As Toxic Spikes flew due to Roze's Rapid Spin, the admin's eye narrowed as he lunged behind his Cofagrigus. Acting quickly, the coffin manifested a Crafty Shield to block many of the poisonous projectiles.

"A heart?" He had one! He had given that in the defense of Dewford, too. He had felt it shift as he wandered through Galar with Navy. He had seen a world of nightmares and had aided it as it had transitioned into a world of dreams. When Ting-Lu had beckoned, he had turned away. "I don't want to do this! I spared Roze and all the others! I AM NOT THE VILLAIN!"

Even jayden cross had noticed Howard's softheartedness when they had first met.

'Is this the admin you plan to be?'

Or maybe Admin Cross had noticed his potential for callousness to begin with. He regarded Tsubaki's Gengar as it attempted to contain the power of Eternatus within its gullet. As it swelled further and further, Howard could not help but feel a twinge of satisfaction. He had always hated that Gengar and its mocking gaze.

"It can't hold it, Baki. Nothing can. It'll overflow with curses and bathe in poison, like I did. Eventually, it will burst, just like..." Howard snapped his fingers. "That."

The Gengar burst, and Regice's pattern flashed violet for a moment as something took hold. Howard had felt it too, but there was no time to focus on it. The assault had to continue.

Until Eduardo Hisakawa stopped it.

He stopped it.

The Sacred Sword was not Ascalon, nor was it a Behemoth Blade, but it was potent in its own distinct way. Its power came from a vow, a promise to protect other Pokémon at the expense of its own body. The blade gleamed with internal light as it deflected the blow of a god.

Across Petalburg, Rocket soldiers would bear witness to a massive red laser crossing the sky. As Elisabeth Fiorelli fought her war, a red light blotted out the sun as it sailed towards Petalburg Woods. dorian westcliff and oscar clayton would also see it, the energy signature identical to that of Dynamax.

It sailed off into the distance, towards a home belonging to Isaac Merlo and Eris Halla .

"You..." Howard sputtered, his voice thick with disbelief as he turned to the trio. Tsubaki's Nihilego had taken the place of her Gengar. She had lessened the blow for Eddie while Roze had ensured Terrakion safe passage forward. "You blocked it? What the fuck!?"

Such teamwork. His mind flashed to Galar, with Hattori and Shuwen and Roland and Doug. When he opened his eye again, they were gone, and only his three foes and their Pokémon remained.

In the depths of Petalburg Woods, swaths of trees were set ablaze.

"That's not possible. That's Kyle's power, not yours. Yet..." Was this the human spirit? Their unyielding rage against the dark? Had Howard become a threat to overcome in preparation for something greater? "...no. That's yours."

A blizzard ramped up as Regice's Wishing Star glowed a malignant magenta. Sparks of red light flew between snowflakes as it surged forth.

"I have a heart. I swear. What I did in Dewford came from no place of malice, yet there was one thing that always gnawed at me. Why?" His voice was harsh as he pointed at Tsubaki and her Nihilego. "Why did he make you Gym Leader? You, who always defended the Nihilego and Eternatus."

His hand twitched as a black curse crept over it.

"You traitor."

---

Roze Falkner Eduardo Hisakawa Hyakkaryōran Tsubaki
+50 Howard is inspired by Eddie's heroism and Tsubaki's heart comment
+10 post
DYNAMAX CANNON PARRIED LE SMILE Eris Halla , people over Petalburg can see a big fuck you laser flying overhead.
Howard is baffled, flashes back to fighting Dynamaxed Pokemon with Navy in Galar
FUCK YOU noah faber
Howard/Regice tank the curse. Howard yet to notice.
BLIZZARD

"If humanity survives this war, then the world will have decided that our path is just. Humanity's will will have triumphed over threats from beyond the veil."

He was not a god. Regice was not a god. It was a manmade machine given life by a shard of divinity, but its body was a human creation. The three fingered hand in the ruin had not created this. It was a human victory.

But if it had...

No. There is no such thing as a benevolent god.

"If Eternatus's spawn demands its pound of flesh from the people of Dewford, then that spawn is evil! Have you forgotten the Three Days War? The battle under Dewford? Your transformation!?" Ultra Beasts had killed hundreds of people during the war with the Megalopolans. They did not fit into the fabric of the world. That was why each one had their own world to call home.

To give Nihilego and Naganadel a foothold here was to indulge their base nature.

"Your perspective is a lie. It's a corruption and a mockery. I'm not surprised, though. You were always different." The way she spoke of the Ultra Deep Sea. The way she wandered down into its embrace. She was an abnormality. "You always preferred the company of that thing to humanity. How long have you hated people? Years? Since you were born?"

She wanted to preserve life, to save it. That did not mean him. If he died in this vainglorious crusade, then it was worth it to let everyone else see tomorrow. Even if his resolve wavered, humanity had a right to exist. They would not be destroyed by Eternatus or an Origin Point.

This was their time.

The Stone Edge aimed for Regice. but met the admin's Cofagrigus. Several stones struck the coffin and sent it flying, leaving a scant few to strike the colossal titan. It screeched in a mixture of pain and rage and was blinded by a Tar Shot, allowing the Terrakion and Tsubaki's Ultra Burst to fully trigger. It quickly swelled in size, Dynamaxing.

Roze and Eddie were getting in his way. Fighting one of Dewford's defenders and an innocent bystander made the admin drag his feet.

Howard's Cofagrigus fainted as it hit the ground. Blast.

I made a promise to the sheriff. You will all inherit a world full of light, no matter the cost. Even if a hero of justice opposes me." Howard's eye twitched as his hand began to tremble. A curse worked its way through veins once scarred with Dynergy. Damn Tsubaki. Damn her Gengar. "Even if that means the end."

Tsubaki had forgotten. Regice was meant to slay Dynamaxed Pokemon and defend the people of Hoenn. It had battled Eternatus and survived. It would not lose here.

"Even if it means giving my heart...!" The Wishing Star in Regice's core thrummed as the admin's Dynamax Band gleamed. "AND SOUL!"

Regice Dynamaxed and towered over the battlefield, reaching the size of its contemporary Registeel in the desert. It blinked at Tsubaki's cursed union, recognizing the source of the Power Spot in the area as her. The collateral here was risky. This had to end quickly.

"DRAG HER DOWN." A colossal Dynamax Cannon emerged from the golem, not converting into a Max Move. A Dynergy storm kicked up, intimately familiar to Registeel's final attack in the desert. "FALL."

The storm sent containers flying in all directions, including towards Eddie and Roze.

---

Roze Falkner Eduardo Hisakawa Hyakkaryōran Tsubaki
+50 (FAINTING 'MON)
+50 POKEMON SYMBOL, REGICE HAS MY HEART
+10 post
+10 gimmick (Dynamax) (eight segments pog)

Havre went out like a comet, fast and glorious. Metal screeched and bent as the Coalossal crashed through flung shipping containers with reckless abandon in an attempt to reach the Dynamaxed Legendary Giant that scraped the sky with its colossal form.

When it struck, for one glorious moment, Regice went up in flames.

It did not melt, for the golem was designed to be an primal force of nature. It was the glacier that formed valleys, the ice that froze the poles of the world, the wind that snuffed fire from this world and any hints of heat along with it. Yet for this precise moment, it burned.

And it screamed.

The familiar sound of a Dynergy Barrier shattering struck their ears. Whether it be from the recent encounter with Registeel or general experience with fighting giant Pokemon, the sound struck a chord with the trinity, and the admin grinded his teeth in annoyance. For its hapless rebellion, Havre was blasted away by the storm and Regice's blast.

"She'll leave if she wants to leave! You're never gonna preserve anything, if that's all you've got!" The admin barked from beneath his armor. "Right, Roze? Didn't you say you'd fight for your beliefs?"

A massive frozen fist reached down in an attempt to pluck Terrakion from the ground and throw it like a toy. Before fingers carved from ice could perform the deed, Regice was blasted back by another Max Attack. He had forgotten about Dewford's Gym Leader. Damn her.

Much of what Tsubaki utters is lost in the wind, though there is one thing that grabs the admin's attention. ■■■ (Zev Harcourt ).

■■■.

■■■.

■■■. ■■■. ■■■. ■■■. ■■■. ■■■. ■■■. ■■■. ■■■. ■■■. ■■■. ■■■. ■■■. ■■■. ■■■. ■■■. ■■■. ■■■. ■■■. ■■■. ■■■. ■■■. ■■■. ■■■. ■■■.

"You think I'm like him? That I work alongside him graciously? That hitman? Necrozma's second choice?" Fear trickled into Howard's voice, before it began to overflow with another emotion. "No."

"I despise him."

The emotion was rage.

"Call me scum. Call me a hypocrite, lying to your face even as I slip a knife between your ribs. Mock me, deride me, judge me. Even if the whole world stands against me, even if the embodiment of justice has decided that I am its enemy..." Even if the Devourer had deemed him unworthy of attention, even if the archaeologist was too craven to raise a hand against him in the hope that another would, there was one thing that would not change. "...don't you dare..."

He was not ■■■'s ally.

"...COMPARE ME TO HARCOURT!"

In a sudden motion, a Max Knuckle came quickly and from the side, Regice using its capacity to move to dance around the battlefield, causing the earth to tremble and quake.

---

Hyakkaryōran Tsubaki Roze Falkner Eduardo Hisakawa
+50 reflect on why you're fighting
+10 post
SEVEN BARRIERS LEFT POG
COALOSSAL FUCKED, REGICE ABLAZE
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