Semi-Finals.
By this stage, the raw power gap between the remaining competitors had shrunk to a
razor's edge. A single micro-misplay was enough to cost anyone the match.
Unless... someone had been sandbagging their true output this entire time.Glancing at the final four roster, Lorze figured the odds of that were non-zero.
For starters, his own Kirlia hadn't seen a single second of arena time. Xue Yi hadn't
deployed her Alolan Ninetales once. From his analysis, only the Beijing Captain and the
Shanghai Captain, Qin Shuang, had been forced to reveal most of their hands.
The Semi-Final matchups were quickly finalized: Lorze vs. Beijing Captain Gao Sheng,
and Xue Yi vs. Qin Shuang.
Gao Sheng's vision went black reading the monitor.
He felt confident he could trade blows with either Xue Yi or Qin Shuang, but this guy was
an absolute anomaly. He had zero confidence he could break that Milotic.
Once Milotic revealed her Ice-type coverage and the Aurora Veil damage-reduction stack,
his Dragon-types were essentially banned from the ring. And his primary ace happened
to be a Hydreigon.
It was blatantly obvious his primary ace was hard-countered this round. Fortunately, he
had a secondary ace—an Electric-type that countered Milotic. Furthermore, it possessed
Brick Break, a move specifically designed to shatter defensive screens like Aurora Veil,
making it his optimal vanguard for this clash.
"Come out, Electivire!"
"Oh? Not deploying the Hydreigon?"
"I'm not a masochist who enjoys fighting against a hard-counter. Hydreigon stands no
chance against Milotic.
"
"But the issue is, I'm not exactly going to deploy Milotic into a Brick Break either. Did
you forget to calculate the probability that I have other partners?"
"You mean that pure white Ralts?"
"Not necessarily. My Kirlia absolutely despises crowded, noisy places, so unless it's a
life-or-death scenario, I won't force her onto the field.
"
Gao Sheng: "
"
...
Why the fuck do I feel like I'm being looked down on? Are you implying you don't even
need to use your full strength to beat me?
I bet your Kirlia just hasn't evolved into a Gardevoir yet, so her baseline is too pathetic to
show!
"Stop wasting time. Send out your Pokémon.
" Gao Sheng let out a cold snort, utterly
refusing to believe Lorze possessed any viable combatants aside from Milotic.
If you haven't even managed to push your starter Kirlia to its final evolution, where the
hell would you find the time to grind a secondary partner?
That Milotic was probably just a stroke of pure luck—you caught it and it was ready for
battle immediately, right?
"Sigh. The youth these days are far too impatient.
" Lorze shook his head. Since you're in
such a rush to get deleted, I'll let Mawile grant your wish~
.
It just so happened that Mawile hadn't seen a single second of official public arena time
since she debuted. It was about time he gave her a stage to flex her might before the
masses.
Lorze casually tossed a Poké Ball, and a seemingly fragile, frail little creature materialized
before the crowd.
"Maw?"The second Mawile appeared, she didn't even register she was standing inside a national
arena. She immediately broke into a soft, adorable sprint straight toward her Trainer,
babbling "Maw, maw!" with her arms wide open, demanding a hug.
Watching this mascot-tier Pokémon trot onto the field, countless viewers were left
completely dumbfounded.
Why is it this Pokémon? Researcher Lorze, are you sure you didn't grab the wrong Poké
Ball?
How could a Mawile possibly be stronger than Milotic? Are you finally throwing the towel
to reveal the evolution conditions?
What a saint!!!
However, the tiny fraction of the audience who had seen the leaked footage of the
mysterious Trainer team-wiping SMU High froze the moment they saw this mascot
Mawile, their expressions turning incredibly bizarre.
Please don't tell me this is the exact same Mawile from the video... so the demon who
crushed SMU High was actually you all along???
Well, that makes perfect sense. Who else besides this monster would have the balls to
kick in the doors of Shanghai's elite academy?
Gao Sheng's lip twitched violently. He was one of the few who had studied that leaked
footage. At the time, he had marveled at how biologically illegal that Mawile's mechanics
were, suspecting she had been secretly pumped full of illegal steroids before the match.
The karmic cycle was truly ruthless. Now he was finally getting a front-row seat to test if
that Mawile was actually hacking. It moved him to the point of tears... the kind that tasted
like pure despair...
So I was the one who drew the fucking short straw!
"We decide the victor in three punches. How does that sound?"
Lorze smiled, raising three fingers, slamming an ungodly amount of psychological
pressure squarely onto Gao Sheng's shoulders!
Chapter 178
Three punches to decide the victor. But who is knocking out who?
Many in the audience wore bizarre expressions. Did Lorze honestly believe he could win
using a Mawile? He'd be lucky if the frail creature survived a single punch from that
Electivire!
This Electivire had already seen action in previous rounds, firmly cementing its status at
the Elite tier (B-Rank). By chaining Electric Terrain + Charge + Wild Charge, analysts had
already calculated the output of this combo: every subsequent strike following a Charge
carried a terrifying Base Power of 351.
For context, the apocalyptic Frenzy Plant unleashed by the Sceptile in the previous round
only hit 234 Base Power.
If Electivire landed that punch, there were barely a handful of combatants in the entire
Elite bracket who could walk away from it!
On the flip side, as a single-stage Pokémon incapable of evolution, whether Mawile even
possessed Elite-tier scaling was a massive question mark.
Reaching the Elite tier in a rookie year was an astronomical hurdle. Before evolving,Electivire had only barely scraped into the Intermediate tier. It was only due to a sudden,
spontaneous evolution triggered while absorbing energy at an Electric-type dojo that it
instantly bridged the gap to Elite.
If your Mawile can't evolve, how the hell is she supposed to match the scaling metrics of
others?
Lorze was actually perfectly aware of this deficit. Mawile was currently pinned at the
Intermediate tier. Electivire eclipsed her entirely in both raw level and move Base Power.
Under standard mechanics, Mawile mathematically possessed zero win conditions, let
alone the capacity to end the fight in three punches.
But since Lorze had the balls to deploy her, he had already run the numbers.
First, evaluating move scaling: Mawile' s current primary attack cycle involved fusing
Focus Punch with Power-Up Punch. Since both were Fighting-type moves, mechanical
coexistence was possible, resulting in a fused Base Power of 190.
But that calculation excluded the multiplier from "Strength Exertion.
" Strength Exertion
wasn't a programmed move; it was a physical kinetic release technique.
Engineered by Auntie Roxanne—who reverse-engineered the mechanical output of her
Azumarill's Huge Power trait—it merged the instant-release burst of Strength with the
concussive delivery of Force Palm. The result was a pure kinetic combat technique
entirely devoid of elemental energy.
This technique didn't generate raw elemental damage. Instead, it operated similarly to
Mawile's massive jaw: compressing kinetic energy and blasting it out, effectively
doubling the physical force of the strike.
Backed by this kinetic multiplier, the 190 Base Power combo was instantly doubled,
soaring to a staggering 380 Base Power—comfortably surpassing Electivire's 351.
However, a marginal lead in Base Power was nowhere near enough to bridge the
cavernous gap between an Elite-tier stat block and an Intermediate-tier one.
This was exactly where the "Jet Engine" system came online.
The baseline power of a 1-stack Spit Up was 100. After being hyper-compressed inside
her mechanical jaw, the output velocity undeniably exceeded that baseline.
Physics dictates that every action has an equal and opposite reaction; therefore, the
resulting counter-thrust absolutely exceeded 100 as well. Did this mean the kinetic
impact of Mawile's fist received a flat +100 bonus to its impact force?
The exact math was unverified, but even applying an ultra-conservative estimate of 60, a
2-stack Spit Up generated a counter-thrust value of 120.
Adding that to the 380 Base Power, the theoretical kinetic output of Mawile's single strike
reached a catastrophic 500.
Even this absurd number couldn't fully erase the level deficit, but don't forget Mawile
possessed the Intimidate Ability. A mental-class Ability, supercharged by the monstrous
psychic amplification of Lorze's Telepathic Resonance, would easily slash the
opponent's physical attack stat by 2 stages!
With all these buffs and debuffs colliding, even if Electivire still possessed a higher overall
stat block, it mathematically could not one-shot Mawile.
As long as Mawile survived the exchange, she had the window to stack her Power-Up
Punch multipliers.Lorze calculated she wouldn't even need to reach max stacks. If the sequence executed
cleanly, the third punch would definitively secure the victory.
"It's actually her? Electivire, fall back and open the gap immediately!"
Gao Sheng was acutely aware of how terrifyingly fast that Mawile was. He didn't dare let
Electivire linger in close quarters, or it would be launched into the stratosphere before it
could even register the threat.
He knew that for Mawile to trigger that supersonic burst, she had to execute a wind-up
charge. That charge cycle could be interrupted, so he instantly made his decision... he
wouldn't interrupt her!
Fuck that! Did you not see the video of her spamming Double Team? Unless you have a
wide-area nuke, trying to interrupt her is a death sentence. Popping one clone at a time is
totally useless.
He concluded it was far more efficient to use her charging window to execute Charge on
Electivire. A fully charged Electivire' s next attack received a 2x multiplier; he would
simply trade blows with Mawile head-on.
He absolutely refused to believe an Elite-tier Electivire would lose a pure damage-trading
sequence against a Mawile!
Electivire rapidly executed its Trainer's orders. It swiftly retreated, expanding the gap
between itself and Mawile, instantly deploying Electric Terrain, and began hoarding
energy in parallel with Mawile.
Supercharged by Lorze's Telepathic Resonance, Mawile's 3-stack Stockpile sequence
was barely slower than Charge. Only a fraction of a second after Electivire hit full
capacity, Mawile's payload locked into place.
To be honest, a massive portion of the audience was completely lost. They couldn't
fathom why Electivire retreated to the edge of the map the second it saw a Mawile. Are
you really that terrified of her?
She's just an Intermediate-tier! Just walk up and punch her lights out!
But the second Mawile's payload locked, the scene that followed shattered the jaws of
nearly everyone in the stadium—even those who had already witnessed her speed on
video.
Mawile ' s massive jaw clamped shut violently, the terrifying bite force generating a
metallic, mechanical CLANG!
Accompanying the metallic screech was the deafening roar of a rocket engine igniting. A
blinding column of white light blasted out from the compressed jaw, injecting Mawile's
frame with an indescribable, catastrophic kinetic force.
In the next microsecond, Mawile's silhouette blurred, launching forward like an artillery
shell. WHOOSH. Her fist, wreathed in roaring blue True Qi, materialized inches from
Electivire's face.
The velocity was so blistering it literally blinded the naked eye!
Fortunately, as an Elite-tier combatant, Electivire possessed elite dynamic vision.
Combined with the distance it had preemptively established, it bought itself a fraction of
a millisecond to react.
Electivire was undeniably startled, but muscle memory kicked in, instantly triggering Wild
Charge.A manic surge of lightning engulfed its massive frame, arcs of electricity crackling and
snapping violently. Empowered by the thunder, Electivire slammed its massive fist
forward to meet the incoming strike.
The two fists collided. BOOM. A catastrophic explosion shook the arena as the berserk
kinetic energies detonated between their knuckles, generating a violent shockwave and
massive recoil.
Electivire felt its entire arm go numb, its colossal frame violently shoved back several
meters by the impact.
But Mawile ' s situation was worse. The sheer recoil of the shockwave blasted her
backward. She desperately executed a mid-air backflip to stabilize her landing. A sharp
wave of agony shot through her body. Her "One-Punch" deletion sequence had actually
resulted in her taking recoil damage during a clash?
This... even with a punch this devastating, could she still not bridge the gap created by
raw level scaling?
"Don't overthink it. This opponent isn't a standard Elite-tier. If it were an average Elite, it
would already be unconscious in the wall. Don't forget, we still have two punches left,
"
Lorze quickly soothed her via telepathy.
Mawile gave an imperceptible nod. She understood exactly what her Master meant by
"three punches,
" immediately initiating her next charge cycle without giving her opponent
a single breath to recover.
By the way, following that initial clash, her Power-Up Punch had successfully gained a
stack. Mawile's aura burned even hotter.
This time, Mawile dropped the pretense. She instantly deployed Double Team, spawning
nearly twenty glowing avatars that completely encircled Electivire, making it
mathematically impossible for it to predict which angle the true strike would come from.
Let's see how the fuck you defend against this!
As expected, panic flashed in Electivire's eyes. It whipped its head left and right
anxiously, completely lost on how to brace for the impact.
This was where the value of a Trainer truly shined. Gao Sheng quickly issued a cold,
calculated command: "Use Quick Attack to retreat into the corner! Charge immediately!"
Electivire snapped out of its daze, utilizing maximum speed to back itself into the far
corner of the barrier. Anchored in the corner, it no longer had to worry about an attack
from the rear; it only had to defend a 90-degree frontal cone.
It immediately drove its twin tails into the Electric Terrain, desperately drawing in power
for Charge, terrified it wouldn't hit maximum capacity before Mawile' s payload locked. It
didn't dare waste a single micro-movement.
Seeing an Elite-tier combatant pressured so heavily it barely dared to breathe... it was
truly difficult to visualize who was the actual Elite on the field...
The entire audience watched in a dead stupor. Who could have predicted a sequence
like this?
Are you telling me that blur that moved faster than the naked eye could track was a
Mawile?!
Even President Murong shot up from her VIP seat in sheer shock. What the hell was that
speed?!She actually couldn't decipher what she had just witnessed???
Chapter 179
Under the tense gaze of the massive audience, every single one of Mawile' s clones
locked their energy payloads, while Electivire hit maximum charge capacity at the exact
same moment.
Colossal kinetic energy churned within both combatants, like an arrow drawn taut on a
bowstring, moments away from catastrophic release.
In the next heartbeat, the familiar, mechanical CLANG of the massive jaw snapping shut
echoed across the arena.
It sounded like a reaper's death sentence. The mere sound of that metallic bite was
enough to make the audience hold their breath in sheer tension, proving just how much
psychological pressure Mawile's every movement inflicted on observers.
If Mawile actually enjoyed tormenting people, she could probably just spam that biting
sound to make weaker opponents piss their pants in terror.
A microsecond later, the explosive roar of the rocket engine igniting detonated once
more.
Mawile's swarm of clones vanished from sight simultaneously. No matter how wide the
spectators opened their eyes, the velocity was completely untraceable.
Even the high-speed Rotom cameras desperately snapping frames could only capture a
messy string of hyper-blurred afterimages.
Watching the swarm of clones surging toward it like a tidal wave, Electivire felt an
immense, crushing pressure.
It couldn't deduce which silhouette was the true body. Launching a reckless
counter-attack would only expose a fatal opening, granting the true body the perfect
window to blast it into the stratosphere.
It actually didn't dare to move a single muscle!
Fortunately, Gao Sheng was a highly competent Trainer. He had anticipated this exact
scenario.
The moment Mawile launched her assault, he immediately screamed a command: "Gyro
Ball!"
Electivire instantly grasped his intent. It violently discharged Wild Charge again, wrapping
its entire frame in a shroud of berserk lightning.
Clad in its thunder-armor, it began to spin wildly in place like a high-speed top.
It didn't matter which clone was real. Anything that dared approach would be shredded
to pieces!
One had to admit this counter-measure was brutally simple and highly effective.
The swarming Mawile clones crashed into the spinning lightning-top like tofu, shredding
into light particles upon impact.
This continued until her true body finally arrived, slamming a colossal kinetic punch
directly into the spinning sphere, forcefully snapping Electivire's high-speed rotation.
But the recoil of the clash blasted Mawile backward once again, inflicting another layer of
recoil damage.
With this exchange concluded, only one punch remained of Lorze ' s "three-punch"prophecy.
Gao Sheng acted as if he had perfectly cracked Lorze ' s formula. He immediately
ordered Electivire to use Quick Attack to disengage and open the gap before Mawile
could stabilize her landing, then frantically resumed charging.
As long as they hit maximum charge before Mawile locked her payload, and deployed
the Gyro Ball tactic to shred her clone swarm, it was mathematically impossible for
Mawile to break their defense.
Furthermore, while Electivire only suffered minor numbness in its fists from the heavy
clashes, Mawile was accumulating severe recoil damage with every impact.
As long as they avoided taking a direct hit to the body, trading damage like this was a
massive net-positive for Electivire. How many more recoils could Mawile's tiny body
endure?
Therefore, despite the visual illusion that Electivire was being heavily suppressed, the
combatant actually facing the critical offensive pressure was Mawile. The window to land
her final blow was rapidly closing.
The audience clearly recognized this reality as well.
While Mawile's offensive momentum looked visually stunning, the absolute level gap
made her assaults feel like a mantis trying to shake a massive tree— a severe
overestimation of her own capabilities.
At least based on the current board state, they simply couldn't visualize how Mawile was
supposed to secure the victory with her third punch.
How was she supposed to crack the Electivire' s Gyro Ball defense? It looked completely
unbreakable.
It looks like Researcher Lorze is actually going to crash and burn this time.
However... in the exact fraction of a second where the audience was distracted by their
own analysis, the match ended.
Electivire had just executed Quick Attack to retreat, dropping into a stance to begin
charging.
Suddenly, that reaper-like CLANG of the jaw snapping shut echoed again!
The sound startled Electivire so badly it nearly broke its charging stance, acting like it had
developed terminal PTSD from the noise.
But logic quickly returned to its mind. It' s just paranoia. Mawile was just blasted
backward. She literally hasn't had the time to execute a charge cycle. It's physically
impossible for her to launch an attack right now.
She's probably just spamming the sound effect to disrupt my charging rhythm, right?
Does that mean his 'three-punch' prophecy was just a cheap psychological trick to bluff
me?
Heh, you underestimate my Electiv—
Before Electivire could even finish its internal monologue, the explosive roar of the engine
igniting actually detonated!
Mawile's silhouette blurred instantly, genuinely teleporting right in front of its face.
Under Electivire ' s horrified, bulging eyes, that adorable little fist descended with
catastrophic force.
BOOM.A dull, sickening thud echoed out as Electivire's chest cavity visibly caved inward from
the impact.
Its massive frame was launched backward, flying an absurd distance through the air
before violently crashing into the dirt with a heavy THUD.
The entire stadium fell dead silent.
Mawile cleanly dusted off her hands, letting out a cute little snort.
I am the One-Punch Battle Maid. If I say it takes three punches, it takes exactly three
punches. How dare you doubt me?
Eat fist!
However, to Mawile's surprise, the Electivire that had crumpled into the dirt actually
began to struggle back to its feet. It still has the stamina to stand?
Hmph. As expected of an Elite-tier. But standing up like that is no different from already
losing.
"Stop struggling. You don't have the Motor Drive Ability. Just surrender obediently,
"
Lorze waved his hand dismissively.
Not everyone has a protagonist-tier Pikachu that magically gets stronger the closer it is
to death.
Gao Sheng: "
"
...
Even as his Electivire agonizingly forced itself upright, Gao Sheng' s expression remained
completely paralyzed.
Actually, every single person in the stadium wore the exact same paralyzed expression.
They couldn't comprehend how Mawile launched her third punch without executing a
charge cycle. Are you absolutely certain you aren't running a cheat code?
Or did you never need to charge in the first place, and you were just trolling everyone?
"I apologize, but my Electivire will never surrender. At the very least, we' re going to force
you to throw a fourth punch. Right, Electivire?!"
It took Gao Sheng several moments to finally process that he had lost.
But seeing Electivire's absolute refusal to yield, as its Trainer, he naturally had to stand
by his partner until the bitter end.
Besides, being deleted in exactly three punches after the opponent called it out was way
too humiliating. He had to force her to throw a fourth!
Receiving its Trainer's acknowledgment, Electivire burned the last dregs of its willpower.
Wreathed once more in the lightning of Wild Charge, it launched a final, desperate
assault. This is my final Ripple!
"Heh! You've got some backbone, but not much. Send it on its way,
" Lorze waved his
hand lazily. He didn't give a damn which punch scored the knockout, as long as the
target went down.
Fortunately, Mawile possessed elite combat instincts. The second she saw Electivire
begin to rise, she initiated a charge cycle. By now, her payload was fully locked again.
Watching the Electivire launch its suicidal charge, she shot vertically into the sky like a
launched rocket, effortlessly dodging the incoming tackle.
Then, under the completely dumbfounded stares of the audience, she took a joyful,
victory-lap flight around the upper airspace of the arena, thoroughly enjoying the thrill of
the grand stage.Finally, she swooped down behind Electivire, delivering a ruthless "Idor Dropkick"
directly to the back of the giant idiot's skull!
Hmph!
You want me to throw a fourth punch? Dream on!
With that, Electivire was kicked face-first into the dirt, permanently incapacitated.
Collapsing right alongside the Electivire were the long-standing worldviews and
fundamental values of the entire audience.
Goddammit, can someone explain exactly what just happened?
Why does a Mawile possess this kind of destructive kinetic output?
And she can actually fucking fly?! Are you kidding me?!
Is this a Mawile with Hidden Power Flying???
Heh... we must be dreaming. Just think about it logically. Is it possible for reality to
spawn a 17-year-old hacker who achieves world-shattering milestones in scientific
research, while simultaneously crushing elite prodigies in the combat arena?
It's way too fake to be real. We must all be locked in a collective hallucination.
Understood. I'm going to go jump off the roof right now. Maybe I'll wake up when I hit
the pavement!
President Murong: "
"
...
If this is a dream, please let me sleep forever. China desperately needs freaks of nature
exactly like him right now.
Though he does seem a little too freaky... let me look closer...
Chapter 180
After the match, Mawile's performance triggered an avalanche of analysis and heated
debate across the net.
In particular, that third punch— executed without a wind-up—left everyone scratching
their heads in total confusion.
Little did they know, Mawile's operational sequence had always been: "Charge three
stacks, spit two, store one.
"
By the time the third punch rolled around, she already possessed two stored stacks of
energy, naturally eliminating the need for a fresh charge cycle.
Regardless, in the public consciousness, Mawile had always been classified as a
"mascot" Pokémon. Buying one to keep as a house pet was perfectly fine, as they were
undeniably cute.
But deploying one for competitive combat... Are you out of your mind?
The Steel typing inherently lacked offensive output, and as a single-stage species
incapable of evolution, Mawile was doomed to remain irrelevant in the modern "Big
Cannon, Heavy Armor" meta where raw firepower reigned supreme.
Though it seems she was equally irrelevant in any other historical meta as well...
But witnessing Lorze ' s performance today undeniably etched a brutal reality into
everyone's minds:
There are no trash Pokémon, only trash Trainers.
If a low-attack, low-speed Mawile could rely on sheer velocity and kinetic force to
suppress an Elite-tier Electivire across a massive level deficit...who would ever dare blame their Pokémon for a loss again?
Some viewers even became infatuated with Mawile's explosive kinetic output, loudly
declaring their intent to purchase one to test the build.
The immediate result was a flood of livestream comments ruthlessly shutting them down:
Researcher Lorze can engineer Dual-Wielding Abilities. Can you?
Don't blindly copy builds you don't understand, or you'll get yourself killed in the arena!
Perhaps the audience hadn't even realized it, but their intense focus on Milotic had
unconsciously shifted entirely to a frantic obsession with Lorze himself.
From today onward, remaining low-profile would be mathematically impossible for that
name.
A 17-year-old Genius Researcher who dual-classed as a combat prodigy—scanning the
entire history of Blue Star, he was absolutely the first of his kind.
Furthermore, his engineered Dual-Wielding Ability mechanic had left countless people
drooling with envy. It was entirely predictable that the second the tournament concluded,
a swarm of elites would hunt him down to purchase that technology.
Especially those who could potentially dual-wield Huge Power—they literally couldn't sit
still anymore, alright?
And this exact level of influence was precisely what Lorze wanted.
However, his current prestige was nowhere near sufficient. He needed to reach the tier of
an Elite Four or a Champion, delivering a dominant performance on the World
Championship stage.
Only at that altitude would he possess the absolute authority and rallying power required
to influence—and ultimately rewrite—the domestic Trainer ecosystem.
Such a radical reform was bound to gouge the core profits of entrenched factions,
guaranteeing massive resistance. He could only hope that true heavyweights would
stand by his side when the time came.
...
The second match of the Semi-Finals was Xue Yi versus Qin Shuang: Umbreon versus
Salamence.
While the audience absolutely adored the wicked, edgy aesthetic of Umbreon, they
heavily favored Salamence to secure the victory.
From observing her previous matches, Umbreon's entire win condition relied on the
"SubProtectToxic" stall tactic, utilizing Moonlight's recovery to slowly bleed opponents
to death.
Everyone had to admit the strategy was disgustingly foul, but cracking it was actually
quite simple in theory.
Aggression. Relentless, non-stop aggression. Overwhelm her output so she doesn't have
the action economy to recover, and she would naturally collapse.
The issue was that Umbreon's dual defensive stats were absurdly high. Her previous
opponents simply lacked the raw firepower to punch through her armor, allowing her to
easily stall them out.
But Salamence was a completely different beast. This species'entire aesthetic was built
on violence. Absolute, extreme violence!
Judging by the metrics shown so far, Umbreon wouldn't necessarily survive a sustainedbarrage from Salamence. Thus, the consensus was that Xue Yi's run would end here.
Which is actually perfect! If Xue Yi loses, we finally get to learn Umbreon's evolution
conditions, right?
Sadly, before the crowd could celebrate, Xue Yi delivered a brutal lesson to the entire
stadium.
During this recent period, Xue Yi had successfully upgraded Umbreon's Copycat into the
permanent Mimic.
However, this didn't mean Mimic deleted Copycat from her kit; Umbreon currently
possessed both moves simultaneously.
This meant she could use Copycat to echo Hail, and then use Mimic to deploy Aurora
Veil... artificially projecting Aurora Veil onto a Pokémon that had zero biological relation to
the Ice typing!
Backed by Aurora Veil's 50% flat damage reduction, Salamence's attempt to crack
Umbreon's armor became a monumental nightmare.
And whoever claimed Umbreon lacked offensive combat power outside of being a meat
shield?
Don't forget she carries the move Foul Play.
Oh, your Salamence has a monstrous physical attack stat?
I apologize, but from this moment on, your attack stat belongs to me. A single Foul Play
from Umbreon ripped out a chunk of damage that nearly rivaled Salamence's own
output.
Combined with the continuous bleeding damage of Toxic, no matter how much "violent
aesthetic" Salamence projected, it could only swallow its resentment and collapse in
defeat.
Thus, Lorze and Xue Yi advanced to face each other in the Finals.
Conversely, the traditional heavyweights—the Captains of the Beijing and Shanghai elite
academies—were entirely halted at the Semi-Finals. This was an outcome absolutely no
one had predicted before the tournament began.
This is unbelievable! We've been praying for Lorze and Xue Yi to lose this entire time so
they'd reveal the evolution conditions for Milotic and Umbreon!
We waited all the way to the fucking Finals, and not a single person could beat them!
Now they're meeting in the Finals, which guarantees one of them will lose. But does that
also mean the evolution conditions for the winner's Pokémon will remain a permanent
secret?!
A MASSIVE FUCKING LOSS!!!
You bastards from the elite academies are complete trash! All of you combined couldn't
even take down two transfers from the Li Province?!
And you call yourselves the nation's supreme academies? I spit on you!
Just disband the teams already! Stop embarrassing yourselves up there!
The elites from Beijing and Shanghai never dreamed they would be publicly dragged
through the mud for a reason like this; they were literally catching strays while lying
down.
Amidst this chorus of collective wailing, the day of the Finals finally arrived.
The netizens could only pray that Lorze would lose. Between Umbreon—who felt like anoutdated viral trend now—they desperately wanted Milotic instead~
.
"Lorze, it looks like the entire internet is praying for your downfall. Do you think I should
grant their wish?"
Standing on the opposite end of the arena, Xue Yi smirked slightly as she looked at her
man.
She was incredibly grateful for the committee's match-fixing, which had deliberately
placed her and Lorze in opposite brackets. This ensured they wouldn't eliminate each
other before the Finals, granting her the perfect stage to crush this man.
To be honest, Xue Yi's feelings toward Lorze had always been intensely complicated.
She couldn't understand why her eyes had ever lingered on him in the beginning; she
despised absolute fuckboys who fell in love with every woman they saw more than
anything.
Furthermore, influenced by her Ice-type talent, her personality was naturally incredibly
cold and detached.
As her Ice-type abilities scaled higher over the years, her interest in romantic
attachments had withered to absolute zero.
So how did a girl like her end up falling for a piece of trash like him?
She didn't know the answer. She only knew that she could no longer afford to lose him.
Therefore, there was only one path left for her. Since she couldn't escape him, she had to
absolutely dominate him.
To achieve this, she first had to shatter his arrogance and self-confidence entirely.
And completely crushing him on the grand stage of the Finals was the optimal method.
"Are you certain you can beat me?" Lorze asked with a smile.
"Why don't we make a bet, then?" Xue Yi deployed Lorze's favorite negotiation tactic.
"Oh? What are the stakes?"
"If you lose, you must obediently follow my every command from now on.
"
"And if I win?"
"Everything remains as it is.
"
"My Lady, don't you think this bet is a tiny bit unfair to me?"
"The world is inherently full of unfairness. Isn't that perfectly normal?"
"You make a compelling point. Let's do it your way, then.
"
"You agreed that easily?"
"It doesn't matter. Kirlia will take the field, and my Kirlia does not lose.
" Lorze casually
tossed his Poké Ball, and Kirlia manifested on the battlefield with absolute elegance.
"Hmph. I love your arrogance, but sadly, you've placed it in the wrong arena.
" Xue Yi
knew he would agree. She also knew he would face her head-on, refusing to deploy filthy
stall tactics against his own woman.
This confidence, and this deliberate leniency toward her, will be the primary reasons for
his defeat today!
"Come out, Alolan Ninetales!"
Xue Yi violently hurled her Poké Ball, summoning the partner she had kept entirely hidden
throughout the tournament.
The little Vulpix had fully evolved utilizing the Ice Stone, her baseline combat metrics now
resting comfortably at the Elite tier."Lorze, I prepared this specific technique solely for you. Today, your defeat is an
absolute certainty!"
A chilling, ice-blue light suddenly ignited within Xue Yi's pupils. Immediately, a massive
concentration of ice crystals began coalescing around her frame, gathering denser and
faster until a localized snowfall materialized.
As the snowflakes danced through the air, some settled on the tips of her hair, instantly
dyeing her jet-black locks a breathtaking shade of ice-blue.
Her ice-blue hair drifted wildly in the freezing wind. The girl's frigid, absolute-zero aura
sent a profound chill into the hearts of everyone watching.
At this moment, Xue Yi had completely frozen over all of her own emotions and
attachments.
The only thing she couldn't freeze away was the seed—and the burning heat—he had left
deep inside her body.